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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b73496a --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #69703 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69703) diff --git a/old/69703-0.txt b/old/69703-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index d098064..0000000 --- a/old/69703-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5974 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The master mind of Mars, by Edgar Rice -Burroughs - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The master mind of Mars - -Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs - -Release Date: January 4, 2023 [eBook #69703] -[Most recently updated: October 22, 2023] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Al Haines, Cindy Beyer & the online Distributed - Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER MIND OF MARS *** - - - - - - - - [Cover Illustration] - - - - - BATTLE DAMAGE - - Dar Tarus called in alarm, “We can’t alter our course—the ship - is useless!” - - Almost at the same instant, one of my bullets found and - extinguished the enemy searchlight. Our craft was out of - control, running swiftly toward a collision with the Toonolian - flyer. - - I asked Dar Tarus if our ship was beyond repair. His reply was - that it would take hours—in which time the whole Toonolian air - patrol would be upon us. - - “Then we must have another ship!” I said. I pointed at the enemy - craft. “We shall not have to look far.” - - Dar Tarus shrugged. “Why not? It would be a glorious fight . . . - and a worthy death!” - - - - - Edgar Rice Burroughs - MARS NOVELS - - A PRINCESS OF MARS (#1) - THE GODS OF MARS (#2) - THE WARLORD OF MARS (#3) - THUVIA, MAID OF MARS (#4) - THE CHESSMEN OF MARS (#5) - THE MASTER MIND OF MARS (#6) - A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS (#7) - SWORDS OF MARS (#8) - SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS (#9) - LLANA OF GATHOL (#10) - JOHN CARTER OF MARS (#11) - - - - - THE - MASTER MIND - OF MARS - - - Edgar Rice Burroughs - - - - - - _The Master Mind of Mars_ was first published in _Amazing - Stories Annual_ magazine, Volume I, number 1 on July 15, 1927. - - Copyright © 1927 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. - - ISBN 0-345-33424-8 - - - - - C O N T E N T S - - CHAPTER PAGE - A Letter 7 - - I The House of the Dead 10 - - II Preferment 20 - - III Valla Dia 28 - - IV The Compact 42 - - V Danger 53 - - VI Suspicions 61 - - VII Escape 72 - - VIII Hands Up! 81 - - IX The Palace of Mu Tel 92 - - X Phundahl 106 - - XI Xaxa 116 - - XII The Great Tur 129 - - XIII Back to Thavas 140 - - XIV John Carter 150 - - - - - A LETTER - - - HELIUM, June 8th, 1925 -MY DEAR MR. BURROUGHS: - -It was in the Fall of nineteen seventeen at an officers’ training camp -that I first became acquainted with John Carter, War Lord of Barsoom, -through the pages of your novel “A Princess of Mars.” The story made a -profound impression upon me and while my better judgment assured me that -it was but a highly imaginative piece of fiction, a suggestion of the -verity of it pervaded my inner consciousness to such an extent that I -found myself dreaming of Mars and John Carter, of Dejah Thoris, of Tars -Tarkas and of Woola as if they had been entities of my own experience -rather than the figments of your imagination. - -It is true that in those days of strenuous preparation there was little -time for dreaming, yet there were brief moments before sleep claimed me -at night and these were my dreams. Such dreams! Always of Mars, and -during my waking hours at night my eyes always sought out the Red Planet -when he was above the horizon and clung there seeking a solution of the -seemingly unfathomable riddle he has presented to the Earthman for ages. - -Perhaps the thing became an obsession. I know it clung to me all during -my training camp days, and at night, on the deck of the transport, I -would lie on my back gazing up into the red eye of the god of battle—my -god—and wishing that, like John Carter, I might be drawn across the -great void to the haven of my desire. - -And then came the hideous days and nights in the trenches—the rats, the -vermin, the mud—with an occasional glorious break in the monotony when -we were ordered over the top. I loved it then and I loved the bursting -shells, the mad, wild chaos of the thundering guns, but the rats and the -vermin and the mud—God! how I hated them. It sounds like boasting, I -know, and I am sorry; but I wanted to write you just the truth about -myself. I think you will understand. And it may account for much that -happened afterwards. - -There came at last to me what had come to so many others upon those -bloody fields. It came within the week that I had received my first -promotion and my captaincy, of which I was greatly proud, though humbly -so; realizing as I did my youth, the great responsibility that it placed -upon me as well as the opportunities it offered, not only in service to -my country but, in a personal way, to the men of my command. We had -advanced a matter of two kilometers and with a small detachment I was -holding a very advanced position when I received orders to fall back to -the new line. That is the last that I remember until I regained -consciousness after dark. A shell must have burst among us. What became -of my men I never knew. It was cold and very dark when I awoke and at -first, for an instant, I was quite comfortable—before I was fully -conscious, I imagine—and then I commenced to feel pain. It grew until -it seemed unbearable. It was in my legs. I reached down to feel them, -but my hand recoiled from what it found, and when I tried to move my -legs I discovered that I was dead from the waist down. Then the moon -came out from behind a cloud and I saw that I lay within a shell hole -and that I was not alone—the dead were all about me. - -It was a long time before I found the moral courage and the physical -strength to draw myself up upon one elbow that I might view the havoc -that had been done me. One look was enough, I sank back in an agony of -mental and physical anguish—my legs had been blown away from midway -between the hips and knees. For some reason I was not bleeding -excessively, yet I know that I had lost a great deal of blood and that I -was gradually losing enough to put me out of my misery in a short time -if I were not soon found; and as I lay there on my back, tortured with -pain, I prayed that they would not come in time, for I shrank more from -the thought of going maimed through life than I shrank from the thought -of death. Then my eyes suddenly focussed upon the bright red eye of Mars -and there surged through me a sudden wave of hope. I stretched out my -arms towards Mars, I did not seem to question or to doubt for an instant -as I prayed to the god of my vocation to reach forth and succour me. I -knew that he would do it, my faith was complete, and yet so great was -the mental effort that I made to throw off the hideous bonds of my -mutilated flesh that I felt a momentary qualm of nausea and then a sharp -click as of the snapping of a steel wire, and suddenly I stood naked -upon two good legs looking down upon the bloody, distorted thing that -had been I. Just for an instant did I stand thus before I turned my eyes -aloft again to my star of destiny and with outstretched arms stand there -in the cold of that French night—waiting. - -Suddenly I felt myself drawn with the speed of thought through the -trackless wastes of interplanetary space. There was an instant of -extreme cold and utter darkness, then—— - -But the rest is in the manuscript that, with the aid of one greater than -either of us, I have found the means to transmit to you with this -letter. You and a few others of the chosen will believe in it—for the -rest it matters not as yet. The time will come—but why tell you what -you already know? - -My salutations and my congratulations—the latter on your good fortune -in having been chosen as the medium through which Earthmen shall become -better acquainted with the manners and customs of Barsoom, against the -time that they shall pass through space as easily as John Carter, and -visit the scenes that he has described to them through you, as have I. - - Your sincere friend, - ULYSSES PAXTON, - _Late Captain, ——th Inf., U.S. Army_. - - - - - CHAPTER I - THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD - - -I must have closed my eyes involuntarily during the transition for when -I opened them I was lying flat on my back gazing up into a brilliant, -sun-lit sky, while standing a few feet from me and looking down upon me -with the most mystified expression was as strange a looking individual -as my eyes ever had rested upon. He appeared to be quite an old man, for -he was wrinkled and withered beyond description. His limbs were -emaciated; his ribs showed distinctly beneath his shrunken hide; his -cranium was large and well developed, which, in conjunction with his -wasted limbs and torso, lent him the appearance of top heaviness, as -though he had a head beyond all proportion to his body, which was, I am -sure, really not the case. - -As he stared down upon me through enormous, many lensed spectacles I -found the opportunity to examine him as minutely in return. He was, -perhaps, five feet five in height, though doubtless he had been taller -in youth, since he was somewhat bent; he was naked except for some -rather plain and well-worn leather harness which supported his weapons -and pocket pouches, and one great ornament, a collar, jewel studded, -that he wore around his scraggy neck—such a collar as a dowager empress -of pork or real estate might barter her soul for, if she had one. His -skin was red, his scant locks grey. As he looked at me his puzzled -expression increased in intensity, he grasped his chin between the thumb -and fingers of his left hand and slowly raising his right hand he -scratched his head most deliberately. Then he spoke to me, but in a -language I did not understand. - -At his first words I sat up and shook my head. Then I looked about me. I -was seated upon a crimson sward within a high walled enclosure, at least -two, and possibly three, sides of which were formed by the outer walls -of a structure that in some respects resembled more closely a feudal -castle of Europe than any familiar form of architecture that comes to my -mind. The façade presented to my view was ornately carved and of most -irregular design, the roof line being so broken as to almost suggest a -ruin, and yet the whole seemed harmonious and not without beauty. Within -the enclosure grew a number of trees and shrubs, all weirdly strange and -all, or almost all, profusely flowering. About them wound walks of -coloured pebbles among which scintillated what appeared to be rare and -beautiful gems, so lovely were the strange, unearthly rays that leaped -and played in the sunshine. - -The old man spoke again, peremptorily this time, as though repeating a -command that had been ignored, but again I shook my head. Then he laid a -hand upon one of his two swords, but as he drew the weapon I leaped to -my feet, with such remarkable results that I cannot even now say which -of us was the more surprised. I must have sailed ten feet into the air -and back about twenty feet from where I had been sitting; then I was -sure that I was upon Mars (not that I had for one instant doubted it), -for the effects of the lesser gravity, the colour of the sward and the -skin-hue of the red Martians I had seen described in the manuscripts of -John Carter, those marvellous and as yet unappreciated contributions to -the scientific literature of a world. There could be no doubt of it, I -stood upon the soil of the Red Planet, I had come to the world of my -dreams—to Barsoom. - -So startled was the old man by my agility that he jumped a bit himself, -though doubtless involuntarily, but, however, with certain results. His -spectacles tumbled from his nose to the sward, and then it was that I -discovered that the pitiful old wretch was practically blind when -deprived of these artificial aids to vision, for he got to his knees and -commenced to grope frantically for the lost glasses, as though his very -life depended upon finding them in the instant. Possibly he thought that -I might take advantage of his helplessness and slay him. Though the -spectacles were enormous and lay within a couple of feet of him he could -not find them, his hands, seemingly afflicted by that strange perversity -that sometimes confounds our simplest acts, passing all about the lost -object of their search, yet never once coming in contact with it. - -As I stood watching his futile efforts and considering the advisability -of restoring to him the means that would enable him more readily to find -my heart with his sword point, I became aware that another had entered -the enclosure. Looking towards the building I saw a large red-man -running rapidly towards the little old man of the spectacles. The -newcomer was quite naked, he carried a club in one hand, and there was -upon his face such an expression as unquestionably boded ill for the -helpless husk of humanity grovelling, mole-like, for its lost -spectacles. - -My first impulse was to remain neutral in an affair that it seemed could -not possibly concern me and of which I had no slightest knowledge upon -which to base a predilection towards either of the parties involved; but -a second glance at the face of the club-bearer aroused a question as to -whether it might not concern me after all. There was that in the -expression upon the man’s face that betokened either an inherent -savageness of disposition or a maniacal cast of mind which might turn -his evidently murderous attentions upon me after he had dispatched his -elderly victim, while, in outward appearance at least, the latter was a -sane and relatively harmless individual. It is true that his move to -draw his sword against me was not indicative of a friendly disposition -towards me, but at least, if there were any choice, he seemed the lesser -of two evils. - -He was still groping for his spectacles and the naked man was almost -upon him as I reached the decision to cast my lot upon the side of the -old man. I was twenty feet away, naked and unarmed, but to cover the -distance with my Earthly muscles required but an instant, and a naked -sword lay by the old man’s side where he had discarded it the better to -search for his spectacles. So it was that I faced the attacker at the -instant that he came within striking distance of his victim, and the -blow which had been intended for another was aimed at me. I sidestepped -it and then I learned that the greater agility of my Earthly muscles had -its disadvantages as well as its advantages, for, indeed, I had to learn -to walk at the very instant that I had to learn to fight with a new -weapon against a maniac armed with a bludgeon, or at least, so I assumed -him to be and I think that it is not strange that I should have done so, -what with his frightful show of rage and the terrible expression upon -his face. - -As I stumbled about endeavouring to accustom myself to the new -conditions, I found that instead of offering any serious opposition to -my antagonist I was hard put to it to escape death at his hands, so -often did I stumble and fall sprawling upon the scarlet sward; so that -the duel from its inception became but a series of efforts, upon his -part to reach and crush me with his great club, and upon mine to dodge -and elude him. It was mortifying but it is the truth. However, this did -not last indefinitely, for soon I learned, and quickly too under the -exigencies of the situation, to command my muscles, and then I stood my -ground and when he aimed a blow at me, and I had dodged it, I touched -him with my point and brought blood along with a savage roar of pain. He -went more cautiously then, and taking advantage of the change I pressed -him so that he fell back. The effect upon me was magical, giving me new -confidence, so that I set upon him in good earnest, thrusting and -cutting until I had him bleeding in a half-dozen places, yet taking good -care to avoid his mighty swings, any one of which would have felled an -ox. - -In my attempts to elude him in the beginning of the duel we had crossed -the enclosure and were now fighting at a considerable distance from the -point of our first meeting. It now happened that I stood facing towards -that point at the moment that the old man regained his spectacles, which -he quickly adjusted to his eyes. Immediately he looked about until he -discovered us, whereupon he commenced to yell excitedly at us at the -same time running in our direction and drawing his short-sword as he -ran. The red-man was pressing me hard, but I had gained almost complete -control of myself, and fearing that I was soon to have two antagonists -instead of one I set upon him with redoubled intensity. He missed me by -the fraction of an inch, the wind in the wake of his bludgeon fanning my -scalp, but he left an opening into which I stepped, running my sword -fairly through his heart. At least I thought that I had pierced his -heart, but I had forgotten what I had once read in one of John Carter’s -manuscripts to the effect that all the Martian internal organs are not -disposed identically with those of Earthmen. However, the immediate -results were quite as satisfactory as though I had found his heart, for -the wound was sufficiently grievous to place him _hors de combat_, and -at that instant the old gentleman arrived. He found me ready, but I had -mistaken his intentions. He made no unfriendly gestures with his weapon, -but seemed to be trying to convince me that he had no intention of -harming me. He was very excited and apparently tremendously annoyed that -I could not understand him, and perplexed, too. He hopped about -screaming strange sentences at me that bore the tones of peremptory -commands, rabid invective and impotent rage. But the fact that he had -returned his sword to its scabbard had greater significance than all his -jabbering, and when he ceased to yell at me and commenced to talk in a -sort of pantomime I realized that he was making overtures of peace if -not of friendship, so I lowered my point and bowed. It was all that I -could think of to assure him that I had no immediate intention of -spitting him. - -He seemed satisfied and at once turned his attention to the fallen man. -He examined his pulse and listened to his heart, then, nodding his head, -he arose and taking a whistle from one of his pocket pouches sounded a -single loud blast. There emerged immediately from one of the surrounding -buildings a score of naked red-men who came running towards us. None was -armed. To these he issued a few curt orders, whereupon they gathered the -fallen one in their arms and bore him off. Then the old man started -towards the building, motioning me to accompany him. There seemed -nothing else for me to do but obey. Wherever I might be upon Mars, the -chances were a million to one that I would be among enemies; and so I -was as well off here as elsewhere and must depend upon my own -resourcefulness, skill and agility to make my way upon the Red Planet. - -The old man led me into a small chamber from which opened numerous -doors, through one of which they were just bearing my late antagonist. -We followed into a large, brilliantly lighted chamber wherein there -burst upon my astounded vision the most gruesome scene that I ever had -beheld. Rows upon rows of tables arranged in parallel lines filled the -room and with few exceptions each table bore a similar grisly burden, a -partially dismembered or otherwise mutilated human corpse. Above each -table was a shelf bearing containers of various sizes and shapes, while -from the bottom of the shelf depended numerous surgical instruments, -suggesting that my entrance upon Barsoom was to be through a gigantic -medical college. - -At a word from the old man, those who bore the Barsoomian I had wounded -laid him upon an empty table and left the apartment. Whereupon my host, -if so I may call him, for certainly he was not as yet my captor, -motioned me forward. While he conversed in ordinary tones, he made two -incisions in the body of my late antagonist; one, I imagine, in a large -vein and one in an artery, to which he deftly attached the ends of two -tubes, one of which was connected with an empty glass receptacle and the -other with a similar receptacle filled with a colourless, transparent -liquid resembling clear water. The connections made, the old gentleman -pressed a button controlling a small motor, whereupon the victim’s blood -was pumped into the empty jar while the contents of the other was forced -into the emptying veins and arteries. - -The tones and gestures of the old man as he addressed me during this -operation convinced me that he was explaining in detail the method and -purpose of what was transpiring, but as I understood no word of all he -said I was as much in the dark when he had completed his discourse as I -was before he started it, though what I had seen made it appear -reasonable to believe that I was witnessing an ordinary Barsoomian -embalming. Having removed the tubes the old man closed the openings he -had made by covering them with bits of what appeared to be heavy -adhesive tape and then motioned me to follow him. We went from room to -room, in each of which were the same gruesome exhibits. At many of the -bodies the old man paused to make a brief examination or to refer to -what appeared to be a record of the case, that hung upon a hook at the -head of each of the tables. - -From the last of the chambers we visited upon the first floor my host -led me up an inclined runway to the second floor where there were rooms -similar to those below, but here the tables bore whole rather than -mutilated bodies, all of which were patched in various places with -adhesive tape. As we were passing among the bodies in one of these rooms -a Barsoomian girl, whom I took to be a servant or slave, entered and -addressed the old man, whereupon he signed me to follow him and together -we descended another runway to the first floor of another building. - -Here, in a large, gorgeously decorated and sumptuously furnished -apartment an elderly red-woman awaited us. She appeared to be quite old -and her face was terribly disfigured as by some injury. Her trappings -were magnificent and she was attended by a score of women and armed -warriors, suggesting that she was a person of some consequence, but the -little old man treated her quite brusquely, as I could see, quite to the -horror of her attendants. - -Their conversation was lengthy and at the conclusion of it, at the -direction of the woman, one of her male escort advanced and opening a -pocket pouch at his side withdrew a handful of what appeared to me to be -Martian coins. A quantity of these he counted out and handed to the -little old man, who then beckoned the woman to follow him, a gesture -which included me. Several of her women and guard started to accompany -us, but these the old man waved back peremptorily; whereupon there -ensued a heated discussion between the woman and one of her warriors on -one side and the old man on the other, which terminated in his -proffering the return of the woman’s money with a disgusted air. This -seemed to settle the argument, for she refused the coins, spoke briefly -to her people and accompanied the old man and myself alone. - -He led the way to the second floor and to a chamber which I had not -previously visited. It closely resembled the others except that all the -bodies therein were of young women, many of them of great beauty. -Following closely at the heels of the old man the woman inspected the -gruesome exhibit with painstaking care. Thrice she passed slowly among -the tables examining their ghastly burdens. Each time she paused longest -before a certain one which bore the figure of the most beautiful -creature I had ever looked upon; then she returned the fourth time to it -and stood looking long and earnestly into the dead face. For awhile she -stood there talking with the old man, apparently asking innumerable -questions, to which he returned quick, brusque replies, then she -indicated the body with a gesture and nodded assent to the withered -keeper of this ghastly exhibit. - -Immediately the old fellow sounded a blast upon his whistle, summoning a -number of servants to whom he issued brief instructions, after which he -led us to another chamber, a smaller one in which were several empty -tables similar to those upon which the corpses lay in adjoining rooms. -Two female slaves or attendants were in this room and at a word from -their master they removed the trappings from the old woman, unloosed her -hair and helped her to one of the tables. Here she was thoroughly -sprayed with what I presume was an antiseptic solution of some nature, -carefully dried and removed to another table, at a distance of about -twenty inches from which stood a second parallel table. - -Now the door of the chamber swung open and two attendants appeared -bearing the body of the beautiful girl we had seen in the adjoining -room. This they deposited upon the table the old woman had just quitted -and as she had been sprayed so was the corpse, after which it was -transferred to the table beside that on which she lay. The little old -man now made two incisions in the body of the old woman, just as he had -in the body of the red-man who had fallen to my sword; her blood was -drawn from her veins and the clear liquid pumped into them, life left -her and she lay upon the polished ersite slab that formed the table top, -as much a corpse as the poor, beautiful, dead creature at her side. - -The little old man, who had removed the harness down to his waist and -been thoroughly sprayed, now selected a sharp knife from among the -instruments above the table and removed the old woman’s scalp, following -the hair line entirely around her head. In a similar manner he then -removed the scalp from the corpse of the young woman, after which, by -means of a tiny circular saw attached to the end of a flexible, -revolving shaft he sawed through the skull of each, following the line -exposed by the removal of the scalps. This and the balance of the -marvellous operation was so skilfully performed as to baffle -description. Suffice it to say that at the end of four hours he had -transferred the brain of each woman to the brain pan of the other, -deftly connected the severed nerves and ganglia, replaced the skulls and -scalps and bound both heads securely with his peculiar adhesive tape, -which was not only antiseptic and healing but anaesthetic, locally, as -well. - -He now reheated the blood that he had withdrawn from the body of the old -woman, adding a few drops of some clear chemical solution, withdrew the -liquid from the veins of the beautiful corpse, replacing it with the -blood of the old woman and simultaneously administering a hypodermic -injection. - -During the entire operation he had not spoken a word. Now he issued a -few instructions in his curt manner to his assistants, motioned me to -follow him, and left the room. He led me to a distant part of the -building or series of buildings that composed the whole, ushered me into -a luxurious apartment, opened the door to a Barsoomian bath and left me -in the hands of trained servants. Refreshed and rested I left the bath -after an hour of relaxation to find harness and trappings awaiting me in -the adjoining chamber. Though plain, they were of good material, but -there were no weapons with them. - -Naturally I had been thinking much upon the strange things I had -witnessed since my advent upon Mars, but what puzzled me most lay in the -seemingly inexplicable act of the old woman in paying my host what was -evidently a considerable sum to murder her and transfer to the inside of -her skull the brain of a corpse. Was it the outcome of some horrible -religious fanaticism, or was there an explanation that my Earthly mind -could not grasp? - -I had reached no decision in the matter when I was summoned to follow a -slave to another and nearby apartment where I found my host awaiting me -before a table loaded with delicious foods, to which, it is needless to -say, I did ample justice after my long fast and longer weeks of rough -army fare. - -During the meal my host attempted to converse with me, but, naturally, -the effort was fruitless of results. He waxed quite excited at times and -upon three distinct occasions laid his hand upon one of his swords when -I failed to comprehend what he was saying to me, an action which -resulted in a growing conviction upon my part that he was partially -demented; but he evinced sufficient self-control in each instance to -avert a catastrophe for one of us. - -The meal over he sat for a long time in deep meditation, then a sudden -resolution seemed to possess him. He turned suddenly upon me with a -faint suggestion of a smile and dove headlong into what was to prove an -intensive course of instruction in the Barsoomian language. It was long -after dark before he permitted me to retire for the night, conducting me -himself to a large apartment, the same in which I had found my new -harness, where he pointed out a pile of rich sleeping silks and furs, -bid me a Barsoomian good night and left me, locking the door after him -upon the outside, and leaving me to guess whether I were more guest or -prisoner. - - - - - CHAPTER II - PREFERMENT - - -Three weeks passed rapidly. I had mastered enough of the Barsoomian -tongue to enable me to converse with my host in a reasonably -satisfactory manner, and I was also progressing slowly in the mastery of -the written language of his nation, which is different, of course, from -the written language of all other Barsoomian nations, though the spoken -language of all is identical. In these three weeks I had learned much of -the strange place in which I was half guest and half prisoner and of my -remarkable host-jailer, Ras Thavas, the old surgeon of Toonol, whom I -had accompanied almost constantly day after day until gradually there -had unfolded before my astounded faculties an understanding of the -purposes of the institution over which he ruled and in which he laboured -practically alone; for the slaves and attendants that served him were -but hewers of wood and carriers of water. It was his brain alone and his -skill that directed the sometimes beneficent, the sometimes malevolent, -but always marvellous activities of his life’s work. - -Ras Thavas himself was as remarkable as the things he accomplished. He -was never intentionally cruel; he was not, I am sure, intentionally -wicked. He was guilty of the most diabolical cruelties and the basest of -crimes; yet in the next moment he might perform a deed that if -duplicated upon Earth would have raised him to the highest pinnacle of -man’s esteem. Though I know that I am safe in saying that he was never -prompted to a cruel or criminal act by base motives, neither was he ever -urged to a humanitarian one by high motives. He had a purely scientific -mind entirely devoid of the cloying influences of sentiment, of which he -possessed none. His was a practical mind, as evidenced by the enormous -fees he demanded for his professional services; yet I know that he would -not operate for money alone and I have seen him devote days to the study -of a scientific problem the solution of which could add nothing to his -wealth, while the quarters that he furnished his waiting clients were -overflowing with wealthy patrons waiting to pour money into his coffers. - -His treatment of me was based entirely upon scientific requirements. I -offered a problem. I was either, quite evidently, not a Barsoomian at -all, or I was of a species of which he had no knowledge. It therefore -best suited the purposes of science that I be preserved and studied. I -knew much about my own planet. It pleased Ras Thavas’ scientific mind to -milk me of all I knew in the hope that he might derive some suggestion -that would solve one of the Barsoomian scientific riddles that still -baffle their savants; but he was compelled to admit that in this respect -I was a total loss, not alone because I was densely ignorant upon -practically all scientific subjects, but because the learned sciences on -Earth have not advanced even to the swaddling-clothes stage as compared -with the remarkable progress of corresponding activities on Mars. Yet he -kept me by him, training me in many of the minor duties of his vast -laboratory. I was entrusted with the formula of the “embalming fluid” -and taught how to withdraw a subject’s blood and replace it with this -marvellous preservative that arrests decay without altering in the -minutest detail the nerve or tissue structure of the body. I learned -also the secret of the few drops of solution which, added to the -rewarmed blood before it is returned to the veins of the subject, -revitalizes the latter and restores to normal and healthy activity each -and every organ of the body. - -He told me once why he had permitted me to learn these things that he -had kept a secret from all others, and why he kept me with him at all -times in preference to any of the numerous individuals of his own race -that served him and me in lesser capacities both day and night. - -“Vad Varo,” he said, using the Barsoomian name that he had given me -because he insisted that my own name was meaningless and impractical, -“for many years I have needed an assistant, but heretofore I have never -felt that I had discovered one who might work here for me wholeheartedly -and disinterestedly without ever having reason to go elsewhere or to -divulge my secrets to others. You, in all Barsoom, are unique—you have -no other friend or acquaintance than myself. Were you to leave me you -would find yourself in a world of enemies, for all are suspicious of a -stranger. You would not survive a dozen dawns and you would be cold and -hungry and miserable—a wretched outcast in a hostile world. Here you -have every luxury that the mind of man can devise or the hand of man -produce, and you are occupied with work of such engrossing interest that -your every hour must be fruitful of unparalleled satisfaction. There is -no selfish reason, therefore, why you should leave me and there is every -reason why you should remain. I expect no loyalty other than that which -may be prompted by egoism. You make an ideal assistant, not only for the -reasons I have just given you, but because you are intelligent and -quick-witted, and now I have decided, after observing you carefully for -a sufficient time, that you can serve me in yet another capacity—that -of personal bodyguard. - -“You may have noticed that I alone of all those connected with my -laboratory am armed. This is unusual upon Barsoom, where people of all -classes, and all ages and both sexes habitually go armed. But many of -these people I could not trust armed as they would slay me; and were I -to give arms to those whom I might trust, who knows but that the others -would obtain possession of them and slay me, or even those whom I had -trusted turn against me, for there is not one who might not wish to go -forth from this place back among his own people—only you, Vad Varo, for -there is no other place for you to go. So I have decided to give you -weapons. - -“You saved my life once. A similar opportunity might again present -itself. I know that, being a reasoning and reasonable creature, you will -not slay me, for you have nothing to gain and everything to lose by my -death, which would leave you friendless and unprotected in a world of -strangers where assassination is the order of society and natural death -one of the rarest of phenomena. Here are your arms.” He stepped to a -cabinet which he unlocked, displaying an assortment of weapons, and -selected for me a long-sword, a short-sword, a pistol and a dagger. - -“You seem sure of my loyalty, Ras Thavas,” I said. - -He shrugged his shoulders. “I am only sure that I know perfectly where -your interests lie—sentimentalists have words: love, loyalty, -friendship, enmity, jealousy, hate, a thousand others; a waste of -words—one word defines them all: self-interest. All men of intelligence -realize this. They analyse an individual and by his predilections and -his needs they classify him as friend or foe, leaving to the weak-minded -idiots who like to be deceived the drooling drivel of sentiment.” - -I smiled as I buckled my weapons to my harness, but I held my peace. -Nothing could be gained by arguing with the man and, too, I felt quite -sure that in any purely academic controversy I should get the worst of -it; but many of the matters of which he had spoken had aroused my -curiosity and one had reawakened in my mind a matter to which I had -given considerable thought. While partially explained by some of his -remarks I still wondered why the red-man from whom I had rescued him had -seemed so venomously bent upon slaying him the day of my advent upon -Barsoom, and so, as we sat chatting after our evening meal, I asked him. - -“A sentimentalist,” he said. “A sentimentalist of the most pronounced -type. Why that fellow hated me with a venom absolutely unbelievable by -any of the reactions of a trained, analytical mind such as mine; but -having witnessed his reactions I become cognizant of a state of mind -that I cannot of myself even imagine. Consider the facts. He was the -victim of assassination—a young warrior in the prime of life, -possessing a handsome face and a splendid physique. One of my agents -paid his relatives a satisfactory sum for the corpse and brought it to -me. It is thus that I obtain practically all of my material. I treated -it in the manner with which you are familiar. For a year the body lay in -the laboratory, there being no occasion during that time that I had use -for it; but eventually a rich client came, a not overly prepossessing -man of considerable years. He had fallen desperately in love with a -young woman who was attended by many handsome suitors. My client had -more money than any of them, more brains, more experience, but he lacked -the one thing that each of the others had that always weighs heavily -with the undeveloped, unreasoning, sentiment-ridden minds of young -females—good looks. - -“Now 378-J-493811-P had what my client lacked and could afford to -purchase. Quickly we reached an agreement as to price and I transferred -the brain of my rich client to the head of 378-J-493811-P and my client -went away and for all I know won the hand of the beautiful moron; and -378-J-493811-P might have rested on indefinitely upon his ersite slab -until I needed him or a part of him in my work, had I not, merely by -chance, selected him for resurgence because of an existing need for -another male slave. - -“Mind you now, the man had been murdered. He was dead. I bought and paid -for the corpse and all there was in it. He might have lain dead forever -upon one of my ersite slabs had I not breathed new life into his dead -veins. Did he have the brains to view the transaction in a wise and -dispassionate manner? He did not. His sentimental reactions caused him -to reproach me because I had given him another body, though it seemed to -me that, looking at the matter from a standpoint of sentiment, if one -must, he should have considered me as a benefactor for having given him -life again in a perfectly healthy, if somewhat used, body. - -“He had spoken to me upon the subject several times, begging me to -restore his body to him, a thing of which, of course, as I explained to -him, was utterly out of the question unless chance happened to bring to -my laboratory the corpse of the client who had purchased his carcass—a -contingency quite beyond the pale of possibility for one as wealthy as -my client. The fellow even suggested that I permit him to go forth and -assassinate my client, bringing the body back that I might reverse the -operation and restore his body to his brain. When I refused to divulge -the name of the present possessor of his body he grew sulky, but until -the very hour of your arrival, when he attacked me, I did not suspect -the depth of his hate complex. - -“Sentiment is indeed a bar to all progress. We of Toonol are probably -less subject to its vagaries than most other nations upon Barsoom, but -yet most of my fellow countrymen are victims of it in varying degrees. -It has its rewards and compensations, however. Without it we could -preserve no stable form of government and the Phundahlians, or some -other people, would overrun and conquer us; but enough of our lower -classes have sentiment to a sufficient degree to give them loyalty to -the Jeddak of Toonol and the upper classes are brainy enough to know -that it is to their own best interests to keep him upon his throne. - -“The Phundahlians, upon the other hand, are egregious sentimentalists, -filled with crass stupidities and superstitions, slaves to every variety -of brain withering conceit. Why the very fact that they keep the old -termagant, Xaxa, on the throne brands them with their stupid idiocy. She -is an ignorant, arrogant, selfish, stupid, cruel virago, yet the -Phundahlians would fight and die for her because her father was Jeddak -of Phundahl. She taxes them until they can scarce stagger beneath their -burden, she misrules them, exploits them, betrays them, and they fall -down and worship at her feet. Why? Because her father was Jeddak of -Phundahl and his father before him and so on back into antiquity; -because they are ruled by sentiment rather than reason; because their -wicked rulers play upon this sentiment. - -“She had nothing to recommend her to a sane person—not even beauty. You -know, you saw her.” - -“I saw her?” I demanded. - -“You assisted me the day that we gave her old brain a new casket—the -day you arrived from what you call your Earth.” - -“She! That old woman was Jeddara of Phundahl?” - -“That was Xaxa,” he assured me. - -“Why, you did not accord her the treatment that one of the Earth would -suppose would be accorded a ruler, and so I had no idea that she was -more than a rich old woman.” - -“I am Ras Thavas,” said the old man. “Why should I incline the head to -any other? In my world nothing counts but brain and in that respect, and -without egotism, I may say that I acknowledge no superior.” - -“Then you are not without sentiment,” I said, smiling. “You acknowledge -pride in your intellect!” - -“It is not pride,” he said, patiently, for him, “it is merely a fact -that I state. A fact that I should have no difficulty in proving. In all -probability I have the most highly developed and perfectly functioning -mind among all the learned men of my acquaintance, and reason indicates -that this fact also suggests that I possess the most highly developed -and perfectly functioning mind upon Barsoom. From what I know of Earth -and from what I have seen of you, I am convinced that there is no mind -upon your planet that may even faintly approximate in power that which I -have developed during a thousand years of active study and research. -Rasoom (Mercury) or Cosoom (Venus) may possibly support intelligences -equal to or even greater than mine. While we have made some study of -their thought waves, our instruments are not yet sufficiently developed -to more than suggest that they are of extreme refinement, power and -flexibility.” - -“And what of the girl whose body you gave to the Jeddara?” I asked, -irrelevantly, for my mind could not efface the memory of that sweet body -that must, indeed, have possessed an equally sweet and fine brain. - -“Merely a subject! Merely a subject!” he replied with a wave of his -hand. - -“What will become of her?” I insisted. - -“What difference does it make?” he demanded. “I bought her with a batch -of prisoners of war. I do not even recall from what country my agent -obtained them, or from whence they originated. Such matters are of no -import.” - -“She was alive when you bought her?” I demanded. - -“Yes. Why?” - -“You—er—ah—killed her, then?” - -“Killed her! No; I preserved her. That was some ten years ago. Why -should I permit her to grow old and wrinkled? She would no longer have -the same value then, would she? No, I preserved her. When Xaxa bought -her she was just as fresh and young as the day she arrived. I kept her a -long time. Many women looked at her and wanted her face and figure, but -it took a Jeddara to afford her. She brought the highest price that I -have ever been paid. - -“Yes, I kept her a long time, but I knew that some day she would bring -my price. She was indeed beautiful and so sentiment has its uses—were -it not for sentiment there would be no fools to support this work that I -am doing, thus permitting me to carry on investigations of far greater -merit. You would be surprised, I know, were I to tell you that I feel -that I am almost upon the point of being able to produce rational human -beings through the action upon certain chemical combinations of a group -of rays probably entirely undiscovered by your scientists, if I am to -judge by the paucity of your knowledge concerning such things.” - -“I would not be surprised,” I assured him. “I would not be surprised by -anything that you might accomplish.” - - - - - CHAPTER III - VALLA DIA - - -I lay awake a long time that night thinking of 4296-E-2631-H, the -beautiful girl whose perfect body had been stolen to furnish a gorgeous -setting for the cruel brain of a tyrant. It seemed such a horrid crime -that I could not rid my mind of it and I think that contemplation of it -sowed the first seed of my hatred and loathing for Ras Thavas. I could -not conjure a creature so utterly devoid of bowels of compassion as to -even consider for a moment the frightful ravishing of that sweet and -lovely body for even the holiest of purposes, much less one that could -have been induced to do so for filthy pelf. - -So much did I think upon the girl that night that her image was the -first to impinge upon my returning consciousness at dawn, and after I -had eaten, Ras Thavas not having appeared, I went directly to the -storage room where the poor thing was. Here she lay, identified only by -a small panel, bearing a number: 4296-E-2631-H. The body of an old woman -with a disfigured face lay before me in the rigid immobility of death; -yet that was not the figure that I saw, but instead, a vision of radiant -loveliness whose imprisoned soul lay dormant beneath those greying -locks. - -The creature here with the face and form of Xaxa was not Xaxa at all, -for all that made the other what she was had been transferred to this -cold corpse. How frightful would be the awakening, should awakening ever -come! I shuddered to think of the horror that must overwhelm the girl -when first she realized the horrid crime that had been perpetrated upon -her. Who was she? What story lay locked in that dead and silent brain? -What loves must have been hers whose beauty was so great and upon whose -fair face had lain the indelible imprint of graciousness! Would Ras -Thavas ever arouse her from this happy semblance of death?—far happier -than any quickening ever could be for her. I shrank from the thought of -her awakening and yet I longed to hear her speak, to know that that -brain lived again, to learn her name, to listen to the story of this -gentle life that had been so rudely snatched from its proper environment -and so cruelly handled by the hand of Fate. And suppose she were -awakened! Suppose she were awakened and that I—— A hand was laid upon -my shoulder and I turned to look into the face of Ras Thavas. - -“You seem interested in this subject,” he said. - -“I was wondering,” I replied, “what the reaction of this girl’s brain would -be were she to awaken to the discovery that she had become an old, -disfigured woman.” - -He stroked his chin and eyed me narrowly. “An interesting experiment,” -he mused. “I am gratified to discover that you are taking a scientific -interest in the labours that I am carrying on. The psychological phases -of my work I have, I must confess, rather neglected during the past -hundred years or so, though I formerly gave them a great deal of -attention. It would be interesting to observe and study several of these -cases. This one, especially, might prove of value to you as an initial -study, it being simple and regular. Later we will let you examine into a -case where a man’s brain has been transferred to a woman’s skull, and a -woman’s brain to a man’s. There are also the interesting cases where a -portion of diseased or injured brain has been replaced by a portion of -the brain from another subject; and, for experimental purposes alone, -those human brains that have been transplanted to the craniums of -beasts, and _vice versa_, offer tremendous opportunities for -observation. I have in mind one case in which I transferred half the -brain of an ape to the skull of a man, after having removed half of his -brain, which I grafted upon the remaining part of the brain in the ape’s -skull. That was a matter of several years ago and I have often thought -that I should like to recall these two subjects and note the results. I -shall have to have a look at them—as I recall it they are in vault -L-42-X, beneath building 4-J-21. We shall have to have a look at them -some day soon—it has been years since I have been below. There must be -some very interesting specimens there that have escaped my mind. But -come! let us recall 4296-E-2631-H.” - -“No!” I exclaimed, laying a hand upon his arm. “It would be horrible.” - -He turned a surprised look upon me and then a nasty, sneering smile -curled his lips. “Maudlin, sentimental fool!” he cried. “Who dare say no -to me?” - -I laid a hand upon the hilt of my long-sword and looked him steadily in -the eye. “Ras Thavas,” I said, “you are master in your own house; but -while I am your guest treat me with courtesy.” - -He returned my look for a moment but his eyes wavered. “I was hasty,” he -said. “Let it pass.” That, I let answer for an apology—really it was -more than I had expected—but the event was not unfortunate. I think he -treated me with far greater respect thereafter; but now he turned -immediately to the slab bearing the mortal remains of 4296-E-2631-H. - -“Prepare the subject for revivification,” he said, “and make what study -you can of all its reactions.” With that he left the room. - -I was now fairly adept at this work which I set about with some -misgivings but with the assurance that I was doing right in obeying Ras -Thavas while I remained a member of his entourage. The blood that had -once flowed through the veins of the beautiful body that Ras Thavas had -sold to Xaxa reposed in an hermetically sealed vessel upon the shelf -above the corpse. As I had before done in other cases beneath the -watchful eyes of the old surgeon I now did for the first time alone. The -blood heated, the incisions made, the tubes attached and the few drops -of life-giving solution added to the blood, I was now ready to restore -life to that delicate brain that had lain dead for ten years. As my -finger rested upon the little button that actuated the motor that was to -send the revivifying liquid into those dormant veins, I experienced such -a sensation as I imagined no mortal man has ever felt. - -I had become master of life and death, and yet at this moment that I -stood there upon the point of resurrecting the dead I felt more like a -murderer than a saviour. I tried to view the procedure dispassionately -through the cold eye of science, but I failed miserably. I could only -see a stricken girl grieving for her lost beauties. With a muffled oath -I turned away. I could not do it! And then, as though an outside force -had seized upon me, my finger moved unerringly to the button and pressed -it. I cannot explain it, unless upon the theory of dual mentality, which -may explain many things. Perhaps my subjective mind directed the act. I -do not know. Only I know that I did it, the motor started, the level of -the blood in the container commenced gradually to lower. - -Spell-bound, I stood watching. Presently the vessel was empty. I shut -off the motor, removed the tubes, sealed the openings with tape. The red -glow of life tinged the body, replacing the sallow, purplish hue of -death. The breasts rose and fell regularly, the head turned slightly and -the eyelids moved. A faint sigh issued from between the parting lips. -For a long time there was no other sign of life, then, suddenly, the -eyes opened. They were dull at first, but presently they commenced to -fill with questioning wonderment. They rested on me and then passed on -about that portion of the room that was visible from the position of the -body. Then they came back to me and remained steadily fixed upon my -countenance after having once surveyed me up and down. There was still -the questioning in them, but there was no fear. - -“Where am I?” she asked. The voice was that of an old woman—high and -harsh. A startled expression filled her eyes. “What is the matter with -me? What is wrong with my voice? What has happened?” - -I laid a hand upon her forehead. “Don’t bother about it now,” I said, -soothingly. “Wait until sometime when you are stronger. Then I will tell -you.” - -She sat up. “I am strong,” she said, and then her eyes swept her lower -body and limbs and a look of utter horror crossed her face. “What has -happened to me? In the name of my first ancestor, what has happened to -me?” - -The shrill, harsh voice grated upon me. It was the voice of Xaxa and -Xaxa now must possess the sweet musical tones that alone would have -harmonized with the beautiful face she had stolen. I tried to forget -those strident notes and think only of the pulchritude of the envelope -that had once graced the soul within this old and withered carcass. - -She extended a hand and laid it gently upon mine. The act was beautiful, -the movements graceful. The brain of the girl directed the muscles, but -the old, rough vocal chords of Xaxa could give forth no sweeter notes. -“Tell me, please!” she begged. There were tears in the old eyes, I’ll -venture for the first time in many years. “Tell me! You do not seem -unkind.” - -And so I told her. She listened intently and when I was through she -sighed. “After all,” she said, “it is not so dreadful, now that I really -know. It is better than being dead.” That made me glad that I had -pressed the button. She was glad to be alive, even draped in the hideous -carcass of Xaxa. I told her as much. - -“You were so beautiful,” I told her. - -“And now I am so ugly?” I made no answer. - -“After all, what difference does it make?” she inquired presently. “This -old body cannot change me, or make me different from what I have always -been. The good in me remains and whatever of sweetness and kindness, and -I can be happy to be alive and perhaps to do some good. I was terrified -at first, because I did not know what had happened to me. I thought that -maybe I had contracted some terrible disease that had so altered -me—that horrified me; but now that I know—pouf! what of it?” - -“You are wonderful,” I said. “Most women would have gone mad with the -horror and grief of it—to lose such wondrous beauty as was yours—and -you do not care.” - -“Oh, yes, I care, my friend,” she corrected me, “but I do not care -enough to ruin my life in all other respects because of it, or to cast a -shadow upon the lives of those around me. I have had my beauty and -enjoyed it. It is not an unalloyed happiness I can assure you. Men -killed one another because of it; two great nations went to war because -of it; and perhaps my father lost his throne or his life—I do not know, -for I was captured by the enemy while the war still raged. It may be -raging yet and men dying because I was too beautiful. No one will fight -for me now, though,” she added, with a rueful smile. - -“Do you know how long you have been here?” I asked. - -“Yes,” she replied. “It was the day before yesterday that they brought -me hither.” - -“It was ten years ago,” I told her. - -“Ten years! Impossible.” - -I pointed to the corpses around us. “You have lain like this for ten -years,” I explained. “There are subjects here who have lain thus for -fifty, Ras Thavas tells me.” - -“Ten years! Ten years! What may not have happened in ten years! It is -better thus. I should fear to go back now. I should not want to know -that my father, my mother too, perhaps, were gone. It is better thus. -Perhaps you will let me sleep again? May I not?” - -“That remains with Ras Thavas,” I replied; “but for a while I am to -observe you.” - -“Observe me?” - -“Study you—your reactions.” - -“Ah! and what good will that do?” - -“It may do some good in the world.” - -“It may give this horrid Ras Thavas some new ideas for his torture -chamber—some new scheme for coining money from the suffering of his -victims,” she said, her harsh voice saddened. - -“Some of his works are good,” I told her. “The money he makes permits -him to maintain this wonderful establishment where he constantly carries -on countless experiments. Many of his operations are beneficent. -Yesterday a warrior was brought in whose arm was crushed beyond repair. -Ras Thavas gave him a new arm. A demented child was brought. Ras Thavas -gave her a new brain. The arm and the brain were taken from two who had -met violent deaths. Through Ras Thavas they were permitted, after death, -to give life and happiness to others.” - -She thought for a moment. “I am content,” she said. “I only hope that -you will always be the observer.” - -Presently Ras Thavas came and examined her. “A good subject,” he said. -He looked at the chart where I had made a very brief record following -the other entries relative to the history of Case No. 4296-E-2631-H. Of -course this is, naturally, a rather free translation of this particular -identification number. The Barsoomians have no alphabet such as ours and -their numbering system is quite different. The thirteen characters above -were represented by four Toonolian characters, yet the meaning was quite -the same—they represented, in contracted form, the case number, the -room, the table and the building. - -“The subject will be quartered near you where you may regularly observe -it,” continued Ras Thavas. “There is a chamber adjoining yours. I will -see that it is unlocked. Take the subject there. When not under your -observation, lock it in.” _It_ was only another _case_ to him. - -I took the girl, if I may so call her, to her quarters. On the way I -asked her her name, for it seemed to me an unnecessary discourtesy -always to address her and refer to her as 4296-E-2631-H, and this I -explained to her. - -“It is considerate of you to think of that,” she said, “but really that -is all that I am here—just another subject for vivisection.” - -“You are more than that to me,” I told her. “You are friendless and -helpless. I want to be of service to you—to make your lot easier if I -can.” - -“Thank you again,” she said. “My name is Valla Dia, and yours?” - -“Ras Thavas calls me Vad Varo,” I told her. - -“But that is not your name?” - -“My name is Ulysses Paxton.” - -“It is a strange name, unlike any that I have ever heard, but you are -unlike any man I have ever seen—you do not seem Barsoomian. Your colour -is unlike that of any race.” - -“I am not of Barsoom, but from Earth, the planet you sometimes call -Jasoom. That is why I differ in appearance from any you have known -before.” - -“Jasoom! There is another Jasoomian here whose fame has reached to the -remotest corners of Barsoom, but I never have seen him.” - -“John Carter?” I asked. - -“Yes, The War Lord. He was of Helium and my people were not friendly -with those of Helium. I never could understand how he came here. And now -there is another from Jasoom—how can it be? How did you cross the great -void?” - -I shook my head. “I cannot even guess,” I told her. - -“Jasoom must be peopled with wonderful men,” she said. It was a pretty -compliment. - -“As Barsoom is with beautiful women,” I replied. - -She glanced down ruefully at her old and wrinkled body. - -“I have seen the real you,” I said gently. - -“I hate to think of my face,” she said. “I know it is a frightful -thing.” - -“It is not you, remember that when you see it and do not feel too -badly.” - -“Is it as bad as that?” she asked. - -I did not reply. “Never mind,” she said presently. “If I had not beauty -of the soul, I was not beautiful, no matter how perfect my features may -have been; but if I possessed beauty of soul then I have it now. So I -can think beautiful thoughts and perform beautiful deeds and that, I -think, is the real test of beauty, after all.” - -“And there is hope,” I added, almost in a whisper. - -“Hope? No, there is no hope, if what you mean to suggest is that I may -some time regain my lost self. You have told me enough to convince me -that that can never be.” - -“We will not speak of it,” I said, “but we may think of it and sometimes -thinking a great deal of a thing helps us to find a way to get it, if we -want it badly enough.” - -“I do not want to hope,” she said, “for it will but mean disappointment -for me. I shall be happy as I am. Hoping, I should always be unhappy.” - -I had ordered food for her and after it was brought Ras Thavas sent for -me and I left her, locking the door of her chamber as the old surgeon -had instructed. I found Ras Thavas in his office, a small room which -adjoined a very large one in which were a score of clerks arranging and -classifying reports from various departments of the great laboratory. He -arose as I entered. - -“Come with me, Vad Varo,” he directed. “We will have a look at the two -cases in L-42-X, the two of which I spoke.” - -“The man with half a simian brain and the ape with a half human brain?” -I asked. - -He nodded and preceded me towards the runway that led to the vaults -beneath the building. As we descended, the corridors and passageways -indicated long disuse. The floors were covered with an impalpable dust, -long undisturbed; the tiny radium bulbs that faintly illuminated the -sub-barsoomian depths were likewise coated. As we proceeded, we passed -many doorways on either side, each marked with its descriptive -hieroglyphic. Several of the openings had been tightly sealed with -masonry. What gruesome secrets were hid within? At last we came to -L-42-X. Here the bodies were arranged on shelves, several rows of which -almost completely filled the room from floor to ceiling, except for a -rectangular space in the centre of the chamber, which accommodated an -ersite topped operating table with its array of surgical instruments, -its motor and other laboratory equipment. - -Ras Thavas searched out the subjects of his strange experiment and -together we carried the human body to the table. While Ras Thavas -attached the tubes I returned for the vessel of blood which reposed upon -the same shelf with the corpse. The now familiar method of -revivification was soon accomplished and presently we were watching the -return of consciousness to the subject. - -The man sat up and looked at us, then he cast a quick glance about the -chamber; there was a savage light in his eyes as they returned to us. -Slowly he backed from the table to the floor, keeping the former between -us. - -“We will not harm you,” said Ras Thavas. - -The man attempted to reply, but his words were unintelligible gibberish, -then he shook his head and growled. Ras Thavas took a step towards him -and the man dropped to all fours, his knuckles resting on the floor, and -backed away, growling. - -“Come!” cried Ras Thavas. “We will not harm you.” Again he attempted to -approach the subject, but the man only backed quickly away, growling -more fiercely; and then suddenly he wheeled and climbed quickly to the -top of the highest shelf, where he squatted upon a corpse and gibbered -at us. - -“We shall have to have help,” said Ras Thavas and, going to the doorway, -he blew a signal upon his whistle. - -“What are you blowing that for?” demanded the man suddenly. “Who are -you? What am I doing here? What has happened to me?” - -“Come down,” said Ras Thavas. “We are friends.” - -Slowly the man descended to the floor and came towards us, but he still -moved with his knuckles to the pavement. He looked about at the corpses -and a new light entered his eyes. - -“I am hungry!” he cried. “I will eat!” and with that he seized the -nearest corpse and dragged it to the floor. - -“Stop! Stop!” cried Ras Thavas, leaping forward. “You will ruin the -subject,” but the man only backed away, dragging the corpse along the -floor after him. It was then that the attendants came and with their -help we subdued and bound the poor creature. Then Ras Thavas had the -attendants bring the body of the ape and he told them to remain, as we -might need them. - -The subject was a large specimen of the Barsoomian white ape, one of the -most savage and fearsome denizens of the Red Planet, and because of the -creature’s great strength and ferocity Ras Thavas took the precaution to -see that it was securely bound before resurgence. - -It was a colossal creature about ten or fifteen feet tall, standing -erect, and had an intermediary set of arms or legs midway between its -upper and lower limbs. The eyes were close together and non-protruding; -the ears were high set, while its snout and teeth were strikingly like -those of our African gorilla. - -With returning consciousness the creature eyed us questioningly. Several -times it seemed to essay to speak, but only inarticulate sounds issued -from its throat. Then it lay still for a period. - -Ras Thavas spoke to it. “If you understand my words, nod your head.” The -creature nodded. - -“Would you like to be freed of your bonds?” asked the surgeon. - -Again the creature nodded an affirmative. - -“I fear that you will attempt to injure us, or escape,” said Ras Thavas. - -The ape was apparently trying very hard to articulate and at last there -issued from its lips a sound that could not be misunderstood. It was the -single word no. - -“You will not harm us or try to escape?” Ras Thavas repeated his -question. - -“No,” said the ape, and this time the word was clearly enunciated. - -“We shall see,” said Ras Thavas. “But remember that with our weapons we -may dispatch you quickly if you attack us.” - -The ape nodded, and then, very laboriously: “I will not harm you.” - -At a sign from Ras Thavas the attendants removed the bonds and the -creature sat up. It stretched its limbs and slid easily to the floor, -where it stood erect upon two feet, which was not surprising, since the -white ape goes more often upon two feet than six; a fact of which I was -not cognizant at the time, but which Ras Thavas explained to me later in -commenting upon the fact that the human subject had gone upon all fours, -which, to Ras Thavas, indicated a reversion to type in the fractional -ape-brain transplanted to the human skull. - -Ras Thavas examined the subject at considerable length and then resumed -his examination of the human subject which continued to evince more -simian characteristics than human, though it spoke more easily than the -ape, because, undoubtedly, of its more perfect vocal organs. It was only -by exerting the closest attention that the diction of the ape became -understandable at all. - -“There is nothing remarkable about these subjects,” said Ras Thavas, -after devoting half a day to them. “They bear out what I had already -determined years ago in the transplanting of entire brains; that the act -of transplanting stimulates growth and activity of brain cells. You will -note that in each subject the transplanted portions of the brains are -more active—they, in a considerable measure, control. That is why we -have the human subject displaying distinctly simian characteristics, -while the ape behaves in a more human manner; though if longer and -closer observation were desirable you would doubtless find that each -reverted at times to his own nature—that is the ape would be more -wholly an ape and the human more manlike—but it is not worth the time, -of which I have already given too much to a rather unprofitable -forenoon. I shall leave you now to restore the subjects to anaesthesia -while I return to the laboratories above. The attendants will remain -here to assist you, if required.” - -The ape, who had been an interested listener, now stepped forward. “Oh, -please, I pray you,” it mumbled, “do not again condemn me to these -horrid shelves. I recall the day that I was brought here securely bound, -and though I have no recollection of what has transpired since I can but -guess from the appearance of my own skin and that of these dusty corpses -that I have lain here long. I beg that you will permit me to live and -either restore me to my fellows or allow me to serve in some capacity in -this establishment, of which I saw something between the time of my -capture and the day that I was carried into this laboratory, bound and -helpless, to one of your cold, ersite slabs.” - -Ras Thavas made a gesture of impatience. “Nonsense!” he cried. “You are -better off here, where you can be preserved in the interests of -science.” - -“Accede to his request,” I begged, “and I will myself take over all -responsibility for him while I profit by the study that he will afford -me.” - -“Do as you are directed,” snapped Ras Thavas as he quit the room. - -I shrugged my shoulders. “There is nothing for it, then,” I said. - -“I might dispatch you all and escape,” mused the ape, aloud, “but you -would have helped me. I could not kill one who would have befriended -me—yet I shrink from the thought of another death. How long have I lain -here?” - -I referred to the history of his case that had been brought and -suspended at the head of the table. “Twelve years,” I told him. - -“And yet, why not?” he demanded of himself. “This man would slay me—why -should I not slay him first.” - -“It would do you no good,” I assured him, “for you could never escape. -Instead you would be really killed, dying a death from which Ras Thavas -would probably think it not worth while ever to recall you, while I, who -might find the opportunity at some later date and who have the -inclination, would be dead at your hands and thus incapable of saving -you.” - -I had been speaking in a low voice, close to his ear, that the -attendants might not overhear me. The ape listened intently. - -“You will do as you suggest?” he asked. - -“At the first opportunity that presents itself,” I assured him. - -“Very well,” he said, “I will submit, trusting to you.” - -A half hour later both subjects had been returned to their shelves. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - THE COMPACT - - -Days ran into weeks, weeks into months, as day by day I labored at the -side of Ras Thavas, and more and more the old surgeon took me into his -confidence, more and more he imparted to me the secrets of his skill and -his profession. Gradually he permitted me to perform more and more -important functions in the actual practice of his vast laboratory. I -started transferring limbs from one subject to another, then internal -organs of the digestive tract. Then he entrusted to me a complete -operation upon a paying client. I removed the kidneys from a rich old -man, replacing them with healthy ones from a young subject. The -following day I gave a stunted child new thyroid glands. A week later I -transferred two hearts and then, at last, came the great day for -me—unassisted, with Ras Thavas standing silently beside me, I took the -brain of an old man and transplanted it within the cranium of a youth. - -When I had done Ras Thavas laid a hand upon my shoulder. “I could not -have done better myself,” he said. He seemed much elated and I could not -but wonder at this unusual demonstration of emotion upon his part, he -who so prided himself upon his lack of emotionalism. I had often -pondered the purpose which influenced Ras Thavas to devote so much time -to my training, but never had I hit upon any more satisfactory -explanation than that he had need of assistance in his growing practice. -Yet when I consulted the records, that were now open to me, I discovered -that his practice was no greater than it had been for many years; and -even had it been there was really no reason why he should have trained -me in preference to one of his red-Martian assistants, his belief in my -loyalty not being sufficient warrant, in my mind, for this preferment -when he could, as well as not, have kept me for a bodyguard and trained -one of his own kind to aid him in his surgical work. - -But I was presently to learn that he had an excellent reason for what he -was doing—Ras Thavas always had an excellent reason for whatever he -did. One night after we had finished our evening meal he sat looking at -me intently as he so often did, as though he would read my mind, which, -by the way, he was totally unable to do, much to his surprise and -chagrin; for unless a Martian is constantly upon the alert any other -Martian can read clearly his every thought; but Ras Thavas was unable to -read mine. He said that it was due to the fact that I was not a -Barsoomian. Yet I could often read the minds of his assistants, when -they were off their guard, though never had I read aught of Ras Thavas’ -thoughts, nor, I am sure, had any other read them. He kept his brain -sealed like one of his own blood jars, nor was he ever for a moment -found with his barriers down. - -He sat looking at me this evening for a long time, nor did it in the -least embarrass me, so accustomed was I to his peculiarities. “Perhaps,” -he said presently, “one of the reasons that I trust you is due to the -fact that I cannot ever, at any time, fathom your mind; so, if you -harbor traitorous thoughts concerning me I do not know it, while the -others, every one of them, reveal their inmost souls to my searching -mind and in each one there is envy, jealousy or hatred of me. Them, I -know, I cannot trust. Therefore I must accept the risk and place all my -dependence upon you, and my reason tells me that my choice is a wise -one—I have told you upon what grounds it based my selection of you as -my bodyguard. The same holds true in my selection of you for the thing I -have in mind. You cannot harm me without harming yourself and no man -will intentionally do that; nor is there any reason why you should feel -any deep antagonism towards me. - -“You are, of course, a sentimentalist and doubtless you look with horror -upon many of the acts of a sane, rational, scientific mind; but you are -also highly intelligent and can, therefore, appreciate better than -another, even though you may not approve them, the motives that prompt -me to do many of those things of which your sentimentality disapproves. -I may have offended you, but I have never wronged you, nor have I -wronged any creature for which you might have felt some of your -so-called friendship or love. Are my premises incorrect, or my reasoning -faulty?” - -I assured him to the contrary. - -“Very well! Now let me explain why I have gone to such pains to train -you as no other human being, aside from myself, has ever been trained. I -am not ready to use you yet, or rather you are not ready; but if you -know my purpose you will realize the necessity for bending your energy -to the consummation of my purpose, and to that end you will strive even -more diligently than you have to perfect yourself in the high, -scientific art I am imparting to you. - -“I am a very old man,” he continued after a brief pause, “even as age -goes upon Barsoom. I have lived more than a thousand years. I have -passed the allotted natural span of life, but I am not through with my -life’s work—I have but barely started it. I must not die. Barsoom must -not be robbed of this wondrous brain and skill of mine. I have long had -in mind a plan to thwart death, but it required another with skill equal -to mine—two such might live for ever. I have selected you to be that -other, for reasons that I already have explained—they are undefiled by -sentimentalism. I did not choose you because I love you, or because I -feel friendship for you, or because I think that you love me, or feel -friendship towards me. I chose you because I knew that of all the -inhabitants of a world you were the one least likely to fail me. For a -time you will have my life in your hands. You will understand now why I -have not been able to choose carelessly.” - -“This plan that I have chosen is simplicity itself provided that I can -count upon just two essential factors—skill and self-interested loyalty -in an assistant. My body is about worn out. I must have a new one. My -laboratory is filled with wonderful bodies, young and complete with -potential strength and health. I have but to select one of these and -have my skilled assistant transfer my brain from this old carcass to the -new one.” He paused. - -“I understand now, why you have trained me,” I said. “It has puzzled me -greatly.” - -“Thus and thus only may I continue my labors,” he went on, “and thus may -Barsoom be assured a continuance practically indefinitely, of the -benefits that my brain may bestow upon her children. I may live for -ever, provided I always have a skilled assistant, and I may assure -myself of such by seeing to it that he never dies; when he wears out one -organ, or his whole body, I can replace either from my great storehouse -of perfect parts, and for me he can perform the same service. Thus may -we continue to live indefinitely; for the brain, I believe, is almost -deathless, unless injured or attacked by disease. - -“You are not ready as yet to be entrusted with this important task. You -must transfer many more brains and meet with and overcome the various -irregularities and idiosyncrasies that constitute the never failing -differences that render no two operations identical. When you gain -sufficient proficiency I shall be the first to know it and then we shall -lose no time in making Barsoom safe for posterity.” - -The old man was far from achieving hatred of himself. However, his plan -was an excellent one, both for himself and for me. It assured us -immortality—we might live for ever and always with strong, healthy, -young bodies. The outlook was alluring—and what a wonderful position it -placed me in. If the old man could be assured of my loyalty because of -self-interest, similarly might I depend upon his loyalty; for he could -not afford to antagonize the one creature in the world who could assure -him immortality, or withhold it from him. For the first time since I had -entered his establishment I felt safe. - -As soon as I had left him I went directly to Valla Dia’s apartment, for -I wanted to tell her this wonderful news. In the weeks that had passed -since her resurrection I had seen much of her and in our daily -intercourse there had been revealed to me little by little the wondrous -beauties of her soul, until at last I no longer saw the hideous, -disfigured face of Xaxa when I looked upon her, but the eyes of my heart -penetrated deeper to the loveliness that lay within that sweet mind. She -had become my confidant, as I was hers, and this association constituted -the one great pleasure of my existence upon Barsoom. - -Her congratulations, when I told her of what had come to me, were very -sincere and lovely. She said that she hoped I would use this great power -of mine to do good in the world. I assured her that I would and that -among the first things that I should demand of Ras Thavas was that he -should give Valla Dia a beautiful body; but she shook her head. - -“No, my friend,” she said, “if I may not have my own body this old one -of Xaxa’s is quite as good for me as another. Without my own body I -should not care to return to my native country; while were Ras Thavas to -give me the beautiful body of another, I should always be in danger of -the covetousness of his clients, any one of whom might see and desire to -purchase it, leaving to me her old husk, conceivably one quite terribly -diseased or maimed. No, my friend, I am satisfied with the body of Xaxa, -unless I may again possess my own, for Xaxa at least bequeathed me a -tough and healthy envelope, however ugly it may be; and for what do -looks count here? You, alone, are my friend—that I have your friendship -is enough. You admire me for what I am, not for what I look like, so let -us leave well enough alone.” - -“If you could regain your own body and return to your native country, -you would like that?” I demanded. - -“Oh, do not say it!” she cried. “The simple thought of it drives me mad -with longing. I must not harbour so hopeless a dream that at best may -only tantalize me into greater abhorrence of my lot.” - -“Do not say that it is hopeless,” I urged. “Death, only, renders hope -futile.” - -“You mean to be kind,” she said, “but you are only hurting me. There can -be no hope.” - -“May I hope for you, then?” I asked. “For I surely see a way; however -slight a possibility for success it may have, still, it is a way.” - -She shook her head. “There is no way,” she said, with finality. “No more -will Duhor know me.” - -“Duhor?” I repeated. “Your—someone you care for very much?” - -“I care for Duhor very much,” she answered with a smile, “but Duhor is -not someone—Duhor is my home, the country of my ancestors.” - -“How came you to leave Duhor?” I asked. “You have never told me, Valla -Dia.” - -“It was because of the ruthlessness of Jal Had, Prince of Amhor,” she -replied. “Hereditary enemies were Duhor and Amhor; but Jal Had came -disguised into the city of Duhor, having heard, they say, of the great -beauty attributed to the only daughter of Kor San, Jeddak of Duhor; and -when he had seen her he determined to possess her. Returning to Amhor he -sent ambassadors to the court of Kor San to sue for the hand of the -Princess of Duhor; but Kor San, who had no son, had determined to wed -his daughter to one of his own Jeds, that the son of this union, with -the blood of Kor San in his veins, might rule over the people of Duhor; -and so the offer of Jal Had was declined. - -“This so incensed the Amhorian that he equipped a great fleet and set -forth to conquer Duhor and take by force that which he could not win by -honorable methods. Duhor was, at that time, at war with Helium and all -her forces were far afield in the south, with the exception of a small -army that had been left behind to guard the city. Jal Had, therefore, -could not have selected a more propitious time for an attack. Duhor -fell, and while his troops were looting the fair city Jal Had, with a -picked force, sacked the palace of the Jeddak and searched for the -princess; but the princess had no mind to go back with him as Princess -of Amhor. From the moment that the vanguard of the Amhorian fleet was -seen in the sky she had known, with the others of the city, the purpose -for which they came, and so she used her head to defeat that purpose. - -“There was in her retinue a cosmetologist whose duty it was to preserve -the lustrous beauty of the princess’ hair and skin and prepare her for -public audiences, for fêtes and for the daily intercourse of the court. -He was a master of his art; he could render the ugly pleasant to look -upon, he could make the plain lovely, and he could make the lovely -radiant. She called him quickly to her and commanded him to make the -radiant ugly; and when he had done with her none might guess that she -was the Princess of Duhor, so deftly had he wrought with his pigments -and his tiny brushes. - -“When Jal Had could not find the princess within the palace, and no -amount of threat or torture could force a statement of her whereabouts -from the loyal lips of her people, the Amhorian ordered that every woman -within the palace be seized and taken to Amhor; there to be held as -hostages until the princess of Duhor should be delivered to him in -marriage. We were, therefore, all seized and placed upon an Amhorian war -ship which was sent back to Amhor ahead of the balance of the fleet, -which remained to complete the sacking of Duhor. - -“When the ship, with its small convoy, had covered some four thousand of -the five thousand haads that separate Duhor from Amhor, it was sighted -by a fleet from Phundahl which immediately attacked. The convoying ships -were destroyed or driven off and that which carried us was captured. We -were taken to Phundahl where we were put upon the auction block and I -fell to the bid of one of Ras Thavas’ agents. The rest you know.” - -“And what became of the princess?” I asked. - -“Perhaps she died—her party was separated in Phundahl—but death could -not more definitely prevent her return to Duhor. The Princess of Duhor -will never again see her native country.” - -“But you may!” I cried, for I had suddenly hit upon a plan. “Where is -Duhor?” - -“You are going there?” she asked, laughingly. - -“Yes!” - -“You are mad, my friend,” she said. “Duhor lies a full seven thousand, -eight hundred haads from Toonol, upon the opposite side of the snow-clad -Artolian Hills. You, a stranger and alone, could never reach it; for -between lie the Toonolian Marshes, wild hordes, savage beasts and -warlike cities. You would but die uselessly within the first dozen -haads, even could you escape from the island upon which stands the -laboratory of Ras Thavas; and what motive is there to prompt you to such -a useless sacrifice?” - -I could not tell her. I could not look upon that withered figure and -into that hideous and disfigured face and say: “It is because I love -you, Valla Dia.” But that, alas, was my only reason. Gradually, as I had -come to know her through the slow revealment of the wondrous beauty of -her mind and soul, there had crept into my heart a knowledge of my love; -and yet, explain it I cannot, I could not speak the words to that -frightful old hag. I had seen the gorgeous mundane tabernacle that had -housed the equally gorgeous spirit of the real Valla Dia—_that_ I could -love; her heart and soul and mind I could love; but I could not love the -body of Xaxa. I was torn, too, by other emotions, induced by a great -doubt—could Valla Dia return my love. Habilitated in the corpse of -Xaxa, with no other suitor, nay, with no other friend she might, out of -gratitude or through sheer loneliness, be attracted to me; but once -again were she Valla Dia the beautiful and returned to the palace of her -king, surrounded by the great nobles of Duhor, would she have either -eyes or heart for a lone and friendless exile from another world? I -doubted it—and yet that doubt did not deter me from my determination to -carry out, as far as Fate would permit, the mad scheme that was -revolving in my brain. - -“You have not answered my question, Vad Varo,” she interrupted my -surging thoughts. “Why would you do this thing?” - -“To right the wrong that has been done you, Valla Dia,” I said. - -She sighed. “Do not attempt it, please,” she begged. “You would but rob -me of my one friend, whose association is the only source of happiness -remaining to me. I appreciate your generosity and your loyalty, even -though I may not understand them; your unselfish desire to serve me at -such suicidal risk touches me more deeply than I can reveal, adding -still further to the debt I owe you; but you must not attempt it—you -must not.” - -“If it troubles you, Valla Dia,” I replied, “we will not speak of it -again; but know always that it is never from my thoughts. Some day I -shall find a way, even though the plan I now have fails me.” - -The days moved on and on, the gorgeous Martian nights, filled with her -hurtling moons, followed one upon another. Ras Thavas spent more and -more time in directing my work of brain transference. I had long since -become an adept; and I realized that the time was rapidly approaching -when Ras Thavas would feel that he could safely entrust to my hands and -skill his life and future. He would be wholly within my power and he -knew that I knew it. I could slay him; I could permit him to remain for -ever in the preserving grip of his own anaesthetic; or I could play any -trick upon him that I chose, even to giving him the body of a calot or a -part of the brain of an ape; but he must take the chance and that I -knew, for he was failing rapidly. Already almost stone blind, it was -only the wonderful spectacles that he had himself invented that -permitted him to see at all; long deaf, he used artificial means for -hearing; and now his heart was showing symptoms of fatigue that he could -not longer ignore. - -One morning I was summoned to his sleeping apartment by a slave. I found -the old surgeon lying, a shrunken, pitiful heap of withered skin and -bones. - -“We must hasten, Vad Varo,” he said in a weak whisper. “My heart was -like to have stopped a few tals ago. It was then that I sent for you.” -He pointed to a door leading from his chamber. “There,” he said, “you -will find the body I have chosen. There, in the private laboratory I -long ago built for this very purpose, you will perform the greatest -surgical operation that the universe has ever known, transferring its -most perfect brain to the most beautiful and perfect body that ever has -passed beneath these ancient eyes. You will find the head already -prepared to receive my brain; the brain of the subject having been -removed and destroyed—totally destroyed by fire. I could not possibly -chance the existence of a brain desiring and scheming to regain its -wondrous body. No, I destroyed it. Call slaves and have them bear my -body to the ersite slab.” - -“That will not be necessary,” I told him; and lifting his shrunken form -in my arms as he had been an earthly babe, I carried him into the -adjoining room where I found a perfectly lighted and appointed -laboratory containing two operating tables, one of which was occupied by -the body of a red-man. Upon the surface of the other, which was vacant, -I laid Ras Thavas, then I turned to look at the new envelope he had -chosen. Never, I believe, had I beheld so perfect a form, so handsome a -face—Ras Thavas had indeed chosen well for himself. Then I turned back -to the old surgeon. Deftly, as he had taught me, I made the two -incisions and attached the tubes. My finger rested upon the button that -would start the motor pumping his blood from his veins and his -marvellous preservative-anaesthetic into them. Then I spoke. - -“Ras Thavas,” I said, “you have long been training me to this end. I -have labored assiduously to prepare myself that there might be no -slightest cause for apprehension as to the outcome. You have, -coincidentally, taught me that one’s every act should be prompted by -self-interest only. You are satisfied, therefore, that I am not doing -this for you because I love you, or because I feel any friendship for -you; but you think that you have offered me enough in placing before me -a similar opportunity for immortality. - -“Regardless of your teaching I am afraid that I am still somewhat of a -sentimentalist. I crave the redressing of wrongs. I crave friendship and -love. The price you offer is not enough. Are you willing to pay more -that this operation may be successfully concluded?” - -He looked at me steadily for a long minute. “What do you want?” he -asked. I could see that he was trembling with anger, but he did not -raise his voice. - -“Do you recall 4296-E-2631-H?” I inquired. - -“The subject with the body of Xaxa? Yes, I recall the case. What of it?” - -“I wish her body returned to her. That is the price you must pay for -this operation.” - -He glared at me. “It is impossible. Xaxa has the body. Even if I cared -to do so, I could never recover it. Proceed with the operation!” - -“When you have promised me,” I insisted. - -“I cannot promise the impossible—I cannot obtain Xaxa. Ask me something -else. I am not unwilling to grant any reasonable request.” - -“That is all I wish—just that; but I do not insist that you obtain the -body. If I bring Xaxa here will you make the transfer?” - -“It would mean war between Toonol and Phundahl,” he fumed. - -“That does not interest me,” I said. “Quick! Reach a decision. In five -tals I shall press this button. If you promise what I ask, you shall be -restored with a new and beautiful body; if you refuse you shall lie here -in the semblance of death for ever.” - -“I promise,” he said slowly, “that when you bring the body of Xaxa to me -I will transfer to that body any brain that you select from among my -subjects.” - -“Good!” I exclaimed, and pressed the button. - - - - - CHAPTER V - DANGER - - -Ras Thavas awakened from the anaesthetic a new and gorgeous creature—a -youth of such wondrous beauty that he seemed of heavenly rather than -worldly origin; but in that beautiful head was the hard, cold, -thousand-year-old brain of the master surgeon. As he opened his eyes he -looked upon me coldly. - -“You have done well,” he said. - -“What I have done, I have done for friendship—perhaps for love,” I -said, “so you can thank the sentimentalism you decry for the success of -the transfer.” - -He made no reply. - -“And now,” I continued, “I shall look to you for the fulfilment of the -promise you have made me.” - -“When you bring Xaxa’s body I shall transfer to it the brain of any of -my subjects you may select,” he said, “but were I you, I would not risk -my life in such an impossible venture—you cannot succeed. Select -another body—there are many beautiful ones—and I will give it the -brain of 4296-E-2631-H.” - -“None other than the body now owned by the Jeddara Xaxa will fulfill -your promise to me,” I said. - -He shrugged and there was a cold smile upon his handsome lips. “Very -well,” he said, “fetch Xaxa. When do you start?” - -“I am not yet ready. I will let you know when I am.” - -“Good and now begone—but wait! First go to the office and see what -cases await us and if there be any that do not require my personal -attention, and they fall within your skill and knowledge, attend to them -yourself.” - -As I left him I noticed a crafty smile of satisfaction upon his lips. -What had aroused that? I did not like it and as I walked away I tried to -conjure what could possibly have passed through that wondrous brain to -call forth at that particular instant so unpleasant a smile. As I passed -through the doorway and into the corridor beyond I heard him summon his -personal slave and body servant, Yamdor, a huge fellow whose loyalty he -kept through the bestowal of lavish gifts and countless favors. So great -was the fellow’s power that all feared him, as a word to the master from -the lips of Yamdor might easily send any of the numerous slaves or -attendants to an ersite slab for eternity. It was rumored that he was -the result of an unnatural experiment which had combined the brain of a -woman with the body of a man, and there was much in his actions and -mannerisms to justify this general belief. His touch, when he worked -about his master, was soft and light, his movements graceful, his ways -gentle, but his mind was jealous, vindictive and unforgiving. - -I believe that he did not like me, through jealousy of the authority I -had attained in the establishment of Ras Thavas; for there was no -questioning the fact that I was a lieutenant, while he was but a slave; -yet he always accorded me the utmost respect. He was, however, merely a -minor cog in the machinery of the great institution presided over by the -sovereign mind of Ras Thavas, and as such I had given him little -consideration; nor did I now as I bent my steps towards the office. - -I had gone but a short distance when I recalled a matter of importance -upon which it was necessary for me to obtain instructions from Ras -Thavas immediately; and so I wheeled about and retraced my way towards -his apartments, through the open doorway of which, as I approached, I -heard the new voice of the master surgeon. Ras Thavas had always spoken -in rather loud tones, whether as a vocal reflection of his naturally -domineering and authoritative character, or because of his deafness, I -do not know; and now, with the fresh young vocal chords of his new body, -his words rang out clearly and distinctly in the corridor leading to his -room. - -“You will, therefore, Yamdor,” he was saying, “go at once and, selecting -two slaves in whose silence and discretion you may trust, take the -subject from the apartments of Vad Varo and destroy it—let no vestige -of body or brain remain. Immediately after, you will bring the two -slaves to the laboratory F-30-L, permitting them to speak to no one, and -I will consign them to silence and forgetfulness for eternity. - -“Vad Varo will discover the absence of the subject and report the matter -to me. During my investigation you will confess that you aided -4296-E-2631-H to escape, but that you have no idea where it intended -going. I will sentence you to death as punishment, but at last, -explaining how urgently I need your services and upon your solemn -promise never to transgress again, I will defer punishment for the term -of your continued good behaviour. Do you thoroughly understand the -entire plan?” - -“Yes, master,” replied Yamdor. - -“Then depart at once and select the slaves who are to assist you.” - -Quickly and silently I sped along the corridor until the first -intersection permitted me to place myself out of sight of anyone coming -from Ras Thavas’ apartment; then I went directly to the chamber occupied -by Valla Dia. Unlocking the door I threw it open and beckoned her to -come out. “Quick! Valla Dia!” I cried. “No time is to be lost. In -attempting to save you I have but brought destruction upon you. First we -must find a hiding place for you, and that at once—afterwards we can -plan for the future.” - -The place that first occurred to me as affording adequate concealment -was the half forgotten vaults in the pits beneath the laboratories, and -towards these I hastened Valla Dia. As we proceeded I narrated all that -had transpired, nor did she once reproach me; but, instead, expressed -naught but gratitude for what she was pleased to designate as my -unselfish friendship. That it had miscarried, she assured me, was no -reflection upon me and she insisted that she would rather die in the -knowledge that she possessed one such friend than to live on -indefinitely, friendless. - -We came at last to the chamber I sought—vault L-42-X, in building -4-J-21, where reposed the bodies of the ape and the man, each of which -possessed half the brain of the other. Here I was forced to leave Valla -Dia for the time, that I might hasten to the office and perform the -duties imposed upon me by Ras Thavas, lest his suspicions be aroused -when Yamdor reported that he had found her apartment vacant. - -I reached the office without it being discovered by anyone who might -report the fact to Ras Thavas that I had been a long time coming from -his apartment. To my relief, I found there were no cases. Without -appearing in any undue haste, I nevertheless soon found an excuse to -depart and at once made my way towards my own quarters, moving in a -leisurely and unconcerned manner and humming as was my wont (a habit -which greatly irritated Ras Thavas), snatches from some song that had -been popular at the time that I quit Earth. In this instance it was “Oh, -Frenchy.” - -I was thus engaged when I met Yamdor moving hurriedly along the corridor -leading from my apartment, in company with two male slaves. I greeted -him pleasantly, as was my custom, and he returned my greeting; but there -was an expression of fear and suspicion in his eyes. I went at once to -my quarters, opened the door leading to the chamber formerly occupied by -Valla Dia and then hastened immediately to the apartment of Ras Thavas, -where I found him conversing with Yamdor. I rushed in apparently -breathless and simulating great excitement. - -“Ras Thavas,” I demanded, “what have you done with 4296-E-2631-H? She -has disappeared; her apartment is empty; and as I was approaching it I -met Yamdor and two other slaves coming from that direction.” I turned -then upon Yamdor and pointed an accusing finger at him. “Yamdor!” I -cried. “What have you done with this woman?” - -Both Ras Thavas and Yamdor seemed genuinely puzzled and I congratulated -myself that I had thus readily thrown them off the track. The master -surgeon declared that he would make an immediate investigation; and he -at once ordered a thorough search of the ground and of the island -outside the enclosure. Yamdor denied any knowledge of the woman and I, -at least, was aware of the sincerity of his protestations, but not so -Ras Thavas. I could see a hint of suspicion in his eyes as he questioned -his body servant; but evidently he could conjure no motive for any such -treasonable action on the part of Yamdor as would have been represented -by the abduction of the woman and the consequent gross disobedience of -orders. - -Ras Thavas’ investigation revealed nothing. I think as it progressed -that he became gradually more and more imbued with a growing suspicion -that I might know more about the disappearance of Valla Dia than my -attitude indicated, for I presently became aware of a delicately -concealed espionage. Up to this time I had been able to smuggle food to -Valla Dia every night, after Ras Thavas had retired to his quarters. -Then, on one occasion, I suddenly became subconsciously aware that I was -being followed, and instead of going to the vaults I went to the office, -where I added some observations to my report upon a case I had handled -that day. Returning to my room I hummed a few bars from “Over There,” -that the suggestion of my unconcern might be accentuated. From the -moment that I quit my quarters until I returned to them I was sure that -eyes had been watching my every move. What was I to do? Valla Dia must -have food, without it she would die; and were I to be followed to her -hiding place while taking it to her, she would die; Ras Thavas would see -to that. - -Half the night I lay awake, racking my brains for some solution to the -problem. There seemed only one way—I must elude the spies. If I could -do this but one single time I could carry out the balance of a plan that -had occurred to me, and which was, I thought, the only one feasible that -might eventually lead to the resurrection of Valla Dia in her own body. -The way was long, the risks great; but I was young, in love and utterly -reckless of consequences in so far as they concerned me; it was Valla -Dia’s happiness alone that I could not risk too greatly, other than -under dire stress. Well, the stress existed and I must risk that, even -as I risked my life. - -My plan was formulated and I lay awake upon my sleeping silks and furs -in the darkness of my room, awaiting the time when I might put it into -execution. My window, which was upon the third floor, overlooked the -walled enclosure, upon the scarlet sward of which I had made my first -bow to Barsoom. Across the open casement I had watched Cluros, the -farther moon, take his slow deliberate way. He had already set. Behind -him, Thuria, his elusive mistress, fled through the heavens. In five -xats (about 15 minutes) she would set; and then for about three and -three quarters Earth hours the heavens would be dark, except for the -stars. - -In the corridor, perhaps, lurked those watchful eyes. I prayed God that -they might not be elsewhere as Thuria sank at last beneath the horizon -and I swung to my window ledge, in my hand a long rope fabricated from -braided strips torn from my sleeping silks while I had awaited the -setting of the moons. One end I had fastened to a heavy sorapus bench -which I had drawn close to the window. I dropped the free end of the -rope and started my descent. My Earthly muscles, untried in such -endeavours, I had not trusted to the task of carrying me to my window -ledge in a single leap, when I should be returning. I felt that they -would, but I did not know; and too much depended upon the success of my -venture to risk any unnecessary chance of failure. And so I had prepared -the rope. - -Whether I was being observed I did not know. I must go on as though none -were spying upon me. In less than four hours Thuria would return (just -before the sudden Barsoomian dawn) and in the interval I must reach -Valla Dia, persuade her of the necessity of my plan and carry out its -details, returning to my chamber before Thuria could disclose me to any -accidental observer. I carried my weapons with me and in my heart was -unbending determination to slay whoever might cross my path and -recognize me during the course of my errand, however innocent of evil -intent against me he might be. - -The night was quiet except for the usual distant sounds that I had heard -ever since I had been here—sounds that I had interpreted as the cries -of savage beasts. Once I had asked Ras Thavas about them, but he had -been in ill humor and had ignored my question. I reached the ground -quickly and without hesitation moved directly to the nearest entrance of -the building, having previously searched out and determined upon the -route I would follow to the vault. No one was visible and I was -confident, when at last I reached the doorway, that I had come through -undetected. Valla Dia was so happy to see me again that it almost -brought the tears to my eyes. - -“I thought that something had happened to you,” she cried, “for I knew -that you would not remain away so long of your own volition.” - -I told her of my conviction that I was being watched and that it would -not be possible for me longer to bring food to her without incurring -almost certain detection, which would spell immediate death for her. - -“There is a single alternative,” I said, “and that I dread even to -suggest and would not were there any other way. You must be securely -hidden for a long time, until Ras Thavas’ suspicions have been allayed; -for as long as he has me watched I cannot possibly carry out the plans I -have formulated for your eventual release, the restoration of your own -body and your return to Duhor.” - -“Your will shall be my law, Vad Varo.” - -I shook my head. “It will be harder for you than you imagine.” - -“What is the way?” she asked. - -I pointed to the ersite topped table. “You must pass again through that -ordeal that I may hide you away in this vault until the time is ripe for -the carrying out of my plans. Can you endure it?” - -She smiled. “Why not?” she asked. “It is only sleep—if it lasts for -ever I shall be no wiser.” - -I was surprised that she did not shrink from the idea, but I was very -glad since I knew that it was the only way that we had a chance for -success. Without my help she disposed herself upon the ersite slab. - -“I am ready, Vad Varo,” she said, bravely; “but first promise me that -you will take no risks in this mad venture. You cannot succeed. When I -close my eyes I know that it will be for the last time if my -resurrection depends upon the successful outcome of the maddest venture -that ever man conceived; yet I am happy, because I know that it is -inspired by the greatest friendship with which any mortal woman has ever -been blessed.” - -As she talked I had been adjusting the tubes and now I stood beside her -with my finger upon the starting button of the motor. - -“Good-bye, Vad Varo,” she whispered. - -“Not good-bye, Valla Dia, but only a sweet sleep for what to you will be -the briefest instant. You will seem but to close your eyes and open them -again. As you see me now, I shall be standing here beside you as though -I never had departed from you. As I am the last that you look upon -to-night before you close your eyes, so shall I be the first that you -shall look upon as you open them on that new and beautiful morning; but -you shall not again look forth through the eyes of Xaxa, but from the -limpid depths of your own beautiful orbs.” - -She smiled and shook her head. Two tears formed beneath her lids. I -pressed her hand in mine and touched the button. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - SUSPICIONS - - -In so far as I could know I reached my apartment without detection. -Hiding my rope where I was sure it would not be discovered, I sought my -sleeping silks and furs and was soon asleep. - -The following morning as I emerged from my quarters I caught a fleeting -glimpse of a figure in a nearby corridor and from then on for a long -time I had further evidence that Ras Thavas suspicioned me. I went at -once to his quarters, as had been my habit. He seemed restless, but he -gave me no hint that he held any assurance that I had been responsible -for the disappearance of Valla Dia, and I think that he was far from -positive of it. It was simply that his judgment pointed to the fact that -I was the only person who might have any reason for interfering in any -way with this particular subject, and he was having me watched to either -prove or disprove the truth of his reasonable suspicions. His -restlessness he explained to me himself. - -“I have often studied the reaction of others who have undergone brain -transference,” he said, “and so I am not wholly surprised at my own. Not -only has my brain energy been stimulated, resulting in an increased -production of nervous energy, but I also feel the effects of the young -tissue and youthful blood of my new body. They are affecting my -consciousness in a way that my experiment had vaguely indicated, but -which I now see must be actually experienced to be fully understood. My -thoughts, my inclinations, even my ambitions have been changed, or at -least coloured, by the transfer. It will take some time for me to find -myself.” - -Though uninterested, I listened politely until he was through and then I -changed the subject. “Have you located the missing woman?” I asked. - -He shook his head, negatively. - -“You must appreciate, Ras Thavas,” I said, “that I fully realize that -you must have known that the removal or destruction of that woman would -entirely frustrate my entire plan. You are master here. Nothing that -passes is without your knowledge.” - -“You mean that I am responsible for the disappearance of the woman?” he -demanded. - -“Certainly. It is obvious. I demand that she be restored.” - -He lost his temper. “Who are you to demand?” he shouted. “You are naught -but a slave. Cease your impudence or I shall erase you—erase you. It -will be as though you never had existed.” - -I laughed in his face. “Anger is the most futile attribute of the -sentimentalist,” I reminded him. “You will not erase me, for I alone -stand between you and mortality.” - -“I can train another,” he parried. - -“But you could not trust him,” I pointed out. - -“But you bargained with me for my life when you had me in your power,” -he cried. - -“For nothing that it would have harmed you to have granted willingly. I -did not ask anything for myself. Be that as it may, you will trust me -again. You will trust, for no other reason than that you will be forced -to trust me. So why not win my gratitude and my loyalty by returning the -woman to me and carrying out in spirit as well as in fact the terms of -our agreement?” - -He turned and looked steadily at me. “Vad Varo,” he said, “I give you -the word of honor of a Barsoomian noble that I know absolutely nothing -concerning the whereabouts of 4296-E-2631-H.” - -“Perhaps Yamdor does,” I persisted. - -“Nor Yamdor. Of my knowledge no person in any way connected with me -knows what became of it. I have spoken the truth.” - -Well, the conversation was not as profitless as it might appear, for I -was sure that it had almost convinced Ras Thavas that I was equally as -ignorant of the fate of Valla Dia as was he. That it had not wholly -convinced him was evidenced by the fact that the espionage continued for -a long time, a fact which determined me to use Ras Thavas’ own methods -in my own defence. I had had allotted to me a number of slaves, and -these I had won over by kindness and understanding until I knew that I -had the full measure of their loyalty. They had no reason to love Ras -Thavas and every reason to hate him; on the other hand they had no -reason to hate me, and I saw to it that they had every reason to love -me. - -The result was that I had no difficulty in enlisting the services of a -couple of them to spy upon Ras Thavas’ spies, with the result that I was -soon apprised that my suspicions were well founded—I was being -constantly watched every minute that I was out of my apartments, but the -spying did not come beyond my outer chamber walls. That was why I had -been successful in reaching the vault in the manner that I had, the -spies having assumed that I would leave my chamber only by its natural -exit, had been content to guard that and permit my windows to go -unwatched. - -I think it was about two of our months that the spying continued and -then my men reported that it seemed to have ceased entirely. All that -time I was fretting at the delay, for I wanted to be about my plans -which would have been absolutely impossible for me to carry out if I -were being watched. I had spent the interval in studying the geography -of the north-eastern Barsoomian hemisphere where my activities were to -be carried on, and also in scanning a great number of case histories and -inspecting the subjects to which they referred; but at last, with the -removal of the spies, it began to look as though I might soon commence -to put my plans in active operation. - -Ras Thavas had for some time permitted me considerable freedom in -independent investigation and experiment, and this I determined to take -advantage of in every possible way that might forward my plans for the -resurrection of Valla Dia. My study of the histories of many of the -cases had been with the possibility in mind of discovering subjects that -might be of assistance to me in my venture. Among those that had -occupied my careful attention were, quite naturally, the cases with -which I had been most familiar, namely: 378-J-493811-P, the red-man from -whose vicious attack I had saved Ras Thavas upon the day of my advent -upon Mars; and he whose brain had been divided with an ape. - -The former, 378-J-493811-P, had been a native of Phundahl—a young -warrior attached to the court of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl—and a victim -of assassination. His body had been purchased by a Phundahlian noble for -the purpose, as Ras Thavas had narrated, of winning the favor of a young -beauty. I felt that I might possibly enlist his services, but that would -depend upon the extent of his loyalty towards Xaxa, which I could only -determine by reviving and questioning him. - -He whose brain had been divided with an ape had originated in Ptarth, -which lay at a considerable distance to the west of Phundahl and a -little south and about an equal distance from Duhor, which lay north and -a little west of it. An inhabitant of Ptarth, I reasoned, would know -much of the entire country included in the triangle formed by Phundahl, -Ptarth and Duhor; the strength and ferocity of the great ape would prove -of value in crossing beast infested wastes; and I felt that I could hold -forth sufficient promise to the human half of the great beast’s brain, -which really now dominated the creature, to win its support and loyalty. -The third subject that I had tentatively selected had been a notorious -Toonolian assassin, whose audacity, fearlessness and swordsmanship had -won for him a reputation that had spread far beyond the boundaries of -his country. - -Ras Thavas, himself a Toonolian, had given me something of the history -of this man whose grim calling is not without honor upon Barsoom, and -which Gor Hajus had raised still higher in the esteem of his countrymen -through the fact that he never struck down a woman or a good man and -that he never struck from behind. His killings were always the results -of fair fights in which the victim had every opportunity to defend -himself and slay his attacker; and he was famous for his loyalty to his -friends. In fact this very loyalty had been a contributing factor in his -downfall which had brought him to one of Ras Thavas’ ersite slabs some -years since, for he had earned the enmity of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of -Toonol, through his refusal to assassinate a man who once had befriended -Gor Hajus in some slight degree; following which Vobis Kan conceived the -suspicion that Gor Hajus had him marked for slaying. The result was -inevitable: Gor Hajus was arrested and condemned to death; immediately -following the execution of the sentence an agent of Ras Thavas had -purchased the body. - -These three, then, I had chosen to be my partners in my great adventure. -It is true that I had not discussed the matter with any one of them, but -my judgment assured me that I would have no difficulty in enlisting -their services and loyalty in return for their total resurrection. - -My first task lay in renewing the organs of 378-J-493811-P and of Gor -Hajus which had been injured by the wounds that had laid them low; the -former requiring a new lung and the latter a new heart, his executioner -having run him through with a short-sword. I hesitated to ask Ras -Thavas’ permission to experiment on these subjects for fear of the -possibility of arousing his suspicions, in which event he would probably -have them destroyed; and so I was forced to accomplish my designs by -subterfuge and stealth. To this end I made it a practice for weeks to -carry my regular laboratory work far into the night, often requiring the -services of various assistants that all might become accustomed to the -sight of me at work at unusual hours. In my selection of these -assistants I made it a point to choose two of the very spies that Ras -Thavas had set to watching me. While it was true that they were no -longer employed in this particular service, I had hopes that they would -carry word of my activities to their master; and I was careful to see -that they received from me the proper suggestions that would mould their -report in language far from harmful to me. By the merest suggestion I -carried to them the idea that I worked thus late purely for the love of -the work itself and the tremendous interest in it that Ras Thavas had -awakened within my mind. Some nights I worked with assistants and as -often I did not, but always I was careful to assure myself that the -following morning those in the office were made aware that I had labored -far into the preceding night. - -This groundwork carefully prepared, I had comparatively little fear of -the results of actual discovery when I set to work upon the warrior of -Phundahl and the assassin of Toonol. I chose the former first. His lung -was badly injured where my blade had passed through it, but from the -laboratory where were kept fractional bodies I brought a perfect lung, -with which I replaced the one that I had ruined. The work occupied but -half the night. So anxious was I to complete my task that I immediately -opened up the breast of Gor Hajus, for whom I had selected an unusually -strong and powerful heart, and by working rapidly I succeeded in -completing the transference before dawn. Having known the nature of the -wounds that had dispatched these two men, I had spent weeks in -performing similar operations that I might perfect myself especially in -this work; and having encountered no unusual pathological conditions in -either subject, the work had progressed smoothly and with great -rapidity. I had completed what I had feared would be the most difficult -part of my task and now, having removed as far as possible all signs of -the operation except the therapeutic tape which closed the incisions, I -returned to my quarters for a few minutes of much needed rest, praying -that Ras Thavas would not by any chance examine either of the subjects -upon which I had been working; although I had fortified myself against -such a contingency by entering full details of the operation upon the -history card of each subject that, in the event of discovery, any -suspicion of ulterior motives upon my part might be allayed by my play -of open frankness. - -I arose at the usual time and went at once to Ras Thavas’ apartment, -where I was met with a bombshell that nearly wrecked my composure. He -eyed me closely for a long minute before he spoke. - -“You worked late last night, Vad Varo,” he said. - -“I often do,” I replied, lightly; but my heart was heavy as a stone. - -“And what might it have been that so occupied your interest?” he -inquired. - -I felt as a mouse with which the cat is playing. “I have been doing -quite a little lung and heart transference of late,” I replied, “and I -became so engrossed with my work that I did not note the passage of -time.” - -“I have known that you worked late at night. Do you think it wise?” - -At that moment I felt that it had been very unwise, yet I assured him to -the contrary. - -“I was restless,” he said. “I could not sleep and so I went to your -quarters after midnight, but you were not there. I wanted someone with -whom to talk, but your slaves knew only that you were not there—where -you were they did not know—so I set out to search for you.” My heart -went into my sandals. “I guessed that you were in one of the -laboratories, but though I visited several I did not find you.” My heart -arose with the lightness of a feather. “Since my own transference I have -been cursed with restlessness and sleeplessness, so that I could almost -wish for the return of my old corpse—the youth of my body harmonizes -not with the antiquity of my brain. It is filled with latent urges and -desires that comport illy with the serious subject matter of my mind.” - -“What your body needs,” I said, “is exercise. It is young, strong, -virile. Work it hard and it will let your brain rest at night.” - -“I know that you are right,” he replied. “I have reached that same -conclusion myself. In fact, not finding you, I walked in the gardens for -an hour or more before returning to my quarters, and then I slept -soundly. I shall walk every night when I cannot sleep, or I shall go -into the laboratories and work as do you.” - -This news was most disquieting. Now I could never be sure but that Ras -Thavas was wandering about at night and I had one more very important -night’s work to do, perhaps two. The only way that I could be sure of -him was to be with him. - -“Send for me when you are restless,” I said, “and I will walk and work -with you. You should not go about thus at night alone.” - -“Very well,” he said, “I may do that occasionally.” - -I hoped that he would do it always, for then I would know that when he -failed to send for me he was safe in his own quarters. Yet I saw that I -must henceforth face the menace of detection; and knowing this I -determined to hasten the completion of my plans and to risk everything -on a single bold stroke. - -That night I had no opportunity to put it into action as Ras Thavas sent -for me early and informed me that we would walk in the gardens until he -was tired. Now, as I needed a full night for what I had in mind and as -Ras Thavas walked until midnight, I was compelled to forego everything -for that evening, but the following morning I persuaded him to walk -early on the pretext that I should like to go beyond the enclosure and -see something of Barsoom beside the inside of his laboratories and his -gardens. I had little confidence that he would grant my request, yet he -did so. I am sure he never would have done it had he possessed his old -body; but thus greatly had young blood changed Ras Thavas. - -I had never been beyond the buildings, nor had I seen beyond, since -there were no windows in the outside walls of any of the structures and -upon the garden side the trees had grown to such a height that they -obstructed all view beyond them. For a time we walked in another garden -just inside the outer wall, and then I asked Ras Thavas if I might go -even beyond this. - -“No,” he said. “It would not be safe.” - -“And why not?” I asked. - -“I will show you and at the same time give you a much broader view of -the outside world than you could obtain by merely passing through the -gate. Come, follow me!” - -He led me immediately to a lofty tower that rose at the corner of the -largest building of the group that comprised his vast establishment. -Within was a circular runway which led not only upward, but down as -well. This we ascended, passing openings at each floor, until we came at -last out upon its lofty summit. - -About me spread the first Barsoomian landscape of any extent upon which -my eyes had yet rested during the long months that I had spent upon the -Red Planet. For almost an Earthly year I had been immured within the -grim walls of Ras Thavas’ bloody laboratory, until, such creatures of -habit are we, the weird life there had grown to seem quite natural and -ordinary; but with this first glimpse of open country there surged up -within me an urge for freedom, for space, for room to move about, such -as I knew would not be long denied. - -Directly beneath lay an irregular patch of rocky land elevated perhaps a -dozen feet or more above the general level of the immediately -surrounding country. Its extent was, at a rough guess, a hundred acres. -Upon this stood the buildings and grounds, which were enclosed in a high -wall. The tower upon which we stood was situated at about the centre of -the total area enclosed. Beyond the outer wall was a strip of rocky -ground on which grew a sparse forest of fair sized trees interspersed -with patches of a jungle growth, and beyond all, what appeared to be an -oozy marsh through which were narrow water courses connecting occasional -open water—little lakes, the largest of which could have comprised -scarce two acres. This landscape extended as far as the eye could reach, -broken by occasional islands similar to that upon which we were and at a -short distance by the skyline of a large city, whose towers and domes -and minarets glistened and sparkled in the sun as though plated with -shining metals and picked out with precious gems. - -This, I knew, must be Toonol and all about us the Great Toonolian -Marshes which extend nearly eighteen hundred Earth miles east and west -and in some places have a width of three hundred miles. Little is known -about them in other portions of Barsoom as they are frequented by fierce -beasts, afford no landing places for fliers and are commanded by -Phundahl at their western end and Toonol at the east; inhospitable -kingdoms that invite no intercourse with the outside world and maintain -their independence alone by their inaccessibility and savage aloofness. - -As my eyes returned to the island at our feet I saw a huge form emerge -from one of the nearby patches of jungle a short distance beyond the -outer wall. It was followed by a second and a third. Ras Thavas saw that -the creatures had attracted my notice. - -“There,” he said, pointing to them, “are three of a number of similar -reasons why it would not have been safe for us to venture outside the -enclosure.” - -They were great white apes of Barsoom, creatures so savage that even -that fierce Barsoomian lion, the banth, hesitates to cross their path. - -“They serve two purposes,” explained Ras Thavas. “They discourage those -who might otherwise creep upon me by night from the city of Toonol, -where I am not without many good enemies, and they prevent desertion -upon the part of my slaves and assistants.” - -“But how do your clients reach you?” I asked. “How are your supplies -brought in?” - -He turned and pointed down toward the highest portion of the irregular -roof of the building below us. Built upon it was a large, shed-like -structure. “There,” he said, “I keep three small ships. One of them goes -every day to Toonol.” - -I was overcome with eagerness to know more about these ships, in which I -thought I saw a much needed means of escape from the island; but I dared -not question him for fear of arousing his suspicions. - -As we turned to descend the tower runway I expressed interest in the -structure which gave evidence of being far older than any of the -surrounding buildings. - -“This tower,” said Ras Thavas, “was built some twenty-three thousand -years ago by an ancestor of mine who was driven from Toonol by the -reigning Jeddak of the time. Here, and upon other islands, he gathered a -considerable following, dominated the surrounding marshes and defended -himself successfully for hundreds of years. While my family has been -permitted to return to Toonol since, this has been their home; to which, -one by one, have been added the various buildings which you see about -the tower, each floor of which connects with the adjacent building from -the roof to the lowest pits beneath the ground.” - -This information also interested me greatly since I thought that I saw -where it too might have considerable bearing upon my plan of escape, and -so, as we descended the runway, I encouraged Ras Thavas to discourse -upon the construction of the tower, its relation to the other buildings -and especially its accessibility from the pits. We walked again in the -outer garden and by the time we returned to Ras Thavas’ quarters it was -almost dark and the master surgeon was considerably fatigued. - -“I feel that I shall sleep well to-night,” he said as I left him. - -“I hope so, Ras Thavas,” I replied. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - ESCAPE - - -It was usually about three hours after the evening meal, which was -served immediately after dark, that the establishment quieted down -definitely for the night. While I should have preferred waiting longer -before undertaking that which I had in mind, I could not safely do so, -since there was much to be accomplished before dawn. So it was that with -the first indications that the occupants of the building in which my -work was to be performed had retired for the night, I left my quarters -and went directly to the laboratory, where, fortunately for my plans, -the bodies of Gor Hajus, the assassin of Toonol, and 378-J-493811-P both -reposed. It was the work of a few minutes to carry them to adjoining -tables, where I quickly strapped them securely against the possibility -that one or both of them might not be willing to agree to the -proposition I was about to make them, and thus force me to anaesthetize -them again. At last the incisions were made, the tubes attached and the -motors started. 378-J-493811-P, whom I shall hereafter call by his own -name, Dar Tarus, was the first to open his eyes; but he had not regained -full consciousness when Gor Hajus showed signs of life. - -I waited until both appeared quite restored. Dar Tarus was eyeing me -with growing recognition that brought a most venomous expression of -hatred to his countenance. Gor Hajus was frankly puzzled. The last he -remembered was the scene in the death chamber at the instant that his -executioner had run a sword through his heart. It was I who broke the -silence. - -“In the first place,” I said, “let me tell you where you are, if you do -not already know.” - -“I know well enough where I am,” growled Dar Tarus. - -“Ah!” exclaimed Gor Hajus, whose eyes had been roaming about the -chamber. “I can guess where I am. What Toonolian has not heard of Ras -Thavas? So they sold my corpse to the old butcher did they? And what -now? Did I just arrive?” - -“You have been here six years,” I told him, “and you may stay here for -ever unless we three can reach an agreement within the next few minutes, -and that goes for you too, Dar Tarus.” - -“Six years!” mused Gor Hajus. “Well, out with it, man. What do you want? -If it is to slay Ras Thavas, no! He has saved me from utter destruction; -but name me some other, preferably Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol. Find me -a blade and I will slay a hundred to regain life.” - -“I seek the life of none unless he stands in the way of the fulfilment -of my desire in this matter that I have in hand. Listen! Ras Thavas had -here a beautiful Duhorian girl. He sold her body to Xaxa, Jeddara of -Phundahl, transplanting the girl’s brain to the wrinkled and hideous -body of the Jeddara. It is my intention to regain the body, restore it -to its own brain and return the girl to Duhor.” - -Gor Hajus grinned. “You have a large contract on your hands,” he said, -“but I can see that you are a man after my own heart and I am with you. -It will give freedom and fighting, and all that I ask is a chance for -one thrust at Vobis Kan.” - -“I promise you life,” I replied; “but with the understanding that you -serve me faithfully and none other, undertaking no business of your own, -until mine has been carried to a successful conclusion.” - -“That means that I shall have to serve you for life,” he replied, “for -the thing you have undertaken you can never accomplish; but that is -better than lying here on a cold ersite slab waiting for old Ras Thavas -to come along and carve out my gizzard. I am yours! Let me up, that I -may feel a good pair of legs under me again.” - -“And you?” I asked, turning to Dar Tarus as I released the bonds that -held Gor Hajus. For the first time I now noticed that the ugly -expression that I had first noted upon the face of Dar Tarus had given -place to one of eagerness. - -“Strike off my bonds!” he cried. “I will follow you to the ends of -Barsoom and the way leads thus far to the fulfilment of your design; but -it will not. It will lead to Phundahl and to the chamber of the wicked -Xaxa, where, by the generosity of my ancestors, I may be given the -opportunity to avenge the hideous wrong the creature did me. You could -not have chosen one better fitted for your mission than Dar Tarus, one -time soldier of the Jeddara’s Guard, whom she had slain that in my -former body one of her rotten nobles might woo the girl I loved.” - -A moment later the two men stood at my side, and without more delay I -led them towards the runway that descended to the pits beneath the -building. As we went, I described to them the creature I had chosen to -be the fourth member of our strange party. Gor Hajus questioned the -wisdom of my choice, saying that the ape would attract too much -attention to us. Dar Tarus, however, believed that it might be helpful -in many respects, since it was possible that we might be compelled to -spend some time among the islands of the marshes which were often -infested with these creatures; while, once in Phundahl, the ape might -readily be used in the furtherance of our plans and would cause no -considerable comment in a city where many of these beasts are held in -captivity and often are seen performing for the edification of street -crowds. - -We went at once to the vault where the ape lay and where I had concealed -the anaesthetized body of Valla Dia. Here I revived the great anthropoid -and to my great relief found that the human half of its brain still was -dominant. Briefly I explained my plan as I had to the other two and won -the hearty promise of his support upon my engaging to restore his brain -to its rightful place upon the completion of our venture. - -First we must get off the island, and I outlined two plans I had in -mind. One was to steal one of Ras Thavas’ three fliers and set out -directly for Phundahl, and the other, in the event that the first did -not seem feasible, was to secrete ourselves aboard one of them on the -chance that we might either overpower the crew and take over the ship -after we had left the island, or escape undetected upon its arrival in -Toonol. Dar Tarus liked the first plan; the ape, whom we now called by -the name belonging to the human half of his brain, Hovan Du, preferred -the first alternative of the second plan; and Gor Hajus the second -alternative. - -Dar Tarus explained that as our principal objective was Phundahl, the -quicker we got there the better. Hovan Du argued that by seizing the -ship after it had left the island we would have longer time in which to -make our escape before the ship was missed and pursuit instituted, than -by seizing it now in the full knowledge that its absence would be -discovered within a few hours. Gor Hajus thought that it would be better -if we could come into Toonol secretly and there, through one of his -friends, secure arms and a flier of our own. It would never do, he -insisted, to attempt to go far without arms for himself and Dar Tarus, -nor could we hope to reach Phundahl without being overhauled by -pursuers; for we must plan on the hypothesis that Ras Thavas would -immediately discover my absence; that he would at once investigate; that -he would find Dar Tarus and Gor Hajus missing and thereupon lose no time -in advising Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, that Gor Hajus the assassin was -at large, whereupon the Jeddak’s best ships would be sent in pursuit. - -Gor Hajus’ reasoning was sound and coupled with my recollection that Ras -Thavas had told me that his three ships were slow, I could readily -foresee that our liberty would be of short duration were we to steal one -of the old surgeon’s fliers. - -As we discussed the matter we had made our way through the pits and I -had found the exit to the tower. Silently we passed upward along the -runway and out upon the roof. Both moons were winging low through the -heavens and the scene was almost as light as day. If anyone was about -discovery was certain. We hastened towards the hangar and were soon -within it, where, for a moment at least, I breathed far more easily than -I had beneath those two brilliant moons upon the exposed roof. - -The fliers were peculiar looking contrivances, low, squat, with rounded -bows and sterns and covered decks, their every line proclaiming them as -cargo carriers built for anything but speed. One was much smaller than -the other two and a second was evidently undergoing repairs. The third I -entered and examined carefully. Gor Hajus was with me and pointed out -several places where we might hide with little likelihood of discovery -unless it were suspected that we might be aboard, and that of course -constituted a very real danger; so much so that I had about decided to -risk all aboard the small flier, which Gor Hajus assured me would be the -fastest of the three, when Dar Tarus stuck his head into the ship and -motioned me to come quickly. - -“There is someone about,” he said when I reached his side. - -“Where?” I demanded. - -“Come,” he said, and led me to the rear of the hangar, which was flush -with the wall of the building upon which it stood, and pointed through -one of the windows into the inner garden where, to my consternation, I -saw Ras Thavas walking slowly to and fro. For an instant I was sick with -despair, for I knew that no ship could leave that roof unseen while -anyone was abroad in the garden beneath, and Ras Thavas least of all -people in the world; but suddenly a great light dawned upon me. I called -the three close to me and explained my plan. - -Instantly they grasped the possibilities in it and a moment later we had -run the small flier out upon the roof and turned her nose toward the -east, away from Toonol. Then Gor Hajus entered her, set the various -controls as we had decided, opened the throttle, slipped back to the -roof. The four of us hastened into the hangar and ran to the rear window -where we saw the ship moving slowly and gracefully out over the garden -and the head of Ras Thavas, whose ears must instantly have caught the -faint purring of the motor, for he was looking up by the time we reached -the window. - -Instantly he hailed the ship and stepping back from the window that he -might not see me I answered: “Good-bye, Ras Thavas! It is I, Vad Varo, -going out into a strange world to see what it is like. I shall return. -The spirits of your ancestors be with you until then.” That was a phrase -I had picked up from reading in Ras Thavas’ library and I was quite -proud of it. - -“Come back at once,” he shouted up in reply, “or you will be with the -spirits of your own ancestors before another day is done.” - -I made no reply. The ship was now at such a distance that I feared my -voice might no longer seem to come from it and that we should be -discovered. Without more delay we concealed ourselves aboard one of the -remaining fliers, that upon which no work was being done, and there -commenced as long and tiresome a period of waiting as I can recall ever -having passed through. - -I had at last given up any hope of the ship’s being flown that day when -I heard voices in the hangar, and presently the sound of footsteps -aboard the flier. A moment later a few commands were given and almost -immediately the ship moved slowly out into the open. - -The four of us were crowded into a small compartment built into a tiny -space between the forward and aft starboard buoyancy tanks. It was very -dark and poorly ventilated, having evidently been designed as a storage -closet to utilize otherwise waste space. We dared not converse for fear -of attracting attention to our presence, and for the same reason we -moved about as little as possible, since we had no means of knowing but -that some member of the crew might be just beyond the thin door that -separated us from the main cabin of the ship. Altogether we were most -uncomfortable; but the distance to Toonol is not so great but that we -might hope that our situation would soon be changed—at least if Toonol -was to be the destination of the ship. Of this we soon had cheering -hope. We had been out but a short time when, faintly, we heard a hail -and then the motors were immediately shut down and the ship stopped. - -“What ship?” we heard a voice demand, and from aboard our own came the -reply: - -“The Vosar, Tower of Thavas for Toonol.” We heard a scraping as the -other ship touched ours. - -“We are coming aboard to search you in the name of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of -Toonol. Make way!” shouted one from the other ship. Our cheer had been -of short duration. We heard the shuffling of many feet and Gor Hajus -whispered in my ear. - -“What shall we do?” he asked. - -I slipped my short-sword into his hand. “Fight!” I replied. - -“Good, Vad Varo,” he replied, and then I handed him my pistol and told -him to pass it on to Dar Tarus. We heard the voices again, but nearer -now. - -“What ho!” cried one. “It is Bal Zak himself, my old friend Bal Zak!” - -“None other,” replied a deep voice. “And whom did you expect to find in -command of the Vosar other than Bal Zak?” - -“Who could know but that it might have been this Vad Varo himself, or -even Gor Hajus,” said the other, “and our orders are to search all -ships.” - -“I would that they were here,” replied Bal Zak, “for the reward is high. -But how could they, when Ras Thavas himself with his own eyes saw them -fly off in the Pinsar before dawn this day and disappear in the east?” - -“Right you are, Bal Zak,” agreed the other, “and it were a waste of time -to search your ship. Come men! to our own!” - -I could feel the muscles about my heart relax with the receding -footfalls of Vobis Kan’s warriors as they quitted the deck of the Vosar -for their own ship, and my spirits rose with the renewed purring of our -own motor as Ras Thavas’ flier again got under way. Gor Hajus bent his -lips close to my ear. - -“The spirits of our ancestors smile upon us,” he whispered. “It is night -and the darkness will aid in covering our escape from the ship and the -landing stage.” - -“What makes you think it is night?” I asked. - -“Vobis Kan’s ship was close by when it hailed and asked our name. By -daylight it could have seen what ship we were.” - -He was right. We had been locked in that stuffy hole since before dawn, -and while I had thought that it had been for a considerable time, I also -had realized that the darkness and the inaction and the nervous strain -would tend to make it seem much longer than it really had been; so that -I would not have been greatly surprised had we made Toonol by daylight. - -The distance from the Tower of Thavas to Toonol is inconsiderable, so -that shortly after Vobis Kan’s ship had spoken to us we came to rest -upon the landing stage at our destination. For a long time we waited, -listening to the sounds of movement aboard the ship and wondering, upon -my part at least, as to what the intentions of the captain might be. It -was quite possible that Bal Zak might return to Thavas this same night, -especially if he had come to Toonol to fetch a rich or powerful patient -to the laboratories; but if he had come only for supplies he might well -lie here until the morrow. This much I had learned from Gor Hajus, my -own knowledge of the movements of the fliers of Ras Thavas being -considerably less than nothing; for, though I had been months a -lieutenant of the master surgeon, I had learned only the day before of -the existence of his small fleet, it being according to the policy of -Ras Thavas to tell me nothing unless the telling of it coincided with -and furthered his own plans. - -Questions which I asked he always answered, if he reasoned that the -effects would not be harmful to his own interests, but he volunteered -nothing that he did not particularly wish me to know; and the fact that -there were no windows in the outside walls of the building facing -towards Toonol, that I had never before the previous day been upon the -roof and that I never had seen a ship sail over the inner court towards -the east all tended to explain my ignorance of the fleet and its -customary operations. - -We waited quietly until silence fell upon the ship, betokening either -that the crew had retired for the night or that they had gone down into -the city. Then, after a whispered consultation with Gor Hajus, we -decided to make an attempt to leave the flier. It was our purpose to -seek a hiding place within the tower of the landing stage from which we -might investigate possible avenues of escape into the city, either at -once or upon the morrow when we might more easily mix with the crowd -that Gor Hajus said would certainly be in evidence from a few hours -after sunrise. - -Cautiously I opened the door of our closet and looked into the main -cabin beyond. It lay in darkness. Silently we filed out. The silence of -the tomb lay upon the flier, but from far below arose the subdued noises -of the city. So far, so good! Then, without sound, without warning, a -burst of brilliant light illuminated the interior of the cabin. I felt -my fingers tighten upon my sword-hilt as I glanced quickly about. - -Directly opposite us, in the narrow doorway of a small cabin, stood a -tall man whose handsome harness betokened the fact that he was no common -warrior. In either hand he held a heavy Barsoomian pistol, into the -muzzles of which we found ourselves staring. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - HANDS UP! - - -In quiet tones he spoke the words of the Barsoomian equivalent of our -Earthly _hands up!_ The shadow of a grim smile touched his lips, and as -he saw us hesitate to obey his commands he spoke again. - -“Do as I tell you and you will be well off. Keep perfect silence. A -raised voice may spell your doom; a pistol shot most assuredly.” - -Gor Hajus raised his hands above his head and we others followed his -example. - -“I am Bal Zak,” announced the stranger. My heart slumped. - -“Then you had better commence firing,” said Gor Hajus, “for you will not -take us alive and we are four to one.” - -“Not so fast, Gor Hajus,” admonished the captain of the Vosar, “until -you learn what is in my mind.” - -“That, we already know for we heard you speak of the large reward that -awaited the captor of Vad Varo and Gor Hajus,” snapped the assassin of -Toonol. - -“Had I craved that reward so much I could have turned you over to the -dwar of Vobis Kan’s ship when he boarded us,” said Bal Zak. - -“You did not know we were aboard the Vosar,” I reminded him. - -“Ah, but I did.” - -Gor Hajus snorted his disbelief. - -“How then,” Bal Zak reminded us, “was I able to be ready upon this very -spot when you emerged from your hiding place? Yes, I knew that you were -aboard.” - -“But how?” demanded Dar Tarus. - -“It is immaterial,” replied Bal Zak, “but to satisfy your natural -curiosity I will tell you that I have quarters in a small room in the -Tower of Thavas, my windows overlook the roof and the hangar. My long -life spent aboard fliers has made me very sensitive to every sound of a -ship—motors changing their speed will awaken me in the dead of night, -as quickly as will their starting or their stopping. I was awakened by -the starting of the motors of the Pinsar; I saw three of you upon the -roof and the fourth drop from the deck of the flier as she started and -my judgment told me that the ship was being sent out unmanned for some -reason of which I had no knowledge. It was too late for me to prevent -the act and so I waited in silence to learn what would follow. I saw you -hasten into the hangar and I heard Ras Thavas’ hail and your reply, and -then I saw you board the Vosar. Immediately I descended to the roof and -ran noiselessly to the hangar, apprehending that you intended making -away with this ship; but there was no one about the controls; and from a -tiny port in the control room, through which one has a view of the main -cabin, I saw you enter the closet. I was at once convinced that your -only purpose was to stow away for Toonol and consequently, aside from -keeping an eye upon your hiding place, I went about my business as -usual.” - -“And you did not advise Ras Thavas?” I asked. - -“I advised no one,” he replied. “Years ago I learned to mind my own -business, to see all, to hear all and to tell nothing unless it profited -me to do so.” - -“But you said that the reward is high for our apprehension,” Gor Hajus -reminded him. “Would it not be profitable to collect it?” - -“There are in the breasts of honourable men,” replied Bal Zak, “forces -that rise superior to the lust for gold, and while Toonolians are -supposedly a people free from the withering influences of sentiment yet -I for one am not totally unconscious of the demand of gratitude. Six -years ago, Gor Hajus, you refused to assassinate my father, holding that -he was a good man, worthy to live and one that had once befriended you -slightly. To-day, through his son, you reap your reward and in some -measure are repaid for the punishment that was meted out to you by Vobis -Kan because of your refusal to slay the sire of Bal Zak. I have sent my -crew away that none aboard the Vosar but myself might have knowledge of -your presence. Tell me your plans and command me in what way I may be of -further service to you.” - -“We wish to reach the streets, unobserved,” replied Gor Hajus. “Can you -but help us in that we shall not put upon your shoulders further -responsibility for our escape. You have our gratitude and in Toonol, I -need not remind you, the gratitude of Gor Hajus is a possession that -even the Jeddak has craved.” - -“Your problem is complicated,” said Bal Zak, after a moment of thought, -“by the personnel of your party. The ape would immediately attract -attention and arouse suspicion. Knowing much of Ras Thavas’ experiments -I realized at once this morning, after watching him with you, that he -had the brain of a man; but this very fact would attract to him and to -you the closer attention of the masses.” - -“I do not need acquaint them with the fact,” growled Hovan Du. “To them -I need be but a captive ape. Are such unknown in Toonol?” - -“Not entirely, though they are rare,” replied Bal Zak. “But there is -also the white skin of Vad Varo! Ras Thavas appears to have known -nothing of the presence of the ape with you; but he full well knew of -Vad Varo, and your description has been spread by every means at his -command. You would be recognized immediately by the first Toonolian that -lays eyes upon you, and then there is Gor Hajus. He has been as dead for -six years, yet I venture there is scarce a Toonolian that broke the -shell prior to ten years ago who does not know the face of Gor Hajus as -well as he knows that of his own mother. The Jeddak himself was not -better known to the people of Toonol than Gor Hajus. That leaves but one -who might possibly escape suspicion and detection in the streets of -Toonol.” - -“If we could but obtain weapons for these others,” I suggested, “we -might even yet reach the house of Gor Hajus’ friend.” - -“Fight your way through the city of Toonol?” demanded Bal Zak. - -“If there is no other way we should have to,” I replied. - -“I admire the will,” commented the commander of the Vosar, “but fear -that the flesh is without sufficient strength. Wait! there is a -way—perhaps. On the stage just below this there is a public depot where -equilibrimotors are kept and rented. Could we find the means to obtain -four of these there would be a chance, at least, for you to elude the -air patrols and reach the house of Gor Hajus’ friend; and I think I see -a way to the accomplishment of that. The landing tower is closed for the -night but there are several watchmen distributed through it at different -levels. There is one at the equilibrimotor depot and, as I happen to -know, he is a devotee of jetan. He would rather play jetan than attend -to his duties as watchman. I often remain aboard the Vosar at night and -occasionally he and I indulge in a game. I will ask him up to-night and -while he is thus engaged you may go to the depot, help yourselves to -equilibrimotors and pray to your ancestors that no air patrol suspects -you as you cross the city towards your destination. What think you of -this plan, Gor Hajus?” - -“It is splendid,” replied the assassin. “And you, Vad Varo?” - -“If I knew what an equilibrimotor is I might be in a better position to -judge the merits of the plan,” I replied. “However, I am satisfied to -abide by the judgment of Gor Hajus. I can assure you, Bal Zak, of our -great appreciation, and as Gor Hajus has put the stamp of his approval -upon your plan I can only urge you to arrange that we may put it into -effect with as little delay as possible.” - -“Good!” exclaimed Bal Zak. “Come with me and I will conceal you until I -have lured the watchman to the jetan game within my cabin. After that -your fate will be in your own hands.” - -We followed him from the ship on to the deck of the landing stage and -close under the side of the Vosar opposite that from which the watchman -must approach the ship and enter it. Then, bidding us good luck, Bal Zak -departed. - -From the summit of the landing tower I had my first view of a Martian -city. Several hundred feet below me lay spread the broad, well-lighted -avenues of Toonol, many of which were crowded with people. Here and -there, in this central district, a building was raised high upon its -supporting, cylindrical metal shaft; while further out, where the -residences predominated, the city took on the appearance of a colossal -and grotesque forest. Among the larger palaces only an occasional suite -of rooms was thus raised high above the level of the others, these being -the sleeping apartments of the owners, their servants or their guests; -but the smaller homes were raised in their entirety, a precaution -necessitated by the constant activities of the followers of Gor Hajus’ -ancient profession that permitted no man to be free from the constant -menace of assassination. Throughout the central district the sky was -pierced by the lofty towers of several other landing stages; but, as I -was later to learn, these were comparatively few in number. Toonol is in -no sense a flying nation, supporting no such enormous fleets of merchant -ships and vessels of war as, for example, the twin cities of Helium or -the great capital of Ptarth. - -A peculiar feature of the street lighting of Toonol, and in fact the -same condition applies to the lighting of other Barsoomian cities I have -visited, I noted for the first time that night as I waited upon the -landing stage for the return of Bal Zak with the watchman. The -luminosity below me seemed confined directly to the area to be lighted; -there was no diffusion of light upward or beyond the limits the lamps -were designed to light. This was effected, I was told, by lamps designed -upon principles resulting from ages of investigation of the properties -of light waves and the laws governing them which permit Barsoomian -scientists to confine and control light as we confine and control -matter. The light waves leave the lamp, pass along a prescribed circuit -and return to the lamp. There is no waste nor, strange this seemed to -me, are there any dense shadows when lights are properly installed and -adjusted; for the waves in passing around objects to return to the lamp, -illuminate all sides of them. - -The effect of this lighting from the great height of the tower was -rather remarkable. The night was dark, there being no moons at that hour -upon this night, and the effect was that obtained when sitting in a -darkened auditorium and looking upon a brilliantly lighted stage. I was -still intent upon watching the life and colour beneath when we heard Bal -Zak returning. That he had been successful in his mission was apparent -from the fact that he was conversing with another. - -Five minutes later we crept quietly from our hiding place and descended -to the stage below where lay the equilibrimotor depot. As theft is -practically unknown upon Barsoom, except for purposes entirely -disassociated from a desire to obtain pecuniary profit through the thing -stolen, no precautions are taken against theft. We therefore found the -doors of the depot open and Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus quickly selected -four equilibrimotors and adjusted them upon us. They consist of a broad -belt, not unlike the life belt used aboard trans-oceanic liners upon -Earth; these belts are filled with the eighth Barsoomian ray, or ray of -propulsion, to a sufficient degree to just about equalize the pull of -gravity and thus to maintain a person in equilibrium between that force -and the opposite force exerted by the eighth ray. Permanently attached -to the back of the belt is a small radium motor, the controls for which -are upon the front of the belt. Rigidly attached to and projecting from -each side of the upper rim of the belt is a strong, light wing with -small hand levers for quickly altering its position. - -Gor Hajus quickly explained the method of control, but I could apprehend -that there might be embarrassment and trouble awaiting me before I -mastered the art of flying in an equilibrimotor. He showed me how to -tilt the wings downward in walking so that I would not leave the ground -at every step, and thus he led me to the edge of the landing stage. - -“We will rise here,” he said, “and keeping in the darkness of the upper -levels seek to reach the house of my friend without being detected. If -we are pursued by air patrols we must separate; and later those who -escape may gather just west of the city wall where you will find a small -lake with a deserted tower upon its northern rim—this tower will be our -rendezvous in event of trouble. Follow me!” He started his motor and -rose gracefully into the air. - -Hovan Du followed him and then it was my turn. I rose beautifully for -about twenty feet, floating out over the city which lay hundreds of feet -below, and then, quite suddenly, I turned upside down. I had done -something wrong—I was quite positive of it. It was a most startling -sensation, I can assure you, floating there with my head down, quite -helpless; while below me lay the streets of a great city and no softer, -I was sure, than the streets of Los Angeles or Paris. My motor was still -going, and as I manipulated the controls which operated the wings I -commenced to describe all sorts of strange loops and spirals and spins; -and then Dar Tarus came to my rescue. First he told me to lie quietly -and then directed the manipulation of each wing until I had gained an -upright position. After that I did fairly well and was soon rising in -the wake of Gor Hajus and Hovan Du. - -I need not describe in detail the hour of flying, or rather floating, -that ensued. Gor Hajus led us to a considerable altitude and there, -through the darkness above the city, our slow motors drove us towards a -district of magnificent homes surrounded by spacious grounds; and here, -as we hovered over a large palace, we were suddenly startled by a sharp -challenge coming from directly above us. - -“Who flies by night?” a voice demanded. - -“Friends of Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan,” replied Gor Hajus -quickly. - -“Let me see your night flying permit and your flier’s licence,” ordered -the one above us, at the same time swooping suddenly to our level and -giving me my first sight of a Martian policeman. He was equipped with a -much swifter and handier equilibrimotor than ours. I think that was the -first fact to impress us deeply, and it demonstrated the futility of -flight; for he could have given us ten minutes start and overhauled each -of us within another ten minutes, even though we had elected to fly in -different directions. The fellow was a warrior rather than a policeman, -though detailed to duty such as our Earthly police officers perform; the -city being patrolled both day and night by the warriors of Vobis Kan’s -army. - -He dropped now close to the assassin of Toonol, again demanding permit -and license and at the same time flashing a light in the face of my -comrade. - -“By the sword of the Jeddak!” he cried. “Fortune heaps her favors upon -me. Who would have thought an hour since that it would be I who would -collect the reward for the capture of Gor Hajus?” - -“Any other fool might have thought it,” returned Gor Hajus, “but he -would have been as wrong as you,” and as he spoke he struck with the -short-sword I had loaned him. - -The blow was broken by the wing of the warrior’s equilibrimotor, which -it demolished, yet it inflicted a severe wound in the fellow’s shoulder. -He tried to back off, but the damaged wing caused him only to wheel -around erratically; and then he seized upon his whistle and attempted to -blow a mighty blast that was cut short by another blow from Gor Hajus’ -sword that split the man’s head open to the bridge of his nose. - -“Quick!” cried the assassin. “We must drop into the gardens of Mu Tel, -for that signal will bring a swarm of air patrols about our heads.” - -The others I saw falling rapidly towards the ground, but again I had -trouble. Depress my wings as I would I moved only slightly downward and -upon a path that, if continued, would have landed me at a considerable -distance from the gardens of Mu Tel. I was approaching one of the -elevated portions of the palace, what appeared to be a small suite that -was raised upon its shining metal shaft far above the ground. From all -directions I could hear the screaming whistles of the air patrols -answering the last call of their comrade whose corpse floated just above -me, a guide even in death to point the way for his fellows to search us -out. They were sure to discover him and then I would be in plain view of -them and my fate sealed. - -Perhaps I could find ingress to the apartment looming darkly near! There -I might hide until the danger had passed, provided I could enter, -undetected. I directed my course towards the structure; an open window -took form through the darkness and then I collided with a fine wire -netting—I had run into a protecting curtain that fends off assassins of -the air from these high-flung sleeping apartments. I felt that I was -lost. If I could but reach the ground I might find concealment among the -trees and shrubbery that I had seen vaguely outlined beneath me in the -gardens of this Barsoomian prince; but I could not drop at a sufficient -angle to bring me to ground within the garden, and when I tried to -spiral down I turned over and started up again. I thought of ripping -open my belt and letting the eighth ray escape; but in my unfamiliarity -with this strange force I feared that such an act might precipitate me -to the ground with too great violence, though I was determined to have -recourse to it as a last alternative if nothing less drastic presented -itself. - -In my last attempt to spiral downward I rose rapidly feet foremost to a -sudden and surprising collision with some object above me. As I -frantically righted myself, fully expecting to be immediately seized by -a member of the air patrol, I found myself face to face with the corpse -of the warrior Gor Hajus had slain. The whistling of the air patrols -sounded ever nearer—it could be only a question of seconds now before I -was discovered—and with the stern necessity that confronted me, with -death looking me in the face, there burst upon me a possible avenue of -escape from my dilemma. - -Seizing tightly with my left hand the harness of the dead Toonolian, I -whipped out my dagger and slashed his buoyancy belt a dozen times. -Instantly, as the rays escaped, his body started to drag me downward. -Our descent was rapid, but not precipitate, and it was but a matter of -seconds before we landed gently upon the scarlet sward of the gardens of -Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan, close beside a clump of heavy -shrubbery. Above me sounded the whistles of the circling patrols as I -dragged the corpse of the warrior into the concealing depth of the -foliage. Nor was I an instant too soon for safety, as almost immediately -the brilliant rays of a searchlight shot downward from the deck of a -small patrol ship, illuminating the open spaces of the garden all about -me. A hurried glance through the branches and the leaves of my sanctuary -revealed nothing of my companions and I breathed a sigh of relief in the -thought that they, too, had found concealment. - -The light played for a short time about the gardens and then passed on, -as did the sound of the patrol’s whistles, as the search proceeded -elsewhere; thus giving me the assurance that no suspicion was directed -upon our hiding place. - -Left in darkness I appropriated such of the weapons of the dead warrior -as I coveted, after having removed my equilibrimotor, which I was first -minded to destroy, but which I finally decided to moor to one of the -larger shrubs against the possibility that I might again have need for -it; and now, secure in the conviction that the danger of discovery by -the air patrol had passed, I left my concealment and started in search -of my companions. - -Keeping well in the shadows of the trees and shrubs I moved in the -direction of the main building, which loomed darkly near at hand; for in -this direction I believed Gor Hajus would lead the others as I knew that -the palace of Mu Tel was to have been our destination. As I crept along, -moving with utmost stealth, Thuria, the nearer moon, shot suddenly above -the horizon, illuminating the night with her brilliant rays. I was close -to the building’s ornately carved wall at the moment; beside me was a -narrow niche, its interior cast in deepest shadow by Thuria’s brilliant -rays; to my left was an open bit of lawn upon which, revealed in every -detail of its terrifying presence, stood as fearsome a creature as my -Earthly eyes ever had rested upon. It was a beast about the size of a -Shetland pony, with ten short legs and a terrifying head that bore some -slight resemblance to that of a frog, except that the jaws were equipped -with three rows of long, sharp tusks. - -The thing had its nose in the air and was sniffing about, while its -great pop eyes moved swiftly here and there, assuring me, beyond the -shadow of a doubt, that it was searching for someone. I am not inclined -to be egotistical, yet I could not avoid the conviction that it was -searching for me. It was my first experience of a Martian watch dog; and -as I sought concealment within the dark shadows of the niche behind me, -at the very instant that the creature’s eyes alighted upon me, and heard -his growl and saw him charge straight towards me, I had a premonition -that it might prove my last experience with one. - -I drew my long-sword as I backed into the niche, but with a sense of the -utter inadequacy of the unaccustomed weapon in the face of this three or -four hundred pounds of ferocity incarnate. Slowly I backed away into the -shadows as the creature bore down upon me and then, as it entered the -niche, my back collided with a solid obstacle that put an end to further -retreat. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - THE PALACE OF MU TEL - - -As the calot entered the niche I experienced, I believe, all of the -reactions of the cornered rat, and I certainly know that I set myself to -fight in that proverbial manner. The beast was almost upon me and I was -metaphorically kicking myself for not having remained in the open where -there were many tall trees when the support at my back suddenly gave -way, a hand reached out of the darkness behind me and seized my harness -and I was drawn swiftly into inky blackness. A door slammed and the -silhouette of the calot against the moonlit entrance to the niche was -blotted out. - -A gruff voice spoke in my ear. “Come with me!” it said. A hand found -mine and thus I was led along through the darkness of what I soon -discovered was a narrow corridor from the constantly recurring -collisions I had first with one side of it and then with the other. - -Ascending gradually, the corridor turned abruptly at right angles and I -saw beyond my guide a dim luminosity that gradually increased until -another turn brought us to the threshold of a brilliantly lighted -chamber—a magnificent apartment, the gorgeous furnishings and -decorations of which beggar the meagre descriptive powers of my native -tongue. Gold, ivory, precious stones, marvelous woods, resplendent -fabrics, gorgeous furs and startling architecture combined to impress -upon my earthly vision such a picture as I had never even dreamed of -dreaming; and in the center of this room, surrounded by a little group -of Martians, were my three companions. - -My guide conducted me towards the party, the members of which had turned -towards us as we entered the chamber, and stopped before a tall -Barsoomian, resplendent in jewel encrusted harness. - -“Prince,” he said, “I was scarce a tal too soon. In fact, as I opened -the door to step out into the garden in search of him, as you directed, -there he was upon the opposite side with one of the calots of the garden -almost upon him.” - -“Good!” exclaimed he who had been addressed as prince, and then he -turned to Gor Hajus. “This is he, my friend, of whom you told me?” - -“This is Vad Varo, who claims to be from the planet Jasoom,” replied Gor -Hajus; “and this, Vad Varo, is Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan.” - -I bowed and the prince advanced and placed his right hand upon my left -shoulder in true Barsoomian acknowledgment of an introduction; when I -had done similarly, the ceremony was over. There was no silly -pleased-to-meet-you, how-do-you-do? or it’s-a-pleasure-I-assure-you. - -At Mu Tel’s request I narrated briefly what had befallen me between the -time I had become separated from my companions and the moment that one -of his officers had snatched me from impending disaster. Mu Tel gave -instructions that all traces of the dead patrol be removed before dawn -lest their discovery bring upon him the further suspicion of his uncle, -Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, whom it seemed had long been jealous of his -nephew’s growing popularity and fearful that he harbored aspirations for -the throne. - -It was later in the evening, during one of those elaborate meals for -which the princes of Barsoom are justly famous, when mellowed slightly -by the rare vintages with which he delighted his guests, that Mu Tel -discoursed with less restraint upon his imperial uncle. - -“The nobles have long been tired of Vobis Kan,” he said, “and the people -are tiring of him—he is a conscienceless tyrant—but he is our -hereditary ruler, and so they hesitate to change. We are a practical -people, little influenced by sentiment; yet there is enough to keep the -masses loyal to their Jeddak even after he has ceased to deserve their -loyalty, while the fear of the wrath of the masses keeps the nobles -loyal. There is also the natural suspicion that I, the next in line for -succession, would make them no less tyrannical a Jeddak than has Vobis -Kan, while, having youth, I might be much more active in cruel and -nefarious practices. - -“For myself, I would not hesitate to destroy my uncle and seize his -throne were I sure of the support of the army, for with the warriors of -Vobis Kan at my back I might defy the balance of Toonol. It is because -of this that I long since offered my friendship to Gor Hajus; not that -he might slay my uncle, but that when I had slain him in fair fight Gor -Hajus might win to me the loyalty of the Jeddak’s warriors, for great is -the popularity of Gor Hajus among the soldiers, who ever look up to such -a great fighter with reverence and devotion. I have offered Gor Hajus a -high place in the affairs of Toonol should he cast his lot with me; but -he tells me that he has first to fulfil his obligations to you, Vad -Varo, and for the furtherance of your adventure he has asked me to give -you what assistance I may. This I offer gladly, from purely practical -motives, since your early success will hasten mine. Therefore I propose -to place at your disposal a staunch flier that will carry you and your -companions to Phundahl.” - -This offer I naturally accepted, after which we fell to discussing plans -for our departure which we finally decided to attempt early the -following night, at a time when neither of the moons would be in the -heavens. After a brief discussion of equipment we were, at my request, -permitted to retire since I had not slept for more than thirty-six hours -and my companions for twenty-four. - -Slaves conducted us to our sleeping apartments, which were luxuriously -furnished, and arranged magnificent sleeping silks and furs for our -comfort. After they had left us Gor Hajus touched a button and the room -rose swiftly upon its metal shaft to a height of forty or fifty feet; -the wire netting automatically dropped about us, and we were safe for -the night. - -The following morning, after our apartment had been lowered to its -daylight level and before I was permitted to leave it, a slave was sent -to me by Mu Tel with instructions to stain my entire body the beautiful -copper-red of my Barsoomian friends; furnishing me with a disguise which -I well knew to be highly essential to the success of my venture, since -my white skin would have drawn unpleasant notice upon me in any city of -Barsoom. Another slave brought harness and weapons for Gor Hajus, Dar -Tarus and myself, and a collar and chain for Hovan Du, the ape-man. Our -harness, while of heavy material, and splendid workmanship, was quite -plain, being free of all insignia either of rank or service—such -harness as is customarily worn by the Barsoomian panthan, or soldier of -fortune, at such times as he is not definitely in the service of any -nation or individual. These panthans are virtually men without a -country, being roving mercenaries ready to sell their swords to the -highest bidder. Although they have no organization they are ruled by a -severe code of ethics and while in the employ of a master are, almost -without exception, loyal to him. They are generally supposed to be men -who have flown from the wrath of their own Jeddaks or the justice of -their own courts, but there is among them a sprinkling of adventurous -souls who have adopted their calling because of the thrills and -excitement it offers. While they are well paid, they are also great -gamblers and notorious spenders, with the result that they are almost -always without funds and often reduced to strange expedients for the -gaining of their livelihood between engagements; a fact which gave great -plausibility to our possession of a trained ape, which upon Mars would -appear no more remarkable than would to us the possession of a monkey or -parrot by an old salt just returned, from a long cruise, to one of our -Earthly ports. - -This day that I stayed in the palace of Mu Tel I spent much in the -company of the prince, who found pleasure in questioning me concerning -the customs, the politics, the civilization and the geography of Earth, -with much of which, I was surprised to note, he seemed quite familiar; a -fact which he explained was due to the marvelous development of -Barsoomian astronomical instruments, wireless photography and wireless -telephony; the last of which has been brought to such a state of -perfection that many Barsoomian savants have succeeded in learning -several Earthly languages, notably Urdu, English and Russian, and, a -few, Chinese also. These have doubtless been the first languages to -attract their attention because of the fact that they are spoken by -great numbers of people over large areas of the world. - -Mu Tel took me to a small auditorium in his palace that reminded me -somewhat of private projection rooms on Earth. It had, I should say, a -capacity of some two hundred persons and was built like a large camera -obscura; the audience sitting within the instrument, their backs towards -the lens and in front of them, filling one entire end of the room, a -large ground glass upon which is thrown the image to be observed. - -Mu Tel seated himself at a table upon which was a chart of the heavens. -Just above the chart was a movable arm carrying a pointer. This pointer -Mu Tel moved until it rested upon the planet Earth, then he switched off -the light in the room and immediately there appeared upon the ground -glass plate a view such as one might obtain from an airplane riding at -an elevation of a thousand feet. There was something strangely familiar -about the scene before me. It was of a desolate, wasted country. I saw -shattered stumps whose orderly arrangement proclaimed that here once an -orchard had blossomed and borne fruit. There were great, unsightly holes -in the earth and over and across all a tangle of barbed wire. I asked Mu -Tel how we might change the picture to another locality. He lighted a -small radio bulb between us and I saw a globe there, a globe of Earth, -and a small pointer fixed over it. - -“The side of this globe now presented to you represents the face of the -Earth turned towards us,” explained Mu Tel. “You will note that the -globe is slowly revolving. Place this pointer where you will upon the -globe and that portion of Jasoom will be revealed for you.” - -I moved the pointer very slowly and the picture changed. A ruined -village came into view. I saw some people moving among its ruins. They -were not soldiers. A little further on I came upon trenches and -dug-outs—there were no soldiers here, either. I moved the pointer -rapidly north and south along a vast line of trenches. Here and there in -villages there were soldiers, but they were all French soldiers and -never were they in the trenches. There were no German soldiers and no -fighting. The war was over, then! I moved the pointer to the Rhine and -across. There were soldiers in Germany—French soldiers, English -soldiers, American soldiers. We had won the war! I was glad, but it -seemed very far away and quite unreal—as though no such world existed -and no such peoples had ever fought—it was as though I were recalling -through its illustrations a novel that I had read a long time since. - -“You seem much interested in that war torn country,” remarked Mu Tel. - -“Yes,” I explained, “I fought in that war. Perhaps I was killed. I do -not know.” - -“And you won?” he asked. - -“Yes, my people won,” I replied. “We fought for a great principle and -for the peace and happiness of a world. I hope that we did not fight in -vain.” - -“If you mean that you hope that your principle will triumph because you -fought and won, or that peace will come, your hopes are futile. War -never brought peace—it but brings more and greater wars. War is -Nature’s natural state—it is folly to combat it. Peace should be -considered only as a time for preparation for the principal business of -man’s existence. Were it not for constant warring of one form of life -upon another, and even upon itself, the planets would be so overrun with -life that it would smother itself out. We found upon Barsoom that long -periods of peace brought plagues and terrible diseases that killed more -than the wars killed and in a much more hideous and painful way. There -is neither pleasure nor thrill nor reward of any sort to be gained by -dying in bed of a loathsome disease. We must all die—let us therefore -go out and die in a great and exciting game, and make room for the -millions who are to follow us. We have tried it out upon Barsoom and we -would not be without war.” - -Mu Tel told me much that day about the peculiar philosophy of -Toonolians. They believe that no good deed was ever performed except for -a selfish motive; they have no god and no religion; they believe, as do -all educated Barsoomians, that man came originally from the Tree of -Life, but unlike most of their fellows they do not believe that an -omnipotent being created the Tree of Life. They hold that the only sin -is failure—success, however achieved, is meritorious; and yet, -paradoxical as it may seem, they never break their given word. Mu Tel -explained that they overcame the baneful results of this degrading -weakness—this sentimental bosh—by seldom, if ever, binding themselves -to loyalty to another, and then only for a definitely prescribed period. - -As I came to know them better, and especially Gor Hajus, I began to -realize that much of their flaunted contempt of the finer sensibilities -was specious. It is true that generations of inhibition had to some -extent atrophied those characteristics of heart and soul which the -noblest among us so highly esteem; that friendship’s ties were lax and -that blood kinship awakened no high sense of responsibility or love even -between parents and children; yet Gor Hajus was essentially a man of -sentiment, though he would doubtless have run through the heart any who -had dared accuse him of it, thus perfectly proving the truth of the -other’s accusation. His pride in his reputation for integrity and -loyalty proved him a man of heart as truly as did his jealousy of his -reputation for heartlessness prove him a man of sentiment; and in all -this he was but typical of the people of Toonol. They denied deity, and -in the same breath worshiped the fetish of science that they had -permitted to obsess them quite as harmfully as do religious fanatics -accept the unreasoning rule of their imaginary gods; and so, with all -their vaunted knowledge, they were unintelligent because unbalanced. - -As the day drew to a close I became the more anxious to be away. Far to -the west across desolate leagues of marsh lay Phundahl, and in Phundahl -the beauteous body of the girl I loved and that I was sworn to restore -to its rightful owner. The evening meal was over and Mu Tel himself had -conducted us to a secret hangar in one of the towers of his palace. Here -artisans had prepared a flier for us, having removed during the day all -signs of its real ownership, even to slightly altering its lines; so -that in the event of capture Mu Tel’s name might in no way be connected -with the expedition. Provisions were stored, including plenty of raw -meat for Hovan Du, and, as the farther moon sank below the horizon and -darkness fell, a panel of the tower wall, directly in front of the -flier’s nose, slid aside. Mu Tel wished us luck and the ship slipped -silently out into the night. The flier, like many of her type, was -without cockpit or cabin; a low, metal hand-rail surmounted her gunwale; -heavy rings were set substantially in her deck and to these her crew was -supposed to cling or attach themselves by means of their harness hooks -provided for this and similar purposes; a low wind shield, with a rakish -slant, afforded some protection from the wind; the motor and controls -were all exposed, as all the space below decks was taken up by the -buoyancy tanks. In this type everything is sacrificed to speed; there is -no comfort aboard. When moving at high speed each member of the crew -lies extended at full length upon the deck, each in his allotted place -to give the necessary trim, and hangs on for dear life. These Toonolian -crafts, however, are not overly fast, so I was told, being far -outstripped in speed by the fliers of such nations as Helium and Ptarth -who have for ages devoted themselves to the perfection of their navies; -but this one was quite fast enough for our purposes, to the consummation -of which it would be pitted against fliers of no higher rating, and it -was certainly fast enough for me. In comparison with the slow moving -Vosar, it seemed to shoot through the air like an arrow. - -We wasted no time in strategy or stealth, but opened her wide as soon as -we were in the clear, and directed her straight towards the west and -Phundahl. Scarcely had we passed over the gardens of Mu Tel when we met -with our first adventure. We shot by a solitary figure floating in the -air and almost simultaneously there shrilled forth the warning whistle -of an air patrol. A shot whistled above us harmlessly and we were gone; -but within a few seconds I saw the rays of a searchlight shining down -from above and moving searchingly to and fro through the air. - -“A patrol boat!” shouted Gor Hajus in my ear. Hovan Du growled savagely -and shook the chain upon his collar. We raced on, trusting to the big -gods and the little gods and all our ancestors that the relentless eye -of light would not find us out; but it did. Within a few seconds it fell -full upon our deck from above and in front of us and there it clung as -the patrol boat dropped rapidly towards us while it maintained a high -rate of speed upon a course otherwise identical with ours. Then, to our -consternation, the ship opened fire on us with explosive bullets. These -projectiles contain a high explosive that is detonated by light rays -when the opaque covering of the projectile is broken by impact with the -target. It is therefore not at all necessary to make a direct hit for a -shot to be effective. If the projectile strikes the ground or the deck -of a vessel or any solid substance near its target, it does considerably -more damage when fired at a group of men than if it strikes but one of -them, since it will then explode if its outer shell is broken and kill -or wound several; while if it enters the body of an individual the light -rays cannot reach it and it accomplishes no more than a non-explosive -bullet. Moonlight is not powerful enough to detonate this explosive and -so projectiles fired at night, unless touched by the powerful rays of -searchlights, detonate at sunrise the following morning, making a -battlefield a most unsafe place at that time even though the contending -forces are no longer there. Similarly they make the removal of the -unexploded projectiles from the bodies of the wounded a most ticklish -operation which may well result in the instant death of both the patient -and the surgeon. - -Dar Tarus, at the controls, turned the nose of our flier upward directly -towards the patrol boat and at the same time shouted to us to -concentrate our fire upon her propellers. For myself, I could see little -but the blinding eye of the searchlight, and at that I fired with the -strange weapon to which I had received my first introduction but a few -hours since when it was presented to me by Mu Tel. To me that all -searching eye represented the greatest menace that confronted us, and -could we blind it the patrol boat would have no great advantage over us. -So I kept my rifle straight upon it, my finger on the button that -controlled the fire, and prayed for a hit. - -Gor Hajus knelt at my side, his weapon spitting bullets at the patrol -boat. Dar Tarus’ hands were busy with the controls and Hovan Du squatted -in the bow and growled. - -Suddenly Dar Tarus voiced an exclamation of alarm. “The controls are -hit!” he shouted. “We can’t alter our course—the ship is useless.” -Almost the same instant the searchlight was extinguished—one of my -bullets evidently having found it. We were quite close to the enemy now -and heard their shout of anger. Our own craft, out of control, was -running swiftly towards the other. It seemed that if there was not a -collision we would pass directly beneath the keel of the air patrol. I -asked Dar Tarus if our ship was beyond repair. - -“We could repair it if we had time,” he replied, “but it would take -hours and while we were thus delayed the whole air patrol force of -Toonol would be upon us.” - -“Then we must have another ship,” I said. Dar Tarus laughed. “You are -right, Vad Varo,” he replied, “but where shall we find it?” - -I pointed to the patrol boat. “We shall not have to look far.” - -Dar Tarus shrugged his shoulders. “Why not!” he exclaimed. “It would be -a glorious fight and a worthy death.” - -Gor Hajus slapped me on the shoulder. “To the death, my captain!” he -cried. - -Hovan Du shook his chain and roared. - -The two ships were rapidly approaching one another. We had stopped -firing now for fear that we might disable the craft we hoped to use for -our escape; and for some reason the crew of the patrol ship had ceased -firing at us—I never learned why. We were moving in a line that would -bring us directly beneath the other ship. I determined to board her at -all costs. I could see her keel boarding tackle slung beneath her, ready -to be lowered to the deck of a quarry when once her grappling hooks had -seized the prey. Doubtless they were already manning the latter, and as -soon as we were beneath her the steel tentacles would reach down and -seize us as her crew swarmed down the board tackle to our deck. - -I called Hovan Du and he crept back to my side where I whispered my -instructions in his ear. When I was done he nodded his head with a low -growl. I cast off the harness hook that held me to the deck, and the ape -and I moved to our bow after I had issued brief, whispered instructions -to Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus. We were now almost directly beneath the -enemy craft; I could see the grappling hooks being prepared for -lowering. Our bow ran beneath the stern of the other ship and the moment -was at hand for which I had been waiting. Now those upon the deck of the -patrol boat could not see Hovan Du or me. The boarding tackle of the -other ship swung fifteen feet above our heads; I whispered a word of -command to the ape and simultaneously we crouched and sprang for the -tackle. It may sound like a mad chance—failure meant almost certain -death—but I felt that if two of us could reach the deck of the patrol -boat while her crew was busy with the grappling gear it would be well -worth the risk. - -Gor Hajus had assured me that there would not be more than six men -aboard the patrol ship; that one would be at the controls and the others -manning the grappling hooks. It would be a most propitious time to gain -a footing on the enemy’s deck. - -Hovan Du and I made our leaps and Fortune smiled upon us, though the -huge ape but barely reached the tackle with one outstretched hand, while -my Earthly muscles carried me easily to my goal. Together we made our -way rapidly towards the bow of the patrol craft and without hesitation, -and as previously arranged, he clambered quickly up the starboard side -and I the port. If I were the more agile jumper Hovan Du far outclassed -me in climbing, with the result that he reached the rail and was -clambering over while my eyes were still below the level of the deck, -which was, perhaps, a fortunate thing for me since, by chance, I had -elected to gain the deck directly at a point where, unknown to me, one -of the crew of the ship was engaged with the grappling hooks. Had his -eyes not been attracted elsewhere by the shout of one of his fellows who -was first to see Hovan Du’s savage face rise above the gunwale, he could -have dispatched me with a single blow before ever I could have set foot -upon the deck. - -The ape had also come up directly in front of a Toonolian warrior and -this fellow had let out a yell of surprise and sought to draw his sword, -but the ape, for all his great bulk, was too quick for him; and as my -eyes topped the rail I saw the mighty anthropoid seize the unfortunate -man by the harness, drag him to the side and hurl him to destruction far -below. Instantly we were both over the rail and squarely on deck while -the remaining members of the craft’s crew, abandoning their stations, -ran forward to overpower us. I think that the sight of the great, savage -beast must have had a demoralizing effect upon them, for they hesitated, -each seeming to be willing to accord his fellow the honour of first -engaging us; but they did come on, though slowly. This hesitation I was -delighted to see, for it accorded perfectly with the plan that I had -worked out, which depended largely upon the success which might attend -the efforts of Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus to reach the deck of the patrol -when our craft had risen sufficiently close beneath the other to permit -them to reach the boarding tackle, which we were utilizing with reverse -English, as one might say. - -Gor Hajus had cautioned me to dispatch the man at the controls as -quickly as possible, since his very first act would be to injure them -the instant that there appeared any possibility that we might be -successful in our attempt to take his ship, and so I ran quickly towards -him and before he could draw I cut him down. There were now four against -us and we waited for them to advance that we might gain time for our -fellows to reach the deck. - -The four moved slowly forward and were almost within striking distance -when I saw Gor Hajus’ head appear above the stern rail, quickly followed -by that of Dar Tarus. - -“Look!” I cried to the enemy, “and surrender,” and I pointed astern. - -One of them turned to look and what he saw brought an exclamation of -surprise to his lips. “It is Gor Hajus,” he cried, and then, to me: -“What is your purpose with us if we surrender?” - -“We have no quarrel with you,” I replied. “We but wish to leave Toonol -and go our way in peace—we shall not harm you.” - -He turned to his fellows while, at a sign from me, my three companions -stopped their advance and waited. For a few minutes the four warriors -conversed in low tones, then he who had first spoken addressed me. - -“There are few Toonolians,” he said, “who would not be glad to serve Gor -Hajus, whom we had thought long dead, but to surrender our ship to you -would mean certain death for us when we reported our defeat at our -headquarters. On the other hand were we to continue our defence most of -us here upon the deck of this flier would be killed. If you can assure -us that your plans are not aimed at the safety of Toonol I can make a -suggestion that will afford an avenue of escape and safety for us all.” - -“We only wish to leave Toonol,” I replied. “No harm can come to Toonol -because of what I seek to accomplish.” - -“Good! and where do you wish to go?” - -“That I may not tell you.” - -“You may trust us, if you accept my proposal,” he assured me, “which is -that we convey you to your destination, after which we can return to -Toonol and report that we engaged you and that after a long running -fight, in which two of our number were killed, you eluded us in the -darkness and escaped.” - -“Can we trust these men?” I asked, addressing Gor Hajus, who assured me -that we could, and thus the compact was entered into which saw us -speeding rapidly towards Phundahl aboard one of Vobis Kan’s own fliers. - - - - - CHAPTER X - PHUNDAHL - - -The following night the Toonolian crew set us down just inside the wall -of the city of Phundahl, following the directions of Dar Tarus who was a -native of the city, had been a warrior of the Jeddara’s Guard and, prior -to that, seen service in Phundahl’s tiny navy. That he was familiar with -every detail of Phundahl’s defences and her systems of patrols was -evidenced by the fact that we landed without detection and that the -Toonolian ship rose and departed apparently unnoticed. - -Our landing place had been the roof of a low building built within and -against the city wall. From this roof Dar Tarus led us down an inclined -runway to the street, which, at this point, was quite deserted. The -street was narrow and dark, being flanked upon one side by the low -buildings built against the city wall and upon the other by higher -buildings, some of which were windowless and none showing any light. Dar -Tarus explained that he had chosen this point for our entrance because -it was a district of storage houses, and while a hive of industry during -the day, was always deserted at night, not even a watchman being -required owing to the almost total absence of thievery upon Barsoom. - -By devious and roundabout ways he led us finally to a section of -second-rate shops, eating places and hotels such as are frequented by -the common soldiers, artisans and slaves, where the only attention we -attracted was due to the curiosity aroused by Hovan Du. As we had not -eaten since leaving Mu Tel’s palace, our first consideration was food. -Mu Tel had furnished Gor Hajus with money, so that we had the means to -gratify our wants. Our first stop was at a small shop where Gor Hajus -purchased four or five pounds of thoat steak for Hovan Du, and then we -repaired to an eating place of which Dar Tarus knew. At first the -proprietor would not let us bring Hovan Du inside, but finally, after -much argument, he permitted us to lock the great ape in an inner room -where Hovan Du was forced to remain with his thoat meat while we sat at -a table in the outer room. - -I will say for Hovan Du that he played his role well, nor was there once -when the proprietor of the place, or any of his patrons, or the -considerable crowd that gathered to listen to the altercation, could -have guessed that the body of the great, savage beast was animated by a -human brain. It was really only when feeding or fighting that the simian -half of Hovan Du’s brain appeared to exercise any considerable influence -upon him; yet there seemed little doubt that it always coloured all his -thoughts and actions to some extent, accounting for his habitual -taciturnity and the quickness with which he was aroused to anger, as -well as to the fact that he never smiled, nor appeared to appreciate in -any degree the humor of a situation. He assured me, however, that the -human half of his brain not only appreciated but greatly enjoyed the -lighter episodes and occurrences of our adventure and the witty stories -and anecdotes related by Gor Hajus, the Assassin, but that his simian -anatomy had developed no muscles wherewith to evidence physical -expression of his mental reactions. - -We dined heartily, though upon rough and simple fare, but were glad to -escape the prying curiosity of the garrulous and gossipy proprietor, who -plied us with so many questions as to our past performances and future -plans that Dar Tarus, who was our spokesman here, was hard put to it to -quickly fabricate replies that would be always consistent. However, -escape we did at last, and once again in the street, Dar Tarus set out -to lead us to a public lodging house of which he knew. As we went we -approached a great building of wondrous beauty in and out of which -constant streams of people were pouring, and when we were before it Dar -Tarus asked us to wait without as he must enter. When I asked him why, -he told me that this was a temple of Tur, the god worshipped by the -people of Phundahl. - -“I have been away for a long time,” he said, “and have had no -opportunity to do honor to my god. I shall not keep you waiting long. -Gor Hajus, will you loan me a few pieces of gold?” - -In silence the Toonolian took a few pieces of money from one of his -pocket pouches and handed them to Dar Tarus, but I could see that it was -only with difficulty that he hid an expression of contempt, since the -Toonolians are atheists. - -I asked Dar Tarus if I might accompany him into the temple, which seemed -to please him very much; and so we fell in with the stream approaching -the broad entrance. Dar Tarus gave me two of the gold pieces that he had -borrowed from Gor Hajus and told me to follow directly behind him and do -whatever I saw him doing. Directly inside the main entrance, and spread -entirely across it at intervals that permitted space for the worshippers -to pass between them, was a line of priests, their entire bodies, -including their heads and faces, covered by a mantle of white cloth. In -front of each was a substantial stand upon which rested a cash drawer. -As we approached one of these we handed him a piece of gold which he -immediately changed into many pieces of lesser value, one of which we -dropped into a box at his side; whereupon he made several passes with -his hands above our heads, dipped one of his fingers into a bowl of -dirty water which he rubbed upon the ends of our noses, mumbled a few -words which I could not understand and turned to the next in line as we -passed on into the interior of the great temple. Never have I seen such -a gorgeous display of wealth and lavish ornamentation as confronted my -eyes in this, the first of the temples of Tur that it was my fortune to -behold. - -The enormous floor was unbroken by a single pillar and arranged upon it -at regular intervals were carven images resting upon gorgeous pedestals. -Some of these images were of men and some of women and many of them were -beautiful; and there were others of beasts and of strange, grotesque -creatures and many of these were hideous indeed. The first we approached -was that of a beautiful female figure; and about the pedestal of this -lay a number of men and women prone upon the floor against which they -bumped their heads seven times and then arose and dropped a piece of -money into a receptacle provided for that purpose, moving on then to -another figure. The next that Dar Tarus and I visited was that of a man -with the body of a _silian_, about the pedestal of which was arranged a -series of horizontal wooden bars in concentric circles. The bars were -about five feet from the floor and hanging from them by their knees were -a number of men and women, repeating monotonously, over and over again, -something that sounded to me like, _bibble-babble-blup_. - -Dar Tarus and I swung to the bars like the others and mumbled the -meaningless phrase for a minute or two, then we swung down, dropped a -coin into the box, and moved on. I asked Dar Tarus what the words were -that we had repeated and what they meant, but he said he did not know. I -asked him if anyone knew, but he appeared shocked and said that such a -question was sacrilegious and revealed a marked lack of faith. At the -next figure we visited the people were all upon their hands and knees -crawling madly in a circle about the pedestal. Seven times around they -crawled and then they arose and put some money in a dish and went their -ways. At another the people rolled about, saying, “Tur is Tur; Tur is -Tur; Tur is Tur,” and dropping money in a golden bowl when they were -done. - -“What god was that?” I whispered to Dar Tarus when we had quit this last -figure, which had no head, but eyes, nose and mouth in the center of its -belly. - -“There is but one god,” replied Dar Tarus solemnly, “and he is Tur!” - -“Was that Tur?” I inquired. - -“Silence, man,” whispered Dar Tarus. “They would tear you to pieces were -they to hear such heresy.” - -“Oh, I beg your pardon,” I exclaimed. “I did not mean to offend. I see -now that that is merely one of your idols.” - -Dar Tarus clapped a hand over my mouth. “S-s-s-t!” he cautioned to -silence. “We do not worship idols—there is but one god and he is Tur!” - -“Well, what are these?” I insisted, with a sweep of a hand that embraced -the several score images about which were gathered the thousands of -worshippers. - -“We must not ask,” he assured me. “It is enough that we have faith that -all the works of Tur are just and righteous. Come! I shall soon be -through and we may join our companions.” - -He led me next to the figure of a monstrosity with a mouth that ran -entirely around its head. It had a long tail and the breasts of a woman. -About this image were a great many people, each standing upon his head. -They also were repeating, over and over, “Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur; Tur is -Tur.” When we had done this for a minute or two, during which I had a -devil of a time maintaining my equilibrium, we arose, dropped a coin -into the box by the pedestal and moved on. - -“We may go now,” said Dar Tarus. “I have done well in the sight of Tur.” - -“I notice,” I remarked, “that the people repeated the same phrase before -this figure that they did at the last—Tur is Tur.” - -“Oh, no,” exclaimed Dar Tarus. “On the contrary they said just exactly -the opposite from what they said at the other. At that they said, Tur is -Tur; while at this they absolutely reversed it and said, Tur is Tur. Do -you not see? They turned it right around backwards, which makes a very -great difference.” - -“It sounded the same to me,” I insisted. - -“That is because you lack faith,” he said sadly, and we passed out of -the temple, after depositing the rest of our money in a huge chest, of -which there were many standing about almost filled with coins. - -We found Gor Hajus and Hovan Du awaiting us impatiently, the center of a -large and curious throng among which were many warriors in the metal of -Xaxa, the Jeddara of Phundahl. They wanted to see Hovan Du perform, but -Dar Tarus told them that he was tired and in an ugly mood. - -“To-morrow,” he said, “when he is rested I shall bring him out upon the -avenues to amuse you.” - -With difficulty we extricated ourselves, and passing into a quieter -avenue, took a roundabout way to the lodging place, where Hovan Du was -confined in a small chamber while Gor Hajus, Dar Tarus and I were -conducted by slaves to a large sleeping apartment where sleeping silks -and furs were arranged for us upon a low platform that encircled the -room and was broken only at the single entrance to the chamber. Here -were already sleeping a considerable number of men, while two armed -slaves patrolled the aisle to guard the guests from assassins. - -It was still early and some of the other lodgers were conversing in low -whispers so I sought to engage Dar Tarus in conversation relative to his -religion, about which I was curious. - -“The mysteries of religions always fascinate me, Dar Tarus,” I told him. - -“Ah, but that is the beauty of the religion of Tur,” he exclaimed, “it -has no mysteries. It is simple, natural, scientific and every word and -work of it is susceptible of proof through the pages of Turgan, the -great book written by Tur himself. - -“Tur’s home is upon the sun. There, one hundred thousand years ago, he -made Barsoom and tossed it out into space. Then he amused himself by -creating man in various forms and two sexes; and later he fashioned -animals to be food for man and each other, and caused vegetation and -water to appear that man and the animals might live. Do you not see how -simple and scientific it all is?” - -But it was Gor Hajus who told me most about the religion of Tur one day -when Dar Tarus was not about. He said that the Phundahlians maintained -that Tur still created every living thing with his own hands. They -denied vigorously that man possessed the power to reproduce his kind and -taught their young that all such belief was vile; and always they hid -every evidence of natural procreation, insisting to the death that even -those things which they witnessed with their own eyes and experienced -with their own bodies in the bringing forth of their young never -transpired. - -Turgan taught them that Barsoom is flat and they shut their minds to -every proof to the contrary. They would not leave Phundahl far for fear -of falling off the edge of the world; they would not permit the -development of aeronautics because should one of their ships -circumnavigate Barsoom it would be a wicked sacrilege in the eyes of Tur -who made Barsoom flat. - -They would not permit the use of telescopes, for Tur taught them that -there was no other world than Barsoom and to look at another would be -heresy; nor would they permit the teaching in their schools of any -history of Barsoom that antedated the creation of Barsoom by Tur, though -Barsoom has a well authenticated written history that reaches back more -than one hundred thousand years; nor would they permit any geography of -Barsoom except that which appears in Turgan, nor any scientific -researches along biological lines. Turgan is their only text book—if it -is not in Turgan it is a wicked lie. - -Much of all this and a great deal more I gathered from one source or -another during my brief stay in Phundahl, whose people are, I believe, -the least advanced in civilization of any of the red nations upon -Barsoom. Giving, as they do, all their best thought to religious -matters, they have become ignorant, bigoted and narrow, going as far to -one extreme as the Toonolians do to the other. - -However, I had not come to Phundahl to investigate her culture but to -steal her queen, and that thought was uppermost in my mind when I awoke -to a new day—my first in Phundahl. Following the morning meal we set -out in the direction of the palace to reconnoitre, Dar Tarus leading us -to a point from which he might easily direct us the balance of the way, -as he did not dare accompany us to the immediate vicinity of the royal -grounds for fear of recognition, the body he now possessed having -formerly belonged to a well-known noble. - -It was arranged that Gor Hajus should act as spokesman and I as keeper -of the ape. This arranged, we bade farewell to Dar Tarus and set forth, -the three of us, along a broad and beautiful avenue that led directly to -the palace gates. We had been planning and rehearsing the parts that we -were to play and which we hoped would prove so successful that they -would open the gates to us and win us to the presence of the Jeddara. - -As we strolled with seeming unconcern along the avenue, I had ample -opportunity to enjoy the novel and beautiful sights of this rich -boulevard of palaces. The sun shone down upon vivid scarlet lawns, -gorgeous flowered pimalia and a score of other rarely beautiful -Barsoomian shrubs and trees, while the avenue itself was shaded by -almost perfect specimens of the magnificent sorapus. The sleeping -apartments of the buildings had all been lowered to their daytime level, -and from a hundred balconies gorgeous silks and furs were airing in the -sun. Slaves were briskly engaged with their duties about the grounds, -while upon many a balcony women and children sat at their morning meal. -Among the children we aroused considerable enthusiasm, or at least Hovan -Du did, nor was he without interest to the adults. Some of them would -have detained us for an exhibition, but we moved steadily on towards the -palace, for nowhere else had we business or concern within the walls of -Phundahl. - -Around the palace gates was the usual crowd of loitering curiosity -seekers; for after all human nature is much the same everywhere, whether -skins be black or white, red or yellow or brown, upon Earth or upon -Mars. The crowd before Xaxa’s gates were largely made up of visitors -from the islands of that part of the Great Toonolian Marshes which owes -allegiance to Phundahl’s queen, and like all provincials eager for a -glimpse of royalty; though none the less to be interested by the antics -of a simian, wherefore we had a ready made audience awaiting our -arrival. Their natural fear of the great brute caused them to fall back -a little at our approach so that we had a clear avenue to the very gates -themselves, and there we halted while the crowds closed in behind, -forming a half circle about us. Gor Hajus addressed them in a loud tone -of voice that might be overheard by the warriors and their officers -beyond the gates, for it was really them we had come to entertain, not -the crowds in which we had not the slightest interest. - -“Men and women of Phundahl,” cried Gor Hajus, “behold two poor panthans, -who, risking their lives, have captured and trained one of the most -savage and ferocious and at the same time most intelligent specimens of -the great white ape of Barsoom ever before seen in captivity and at -great expense have brought it to Phundahl for your entertainment and -edification. My friends, this wonderful ape is endowed with human -intelligence; he understands every word that is spoken to him. With your -kind attention, my friends, I will endeavor to demonstrate the -remarkable intelligence of this ferocious, man-eating beast—an -intelligence that has entertained the crowned heads of Barsoom and -mystified the minds of her most learned savants.” - -I thought Gor Hajus did pretty well as a bally-hoo artist. I had to -smile as I listened, here upon Mars, to the familiar lines that I had -taught him out of my Earthly experience of county fairs and amusement -parks, so highly ludicrous they sounded falling from the lips of the -Assassin of Toonol; but they evidently interested his auditors and -impressed them, too, for they craned their necks and stood in earnest -eyed silence awaiting the performance of Hovan Du. Even better, several -members of the Jeddara’s Guard pricked up their ears and sauntered -towards the gates; and among them was an officer. - -Gor Hajus caused Hovan Du to lie down at word of command, to get up, to -stand upon one foot, and to indicate the number of fingers that Gor -Hajus held up by growling once for each finger, thus satisfying the -audience that he could count; but these simple things were only by way -of leading up to the more remarkable achievements which we hoped would -win an audience before the Jeddara. Gor Hajus borrowed a set of harness -and weapons from a man in the crowd and had Hovan Du don it and fence -with him, and then indeed did we hear exclamations of amazement. - -The warriors and the officer of Xaxa had drawn near the gates and were -interested spectators, which was precisely what we wished, and now Gor -Hajus was ready for the final, astounding revelation of Hovan Du’s -intelligence. - -“These things that you have witnessed are as nothing,” he cried. “Why -this wonderful beast can even read and write. He was captured in a -deserted city near Ptarth and can read and write the language of that -country. Is there among you one who, by chance, comes from that distant -country?” - -A slave spoke up. “I am from Ptarth.” - -“Good!” said Gor Hajus. “Write some simple instructions and hand them to -the ape. I will turn my back that you may know that I cannot assist him -in any way.” - -The slave drew forth a tablet from a pocket pouch and wrote briefly. -What he wrote he handed to Hovan Du. The ape read the message and -without hesitation moved quickly to the gate and handed it to the -officer standing upon the other side, the gate being constructed of -wrought metal in fanciful designs that offered no obstruction to the -view or to the passage of small articles. The officer took the message -and examined it. - -“What does it say?” he demanded of the slave that had penned it. - -“It says,” replied the latter: “Take this message to the officer who -stands just within the gates.” - -There were exclamations of surprise from all parts of the crowd and -Hovan Du was compelled to repeat his performance several times with -different messages which directed him to do various things, the officer -always taking a great interest in the proceedings. - -“It is marvellous,” said he at last. “The Jeddara would be amused by the -performance of this beast. Wait here, therefore, until I have sent word -to her that she may, if she so desires, command your presence.” - -Nothing could have better suited us and so we waited with what patience -we might for the messenger to return; and while we waited Hovan Du -continued to mystify his audience with new proofs of his great -intelligence. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - XAXA - - -The officer returned, the gates swung out and we were commanded to enter -the courtyard of the palace of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. After that -events transpired with great rapidity—surprising and totally unexpected -events. We were led through an intricate maze of corridors and chambers -until I became suspicious that we were purposely being confused, and -convinced that whether such was the intention or not the fact remained -that I could no more have retraced my steps to the outer courtyard than -I could have flown without wings. We had planned that, in the event of -gaining admission to the palace, we would carefully note whatever might -be essential to a speedy escape; but when, in a whisper, I asked Gor -Hajus if he could find his way out again he assured me that he was as -confused as I. - -The palace was in no sense remarkable nor particularly interesting, the -work of the Phundahlian artists being heavy and oppressing and without -indication of high imaginative genius. The scenes depicted were mostly -of a religious nature illustrating passages from Turgan, the Phundahlian -bible, and, for the most part, were a series of monotonous repetitions. -There was one, which appeared again and again, depicting Turgan creating -a round, flat Mars and hurling it into Space, that always reminded me of -a culinary artist turning a flap jack in a child’s window. - -There were also numerous paintings of what appeared to be court scenes -delineating members of the Phundahlian royal line in various activities; -it was noticeable that the more recent ones in which Xaxa appeared had -had the principal figure repainted so that there confronted me from time -to time portraits, none too well done, of the beautiful face and figure -of Valla Dia in the royal trappings of a Jeddara. The effect of these -upon me is not easy of description. They brought home to me the fact -that I was approaching, and should presently be face to face with, the -person of the woman to whom I had consecrated my love and my life, and -yet in that same person I should be confronting one whom I loathed and -would destroy. - -We were halted at last before a great door and from the number of -warriors and nobles congregated before it I was confident that we were -soon to be ushered into the presence of the Jeddara. As we waited those -assembled about us eyed us with, it seemed to me, more of hostility than -curiosity and when the door swung open they accompanied us, with the -exception of a few warriors, into the chamber beyond. The room was of -medium size and at the farther side, behind a massive table, sat Xaxa. -About her were grouped a number of heavily armed nobles. As I looked -them over I wondered if among them was he for whom the body of Dar Tarus -had been filched; for we had promised him that if conditions were -favorable we would attempt to recover it. - -Xaxa eyed us coldly as we were halted before her. “Let us see the beast -perform,” she commanded, and then suddenly: “What mean you by permitting -strangers to enter my presence bearing arms?” she cried. “Sag Or, see -that their weapons are removed!” and she turned to a handsome young -warrior standing near her. - -Sag Or! That was the name. Before me stood the noble for whom Dar Tarus -had suffered the loss of his liberty, his body and his love. Gor Hajus -had also recognized the name and Hovan Du, too; I could tell by the way -they eyed the man as he advanced. Curtly he instructed us to hand our -weapons to two warriors who advanced to receive them. Gor Hajus -hesitated. I admit that I did not know what course to pursue. - -Everyone seemed hostile and yet that might be, and doubtless was, but a -reflection of their attitude towards all strangers. If we refused to -disarm we were but three against a room full, if they chose to resort to -force; or if they turned us out of the palace because of it we would be -robbed of this seemingly god given opportunity to win to the very heart -of Xaxa’s palace and to her very presence, where we must eventually win -before we could strike. Would such an opportunity ever be freely offered -us again? I doubted it and felt that we had better assume a vague risk -now than, by refusing their demand, definitely arm their suspicions. So -I quietly removed my weapons and handed them to the warrior waiting to -receive them; and following my example, Gor Hajus did likewise, though I -can imagine with what poor grace. - -Once again Xaxa signified that she would see Hovan Du perform. As Gor -Hajus put him through his antics she watched listlessly; nor did -anything that the ape did arouse the slightest flicker of interest among -the entire group assembled about the Jeddara. As the thing dragged on I -became obsessed with apprehensions that all was not right. It seemed to -me that an effort was being made to detain us for some purpose—to gain -time. I could not understand, for instance, why Xaxa required that we -repeat several times the least interesting of the ape’s performances. -And all the time Xaxa sat playing with a long, slim dagger, and I saw -that she watched me quite as much as she watched Hovan Du, while I found -it difficult to keep my eyes averted from that perfect face, even though -I knew that it was but a stolen mask behind which lurked the cruel mind -of a tyrant and a murderess. - -At last came an interruption to the performance. The door opened and a -noble entered, who went directly to the Jeddara whom he addressed -briefly and in a low tone. I saw that she asked him several questions -and that she seemed vexed by his replies. Then she dismissed him with a -curt gesture and turned towards us. - -“Enough of this!” she cried. Her eyes rested upon mine and she pointed -her slim dagger at me. “Where is the other?” she demanded. - -“What other?” I inquired. - -“There were three of you, beside the ape. I know nothing about the ape, -nor where, nor how you acquired it; but I do know all about you, Vad -Varo, and Gor Hajus, the Assassin of Toonol, and Dar Tarus. Where is Dar -Tarus?” her voice was low and musical and entirely beautiful—the voice -of Valla Dia—but behind it I knew was the terrible personality of Xaxa, -and I knew too that it would be hard to deceive her, for she must have -received what information she had directly from Ras Thavas. It had been -stupid of me not to foresee that Ras Thavas would immediately guess the -purpose of my mission and warn Xaxa. I perceived instantly that it would -be worse than useless to deny our identity, rather I must explain our -presence—if I could. - -“Where is Dar Tarus?” she repeated. - -“How should I know?” I countered. “Dar Tarus has reasons to believe that -he would not be safe in Phundahl and I imagine that he is not anxious -that anyone should know his whereabouts—myself included. He helped me -to escape from the Island of Thavas, for which his liberty was to be his -reward. He has not chosen to accompany me further upon my adventures.” - -Xaxa seemed momentarily disarmed that I did not deny my -identity—evidently she had supposed that I would do so. - -“You admit then,” she said, “that you are Vad Varo, the assistant of Ras -Thavas?” - -“Have I ever sought to deny it?” - -“You have disguised yourself as a red-man of Barsoom.” - -“How could I travel in Barsoom otherwise, where every man’s hand is -against a stranger?” - -“And why would you travel in Barsoom?” Her eyes narrowed as she waited -for my reply. - -“As Ras Thavas has doubtless sent you word, I am from another world and -I would see more of this one,” I told her. “Is that strange?” - -“And you come to Phundahl and seek to gain entrance to my presence and -bring with you the notorious Assassin of Toonol that you may see more of -Barsoom?” - -“Gor Hajus may not return to Toonol,” I explained, “and so he must seek -service for his sword at some other court than that of Vobis Kan—in -Phundahl perhaps, or if not here he must move on. I hope that he will -decide to accompany me as I am a stranger in Barsoom, unaccustomed to -the manners and ways of her people. I would fare ill without a guide and -mentor.” - -“You shall fare ill,” she cried. “You have seen all of Barsoom that you -are destined to see—you have reached the end of your adventure. You -think to deceive me, eh? You do not know, perhaps, that I have heard of -your infatuation for Valla Dia or that I am fully conversant with the -purpose of your visit to Phundahl.” Her eyes left me and swept her -nobles and her warriors. “To the pits with them!” she cried. “Later we -shall choose the manner of their passing.” - -Instantly we were surrounded by a score of naked blades. There was no -escape for Gor Hajus or me, but I thought that I saw an opportunity for -Hovan Du to get away. I had had the possibility of such a contingency in -mind from the first and always I had been on the look-out for an avenue -of escape for one of us, and so the open windows at the right of the -Jeddara had not gone unnoticed, nor the great trees growing in the -courtyard beneath. Hovan Du was close beside me as Xaxa spoke. - -“Go!” I whispered. “The windows are open. Go, and tell Dar Tarus what -has happened to us,” and then I fell back away from him and dragged Gor -Hajus with me as though we would attempt to resist arrest; and while I -thus distracted their attention from him Hovan Du turned towards an open -window. He had taken but a few steps when a warrior attempted to halt -him; with that the ferocious brain of the anthropoid seemed to seize -dominion over the great creature. With a hideous growl he leaped with -the agility of a cat upon the unfortunate Phundahlian, swung him high in -giant hands and using his body as a flail tumbled his fellows to right -and left as he cut a swath towards the open window nearest him. - -Instantly pandemonium reigned in the apartment. The attention of all -seemed centered upon the great ape and even those who had been -confronting us turned to attack Hovan Du. And in the midst of the -confusion I saw Xaxa step to some heavy hangings directly behind her -desk, part them and disappear. - -“Come!” I whispered to Gor Hajus. Apparently intent only upon watching -the conflict between the ape and the warriors I moved forward with the -fighters but always to the left towards the desk that Xaxa had just -quitted. Hovan Du was giving a good account of himself. He had discarded -his first victim and one by one had seized others as they came within -range of his long arms and powerful hands, sometimes four at a time as -he stood well braced upon two of his hand-like feet and fought with the -other four. His shock of bristling hair stood erect upon his skull and -his fierce eyes blazed with rage as, towering high above his -antagonists, he fought for his life—the most feared of all the savage -creatures of Barsoom. Perhaps his greatest advantage lay in the inherent -fear of him that was a part of every man in that room who faced him, and -it forwarded my quickly conceived plan, too, for it kept every eye -turned upon Hovan Du, so that Gor Hajus and I were able to work our way -to the rear of the desk. I think Hovan Du must have sensed my intention -then, for he did the one thing best suited to attract every eye from us -to him and, too, he gave me notice that the human half of his brain was -still alert and watchful of our welfare. - -Heretofore the Phundahlians must have looked upon him as a remarkable -specimen of great ape, marvelously trained, but now, of a sudden, he -paralyzed them with awe, for his roars and growls took the form of words -and he spoke with the tongue of a human. He was near the window now. -Several of the nobles were pushing bravely forward. Among them was Sag -Or. Hovan Du reached forth and seized him, wrenching his weapons from -him. “I go,” he cried, “but let harm befall my friends and I shall -return and tear the heart from Xaxa. Tell her that, from the Great Ape -of Ptarth.” - -For an instant the warriors and the nobles stood transfixed with awe. -Every eye was upon Hovan Du as he stood there with the struggling figure -of Sag Or in his mighty grasp. Gor Hajus and I were forgotten. And then -Hovan Du turned and leaped to the sill of the window and from there -lightly to the branches of the nearest tree; and with him went Sag Or, -the favorite of Xaxa, the Jeddara. At the same instant I drew Gor Hajus -with me between the hangings in the rear of Xaxa’s desk, and as they -fell behind us we found ourselves in the narrow mouth of a dark -corridor. - -Without knowledge of where the passage led we could only follow it -blindly, urged on by the necessity for discovering a hiding place or an -avenue of escape from the palace before the pursuit, which we knew would -be immediately instituted, overtook us. As our eyes became accustomed to -the gloom, which was partially dispelled by a faint luminosity, we moved -more rapidly and presently came to a narrow spiral runway which -descended into a dark hole below the level of the corridor and also -arose into equal darkness above. - -“Which way?” I asked Gor Hajus. - -“They will expect us to descend,” he replied, “for in that direction -lies the nearest avenue of escape.” - -“Then we will go up.” - -“Good!” he exclaimed. “All we seek now is a place to hide until night -has fallen, for we may not escape by day.” - -We had scarcely started to ascend before we heard the first sound of -pursuit—the clank of accoutrements in the corridor beneath. Yet, even -with this urge from behind, we were forced to move with great caution, -for we knew not what lay before. At the next level there was a doorway, -the door closed and locked, but there was no corridor, nor anywhere to -hide, and so we continued on upward. The second level was identical with -that just beneath, but at the third a single corridor ran straight off -into darkness and at our right was a door, ajar. The sounds of pursuit -were appreciably nearer now and the necessity for concealment seemed -increasing as the square of their growing proportions until every other -consideration was overwhelmed by it. Nor is this so strange when the -purpose of my adventure is considered and that discovery now must -assuredly spell defeat and blast for ever the slender ray of hope that -remained for the resurrection of Valla Dia in her own flesh. - -There was scarce a moment for consideration. The corridor before us was -shrouded in darkness—it might be naught but a blind alley. The door was -close and ajar. I pushed it gently inward. An odor of heavy incense -greeted our nostrils and through the small aperture we saw a portion of -a large chamber garishly decorated. Directly before us, and almost -wholly obstructing our view of the entire chamber, stood a colossal -statue of a squatting manlike figure. Behind us we heard voices—our -pursuers already were ascending the spiral—they would be upon us in a -few seconds. I examined the door and discovered that it fastened with a -spring lock. I looked again into the chamber and saw no one within the -range of our vision, and then I motioned Gor Hajus to follow me and -stepping into the room closed the door behind us. We had burned our -bridges. As the door closed the lock engaged with a sharp, metallic -click. - -“What was that?” demanded a voice, originating, seemingly, at the far -end of the chamber. - -Gor Hajus looked at me and shrugged his shoulders in resignation (he -must have been thinking what I was thinking—that with two avenues we -had chosen the wrong one) but he smiled and there was no reproach in his -eyes. - -“It sounded from the direction of the Great Tur,” replied a second -voice. - -“Perhaps someone is at the door,” suggested the first speaker. - -Gor Hajus and I were flattened against the back of the statue that we -might postpone as long as possible our inevitable discovery should the -speakers decide to investigate the origin of the noise that had -attracted their suspicions. I was facing against the polished stone of -the figure’s back, my hands outspread upon it. Beneath my fingers were -the carven bits of its ornamental harness—jutting protuberances that -were costly gems set in these trappings of stone, and there were -gorgeous inlays of gold filagree; but these things I had no eyes for -now. We could hear the two conversing as they came nearer. Perhaps I was -nervous, I do not know. I am sure I never shrank from an encounter when -either duty or expediency called; but in this instance both demanded -that we avoid conflict and remain undiscovered. However that may be, my -fingers must have been moving nervously over the jeweled harness of the -figure when I became vaguely, perhaps subconsciously, aware that one of -the gems was loose in its setting. I do not recall that this made any -impression upon my conscious mind, but I do know that it seemed to catch -the attention of my wandering fingers and they must have paused to play -with the loosened stone. - -The voices seemed quite close now—it could be but a matter of seconds -before we should be confronted by their owners. My muscles seemed to -tense for the anticipated encounter and unconsciously I pressed heavily -upon the loosened setting—whereat a portion of the figure’s back gave -noiselessly inward revealing to us the dimly lighted interior of the -statue. We needed no further invitation; simultaneously we stepped -across the threshold and in almost the same movement I turned and closed -the panel gently behind us. I think that there was absolutely no sound -connected with the entire transaction; and following it we remained in -utter silence, motionless—scarce breathing. Our eyes became quickly -accustomed to the dim interior which we discovered was lighted through -numerous small orifices in the shell of the statue, which was entirely -hollow, and through these same orifices every outside sound came clearly -to our ears. - -We had scarcely closed the opening when we heard the voices directly -outside it and simultaneously there came a hammering on the door by -which we had entered the apartment from the corridor. “Who seeks -entrance to Xaxa’s Temple?” demanded one of the voices within the room. - -“’Tis I, dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard,” boomed a voice from without. “We -are seeking two who came to assassinate Xaxa.” - -“Came they this way?” - -“Think you, priest, that I should be seeking them here had they not?” - -“How long since?” - -“Scarce twenty tals since,” replied the dwar. - -“Then they are not here,” the priest assured him, “for we have been here -for a full zode[A] and no other has entered the temple during that time. -Look quickly to Xaxa’s apartments above and to the roof and the hangars, -for if you followed them up the spiral there is no other where they -might flee.” - ------ - -[A] A tal is about one second, and a zode approximately two and one-half -hours, Earth time. - ------ - -“Watch then the temple carefully until I return,” shouted the warrior -and we heard him and his men moving on up the spiral. - -Now we heard the priests conversing as they moved slowly past the -statue. - -“What could have caused the noise that first attracted our attention?” -asked one. - -“Perhaps the fugitives tried the door,” suggested the other. - -“It must have been that, but they did not enter or we should have seen -them when they emerged from behind the Great Tur, for we were facing him -at the time, nor have once turned our eyes from this end of the temple.” - -“Then at least they are not within the temple.” - -“And where else they may be is no concern of ours.” - -“No, nor if they reached Xaxa’s apartment, if they did not pass through -the temple.” - -“Perhaps they did reach it.” - -“And they were assassins!” - -“Worse things might befall Phundahl.” - -“Hush! the gods have ears.” - -“Of stone.” - -“But the ears of Xaxa are not of stone and they hear many things that -are not intended for them.” - -“The old she-banth!” - -“She is Jeddara and High Priestess.” - -“Yes, but——” the voices passed beyond the range of our ears at the far -end of the temple, yet they had told me much—that Xaxa was feared and -hated by the priesthood and that the priests themselves had none too -much reverence for their deity as evidenced by the remark of one that -the gods have ears of stone. And they had told us other things, -important things, when they conversed with the dwar of the Jeddara’s -Guard. - -Gor Hajus and I now felt that we had fallen by chance upon a most ideal -place of concealment, for the very guardians of the temple would swear -that we were not, could not be, where we were. Already had they thrown -the pursuers off our track. - -Now, for the first time, we had an opportunity to examine our hiding -place. The interior of the statue was hollow and far above us, perhaps -forty feet, we could see the outside light shining through the mouth, -ears and nostrils, just below which a circular platform could be -discerned running around the inside of the neck. A ladder with flat -rungs led upward from the base to the platform. Thick dust covered the -floor on which we stood, and the extremity of our position suggested a -careful examination of this dust, with the result that I was at once -impressed by the evidence that it revealed; which indicated that we were -the first to enter the statue for a long time, possibly for years, as -the fine coating of almost impalpable dust that covered the floor was -undisturbed. As I searched for this evidence my eyes fell upon something -lying huddled close to the base of the ladder and approaching nearer I -saw that it was a human skeleton, while a closer examination revealed -that the skull was crushed and one arm and several ribs broken. About it -lay, dust-covered, the most gorgeous trappings I had ever seen. Its -position at the foot of the ladder, as well as the crushed skull and -broken bones, appeared quite conclusive evidence of the manner in which -death had come—the man had fallen head foremost from the circular -platform forty feet above, carrying with him to eternity, doubtless, the -secret of the entrance to the interior of the Great Tur. - -I suggested this to Gor Hajus who was examining the dead man’s trappings -and he agreed with me that such must have been the manner of his death. - -“He was a high priest of Tur,” whispered Gor Hajus, “and probably a -member of the royal house—possibly a Jeddak. He has been dead a long -time.” - -“I am going up above,” I said. “I will test the ladder. If it is safe, -follow me up. I think we shall be able to see the interior of the temple -through the mouth of Tur.” - -“Go carefully,” Gor Hajus admonished. “The ladder is very old.” - -I went carefully, testing each rung before I trusted my weight to it, -but I found the old sorapus wood of which it was constructed sound and -as staunch as steel. How the high priest came to his death must always -remain a mystery, for the ladder or the circular platform would have -carried the weight of a hundred red-men. - -From the platform I could see through the mouth of Tur. Below me was a -large chamber along the sides of which were ranged other, though lesser, -idols. They were even more grotesque than those I had seen in the temple -in the city and their trappings were rich beyond the conception of -man—Earthman—for the gems of Barsoom scintillate with rays unknown to -us and of such gorgeous and blinding beauty as to transcend description. -Directly in front of the Great Tur was an altar of palthon, a rare and -beautiful stone, blood red, in which are traced in purest white Nature’s -most fanciful designs; the whole vastly enhanced by the wondrous polish -which the stone takes beneath the hand of the craftsman. - -Gor Hajus joined me and together we examined the interior of the temple. -Tall windows lined two sides, letting in a flood of light. At the far -end, opposite the Great Tur, were two enormous doors, closing the main -entrance to the chamber, and here stood the two priests whom we had -heard conversing. Otherwise the temple was deserted. Incense burned upon -tiny altars before each of the minor idols, but whether any burned -before the Great Tur we could not see. - -Having satisfied our curiosity relative to the temple, we returned our -attention to a further examination of the interior of Tur’s huge head -and were rewarded by the discovery of another ladder leading upward -against the rear wall to a higher and smaller platform that evidently -led to the eyes. It did not take me long to investigate and here I found -a most comfortable chair set before a control that operated the eyes, so -that they could be made to turn from side to side, or up or down, -according to the whim of the operator; and here too was a speaking-tube -leading to the mouth. This again I must needs investigate and so I -returned to the lower platform and there I discovered a device beneath -the tongue of the idol, and this device, which was in the nature of an -amplifier, was connected with the speaking-tube from above. I could not -repress a smile as I considered these silent witnesses to the perfidy of -man and thought of the broken thing lying at the foot of the ladder. -Tur, I could have sworn, had been silent for many years. - -Together Gor Hajus and I returned to the higher platform and again I -made a discovery—the eyes of Tur were veritable periscopes. By turning -them we could see any portion of the temple and what we saw through the -eyes was magnified. Nothing could escape the eyes of Tur and presently, -when the priests began to talk again, we discovered that nothing could -escape Tur’s ears, for every slightest sound in the temple came clearly -to us. What a valuable adjunct to high priesthood this Great Tur must -have been in the days when that broken skeleton lying below us was a -thing of blood and life! - - - - - CHAPTER XII - THE GREAT TUR - - -The day dragged wearily for Gor Hajus and me. We watched the various -priests who came in pairs at intervals to relieve those who had preceded -them, and we listened to their prattle, mostly idle gossip of court -scandals. At times they spoke of us and we learned that Hovan Du had -escaped with Sag Or, nor had they been located as yet, nor had Dar -Tarus. The whole court was mystified by our seemingly miraculous -disappearance. Three thousand people, the inmates and attaches of the -palace, were constantly upon the look-out for us. Every part of the -palace and the palace grounds had been searched and searched again. The -pits had been explored more thoroughly than they had been explored -within the memory of the oldest retainer, and it seemed that queer -things had been unearthed there—things of which not even Xaxa dreamed; -and the priests whispered that at least one great and powerful house -would fall because of what a dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard had discovered -in a remote precinct of the pits. - -As the sun dropped below the horizon and darkness came, the interior of -the temple was illuminated by a soft white light, brilliantly but -without the glare of Earthly artificial illumination. More priests came -and many young girls, priestesses. They performed before the idols, -chanting meaningless gibberish. Gradually the chamber filled with -worshippers, nobles of the Jeddara’s court with their women and their -retainers, forming in two lines along either side of the temple before -the lesser idols, leaving a wide aisle from the great entrance to the -foot of the Great Tur and towards this aisle they all faced, waiting. -For what were they waiting? Their eyes were turned expectantly towards -the closed doors of the great entrance and Gor Hajus and I felt our eyes -held there too, fascinated by the suggestion that they were about to -open and reveal some stupendous spectacle. - -And presently the doors did swing slowly open and all we saw was what -appeared to be a great roll of carpet lying upon its side across the -opening. Twenty slaves, naked but for their scant leather harness, stood -behind the huge roll; and as the doors swung fully open they rolled the -carpet inward to the very feet of the altar before the Great Tur, -covering the wide aisle from the entranceway almost to the idol with a -thick, soft rug of gold and white and blue. It was the most beautiful -thing in the temple where all else was blatant, loud and garish or -hideous, or grotesque. And then the doors closed and again we waited; -but not for long. Bugles sounded from without, the sound increasing as -they neared the entrance. Once more the doors swung in. Across the -entrance stood a double rank of gorgeously trapped nobles. Slowly they -entered the temple and behind them came a splendid chariot drawn by two -banths, the fierce Barsoomian lion, held in leash by slaves on either -side. Upon the chariot was a litter and in the litter, reclining at -ease, lay Xaxa. As she entered the temple the people commenced to chant -her praises in a monotonous sing-song. Chained to the chariot and -following on foot was a red warrior and behind him a procession composed -of fifty young men and an equal number of young girls. - -Gor Hajus touched my arm. “The prisoner,” he whispered, “do you -recognize him?” - -“Dar Tarus!” I exclaimed. - -It was Dar Tarus—they had discovered his hiding place and arrested him, -but what of Hovan Du? Had they taken him, also? If they had it must have -been only after slaying him, for they never would have sought to capture -the fierce beast, nor would he have brooked capture. I looked for Sag -Or, but he was nowhere to be seen within the temple and this fact gave -me hope that Hovan Du might be still at liberty. - -The chariot was halted before the altar and Xaxa alighted; the lock that -held Dar Tarus’ chain to the vehicle was opened and the banths were led -away by their attendants to one side of the temple behind the lesser -idols. Then Dar Tarus was dragged roughly to the altar and thrown upon -it and Xaxa, mounting the steps at its base, came close to his side and -with hands outstretched above him looked up at the Great Tur towering -above her. How beautiful she was! How richly trapped! Ah, Valla Dia! -that your sweet form should be debased to the cruel purposes of the -wicked mind that now animates you! - -Xaxa’s eyes now rested upon the face of the Great Tur. “O, Tur, Father -of Barsoom,” she cried, “behold the offering we place before you, -All-seeing, All-knowing, All-powerful One, and frown no more upon us in -silence. For a hundred years you have not deigned to speak aloud to your -faithful slaves; never since Hora San, the high priest, was taken away -by you on that long-gone night of mystery have you unsealed your lips to -your people. Speak, Great Tur! Give us some sign, ere we plunge this -dagger into the heart of our offering, that our works are pleasing in -thine eyes. Tell us whither went the two who came here to-day to -assassinate your high priestess; reveal to us the fate of Sag Or. Speak, -Great Tur, ere I strike,” and she raised her slim blade above the heart -of Dar Tarus and looked straight upward into the eyes of Tur. - -And then, as a bolt from the blue, I was struck by the great -inspiration. My hand sought the lever controlling the eyes of Tur and I -turned them until they completed a full circuit of the room and rested -again upon Xaxa. The effect was magical. Never before had I seen a whole -room full of people so absolutely stunned and awe-struck as were these. -As the eyes returned to Xaxa she seemed turned to stone and her copper -skin to have taken on an ashen purple hue. Her dagger remained stiffly -poised above the heart of Dar Tarus. Not for a hundred years had they -seen the eyes of the Great Tur move. Then I placed the speaking-tube to -my lips and the voice of Tur rumbled through the chamber. As from one -great throat a gasp arose from the crowded temple floor and the people -fell upon their knees and buried their faces in their hands. - -“Judgment is mine!” I cried. “Strike not lest ye be struck! To Tur is -the sacrifice!” - -I was silent then, attempting to plan how best to utilize the advantage -I had gained. Fearfully, one by one, the bowed heads were raised and -frightened eyes sought the face of Tur. I gave them another thrill by -letting the god’s eyes wander slowly over the upturned faces, and while -I was doing this I had another inspiration, which I imparted to Gor -Hajus in a low whisper. I could hear him chuckle as he started down the -ladder to carry my new plan into effect. Again I had recourse to the -speaking-tube. - -“The sacrifice is Tur’s,” I rumbled. “Tur will strike with his own hand. -Extinguish the lights and let no one move under pain of instant death -until Tur gives the word. Prostrate yourselves and bury your eyes in -your palms, for whosoever sees shall be blinded when the spirit of Tur -walks among his people.” - -Down they went again and one of the priests hurriedly extinguished the -lights, leaving the temple in total darkness; and while Gor Hajus was -engaged with his part of the performance I tried to cover any accidental -noise he might make by keeping up a running fire of celestial -revelation. - -“Xaxa, the high priestess, asks what has become of the two whom she -believed came to assassinate her. I, Tur took them to myself. Vengeance -is Tur’s! And Sag Or I took, also. In the guise of a great ape I came -and took Sag Or and none knew me; though even a fool might have guessed, -for who is there ever heard a great ape speak with tongue of man unless -he was animated by the spirit of Tur?” - -I guess that convinced them, it being just the sort of logic suited to -their religion, or it would have convinced them if they had not already -been convinced. I wondered what might be passing in the mind of the -doubting priest who had remarked that the gods had ears of stone. - -Presently I heard a noise upon the ladder beneath me and a moment later -someone climbed upon the circular landing. - -“All’s well,” whispered the voice of Gor Hajus. “Dar Tarus is with me.” - -“Light the temple!” I commanded through the speaking-tube. “Rise and -look upon your altar.” - -The lights flashed on and the people rose, trembling, to their feet. -Every eye was bent upon the altar and what they saw there seemed to -crush them with terror. Some of the women screamed and fainted. It all -impressed me with the belief that none of them had taken this god of -theirs with any great amount of seriousness, and now when they were -confronted with absolute proof of his miraculous powers they were swept -completely off their feet. Where, a few moments before, they had seen a -live sacrifice awaiting the knife of the high priestess they saw now -only a dust-covered human skull. I grant you that without an explanation -it might have seemed a miracle to almost anyone so quickly had Gor Hajus -run from the base of the idol with the skull of the dead high priest and -returned again leading Dar Tarus with him. I had been a bit concerned as -to what the attitude of Dar Tarus might be, who was no more conversant -with the hoax than were the Phundahlians, but Gor Hajus had whispered -“For Valla Dia” in his ear and he had understood and come quickly. - -“The Great Tur,” I now announced, “is angry with his people. For a long -time they have denied him in their hearts even while they made open -worship of him. The Great Tur is angry with Xaxa. Only through Xaxa may -the people of Phundahl be saved from destruction, for the Great Tur is -angry. Go then from the temple and the palace leaving no human being -here other than Xaxa, the high priestess of Tur. Leave her here in -solitude beside the altar. Tur would speak with her alone.” - -I could see Xaxa fairly shrivel in fright. - -“Is the Jeddara Xaxa, High Priestess of the Great God Tur, afraid to -meet her master?” I demanded. The woman’s jaw trembled so that she could -not reply. “Obey! or Xaxa and all her people shall be struck dead!” I -fairly screamed at them. - -Like cattle they turned and fled towards the entrance and Xaxa, her -knees shaking so that she could scarce stand erect, staggered after -them. A noble saw her and pushed her roughly back, but she shrieked and -ran after him when he had left her. Then others dragged her to the foot -of the altar and threw her roughly down and one menaced her with his -sword, but at that I called aloud that no harm must befall the Jeddara -if they did not wish the wrath of Tur to fall upon them all. They left -her lying there and so weak from fright was she that she could not rise, -and a moment later the temple was empty, but not until I had shouted -after them to clear the whole palace within a quarter zode, for my plan -required a free and unobstructed as well as unobserved field of action. - -The last of them was scarce out of sight ere we three descended from the -head of Tur and stepped out upon the temple floor behind the idol. -Quickly I ran towards the altar, upon the other side of which Xaxa had -dropped to the floor in a swoon. She still lay there and I gathered her -into my arms and ran quickly back to the door in the wall behind the -idol—the doorway through which Gor Hajus and I had entered the temple -earlier in the day. - -Preceded by Gor Hajus and followed by Dar Tarus, I ascended the runway -towards the roof where the conversation of the priests had informed us -were located the royal hangars. Had Hovan Du and Sag Or been with us my -cup of happiness would have been full, for within half a day, what had -seemed utter failure and defeat had been turned almost to assured -success. At the landing where lay Xaxa’s apartments we halted and looked -within, for the long night voyage I contemplated would be cold and the -body of Valla Dia must be kept warm with suitable robes even though it -was inhabited by the spirit of Xaxa. Seeing no one we entered and soon -found what we required. As I was adjusting a heavy robe of orluk about -the Jeddara she regained consciousness. Instantly she recognized me and -then Gor Hajus and finally Dar Tarus. Mechanically she felt for her -dagger, but it was not there and when she saw my smile she paled with -anger. At first she must have jumped to the conclusion that she had been -the victim of a hoax, but presently a doubt seemed to enter her -mind—she must have been recalling some of the things that had -transpired within the temple of the Great Tur, and these, neither she -nor any other mortal might explain. - -“Who are you?” she demanded. - -“I am Tur,” I replied, brazenly. - -“What is your purpose with me?” - -“I am going to take you away from Phundahl,” I replied. - -“But I do not wish to go. You are not Tur. You are Vad Varo. I shall -call for help and my guards will come and slay you.” - -“There is no one in the palace,” I reminded her. “Did I, Tur, not send -them away?” - -“I shall not go with you,” she announced firmly. “Rather would I die.” - -“You shall go with me, Xaxa,” I replied, and though she fought and -struggled we carried her from her apartment and up the spiral runway to -the roof where, I prayed, I should find the hangars and the royal -fliers; and as we stepped out into the fresh night air of Mars we did -see the hangars before us, but we saw something else—a group of -Phundahlian warriors of the Jeddara’s Guard whom they had evidently -failed to notify of the commands of Tur. At sight of them Xaxa cried -aloud in relief. - -“To me! To the Jeddara!” she cried. “Strike down these assassins and -save me!” - -There were three of them and there were three of us, but they were armed -and between us we had but Xaxa’s slender dagger. Gor Hajus carried that. -Victory seemed turned to defeat as they rushed towards us; but it was -Gor Hajus who gave them pause. He seized Xaxa and raised the blade, its -point above her heart. “Halt!” he cried, “or I strike.” - -The warriors hesitated; Xaxa was silent, stricken with fear. Thus we -stood in stalemate when, just beyond the three Phundahlian warriors, I -saw a movement at the roof’s edge. What was it? In the dim light I saw -something that seemed a human head, and yet unhuman, rise slowly above -the edge of the roof, and then, silently, a great form followed, and -then I recognized it—Hovan Du, the great white ape. - -“Tell them,” I cried to Xaxa in a loud voice that Hovan Du might hear, -“that I am Tur, for see, I come again in the semblance of a white ape!” -and I pointed to Hovan Du. “I would not destroy these poor warriors. Let -them lay down their weapons and go in peace.” - -The men turned, and seeing the great ape standing there behind them, -materialized, it might have been, out of thin air, were shaken. - -“Who is he, Jeddara?” demanded one of the men. - -“It is Tur,” replied Xaxa in a weak voice; “but save me from him! Save -me from him!” - -“Throw down your weapons and your harness and fly!” I commanded, “or Tur -will strike you dead. Heard you not the people rushing from the palace -at Tur’s command? How think you we brought Xaxa hither with a lesser -power than Tur’s when all her palace was filled with her fighting men? -Go, while yet you may in safety.” - -One of them unbuckled his harness and threw it with his weapons upon the -roof, and as he started at a run for the spiral his companions followed -his example. Then Hovan Du approached us. - -“Well done, Vad Varo,” he growled, “though I know not what it is all -about.” - -“That you shall know later,” I told him, “but now we must find a swift -flier and be upon our way. Where is Sag Or? Does he still live?” - -“I have him securely bound and safely hidden in one of the high towers -of the palace,” replied the ape. “It will be easy to get him when we -have launched a flier.” - -Xaxa was eyeing us ragefully. “You are not Tur!” she cried. “The ape has -exposed you.” - -“But too late to profit you in any way, Jeddara,” I assured her. “Nor -could you convince one of your people who stood in the temple this night -that I am not Tur. Nor do you, yourself, know that I am not. The ways of -Tur, the all-powerful, all-knowing, are beyond the conception of mortal -man. To you then, Jeddara, I am Tur, and you will find me all-powerful -enough for my purposes.” - -I think she was still perplexed as we found and dragged forth a flier, -aboard which we placed her, and turned the craft’s nose towards a lofty -tower where Hovan Du told us lay Sag Or. - -“I shall be glad to see myself again,” said Dar Tarus, with a laugh. - -“And you shall be yourself again, Dar Tarus,” I told him, “as soon as -ever we can come again to the pits of Ras Thavas.” - -“Would that I might be reunited with my sweet Kara Vasa,” he sighed. -“Then, Vad Varo, the last full measure of my gratitude would be yours.” - -“Where may we find her?” - -“Alas, I do not know. It was while I was searching for her that I was -apprehended by the agents of Xaxa. I had been to her father’s palace -only to learn that he had been assassinated and his property -confiscated. The whereabouts of Kara Vasa they either did not know or -would not divulge; but they held me there upon one pretext or another -until a detachment of the Jeddara’s Guard could come and arrest me.” - -“We shall have to make inquiries of Sag Or,” I said. - -We were now coming to a stop alongside a window of the tower Hovan Du -had indicated, and he and Dar Tarus leaped to the sill and disappeared -within. We were all armed now, having taken the weapons discarded by the -three warriors at the hangars, and with a good flier beneath our feet -and all our little company reunited, with Xaxa and Sag Or, whom they -were now conducting aboard, we were indeed in high spirits. - -As we got under way again, setting our nose towards the east, I asked -Sag Or if he knew what had become of Kara Vasa, but he assured me, in -surly tones, that he did not. - -“Think again, Sag Or,” I admonished him, “and think hard, for perhaps -upon your answer your life depends.” - -“What chance have I for life?” he sneered, casting an ugly look towards -Dar Tarus. - -“You have every chance,” I replied. “Your life lies in the hollow of my -hand; and you serve me well it shall be yours, though in your own body -and not in that belonging to Dar Tarus.” - -“You do not intend destroying me?” - -“Neither you nor Xaxa,” I answered. “Xaxa shall live on in her own body -and you in yours.” - -“I do not wish to live in my own body,” snapped the Jeddara. - -Dar Tarus stood looking at Sag Or—looking at his own body like some -disembodied soul—as weird a situation as I have ever encountered. - -“Tell me, Sag Or,” he said, “what has become of Kara Vasa. When my body -has been restored to me and yours to you I shall hold no enmity against -you if you have not harmed Kara Vasa and will tell me where she be.” - -“I cannot tell you, for I do not know. She was not harmed, but the day -after you were assassinated she disappeared from Phundahl. We were -positive that she was spirited away by her father, but from him we could -learn nothing. Then he was assassinated,” the man glanced at Xaxa, “and -since, we have learned nothing. A slave told us that Kara Vasa, with -some of her father’s warriors, had embarked upon a flier and set out for -Helium, where she purposed placing herself under the protection of the -great War Lord of Barsoom; but of the truth of that we know nothing. -This is the truth. I, Sag Or, have spoken!” - -It was futile then to search Phundahl for Kara Vasa and so we held our -course towards the east and the Tower of Thavas. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - BACK TO THAVAS - - -All that night we sped beneath the hurtling moons of Mars, as strange a -company as was ever foregathered upon any planet, I will swear. Two men, -each possessing the body of the other, an old and wicked empress whose -fair body belonged to a youthful damsel beloved by another of this -company, a great white ape dominated by half the brain of a human being, -and I, a creature of a distant planet, with Gor Hajus, the Assassin of -Toonol, completed the mad roster. - -I could scarce keep my eyes from the fair form and face of Xaxa, and it -is well that I was thus fascinated for I caught her in the act of -attempting to hurl herself overboard, so repugnant to her was the -prospect of living again in her own old and hideous corpse. After that I -kept her securely bound and fastened to the deck, though it hurt me to -see the bonds upon those fair limbs. - -Dar Tarus was almost equally fascinated by the contemplation of his own -body, which he had not seen for many years. - -“By my first ancestor,” he ejaculated. “It must be that I was the least -vain of fellows, for I give you my word I had no idea that I was so fair -to look upon. I can say this now without seeming egotism, since I am -speaking of Sag Or,” and he laughed aloud at his little joke. - -But the fact remained that the body and face of Dar Tarus were beautiful -indeed, though there was a hint of steel in the eyes and the set of the -jaw that betokened fighting blood. Little wonder, then, that Sag Or had -coveted the body of this young warrior; for his own, which Dar Tarus now -possessed, was marked by dissipation and age; nor that Dar Tarus yearned -to come again into his own. - -Just before dawn we dropped to one of the numerous small islands that -dot the Great Toonolian Marshes and nosing the ship between the boles of -great trees we came to rest upon the surface of the ground, half buried -in the lush and gorgeous jungle grasses, well hidden from the sight of -possible pursuers. Here Hovan Du found fruits and nuts for us which the -simian section of his brain pronounced safe for human consumption, and -instinct led him to a nearby spring from which there bubbled delicious -water. We four were half famished and much fatigued, so that the food -and water were most welcome to us; nor did Xaxa and Sag Or refuse them. -Having eaten, three of us lay down upon the ship’s deck to sleep, after -securely chaining our prisoners, while the fourth stood watch. In this -way, taking turns, we slept away most of the day and when night fell, -rested and refreshed, we were ready to resume our flight. - -Making a wide detour to the south we avoided Toonol and about two hours -before dawn we sighted the high Tower of Thavas. I think we were all -keyed up to the highest pitch of excitement, for there was not one -aboard that flier but whose whole life would be seriously affected by -the success or failure of our venture. As a first precaution we secured -the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind their backs and placed gags in their -mouths, lest they succeed in giving warning of our approach. - -Cluros had long since set and Thuria was streaming towards the horizon -as we stopped our motor and drifted without lights a mile or two south -of the tower while we waited impatiently for Thuria to leave the heavens -to darkness and the world to us. To the north-west the lights of Toonol -shone plainly against the dark background of the windows of the great -laboratory of Ras Thavas, but the tower itself was dark from plinth to -pinnacle. - -And now the nearer moon dropped plummetlike beneath the horizon and left -the scene to darkness and to us. Dar Tarus started the motor, the -wonderful, silent motor of Barsoom, and we moved slowly, close to the -ground, towards Ras Thavas’ island, with no sound other than the gentle -whirring of our propeller; nor could that have been heard scarce a -hundred feet so slowly was it turning. Close off the island we came to a -stop behind a cluster of giant trees and Hovan Du, going into the bow, -uttered a few low growls. Then we stood waiting in silence, listening. -There was a rustling in the dense undergrowth upon the shore. Again -Hovan Du voiced his low, grim call and this time there came an answer -from the black shadows. Hovan Du spoke in the language of the great apes -and the invisible creature replied. - -For five minutes, during which time we were aware from the different -voices that others had joined in the conversation from the shore, the -apes conversed, and then Hovan Du turned to me. - -“It is arranged,” he said. “They will permit us to hide our ship beneath -these trees and they will permit us to pass out again when we are ready -and board her, nor will they harm us in any way. All they ask is that -when we are through we shall leave the gate open that leads to the inner -court.” - -“Do they understand that while an ape goes in with us none will return -with us?” I asked. - -“Yes; but they will not harm us.” - -“Why do they wish the gate left open?” - -“Do not inquire too closely, Vad Varo,” replied Hovan Du. “It should be -enough that the great apes make it possible for you to restore Valla -Dia’s body to her brain and escape with her from this terrible place.” - -“It is enough,” I replied. “When may we land?” - -“At once. They will help us drag the ship beneath the trees and make her -fast.” - -“But first we must top the wall to the inner court,” I reminded him. - -“Yes, true—I had forgotten that we cannot open the gate from this -side.” - -He spoke again, then, to the apes, whom we had not yet seen; and then he -told us that all was arranged and that he and Dar Tarus would return -with the ship after landing us inside the wall. - -Again we got under way and rising slowly above the outer wall dropped -silently to the courtyard beyond. The night was unusually dark, clouds -having followed Thuria and blotted out the stars after the moon had set. -No one could have seen the ship at a distance of fifty feet, and we -moved almost without noise. Quietly we lowered our prisoners over the -side and Gor Hajus and I remained with them while Dar Tarus and Hovan Du -rose again and piloted the ship back to its hiding place. - -I moved at once to the gate and, unlatching it, waited. I heard nothing. -Never, I think, have I endured such utter silence. There came no sound -from the great pile rising behind me, nor any from the dark jungle -beyond the wall. Dimly I could see the huddled forms of Gor Hajus, Xaxa -and Sag Or beside me—otherwise I might have been alone in the darkness -and immensity of space. - -It seemed an eternity that I waited there before I heard a soft -scratching on the panels of the heavy gate. I pushed it open and Dar -Tarus and Hovan Du stepped silently within as I closed and relatched it. -No one spoke. All had been carefully planned so that there was no need -of speech. Dar Tarus and I led the way, Gor Hajus and Hovan Du brought -up the rear with the prisoners. We moved directly to the entrance to the -tower, found the runway and descended to the pits. Every fortune seemed -with us. We met no one, we had no difficulty in finding the vault we -sought, and once within we secured the door so that we had no fear of -interruption—that was our first concern—and then I hastened to the -spot where I had hidden Valla Dia behind the body of a large warrior, -tucked far back against the wall in a dark corner. My heart stood still -as I dragged aside the body of the warrior, for always had I feared that -Ras Thavas, knowing my interest in her and guessing the purpose of my -venture, would cause every chamber and pit to be searched and every body -to be examined until he found her for whom he sought; but my fears had -been baseless, for there lay the body of Xaxa, the old and wrinkled -casket of the lovely brain of my beloved, where I had hidden it against -this very night. Gently I lifted it out and bore it to one of the two -ersite topped tables. Xaxa, standing there bound and gagged, looked on -with eyes that shot hate and loathing at me and at that hideous body to -which her brain was so soon to be restored. - -As I lifted her to the adjoining slab she tried to wriggle from my grasp -and hurl herself to the floor, but I held her and soon had strapped her -securely in place. A moment later she was unconscious and the -re-transference was well under way. Gor Hajus, Sag Or and Hovan Du were -interested spectators, but to Dar Tarus, who stood ready to assist me, -it was an old story, for he had worked in the laboratory and seen more -than enough of similar operations. I will not bore you with a -description of it—it was but a repetition of what I had done many times -in preparation for this very event. - -At last it was completed and my heart fairly stood still as I replaced -the embalming fluid with Valla Dia’s own life blood and saw the color -mount to her cheeks and her rounded bosom rise and fall to her gentle -breathing. Then she opened her eyes and looked up into mine. - -“What has happened, Vad Varo?” she asked. “Has something gone amiss that -you have recalled me so soon, or did I not respond to the fluid?” - -Her eyes wandered past me to the faces of the others standing about. -“What does it mean?” she asked. “Who are these?” - -I raised her gently in my arms and pointed at the body of Xaxa lying -deathlike on the ersite slab beside her. Valla Dia’s eyes went wide. “It -is done?” she cried, and clapped her hands to her face and felt of all -her features and of the soft, delicate contours of her smooth neck; and -yet she could scarce believe it and asked for a glass and I took one -from Xaxa’s pocket pouch and handed it to her. She looked long into it -and the tears commenced to roll down her cheeks, and then she looked up -at me through the mist of them and put her dear arms about my neck and -drew my face down to hers. “My chieftain,” she whispered—that was all. -But it was enough. For those two words I had risked my life and faced -unknown dangers, and gladly would I risk my life again for that same -reward and always, for ever. - -Another night had fallen before I had completed the restoration of Dar -Tarus and Hovan Du. Xaxa, and Sag Or and the great ape I left sleeping -the deathlike sleep of Ras Thavas’ marvelous anaesthetic. The great ape -I had no intention of restoring, but the others I felt bound to return -to Phundahl, though Dar Tarus, now resplendent in his own flesh and the -gorgeous trappings of Sag Or, urged me not to inflict them again upon -the long suffering Phundahlians. - -“But I have given my word,” I told him. - -“Then they must be returned,” he said. - -“Though what I may do afterward is another matter,” I added, for there -had suddenly occurred to me a bold scheme. - -I did not tell Dar Tarus what it was nor would I have had time, for at -the very instant we heard someone without trying the door and then we -heard voices and presently the door was tried again, this time with -force. We made no noise, but just waited. I hoped that whoever it was -would go away. The door was very strong and when they tried to force it -they must soon have realized the futility of it because they quickly -desisted and we heard their voices for only a short time thereafter and -then they seemed to have gone away. - -“We must leave,” I said, “before they return.” - -Strapping the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind them and placing gags in -their mouths I quickly restored them to life, nor ever did I see two -less grateful. The looks they cast upon me might well have killed could -looks do that, and with what disgust they viewed one another was writ -plain in their eyes. - -Cautiously unbolting the door I opened it very quietly, a naked sword in -my right hand and Dar Tarus, Gor Hajus and Hovan Du ready with theirs at -my shoulder, and as it swung back it revealed two standing in the -corridor watching—two of Ras Thavas’ slaves; and one of them was -Yamdor, his body servant. At sight of us the fellow gave a loud cry of -recognition and before I could leap through the doorway and prevent -them, they had both turned and were flying up the corridor as fast as -their feet would carry them. - -Now there was no time to be lost—everything must be sacrificed to -speed. Without thought of caution or silence we hastened through the -pits towards the runway in the tower; and when we stepped into the inner -court it was night again, but the farther moon was in the heavens and -there were no clouds. The result was that we were instantly discovered -by a sentry, who gave the alarm as he ran forward to intercept us. - -What was a sentry doing in the courtyard of Ras Thavas? I could not -understand. And what were these? A dozen armed warriors were hurrying -across the court on the heels of the sentry. - -“Toonolians!” shouted Gor Hajus. “The warriors of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of -Toonol!” - -Breathlessly we raced for the gate. If we could but reach it first! But -we were handicapped by our prisoners, who held back the moment they -discovered how they might embarrass us, and so it was that we all met in -front of the gate. Dar Tarus and Gor Hajus and Hovan Du and I put Valla -Dia and our prisoners behind us and fought the twenty warriors of Toonol -with the odds five to one against us; but we had more heart in the fight -than they and perhaps that gave us an advantage, though I am sure that -Gor Hajus was as ten men himself so terrible was the effect of his name -alone upon the men of Toonol. - -“Gor Hajus!” cried one, the first to recognize him. - -“Yes, it is Gor Hajus,” replied the assassin. “Prepare to meet your -ancestors!” and he drove into them like a racing propeller, and I was -upon his right and Hovan Du and Dar Tarus upon his left. - -It was a pretty fight, but it must eventually have gone against us, so -greatly were we outnumbered, had I not thought of the apes and the gate -beside us. Working my way to it I threw it open and there upon the -outside, attracted by the noise of the conflict, stood a full dozen of -the great beasts. I called to Gor Hajus and the others to fall back -beside the gate, and as the apes rushed in I pointed to the Toonolian -warriors. - -I think the apes were at a loss to know which were friends and which -were foes, but the Toonolians apprised them by attacking them, while we -stood aside with our points upon the ground. Just a moment we stood thus -waiting. Then as the apes rushed among the Toonolian warriors, we -slipped into the darkness of the jungle beyond the outer wall and sought -our flier. Behind us we could hear the growls and the roars of the -beasts mingled with the shouts and the curses of the men; and the sound -still rose from the courtyard as we clambered aboard the flier and -pushed off into the night. - -As soon as we felt that we were safely escaped from the Island of Thavas -I removed the gags from the mouths of Xaxa and Sag Or and I can tell you -that I immediately regretted it, for never in my life had I been -subjected to such horrid abuse as poured from the wrinkled old lips of -the Jeddara; and it was only when I started to gag her again that she -promised to desist. - -My plans were now well laid and they included a return to Phundahl since -I could not start for Duhor with Valla Dia without provisions and fuel; -nor could I obtain these elsewhere than in Phundahl, since I felt that I -held the key that would unlock the resources of that city to me; whereas -all Toonol was in arms against us owing to Vobis Kan’s fear of Gor -Hajus. - -So we retraced our way towards Phundahl as secretly as we had come, for -I had no mind to be apprehended before we had gained entrance to the -palace of Xaxa. - -Again we rested over daylight upon the same island that had given us -sanctuary two days before, and at dark we set out upon the last leg of -our journey to Phundahl. If there had been pursuit we had seen naught of -it; and that might easily be explained by the great extent of the -uninhabited marshes across which we flew and the far southerly course -that we followed close above the ground. - -As we neared Phundahl I caused Xaxa and Sag Or to be again gagged, and -further, I had their heads bandaged so that none might recognize them; -and then we sailed straight over the city towards the palace, hoping -that we would not be discovered and yet ready in the event that we -should be. - -But we came to the hangars on the roof apparently unseen and constantly -I coached each upon the part he was to play. As we were settling slowly -to the roof Dar Tarus, Hovan Du and Valla Dia quickly bound Gor Hajus -and me and wrapped our heads in bandages, for we had seen below the -figures of the hangar guard. Had we found the roof unguarded the binding -of Gor Hajus and me had been unnecessary. - -As we dropped nearer one of the guard hailed us. “What ship?” he cried. - -“The royal flier of the Jeddara of Phundahl,” replied Dar Tarus, -“returning with Xaxa and Sag Or.” - -The warriors whispered among themselves as we dropped nearer and I must -confess that I felt a bit nervous as to the outcome of our ruse; but -they permitted us to land without a word and when they saw Valla Dia -they saluted her after the manner of Barsoom, as, with the regal -carriage of an empress, she descended from the deck of the flier. - -“Carry the prisoners to my apartments!” she commanded, addressing the -guard, and with the help of Hovan Du and Dar Tarus the four bound and -muffled figures were carried from the flier down the spiral runway to -the apartments of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. Here excited slaves -hastened to do the bidding of the Jeddara. Word must have flown through -the palace with the speed of light that Xaxa had returned, for almost -immediately court functionaries began to arrive and be announced; but -Valla Dia sent word that she would see no one for a while. Then she -dismissed her slaves, and at my suggestion Dar Tarus investigated the -apartments with a view to finding a safe hiding place for Gor Hajus, me, -and the prisoners. This he soon found in a small antechamber directly -off the main apartment of the royal suite; the bonds were removed from -the assassin and myself and together we carried Xaxa and Sag Or into the -room. - -The entrance here was furnished with a heavy door over which there were -hangings that completely hid it. I bade Hovan Du, who, like the rest of -us, wore Phundahlian harness, stand guard before the hangings and let no -one enter but members of our own party. Gor Hajus and I took up our -positions just within the hangings through which we cut small holes that -permitted us to see all that went on within the main chamber, for I was -greatly concerned for Valla Dia’s safety while she posed as Xaxa, whom I -knew to be both feared and hated by her people and therefore always -liable to assassination. - -Valla Dia summoned the slaves and bade them admit the officials of the -court, and as the doors opened fully a score of nobles entered. They -appeared ill at ease and I could guess that they were recalling the -episode in the temple when they had deserted their Jeddara and even -hurled her roughly at the feet of the Great Tur, but Valla Dia soon put -them at their ease. - -“I have summoned you,” she said, “to hear the word of Tur. Tur would -speak again to his people. Three days and three nights have I spent with -Tur. His anger against Phundahl is great. He bids me summon all the -higher nobles to the temple after the evening meal to-night, and all the -priests, and the commanders and dwars of the Guard, and as many of the -lesser nobles as be in the palace; and then shall the people of Phundahl -hear the word and the law of Tur and all those who shall obey shall live -and all those who shall not obey shall die; and woe be to him who, -having been summoned, shall not be in the temple this night. I, Xaxa, -Jeddara of Phundahl, have spoken! Go!” - -They went and they seemed glad to go. Then Valla Dia summoned the odwar -of the Guard, who would be in our world a general, and she told him to -clear the palace of every living being from the temple level to the roof -an hour before the evening meal, nor to permit any one to enter the -temple or the levels above it until the hour appointed for the -assembling in the temple to hear the word of Tur, excepting however -those who might be in her own apartments, which were not to be entered -upon pain of death. She made it all very clear and plain and the odwar -understood and I think he trembled a trifle, for all were in great fear -of the Jeddara Xaxa; and then he went away and the slaves were dismissed -and we were alone. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - JOHN CARTER - - -Half an hour before the evening meal we carried Xaxa and Sag Or down the -spiral runway and placed them in the base of the Great Tur and Gor Hajus -and I took our places on the upper platform behind the eyes and voice of -the idol. Valla Dia, Dar Tarus and Hovan Du remained in the royal -apartments. Our plans were well formulated. There was no one between the -door at the rear of the Great Tur and the flier that lay ready on the -roof in the event that we were forced to flee through any miscarriage of -our mad scheme. - -The minutes dragged slowly by and darkness fell. The time was -approaching. We heard the doors of the temple open and beyond we saw the -great corridor brilliantly lighted. It was empty except for two priests -who stood hesitating nervously in the doorway. Finally one of them -mustered up sufficient courage to enter and switch on the lights. More -bravely now they advanced and prostrated themselves before the altar of -the Great Tur. When they arose and looked up into the face of the idol I -could not resist the temptation to turn those huge eyes until they had -rolled completely about the interior of the chamber and rested again -upon the priests; but I did not speak and I think the effect of the -awful silence in the presence of the living god was more impressive than -would words have been. The two priests simply collapsed. They slid to -the floor and lay there trembling, moaning and supplicating Tur to have -mercy on them, nor did they rise before the first of the worshippers -arrived. - -Thereafter the temple filled rapidly and I could see the word of Tur had -been well and thoroughly disseminated. They came as they had before; but -there were more this time, and they ranged upon either side of the -central aisle and there they waited, their eyes divided between the -doorway and the god. About the time that I thought the next scene was -about to be enacted I let Tur’s eyes travel over the assemblage that -they might be keyed to the proper pitch for what was to follow. They -reacted precisely as had the priests, falling upon the floor and moaning -and supplicating; and there they remained until the sounds of bugles -announced the coming of the Jeddara. Then they rose unsteadily to their -feet. The great doors swung open and there was the carpet and the slaves -behind it. As they rolled it down towards the altar the bugles sounded -louder and the head of the royal procession came into view. I had -ordered it thus to permit of greater pageantry than was possible when -the doors opened immediately upon the head of the procession. My plan -permitted the audience to see the royal retinue advancing down the long -corridor and the effect was splendid. First came the double rank of -nobles and behind these the chariot drawn by the two banths, bearing the -litter upon which reclined Valla Dia. Behind her walked Dar Tarus, but -all within that room thought they were looking upon the Jeddara Xaxa and -her favorite, Sag Or. Hovan Du walked behind Sag Or and following came -the fifty young men and the fifty maidens. - -The chariot halted before the altar and Valla Dia descended and knelt -and the voices that had been chanting the praises of Xaxa were stilled -as the beautiful creature extended her hands towards the Great Tur and -looked up into his face. - -“We are ready, Master!” she cried. “Speak! We await the word of Tur!” - -A gasp arose from the kneeling assemblage, a gasp that ended in a sob. I -felt that they were pretty well worked up and that everything ought to -go off without a hitch. I placed the speaking-tube to my lips. - -“I am Tur!” I thundered and the people trembled. “I come to pass -judgment on the men of Phundahl. As you receive my word so shall you -prosper or so shall you perish. The sins of the people may be atoned by -two who have sinned most in my sight.” I let the eyes of Tur rove about -over the audience and then brought them to rest upon Valla Dia. “Xaxa, -are you ready to atone for your sins and for the sins of your people?” - -Valla Dia bowed her beautiful head. “Thy will is law, Master!” she -replied. - -“And Sag Or,” I continued, “you have sinned. Are you prepared to pay?” - -“As Tur shall require,” said Dar Tarus. - -“Then it is my will,” I boomed, “that Xaxa and Sag Or shall give back to -those from whom they stole them, the beautiful bodies they now wear; -that he from whom Sag Or took this body shall become Jeddak of Phundahl -and High Priest of Tur; and that she from whom Xaxa stole her body shall -be returned in pomp to her native country. I have spoken. Let any who -would revolt against my word speak now or for ever hold his peace.” - -There was no objection voiced. I had felt pretty certain that there -would not be. I doubt if any god ever looked down upon a more subdued -and chastened flock. As I had talked, Gor Hajus had descended to the -base of the idol and removed the bonds from the feet and legs of Xaxa -and Sag Or. - -“Extinguish the lights!” I commanded. A trembling priest did my bidding. - -Valla Dia and Dar Tarus were standing side by side before the altar when -the lights went out. In the next minute they and Gor Hajus must have -worked fast, for when I heard a low whistle from the interior of the -idol’s base, the prearranged signal that Gor Hajus had finished his -work, and ordered the lights on again, there stood Xaxa and Sag Or where -Valla Dia and Dar Tarus had been, and the latter were nowhere in sight. -I think the dramatic effect of that transformation upon the people there -was the most stupendous thing I have ever seen. There was no cord or gag -upon either Xaxa or Sag Or, nothing to indicate that they had been -brought hither by force—no one about who might have so brought them. -The illusion was perfect—it was a gesture of omnipotence that simply -staggered the intellect. But I wasn’t through. - -“You have heard Xaxa renounce her throne,” I said, “and Sag Or submit to -the judgment of Tur.” - -“I have not renounced my throne!” cried Xaxa. “It is all a——” - -“Silence!” I thundered. “Prepare to greet the new Jeddak, Dar Tarus of -Phundahl!” I turned my eyes towards the great doors and the eyes of the -assemblage followed mine. They swung open and there stood Dar Tarus, -resplendent in the trappings of Hora San, the long dead Jeddak and high -priest, whose bones we had robbed in the base of the idol an hour -earlier. How Dar Tarus had managed to make the change so quickly is -beyond me, but he had done it and the effect was colossal. He looked -every inch a Jeddak as he moved with slow dignity up the wide aisle -along the blue and gold and white carpet. Xaxa turned purple with rage. -“Impostor!” she shrieked. “Seize him! Kill him!” and she ran forward to -meet him as though she would slay him with her bare hands. - -“Take her away,” said Dar Tarus in a quiet voice, and at that Xaxa fell -foaming to the floor. She shrieked and gasped and then lay still—a -wicked old woman dead of apoplexy. And when Sag Or saw her lying there -he must have been the first to realize that she was dead and that there -was now no one to protect him from the hatreds that are leveled always -at the person of a ruler’s favorite. He looked wildly about for an -instant and then threw himself at the feet of Dar Tarus. - -“You promised to protect me!” he cried. - -“None shall harm you,” replied Dar Tarus. “Go your way and live in -peace.” Then he turned his eyes upward towards the face of the Great -Tur. “What is thy will, Master?” he cried. “Dar Tarus, thy servant, -awaits thy commands!” - -I permitted an impressive silence before I replied. - -“Let the priests of Tur, the lesser nobles and a certain number of the -Jeddak’s Guard go forth into the city and spread the word of Tur among -the people that they may know that Tur smiles again upon Phundahl and -that they have a new Jeddak who stands high in the favor of Tur. Let the -higher nobles attend presently in the chambers that were Xaxa’s and do -honor to Valla Dia in whose perfect body their Jeddara once ruled them, -and effect the necessary arrangements for her proper return to Duhor, -her native city. There also will they find two who have served Tur well -and these shall be accorded the hospitality and friendship of every -Phundahlian—Gor Hajus of Toonol and Vad Varo of Jasoom. Go! and when -the last has gone let the temple be darkened. I, Tur, have spoken!” - -Valla Dia had gone directly to the apartments of the former Jeddara and -the moment that the lights were extinguished Gor Hajus and I joined her. -She could not wait to hear the outcome of our ruse, and when I assured -her that there had been no hitch the tears came to her eyes for very -joy. - -“You have accomplished the impossible, my chieftain,” she murmured, “and -already can I see the hills of Duhor and the towers of my native city. -Ah, Vad Varo, I had not dreamed that life might again hold for me such -happy prospects. I owe you life and more than life.” - -We were interrupted by the coming of Dar Tarus, and with him were Hovan -Du and a number of the higher nobles. The latter received us pleasantly, -though I think they were mystified as to just how we were linked with -the service of their god; nor, I am sure, did one of them ever learn. -They were frankly delighted to be rid of Xaxa; and while they could not -understand Tur’s purpose in elevating a former warrior of the Guard to -the throne, yet they were content if it served to relieve them from the -wrath of their god, now a very real and terrible god, since the miracles -that had been performed in the temple. That Dar Tarus had been of a -noble family relieved them of embarrassment, and I noted that they -treated him with great respect. I was positive that they would continue -to treat him so, for he was also high priest and for the first time in a -hundred years he would bring to the Great Tur in the royal Temple the -voice of god, for Hovan Du had agreed to take service with Dar Tarus, -and Gor Hajus as well, so that there would never be lacking a tongue -wherewith Tur might speak. I foresaw great possibilities for the reign -of Dar Tarus, Jeddak of Phundahl. - -At the meeting held in the apartments of Xaxa it was decided that Valla -Dia should rest two days in Phundahl while a small fleet was preparing -to transport her to Duhor. Dar Tarus assigned Xaxa’s apartments for her -use and gave her slaves from different cities to attend upon her, all of -whom were to be freed and returned with Valla Dia to her native land. - -It was almost dawn before we sought our sleeping silks and furs and the -sun was high before we awoke. Gor Hajus and I breakfasted with Valla -Dia, outside whose door we had spread our beds that we might not leave -her unprotected for a moment that it was not necessary. We had scarce -finished our meal when a messenger came from Dar Tarus summoning us to -the audience chamber, where we found some of the higher officers of the -court gathered about the throne upon which Dar Tarus sat, looking every -inch an emperor. He greeted us kindly, rising and descending from his -dais to receive Valla Dia and escort her to one of the benches he had -placed beside the throne for her and for me. - -“There is one,” he said to me, “who has come to Phundahl over night and -now begs audience of the Jeddak—one whom I thought you might like to -meet again,” and he signed to one of his attendants to admit the -petitioner; and when the doors at the opposite end of the room opened I -saw Ras Thavas standing there. He did not recognize me or Valla Dia or -Gor Hajus until he was almost at the foot of the throne, and when he did -he looked puzzled and glanced again quickly at Dar Tarus. - -“Ras Thavas of the Tower of Thavas, Toonol,” announced an officer. - -“What would Ras Thavas of the Jeddak of Phundahl?” asked Dar Tarus. - -“I came seeking audience of Xaxa,” replied Ras Thavas, “not knowing of -her death or your accession until this very morning; but I see Sag Or -upon Xaxa’s throne and beside him one whom I thought was Xaxa, though -they tell me Xaxa is dead, and another who was my assistant at Thavas -and one who is the Assassin of Toonol, and I am confused, Jeddak, and do -not know whether I be among friends or foes.” - -“Speak as though Xaxa still sat upon the throne of Phundahl,” Dar Tarus -told him, “for though I am Dar Tarus, whom you wronged, and not Sag Or, -yet need you have no fear in the court of Phundahl.” - -“Then let me tell you that Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, learning that -Gor Hajus had escaped me, swore that I had set him free to assassinate -him, and he sent warriors who took my island and would have imprisoned -me had I not been warned in time to escape; and I came hither to Xaxa to -beg her to send warriors to drive the men of Toonol from my island and -restore it to me that I may carry on my scientific labors.” - -Dar Tarus turned to me. “Vad Varo, of all others you are most familiar -with the work of Ras Thavas. Would you see him again restored to his -island and his laboratory?” - -“Only on condition that he devote his great skill to the amelioration of -human suffering,” I replied, “and no longer prostitute it to the foul -purposes of greed and sin.” This led to a discussion which lasted for -hours, the results of which were of far-reaching significance. Ras -Thavas agreed to all that I required and Dar Tarus commissioned Gor -Hajus to head an army against Toonol. - -But these matters, while of vast interest to those most directly -concerned, have no direct bearing upon the story of my adventures upon -Barsoom, as I had no part in them, since upon the second day I boarded a -flier with Valla Dia and, escorted by a Phundahlian fleet, set out -towards Duhor. Dar Tarus accompanied us for a short distance. When the -fleet was stopped at the shore of the great marsh he bade us farewell, -and was about to step to the deck of his own ship and return to Phundahl -when a shout arose from the deck of one of the other ships and word was -soon passed that a lookout had sighted what appeared to be a great fleet -far to the south-west. Nor was it long before it became plainly visible -to us all and equally plain that it was headed for Phundahl. - -Dar Tarus told me then that as much as he regretted it, there seemed -nothing to do but return at once to his capital with the entire fleet, -since he could not spare a single ship or man if this proved an enemy -fleet, nor could Valla Dia or I interpose any objection; and so we -turned about and sped as rapidly as the slow ships of Phundahl permitted -back towards the city. - -The stranger fleet had sighted us at about the same time that we had -sighted it, and we saw it change its course and bear down upon us; and -as it came nearer it fell into single file and prepared to encircle us. -I was standing at Dar Tarus’ side when the colors of the approaching -fleet became distinguishable and we first learned that it was from -Helium. - -“Signal and ask if they come in peace,” directed Dar Tarus. - -“We seek word with Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl,” came the reply. “The -question of peace or war will be hers to decide.” - -“Tell them that Xaxa is dead and that I, Dar Tarus, Jeddak of Phundahl, -will receive the commander of Helium’s fleet in peace upon the deck of -this ship, or that I will receive him in war with all my guns. I, Dar -Tarus, have spoken!” - -From the bow of a great ship of Helium there broke the flag of truce and -when Dar Tarus’ ship answered it in kind the other drew near and -presently we could see the men of Helium upon her decks. Slowly the -great flier came alongside our smaller ship and when the two had been -made fast a party of officers boarded us. They were fine looking men, -and at their head was one whom I recognized immediately though I never -before had laid eyes upon him. I think he was the most impressive figure -I have ever seen as he advanced slowly across the deck towards us—John -Carter, Prince of Helium, Warlord of Barsoom. - -“Dar Tarus,” he said, “John Carter greets you and in peace, though it -had been different, I think, had Xaxa still reigned.” - -“You came to war upon Xaxa?” asked Dar Tarus. - -“We came to right a wrong,” replied the Warlord. “But from what we know -of Xaxa that could have been done only by force.” - -“What wrong has Phundahl done Helium?” demanded Dar Tarus. - -“The wrong was against one of your own people—even against you in -person.” - -“I do not understand,” said Dar Tarus. - -“There is one aboard my ship who may be able to explain to you, Dar -Tarus,” replied John Carter, with a smile. He turned and spoke to one of -his aides in a whisper, and the man saluted and returned to the deck of -his own ship. “You shall see with your own eyes, Dar Tarus.” Suddenly -his eyes narrowed. “This is indeed Dar Tarus who was a warrior of the -Jeddara’s Guard and supposedly assassinated by her command?” - -“It is,” replied Dar Tarus. - -“I must be certain,” said the Warlord. - -“There is no question about it, John Carter,” I spoke up in English. - -His eyes went wide, and when they fell upon me and he noted my lighter -skin, from which the dye was wearing away, he stepped forward and held -out his hand. - -“A countryman?” he asked. - -“Yes, an American,” I replied. - -“I was almost surprised,” he said. “Yet why should I be? I have -crossed—there is no reason why others should not. And you have -accomplished it! You must come to Helium with me and tell me all about -it.” - -Further conversation was interrupted by the return of the aide, who -brought a young woman with him. At sight of her Dar Tarus uttered a cry -of joy and sprang forward, and I did not need to be told that this was -Kara Vasa. - -There is little more to tell that might not bore you in the telling—of -how John Carter himself took Valla Dia and me to Duhor after attending -the nuptials of Dar Tarus and Kara Vasa; and of the great surprise that -awaited me in Duhor, where I learned for the first time that Kor San, -Jeddak of Duhor, was the father of Valla Dia; and of the honors and the -great riches that he heaped upon me when Valla Dia and I were wed. - -John Carter was present at the wedding and we initiated upon Barsoom a -good old American custom, for the Warlord acted as best man; and then he -insisted that we follow that up with a honeymoon and bore us off to -Helium, where I am writing this. - -Even now it seems like a dream that I can look out of my window and see -the scarlet and the yellow towers of the twin cities of Helium; that I -have met, and see daily, Cathoris, Thuvia of Ptarth, Tara of Helium, -Gahan of Gathol and that peerless creature, Dejah Thoris, Princess of -Mars. Though to me, beautiful as she is, there is another even more -beautiful—Valla Dia, Princess of Duhor—Mrs. Ulysses Paxton. - - - - - TRANSCRIBER NOTES - -Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple -spellings occur, majority use has been employed. - -Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer errors -occur. - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER MIND OF MARS *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The master mind of Mars</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 4, 2023 [eBook #69703]<br /> -[Most recently updated: October 22, 2023]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Al Haines, Cindy Beyer & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER MIND OF MARS ***</div> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:2em;font-size:1.2em;'>BATTLE DAMAGE</p> - -<div class='blockquote60percent'> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus called in alarm, “We can’t alter -our course—the ship is useless!”</p> - -</div> -<div class='blockquote60percent'> - -<p class='pindent'>Almost at the same instant, one of my -bullets found and extinguished the enemy -searchlight. Our craft was out of control, -running swiftly toward a collision with the -Toonolian flyer.</p> - -</div> -<div class='blockquote60percent'> - -<p class='pindent'>I asked Dar Tarus if our ship was beyond -repair. His reply was that it would take hours—in -which time the whole Toonolian air -patrol would be upon us.</p> - -</div> -<div class='blockquote60percent'> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then we must have another ship!” I said. -I pointed at the enemy craft. “We shall not -have to look far.”</p> - -</div> -<div class='blockquote60percent'> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus shrugged. “Why not? It would -be a glorious fight . . . and a worthy death!”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='lgc' style='margin-bottom:2em;'> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line'>Edgar Rice Burroughs</p> -<p class='line'>MARS NOVELS</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<table id='tab1' summary='' class='center'> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>A PRINCESS OF MARS (#1)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE GODS OF MARS (#2)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE WARLORD OF MARS (#3)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THUVIA, MAID OF MARS (#4)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE CHESSMEN OF MARS (#5)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE MASTER MIND OF MARS (#6)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS (#7)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>SWORDS OF MARS (#8)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS (#9)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>LLANA OF GATHOL (#10)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>JOHN CARTER OF MARS (#11)</td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;font-size:2em;'>THE</p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:2em;'>MASTER MIND</p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:2em;'>OF MARS</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:8em;font-size:1.5em;'>Edgar Rice Burroughs</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='blockquote80percent'> - -<p class='noindent'><span style='font-size:smaller'><span class='it'>The Master Mind of Mars</span> was first published in <span class='it'>Amazing Stories -Annual</span> magazine, Volume I, number 1 on July 15, 1927.</span></p> - -</div> -<div class='blockquote80percent'> - -<p class='noindent'><span style='font-size:smaller'>Copyright © 1927 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.</span></p> - -</div> -<div class='blockquote80percent'> - -<p class='noindent'><span style='font-size:smaller'>ISBN 0-345-33424-8</span></p> - -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<table id='tab2' summary='' class='center'> -<colgroup> -<col span='1' style='width: 2em;'/> -<col span='1' style='width: 17.5em;'/> -<col span='1' style='width: 2.5em;'/> -</colgroup> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tab2c1-col3 tdStyle1' colspan='3'><span style='font-size:larger'><span class='gesp'>CONTENTS</span></span></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tab2c1-col2 tdStyle5' colspan='2'><span style='font-size:x-small'>CHAPTER</span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><span style='font-size:x-small'>PAGE</span></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>A Letter</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_7'>7</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>I</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The House of the Dead</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_10'>10</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>II</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Preferment</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_20'>20</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>III</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Valla Dia</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_28'>28</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>IV</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The Compact</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_42'>42</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>V</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Danger</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_53'>53</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VI</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Suspicions</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_61'>61</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Escape</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_72'>72</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VIII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Hands Up!</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_81'>81</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>IX</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The Palace of Mu Tel</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>X</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Phundahl</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_106'>106</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XI</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Xaxa</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_116'>116</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The Great Tur</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XIII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Back to Thavas</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_140'>140</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XIV</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>John Carter</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_150'>150</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='7' id='Page_7'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>A LETTER</h1></div> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1em;'><span style='font-size:smaller'>HELIUM</span>, June 8th, 1925</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;margin-bottom:2em;font-size:.8em;'>MY DEAR MR. BURROUGHS:</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was in the Fall of nineteen seventeen at an officers’ -training camp that I first became acquainted with John -Carter, War Lord of Barsoom, through the pages of your -novel “A Princess of Mars.” The story made a profound -impression upon me and while my better judgment -assured me that it was but a highly imaginative piece of -fiction, a suggestion of the verity of it pervaded my inner -consciousness to such an extent that I found myself -dreaming of Mars and John Carter, of Dejah Thoris, of -Tars Tarkas and of Woola as if they had been entities -of my own experience rather than the figments of your -imagination.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It is true that in those days of strenuous preparation -there was little time for dreaming, yet there were brief -moments before sleep claimed me at night and these were -my dreams. Such dreams! Always of Mars, and during -my waking hours at night my eyes always sought out the -Red Planet when he was above the horizon and clung -there seeking a solution of the seemingly unfathomable -riddle he has presented to the Earthman for ages.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Perhaps the thing became an obsession. I know it -clung to me all during my training camp days, and at -night, on the deck of the transport, I would lie on my -back gazing up into the red eye of the god of battle—my -god—and wishing that, like John Carter, I might be -drawn across the great void to the haven of my desire.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And then came the hideous days and nights in the -trenches—the rats, the vermin, the mud—with an occasional -glorious break in the monotony when we were -ordered over the top. I loved it then and I loved the -bursting shells, the mad, wild chaos of the thundering -guns, but the rats and the vermin and the mud—God! -how I hated them. It sounds like boasting, I know, and I -am sorry; but I wanted to write you just the truth about -myself. I think you will understand. And it may account -for much that happened afterwards.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There came at last to me what had come to so many -others upon those bloody fields. It came within the -week that I had received my first promotion and my -captaincy, of which I was greatly proud, though humbly -so; realizing as I did my youth, the great responsibility -that it placed upon me as well as the opportunities it -offered, not only in service to my country but, in a personal -way, to the men of my command. We had advanced -a matter of two kilometers and with a small detachment -I was holding a very advanced position when I received -orders to fall back to the new line. That is the last that I -remember until I regained consciousness after dark. A -shell must have burst among us. What became of my -men I never knew. It was cold and very dark when I -awoke and at first, for an instant, I was quite comfortable—before -I was fully conscious, I imagine—and then -I commenced to feel pain. It grew until it seemed unbearable. -It was in my legs. I reached down to feel them, -but my hand recoiled from what it found, and when I -tried to move my legs I discovered that I was dead from -the waist down. Then the moon came out from behind a -cloud and I saw that I lay within a shell hole and that I -was not alone—the dead were all about me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was a long time before I found the moral courage -and the physical strength to draw myself up upon one -elbow that I might view the havoc that had been done -me. One look was enough, I sank back in an agony of -mental and physical anguish—my legs had been blown -away from midway between the hips and knees. For some -reason I was not bleeding excessively, yet I know that -I had lost a great deal of blood and that I was gradually -losing enough to put me out of my misery in a short time -if I were not soon found; and as I lay there on my back, -tortured with pain, I prayed that they would not come in -time, for I shrank more from the thought of going -maimed through life than I shrank from the thought of -death. Then my eyes suddenly focussed upon the bright -red eye of Mars and there surged through me a sudden -wave of hope. I stretched out my arms towards Mars, -I did not seem to question or to doubt for an instant as -I prayed to the god of my vocation to reach forth and -succour me. I knew that he would do it, my faith was -complete, and yet so great was the mental effort that I -made to throw off the hideous bonds of my mutilated -flesh that I felt a momentary qualm of nausea and then a -sharp click as of the snapping of a steel wire, and suddenly -I stood naked upon two good legs looking down -upon the bloody, distorted thing that had been I. Just -for an instant did I stand thus before I turned my eyes -aloft again to my star of destiny and with outstretched -arms stand there in the cold of that French night—waiting.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Suddenly I felt myself drawn with the speed of thought -through the trackless wastes of interplanetary space. -There was an instant of extreme cold and utter darkness, -then——</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But the rest is in the manuscript that, with the aid of -one greater than either of us, I have found the means -to transmit to you with this letter. You and a few others -of the chosen will believe in it—for the rest it matters -not as yet. The time will come—but why tell you what -you already know?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My salutations and my congratulations—the latter -on your good fortune in having been chosen as the -medium through which Earthmen shall become better acquainted -with the manners and customs of Barsoom, -against the time that they shall pass through space as -easily as John Carter, and visit the scenes that he has -described to them through you, as have I.</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:5em;'>Your sincere friend,</p> -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:.8em;'>ULYSSES PAXTON,</p> -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1em;'><span class='it'>Late Captain, ——th Inf., U.S. Army</span>.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='10' id='Page_10'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER I<br/> THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>I must</span> have closed my eyes involuntarily during the -transition for when I opened them I was lying flat on -my back gazing up into a brilliant, sun-lit sky, while -standing a few feet from me and looking down upon me -with the most mystified expression was as strange a looking -individual as my eyes ever had rested upon. He appeared -to be quite an old man, for he was wrinkled and -withered beyond description. His limbs were emaciated; -his ribs showed distinctly beneath his shrunken hide; -his cranium was large and well developed, which, in conjunction -with his wasted limbs and torso, lent him the -appearance of top heaviness, as though he had a head -beyond all proportion to his body, which was, I am sure, -really not the case.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As he stared down upon me through enormous, many -lensed spectacles I found the opportunity to examine -him as minutely in return. He was, perhaps, five feet five -in height, though doubtless he had been taller in youth, -since he was somewhat bent; he was naked except for -some rather plain and well-worn leather harness which -supported his weapons and pocket pouches, and one great -ornament, a collar, jewel studded, that he wore around -his scraggy neck—such a collar as a dowager empress of -pork or real estate might barter her soul for, if she had -one. His skin was red, his scant locks grey. As he looked -at me his puzzled expression increased in intensity, he -grasped his chin between the thumb and fingers of his -left hand and slowly raising his right hand he scratched -his head most deliberately. Then he spoke to me, but in -a language I did not understand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At his first words I sat up and shook my head. Then -I looked about me. I was seated upon a crimson sward -within a high walled enclosure, at least two, and possibly -three, sides of which were formed by the outer walls of -a structure that in some respects resembled more closely -a feudal castle of Europe than any familiar form of -architecture that comes to my mind. The façade presented -to my view was ornately carved and of most irregular -design, the roof line being so broken as to almost -suggest a ruin, and yet the whole seemed harmonious -and not without beauty. Within the enclosure grew a -number of trees and shrubs, all weirdly strange and all, -or almost all, profusely flowering. About them wound -walks of coloured pebbles among which scintillated -what appeared to be rare and beautiful gems, so lovely -were the strange, unearthly rays that leaped and played -in the sunshine.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The old man spoke again, peremptorily this time, as -though repeating a command that had been ignored, but -again I shook my head. Then he laid a hand upon one -of his two swords, but as he drew the weapon I leaped -to my feet, with such remarkable results that I cannot -even now say which of us was the more surprised. I -must have sailed ten feet into the air and back about -twenty feet from where I had been sitting; then I was -sure that I was upon Mars (not that I had for one instant -doubted it), for the effects of the lesser gravity, the -colour of the sward and the skin-hue of the red Martians -I had seen described in the manuscripts of John Carter, -those marvellous and as yet unappreciated contributions -to the scientific literature of a world. There could be no -doubt of it, I stood upon the soil of the Red Planet, I -had come to the world of my dreams—to Barsoom.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>So startled was the old man by my agility that he -jumped a bit himself, though doubtless involuntarily, but, -however, with certain results. His spectacles tumbled -from his nose to the sward, and then it was that I discovered -that the pitiful old wretch was practically blind -when deprived of these artificial aids to vision, for he -got to his knees and commenced to grope frantically for -the lost glasses, as though his very life depended upon -finding them in the instant. Possibly he thought that I -might take advantage of his helplessness and slay him. -Though the spectacles were enormous and lay within a -couple of feet of him he could not find them, his hands, -seemingly afflicted by that strange perversity that sometimes -confounds our simplest acts, passing all about the -lost object of their search, yet never once coming in contact -with it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As I stood watching his futile efforts and considering -the advisability of restoring to him the means that would -enable him more readily to find my heart with his sword -point, I became aware that another had entered the -enclosure. Looking towards the building I saw a large -red-man running rapidly towards the little old man of the -spectacles. The newcomer was quite naked, he carried -a club in one hand, and there was upon his face such an -expression as unquestionably boded ill for the helpless -husk of humanity grovelling, mole-like, for its lost -spectacles.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My first impulse was to remain neutral in an affair -that it seemed could not possibly concern me and of -which I had no slightest knowledge upon which to base a -predilection towards either of the parties involved; but a -second glance at the face of the club-bearer aroused a -question as to whether it might not concern me after all. -There was that in the expression upon the man’s face -that betokened either an inherent savageness of disposition -or a maniacal cast of mind which might turn his -evidently murderous attentions upon me after he had dispatched -his elderly victim, while, in outward appearance -at least, the latter was a sane and relatively harmless individual. -It is true that his move to draw his sword against -me was not indicative of a friendly disposition towards -me, but at least, if there were any choice, he seemed the -lesser of two evils.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He was still groping for his spectacles and the naked -man was almost upon him as I reached the decision to -cast my lot upon the side of the old man. I was twenty -feet away, naked and unarmed, but to cover the distance -with my Earthly muscles required but an instant, and a -naked sword lay by the old man’s side where he had discarded -it the better to search for his spectacles. So it -was that I faced the attacker at the instant that he came -within striking distance of his victim, and the blow which -had been intended for another was aimed at me. I sidestepped -it and then I learned that the greater agility of -my Earthly muscles had its disadvantages as well as its -advantages, for, indeed, I had to learn to walk at the -very instant that I had to learn to fight with a new -weapon against a maniac armed with a bludgeon, or at -least, so I assumed him to be and I think that it is not -strange that I should have done so, what with his frightful -show of rage and the terrible expression upon his -face.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As I stumbled about endeavouring to accustom myself -to the new conditions, I found that instead of offering -any serious opposition to my antagonist I was hard -put to it to escape death at his hands, so often did I -stumble and fall sprawling upon the scarlet sward; so -that the duel from its inception became but a series of -efforts, upon his part to reach and crush me with his great -club, and upon mine to dodge and elude him. It was -mortifying but it is the truth. However, this did not last -indefinitely, for soon I learned, and quickly too under the -exigencies of the situation, to command my muscles, and -then I stood my ground and when he aimed a blow at -me, and I had dodged it, I touched him with my point -and brought blood along with a savage roar of pain. He -went more cautiously then, and taking advantage of the -change I pressed him so that he fell back. The effect -upon me was magical, giving me new confidence, so that -I set upon him in good earnest, thrusting and cutting until -I had him bleeding in a half-dozen places, yet taking -good care to avoid his mighty swings, any one of which -would have felled an ox.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In my attempts to elude him in the beginning of the -duel we had crossed the enclosure and were now fighting -at a considerable distance from the point of our first -meeting. It now happened that I stood facing towards -that point at the moment that the old man regained his -spectacles, which he quickly adjusted to his eyes. Immediately -he looked about until he discovered us, whereupon -he commenced to yell excitedly at us at the same time -running in our direction and drawing his short-sword as -he ran. The red-man was pressing me hard, but I had -gained almost complete control of myself, and fearing -that I was soon to have two antagonists instead of one -I set upon him with redoubled intensity. He missed me -by the fraction of an inch, the wind in the wake of his -bludgeon fanning my scalp, but he left an opening into -which I stepped, running my sword fairly through his -heart. At least I thought that I had pierced his heart, but -I had forgotten what I had once read in one of John -Carter’s manuscripts to the effect that all the Martian -internal organs are not disposed identically with those -of Earthmen. However, the immediate results were quite -as satisfactory as though I had found his heart, for the -wound was sufficiently grievous to place him <span class='it'>hors de -combat</span>, and at that instant the old gentleman arrived. He -found me ready, but I had mistaken his intentions. He -made no unfriendly gestures with his weapon, but seemed -to be trying to convince me that he had no intention of -harming me. He was very excited and apparently tremendously -annoyed that I could not understand him, and -perplexed, too. He hopped about screaming strange sentences -at me that bore the tones of peremptory commands, -rabid invective and impotent rage. But the fact -that he had returned his sword to its scabbard had -greater significance than all his jabbering, and when he -ceased to yell at me and commenced to talk in a sort of -pantomime I realized that he was making overtures of -peace if not of friendship, so I lowered my point and -bowed. It was all that I could think of to assure him that -I had no immediate intention of spitting him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He seemed satisfied and at once turned his attention -to the fallen man. He examined his pulse and listened to -his heart, then, nodding his head, he arose and taking a -whistle from one of his pocket pouches sounded a single -loud blast. There emerged immediately from one of the -surrounding buildings a score of naked red-men who -came running towards us. None was armed. To these -he issued a few curt orders, whereupon they gathered the -fallen one in their arms and bore him off. Then the old -man started towards the building, motioning me to accompany -him. There seemed nothing else for me to do -but obey. Wherever I might be upon Mars, the chances -were a million to one that I would be among enemies; -and so I was as well off here as elsewhere and must depend -upon my own resourcefulness, skill and agility to -make my way upon the Red Planet.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The old man led me into a small chamber from which -opened numerous doors, through one of which they were -just bearing my late antagonist. We followed into a large, -brilliantly lighted chamber wherein there burst upon my -astounded vision the most gruesome scene that I ever -had beheld. Rows upon rows of tables arranged in -parallel lines filled the room and with few exceptions each -table bore a similar grisly burden, a partially dismembered -or otherwise mutilated human corpse. Above each -table was a shelf bearing containers of various sizes and -shapes, while from the bottom of the shelf depended -numerous surgical instruments, suggesting that my entrance -upon Barsoom was to be through a gigantic medical -college.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At a word from the old man, those who bore the -Barsoomian I had wounded laid him upon an empty -table and left the apartment. Whereupon my host, if so I -may call him, for certainly he was not as yet my captor, -motioned me forward. While he conversed in ordinary -tones, he made two incisions in the body of my late -antagonist; one, I imagine, in a large vein and one in an -artery, to which he deftly attached the ends of two tubes, -one of which was connected with an empty glass receptacle -and the other with a similar receptacle filled with a -colourless, transparent liquid resembling clear water. The -connections made, the old gentleman pressed a button -controlling a small motor, whereupon the victim’s blood -was pumped into the empty jar while the contents of -the other was forced into the emptying veins and arteries.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The tones and gestures of the old man as he addressed -me during this operation convinced me that he was explaining -in detail the method and purpose of what was -transpiring, but as I understood no word of all he said -I was as much in the dark when he had completed his -discourse as I was before he started it, though what I had -seen made it appear reasonable to believe that I was -witnessing an ordinary Barsoomian embalming. Having -removed the tubes the old man closed the openings he -had made by covering them with bits of what appeared -to be heavy adhesive tape and then motioned me to -follow him. We went from room to room, in each of -which were the same gruesome exhibits. At many of the -bodies the old man paused to make a brief examination -or to refer to what appeared to be a record of the case, -that hung upon a hook at the head of each of the tables.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>From the last of the chambers we visited upon the first -floor my host led me up an inclined runway to the second -floor where there were rooms similar to those below, but -here the tables bore whole rather than mutilated bodies, -all of which were patched in various places with adhesive -tape. As we were passing among the bodies in one of -these rooms a Barsoomian girl, whom I took to be -a servant or slave, entered and addressed the old man, -whereupon he signed me to follow him and together we -descended another runway to the first floor of another -building.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Here, in a large, gorgeously decorated and sumptuously -furnished apartment an elderly red-woman awaited -us. She appeared to be quite old and her face was -terribly disfigured as by some injury. Her trappings were -magnificent and she was attended by a score of women -and armed warriors, suggesting that she was a person of -some consequence, but the little old man treated her -quite brusquely, as I could see, quite to the horror of -her attendants.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Their conversation was lengthy and at the conclusion -of it, at the direction of the woman, one of her male -escort advanced and opening a pocket pouch at his side -withdrew a handful of what appeared to me to be Martian -coins. A quantity of these he counted out and handed -to the little old man, who then beckoned the woman -to follow him, a gesture which included me. Several of -her women and guard started to accompany us, but these -the old man waved back peremptorily; whereupon -there ensued a heated discussion between the woman and -one of her warriors on one side and the old man on the -other, which terminated in his proffering the return of -the woman’s money with a disgusted air. This seemed to -settle the argument, for she refused the coins, spoke -briefly to her people and accompanied the old man and -myself alone.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He led the way to the second floor and to a chamber -which I had not previously visited. It closely resembled -the others except that all the bodies therein were of young -women, many of them of great beauty. Following closely -at the heels of the old man the woman inspected the gruesome -exhibit with painstaking care. Thrice she passed -slowly among the tables examining their ghastly burdens. -Each time she paused longest before a certain one -which bore the figure of the most beautiful creature I had -ever looked upon; then she returned the fourth time to it -and stood looking long and earnestly into the dead face. -For awhile she stood there talking with the old man, -apparently asking innumerable questions, to which he returned -quick, brusque replies, then she indicated the body -with a gesture and nodded assent to the withered keeper -of this ghastly exhibit.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Immediately the old fellow sounded a blast upon his -whistle, summoning a number of servants to whom he -issued brief instructions, after which he led us to another -chamber, a smaller one in which were several empty -tables similar to those upon which the corpses lay in -adjoining rooms. Two female slaves or attendants were -in this room and at a word from their master they removed -the trappings from the old woman, unloosed her -hair and helped her to one of the tables. Here she was -thoroughly sprayed with what I presume was an antiseptic -solution of some nature, carefully dried and removed to -another table, at a distance of about twenty inches from -which stood a second parallel table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Now the door of the chamber swung open and two -attendants appeared bearing the body of the beautiful -girl we had seen in the adjoining room. This they deposited -upon the table the old woman had just quitted and as -she had been sprayed so was the corpse, after which it -was transferred to the table beside that on which she lay. -The little old man now made two incisions in the body of -the old woman, just as he had in the body of the red-man -who had fallen to my sword; her blood was -drawn from her veins and the clear liquid pumped into -them, life left her and she lay upon the polished ersite -slab that formed the table top, as much a corpse as the -poor, beautiful, dead creature at her side.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The little old man, who had removed the harness down -to his waist and been thoroughly sprayed, now selected a -sharp knife from among the instruments above the table -and removed the old woman’s scalp, following the -hair line entirely around her head. In a similar manner he -then removed the scalp from the corpse of the young -woman, after which, by means of a tiny circular saw -attached to the end of a flexible, revolving shaft he -sawed through the skull of each, following the line exposed -by the removal of the scalps. This and the balance -of the marvellous operation was so skilfully performed -as to baffle description. Suffice it to say that at -the end of four hours he had transferred the brain of -each woman to the brain pan of the other, deftly connected -the severed nerves and ganglia, replaced the skulls -and scalps and bound both heads securely with his peculiar -adhesive tape, which was not only antiseptic and -healing but anaesthetic, locally, as well.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He now reheated the blood that he had withdrawn -from the body of the old woman, adding a few drops of -some clear chemical solution, withdrew the liquid from -the veins of the beautiful corpse, replacing it with the -blood of the old woman and simultaneously administering -a hypodermic injection.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>During the entire operation he had not spoken a word. -Now he issued a few instructions in his curt manner to his -assistants, motioned me to follow him, and left the room. -He led me to a distant part of the building or series of -buildings that composed the whole, ushered me into a -luxurious apartment, opened the door to a Barsoomian -bath and left me in the hands of trained servants. Refreshed -and rested I left the bath after an hour of relaxation -to find harness and trappings awaiting me in the -adjoining chamber. Though plain, they were of good -material, but there were no weapons with them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Naturally I had been thinking much upon the strange -things I had witnessed since my advent upon Mars, but -what puzzled me most lay in the seemingly inexplicable act -of the old woman in paying my host what was evidently -a considerable sum to murder her and transfer to the -inside of her skull the brain of a corpse. Was it the -outcome of some horrible religious fanaticism, or was -there an explanation that my Earthly mind could not -grasp?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had reached no decision in the matter when I was -summoned to follow a slave to another and nearby -apartment where I found my host awaiting me before a -table loaded with delicious foods, to which, it is needless -to say, I did ample justice after my long fast and -longer weeks of rough army fare.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>During the meal my host attempted to converse with -me, but, naturally, the effort was fruitless of results. He -waxed quite excited at times and upon three distinct occasions -laid his hand upon one of his swords when I -failed to comprehend what he was saying to me, an -action which resulted in a growing conviction upon my -part that he was partially demented; but he evinced sufficient -self-control in each instance to avert a catastrophe -for one of us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The meal over he sat for a long time in deep meditation, -then a sudden resolution seemed to possess him. -He turned suddenly upon me with a faint suggestion of a -smile and dove headlong into what was to prove an intensive -course of instruction in the Barsoomian language. -It was long after dark before he permitted me to retire -for the night, conducting me himself to a large apartment, -the same in which I had found my new harness, -where he pointed out a pile of rich sleeping silks and -furs, bid me a Barsoomian good night and left me, locking -the door after him upon the outside, and leaving me to -guess whether I were more guest or prisoner.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='20' id='Page_20'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER II<br/> PREFERMENT</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Three</span> weeks passed rapidly. I had mastered enough -of the Barsoomian tongue to enable me to converse with -my host in a reasonably satisfactory manner, and I was -also progressing slowly in the mastery of the written -language of his nation, which is different, of course, -from the written language of all other Barsoomian nations, -though the spoken language of all is identical. In these -three weeks I had learned much of the strange place -in which I was half guest and half prisoner and of my -remarkable host-jailer, Ras Thavas, the old surgeon of -Toonol, whom I had accompanied almost constantly day -after day until gradually there had unfolded before my -astounded faculties an understanding of the purposes of -the institution over which he ruled and in which he laboured -practically alone; for the slaves and attendants -that served him were but hewers of wood and carriers -of water. It was his brain alone and his skill that directed -the sometimes beneficent, the sometimes malevolent, -but always marvellous activities of his life’s work.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas himself was as remarkable as the things he -accomplished. He was never intentionally cruel; he was -not, I am sure, intentionally wicked. He was guilty of the -most diabolical cruelties and the basest of crimes; yet in -the next moment he might perform a deed that if duplicated -upon Earth would have raised him to the highest -pinnacle of man’s esteem. Though I know that I am safe -in saying that he was never prompted to a cruel or -criminal act by base motives, neither was he ever urged to -a humanitarian one by high motives. He had a purely -scientific mind entirely devoid of the cloying influences -of sentiment, of which he possessed none. His was a practical -mind, as evidenced by the enormous fees he demanded -for his professional services; yet I know that he -would not operate for money alone and I have seen him -devote days to the study of a scientific problem the -solution of which could add nothing to his wealth, while -the quarters that he furnished his waiting clients were -overflowing with wealthy patrons waiting to pour money -into his coffers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His treatment of me was based entirely upon scientific -requirements. I offered a problem. I was either, quite evidently, -not a Barsoomian at all, or I was of a species of -which he had no knowledge. It therefore best suited the -purposes of science that I be preserved and studied. I knew -much about my own planet. It pleased Ras Thavas’ -scientific mind to milk me of all I knew in the hope that -he might derive some suggestion that would solve one of -the Barsoomian scientific riddles that still baffle their savants; -but he was compelled to admit that in this respect I -was a total loss, not alone because I was densely ignorant -upon practically all scientific subjects, but because the -learned sciences on Earth have not advanced even to -the swaddling-clothes stage as compared with the remarkable -progress of corresponding activities on Mars. Yet he -kept me by him, training me in many of the minor duties -of his vast laboratory. I was entrusted with the formula -of the “embalming fluid” and taught how to withdraw a -subject’s blood and replace it with this marvellous preservative -that arrests decay without altering in the -minutest detail the nerve or tissue structure of the body. -I learned also the secret of the few drops of solution -which, added to the rewarmed blood before it is returned -to the veins of the subject, revitalizes the latter and -restores to normal and healthy activity each and every -organ of the body.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He told me once why he had permitted me to learn -these things that he had kept a secret from all others, -and why he kept me with him at all times in preference to -any of the numerous individuals of his own race that -served him and me in lesser capacities both day and -night.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Vad Varo,” he said, using the Barsoomian name that -he had given me because he insisted that my own name -was meaningless and impractical, “for many years I have -needed an assistant, but heretofore I have never felt that -I had discovered one who might work here for me wholeheartedly -and disinterestedly without ever having reason -to go elsewhere or to divulge my secrets to others. -You, in all Barsoom, are unique—you have no other -friend or acquaintance than myself. Were you to leave -me you would find yourself in a world of enemies, for all -are suspicious of a stranger. You would not survive a -dozen dawns and you would be cold and hungry and miserable—a -wretched outcast in a hostile world. Here you -have every luxury that the mind of man can devise or -the hand of man produce, and you are occupied with -work of such engrossing interest that your every hour -must be fruitful of unparalleled satisfaction. There is no -selfish reason, therefore, why you should leave me and -there is every reason why you should remain. I expect -no loyalty other than that which may be prompted by -egoism. You make an ideal assistant, not only for the -reasons I have just given you, but because you are intelligent -and quick-witted, and now I have decided, after -observing you carefully for a sufficient time, that you can -serve me in yet another capacity—that of personal bodyguard.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You may have noticed that I alone of all those connected -with my laboratory am armed. This is unusual -upon Barsoom, where people of all classes, and all ages -and both sexes habitually go armed. But many of these -people I could not trust armed as they would slay me; -and were I to give arms to those whom I might trust, who -knows but that the others would obtain possession of -them and slay me, or even those whom I had trusted turn -against me, for there is not one who might not wish to -go forth from this place back among his own people—only -you, Vad Varo, for there is no other place for you -to go. So I have decided to give you weapons.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You saved my life once. A similar opportunity might -again present itself. I know that, being a reasoning and -reasonable creature, you will not slay me, for you have -nothing to gain and everything to lose by my death, which -would leave you friendless and unprotected in a world of -strangers where assassination is the order of society and -natural death one of the rarest of phenomena. Here are -your arms.” He stepped to a cabinet which he unlocked, -displaying an assortment of weapons, and selected -for me a long-sword, a short-sword, a pistol and a dagger.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You seem sure of my loyalty, Ras Thavas,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He shrugged his shoulders. “I am only sure that I -know perfectly where your interests lie—sentimentalists -have words: love, loyalty, friendship, enmity, jealousy, -hate, a thousand others; a waste of words—one word -defines them all: self-interest. All men of intelligence realize -this. They analyse an individual and by his predilections -and his needs they classify him as friend or foe, leaving -to the weak-minded idiots who like to be deceived the -drooling drivel of sentiment.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I smiled as I buckled my weapons to my harness, -but I held my peace. Nothing could be gained by arguing -with the man and, too, I felt quite sure that in any -purely academic controversy I should get the worst of it; -but many of the matters of which he had spoken had -aroused my curiosity and one had reawakened in my -mind a matter to which I had given considerable thought. -While partially explained by some of his remarks I still -wondered why the red-man from whom I had rescued -him had seemed so venomously bent upon slaying him -the day of my advent upon Barsoom, and so, as we sat -chatting after our evening meal, I asked him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A sentimentalist,” he said. “A sentimentalist of the -most pronounced type. Why that fellow hated me with a -venom absolutely unbelievable by any of the reactions of a -trained, analytical mind such as mine; but having witnessed -his reactions I become cognizant of a state of -mind that I cannot of myself even imagine. Consider the -facts. He was the victim of assassination—a young warrior -in the prime of life, possessing a handsome face -and a splendid physique. One of my agents paid his relatives -a satisfactory sum for the corpse and brought it to -me. It is thus that I obtain practically all of my material. -I treated it in the manner with which you are familiar. For -a year the body lay in the laboratory, there being no occasion -during that time that I had use for it; but eventually -a rich client came, a not overly prepossessing man of -considerable years. He had fallen desperately in love with -a young woman who was attended by many handsome -suitors. My client had more money than any of them, -more brains, more experience, but he lacked the one -thing that each of the others had that always weighs -heavily with the undeveloped, unreasoning, sentiment-ridden -minds of young females—good looks.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Now 378-J-493811-P had what my client lacked and -could afford to purchase. Quickly we reached an agreement -as to price and I transferred the brain of my rich -client to the head of 378-J-493811-P and my client went -away and for all I know won the hand of the beautiful -moron; and 378-J-493811-P might have rested on indefinitely -upon his ersite slab until I needed him or a part -of him in my work, had I not, merely by chance, selected -him for resurgence because of an existing need for another -male slave.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mind you now, the man had been murdered. He was -dead. I bought and paid for the corpse and all there was -in it. He might have lain dead forever upon one of my -ersite slabs had I not breathed new life into his dead veins. -Did he have the brains to view the transaction in a wise -and dispassionate manner? He did not. His sentimental -reactions caused him to reproach me because I had given -him another body, though it seemed to me that, looking -at the matter from a standpoint of sentiment, if one must, -he should have considered me as a benefactor for having -given him life again in a perfectly healthy, if somewhat -used, body.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He had spoken to me upon the subject several times, -begging me to restore his body to him, a thing of which, -of course, as I explained to him, was utterly out of the -question unless chance happened to bring to my laboratory -the corpse of the client who had purchased his -carcass—a contingency quite beyond the pale of possibility -for one as wealthy as my client. The fellow even suggested -that I permit him to go forth and assassinate my -client, bringing the body back that I might reverse the -operation and restore his body to his brain. When I refused -to divulge the name of the present possessor of -his body he grew sulky, but until the very hour of your -arrival, when he attacked me, I did not suspect the -depth of his hate complex.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sentiment is indeed a bar to all progress. We of -Toonol are probably less subject to its vagaries than most -other nations upon Barsoom, but yet most of my fellow -countrymen are victims of it in varying degrees. It has -its rewards and compensations, however. Without it we -could preserve no stable form of government and the -Phundahlians, or some other people, would overrun and -conquer us; but enough of our lower classes have sentiment -to a sufficient degree to give them loyalty to the -Jeddak of Toonol and the upper classes are brainy enough -to know that it is to their own best interests to keep him -upon his throne.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The Phundahlians, upon the other hand, are egregious -sentimentalists, filled with crass stupidities and superstitions, -slaves to every variety of brain withering conceit. -Why the very fact that they keep the old termagant, -Xaxa, on the throne brands them with their stupid -idiocy. She is an ignorant, arrogant, selfish, stupid, cruel -virago, yet the Phundahlians would fight and die for her -because her father was Jeddak of Phundahl. She taxes -them until they can scarce stagger beneath their burden, -she misrules them, exploits them, betrays them, and they -fall down and worship at her feet. Why? Because her -father was Jeddak of Phundahl and his father before -him and so on back into antiquity; because they are ruled -by sentiment rather than reason; because their wicked -rulers play upon this sentiment.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She had nothing to recommend her to a sane person—not -even beauty. You know, you saw her.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I saw her?” I demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You assisted me the day that we gave her old brain a -new casket—the day you arrived from what you call -your Earth.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She! That old woman was Jeddara of Phundahl?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That was Xaxa,” he assured me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why, you did not accord her the treatment that one -of the Earth would suppose would be accorded a ruler, -and so I had no idea that she was more than a rich old -woman.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am Ras Thavas,” said the old man. “Why should I -incline the head to any other? In my world nothing counts -but brain and in that respect, and without egotism, I may -say that I acknowledge no superior.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then you are not without sentiment,” I said, smiling. -“You acknowledge pride in your intellect!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is not pride,” he said, patiently, for him, “it is -merely a fact that I state. A fact that I should have no -difficulty in proving. In all probability I have the most -highly developed and perfectly functioning mind among -all the learned men of my acquaintance, and reason indicates -that this fact also suggests that I possess the -most highly developed and perfectly functioning mind -upon Barsoom. From what I know of Earth and from what -I have seen of you, I am convinced that there is no mind -upon your planet that may even faintly approximate -in power that which I have developed during a thousand -years of active study and research. Rasoom (Mercury) or -Cosoom (Venus) may possibly support intelligences equal -to or even greater than mine. While we have made some -study of their thought waves, our instruments are not yet -sufficiently developed to more than suggest that they are -of extreme refinement, power and flexibility.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And what of the girl whose body you gave to the -Jeddara?” I asked, irrelevantly, for my mind could not -efface the memory of that sweet body that must, indeed, -have possessed an equally sweet and fine brain.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Merely a subject! Merely a subject!” he replied with -a wave of his hand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What will become of her?” I insisted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What difference does it make?” he demanded. “I -bought her with a batch of prisoners of war. I do not -even recall from what country my agent obtained them, -or from whence they originated. Such matters are of no -import.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She was alive when you bought her?” I demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes. Why?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You—er—ah—killed her, then?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Killed her! No; I preserved her. That was some ten -years ago. Why should I permit her to grow old and -wrinkled? She would no longer have the same value then, -would she? No, I preserved her. When Xaxa bought -her she was just as fresh and young as the day she arrived. -I kept her a long time. Many women looked at her -and wanted her face and figure, but it took a Jeddara -to afford her. She brought the highest price that I have -ever been paid.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I kept her a long time, but I knew that some -day she would bring my price. She was indeed beautiful -and so sentiment has its uses—were it not for sentiment -there would be no fools to support this work that I am -doing, thus permitting me to carry on investigations of -far greater merit. You would be surprised, I know, were I -to tell you that I feel that I am almost upon the point of -being able to produce rational human beings through the -action upon certain chemical combinations of a group of -rays probably entirely undiscovered by your scientists, if -I am to judge by the paucity of your knowledge concerning -such things.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I would not be surprised,” I assured him. “I would -not be surprised by anything that you might accomplish.”</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='28' id='Page_28'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER III<br/> VALLA DIA</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>I lay</span> awake a long time that night thinking of -4296-E-2631-H, the beautiful girl whose perfect body -had been stolen to furnish a gorgeous setting for the -cruel brain of a tyrant. It seemed such a horrid crime -that I could not rid my mind of it and I think that contemplation -of it sowed the first seed of my hatred and -loathing for Ras Thavas. I could not conjure a creature -so utterly devoid of bowels of compassion as to even -consider for a moment the frightful ravishing of that -sweet and lovely body for even the holiest of purposes, -much less one that could have been induced to do so -for filthy pelf.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>So much did I think upon the girl that night that her -image was the first to impinge upon my returning consciousness -at dawn, and after I had eaten, Ras Thavas -not having appeared, I went directly to the storage room -where the poor thing was. Here she lay, identified only -by a small panel, bearing a number: 4296-E-2631-H. -The body of an old woman with a disfigured face lay -before me in the rigid immobility of death; yet that was -not the figure that I saw, but instead, a vision of radiant -loveliness whose imprisoned soul lay dormant beneath -those greying locks.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The creature here with the face and form of Xaxa -was not Xaxa at all, for all that made the other what -she was had been transferred to this cold corpse. How -frightful would be the awakening, should awakening ever -come! I shuddered to think of the horror that must overwhelm -the girl when first she realized the horrid crime -that had been perpetrated upon her. Who was she? What -story lay locked in that dead and silent brain? What loves -must have been hers whose beauty was so great and upon -whose fair face had lain the indelible imprint of graciousness! -Would Ras Thavas ever arouse her from this happy -semblance of death?—far happier than any quickening -ever could be for her. I shrank from the thought of her -awakening and yet I longed to hear her speak, to know -that that brain lived again, to learn her name, to listen -to the story of this gentle life that had been so rudely -snatched from its proper environment and so cruelly -handled by the hand of Fate. And suppose she were awakened! -Suppose she were awakened and that I—— A hand -was laid upon my shoulder and I turned to look into the -face of Ras Thavas.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You seem interested in this subject,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I was wondering,” I replied, “what the reaction -of this girl’s brain would be were she to awaken to the discovery -that she had become an old, disfigured woman.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He stroked his chin and eyed me narrowly. “An interesting -experiment,” he mused. “I am gratified to discover -that you are taking a scientific interest in the labours that -I am carrying on. The psychological phases of my work I -have, I must confess, rather neglected during the past -hundred years or so, though I formerly gave them a great -deal of attention. It would be interesting to observe and -study several of these cases. This one, especially, might -prove of value to you as an initial study, it being simple -and regular. Later we will let you examine into a case -where a man’s brain has been transferred to a woman’s -skull, and a woman’s brain to a man’s. There are also the -interesting cases where a portion of diseased or injured -brain has been replaced by a portion of the brain from -another subject; and, for experimental purposes alone, -those human brains that have been transplanted to the -craniums of beasts, and <span class='it'>vice versa</span>, offer tremendous -opportunities for observation. I have in mind one case -in which I transferred half the brain of an ape to the -skull of a man, after having removed half of his brain, -which I grafted upon the remaining part of the brain in -the ape’s skull. That was a matter of several years ago -and I have often thought that I should like to recall -these two subjects and note the results. I shall have to -have a look at them—as I recall it they are in vault -L-42-X, beneath building 4-J-21. We shall have to have a -look at them some day soon—it has been years since I -have been below. There must be some very interesting -specimens there that have escaped my mind. But come! -let us recall 4296-E-2631-H.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No!” I exclaimed, laying a hand upon his arm. “It -would be horrible.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He turned a surprised look upon me and then a -nasty, sneering smile curled his lips. “Maudlin, sentimental -fool!” he cried. “Who dare say no to me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I laid a hand upon the hilt of my long-sword and -looked him steadily in the eye. “Ras Thavas,” I said, “you -are master in your own house; but while I am your -guest treat me with courtesy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He returned my look for a moment but his eyes -wavered. “I was hasty,” he said. “Let it pass.” That, I -let answer for an apology—really it was more than I had -expected—but the event was not unfortunate. I think he -treated me with far greater respect thereafter; but now -he turned immediately to the slab bearing the mortal -remains of 4296-E-2631-H.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Prepare the subject for revivification,” he said, “and -make what study you can of all its reactions.” With -that he left the room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I was now fairly adept at this work which I set about -with some misgivings but with the assurance that I was -doing right in obeying Ras Thavas while I remained a -member of his entourage. The blood that had once flowed -through the veins of the beautiful body that Ras Thavas -had sold to Xaxa reposed in an hermetically sealed vessel -upon the shelf above the corpse. As I had before done -in other cases beneath the watchful eyes of the old surgeon -I now did for the first time alone. The blood heated, -the incisions made, the tubes attached and the few drops -of life-giving solution added to the blood, I was now ready -to restore life to that delicate brain that had lain dead -for ten years. As my finger rested upon the little button -that actuated the motor that was to send the revivifying -liquid into those dormant veins, I experienced such a -sensation as I imagined no mortal man has ever felt.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had become master of life and death, and yet at this -moment that I stood there upon the point of resurrecting -the dead I felt more like a murderer than a saviour. I -tried to view the procedure dispassionately through the -cold eye of science, but I failed miserably. I could only -see a stricken girl grieving for her lost beauties. With a -muffled oath I turned away. I could not do it! And then, -as though an outside force had seized upon me, my finger -moved unerringly to the button and pressed it. I cannot -explain it, unless upon the theory of dual mentality, -which may explain many things. Perhaps my subjective -mind directed the act. I do not know. Only I know that -I did it, the motor started, the level of the blood in the -container commenced gradually to lower.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Spell-bound, I stood watching. Presently the vessel -was empty. I shut off the motor, removed the tubes, -sealed the openings with tape. The red glow of life tinged -the body, replacing the sallow, purplish hue of death. The -breasts rose and fell regularly, the head turned slightly -and the eyelids moved. A faint sigh issued from between -the parting lips. For a long time there was no other sign -of life, then, suddenly, the eyes opened. They were dull -at first, but presently they commenced to fill with questioning -wonderment. They rested on me and then passed -on about that portion of the room that was visible from -the position of the body. Then they came back to me -and remained steadily fixed upon my countenance after -having once surveyed me up and down. There was still -the questioning in them, but there was no fear.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where am I?” she asked. The voice was that of an -old woman—high and harsh. A startled expression filled -her eyes. “What is the matter with me? What is wrong -with my voice? What has happened?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I laid a hand upon her forehead. “Don’t bother about -it now,” I said, soothingly. “Wait until sometime when -you are stronger. Then I will tell you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She sat up. “I am strong,” she said, and then her eyes -swept her lower body and limbs and a look of utter -horror crossed her face. “What has happened to me? In -the name of my first ancestor, what has happened to -me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The shrill, harsh voice grated upon me. It was the -voice of Xaxa and Xaxa now must possess the sweet -musical tones that alone would have harmonized with -the beautiful face she had stolen. I tried to forget those -strident notes and think only of the pulchritude of the -envelope that had once graced the soul within this old -and withered carcass.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She extended a hand and laid it gently upon mine. -The act was beautiful, the movements graceful. The -brain of the girl directed the muscles, but the old, -rough vocal chords of Xaxa could give forth no sweeter -notes. “Tell me, please!” she begged. There were tears -in the old eyes, I’ll venture for the first time in many -years. “Tell me! You do not seem unkind.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And so I told her. She listened intently and when I -was through she sighed. “After all,” she said, “it is not -so dreadful, now that I really know. It is better than -being dead.” That made me glad that I had pressed the -button. She was glad to be alive, even draped in the -hideous carcass of Xaxa. I told her as much.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You were so beautiful,” I told her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And now I am so ugly?” I made no answer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“After all, what difference does it make?” she inquired -presently. “This old body cannot change me, or make -me different from what I have always been. The good in -me remains and whatever of sweetness and kindness, and -I can be happy to be alive and perhaps to do some -good. I was terrified at first, because I did not know -what had happened to me. I thought that maybe I had -contracted some terrible disease that had so altered me—that -horrified me; but now that I know—pouf! what -of it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are wonderful,” I said. “Most women would -have gone mad with the horror and grief of it—to lose -such wondrous beauty as was yours—and you do not -care.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, I care, my friend,” she corrected me, “but -I do not care enough to ruin my life in all other respects -because of it, or to cast a shadow upon the lives -of those around me. I have had my beauty and enjoyed -it. It is not an unalloyed happiness I can assure you. -Men killed one another because of it; two great nations -went to war because of it; and perhaps my father lost -his throne or his life—I do not know, for I was captured -by the enemy while the war still raged. It may be -raging yet and men dying because I was too beautiful. -No one will fight for me now, though,” she added, with -a rueful smile.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do you know how long you have been here?” I -asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” she replied. “It was the day before yesterday -that they brought me hither.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It was ten years ago,” I told her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ten years! Impossible.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I pointed to the corpses around us. “You have lain -like this for ten years,” I explained. “There are subjects -here who have lain thus for fifty, Ras Thavas tells -me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ten years! Ten years! What may not have happened -in ten years! It is better thus. I should fear to go back -now. I should not want to know that my father, my -mother too, perhaps, were gone. It is better thus. Perhaps -you will let me sleep again? May I not?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That remains with Ras Thavas,” I replied; “but for -a while I am to observe you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Observe me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Study you—your reactions.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ah! and what good will that do?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It may do some good in the world.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It may give this horrid Ras Thavas some new ideas -for his torture chamber—some new scheme for coining -money from the suffering of his victims,” she said, her -harsh voice saddened.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Some of his works are good,” I told her. “The money -he makes permits him to maintain this wonderful establishment -where he constantly carries on countless experiments. -Many of his operations are beneficent. Yesterday -a warrior was brought in whose arm was crushed -beyond repair. Ras Thavas gave him a new arm. A demented -child was brought. Ras Thavas gave her a new -brain. The arm and the brain were taken from two who -had met violent deaths. Through Ras Thavas they were -permitted, after death, to give life and happiness to -others.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She thought for a moment. “I am content,” she said. -“I only hope that you will always be the observer.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Presently Ras Thavas came and examined her. “A -good subject,” he said. He looked at the chart where I -had made a very brief record following the other entries -relative to the history of Case No. 4296-E-2631-H. Of -course this is, naturally, a rather free translation of this -particular identification number. The Barsoomians have -no alphabet such as ours and their numbering system -is quite different. The thirteen characters above were -represented by four Toonolian characters, yet the meaning -was quite the same—they represented, in contracted -form, the case number, the room, the table and the -building.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The subject will be quartered near you where you -may regularly observe it,” continued Ras Thavas. “There -is a chamber adjoining yours. I will see that it is unlocked. -Take the subject there. When not under your -observation, lock it in.” <span class='it'>It</span> was only another <span class='it'>case</span> to -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I took the girl, if I may so call her, to her quarters. -On the way I asked her her name, for it seemed to me -an unnecessary discourtesy always to address her and -refer to her as 4296-E-2631-H, and this I explained to -her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is considerate of you to think of that,” she said, -“but really that is all that I am here—just another subject -for vivisection.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are more than that to me,” I told her. “You -are friendless and helpless. I want to be of service to -you—to make your lot easier if I can.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Thank you again,” she said. “My name is Valla Dia, -and yours?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas calls me Vad Varo,” I told her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But that is not your name?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“My name is Ulysses Paxton.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is a strange name, unlike any that I have ever -heard, but you are unlike any man I have ever seen—you -do not seem Barsoomian. Your colour is unlike -that of any race.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am not of Barsoom, but from Earth, the planet -you sometimes call Jasoom. That is why I differ in -appearance from any you have known before.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Jasoom! There is another Jasoomian here whose -fame has reached to the remotest corners of Barsoom, -but I never have seen him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“John Carter?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, The War Lord. He was of Helium and my -people were not friendly with those of Helium. I never -could understand how he came here. And now there is -another from Jasoom—how can it be? How did you -cross the great void?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I shook my head. “I cannot even guess,” I told her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Jasoom must be peopled with wonderful men,” she -said. It was a pretty compliment.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“As Barsoom is with beautiful women,” I replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She glanced down ruefully at her old and wrinkled -body.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have seen the real you,” I said gently.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I hate to think of my face,” she said. “I know it is -a frightful thing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is not you, remember that when you see it and -do not feel too badly.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is it as bad as that?” she asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I did not reply. “Never mind,” she said presently. -“If I had not beauty of the soul, I was not beautiful, -no matter how perfect my features may have been; but -if I possessed beauty of soul then I have it now. So -I can think beautiful thoughts and perform beautiful -deeds and that, I think, is the real test of beauty, after -all.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And there is hope,” I added, almost in a whisper.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hope? No, there is no hope, if what you mean to -suggest is that I may some time regain my lost self. You -have told me enough to convince me that that can never -be.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We will not speak of it,” I said, “but we may think -of it and sometimes thinking a great deal of a thing -helps us to find a way to get it, if we want it badly -enough.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I do not want to hope,” she said, “for it will but -mean disappointment for me. I shall be happy as I -am. Hoping, I should always be unhappy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had ordered food for her and after it was brought -Ras Thavas sent for me and I left her, locking the -door of her chamber as the old surgeon had instructed. -I found Ras Thavas in his office, a small room which -adjoined a very large one in which were a score of -clerks arranging and classifying reports from various departments -of the great laboratory. He arose as I entered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come with me, Vad Varo,” he directed. “We will -have a look at the two cases in L-42-X, the two of -which I spoke.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The man with half a simian brain and the ape with -a half human brain?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He nodded and preceded me towards the runway -that led to the vaults beneath the building. As we descended, -the corridors and passageways indicated long -disuse. The floors were covered with an impalpable dust, -long undisturbed; the tiny radium bulbs that faintly illuminated -the sub-barsoomian depths were likewise -coated. As we proceeded, we passed many doorways -on either side, each marked with its descriptive -hieroglyphic. Several of the openings had been tightly -sealed with masonry. What gruesome secrets were hid -within? At last we came to L-42-X. Here the bodies -were arranged on shelves, several rows of which almost -completely filled the room from floor to ceiling, except -for a rectangular space in the centre of the chamber, -which accommodated an ersite topped operating table -with its array of surgical instruments, its motor and other -laboratory equipment.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas searched out the subjects of his strange -experiment and together we carried the human body to -the table. While Ras Thavas attached the tubes I returned -for the vessel of blood which reposed upon the -same shelf with the corpse. The now familiar method of -revivification was soon accomplished and presently we -were watching the return of consciousness to the subject.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The man sat up and looked at us, then he cast a -quick glance about the chamber; there was a savage -light in his eyes as they returned to us. Slowly he backed -from the table to the floor, keeping the former between -us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We will not harm you,” said Ras Thavas.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The man attempted to reply, but his words were unintelligible -gibberish, then he shook his head and growled. -Ras Thavas took a step towards him and the man -dropped to all fours, his knuckles resting on the floor, -and backed away, growling.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come!” cried Ras Thavas. “We will not harm you.” -Again he attempted to approach the subject, but the -man only backed quickly away, growling more fiercely; -and then suddenly he wheeled and climbed quickly to -the top of the highest shelf, where he squatted upon a -corpse and gibbered at us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We shall have to have help,” said Ras Thavas and, -going to the doorway, he blew a signal upon his -whistle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What are you blowing that for?” demanded the man -suddenly. “Who are you? What am I doing here? What -has happened to me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come down,” said Ras Thavas. “We are friends.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Slowly the man descended to the floor and came towards -us, but he still moved with his knuckles to the -pavement. He looked about at the corpses and a new -light entered his eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am hungry!” he cried. “I will eat!” and with that -he seized the nearest corpse and dragged it to the floor.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Stop! Stop!” cried Ras Thavas, leaping forward. “You -will ruin the subject,” but the man only backed away, -dragging the corpse along the floor after him. It was -then that the attendants came and with their help we -subdued and bound the poor creature. Then Ras Thavas -had the attendants bring the body of the ape and he -told them to remain, as we might need them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The subject was a large specimen of the Barsoomian -white ape, one of the most savage and fearsome denizens -of the Red Planet, and because of the creature’s great -strength and ferocity Ras Thavas took the precaution to -see that it was securely bound before resurgence.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was a colossal creature about ten or fifteen feet -tall, standing erect, and had an intermediary set of arms -or legs midway between its upper and lower limbs. The -eyes were close together and non-protruding; the ears -were high set, while its snout and teeth were strikingly -like those of our African gorilla.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>With returning consciousness the creature eyed us -questioningly. Several times it seemed to essay to speak, -but only inarticulate sounds issued from its throat. Then -it lay still for a period.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas spoke to it. “If you understand my -words, nod your head.” The creature nodded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Would you like to be freed of your bonds?” asked -the surgeon.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Again the creature nodded an affirmative.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I fear that you will attempt to injure us, or escape,” -said Ras Thavas.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The ape was apparently trying very hard to articulate -and at last there issued from its lips a sound that could -not be misunderstood. It was the single word no.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You will not harm us or try to escape?” Ras Thavas -repeated his question.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said the ape, and this time the word was clearly -enunciated.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We shall see,” said Ras Thavas. “But remember -that with our weapons we may dispatch you quickly if -you attack us.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The ape nodded, and then, very laboriously: “I will -not harm you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At a sign from Ras Thavas the attendants removed -the bonds and the creature sat up. It stretched its limbs -and slid easily to the floor, where it stood erect upon -two feet, which was not surprising, since the white ape -goes more often upon two feet than six; a fact of which -I was not cognizant at the time, but which Ras Thavas -explained to me later in commenting upon the fact that -the human subject had gone upon all fours, which, to -Ras Thavas, indicated a reversion to type in the fractional -ape-brain transplanted to the human skull.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas examined the subject at considerable -length and then resumed his examination of the human -subject which continued to evince more simian characteristics -than human, though it spoke more easily than -the ape, because, undoubtedly, of its more perfect vocal -organs. It was only by exerting the closest attention that -the diction of the ape became understandable at all.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is nothing remarkable about these subjects,” -said Ras Thavas, after devoting half a day to them. -“They bear out what I had already determined years -ago in the transplanting of entire brains; that the act -of transplanting stimulates growth and activity of brain -cells. You will note that in each subject the transplanted -portions of the brains are more active—they, in a considerable -measure, control. That is why we have the -human subject displaying distinctly simian characteristics, -while the ape behaves in a more human manner; though -if longer and closer observation were desirable you -would doubtless find that each reverted at times to his -own nature—that is the ape would be more wholly an -ape and the human more manlike—but it is not worth -the time, of which I have already given too much to a -rather unprofitable forenoon. I shall leave you now to -restore the subjects to anaesthesia while I return to the -laboratories above. The attendants will remain here to -assist you, if required.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The ape, who had been an interested listener, now -stepped forward. “Oh, please, I pray you,” it mumbled, -“do not again condemn me to these horrid shelves. I -recall the day that I was brought here securely bound, -and though I have no recollection of what has transpired -since I can but guess from the appearance of my own -skin and that of these dusty corpses that I have lain -here long. I beg that you will permit me to live and -either restore me to my fellows or allow me to serve -in some capacity in this establishment, of which I saw -something between the time of my capture and the day -that I was carried into this laboratory, bound and helpless, -to one of your cold, ersite slabs.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas made a gesture of impatience. “Nonsense!” -he cried. “You are better off here, where you can be -preserved in the interests of science.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Accede to his request,” I begged, “and I will myself -take over all responsibility for him while I profit -by the study that he will afford me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do as you are directed,” snapped Ras Thavas as he -quit the room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I shrugged my shoulders. “There is nothing for it, -then,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I might dispatch you all and escape,” mused the -ape, aloud, “but you would have helped me. I could -not kill one who would have befriended me—yet I -shrink from the thought of another death. How long -have I lain here?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I referred to the history of his case that had been -brought and suspended at the head of the table. “Twelve -years,” I told him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And yet, why not?” he demanded of himself. “This -man would slay me—why should I not slay him first.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It would do you no good,” I assured him, “for you -could never escape. Instead you would be really killed, -dying a death from which Ras Thavas would probably -think it not worth while ever to recall you, while I, -who might find the opportunity at some later date and -who have the inclination, would be dead at your hands -and thus incapable of saving you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had been speaking in a low voice, close to his ear, -that the attendants might not overhear me. The ape listened -intently.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You will do as you suggest?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“At the first opportunity that presents itself,” I assured -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” he said, “I will submit, trusting to you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A half hour later both subjects had been returned to -their shelves.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='42' id='Page_42'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER IV<br/> THE COMPACT</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Days</span> ran into weeks, weeks into months, as day by day -I labored at the side of Ras Thavas, and more and more -the old surgeon took me into his confidence, more -and more he imparted to me the secrets of his skill -and his profession. Gradually he permitted me to perform -more and more important functions in the actual -practice of his vast laboratory. I started transferring -limbs from one subject to another, then internal organs -of the digestive tract. Then he entrusted to me a complete -operation upon a paying client. I removed the kidneys -from a rich old man, replacing them with healthy ones -from a young subject. The following day I gave a stunted -child new thyroid glands. A week later I transferred two -hearts and then, at last, came the great day for me—unassisted, -with Ras Thavas standing silently beside me, -I took the brain of an old man and transplanted it within -the cranium of a youth.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>When I had done Ras Thavas laid a hand upon my -shoulder. “I could not have done better myself,” he said. -He seemed much elated and I could not but wonder -at this unusual demonstration of emotion upon his part, -he who so prided himself upon his lack of emotionalism. -I had often pondered the purpose which influenced Ras -Thavas to devote so much time to my training, but never -had I hit upon any more satisfactory explanation than -that he had need of assistance in his growing practice. -Yet when I consulted the records, that were now open -to me, I discovered that his practice was no greater than -it had been for many years; and even had it been there -was really no reason why he should have trained me in -preference to one of his red-Martian assistants, his belief -in my loyalty not being sufficient warrant, in my mind, -for this preferment when he could, as well as not, have -kept me for a bodyguard and trained one of his own kind -to aid him in his surgical work.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But I was presently to learn that he had an excellent -reason for what he was doing—Ras Thavas always had -an excellent reason for whatever he did. One night after -we had finished our evening meal he sat looking at me -intently as he so often did, as though he would read -my mind, which, by the way, he was totally unable -to do, much to his surprise and chagrin; for unless a -Martian is constantly upon the alert any other Martian -can read clearly his every thought; but Ras Thavas -was unable to read mine. He said that it was due to the -fact that I was not a Barsoomian. Yet I could often read -the minds of his assistants, when they were off their -guard, though never had I read aught of Ras Thavas’ -thoughts, nor, I am sure, had any other read them. He -kept his brain sealed like one of his own blood jars, nor -was he ever for a moment found with his barriers down.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He sat looking at me this evening for a long time, nor -did it in the least embarrass me, so accustomed was I -to his peculiarities. “Perhaps,” he said presently, “one -of the reasons that I trust you is due to the fact that I -cannot ever, at any time, fathom your mind; so, if you -harbor traitorous thoughts concerning me I do not know -it, while the others, every one of them, reveal their -inmost souls to my searching mind and in each one there -is envy, jealousy or hatred of me. Them, I know, I cannot -trust. Therefore I must accept the risk and place all my -dependence upon you, and my reason tells me that my -choice is a wise one—I have told you upon what grounds -it based my selection of you as my bodyguard. The same -holds true in my selection of you for the thing I have in -mind. You cannot harm me without harming yourself and -no man will intentionally do that; nor is there any -reason why you should feel any deep antagonism towards -me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are, of course, a sentimentalist and doubtless -you look with horror upon many of the acts of a sane, -rational, scientific mind; but you are also highly intelligent -and can, therefore, appreciate better than another, -even though you may not approve them, the motives that -prompt me to do many of those things of which your -sentimentality disapproves. I may have offended you, but -I have never wronged you, nor have I wronged any -creature for which you might have felt some of your -so-called friendship or love. Are my premises incorrect, -or my reasoning faulty?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I assured him to the contrary.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Very well! Now let me explain why I have gone to -such pains to train you as no other human being, aside -from myself, has ever been trained. I am not ready to use -you yet, or rather you are not ready; but if you know -my purpose you will realize the necessity for bending your -energy to the consummation of my purpose, and to that -end you will strive even more diligently than you have to -perfect yourself in the high, scientific art I am imparting -to you.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am a very old man,” he continued after a brief -pause, “even as age goes upon Barsoom. I have lived -more than a thousand years. I have passed the allotted -natural span of life, but I am not through with my -life’s work—I have but barely started it. I must not die. -Barsoom must not be robbed of this wondrous brain and -skill of mine. I have long had in mind a plan to thwart -death, but it required another with skill equal to mine—two -such might live for ever. I have selected you to be -that other, for reasons that I already have explained—they -are undefiled by sentimentalism. I did not choose -you because I love you, or because I feel friendship for -you, or because I think that you love me, or feel friendship -towards me. I chose you because I knew that of all the -inhabitants of a world you were the one least likely to fail -me. For a time you will have my life in your hands. You -will understand now why I have not been able to choose -carelessly.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This plan that I have chosen is simplicity itself provided -that I can count upon just two essential factors—skill -and self-interested loyalty in an assistant. My body -is about worn out. I must have a new one. My laboratory -is filled with wonderful bodies, young and complete with -potential strength and health. I have but to select one -of these and have my skilled assistant transfer my brain -from this old carcass to the new one.” He paused.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I understand now, why you have trained me,” I -said. “It has puzzled me greatly.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Thus and thus only may I continue my labors,” he -went on, “and thus may Barsoom be assured a continuance -practically indefinitely, of the benefits that my brain may -bestow upon her children. I may live for ever, provided -I always have a skilled assistant, and I may assure myself -of such by seeing to it that he never dies; when he wears -out one organ, or his whole body, I can replace either -from my great storehouse of perfect parts, and for me -he can perform the same service. Thus may we continue -to live indefinitely; for the brain, I believe, is almost deathless, -unless injured or attacked by disease.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are not ready as yet to be entrusted with this -important task. You must transfer many more brains and -meet with and overcome the various irregularities and -idiosyncrasies that constitute the never failing differences -that render no two operations identical. When you gain -sufficient proficiency I shall be the first to know it and -then we shall lose no time in making Barsoom safe for -posterity.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The old man was far from achieving hatred of himself. -However, his plan was an excellent one, both for himself -and for me. It assured us immortality—we might live -for ever and always with strong, healthy, young bodies. -The outlook was alluring—and what a wonderful position -it placed me in. If the old man could be assured of -my loyalty because of self-interest, similarly might I -depend upon his loyalty; for he could not afford to antagonize -the one creature in the world who could assure -him immortality, or withhold it from him. For the first -time since I had entered his establishment I felt safe.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As soon as I had left him I went directly to Valla Dia’s -apartment, for I wanted to tell her this wonderful news. -In the weeks that had passed since her resurrection I had -seen much of her and in our daily intercourse there had -been revealed to me little by little the wondrous beauties -of her soul, until at last I no longer saw the hideous, disfigured -face of Xaxa when I looked upon her, but the -eyes of my heart penetrated deeper to the loveliness that -lay within that sweet mind. She had become my confidant, -as I was hers, and this association constituted the one -great pleasure of my existence upon Barsoom.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Her congratulations, when I told her of what had -come to me, were very sincere and lovely. She said that -she hoped I would use this great power of mine to do good -in the world. I assured her that I would and that among -the first things that I should demand of Ras Thavas was -that he should give Valla Dia a beautiful body; but she -shook her head.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, my friend,” she said, “if I may not have my own -body this old one of Xaxa’s is quite as good for me as -another. Without my own body I should not care to return -to my native country; while were Ras Thavas to give me -the beautiful body of another, I should always be in -danger of the covetousness of his clients, any one of -whom might see and desire to purchase it, leaving to me -her old husk, conceivably one quite terribly diseased or -maimed. No, my friend, I am satisfied with the body of -Xaxa, unless I may again possess my own, for Xaxa -at least bequeathed me a tough and healthy envelope, -however ugly it may be; and for what do looks count -here? You, alone, are my friend—that I have your -friendship is enough. You admire me for what I am, not -for what I look like, so let us leave well enough alone.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If you could regain your own body and return to your -native country, you would like that?” I demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, do not say it!” she cried. “The simple thought of -it drives me mad with longing. I must not harbour so -hopeless a dream that at best may only tantalize me into -greater abhorrence of my lot.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do not say that it is hopeless,” I urged. “Death, only, -renders hope futile.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You mean to be kind,” she said, “but you are only -hurting me. There can be no hope.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“May I hope for you, then?” I asked. “For I surely -see a way; however slight a possibility for success it may -have, still, it is a way.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She shook her head. “There is no way,” she said, with -finality. “No more will Duhor know me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Duhor?” I repeated. “Your—someone you care for -very much?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I care for Duhor very much,” she answered with a -smile, “but Duhor is not someone—Duhor is my home, -the country of my ancestors.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How came you to leave Duhor?” I asked. “You have -never told me, Valla Dia.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It was because of the ruthlessness of Jal Had, Prince -of Amhor,” she replied. “Hereditary enemies were Duhor -and Amhor; but Jal Had came disguised into the city of -Duhor, having heard, they say, of the great beauty attributed -to the only daughter of Kor San, Jeddak of -Duhor; and when he had seen her he determined to possess -her. Returning to Amhor he sent ambassadors to the -court of Kor San to sue for the hand of the Princess of -Duhor; but Kor San, who had no son, had determined to -wed his daughter to one of his own Jeds, that the son -of this union, with the blood of Kor San in his veins, -might rule over the people of Duhor; and so the offer -of Jal Had was declined.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This so incensed the Amhorian that he equipped -a great fleet and set forth to conquer Duhor and take by -force that which he could not win by honorable methods. -Duhor was, at that time, at war with Helium and -all her forces were far afield in the south, with the -exception of a small army that had been left behind to -guard the city. Jal Had, therefore, could not have selected -a more propitious time for an attack. Duhor fell, and -while his troops were looting the fair city Jal Had, with -a picked force, sacked the palace of the Jeddak and -searched for the princess; but the princess had no mind -to go back with him as Princess of Amhor. From the -moment that the vanguard of the Amhorian fleet was -seen in the sky she had known, with the others of the -city, the purpose for which they came, and so she used -her head to defeat that purpose.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There was in her retinue a cosmetologist whose duty -it was to preserve the lustrous beauty of the princess’ -hair and skin and prepare her for public audiences, for -fêtes and for the daily intercourse of the court. He was -a master of his art; he could render the ugly pleasant -to look upon, he could make the plain lovely, and he -could make the lovely radiant. She called him quickly to -her and commanded him to make the radiant ugly; and -when he had done with her none might guess that she -was the Princess of Duhor, so deftly had he wrought with -his pigments and his tiny brushes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“When Jal Had could not find the princess within the -palace, and no amount of threat or torture could force a -statement of her whereabouts from the loyal lips of her -people, the Amhorian ordered that every woman within -the palace be seized and taken to Amhor; there to be -held as hostages until the princess of Duhor should be -delivered to him in marriage. We were, therefore, all -seized and placed upon an Amhorian war ship which was -sent back to Amhor ahead of the balance of the fleet, -which remained to complete the sacking of Duhor.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“When the ship, with its small convoy, had covered -some four thousand of the five thousand haads that separate -Duhor from Amhor, it was sighted by a fleet from -Phundahl which immediately attacked. The convoying -ships were destroyed or driven off and that which carried -us was captured. We were taken to Phundahl where -we were put upon the auction block and I fell to the bid -of one of Ras Thavas’ agents. The rest you know.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And what became of the princess?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps she died—her party was separated in Phundahl—but -death could not more definitely prevent her -return to Duhor. The Princess of Duhor will never again -see her native country.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But you may!” I cried, for I had suddenly hit upon -a plan. “Where is Duhor?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are going there?” she asked, laughingly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are mad, my friend,” she said. “Duhor lies a full -seven thousand, eight hundred haads from Toonol, upon -the opposite side of the snow-clad Artolian Hills. You, a -stranger and alone, could never reach it; for between -lie the Toonolian Marshes, wild hordes, savage beasts -and warlike cities. You would but die uselessly within -the first dozen haads, even could you escape from the -island upon which stands the laboratory of Ras Thavas; -and what motive is there to prompt you to such a useless -sacrifice?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I could not tell her. I could not look upon that withered -figure and into that hideous and disfigured face and -say: “It is because I love you, Valla Dia.” But that, alas, -was my only reason. Gradually, as I had come to know -her through the slow revealment of the wondrous beauty -of her mind and soul, there had crept into my heart a -knowledge of my love; and yet, explain it I cannot, I -could not speak the words to that frightful old hag. I had -seen the gorgeous mundane tabernacle that had housed -the equally gorgeous spirit of the real Valla Dia—<span class='it'>that</span> I -could love; her heart and soul and mind I could love; -but I could not love the body of Xaxa. I was torn, too, -by other emotions, induced by a great doubt—could -Valla Dia return my love. Habilitated in the corpse of -Xaxa, with no other suitor, nay, with no other friend -she might, out of gratitude or through sheer loneliness, -be attracted to me; but once again were she Valla Dia the -beautiful and returned to the palace of her king, surrounded -by the great nobles of Duhor, would she have -either eyes or heart for a lone and friendless exile from -another world? I doubted it—and yet that doubt did -not deter me from my determination to carry out, as far -as Fate would permit, the mad scheme that was revolving -in my brain.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have not answered my question, Vad Varo,” -she interrupted my surging thoughts. “Why would you -do this thing?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“To right the wrong that has been done you, Valla -Dia,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She sighed. “Do not attempt it, please,” she begged. -“You would but rob me of my one friend, whose association -is the only source of happiness remaining to me. I -appreciate your generosity and your loyalty, even -though I may not understand them; your unselfish desire -to serve me at such suicidal risk touches me more -deeply than I can reveal, adding still further to the debt -I owe you; but you must not attempt it—you must not.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If it troubles you, Valla Dia,” I replied, “we will not -speak of it again; but know always that it is never from -my thoughts. Some day I shall find a way, even though -the plan I now have fails me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The days moved on and on, the gorgeous Martian -nights, filled with her hurtling moons, followed one upon -another. Ras Thavas spent more and more time in directing -my work of brain transference. I had long since -become an adept; and I realized that the time was rapidly -approaching when Ras Thavas would feel that he could -safely entrust to my hands and skill his life and future. -He would be wholly within my power and he knew that -I knew it. I could slay him; I could permit him to remain -for ever in the preserving grip of his own anaesthetic; or -I could play any trick upon him that I chose, even to giving -him the body of a calot or a part of the brain of an -ape; but he must take the chance and that I knew, for he -was failing rapidly. Already almost stone blind, it was -only the wonderful spectacles that he had himself invented -that permitted him to see at all; long deaf, he used -artificial means for hearing; and now his heart was showing -symptoms of fatigue that he could not longer ignore.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>One morning I was summoned to his sleeping apartment -by a slave. I found the old surgeon lying, a shrunken, -pitiful heap of withered skin and bones.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We must hasten, Vad Varo,” he said in a weak whisper. -“My heart was like to have stopped a few tals ago. -It was then that I sent for you.” He pointed to a door -leading from his chamber. “There,” he said, “you will -find the body I have chosen. There, in the private laboratory -I long ago built for this very purpose, you will -perform the greatest surgical operation that the universe -has ever known, transferring its most perfect brain to the -most beautiful and perfect body that ever has passed -beneath these ancient eyes. You will find the head already -prepared to receive my brain; the brain of the subject -having been removed and destroyed—totally destroyed -by fire. I could not possibly chance the existence of a -brain desiring and scheming to regain its wondrous -body. No, I destroyed it. Call slaves and have them bear -my body to the ersite slab.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That will not be necessary,” I told him; and lifting -his shrunken form in my arms as he had been an earthly -babe, I carried him into the adjoining room where I -found a perfectly lighted and appointed laboratory containing -two operating tables, one of which was occupied -by the body of a red-man. Upon the surface of the other, -which was vacant, I laid Ras Thavas, then I turned to look -at the new envelope he had chosen. Never, I believe, -had I beheld so perfect a form, so handsome a face—Ras -Thavas had indeed chosen well for himself. Then I -turned back to the old surgeon. Deftly, as he had taught -me, I made the two incisions and attached the tubes. -My finger rested upon the button that would start the -motor pumping his blood from his veins and his marvellous -preservative-anaesthetic into them. Then I spoke.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas,” I said, “you have long been training me -to this end. I have labored assiduously to prepare myself -that there might be no slightest cause for apprehension -as to the outcome. You have, coincidentally, taught -me that one’s every act should be prompted by self-interest -only. You are satisfied, therefore, that I am not -doing this for you because I love you, or because I feel -any friendship for you; but you think that you have -offered me enough in placing before me a similar opportunity -for immortality.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Regardless of your teaching I am afraid that I am -still somewhat of a sentimentalist. I crave the redressing -of wrongs. I crave friendship and love. The price you -offer is not enough. Are you willing to pay more that -this operation may be successfully concluded?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He looked at me steadily for a long minute. “What do -you want?” he asked. I could see that he was trembling -with anger, but he did not raise his voice.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do you recall 4296-E-2631-H?” I inquired.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The subject with the body of Xaxa? Yes, I recall the -case. What of it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I wish her body returned to her. That is the price -you must pay for this operation.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He glared at me. “It is impossible. Xaxa has the body. -Even if I cared to do so, I could never recover it. Proceed -with the operation!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“When you have promised me,” I insisted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I cannot promise the impossible—I cannot obtain -Xaxa. Ask me something else. I am not unwilling to -grant any reasonable request.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That is all I wish—just that; but I do not insist that -you obtain the body. If I bring Xaxa here will you make -the transfer?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It would mean war between Toonol and Phundahl,” -he fumed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That does not interest me,” I said. “Quick! Reach a -decision. In five tals I shall press this button. If you -promise what I ask, you shall be restored with a new -and beautiful body; if you refuse you shall lie here in -the semblance of death for ever.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I promise,” he said slowly, “that when you bring the -body of Xaxa to me I will transfer to that body any -brain that you select from among my subjects.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good!” I exclaimed, and pressed the button.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='53' id='Page_53'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER V<br/> DANGER</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Ras Thavas</span> awakened from the anaesthetic a new and -gorgeous creature—a youth of such wondrous beauty -that he seemed of heavenly rather than worldly origin; -but in that beautiful head was the hard, cold, thousand-year-old -brain of the master surgeon. As he opened his -eyes he looked upon me coldly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have done well,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What I have done, I have done for friendship—perhaps -for love,” I said, “so you can thank the sentimentalism -you decry for the success of the transfer.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He made no reply.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And now,” I continued, “I shall look to you for the -fulfilment of the promise you have made me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“When you bring Xaxa’s body I shall transfer to it the -brain of any of my subjects you may select,” he said, -“but were I you, I would not risk my life in such an impossible -venture—you cannot succeed. Select another -body—there are many beautiful ones—and I will give it -the brain of 4296-E-2631-H.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“None other than the body now owned by the Jeddara -Xaxa will fulfill your promise to me,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He shrugged and there was a cold smile upon his handsome -lips. “Very well,” he said, “fetch Xaxa. When do -you start?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am not yet ready. I will let you know when I am.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good and now begone—but wait! First go to the office -and see what cases await us and if there be any that -do not require my personal attention, and they fall within -your skill and knowledge, attend to them yourself.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As I left him I noticed a crafty smile of satisfaction -upon his lips. What had aroused that? I did not like it -and as I walked away I tried to conjure what could possibly -have passed through that wondrous brain to call -forth at that particular instant so unpleasant a smile. As -I passed through the doorway and into the corridor beyond -I heard him summon his personal slave and body -servant, Yamdor, a huge fellow whose loyalty he kept -through the bestowal of lavish gifts and countless favors. -So great was the fellow’s power that all feared him, as a -word to the master from the lips of Yamdor might easily -send any of the numerous slaves or attendants to an -ersite slab for eternity. It was rumored that he was the -result of an unnatural experiment which had combined -the brain of a woman with the body of a man, and there -was much in his actions and mannerisms to justify this -general belief. His touch, when he worked about his master, -was soft and light, his movements graceful, his ways -gentle, but his mind was jealous, vindictive and unforgiving.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I believe that he did not like me, through jealousy of -the authority I had attained in the establishment of Ras -Thavas; for there was no questioning the fact that I was -a lieutenant, while he was but a slave; yet he always accorded -me the utmost respect. He was, however, merely -a minor cog in the machinery of the great institution presided -over by the sovereign mind of Ras Thavas, and as -such I had given him little consideration; nor did I now -as I bent my steps towards the office.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had gone but a short distance when I recalled a matter -of importance upon which it was necessary for me -to obtain instructions from Ras Thavas immediately; and -so I wheeled about and retraced my way towards his -apartments, through the open doorway of which, as I -approached, I heard the new voice of the master surgeon. -Ras Thavas had always spoken in rather loud tones, -whether as a vocal reflection of his naturally domineering -and authoritative character, or because of his deafness, -I do not know; and now, with the fresh young vocal -chords of his new body, his words rang out clearly and -distinctly in the corridor leading to his room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You will, therefore, Yamdor,” he was saying, “go at -once and, selecting two slaves in whose silence and discretion -you may trust, take the subject from the apartments -of Vad Varo and destroy it—let no vestige of -body or brain remain. Immediately after, you will bring -the two slaves to the laboratory F-30-L, permitting them -to speak to no one, and I will consign them to silence -and forgetfulness for eternity.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Vad Varo will discover the absence of the subject -and report the matter to me. During my investigation you -will confess that you aided 4296-E-2631-H to escape, -but that you have no idea where it intended going. I -will sentence you to death as punishment, but at last, -explaining how urgently I need your services and upon -your solemn promise never to transgress again, I will -defer punishment for the term of your continued good -behaviour. Do you thoroughly understand the entire -plan?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, master,” replied Yamdor.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then depart at once and select the slaves who are to -assist you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Quickly and silently I sped along the corridor until the -first intersection permitted me to place myself out of -sight of anyone coming from Ras Thavas’ apartment; then -I went directly to the chamber occupied by Valla Dia. -Unlocking the door I threw it open and beckoned her to -come out. “Quick! Valla Dia!” I cried. “No time is to be -lost. In attempting to save you I have but brought destruction -upon you. First we must find a hiding place for -you, and that at once—afterwards we can plan for the -future.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The place that first occurred to me as affording adequate -concealment was the half forgotten vaults in the -pits beneath the laboratories, and towards these I hastened -Valla Dia. As we proceeded I narrated all that had -transpired, nor did she once reproach me; but, instead, -expressed naught but gratitude for what she was pleased -to designate as my unselfish friendship. That it had miscarried, -she assured me, was no reflection upon me and -she insisted that she would rather die in the knowledge -that she possessed one such friend than to live on indefinitely, -friendless.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We came at last to the chamber I sought—vault L-42-X, -in building 4-J-21, where reposed the bodies of the -ape and the man, each of which possessed half the brain -of the other. Here I was forced to leave Valla Dia for the -time, that I might hasten to the office and perform the -duties imposed upon me by Ras Thavas, lest his suspicions -be aroused when Yamdor reported that he had -found her apartment vacant.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I reached the office without it being discovered by -anyone who might report the fact to Ras Thavas that I -had been a long time coming from his apartment. To -my relief, I found there were no cases. Without appearing -in any undue haste, I nevertheless soon found an -excuse to depart and at once made my way towards my -own quarters, moving in a leisurely and unconcerned -manner and humming as was my wont (a habit which -greatly irritated Ras Thavas), snatches from some song -that had been popular at the time that I quit Earth. In -this instance it was “Oh, Frenchy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I was thus engaged when I met Yamdor moving hurriedly -along the corridor leading from my apartment, in -company with two male slaves. I greeted him pleasantly, -as was my custom, and he returned my greeting; but -there was an expression of fear and suspicion in his eyes. -I went at once to my quarters, opened the door leading -to the chamber formerly occupied by Valla Dia and then -hastened immediately to the apartment of Ras Thavas, -where I found him conversing with Yamdor. I rushed -in apparently breathless and simulating great excitement.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas,” I demanded, “what have you done -with 4296-E-2631-H? She has disappeared; her apartment -is empty; and as I was approaching it I met Yamdor -and two other slaves coming from that direction.” I -turned then upon Yamdor and pointed an accusing finger -at him. “Yamdor!” I cried. “What have you done -with this woman?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Both Ras Thavas and Yamdor seemed genuinely puzzled -and I congratulated myself that I had thus readily -thrown them off the track. The master surgeon declared -that he would make an immediate investigation; and he -at once ordered a thorough search of the ground and of -the island outside the enclosure. Yamdor denied any -knowledge of the woman and I, at least, was aware of -the sincerity of his protestations, but not so Ras Thavas. -I could see a hint of suspicion in his eyes as he questioned -his body servant; but evidently he could conjure -no motive for any such treasonable action on the part of -Yamdor as would have been represented by the abduction -of the woman and the consequent gross disobedience -of orders.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas’ investigation revealed nothing. I think as -it progressed that he became gradually more and more -imbued with a growing suspicion that I might know more -about the disappearance of Valla Dia than my attitude -indicated, for I presently became aware of a delicately -concealed espionage. Up to this time I had been able to -smuggle food to Valla Dia every night, after Ras Thavas -had retired to his quarters. Then, on one occasion, I -suddenly became subconsciously aware that I was being -followed, and instead of going to the vaults I went to the -office, where I added some observations to my report -upon a case I had handled that day. Returning to my -room I hummed a few bars from “Over There,” that the -suggestion of my unconcern might be accentuated. From -the moment that I quit my quarters until I returned to -them I was sure that eyes had been watching my every -move. What was I to do? Valla Dia must have food, -without it she would die; and were I to be followed to -her hiding place while taking it to her, she would die; -Ras Thavas would see to that.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Half the night I lay awake, racking my brains for some -solution to the problem. There seemed only one way—I -must elude the spies. If I could do this but one single -time I could carry out the balance of a plan that had -occurred to me, and which was, I thought, the only one -feasible that might eventually lead to the resurrection of -Valla Dia in her own body. The way was long, the risks -great; but I was young, in love and utterly reckless of -consequences in so far as they concerned me; it was Valla -Dia’s happiness alone that I could not risk too greatly, -other than under dire stress. Well, the stress existed and -I must risk that, even as I risked my life.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My plan was formulated and I lay awake upon my -sleeping silks and furs in the darkness of my room, awaiting -the time when I might put it into execution. My window, -which was upon the third floor, overlooked the -walled enclosure, upon the scarlet sward of which I had -made my first bow to Barsoom. Across the open casement -I had watched Cluros, the farther moon, take his -slow deliberate way. He had already set. Behind him, -Thuria, his elusive mistress, fled through the heavens. In -five xats (about 15 minutes) she would set; and then for -about three and three quarters Earth hours the heavens -would be dark, except for the stars.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the corridor, perhaps, lurked those watchful eyes. -I prayed God that they might not be elsewhere as Thuria -sank at last beneath the horizon and I swung to my window -ledge, in my hand a long rope fabricated from -braided strips torn from my sleeping silks while I had -awaited the setting of the moons. One end I had fastened -to a heavy sorapus bench which I had drawn close to the -window. I dropped the free end of the rope and started -my descent. My Earthly muscles, untried in such endeavours, -I had not trusted to the task of carrying me to -my window ledge in a single leap, when I should be returning. -I felt that they would, but I did not know; and -too much depended upon the success of my venture to -risk any unnecessary chance of failure. And so I had -prepared the rope.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Whether I was being observed I did not know. I must -go on as though none were spying upon me. In less than -four hours Thuria would return (just before the sudden -Barsoomian dawn) and in the interval I must reach -Valla Dia, persuade her of the necessity of my plan and -carry out its details, returning to my chamber before -Thuria could disclose me to any accidental observer. I -carried my weapons with me and in my heart was unbending -determination to slay whoever might cross my -path and recognize me during the course of my errand, -however innocent of evil intent against me he might be.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The night was quiet except for the usual distant sounds -that I had heard ever since I had been here—sounds -that I had interpreted as the cries of savage beasts. Once -I had asked Ras Thavas about them, but he had been in -ill humor and had ignored my question. I reached the -ground quickly and without hesitation moved directly to -the nearest entrance of the building, having previously -searched out and determined upon the route I would -follow to the vault. No one was visible and I was confident, -when at last I reached the doorway, that I had -come through undetected. Valla Dia was so happy to see -me again that it almost brought the tears to my eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I thought that something had happened to you,” she -cried, “for I knew that you would not remain away so -long of your own volition.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I told her of my conviction that I was being watched -and that it would not be possible for me longer to bring -food to her without incurring almost certain detection, -which would spell immediate death for her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is a single alternative,” I said, “and that I -dread even to suggest and would not were there any -other way. You must be securely hidden for a long time, -until Ras Thavas’ suspicions have been allayed; for as -long as he has me watched I cannot possibly carry out -the plans I have formulated for your eventual release, -the restoration of your own body and your return to -Duhor.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Your will shall be my law, Vad Varo.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I shook my head. “It will be harder for you than you -imagine.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What is the way?” she asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I pointed to the ersite topped table. “You must pass -again through that ordeal that I may hide you away in -this vault until the time is ripe for the carrying out of -my plans. Can you endure it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She smiled. “Why not?” she asked. “It is only sleep—if -it lasts for ever I shall be no wiser.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I was surprised that she did not shrink from the idea, -but I was very glad since I knew that it was the only -way that we had a chance for success. Without my help -she disposed herself upon the ersite slab.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am ready, Vad Varo,” she said, bravely; “but first -promise me that you will take no risks in this mad venture. -You cannot succeed. When I close my eyes I know -that it will be for the last time if my resurrection depends -upon the successful outcome of the maddest venture that -ever man conceived; yet I am happy, because I know -that it is inspired by the greatest friendship with which -any mortal woman has ever been blessed.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As she talked I had been adjusting the tubes and now -I stood beside her with my finger upon the starting button -of the motor.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good-bye, Vad Varo,” she whispered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not good-bye, Valla Dia, but only a sweet sleep for -what to you will be the briefest instant. You will seem -but to close your eyes and open them again. As you see -me now, I shall be standing here beside you as though I -never had departed from you. As I am the last that you -look upon to-night before you close your eyes, so shall I -be the first that you shall look upon as you open them -on that new and beautiful morning; but you shall not -again look forth through the eyes of Xaxa, but from the -limpid depths of your own beautiful orbs.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She smiled and shook her head. Two tears formed beneath -her lids. I pressed her hand in mine and touched -the button.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='61' id='Page_61'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VI<br/> SUSPICIONS</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>In</span> so far as I could know I reached my apartment without -detection. Hiding my rope where I was sure it would -not be discovered, I sought my sleeping silks and furs -and was soon asleep.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The following morning as I emerged from my quarters -I caught a fleeting glimpse of a figure in a nearby -corridor and from then on for a long time I had further -evidence that Ras Thavas suspicioned me. I went at once -to his quarters, as had been my habit. He seemed restless, -but he gave me no hint that he held any assurance -that I had been responsible for the disappearance of -Valla Dia, and I think that he was far from positive of -it. It was simply that his judgment pointed to the fact -that I was the only person who might have any reason -for interfering in any way with this particular subject, -and he was having me watched to either prove or disprove -the truth of his reasonable suspicions. His restlessness -he explained to me himself.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have often studied the reaction of others who have -undergone brain transference,” he said, “and so I am -not wholly surprised at my own. Not only has my brain -energy been stimulated, resulting in an increased production -of nervous energy, but I also feel the effects of the -young tissue and youthful blood of my new body. They -are affecting my consciousness in a way that my experiment -had vaguely indicated, but which I now see must be -actually experienced to be fully understood. My thoughts, -my inclinations, even my ambitions have been changed, -or at least coloured, by the transfer. It will take some -time for me to find myself.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Though uninterested, I listened politely until he was -through and then I changed the subject. “Have you located -the missing woman?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He shook his head, negatively.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You must appreciate, Ras Thavas,” I said, “that I -fully realize that you must have known that the removal -or destruction of that woman would entirely frustrate -my entire plan. You are master here. Nothing that passes -is without your knowledge.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You mean that I am responsible for the disappearance -of the woman?” he demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Certainly. It is obvious. I demand that she be restored.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He lost his temper. “Who are you to demand?” he -shouted. “You are naught but a slave. Cease your impudence -or I shall erase you—erase you. It will be as -though you never had existed.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I laughed in his face. “Anger is the most futile attribute -of the sentimentalist,” I reminded him. “You will -not erase me, for I alone stand between you and mortality.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can train another,” he parried.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But you could not trust him,” I pointed out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But you bargained with me for my life when you -had me in your power,” he cried.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“For nothing that it would have harmed you to have -granted willingly. I did not ask anything for myself. Be -that as it may, you will trust me again. You will trust, -for no other reason than that you will be forced to trust -me. So why not win my gratitude and my loyalty by returning -the woman to me and carrying out in spirit as -well as in fact the terms of our agreement?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He turned and looked steadily at me. “Vad Varo,” he -said, “I give you the word of honor of a Barsoomian -noble that I know absolutely nothing concerning the -whereabouts of 4296-E-2631-H.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps Yamdor does,” I persisted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Nor Yamdor. Of my knowledge no person in any -way connected with me knows what became of it. I have -spoken the truth.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Well, the conversation was not as profitless as it might -appear, for I was sure that it had almost convinced Ras -Thavas that I was equally as ignorant of the fate of -Valla Dia as was he. That it had not wholly convinced -him was evidenced by the fact that the espionage continued -for a long time, a fact which determined me to -use Ras Thavas’ own methods in my own defence. I had -had allotted to me a number of slaves, and these I had -won over by kindness and understanding until I knew -that I had the full measure of their loyalty. They had no -reason to love Ras Thavas and every reason to hate -him; on the other hand they had no reason to hate me, -and I saw to it that they had every reason to love me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The result was that I had no difficulty in enlisting the -services of a couple of them to spy upon Ras Thavas’ -spies, with the result that I was soon apprised that my -suspicions were well founded—I was being constantly -watched every minute that I was out of my apartments, -but the spying did not come beyond my outer chamber -walls. That was why I had been successful in reaching the -vault in the manner that I had, the spies having assumed -that I would leave my chamber only by its natural exit, -had been content to guard that and permit my windows -to go unwatched.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I think it was about two of our months that the spying -continued and then my men reported that it seemed -to have ceased entirely. All that time I was fretting at -the delay, for I wanted to be about my plans which -would have been absolutely impossible for me to carry -out if I were being watched. I had spent the interval in -studying the geography of the north-eastern Barsoomian -hemisphere where my activities were to be carried on, -and also in scanning a great number of case histories and -inspecting the subjects to which they referred; but at -last, with the removal of the spies, it began to look as -though I might soon commence to put my plans in active -operation.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas had for some time permitted me considerable -freedom in independent investigation and experiment, -and this I determined to take advantage of -in every possible way that might forward my plans for -the resurrection of Valla Dia. My study of the histories -of many of the cases had been with the possibility in -mind of discovering subjects that might be of assistance -to me in my venture. Among those that had occupied -my careful attention were, quite naturally, the cases -with which I had been most familiar, namely: 378-J-493811-P, -the red-man from whose vicious attack I had -saved Ras Thavas upon the day of my advent upon -Mars; and he whose brain had been divided with an -ape.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The former, 378-J-493811-P, had been a native of -Phundahl—a young warrior attached to the court of -Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl—and a victim of assassination. -His body had been purchased by a Phundahlian -noble for the purpose, as Ras Thavas had narrated, of -winning the favor of a young beauty. I felt that I might -possibly enlist his services, but that would depend upon -the extent of his loyalty towards Xaxa, which I could -only determine by reviving and questioning him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He whose brain had been divided with an ape had -originated in Ptarth, which lay at a considerable distance -to the west of Phundahl and a little south and -about an equal distance from Duhor, which lay north -and a little west of it. An inhabitant of Ptarth, I reasoned, -would know much of the entire country included -in the triangle formed by Phundahl, Ptarth and Duhor; -the strength and ferocity of the great ape would prove -of value in crossing beast infested wastes; and I felt -that I could hold forth sufficient promise to the human -half of the great beast’s brain, which really now dominated -the creature, to win its support and loyalty. The -third subject that I had tentatively selected had been -a notorious Toonolian assassin, whose audacity, fearlessness -and swordsmanship had won for him a reputation -that had spread far beyond the boundaries of his -country.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas, himself a Toonolian, had given me something -of the history of this man whose grim calling is -not without honor upon Barsoom, and which Gor -Hajus had raised still higher in the esteem of his countrymen -through the fact that he never struck down a -woman or a good man and that he never struck from -behind. His killings were always the results of fair fights -in which the victim had every opportunity to defend -himself and slay his attacker; and he was famous for -his loyalty to his friends. In fact this very loyalty had -been a contributing factor in his downfall which had -brought him to one of Ras Thavas’ ersite slabs some -years since, for he had earned the enmity of Vobis -Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, through his refusal to assassinate -a man who once had befriended Gor Hajus in some -slight degree; following which Vobis Kan conceived the -suspicion that Gor Hajus had him marked for slaying. -The result was inevitable: Gor Hajus was arrested and -condemned to death; immediately following the execution -of the sentence an agent of Ras Thavas had purchased -the body.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>These three, then, I had chosen to be my partners -in my great adventure. It is true that I had not discussed -the matter with any one of them, but my judgment -assured me that I would have no difficulty in -enlisting their services and loyalty in return for their -total resurrection.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My first task lay in renewing the organs of 378-J-493811-P -and of Gor Hajus which had been injured -by the wounds that had laid them low; the former requiring -a new lung and the latter a new heart, his -executioner having run him through with a short-sword. -I hesitated to ask Ras Thavas’ permission to experiment -on these subjects for fear of the possibility of -arousing his suspicions, in which event he would probably -have them destroyed; and so I was forced to accomplish -my designs by subterfuge and stealth. To this end -I made it a practice for weeks to carry my regular -laboratory work far into the night, often requiring the -services of various assistants that all might become accustomed -to the sight of me at work at unusual hours. -In my selection of these assistants I made it a point -to choose two of the very spies that Ras Thavas had -set to watching me. While it was true that they were -no longer employed in this particular service, I had -hopes that they would carry word of my activities to -their master; and I was careful to see that they received -from me the proper suggestions that would mould -their report in language far from harmful to me. By -the merest suggestion I carried to them the idea that -I worked thus late purely for the love of the work -itself and the tremendous interest in it that Ras Thavas -had awakened within my mind. Some nights I worked -with assistants and as often I did not, but always I -was careful to assure myself that the following morning -those in the office were made aware that I had labored -far into the preceding night.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This groundwork carefully prepared, I had comparatively -little fear of the results of actual discovery when -I set to work upon the warrior of Phundahl and the -assassin of Toonol. I chose the former first. His lung -was badly injured where my blade had passed through -it, but from the laboratory where were kept fractional -bodies I brought a perfect lung, with which I replaced -the one that I had ruined. The work occupied but half -the night. So anxious was I to complete my task that -I immediately opened up the breast of Gor Hajus, for -whom I had selected an unusually strong and powerful -heart, and by working rapidly I succeeded in completing -the transference before dawn. Having known the nature -of the wounds that had dispatched these two men, I -had spent weeks in performing similar operations that I -might perfect myself especially in this work; and having -encountered no unusual pathological conditions in -either subject, the work had progressed smoothly and -with great rapidity. I had completed what I had feared -would be the most difficult part of my task and now, -having removed as far as possible all signs of the operation -except the therapeutic tape which closed the incisions, -I returned to my quarters for a few minutes -of much needed rest, praying that Ras Thavas would -not by any chance examine either of the subjects upon -which I had been working; although I had fortified myself -against such a contingency by entering full details -of the operation upon the history card of each subject -that, in the event of discovery, any suspicion of ulterior -motives upon my part might be allayed by my play -of open frankness.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I arose at the usual time and went at once to Ras -Thavas’ apartment, where I was met with a bombshell -that nearly wrecked my composure. He eyed me closely -for a long minute before he spoke.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You worked late last night, Vad Varo,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I often do,” I replied, lightly; but my heart was -heavy as a stone.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And what might it have been that so occupied your -interest?” he inquired.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I felt as a mouse with which the cat is playing. “I -have been doing quite a little lung and heart transference -of late,” I replied, “and I became so engrossed with -my work that I did not note the passage of time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have known that you worked late at night. Do -you think it wise?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At that moment I felt that it had been very unwise, -yet I assured him to the contrary.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I was restless,” he said. “I could not sleep and so -I went to your quarters after midnight, but you were -not there. I wanted someone with whom to talk, but -your slaves knew only that you were not there—where -you were they did not know—so I set out to search -for you.” My heart went into my sandals. “I guessed -that you were in one of the laboratories, but though -I visited several I did not find you.” My heart arose -with the lightness of a feather. “Since my own transference -I have been cursed with restlessness and sleeplessness, -so that I could almost wish for the return of -my old corpse—the youth of my body harmonizes not -with the antiquity of my brain. It is filled with latent -urges and desires that comport illy with the serious subject -matter of my mind.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What your body needs,” I said, “is exercise. It is -young, strong, virile. Work it hard and it will let your -brain rest at night.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know that you are right,” he replied. “I have -reached that same conclusion myself. In fact, not finding -you, I walked in the gardens for an hour or more -before returning to my quarters, and then I slept soundly. -I shall walk every night when I cannot sleep, or I -shall go into the laboratories and work as do you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This news was most disquieting. Now I could never -be sure but that Ras Thavas was wandering about at -night and I had one more very important night’s work -to do, perhaps two. The only way that I could be sure -of him was to be with him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Send for me when you are restless,” I said, “and -I will walk and work with you. You should not go -about thus at night alone.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” he said, “I may do that occasionally.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I hoped that he would do it always, for then I would -know that when he failed to send for me he was safe -in his own quarters. Yet I saw that I must henceforth -face the menace of detection; and knowing this I determined -to hasten the completion of my plans and to -risk everything on a single bold stroke.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>That night I had no opportunity to put it into action -as Ras Thavas sent for me early and informed me -that we would walk in the gardens until he was tired. -Now, as I needed a full night for what I had in mind -and as Ras Thavas walked until midnight, I was compelled -to forego everything for that evening, but the -following morning I persuaded him to walk early on the -pretext that I should like to go beyond the enclosure -and see something of Barsoom beside the inside of his -laboratories and his gardens. I had little confidence that -he would grant my request, yet he did so. I am sure -he never would have done it had he possessed his old -body; but thus greatly had young blood changed Ras -Thavas.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had never been beyond the buildings, nor had I -seen beyond, since there were no windows in the outside -walls of any of the structures and upon the garden -side the trees had grown to such a height that they -obstructed all view beyond them. For a time we walked -in another garden just inside the outer wall, and then -I asked Ras Thavas if I might go even beyond this.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” he said. “It would not be safe.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And why not?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I will show you and at the same time give you a -much broader view of the outside world than you could -obtain by merely passing through the gate. Come, follow -me!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He led me immediately to a lofty tower that rose -at the corner of the largest building of the group that -comprised his vast establishment. Within was a circular -runway which led not only upward, but down as well. -This we ascended, passing openings at each floor, until -we came at last out upon its lofty summit.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>About me spread the first Barsoomian landscape of -any extent upon which my eyes had yet rested during -the long months that I had spent upon the Red Planet. -For almost an Earthly year I had been immured within -the grim walls of Ras Thavas’ bloody laboratory, until, -such creatures of habit are we, the weird life there had -grown to seem quite natural and ordinary; but with this -first glimpse of open country there surged up within me -an urge for freedom, for space, for room to move about, -such as I knew would not be long denied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Directly beneath lay an irregular patch of rocky land -elevated perhaps a dozen feet or more above the general -level of the immediately surrounding country. Its -extent was, at a rough guess, a hundred acres. Upon -this stood the buildings and grounds, which were enclosed -in a high wall. The tower upon which we stood -was situated at about the centre of the total area enclosed. -Beyond the outer wall was a strip of rocky -ground on which grew a sparse forest of fair sized trees -interspersed with patches of a jungle growth, and beyond -all, what appeared to be an oozy marsh through -which were narrow water courses connecting occasional -open water—little lakes, the largest of which could have -comprised scarce two acres. This landscape extended as -far as the eye could reach, broken by occasional islands -similar to that upon which we were and at a short distance -by the skyline of a large city, whose towers and -domes and minarets glistened and sparkled in the sun -as though plated with shining metals and picked out -with precious gems.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This, I knew, must be Toonol and all about us the -Great Toonolian Marshes which extend nearly eighteen -hundred Earth miles east and west and in some places -have a width of three hundred miles. Little is known -about them in other portions of Barsoom as they are -frequented by fierce beasts, afford no landing places for -fliers and are commanded by Phundahl at their western -end and Toonol at the east; inhospitable kingdoms that -invite no intercourse with the outside world and maintain -their independence alone by their inaccessibility -and savage aloofness.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As my eyes returned to the island at our feet I -saw a huge form emerge from one of the nearby patches -of jungle a short distance beyond the outer wall. It -was followed by a second and a third. Ras Thavas saw -that the creatures had attracted my notice.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There,” he said, pointing to them, “are three of a -number of similar reasons why it would not have been -safe for us to venture outside the enclosure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They were great white apes of Barsoom, creatures so -savage that even that fierce Barsoomian lion, the banth, -hesitates to cross their path.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They serve two purposes,” explained Ras Thavas. -“They discourage those who might otherwise creep upon -me by night from the city of Toonol, where I am not -without many good enemies, and they prevent desertion -upon the part of my slaves and assistants.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But how do your clients reach you?” I asked. “How -are your supplies brought in?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He turned and pointed down toward the highest portion -of the irregular roof of the building below us. -Built upon it was a large, shed-like structure. “There,” -he said, “I keep three small ships. One of them goes -every day to Toonol.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I was overcome with eagerness to know more about -these ships, in which I thought I saw a much needed -means of escape from the island; but I dared not question -him for fear of arousing his suspicions.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we turned to descend the tower runway I expressed -interest in the structure which gave evidence of -being far older than any of the surrounding buildings.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This tower,” said Ras Thavas, “was built some -twenty-three thousand years ago by an ancestor of mine -who was driven from Toonol by the reigning Jeddak -of the time. Here, and upon other islands, he gathered -a considerable following, dominated the surrounding -marshes and defended himself successfully for hundreds -of years. While my family has been permitted to return -to Toonol since, this has been their home; to which, -one by one, have been added the various buildings -which you see about the tower, each floor of which connects -with the adjacent building from the roof to the -lowest pits beneath the ground.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This information also interested me greatly since I -thought that I saw where it too might have considerable -bearing upon my plan of escape, and so, as we descended -the runway, I encouraged Ras Thavas to discourse -upon the construction of the tower, its relation -to the other buildings and especially its accessibility from -the pits. We walked again in the outer garden and by -the time we returned to Ras Thavas’ quarters it was almost -dark and the master surgeon was considerably -fatigued.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I feel that I shall sleep well to-night,” he said as -I left him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I hope so, Ras Thavas,” I replied.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='72' id='Page_72'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VII<br/> ESCAPE</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>It</span> was usually about three hours after the evening meal, -which was served immediately after dark, that the establishment -quieted down definitely for the night. While I -should have preferred waiting longer before undertaking -that which I had in mind, I could not safely do so, -since there was much to be accomplished before dawn. -So it was that with the first indications that the occupants -of the building in which my work was to be performed -had retired for the night, I left my quarters -and went directly to the laboratory, where, fortunately -for my plans, the bodies of Gor Hajus, the assassin -of Toonol, and 378-J-493811-P both reposed. It was -the work of a few minutes to carry them to adjoining -tables, where I quickly strapped them securely against -the possibility that one or both of them might not be -willing to agree to the proposition I was about to make -them, and thus force me to anaesthetize them again. -At last the incisions were made, the tubes attached and -the motors started. 378-J-493811-P, whom I shall hereafter -call by his own name, Dar Tarus, was the first -to open his eyes; but he had not regained full consciousness -when Gor Hajus showed signs of life.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I waited until both appeared quite restored. Dar -Tarus was eyeing me with growing recognition that -brought a most venomous expression of hatred to his -countenance. Gor Hajus was frankly puzzled. The last -he remembered was the scene in the death chamber at -the instant that his executioner had run a sword -through his heart. It was I who broke the silence.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“In the first place,” I said, “let me tell you where -you are, if you do not already know.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know well enough where I am,” growled Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” exclaimed Gor Hajus, whose eyes had been -roaming about the chamber. “I can guess where I am. -What Toonolian has not heard of Ras Thavas? So they -sold my corpse to the old butcher did they? And what -now? Did I just arrive?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have been here six years,” I told him, “and -you may stay here for ever unless we three can reach -an agreement within the next few minutes, and that goes -for you too, Dar Tarus.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Six years!” mused Gor Hajus. “Well, out with it, -man. What do you want? If it is to slay Ras Thavas, -no! He has saved me from utter destruction; but name -me some other, preferably Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol. -Find me a blade and I will slay a hundred to regain -life.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I seek the life of none unless he stands in the way -of the fulfilment of my desire in this matter that I have -in hand. Listen! Ras Thavas had here a beautiful -Duhorian girl. He sold her body to Xaxa, Jeddara of -Phundahl, transplanting the girl’s brain to the wrinkled -and hideous body of the Jeddara. It is my intention to -regain the body, restore it to its own brain and return -the girl to Duhor.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus grinned. “You have a large contract on -your hands,” he said, “but I can see that you are a -man after my own heart and I am with you. It will -give freedom and fighting, and all that I ask is a chance -for one thrust at Vobis Kan.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I promise you life,” I replied; “but with the understanding -that you serve me faithfully and none other, -undertaking no business of your own, until mine has -been carried to a successful conclusion.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That means that I shall have to serve you for life,” -he replied, “for the thing you have undertaken you can -never accomplish; but that is better than lying here on -a cold ersite slab waiting for old Ras Thavas to come -along and carve out my gizzard. I am yours! Let me -up, that I may feel a good pair of legs under me again.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you?” I asked, turning to Dar Tarus as I released -the bonds that held Gor Hajus. For the first time -I now noticed that the ugly expression that I had first -noted upon the face of Dar Tarus had given place to -one of eagerness.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Strike off my bonds!” he cried. “I will follow you -to the ends of Barsoom and the way leads thus far to -the fulfilment of your design; but it will not. It will -lead to Phundahl and to the chamber of the wicked -Xaxa, where, by the generosity of my ancestors, I may -be given the opportunity to avenge the hideous wrong -the creature did me. You could not have chosen one -better fitted for your mission than Dar Tarus, one time -soldier of the Jeddara’s Guard, whom she had slain that -in my former body one of her rotten nobles might woo -the girl I loved.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A moment later the two men stood at my side, and -without more delay I led them towards the runway that -descended to the pits beneath the building. As we went, -I described to them the creature I had chosen to be the -fourth member of our strange party. Gor Hajus questioned -the wisdom of my choice, saying that the ape -would attract too much attention to us. Dar Tarus, however, -believed that it might be helpful in many respects, -since it was possible that we might be compelled to -spend some time among the islands of the marshes which -were often infested with these creatures; while, once in -Phundahl, the ape might readily be used in the furtherance -of our plans and would cause no considerable -comment in a city where many of these beasts are held -in captivity and often are seen performing for the -edification of street crowds.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We went at once to the vault where the ape lay -and where I had concealed the anaesthetized body of -Valla Dia. Here I revived the great anthropoid and to -my great relief found that the human half of its brain -still was dominant. Briefly I explained my plan as I -had to the other two and won the hearty promise of -his support upon my engaging to restore his brain to its -rightful place upon the completion of our venture.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>First we must get off the island, and I outlined two -plans I had in mind. One was to steal one of Ras -Thavas’ three fliers and set out directly for Phundahl, -and the other, in the event that the first did not seem -feasible, was to secrete ourselves aboard one of them -on the chance that we might either overpower the crew -and take over the ship after we had left the island, -or escape undetected upon its arrival in Toonol. Dar -Tarus liked the first plan; the ape, whom we now called -by the name belonging to the human half of his brain, -Hovan Du, preferred the first alternative of the second -plan; and Gor Hajus the second alternative.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus explained that as our principal objective -was Phundahl, the quicker we got there the better. -Hovan Du argued that by seizing the ship after it had -left the island we would have longer time in which to -make our escape before the ship was missed and pursuit -instituted, than by seizing it now in the full knowledge -that its absence would be discovered within a few -hours. Gor Hajus thought that it would be better if -we could come into Toonol secretly and there, through -one of his friends, secure arms and a flier of our own. -It would never do, he insisted, to attempt to go far -without arms for himself and Dar Tarus, nor could we -hope to reach Phundahl without being overhauled by -pursuers; for we must plan on the hypothesis that Ras -Thavas would immediately discover my absence; that he -would at once investigate; that he would find Dar Tarus -and Gor Hajus missing and thereupon lose no time in -advising Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, that Gor Hajus -the assassin was at large, whereupon the Jeddak’s best -ships would be sent in pursuit.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus’ reasoning was sound and coupled with -my recollection that Ras Thavas had told me that his -three ships were slow, I could readily foresee that our -liberty would be of short duration were we to steal one -of the old surgeon’s fliers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we discussed the matter we had made our way -through the pits and I had found the exit to the tower. -Silently we passed upward along the runway and out -upon the roof. Both moons were winging low through -the heavens and the scene was almost as light as day. -If anyone was about discovery was certain. We hastened -towards the hangar and were soon within it, where, for -a moment at least, I breathed far more easily than I -had beneath those two brilliant moons upon the exposed -roof.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The fliers were peculiar looking contrivances, low, -squat, with rounded bows and sterns and covered decks, -their every line proclaiming them as cargo carriers -built for anything but speed. One was much smaller than -the other two and a second was evidently undergoing -repairs. The third I entered and examined carefully. Gor -Hajus was with me and pointed out several places -where we might hide with little likelihood of discovery -unless it were suspected that we might be aboard, and -that of course constituted a very real danger; so much -so that I had about decided to risk all aboard the small -flier, which Gor Hajus assured me would be the fastest -of the three, when Dar Tarus stuck his head into the -ship and motioned me to come quickly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is someone about,” he said when I reached -his side.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where?” I demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come,” he said, and led me to the rear of the -hangar, which was flush with the wall of the building -upon which it stood, and pointed through one of the -windows into the inner garden where, to my consternation, -I saw Ras Thavas walking slowly to and fro. For -an instant I was sick with despair, for I knew that no -ship could leave that roof unseen while anyone was -abroad in the garden beneath, and Ras Thavas least -of all people in the world; but suddenly a great light -dawned upon me. I called the three close to me and -explained my plan.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Instantly they grasped the possibilities in it and a -moment later we had run the small flier out upon the -roof and turned her nose toward the east, away from -Toonol. Then Gor Hajus entered her, set the various -controls as we had decided, opened the throttle, slipped -back to the roof. The four of us hastened into the hangar -and ran to the rear window where we saw the ship -moving slowly and gracefully out over the garden and -the head of Ras Thavas, whose ears must instantly have -caught the faint purring of the motor, for he was looking -up by the time we reached the window.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Instantly he hailed the ship and stepping back from -the window that he might not see me I answered: -“Good-bye, Ras Thavas! It is I, Vad Varo, going out -into a strange world to see what it is like. I shall return. -The spirits of your ancestors be with you until -then.” That was a phrase I had picked up from reading -in Ras Thavas’ library and I was quite proud of -it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come back at once,” he shouted up in reply, “or -you will be with the spirits of your own ancestors before -another day is done.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I made no reply. The ship was now at such a distance -that I feared my voice might no longer seem to -come from it and that we should be discovered. Without -more delay we concealed ourselves aboard one of the -remaining fliers, that upon which no work was being -done, and there commenced as long and tiresome a period -of waiting as I can recall ever having passed -through.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had at last given up any hope of the ship’s being -flown that day when I heard voices in the hangar, and -presently the sound of footsteps aboard the flier. A moment -later a few commands were given and almost -immediately the ship moved slowly out into the open.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The four of us were crowded into a small compartment -built into a tiny space between the forward and -aft starboard buoyancy tanks. It was very dark and -poorly ventilated, having evidently been designed as a -storage closet to utilize otherwise waste space. We dared -not converse for fear of attracting attention to our presence, -and for the same reason we moved about as little -as possible, since we had no means of knowing but -that some member of the crew might be just beyond -the thin door that separated us from the main cabin of -the ship. Altogether we were most uncomfortable; but -the distance to Toonol is not so great but that we -might hope that our situation would soon be changed—at -least if Toonol was to be the destination of the -ship. Of this we soon had cheering hope. We had been -out but a short time when, faintly, we heard a hail -and then the motors were immediately shut down and -the ship stopped.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What ship?” we heard a voice demand, and from -aboard our own came the reply:</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The Vosar, Tower of Thavas for Toonol.” We heard -a scraping as the other ship touched ours.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We are coming aboard to search you in the name -of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol. Make way!” shouted -one from the other ship. Our cheer had been of short -duration. We heard the shuffling of many feet and Gor -Hajus whispered in my ear.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What shall we do?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I slipped my short-sword into his hand. “Fight!” I -replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good, Vad Varo,” he replied, and then I handed -him my pistol and told him to pass it on to Dar Tarus. -We heard the voices again, but nearer now.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What ho!” cried one. “It is Bal Zak himself, my old -friend Bal Zak!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“None other,” replied a deep voice. “And whom did -you expect to find in command of the Vosar other -than Bal Zak?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who could know but that it might have been this -Vad Varo himself, or even Gor Hajus,” said the other, -“and our orders are to search all ships.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I would that they were here,” replied Bal Zak, “for -the reward is high. But how could they, when Ras -Thavas himself with his own eyes saw them fly off in -the Pinsar before dawn this day and disappear in the -east?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Right you are, Bal Zak,” agreed the other, “and it -were a waste of time to search your ship. Come men! -to our own!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I could feel the muscles about my heart relax with -the receding footfalls of Vobis Kan’s warriors as they -quitted the deck of the Vosar for their own ship, and -my spirits rose with the renewed purring of our own -motor as Ras Thavas’ flier again got under way. Gor -Hajus bent his lips close to my ear.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The spirits of our ancestors smile upon us,” he whispered. -“It is night and the darkness will aid in covering -our escape from the ship and the landing stage.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What makes you think it is night?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Vobis Kan’s ship was close by when it hailed and -asked our name. By daylight it could have seen what -ship we were.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He was right. We had been locked in that stuffy hole -since before dawn, and while I had thought that it had -been for a considerable time, I also had realized that the -darkness and the inaction and the nervous strain would -tend to make it seem much longer than it really had -been; so that I would not have been greatly surprised -had we made Toonol by daylight.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The distance from the Tower of Thavas to Toonol is -inconsiderable, so that shortly after Vobis Kan’s ship had -spoken to us we came to rest upon the landing stage at -our destination. For a long time we waited, listening to -the sounds of movement aboard the ship and wondering, -upon my part at least, as to what the intentions of the -captain might be. It was quite possible that Bal Zak -might return to Thavas this same night, especially if he -had come to Toonol to fetch a rich or powerful patient -to the laboratories; but if he had come only for supplies -he might well lie here until the morrow. This much -I had learned from Gor Hajus, my own knowledge of the -movements of the fliers of Ras Thavas being considerably -less than nothing; for, though I had been months a -lieutenant of the master surgeon, I had learned only the -day before of the existence of his small fleet, it being -according to the policy of Ras Thavas to tell me nothing -unless the telling of it coincided with and furthered his -own plans.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Questions which I asked he always answered, if he -reasoned that the effects would not be harmful to his -own interests, but he volunteered nothing that he did not -particularly wish me to know; and the fact that there -were no windows in the outside walls of the building facing -towards Toonol, that I had never before the previous -day been upon the roof and that I never had seen a ship -sail over the inner court towards the east all tended to -explain my ignorance of the fleet and its customary operations.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We waited quietly until silence fell upon the ship, betokening -either that the crew had retired for the night or -that they had gone down into the city. Then, after a -whispered consultation with Gor Hajus, we decided to -make an attempt to leave the flier. It was our purpose to -seek a hiding place within the tower of the landing stage -from which we might investigate possible avenues of -escape into the city, either at once or upon the morrow -when we might more easily mix with the crowd that -Gor Hajus said would certainly be in evidence from a few -hours after sunrise.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Cautiously I opened the door of our closet and looked -into the main cabin beyond. It lay in darkness. Silently -we filed out. The silence of the tomb lay upon the flier, -but from far below arose the subdued noises of the city. -So far, so good! Then, without sound, without warning, a -burst of brilliant light illuminated the interior of the -cabin. I felt my fingers tighten upon my sword-hilt as I -glanced quickly about.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Directly opposite us, in the narrow doorway of a small -cabin, stood a tall man whose handsome harness betokened -the fact that he was no common warrior. In -either hand he held a heavy Barsoomian pistol, into the -muzzles of which we found ourselves staring.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='81' id='Page_81'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VIII<br/> HANDS UP!</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>In</span> quiet tones he spoke the words of the Barsoomian -equivalent of our Earthly <span class='it'>hands up!</span> The shadow of a grim -smile touched his lips, and as he saw us hesitate to obey -his commands he spoke again.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do as I tell you and you will be well off. Keep perfect -silence. A raised voice may spell your doom; a pistol -shot most assuredly.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus raised his hands above his head and we -others followed his example.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am Bal Zak,” announced the stranger. My heart -slumped.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then you had better commence firing,” said Gor -Hajus, “for you will not take us alive and we are four to -one.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not so fast, Gor Hajus,” admonished the captain -of the Vosar, “until you learn what is in my mind.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That, we already know for we heard you speak of the -large reward that awaited the captor of Vad Varo and Gor -Hajus,” snapped the assassin of Toonol.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Had I craved that reward so much I could have turned -you over to the dwar of Vobis Kan’s ship when he -boarded us,” said Bal Zak.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You did not know we were aboard the Vosar,” I -reminded him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ah, but I did.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus snorted his disbelief.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How then,” Bal Zak reminded us, “was I able to be -ready upon this very spot when you emerged from your -hiding place? Yes, I knew that you were aboard.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But how?” demanded Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is immaterial,” replied Bal Zak, “but to satisfy -your natural curiosity I will tell you that I have quarters -in a small room in the Tower of Thavas, my windows -overlook the roof and the hangar. My long life spent -aboard fliers has made me very sensitive to every sound -of a ship—motors changing their speed will awaken me in -the dead of night, as quickly as will their starting or their -stopping. I was awakened by the starting of the motors of -the Pinsar; I saw three of you upon the roof and the -fourth drop from the deck of the flier as she started and -my judgment told me that the ship was being sent out -unmanned for some reason of which I had no knowledge. -It was too late for me to prevent the act and so I waited -in silence to learn what would follow. I saw you hasten -into the hangar and I heard Ras Thavas’ hail and your -reply, and then I saw you board the Vosar. Immediately I -descended to the roof and ran noiselessly to the hangar, -apprehending that you intended making away with this -ship; but there was no one about the controls; and from -a tiny port in the control room, through which one has a -view of the main cabin, I saw you enter the closet. I -was at once convinced that your only purpose was to -stow away for Toonol and consequently, aside from -keeping an eye upon your hiding place, I went about my -business as usual.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you did not advise Ras Thavas?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I advised no one,” he replied. “Years ago I learned to -mind my own business, to see all, to hear all and to tell -nothing unless it profited me to do so.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But you said that the reward is high for our apprehension,” -Gor Hajus reminded him. “Would it not be -profitable to collect it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There are in the breasts of honourable men,” replied -Bal Zak, “forces that rise superior to the lust for -gold, and while Toonolians are supposedly a people free -from the withering influences of sentiment yet I for one -am not totally unconscious of the demand of gratitude. -Six years ago, Gor Hajus, you refused to assassinate -my father, holding that he was a good man, worthy to -live and one that had once befriended you slightly. -To-day, through his son, you reap your reward and in -some measure are repaid for the punishment that was -meted out to you by Vobis Kan because of your refusal -to slay the sire of Bal Zak. I have sent my crew -away that none aboard the Vosar but myself might have -knowledge of your presence. Tell me your plans and -command me in what way I may be of further service to -you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We wish to reach the streets, unobserved,” replied Gor -Hajus. “Can you but help us in that we shall not put -upon your shoulders further responsibility for our escape. -You have our gratitude and in Toonol, I need not remind -you, the gratitude of Gor Hajus is a possession that -even the Jeddak has craved.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Your problem is complicated,” said Bal Zak, after a -moment of thought, “by the personnel of your party. The -ape would immediately attract attention and arouse suspicion. -Knowing much of Ras Thavas’ experiments I realized -at once this morning, after watching him with you, -that he had the brain of a man; but this very fact would -attract to him and to you the closer attention of the -masses.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I do not need acquaint them with the fact,” growled -Hovan Du. “To them I need be but a captive ape. Are -such unknown in Toonol?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not entirely, though they are rare,” replied Bal Zak. -“But there is also the white skin of Vad Varo! Ras Thavas -appears to have known nothing of the presence of the -ape with you; but he full well knew of Vad Varo, and -your description has been spread by every means at his -command. You would be recognized immediately by the -first Toonolian that lays eyes upon you, and then there -is Gor Hajus. He has been as dead for six years, yet I -venture there is scarce a Toonolian that broke the shell -prior to ten years ago who does not know the face of -Gor Hajus as well as he knows that of his own mother. -The Jeddak himself was not better known to the people -of Toonol than Gor Hajus. That leaves but one who -might possibly escape suspicion and detection in the -streets of Toonol.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If we could but obtain weapons for these others,” I -suggested, “we might even yet reach the house of Gor -Hajus’ friend.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Fight your way through the city of Toonol?” demanded -Bal Zak.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If there is no other way we should have to,” I replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I admire the will,” commented the commander of the -Vosar, “but fear that the flesh is without sufficient -strength. Wait! there is a way—perhaps. On the stage -just below this there is a public depot where equilibrimotors -are kept and rented. Could we find the means to -obtain four of these there would be a chance, at least, -for you to elude the air patrols and reach the house of -Gor Hajus’ friend; and I think I see a way to the accomplishment -of that. The landing tower is closed for -the night but there are several watchmen distributed -through it at different levels. There is one at the equilibrimotor -depot and, as I happen to know, he is a devotee of -jetan. He would rather play jetan than attend to his -duties as watchman. I often remain aboard the Vosar at -night and occasionally he and I indulge in a game. I will -ask him up to-night and while he is thus engaged you -may go to the depot, help yourselves to equilibrimotors -and pray to your ancestors that no air patrol suspects -you as you cross the city towards your destination. What -think you of this plan, Gor Hajus?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is splendid,” replied the assassin. “And you, Vad -Varo?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If I knew what an equilibrimotor is I might be in a -better position to judge the merits of the plan,” I replied. -“However, I am satisfied to abide by the judgment -of Gor Hajus. I can assure you, Bal Zak, of our great -appreciation, and as Gor Hajus has put the stamp of his -approval upon your plan I can only urge you to arrange -that we may put it into effect with as little delay as possible.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good!” exclaimed Bal Zak. “Come with me and I -will conceal you until I have lured the watchman to the -jetan game within my cabin. After that your fate will be -in your own hands.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We followed him from the ship on to the deck of -the landing stage and close under the side of the Vosar -opposite that from which the watchman must approach -the ship and enter it. Then, bidding us good luck, Bal Zak -departed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>From the summit of the landing tower I had my first -view of a Martian city. Several hundred feet below me -lay spread the broad, well-lighted avenues of Toonol, -many of which were crowded with people. Here and -there, in this central district, a building was raised high -upon its supporting, cylindrical metal shaft; while further -out, where the residences predominated, the city -took on the appearance of a colossal and grotesque forest. -Among the larger palaces only an occasional suite -of rooms was thus raised high above the level of the -others, these being the sleeping apartments of the owners, -their servants or their guests; but the smaller homes were -raised in their entirety, a precaution necessitated by the -constant activities of the followers of Gor Hajus’ ancient -profession that permitted no man to be free from the -constant menace of assassination. Throughout the central -district the sky was pierced by the lofty towers of -several other landing stages; but, as I was later to learn, -these were comparatively few in number. Toonol is in no -sense a flying nation, supporting no such enormous fleets -of merchant ships and vessels of war as, for example, the -twin cities of Helium or the great capital of Ptarth.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A peculiar feature of the street lighting of Toonol, and -in fact the same condition applies to the lighting of -other Barsoomian cities I have visited, I noted for the first -time that night as I waited upon the landing stage for the -return of Bal Zak with the watchman. The luminosity -below me seemed confined directly to the area to be -lighted; there was no diffusion of light upward or beyond -the limits the lamps were designed to light. This was -effected, I was told, by lamps designed upon principles -resulting from ages of investigation of the properties of -light waves and the laws governing them which permit -Barsoomian scientists to confine and control light as we -confine and control matter. The light waves leave the -lamp, pass along a prescribed circuit and return to the -lamp. There is no waste nor, strange this seemed to me, -are there any dense shadows when lights are properly -installed and adjusted; for the waves in passing around -objects to return to the lamp, illuminate all sides of -them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The effect of this lighting from the great height of the -tower was rather remarkable. The night was dark, there -being no moons at that hour upon this night, and the -effect was that obtained when sitting in a darkened auditorium -and looking upon a brilliantly lighted stage. I -was still intent upon watching the life and colour beneath -when we heard Bal Zak returning. That he had been successful -in his mission was apparent from the fact that -he was conversing with another.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Five minutes later we crept quietly from our hiding -place and descended to the stage below where lay the -equilibrimotor depot. As theft is practically unknown -upon Barsoom, except for purposes entirely disassociated -from a desire to obtain pecuniary profit through the thing -stolen, no precautions are taken against theft. We therefore -found the doors of the depot open and Gor Hajus -and Dar Tarus quickly selected four equilibrimotors and -adjusted them upon us. They consist of a broad belt, -not unlike the life belt used aboard trans-oceanic liners -upon Earth; these belts are filled with the eighth Barsoomian -ray, or ray of propulsion, to a sufficient degree -to just about equalize the pull of gravity and thus -to maintain a person in equilibrium between that force -and the opposite force exerted by the eighth ray. Permanently -attached to the back of the belt is a small -radium motor, the controls for which are upon the front -of the belt. Rigidly attached to and projecting from -each side of the upper rim of the belt is a strong, light -wing with small hand levers for quickly altering its -position.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus quickly explained the method of control, -but I could apprehend that there might be embarrassment -and trouble awaiting me before I mastered the art of -flying in an equilibrimotor. He showed me how to tilt -the wings downward in walking so that I would not -leave the ground at every step, and thus he led me to -the edge of the landing stage.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We will rise here,” he said, “and keeping in the darkness -of the upper levels seek to reach the house of my -friend without being detected. If we are pursued by air -patrols we must separate; and later those who escape -may gather just west of the city wall where you will -find a small lake with a deserted tower upon its northern -rim—this tower will be our rendezvous in event of trouble. -Follow me!” He started his motor and rose gracefully -into the air.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hovan Du followed him and then it was my turn. I -rose beautifully for about twenty feet, floating out over -the city which lay hundreds of feet below, and then, quite -suddenly, I turned upside down. I had done something -wrong—I was quite positive of it. It was a most startling -sensation, I can assure you, floating there with my head -down, quite helpless; while below me lay the streets of a -great city and no softer, I was sure, than the streets of -Los Angeles or Paris. My motor was still going, and -as I manipulated the controls which operated the wings -I commenced to describe all sorts of strange loops and -spirals and spins; and then Dar Tarus came to my rescue. -First he told me to lie quietly and then directed the -manipulation of each wing until I had gained an upright -position. After that I did fairly well and was soon rising -in the wake of Gor Hajus and Hovan Du.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I need not describe in detail the hour of flying, or -rather floating, that ensued. Gor Hajus led us to a considerable -altitude and there, through the darkness above -the city, our slow motors drove us towards a district of -magnificent homes surrounded by spacious grounds; and -here, as we hovered over a large palace, we were suddenly -startled by a sharp challenge coming from directly -above us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who flies by night?” a voice demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Friends of Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan,” replied -Gor Hajus quickly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let me see your night flying permit and your flier’s -licence,” ordered the one above us, at the same time -swooping suddenly to our level and giving me my first -sight of a Martian policeman. He was equipped with a -much swifter and handier equilibrimotor than ours. I -think that was the first fact to impress us deeply, and it -demonstrated the futility of flight; for he could have -given us ten minutes start and overhauled each of us -within another ten minutes, even though we had elected -to fly in different directions. The fellow was a warrior -rather than a policeman, though detailed to duty such -as our Earthly police officers perform; the city being -patrolled both day and night by the warriors of Vobis -Kan’s army.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He dropped now close to the assassin of Toonol, again -demanding permit and license and at the same time -flashing a light in the face of my comrade.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“By the sword of the Jeddak!” he cried. “Fortune -heaps her favors upon me. Who would have thought an -hour since that it would be I who would collect the reward -for the capture of Gor Hajus?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Any other fool might have thought it,” returned Gor -Hajus, “but he would have been as wrong as you,” and as -he spoke he struck with the short-sword I had loaned -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The blow was broken by the wing of the warrior’s -equilibrimotor, which it demolished, yet it inflicted a -severe wound in the fellow’s shoulder. He tried to back -off, but the damaged wing caused him only to wheel -around erratically; and then he seized upon his whistle -and attempted to blow a mighty blast that was cut short -by another blow from Gor Hajus’ sword that split the -man’s head open to the bridge of his nose.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Quick!” cried the assassin. “We must drop into the -gardens of Mu Tel, for that signal will bring a swarm -of air patrols about our heads.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The others I saw falling rapidly towards the ground, -but again I had trouble. Depress my wings as I would I -moved only slightly downward and upon a path that, if -continued, would have landed me at a considerable distance -from the gardens of Mu Tel. I was approaching -one of the elevated portions of the palace, what appeared -to be a small suite that was raised upon its -shining metal shaft far above the ground. From all directions -I could hear the screaming whistles of the air -patrols answering the last call of their comrade whose -corpse floated just above me, a guide even in death to -point the way for his fellows to search us out. They were -sure to discover him and then I would be in plain view -of them and my fate sealed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Perhaps I could find ingress to the apartment looming -darkly near! There I might hide until the danger -had passed, provided I could enter, undetected. I directed -my course towards the structure; an open window -took form through the darkness and then I collided -with a fine wire netting—I had run into a protecting -curtain that fends off assassins of the air from these high-flung -sleeping apartments. I felt that I was lost. If I -could but reach the ground I might find concealment -among the trees and shrubbery that I had seen vaguely -outlined beneath me in the gardens of this Barsoomian -prince; but I could not drop at a sufficient angle to -bring me to ground within the garden, and when I tried -to spiral down I turned over and started up again. I -thought of ripping open my belt and letting the eighth -ray escape; but in my unfamiliarity with this strange -force I feared that such an act might precipitate me to -the ground with too great violence, though I was -determined to have recourse to it as a last alternative -if nothing less drastic presented itself.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In my last attempt to spiral downward I rose rapidly -feet foremost to a sudden and surprising collision with -some object above me. As I frantically righted myself, -fully expecting to be immediately seized by a member of -the air patrol, I found myself face to face with the corpse -of the warrior Gor Hajus had slain. The whistling of -the air patrols sounded ever nearer—it could be only a -question of seconds now before I was discovered—and -with the stern necessity that confronted me, with death -looking me in the face, there burst upon me a possible -avenue of escape from my dilemma.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Seizing tightly with my left hand the harness of the -dead Toonolian, I whipped out my dagger and slashed -his buoyancy belt a dozen times. Instantly, as the rays -escaped, his body started to drag me downward. Our -descent was rapid, but not precipitate, and it was but a -matter of seconds before we landed gently upon the -scarlet sward of the gardens of Mu Tel, Prince of the -House of Kan, close beside a clump of heavy shrubbery. -Above me sounded the whistles of the circling patrols as -I dragged the corpse of the warrior into the concealing -depth of the foliage. Nor was I an instant too soon for -safety, as almost immediately the brilliant rays of a -searchlight shot downward from the deck of a small patrol -ship, illuminating the open spaces of the garden all about -me. A hurried glance through the branches and the leaves -of my sanctuary revealed nothing of my companions -and I breathed a sigh of relief in the thought that they, -too, had found concealment.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The light played for a short time about the gardens and -then passed on, as did the sound of the patrol’s whistles, -as the search proceeded elsewhere; thus giving me the -assurance that no suspicion was directed upon our hiding -place.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Left in darkness I appropriated such of the weapons of -the dead warrior as I coveted, after having removed my -equilibrimotor, which I was first minded to destroy, but -which I finally decided to moor to one of the larger -shrubs against the possibility that I might again have need -for it; and now, secure in the conviction that the danger -of discovery by the air patrol had passed, I left my concealment -and started in search of my companions.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Keeping well in the shadows of the trees and shrubs -I moved in the direction of the main building, which -loomed darkly near at hand; for in this direction I believed -Gor Hajus would lead the others as I knew that -the palace of Mu Tel was to have been our destination. -As I crept along, moving with utmost stealth, Thuria, the -nearer moon, shot suddenly above the horizon, illuminating -the night with her brilliant rays. I was close to -the building’s ornately carved wall at the moment; beside -me was a narrow niche, its interior cast in deepest -shadow by Thuria’s brilliant rays; to my left was an -open bit of lawn upon which, revealed in every detail of -its terrifying presence, stood as fearsome a creature as -my Earthly eyes ever had rested upon. It was a beast -about the size of a Shetland pony, with ten short legs -and a terrifying head that bore some slight resemblance -to that of a frog, except that the jaws were equipped -with three rows of long, sharp tusks.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The thing had its nose in the air and was sniffing -about, while its great pop eyes moved swiftly here and -there, assuring me, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that -it was searching for someone. I am not inclined to be -egotistical, yet I could not avoid the conviction that it -was searching for me. It was my first experience of a -Martian watch dog; and as I sought concealment within -the dark shadows of the niche behind me, at the very -instant that the creature’s eyes alighted upon me, and -heard his growl and saw him charge straight towards -me, I had a premonition that it might prove my last experience -with one.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I drew my long-sword as I backed into the niche, but -with a sense of the utter inadequacy of the unaccustomed -weapon in the face of this three or four hundred pounds -of ferocity incarnate. Slowly I backed away into the -shadows as the creature bore down upon me and then, -as it entered the niche, my back collided with a solid -obstacle that put an end to further retreat.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='92' id='Page_92'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER IX<br/> THE PALACE OF MU TEL</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>As</span> the calot entered the niche I experienced, I believe, -all of the reactions of the cornered rat, and I certainly -know that I set myself to fight in that proverbial manner. -The beast was almost upon me and I was metaphorically -kicking myself for not having remained in the open -where there were many tall trees when the support at my -back suddenly gave way, a hand reached out of the darkness -behind me and seized my harness and I was drawn -swiftly into inky blackness. A door slammed and the -silhouette of the calot against the moonlit entrance to -the niche was blotted out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A gruff voice spoke in my ear. “Come with me!” it -said. A hand found mine and thus I was led along -through the darkness of what I soon discovered was a -narrow corridor from the constantly recurring collisions -I had first with one side of it and then with the other.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ascending gradually, the corridor turned abruptly at -right angles and I saw beyond my guide a dim luminosity -that gradually increased until another turn brought us to -the threshold of a brilliantly lighted chamber—a magnificent -apartment, the gorgeous furnishings and decorations -of which beggar the meagre descriptive powers of -my native tongue. Gold, ivory, precious stones, marvelous -woods, resplendent fabrics, gorgeous furs and startling -architecture combined to impress upon my earthly -vision such a picture as I had never even dreamed of -dreaming; and in the center of this room, surrounded by -a little group of Martians, were my three companions.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My guide conducted me towards the party, the members -of which had turned towards us as we entered the -chamber, and stopped before a tall Barsoomian, resplendent -in jewel encrusted harness.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Prince,” he said, “I was scarce a tal too soon. In -fact, as I opened the door to step out into the garden in -search of him, as you directed, there he was upon the -opposite side with one of the calots of the garden almost -upon him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good!” exclaimed he who had been addressed as -prince, and then he turned to Gor Hajus. “This is he, my -friend, of whom you told me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This is Vad Varo, who claims to be from the planet -Jasoom,” replied Gor Hajus; “and this, Vad Varo, is -Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I bowed and the prince advanced and placed his right -hand upon my left shoulder in true Barsoomian acknowledgment -of an introduction; when I had done similarly, -the ceremony was over. There was no silly pleased-to-meet-you, -how-do-you-do? or it’s-a-pleasure-I-assure-you.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At Mu Tel’s request I narrated briefly what had befallen -me between the time I had become separated from -my companions and the moment that one of his officers -had snatched me from impending disaster. Mu Tel gave -instructions that all traces of the dead patrol be removed -before dawn lest their discovery bring upon him the further -suspicion of his uncle, Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, -whom it seemed had long been jealous of his nephew’s -growing popularity and fearful that he harbored aspirations -for the throne.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was later in the evening, during one of those elaborate -meals for which the princes of Barsoom are justly -famous, when mellowed slightly by the rare vintages -with which he delighted his guests, that Mu Tel discoursed -with less restraint upon his imperial uncle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The nobles have long been tired of Vobis Kan,” he -said, “and the people are tiring of him—he is a conscienceless -tyrant—but he is our hereditary ruler, and so -they hesitate to change. We are a practical people, little -influenced by sentiment; yet there is enough to keep the -masses loyal to their Jeddak even after he has ceased to -deserve their loyalty, while the fear of the wrath of the -masses keeps the nobles loyal. There is also the natural -suspicion that I, the next in line for succession, would -make them no less tyrannical a Jeddak than has Vobis -Kan, while, having youth, I might be much more active in -cruel and nefarious practices.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“For myself, I would not hesitate to destroy my uncle -and seize his throne were I sure of the support of the -army, for with the warriors of Vobis Kan at my back I -might defy the balance of Toonol. It is because of this -that I long since offered my friendship to Gor Hajus; not -that he might slay my uncle, but that when I had slain -him in fair fight Gor Hajus might win to me the loyalty -of the Jeddak’s warriors, for great is the popularity of Gor -Hajus among the soldiers, who ever look up to such a -great fighter with reverence and devotion. I have offered -Gor Hajus a high place in the affairs of Toonol should -he cast his lot with me; but he tells me that he has first -to fulfil his obligations to you, Vad Varo, and for the -furtherance of your adventure he has asked me to give -you what assistance I may. This I offer gladly, from -purely practical motives, since your early success will -hasten mine. Therefore I propose to place at your disposal -a staunch flier that will carry you and your companions -to Phundahl.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This offer I naturally accepted, after which we fell to -discussing plans for our departure which we finally decided -to attempt early the following night, at a time -when neither of the moons would be in the heavens. -After a brief discussion of equipment we were, at my -request, permitted to retire since I had not slept for -more than thirty-six hours and my companions for -twenty-four.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Slaves conducted us to our sleeping apartments, which -were luxuriously furnished, and arranged magnificent -sleeping silks and furs for our comfort. After they had -left us Gor Hajus touched a button and the room rose -swiftly upon its metal shaft to a height of forty or fifty -feet; the wire netting automatically dropped about us, -and we were safe for the night.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The following morning, after our apartment had been -lowered to its daylight level and before I was permitted -to leave it, a slave was sent to me by Mu Tel with instructions -to stain my entire body the beautiful copper-red -of my Barsoomian friends; furnishing me with a disguise -which I well knew to be highly essential to the success -of my venture, since my white skin would have -drawn unpleasant notice upon me in any city of Barsoom. -Another slave brought harness and weapons for -Gor Hajus, Dar Tarus and myself, and a collar and chain -for Hovan Du, the ape-man. Our harness, while of heavy -material, and splendid workmanship, was quite plain, being -free of all insignia either of rank or service—such -harness as is customarily worn by the Barsoomian panthan, -or soldier of fortune, at such times as he is not -definitely in the service of any nation or individual. -These panthans are virtually men without a country, -being roving mercenaries ready to sell their swords to -the highest bidder. Although they have no organization -they are ruled by a severe code of ethics and while in the -employ of a master are, almost without exception, loyal -to him. They are generally supposed to be men who have -flown from the wrath of their own Jeddaks or the justice -of their own courts, but there is among them a sprinkling -of adventurous souls who have adopted their calling because -of the thrills and excitement it offers. While they -are well paid, they are also great gamblers and notorious -spenders, with the result that they are almost always -without funds and often reduced to strange expedients -for the gaining of their livelihood between engagements; -a fact which gave great plausibility to our possession of -a trained ape, which upon Mars would appear no more -remarkable than would to us the possession of a monkey -or parrot by an old salt just returned, from a long cruise, -to one of our Earthly ports.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This day that I stayed in the palace of Mu Tel I spent -much in the company of the prince, who found pleasure -in questioning me concerning the customs, the politics, -the civilization and the geography of Earth, with much of -which, I was surprised to note, he seemed quite familiar; -a fact which he explained was due to the marvelous development -of Barsoomian astronomical instruments, -wireless photography and wireless telephony; the last of -which has been brought to such a state of perfection that -many Barsoomian savants have succeeded in learning -several Earthly languages, notably Urdu, English and -Russian, and, a few, Chinese also. These have doubtless -been the first languages to attract their attention because -of the fact that they are spoken by great numbers of -people over large areas of the world.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mu Tel took me to a small auditorium in his palace -that reminded me somewhat of private projection rooms -on Earth. It had, I should say, a capacity of some two -hundred persons and was built like a large camera obscura; -the audience sitting within the instrument, their -backs towards the lens and in front of them, filling one -entire end of the room, a large ground glass upon which -is thrown the image to be observed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mu Tel seated himself at a table upon which was a -chart of the heavens. Just above the chart was a movable -arm carrying a pointer. This pointer Mu Tel moved until -it rested upon the planet Earth, then he switched off the -light in the room and immediately there appeared upon -the ground glass plate a view such as one might obtain -from an airplane riding at an elevation of a thousand -feet. There was something strangely familiar about the -scene before me. It was of a desolate, wasted country. -I saw shattered stumps whose orderly arrangement proclaimed -that here once an orchard had blossomed and -borne fruit. There were great, unsightly holes in the -earth and over and across all a tangle of barbed wire. I -asked Mu Tel how we might change the picture to another -locality. He lighted a small radio bulb between us -and I saw a globe there, a globe of Earth, and a small -pointer fixed over it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The side of this globe now presented to you represents -the face of the Earth turned towards us,” explained -Mu Tel. “You will note that the globe is slowly revolving. -Place this pointer where you will upon the globe -and that portion of Jasoom will be revealed for you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I moved the pointer very slowly and the picture -changed. A ruined village came into view. I saw some -people moving among its ruins. They were not soldiers. -A little further on I came upon trenches and dug-outs—there -were no soldiers here, either. I moved the pointer -rapidly north and south along a vast line of trenches. -Here and there in villages there were soldiers, but they -were all French soldiers and never were they in the -trenches. There were no German soldiers and no fighting. -The war was over, then! I moved the pointer to the -Rhine and across. There were soldiers in Germany—French -soldiers, English soldiers, American soldiers. We -had won the war! I was glad, but it seemed very far -away and quite unreal—as though no such world existed -and no such peoples had ever fought—it was as -though I were recalling through its illustrations a novel -that I had read a long time since.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You seem much interested in that war torn country,” -remarked Mu Tel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” I explained, “I fought in that war. Perhaps I -was killed. I do not know.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you won?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, my people won,” I replied. “We fought for a -great principle and for the peace and happiness of a -world. I hope that we did not fight in vain.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If you mean that you hope that your principle will -triumph because you fought and won, or that peace -will come, your hopes are futile. War never brought -peace—it but brings more and greater wars. War is Nature’s -natural state—it is folly to combat it. Peace should -be considered only as a time for preparation for the -principal business of man’s existence. Were it not for -constant warring of one form of life upon another, and -even upon itself, the planets would be so overrun with -life that it would smother itself out. We found upon -Barsoom that long periods of peace brought plagues and -terrible diseases that killed more than the wars killed -and in a much more hideous and painful way. There is -neither pleasure nor thrill nor reward of any sort to be -gained by dying in bed of a loathsome disease. We must -all die—let us therefore go out and die in a great and -exciting game, and make room for the millions who are -to follow us. We have tried it out upon Barsoom and we -would not be without war.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mu Tel told me much that day about the peculiar philosophy -of Toonolians. They believe that no good deed -was ever performed except for a selfish motive; they -have no god and no religion; they believe, as do all educated -Barsoomians, that man came originally from the -Tree of Life, but unlike most of their fellows they do -not believe that an omnipotent being created the Tree of -Life. They hold that the only sin is failure—success, -however achieved, is meritorious; and yet, paradoxical -as it may seem, they never break their given word. Mu -Tel explained that they overcame the baneful results of -this degrading weakness—this sentimental bosh—by seldom, -if ever, binding themselves to loyalty to another, -and then only for a definitely prescribed period.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As I came to know them better, and especially Gor -Hajus, I began to realize that much of their flaunted -contempt of the finer sensibilities was specious. It is true -that generations of inhibition had to some extent atrophied -those characteristics of heart and soul which the -noblest among us so highly esteem; that friendship’s ties -were lax and that blood kinship awakened no high sense -of responsibility or love even between parents and children; -yet Gor Hajus was essentially a man of sentiment, -though he would doubtless have run through the heart -any who had dared accuse him of it, thus perfectly proving -the truth of the other’s accusation. His pride in his -reputation for integrity and loyalty proved him a man of -heart as truly as did his jealousy of his reputation for -heartlessness prove him a man of sentiment; and in all -this he was but typical of the people of Toonol. They -denied deity, and in the same breath worshiped the fetish -of science that they had permitted to obsess them quite -as harmfully as do religious fanatics accept the unreasoning -rule of their imaginary gods; and so, with all their -vaunted knowledge, they were unintelligent because unbalanced.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As the day drew to a close I became the more anxious -to be away. Far to the west across desolate leagues -of marsh lay Phundahl, and in Phundahl the beauteous -body of the girl I loved and that I was sworn to restore -to its rightful owner. The evening meal was over and -Mu Tel himself had conducted us to a secret hangar in -one of the towers of his palace. Here artisans had prepared -a flier for us, having removed during the day all -signs of its real ownership, even to slightly altering its -lines; so that in the event of capture Mu Tel’s name -might in no way be connected with the expedition. Provisions -were stored, including plenty of raw meat for -Hovan Du, and, as the farther moon sank below the horizon -and darkness fell, a panel of the tower wall, directly -in front of the flier’s nose, slid aside. Mu Tel -wished us luck and the ship slipped silently out into the -night. The flier, like many of her type, was without cockpit -or cabin; a low, metal hand-rail surmounted her -gunwale; heavy rings were set substantially in her deck -and to these her crew was supposed to cling or attach -themselves by means of their harness hooks provided -for this and similar purposes; a low wind shield, with a -rakish slant, afforded some protection from the wind; the -motor and controls were all exposed, as all the space -below decks was taken up by the buoyancy tanks. In -this type everything is sacrificed to speed; there is no -comfort aboard. When moving at high speed each member -of the crew lies extended at full length upon the -deck, each in his allotted place to give the necessary -trim, and hangs on for dear life. These Toonolian crafts, -however, are not overly fast, so I was told, being far -outstripped in speed by the fliers of such nations as -Helium and Ptarth who have for ages devoted themselves -to the perfection of their navies; but this one was quite -fast enough for our purposes, to the consummation of -which it would be pitted against fliers of no higher rating, -and it was certainly fast enough for me. In comparison -with the slow moving Vosar, it seemed to shoot through -the air like an arrow.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We wasted no time in strategy or stealth, but opened -her wide as soon as we were in the clear, and directed her -straight towards the west and Phundahl. Scarcely had -we passed over the gardens of Mu Tel when we met -with our first adventure. We shot by a solitary figure -floating in the air and almost simultaneously there shrilled -forth the warning whistle of an air patrol. A shot whistled -above us harmlessly and we were gone; but within -a few seconds I saw the rays of a searchlight shining -down from above and moving searchingly to and fro -through the air.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A patrol boat!” shouted Gor Hajus in my ear. Hovan -Du growled savagely and shook the chain upon his collar. -We raced on, trusting to the big gods and the little -gods and all our ancestors that the relentless eye of light -would not find us out; but it did. Within a few seconds it -fell full upon our deck from above and in front of us -and there it clung as the patrol boat dropped rapidly towards -us while it maintained a high rate of speed upon a -course otherwise identical with ours. Then, to our consternation, -the ship opened fire on us with explosive -bullets. These projectiles contain a high explosive that is -detonated by light rays when the opaque covering of the -projectile is broken by impact with the target. It is therefore -not at all necessary to make a direct hit for a shot -to be effective. If the projectile strikes the ground or the -deck of a vessel or any solid substance near its target, -it does considerably more damage when fired at a group -of men than if it strikes but one of them, since it will -then explode if its outer shell is broken and kill or wound -several; while if it enters the body of an individual the -light rays cannot reach it and it accomplishes no more -than a non-explosive bullet. Moonlight is not powerful -enough to detonate this explosive and so projectiles fired -at night, unless touched by the powerful rays of searchlights, -detonate at sunrise the following morning, making -a battlefield a most unsafe place at that time even -though the contending forces are no longer there. Similarly -they make the removal of the unexploded projectiles -from the bodies of the wounded a most ticklish operation -which may well result in the instant death of both -the patient and the surgeon.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus, at the controls, turned the nose of our -flier upward directly towards the patrol boat and at the -same time shouted to us to concentrate our fire upon -her propellers. For myself, I could see little but the -blinding eye of the searchlight, and at that I fired with -the strange weapon to which I had received my first introduction -but a few hours since when it was presented -to me by Mu Tel. To me that all searching eye represented -the greatest menace that confronted us, and -could we blind it the patrol boat would have no great -advantage over us. So I kept my rifle straight upon it, my -finger on the button that controlled the fire, and prayed -for a hit.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus knelt at my side, his weapon spitting bullets -at the patrol boat. Dar Tarus’ hands were busy with -the controls and Hovan Du squatted in the bow and -growled.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Suddenly Dar Tarus voiced an exclamation of alarm. -“The controls are hit!” he shouted. “We can’t alter our -course—the ship is useless.” Almost the same instant -the searchlight was extinguished—one of my bullets evidently -having found it. We were quite close to the enemy -now and heard their shout of anger. Our own craft, out -of control, was running swiftly towards the other. It -seemed that if there was not a collision we would pass -directly beneath the keel of the air patrol. I asked Dar -Tarus if our ship was beyond repair.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We could repair it if we had time,” he replied, “but -it would take hours and while we were thus delayed the -whole air patrol force of Toonol would be upon us.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then we must have another ship,” I said. Dar Tarus -laughed. “You are right, Vad Varo,” he replied, “but -where shall we find it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I pointed to the patrol boat. “We shall not have to -look far.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus shrugged his shoulders. “Why not!” he exclaimed. -“It would be a glorious fight and a worthy -death.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus slapped me on the shoulder. “To the death, -my captain!” he cried.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hovan Du shook his chain and roared.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The two ships were rapidly approaching one another. -We had stopped firing now for fear that we might disable -the craft we hoped to use for our escape; and for -some reason the crew of the patrol ship had ceased firing -at us—I never learned why. We were moving in a -line that would bring us directly beneath the other ship. -I determined to board her at all costs. I could see her -keel boarding tackle slung beneath her, ready to be lowered -to the deck of a quarry when once her grappling -hooks had seized the prey. Doubtless they were already -manning the latter, and as soon as we were beneath her -the steel tentacles would reach down and seize us as her -crew swarmed down the board tackle to our deck.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I called Hovan Du and he crept back to my side -where I whispered my instructions in his ear. When I -was done he nodded his head with a low growl. I cast -off the harness hook that held me to the deck, and the -ape and I moved to our bow after I had issued brief, -whispered instructions to Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus. We -were now almost directly beneath the enemy craft; I -could see the grappling hooks being prepared for lowering. -Our bow ran beneath the stern of the other ship -and the moment was at hand for which I had been waiting. -Now those upon the deck of the patrol boat could -not see Hovan Du or me. The boarding tackle of the -other ship swung fifteen feet above our heads; I whispered -a word of command to the ape and simultaneously -we crouched and sprang for the tackle. It may sound -like a mad chance—failure meant almost certain death—but -I felt that if two of us could reach the deck of the -patrol boat while her crew was busy with the grappling -gear it would be well worth the risk.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus had assured me that there would not be -more than six men aboard the patrol ship; that one -would be at the controls and the others manning the -grappling hooks. It would be a most propitious time to -gain a footing on the enemy’s deck.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hovan Du and I made our leaps and Fortune smiled -upon us, though the huge ape but barely reached the -tackle with one outstretched hand, while my Earthly muscles -carried me easily to my goal. Together we made our -way rapidly towards the bow of the patrol craft and -without hesitation, and as previously arranged, he clambered -quickly up the starboard side and I the port. If I -were the more agile jumper Hovan Du far outclassed me -in climbing, with the result that he reached the rail and -was clambering over while my eyes were still below the -level of the deck, which was, perhaps, a fortunate thing -for me since, by chance, I had elected to gain the deck -directly at a point where, unknown to me, one of the -crew of the ship was engaged with the grappling hooks. -Had his eyes not been attracted elsewhere by the shout -of one of his fellows who was first to see Hovan Du’s -savage face rise above the gunwale, he could have dispatched -me with a single blow before ever I could have -set foot upon the deck.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The ape had also come up directly in front of a -Toonolian warrior and this fellow had let out a yell of -surprise and sought to draw his sword, but the ape, -for all his great bulk, was too quick for him; and as -my eyes topped the rail I saw the mighty anthropoid -seize the unfortunate man by the harness, drag him -to the side and hurl him to destruction far below. Instantly -we were both over the rail and squarely on deck -while the remaining members of the craft’s crew, abandoning -their stations, ran forward to overpower us. I -think that the sight of the great, savage beast must have -had a demoralizing effect upon them, for they hesitated, -each seeming to be willing to accord his fellow the honour -of first engaging us; but they did come on, though -slowly. This hesitation I was delighted to see, for it -accorded perfectly with the plan that I had worked out, -which depended largely upon the success which might -attend the efforts of Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus to reach -the deck of the patrol when our craft had risen sufficiently -close beneath the other to permit them to -reach the boarding tackle, which we were utilizing with -reverse English, as one might say.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus had cautioned me to dispatch the man -at the controls as quickly as possible, since his very -first act would be to injure them the instant that there -appeared any possibility that we might be successful in -our attempt to take his ship, and so I ran quickly towards -him and before he could draw I cut him down. -There were now four against us and we waited for them -to advance that we might gain time for our fellows to -reach the deck.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The four moved slowly forward and were almost within -striking distance when I saw Gor Hajus’ head appear -above the stern rail, quickly followed by that of Dar -Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Look!” I cried to the enemy, “and surrender,” and -I pointed astern.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>One of them turned to look and what he saw brought -an exclamation of surprise to his lips. “It is Gor Hajus,” -he cried, and then, to me: “What is your purpose with -us if we surrender?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We have no quarrel with you,” I replied. “We but -wish to leave Toonol and go our way in peace—we -shall not harm you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He turned to his fellows while, at a sign from me, -my three companions stopped their advance and waited. -For a few minutes the four warriors conversed in low -tones, then he who had first spoken addressed me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There are few Toonolians,” he said, “who would not -be glad to serve Gor Hajus, whom we had thought long -dead, but to surrender our ship to you would mean certain -death for us when we reported our defeat at our -headquarters. On the other hand were we to continue -our defence most of us here upon the deck of this flier -would be killed. If you can assure us that your plans -are not aimed at the safety of Toonol I can make a -suggestion that will afford an avenue of escape and -safety for us all.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We only wish to leave Toonol,” I replied. “No harm -can come to Toonol because of what I seek to accomplish.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good! and where do you wish to go?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That I may not tell you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You may trust us, if you accept my proposal,” he -assured me, “which is that we convey you to your destination, -after which we can return to Toonol and report -that we engaged you and that after a long running fight, -in which two of our number were killed, you eluded us -in the darkness and escaped.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Can we trust these men?” I asked, addressing Gor -Hajus, who assured me that we could, and thus the -compact was entered into which saw us speeding rapidly -towards Phundahl aboard one of Vobis Kan’s own -fliers.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='106' id='Page_106'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER X<br/> PHUNDAHL</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>The</span> following night the Toonolian crew set us down -just inside the wall of the city of Phundahl, following -the directions of Dar Tarus who was a native of the -city, had been a warrior of the Jeddara’s Guard and, -prior to that, seen service in Phundahl’s tiny navy. That -he was familiar with every detail of Phundahl’s defences -and her systems of patrols was evidenced by the fact -that we landed without detection and that the Toonolian -ship rose and departed apparently unnoticed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Our landing place had been the roof of a low building -built within and against the city wall. From this roof -Dar Tarus led us down an inclined runway to the street, -which, at this point, was quite deserted. The street was -narrow and dark, being flanked upon one side by the -low buildings built against the city wall and upon the -other by higher buildings, some of which were windowless -and none showing any light. Dar Tarus explained -that he had chosen this point for our entrance because -it was a district of storage houses, and while a hive -of industry during the day, was always deserted at night, -not even a watchman being required owing to the almost -total absence of thievery upon Barsoom.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>By devious and roundabout ways he led us finally to -a section of second-rate shops, eating places and hotels -such as are frequented by the common soldiers, artisans -and slaves, where the only attention we attracted was -due to the curiosity aroused by Hovan Du. As we -had not eaten since leaving Mu Tel’s palace, our first -consideration was food. Mu Tel had furnished Gor Hajus -with money, so that we had the means to gratify our -wants. Our first stop was at a small shop where Gor -Hajus purchased four or five pounds of thoat steak -for Hovan Du, and then we repaired to an eating place -of which Dar Tarus knew. At first the proprietor would -not let us bring Hovan Du inside, but finally, after much -argument, he permitted us to lock the great ape in an -inner room where Hovan Du was forced to remain -with his thoat meat while we sat at a table in the outer -room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I will say for Hovan Du that he played his role well, -nor was there once when the proprietor of the place, -or any of his patrons, or the considerable crowd that -gathered to listen to the altercation, could have guessed -that the body of the great, savage beast was animated -by a human brain. It was really only when feeding or -fighting that the simian half of Hovan Du’s brain appeared -to exercise any considerable influence upon him; -yet there seemed little doubt that it always coloured all -his thoughts and actions to some extent, accounting for -his habitual taciturnity and the quickness with which he -was aroused to anger, as well as to the fact that he -never smiled, nor appeared to appreciate in any degree -the humor of a situation. He assured me, however, that -the human half of his brain not only appreciated but -greatly enjoyed the lighter episodes and occurrences of -our adventure and the witty stories and anecdotes related -by Gor Hajus, the Assassin, but that his simian -anatomy had developed no muscles wherewith to evidence -physical expression of his mental reactions.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We dined heartily, though upon rough and simple fare, -but were glad to escape the prying curiosity of the -garrulous and gossipy proprietor, who plied us with so -many questions as to our past performances and future -plans that Dar Tarus, who was our spokesman here, -was hard put to it to quickly fabricate replies that would -be always consistent. However, escape we did at last, -and once again in the street, Dar Tarus set out to lead -us to a public lodging house of which he knew. As -we went we approached a great building of wondrous -beauty in and out of which constant streams of people -were pouring, and when we were before it Dar Tarus -asked us to wait without as he must enter. When I -asked him why, he told me that this was a temple of -Tur, the god worshipped by the people of Phundahl.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have been away for a long time,” he said, “and -have had no opportunity to do honor to my god. I -shall not keep you waiting long. Gor Hajus, will you -loan me a few pieces of gold?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In silence the Toonolian took a few pieces of money -from one of his pocket pouches and handed them to -Dar Tarus, but I could see that it was only with difficulty -that he hid an expression of contempt, since the -Toonolians are atheists.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I asked Dar Tarus if I might accompany him into -the temple, which seemed to please him very much; and -so we fell in with the stream approaching the broad -entrance. Dar Tarus gave me two of the gold pieces -that he had borrowed from Gor Hajus and told me to -follow directly behind him and do whatever I saw him -doing. Directly inside the main entrance, and spread -entirely across it at intervals that permitted space for -the worshippers to pass between them, was a line of -priests, their entire bodies, including their heads and -faces, covered by a mantle of white cloth. In front of -each was a substantial stand upon which rested a cash -drawer. As we approached one of these we handed him -a piece of gold which he immediately changed into many -pieces of lesser value, one of which we dropped into -a box at his side; whereupon he made several passes -with his hands above our heads, dipped one of his fingers -into a bowl of dirty water which he rubbed upon -the ends of our noses, mumbled a few words which I -could not understand and turned to the next in line -as we passed on into the interior of the great temple. -Never have I seen such a gorgeous display of wealth -and lavish ornamentation as confronted my eyes in this, -the first of the temples of Tur that it was my fortune -to behold.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The enormous floor was unbroken by a single pillar -and arranged upon it at regular intervals were carven -images resting upon gorgeous pedestals. Some of these -images were of men and some of women and many -of them were beautiful; and there were others of beasts -and of strange, grotesque creatures and many of these -were hideous indeed. The first we approached was that -of a beautiful female figure; and about the pedestal of -this lay a number of men and women prone upon the -floor against which they bumped their heads seven times -and then arose and dropped a piece of money into a -receptacle provided for that purpose, moving on then -to another figure. The next that Dar Tarus and I -visited was that of a man with the body of a <span class='it'>silian</span>, -about the pedestal of which was arranged a series of -horizontal wooden bars in concentric circles. The bars -were about five feet from the floor and hanging from -them by their knees were a number of men and women, -repeating monotonously, over and over again, something -that sounded to me like, <span class='it'>bibble-babble-blup</span>.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus and I swung to the bars like the others -and mumbled the meaningless phrase for a minute or -two, then we swung down, dropped a coin into the box, -and moved on. I asked Dar Tarus what the words were -that we had repeated and what they meant, but he said -he did not know. I asked him if anyone knew, but he -appeared shocked and said that such a question was -sacrilegious and revealed a marked lack of faith. At -the next figure we visited the people were all upon -their hands and knees crawling madly in a circle about -the pedestal. Seven times around they crawled and then -they arose and put some money in a dish and went -their ways. At another the people rolled about, saying, -“Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur,” and dropping -money in a golden bowl when they were done.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What god was that?” I whispered to Dar Tarus -when we had quit this last figure, which had no head, -but eyes, nose and mouth in the center of its belly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is but one god,” replied Dar Tarus solemnly, -“and he is Tur!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Was that Tur?” I inquired.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Silence, man,” whispered Dar Tarus. “They would -tear you to pieces were they to hear such heresy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I beg your pardon,” I exclaimed. “I did not -mean to offend. I see now that that is merely one of -your idols.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus clapped a hand over my mouth. “S-s-s-t!” -he cautioned to silence. “We do not worship idols—there -is but one god and he is Tur!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, what are these?” I insisted, with a sweep of -a hand that embraced the several score images about -which were gathered the thousands of worshippers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We must not ask,” he assured me. “It is enough -that we have faith that all the works of Tur are just -and righteous. Come! I shall soon be through and we -may join our companions.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He led me next to the figure of a monstrosity with -a mouth that ran entirely around its head. It had a -long tail and the breasts of a woman. About this image -were a great many people, each standing upon his head. -They also were repeating, over and over, “Tur is Tur; -Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur.” When we had done this for a -minute or two, during which I had a devil of a time -maintaining my equilibrium, we arose, dropped a coin -into the box by the pedestal and moved on.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We may go now,” said Dar Tarus. “I have done -well in the sight of Tur.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I notice,” I remarked, “that the people repeated the -same phrase before this figure that they did at the last—Tur -is Tur.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no,” exclaimed Dar Tarus. “On the contrary -they said just exactly the opposite from what they said -at the other. At that they said, Tur is Tur; while at -this they absolutely reversed it and said, Tur is Tur. -Do you not see? They turned it right around backwards, -which makes a very great difference.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It sounded the same to me,” I insisted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That is because you lack faith,” he said sadly, and -we passed out of the temple, after depositing the rest -of our money in a huge chest, of which there were -many standing about almost filled with coins.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We found Gor Hajus and Hovan Du awaiting us impatiently, -the center of a large and curious throng -among which were many warriors in the metal of Xaxa, -the Jeddara of Phundahl. They wanted to see Hovan -Du perform, but Dar Tarus told them that he was tired -and in an ugly mood.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“To-morrow,” he said, “when he is rested I shall -bring him out upon the avenues to amuse you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>With difficulty we extricated ourselves, and passing -into a quieter avenue, took a roundabout way to the -lodging place, where Hovan Du was confined in a small -chamber while Gor Hajus, Dar Tarus and I were conducted -by slaves to a large sleeping apartment where -sleeping silks and furs were arranged for us upon a low -platform that encircled the room and was broken only -at the single entrance to the chamber. Here were already -sleeping a considerable number of men, while two -armed slaves patrolled the aisle to guard the guests from -assassins.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was still early and some of the other lodgers were -conversing in low whispers so I sought to engage Dar -Tarus in conversation relative to his religion, about which -I was curious.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The mysteries of religions always fascinate me, Dar -Tarus,” I told him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ah, but that is the beauty of the religion of Tur,” -he exclaimed, “it has no mysteries. It is simple, natural, -scientific and every word and work of it is susceptible -of proof through the pages of Turgan, the great book -written by Tur himself.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tur’s home is upon the sun. There, one hundred -thousand years ago, he made Barsoom and tossed it -out into space. Then he amused himself by creating -man in various forms and two sexes; and later he fashioned -animals to be food for man and each other, and -caused vegetation and water to appear that man and -the animals might live. Do you not see how simple and -scientific it all is?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But it was Gor Hajus who told me most about the -religion of Tur one day when Dar Tarus was not about. -He said that the Phundahlians maintained that Tur still -created every living thing with his own hands. They -denied vigorously that man possessed the power to reproduce -his kind and taught their young that all such -belief was vile; and always they hid every evidence of -natural procreation, insisting to the death that even those -things which they witnessed with their own eyes and -experienced with their own bodies in the bringing forth -of their young never transpired.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Turgan taught them that Barsoom is flat and they -shut their minds to every proof to the contrary. They -would not leave Phundahl far for fear of falling off the -edge of the world; they would not permit the development -of aeronautics because should one of their ships -circumnavigate Barsoom it would be a wicked sacrilege -in the eyes of Tur who made Barsoom flat.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They would not permit the use of telescopes, for Tur -taught them that there was no other world than Barsoom -and to look at another would be heresy; nor -would they permit the teaching in their schools of any -history of Barsoom that antedated the creation of Barsoom -by Tur, though Barsoom has a well authenticated -written history that reaches back more than one hundred -thousand years; nor would they permit any geography -of Barsoom except that which appears in Turgan, nor -any scientific researches along biological lines. Turgan -is their only text book—if it is not in Turgan it is a -wicked lie.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Much of all this and a great deal more I gathered -from one source or another during my brief stay in -Phundahl, whose people are, I believe, the least advanced -in civilization of any of the red nations upon -Barsoom. Giving, as they do, all their best thought to -religious matters, they have become ignorant, bigoted -and narrow, going as far to one extreme as the Toonolians -do to the other.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>However, I had not come to Phundahl to investigate -her culture but to steal her queen, and that thought -was uppermost in my mind when I awoke to a new -day—my first in Phundahl. Following the morning meal -we set out in the direction of the palace to reconnoitre, -Dar Tarus leading us to a point from which he might -easily direct us the balance of the way, as he did not -dare accompany us to the immediate vicinity of the -royal grounds for fear of recognition, the body he now -possessed having formerly belonged to a well-known -noble.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was arranged that Gor Hajus should act as spokesman -and I as keeper of the ape. This arranged, we -bade farewell to Dar Tarus and set forth, the three of -us, along a broad and beautiful avenue that led directly -to the palace gates. We had been planning and -rehearsing the parts that we were to play and which -we hoped would prove so successful that they would -open the gates to us and win us to the presence of -the Jeddara.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we strolled with seeming unconcern along the -avenue, I had ample opportunity to enjoy the novel -and beautiful sights of this rich boulevard of palaces. -The sun shone down upon vivid scarlet lawns, gorgeous -flowered pimalia and a score of other rarely beautiful -Barsoomian shrubs and trees, while the avenue itself -was shaded by almost perfect specimens of the magnificent -sorapus. The sleeping apartments of the buildings -had all been lowered to their daytime level, and from a -hundred balconies gorgeous silks and furs were airing -in the sun. Slaves were briskly engaged with their duties -about the grounds, while upon many a balcony women -and children sat at their morning meal. Among the children -we aroused considerable enthusiasm, or at least -Hovan Du did, nor was he without interest to the adults. -Some of them would have detained us for an exhibition, -but we moved steadily on towards the palace, for -nowhere else had we business or concern within the -walls of Phundahl.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Around the palace gates was the usual crowd of -loitering curiosity seekers; for after all human nature is -much the same everywhere, whether skins be black or -white, red or yellow or brown, upon Earth or upon -Mars. The crowd before Xaxa’s gates were largely made -up of visitors from the islands of that part of the Great -Toonolian Marshes which owes allegiance to Phundahl’s -queen, and like all provincials eager for a glimpse of -royalty; though none the less to be interested by the -antics of a simian, wherefore we had a ready made -audience awaiting our arrival. Their natural fear of the -great brute caused them to fall back a little at our -approach so that we had a clear avenue to the very -gates themselves, and there we halted while the crowds -closed in behind, forming a half circle about us. Gor -Hajus addressed them in a loud tone of voice that might -be overheard by the warriors and their officers beyond -the gates, for it was really them we had come to entertain, -not the crowds in which we had not the slightest -interest.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Men and women of Phundahl,” cried Gor Hajus, -“behold two poor panthans, who, risking their lives, -have captured and trained one of the most savage and -ferocious and at the same time most intelligent specimens -of the great white ape of Barsoom ever before -seen in captivity and at great expense have brought it -to Phundahl for your entertainment and edification. My -friends, this wonderful ape is endowed with human intelligence; -he understands every word that is spoken to -him. With your kind attention, my friends, I will endeavor -to demonstrate the remarkable intelligence of -this ferocious, man-eating beast—an intelligence that has -entertained the crowned heads of Barsoom and mystified -the minds of her most learned savants.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I thought Gor Hajus did pretty well as a bally-hoo -artist. I had to smile as I listened, here upon Mars, to -the familiar lines that I had taught him out of my -Earthly experience of county fairs and amusement parks, -so highly ludicrous they sounded falling from the lips -of the Assassin of Toonol; but they evidently interested -his auditors and impressed them, too, for they craned -their necks and stood in earnest eyed silence awaiting -the performance of Hovan Du. Even better, several members -of the Jeddara’s Guard pricked up their ears and -sauntered towards the gates; and among them was an -officer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus caused Hovan Du to lie down at word -of command, to get up, to stand upon one foot, and to -indicate the number of fingers that Gor Hajus held up -by growling once for each finger, thus satisfying the audience -that he could count; but these simple things -were only by way of leading up to the more remarkable -achievements which we hoped would win an audience -before the Jeddara. Gor Hajus borrowed a set -of harness and weapons from a man in the crowd and -had Hovan Du don it and fence with him, and then -indeed did we hear exclamations of amazement.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The warriors and the officer of Xaxa had drawn near -the gates and were interested spectators, which was precisely -what we wished, and now Gor Hajus was ready -for the final, astounding revelation of Hovan Du’s intelligence.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“These things that you have witnessed are as nothing,” -he cried. “Why this wonderful beast can even read -and write. He was captured in a deserted city near -Ptarth and can read and write the language of that -country. Is there among you one who, by chance, comes -from that distant country?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A slave spoke up. “I am from Ptarth.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good!” said Gor Hajus. “Write some simple instructions -and hand them to the ape. I will turn my back -that you may know that I cannot assist him in any -way.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The slave drew forth a tablet from a pocket pouch -and wrote briefly. What he wrote he handed to Hovan -Du. The ape read the message and without hesitation -moved quickly to the gate and handed it to the officer -standing upon the other side, the gate being constructed -of wrought metal in fanciful designs that offered no obstruction -to the view or to the passage of small articles. -The officer took the message and examined it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What does it say?” he demanded of the slave that -had penned it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It says,” replied the latter: “Take this message to -the officer who stands just within the gates.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There were exclamations of surprise from all parts -of the crowd and Hovan Du was compelled to repeat -his performance several times with different messages -which directed him to do various things, the officer -always taking a great interest in the proceedings.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is marvellous,” said he at last. “The Jeddara -would be amused by the performance of this beast. Wait -here, therefore, until I have sent word to her that she -may, if she so desires, command your presence.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nothing could have better suited us and so we waited -with what patience we might for the messenger to return; -and while we waited Hovan Du continued to mystify -his audience with new proofs of his great intelligence.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='116' id='Page_116'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XI<br/> XAXA</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>The</span> officer returned, the gates swung out and we were -commanded to enter the courtyard of the palace of -Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. After that events transpired -with great rapidity—surprising and totally unexpected -events. We were led through an intricate maze of corridors -and chambers until I became suspicious that we -were purposely being confused, and convinced that -whether such was the intention or not the fact remained -that I could no more have retraced my steps to the -outer courtyard than I could have flown without wings. -We had planned that, in the event of gaining admission -to the palace, we would carefully note whatever might -be essential to a speedy escape; but when, in a whisper, -I asked Gor Hajus if he could find his way out again -he assured me that he was as confused as I.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The palace was in no sense remarkable nor particularly -interesting, the work of the Phundahlian artists -being heavy and oppressing and without indication of -high imaginative genius. The scenes depicted were mostly -of a religious nature illustrating passages from Turgan, -the Phundahlian bible, and, for the most part, were a -series of monotonous repetitions. There was one, which -appeared again and again, depicting Turgan creating a -round, flat Mars and hurling it into Space, that always -reminded me of a culinary artist turning a flap jack -in a child’s window.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There were also numerous paintings of what appeared -to be court scenes delineating members of the Phundahlian -royal line in various activities; it was noticeable -that the more recent ones in which Xaxa appeared -had had the principal figure repainted so that there confronted -me from time to time portraits, none too well -done, of the beautiful face and figure of Valla Dia in -the royal trappings of a Jeddara. The effect of these -upon me is not easy of description. They brought home -to me the fact that I was approaching, and should presently -be face to face with, the person of the woman -to whom I had consecrated my love and my life, and -yet in that same person I should be confronting one -whom I loathed and would destroy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We were halted at last before a great door and from -the number of warriors and nobles congregated before -it I was confident that we were soon to be ushered -into the presence of the Jeddara. As we waited those -assembled about us eyed us with, it seemed to me, more -of hostility than curiosity and when the door swung open -they accompanied us, with the exception of a few warriors, -into the chamber beyond. The room was of medium -size and at the farther side, behind a massive -table, sat Xaxa. About her were grouped a number of -heavily armed nobles. As I looked them over I wondered -if among them was he for whom the body of -Dar Tarus had been filched; for we had promised him -that if conditions were favorable we would attempt to -recover it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Xaxa eyed us coldly as we were halted before her. -“Let us see the beast perform,” she commanded, and -then suddenly: “What mean you by permitting strangers -to enter my presence bearing arms?” she cried. “Sag Or, -see that their weapons are removed!” and she turned to -a handsome young warrior standing near her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Sag Or! That was the name. Before me stood the -noble for whom Dar Tarus had suffered the loss of his -liberty, his body and his love. Gor Hajus had also -recognized the name and Hovan Du, too; I could tell by -the way they eyed the man as he advanced. Curtly he -instructed us to hand our weapons to two warriors who -advanced to receive them. Gor Hajus hesitated. I admit -that I did not know what course to pursue.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Everyone seemed hostile and yet that might be, and -doubtless was, but a reflection of their attitude towards -all strangers. If we refused to disarm we were but three -against a room full, if they chose to resort to force; or -if they turned us out of the palace because of it we would -be robbed of this seemingly god given opportunity to -win to the very heart of Xaxa’s palace and to her very -presence, where we must eventually win before we could -strike. Would such an opportunity ever be freely offered -us again? I doubted it and felt that we had better assume -a vague risk now than, by refusing their demand, definitely -arm their suspicions. So I quietly removed my -weapons and handed them to the warrior waiting to -receive them; and following my example, Gor Hajus did -likewise, though I can imagine with what poor grace.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Once again Xaxa signified that she would see Hovan -Du perform. As Gor Hajus put him through his antics -she watched listlessly; nor did anything that the ape did -arouse the slightest flicker of interest among the entire -group assembled about the Jeddara. As the thing dragged -on I became obsessed with apprehensions that all was -not right. It seemed to me that an effort was being made -to detain us for some purpose—to gain time. I could -not understand, for instance, why Xaxa required that we -repeat several times the least interesting of the ape’s performances. -And all the time Xaxa sat playing with a -long, slim dagger, and I saw that she watched me quite -as much as she watched Hovan Du, while I found it difficult -to keep my eyes averted from that perfect face, -even though I knew that it was but a stolen mask behind -which lurked the cruel mind of a tyrant and a murderess.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At last came an interruption to the performance. The -door opened and a noble entered, who went directly to -the Jeddara whom he addressed briefly and in a low tone. -I saw that she asked him several questions and that she -seemed vexed by his replies. Then she dismissed him -with a curt gesture and turned towards us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Enough of this!” she cried. Her eyes rested upon mine -and she pointed her slim dagger at me. “Where is the -other?” she demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What other?” I inquired.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There were three of you, beside the ape. I know nothing -about the ape, nor where, nor how you acquired it; -but I do know all about you, Vad Varo, and Gor Hajus, -the Assassin of Toonol, and Dar Tarus. Where is Dar -Tarus?” her voice was low and musical and entirely beautiful—the -voice of Valla Dia—but behind it I knew was -the terrible personality of Xaxa, and I knew too that it -would be hard to deceive her, for she must have received -what information she had directly from Ras Thavas. -It had been stupid of me not to foresee that Ras Thavas -would immediately guess the purpose of my mission and -warn Xaxa. I perceived instantly that it would be worse -than useless to deny our identity, rather I must explain -our presence—if I could.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where is Dar Tarus?” she repeated.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How should I know?” I countered. “Dar Tarus has -reasons to believe that he would not be safe in Phundahl -and I imagine that he is not anxious that anyone should -know his whereabouts—myself included. He helped me -to escape from the Island of Thavas, for which his liberty -was to be his reward. He has not chosen to accompany -me further upon my adventures.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Xaxa seemed momentarily disarmed that I did not -deny my identity—evidently she had supposed that I -would do so.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You admit then,” she said, “that you are Vad Varo, -the assistant of Ras Thavas?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Have I ever sought to deny it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have disguised yourself as a red-man of Barsoom.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How could I travel in Barsoom otherwise, where every -man’s hand is against a stranger?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And why would you travel in Barsoom?” Her eyes -narrowed as she waited for my reply.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“As Ras Thavas has doubtless sent you word, I am -from another world and I would see more of this one,” I -told her. “Is that strange?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you come to Phundahl and seek to gain entrance -to my presence and bring with you the notorious -Assassin of Toonol that you may see more of Barsoom?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Gor Hajus may not return to Toonol,” I explained, -“and so he must seek service for his sword at some -other court than that of Vobis Kan—in Phundahl perhaps, -or if not here he must move on. I hope that he -will decide to accompany me as I am a stranger in -Barsoom, unaccustomed to the manners and ways of her -people. I would fare ill without a guide and mentor.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You shall fare ill,” she cried. “You have seen all of -Barsoom that you are destined to see—you have reached -the end of your adventure. You think to deceive me, eh? -You do not know, perhaps, that I have heard of your -infatuation for Valla Dia or that I am fully conversant -with the purpose of your visit to Phundahl.” Her eyes -left me and swept her nobles and her warriors. “To the -pits with them!” she cried. “Later we shall choose the -manner of their passing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Instantly we were surrounded by a score of naked -blades. There was no escape for Gor Hajus or me, but -I thought that I saw an opportunity for Hovan Du to get -away. I had had the possibility of such a contingency -in mind from the first and always I had been on the -look-out for an avenue of escape for one of us, and so -the open windows at the right of the Jeddara had not -gone unnoticed, nor the great trees growing in the courtyard -beneath. Hovan Du was close beside me as Xaxa -spoke.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Go!” I whispered. “The windows are open. Go, and -tell Dar Tarus what has happened to us,” and then I fell -back away from him and dragged Gor Hajus with me -as though we would attempt to resist arrest; and while I -thus distracted their attention from him Hovan Du turned -towards an open window. He had taken but a few steps -when a warrior attempted to halt him; with that the -ferocious brain of the anthropoid seemed to seize -dominion over the great creature. With a hideous growl -he leaped with the agility of a cat upon the unfortunate -Phundahlian, swung him high in giant hands and using -his body as a flail tumbled his fellows to right and left -as he cut a swath towards the open window nearest -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Instantly pandemonium reigned in the apartment. The -attention of all seemed centered upon the great ape and -even those who had been confronting us turned to -attack Hovan Du. And in the midst of the confusion I -saw Xaxa step to some heavy hangings directly behind -her desk, part them and disappear.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come!” I whispered to Gor Hajus. Apparently intent -only upon watching the conflict between the ape and the -warriors I moved forward with the fighters but always to -the left towards the desk that Xaxa had just quitted. -Hovan Du was giving a good account of himself. He had -discarded his first victim and one by one had seized -others as they came within range of his long arms and -powerful hands, sometimes four at a time as he stood -well braced upon two of his hand-like feet and fought with -the other four. His shock of bristling hair stood erect -upon his skull and his fierce eyes blazed with rage as, -towering high above his antagonists, he fought for his -life—the most feared of all the savage creatures of -Barsoom. Perhaps his greatest advantage lay in the inherent -fear of him that was a part of every man in that -room who faced him, and it forwarded my quickly conceived -plan, too, for it kept every eye turned upon -Hovan Du, so that Gor Hajus and I were able to work -our way to the rear of the desk. I think Hovan Du -must have sensed my intention then, for he did the one -thing best suited to attract every eye from us to him and, -too, he gave me notice that the human half of his brain -was still alert and watchful of our welfare.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Heretofore the Phundahlians must have looked upon -him as a remarkable specimen of great ape, marvelously -trained, but now, of a sudden, he paralyzed them with -awe, for his roars and growls took the form of words -and he spoke with the tongue of a human. He was near -the window now. Several of the nobles were pushing -bravely forward. Among them was Sag Or. Hovan Du -reached forth and seized him, wrenching his weapons -from him. “I go,” he cried, “but let harm befall my -friends and I shall return and tear the heart from Xaxa. -Tell her that, from the Great Ape of Ptarth.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>For an instant the warriors and the nobles stood -transfixed with awe. Every eye was upon Hovan Du as -he stood there with the struggling figure of Sag Or in his -mighty grasp. Gor Hajus and I were forgotten. And then -Hovan Du turned and leaped to the sill of the window -and from there lightly to the branches of the nearest -tree; and with him went Sag Or, the favorite of Xaxa, the -Jeddara. At the same instant I drew Gor Hajus with me -between the hangings in the rear of Xaxa’s desk, and as -they fell behind us we found ourselves in the narrow -mouth of a dark corridor.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Without knowledge of where the passage led we could -only follow it blindly, urged on by the necessity for discovering -a hiding place or an avenue of escape from the -palace before the pursuit, which we knew would be immediately -instituted, overtook us. As our eyes became -accustomed to the gloom, which was partially dispelled -by a faint luminosity, we moved more rapidly and presently -came to a narrow spiral runway which descended -into a dark hole below the level of the corridor and also -arose into equal darkness above.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Which way?” I asked Gor Hajus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They will expect us to descend,” he replied, “for in -that direction lies the nearest avenue of escape.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then we will go up.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good!” he exclaimed. “All we seek now is a place to -hide until night has fallen, for we may not escape by -day.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We had scarcely started to ascend before we heard the -first sound of pursuit—the clank of accoutrements in the -corridor beneath. Yet, even with this urge from behind, -we were forced to move with great caution, for we knew -not what lay before. At the next level there was a doorway, -the door closed and locked, but there was no corridor, -nor anywhere to hide, and so we continued on upward. -The second level was identical with that just beneath, -but at the third a single corridor ran straight off -into darkness and at our right was a door, ajar. The -sounds of pursuit were appreciably nearer now and the -necessity for concealment seemed increasing as the square -of their growing proportions until every other consideration -was overwhelmed by it. Nor is this so strange when -the purpose of my adventure is considered and that discovery -now must assuredly spell defeat and blast for -ever the slender ray of hope that remained for the resurrection -of Valla Dia in her own flesh.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was scarce a moment for consideration. The -corridor before us was shrouded in darkness—it might -be naught but a blind alley. The door was close and ajar. -I pushed it gently inward. An odor of heavy incense -greeted our nostrils and through the small aperture we -saw a portion of a large chamber garishly decorated. -Directly before us, and almost wholly obstructing our -view of the entire chamber, stood a colossal statue of a -squatting manlike figure. Behind us we heard voices—our -pursuers already were ascending the spiral—they -would be upon us in a few seconds. I examined the door -and discovered that it fastened with a spring lock. I -looked again into the chamber and saw no one within -the range of our vision, and then I motioned Gor Hajus to -follow me and stepping into the room closed the door -behind us. We had burned our bridges. As the door -closed the lock engaged with a sharp, metallic click.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What was that?” demanded a voice, originating, seemingly, -at the far end of the chamber.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus looked at me and shrugged his shoulders -in resignation (he must have been thinking what I was -thinking—that with two avenues we had chosen the -wrong one) but he smiled and there was no reproach in -his eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It sounded from the direction of the Great Tur,” replied -a second voice.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps someone is at the door,” suggested the first -speaker.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus and I were flattened against the back of -the statue that we might postpone as long as possible our -inevitable discovery should the speakers decide to investigate -the origin of the noise that had attracted their -suspicions. I was facing against the polished stone of the -figure’s back, my hands outspread upon it. Beneath my -fingers were the carven bits of its ornamental harness—jutting -protuberances that were costly gems set in these -trappings of stone, and there were gorgeous inlays of -gold filagree; but these things I had no eyes for now. We -could hear the two conversing as they came nearer. Perhaps -I was nervous, I do not know. I am sure I never -shrank from an encounter when either duty or expediency -called; but in this instance both demanded that we avoid -conflict and remain undiscovered. However that may -be, my fingers must have been moving nervously over -the jeweled harness of the figure when I became vaguely, -perhaps subconsciously, aware that one of the gems was -loose in its setting. I do not recall that this made any -impression upon my conscious mind, but I do know that -it seemed to catch the attention of my wandering fingers -and they must have paused to play with the loosened -stone.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The voices seemed quite close now—it could be but -a matter of seconds before we should be confronted by -their owners. My muscles seemed to tense for the anticipated -encounter and unconsciously I pressed heavily -upon the loosened setting—whereat a portion of the -figure’s back gave noiselessly inward revealing to us the -dimly lighted interior of the statue. We needed no further -invitation; simultaneously we stepped across the -threshold and in almost the same movement I turned and -closed the panel gently behind us. I think that there -was absolutely no sound connected with the entire transaction; -and following it we remained in utter silence, -motionless—scarce breathing. Our eyes became quickly accustomed -to the dim interior which we discovered was -lighted through numerous small orifices in the shell of -the statue, which was entirely hollow, and through these -same orifices every outside sound came clearly to our -ears.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We had scarcely closed the opening when we heard -the voices directly outside it and simultaneously there -came a hammering on the door by which we had entered -the apartment from the corridor. “Who seeks entrance to -Xaxa’s Temple?” demanded one of the voices within the -room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“ ’Tis I, dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard,” boomed a voice -from without. “We are seeking two who came to assassinate -Xaxa.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Came they this way?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Think you, priest, that I should be seeking them -here had they not?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How long since?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Scarce twenty tals since,” replied the dwar.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then they are not here,” the priest assured him, -“for we have been here for a full zode<a id='rA'/><a href='#fA' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[A]</span></sup></a> and no other -has entered the temple during that time. Look quickly to -Xaxa’s apartments above and to the roof and the hangars, -for if you followed them up the spiral there is no -other where they might flee.”</p> - -<hr class='footnotemark'/> - -<div class='footnote'> -<p class='footnote'> -<span class='footnote-id' id='fA'><a href='#rA'>[A]</a></span> - -<span style='font-size:smaller'>A tal is about one second, and a zode approximately two and -one-half hours, Earth time.</span></p> - -</div> - -<hr class='footnotemark'/> - -<p class='pindent'>“Watch then the temple carefully until I return,” -shouted the warrior and we heard him and his men moving -on up the spiral.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Now we heard the priests conversing as they moved -slowly past the statue.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What could have caused the noise that first attracted -our attention?” asked one.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps the fugitives tried the door,” suggested the -other.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It must have been that, but they did not enter or we -should have seen them when they emerged from behind -the Great Tur, for we were facing him at the time, nor -have once turned our eyes from this end of the temple.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then at least they are not within the temple.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And where else they may be is no concern of ours.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, nor if they reached Xaxa’s apartment, if they -did not pass through the temple.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps they did reach it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And they were assassins!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Worse things might befall Phundahl.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hush! the gods have ears.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Of stone.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But the ears of Xaxa are not of stone and they hear -many things that are not intended for them.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The old she-banth!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She is Jeddara and High Priestess.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but——” the voices passed beyond the range of -our ears at the far end of the temple, yet they had told -me much—that Xaxa was feared and hated by the priesthood -and that the priests themselves had none too much -reverence for their deity as evidenced by the remark of -one that the gods have ears of stone. And they had told -us other things, important things, when they conversed -with the dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus and I now felt that we had fallen by chance -upon a most ideal place of concealment, for the very -guardians of the temple would swear that we were not, -could not be, where we were. Already had they thrown -the pursuers off our track.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Now, for the first time, we had an opportunity to -examine our hiding place. The interior of the statue was -hollow and far above us, perhaps forty feet, we could -see the outside light shining through the mouth, ears -and nostrils, just below which a circular platform could -be discerned running around the inside of the neck. A -ladder with flat rungs led upward from the base to the -platform. Thick dust covered the floor on which we -stood, and the extremity of our position suggested a -careful examination of this dust, with the result that I -was at once impressed by the evidence that it revealed; -which indicated that we were the first to enter the statue -for a long time, possibly for years, as the fine coating of -almost impalpable dust that covered the floor was undisturbed. -As I searched for this evidence my eyes fell -upon something lying huddled close to the base of the -ladder and approaching nearer I saw that it was a human -skeleton, while a closer examination revealed that the -skull was crushed and one arm and several ribs broken. -About it lay, dust-covered, the most gorgeous trappings I -had ever seen. Its position at the foot of the ladder, as -well as the crushed skull and broken bones, appeared -quite conclusive evidence of the manner in which death -had come—the man had fallen head foremost from the -circular platform forty feet above, carrying with him to -eternity, doubtless, the secret of the entrance to the interior -of the Great Tur.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I suggested this to Gor Hajus who was examining the -dead man’s trappings and he agreed with me that such -must have been the manner of his death.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He was a high priest of Tur,” whispered Gor Hajus, -“and probably a member of the royal house—possibly -a Jeddak. He has been dead a long time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am going up above,” I said. “I will test the ladder. -If it is safe, follow me up. I think we shall be able to -see the interior of the temple through the mouth of Tur.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Go carefully,” Gor Hajus admonished. “The ladder -is very old.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I went carefully, testing each rung before I trusted -my weight to it, but I found the old sorapus wood of -which it was constructed sound and as staunch as steel. -How the high priest came to his death must always remain -a mystery, for the ladder or the circular platform -would have carried the weight of a hundred red-men.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>From the platform I could see through the mouth of -Tur. Below me was a large chamber along the sides of -which were ranged other, though lesser, idols. They were -even more grotesque than those I had seen in the temple -in the city and their trappings were rich beyond the conception -of man—Earthman—for the gems of Barsoom -scintillate with rays unknown to us and of such gorgeous -and blinding beauty as to transcend description. Directly -in front of the Great Tur was an altar of palthon, a -rare and beautiful stone, blood red, in which are traced -in purest white Nature’s most fanciful designs; the whole -vastly enhanced by the wondrous polish which the stone -takes beneath the hand of the craftsman.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus joined me and together we examined the -interior of the temple. Tall windows lined two sides, letting -in a flood of light. At the far end, opposite the -Great Tur, were two enormous doors, closing the main -entrance to the chamber, and here stood the two priests -whom we had heard conversing. Otherwise the temple -was deserted. Incense burned upon tiny altars before -each of the minor idols, but whether any burned before -the Great Tur we could not see.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Having satisfied our curiosity relative to the temple, we -returned our attention to a further examination of the -interior of Tur’s huge head and were rewarded by the -discovery of another ladder leading upward against the -rear wall to a higher and smaller platform that evidently -led to the eyes. It did not take me long to investigate and -here I found a most comfortable chair set before a control -that operated the eyes, so that they could be made to -turn from side to side, or up or down, according to the -whim of the operator; and here too was a speaking-tube -leading to the mouth. This again I must needs investigate -and so I returned to the lower platform and there I discovered -a device beneath the tongue of the idol, and this -device, which was in the nature of an amplifier, was -connected with the speaking-tube from above. I could not -repress a smile as I considered these silent witnesses to the -perfidy of man and thought of the broken thing lying at -the foot of the ladder. Tur, I could have sworn, had -been silent for many years.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Together Gor Hajus and I returned to the higher platform -and again I made a discovery—the eyes of Tur -were veritable periscopes. By turning them we could see -any portion of the temple and what we saw through the -eyes was magnified. Nothing could escape the eyes of -Tur and presently, when the priests began to talk again, -we discovered that nothing could escape Tur’s ears, for -every slightest sound in the temple came clearly to us. -What a valuable adjunct to high priesthood this Great -Tur must have been in the days when that broken -skeleton lying below us was a thing of blood and life!</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='129' id='Page_129'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XII<br/> THE GREAT TUR</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>The</span> day dragged wearily for Gor Hajus and me. We -watched the various priests who came in pairs at intervals -to relieve those who had preceded them, and we -listened to their prattle, mostly idle gossip of court -scandals. At times they spoke of us and we learned -that Hovan Du had escaped with Sag Or, nor had they -been located as yet, nor had Dar Tarus. The whole court -was mystified by our seemingly miraculous disappearance. -Three thousand people, the inmates and attaches of the -palace, were constantly upon the look-out for us. Every -part of the palace and the palace grounds had been -searched and searched again. The pits had been explored -more thoroughly than they had been explored -within the memory of the oldest retainer, and it seemed -that queer things had been unearthed there—things of -which not even Xaxa dreamed; and the priests whispered -that at least one great and powerful house would fall -because of what a dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard had discovered -in a remote precinct of the pits.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As the sun dropped below the horizon and darkness -came, the interior of the temple was illuminated by a soft -white light, brilliantly but without the glare of Earthly -artificial illumination. More priests came and many young -girls, priestesses. They performed before the idols, chanting -meaningless gibberish. Gradually the chamber filled -with worshippers, nobles of the Jeddara’s court with their -women and their retainers, forming in two lines along -either side of the temple before the lesser idols, leaving -a wide aisle from the great entrance to the foot of the -Great Tur and towards this aisle they all faced, waiting. -For what were they waiting? Their eyes were turned expectantly -towards the closed doors of the great entrance -and Gor Hajus and I felt our eyes held there too, fascinated -by the suggestion that they were about to open -and reveal some stupendous spectacle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And presently the doors did swing slowly open and -all we saw was what appeared to be a great roll of -carpet lying upon its side across the opening. Twenty -slaves, naked but for their scant leather harness, stood -behind the huge roll; and as the doors swung fully -open they rolled the carpet inward to the very feet of the -altar before the Great Tur, covering the wide aisle from -the entranceway almost to the idol with a thick, soft -rug of gold and white and blue. It was the most beautiful -thing in the temple where all else was blatant, loud and -garish or hideous, or grotesque. And then the doors -closed and again we waited; but not for long. Bugles -sounded from without, the sound increasing as they -neared the entrance. Once more the doors swung in. -Across the entrance stood a double rank of gorgeously -trapped nobles. Slowly they entered the temple and -behind them came a splendid chariot drawn by two -banths, the fierce Barsoomian lion, held in leash by -slaves on either side. Upon the chariot was a litter and -in the litter, reclining at ease, lay Xaxa. As she entered -the temple the people commenced to chant her praises -in a monotonous sing-song. Chained to the chariot and -following on foot was a red warrior and behind him a -procession composed of fifty young men and an equal -number of young girls.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus touched my arm. “The prisoner,” he whispered, -“do you recognize him?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Dar Tarus!” I exclaimed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was Dar Tarus—they had discovered his hiding place -and arrested him, but what of Hovan Du? Had they taken -him, also? If they had it must have been only after slaying -him, for they never would have sought to capture -the fierce beast, nor would he have brooked capture. I -looked for Sag Or, but he was nowhere to be seen within -the temple and this fact gave me hope that Hovan Du -might be still at liberty.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The chariot was halted before the altar and Xaxa -alighted; the lock that held Dar Tarus’ chain to the vehicle -was opened and the banths were led away by their attendants -to one side of the temple behind the lesser -idols. Then Dar Tarus was dragged roughly to the altar and -thrown upon it and Xaxa, mounting the steps at its base, -came close to his side and with hands outstretched above -him looked up at the Great Tur towering above her. How -beautiful she was! How richly trapped! Ah, Valla Dia! -that your sweet form should be debased to the cruel purposes -of the wicked mind that now animates you!</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Xaxa’s eyes now rested upon the face of the Great -Tur. “O, Tur, Father of Barsoom,” she cried, “behold the -offering we place before you, All-seeing, All-knowing, -All-powerful One, and frown no more upon us in silence. -For a hundred years you have not deigned to speak aloud -to your faithful slaves; never since Hora San, the high -priest, was taken away by you on that long-gone night of -mystery have you unsealed your lips to your people. -Speak, Great Tur! Give us some sign, ere we plunge this -dagger into the heart of our offering, that our works are -pleasing in thine eyes. Tell us whither went the two who -came here to-day to assassinate your high priestess; reveal -to us the fate of Sag Or. Speak, Great Tur, ere I -strike,” and she raised her slim blade above the heart of -Dar Tarus and looked straight upward into the eyes of -Tur.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And then, as a bolt from the blue, I was struck by -the great inspiration. My hand sought the lever controlling -the eyes of Tur and I turned them until they -completed a full circuit of the room and rested again -upon Xaxa. The effect was magical. Never before had I -seen a whole room full of people so absolutely stunned -and awe-struck as were these. As the eyes returned to -Xaxa she seemed turned to stone and her copper skin to -have taken on an ashen purple hue. Her dagger remained -stiffly poised above the heart of Dar Tarus. Not for a hundred -years had they seen the eyes of the Great Tur -move. Then I placed the speaking-tube to my lips and -the voice of Tur rumbled through the chamber. As from -one great throat a gasp arose from the crowded temple -floor and the people fell upon their knees and buried -their faces in their hands.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Judgment is mine!” I cried. “Strike not lest ye be -struck! To Tur is the sacrifice!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I was silent then, attempting to plan how best to utilize -the advantage I had gained. Fearfully, one by one, -the bowed heads were raised and frightened eyes sought -the face of Tur. I gave them another thrill by letting the -god’s eyes wander slowly over the upturned faces, and -while I was doing this I had another inspiration, which -I imparted to Gor Hajus in a low whisper. I could hear -him chuckle as he started down the ladder to carry my -new plan into effect. Again I had recourse to the speaking-tube.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The sacrifice is Tur’s,” I rumbled. “Tur will strike -with his own hand. Extinguish the lights and let no one -move under pain of instant death until Tur gives the -word. Prostrate yourselves and bury your eyes in your -palms, for whosoever sees shall be blinded when the -spirit of Tur walks among his people.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Down they went again and one of the priests hurriedly -extinguished the lights, leaving the temple in total -darkness; and while Gor Hajus was engaged with his -part of the performance I tried to cover any accidental -noise he might make by keeping up a running fire of -celestial revelation.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Xaxa, the high priestess, asks what has become of -the two whom she believed came to assassinate her. I, -Tur took them to myself. Vengeance is Tur’s! And Sag -Or I took, also. In the guise of a great ape I came and -took Sag Or and none knew me; though even a fool -might have guessed, for who is there ever heard a great -ape speak with tongue of man unless he was animated by -the spirit of Tur?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I guess that convinced them, it being just the sort of -logic suited to their religion, or it would have convinced -them if they had not already been convinced. I wondered -what might be passing in the mind of the doubting -priest who had remarked that the gods had ears of stone.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Presently I heard a noise upon the ladder beneath me -and a moment later someone climbed upon the circular -landing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All’s well,” whispered the voice of Gor Hajus. “Dar -Tarus is with me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Light the temple!” I commanded through the speaking-tube. -“Rise and look upon your altar.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The lights flashed on and the people rose, trembling, -to their feet. Every eye was bent upon the altar and -what they saw there seemed to crush them with terror. -Some of the women screamed and fainted. It all impressed -me with the belief that none of them had taken -this god of theirs with any great amount of seriousness, -and now when they were confronted with absolute proof -of his miraculous powers they were swept completely off -their feet. Where, a few moments before, they had seen -a live sacrifice awaiting the knife of the high priestess -they saw now only a dust-covered human skull. I grant -you that without an explanation it might have seemed a -miracle to almost anyone so quickly had Gor Hajus run -from the base of the idol with the skull of the dead high -priest and returned again leading Dar Tarus with him. I -had been a bit concerned as to what the attitude of Dar -Tarus might be, who was no more conversant with the -hoax than were the Phundahlians, but Gor Hajus had -whispered “For Valla Dia” in his ear and he had understood -and come quickly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The Great Tur,” I now announced, “is angry with -his people. For a long time they have denied him in -their hearts even while they made open worship of him. -The Great Tur is angry with Xaxa. Only through Xaxa -may the people of Phundahl be saved from destruction, -for the Great Tur is angry. Go then from the temple and -the palace leaving no human being here other than Xaxa, -the high priestess of Tur. Leave her here in solitude beside -the altar. Tur would speak with her alone.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I could see Xaxa fairly shrivel in fright.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is the Jeddara Xaxa, High Priestess of the Great -God Tur, afraid to meet her master?” I demanded. The -woman’s jaw trembled so that she could not reply. -“Obey! or Xaxa and all her people shall be struck dead!” -I fairly screamed at them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Like cattle they turned and fled towards the entrance -and Xaxa, her knees shaking so that she could scarce -stand erect, staggered after them. A noble saw her and -pushed her roughly back, but she shrieked and ran after -him when he had left her. Then others dragged her to -the foot of the altar and threw her roughly down and one -menaced her with his sword, but at that I called aloud -that no harm must befall the Jeddara if they did not -wish the wrath of Tur to fall upon them all. They left -her lying there and so weak from fright was she that she -could not rise, and a moment later the temple was empty, -but not until I had shouted after them to clear the -whole palace within a quarter zode, for my plan required -a free and unobstructed as well as unobserved field of -action.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The last of them was scarce out of sight ere we three -descended from the head of Tur and stepped out upon -the temple floor behind the idol. Quickly I ran towards -the altar, upon the other side of which Xaxa had dropped -to the floor in a swoon. She still lay there and I gathered -her into my arms and ran quickly back to the door -in the wall behind the idol—the doorway through which -Gor Hajus and I had entered the temple earlier in the -day.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Preceded by Gor Hajus and followed by Dar Tarus, I -ascended the runway towards the roof where the conversation -of the priests had informed us were located -the royal hangars. Had Hovan Du and Sag Or been with -us my cup of happiness would have been full, for within -half a day, what had seemed utter failure and defeat -had been turned almost to assured success. At the landing -where lay Xaxa’s apartments we halted and looked -within, for the long night voyage I contemplated would -be cold and the body of Valla Dia must be kept warm -with suitable robes even though it was inhabited by the -spirit of Xaxa. Seeing no one we entered and soon found -what we required. As I was adjusting a heavy robe of -orluk about the Jeddara she regained consciousness. Instantly -she recognized me and then Gor Hajus and finally -Dar Tarus. Mechanically she felt for her dagger, but -it was not there and when she saw my smile she paled -with anger. At first she must have jumped to the conclusion -that she had been the victim of a hoax, but presently -a doubt seemed to enter her mind—she must have -been recalling some of the things that had transpired -within the temple of the Great Tur, and these, neither -she nor any other mortal might explain.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who are you?” she demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am Tur,” I replied, brazenly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What is your purpose with me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am going to take you away from Phundahl,” I replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But I do not wish to go. You are not Tur. You are -Vad Varo. I shall call for help and my guards will come -and slay you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is no one in the palace,” I reminded her. “Did -I, Tur, not send them away?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I shall not go with you,” she announced firmly. -“Rather would I die.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You shall go with me, Xaxa,” I replied, and though -she fought and struggled we carried her from her apartment -and up the spiral runway to the roof where, I -prayed, I should find the hangars and the royal fliers; -and as we stepped out into the fresh night air of Mars we -did see the hangars before us, but we saw something -else—a group of Phundahlian warriors of the Jeddara’s -Guard whom they had evidently failed to notify of the -commands of Tur. At sight of them Xaxa cried aloud in -relief.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“To me! To the Jeddara!” she cried. “Strike down -these assassins and save me!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There were three of them and there were three of -us, but they were armed and between us we had but -Xaxa’s slender dagger. Gor Hajus carried that. Victory -seemed turned to defeat as they rushed towards us; but -it was Gor Hajus who gave them pause. He seized Xaxa -and raised the blade, its point above her heart. “Halt!” -he cried, “or I strike.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The warriors hesitated; Xaxa was silent, stricken with -fear. Thus we stood in stalemate when, just beyond the -three Phundahlian warriors, I saw a movement at the -roof’s edge. What was it? In the dim light I saw something -that seemed a human head, and yet unhuman, rise -slowly above the edge of the roof, and then, silently, a -great form followed, and then I recognized it—Hovan -Du, the great white ape.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell them,” I cried to Xaxa in a loud voice that -Hovan Du might hear, “that I am Tur, for see, I come -again in the semblance of a white ape!” and I pointed to -Hovan Du. “I would not destroy these poor warriors. -Let them lay down their weapons and go in peace.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The men turned, and seeing the great ape standing -there behind them, materialized, it might have been, out -of thin air, were shaken.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who is he, Jeddara?” demanded one of the men.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is Tur,” replied Xaxa in a weak voice; “but save -me from him! Save me from him!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Throw down your weapons and your harness and -fly!” I commanded, “or Tur will strike you dead. Heard -you not the people rushing from the palace at Tur’s -command? How think you we brought Xaxa hither with -a lesser power than Tur’s when all her palace was filled -with her fighting men? Go, while yet you may in safety.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>One of them unbuckled his harness and threw it with -his weapons upon the roof, and as he started at a run -for the spiral his companions followed his example. -Then Hovan Du approached us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well done, Vad Varo,” he growled, “though I know -not what it is all about.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That you shall know later,” I told him, “but now we -must find a swift flier and be upon our way. Where is -Sag Or? Does he still live?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have him securely bound and safely hidden in one -of the high towers of the palace,” replied the ape. “It -will be easy to get him when we have launched a flier.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Xaxa was eyeing us ragefully. “You are not Tur!” she -cried. “The ape has exposed you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But too late to profit you in any way, Jeddara,” I assured -her. “Nor could you convince one of your people -who stood in the temple this night that I am not Tur. -Nor do you, yourself, know that I am not. The ways of -Tur, the all-powerful, all-knowing, are beyond the conception -of mortal man. To you then, Jeddara, I am Tur, -and you will find me all-powerful enough for my purposes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I think she was still perplexed as we found and dragged -forth a flier, aboard which we placed her, and turned the -craft’s nose towards a lofty tower where Hovan Du told -us lay Sag Or.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I shall be glad to see myself again,” said Dar Tarus, -with a laugh.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you shall be yourself again, Dar Tarus,” I told -him, “as soon as ever we can come again to the pits of -Ras Thavas.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Would that I might be reunited with my sweet Kara -Vasa,” he sighed. “Then, Vad Varo, the last full measure -of my gratitude would be yours.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where may we find her?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Alas, I do not know. It was while I was searching for -her that I was apprehended by the agents of Xaxa. I had -been to her father’s palace only to learn that he had -been assassinated and his property confiscated. The -whereabouts of Kara Vasa they either did not know or -would not divulge; but they held me there upon one -pretext or another until a detachment of the Jeddara’s -Guard could come and arrest me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We shall have to make inquiries of Sag Or,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We were now coming to a stop alongside a window -of the tower Hovan Du had indicated, and he and Dar -Tarus leaped to the sill and disappeared within. We were -all armed now, having taken the weapons discarded by -the three warriors at the hangars, and with a good flier -beneath our feet and all our little company reunited, -with Xaxa and Sag Or, whom they were now conducting -aboard, we were indeed in high spirits.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we got under way again, setting our nose towards -the east, I asked Sag Or if he knew what had become -of Kara Vasa, but he assured me, in surly tones, that he -did not.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Think again, Sag Or,” I admonished him, “and think -hard, for perhaps upon your answer your life depends.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What chance have I for life?” he sneered, casting an -ugly look towards Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have every chance,” I replied. “Your life lies in -the hollow of my hand; and you serve me well it shall -be yours, though in your own body and not in that belonging -to Dar Tarus.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You do not intend destroying me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Neither you nor Xaxa,” I answered. “Xaxa shall live -on in her own body and you in yours.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I do not wish to live in my own body,” snapped the -Jeddara.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus stood looking at Sag Or—looking at his -own body like some disembodied soul—as weird a situation -as I have ever encountered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell me, Sag Or,” he said, “what has become of Kara -Vasa. When my body has been restored to me and yours -to you I shall hold no enmity against you if you have not -harmed Kara Vasa and will tell me where she be.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I cannot tell you, for I do not know. She was not -harmed, but the day after you were assassinated she disappeared -from Phundahl. We were positive that she was -spirited away by her father, but from him we could learn -nothing. Then he was assassinated,” the man glanced at -Xaxa, “and since, we have learned nothing. A slave told -us that Kara Vasa, with some of her father’s warriors, -had embarked upon a flier and set out for Helium, where -she purposed placing herself under the protection of the -great War Lord of Barsoom; but of the truth of that we -know nothing. This is the truth. I, Sag Or, have spoken!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was futile then to search Phundahl for Kara Vasa -and so we held our course towards the east and the -Tower of Thavas.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='140' id='Page_140'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XIII<br/> BACK TO THAVAS</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>All</span> that night we sped beneath the hurtling moons of -Mars, as strange a company as was ever foregathered -upon any planet, I will swear. Two men, each possessing -the body of the other, an old and wicked empress whose -fair body belonged to a youthful damsel beloved by another -of this company, a great white ape dominated by -half the brain of a human being, and I, a creature of a -distant planet, with Gor Hajus, the Assassin of Toonol, -completed the mad roster.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I could scarce keep my eyes from the fair form and -face of Xaxa, and it is well that I was thus fascinated -for I caught her in the act of attempting to hurl herself -overboard, so repugnant to her was the prospect of living -again in her own old and hideous corpse. After that -I kept her securely bound and fastened to the deck, -though it hurt me to see the bonds upon those fair limbs.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus was almost equally fascinated by the contemplation -of his own body, which he had not seen for -many years.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“By my first ancestor,” he ejaculated. “It must be that -I was the least vain of fellows, for I give you my word -I had no idea that I was so fair to look upon. I can say -this now without seeming egotism, since I am speaking -of Sag Or,” and he laughed aloud at his little joke.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But the fact remained that the body and face of Dar -Tarus were beautiful indeed, though there was a hint of -steel in the eyes and the set of the jaw that betokened -fighting blood. Little wonder, then, that Sag Or had coveted -the body of this young warrior; for his own, which -Dar Tarus now possessed, was marked by dissipation and -age; nor that Dar Tarus yearned to come again into his -own.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Just before dawn we dropped to one of the numerous -small islands that dot the Great Toonolian Marshes -and nosing the ship between the boles of great trees we -came to rest upon the surface of the ground, half buried -in the lush and gorgeous jungle grasses, well hidden -from the sight of possible pursuers. Here Hovan Du found -fruits and nuts for us which the simian section of his brain -pronounced safe for human consumption, and instinct -led him to a nearby spring from which there bubbled -delicious water. We four were half famished and much -fatigued, so that the food and water were most welcome -to us; nor did Xaxa and Sag Or refuse them. Having -eaten, three of us lay down upon the ship’s deck to -sleep, after securely chaining our prisoners, while the -fourth stood watch. In this way, taking turns, we slept -away most of the day and when night fell, rested and refreshed, -we were ready to resume our flight.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Making a wide detour to the south we avoided Toonol -and about two hours before dawn we sighted the high -Tower of Thavas. I think we were all keyed up to the -highest pitch of excitement, for there was not one aboard -that flier but whose whole life would be seriously affected -by the success or failure of our venture. As a first -precaution we secured the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind -their backs and placed gags in their mouths, lest -they succeed in giving warning of our approach.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Cluros had long since set and Thuria was streaming -towards the horizon as we stopped our motor and drifted -without lights a mile or two south of the tower while -we waited impatiently for Thuria to leave the heavens -to darkness and the world to us. To the north-west the -lights of Toonol shone plainly against the dark background -of the windows of the great laboratory of Ras -Thavas, but the tower itself was dark from plinth to -pinnacle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And now the nearer moon dropped plummetlike beneath -the horizon and left the scene to darkness and to -us. Dar Tarus started the motor, the wonderful, silent -motor of Barsoom, and we moved slowly, close to the -ground, towards Ras Thavas’ island, with no sound other -than the gentle whirring of our propeller; nor could that -have been heard scarce a hundred feet so slowly was it -turning. Close off the island we came to a stop behind a -cluster of giant trees and Hovan Du, going into the bow, -uttered a few low growls. Then we stood waiting in silence, -listening. There was a rustling in the dense undergrowth -upon the shore. Again Hovan Du voiced his low, -grim call and this time there came an answer from the -black shadows. Hovan Du spoke in the language of the -great apes and the invisible creature replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>For five minutes, during which time we were aware -from the different voices that others had joined in the -conversation from the shore, the apes conversed, and -then Hovan Du turned to me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is arranged,” he said. “They will permit us to hide -our ship beneath these trees and they will permit us to -pass out again when we are ready and board her, nor -will they harm us in any way. All they ask is that when -we are through we shall leave the gate open that leads to -the inner court.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do they understand that while an ape goes in with us -none will return with us?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes; but they will not harm us.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why do they wish the gate left open?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do not inquire too closely, Vad Varo,” replied Hovan -Du. “It should be enough that the great apes make it -possible for you to restore Valla Dia’s body to her brain -and escape with her from this terrible place.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is enough,” I replied. “When may we land?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“At once. They will help us drag the ship beneath the -trees and make her fast.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But first we must top the wall to the inner court,” I -reminded him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, true—I had forgotten that we cannot open the -gate from this side.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He spoke again, then, to the apes, whom we had not -yet seen; and then he told us that all was arranged and -that he and Dar Tarus would return with the ship after -landing us inside the wall.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Again we got under way and rising slowly above the -outer wall dropped silently to the courtyard beyond. -The night was unusually dark, clouds having followed -Thuria and blotted out the stars after the moon had set. -No one could have seen the ship at a distance of fifty -feet, and we moved almost without noise. Quietly we -lowered our prisoners over the side and Gor Hajus and I -remained with them while Dar Tarus and Hovan Du rose -again and piloted the ship back to its hiding place.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I moved at once to the gate and, unlatching it, waited. -I heard nothing. Never, I think, have I endured such -utter silence. There came no sound from the great pile -rising behind me, nor any from the dark jungle beyond -the wall. Dimly I could see the huddled forms of Gor -Hajus, Xaxa and Sag Or beside me—otherwise I might -have been alone in the darkness and immensity of space.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It seemed an eternity that I waited there before I -heard a soft scratching on the panels of the heavy gate. -I pushed it open and Dar Tarus and Hovan Du stepped -silently within as I closed and relatched it. No one spoke. -All had been carefully planned so that there was no need -of speech. Dar Tarus and I led the way, Gor Hajus and -Hovan Du brought up the rear with the prisoners. We -moved directly to the entrance to the tower, found the -runway and descended to the pits. Every fortune seemed -with us. We met no one, we had no difficulty in finding -the vault we sought, and once within we secured the -door so that we had no fear of interruption—that was -our first concern—and then I hastened to the spot where -I had hidden Valla Dia behind the body of a large warrior, -tucked far back against the wall in a dark corner. -My heart stood still as I dragged aside the body of the -warrior, for always had I feared that Ras Thavas, knowing -my interest in her and guessing the purpose of my -venture, would cause every chamber and pit to be -searched and every body to be examined until he found -her for whom he sought; but my fears had been baseless, -for there lay the body of Xaxa, the old and wrinkled -casket of the lovely brain of my beloved, where I had -hidden it against this very night. Gently I lifted it out -and bore it to one of the two ersite topped tables. Xaxa, -standing there bound and gagged, looked on with eyes -that shot hate and loathing at me and at that hideous -body to which her brain was so soon to be restored.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As I lifted her to the adjoining slab she tried to wriggle -from my grasp and hurl herself to the floor, but I -held her and soon had strapped her securely in place. A -moment later she was unconscious and the re-transference -was well under way. Gor Hajus, Sag Or and Hovan -Du were interested spectators, but to Dar Tarus, who -stood ready to assist me, it was an old story, for he had -worked in the laboratory and seen more than enough of -similar operations. I will not bore you with a description -of it—it was but a repetition of what I had done many -times in preparation for this very event.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At last it was completed and my heart fairly stood -still as I replaced the embalming fluid with Valla Dia’s -own life blood and saw the color mount to her cheeks -and her rounded bosom rise and fall to her gentle -breathing. Then she opened her eyes and looked up into -mine.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What has happened, Vad Varo?” she asked. “Has -something gone amiss that you have recalled me so soon, -or did I not respond to the fluid?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Her eyes wandered past me to the faces of the others -standing about. “What does it mean?” she asked. “Who -are these?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I raised her gently in my arms and pointed at the body -of Xaxa lying deathlike on the ersite slab beside her. -Valla Dia’s eyes went wide. “It is done?” she cried, and -clapped her hands to her face and felt of all her features -and of the soft, delicate contours of her smooth neck; -and yet she could scarce believe it and asked for a glass -and I took one from Xaxa’s pocket pouch and handed -it to her. She looked long into it and the tears commenced -to roll down her cheeks, and then she looked up -at me through the mist of them and put her dear -arms about my neck and drew my face down to hers. -“My chieftain,” she whispered—that was all. But it was -enough. For those two words I had risked my life and -faced unknown dangers, and gladly would I risk my life -again for that same reward and always, for ever.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Another night had fallen before I had completed the -restoration of Dar Tarus and Hovan Du. Xaxa, and Sag -Or and the great ape I left sleeping the deathlike sleep -of Ras Thavas’ marvelous anaesthetic. The great ape I -had no intention of restoring, but the others I felt bound -to return to Phundahl, though Dar Tarus, now resplendent -in his own flesh and the gorgeous trappings of Sag Or, -urged me not to inflict them again upon the long suffering -Phundahlians.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But I have given my word,” I told him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then they must be returned,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Though what I may do afterward is another matter,” -I added, for there had suddenly occurred to me a bold -scheme.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I did not tell Dar Tarus what it was nor would I have -had time, for at the very instant we heard someone without -trying the door and then we heard voices and presently -the door was tried again, this time with force. We -made no noise, but just waited. I hoped that whoever it -was would go away. The door was very strong and when -they tried to force it they must soon have realized the -futility of it because they quickly desisted and we heard -their voices for only a short time thereafter and then -they seemed to have gone away.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We must leave,” I said, “before they return.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Strapping the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind them -and placing gags in their mouths I quickly restored -them to life, nor ever did I see two less grateful. The -looks they cast upon me might well have killed could -looks do that, and with what disgust they viewed one -another was writ plain in their eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Cautiously unbolting the door I opened it very quietly, -a naked sword in my right hand and Dar Tarus, Gor -Hajus and Hovan Du ready with theirs at my shoulder, -and as it swung back it revealed two standing in the corridor -watching—two of Ras Thavas’ slaves; and one of -them was Yamdor, his body servant. At sight of us the -fellow gave a loud cry of recognition and before I could -leap through the doorway and prevent them, they had -both turned and were flying up the corridor as fast as -their feet would carry them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Now there was no time to be lost—everything must -be sacrificed to speed. Without thought of caution or silence -we hastened through the pits towards the runway -in the tower; and when we stepped into the inner court -it was night again, but the farther moon was in the heavens -and there were no clouds. The result was that we -were instantly discovered by a sentry, who gave the -alarm as he ran forward to intercept us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>What was a sentry doing in the courtyard of Ras -Thavas? I could not understand. And what were these? -A dozen armed warriors were hurrying across the court -on the heels of the sentry.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Toonolians!” shouted Gor Hajus. “The warriors of -Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Breathlessly we raced for the gate. If we could but -reach it first! But we were handicapped by our prisoners, -who held back the moment they discovered how -they might embarrass us, and so it was that we all met in -front of the gate. Dar Tarus and Gor Hajus and Hovan -Du and I put Valla Dia and our prisoners behind us and -fought the twenty warriors of Toonol with the odds five -to one against us; but we had more heart in the fight -than they and perhaps that gave us an advantage, -though I am sure that Gor Hajus was as ten men himself -so terrible was the effect of his name alone upon the -men of Toonol.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Gor Hajus!” cried one, the first to recognize him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, it is Gor Hajus,” replied the assassin. “Prepare -to meet your ancestors!” and he drove into them like a -racing propeller, and I was upon his right and Hovan Du -and Dar Tarus upon his left.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was a pretty fight, but it must eventually have gone -against us, so greatly were we outnumbered, had I not -thought of the apes and the gate beside us. Working my -way to it I threw it open and there upon the outside, attracted -by the noise of the conflict, stood a full dozen of -the great beasts. I called to Gor Hajus and the others to -fall back beside the gate, and as the apes rushed in I -pointed to the Toonolian warriors.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I think the apes were at a loss to know which were -friends and which were foes, but the Toonolians apprised -them by attacking them, while we stood aside -with our points upon the ground. Just a moment we stood -thus waiting. Then as the apes rushed among the Toonolian -warriors, we slipped into the darkness of the jungle -beyond the outer wall and sought our flier. Behind us we -could hear the growls and the roars of the beasts mingled -with the shouts and the curses of the men; and the -sound still rose from the courtyard as we clambered -aboard the flier and pushed off into the night.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As soon as we felt that we were safely escaped from -the Island of Thavas I removed the gags from the -mouths of Xaxa and Sag Or and I can tell you that -I immediately regretted it, for never in my life had I -been subjected to such horrid abuse as poured from -the wrinkled old lips of the Jeddara; and it was only -when I started to gag her again that she promised to -desist.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My plans were now well laid and they included a -return to Phundahl since I could not start for Duhor -with Valla Dia without provisions and fuel; nor could -I obtain these elsewhere than in Phundahl, since I felt -that I held the key that would unlock the resources of -that city to me; whereas all Toonol was in arms against -us owing to Vobis Kan’s fear of Gor Hajus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>So we retraced our way towards Phundahl as secretly -as we had come, for I had no mind to be apprehended -before we had gained entrance to the palace of Xaxa.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Again we rested over daylight upon the same island -that had given us sanctuary two days before, and at -dark we set out upon the last leg of our journey to -Phundahl. If there had been pursuit we had seen -naught of it; and that might easily be explained by the -great extent of the uninhabited marshes across which -we flew and the far southerly course that we followed -close above the ground.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we neared Phundahl I caused Xaxa and Sag Or -to be again gagged, and further, I had their heads -bandaged so that none might recognize them; and then -we sailed straight over the city towards the palace, hoping -that we would not be discovered and yet ready in -the event that we should be.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But we came to the hangars on the roof apparently -unseen and constantly I coached each upon the part -he was to play. As we were settling slowly to the roof -Dar Tarus, Hovan Du and Valla Dia quickly bound -Gor Hajus and me and wrapped our heads in bandages, -for we had seen below the figures of the hangar guard. -Had we found the roof unguarded the binding of Gor -Hajus and me had been unnecessary.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we dropped nearer one of the guard hailed us. -“What ship?” he cried.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The royal flier of the Jeddara of Phundahl,” replied -Dar Tarus, “returning with Xaxa and Sag Or.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The warriors whispered among themselves as we -dropped nearer and I must confess that I felt a bit -nervous as to the outcome of our ruse; but they permitted -us to land without a word and when they saw -Valla Dia they saluted her after the manner of Barsoom, -as, with the regal carriage of an empress, she -descended from the deck of the flier.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Carry the prisoners to my apartments!” she commanded, -addressing the guard, and with the help of -Hovan Du and Dar Tarus the four bound and muffled -figures were carried from the flier down the spiral runway -to the apartments of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. -Here excited slaves hastened to do the bidding of the -Jeddara. Word must have flown through the palace with -the speed of light that Xaxa had returned, for almost -immediately court functionaries began to arrive and be -announced; but Valla Dia sent word that she would see -no one for a while. Then she dismissed her slaves, and -at my suggestion Dar Tarus investigated the apartments -with a view to finding a safe hiding place for Gor -Hajus, me, and the prisoners. This he soon found in a -small antechamber directly off the main apartment of -the royal suite; the bonds were removed from the -assassin and myself and together we carried Xaxa and -Sag Or into the room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The entrance here was furnished with a heavy door -over which there were hangings that completely hid it. -I bade Hovan Du, who, like the rest of us, wore Phundahlian -harness, stand guard before the hangings and let -no one enter but members of our own party. Gor Hajus -and I took up our positions just within the hangings -through which we cut small holes that permitted us to -see all that went on within the main chamber, for I was -greatly concerned for Valla Dia’s safety while she posed -as Xaxa, whom I knew to be both feared and hated -by her people and therefore always liable to assassination.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia summoned the slaves and bade them admit -the officials of the court, and as the doors opened fully -a score of nobles entered. They appeared ill at ease -and I could guess that they were recalling the episode -in the temple when they had deserted their Jeddara and -even hurled her roughly at the feet of the Great Tur, -but Valla Dia soon put them at their ease.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have summoned you,” she said, “to hear the word -of Tur. Tur would speak again to his people. Three -days and three nights have I spent with Tur. His anger -against Phundahl is great. He bids me summon all the -higher nobles to the temple after the evening meal to-night, -and all the priests, and the commanders and dwars -of the Guard, and as many of the lesser nobles as be -in the palace; and then shall the people of Phundahl -hear the word and the law of Tur and all those who -shall obey shall live and all those who shall not obey -shall die; and woe be to him who, having been summoned, -shall not be in the temple this night. I, Xaxa, -Jeddara of Phundahl, have spoken! Go!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They went and they seemed glad to go. Then Valla -Dia summoned the odwar of the Guard, who would -be in our world a general, and she told him to clear -the palace of every living being from the temple level -to the roof an hour before the evening meal, nor to permit -any one to enter the temple or the levels above -it until the hour appointed for the assembling in the -temple to hear the word of Tur, excepting however -those who might be in her own apartments, which were -not to be entered upon pain of death. She made it all -very clear and plain and the odwar understood and I -think he trembled a trifle, for all were in great fear of -the Jeddara Xaxa; and then he went away and the -slaves were dismissed and we were alone.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='150' id='Page_150'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XIV<br/> JOHN CARTER</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Half</span> an hour before the evening meal we carried Xaxa -and Sag Or down the spiral runway and placed them -in the base of the Great Tur and Gor Hajus and I -took our places on the upper platform behind the eyes -and voice of the idol. Valla Dia, Dar Tarus and Hovan -Du remained in the royal apartments. Our plans were -well formulated. There was no one between the door -at the rear of the Great Tur and the flier that lay -ready on the roof in the event that we were forced -to flee through any miscarriage of our mad scheme.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The minutes dragged slowly by and darkness fell. The -time was approaching. We heard the doors of the temple -open and beyond we saw the great corridor brilliantly -lighted. It was empty except for two priests who -stood hesitating nervously in the doorway. Finally one -of them mustered up sufficient courage to enter and -switch on the lights. More bravely now they advanced -and prostrated themselves before the altar of the Great -Tur. When they arose and looked up into the face of -the idol I could not resist the temptation to turn those -huge eyes until they had rolled completely about the -interior of the chamber and rested again upon the priests; -but I did not speak and I think the effect of the awful -silence in the presence of the living god was more impressive -than would words have been. The two priests -simply collapsed. They slid to the floor and lay there -trembling, moaning and supplicating Tur to have mercy -on them, nor did they rise before the first of the worshippers -arrived.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Thereafter the temple filled rapidly and I could see -the word of Tur had been well and thoroughly disseminated. -They came as they had before; but there were -more this time, and they ranged upon either side of -the central aisle and there they waited, their eyes -divided between the doorway and the god. About the -time that I thought the next scene was about to be -enacted I let Tur’s eyes travel over the assemblage that -they might be keyed to the proper pitch for what was -to follow. They reacted precisely as had the priests, -falling upon the floor and moaning and supplicating; and -there they remained until the sounds of bugles announced -the coming of the Jeddara. Then they rose unsteadily -to their feet. The great doors swung open and there -was the carpet and the slaves behind it. As they rolled -it down towards the altar the bugles sounded louder -and the head of the royal procession came into view. -I had ordered it thus to permit of greater pageantry -than was possible when the doors opened immediately -upon the head of the procession. My plan permitted -the audience to see the royal retinue advancing down -the long corridor and the effect was splendid. First came -the double rank of nobles and behind these the chariot -drawn by the two banths, bearing the litter upon which -reclined Valla Dia. Behind her walked Dar Tarus, but -all within that room thought they were looking upon -the Jeddara Xaxa and her favorite, Sag Or. Hovan Du -walked behind Sag Or and following came the fifty -young men and the fifty maidens.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The chariot halted before the altar and Valla Dia -descended and knelt and the voices that had been chanting -the praises of Xaxa were stilled as the beautiful -creature extended her hands towards the Great Tur and -looked up into his face.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We are ready, Master!” she cried. “Speak! We -await the word of Tur!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A gasp arose from the kneeling assemblage, a gasp -that ended in a sob. I felt that they were pretty well -worked up and that everything ought to go off without -a hitch. I placed the speaking-tube to my lips.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am Tur!” I thundered and the people trembled. -“I come to pass judgment on the men of Phundahl. -As you receive my word so shall you prosper or so -shall you perish. The sins of the people may be atoned -by two who have sinned most in my sight.” I let the -eyes of Tur rove about over the audience and then -brought them to rest upon Valla Dia. “Xaxa, are you -ready to atone for your sins and for the sins of your -people?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia bowed her beautiful head. “Thy will is -law, Master!” she replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And Sag Or,” I continued, “you have sinned. Are -you prepared to pay?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“As Tur shall require,” said Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then it is my will,” I boomed, “that Xaxa and Sag -Or shall give back to those from whom they stole -them, the beautiful bodies they now wear; that he from -whom Sag Or took this body shall become Jeddak of -Phundahl and High Priest of Tur; and that she from -whom Xaxa stole her body shall be returned in pomp -to her native country. I have spoken. Let any who -would revolt against my word speak now or for ever -hold his peace.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was no objection voiced. I had felt pretty certain -that there would not be. I doubt if any god ever -looked down upon a more subdued and chastened flock. -As I had talked, Gor Hajus had descended to the base -of the idol and removed the bonds from the feet and -legs of Xaxa and Sag Or.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Extinguish the lights!” I commanded. A trembling -priest did my bidding.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia and Dar Tarus were standing side by side -before the altar when the lights went out. In the next -minute they and Gor Hajus must have worked fast, for -when I heard a low whistle from the interior of the -idol’s base, the prearranged signal that Gor Hajus had -finished his work, and ordered the lights on again, there -stood Xaxa and Sag Or where Valla Dia and Dar Tarus -had been, and the latter were nowhere in sight. I think -the dramatic effect of that transformation upon the people -there was the most stupendous thing I have ever -seen. There was no cord or gag upon either Xaxa or -Sag Or, nothing to indicate that they had been brought -hither by force—no one about who might have so -brought them. The illusion was perfect—it was a gesture -of omnipotence that simply staggered the intellect. -But I wasn’t through.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have heard Xaxa renounce her throne,” I said, -“and Sag Or submit to the judgment of Tur.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have not renounced my throne!” cried Xaxa. “It -is all a——”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Silence!” I thundered. “Prepare to greet the new -Jeddak, Dar Tarus of Phundahl!” I turned my eyes towards -the great doors and the eyes of the assemblage -followed mine. They swung open and there stood Dar -Tarus, resplendent in the trappings of Hora San, the -long dead Jeddak and high priest, whose bones we had -robbed in the base of the idol an hour earlier. How -Dar Tarus had managed to make the change so quickly -is beyond me, but he had done it and the effect was -colossal. He looked every inch a Jeddak as he moved -with slow dignity up the wide aisle along the blue and -gold and white carpet. Xaxa turned purple with rage. -“Impostor!” she shrieked. “Seize him! Kill him!” and -she ran forward to meet him as though she would slay -him with her bare hands.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Take her away,” said Dar Tarus in a quiet voice, -and at that Xaxa fell foaming to the floor. She shrieked -and gasped and then lay still—a wicked old woman -dead of apoplexy. And when Sag Or saw her lying there -he must have been the first to realize that she was -dead and that there was now no one to protect him -from the hatreds that are leveled always at the person -of a ruler’s favorite. He looked wildly about for an -instant and then threw himself at the feet of Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You promised to protect me!” he cried.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“None shall harm you,” replied Dar Tarus. “Go your -way and live in peace.” Then he turned his eyes upward -towards the face of the Great Tur. “What is thy -will, Master?” he cried. “Dar Tarus, thy servant, awaits -thy commands!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I permitted an impressive silence before I replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let the priests of Tur, the lesser nobles and a certain -number of the Jeddak’s Guard go forth into the -city and spread the word of Tur among the people that -they may know that Tur smiles again upon Phundahl -and that they have a new Jeddak who stands high in -the favor of Tur. Let the higher nobles attend presently -in the chambers that were Xaxa’s and do honor to Valla -Dia in whose perfect body their Jeddara once ruled -them, and effect the necessary arrangements for her -proper return to Duhor, her native city. There also will -they find two who have served Tur well and these shall -be accorded the hospitality and friendship of every -Phundahlian—Gor Hajus of Toonol and Vad Varo of -Jasoom. Go! and when the last has gone let the temple -be darkened. I, Tur, have spoken!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia had gone directly to the apartments of the -former Jeddara and the moment that the lights were -extinguished Gor Hajus and I joined her. She could -not wait to hear the outcome of our ruse, and when -I assured her that there had been no hitch the tears -came to her eyes for very joy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have accomplished the impossible, my chieftain,” -she murmured, “and already can I see the hills of -Duhor and the towers of my native city. Ah, Vad Varo, -I had not dreamed that life might again hold for me -such happy prospects. I owe you life and more than -life.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We were interrupted by the coming of Dar Tarus, -and with him were Hovan Du and a number of the -higher nobles. The latter received us pleasantly, though -I think they were mystified as to just how we were -linked with the service of their god; nor, I am sure, -did one of them ever learn. They were frankly delighted -to be rid of Xaxa; and while they could not -understand Tur’s purpose in elevating a former warrior -of the Guard to the throne, yet they were content if -it served to relieve them from the wrath of their god, -now a very real and terrible god, since the miracles -that had been performed in the temple. That Dar Tarus -had been of a noble family relieved them of embarrassment, -and I noted that they treated him with great respect. -I was positive that they would continue to treat -him so, for he was also high priest and for the first -time in a hundred years he would bring to the Great -Tur in the royal Temple the voice of god, for Hovan -Du had agreed to take service with Dar Tarus, and -Gor Hajus as well, so that there would never be lacking -a tongue wherewith Tur might speak. I foresaw -great possibilities for the reign of Dar Tarus, Jeddak -of Phundahl.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At the meeting held in the apartments of Xaxa it -was decided that Valla Dia should rest two days in -Phundahl while a small fleet was preparing to transport -her to Duhor. Dar Tarus assigned Xaxa’s apartments -for her use and gave her slaves from different cities -to attend upon her, all of whom were to be freed and -returned with Valla Dia to her native land.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was almost dawn before we sought our sleeping -silks and furs and the sun was high before we awoke. -Gor Hajus and I breakfasted with Valla Dia, outside -whose door we had spread our beds that we might not -leave her unprotected for a moment that it was not -necessary. We had scarce finished our meal when a messenger -came from Dar Tarus summoning us to the audience -chamber, where we found some of the higher -officers of the court gathered about the throne upon -which Dar Tarus sat, looking every inch an emperor. -He greeted us kindly, rising and descending from his -dais to receive Valla Dia and escort her to one of the -benches he had placed beside the throne for her and -for me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is one,” he said to me, “who has come to -Phundahl over night and now begs audience of the Jeddak—one -whom I thought you might like to meet -again,” and he signed to one of his attendants to admit -the petitioner; and when the doors at the opposite end -of the room opened I saw Ras Thavas standing there. -He did not recognize me or Valla Dia or Gor Hajus -until he was almost at the foot of the throne, and when -he did he looked puzzled and glanced again quickly at -Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas of the Tower of Thavas, Toonol,” announced -an officer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What would Ras Thavas of the Jeddak of Phundahl?” -asked Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I came seeking audience of Xaxa,” replied Ras -Thavas, “not knowing of her death or your accession -until this very morning; but I see Sag Or upon Xaxa’s -throne and beside him one whom I thought was Xaxa, -though they tell me Xaxa is dead, and another who -was my assistant at Thavas and one who is the Assassin -of Toonol, and I am confused, Jeddak, and do not -know whether I be among friends or foes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Speak as though Xaxa still sat upon the throne of -Phundahl,” Dar Tarus told him, “for though I am Dar -Tarus, whom you wronged, and not Sag Or, yet need -you have no fear in the court of Phundahl.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then let me tell you that Vobis Kan, Jeddak of -Toonol, learning that Gor Hajus had escaped me, -swore that I had set him free to assassinate him, and -he sent warriors who took my island and would have -imprisoned me had I not been warned in time to escape; -and I came hither to Xaxa to beg her to send -warriors to drive the men of Toonol from my island -and restore it to me that I may carry on my scientific -labors.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus turned to me. “Vad Varo, of all others you -are most familiar with the work of Ras Thavas. Would -you see him again restored to his island and his laboratory?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Only on condition that he devote his great skill to -the amelioration of human suffering,” I replied, “and no -longer prostitute it to the foul purposes of greed and -sin.” This led to a discussion which lasted for hours, the -results of which were of far-reaching significance. Ras -Thavas agreed to all that I required and Dar Tarus commissioned -Gor Hajus to head an army against Toonol.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But these matters, while of vast interest to those most -directly concerned, have no direct bearing upon the -story of my adventures upon Barsoom, as I had no part -in them, since upon the second day I boarded a flier -with Valla Dia and, escorted by a Phundahlian fleet, set -out towards Duhor. Dar Tarus accompanied us for a -short distance. When the fleet was stopped at the shore -of the great marsh he bade us farewell, and was about -to step to the deck of his own ship and return to Phundahl -when a shout arose from the deck of one of the -other ships and word was soon passed that a lookout -had sighted what appeared to be a great fleet far to the -south-west. Nor was it long before it became plainly -visible to us all and equally plain that it was headed for -Phundahl.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus told me then that as much as he regretted -it, there seemed nothing to do but return at once to his -capital with the entire fleet, since he could not spare a -single ship or man if this proved an enemy fleet, nor could -Valla Dia or I interpose any objection; and so we -turned about and sped as rapidly as the slow ships of -Phundahl permitted back towards the city.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The stranger fleet had sighted us at about the same -time that we had sighted it, and we saw it change its -course and bear down upon us; and as it came nearer it -fell into single file and prepared to encircle us. I was -standing at Dar Tarus’ side when the colors of the approaching -fleet became distinguishable and we first -learned that it was from Helium.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Signal and ask if they come in peace,” directed Dar -Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We seek word with Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl,” -came the reply. “The question of peace or war will be -hers to decide.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell them that Xaxa is dead and that I, Dar Tarus, -Jeddak of Phundahl, will receive the commander of Helium’s -fleet in peace upon the deck of this ship, or that I -will receive him in war with all my guns. I, Dar Tarus, -have spoken!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>From the bow of a great ship of Helium there broke -the flag of truce and when Dar Tarus’ ship answered it -in kind the other drew near and presently we could see -the men of Helium upon her decks. Slowly the great flier -came alongside our smaller ship and when the two had -been made fast a party of officers boarded us. They were -fine looking men, and at their head was one whom I -recognized immediately though I never before had laid -eyes upon him. I think he was the most impressive figure -I have ever seen as he advanced slowly across the -deck towards us—John Carter, Prince of Helium, Warlord -of Barsoom.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Dar Tarus,” he said, “John Carter greets you and in -peace, though it had been different, I think, had Xaxa -still reigned.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You came to war upon Xaxa?” asked Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We came to right a wrong,” replied the Warlord. -“But from what we know of Xaxa that could have been -done only by force.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What wrong has Phundahl done Helium?” demanded -Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The wrong was against one of your own people—even -against you in person.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I do not understand,” said Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is one aboard my ship who may be able to -explain to you, Dar Tarus,” replied John Carter, with a -smile. He turned and spoke to one of his aides in a -whisper, and the man saluted and returned to the deck -of his own ship. “You shall see with your own eyes, Dar -Tarus.” Suddenly his eyes narrowed. “This is indeed Dar -Tarus who was a warrior of the Jeddara’s Guard and -supposedly assassinated by her command?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is,” replied Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I must be certain,” said the Warlord.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is no question about it, John Carter,” I spoke -up in English.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His eyes went wide, and when they fell upon me and he -noted my lighter skin, from which the dye was wearing -away, he stepped forward and held out his hand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A countryman?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, an American,” I replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I was almost surprised,” he said. “Yet why should I -be? I have crossed—there is no reason why others -should not. And you have accomplished it! You must -come to Helium with me and tell me all about it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Further conversation was interrupted by the return of -the aide, who brought a young woman with him. At -sight of her Dar Tarus uttered a cry of joy and sprang -forward, and I did not need to be told that this was Kara -Vasa.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There is little more to tell that might not bore you in -the telling—of how John Carter himself took Valla Dia -and me to Duhor after attending the nuptials of Dar -Tarus and Kara Vasa; and of the great surprise that -awaited me in Duhor, where I learned for the first time -that Kor San, Jeddak of Duhor, was the father of Valla -Dia; and of the honors and the great riches that he -heaped upon me when Valla Dia and I were wed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>John Carter was present at the wedding and we initiated -upon Barsoom a good old American custom, for the -Warlord acted as best man; and then he insisted that we -follow that up with a honeymoon and bore us off to -Helium, where I am writing this.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Even now it seems like a dream that I can look out of -my window and see the scarlet and the yellow towers of -the twin cities of Helium; that I have met, and see daily, -Cathoris, Thuvia of Ptarth, Tara of Helium, Gahan of -Gathol and that peerless creature, Dejah Thoris, Princess -of Mars. Though to me, beautiful as she is, there is -another even more beautiful—Valla Dia, Princess of Duhor—Mrs. -Ulysses Paxton.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>TRANSCRIBER NOTES</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. -Where multiple spellings occur, majority use has been -employed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious -printer errors occur.</p> - -<p class='line'> </p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER MIND OF MARS ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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-<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The master mind of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs</p>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
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-country where you are located before using this eBook.
-</div>
-
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The master mind of Mars</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 4, 2023 [eBook #69703]<br />
-[Most recently updated: October 22, 2023]</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>
- <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Al Haines, Cindy Beyer & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net</p>
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER MIND OF MARS ***</div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:2em;font-size:1.2em;'>BATTLE DAMAGE</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote60percent'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus called in alarm, “We can’t alter
-our course—the ship is useless!”</p>
-
-</div>
-<div class='blockquote60percent'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Almost at the same instant, one of my
-bullets found and extinguished the enemy
-searchlight. Our craft was out of control,
-running swiftly toward a collision with the
-Toonolian flyer.</p>
-
-</div>
-<div class='blockquote60percent'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I asked Dar Tarus if our ship was beyond
-repair. His reply was that it would take hours—in
-which time the whole Toonolian air
-patrol would be upon us.</p>
-
-</div>
-<div class='blockquote60percent'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then we must have another ship!” I said.
-I pointed at the enemy craft. “We shall not
-have to look far.”</p>
-
-</div>
-<div class='blockquote60percent'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus shrugged. “Why not? It would
-be a glorious fight . . . and a worthy death!”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='lgc' style='margin-bottom:2em;'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Edgar Rice Burroughs</p>
-<p class='line'>MARS NOVELS</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<table id='tab1' summary='' class='center'>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>A PRINCESS OF MARS (#1)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE GODS OF MARS (#2)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE WARLORD OF MARS (#3)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THUVIA, MAID OF MARS (#4)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE CHESSMEN OF MARS (#5)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE MASTER MIND OF MARS (#6)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS (#7)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>SWORDS OF MARS (#8)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS (#9)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>LLANA OF GATHOL (#10)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>JOHN CARTER OF MARS (#11)</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;font-size:2em;'>THE</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:2em;'>MASTER MIND</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:2em;'>OF MARS</p>
-<p class='line'> </p>
-<p class='line'> </p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:8em;font-size:1.5em;'>Edgar Rice Burroughs</p>
-<p class='line'> </p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote80percent'>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span style='font-size:smaller'><span class='it'>The Master Mind of Mars</span> was first published in <span class='it'>Amazing Stories
-Annual</span> magazine, Volume I, number 1 on July 15, 1927.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-<div class='blockquote80percent'>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span style='font-size:smaller'>Copyright © 1927 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-<div class='blockquote80percent'>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span style='font-size:smaller'>ISBN 0-345-33424-8</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<table id='tab2' summary='' class='center'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 2em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 17.5em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 2.5em;'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tab2c1-col3 tdStyle1' colspan='3'><span style='font-size:larger'><span class='gesp'>CONTENTS</span></span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tab2c1-col2 tdStyle5' colspan='2'><span style='font-size:x-small'>CHAPTER</span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><span style='font-size:x-small'>PAGE</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>A Letter</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_7'>7</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>I</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The House of the Dead</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_10'>10</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>II</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Preferment</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_20'>20</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>III</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Valla Dia</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_28'>28</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>IV</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The Compact</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_42'>42</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>V</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Danger</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_53'>53</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VI</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Suspicions</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_61'>61</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Escape</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_72'>72</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VIII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Hands Up!</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_81'>81</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>IX</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The Palace of Mu Tel</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>X</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Phundahl</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_106'>106</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XI</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Xaxa</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_116'>116</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The Great Tur</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XIII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Back to Thavas</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_140'>140</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XIV</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>John Carter</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_150'>150</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='7' id='Page_7'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>A LETTER</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1em;'><span style='font-size:smaller'>HELIUM</span>, June 8th, 1925</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;margin-bottom:2em;font-size:.8em;'>MY DEAR MR. BURROUGHS:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was in the Fall of nineteen seventeen at an officers’
-training camp that I first became acquainted with John
-Carter, War Lord of Barsoom, through the pages of your
-novel “A Princess of Mars.” The story made a profound
-impression upon me and while my better judgment
-assured me that it was but a highly imaginative piece of
-fiction, a suggestion of the verity of it pervaded my inner
-consciousness to such an extent that I found myself
-dreaming of Mars and John Carter, of Dejah Thoris, of
-Tars Tarkas and of Woola as if they had been entities
-of my own experience rather than the figments of your
-imagination.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is true that in those days of strenuous preparation
-there was little time for dreaming, yet there were brief
-moments before sleep claimed me at night and these were
-my dreams. Such dreams! Always of Mars, and during
-my waking hours at night my eyes always sought out the
-Red Planet when he was above the horizon and clung
-there seeking a solution of the seemingly unfathomable
-riddle he has presented to the Earthman for ages.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Perhaps the thing became an obsession. I know it
-clung to me all during my training camp days, and at
-night, on the deck of the transport, I would lie on my
-back gazing up into the red eye of the god of battle—my
-god—and wishing that, like John Carter, I might be
-drawn across the great void to the haven of my desire.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And then came the hideous days and nights in the
-trenches—the rats, the vermin, the mud—with an occasional
-glorious break in the monotony when we were
-ordered over the top. I loved it then and I loved the
-bursting shells, the mad, wild chaos of the thundering
-guns, but the rats and the vermin and the mud—God!
-how I hated them. It sounds like boasting, I know, and I
-am sorry; but I wanted to write you just the truth about
-myself. I think you will understand. And it may account
-for much that happened afterwards.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There came at last to me what had come to so many
-others upon those bloody fields. It came within the
-week that I had received my first promotion and my
-captaincy, of which I was greatly proud, though humbly
-so; realizing as I did my youth, the great responsibility
-that it placed upon me as well as the opportunities it
-offered, not only in service to my country but, in a personal
-way, to the men of my command. We had advanced
-a matter of two kilometers and with a small detachment
-I was holding a very advanced position when I received
-orders to fall back to the new line. That is the last that I
-remember until I regained consciousness after dark. A
-shell must have burst among us. What became of my
-men I never knew. It was cold and very dark when I
-awoke and at first, for an instant, I was quite comfortable—before
-I was fully conscious, I imagine—and then
-I commenced to feel pain. It grew until it seemed unbearable.
-It was in my legs. I reached down to feel them,
-but my hand recoiled from what it found, and when I
-tried to move my legs I discovered that I was dead from
-the waist down. Then the moon came out from behind a
-cloud and I saw that I lay within a shell hole and that I
-was not alone—the dead were all about me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a long time before I found the moral courage
-and the physical strength to draw myself up upon one
-elbow that I might view the havoc that had been done
-me. One look was enough, I sank back in an agony of
-mental and physical anguish—my legs had been blown
-away from midway between the hips and knees. For some
-reason I was not bleeding excessively, yet I know that
-I had lost a great deal of blood and that I was gradually
-losing enough to put me out of my misery in a short time
-if I were not soon found; and as I lay there on my back,
-tortured with pain, I prayed that they would not come in
-time, for I shrank more from the thought of going
-maimed through life than I shrank from the thought of
-death. Then my eyes suddenly focussed upon the bright
-red eye of Mars and there surged through me a sudden
-wave of hope. I stretched out my arms towards Mars,
-I did not seem to question or to doubt for an instant as
-I prayed to the god of my vocation to reach forth and
-succour me. I knew that he would do it, my faith was
-complete, and yet so great was the mental effort that I
-made to throw off the hideous bonds of my mutilated
-flesh that I felt a momentary qualm of nausea and then a
-sharp click as of the snapping of a steel wire, and suddenly
-I stood naked upon two good legs looking down
-upon the bloody, distorted thing that had been I. Just
-for an instant did I stand thus before I turned my eyes
-aloft again to my star of destiny and with outstretched
-arms stand there in the cold of that French night—waiting.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Suddenly I felt myself drawn with the speed of thought
-through the trackless wastes of interplanetary space.
-There was an instant of extreme cold and utter darkness,
-then——</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But the rest is in the manuscript that, with the aid of
-one greater than either of us, I have found the means
-to transmit to you with this letter. You and a few others
-of the chosen will believe in it—for the rest it matters
-not as yet. The time will come—but why tell you what
-you already know?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My salutations and my congratulations—the latter
-on your good fortune in having been chosen as the
-medium through which Earthmen shall become better acquainted
-with the manners and customs of Barsoom,
-against the time that they shall pass through space as
-easily as John Carter, and visit the scenes that he has
-described to them through you, as have I.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:5em;'>Your sincere friend,</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:.8em;'>ULYSSES PAXTON,</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1em;'><span class='it'>Late Captain, ——th Inf., U.S. Army</span>.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='10' id='Page_10'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER I<br/> THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>I must</span> have closed my eyes involuntarily during the
-transition for when I opened them I was lying flat on
-my back gazing up into a brilliant, sun-lit sky, while
-standing a few feet from me and looking down upon me
-with the most mystified expression was as strange a looking
-individual as my eyes ever had rested upon. He appeared
-to be quite an old man, for he was wrinkled and
-withered beyond description. His limbs were emaciated;
-his ribs showed distinctly beneath his shrunken hide;
-his cranium was large and well developed, which, in conjunction
-with his wasted limbs and torso, lent him the
-appearance of top heaviness, as though he had a head
-beyond all proportion to his body, which was, I am sure,
-really not the case.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As he stared down upon me through enormous, many
-lensed spectacles I found the opportunity to examine
-him as minutely in return. He was, perhaps, five feet five
-in height, though doubtless he had been taller in youth,
-since he was somewhat bent; he was naked except for
-some rather plain and well-worn leather harness which
-supported his weapons and pocket pouches, and one great
-ornament, a collar, jewel studded, that he wore around
-his scraggy neck—such a collar as a dowager empress of
-pork or real estate might barter her soul for, if she had
-one. His skin was red, his scant locks grey. As he looked
-at me his puzzled expression increased in intensity, he
-grasped his chin between the thumb and fingers of his
-left hand and slowly raising his right hand he scratched
-his head most deliberately. Then he spoke to me, but in
-a language I did not understand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At his first words I sat up and shook my head. Then
-I looked about me. I was seated upon a crimson sward
-within a high walled enclosure, at least two, and possibly
-three, sides of which were formed by the outer walls of
-a structure that in some respects resembled more closely
-a feudal castle of Europe than any familiar form of
-architecture that comes to my mind. The façade presented
-to my view was ornately carved and of most irregular
-design, the roof line being so broken as to almost
-suggest a ruin, and yet the whole seemed harmonious
-and not without beauty. Within the enclosure grew a
-number of trees and shrubs, all weirdly strange and all,
-or almost all, profusely flowering. About them wound
-walks of coloured pebbles among which scintillated
-what appeared to be rare and beautiful gems, so lovely
-were the strange, unearthly rays that leaped and played
-in the sunshine.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The old man spoke again, peremptorily this time, as
-though repeating a command that had been ignored, but
-again I shook my head. Then he laid a hand upon one
-of his two swords, but as he drew the weapon I leaped
-to my feet, with such remarkable results that I cannot
-even now say which of us was the more surprised. I
-must have sailed ten feet into the air and back about
-twenty feet from where I had been sitting; then I was
-sure that I was upon Mars (not that I had for one instant
-doubted it), for the effects of the lesser gravity, the
-colour of the sward and the skin-hue of the red Martians
-I had seen described in the manuscripts of John Carter,
-those marvellous and as yet unappreciated contributions
-to the scientific literature of a world. There could be no
-doubt of it, I stood upon the soil of the Red Planet, I
-had come to the world of my dreams—to Barsoom.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So startled was the old man by my agility that he
-jumped a bit himself, though doubtless involuntarily, but,
-however, with certain results. His spectacles tumbled
-from his nose to the sward, and then it was that I discovered
-that the pitiful old wretch was practically blind
-when deprived of these artificial aids to vision, for he
-got to his knees and commenced to grope frantically for
-the lost glasses, as though his very life depended upon
-finding them in the instant. Possibly he thought that I
-might take advantage of his helplessness and slay him.
-Though the spectacles were enormous and lay within a
-couple of feet of him he could not find them, his hands,
-seemingly afflicted by that strange perversity that sometimes
-confounds our simplest acts, passing all about the
-lost object of their search, yet never once coming in contact
-with it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As I stood watching his futile efforts and considering
-the advisability of restoring to him the means that would
-enable him more readily to find my heart with his sword
-point, I became aware that another had entered the
-enclosure. Looking towards the building I saw a large
-red-man running rapidly towards the little old man of the
-spectacles. The newcomer was quite naked, he carried
-a club in one hand, and there was upon his face such an
-expression as unquestionably boded ill for the helpless
-husk of humanity grovelling, mole-like, for its lost
-spectacles.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My first impulse was to remain neutral in an affair
-that it seemed could not possibly concern me and of
-which I had no slightest knowledge upon which to base a
-predilection towards either of the parties involved; but a
-second glance at the face of the club-bearer aroused a
-question as to whether it might not concern me after all.
-There was that in the expression upon the man’s face
-that betokened either an inherent savageness of disposition
-or a maniacal cast of mind which might turn his
-evidently murderous attentions upon me after he had dispatched
-his elderly victim, while, in outward appearance
-at least, the latter was a sane and relatively harmless individual.
-It is true that his move to draw his sword against
-me was not indicative of a friendly disposition towards
-me, but at least, if there were any choice, he seemed the
-lesser of two evils.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was still groping for his spectacles and the naked
-man was almost upon him as I reached the decision to
-cast my lot upon the side of the old man. I was twenty
-feet away, naked and unarmed, but to cover the distance
-with my Earthly muscles required but an instant, and a
-naked sword lay by the old man’s side where he had discarded
-it the better to search for his spectacles. So it
-was that I faced the attacker at the instant that he came
-within striking distance of his victim, and the blow which
-had been intended for another was aimed at me. I sidestepped
-it and then I learned that the greater agility of
-my Earthly muscles had its disadvantages as well as its
-advantages, for, indeed, I had to learn to walk at the
-very instant that I had to learn to fight with a new
-weapon against a maniac armed with a bludgeon, or at
-least, so I assumed him to be and I think that it is not
-strange that I should have done so, what with his frightful
-show of rage and the terrible expression upon his
-face.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As I stumbled about endeavouring to accustom myself
-to the new conditions, I found that instead of offering
-any serious opposition to my antagonist I was hard
-put to it to escape death at his hands, so often did I
-stumble and fall sprawling upon the scarlet sward; so
-that the duel from its inception became but a series of
-efforts, upon his part to reach and crush me with his great
-club, and upon mine to dodge and elude him. It was
-mortifying but it is the truth. However, this did not last
-indefinitely, for soon I learned, and quickly too under the
-exigencies of the situation, to command my muscles, and
-then I stood my ground and when he aimed a blow at
-me, and I had dodged it, I touched him with my point
-and brought blood along with a savage roar of pain. He
-went more cautiously then, and taking advantage of the
-change I pressed him so that he fell back. The effect
-upon me was magical, giving me new confidence, so that
-I set upon him in good earnest, thrusting and cutting until
-I had him bleeding in a half-dozen places, yet taking
-good care to avoid his mighty swings, any one of which
-would have felled an ox.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In my attempts to elude him in the beginning of the
-duel we had crossed the enclosure and were now fighting
-at a considerable distance from the point of our first
-meeting. It now happened that I stood facing towards
-that point at the moment that the old man regained his
-spectacles, which he quickly adjusted to his eyes. Immediately
-he looked about until he discovered us, whereupon
-he commenced to yell excitedly at us at the same time
-running in our direction and drawing his short-sword as
-he ran. The red-man was pressing me hard, but I had
-gained almost complete control of myself, and fearing
-that I was soon to have two antagonists instead of one
-I set upon him with redoubled intensity. He missed me
-by the fraction of an inch, the wind in the wake of his
-bludgeon fanning my scalp, but he left an opening into
-which I stepped, running my sword fairly through his
-heart. At least I thought that I had pierced his heart, but
-I had forgotten what I had once read in one of John
-Carter’s manuscripts to the effect that all the Martian
-internal organs are not disposed identically with those
-of Earthmen. However, the immediate results were quite
-as satisfactory as though I had found his heart, for the
-wound was sufficiently grievous to place him <span class='it'>hors de
-combat</span>, and at that instant the old gentleman arrived. He
-found me ready, but I had mistaken his intentions. He
-made no unfriendly gestures with his weapon, but seemed
-to be trying to convince me that he had no intention of
-harming me. He was very excited and apparently tremendously
-annoyed that I could not understand him, and
-perplexed, too. He hopped about screaming strange sentences
-at me that bore the tones of peremptory commands,
-rabid invective and impotent rage. But the fact
-that he had returned his sword to its scabbard had
-greater significance than all his jabbering, and when he
-ceased to yell at me and commenced to talk in a sort of
-pantomime I realized that he was making overtures of
-peace if not of friendship, so I lowered my point and
-bowed. It was all that I could think of to assure him that
-I had no immediate intention of spitting him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He seemed satisfied and at once turned his attention
-to the fallen man. He examined his pulse and listened to
-his heart, then, nodding his head, he arose and taking a
-whistle from one of his pocket pouches sounded a single
-loud blast. There emerged immediately from one of the
-surrounding buildings a score of naked red-men who
-came running towards us. None was armed. To these
-he issued a few curt orders, whereupon they gathered the
-fallen one in their arms and bore him off. Then the old
-man started towards the building, motioning me to accompany
-him. There seemed nothing else for me to do
-but obey. Wherever I might be upon Mars, the chances
-were a million to one that I would be among enemies;
-and so I was as well off here as elsewhere and must depend
-upon my own resourcefulness, skill and agility to
-make my way upon the Red Planet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The old man led me into a small chamber from which
-opened numerous doors, through one of which they were
-just bearing my late antagonist. We followed into a large,
-brilliantly lighted chamber wherein there burst upon my
-astounded vision the most gruesome scene that I ever
-had beheld. Rows upon rows of tables arranged in
-parallel lines filled the room and with few exceptions each
-table bore a similar grisly burden, a partially dismembered
-or otherwise mutilated human corpse. Above each
-table was a shelf bearing containers of various sizes and
-shapes, while from the bottom of the shelf depended
-numerous surgical instruments, suggesting that my entrance
-upon Barsoom was to be through a gigantic medical
-college.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At a word from the old man, those who bore the
-Barsoomian I had wounded laid him upon an empty
-table and left the apartment. Whereupon my host, if so I
-may call him, for certainly he was not as yet my captor,
-motioned me forward. While he conversed in ordinary
-tones, he made two incisions in the body of my late
-antagonist; one, I imagine, in a large vein and one in an
-artery, to which he deftly attached the ends of two tubes,
-one of which was connected with an empty glass receptacle
-and the other with a similar receptacle filled with a
-colourless, transparent liquid resembling clear water. The
-connections made, the old gentleman pressed a button
-controlling a small motor, whereupon the victim’s blood
-was pumped into the empty jar while the contents of
-the other was forced into the emptying veins and arteries.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The tones and gestures of the old man as he addressed
-me during this operation convinced me that he was explaining
-in detail the method and purpose of what was
-transpiring, but as I understood no word of all he said
-I was as much in the dark when he had completed his
-discourse as I was before he started it, though what I had
-seen made it appear reasonable to believe that I was
-witnessing an ordinary Barsoomian embalming. Having
-removed the tubes the old man closed the openings he
-had made by covering them with bits of what appeared
-to be heavy adhesive tape and then motioned me to
-follow him. We went from room to room, in each of
-which were the same gruesome exhibits. At many of the
-bodies the old man paused to make a brief examination
-or to refer to what appeared to be a record of the case,
-that hung upon a hook at the head of each of the tables.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From the last of the chambers we visited upon the first
-floor my host led me up an inclined runway to the second
-floor where there were rooms similar to those below, but
-here the tables bore whole rather than mutilated bodies,
-all of which were patched in various places with adhesive
-tape. As we were passing among the bodies in one of
-these rooms a Barsoomian girl, whom I took to be
-a servant or slave, entered and addressed the old man,
-whereupon he signed me to follow him and together we
-descended another runway to the first floor of another
-building.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Here, in a large, gorgeously decorated and sumptuously
-furnished apartment an elderly red-woman awaited
-us. She appeared to be quite old and her face was
-terribly disfigured as by some injury. Her trappings were
-magnificent and she was attended by a score of women
-and armed warriors, suggesting that she was a person of
-some consequence, but the little old man treated her
-quite brusquely, as I could see, quite to the horror of
-her attendants.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Their conversation was lengthy and at the conclusion
-of it, at the direction of the woman, one of her male
-escort advanced and opening a pocket pouch at his side
-withdrew a handful of what appeared to me to be Martian
-coins. A quantity of these he counted out and handed
-to the little old man, who then beckoned the woman
-to follow him, a gesture which included me. Several of
-her women and guard started to accompany us, but these
-the old man waved back peremptorily; whereupon
-there ensued a heated discussion between the woman and
-one of her warriors on one side and the old man on the
-other, which terminated in his proffering the return of
-the woman’s money with a disgusted air. This seemed to
-settle the argument, for she refused the coins, spoke
-briefly to her people and accompanied the old man and
-myself alone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He led the way to the second floor and to a chamber
-which I had not previously visited. It closely resembled
-the others except that all the bodies therein were of young
-women, many of them of great beauty. Following closely
-at the heels of the old man the woman inspected the gruesome
-exhibit with painstaking care. Thrice she passed
-slowly among the tables examining their ghastly burdens.
-Each time she paused longest before a certain one
-which bore the figure of the most beautiful creature I had
-ever looked upon; then she returned the fourth time to it
-and stood looking long and earnestly into the dead face.
-For awhile she stood there talking with the old man,
-apparently asking innumerable questions, to which he returned
-quick, brusque replies, then she indicated the body
-with a gesture and nodded assent to the withered keeper
-of this ghastly exhibit.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Immediately the old fellow sounded a blast upon his
-whistle, summoning a number of servants to whom he
-issued brief instructions, after which he led us to another
-chamber, a smaller one in which were several empty
-tables similar to those upon which the corpses lay in
-adjoining rooms. Two female slaves or attendants were
-in this room and at a word from their master they removed
-the trappings from the old woman, unloosed her
-hair and helped her to one of the tables. Here she was
-thoroughly sprayed with what I presume was an antiseptic
-solution of some nature, carefully dried and removed to
-another table, at a distance of about twenty inches from
-which stood a second parallel table.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now the door of the chamber swung open and two
-attendants appeared bearing the body of the beautiful
-girl we had seen in the adjoining room. This they deposited
-upon the table the old woman had just quitted and as
-she had been sprayed so was the corpse, after which it
-was transferred to the table beside that on which she lay.
-The little old man now made two incisions in the body of
-the old woman, just as he had in the body of the red-man
-who had fallen to my sword; her blood was
-drawn from her veins and the clear liquid pumped into
-them, life left her and she lay upon the polished ersite
-slab that formed the table top, as much a corpse as the
-poor, beautiful, dead creature at her side.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The little old man, who had removed the harness down
-to his waist and been thoroughly sprayed, now selected a
-sharp knife from among the instruments above the table
-and removed the old woman’s scalp, following the
-hair line entirely around her head. In a similar manner he
-then removed the scalp from the corpse of the young
-woman, after which, by means of a tiny circular saw
-attached to the end of a flexible, revolving shaft he
-sawed through the skull of each, following the line exposed
-by the removal of the scalps. This and the balance
-of the marvellous operation was so skilfully performed
-as to baffle description. Suffice it to say that at
-the end of four hours he had transferred the brain of
-each woman to the brain pan of the other, deftly connected
-the severed nerves and ganglia, replaced the skulls
-and scalps and bound both heads securely with his peculiar
-adhesive tape, which was not only antiseptic and
-healing but anaesthetic, locally, as well.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He now reheated the blood that he had withdrawn
-from the body of the old woman, adding a few drops of
-some clear chemical solution, withdrew the liquid from
-the veins of the beautiful corpse, replacing it with the
-blood of the old woman and simultaneously administering
-a hypodermic injection.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>During the entire operation he had not spoken a word.
-Now he issued a few instructions in his curt manner to his
-assistants, motioned me to follow him, and left the room.
-He led me to a distant part of the building or series of
-buildings that composed the whole, ushered me into a
-luxurious apartment, opened the door to a Barsoomian
-bath and left me in the hands of trained servants. Refreshed
-and rested I left the bath after an hour of relaxation
-to find harness and trappings awaiting me in the
-adjoining chamber. Though plain, they were of good
-material, but there were no weapons with them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Naturally I had been thinking much upon the strange
-things I had witnessed since my advent upon Mars, but
-what puzzled me most lay in the seemingly inexplicable act
-of the old woman in paying my host what was evidently
-a considerable sum to murder her and transfer to the
-inside of her skull the brain of a corpse. Was it the
-outcome of some horrible religious fanaticism, or was
-there an explanation that my Earthly mind could not
-grasp?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had reached no decision in the matter when I was
-summoned to follow a slave to another and nearby
-apartment where I found my host awaiting me before a
-table loaded with delicious foods, to which, it is needless
-to say, I did ample justice after my long fast and
-longer weeks of rough army fare.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>During the meal my host attempted to converse with
-me, but, naturally, the effort was fruitless of results. He
-waxed quite excited at times and upon three distinct occasions
-laid his hand upon one of his swords when I
-failed to comprehend what he was saying to me, an
-action which resulted in a growing conviction upon my
-part that he was partially demented; but he evinced sufficient
-self-control in each instance to avert a catastrophe
-for one of us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The meal over he sat for a long time in deep meditation,
-then a sudden resolution seemed to possess him.
-He turned suddenly upon me with a faint suggestion of a
-smile and dove headlong into what was to prove an intensive
-course of instruction in the Barsoomian language.
-It was long after dark before he permitted me to retire
-for the night, conducting me himself to a large apartment,
-the same in which I had found my new harness,
-where he pointed out a pile of rich sleeping silks and
-furs, bid me a Barsoomian good night and left me, locking
-the door after him upon the outside, and leaving me to
-guess whether I were more guest or prisoner.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='20' id='Page_20'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER II<br/> PREFERMENT</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Three</span> weeks passed rapidly. I had mastered enough
-of the Barsoomian tongue to enable me to converse with
-my host in a reasonably satisfactory manner, and I was
-also progressing slowly in the mastery of the written
-language of his nation, which is different, of course,
-from the written language of all other Barsoomian nations,
-though the spoken language of all is identical. In these
-three weeks I had learned much of the strange place
-in which I was half guest and half prisoner and of my
-remarkable host-jailer, Ras Thavas, the old surgeon of
-Toonol, whom I had accompanied almost constantly day
-after day until gradually there had unfolded before my
-astounded faculties an understanding of the purposes of
-the institution over which he ruled and in which he laboured
-practically alone; for the slaves and attendants
-that served him were but hewers of wood and carriers
-of water. It was his brain alone and his skill that directed
-the sometimes beneficent, the sometimes malevolent,
-but always marvellous activities of his life’s work.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas himself was as remarkable as the things he
-accomplished. He was never intentionally cruel; he was
-not, I am sure, intentionally wicked. He was guilty of the
-most diabolical cruelties and the basest of crimes; yet in
-the next moment he might perform a deed that if duplicated
-upon Earth would have raised him to the highest
-pinnacle of man’s esteem. Though I know that I am safe
-in saying that he was never prompted to a cruel or
-criminal act by base motives, neither was he ever urged to
-a humanitarian one by high motives. He had a purely
-scientific mind entirely devoid of the cloying influences
-of sentiment, of which he possessed none. His was a practical
-mind, as evidenced by the enormous fees he demanded
-for his professional services; yet I know that he
-would not operate for money alone and I have seen him
-devote days to the study of a scientific problem the
-solution of which could add nothing to his wealth, while
-the quarters that he furnished his waiting clients were
-overflowing with wealthy patrons waiting to pour money
-into his coffers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His treatment of me was based entirely upon scientific
-requirements. I offered a problem. I was either, quite evidently,
-not a Barsoomian at all, or I was of a species of
-which he had no knowledge. It therefore best suited the
-purposes of science that I be preserved and studied. I knew
-much about my own planet. It pleased Ras Thavas’
-scientific mind to milk me of all I knew in the hope that
-he might derive some suggestion that would solve one of
-the Barsoomian scientific riddles that still baffle their savants;
-but he was compelled to admit that in this respect I
-was a total loss, not alone because I was densely ignorant
-upon practically all scientific subjects, but because the
-learned sciences on Earth have not advanced even to
-the swaddling-clothes stage as compared with the remarkable
-progress of corresponding activities on Mars. Yet he
-kept me by him, training me in many of the minor duties
-of his vast laboratory. I was entrusted with the formula
-of the “embalming fluid” and taught how to withdraw a
-subject’s blood and replace it with this marvellous preservative
-that arrests decay without altering in the
-minutest detail the nerve or tissue structure of the body.
-I learned also the secret of the few drops of solution
-which, added to the rewarmed blood before it is returned
-to the veins of the subject, revitalizes the latter and
-restores to normal and healthy activity each and every
-organ of the body.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He told me once why he had permitted me to learn
-these things that he had kept a secret from all others,
-and why he kept me with him at all times in preference to
-any of the numerous individuals of his own race that
-served him and me in lesser capacities both day and
-night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Vad Varo,” he said, using the Barsoomian name that
-he had given me because he insisted that my own name
-was meaningless and impractical, “for many years I have
-needed an assistant, but heretofore I have never felt that
-I had discovered one who might work here for me wholeheartedly
-and disinterestedly without ever having reason
-to go elsewhere or to divulge my secrets to others.
-You, in all Barsoom, are unique—you have no other
-friend or acquaintance than myself. Were you to leave
-me you would find yourself in a world of enemies, for all
-are suspicious of a stranger. You would not survive a
-dozen dawns and you would be cold and hungry and miserable—a
-wretched outcast in a hostile world. Here you
-have every luxury that the mind of man can devise or
-the hand of man produce, and you are occupied with
-work of such engrossing interest that your every hour
-must be fruitful of unparalleled satisfaction. There is no
-selfish reason, therefore, why you should leave me and
-there is every reason why you should remain. I expect
-no loyalty other than that which may be prompted by
-egoism. You make an ideal assistant, not only for the
-reasons I have just given you, but because you are intelligent
-and quick-witted, and now I have decided, after
-observing you carefully for a sufficient time, that you can
-serve me in yet another capacity—that of personal bodyguard.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You may have noticed that I alone of all those connected
-with my laboratory am armed. This is unusual
-upon Barsoom, where people of all classes, and all ages
-and both sexes habitually go armed. But many of these
-people I could not trust armed as they would slay me;
-and were I to give arms to those whom I might trust, who
-knows but that the others would obtain possession of
-them and slay me, or even those whom I had trusted turn
-against me, for there is not one who might not wish to
-go forth from this place back among his own people—only
-you, Vad Varo, for there is no other place for you
-to go. So I have decided to give you weapons.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You saved my life once. A similar opportunity might
-again present itself. I know that, being a reasoning and
-reasonable creature, you will not slay me, for you have
-nothing to gain and everything to lose by my death, which
-would leave you friendless and unprotected in a world of
-strangers where assassination is the order of society and
-natural death one of the rarest of phenomena. Here are
-your arms.” He stepped to a cabinet which he unlocked,
-displaying an assortment of weapons, and selected
-for me a long-sword, a short-sword, a pistol and a dagger.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You seem sure of my loyalty, Ras Thavas,” I said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He shrugged his shoulders. “I am only sure that I
-know perfectly where your interests lie—sentimentalists
-have words: love, loyalty, friendship, enmity, jealousy,
-hate, a thousand others; a waste of words—one word
-defines them all: self-interest. All men of intelligence realize
-this. They analyse an individual and by his predilections
-and his needs they classify him as friend or foe, leaving
-to the weak-minded idiots who like to be deceived the
-drooling drivel of sentiment.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I smiled as I buckled my weapons to my harness,
-but I held my peace. Nothing could be gained by arguing
-with the man and, too, I felt quite sure that in any
-purely academic controversy I should get the worst of it;
-but many of the matters of which he had spoken had
-aroused my curiosity and one had reawakened in my
-mind a matter to which I had given considerable thought.
-While partially explained by some of his remarks I still
-wondered why the red-man from whom I had rescued
-him had seemed so venomously bent upon slaying him
-the day of my advent upon Barsoom, and so, as we sat
-chatting after our evening meal, I asked him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A sentimentalist,” he said. “A sentimentalist of the
-most pronounced type. Why that fellow hated me with a
-venom absolutely unbelievable by any of the reactions of a
-trained, analytical mind such as mine; but having witnessed
-his reactions I become cognizant of a state of
-mind that I cannot of myself even imagine. Consider the
-facts. He was the victim of assassination—a young warrior
-in the prime of life, possessing a handsome face
-and a splendid physique. One of my agents paid his relatives
-a satisfactory sum for the corpse and brought it to
-me. It is thus that I obtain practically all of my material.
-I treated it in the manner with which you are familiar. For
-a year the body lay in the laboratory, there being no occasion
-during that time that I had use for it; but eventually
-a rich client came, a not overly prepossessing man of
-considerable years. He had fallen desperately in love with
-a young woman who was attended by many handsome
-suitors. My client had more money than any of them,
-more brains, more experience, but he lacked the one
-thing that each of the others had that always weighs
-heavily with the undeveloped, unreasoning, sentiment-ridden
-minds of young females—good looks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now 378-J-493811-P had what my client lacked and
-could afford to purchase. Quickly we reached an agreement
-as to price and I transferred the brain of my rich
-client to the head of 378-J-493811-P and my client went
-away and for all I know won the hand of the beautiful
-moron; and 378-J-493811-P might have rested on indefinitely
-upon his ersite slab until I needed him or a part
-of him in my work, had I not, merely by chance, selected
-him for resurgence because of an existing need for another
-male slave.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mind you now, the man had been murdered. He was
-dead. I bought and paid for the corpse and all there was
-in it. He might have lain dead forever upon one of my
-ersite slabs had I not breathed new life into his dead veins.
-Did he have the brains to view the transaction in a wise
-and dispassionate manner? He did not. His sentimental
-reactions caused him to reproach me because I had given
-him another body, though it seemed to me that, looking
-at the matter from a standpoint of sentiment, if one must,
-he should have considered me as a benefactor for having
-given him life again in a perfectly healthy, if somewhat
-used, body.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He had spoken to me upon the subject several times,
-begging me to restore his body to him, a thing of which,
-of course, as I explained to him, was utterly out of the
-question unless chance happened to bring to my laboratory
-the corpse of the client who had purchased his
-carcass—a contingency quite beyond the pale of possibility
-for one as wealthy as my client. The fellow even suggested
-that I permit him to go forth and assassinate my
-client, bringing the body back that I might reverse the
-operation and restore his body to his brain. When I refused
-to divulge the name of the present possessor of
-his body he grew sulky, but until the very hour of your
-arrival, when he attacked me, I did not suspect the
-depth of his hate complex.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sentiment is indeed a bar to all progress. We of
-Toonol are probably less subject to its vagaries than most
-other nations upon Barsoom, but yet most of my fellow
-countrymen are victims of it in varying degrees. It has
-its rewards and compensations, however. Without it we
-could preserve no stable form of government and the
-Phundahlians, or some other people, would overrun and
-conquer us; but enough of our lower classes have sentiment
-to a sufficient degree to give them loyalty to the
-Jeddak of Toonol and the upper classes are brainy enough
-to know that it is to their own best interests to keep him
-upon his throne.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Phundahlians, upon the other hand, are egregious
-sentimentalists, filled with crass stupidities and superstitions,
-slaves to every variety of brain withering conceit.
-Why the very fact that they keep the old termagant,
-Xaxa, on the throne brands them with their stupid
-idiocy. She is an ignorant, arrogant, selfish, stupid, cruel
-virago, yet the Phundahlians would fight and die for her
-because her father was Jeddak of Phundahl. She taxes
-them until they can scarce stagger beneath their burden,
-she misrules them, exploits them, betrays them, and they
-fall down and worship at her feet. Why? Because her
-father was Jeddak of Phundahl and his father before
-him and so on back into antiquity; because they are ruled
-by sentiment rather than reason; because their wicked
-rulers play upon this sentiment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She had nothing to recommend her to a sane person—not
-even beauty. You know, you saw her.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I saw her?” I demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You assisted me the day that we gave her old brain a
-new casket—the day you arrived from what you call
-your Earth.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She! That old woman was Jeddara of Phundahl?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That was Xaxa,” he assured me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why, you did not accord her the treatment that one
-of the Earth would suppose would be accorded a ruler,
-and so I had no idea that she was more than a rich old
-woman.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am Ras Thavas,” said the old man. “Why should I
-incline the head to any other? In my world nothing counts
-but brain and in that respect, and without egotism, I may
-say that I acknowledge no superior.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then you are not without sentiment,” I said, smiling.
-“You acknowledge pride in your intellect!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is not pride,” he said, patiently, for him, “it is
-merely a fact that I state. A fact that I should have no
-difficulty in proving. In all probability I have the most
-highly developed and perfectly functioning mind among
-all the learned men of my acquaintance, and reason indicates
-that this fact also suggests that I possess the
-most highly developed and perfectly functioning mind
-upon Barsoom. From what I know of Earth and from what
-I have seen of you, I am convinced that there is no mind
-upon your planet that may even faintly approximate
-in power that which I have developed during a thousand
-years of active study and research. Rasoom (Mercury) or
-Cosoom (Venus) may possibly support intelligences equal
-to or even greater than mine. While we have made some
-study of their thought waves, our instruments are not yet
-sufficiently developed to more than suggest that they are
-of extreme refinement, power and flexibility.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And what of the girl whose body you gave to the
-Jeddara?” I asked, irrelevantly, for my mind could not
-efface the memory of that sweet body that must, indeed,
-have possessed an equally sweet and fine brain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Merely a subject! Merely a subject!” he replied with
-a wave of his hand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What will become of her?” I insisted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What difference does it make?” he demanded. “I
-bought her with a batch of prisoners of war. I do not
-even recall from what country my agent obtained them,
-or from whence they originated. Such matters are of no
-import.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She was alive when you bought her?” I demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes. Why?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You—er—ah—killed her, then?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Killed her! No; I preserved her. That was some ten
-years ago. Why should I permit her to grow old and
-wrinkled? She would no longer have the same value then,
-would she? No, I preserved her. When Xaxa bought
-her she was just as fresh and young as the day she arrived.
-I kept her a long time. Many women looked at her
-and wanted her face and figure, but it took a Jeddara
-to afford her. She brought the highest price that I have
-ever been paid.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I kept her a long time, but I knew that some
-day she would bring my price. She was indeed beautiful
-and so sentiment has its uses—were it not for sentiment
-there would be no fools to support this work that I am
-doing, thus permitting me to carry on investigations of
-far greater merit. You would be surprised, I know, were I
-to tell you that I feel that I am almost upon the point of
-being able to produce rational human beings through the
-action upon certain chemical combinations of a group of
-rays probably entirely undiscovered by your scientists, if
-I am to judge by the paucity of your knowledge concerning
-such things.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I would not be surprised,” I assured him. “I would
-not be surprised by anything that you might accomplish.”</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='28' id='Page_28'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER III<br/> VALLA DIA</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>I lay</span> awake a long time that night thinking of
-4296-E-2631-H, the beautiful girl whose perfect body
-had been stolen to furnish a gorgeous setting for the
-cruel brain of a tyrant. It seemed such a horrid crime
-that I could not rid my mind of it and I think that contemplation
-of it sowed the first seed of my hatred and
-loathing for Ras Thavas. I could not conjure a creature
-so utterly devoid of bowels of compassion as to even
-consider for a moment the frightful ravishing of that
-sweet and lovely body for even the holiest of purposes,
-much less one that could have been induced to do so
-for filthy pelf.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So much did I think upon the girl that night that her
-image was the first to impinge upon my returning consciousness
-at dawn, and after I had eaten, Ras Thavas
-not having appeared, I went directly to the storage room
-where the poor thing was. Here she lay, identified only
-by a small panel, bearing a number: 4296-E-2631-H.
-The body of an old woman with a disfigured face lay
-before me in the rigid immobility of death; yet that was
-not the figure that I saw, but instead, a vision of radiant
-loveliness whose imprisoned soul lay dormant beneath
-those greying locks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The creature here with the face and form of Xaxa
-was not Xaxa at all, for all that made the other what
-she was had been transferred to this cold corpse. How
-frightful would be the awakening, should awakening ever
-come! I shuddered to think of the horror that must overwhelm
-the girl when first she realized the horrid crime
-that had been perpetrated upon her. Who was she? What
-story lay locked in that dead and silent brain? What loves
-must have been hers whose beauty was so great and upon
-whose fair face had lain the indelible imprint of graciousness!
-Would Ras Thavas ever arouse her from this happy
-semblance of death?—far happier than any quickening
-ever could be for her. I shrank from the thought of her
-awakening and yet I longed to hear her speak, to know
-that that brain lived again, to learn her name, to listen
-to the story of this gentle life that had been so rudely
-snatched from its proper environment and so cruelly
-handled by the hand of Fate. And suppose she were awakened!
-Suppose she were awakened and that I—— A hand
-was laid upon my shoulder and I turned to look into the
-face of Ras Thavas.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You seem interested in this subject,” he said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I was wondering,” I replied, “what the reaction
-of this girl’s brain would be were she to awaken to the discovery
-that she had become an old, disfigured woman.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He stroked his chin and eyed me narrowly. “An interesting
-experiment,” he mused. “I am gratified to discover
-that you are taking a scientific interest in the labours that
-I am carrying on. The psychological phases of my work I
-have, I must confess, rather neglected during the past
-hundred years or so, though I formerly gave them a great
-deal of attention. It would be interesting to observe and
-study several of these cases. This one, especially, might
-prove of value to you as an initial study, it being simple
-and regular. Later we will let you examine into a case
-where a man’s brain has been transferred to a woman’s
-skull, and a woman’s brain to a man’s. There are also the
-interesting cases where a portion of diseased or injured
-brain has been replaced by a portion of the brain from
-another subject; and, for experimental purposes alone,
-those human brains that have been transplanted to the
-craniums of beasts, and <span class='it'>vice versa</span>, offer tremendous
-opportunities for observation. I have in mind one case
-in which I transferred half the brain of an ape to the
-skull of a man, after having removed half of his brain,
-which I grafted upon the remaining part of the brain in
-the ape’s skull. That was a matter of several years ago
-and I have often thought that I should like to recall
-these two subjects and note the results. I shall have to
-have a look at them—as I recall it they are in vault
-L-42-X, beneath building 4-J-21. We shall have to have a
-look at them some day soon—it has been years since I
-have been below. There must be some very interesting
-specimens there that have escaped my mind. But come!
-let us recall 4296-E-2631-H.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No!” I exclaimed, laying a hand upon his arm. “It
-would be horrible.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He turned a surprised look upon me and then a
-nasty, sneering smile curled his lips. “Maudlin, sentimental
-fool!” he cried. “Who dare say no to me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I laid a hand upon the hilt of my long-sword and
-looked him steadily in the eye. “Ras Thavas,” I said, “you
-are master in your own house; but while I am your
-guest treat me with courtesy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He returned my look for a moment but his eyes
-wavered. “I was hasty,” he said. “Let it pass.” That, I
-let answer for an apology—really it was more than I had
-expected—but the event was not unfortunate. I think he
-treated me with far greater respect thereafter; but now
-he turned immediately to the slab bearing the mortal
-remains of 4296-E-2631-H.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Prepare the subject for revivification,” he said, “and
-make what study you can of all its reactions.” With
-that he left the room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I was now fairly adept at this work which I set about
-with some misgivings but with the assurance that I was
-doing right in obeying Ras Thavas while I remained a
-member of his entourage. The blood that had once flowed
-through the veins of the beautiful body that Ras Thavas
-had sold to Xaxa reposed in an hermetically sealed vessel
-upon the shelf above the corpse. As I had before done
-in other cases beneath the watchful eyes of the old surgeon
-I now did for the first time alone. The blood heated,
-the incisions made, the tubes attached and the few drops
-of life-giving solution added to the blood, I was now ready
-to restore life to that delicate brain that had lain dead
-for ten years. As my finger rested upon the little button
-that actuated the motor that was to send the revivifying
-liquid into those dormant veins, I experienced such a
-sensation as I imagined no mortal man has ever felt.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had become master of life and death, and yet at this
-moment that I stood there upon the point of resurrecting
-the dead I felt more like a murderer than a saviour. I
-tried to view the procedure dispassionately through the
-cold eye of science, but I failed miserably. I could only
-see a stricken girl grieving for her lost beauties. With a
-muffled oath I turned away. I could not do it! And then,
-as though an outside force had seized upon me, my finger
-moved unerringly to the button and pressed it. I cannot
-explain it, unless upon the theory of dual mentality,
-which may explain many things. Perhaps my subjective
-mind directed the act. I do not know. Only I know that
-I did it, the motor started, the level of the blood in the
-container commenced gradually to lower.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Spell-bound, I stood watching. Presently the vessel
-was empty. I shut off the motor, removed the tubes,
-sealed the openings with tape. The red glow of life tinged
-the body, replacing the sallow, purplish hue of death. The
-breasts rose and fell regularly, the head turned slightly
-and the eyelids moved. A faint sigh issued from between
-the parting lips. For a long time there was no other sign
-of life, then, suddenly, the eyes opened. They were dull
-at first, but presently they commenced to fill with questioning
-wonderment. They rested on me and then passed
-on about that portion of the room that was visible from
-the position of the body. Then they came back to me
-and remained steadily fixed upon my countenance after
-having once surveyed me up and down. There was still
-the questioning in them, but there was no fear.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Where am I?” she asked. The voice was that of an
-old woman—high and harsh. A startled expression filled
-her eyes. “What is the matter with me? What is wrong
-with my voice? What has happened?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I laid a hand upon her forehead. “Don’t bother about
-it now,” I said, soothingly. “Wait until sometime when
-you are stronger. Then I will tell you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She sat up. “I am strong,” she said, and then her eyes
-swept her lower body and limbs and a look of utter
-horror crossed her face. “What has happened to me? In
-the name of my first ancestor, what has happened to
-me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The shrill, harsh voice grated upon me. It was the
-voice of Xaxa and Xaxa now must possess the sweet
-musical tones that alone would have harmonized with
-the beautiful face she had stolen. I tried to forget those
-strident notes and think only of the pulchritude of the
-envelope that had once graced the soul within this old
-and withered carcass.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She extended a hand and laid it gently upon mine.
-The act was beautiful, the movements graceful. The
-brain of the girl directed the muscles, but the old,
-rough vocal chords of Xaxa could give forth no sweeter
-notes. “Tell me, please!” she begged. There were tears
-in the old eyes, I’ll venture for the first time in many
-years. “Tell me! You do not seem unkind.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And so I told her. She listened intently and when I
-was through she sighed. “After all,” she said, “it is not
-so dreadful, now that I really know. It is better than
-being dead.” That made me glad that I had pressed the
-button. She was glad to be alive, even draped in the
-hideous carcass of Xaxa. I told her as much.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You were so beautiful,” I told her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And now I am so ugly?” I made no answer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“After all, what difference does it make?” she inquired
-presently. “This old body cannot change me, or make
-me different from what I have always been. The good in
-me remains and whatever of sweetness and kindness, and
-I can be happy to be alive and perhaps to do some
-good. I was terrified at first, because I did not know
-what had happened to me. I thought that maybe I had
-contracted some terrible disease that had so altered me—that
-horrified me; but now that I know—pouf! what
-of it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are wonderful,” I said. “Most women would
-have gone mad with the horror and grief of it—to lose
-such wondrous beauty as was yours—and you do not
-care.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, I care, my friend,” she corrected me, “but
-I do not care enough to ruin my life in all other respects
-because of it, or to cast a shadow upon the lives
-of those around me. I have had my beauty and enjoyed
-it. It is not an unalloyed happiness I can assure you.
-Men killed one another because of it; two great nations
-went to war because of it; and perhaps my father lost
-his throne or his life—I do not know, for I was captured
-by the enemy while the war still raged. It may be
-raging yet and men dying because I was too beautiful.
-No one will fight for me now, though,” she added, with
-a rueful smile.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you know how long you have been here?” I
-asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” she replied. “It was the day before yesterday
-that they brought me hither.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was ten years ago,” I told her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ten years! Impossible.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I pointed to the corpses around us. “You have lain
-like this for ten years,” I explained. “There are subjects
-here who have lain thus for fifty, Ras Thavas tells
-me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ten years! Ten years! What may not have happened
-in ten years! It is better thus. I should fear to go back
-now. I should not want to know that my father, my
-mother too, perhaps, were gone. It is better thus. Perhaps
-you will let me sleep again? May I not?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That remains with Ras Thavas,” I replied; “but for
-a while I am to observe you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Observe me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Study you—your reactions.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! and what good will that do?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It may do some good in the world.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It may give this horrid Ras Thavas some new ideas
-for his torture chamber—some new scheme for coining
-money from the suffering of his victims,” she said, her
-harsh voice saddened.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Some of his works are good,” I told her. “The money
-he makes permits him to maintain this wonderful establishment
-where he constantly carries on countless experiments.
-Many of his operations are beneficent. Yesterday
-a warrior was brought in whose arm was crushed
-beyond repair. Ras Thavas gave him a new arm. A demented
-child was brought. Ras Thavas gave her a new
-brain. The arm and the brain were taken from two who
-had met violent deaths. Through Ras Thavas they were
-permitted, after death, to give life and happiness to
-others.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She thought for a moment. “I am content,” she said.
-“I only hope that you will always be the observer.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Presently Ras Thavas came and examined her. “A
-good subject,” he said. He looked at the chart where I
-had made a very brief record following the other entries
-relative to the history of Case No. 4296-E-2631-H. Of
-course this is, naturally, a rather free translation of this
-particular identification number. The Barsoomians have
-no alphabet such as ours and their numbering system
-is quite different. The thirteen characters above were
-represented by four Toonolian characters, yet the meaning
-was quite the same—they represented, in contracted
-form, the case number, the room, the table and the
-building.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The subject will be quartered near you where you
-may regularly observe it,” continued Ras Thavas. “There
-is a chamber adjoining yours. I will see that it is unlocked.
-Take the subject there. When not under your
-observation, lock it in.” <span class='it'>It</span> was only another <span class='it'>case</span> to
-him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I took the girl, if I may so call her, to her quarters.
-On the way I asked her her name, for it seemed to me
-an unnecessary discourtesy always to address her and
-refer to her as 4296-E-2631-H, and this I explained to
-her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is considerate of you to think of that,” she said,
-“but really that is all that I am here—just another subject
-for vivisection.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are more than that to me,” I told her. “You
-are friendless and helpless. I want to be of service to
-you—to make your lot easier if I can.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thank you again,” she said. “My name is Valla Dia,
-and yours?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas calls me Vad Varo,” I told her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But that is not your name?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My name is Ulysses Paxton.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is a strange name, unlike any that I have ever
-heard, but you are unlike any man I have ever seen—you
-do not seem Barsoomian. Your colour is unlike
-that of any race.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am not of Barsoom, but from Earth, the planet
-you sometimes call Jasoom. That is why I differ in
-appearance from any you have known before.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Jasoom! There is another Jasoomian here whose
-fame has reached to the remotest corners of Barsoom,
-but I never have seen him.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“John Carter?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, The War Lord. He was of Helium and my
-people were not friendly with those of Helium. I never
-could understand how he came here. And now there is
-another from Jasoom—how can it be? How did you
-cross the great void?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I shook my head. “I cannot even guess,” I told her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Jasoom must be peopled with wonderful men,” she
-said. It was a pretty compliment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As Barsoom is with beautiful women,” I replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She glanced down ruefully at her old and wrinkled
-body.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have seen the real you,” I said gently.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I hate to think of my face,” she said. “I know it is
-a frightful thing.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is not you, remember that when you see it and
-do not feel too badly.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Is it as bad as that?” she asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I did not reply. “Never mind,” she said presently.
-“If I had not beauty of the soul, I was not beautiful,
-no matter how perfect my features may have been; but
-if I possessed beauty of soul then I have it now. So
-I can think beautiful thoughts and perform beautiful
-deeds and that, I think, is the real test of beauty, after
-all.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And there is hope,” I added, almost in a whisper.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hope? No, there is no hope, if what you mean to
-suggest is that I may some time regain my lost self. You
-have told me enough to convince me that that can never
-be.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We will not speak of it,” I said, “but we may think
-of it and sometimes thinking a great deal of a thing
-helps us to find a way to get it, if we want it badly
-enough.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not want to hope,” she said, “for it will but
-mean disappointment for me. I shall be happy as I
-am. Hoping, I should always be unhappy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had ordered food for her and after it was brought
-Ras Thavas sent for me and I left her, locking the
-door of her chamber as the old surgeon had instructed.
-I found Ras Thavas in his office, a small room which
-adjoined a very large one in which were a score of
-clerks arranging and classifying reports from various departments
-of the great laboratory. He arose as I entered.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come with me, Vad Varo,” he directed. “We will
-have a look at the two cases in L-42-X, the two of
-which I spoke.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The man with half a simian brain and the ape with
-a half human brain?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He nodded and preceded me towards the runway
-that led to the vaults beneath the building. As we descended,
-the corridors and passageways indicated long
-disuse. The floors were covered with an impalpable dust,
-long undisturbed; the tiny radium bulbs that faintly illuminated
-the sub-barsoomian depths were likewise
-coated. As we proceeded, we passed many doorways
-on either side, each marked with its descriptive
-hieroglyphic. Several of the openings had been tightly
-sealed with masonry. What gruesome secrets were hid
-within? At last we came to L-42-X. Here the bodies
-were arranged on shelves, several rows of which almost
-completely filled the room from floor to ceiling, except
-for a rectangular space in the centre of the chamber,
-which accommodated an ersite topped operating table
-with its array of surgical instruments, its motor and other
-laboratory equipment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas searched out the subjects of his strange
-experiment and together we carried the human body to
-the table. While Ras Thavas attached the tubes I returned
-for the vessel of blood which reposed upon the
-same shelf with the corpse. The now familiar method of
-revivification was soon accomplished and presently we
-were watching the return of consciousness to the subject.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The man sat up and looked at us, then he cast a
-quick glance about the chamber; there was a savage
-light in his eyes as they returned to us. Slowly he backed
-from the table to the floor, keeping the former between
-us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We will not harm you,” said Ras Thavas.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The man attempted to reply, but his words were unintelligible
-gibberish, then he shook his head and growled.
-Ras Thavas took a step towards him and the man
-dropped to all fours, his knuckles resting on the floor,
-and backed away, growling.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come!” cried Ras Thavas. “We will not harm you.”
-Again he attempted to approach the subject, but the
-man only backed quickly away, growling more fiercely;
-and then suddenly he wheeled and climbed quickly to
-the top of the highest shelf, where he squatted upon a
-corpse and gibbered at us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We shall have to have help,” said Ras Thavas and,
-going to the doorway, he blew a signal upon his
-whistle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What are you blowing that for?” demanded the man
-suddenly. “Who are you? What am I doing here? What
-has happened to me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come down,” said Ras Thavas. “We are friends.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Slowly the man descended to the floor and came towards
-us, but he still moved with his knuckles to the
-pavement. He looked about at the corpses and a new
-light entered his eyes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am hungry!” he cried. “I will eat!” and with that
-he seized the nearest corpse and dragged it to the floor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Stop! Stop!” cried Ras Thavas, leaping forward. “You
-will ruin the subject,” but the man only backed away,
-dragging the corpse along the floor after him. It was
-then that the attendants came and with their help we
-subdued and bound the poor creature. Then Ras Thavas
-had the attendants bring the body of the ape and he
-told them to remain, as we might need them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The subject was a large specimen of the Barsoomian
-white ape, one of the most savage and fearsome denizens
-of the Red Planet, and because of the creature’s great
-strength and ferocity Ras Thavas took the precaution to
-see that it was securely bound before resurgence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a colossal creature about ten or fifteen feet
-tall, standing erect, and had an intermediary set of arms
-or legs midway between its upper and lower limbs. The
-eyes were close together and non-protruding; the ears
-were high set, while its snout and teeth were strikingly
-like those of our African gorilla.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With returning consciousness the creature eyed us
-questioningly. Several times it seemed to essay to speak,
-but only inarticulate sounds issued from its throat. Then
-it lay still for a period.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas spoke to it. “If you understand my
-words, nod your head.” The creature nodded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Would you like to be freed of your bonds?” asked
-the surgeon.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again the creature nodded an affirmative.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I fear that you will attempt to injure us, or escape,”
-said Ras Thavas.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The ape was apparently trying very hard to articulate
-and at last there issued from its lips a sound that could
-not be misunderstood. It was the single word no.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will not harm us or try to escape?” Ras Thavas
-repeated his question.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No,” said the ape, and this time the word was clearly
-enunciated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We shall see,” said Ras Thavas. “But remember
-that with our weapons we may dispatch you quickly if
-you attack us.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The ape nodded, and then, very laboriously: “I will
-not harm you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At a sign from Ras Thavas the attendants removed
-the bonds and the creature sat up. It stretched its limbs
-and slid easily to the floor, where it stood erect upon
-two feet, which was not surprising, since the white ape
-goes more often upon two feet than six; a fact of which
-I was not cognizant at the time, but which Ras Thavas
-explained to me later in commenting upon the fact that
-the human subject had gone upon all fours, which, to
-Ras Thavas, indicated a reversion to type in the fractional
-ape-brain transplanted to the human skull.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas examined the subject at considerable
-length and then resumed his examination of the human
-subject which continued to evince more simian characteristics
-than human, though it spoke more easily than
-the ape, because, undoubtedly, of its more perfect vocal
-organs. It was only by exerting the closest attention that
-the diction of the ape became understandable at all.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is nothing remarkable about these subjects,”
-said Ras Thavas, after devoting half a day to them.
-“They bear out what I had already determined years
-ago in the transplanting of entire brains; that the act
-of transplanting stimulates growth and activity of brain
-cells. You will note that in each subject the transplanted
-portions of the brains are more active—they, in a considerable
-measure, control. That is why we have the
-human subject displaying distinctly simian characteristics,
-while the ape behaves in a more human manner; though
-if longer and closer observation were desirable you
-would doubtless find that each reverted at times to his
-own nature—that is the ape would be more wholly an
-ape and the human more manlike—but it is not worth
-the time, of which I have already given too much to a
-rather unprofitable forenoon. I shall leave you now to
-restore the subjects to anaesthesia while I return to the
-laboratories above. The attendants will remain here to
-assist you, if required.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The ape, who had been an interested listener, now
-stepped forward. “Oh, please, I pray you,” it mumbled,
-“do not again condemn me to these horrid shelves. I
-recall the day that I was brought here securely bound,
-and though I have no recollection of what has transpired
-since I can but guess from the appearance of my own
-skin and that of these dusty corpses that I have lain
-here long. I beg that you will permit me to live and
-either restore me to my fellows or allow me to serve
-in some capacity in this establishment, of which I saw
-something between the time of my capture and the day
-that I was carried into this laboratory, bound and helpless,
-to one of your cold, ersite slabs.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas made a gesture of impatience. “Nonsense!”
-he cried. “You are better off here, where you can be
-preserved in the interests of science.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Accede to his request,” I begged, “and I will myself
-take over all responsibility for him while I profit
-by the study that he will afford me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do as you are directed,” snapped Ras Thavas as he
-quit the room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I shrugged my shoulders. “There is nothing for it,
-then,” I said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I might dispatch you all and escape,” mused the
-ape, aloud, “but you would have helped me. I could
-not kill one who would have befriended me—yet I
-shrink from the thought of another death. How long
-have I lain here?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I referred to the history of his case that had been
-brought and suspended at the head of the table. “Twelve
-years,” I told him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And yet, why not?” he demanded of himself. “This
-man would slay me—why should I not slay him first.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It would do you no good,” I assured him, “for you
-could never escape. Instead you would be really killed,
-dying a death from which Ras Thavas would probably
-think it not worth while ever to recall you, while I,
-who might find the opportunity at some later date and
-who have the inclination, would be dead at your hands
-and thus incapable of saving you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had been speaking in a low voice, close to his ear,
-that the attendants might not overhear me. The ape listened
-intently.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will do as you suggest?” he asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At the first opportunity that presents itself,” I assured
-him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” he said, “I will submit, trusting to you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A half hour later both subjects had been returned to
-their shelves.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='42' id='Page_42'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER IV<br/> THE COMPACT</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Days</span> ran into weeks, weeks into months, as day by day
-I labored at the side of Ras Thavas, and more and more
-the old surgeon took me into his confidence, more
-and more he imparted to me the secrets of his skill
-and his profession. Gradually he permitted me to perform
-more and more important functions in the actual
-practice of his vast laboratory. I started transferring
-limbs from one subject to another, then internal organs
-of the digestive tract. Then he entrusted to me a complete
-operation upon a paying client. I removed the kidneys
-from a rich old man, replacing them with healthy ones
-from a young subject. The following day I gave a stunted
-child new thyroid glands. A week later I transferred two
-hearts and then, at last, came the great day for me—unassisted,
-with Ras Thavas standing silently beside me,
-I took the brain of an old man and transplanted it within
-the cranium of a youth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When I had done Ras Thavas laid a hand upon my
-shoulder. “I could not have done better myself,” he said.
-He seemed much elated and I could not but wonder
-at this unusual demonstration of emotion upon his part,
-he who so prided himself upon his lack of emotionalism.
-I had often pondered the purpose which influenced Ras
-Thavas to devote so much time to my training, but never
-had I hit upon any more satisfactory explanation than
-that he had need of assistance in his growing practice.
-Yet when I consulted the records, that were now open
-to me, I discovered that his practice was no greater than
-it had been for many years; and even had it been there
-was really no reason why he should have trained me in
-preference to one of his red-Martian assistants, his belief
-in my loyalty not being sufficient warrant, in my mind,
-for this preferment when he could, as well as not, have
-kept me for a bodyguard and trained one of his own kind
-to aid him in his surgical work.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But I was presently to learn that he had an excellent
-reason for what he was doing—Ras Thavas always had
-an excellent reason for whatever he did. One night after
-we had finished our evening meal he sat looking at me
-intently as he so often did, as though he would read
-my mind, which, by the way, he was totally unable
-to do, much to his surprise and chagrin; for unless a
-Martian is constantly upon the alert any other Martian
-can read clearly his every thought; but Ras Thavas
-was unable to read mine. He said that it was due to the
-fact that I was not a Barsoomian. Yet I could often read
-the minds of his assistants, when they were off their
-guard, though never had I read aught of Ras Thavas’
-thoughts, nor, I am sure, had any other read them. He
-kept his brain sealed like one of his own blood jars, nor
-was he ever for a moment found with his barriers down.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He sat looking at me this evening for a long time, nor
-did it in the least embarrass me, so accustomed was I
-to his peculiarities. “Perhaps,” he said presently, “one
-of the reasons that I trust you is due to the fact that I
-cannot ever, at any time, fathom your mind; so, if you
-harbor traitorous thoughts concerning me I do not know
-it, while the others, every one of them, reveal their
-inmost souls to my searching mind and in each one there
-is envy, jealousy or hatred of me. Them, I know, I cannot
-trust. Therefore I must accept the risk and place all my
-dependence upon you, and my reason tells me that my
-choice is a wise one—I have told you upon what grounds
-it based my selection of you as my bodyguard. The same
-holds true in my selection of you for the thing I have in
-mind. You cannot harm me without harming yourself and
-no man will intentionally do that; nor is there any
-reason why you should feel any deep antagonism towards
-me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are, of course, a sentimentalist and doubtless
-you look with horror upon many of the acts of a sane,
-rational, scientific mind; but you are also highly intelligent
-and can, therefore, appreciate better than another,
-even though you may not approve them, the motives that
-prompt me to do many of those things of which your
-sentimentality disapproves. I may have offended you, but
-I have never wronged you, nor have I wronged any
-creature for which you might have felt some of your
-so-called friendship or love. Are my premises incorrect,
-or my reasoning faulty?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I assured him to the contrary.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Very well! Now let me explain why I have gone to
-such pains to train you as no other human being, aside
-from myself, has ever been trained. I am not ready to use
-you yet, or rather you are not ready; but if you know
-my purpose you will realize the necessity for bending your
-energy to the consummation of my purpose, and to that
-end you will strive even more diligently than you have to
-perfect yourself in the high, scientific art I am imparting
-to you.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am a very old man,” he continued after a brief
-pause, “even as age goes upon Barsoom. I have lived
-more than a thousand years. I have passed the allotted
-natural span of life, but I am not through with my
-life’s work—I have but barely started it. I must not die.
-Barsoom must not be robbed of this wondrous brain and
-skill of mine. I have long had in mind a plan to thwart
-death, but it required another with skill equal to mine—two
-such might live for ever. I have selected you to be
-that other, for reasons that I already have explained—they
-are undefiled by sentimentalism. I did not choose
-you because I love you, or because I feel friendship for
-you, or because I think that you love me, or feel friendship
-towards me. I chose you because I knew that of all the
-inhabitants of a world you were the one least likely to fail
-me. For a time you will have my life in your hands. You
-will understand now why I have not been able to choose
-carelessly.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This plan that I have chosen is simplicity itself provided
-that I can count upon just two essential factors—skill
-and self-interested loyalty in an assistant. My body
-is about worn out. I must have a new one. My laboratory
-is filled with wonderful bodies, young and complete with
-potential strength and health. I have but to select one
-of these and have my skilled assistant transfer my brain
-from this old carcass to the new one.” He paused.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I understand now, why you have trained me,” I
-said. “It has puzzled me greatly.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thus and thus only may I continue my labors,” he
-went on, “and thus may Barsoom be assured a continuance
-practically indefinitely, of the benefits that my brain may
-bestow upon her children. I may live for ever, provided
-I always have a skilled assistant, and I may assure myself
-of such by seeing to it that he never dies; when he wears
-out one organ, or his whole body, I can replace either
-from my great storehouse of perfect parts, and for me
-he can perform the same service. Thus may we continue
-to live indefinitely; for the brain, I believe, is almost deathless,
-unless injured or attacked by disease.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are not ready as yet to be entrusted with this
-important task. You must transfer many more brains and
-meet with and overcome the various irregularities and
-idiosyncrasies that constitute the never failing differences
-that render no two operations identical. When you gain
-sufficient proficiency I shall be the first to know it and
-then we shall lose no time in making Barsoom safe for
-posterity.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The old man was far from achieving hatred of himself.
-However, his plan was an excellent one, both for himself
-and for me. It assured us immortality—we might live
-for ever and always with strong, healthy, young bodies.
-The outlook was alluring—and what a wonderful position
-it placed me in. If the old man could be assured of
-my loyalty because of self-interest, similarly might I
-depend upon his loyalty; for he could not afford to antagonize
-the one creature in the world who could assure
-him immortality, or withhold it from him. For the first
-time since I had entered his establishment I felt safe.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As soon as I had left him I went directly to Valla Dia’s
-apartment, for I wanted to tell her this wonderful news.
-In the weeks that had passed since her resurrection I had
-seen much of her and in our daily intercourse there had
-been revealed to me little by little the wondrous beauties
-of her soul, until at last I no longer saw the hideous, disfigured
-face of Xaxa when I looked upon her, but the
-eyes of my heart penetrated deeper to the loveliness that
-lay within that sweet mind. She had become my confidant,
-as I was hers, and this association constituted the one
-great pleasure of my existence upon Barsoom.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Her congratulations, when I told her of what had
-come to me, were very sincere and lovely. She said that
-she hoped I would use this great power of mine to do good
-in the world. I assured her that I would and that among
-the first things that I should demand of Ras Thavas was
-that he should give Valla Dia a beautiful body; but she
-shook her head.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, my friend,” she said, “if I may not have my own
-body this old one of Xaxa’s is quite as good for me as
-another. Without my own body I should not care to return
-to my native country; while were Ras Thavas to give me
-the beautiful body of another, I should always be in
-danger of the covetousness of his clients, any one of
-whom might see and desire to purchase it, leaving to me
-her old husk, conceivably one quite terribly diseased or
-maimed. No, my friend, I am satisfied with the body of
-Xaxa, unless I may again possess my own, for Xaxa
-at least bequeathed me a tough and healthy envelope,
-however ugly it may be; and for what do looks count
-here? You, alone, are my friend—that I have your
-friendship is enough. You admire me for what I am, not
-for what I look like, so let us leave well enough alone.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If you could regain your own body and return to your
-native country, you would like that?” I demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, do not say it!” she cried. “The simple thought of
-it drives me mad with longing. I must not harbour so
-hopeless a dream that at best may only tantalize me into
-greater abhorrence of my lot.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do not say that it is hopeless,” I urged. “Death, only,
-renders hope futile.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You mean to be kind,” she said, “but you are only
-hurting me. There can be no hope.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“May I hope for you, then?” I asked. “For I surely
-see a way; however slight a possibility for success it may
-have, still, it is a way.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She shook her head. “There is no way,” she said, with
-finality. “No more will Duhor know me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Duhor?” I repeated. “Your—someone you care for
-very much?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I care for Duhor very much,” she answered with a
-smile, “but Duhor is not someone—Duhor is my home,
-the country of my ancestors.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How came you to leave Duhor?” I asked. “You have
-never told me, Valla Dia.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was because of the ruthlessness of Jal Had, Prince
-of Amhor,” she replied. “Hereditary enemies were Duhor
-and Amhor; but Jal Had came disguised into the city of
-Duhor, having heard, they say, of the great beauty attributed
-to the only daughter of Kor San, Jeddak of
-Duhor; and when he had seen her he determined to possess
-her. Returning to Amhor he sent ambassadors to the
-court of Kor San to sue for the hand of the Princess of
-Duhor; but Kor San, who had no son, had determined to
-wed his daughter to one of his own Jeds, that the son
-of this union, with the blood of Kor San in his veins,
-might rule over the people of Duhor; and so the offer
-of Jal Had was declined.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This so incensed the Amhorian that he equipped
-a great fleet and set forth to conquer Duhor and take by
-force that which he could not win by honorable methods.
-Duhor was, at that time, at war with Helium and
-all her forces were far afield in the south, with the
-exception of a small army that had been left behind to
-guard the city. Jal Had, therefore, could not have selected
-a more propitious time for an attack. Duhor fell, and
-while his troops were looting the fair city Jal Had, with
-a picked force, sacked the palace of the Jeddak and
-searched for the princess; but the princess had no mind
-to go back with him as Princess of Amhor. From the
-moment that the vanguard of the Amhorian fleet was
-seen in the sky she had known, with the others of the
-city, the purpose for which they came, and so she used
-her head to defeat that purpose.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There was in her retinue a cosmetologist whose duty
-it was to preserve the lustrous beauty of the princess’
-hair and skin and prepare her for public audiences, for
-fêtes and for the daily intercourse of the court. He was
-a master of his art; he could render the ugly pleasant
-to look upon, he could make the plain lovely, and he
-could make the lovely radiant. She called him quickly to
-her and commanded him to make the radiant ugly; and
-when he had done with her none might guess that she
-was the Princess of Duhor, so deftly had he wrought with
-his pigments and his tiny brushes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When Jal Had could not find the princess within the
-palace, and no amount of threat or torture could force a
-statement of her whereabouts from the loyal lips of her
-people, the Amhorian ordered that every woman within
-the palace be seized and taken to Amhor; there to be
-held as hostages until the princess of Duhor should be
-delivered to him in marriage. We were, therefore, all
-seized and placed upon an Amhorian war ship which was
-sent back to Amhor ahead of the balance of the fleet,
-which remained to complete the sacking of Duhor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When the ship, with its small convoy, had covered
-some four thousand of the five thousand haads that separate
-Duhor from Amhor, it was sighted by a fleet from
-Phundahl which immediately attacked. The convoying
-ships were destroyed or driven off and that which carried
-us was captured. We were taken to Phundahl where
-we were put upon the auction block and I fell to the bid
-of one of Ras Thavas’ agents. The rest you know.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And what became of the princess?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps she died—her party was separated in Phundahl—but
-death could not more definitely prevent her
-return to Duhor. The Princess of Duhor will never again
-see her native country.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But you may!” I cried, for I had suddenly hit upon
-a plan. “Where is Duhor?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are going there?” she asked, laughingly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are mad, my friend,” she said. “Duhor lies a full
-seven thousand, eight hundred haads from Toonol, upon
-the opposite side of the snow-clad Artolian Hills. You, a
-stranger and alone, could never reach it; for between
-lie the Toonolian Marshes, wild hordes, savage beasts
-and warlike cities. You would but die uselessly within
-the first dozen haads, even could you escape from the
-island upon which stands the laboratory of Ras Thavas;
-and what motive is there to prompt you to such a useless
-sacrifice?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I could not tell her. I could not look upon that withered
-figure and into that hideous and disfigured face and
-say: “It is because I love you, Valla Dia.” But that, alas,
-was my only reason. Gradually, as I had come to know
-her through the slow revealment of the wondrous beauty
-of her mind and soul, there had crept into my heart a
-knowledge of my love; and yet, explain it I cannot, I
-could not speak the words to that frightful old hag. I had
-seen the gorgeous mundane tabernacle that had housed
-the equally gorgeous spirit of the real Valla Dia—<span class='it'>that</span> I
-could love; her heart and soul and mind I could love;
-but I could not love the body of Xaxa. I was torn, too,
-by other emotions, induced by a great doubt—could
-Valla Dia return my love. Habilitated in the corpse of
-Xaxa, with no other suitor, nay, with no other friend
-she might, out of gratitude or through sheer loneliness,
-be attracted to me; but once again were she Valla Dia the
-beautiful and returned to the palace of her king, surrounded
-by the great nobles of Duhor, would she have
-either eyes or heart for a lone and friendless exile from
-another world? I doubted it—and yet that doubt did
-not deter me from my determination to carry out, as far
-as Fate would permit, the mad scheme that was revolving
-in my brain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have not answered my question, Vad Varo,”
-she interrupted my surging thoughts. “Why would you
-do this thing?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To right the wrong that has been done you, Valla
-Dia,” I said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She sighed. “Do not attempt it, please,” she begged.
-“You would but rob me of my one friend, whose association
-is the only source of happiness remaining to me. I
-appreciate your generosity and your loyalty, even
-though I may not understand them; your unselfish desire
-to serve me at such suicidal risk touches me more
-deeply than I can reveal, adding still further to the debt
-I owe you; but you must not attempt it—you must not.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If it troubles you, Valla Dia,” I replied, “we will not
-speak of it again; but know always that it is never from
-my thoughts. Some day I shall find a way, even though
-the plan I now have fails me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The days moved on and on, the gorgeous Martian
-nights, filled with her hurtling moons, followed one upon
-another. Ras Thavas spent more and more time in directing
-my work of brain transference. I had long since
-become an adept; and I realized that the time was rapidly
-approaching when Ras Thavas would feel that he could
-safely entrust to my hands and skill his life and future.
-He would be wholly within my power and he knew that
-I knew it. I could slay him; I could permit him to remain
-for ever in the preserving grip of his own anaesthetic; or
-I could play any trick upon him that I chose, even to giving
-him the body of a calot or a part of the brain of an
-ape; but he must take the chance and that I knew, for he
-was failing rapidly. Already almost stone blind, it was
-only the wonderful spectacles that he had himself invented
-that permitted him to see at all; long deaf, he used
-artificial means for hearing; and now his heart was showing
-symptoms of fatigue that he could not longer ignore.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One morning I was summoned to his sleeping apartment
-by a slave. I found the old surgeon lying, a shrunken,
-pitiful heap of withered skin and bones.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We must hasten, Vad Varo,” he said in a weak whisper.
-“My heart was like to have stopped a few tals ago.
-It was then that I sent for you.” He pointed to a door
-leading from his chamber. “There,” he said, “you will
-find the body I have chosen. There, in the private laboratory
-I long ago built for this very purpose, you will
-perform the greatest surgical operation that the universe
-has ever known, transferring its most perfect brain to the
-most beautiful and perfect body that ever has passed
-beneath these ancient eyes. You will find the head already
-prepared to receive my brain; the brain of the subject
-having been removed and destroyed—totally destroyed
-by fire. I could not possibly chance the existence of a
-brain desiring and scheming to regain its wondrous
-body. No, I destroyed it. Call slaves and have them bear
-my body to the ersite slab.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That will not be necessary,” I told him; and lifting
-his shrunken form in my arms as he had been an earthly
-babe, I carried him into the adjoining room where I
-found a perfectly lighted and appointed laboratory containing
-two operating tables, one of which was occupied
-by the body of a red-man. Upon the surface of the other,
-which was vacant, I laid Ras Thavas, then I turned to look
-at the new envelope he had chosen. Never, I believe,
-had I beheld so perfect a form, so handsome a face—Ras
-Thavas had indeed chosen well for himself. Then I
-turned back to the old surgeon. Deftly, as he had taught
-me, I made the two incisions and attached the tubes.
-My finger rested upon the button that would start the
-motor pumping his blood from his veins and his marvellous
-preservative-anaesthetic into them. Then I spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas,” I said, “you have long been training me
-to this end. I have labored assiduously to prepare myself
-that there might be no slightest cause for apprehension
-as to the outcome. You have, coincidentally, taught
-me that one’s every act should be prompted by self-interest
-only. You are satisfied, therefore, that I am not
-doing this for you because I love you, or because I feel
-any friendship for you; but you think that you have
-offered me enough in placing before me a similar opportunity
-for immortality.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Regardless of your teaching I am afraid that I am
-still somewhat of a sentimentalist. I crave the redressing
-of wrongs. I crave friendship and love. The price you
-offer is not enough. Are you willing to pay more that
-this operation may be successfully concluded?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He looked at me steadily for a long minute. “What do
-you want?” he asked. I could see that he was trembling
-with anger, but he did not raise his voice.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you recall 4296-E-2631-H?” I inquired.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The subject with the body of Xaxa? Yes, I recall the
-case. What of it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I wish her body returned to her. That is the price
-you must pay for this operation.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He glared at me. “It is impossible. Xaxa has the body.
-Even if I cared to do so, I could never recover it. Proceed
-with the operation!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When you have promised me,” I insisted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I cannot promise the impossible—I cannot obtain
-Xaxa. Ask me something else. I am not unwilling to
-grant any reasonable request.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is all I wish—just that; but I do not insist that
-you obtain the body. If I bring Xaxa here will you make
-the transfer?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It would mean war between Toonol and Phundahl,”
-he fumed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That does not interest me,” I said. “Quick! Reach a
-decision. In five tals I shall press this button. If you
-promise what I ask, you shall be restored with a new
-and beautiful body; if you refuse you shall lie here in
-the semblance of death for ever.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I promise,” he said slowly, “that when you bring the
-body of Xaxa to me I will transfer to that body any
-brain that you select from among my subjects.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good!” I exclaimed, and pressed the button.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='53' id='Page_53'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER V<br/> DANGER</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Ras Thavas</span> awakened from the anaesthetic a new and
-gorgeous creature—a youth of such wondrous beauty
-that he seemed of heavenly rather than worldly origin;
-but in that beautiful head was the hard, cold, thousand-year-old
-brain of the master surgeon. As he opened his
-eyes he looked upon me coldly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have done well,” he said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What I have done, I have done for friendship—perhaps
-for love,” I said, “so you can thank the sentimentalism
-you decry for the success of the transfer.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He made no reply.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And now,” I continued, “I shall look to you for the
-fulfilment of the promise you have made me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When you bring Xaxa’s body I shall transfer to it the
-brain of any of my subjects you may select,” he said,
-“but were I you, I would not risk my life in such an impossible
-venture—you cannot succeed. Select another
-body—there are many beautiful ones—and I will give it
-the brain of 4296-E-2631-H.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“None other than the body now owned by the Jeddara
-Xaxa will fulfill your promise to me,” I said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He shrugged and there was a cold smile upon his handsome
-lips. “Very well,” he said, “fetch Xaxa. When do
-you start?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am not yet ready. I will let you know when I am.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good and now begone—but wait! First go to the office
-and see what cases await us and if there be any that
-do not require my personal attention, and they fall within
-your skill and knowledge, attend to them yourself.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As I left him I noticed a crafty smile of satisfaction
-upon his lips. What had aroused that? I did not like it
-and as I walked away I tried to conjure what could possibly
-have passed through that wondrous brain to call
-forth at that particular instant so unpleasant a smile. As
-I passed through the doorway and into the corridor beyond
-I heard him summon his personal slave and body
-servant, Yamdor, a huge fellow whose loyalty he kept
-through the bestowal of lavish gifts and countless favors.
-So great was the fellow’s power that all feared him, as a
-word to the master from the lips of Yamdor might easily
-send any of the numerous slaves or attendants to an
-ersite slab for eternity. It was rumored that he was the
-result of an unnatural experiment which had combined
-the brain of a woman with the body of a man, and there
-was much in his actions and mannerisms to justify this
-general belief. His touch, when he worked about his master,
-was soft and light, his movements graceful, his ways
-gentle, but his mind was jealous, vindictive and unforgiving.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I believe that he did not like me, through jealousy of
-the authority I had attained in the establishment of Ras
-Thavas; for there was no questioning the fact that I was
-a lieutenant, while he was but a slave; yet he always accorded
-me the utmost respect. He was, however, merely
-a minor cog in the machinery of the great institution presided
-over by the sovereign mind of Ras Thavas, and as
-such I had given him little consideration; nor did I now
-as I bent my steps towards the office.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had gone but a short distance when I recalled a matter
-of importance upon which it was necessary for me
-to obtain instructions from Ras Thavas immediately; and
-so I wheeled about and retraced my way towards his
-apartments, through the open doorway of which, as I
-approached, I heard the new voice of the master surgeon.
-Ras Thavas had always spoken in rather loud tones,
-whether as a vocal reflection of his naturally domineering
-and authoritative character, or because of his deafness,
-I do not know; and now, with the fresh young vocal
-chords of his new body, his words rang out clearly and
-distinctly in the corridor leading to his room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will, therefore, Yamdor,” he was saying, “go at
-once and, selecting two slaves in whose silence and discretion
-you may trust, take the subject from the apartments
-of Vad Varo and destroy it—let no vestige of
-body or brain remain. Immediately after, you will bring
-the two slaves to the laboratory F-30-L, permitting them
-to speak to no one, and I will consign them to silence
-and forgetfulness for eternity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Vad Varo will discover the absence of the subject
-and report the matter to me. During my investigation you
-will confess that you aided 4296-E-2631-H to escape,
-but that you have no idea where it intended going. I
-will sentence you to death as punishment, but at last,
-explaining how urgently I need your services and upon
-your solemn promise never to transgress again, I will
-defer punishment for the term of your continued good
-behaviour. Do you thoroughly understand the entire
-plan?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, master,” replied Yamdor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then depart at once and select the slaves who are to
-assist you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Quickly and silently I sped along the corridor until the
-first intersection permitted me to place myself out of
-sight of anyone coming from Ras Thavas’ apartment; then
-I went directly to the chamber occupied by Valla Dia.
-Unlocking the door I threw it open and beckoned her to
-come out. “Quick! Valla Dia!” I cried. “No time is to be
-lost. In attempting to save you I have but brought destruction
-upon you. First we must find a hiding place for
-you, and that at once—afterwards we can plan for the
-future.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The place that first occurred to me as affording adequate
-concealment was the half forgotten vaults in the
-pits beneath the laboratories, and towards these I hastened
-Valla Dia. As we proceeded I narrated all that had
-transpired, nor did she once reproach me; but, instead,
-expressed naught but gratitude for what she was pleased
-to designate as my unselfish friendship. That it had miscarried,
-she assured me, was no reflection upon me and
-she insisted that she would rather die in the knowledge
-that she possessed one such friend than to live on indefinitely,
-friendless.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We came at last to the chamber I sought—vault L-42-X,
-in building 4-J-21, where reposed the bodies of the
-ape and the man, each of which possessed half the brain
-of the other. Here I was forced to leave Valla Dia for the
-time, that I might hasten to the office and perform the
-duties imposed upon me by Ras Thavas, lest his suspicions
-be aroused when Yamdor reported that he had
-found her apartment vacant.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I reached the office without it being discovered by
-anyone who might report the fact to Ras Thavas that I
-had been a long time coming from his apartment. To
-my relief, I found there were no cases. Without appearing
-in any undue haste, I nevertheless soon found an
-excuse to depart and at once made my way towards my
-own quarters, moving in a leisurely and unconcerned
-manner and humming as was my wont (a habit which
-greatly irritated Ras Thavas), snatches from some song
-that had been popular at the time that I quit Earth. In
-this instance it was “Oh, Frenchy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I was thus engaged when I met Yamdor moving hurriedly
-along the corridor leading from my apartment, in
-company with two male slaves. I greeted him pleasantly,
-as was my custom, and he returned my greeting; but
-there was an expression of fear and suspicion in his eyes.
-I went at once to my quarters, opened the door leading
-to the chamber formerly occupied by Valla Dia and then
-hastened immediately to the apartment of Ras Thavas,
-where I found him conversing with Yamdor. I rushed
-in apparently breathless and simulating great excitement.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas,” I demanded, “what have you done
-with 4296-E-2631-H? She has disappeared; her apartment
-is empty; and as I was approaching it I met Yamdor
-and two other slaves coming from that direction.” I
-turned then upon Yamdor and pointed an accusing finger
-at him. “Yamdor!” I cried. “What have you done
-with this woman?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Both Ras Thavas and Yamdor seemed genuinely puzzled
-and I congratulated myself that I had thus readily
-thrown them off the track. The master surgeon declared
-that he would make an immediate investigation; and he
-at once ordered a thorough search of the ground and of
-the island outside the enclosure. Yamdor denied any
-knowledge of the woman and I, at least, was aware of
-the sincerity of his protestations, but not so Ras Thavas.
-I could see a hint of suspicion in his eyes as he questioned
-his body servant; but evidently he could conjure
-no motive for any such treasonable action on the part of
-Yamdor as would have been represented by the abduction
-of the woman and the consequent gross disobedience
-of orders.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas’ investigation revealed nothing. I think as
-it progressed that he became gradually more and more
-imbued with a growing suspicion that I might know more
-about the disappearance of Valla Dia than my attitude
-indicated, for I presently became aware of a delicately
-concealed espionage. Up to this time I had been able to
-smuggle food to Valla Dia every night, after Ras Thavas
-had retired to his quarters. Then, on one occasion, I
-suddenly became subconsciously aware that I was being
-followed, and instead of going to the vaults I went to the
-office, where I added some observations to my report
-upon a case I had handled that day. Returning to my
-room I hummed a few bars from “Over There,” that the
-suggestion of my unconcern might be accentuated. From
-the moment that I quit my quarters until I returned to
-them I was sure that eyes had been watching my every
-move. What was I to do? Valla Dia must have food,
-without it she would die; and were I to be followed to
-her hiding place while taking it to her, she would die;
-Ras Thavas would see to that.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Half the night I lay awake, racking my brains for some
-solution to the problem. There seemed only one way—I
-must elude the spies. If I could do this but one single
-time I could carry out the balance of a plan that had
-occurred to me, and which was, I thought, the only one
-feasible that might eventually lead to the resurrection of
-Valla Dia in her own body. The way was long, the risks
-great; but I was young, in love and utterly reckless of
-consequences in so far as they concerned me; it was Valla
-Dia’s happiness alone that I could not risk too greatly,
-other than under dire stress. Well, the stress existed and
-I must risk that, even as I risked my life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My plan was formulated and I lay awake upon my
-sleeping silks and furs in the darkness of my room, awaiting
-the time when I might put it into execution. My window,
-which was upon the third floor, overlooked the
-walled enclosure, upon the scarlet sward of which I had
-made my first bow to Barsoom. Across the open casement
-I had watched Cluros, the farther moon, take his
-slow deliberate way. He had already set. Behind him,
-Thuria, his elusive mistress, fled through the heavens. In
-five xats (about 15 minutes) she would set; and then for
-about three and three quarters Earth hours the heavens
-would be dark, except for the stars.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the corridor, perhaps, lurked those watchful eyes.
-I prayed God that they might not be elsewhere as Thuria
-sank at last beneath the horizon and I swung to my window
-ledge, in my hand a long rope fabricated from
-braided strips torn from my sleeping silks while I had
-awaited the setting of the moons. One end I had fastened
-to a heavy sorapus bench which I had drawn close to the
-window. I dropped the free end of the rope and started
-my descent. My Earthly muscles, untried in such endeavours,
-I had not trusted to the task of carrying me to
-my window ledge in a single leap, when I should be returning.
-I felt that they would, but I did not know; and
-too much depended upon the success of my venture to
-risk any unnecessary chance of failure. And so I had
-prepared the rope.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Whether I was being observed I did not know. I must
-go on as though none were spying upon me. In less than
-four hours Thuria would return (just before the sudden
-Barsoomian dawn) and in the interval I must reach
-Valla Dia, persuade her of the necessity of my plan and
-carry out its details, returning to my chamber before
-Thuria could disclose me to any accidental observer. I
-carried my weapons with me and in my heart was unbending
-determination to slay whoever might cross my
-path and recognize me during the course of my errand,
-however innocent of evil intent against me he might be.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The night was quiet except for the usual distant sounds
-that I had heard ever since I had been here—sounds
-that I had interpreted as the cries of savage beasts. Once
-I had asked Ras Thavas about them, but he had been in
-ill humor and had ignored my question. I reached the
-ground quickly and without hesitation moved directly to
-the nearest entrance of the building, having previously
-searched out and determined upon the route I would
-follow to the vault. No one was visible and I was confident,
-when at last I reached the doorway, that I had
-come through undetected. Valla Dia was so happy to see
-me again that it almost brought the tears to my eyes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I thought that something had happened to you,” she
-cried, “for I knew that you would not remain away so
-long of your own volition.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I told her of my conviction that I was being watched
-and that it would not be possible for me longer to bring
-food to her without incurring almost certain detection,
-which would spell immediate death for her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is a single alternative,” I said, “and that I
-dread even to suggest and would not were there any
-other way. You must be securely hidden for a long time,
-until Ras Thavas’ suspicions have been allayed; for as
-long as he has me watched I cannot possibly carry out
-the plans I have formulated for your eventual release,
-the restoration of your own body and your return to
-Duhor.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Your will shall be my law, Vad Varo.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I shook my head. “It will be harder for you than you
-imagine.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What is the way?” she asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I pointed to the ersite topped table. “You must pass
-again through that ordeal that I may hide you away in
-this vault until the time is ripe for the carrying out of
-my plans. Can you endure it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She smiled. “Why not?” she asked. “It is only sleep—if
-it lasts for ever I shall be no wiser.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I was surprised that she did not shrink from the idea,
-but I was very glad since I knew that it was the only
-way that we had a chance for success. Without my help
-she disposed herself upon the ersite slab.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am ready, Vad Varo,” she said, bravely; “but first
-promise me that you will take no risks in this mad venture.
-You cannot succeed. When I close my eyes I know
-that it will be for the last time if my resurrection depends
-upon the successful outcome of the maddest venture that
-ever man conceived; yet I am happy, because I know
-that it is inspired by the greatest friendship with which
-any mortal woman has ever been blessed.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As she talked I had been adjusting the tubes and now
-I stood beside her with my finger upon the starting button
-of the motor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good-bye, Vad Varo,” she whispered.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not good-bye, Valla Dia, but only a sweet sleep for
-what to you will be the briefest instant. You will seem
-but to close your eyes and open them again. As you see
-me now, I shall be standing here beside you as though I
-never had departed from you. As I am the last that you
-look upon to-night before you close your eyes, so shall I
-be the first that you shall look upon as you open them
-on that new and beautiful morning; but you shall not
-again look forth through the eyes of Xaxa, but from the
-limpid depths of your own beautiful orbs.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She smiled and shook her head. Two tears formed beneath
-her lids. I pressed her hand in mine and touched
-the button.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='61' id='Page_61'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VI<br/> SUSPICIONS</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>In</span> so far as I could know I reached my apartment without
-detection. Hiding my rope where I was sure it would
-not be discovered, I sought my sleeping silks and furs
-and was soon asleep.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The following morning as I emerged from my quarters
-I caught a fleeting glimpse of a figure in a nearby
-corridor and from then on for a long time I had further
-evidence that Ras Thavas suspicioned me. I went at once
-to his quarters, as had been my habit. He seemed restless,
-but he gave me no hint that he held any assurance
-that I had been responsible for the disappearance of
-Valla Dia, and I think that he was far from positive of
-it. It was simply that his judgment pointed to the fact
-that I was the only person who might have any reason
-for interfering in any way with this particular subject,
-and he was having me watched to either prove or disprove
-the truth of his reasonable suspicions. His restlessness
-he explained to me himself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have often studied the reaction of others who have
-undergone brain transference,” he said, “and so I am
-not wholly surprised at my own. Not only has my brain
-energy been stimulated, resulting in an increased production
-of nervous energy, but I also feel the effects of the
-young tissue and youthful blood of my new body. They
-are affecting my consciousness in a way that my experiment
-had vaguely indicated, but which I now see must be
-actually experienced to be fully understood. My thoughts,
-my inclinations, even my ambitions have been changed,
-or at least coloured, by the transfer. It will take some
-time for me to find myself.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Though uninterested, I listened politely until he was
-through and then I changed the subject. “Have you located
-the missing woman?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He shook his head, negatively.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You must appreciate, Ras Thavas,” I said, “that I
-fully realize that you must have known that the removal
-or destruction of that woman would entirely frustrate
-my entire plan. You are master here. Nothing that passes
-is without your knowledge.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You mean that I am responsible for the disappearance
-of the woman?” he demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Certainly. It is obvious. I demand that she be restored.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He lost his temper. “Who are you to demand?” he
-shouted. “You are naught but a slave. Cease your impudence
-or I shall erase you—erase you. It will be as
-though you never had existed.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I laughed in his face. “Anger is the most futile attribute
-of the sentimentalist,” I reminded him. “You will
-not erase me, for I alone stand between you and mortality.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I can train another,” he parried.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But you could not trust him,” I pointed out.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But you bargained with me for my life when you
-had me in your power,” he cried.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“For nothing that it would have harmed you to have
-granted willingly. I did not ask anything for myself. Be
-that as it may, you will trust me again. You will trust,
-for no other reason than that you will be forced to trust
-me. So why not win my gratitude and my loyalty by returning
-the woman to me and carrying out in spirit as
-well as in fact the terms of our agreement?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He turned and looked steadily at me. “Vad Varo,” he
-said, “I give you the word of honor of a Barsoomian
-noble that I know absolutely nothing concerning the
-whereabouts of 4296-E-2631-H.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps Yamdor does,” I persisted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nor Yamdor. Of my knowledge no person in any
-way connected with me knows what became of it. I have
-spoken the truth.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Well, the conversation was not as profitless as it might
-appear, for I was sure that it had almost convinced Ras
-Thavas that I was equally as ignorant of the fate of
-Valla Dia as was he. That it had not wholly convinced
-him was evidenced by the fact that the espionage continued
-for a long time, a fact which determined me to
-use Ras Thavas’ own methods in my own defence. I had
-had allotted to me a number of slaves, and these I had
-won over by kindness and understanding until I knew
-that I had the full measure of their loyalty. They had no
-reason to love Ras Thavas and every reason to hate
-him; on the other hand they had no reason to hate me,
-and I saw to it that they had every reason to love me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The result was that I had no difficulty in enlisting the
-services of a couple of them to spy upon Ras Thavas’
-spies, with the result that I was soon apprised that my
-suspicions were well founded—I was being constantly
-watched every minute that I was out of my apartments,
-but the spying did not come beyond my outer chamber
-walls. That was why I had been successful in reaching the
-vault in the manner that I had, the spies having assumed
-that I would leave my chamber only by its natural exit,
-had been content to guard that and permit my windows
-to go unwatched.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I think it was about two of our months that the spying
-continued and then my men reported that it seemed
-to have ceased entirely. All that time I was fretting at
-the delay, for I wanted to be about my plans which
-would have been absolutely impossible for me to carry
-out if I were being watched. I had spent the interval in
-studying the geography of the north-eastern Barsoomian
-hemisphere where my activities were to be carried on,
-and also in scanning a great number of case histories and
-inspecting the subjects to which they referred; but at
-last, with the removal of the spies, it began to look as
-though I might soon commence to put my plans in active
-operation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas had for some time permitted me considerable
-freedom in independent investigation and experiment,
-and this I determined to take advantage of
-in every possible way that might forward my plans for
-the resurrection of Valla Dia. My study of the histories
-of many of the cases had been with the possibility in
-mind of discovering subjects that might be of assistance
-to me in my venture. Among those that had occupied
-my careful attention were, quite naturally, the cases
-with which I had been most familiar, namely: 378-J-493811-P,
-the red-man from whose vicious attack I had
-saved Ras Thavas upon the day of my advent upon
-Mars; and he whose brain had been divided with an
-ape.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The former, 378-J-493811-P, had been a native of
-Phundahl—a young warrior attached to the court of
-Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl—and a victim of assassination.
-His body had been purchased by a Phundahlian
-noble for the purpose, as Ras Thavas had narrated, of
-winning the favor of a young beauty. I felt that I might
-possibly enlist his services, but that would depend upon
-the extent of his loyalty towards Xaxa, which I could
-only determine by reviving and questioning him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He whose brain had been divided with an ape had
-originated in Ptarth, which lay at a considerable distance
-to the west of Phundahl and a little south and
-about an equal distance from Duhor, which lay north
-and a little west of it. An inhabitant of Ptarth, I reasoned,
-would know much of the entire country included
-in the triangle formed by Phundahl, Ptarth and Duhor;
-the strength and ferocity of the great ape would prove
-of value in crossing beast infested wastes; and I felt
-that I could hold forth sufficient promise to the human
-half of the great beast’s brain, which really now dominated
-the creature, to win its support and loyalty. The
-third subject that I had tentatively selected had been
-a notorious Toonolian assassin, whose audacity, fearlessness
-and swordsmanship had won for him a reputation
-that had spread far beyond the boundaries of his
-country.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas, himself a Toonolian, had given me something
-of the history of this man whose grim calling is
-not without honor upon Barsoom, and which Gor
-Hajus had raised still higher in the esteem of his countrymen
-through the fact that he never struck down a
-woman or a good man and that he never struck from
-behind. His killings were always the results of fair fights
-in which the victim had every opportunity to defend
-himself and slay his attacker; and he was famous for
-his loyalty to his friends. In fact this very loyalty had
-been a contributing factor in his downfall which had
-brought him to one of Ras Thavas’ ersite slabs some
-years since, for he had earned the enmity of Vobis
-Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, through his refusal to assassinate
-a man who once had befriended Gor Hajus in some
-slight degree; following which Vobis Kan conceived the
-suspicion that Gor Hajus had him marked for slaying.
-The result was inevitable: Gor Hajus was arrested and
-condemned to death; immediately following the execution
-of the sentence an agent of Ras Thavas had purchased
-the body.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These three, then, I had chosen to be my partners
-in my great adventure. It is true that I had not discussed
-the matter with any one of them, but my judgment
-assured me that I would have no difficulty in
-enlisting their services and loyalty in return for their
-total resurrection.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My first task lay in renewing the organs of 378-J-493811-P
-and of Gor Hajus which had been injured
-by the wounds that had laid them low; the former requiring
-a new lung and the latter a new heart, his
-executioner having run him through with a short-sword.
-I hesitated to ask Ras Thavas’ permission to experiment
-on these subjects for fear of the possibility of
-arousing his suspicions, in which event he would probably
-have them destroyed; and so I was forced to accomplish
-my designs by subterfuge and stealth. To this end
-I made it a practice for weeks to carry my regular
-laboratory work far into the night, often requiring the
-services of various assistants that all might become accustomed
-to the sight of me at work at unusual hours.
-In my selection of these assistants I made it a point
-to choose two of the very spies that Ras Thavas had
-set to watching me. While it was true that they were
-no longer employed in this particular service, I had
-hopes that they would carry word of my activities to
-their master; and I was careful to see that they received
-from me the proper suggestions that would mould
-their report in language far from harmful to me. By
-the merest suggestion I carried to them the idea that
-I worked thus late purely for the love of the work
-itself and the tremendous interest in it that Ras Thavas
-had awakened within my mind. Some nights I worked
-with assistants and as often I did not, but always I
-was careful to assure myself that the following morning
-those in the office were made aware that I had labored
-far into the preceding night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This groundwork carefully prepared, I had comparatively
-little fear of the results of actual discovery when
-I set to work upon the warrior of Phundahl and the
-assassin of Toonol. I chose the former first. His lung
-was badly injured where my blade had passed through
-it, but from the laboratory where were kept fractional
-bodies I brought a perfect lung, with which I replaced
-the one that I had ruined. The work occupied but half
-the night. So anxious was I to complete my task that
-I immediately opened up the breast of Gor Hajus, for
-whom I had selected an unusually strong and powerful
-heart, and by working rapidly I succeeded in completing
-the transference before dawn. Having known the nature
-of the wounds that had dispatched these two men, I
-had spent weeks in performing similar operations that I
-might perfect myself especially in this work; and having
-encountered no unusual pathological conditions in
-either subject, the work had progressed smoothly and
-with great rapidity. I had completed what I had feared
-would be the most difficult part of my task and now,
-having removed as far as possible all signs of the operation
-except the therapeutic tape which closed the incisions,
-I returned to my quarters for a few minutes
-of much needed rest, praying that Ras Thavas would
-not by any chance examine either of the subjects upon
-which I had been working; although I had fortified myself
-against such a contingency by entering full details
-of the operation upon the history card of each subject
-that, in the event of discovery, any suspicion of ulterior
-motives upon my part might be allayed by my play
-of open frankness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I arose at the usual time and went at once to Ras
-Thavas’ apartment, where I was met with a bombshell
-that nearly wrecked my composure. He eyed me closely
-for a long minute before he spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You worked late last night, Vad Varo,” he said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I often do,” I replied, lightly; but my heart was
-heavy as a stone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And what might it have been that so occupied your
-interest?” he inquired.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I felt as a mouse with which the cat is playing. “I
-have been doing quite a little lung and heart transference
-of late,” I replied, “and I became so engrossed with
-my work that I did not note the passage of time.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have known that you worked late at night. Do
-you think it wise?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At that moment I felt that it had been very unwise,
-yet I assured him to the contrary.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I was restless,” he said. “I could not sleep and so
-I went to your quarters after midnight, but you were
-not there. I wanted someone with whom to talk, but
-your slaves knew only that you were not there—where
-you were they did not know—so I set out to search
-for you.” My heart went into my sandals. “I guessed
-that you were in one of the laboratories, but though
-I visited several I did not find you.” My heart arose
-with the lightness of a feather. “Since my own transference
-I have been cursed with restlessness and sleeplessness,
-so that I could almost wish for the return of
-my old corpse—the youth of my body harmonizes not
-with the antiquity of my brain. It is filled with latent
-urges and desires that comport illy with the serious subject
-matter of my mind.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What your body needs,” I said, “is exercise. It is
-young, strong, virile. Work it hard and it will let your
-brain rest at night.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I know that you are right,” he replied. “I have
-reached that same conclusion myself. In fact, not finding
-you, I walked in the gardens for an hour or more
-before returning to my quarters, and then I slept soundly.
-I shall walk every night when I cannot sleep, or I
-shall go into the laboratories and work as do you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This news was most disquieting. Now I could never
-be sure but that Ras Thavas was wandering about at
-night and I had one more very important night’s work
-to do, perhaps two. The only way that I could be sure
-of him was to be with him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Send for me when you are restless,” I said, “and
-I will walk and work with you. You should not go
-about thus at night alone.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” he said, “I may do that occasionally.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I hoped that he would do it always, for then I would
-know that when he failed to send for me he was safe
-in his own quarters. Yet I saw that I must henceforth
-face the menace of detection; and knowing this I determined
-to hasten the completion of my plans and to
-risk everything on a single bold stroke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>That night I had no opportunity to put it into action
-as Ras Thavas sent for me early and informed me
-that we would walk in the gardens until he was tired.
-Now, as I needed a full night for what I had in mind
-and as Ras Thavas walked until midnight, I was compelled
-to forego everything for that evening, but the
-following morning I persuaded him to walk early on the
-pretext that I should like to go beyond the enclosure
-and see something of Barsoom beside the inside of his
-laboratories and his gardens. I had little confidence that
-he would grant my request, yet he did so. I am sure
-he never would have done it had he possessed his old
-body; but thus greatly had young blood changed Ras
-Thavas.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had never been beyond the buildings, nor had I
-seen beyond, since there were no windows in the outside
-walls of any of the structures and upon the garden
-side the trees had grown to such a height that they
-obstructed all view beyond them. For a time we walked
-in another garden just inside the outer wall, and then
-I asked Ras Thavas if I might go even beyond this.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No,” he said. “It would not be safe.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And why not?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will show you and at the same time give you a
-much broader view of the outside world than you could
-obtain by merely passing through the gate. Come, follow
-me!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He led me immediately to a lofty tower that rose
-at the corner of the largest building of the group that
-comprised his vast establishment. Within was a circular
-runway which led not only upward, but down as well.
-This we ascended, passing openings at each floor, until
-we came at last out upon its lofty summit.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>About me spread the first Barsoomian landscape of
-any extent upon which my eyes had yet rested during
-the long months that I had spent upon the Red Planet.
-For almost an Earthly year I had been immured within
-the grim walls of Ras Thavas’ bloody laboratory, until,
-such creatures of habit are we, the weird life there had
-grown to seem quite natural and ordinary; but with this
-first glimpse of open country there surged up within me
-an urge for freedom, for space, for room to move about,
-such as I knew would not be long denied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Directly beneath lay an irregular patch of rocky land
-elevated perhaps a dozen feet or more above the general
-level of the immediately surrounding country. Its
-extent was, at a rough guess, a hundred acres. Upon
-this stood the buildings and grounds, which were enclosed
-in a high wall. The tower upon which we stood
-was situated at about the centre of the total area enclosed.
-Beyond the outer wall was a strip of rocky
-ground on which grew a sparse forest of fair sized trees
-interspersed with patches of a jungle growth, and beyond
-all, what appeared to be an oozy marsh through
-which were narrow water courses connecting occasional
-open water—little lakes, the largest of which could have
-comprised scarce two acres. This landscape extended as
-far as the eye could reach, broken by occasional islands
-similar to that upon which we were and at a short distance
-by the skyline of a large city, whose towers and
-domes and minarets glistened and sparkled in the sun
-as though plated with shining metals and picked out
-with precious gems.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This, I knew, must be Toonol and all about us the
-Great Toonolian Marshes which extend nearly eighteen
-hundred Earth miles east and west and in some places
-have a width of three hundred miles. Little is known
-about them in other portions of Barsoom as they are
-frequented by fierce beasts, afford no landing places for
-fliers and are commanded by Phundahl at their western
-end and Toonol at the east; inhospitable kingdoms that
-invite no intercourse with the outside world and maintain
-their independence alone by their inaccessibility
-and savage aloofness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As my eyes returned to the island at our feet I
-saw a huge form emerge from one of the nearby patches
-of jungle a short distance beyond the outer wall. It
-was followed by a second and a third. Ras Thavas saw
-that the creatures had attracted my notice.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There,” he said, pointing to them, “are three of a
-number of similar reasons why it would not have been
-safe for us to venture outside the enclosure.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They were great white apes of Barsoom, creatures so
-savage that even that fierce Barsoomian lion, the banth,
-hesitates to cross their path.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They serve two purposes,” explained Ras Thavas.
-“They discourage those who might otherwise creep upon
-me by night from the city of Toonol, where I am not
-without many good enemies, and they prevent desertion
-upon the part of my slaves and assistants.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But how do your clients reach you?” I asked. “How
-are your supplies brought in?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He turned and pointed down toward the highest portion
-of the irregular roof of the building below us.
-Built upon it was a large, shed-like structure. “There,”
-he said, “I keep three small ships. One of them goes
-every day to Toonol.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I was overcome with eagerness to know more about
-these ships, in which I thought I saw a much needed
-means of escape from the island; but I dared not question
-him for fear of arousing his suspicions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As we turned to descend the tower runway I expressed
-interest in the structure which gave evidence of
-being far older than any of the surrounding buildings.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This tower,” said Ras Thavas, “was built some
-twenty-three thousand years ago by an ancestor of mine
-who was driven from Toonol by the reigning Jeddak
-of the time. Here, and upon other islands, he gathered
-a considerable following, dominated the surrounding
-marshes and defended himself successfully for hundreds
-of years. While my family has been permitted to return
-to Toonol since, this has been their home; to which,
-one by one, have been added the various buildings
-which you see about the tower, each floor of which connects
-with the adjacent building from the roof to the
-lowest pits beneath the ground.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This information also interested me greatly since I
-thought that I saw where it too might have considerable
-bearing upon my plan of escape, and so, as we descended
-the runway, I encouraged Ras Thavas to discourse
-upon the construction of the tower, its relation
-to the other buildings and especially its accessibility from
-the pits. We walked again in the outer garden and by
-the time we returned to Ras Thavas’ quarters it was almost
-dark and the master surgeon was considerably
-fatigued.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I feel that I shall sleep well to-night,” he said as
-I left him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I hope so, Ras Thavas,” I replied.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='72' id='Page_72'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VII<br/> ESCAPE</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>It</span> was usually about three hours after the evening meal,
-which was served immediately after dark, that the establishment
-quieted down definitely for the night. While I
-should have preferred waiting longer before undertaking
-that which I had in mind, I could not safely do so,
-since there was much to be accomplished before dawn.
-So it was that with the first indications that the occupants
-of the building in which my work was to be performed
-had retired for the night, I left my quarters
-and went directly to the laboratory, where, fortunately
-for my plans, the bodies of Gor Hajus, the assassin
-of Toonol, and 378-J-493811-P both reposed. It was
-the work of a few minutes to carry them to adjoining
-tables, where I quickly strapped them securely against
-the possibility that one or both of them might not be
-willing to agree to the proposition I was about to make
-them, and thus force me to anaesthetize them again.
-At last the incisions were made, the tubes attached and
-the motors started. 378-J-493811-P, whom I shall hereafter
-call by his own name, Dar Tarus, was the first
-to open his eyes; but he had not regained full consciousness
-when Gor Hajus showed signs of life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I waited until both appeared quite restored. Dar
-Tarus was eyeing me with growing recognition that
-brought a most venomous expression of hatred to his
-countenance. Gor Hajus was frankly puzzled. The last
-he remembered was the scene in the death chamber at
-the instant that his executioner had run a sword
-through his heart. It was I who broke the silence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In the first place,” I said, “let me tell you where
-you are, if you do not already know.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I know well enough where I am,” growled Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” exclaimed Gor Hajus, whose eyes had been
-roaming about the chamber. “I can guess where I am.
-What Toonolian has not heard of Ras Thavas? So they
-sold my corpse to the old butcher did they? And what
-now? Did I just arrive?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have been here six years,” I told him, “and
-you may stay here for ever unless we three can reach
-an agreement within the next few minutes, and that goes
-for you too, Dar Tarus.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Six years!” mused Gor Hajus. “Well, out with it,
-man. What do you want? If it is to slay Ras Thavas,
-no! He has saved me from utter destruction; but name
-me some other, preferably Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol.
-Find me a blade and I will slay a hundred to regain
-life.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I seek the life of none unless he stands in the way
-of the fulfilment of my desire in this matter that I have
-in hand. Listen! Ras Thavas had here a beautiful
-Duhorian girl. He sold her body to Xaxa, Jeddara of
-Phundahl, transplanting the girl’s brain to the wrinkled
-and hideous body of the Jeddara. It is my intention to
-regain the body, restore it to its own brain and return
-the girl to Duhor.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus grinned. “You have a large contract on
-your hands,” he said, “but I can see that you are a
-man after my own heart and I am with you. It will
-give freedom and fighting, and all that I ask is a chance
-for one thrust at Vobis Kan.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I promise you life,” I replied; “but with the understanding
-that you serve me faithfully and none other,
-undertaking no business of your own, until mine has
-been carried to a successful conclusion.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That means that I shall have to serve you for life,”
-he replied, “for the thing you have undertaken you can
-never accomplish; but that is better than lying here on
-a cold ersite slab waiting for old Ras Thavas to come
-along and carve out my gizzard. I am yours! Let me
-up, that I may feel a good pair of legs under me again.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And you?” I asked, turning to Dar Tarus as I released
-the bonds that held Gor Hajus. For the first time
-I now noticed that the ugly expression that I had first
-noted upon the face of Dar Tarus had given place to
-one of eagerness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Strike off my bonds!” he cried. “I will follow you
-to the ends of Barsoom and the way leads thus far to
-the fulfilment of your design; but it will not. It will
-lead to Phundahl and to the chamber of the wicked
-Xaxa, where, by the generosity of my ancestors, I may
-be given the opportunity to avenge the hideous wrong
-the creature did me. You could not have chosen one
-better fitted for your mission than Dar Tarus, one time
-soldier of the Jeddara’s Guard, whom she had slain that
-in my former body one of her rotten nobles might woo
-the girl I loved.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A moment later the two men stood at my side, and
-without more delay I led them towards the runway that
-descended to the pits beneath the building. As we went,
-I described to them the creature I had chosen to be the
-fourth member of our strange party. Gor Hajus questioned
-the wisdom of my choice, saying that the ape
-would attract too much attention to us. Dar Tarus, however,
-believed that it might be helpful in many respects,
-since it was possible that we might be compelled to
-spend some time among the islands of the marshes which
-were often infested with these creatures; while, once in
-Phundahl, the ape might readily be used in the furtherance
-of our plans and would cause no considerable
-comment in a city where many of these beasts are held
-in captivity and often are seen performing for the
-edification of street crowds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We went at once to the vault where the ape lay
-and where I had concealed the anaesthetized body of
-Valla Dia. Here I revived the great anthropoid and to
-my great relief found that the human half of its brain
-still was dominant. Briefly I explained my plan as I
-had to the other two and won the hearty promise of
-his support upon my engaging to restore his brain to its
-rightful place upon the completion of our venture.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>First we must get off the island, and I outlined two
-plans I had in mind. One was to steal one of Ras
-Thavas’ three fliers and set out directly for Phundahl,
-and the other, in the event that the first did not seem
-feasible, was to secrete ourselves aboard one of them
-on the chance that we might either overpower the crew
-and take over the ship after we had left the island,
-or escape undetected upon its arrival in Toonol. Dar
-Tarus liked the first plan; the ape, whom we now called
-by the name belonging to the human half of his brain,
-Hovan Du, preferred the first alternative of the second
-plan; and Gor Hajus the second alternative.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus explained that as our principal objective
-was Phundahl, the quicker we got there the better.
-Hovan Du argued that by seizing the ship after it had
-left the island we would have longer time in which to
-make our escape before the ship was missed and pursuit
-instituted, than by seizing it now in the full knowledge
-that its absence would be discovered within a few
-hours. Gor Hajus thought that it would be better if
-we could come into Toonol secretly and there, through
-one of his friends, secure arms and a flier of our own.
-It would never do, he insisted, to attempt to go far
-without arms for himself and Dar Tarus, nor could we
-hope to reach Phundahl without being overhauled by
-pursuers; for we must plan on the hypothesis that Ras
-Thavas would immediately discover my absence; that he
-would at once investigate; that he would find Dar Tarus
-and Gor Hajus missing and thereupon lose no time in
-advising Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, that Gor Hajus
-the assassin was at large, whereupon the Jeddak’s best
-ships would be sent in pursuit.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus’ reasoning was sound and coupled with
-my recollection that Ras Thavas had told me that his
-three ships were slow, I could readily foresee that our
-liberty would be of short duration were we to steal one
-of the old surgeon’s fliers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As we discussed the matter we had made our way
-through the pits and I had found the exit to the tower.
-Silently we passed upward along the runway and out
-upon the roof. Both moons were winging low through
-the heavens and the scene was almost as light as day.
-If anyone was about discovery was certain. We hastened
-towards the hangar and were soon within it, where, for
-a moment at least, I breathed far more easily than I
-had beneath those two brilliant moons upon the exposed
-roof.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The fliers were peculiar looking contrivances, low,
-squat, with rounded bows and sterns and covered decks,
-their every line proclaiming them as cargo carriers
-built for anything but speed. One was much smaller than
-the other two and a second was evidently undergoing
-repairs. The third I entered and examined carefully. Gor
-Hajus was with me and pointed out several places
-where we might hide with little likelihood of discovery
-unless it were suspected that we might be aboard, and
-that of course constituted a very real danger; so much
-so that I had about decided to risk all aboard the small
-flier, which Gor Hajus assured me would be the fastest
-of the three, when Dar Tarus stuck his head into the
-ship and motioned me to come quickly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is someone about,” he said when I reached
-his side.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Where?” I demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come,” he said, and led me to the rear of the
-hangar, which was flush with the wall of the building
-upon which it stood, and pointed through one of the
-windows into the inner garden where, to my consternation,
-I saw Ras Thavas walking slowly to and fro. For
-an instant I was sick with despair, for I knew that no
-ship could leave that roof unseen while anyone was
-abroad in the garden beneath, and Ras Thavas least
-of all people in the world; but suddenly a great light
-dawned upon me. I called the three close to me and
-explained my plan.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Instantly they grasped the possibilities in it and a
-moment later we had run the small flier out upon the
-roof and turned her nose toward the east, away from
-Toonol. Then Gor Hajus entered her, set the various
-controls as we had decided, opened the throttle, slipped
-back to the roof. The four of us hastened into the hangar
-and ran to the rear window where we saw the ship
-moving slowly and gracefully out over the garden and
-the head of Ras Thavas, whose ears must instantly have
-caught the faint purring of the motor, for he was looking
-up by the time we reached the window.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Instantly he hailed the ship and stepping back from
-the window that he might not see me I answered:
-“Good-bye, Ras Thavas! It is I, Vad Varo, going out
-into a strange world to see what it is like. I shall return.
-The spirits of your ancestors be with you until
-then.” That was a phrase I had picked up from reading
-in Ras Thavas’ library and I was quite proud of
-it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come back at once,” he shouted up in reply, “or
-you will be with the spirits of your own ancestors before
-another day is done.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I made no reply. The ship was now at such a distance
-that I feared my voice might no longer seem to
-come from it and that we should be discovered. Without
-more delay we concealed ourselves aboard one of the
-remaining fliers, that upon which no work was being
-done, and there commenced as long and tiresome a period
-of waiting as I can recall ever having passed
-through.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had at last given up any hope of the ship’s being
-flown that day when I heard voices in the hangar, and
-presently the sound of footsteps aboard the flier. A moment
-later a few commands were given and almost
-immediately the ship moved slowly out into the open.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The four of us were crowded into a small compartment
-built into a tiny space between the forward and
-aft starboard buoyancy tanks. It was very dark and
-poorly ventilated, having evidently been designed as a
-storage closet to utilize otherwise waste space. We dared
-not converse for fear of attracting attention to our presence,
-and for the same reason we moved about as little
-as possible, since we had no means of knowing but
-that some member of the crew might be just beyond
-the thin door that separated us from the main cabin of
-the ship. Altogether we were most uncomfortable; but
-the distance to Toonol is not so great but that we
-might hope that our situation would soon be changed—at
-least if Toonol was to be the destination of the
-ship. Of this we soon had cheering hope. We had been
-out but a short time when, faintly, we heard a hail
-and then the motors were immediately shut down and
-the ship stopped.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What ship?” we heard a voice demand, and from
-aboard our own came the reply:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Vosar, Tower of Thavas for Toonol.” We heard
-a scraping as the other ship touched ours.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We are coming aboard to search you in the name
-of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol. Make way!” shouted
-one from the other ship. Our cheer had been of short
-duration. We heard the shuffling of many feet and Gor
-Hajus whispered in my ear.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What shall we do?” he asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I slipped my short-sword into his hand. “Fight!” I
-replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good, Vad Varo,” he replied, and then I handed
-him my pistol and told him to pass it on to Dar Tarus.
-We heard the voices again, but nearer now.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What ho!” cried one. “It is Bal Zak himself, my old
-friend Bal Zak!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“None other,” replied a deep voice. “And whom did
-you expect to find in command of the Vosar other
-than Bal Zak?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who could know but that it might have been this
-Vad Varo himself, or even Gor Hajus,” said the other,
-“and our orders are to search all ships.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I would that they were here,” replied Bal Zak, “for
-the reward is high. But how could they, when Ras
-Thavas himself with his own eyes saw them fly off in
-the Pinsar before dawn this day and disappear in the
-east?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Right you are, Bal Zak,” agreed the other, “and it
-were a waste of time to search your ship. Come men!
-to our own!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I could feel the muscles about my heart relax with
-the receding footfalls of Vobis Kan’s warriors as they
-quitted the deck of the Vosar for their own ship, and
-my spirits rose with the renewed purring of our own
-motor as Ras Thavas’ flier again got under way. Gor
-Hajus bent his lips close to my ear.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The spirits of our ancestors smile upon us,” he whispered.
-“It is night and the darkness will aid in covering
-our escape from the ship and the landing stage.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What makes you think it is night?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Vobis Kan’s ship was close by when it hailed and
-asked our name. By daylight it could have seen what
-ship we were.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was right. We had been locked in that stuffy hole
-since before dawn, and while I had thought that it had
-been for a considerable time, I also had realized that the
-darkness and the inaction and the nervous strain would
-tend to make it seem much longer than it really had
-been; so that I would not have been greatly surprised
-had we made Toonol by daylight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The distance from the Tower of Thavas to Toonol is
-inconsiderable, so that shortly after Vobis Kan’s ship had
-spoken to us we came to rest upon the landing stage at
-our destination. For a long time we waited, listening to
-the sounds of movement aboard the ship and wondering,
-upon my part at least, as to what the intentions of the
-captain might be. It was quite possible that Bal Zak
-might return to Thavas this same night, especially if he
-had come to Toonol to fetch a rich or powerful patient
-to the laboratories; but if he had come only for supplies
-he might well lie here until the morrow. This much
-I had learned from Gor Hajus, my own knowledge of the
-movements of the fliers of Ras Thavas being considerably
-less than nothing; for, though I had been months a
-lieutenant of the master surgeon, I had learned only the
-day before of the existence of his small fleet, it being
-according to the policy of Ras Thavas to tell me nothing
-unless the telling of it coincided with and furthered his
-own plans.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Questions which I asked he always answered, if he
-reasoned that the effects would not be harmful to his
-own interests, but he volunteered nothing that he did not
-particularly wish me to know; and the fact that there
-were no windows in the outside walls of the building facing
-towards Toonol, that I had never before the previous
-day been upon the roof and that I never had seen a ship
-sail over the inner court towards the east all tended to
-explain my ignorance of the fleet and its customary operations.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We waited quietly until silence fell upon the ship, betokening
-either that the crew had retired for the night or
-that they had gone down into the city. Then, after a
-whispered consultation with Gor Hajus, we decided to
-make an attempt to leave the flier. It was our purpose to
-seek a hiding place within the tower of the landing stage
-from which we might investigate possible avenues of
-escape into the city, either at once or upon the morrow
-when we might more easily mix with the crowd that
-Gor Hajus said would certainly be in evidence from a few
-hours after sunrise.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Cautiously I opened the door of our closet and looked
-into the main cabin beyond. It lay in darkness. Silently
-we filed out. The silence of the tomb lay upon the flier,
-but from far below arose the subdued noises of the city.
-So far, so good! Then, without sound, without warning, a
-burst of brilliant light illuminated the interior of the
-cabin. I felt my fingers tighten upon my sword-hilt as I
-glanced quickly about.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Directly opposite us, in the narrow doorway of a small
-cabin, stood a tall man whose handsome harness betokened
-the fact that he was no common warrior. In
-either hand he held a heavy Barsoomian pistol, into the
-muzzles of which we found ourselves staring.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='81' id='Page_81'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VIII<br/> HANDS UP!</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>In</span> quiet tones he spoke the words of the Barsoomian
-equivalent of our Earthly <span class='it'>hands up!</span> The shadow of a grim
-smile touched his lips, and as he saw us hesitate to obey
-his commands he spoke again.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do as I tell you and you will be well off. Keep perfect
-silence. A raised voice may spell your doom; a pistol
-shot most assuredly.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus raised his hands above his head and we
-others followed his example.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am Bal Zak,” announced the stranger. My heart
-slumped.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then you had better commence firing,” said Gor
-Hajus, “for you will not take us alive and we are four to
-one.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not so fast, Gor Hajus,” admonished the captain
-of the Vosar, “until you learn what is in my mind.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That, we already know for we heard you speak of the
-large reward that awaited the captor of Vad Varo and Gor
-Hajus,” snapped the assassin of Toonol.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Had I craved that reward so much I could have turned
-you over to the dwar of Vobis Kan’s ship when he
-boarded us,” said Bal Zak.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You did not know we were aboard the Vosar,” I
-reminded him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, but I did.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus snorted his disbelief.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How then,” Bal Zak reminded us, “was I able to be
-ready upon this very spot when you emerged from your
-hiding place? Yes, I knew that you were aboard.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But how?” demanded Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is immaterial,” replied Bal Zak, “but to satisfy
-your natural curiosity I will tell you that I have quarters
-in a small room in the Tower of Thavas, my windows
-overlook the roof and the hangar. My long life spent
-aboard fliers has made me very sensitive to every sound
-of a ship—motors changing their speed will awaken me in
-the dead of night, as quickly as will their starting or their
-stopping. I was awakened by the starting of the motors of
-the Pinsar; I saw three of you upon the roof and the
-fourth drop from the deck of the flier as she started and
-my judgment told me that the ship was being sent out
-unmanned for some reason of which I had no knowledge.
-It was too late for me to prevent the act and so I waited
-in silence to learn what would follow. I saw you hasten
-into the hangar and I heard Ras Thavas’ hail and your
-reply, and then I saw you board the Vosar. Immediately I
-descended to the roof and ran noiselessly to the hangar,
-apprehending that you intended making away with this
-ship; but there was no one about the controls; and from
-a tiny port in the control room, through which one has a
-view of the main cabin, I saw you enter the closet. I
-was at once convinced that your only purpose was to
-stow away for Toonol and consequently, aside from
-keeping an eye upon your hiding place, I went about my
-business as usual.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And you did not advise Ras Thavas?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I advised no one,” he replied. “Years ago I learned to
-mind my own business, to see all, to hear all and to tell
-nothing unless it profited me to do so.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But you said that the reward is high for our apprehension,”
-Gor Hajus reminded him. “Would it not be
-profitable to collect it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are in the breasts of honourable men,” replied
-Bal Zak, “forces that rise superior to the lust for
-gold, and while Toonolians are supposedly a people free
-from the withering influences of sentiment yet I for one
-am not totally unconscious of the demand of gratitude.
-Six years ago, Gor Hajus, you refused to assassinate
-my father, holding that he was a good man, worthy to
-live and one that had once befriended you slightly.
-To-day, through his son, you reap your reward and in
-some measure are repaid for the punishment that was
-meted out to you by Vobis Kan because of your refusal
-to slay the sire of Bal Zak. I have sent my crew
-away that none aboard the Vosar but myself might have
-knowledge of your presence. Tell me your plans and
-command me in what way I may be of further service to
-you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We wish to reach the streets, unobserved,” replied Gor
-Hajus. “Can you but help us in that we shall not put
-upon your shoulders further responsibility for our escape.
-You have our gratitude and in Toonol, I need not remind
-you, the gratitude of Gor Hajus is a possession that
-even the Jeddak has craved.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Your problem is complicated,” said Bal Zak, after a
-moment of thought, “by the personnel of your party. The
-ape would immediately attract attention and arouse suspicion.
-Knowing much of Ras Thavas’ experiments I realized
-at once this morning, after watching him with you,
-that he had the brain of a man; but this very fact would
-attract to him and to you the closer attention of the
-masses.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not need acquaint them with the fact,” growled
-Hovan Du. “To them I need be but a captive ape. Are
-such unknown in Toonol?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not entirely, though they are rare,” replied Bal Zak.
-“But there is also the white skin of Vad Varo! Ras Thavas
-appears to have known nothing of the presence of the
-ape with you; but he full well knew of Vad Varo, and
-your description has been spread by every means at his
-command. You would be recognized immediately by the
-first Toonolian that lays eyes upon you, and then there
-is Gor Hajus. He has been as dead for six years, yet I
-venture there is scarce a Toonolian that broke the shell
-prior to ten years ago who does not know the face of
-Gor Hajus as well as he knows that of his own mother.
-The Jeddak himself was not better known to the people
-of Toonol than Gor Hajus. That leaves but one who
-might possibly escape suspicion and detection in the
-streets of Toonol.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If we could but obtain weapons for these others,” I
-suggested, “we might even yet reach the house of Gor
-Hajus’ friend.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Fight your way through the city of Toonol?” demanded
-Bal Zak.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If there is no other way we should have to,” I replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I admire the will,” commented the commander of the
-Vosar, “but fear that the flesh is without sufficient
-strength. Wait! there is a way—perhaps. On the stage
-just below this there is a public depot where equilibrimotors
-are kept and rented. Could we find the means to
-obtain four of these there would be a chance, at least,
-for you to elude the air patrols and reach the house of
-Gor Hajus’ friend; and I think I see a way to the accomplishment
-of that. The landing tower is closed for
-the night but there are several watchmen distributed
-through it at different levels. There is one at the equilibrimotor
-depot and, as I happen to know, he is a devotee of
-jetan. He would rather play jetan than attend to his
-duties as watchman. I often remain aboard the Vosar at
-night and occasionally he and I indulge in a game. I will
-ask him up to-night and while he is thus engaged you
-may go to the depot, help yourselves to equilibrimotors
-and pray to your ancestors that no air patrol suspects
-you as you cross the city towards your destination. What
-think you of this plan, Gor Hajus?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is splendid,” replied the assassin. “And you, Vad
-Varo?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If I knew what an equilibrimotor is I might be in a
-better position to judge the merits of the plan,” I replied.
-“However, I am satisfied to abide by the judgment
-of Gor Hajus. I can assure you, Bal Zak, of our great
-appreciation, and as Gor Hajus has put the stamp of his
-approval upon your plan I can only urge you to arrange
-that we may put it into effect with as little delay as possible.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good!” exclaimed Bal Zak. “Come with me and I
-will conceal you until I have lured the watchman to the
-jetan game within my cabin. After that your fate will be
-in your own hands.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We followed him from the ship on to the deck of
-the landing stage and close under the side of the Vosar
-opposite that from which the watchman must approach
-the ship and enter it. Then, bidding us good luck, Bal Zak
-departed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From the summit of the landing tower I had my first
-view of a Martian city. Several hundred feet below me
-lay spread the broad, well-lighted avenues of Toonol,
-many of which were crowded with people. Here and
-there, in this central district, a building was raised high
-upon its supporting, cylindrical metal shaft; while further
-out, where the residences predominated, the city
-took on the appearance of a colossal and grotesque forest.
-Among the larger palaces only an occasional suite
-of rooms was thus raised high above the level of the
-others, these being the sleeping apartments of the owners,
-their servants or their guests; but the smaller homes were
-raised in their entirety, a precaution necessitated by the
-constant activities of the followers of Gor Hajus’ ancient
-profession that permitted no man to be free from the
-constant menace of assassination. Throughout the central
-district the sky was pierced by the lofty towers of
-several other landing stages; but, as I was later to learn,
-these were comparatively few in number. Toonol is in no
-sense a flying nation, supporting no such enormous fleets
-of merchant ships and vessels of war as, for example, the
-twin cities of Helium or the great capital of Ptarth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A peculiar feature of the street lighting of Toonol, and
-in fact the same condition applies to the lighting of
-other Barsoomian cities I have visited, I noted for the first
-time that night as I waited upon the landing stage for the
-return of Bal Zak with the watchman. The luminosity
-below me seemed confined directly to the area to be
-lighted; there was no diffusion of light upward or beyond
-the limits the lamps were designed to light. This was
-effected, I was told, by lamps designed upon principles
-resulting from ages of investigation of the properties of
-light waves and the laws governing them which permit
-Barsoomian scientists to confine and control light as we
-confine and control matter. The light waves leave the
-lamp, pass along a prescribed circuit and return to the
-lamp. There is no waste nor, strange this seemed to me,
-are there any dense shadows when lights are properly
-installed and adjusted; for the waves in passing around
-objects to return to the lamp, illuminate all sides of
-them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The effect of this lighting from the great height of the
-tower was rather remarkable. The night was dark, there
-being no moons at that hour upon this night, and the
-effect was that obtained when sitting in a darkened auditorium
-and looking upon a brilliantly lighted stage. I
-was still intent upon watching the life and colour beneath
-when we heard Bal Zak returning. That he had been successful
-in his mission was apparent from the fact that
-he was conversing with another.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Five minutes later we crept quietly from our hiding
-place and descended to the stage below where lay the
-equilibrimotor depot. As theft is practically unknown
-upon Barsoom, except for purposes entirely disassociated
-from a desire to obtain pecuniary profit through the thing
-stolen, no precautions are taken against theft. We therefore
-found the doors of the depot open and Gor Hajus
-and Dar Tarus quickly selected four equilibrimotors and
-adjusted them upon us. They consist of a broad belt,
-not unlike the life belt used aboard trans-oceanic liners
-upon Earth; these belts are filled with the eighth Barsoomian
-ray, or ray of propulsion, to a sufficient degree
-to just about equalize the pull of gravity and thus
-to maintain a person in equilibrium between that force
-and the opposite force exerted by the eighth ray. Permanently
-attached to the back of the belt is a small
-radium motor, the controls for which are upon the front
-of the belt. Rigidly attached to and projecting from
-each side of the upper rim of the belt is a strong, light
-wing with small hand levers for quickly altering its
-position.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus quickly explained the method of control,
-but I could apprehend that there might be embarrassment
-and trouble awaiting me before I mastered the art of
-flying in an equilibrimotor. He showed me how to tilt
-the wings downward in walking so that I would not
-leave the ground at every step, and thus he led me to
-the edge of the landing stage.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We will rise here,” he said, “and keeping in the darkness
-of the upper levels seek to reach the house of my
-friend without being detected. If we are pursued by air
-patrols we must separate; and later those who escape
-may gather just west of the city wall where you will
-find a small lake with a deserted tower upon its northern
-rim—this tower will be our rendezvous in event of trouble.
-Follow me!” He started his motor and rose gracefully
-into the air.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Hovan Du followed him and then it was my turn. I
-rose beautifully for about twenty feet, floating out over
-the city which lay hundreds of feet below, and then, quite
-suddenly, I turned upside down. I had done something
-wrong—I was quite positive of it. It was a most startling
-sensation, I can assure you, floating there with my head
-down, quite helpless; while below me lay the streets of a
-great city and no softer, I was sure, than the streets of
-Los Angeles or Paris. My motor was still going, and
-as I manipulated the controls which operated the wings
-I commenced to describe all sorts of strange loops and
-spirals and spins; and then Dar Tarus came to my rescue.
-First he told me to lie quietly and then directed the
-manipulation of each wing until I had gained an upright
-position. After that I did fairly well and was soon rising
-in the wake of Gor Hajus and Hovan Du.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I need not describe in detail the hour of flying, or
-rather floating, that ensued. Gor Hajus led us to a considerable
-altitude and there, through the darkness above
-the city, our slow motors drove us towards a district of
-magnificent homes surrounded by spacious grounds; and
-here, as we hovered over a large palace, we were suddenly
-startled by a sharp challenge coming from directly
-above us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who flies by night?” a voice demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Friends of Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan,” replied
-Gor Hajus quickly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Let me see your night flying permit and your flier’s
-licence,” ordered the one above us, at the same time
-swooping suddenly to our level and giving me my first
-sight of a Martian policeman. He was equipped with a
-much swifter and handier equilibrimotor than ours. I
-think that was the first fact to impress us deeply, and it
-demonstrated the futility of flight; for he could have
-given us ten minutes start and overhauled each of us
-within another ten minutes, even though we had elected
-to fly in different directions. The fellow was a warrior
-rather than a policeman, though detailed to duty such
-as our Earthly police officers perform; the city being
-patrolled both day and night by the warriors of Vobis
-Kan’s army.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He dropped now close to the assassin of Toonol, again
-demanding permit and license and at the same time
-flashing a light in the face of my comrade.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By the sword of the Jeddak!” he cried. “Fortune
-heaps her favors upon me. Who would have thought an
-hour since that it would be I who would collect the reward
-for the capture of Gor Hajus?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Any other fool might have thought it,” returned Gor
-Hajus, “but he would have been as wrong as you,” and as
-he spoke he struck with the short-sword I had loaned
-him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The blow was broken by the wing of the warrior’s
-equilibrimotor, which it demolished, yet it inflicted a
-severe wound in the fellow’s shoulder. He tried to back
-off, but the damaged wing caused him only to wheel
-around erratically; and then he seized upon his whistle
-and attempted to blow a mighty blast that was cut short
-by another blow from Gor Hajus’ sword that split the
-man’s head open to the bridge of his nose.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Quick!” cried the assassin. “We must drop into the
-gardens of Mu Tel, for that signal will bring a swarm
-of air patrols about our heads.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The others I saw falling rapidly towards the ground,
-but again I had trouble. Depress my wings as I would I
-moved only slightly downward and upon a path that, if
-continued, would have landed me at a considerable distance
-from the gardens of Mu Tel. I was approaching
-one of the elevated portions of the palace, what appeared
-to be a small suite that was raised upon its
-shining metal shaft far above the ground. From all directions
-I could hear the screaming whistles of the air
-patrols answering the last call of their comrade whose
-corpse floated just above me, a guide even in death to
-point the way for his fellows to search us out. They were
-sure to discover him and then I would be in plain view
-of them and my fate sealed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Perhaps I could find ingress to the apartment looming
-darkly near! There I might hide until the danger
-had passed, provided I could enter, undetected. I directed
-my course towards the structure; an open window
-took form through the darkness and then I collided
-with a fine wire netting—I had run into a protecting
-curtain that fends off assassins of the air from these high-flung
-sleeping apartments. I felt that I was lost. If I
-could but reach the ground I might find concealment
-among the trees and shrubbery that I had seen vaguely
-outlined beneath me in the gardens of this Barsoomian
-prince; but I could not drop at a sufficient angle to
-bring me to ground within the garden, and when I tried
-to spiral down I turned over and started up again. I
-thought of ripping open my belt and letting the eighth
-ray escape; but in my unfamiliarity with this strange
-force I feared that such an act might precipitate me to
-the ground with too great violence, though I was
-determined to have recourse to it as a last alternative
-if nothing less drastic presented itself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In my last attempt to spiral downward I rose rapidly
-feet foremost to a sudden and surprising collision with
-some object above me. As I frantically righted myself,
-fully expecting to be immediately seized by a member of
-the air patrol, I found myself face to face with the corpse
-of the warrior Gor Hajus had slain. The whistling of
-the air patrols sounded ever nearer—it could be only a
-question of seconds now before I was discovered—and
-with the stern necessity that confronted me, with death
-looking me in the face, there burst upon me a possible
-avenue of escape from my dilemma.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Seizing tightly with my left hand the harness of the
-dead Toonolian, I whipped out my dagger and slashed
-his buoyancy belt a dozen times. Instantly, as the rays
-escaped, his body started to drag me downward. Our
-descent was rapid, but not precipitate, and it was but a
-matter of seconds before we landed gently upon the
-scarlet sward of the gardens of Mu Tel, Prince of the
-House of Kan, close beside a clump of heavy shrubbery.
-Above me sounded the whistles of the circling patrols as
-I dragged the corpse of the warrior into the concealing
-depth of the foliage. Nor was I an instant too soon for
-safety, as almost immediately the brilliant rays of a
-searchlight shot downward from the deck of a small patrol
-ship, illuminating the open spaces of the garden all about
-me. A hurried glance through the branches and the leaves
-of my sanctuary revealed nothing of my companions
-and I breathed a sigh of relief in the thought that they,
-too, had found concealment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The light played for a short time about the gardens and
-then passed on, as did the sound of the patrol’s whistles,
-as the search proceeded elsewhere; thus giving me the
-assurance that no suspicion was directed upon our hiding
-place.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Left in darkness I appropriated such of the weapons of
-the dead warrior as I coveted, after having removed my
-equilibrimotor, which I was first minded to destroy, but
-which I finally decided to moor to one of the larger
-shrubs against the possibility that I might again have need
-for it; and now, secure in the conviction that the danger
-of discovery by the air patrol had passed, I left my concealment
-and started in search of my companions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Keeping well in the shadows of the trees and shrubs
-I moved in the direction of the main building, which
-loomed darkly near at hand; for in this direction I believed
-Gor Hajus would lead the others as I knew that
-the palace of Mu Tel was to have been our destination.
-As I crept along, moving with utmost stealth, Thuria, the
-nearer moon, shot suddenly above the horizon, illuminating
-the night with her brilliant rays. I was close to
-the building’s ornately carved wall at the moment; beside
-me was a narrow niche, its interior cast in deepest
-shadow by Thuria’s brilliant rays; to my left was an
-open bit of lawn upon which, revealed in every detail of
-its terrifying presence, stood as fearsome a creature as
-my Earthly eyes ever had rested upon. It was a beast
-about the size of a Shetland pony, with ten short legs
-and a terrifying head that bore some slight resemblance
-to that of a frog, except that the jaws were equipped
-with three rows of long, sharp tusks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The thing had its nose in the air and was sniffing
-about, while its great pop eyes moved swiftly here and
-there, assuring me, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that
-it was searching for someone. I am not inclined to be
-egotistical, yet I could not avoid the conviction that it
-was searching for me. It was my first experience of a
-Martian watch dog; and as I sought concealment within
-the dark shadows of the niche behind me, at the very
-instant that the creature’s eyes alighted upon me, and
-heard his growl and saw him charge straight towards
-me, I had a premonition that it might prove my last experience
-with one.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I drew my long-sword as I backed into the niche, but
-with a sense of the utter inadequacy of the unaccustomed
-weapon in the face of this three or four hundred pounds
-of ferocity incarnate. Slowly I backed away into the
-shadows as the creature bore down upon me and then,
-as it entered the niche, my back collided with a solid
-obstacle that put an end to further retreat.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='92' id='Page_92'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER IX<br/> THE PALACE OF MU TEL</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>As</span> the calot entered the niche I experienced, I believe,
-all of the reactions of the cornered rat, and I certainly
-know that I set myself to fight in that proverbial manner.
-The beast was almost upon me and I was metaphorically
-kicking myself for not having remained in the open
-where there were many tall trees when the support at my
-back suddenly gave way, a hand reached out of the darkness
-behind me and seized my harness and I was drawn
-swiftly into inky blackness. A door slammed and the
-silhouette of the calot against the moonlit entrance to
-the niche was blotted out.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A gruff voice spoke in my ear. “Come with me!” it
-said. A hand found mine and thus I was led along
-through the darkness of what I soon discovered was a
-narrow corridor from the constantly recurring collisions
-I had first with one side of it and then with the other.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ascending gradually, the corridor turned abruptly at
-right angles and I saw beyond my guide a dim luminosity
-that gradually increased until another turn brought us to
-the threshold of a brilliantly lighted chamber—a magnificent
-apartment, the gorgeous furnishings and decorations
-of which beggar the meagre descriptive powers of
-my native tongue. Gold, ivory, precious stones, marvelous
-woods, resplendent fabrics, gorgeous furs and startling
-architecture combined to impress upon my earthly
-vision such a picture as I had never even dreamed of
-dreaming; and in the center of this room, surrounded by
-a little group of Martians, were my three companions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My guide conducted me towards the party, the members
-of which had turned towards us as we entered the
-chamber, and stopped before a tall Barsoomian, resplendent
-in jewel encrusted harness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Prince,” he said, “I was scarce a tal too soon. In
-fact, as I opened the door to step out into the garden in
-search of him, as you directed, there he was upon the
-opposite side with one of the calots of the garden almost
-upon him.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good!” exclaimed he who had been addressed as
-prince, and then he turned to Gor Hajus. “This is he, my
-friend, of whom you told me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This is Vad Varo, who claims to be from the planet
-Jasoom,” replied Gor Hajus; “and this, Vad Varo, is
-Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I bowed and the prince advanced and placed his right
-hand upon my left shoulder in true Barsoomian acknowledgment
-of an introduction; when I had done similarly,
-the ceremony was over. There was no silly pleased-to-meet-you,
-how-do-you-do? or it’s-a-pleasure-I-assure-you.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At Mu Tel’s request I narrated briefly what had befallen
-me between the time I had become separated from
-my companions and the moment that one of his officers
-had snatched me from impending disaster. Mu Tel gave
-instructions that all traces of the dead patrol be removed
-before dawn lest their discovery bring upon him the further
-suspicion of his uncle, Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol,
-whom it seemed had long been jealous of his nephew’s
-growing popularity and fearful that he harbored aspirations
-for the throne.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was later in the evening, during one of those elaborate
-meals for which the princes of Barsoom are justly
-famous, when mellowed slightly by the rare vintages
-with which he delighted his guests, that Mu Tel discoursed
-with less restraint upon his imperial uncle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The nobles have long been tired of Vobis Kan,” he
-said, “and the people are tiring of him—he is a conscienceless
-tyrant—but he is our hereditary ruler, and so
-they hesitate to change. We are a practical people, little
-influenced by sentiment; yet there is enough to keep the
-masses loyal to their Jeddak even after he has ceased to
-deserve their loyalty, while the fear of the wrath of the
-masses keeps the nobles loyal. There is also the natural
-suspicion that I, the next in line for succession, would
-make them no less tyrannical a Jeddak than has Vobis
-Kan, while, having youth, I might be much more active in
-cruel and nefarious practices.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“For myself, I would not hesitate to destroy my uncle
-and seize his throne were I sure of the support of the
-army, for with the warriors of Vobis Kan at my back I
-might defy the balance of Toonol. It is because of this
-that I long since offered my friendship to Gor Hajus; not
-that he might slay my uncle, but that when I had slain
-him in fair fight Gor Hajus might win to me the loyalty
-of the Jeddak’s warriors, for great is the popularity of Gor
-Hajus among the soldiers, who ever look up to such a
-great fighter with reverence and devotion. I have offered
-Gor Hajus a high place in the affairs of Toonol should
-he cast his lot with me; but he tells me that he has first
-to fulfil his obligations to you, Vad Varo, and for the
-furtherance of your adventure he has asked me to give
-you what assistance I may. This I offer gladly, from
-purely practical motives, since your early success will
-hasten mine. Therefore I propose to place at your disposal
-a staunch flier that will carry you and your companions
-to Phundahl.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This offer I naturally accepted, after which we fell to
-discussing plans for our departure which we finally decided
-to attempt early the following night, at a time
-when neither of the moons would be in the heavens.
-After a brief discussion of equipment we were, at my
-request, permitted to retire since I had not slept for
-more than thirty-six hours and my companions for
-twenty-four.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Slaves conducted us to our sleeping apartments, which
-were luxuriously furnished, and arranged magnificent
-sleeping silks and furs for our comfort. After they had
-left us Gor Hajus touched a button and the room rose
-swiftly upon its metal shaft to a height of forty or fifty
-feet; the wire netting automatically dropped about us,
-and we were safe for the night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The following morning, after our apartment had been
-lowered to its daylight level and before I was permitted
-to leave it, a slave was sent to me by Mu Tel with instructions
-to stain my entire body the beautiful copper-red
-of my Barsoomian friends; furnishing me with a disguise
-which I well knew to be highly essential to the success
-of my venture, since my white skin would have
-drawn unpleasant notice upon me in any city of Barsoom.
-Another slave brought harness and weapons for
-Gor Hajus, Dar Tarus and myself, and a collar and chain
-for Hovan Du, the ape-man. Our harness, while of heavy
-material, and splendid workmanship, was quite plain, being
-free of all insignia either of rank or service—such
-harness as is customarily worn by the Barsoomian panthan,
-or soldier of fortune, at such times as he is not
-definitely in the service of any nation or individual.
-These panthans are virtually men without a country,
-being roving mercenaries ready to sell their swords to
-the highest bidder. Although they have no organization
-they are ruled by a severe code of ethics and while in the
-employ of a master are, almost without exception, loyal
-to him. They are generally supposed to be men who have
-flown from the wrath of their own Jeddaks or the justice
-of their own courts, but there is among them a sprinkling
-of adventurous souls who have adopted their calling because
-of the thrills and excitement it offers. While they
-are well paid, they are also great gamblers and notorious
-spenders, with the result that they are almost always
-without funds and often reduced to strange expedients
-for the gaining of their livelihood between engagements;
-a fact which gave great plausibility to our possession of
-a trained ape, which upon Mars would appear no more
-remarkable than would to us the possession of a monkey
-or parrot by an old salt just returned, from a long cruise,
-to one of our Earthly ports.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This day that I stayed in the palace of Mu Tel I spent
-much in the company of the prince, who found pleasure
-in questioning me concerning the customs, the politics,
-the civilization and the geography of Earth, with much of
-which, I was surprised to note, he seemed quite familiar;
-a fact which he explained was due to the marvelous development
-of Barsoomian astronomical instruments,
-wireless photography and wireless telephony; the last of
-which has been brought to such a state of perfection that
-many Barsoomian savants have succeeded in learning
-several Earthly languages, notably Urdu, English and
-Russian, and, a few, Chinese also. These have doubtless
-been the first languages to attract their attention because
-of the fact that they are spoken by great numbers of
-people over large areas of the world.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mu Tel took me to a small auditorium in his palace
-that reminded me somewhat of private projection rooms
-on Earth. It had, I should say, a capacity of some two
-hundred persons and was built like a large camera obscura;
-the audience sitting within the instrument, their
-backs towards the lens and in front of them, filling one
-entire end of the room, a large ground glass upon which
-is thrown the image to be observed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mu Tel seated himself at a table upon which was a
-chart of the heavens. Just above the chart was a movable
-arm carrying a pointer. This pointer Mu Tel moved until
-it rested upon the planet Earth, then he switched off the
-light in the room and immediately there appeared upon
-the ground glass plate a view such as one might obtain
-from an airplane riding at an elevation of a thousand
-feet. There was something strangely familiar about the
-scene before me. It was of a desolate, wasted country.
-I saw shattered stumps whose orderly arrangement proclaimed
-that here once an orchard had blossomed and
-borne fruit. There were great, unsightly holes in the
-earth and over and across all a tangle of barbed wire. I
-asked Mu Tel how we might change the picture to another
-locality. He lighted a small radio bulb between us
-and I saw a globe there, a globe of Earth, and a small
-pointer fixed over it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The side of this globe now presented to you represents
-the face of the Earth turned towards us,” explained
-Mu Tel. “You will note that the globe is slowly revolving.
-Place this pointer where you will upon the globe
-and that portion of Jasoom will be revealed for you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I moved the pointer very slowly and the picture
-changed. A ruined village came into view. I saw some
-people moving among its ruins. They were not soldiers.
-A little further on I came upon trenches and dug-outs—there
-were no soldiers here, either. I moved the pointer
-rapidly north and south along a vast line of trenches.
-Here and there in villages there were soldiers, but they
-were all French soldiers and never were they in the
-trenches. There were no German soldiers and no fighting.
-The war was over, then! I moved the pointer to the
-Rhine and across. There were soldiers in Germany—French
-soldiers, English soldiers, American soldiers. We
-had won the war! I was glad, but it seemed very far
-away and quite unreal—as though no such world existed
-and no such peoples had ever fought—it was as
-though I were recalling through its illustrations a novel
-that I had read a long time since.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You seem much interested in that war torn country,”
-remarked Mu Tel.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” I explained, “I fought in that war. Perhaps I
-was killed. I do not know.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And you won?” he asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, my people won,” I replied. “We fought for a
-great principle and for the peace and happiness of a
-world. I hope that we did not fight in vain.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If you mean that you hope that your principle will
-triumph because you fought and won, or that peace
-will come, your hopes are futile. War never brought
-peace—it but brings more and greater wars. War is Nature’s
-natural state—it is folly to combat it. Peace should
-be considered only as a time for preparation for the
-principal business of man’s existence. Were it not for
-constant warring of one form of life upon another, and
-even upon itself, the planets would be so overrun with
-life that it would smother itself out. We found upon
-Barsoom that long periods of peace brought plagues and
-terrible diseases that killed more than the wars killed
-and in a much more hideous and painful way. There is
-neither pleasure nor thrill nor reward of any sort to be
-gained by dying in bed of a loathsome disease. We must
-all die—let us therefore go out and die in a great and
-exciting game, and make room for the millions who are
-to follow us. We have tried it out upon Barsoom and we
-would not be without war.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mu Tel told me much that day about the peculiar philosophy
-of Toonolians. They believe that no good deed
-was ever performed except for a selfish motive; they
-have no god and no religion; they believe, as do all educated
-Barsoomians, that man came originally from the
-Tree of Life, but unlike most of their fellows they do
-not believe that an omnipotent being created the Tree of
-Life. They hold that the only sin is failure—success,
-however achieved, is meritorious; and yet, paradoxical
-as it may seem, they never break their given word. Mu
-Tel explained that they overcame the baneful results of
-this degrading weakness—this sentimental bosh—by seldom,
-if ever, binding themselves to loyalty to another,
-and then only for a definitely prescribed period.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As I came to know them better, and especially Gor
-Hajus, I began to realize that much of their flaunted
-contempt of the finer sensibilities was specious. It is true
-that generations of inhibition had to some extent atrophied
-those characteristics of heart and soul which the
-noblest among us so highly esteem; that friendship’s ties
-were lax and that blood kinship awakened no high sense
-of responsibility or love even between parents and children;
-yet Gor Hajus was essentially a man of sentiment,
-though he would doubtless have run through the heart
-any who had dared accuse him of it, thus perfectly proving
-the truth of the other’s accusation. His pride in his
-reputation for integrity and loyalty proved him a man of
-heart as truly as did his jealousy of his reputation for
-heartlessness prove him a man of sentiment; and in all
-this he was but typical of the people of Toonol. They
-denied deity, and in the same breath worshiped the fetish
-of science that they had permitted to obsess them quite
-as harmfully as do religious fanatics accept the unreasoning
-rule of their imaginary gods; and so, with all their
-vaunted knowledge, they were unintelligent because unbalanced.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As the day drew to a close I became the more anxious
-to be away. Far to the west across desolate leagues
-of marsh lay Phundahl, and in Phundahl the beauteous
-body of the girl I loved and that I was sworn to restore
-to its rightful owner. The evening meal was over and
-Mu Tel himself had conducted us to a secret hangar in
-one of the towers of his palace. Here artisans had prepared
-a flier for us, having removed during the day all
-signs of its real ownership, even to slightly altering its
-lines; so that in the event of capture Mu Tel’s name
-might in no way be connected with the expedition. Provisions
-were stored, including plenty of raw meat for
-Hovan Du, and, as the farther moon sank below the horizon
-and darkness fell, a panel of the tower wall, directly
-in front of the flier’s nose, slid aside. Mu Tel
-wished us luck and the ship slipped silently out into the
-night. The flier, like many of her type, was without cockpit
-or cabin; a low, metal hand-rail surmounted her
-gunwale; heavy rings were set substantially in her deck
-and to these her crew was supposed to cling or attach
-themselves by means of their harness hooks provided
-for this and similar purposes; a low wind shield, with a
-rakish slant, afforded some protection from the wind; the
-motor and controls were all exposed, as all the space
-below decks was taken up by the buoyancy tanks. In
-this type everything is sacrificed to speed; there is no
-comfort aboard. When moving at high speed each member
-of the crew lies extended at full length upon the
-deck, each in his allotted place to give the necessary
-trim, and hangs on for dear life. These Toonolian crafts,
-however, are not overly fast, so I was told, being far
-outstripped in speed by the fliers of such nations as
-Helium and Ptarth who have for ages devoted themselves
-to the perfection of their navies; but this one was quite
-fast enough for our purposes, to the consummation of
-which it would be pitted against fliers of no higher rating,
-and it was certainly fast enough for me. In comparison
-with the slow moving Vosar, it seemed to shoot through
-the air like an arrow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We wasted no time in strategy or stealth, but opened
-her wide as soon as we were in the clear, and directed her
-straight towards the west and Phundahl. Scarcely had
-we passed over the gardens of Mu Tel when we met
-with our first adventure. We shot by a solitary figure
-floating in the air and almost simultaneously there shrilled
-forth the warning whistle of an air patrol. A shot whistled
-above us harmlessly and we were gone; but within
-a few seconds I saw the rays of a searchlight shining
-down from above and moving searchingly to and fro
-through the air.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A patrol boat!” shouted Gor Hajus in my ear. Hovan
-Du growled savagely and shook the chain upon his collar.
-We raced on, trusting to the big gods and the little
-gods and all our ancestors that the relentless eye of light
-would not find us out; but it did. Within a few seconds it
-fell full upon our deck from above and in front of us
-and there it clung as the patrol boat dropped rapidly towards
-us while it maintained a high rate of speed upon a
-course otherwise identical with ours. Then, to our consternation,
-the ship opened fire on us with explosive
-bullets. These projectiles contain a high explosive that is
-detonated by light rays when the opaque covering of the
-projectile is broken by impact with the target. It is therefore
-not at all necessary to make a direct hit for a shot
-to be effective. If the projectile strikes the ground or the
-deck of a vessel or any solid substance near its target,
-it does considerably more damage when fired at a group
-of men than if it strikes but one of them, since it will
-then explode if its outer shell is broken and kill or wound
-several; while if it enters the body of an individual the
-light rays cannot reach it and it accomplishes no more
-than a non-explosive bullet. Moonlight is not powerful
-enough to detonate this explosive and so projectiles fired
-at night, unless touched by the powerful rays of searchlights,
-detonate at sunrise the following morning, making
-a battlefield a most unsafe place at that time even
-though the contending forces are no longer there. Similarly
-they make the removal of the unexploded projectiles
-from the bodies of the wounded a most ticklish operation
-which may well result in the instant death of both
-the patient and the surgeon.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus, at the controls, turned the nose of our
-flier upward directly towards the patrol boat and at the
-same time shouted to us to concentrate our fire upon
-her propellers. For myself, I could see little but the
-blinding eye of the searchlight, and at that I fired with
-the strange weapon to which I had received my first introduction
-but a few hours since when it was presented
-to me by Mu Tel. To me that all searching eye represented
-the greatest menace that confronted us, and
-could we blind it the patrol boat would have no great
-advantage over us. So I kept my rifle straight upon it, my
-finger on the button that controlled the fire, and prayed
-for a hit.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus knelt at my side, his weapon spitting bullets
-at the patrol boat. Dar Tarus’ hands were busy with
-the controls and Hovan Du squatted in the bow and
-growled.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Suddenly Dar Tarus voiced an exclamation of alarm.
-“The controls are hit!” he shouted. “We can’t alter our
-course—the ship is useless.” Almost the same instant
-the searchlight was extinguished—one of my bullets evidently
-having found it. We were quite close to the enemy
-now and heard their shout of anger. Our own craft, out
-of control, was running swiftly towards the other. It
-seemed that if there was not a collision we would pass
-directly beneath the keel of the air patrol. I asked Dar
-Tarus if our ship was beyond repair.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We could repair it if we had time,” he replied, “but
-it would take hours and while we were thus delayed the
-whole air patrol force of Toonol would be upon us.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then we must have another ship,” I said. Dar Tarus
-laughed. “You are right, Vad Varo,” he replied, “but
-where shall we find it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I pointed to the patrol boat. “We shall not have to
-look far.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus shrugged his shoulders. “Why not!” he exclaimed.
-“It would be a glorious fight and a worthy
-death.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus slapped me on the shoulder. “To the death,
-my captain!” he cried.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Hovan Du shook his chain and roared.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The two ships were rapidly approaching one another.
-We had stopped firing now for fear that we might disable
-the craft we hoped to use for our escape; and for
-some reason the crew of the patrol ship had ceased firing
-at us—I never learned why. We were moving in a
-line that would bring us directly beneath the other ship.
-I determined to board her at all costs. I could see her
-keel boarding tackle slung beneath her, ready to be lowered
-to the deck of a quarry when once her grappling
-hooks had seized the prey. Doubtless they were already
-manning the latter, and as soon as we were beneath her
-the steel tentacles would reach down and seize us as her
-crew swarmed down the board tackle to our deck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I called Hovan Du and he crept back to my side
-where I whispered my instructions in his ear. When I
-was done he nodded his head with a low growl. I cast
-off the harness hook that held me to the deck, and the
-ape and I moved to our bow after I had issued brief,
-whispered instructions to Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus. We
-were now almost directly beneath the enemy craft; I
-could see the grappling hooks being prepared for lowering.
-Our bow ran beneath the stern of the other ship
-and the moment was at hand for which I had been waiting.
-Now those upon the deck of the patrol boat could
-not see Hovan Du or me. The boarding tackle of the
-other ship swung fifteen feet above our heads; I whispered
-a word of command to the ape and simultaneously
-we crouched and sprang for the tackle. It may sound
-like a mad chance—failure meant almost certain death—but
-I felt that if two of us could reach the deck of the
-patrol boat while her crew was busy with the grappling
-gear it would be well worth the risk.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus had assured me that there would not be
-more than six men aboard the patrol ship; that one
-would be at the controls and the others manning the
-grappling hooks. It would be a most propitious time to
-gain a footing on the enemy’s deck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Hovan Du and I made our leaps and Fortune smiled
-upon us, though the huge ape but barely reached the
-tackle with one outstretched hand, while my Earthly muscles
-carried me easily to my goal. Together we made our
-way rapidly towards the bow of the patrol craft and
-without hesitation, and as previously arranged, he clambered
-quickly up the starboard side and I the port. If I
-were the more agile jumper Hovan Du far outclassed me
-in climbing, with the result that he reached the rail and
-was clambering over while my eyes were still below the
-level of the deck, which was, perhaps, a fortunate thing
-for me since, by chance, I had elected to gain the deck
-directly at a point where, unknown to me, one of the
-crew of the ship was engaged with the grappling hooks.
-Had his eyes not been attracted elsewhere by the shout
-of one of his fellows who was first to see Hovan Du’s
-savage face rise above the gunwale, he could have dispatched
-me with a single blow before ever I could have
-set foot upon the deck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The ape had also come up directly in front of a
-Toonolian warrior and this fellow had let out a yell of
-surprise and sought to draw his sword, but the ape,
-for all his great bulk, was too quick for him; and as
-my eyes topped the rail I saw the mighty anthropoid
-seize the unfortunate man by the harness, drag him
-to the side and hurl him to destruction far below. Instantly
-we were both over the rail and squarely on deck
-while the remaining members of the craft’s crew, abandoning
-their stations, ran forward to overpower us. I
-think that the sight of the great, savage beast must have
-had a demoralizing effect upon them, for they hesitated,
-each seeming to be willing to accord his fellow the honour
-of first engaging us; but they did come on, though
-slowly. This hesitation I was delighted to see, for it
-accorded perfectly with the plan that I had worked out,
-which depended largely upon the success which might
-attend the efforts of Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus to reach
-the deck of the patrol when our craft had risen sufficiently
-close beneath the other to permit them to
-reach the boarding tackle, which we were utilizing with
-reverse English, as one might say.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus had cautioned me to dispatch the man
-at the controls as quickly as possible, since his very
-first act would be to injure them the instant that there
-appeared any possibility that we might be successful in
-our attempt to take his ship, and so I ran quickly towards
-him and before he could draw I cut him down.
-There were now four against us and we waited for them
-to advance that we might gain time for our fellows to
-reach the deck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The four moved slowly forward and were almost within
-striking distance when I saw Gor Hajus’ head appear
-above the stern rail, quickly followed by that of Dar
-Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Look!” I cried to the enemy, “and surrender,” and
-I pointed astern.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One of them turned to look and what he saw brought
-an exclamation of surprise to his lips. “It is Gor Hajus,”
-he cried, and then, to me: “What is your purpose with
-us if we surrender?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We have no quarrel with you,” I replied. “We but
-wish to leave Toonol and go our way in peace—we
-shall not harm you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He turned to his fellows while, at a sign from me,
-my three companions stopped their advance and waited.
-For a few minutes the four warriors conversed in low
-tones, then he who had first spoken addressed me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are few Toonolians,” he said, “who would not
-be glad to serve Gor Hajus, whom we had thought long
-dead, but to surrender our ship to you would mean certain
-death for us when we reported our defeat at our
-headquarters. On the other hand were we to continue
-our defence most of us here upon the deck of this flier
-would be killed. If you can assure us that your plans
-are not aimed at the safety of Toonol I can make a
-suggestion that will afford an avenue of escape and
-safety for us all.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We only wish to leave Toonol,” I replied. “No harm
-can come to Toonol because of what I seek to accomplish.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good! and where do you wish to go?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That I may not tell you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You may trust us, if you accept my proposal,” he
-assured me, “which is that we convey you to your destination,
-after which we can return to Toonol and report
-that we engaged you and that after a long running fight,
-in which two of our number were killed, you eluded us
-in the darkness and escaped.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Can we trust these men?” I asked, addressing Gor
-Hajus, who assured me that we could, and thus the
-compact was entered into which saw us speeding rapidly
-towards Phundahl aboard one of Vobis Kan’s own
-fliers.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='106' id='Page_106'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER X<br/> PHUNDAHL</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>The</span> following night the Toonolian crew set us down
-just inside the wall of the city of Phundahl, following
-the directions of Dar Tarus who was a native of the
-city, had been a warrior of the Jeddara’s Guard and,
-prior to that, seen service in Phundahl’s tiny navy. That
-he was familiar with every detail of Phundahl’s defences
-and her systems of patrols was evidenced by the fact
-that we landed without detection and that the Toonolian
-ship rose and departed apparently unnoticed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Our landing place had been the roof of a low building
-built within and against the city wall. From this roof
-Dar Tarus led us down an inclined runway to the street,
-which, at this point, was quite deserted. The street was
-narrow and dark, being flanked upon one side by the
-low buildings built against the city wall and upon the
-other by higher buildings, some of which were windowless
-and none showing any light. Dar Tarus explained
-that he had chosen this point for our entrance because
-it was a district of storage houses, and while a hive
-of industry during the day, was always deserted at night,
-not even a watchman being required owing to the almost
-total absence of thievery upon Barsoom.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>By devious and roundabout ways he led us finally to
-a section of second-rate shops, eating places and hotels
-such as are frequented by the common soldiers, artisans
-and slaves, where the only attention we attracted was
-due to the curiosity aroused by Hovan Du. As we
-had not eaten since leaving Mu Tel’s palace, our first
-consideration was food. Mu Tel had furnished Gor Hajus
-with money, so that we had the means to gratify our
-wants. Our first stop was at a small shop where Gor
-Hajus purchased four or five pounds of thoat steak
-for Hovan Du, and then we repaired to an eating place
-of which Dar Tarus knew. At first the proprietor would
-not let us bring Hovan Du inside, but finally, after much
-argument, he permitted us to lock the great ape in an
-inner room where Hovan Du was forced to remain
-with his thoat meat while we sat at a table in the outer
-room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I will say for Hovan Du that he played his role well,
-nor was there once when the proprietor of the place,
-or any of his patrons, or the considerable crowd that
-gathered to listen to the altercation, could have guessed
-that the body of the great, savage beast was animated
-by a human brain. It was really only when feeding or
-fighting that the simian half of Hovan Du’s brain appeared
-to exercise any considerable influence upon him;
-yet there seemed little doubt that it always coloured all
-his thoughts and actions to some extent, accounting for
-his habitual taciturnity and the quickness with which he
-was aroused to anger, as well as to the fact that he
-never smiled, nor appeared to appreciate in any degree
-the humor of a situation. He assured me, however, that
-the human half of his brain not only appreciated but
-greatly enjoyed the lighter episodes and occurrences of
-our adventure and the witty stories and anecdotes related
-by Gor Hajus, the Assassin, but that his simian
-anatomy had developed no muscles wherewith to evidence
-physical expression of his mental reactions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We dined heartily, though upon rough and simple fare,
-but were glad to escape the prying curiosity of the
-garrulous and gossipy proprietor, who plied us with so
-many questions as to our past performances and future
-plans that Dar Tarus, who was our spokesman here,
-was hard put to it to quickly fabricate replies that would
-be always consistent. However, escape we did at last,
-and once again in the street, Dar Tarus set out to lead
-us to a public lodging house of which he knew. As
-we went we approached a great building of wondrous
-beauty in and out of which constant streams of people
-were pouring, and when we were before it Dar Tarus
-asked us to wait without as he must enter. When I
-asked him why, he told me that this was a temple of
-Tur, the god worshipped by the people of Phundahl.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have been away for a long time,” he said, “and
-have had no opportunity to do honor to my god. I
-shall not keep you waiting long. Gor Hajus, will you
-loan me a few pieces of gold?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In silence the Toonolian took a few pieces of money
-from one of his pocket pouches and handed them to
-Dar Tarus, but I could see that it was only with difficulty
-that he hid an expression of contempt, since the
-Toonolians are atheists.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I asked Dar Tarus if I might accompany him into
-the temple, which seemed to please him very much; and
-so we fell in with the stream approaching the broad
-entrance. Dar Tarus gave me two of the gold pieces
-that he had borrowed from Gor Hajus and told me to
-follow directly behind him and do whatever I saw him
-doing. Directly inside the main entrance, and spread
-entirely across it at intervals that permitted space for
-the worshippers to pass between them, was a line of
-priests, their entire bodies, including their heads and
-faces, covered by a mantle of white cloth. In front of
-each was a substantial stand upon which rested a cash
-drawer. As we approached one of these we handed him
-a piece of gold which he immediately changed into many
-pieces of lesser value, one of which we dropped into
-a box at his side; whereupon he made several passes
-with his hands above our heads, dipped one of his fingers
-into a bowl of dirty water which he rubbed upon
-the ends of our noses, mumbled a few words which I
-could not understand and turned to the next in line
-as we passed on into the interior of the great temple.
-Never have I seen such a gorgeous display of wealth
-and lavish ornamentation as confronted my eyes in this,
-the first of the temples of Tur that it was my fortune
-to behold.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The enormous floor was unbroken by a single pillar
-and arranged upon it at regular intervals were carven
-images resting upon gorgeous pedestals. Some of these
-images were of men and some of women and many
-of them were beautiful; and there were others of beasts
-and of strange, grotesque creatures and many of these
-were hideous indeed. The first we approached was that
-of a beautiful female figure; and about the pedestal of
-this lay a number of men and women prone upon the
-floor against which they bumped their heads seven times
-and then arose and dropped a piece of money into a
-receptacle provided for that purpose, moving on then
-to another figure. The next that Dar Tarus and I
-visited was that of a man with the body of a <span class='it'>silian</span>,
-about the pedestal of which was arranged a series of
-horizontal wooden bars in concentric circles. The bars
-were about five feet from the floor and hanging from
-them by their knees were a number of men and women,
-repeating monotonously, over and over again, something
-that sounded to me like, <span class='it'>bibble-babble-blup</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus and I swung to the bars like the others
-and mumbled the meaningless phrase for a minute or
-two, then we swung down, dropped a coin into the box,
-and moved on. I asked Dar Tarus what the words were
-that we had repeated and what they meant, but he said
-he did not know. I asked him if anyone knew, but he
-appeared shocked and said that such a question was
-sacrilegious and revealed a marked lack of faith. At
-the next figure we visited the people were all upon
-their hands and knees crawling madly in a circle about
-the pedestal. Seven times around they crawled and then
-they arose and put some money in a dish and went
-their ways. At another the people rolled about, saying,
-“Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur,” and dropping
-money in a golden bowl when they were done.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What god was that?” I whispered to Dar Tarus
-when we had quit this last figure, which had no head,
-but eyes, nose and mouth in the center of its belly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is but one god,” replied Dar Tarus solemnly,
-“and he is Tur!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Was that Tur?” I inquired.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Silence, man,” whispered Dar Tarus. “They would
-tear you to pieces were they to hear such heresy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I beg your pardon,” I exclaimed. “I did not
-mean to offend. I see now that that is merely one of
-your idols.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus clapped a hand over my mouth. “S-s-s-t!”
-he cautioned to silence. “We do not worship idols—there
-is but one god and he is Tur!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, what are these?” I insisted, with a sweep of
-a hand that embraced the several score images about
-which were gathered the thousands of worshippers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We must not ask,” he assured me. “It is enough
-that we have faith that all the works of Tur are just
-and righteous. Come! I shall soon be through and we
-may join our companions.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He led me next to the figure of a monstrosity with
-a mouth that ran entirely around its head. It had a
-long tail and the breasts of a woman. About this image
-were a great many people, each standing upon his head.
-They also were repeating, over and over, “Tur is Tur;
-Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur.” When we had done this for a
-minute or two, during which I had a devil of a time
-maintaining my equilibrium, we arose, dropped a coin
-into the box by the pedestal and moved on.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We may go now,” said Dar Tarus. “I have done
-well in the sight of Tur.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I notice,” I remarked, “that the people repeated the
-same phrase before this figure that they did at the last—Tur
-is Tur.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no,” exclaimed Dar Tarus. “On the contrary
-they said just exactly the opposite from what they said
-at the other. At that they said, Tur is Tur; while at
-this they absolutely reversed it and said, Tur is Tur.
-Do you not see? They turned it right around backwards,
-which makes a very great difference.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It sounded the same to me,” I insisted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is because you lack faith,” he said sadly, and
-we passed out of the temple, after depositing the rest
-of our money in a huge chest, of which there were
-many standing about almost filled with coins.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We found Gor Hajus and Hovan Du awaiting us impatiently,
-the center of a large and curious throng
-among which were many warriors in the metal of Xaxa,
-the Jeddara of Phundahl. They wanted to see Hovan
-Du perform, but Dar Tarus told them that he was tired
-and in an ugly mood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To-morrow,” he said, “when he is rested I shall
-bring him out upon the avenues to amuse you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With difficulty we extricated ourselves, and passing
-into a quieter avenue, took a roundabout way to the
-lodging place, where Hovan Du was confined in a small
-chamber while Gor Hajus, Dar Tarus and I were conducted
-by slaves to a large sleeping apartment where
-sleeping silks and furs were arranged for us upon a low
-platform that encircled the room and was broken only
-at the single entrance to the chamber. Here were already
-sleeping a considerable number of men, while two
-armed slaves patrolled the aisle to guard the guests from
-assassins.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was still early and some of the other lodgers were
-conversing in low whispers so I sought to engage Dar
-Tarus in conversation relative to his religion, about which
-I was curious.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The mysteries of religions always fascinate me, Dar
-Tarus,” I told him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, but that is the beauty of the religion of Tur,”
-he exclaimed, “it has no mysteries. It is simple, natural,
-scientific and every word and work of it is susceptible
-of proof through the pages of Turgan, the great book
-written by Tur himself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tur’s home is upon the sun. There, one hundred
-thousand years ago, he made Barsoom and tossed it
-out into space. Then he amused himself by creating
-man in various forms and two sexes; and later he fashioned
-animals to be food for man and each other, and
-caused vegetation and water to appear that man and
-the animals might live. Do you not see how simple and
-scientific it all is?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But it was Gor Hajus who told me most about the
-religion of Tur one day when Dar Tarus was not about.
-He said that the Phundahlians maintained that Tur still
-created every living thing with his own hands. They
-denied vigorously that man possessed the power to reproduce
-his kind and taught their young that all such
-belief was vile; and always they hid every evidence of
-natural procreation, insisting to the death that even those
-things which they witnessed with their own eyes and
-experienced with their own bodies in the bringing forth
-of their young never transpired.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Turgan taught them that Barsoom is flat and they
-shut their minds to every proof to the contrary. They
-would not leave Phundahl far for fear of falling off the
-edge of the world; they would not permit the development
-of aeronautics because should one of their ships
-circumnavigate Barsoom it would be a wicked sacrilege
-in the eyes of Tur who made Barsoom flat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They would not permit the use of telescopes, for Tur
-taught them that there was no other world than Barsoom
-and to look at another would be heresy; nor
-would they permit the teaching in their schools of any
-history of Barsoom that antedated the creation of Barsoom
-by Tur, though Barsoom has a well authenticated
-written history that reaches back more than one hundred
-thousand years; nor would they permit any geography
-of Barsoom except that which appears in Turgan, nor
-any scientific researches along biological lines. Turgan
-is their only text book—if it is not in Turgan it is a
-wicked lie.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Much of all this and a great deal more I gathered
-from one source or another during my brief stay in
-Phundahl, whose people are, I believe, the least advanced
-in civilization of any of the red nations upon
-Barsoom. Giving, as they do, all their best thought to
-religious matters, they have become ignorant, bigoted
-and narrow, going as far to one extreme as the Toonolians
-do to the other.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>However, I had not come to Phundahl to investigate
-her culture but to steal her queen, and that thought
-was uppermost in my mind when I awoke to a new
-day—my first in Phundahl. Following the morning meal
-we set out in the direction of the palace to reconnoitre,
-Dar Tarus leading us to a point from which he might
-easily direct us the balance of the way, as he did not
-dare accompany us to the immediate vicinity of the
-royal grounds for fear of recognition, the body he now
-possessed having formerly belonged to a well-known
-noble.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was arranged that Gor Hajus should act as spokesman
-and I as keeper of the ape. This arranged, we
-bade farewell to Dar Tarus and set forth, the three of
-us, along a broad and beautiful avenue that led directly
-to the palace gates. We had been planning and
-rehearsing the parts that we were to play and which
-we hoped would prove so successful that they would
-open the gates to us and win us to the presence of
-the Jeddara.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As we strolled with seeming unconcern along the
-avenue, I had ample opportunity to enjoy the novel
-and beautiful sights of this rich boulevard of palaces.
-The sun shone down upon vivid scarlet lawns, gorgeous
-flowered pimalia and a score of other rarely beautiful
-Barsoomian shrubs and trees, while the avenue itself
-was shaded by almost perfect specimens of the magnificent
-sorapus. The sleeping apartments of the buildings
-had all been lowered to their daytime level, and from a
-hundred balconies gorgeous silks and furs were airing
-in the sun. Slaves were briskly engaged with their duties
-about the grounds, while upon many a balcony women
-and children sat at their morning meal. Among the children
-we aroused considerable enthusiasm, or at least
-Hovan Du did, nor was he without interest to the adults.
-Some of them would have detained us for an exhibition,
-but we moved steadily on towards the palace, for
-nowhere else had we business or concern within the
-walls of Phundahl.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Around the palace gates was the usual crowd of
-loitering curiosity seekers; for after all human nature is
-much the same everywhere, whether skins be black or
-white, red or yellow or brown, upon Earth or upon
-Mars. The crowd before Xaxa’s gates were largely made
-up of visitors from the islands of that part of the Great
-Toonolian Marshes which owes allegiance to Phundahl’s
-queen, and like all provincials eager for a glimpse of
-royalty; though none the less to be interested by the
-antics of a simian, wherefore we had a ready made
-audience awaiting our arrival. Their natural fear of the
-great brute caused them to fall back a little at our
-approach so that we had a clear avenue to the very
-gates themselves, and there we halted while the crowds
-closed in behind, forming a half circle about us. Gor
-Hajus addressed them in a loud tone of voice that might
-be overheard by the warriors and their officers beyond
-the gates, for it was really them we had come to entertain,
-not the crowds in which we had not the slightest
-interest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Men and women of Phundahl,” cried Gor Hajus,
-“behold two poor panthans, who, risking their lives,
-have captured and trained one of the most savage and
-ferocious and at the same time most intelligent specimens
-of the great white ape of Barsoom ever before
-seen in captivity and at great expense have brought it
-to Phundahl for your entertainment and edification. My
-friends, this wonderful ape is endowed with human intelligence;
-he understands every word that is spoken to
-him. With your kind attention, my friends, I will endeavor
-to demonstrate the remarkable intelligence of
-this ferocious, man-eating beast—an intelligence that has
-entertained the crowned heads of Barsoom and mystified
-the minds of her most learned savants.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I thought Gor Hajus did pretty well as a bally-hoo
-artist. I had to smile as I listened, here upon Mars, to
-the familiar lines that I had taught him out of my
-Earthly experience of county fairs and amusement parks,
-so highly ludicrous they sounded falling from the lips
-of the Assassin of Toonol; but they evidently interested
-his auditors and impressed them, too, for they craned
-their necks and stood in earnest eyed silence awaiting
-the performance of Hovan Du. Even better, several members
-of the Jeddara’s Guard pricked up their ears and
-sauntered towards the gates; and among them was an
-officer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus caused Hovan Du to lie down at word
-of command, to get up, to stand upon one foot, and to
-indicate the number of fingers that Gor Hajus held up
-by growling once for each finger, thus satisfying the audience
-that he could count; but these simple things
-were only by way of leading up to the more remarkable
-achievements which we hoped would win an audience
-before the Jeddara. Gor Hajus borrowed a set
-of harness and weapons from a man in the crowd and
-had Hovan Du don it and fence with him, and then
-indeed did we hear exclamations of amazement.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The warriors and the officer of Xaxa had drawn near
-the gates and were interested spectators, which was precisely
-what we wished, and now Gor Hajus was ready
-for the final, astounding revelation of Hovan Du’s intelligence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These things that you have witnessed are as nothing,”
-he cried. “Why this wonderful beast can even read
-and write. He was captured in a deserted city near
-Ptarth and can read and write the language of that
-country. Is there among you one who, by chance, comes
-from that distant country?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A slave spoke up. “I am from Ptarth.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good!” said Gor Hajus. “Write some simple instructions
-and hand them to the ape. I will turn my back
-that you may know that I cannot assist him in any
-way.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The slave drew forth a tablet from a pocket pouch
-and wrote briefly. What he wrote he handed to Hovan
-Du. The ape read the message and without hesitation
-moved quickly to the gate and handed it to the officer
-standing upon the other side, the gate being constructed
-of wrought metal in fanciful designs that offered no obstruction
-to the view or to the passage of small articles.
-The officer took the message and examined it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What does it say?” he demanded of the slave that
-had penned it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It says,” replied the latter: “Take this message to
-the officer who stands just within the gates.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There were exclamations of surprise from all parts
-of the crowd and Hovan Du was compelled to repeat
-his performance several times with different messages
-which directed him to do various things, the officer
-always taking a great interest in the proceedings.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is marvellous,” said he at last. “The Jeddara
-would be amused by the performance of this beast. Wait
-here, therefore, until I have sent word to her that she
-may, if she so desires, command your presence.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Nothing could have better suited us and so we waited
-with what patience we might for the messenger to return;
-and while we waited Hovan Du continued to mystify
-his audience with new proofs of his great intelligence.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='116' id='Page_116'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XI<br/> XAXA</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>The</span> officer returned, the gates swung out and we were
-commanded to enter the courtyard of the palace of
-Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. After that events transpired
-with great rapidity—surprising and totally unexpected
-events. We were led through an intricate maze of corridors
-and chambers until I became suspicious that we
-were purposely being confused, and convinced that
-whether such was the intention or not the fact remained
-that I could no more have retraced my steps to the
-outer courtyard than I could have flown without wings.
-We had planned that, in the event of gaining admission
-to the palace, we would carefully note whatever might
-be essential to a speedy escape; but when, in a whisper,
-I asked Gor Hajus if he could find his way out again
-he assured me that he was as confused as I.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The palace was in no sense remarkable nor particularly
-interesting, the work of the Phundahlian artists
-being heavy and oppressing and without indication of
-high imaginative genius. The scenes depicted were mostly
-of a religious nature illustrating passages from Turgan,
-the Phundahlian bible, and, for the most part, were a
-series of monotonous repetitions. There was one, which
-appeared again and again, depicting Turgan creating a
-round, flat Mars and hurling it into Space, that always
-reminded me of a culinary artist turning a flap jack
-in a child’s window.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There were also numerous paintings of what appeared
-to be court scenes delineating members of the Phundahlian
-royal line in various activities; it was noticeable
-that the more recent ones in which Xaxa appeared
-had had the principal figure repainted so that there confronted
-me from time to time portraits, none too well
-done, of the beautiful face and figure of Valla Dia in
-the royal trappings of a Jeddara. The effect of these
-upon me is not easy of description. They brought home
-to me the fact that I was approaching, and should presently
-be face to face with, the person of the woman
-to whom I had consecrated my love and my life, and
-yet in that same person I should be confronting one
-whom I loathed and would destroy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We were halted at last before a great door and from
-the number of warriors and nobles congregated before
-it I was confident that we were soon to be ushered
-into the presence of the Jeddara. As we waited those
-assembled about us eyed us with, it seemed to me, more
-of hostility than curiosity and when the door swung open
-they accompanied us, with the exception of a few warriors,
-into the chamber beyond. The room was of medium
-size and at the farther side, behind a massive
-table, sat Xaxa. About her were grouped a number of
-heavily armed nobles. As I looked them over I wondered
-if among them was he for whom the body of
-Dar Tarus had been filched; for we had promised him
-that if conditions were favorable we would attempt to
-recover it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Xaxa eyed us coldly as we were halted before her.
-“Let us see the beast perform,” she commanded, and
-then suddenly: “What mean you by permitting strangers
-to enter my presence bearing arms?” she cried. “Sag Or,
-see that their weapons are removed!” and she turned to
-a handsome young warrior standing near her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sag Or! That was the name. Before me stood the
-noble for whom Dar Tarus had suffered the loss of his
-liberty, his body and his love. Gor Hajus had also
-recognized the name and Hovan Du, too; I could tell by
-the way they eyed the man as he advanced. Curtly he
-instructed us to hand our weapons to two warriors who
-advanced to receive them. Gor Hajus hesitated. I admit
-that I did not know what course to pursue.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Everyone seemed hostile and yet that might be, and
-doubtless was, but a reflection of their attitude towards
-all strangers. If we refused to disarm we were but three
-against a room full, if they chose to resort to force; or
-if they turned us out of the palace because of it we would
-be robbed of this seemingly god given opportunity to
-win to the very heart of Xaxa’s palace and to her very
-presence, where we must eventually win before we could
-strike. Would such an opportunity ever be freely offered
-us again? I doubted it and felt that we had better assume
-a vague risk now than, by refusing their demand, definitely
-arm their suspicions. So I quietly removed my
-weapons and handed them to the warrior waiting to
-receive them; and following my example, Gor Hajus did
-likewise, though I can imagine with what poor grace.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Once again Xaxa signified that she would see Hovan
-Du perform. As Gor Hajus put him through his antics
-she watched listlessly; nor did anything that the ape did
-arouse the slightest flicker of interest among the entire
-group assembled about the Jeddara. As the thing dragged
-on I became obsessed with apprehensions that all was
-not right. It seemed to me that an effort was being made
-to detain us for some purpose—to gain time. I could
-not understand, for instance, why Xaxa required that we
-repeat several times the least interesting of the ape’s performances.
-And all the time Xaxa sat playing with a
-long, slim dagger, and I saw that she watched me quite
-as much as she watched Hovan Du, while I found it difficult
-to keep my eyes averted from that perfect face,
-even though I knew that it was but a stolen mask behind
-which lurked the cruel mind of a tyrant and a murderess.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At last came an interruption to the performance. The
-door opened and a noble entered, who went directly to
-the Jeddara whom he addressed briefly and in a low tone.
-I saw that she asked him several questions and that she
-seemed vexed by his replies. Then she dismissed him
-with a curt gesture and turned towards us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Enough of this!” she cried. Her eyes rested upon mine
-and she pointed her slim dagger at me. “Where is the
-other?” she demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What other?” I inquired.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There were three of you, beside the ape. I know nothing
-about the ape, nor where, nor how you acquired it;
-but I do know all about you, Vad Varo, and Gor Hajus,
-the Assassin of Toonol, and Dar Tarus. Where is Dar
-Tarus?” her voice was low and musical and entirely beautiful—the
-voice of Valla Dia—but behind it I knew was
-the terrible personality of Xaxa, and I knew too that it
-would be hard to deceive her, for she must have received
-what information she had directly from Ras Thavas.
-It had been stupid of me not to foresee that Ras Thavas
-would immediately guess the purpose of my mission and
-warn Xaxa. I perceived instantly that it would be worse
-than useless to deny our identity, rather I must explain
-our presence—if I could.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Where is Dar Tarus?” she repeated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How should I know?” I countered. “Dar Tarus has
-reasons to believe that he would not be safe in Phundahl
-and I imagine that he is not anxious that anyone should
-know his whereabouts—myself included. He helped me
-to escape from the Island of Thavas, for which his liberty
-was to be his reward. He has not chosen to accompany
-me further upon my adventures.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Xaxa seemed momentarily disarmed that I did not
-deny my identity—evidently she had supposed that I
-would do so.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You admit then,” she said, “that you are Vad Varo,
-the assistant of Ras Thavas?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Have I ever sought to deny it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have disguised yourself as a red-man of Barsoom.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How could I travel in Barsoom otherwise, where every
-man’s hand is against a stranger?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And why would you travel in Barsoom?” Her eyes
-narrowed as she waited for my reply.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As Ras Thavas has doubtless sent you word, I am
-from another world and I would see more of this one,” I
-told her. “Is that strange?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And you come to Phundahl and seek to gain entrance
-to my presence and bring with you the notorious
-Assassin of Toonol that you may see more of Barsoom?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Gor Hajus may not return to Toonol,” I explained,
-“and so he must seek service for his sword at some
-other court than that of Vobis Kan—in Phundahl perhaps,
-or if not here he must move on. I hope that he
-will decide to accompany me as I am a stranger in
-Barsoom, unaccustomed to the manners and ways of her
-people. I would fare ill without a guide and mentor.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You shall fare ill,” she cried. “You have seen all of
-Barsoom that you are destined to see—you have reached
-the end of your adventure. You think to deceive me, eh?
-You do not know, perhaps, that I have heard of your
-infatuation for Valla Dia or that I am fully conversant
-with the purpose of your visit to Phundahl.” Her eyes
-left me and swept her nobles and her warriors. “To the
-pits with them!” she cried. “Later we shall choose the
-manner of their passing.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Instantly we were surrounded by a score of naked
-blades. There was no escape for Gor Hajus or me, but
-I thought that I saw an opportunity for Hovan Du to get
-away. I had had the possibility of such a contingency
-in mind from the first and always I had been on the
-look-out for an avenue of escape for one of us, and so
-the open windows at the right of the Jeddara had not
-gone unnoticed, nor the great trees growing in the courtyard
-beneath. Hovan Du was close beside me as Xaxa
-spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Go!” I whispered. “The windows are open. Go, and
-tell Dar Tarus what has happened to us,” and then I fell
-back away from him and dragged Gor Hajus with me
-as though we would attempt to resist arrest; and while I
-thus distracted their attention from him Hovan Du turned
-towards an open window. He had taken but a few steps
-when a warrior attempted to halt him; with that the
-ferocious brain of the anthropoid seemed to seize
-dominion over the great creature. With a hideous growl
-he leaped with the agility of a cat upon the unfortunate
-Phundahlian, swung him high in giant hands and using
-his body as a flail tumbled his fellows to right and left
-as he cut a swath towards the open window nearest
-him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Instantly pandemonium reigned in the apartment. The
-attention of all seemed centered upon the great ape and
-even those who had been confronting us turned to
-attack Hovan Du. And in the midst of the confusion I
-saw Xaxa step to some heavy hangings directly behind
-her desk, part them and disappear.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come!” I whispered to Gor Hajus. Apparently intent
-only upon watching the conflict between the ape and the
-warriors I moved forward with the fighters but always to
-the left towards the desk that Xaxa had just quitted.
-Hovan Du was giving a good account of himself. He had
-discarded his first victim and one by one had seized
-others as they came within range of his long arms and
-powerful hands, sometimes four at a time as he stood
-well braced upon two of his hand-like feet and fought with
-the other four. His shock of bristling hair stood erect
-upon his skull and his fierce eyes blazed with rage as,
-towering high above his antagonists, he fought for his
-life—the most feared of all the savage creatures of
-Barsoom. Perhaps his greatest advantage lay in the inherent
-fear of him that was a part of every man in that
-room who faced him, and it forwarded my quickly conceived
-plan, too, for it kept every eye turned upon
-Hovan Du, so that Gor Hajus and I were able to work
-our way to the rear of the desk. I think Hovan Du
-must have sensed my intention then, for he did the one
-thing best suited to attract every eye from us to him and,
-too, he gave me notice that the human half of his brain
-was still alert and watchful of our welfare.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Heretofore the Phundahlians must have looked upon
-him as a remarkable specimen of great ape, marvelously
-trained, but now, of a sudden, he paralyzed them with
-awe, for his roars and growls took the form of words
-and he spoke with the tongue of a human. He was near
-the window now. Several of the nobles were pushing
-bravely forward. Among them was Sag Or. Hovan Du
-reached forth and seized him, wrenching his weapons
-from him. “I go,” he cried, “but let harm befall my
-friends and I shall return and tear the heart from Xaxa.
-Tell her that, from the Great Ape of Ptarth.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For an instant the warriors and the nobles stood
-transfixed with awe. Every eye was upon Hovan Du as
-he stood there with the struggling figure of Sag Or in his
-mighty grasp. Gor Hajus and I were forgotten. And then
-Hovan Du turned and leaped to the sill of the window
-and from there lightly to the branches of the nearest
-tree; and with him went Sag Or, the favorite of Xaxa, the
-Jeddara. At the same instant I drew Gor Hajus with me
-between the hangings in the rear of Xaxa’s desk, and as
-they fell behind us we found ourselves in the narrow
-mouth of a dark corridor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Without knowledge of where the passage led we could
-only follow it blindly, urged on by the necessity for discovering
-a hiding place or an avenue of escape from the
-palace before the pursuit, which we knew would be immediately
-instituted, overtook us. As our eyes became
-accustomed to the gloom, which was partially dispelled
-by a faint luminosity, we moved more rapidly and presently
-came to a narrow spiral runway which descended
-into a dark hole below the level of the corridor and also
-arose into equal darkness above.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Which way?” I asked Gor Hajus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They will expect us to descend,” he replied, “for in
-that direction lies the nearest avenue of escape.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then we will go up.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good!” he exclaimed. “All we seek now is a place to
-hide until night has fallen, for we may not escape by
-day.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We had scarcely started to ascend before we heard the
-first sound of pursuit—the clank of accoutrements in the
-corridor beneath. Yet, even with this urge from behind,
-we were forced to move with great caution, for we knew
-not what lay before. At the next level there was a doorway,
-the door closed and locked, but there was no corridor,
-nor anywhere to hide, and so we continued on upward.
-The second level was identical with that just beneath,
-but at the third a single corridor ran straight off
-into darkness and at our right was a door, ajar. The
-sounds of pursuit were appreciably nearer now and the
-necessity for concealment seemed increasing as the square
-of their growing proportions until every other consideration
-was overwhelmed by it. Nor is this so strange when
-the purpose of my adventure is considered and that discovery
-now must assuredly spell defeat and blast for
-ever the slender ray of hope that remained for the resurrection
-of Valla Dia in her own flesh.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was scarce a moment for consideration. The
-corridor before us was shrouded in darkness—it might
-be naught but a blind alley. The door was close and ajar.
-I pushed it gently inward. An odor of heavy incense
-greeted our nostrils and through the small aperture we
-saw a portion of a large chamber garishly decorated.
-Directly before us, and almost wholly obstructing our
-view of the entire chamber, stood a colossal statue of a
-squatting manlike figure. Behind us we heard voices—our
-pursuers already were ascending the spiral—they
-would be upon us in a few seconds. I examined the door
-and discovered that it fastened with a spring lock. I
-looked again into the chamber and saw no one within
-the range of our vision, and then I motioned Gor Hajus to
-follow me and stepping into the room closed the door
-behind us. We had burned our bridges. As the door
-closed the lock engaged with a sharp, metallic click.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What was that?” demanded a voice, originating, seemingly,
-at the far end of the chamber.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus looked at me and shrugged his shoulders
-in resignation (he must have been thinking what I was
-thinking—that with two avenues we had chosen the
-wrong one) but he smiled and there was no reproach in
-his eyes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It sounded from the direction of the Great Tur,” replied
-a second voice.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps someone is at the door,” suggested the first
-speaker.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus and I were flattened against the back of
-the statue that we might postpone as long as possible our
-inevitable discovery should the speakers decide to investigate
-the origin of the noise that had attracted their
-suspicions. I was facing against the polished stone of the
-figure’s back, my hands outspread upon it. Beneath my
-fingers were the carven bits of its ornamental harness—jutting
-protuberances that were costly gems set in these
-trappings of stone, and there were gorgeous inlays of
-gold filagree; but these things I had no eyes for now. We
-could hear the two conversing as they came nearer. Perhaps
-I was nervous, I do not know. I am sure I never
-shrank from an encounter when either duty or expediency
-called; but in this instance both demanded that we avoid
-conflict and remain undiscovered. However that may
-be, my fingers must have been moving nervously over
-the jeweled harness of the figure when I became vaguely,
-perhaps subconsciously, aware that one of the gems was
-loose in its setting. I do not recall that this made any
-impression upon my conscious mind, but I do know that
-it seemed to catch the attention of my wandering fingers
-and they must have paused to play with the loosened
-stone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The voices seemed quite close now—it could be but
-a matter of seconds before we should be confronted by
-their owners. My muscles seemed to tense for the anticipated
-encounter and unconsciously I pressed heavily
-upon the loosened setting—whereat a portion of the
-figure’s back gave noiselessly inward revealing to us the
-dimly lighted interior of the statue. We needed no further
-invitation; simultaneously we stepped across the
-threshold and in almost the same movement I turned and
-closed the panel gently behind us. I think that there
-was absolutely no sound connected with the entire transaction;
-and following it we remained in utter silence,
-motionless—scarce breathing. Our eyes became quickly accustomed
-to the dim interior which we discovered was
-lighted through numerous small orifices in the shell of
-the statue, which was entirely hollow, and through these
-same orifices every outside sound came clearly to our
-ears.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We had scarcely closed the opening when we heard
-the voices directly outside it and simultaneously there
-came a hammering on the door by which we had entered
-the apartment from the corridor. “Who seeks entrance to
-Xaxa’s Temple?” demanded one of the voices within the
-room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ’Tis I, dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard,” boomed a voice
-from without. “We are seeking two who came to assassinate
-Xaxa.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Came they this way?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Think you, priest, that I should be seeking them
-here had they not?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How long since?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Scarce twenty tals since,” replied the dwar.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then they are not here,” the priest assured him,
-“for we have been here for a full zode<a id='rA'/><a href='#fA' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[A]</span></sup></a> and no other
-has entered the temple during that time. Look quickly to
-Xaxa’s apartments above and to the roof and the hangars,
-for if you followed them up the spiral there is no
-other where they might flee.”</p>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<p class='footnote'>
-<span class='footnote-id' id='fA'><a href='#rA'>[A]</a></span>
-
-<span style='font-size:smaller'>A tal is about one second, and a zode approximately two and
-one-half hours, Earth time.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Watch then the temple carefully until I return,”
-shouted the warrior and we heard him and his men moving
-on up the spiral.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now we heard the priests conversing as they moved
-slowly past the statue.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What could have caused the noise that first attracted
-our attention?” asked one.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps the fugitives tried the door,” suggested the
-other.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It must have been that, but they did not enter or we
-should have seen them when they emerged from behind
-the Great Tur, for we were facing him at the time, nor
-have once turned our eyes from this end of the temple.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then at least they are not within the temple.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And where else they may be is no concern of ours.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, nor if they reached Xaxa’s apartment, if they
-did not pass through the temple.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps they did reach it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And they were assassins!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Worse things might befall Phundahl.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hush! the gods have ears.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of stone.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But the ears of Xaxa are not of stone and they hear
-many things that are not intended for them.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The old she-banth!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She is Jeddara and High Priestess.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but——” the voices passed beyond the range of
-our ears at the far end of the temple, yet they had told
-me much—that Xaxa was feared and hated by the priesthood
-and that the priests themselves had none too much
-reverence for their deity as evidenced by the remark of
-one that the gods have ears of stone. And they had told
-us other things, important things, when they conversed
-with the dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus and I now felt that we had fallen by chance
-upon a most ideal place of concealment, for the very
-guardians of the temple would swear that we were not,
-could not be, where we were. Already had they thrown
-the pursuers off our track.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now, for the first time, we had an opportunity to
-examine our hiding place. The interior of the statue was
-hollow and far above us, perhaps forty feet, we could
-see the outside light shining through the mouth, ears
-and nostrils, just below which a circular platform could
-be discerned running around the inside of the neck. A
-ladder with flat rungs led upward from the base to the
-platform. Thick dust covered the floor on which we
-stood, and the extremity of our position suggested a
-careful examination of this dust, with the result that I
-was at once impressed by the evidence that it revealed;
-which indicated that we were the first to enter the statue
-for a long time, possibly for years, as the fine coating of
-almost impalpable dust that covered the floor was undisturbed.
-As I searched for this evidence my eyes fell
-upon something lying huddled close to the base of the
-ladder and approaching nearer I saw that it was a human
-skeleton, while a closer examination revealed that the
-skull was crushed and one arm and several ribs broken.
-About it lay, dust-covered, the most gorgeous trappings I
-had ever seen. Its position at the foot of the ladder, as
-well as the crushed skull and broken bones, appeared
-quite conclusive evidence of the manner in which death
-had come—the man had fallen head foremost from the
-circular platform forty feet above, carrying with him to
-eternity, doubtless, the secret of the entrance to the interior
-of the Great Tur.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I suggested this to Gor Hajus who was examining the
-dead man’s trappings and he agreed with me that such
-must have been the manner of his death.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He was a high priest of Tur,” whispered Gor Hajus,
-“and probably a member of the royal house—possibly
-a Jeddak. He has been dead a long time.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am going up above,” I said. “I will test the ladder.
-If it is safe, follow me up. I think we shall be able to
-see the interior of the temple through the mouth of Tur.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Go carefully,” Gor Hajus admonished. “The ladder
-is very old.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I went carefully, testing each rung before I trusted
-my weight to it, but I found the old sorapus wood of
-which it was constructed sound and as staunch as steel.
-How the high priest came to his death must always remain
-a mystery, for the ladder or the circular platform
-would have carried the weight of a hundred red-men.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From the platform I could see through the mouth of
-Tur. Below me was a large chamber along the sides of
-which were ranged other, though lesser, idols. They were
-even more grotesque than those I had seen in the temple
-in the city and their trappings were rich beyond the conception
-of man—Earthman—for the gems of Barsoom
-scintillate with rays unknown to us and of such gorgeous
-and blinding beauty as to transcend description. Directly
-in front of the Great Tur was an altar of palthon, a
-rare and beautiful stone, blood red, in which are traced
-in purest white Nature’s most fanciful designs; the whole
-vastly enhanced by the wondrous polish which the stone
-takes beneath the hand of the craftsman.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus joined me and together we examined the
-interior of the temple. Tall windows lined two sides, letting
-in a flood of light. At the far end, opposite the
-Great Tur, were two enormous doors, closing the main
-entrance to the chamber, and here stood the two priests
-whom we had heard conversing. Otherwise the temple
-was deserted. Incense burned upon tiny altars before
-each of the minor idols, but whether any burned before
-the Great Tur we could not see.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Having satisfied our curiosity relative to the temple, we
-returned our attention to a further examination of the
-interior of Tur’s huge head and were rewarded by the
-discovery of another ladder leading upward against the
-rear wall to a higher and smaller platform that evidently
-led to the eyes. It did not take me long to investigate and
-here I found a most comfortable chair set before a control
-that operated the eyes, so that they could be made to
-turn from side to side, or up or down, according to the
-whim of the operator; and here too was a speaking-tube
-leading to the mouth. This again I must needs investigate
-and so I returned to the lower platform and there I discovered
-a device beneath the tongue of the idol, and this
-device, which was in the nature of an amplifier, was
-connected with the speaking-tube from above. I could not
-repress a smile as I considered these silent witnesses to the
-perfidy of man and thought of the broken thing lying at
-the foot of the ladder. Tur, I could have sworn, had
-been silent for many years.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Together Gor Hajus and I returned to the higher platform
-and again I made a discovery—the eyes of Tur
-were veritable periscopes. By turning them we could see
-any portion of the temple and what we saw through the
-eyes was magnified. Nothing could escape the eyes of
-Tur and presently, when the priests began to talk again,
-we discovered that nothing could escape Tur’s ears, for
-every slightest sound in the temple came clearly to us.
-What a valuable adjunct to high priesthood this Great
-Tur must have been in the days when that broken
-skeleton lying below us was a thing of blood and life!</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='129' id='Page_129'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XII<br/> THE GREAT TUR</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>The</span> day dragged wearily for Gor Hajus and me. We
-watched the various priests who came in pairs at intervals
-to relieve those who had preceded them, and we
-listened to their prattle, mostly idle gossip of court
-scandals. At times they spoke of us and we learned
-that Hovan Du had escaped with Sag Or, nor had they
-been located as yet, nor had Dar Tarus. The whole court
-was mystified by our seemingly miraculous disappearance.
-Three thousand people, the inmates and attaches of the
-palace, were constantly upon the look-out for us. Every
-part of the palace and the palace grounds had been
-searched and searched again. The pits had been explored
-more thoroughly than they had been explored
-within the memory of the oldest retainer, and it seemed
-that queer things had been unearthed there—things of
-which not even Xaxa dreamed; and the priests whispered
-that at least one great and powerful house would fall
-because of what a dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard had discovered
-in a remote precinct of the pits.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As the sun dropped below the horizon and darkness
-came, the interior of the temple was illuminated by a soft
-white light, brilliantly but without the glare of Earthly
-artificial illumination. More priests came and many young
-girls, priestesses. They performed before the idols, chanting
-meaningless gibberish. Gradually the chamber filled
-with worshippers, nobles of the Jeddara’s court with their
-women and their retainers, forming in two lines along
-either side of the temple before the lesser idols, leaving
-a wide aisle from the great entrance to the foot of the
-Great Tur and towards this aisle they all faced, waiting.
-For what were they waiting? Their eyes were turned expectantly
-towards the closed doors of the great entrance
-and Gor Hajus and I felt our eyes held there too, fascinated
-by the suggestion that they were about to open
-and reveal some stupendous spectacle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And presently the doors did swing slowly open and
-all we saw was what appeared to be a great roll of
-carpet lying upon its side across the opening. Twenty
-slaves, naked but for their scant leather harness, stood
-behind the huge roll; and as the doors swung fully
-open they rolled the carpet inward to the very feet of the
-altar before the Great Tur, covering the wide aisle from
-the entranceway almost to the idol with a thick, soft
-rug of gold and white and blue. It was the most beautiful
-thing in the temple where all else was blatant, loud and
-garish or hideous, or grotesque. And then the doors
-closed and again we waited; but not for long. Bugles
-sounded from without, the sound increasing as they
-neared the entrance. Once more the doors swung in.
-Across the entrance stood a double rank of gorgeously
-trapped nobles. Slowly they entered the temple and
-behind them came a splendid chariot drawn by two
-banths, the fierce Barsoomian lion, held in leash by
-slaves on either side. Upon the chariot was a litter and
-in the litter, reclining at ease, lay Xaxa. As she entered
-the temple the people commenced to chant her praises
-in a monotonous sing-song. Chained to the chariot and
-following on foot was a red warrior and behind him a
-procession composed of fifty young men and an equal
-number of young girls.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus touched my arm. “The prisoner,” he whispered,
-“do you recognize him?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dar Tarus!” I exclaimed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was Dar Tarus—they had discovered his hiding place
-and arrested him, but what of Hovan Du? Had they taken
-him, also? If they had it must have been only after slaying
-him, for they never would have sought to capture
-the fierce beast, nor would he have brooked capture. I
-looked for Sag Or, but he was nowhere to be seen within
-the temple and this fact gave me hope that Hovan Du
-might be still at liberty.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The chariot was halted before the altar and Xaxa
-alighted; the lock that held Dar Tarus’ chain to the vehicle
-was opened and the banths were led away by their attendants
-to one side of the temple behind the lesser
-idols. Then Dar Tarus was dragged roughly to the altar and
-thrown upon it and Xaxa, mounting the steps at its base,
-came close to his side and with hands outstretched above
-him looked up at the Great Tur towering above her. How
-beautiful she was! How richly trapped! Ah, Valla Dia!
-that your sweet form should be debased to the cruel purposes
-of the wicked mind that now animates you!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Xaxa’s eyes now rested upon the face of the Great
-Tur. “O, Tur, Father of Barsoom,” she cried, “behold the
-offering we place before you, All-seeing, All-knowing,
-All-powerful One, and frown no more upon us in silence.
-For a hundred years you have not deigned to speak aloud
-to your faithful slaves; never since Hora San, the high
-priest, was taken away by you on that long-gone night of
-mystery have you unsealed your lips to your people.
-Speak, Great Tur! Give us some sign, ere we plunge this
-dagger into the heart of our offering, that our works are
-pleasing in thine eyes. Tell us whither went the two who
-came here to-day to assassinate your high priestess; reveal
-to us the fate of Sag Or. Speak, Great Tur, ere I
-strike,” and she raised her slim blade above the heart of
-Dar Tarus and looked straight upward into the eyes of
-Tur.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And then, as a bolt from the blue, I was struck by
-the great inspiration. My hand sought the lever controlling
-the eyes of Tur and I turned them until they
-completed a full circuit of the room and rested again
-upon Xaxa. The effect was magical. Never before had I
-seen a whole room full of people so absolutely stunned
-and awe-struck as were these. As the eyes returned to
-Xaxa she seemed turned to stone and her copper skin to
-have taken on an ashen purple hue. Her dagger remained
-stiffly poised above the heart of Dar Tarus. Not for a hundred
-years had they seen the eyes of the Great Tur
-move. Then I placed the speaking-tube to my lips and
-the voice of Tur rumbled through the chamber. As from
-one great throat a gasp arose from the crowded temple
-floor and the people fell upon their knees and buried
-their faces in their hands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Judgment is mine!” I cried. “Strike not lest ye be
-struck! To Tur is the sacrifice!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I was silent then, attempting to plan how best to utilize
-the advantage I had gained. Fearfully, one by one,
-the bowed heads were raised and frightened eyes sought
-the face of Tur. I gave them another thrill by letting the
-god’s eyes wander slowly over the upturned faces, and
-while I was doing this I had another inspiration, which
-I imparted to Gor Hajus in a low whisper. I could hear
-him chuckle as he started down the ladder to carry my
-new plan into effect. Again I had recourse to the speaking-tube.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The sacrifice is Tur’s,” I rumbled. “Tur will strike
-with his own hand. Extinguish the lights and let no one
-move under pain of instant death until Tur gives the
-word. Prostrate yourselves and bury your eyes in your
-palms, for whosoever sees shall be blinded when the
-spirit of Tur walks among his people.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Down they went again and one of the priests hurriedly
-extinguished the lights, leaving the temple in total
-darkness; and while Gor Hajus was engaged with his
-part of the performance I tried to cover any accidental
-noise he might make by keeping up a running fire of
-celestial revelation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Xaxa, the high priestess, asks what has become of
-the two whom she believed came to assassinate her. I,
-Tur took them to myself. Vengeance is Tur’s! And Sag
-Or I took, also. In the guise of a great ape I came and
-took Sag Or and none knew me; though even a fool
-might have guessed, for who is there ever heard a great
-ape speak with tongue of man unless he was animated by
-the spirit of Tur?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I guess that convinced them, it being just the sort of
-logic suited to their religion, or it would have convinced
-them if they had not already been convinced. I wondered
-what might be passing in the mind of the doubting
-priest who had remarked that the gods had ears of stone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Presently I heard a noise upon the ladder beneath me
-and a moment later someone climbed upon the circular
-landing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All’s well,” whispered the voice of Gor Hajus. “Dar
-Tarus is with me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Light the temple!” I commanded through the speaking-tube.
-“Rise and look upon your altar.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The lights flashed on and the people rose, trembling,
-to their feet. Every eye was bent upon the altar and
-what they saw there seemed to crush them with terror.
-Some of the women screamed and fainted. It all impressed
-me with the belief that none of them had taken
-this god of theirs with any great amount of seriousness,
-and now when they were confronted with absolute proof
-of his miraculous powers they were swept completely off
-their feet. Where, a few moments before, they had seen
-a live sacrifice awaiting the knife of the high priestess
-they saw now only a dust-covered human skull. I grant
-you that without an explanation it might have seemed a
-miracle to almost anyone so quickly had Gor Hajus run
-from the base of the idol with the skull of the dead high
-priest and returned again leading Dar Tarus with him. I
-had been a bit concerned as to what the attitude of Dar
-Tarus might be, who was no more conversant with the
-hoax than were the Phundahlians, but Gor Hajus had
-whispered “For Valla Dia” in his ear and he had understood
-and come quickly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Great Tur,” I now announced, “is angry with
-his people. For a long time they have denied him in
-their hearts even while they made open worship of him.
-The Great Tur is angry with Xaxa. Only through Xaxa
-may the people of Phundahl be saved from destruction,
-for the Great Tur is angry. Go then from the temple and
-the palace leaving no human being here other than Xaxa,
-the high priestess of Tur. Leave her here in solitude beside
-the altar. Tur would speak with her alone.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I could see Xaxa fairly shrivel in fright.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Is the Jeddara Xaxa, High Priestess of the Great
-God Tur, afraid to meet her master?” I demanded. The
-woman’s jaw trembled so that she could not reply.
-“Obey! or Xaxa and all her people shall be struck dead!”
-I fairly screamed at them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Like cattle they turned and fled towards the entrance
-and Xaxa, her knees shaking so that she could scarce
-stand erect, staggered after them. A noble saw her and
-pushed her roughly back, but she shrieked and ran after
-him when he had left her. Then others dragged her to
-the foot of the altar and threw her roughly down and one
-menaced her with his sword, but at that I called aloud
-that no harm must befall the Jeddara if they did not
-wish the wrath of Tur to fall upon them all. They left
-her lying there and so weak from fright was she that she
-could not rise, and a moment later the temple was empty,
-but not until I had shouted after them to clear the
-whole palace within a quarter zode, for my plan required
-a free and unobstructed as well as unobserved field of
-action.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The last of them was scarce out of sight ere we three
-descended from the head of Tur and stepped out upon
-the temple floor behind the idol. Quickly I ran towards
-the altar, upon the other side of which Xaxa had dropped
-to the floor in a swoon. She still lay there and I gathered
-her into my arms and ran quickly back to the door
-in the wall behind the idol—the doorway through which
-Gor Hajus and I had entered the temple earlier in the
-day.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Preceded by Gor Hajus and followed by Dar Tarus, I
-ascended the runway towards the roof where the conversation
-of the priests had informed us were located
-the royal hangars. Had Hovan Du and Sag Or been with
-us my cup of happiness would have been full, for within
-half a day, what had seemed utter failure and defeat
-had been turned almost to assured success. At the landing
-where lay Xaxa’s apartments we halted and looked
-within, for the long night voyage I contemplated would
-be cold and the body of Valla Dia must be kept warm
-with suitable robes even though it was inhabited by the
-spirit of Xaxa. Seeing no one we entered and soon found
-what we required. As I was adjusting a heavy robe of
-orluk about the Jeddara she regained consciousness. Instantly
-she recognized me and then Gor Hajus and finally
-Dar Tarus. Mechanically she felt for her dagger, but
-it was not there and when she saw my smile she paled
-with anger. At first she must have jumped to the conclusion
-that she had been the victim of a hoax, but presently
-a doubt seemed to enter her mind—she must have
-been recalling some of the things that had transpired
-within the temple of the Great Tur, and these, neither
-she nor any other mortal might explain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who are you?” she demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am Tur,” I replied, brazenly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What is your purpose with me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am going to take you away from Phundahl,” I replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But I do not wish to go. You are not Tur. You are
-Vad Varo. I shall call for help and my guards will come
-and slay you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is no one in the palace,” I reminded her. “Did
-I, Tur, not send them away?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I shall not go with you,” she announced firmly.
-“Rather would I die.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You shall go with me, Xaxa,” I replied, and though
-she fought and struggled we carried her from her apartment
-and up the spiral runway to the roof where, I
-prayed, I should find the hangars and the royal fliers;
-and as we stepped out into the fresh night air of Mars we
-did see the hangars before us, but we saw something
-else—a group of Phundahlian warriors of the Jeddara’s
-Guard whom they had evidently failed to notify of the
-commands of Tur. At sight of them Xaxa cried aloud in
-relief.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To me! To the Jeddara!” she cried. “Strike down
-these assassins and save me!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There were three of them and there were three of
-us, but they were armed and between us we had but
-Xaxa’s slender dagger. Gor Hajus carried that. Victory
-seemed turned to defeat as they rushed towards us; but
-it was Gor Hajus who gave them pause. He seized Xaxa
-and raised the blade, its point above her heart. “Halt!”
-he cried, “or I strike.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The warriors hesitated; Xaxa was silent, stricken with
-fear. Thus we stood in stalemate when, just beyond the
-three Phundahlian warriors, I saw a movement at the
-roof’s edge. What was it? In the dim light I saw something
-that seemed a human head, and yet unhuman, rise
-slowly above the edge of the roof, and then, silently, a
-great form followed, and then I recognized it—Hovan
-Du, the great white ape.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tell them,” I cried to Xaxa in a loud voice that
-Hovan Du might hear, “that I am Tur, for see, I come
-again in the semblance of a white ape!” and I pointed to
-Hovan Du. “I would not destroy these poor warriors.
-Let them lay down their weapons and go in peace.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The men turned, and seeing the great ape standing
-there behind them, materialized, it might have been, out
-of thin air, were shaken.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who is he, Jeddara?” demanded one of the men.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is Tur,” replied Xaxa in a weak voice; “but save
-me from him! Save me from him!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Throw down your weapons and your harness and
-fly!” I commanded, “or Tur will strike you dead. Heard
-you not the people rushing from the palace at Tur’s
-command? How think you we brought Xaxa hither with
-a lesser power than Tur’s when all her palace was filled
-with her fighting men? Go, while yet you may in safety.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One of them unbuckled his harness and threw it with
-his weapons upon the roof, and as he started at a run
-for the spiral his companions followed his example.
-Then Hovan Du approached us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well done, Vad Varo,” he growled, “though I know
-not what it is all about.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That you shall know later,” I told him, “but now we
-must find a swift flier and be upon our way. Where is
-Sag Or? Does he still live?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have him securely bound and safely hidden in one
-of the high towers of the palace,” replied the ape. “It
-will be easy to get him when we have launched a flier.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Xaxa was eyeing us ragefully. “You are not Tur!” she
-cried. “The ape has exposed you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But too late to profit you in any way, Jeddara,” I assured
-her. “Nor could you convince one of your people
-who stood in the temple this night that I am not Tur.
-Nor do you, yourself, know that I am not. The ways of
-Tur, the all-powerful, all-knowing, are beyond the conception
-of mortal man. To you then, Jeddara, I am Tur,
-and you will find me all-powerful enough for my purposes.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I think she was still perplexed as we found and dragged
-forth a flier, aboard which we placed her, and turned the
-craft’s nose towards a lofty tower where Hovan Du told
-us lay Sag Or.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I shall be glad to see myself again,” said Dar Tarus,
-with a laugh.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And you shall be yourself again, Dar Tarus,” I told
-him, “as soon as ever we can come again to the pits of
-Ras Thavas.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Would that I might be reunited with my sweet Kara
-Vasa,” he sighed. “Then, Vad Varo, the last full measure
-of my gratitude would be yours.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Where may we find her?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Alas, I do not know. It was while I was searching for
-her that I was apprehended by the agents of Xaxa. I had
-been to her father’s palace only to learn that he had
-been assassinated and his property confiscated. The
-whereabouts of Kara Vasa they either did not know or
-would not divulge; but they held me there upon one
-pretext or another until a detachment of the Jeddara’s
-Guard could come and arrest me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We shall have to make inquiries of Sag Or,” I said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We were now coming to a stop alongside a window
-of the tower Hovan Du had indicated, and he and Dar
-Tarus leaped to the sill and disappeared within. We were
-all armed now, having taken the weapons discarded by
-the three warriors at the hangars, and with a good flier
-beneath our feet and all our little company reunited,
-with Xaxa and Sag Or, whom they were now conducting
-aboard, we were indeed in high spirits.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As we got under way again, setting our nose towards
-the east, I asked Sag Or if he knew what had become
-of Kara Vasa, but he assured me, in surly tones, that he
-did not.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Think again, Sag Or,” I admonished him, “and think
-hard, for perhaps upon your answer your life depends.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What chance have I for life?” he sneered, casting an
-ugly look towards Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have every chance,” I replied. “Your life lies in
-the hollow of my hand; and you serve me well it shall
-be yours, though in your own body and not in that belonging
-to Dar Tarus.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You do not intend destroying me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Neither you nor Xaxa,” I answered. “Xaxa shall live
-on in her own body and you in yours.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not wish to live in my own body,” snapped the
-Jeddara.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus stood looking at Sag Or—looking at his
-own body like some disembodied soul—as weird a situation
-as I have ever encountered.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tell me, Sag Or,” he said, “what has become of Kara
-Vasa. When my body has been restored to me and yours
-to you I shall hold no enmity against you if you have not
-harmed Kara Vasa and will tell me where she be.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I cannot tell you, for I do not know. She was not
-harmed, but the day after you were assassinated she disappeared
-from Phundahl. We were positive that she was
-spirited away by her father, but from him we could learn
-nothing. Then he was assassinated,” the man glanced at
-Xaxa, “and since, we have learned nothing. A slave told
-us that Kara Vasa, with some of her father’s warriors,
-had embarked upon a flier and set out for Helium, where
-she purposed placing herself under the protection of the
-great War Lord of Barsoom; but of the truth of that we
-know nothing. This is the truth. I, Sag Or, have spoken!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was futile then to search Phundahl for Kara Vasa
-and so we held our course towards the east and the
-Tower of Thavas.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='140' id='Page_140'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XIII<br/> BACK TO THAVAS</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>All</span> that night we sped beneath the hurtling moons of
-Mars, as strange a company as was ever foregathered
-upon any planet, I will swear. Two men, each possessing
-the body of the other, an old and wicked empress whose
-fair body belonged to a youthful damsel beloved by another
-of this company, a great white ape dominated by
-half the brain of a human being, and I, a creature of a
-distant planet, with Gor Hajus, the Assassin of Toonol,
-completed the mad roster.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I could scarce keep my eyes from the fair form and
-face of Xaxa, and it is well that I was thus fascinated
-for I caught her in the act of attempting to hurl herself
-overboard, so repugnant to her was the prospect of living
-again in her own old and hideous corpse. After that
-I kept her securely bound and fastened to the deck,
-though it hurt me to see the bonds upon those fair limbs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus was almost equally fascinated by the contemplation
-of his own body, which he had not seen for
-many years.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By my first ancestor,” he ejaculated. “It must be that
-I was the least vain of fellows, for I give you my word
-I had no idea that I was so fair to look upon. I can say
-this now without seeming egotism, since I am speaking
-of Sag Or,” and he laughed aloud at his little joke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But the fact remained that the body and face of Dar
-Tarus were beautiful indeed, though there was a hint of
-steel in the eyes and the set of the jaw that betokened
-fighting blood. Little wonder, then, that Sag Or had coveted
-the body of this young warrior; for his own, which
-Dar Tarus now possessed, was marked by dissipation and
-age; nor that Dar Tarus yearned to come again into his
-own.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Just before dawn we dropped to one of the numerous
-small islands that dot the Great Toonolian Marshes
-and nosing the ship between the boles of great trees we
-came to rest upon the surface of the ground, half buried
-in the lush and gorgeous jungle grasses, well hidden
-from the sight of possible pursuers. Here Hovan Du found
-fruits and nuts for us which the simian section of his brain
-pronounced safe for human consumption, and instinct
-led him to a nearby spring from which there bubbled
-delicious water. We four were half famished and much
-fatigued, so that the food and water were most welcome
-to us; nor did Xaxa and Sag Or refuse them. Having
-eaten, three of us lay down upon the ship’s deck to
-sleep, after securely chaining our prisoners, while the
-fourth stood watch. In this way, taking turns, we slept
-away most of the day and when night fell, rested and refreshed,
-we were ready to resume our flight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Making a wide detour to the south we avoided Toonol
-and about two hours before dawn we sighted the high
-Tower of Thavas. I think we were all keyed up to the
-highest pitch of excitement, for there was not one aboard
-that flier but whose whole life would be seriously affected
-by the success or failure of our venture. As a first
-precaution we secured the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind
-their backs and placed gags in their mouths, lest
-they succeed in giving warning of our approach.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Cluros had long since set and Thuria was streaming
-towards the horizon as we stopped our motor and drifted
-without lights a mile or two south of the tower while
-we waited impatiently for Thuria to leave the heavens
-to darkness and the world to us. To the north-west the
-lights of Toonol shone plainly against the dark background
-of the windows of the great laboratory of Ras
-Thavas, but the tower itself was dark from plinth to
-pinnacle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And now the nearer moon dropped plummetlike beneath
-the horizon and left the scene to darkness and to
-us. Dar Tarus started the motor, the wonderful, silent
-motor of Barsoom, and we moved slowly, close to the
-ground, towards Ras Thavas’ island, with no sound other
-than the gentle whirring of our propeller; nor could that
-have been heard scarce a hundred feet so slowly was it
-turning. Close off the island we came to a stop behind a
-cluster of giant trees and Hovan Du, going into the bow,
-uttered a few low growls. Then we stood waiting in silence,
-listening. There was a rustling in the dense undergrowth
-upon the shore. Again Hovan Du voiced his low,
-grim call and this time there came an answer from the
-black shadows. Hovan Du spoke in the language of the
-great apes and the invisible creature replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For five minutes, during which time we were aware
-from the different voices that others had joined in the
-conversation from the shore, the apes conversed, and
-then Hovan Du turned to me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is arranged,” he said. “They will permit us to hide
-our ship beneath these trees and they will permit us to
-pass out again when we are ready and board her, nor
-will they harm us in any way. All they ask is that when
-we are through we shall leave the gate open that leads to
-the inner court.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do they understand that while an ape goes in with us
-none will return with us?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes; but they will not harm us.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why do they wish the gate left open?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do not inquire too closely, Vad Varo,” replied Hovan
-Du. “It should be enough that the great apes make it
-possible for you to restore Valla Dia’s body to her brain
-and escape with her from this terrible place.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is enough,” I replied. “When may we land?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At once. They will help us drag the ship beneath the
-trees and make her fast.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But first we must top the wall to the inner court,” I
-reminded him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, true—I had forgotten that we cannot open the
-gate from this side.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He spoke again, then, to the apes, whom we had not
-yet seen; and then he told us that all was arranged and
-that he and Dar Tarus would return with the ship after
-landing us inside the wall.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again we got under way and rising slowly above the
-outer wall dropped silently to the courtyard beyond.
-The night was unusually dark, clouds having followed
-Thuria and blotted out the stars after the moon had set.
-No one could have seen the ship at a distance of fifty
-feet, and we moved almost without noise. Quietly we
-lowered our prisoners over the side and Gor Hajus and I
-remained with them while Dar Tarus and Hovan Du rose
-again and piloted the ship back to its hiding place.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I moved at once to the gate and, unlatching it, waited.
-I heard nothing. Never, I think, have I endured such
-utter silence. There came no sound from the great pile
-rising behind me, nor any from the dark jungle beyond
-the wall. Dimly I could see the huddled forms of Gor
-Hajus, Xaxa and Sag Or beside me—otherwise I might
-have been alone in the darkness and immensity of space.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It seemed an eternity that I waited there before I
-heard a soft scratching on the panels of the heavy gate.
-I pushed it open and Dar Tarus and Hovan Du stepped
-silently within as I closed and relatched it. No one spoke.
-All had been carefully planned so that there was no need
-of speech. Dar Tarus and I led the way, Gor Hajus and
-Hovan Du brought up the rear with the prisoners. We
-moved directly to the entrance to the tower, found the
-runway and descended to the pits. Every fortune seemed
-with us. We met no one, we had no difficulty in finding
-the vault we sought, and once within we secured the
-door so that we had no fear of interruption—that was
-our first concern—and then I hastened to the spot where
-I had hidden Valla Dia behind the body of a large warrior,
-tucked far back against the wall in a dark corner.
-My heart stood still as I dragged aside the body of the
-warrior, for always had I feared that Ras Thavas, knowing
-my interest in her and guessing the purpose of my
-venture, would cause every chamber and pit to be
-searched and every body to be examined until he found
-her for whom he sought; but my fears had been baseless,
-for there lay the body of Xaxa, the old and wrinkled
-casket of the lovely brain of my beloved, where I had
-hidden it against this very night. Gently I lifted it out
-and bore it to one of the two ersite topped tables. Xaxa,
-standing there bound and gagged, looked on with eyes
-that shot hate and loathing at me and at that hideous
-body to which her brain was so soon to be restored.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As I lifted her to the adjoining slab she tried to wriggle
-from my grasp and hurl herself to the floor, but I
-held her and soon had strapped her securely in place. A
-moment later she was unconscious and the re-transference
-was well under way. Gor Hajus, Sag Or and Hovan
-Du were interested spectators, but to Dar Tarus, who
-stood ready to assist me, it was an old story, for he had
-worked in the laboratory and seen more than enough of
-similar operations. I will not bore you with a description
-of it—it was but a repetition of what I had done many
-times in preparation for this very event.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At last it was completed and my heart fairly stood
-still as I replaced the embalming fluid with Valla Dia’s
-own life blood and saw the color mount to her cheeks
-and her rounded bosom rise and fall to her gentle
-breathing. Then she opened her eyes and looked up into
-mine.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What has happened, Vad Varo?” she asked. “Has
-something gone amiss that you have recalled me so soon,
-or did I not respond to the fluid?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Her eyes wandered past me to the faces of the others
-standing about. “What does it mean?” she asked. “Who
-are these?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I raised her gently in my arms and pointed at the body
-of Xaxa lying deathlike on the ersite slab beside her.
-Valla Dia’s eyes went wide. “It is done?” she cried, and
-clapped her hands to her face and felt of all her features
-and of the soft, delicate contours of her smooth neck;
-and yet she could scarce believe it and asked for a glass
-and I took one from Xaxa’s pocket pouch and handed
-it to her. She looked long into it and the tears commenced
-to roll down her cheeks, and then she looked up
-at me through the mist of them and put her dear
-arms about my neck and drew my face down to hers.
-“My chieftain,” she whispered—that was all. But it was
-enough. For those two words I had risked my life and
-faced unknown dangers, and gladly would I risk my life
-again for that same reward and always, for ever.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Another night had fallen before I had completed the
-restoration of Dar Tarus and Hovan Du. Xaxa, and Sag
-Or and the great ape I left sleeping the deathlike sleep
-of Ras Thavas’ marvelous anaesthetic. The great ape I
-had no intention of restoring, but the others I felt bound
-to return to Phundahl, though Dar Tarus, now resplendent
-in his own flesh and the gorgeous trappings of Sag Or,
-urged me not to inflict them again upon the long suffering
-Phundahlians.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But I have given my word,” I told him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then they must be returned,” he said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Though what I may do afterward is another matter,”
-I added, for there had suddenly occurred to me a bold
-scheme.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I did not tell Dar Tarus what it was nor would I have
-had time, for at the very instant we heard someone without
-trying the door and then we heard voices and presently
-the door was tried again, this time with force. We
-made no noise, but just waited. I hoped that whoever it
-was would go away. The door was very strong and when
-they tried to force it they must soon have realized the
-futility of it because they quickly desisted and we heard
-their voices for only a short time thereafter and then
-they seemed to have gone away.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We must leave,” I said, “before they return.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Strapping the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind them
-and placing gags in their mouths I quickly restored
-them to life, nor ever did I see two less grateful. The
-looks they cast upon me might well have killed could
-looks do that, and with what disgust they viewed one
-another was writ plain in their eyes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Cautiously unbolting the door I opened it very quietly,
-a naked sword in my right hand and Dar Tarus, Gor
-Hajus and Hovan Du ready with theirs at my shoulder,
-and as it swung back it revealed two standing in the corridor
-watching—two of Ras Thavas’ slaves; and one of
-them was Yamdor, his body servant. At sight of us the
-fellow gave a loud cry of recognition and before I could
-leap through the doorway and prevent them, they had
-both turned and were flying up the corridor as fast as
-their feet would carry them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now there was no time to be lost—everything must
-be sacrificed to speed. Without thought of caution or silence
-we hastened through the pits towards the runway
-in the tower; and when we stepped into the inner court
-it was night again, but the farther moon was in the heavens
-and there were no clouds. The result was that we
-were instantly discovered by a sentry, who gave the
-alarm as he ran forward to intercept us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What was a sentry doing in the courtyard of Ras
-Thavas? I could not understand. And what were these?
-A dozen armed warriors were hurrying across the court
-on the heels of the sentry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Toonolians!” shouted Gor Hajus. “The warriors of
-Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Breathlessly we raced for the gate. If we could but
-reach it first! But we were handicapped by our prisoners,
-who held back the moment they discovered how
-they might embarrass us, and so it was that we all met in
-front of the gate. Dar Tarus and Gor Hajus and Hovan
-Du and I put Valla Dia and our prisoners behind us and
-fought the twenty warriors of Toonol with the odds five
-to one against us; but we had more heart in the fight
-than they and perhaps that gave us an advantage,
-though I am sure that Gor Hajus was as ten men himself
-so terrible was the effect of his name alone upon the
-men of Toonol.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Gor Hajus!” cried one, the first to recognize him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, it is Gor Hajus,” replied the assassin. “Prepare
-to meet your ancestors!” and he drove into them like a
-racing propeller, and I was upon his right and Hovan Du
-and Dar Tarus upon his left.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a pretty fight, but it must eventually have gone
-against us, so greatly were we outnumbered, had I not
-thought of the apes and the gate beside us. Working my
-way to it I threw it open and there upon the outside, attracted
-by the noise of the conflict, stood a full dozen of
-the great beasts. I called to Gor Hajus and the others to
-fall back beside the gate, and as the apes rushed in I
-pointed to the Toonolian warriors.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I think the apes were at a loss to know which were
-friends and which were foes, but the Toonolians apprised
-them by attacking them, while we stood aside
-with our points upon the ground. Just a moment we stood
-thus waiting. Then as the apes rushed among the Toonolian
-warriors, we slipped into the darkness of the jungle
-beyond the outer wall and sought our flier. Behind us we
-could hear the growls and the roars of the beasts mingled
-with the shouts and the curses of the men; and the
-sound still rose from the courtyard as we clambered
-aboard the flier and pushed off into the night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As soon as we felt that we were safely escaped from
-the Island of Thavas I removed the gags from the
-mouths of Xaxa and Sag Or and I can tell you that
-I immediately regretted it, for never in my life had I
-been subjected to such horrid abuse as poured from
-the wrinkled old lips of the Jeddara; and it was only
-when I started to gag her again that she promised to
-desist.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My plans were now well laid and they included a
-return to Phundahl since I could not start for Duhor
-with Valla Dia without provisions and fuel; nor could
-I obtain these elsewhere than in Phundahl, since I felt
-that I held the key that would unlock the resources of
-that city to me; whereas all Toonol was in arms against
-us owing to Vobis Kan’s fear of Gor Hajus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So we retraced our way towards Phundahl as secretly
-as we had come, for I had no mind to be apprehended
-before we had gained entrance to the palace of Xaxa.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again we rested over daylight upon the same island
-that had given us sanctuary two days before, and at
-dark we set out upon the last leg of our journey to
-Phundahl. If there had been pursuit we had seen
-naught of it; and that might easily be explained by the
-great extent of the uninhabited marshes across which
-we flew and the far southerly course that we followed
-close above the ground.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As we neared Phundahl I caused Xaxa and Sag Or
-to be again gagged, and further, I had their heads
-bandaged so that none might recognize them; and then
-we sailed straight over the city towards the palace, hoping
-that we would not be discovered and yet ready in
-the event that we should be.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But we came to the hangars on the roof apparently
-unseen and constantly I coached each upon the part
-he was to play. As we were settling slowly to the roof
-Dar Tarus, Hovan Du and Valla Dia quickly bound
-Gor Hajus and me and wrapped our heads in bandages,
-for we had seen below the figures of the hangar guard.
-Had we found the roof unguarded the binding of Gor
-Hajus and me had been unnecessary.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As we dropped nearer one of the guard hailed us.
-“What ship?” he cried.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The royal flier of the Jeddara of Phundahl,” replied
-Dar Tarus, “returning with Xaxa and Sag Or.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The warriors whispered among themselves as we
-dropped nearer and I must confess that I felt a bit
-nervous as to the outcome of our ruse; but they permitted
-us to land without a word and when they saw
-Valla Dia they saluted her after the manner of Barsoom,
-as, with the regal carriage of an empress, she
-descended from the deck of the flier.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Carry the prisoners to my apartments!” she commanded,
-addressing the guard, and with the help of
-Hovan Du and Dar Tarus the four bound and muffled
-figures were carried from the flier down the spiral runway
-to the apartments of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl.
-Here excited slaves hastened to do the bidding of the
-Jeddara. Word must have flown through the palace with
-the speed of light that Xaxa had returned, for almost
-immediately court functionaries began to arrive and be
-announced; but Valla Dia sent word that she would see
-no one for a while. Then she dismissed her slaves, and
-at my suggestion Dar Tarus investigated the apartments
-with a view to finding a safe hiding place for Gor
-Hajus, me, and the prisoners. This he soon found in a
-small antechamber directly off the main apartment of
-the royal suite; the bonds were removed from the
-assassin and myself and together we carried Xaxa and
-Sag Or into the room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The entrance here was furnished with a heavy door
-over which there were hangings that completely hid it.
-I bade Hovan Du, who, like the rest of us, wore Phundahlian
-harness, stand guard before the hangings and let
-no one enter but members of our own party. Gor Hajus
-and I took up our positions just within the hangings
-through which we cut small holes that permitted us to
-see all that went on within the main chamber, for I was
-greatly concerned for Valla Dia’s safety while she posed
-as Xaxa, whom I knew to be both feared and hated
-by her people and therefore always liable to assassination.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia summoned the slaves and bade them admit
-the officials of the court, and as the doors opened fully
-a score of nobles entered. They appeared ill at ease
-and I could guess that they were recalling the episode
-in the temple when they had deserted their Jeddara and
-even hurled her roughly at the feet of the Great Tur,
-but Valla Dia soon put them at their ease.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have summoned you,” she said, “to hear the word
-of Tur. Tur would speak again to his people. Three
-days and three nights have I spent with Tur. His anger
-against Phundahl is great. He bids me summon all the
-higher nobles to the temple after the evening meal to-night,
-and all the priests, and the commanders and dwars
-of the Guard, and as many of the lesser nobles as be
-in the palace; and then shall the people of Phundahl
-hear the word and the law of Tur and all those who
-shall obey shall live and all those who shall not obey
-shall die; and woe be to him who, having been summoned,
-shall not be in the temple this night. I, Xaxa,
-Jeddara of Phundahl, have spoken! Go!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They went and they seemed glad to go. Then Valla
-Dia summoned the odwar of the Guard, who would
-be in our world a general, and she told him to clear
-the palace of every living being from the temple level
-to the roof an hour before the evening meal, nor to permit
-any one to enter the temple or the levels above
-it until the hour appointed for the assembling in the
-temple to hear the word of Tur, excepting however
-those who might be in her own apartments, which were
-not to be entered upon pain of death. She made it all
-very clear and plain and the odwar understood and I
-think he trembled a trifle, for all were in great fear of
-the Jeddara Xaxa; and then he went away and the
-slaves were dismissed and we were alone.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='150' id='Page_150'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XIV<br/> JOHN CARTER</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Half</span> an hour before the evening meal we carried Xaxa
-and Sag Or down the spiral runway and placed them
-in the base of the Great Tur and Gor Hajus and I
-took our places on the upper platform behind the eyes
-and voice of the idol. Valla Dia, Dar Tarus and Hovan
-Du remained in the royal apartments. Our plans were
-well formulated. There was no one between the door
-at the rear of the Great Tur and the flier that lay
-ready on the roof in the event that we were forced
-to flee through any miscarriage of our mad scheme.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The minutes dragged slowly by and darkness fell. The
-time was approaching. We heard the doors of the temple
-open and beyond we saw the great corridor brilliantly
-lighted. It was empty except for two priests who
-stood hesitating nervously in the doorway. Finally one
-of them mustered up sufficient courage to enter and
-switch on the lights. More bravely now they advanced
-and prostrated themselves before the altar of the Great
-Tur. When they arose and looked up into the face of
-the idol I could not resist the temptation to turn those
-huge eyes until they had rolled completely about the
-interior of the chamber and rested again upon the priests;
-but I did not speak and I think the effect of the awful
-silence in the presence of the living god was more impressive
-than would words have been. The two priests
-simply collapsed. They slid to the floor and lay there
-trembling, moaning and supplicating Tur to have mercy
-on them, nor did they rise before the first of the worshippers
-arrived.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thereafter the temple filled rapidly and I could see
-the word of Tur had been well and thoroughly disseminated.
-They came as they had before; but there were
-more this time, and they ranged upon either side of
-the central aisle and there they waited, their eyes
-divided between the doorway and the god. About the
-time that I thought the next scene was about to be
-enacted I let Tur’s eyes travel over the assemblage that
-they might be keyed to the proper pitch for what was
-to follow. They reacted precisely as had the priests,
-falling upon the floor and moaning and supplicating; and
-there they remained until the sounds of bugles announced
-the coming of the Jeddara. Then they rose unsteadily
-to their feet. The great doors swung open and there
-was the carpet and the slaves behind it. As they rolled
-it down towards the altar the bugles sounded louder
-and the head of the royal procession came into view.
-I had ordered it thus to permit of greater pageantry
-than was possible when the doors opened immediately
-upon the head of the procession. My plan permitted
-the audience to see the royal retinue advancing down
-the long corridor and the effect was splendid. First came
-the double rank of nobles and behind these the chariot
-drawn by the two banths, bearing the litter upon which
-reclined Valla Dia. Behind her walked Dar Tarus, but
-all within that room thought they were looking upon
-the Jeddara Xaxa and her favorite, Sag Or. Hovan Du
-walked behind Sag Or and following came the fifty
-young men and the fifty maidens.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The chariot halted before the altar and Valla Dia
-descended and knelt and the voices that had been chanting
-the praises of Xaxa were stilled as the beautiful
-creature extended her hands towards the Great Tur and
-looked up into his face.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We are ready, Master!” she cried. “Speak! We
-await the word of Tur!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A gasp arose from the kneeling assemblage, a gasp
-that ended in a sob. I felt that they were pretty well
-worked up and that everything ought to go off without
-a hitch. I placed the speaking-tube to my lips.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am Tur!” I thundered and the people trembled.
-“I come to pass judgment on the men of Phundahl.
-As you receive my word so shall you prosper or so
-shall you perish. The sins of the people may be atoned
-by two who have sinned most in my sight.” I let the
-eyes of Tur rove about over the audience and then
-brought them to rest upon Valla Dia. “Xaxa, are you
-ready to atone for your sins and for the sins of your
-people?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia bowed her beautiful head. “Thy will is
-law, Master!” she replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And Sag Or,” I continued, “you have sinned. Are
-you prepared to pay?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As Tur shall require,” said Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then it is my will,” I boomed, “that Xaxa and Sag
-Or shall give back to those from whom they stole
-them, the beautiful bodies they now wear; that he from
-whom Sag Or took this body shall become Jeddak of
-Phundahl and High Priest of Tur; and that she from
-whom Xaxa stole her body shall be returned in pomp
-to her native country. I have spoken. Let any who
-would revolt against my word speak now or for ever
-hold his peace.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was no objection voiced. I had felt pretty certain
-that there would not be. I doubt if any god ever
-looked down upon a more subdued and chastened flock.
-As I had talked, Gor Hajus had descended to the base
-of the idol and removed the bonds from the feet and
-legs of Xaxa and Sag Or.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Extinguish the lights!” I commanded. A trembling
-priest did my bidding.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia and Dar Tarus were standing side by side
-before the altar when the lights went out. In the next
-minute they and Gor Hajus must have worked fast, for
-when I heard a low whistle from the interior of the
-idol’s base, the prearranged signal that Gor Hajus had
-finished his work, and ordered the lights on again, there
-stood Xaxa and Sag Or where Valla Dia and Dar Tarus
-had been, and the latter were nowhere in sight. I think
-the dramatic effect of that transformation upon the people
-there was the most stupendous thing I have ever
-seen. There was no cord or gag upon either Xaxa or
-Sag Or, nothing to indicate that they had been brought
-hither by force—no one about who might have so
-brought them. The illusion was perfect—it was a gesture
-of omnipotence that simply staggered the intellect.
-But I wasn’t through.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have heard Xaxa renounce her throne,” I said,
-“and Sag Or submit to the judgment of Tur.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have not renounced my throne!” cried Xaxa. “It
-is all a——”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Silence!” I thundered. “Prepare to greet the new
-Jeddak, Dar Tarus of Phundahl!” I turned my eyes towards
-the great doors and the eyes of the assemblage
-followed mine. They swung open and there stood Dar
-Tarus, resplendent in the trappings of Hora San, the
-long dead Jeddak and high priest, whose bones we had
-robbed in the base of the idol an hour earlier. How
-Dar Tarus had managed to make the change so quickly
-is beyond me, but he had done it and the effect was
-colossal. He looked every inch a Jeddak as he moved
-with slow dignity up the wide aisle along the blue and
-gold and white carpet. Xaxa turned purple with rage.
-“Impostor!” she shrieked. “Seize him! Kill him!” and
-she ran forward to meet him as though she would slay
-him with her bare hands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Take her away,” said Dar Tarus in a quiet voice,
-and at that Xaxa fell foaming to the floor. She shrieked
-and gasped and then lay still—a wicked old woman
-dead of apoplexy. And when Sag Or saw her lying there
-he must have been the first to realize that she was
-dead and that there was now no one to protect him
-from the hatreds that are leveled always at the person
-of a ruler’s favorite. He looked wildly about for an
-instant and then threw himself at the feet of Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You promised to protect me!” he cried.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“None shall harm you,” replied Dar Tarus. “Go your
-way and live in peace.” Then he turned his eyes upward
-towards the face of the Great Tur. “What is thy
-will, Master?” he cried. “Dar Tarus, thy servant, awaits
-thy commands!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I permitted an impressive silence before I replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Let the priests of Tur, the lesser nobles and a certain
-number of the Jeddak’s Guard go forth into the
-city and spread the word of Tur among the people that
-they may know that Tur smiles again upon Phundahl
-and that they have a new Jeddak who stands high in
-the favor of Tur. Let the higher nobles attend presently
-in the chambers that were Xaxa’s and do honor to Valla
-Dia in whose perfect body their Jeddara once ruled
-them, and effect the necessary arrangements for her
-proper return to Duhor, her native city. There also will
-they find two who have served Tur well and these shall
-be accorded the hospitality and friendship of every
-Phundahlian—Gor Hajus of Toonol and Vad Varo of
-Jasoom. Go! and when the last has gone let the temple
-be darkened. I, Tur, have spoken!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia had gone directly to the apartments of the
-former Jeddara and the moment that the lights were
-extinguished Gor Hajus and I joined her. She could
-not wait to hear the outcome of our ruse, and when
-I assured her that there had been no hitch the tears
-came to her eyes for very joy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have accomplished the impossible, my chieftain,”
-she murmured, “and already can I see the hills of
-Duhor and the towers of my native city. Ah, Vad Varo,
-I had not dreamed that life might again hold for me
-such happy prospects. I owe you life and more than
-life.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We were interrupted by the coming of Dar Tarus,
-and with him were Hovan Du and a number of the
-higher nobles. The latter received us pleasantly, though
-I think they were mystified as to just how we were
-linked with the service of their god; nor, I am sure,
-did one of them ever learn. They were frankly delighted
-to be rid of Xaxa; and while they could not
-understand Tur’s purpose in elevating a former warrior
-of the Guard to the throne, yet they were content if
-it served to relieve them from the wrath of their god,
-now a very real and terrible god, since the miracles
-that had been performed in the temple. That Dar Tarus
-had been of a noble family relieved them of embarrassment,
-and I noted that they treated him with great respect.
-I was positive that they would continue to treat
-him so, for he was also high priest and for the first
-time in a hundred years he would bring to the Great
-Tur in the royal Temple the voice of god, for Hovan
-Du had agreed to take service with Dar Tarus, and
-Gor Hajus as well, so that there would never be lacking
-a tongue wherewith Tur might speak. I foresaw
-great possibilities for the reign of Dar Tarus, Jeddak
-of Phundahl.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the meeting held in the apartments of Xaxa it
-was decided that Valla Dia should rest two days in
-Phundahl while a small fleet was preparing to transport
-her to Duhor. Dar Tarus assigned Xaxa’s apartments
-for her use and gave her slaves from different cities
-to attend upon her, all of whom were to be freed and
-returned with Valla Dia to her native land.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was almost dawn before we sought our sleeping
-silks and furs and the sun was high before we awoke.
-Gor Hajus and I breakfasted with Valla Dia, outside
-whose door we had spread our beds that we might not
-leave her unprotected for a moment that it was not
-necessary. We had scarce finished our meal when a messenger
-came from Dar Tarus summoning us to the audience
-chamber, where we found some of the higher
-officers of the court gathered about the throne upon
-which Dar Tarus sat, looking every inch an emperor.
-He greeted us kindly, rising and descending from his
-dais to receive Valla Dia and escort her to one of the
-benches he had placed beside the throne for her and
-for me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is one,” he said to me, “who has come to
-Phundahl over night and now begs audience of the Jeddak—one
-whom I thought you might like to meet
-again,” and he signed to one of his attendants to admit
-the petitioner; and when the doors at the opposite end
-of the room opened I saw Ras Thavas standing there.
-He did not recognize me or Valla Dia or Gor Hajus
-until he was almost at the foot of the throne, and when
-he did he looked puzzled and glanced again quickly at
-Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas of the Tower of Thavas, Toonol,” announced
-an officer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What would Ras Thavas of the Jeddak of Phundahl?”
-asked Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I came seeking audience of Xaxa,” replied Ras
-Thavas, “not knowing of her death or your accession
-until this very morning; but I see Sag Or upon Xaxa’s
-throne and beside him one whom I thought was Xaxa,
-though they tell me Xaxa is dead, and another who
-was my assistant at Thavas and one who is the Assassin
-of Toonol, and I am confused, Jeddak, and do not
-know whether I be among friends or foes.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Speak as though Xaxa still sat upon the throne of
-Phundahl,” Dar Tarus told him, “for though I am Dar
-Tarus, whom you wronged, and not Sag Or, yet need
-you have no fear in the court of Phundahl.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then let me tell you that Vobis Kan, Jeddak of
-Toonol, learning that Gor Hajus had escaped me,
-swore that I had set him free to assassinate him, and
-he sent warriors who took my island and would have
-imprisoned me had I not been warned in time to escape;
-and I came hither to Xaxa to beg her to send
-warriors to drive the men of Toonol from my island
-and restore it to me that I may carry on my scientific
-labors.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus turned to me. “Vad Varo, of all others you
-are most familiar with the work of Ras Thavas. Would
-you see him again restored to his island and his laboratory?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Only on condition that he devote his great skill to
-the amelioration of human suffering,” I replied, “and no
-longer prostitute it to the foul purposes of greed and
-sin.” This led to a discussion which lasted for hours, the
-results of which were of far-reaching significance. Ras
-Thavas agreed to all that I required and Dar Tarus commissioned
-Gor Hajus to head an army against Toonol.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But these matters, while of vast interest to those most
-directly concerned, have no direct bearing upon the
-story of my adventures upon Barsoom, as I had no part
-in them, since upon the second day I boarded a flier
-with Valla Dia and, escorted by a Phundahlian fleet, set
-out towards Duhor. Dar Tarus accompanied us for a
-short distance. When the fleet was stopped at the shore
-of the great marsh he bade us farewell, and was about
-to step to the deck of his own ship and return to Phundahl
-when a shout arose from the deck of one of the
-other ships and word was soon passed that a lookout
-had sighted what appeared to be a great fleet far to the
-south-west. Nor was it long before it became plainly
-visible to us all and equally plain that it was headed for
-Phundahl.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus told me then that as much as he regretted
-it, there seemed nothing to do but return at once to his
-capital with the entire fleet, since he could not spare a
-single ship or man if this proved an enemy fleet, nor could
-Valla Dia or I interpose any objection; and so we
-turned about and sped as rapidly as the slow ships of
-Phundahl permitted back towards the city.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The stranger fleet had sighted us at about the same
-time that we had sighted it, and we saw it change its
-course and bear down upon us; and as it came nearer it
-fell into single file and prepared to encircle us. I was
-standing at Dar Tarus’ side when the colors of the approaching
-fleet became distinguishable and we first
-learned that it was from Helium.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Signal and ask if they come in peace,” directed Dar
-Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We seek word with Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl,”
-came the reply. “The question of peace or war will be
-hers to decide.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tell them that Xaxa is dead and that I, Dar Tarus,
-Jeddak of Phundahl, will receive the commander of Helium’s
-fleet in peace upon the deck of this ship, or that I
-will receive him in war with all my guns. I, Dar Tarus,
-have spoken!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From the bow of a great ship of Helium there broke
-the flag of truce and when Dar Tarus’ ship answered it
-in kind the other drew near and presently we could see
-the men of Helium upon her decks. Slowly the great flier
-came alongside our smaller ship and when the two had
-been made fast a party of officers boarded us. They were
-fine looking men, and at their head was one whom I
-recognized immediately though I never before had laid
-eyes upon him. I think he was the most impressive figure
-I have ever seen as he advanced slowly across the
-deck towards us—John Carter, Prince of Helium, Warlord
-of Barsoom.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dar Tarus,” he said, “John Carter greets you and in
-peace, though it had been different, I think, had Xaxa
-still reigned.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You came to war upon Xaxa?” asked Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We came to right a wrong,” replied the Warlord.
-“But from what we know of Xaxa that could have been
-done only by force.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What wrong has Phundahl done Helium?” demanded
-Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The wrong was against one of your own people—even
-against you in person.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not understand,” said Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is one aboard my ship who may be able to
-explain to you, Dar Tarus,” replied John Carter, with a
-smile. He turned and spoke to one of his aides in a
-whisper, and the man saluted and returned to the deck
-of his own ship. “You shall see with your own eyes, Dar
-Tarus.” Suddenly his eyes narrowed. “This is indeed Dar
-Tarus who was a warrior of the Jeddara’s Guard and
-supposedly assassinated by her command?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is,” replied Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I must be certain,” said the Warlord.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is no question about it, John Carter,” I spoke
-up in English.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His eyes went wide, and when they fell upon me and he
-noted my lighter skin, from which the dye was wearing
-away, he stepped forward and held out his hand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A countryman?” he asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, an American,” I replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I was almost surprised,” he said. “Yet why should I
-be? I have crossed—there is no reason why others
-should not. And you have accomplished it! You must
-come to Helium with me and tell me all about it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Further conversation was interrupted by the return of
-the aide, who brought a young woman with him. At
-sight of her Dar Tarus uttered a cry of joy and sprang
-forward, and I did not need to be told that this was Kara
-Vasa.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There is little more to tell that might not bore you in
-the telling—of how John Carter himself took Valla Dia
-and me to Duhor after attending the nuptials of Dar
-Tarus and Kara Vasa; and of the great surprise that
-awaited me in Duhor, where I learned for the first time
-that Kor San, Jeddak of Duhor, was the father of Valla
-Dia; and of the honors and the great riches that he
-heaped upon me when Valla Dia and I were wed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>John Carter was present at the wedding and we initiated
-upon Barsoom a good old American custom, for the
-Warlord acted as best man; and then he insisted that we
-follow that up with a honeymoon and bore us off to
-Helium, where I am writing this.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Even now it seems like a dream that I can look out of
-my window and see the scarlet and the yellow towers of
-the twin cities of Helium; that I have met, and see daily,
-Cathoris, Thuvia of Ptarth, Tara of Helium, Gahan of
-Gathol and that peerless creature, Dejah Thoris, Princess
-of Mars. Though to me, beautiful as she is, there is
-another even more beautiful—Valla Dia, Princess of Duhor—Mrs.
-Ulysses Paxton.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>TRANSCRIBER NOTES</p>
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-printer errors occur.</p>
-
-<p class='line'> </p>
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diff --git a/old/69703-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/69703-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 144d1ea..0000000 --- a/old/69703-h/images/cover.jpg +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/69703-h/images/cover.jpg~ b/old/69703-h/images/cover.jpg~ Binary files differdeleted file mode 100644 index 144d1ea..0000000 --- a/old/69703-h/images/cover.jpg~ +++ /dev/null diff --git a/old/old/69703-0.txt b/old/old/69703-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index c413b56..0000000 --- a/old/old/69703-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5973 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The master mind of Mars, by Edgar Rice -Burroughs - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The master mind of Mars - -Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs - -Release Date: January 4, 2023 [eBook #69703] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Al Haines, Cindy Beyer & the online Distributed - Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER MIND OF MARS *** - - - - - - - - [Cover Illustration] - - - - - BATTLE DAMAGE - - Dar Tarus called in alarm, “We can’t alter our course—the ship - is useless!” - - Almost at the same instant, one of my bullets found and - extinguished the enemy searchlight. Our craft was out of - control, running swiftly toward a collision with the Toonolian - flyer. - - I asked Dar Tarus if our ship was beyond repair. His reply was - that it would take hours—in which time the whole Toonolian air - patrol would be upon us. - - “Then we must have another ship!” I said. I pointed at the enemy - craft. “We shall not have to look far.” - - Dar Tarus shrugged. “Why not? It would be a glorious fight . . . - and a worthy death!” - - - - - Edgar Rice Burroughs - MARS NOVELS - - A PRINCESS OF MARS (#1) - THE GODS OF MARS (#2) - THE WARLORD OF MARS (#3) - THUVIA, MAID OF MARS (#4) - THE CHESSMEN OF MARS (#5) - THE MASTER MIND OF MARS (#6) - A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS (#7) - SWORDS OF MARS (#8) - SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS (#9) - LLANA OF GATHOL (#10) - JOHN CARTER OF MARS (#11) - - - - - THE - MASTER MIND - OF MARS - - - Edgar Rice Burroughs - - - - - - _The Master Mind of Mars_ was first published in _Amazing - Stories Annual_ magazine, Volume I, number 1 on July 15, 1927. - - Copyright © 1927 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. - - ISBN 0-345-33424-8 - - - - - C O N T E N T S - - CHAPTER PAGE - A Letter 7 - - I The House of the Dead 10 - - II Preferment 20 - - III Valla Dia 28 - - IV The Compact 42 - - V Danger 53 - - VI Suspicions 61 - - VII Escape 72 - - VIII Hands Up! 81 - - IX The Palace of Mu Tel 92 - - X Phundahl 106 - - XI Xaxa 116 - - XII The Great Tur 129 - - XIII Back to Thavas 140 - - XIV John Carter 150 - - - - - A LETTER - - - HELIUM, June 8th, 1925 -MY DEAR MR. BURROUGHS: - -It was in the Fall of nineteen seventeen at an officers’ training camp -that I first became acquainted with John Carter, War Lord of Barsoom, -through the pages of your novel “A Princess of Mars.” The story made a -profound impression upon me and while my better judgment assured me that -it was but a highly imaginative piece of fiction, a suggestion of the -verity of it pervaded my inner consciousness to such an extent that I -found myself dreaming of Mars and John Carter, of Dejah Thoris, of Tars -Tarkas and of Woola as if they had been entities of my own experience -rather than the figments of your imagination. - -It is true that in those days of strenuous preparation there was little -time for dreaming, yet there were brief moments before sleep claimed me -at night and these were my dreams. Such dreams! Always of Mars, and -during my waking hours at night my eyes always sought out the Red Planet -when he was above the horizon and clung there seeking a solution of the -seemingly unfathomable riddle he has presented to the Earthman for ages. - -Perhaps the thing became an obsession. I know it clung to me all during -my training camp days, and at night, on the deck of the transport, I -would lie on my back gazing up into the red eye of the god of battle—my -god—and wishing that, like John Carter, I might be drawn across the -great void to the haven of my desire. - -And then came the hideous days and nights in the trenches—the rats, the -vermin, the mud—with an occasional glorious break in the monotony when -we were ordered over the top. I loved it then and I loved the bursting -shells, the mad, wild chaos of the thundering guns, but the rats and the -vermin and the mud—God! how I hated them. It sounds like boasting, I -know, and I am sorry; but I wanted to write you just the truth about -myself. I think you will understand. And it may account for much that -happened afterwards. - -There came at last to me what had come to so many others upon those -bloody fields. It came within the week that I had received my first -promotion and my captaincy, of which I was greatly proud, though humbly -so; realizing as I did my youth, the great responsibility that it placed -upon me as well as the opportunities it offered, not only in service to -my country but, in a personal way, to the men of my command. We had -advanced a matter of two kilometers and with a small detachment I was -holding a very advanced position when I received orders to fall back to -the new line. That is the last that I remember until I regained -consciousness after dark. A shell must have burst among us. What became -of my men I never knew. It was cold and very dark when I awoke and at -first, for an instant, I was quite comfortable—before I was fully -conscious, I imagine—and then I commenced to feel pain. It grew until -it seemed unbearable. It was in my legs. I reached down to feel them, -but my hand recoiled from what it found, and when I tried to move my -legs I discovered that I was dead from the waist down. Then the moon -came out from behind a cloud and I saw that I lay within a shell hole -and that I was not alone—the dead were all about me. - -It was a long time before I found the moral courage and the physical -strength to draw myself up upon one elbow that I might view the havoc -that had been done me. One look was enough, I sank back in an agony of -mental and physical anguish—my legs had been blown away from midway -between the hips and knees. For some reason I was not bleeding -excessively, yet I know that I had lost a great deal of blood and that I -was gradually losing enough to put me out of my misery in a short time -if I were not soon found; and as I lay there on my back, tortured with -pain, I prayed that they would not come in time, for I shrank more from -the thought of going maimed through life than I shrank from the thought -of death. Then my eyes suddenly focussed upon the bright red eye of Mars -and there surged through me a sudden wave of hope. I stretched out my -arms towards Mars, I did not seem to question or to doubt for an instant -as I prayed to the god of my vocation to reach forth and succour me. I -knew that he would do it, my faith was complete, and yet so great was -the mental effort that I made to throw off the hideous bonds of my -mutilated flesh that I felt a momentary qualm of nausea and then a sharp -click as of the snapping of a steel wire, and suddenly I stood naked -upon two good legs looking down upon the bloody, distorted thing that -had been I. Just for an instant did I stand thus before I turned my eyes -aloft again to my star of destiny and with outstretched arms stand there -in the cold of that French night—waiting. - -Suddenly I felt myself drawn with the speed of thought through the -trackless wastes of interplanetary space. There was an instant of -extreme cold and utter darkness, then—— - -But the rest is in the manuscript that, with the aid of one greater than -either of us, I have found the means to transmit to you with this -letter. You and a few others of the chosen will believe in it—for the -rest it matters not as yet. The time will come—but why tell you what -you already know? - -My salutations and my congratulations—the latter on your good fortune -in having been chosen as the medium through which Earthmen shall become -better acquainted with the manners and customs of Barsoom, against the -time that they shall pass through space as easily as John Carter, and -visit the scenes that he has described to them through you, as have I. - - Your sincere friend, - ULYSSES PAXTON, - _Late Captain, ——th Inf., U.S. Army_. - - - - - CHAPTER I - THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD - - -I must have closed my eyes involuntarily during the transition for when -I opened them I was lying flat on my back gazing up into a brilliant, -sun-lit sky, while standing a few feet from me and looking down upon me -with the most mystified expression was as strange a looking individual -as my eyes ever had rested upon. He appeared to be quite an old man, for -he was wrinkled and withered beyond description. His limbs were -emaciated; his ribs showed distinctly beneath his shrunken hide; his -cranium was large and well developed, which, in conjunction with his -wasted limbs and torso, lent him the appearance of top heaviness, as -though he had a head beyond all proportion to his body, which was, I am -sure, really not the case. - -As he stared down upon me through enormous, many lensed spectacles I -found the opportunity to examine him as minutely in return. He was, -perhaps, five feet five in height, though doubtless he had been taller -in youth, since he was somewhat bent; he was naked except for some -rather plain and well-worn leather harness which supported his weapons -and pocket pouches, and one great ornament, a collar, jewel studded, -that he wore around his scraggy neck—such a collar as a dowager empress -of pork or real estate might barter her soul for, if she had one. His -skin was red, his scant locks grey. As he looked at me his puzzled -expression increased in intensity, he grasped his chin between the thumb -and fingers of his left hand and slowly raising his right hand he -scratched his head most deliberately. Then he spoke to me, but in a -language I did not understand. - -At his first words I sat up and shook my head. Then I looked about me. I -was seated upon a crimson sward within a high walled enclosure, at least -two, and possibly three, sides of which were formed by the outer walls -of a structure that in some respects resembled more closely a feudal -castle of Europe than any familiar form of architecture that comes to my -mind. The façade presented to my view was ornately carved and of most -irregular design, the roof line being so broken as to almost suggest a -ruin, and yet the whole seemed harmonious and not without beauty. Within -the enclosure grew a number of trees and shrubs, all weirdly strange and -all, or almost all, profusely flowering. About them wound walks of -coloured pebbles among which scintillated what appeared to be rare and -beautiful gems, so lovely were the strange, unearthly rays that leaped -and played in the sunshine. - -The old man spoke again, peremptorily this time, as though repeating a -command that had been ignored, but again I shook my head. Then he laid a -hand upon one of his two swords, but as he drew the weapon I leaped to -my feet, with such remarkable results that I cannot even now say which -of us was the more surprised. I must have sailed ten feet into the air -and back about twenty feet from where I had been sitting; then I was -sure that I was upon Mars (not that I had for one instant doubted it), -for the effects of the lesser gravity, the colour of the sward and the -skin-hue of the red Martians I had seen described in the manuscripts of -John Carter, those marvellous and as yet unappreciated contributions to -the scientific literature of a world. There could be no doubt of it, I -stood upon the soil of the Red Planet, I had come to the world of my -dreams—to Barsoom. - -So startled was the old man by my agility that he jumped a bit himself, -though doubtless involuntarily, but, however, with certain results. His -spectacles tumbled from his nose to the sward, and then it was that I -discovered that the pitiful old wretch was practically blind when -deprived of these artificial aids to vision, for he got to his knees and -commenced to grope frantically for the lost glasses, as though his very -life depended upon finding them in the instant. Possibly he thought that -I might take advantage of his helplessness and slay him. Though the -spectacles were enormous and lay within a couple of feet of him he could -not find them, his hands, seemingly afflicted by that strange perversity -that sometimes confounds our simplest acts, passing all about the lost -object of their search, yet never once coming in contact with it. - -As I stood watching his futile efforts and considering the advisability -of restoring to him the means that would enable him more readily to find -my heart with his sword point, I became aware that another had entered -the enclosure. Looking towards the building I saw a large red-man -running rapidly towards the little old man of the spectacles. The -newcomer was quite naked, he carried a club in one hand, and there was -upon his face such an expression as unquestionably boded ill for the -helpless husk of humanity grovelling, mole-like, for its lost -spectacles. - -My first impulse was to remain neutral in an affair that it seemed could -not possibly concern me and of which I had no slightest knowledge upon -which to base a predilection towards either of the parties involved; but -a second glance at the face of the club-bearer aroused a question as to -whether it might not concern me after all. There was that in the -expression upon the man’s face that betokened either an inherent -savageness of disposition or a maniacal cast of mind which might turn -his evidently murderous attentions upon me after he had dispatched his -elderly victim, while, in outward appearance at least, the latter was a -sane and relatively harmless individual. It is true that his move to -draw his sword against me was not indicative of a friendly disposition -towards me, but at least, if there were any choice, he seemed the lesser -of two evils. - -He was still groping for his spectacles and the naked man was almost -upon him as I reached the decision to cast my lot upon the side of the -old man. I was twenty feet away, naked and unarmed, but to cover the -distance with my Earthly muscles required but an instant, and a naked -sword lay by the old man’s side where he had discarded it the better to -search for his spectacles. So it was that I faced the attacker at the -instant that he came within striking distance of his victim, and the -blow which had been intended for another was aimed at me. I sidestepped -it and then I learned that the greater agility of my Earthly muscles had -its disadvantages as well as its advantages, for, indeed, I had to learn -to walk at the very instant that I had to learn to fight with a new -weapon against a maniac armed with a bludgeon, or at least, so I assumed -him to be and I think that it is not strange that I should have done so, -what with his frightful show of rage and the terrible expression upon -his face. - -As I stumbled about endeavouring to accustom myself to the new -conditions, I found that instead of offering any serious opposition to -my antagonist I was hard put to it to escape death at his hands, so -often did I stumble and fall sprawling upon the scarlet sward; so that -the duel from its inception became but a series of efforts, upon his -part to reach and crush me with his great club, and upon mine to dodge -and elude him. It was mortifying but it is the truth. However, this did -not last indefinitely, for soon I learned, and quickly too under the -exigencies of the situation, to command my muscles, and then I stood my -ground and when he aimed a blow at me, and I had dodged it, I touched -him with my point and brought blood along with a savage roar of pain. He -went more cautiously then, and taking advantage of the change I pressed -him so that he fell back. The effect upon me was magical, giving me new -confidence, so that I set upon him in good earnest, thrusting and -cutting until I had him bleeding in a half-dozen places, yet taking good -care to avoid his mighty swings, any one of which would have felled an -ox. - -In my attempts to elude him in the beginning of the duel we had crossed -the enclosure and were now fighting at a considerable distance from the -point of our first meeting. It now happened that I stood facing towards -that point at the moment that the old man regained his spectacles, which -he quickly adjusted to his eyes. Immediately he looked about until he -discovered us, whereupon he commenced to yell excitedly at us at the -same time running in our direction and drawing his short-sword as he -ran. The red-man was pressing me hard, but I had gained almost complete -control of myself, and fearing that I was soon to have two antagonists -instead of one I set upon him with redoubled intensity. He missed me by -the fraction of an inch, the wind in the wake of his bludgeon fanning my -scalp, but he left an opening into which I stepped, running my sword -fairly through his heart. At least I thought that I had pierced his -heart, but I had forgotten what I had once read in one of John Carter’s -manuscripts to the effect that all the Martian internal organs are not -disposed identically with those of Earthmen. However, the immediate -results were quite as satisfactory as though I had found his heart, for -the wound was sufficiently grievous to place him _hors de combat_, and -at that instant the old gentleman arrived. He found me ready, but I had -mistaken his intentions. He made no unfriendly gestures with his weapon, -but seemed to be trying to convince me that he had no intention of -harming me. He was very excited and apparently tremendously annoyed that -I could not understand him, and perplexed, too. He hopped about -screaming strange sentences at me that bore the tones of peremptory -commands, rabid invective and impotent rage. But the fact that he had -returned his sword to its scabbard had greater significance than all his -jabbering, and when he ceased to yell at me and commenced to talk in a -sort of pantomime I realized that he was making overtures of peace if -not of friendship, so I lowered my point and bowed. It was all that I -could think of to assure him that I had no immediate intention of -spitting him. - -He seemed satisfied and at once turned his attention to the fallen man. -He examined his pulse and listened to his heart, then, nodding his head, -he arose and taking a whistle from one of his pocket pouches sounded a -single loud blast. There emerged immediately from one of the surrounding -buildings a score of naked red-men who came running towards us. None was -armed. To these he issued a few curt orders, whereupon they gathered the -fallen one in their arms and bore him off. Then the old man started -towards the building, motioning me to accompany him. There seemed -nothing else for me to do but obey. Wherever I might be upon Mars, the -chances were a million to one that I would be among enemies; and so I -was as well off here as elsewhere and must depend upon my own -resourcefulness, skill and agility to make my way upon the Red Planet. - -The old man led me into a small chamber from which opened numerous -doors, through one of which they were just bearing my late antagonist. -We followed into a large, brilliantly lighted chamber wherein there -burst upon my astounded vision the most gruesome scene that I ever had -beheld. Rows upon rows of tables arranged in parallel lines filled the -room and with few exceptions each table bore a similar grisly burden, a -partially dismembered or otherwise mutilated human corpse. Above each -table was a shelf bearing containers of various sizes and shapes, while -from the bottom of the shelf depended numerous surgical instruments, -suggesting that my entrance upon Barsoom was to be through a gigantic -medical college. - -At a word from the old man, those who bore the Barsoomian I had wounded -laid him upon an empty table and left the apartment. Whereupon my host, -if so I may call him, for certainly he was not as yet my captor, -motioned me forward. While he conversed in ordinary tones, he made two -incisions in the body of my late antagonist; one, I imagine, in a large -vein and one in an artery, to which he deftly attached the ends of two -tubes, one of which was connected with an empty glass receptacle and the -other with a similar receptacle filled with a colourless, transparent -liquid resembling clear water. The connections made, the old gentleman -pressed a button controlling a small motor, whereupon the victim’s blood -was pumped into the empty jar while the contents of the other was forced -into the emptying veins and arteries. - -The tones and gestures of the old man as he addressed me during this -operation convinced me that he was explaining in detail the method and -purpose of what was transpiring, but as I understood no word of all he -said I was as much in the dark when he had completed his discourse as I -was before he started it, though what I had seen made it appear -reasonable to believe that I was witnessing an ordinary Barsoomian -embalming. Having removed the tubes the old man closed the openings he -had made by covering them with bits of what appeared to be heavy -adhesive tape and then motioned me to follow him. We went from room to -room, in each of which were the same gruesome exhibits. At many of the -bodies the old man paused to make a brief examination or to refer to -what appeared to be a record of the case, that hung upon a hook at the -head of each of the tables. - -From the last of the chambers we visited upon the first floor my host -led me up an inclined runway to the second floor where there were rooms -similar to those below, but here the tables bore whole rather than -mutilated bodies, all of which were patched in various places with -adhesive tape. As we were passing among the bodies in one of these rooms -a Barsoomian girl, whom I took to be a servant or slave, entered and -addressed the old man, whereupon he signed me to follow him and together -we descended another runway to the first floor of another building. - -Here, in a large, gorgeously decorated and sumptuously furnished -apartment an elderly red-woman awaited us. She appeared to be quite old -and her face was terribly disfigured as by some injury. Her trappings -were magnificent and she was attended by a score of women and armed -warriors, suggesting that she was a person of some consequence, but the -little old man treated her quite brusquely, as I could see, quite to the -horror of her attendants. - -Their conversation was lengthy and at the conclusion of it, at the -direction of the woman, one of her male escort advanced and opening a -pocket pouch at his side withdrew a handful of what appeared to me to be -Martian coins. A quantity of these he counted out and handed to the -little old man, who then beckoned the woman to follow him, a gesture -which included me. Several of her women and guard started to accompany -us, but these the old man waved back peremptorily; whereupon there -ensued a heated discussion between the woman and one of her warriors on -one side and the old man on the other, which terminated in his -proffering the return of the woman’s money with a disgusted air. This -seemed to settle the argument, for she refused the coins, spoke briefly -to her people and accompanied the old man and myself alone. - -He led the way to the second floor and to a chamber which I had not -previously visited. It closely resembled the others except that all the -bodies therein were of young women, many of them of great beauty. -Following closely at the heels of the old man the woman inspected the -gruesome exhibit with painstaking care. Thrice she passed slowly among -the tables examining their ghastly burdens. Each time she paused longest -before a certain one which bore the figure of the most beautiful -creature I had ever looked upon; then she returned the fourth time to it -and stood looking long and earnestly into the dead face. For awhile she -stood there talking with the old man, apparently asking innumerable -questions, to which he returned quick, brusque replies, then she -indicated the body with a gesture and nodded assent to the withered -keeper of this ghastly exhibit. - -Immediately the old fellow sounded a blast upon his whistle, summoning a -number of servants to whom he issued brief instructions, after which he -led us to another chamber, a smaller one in which were several empty -tables similar to those upon which the corpses lay in adjoining rooms. -Two female slaves or attendants were in this room and at a word from -their master they removed the trappings from the old woman, unloosed her -hair and helped her to one of the tables. Here she was thoroughly -sprayed with what I presume was an antiseptic solution of some nature, -carefully dried and removed to another table, at a distance of about -twenty inches from which stood a second parallel table. - -Now the door of the chamber swung open and two attendants appeared -bearing the body of the beautiful girl we had seen in the adjoining -room. This they deposited upon the table the old woman had just quitted -and as she had been sprayed so was the corpse, after which it was -transferred to the table beside that on which she lay. The little old -man now made two incisions in the body of the old woman, just as he had -in the body of the red-man who had fallen to my sword; her blood was -drawn from her veins and the clear liquid pumped into them, life left -her and she lay upon the polished ersite slab that formed the table top, -as much a corpse as the poor, beautiful, dead creature at her side. - -The little old man, who had removed the harness down to his waist and -been thoroughly sprayed, now selected a sharp knife from among the -instruments above the table and removed the old woman’s scalp, following -the hair line entirely around her head. In a similar manner he then -removed the scalp from the corpse of the young woman, after which, by -means of a tiny circular saw attached to the end of a flexible, -revolving shaft he sawed through the skull of each, following the line -exposed by the removal of the scalps. This and the balance of the -marvellous operation was so skilfully performed as to baffle -description. Suffice it to say that at the end of four hours he had -transferred the brain of each woman to the brain pan of the other, -deftly connected the severed nerves and ganglia, replaced the skulls and -scalps and bound both heads securely with his peculiar adhesive tape, -which was not only antiseptic and healing but anaesthetic, locally, as -well. - -He now reheated the blood that he had withdrawn from the body of the old -woman, adding a few drops of some clear chemical solution, withdrew the -liquid from the veins of the beautiful corpse, replacing it with the -blood of the old woman and simultaneously administering a hypodermic -injection. - -During the entire operation he had not spoken a word. Now he issued a -few instructions in his curt manner to his assistants, motioned me to -follow him, and left the room. He led me to a distant part of the -building or series of buildings that composed the whole, ushered me into -a luxurious apartment, opened the door to a Barsoomian bath and left me -in the hands of trained servants. Refreshed and rested I left the bath -after an hour of relaxation to find harness and trappings awaiting me in -the adjoining chamber. Though plain, they were of good material, but -there were no weapons with them. - -Naturally I had been thinking much upon the strange things I had -witnessed since my advent upon Mars, but what puzzled me most lay in the -seemingly inexplicable act of the old woman in paying my host what was -evidently a considerable sum to murder her and transfer to the inside of -her skull the brain of a corpse. Was it the outcome of some horrible -religious fanaticism, or was there an explanation that my Earthly mind -could not grasp? - -I had reached no decision in the matter when I was summoned to follow a -slave to another and nearby apartment where I found my host awaiting me -before a table loaded with delicious foods, to which, it is needless to -say, I did ample justice after my long fast and longer weeks of rough -army fare. - -During the meal my host attempted to converse with me, but, naturally, -the effort was fruitless of results. He waxed quite excited at times and -upon three distinct occasions laid his hand upon one of his swords when -I failed to comprehend what he was saying to me, an action which -resulted in a growing conviction upon my part that he was partially -demented; but he evinced sufficient self-control in each instance to -avert a catastrophe for one of us. - -The meal over he sat for a long time in deep meditation, then a sudden -resolution seemed to possess him. He turned suddenly upon me with a -faint suggestion of a smile and dove headlong into what was to prove an -intensive course of instruction in the Barsoomian language. It was long -after dark before he permitted me to retire for the night, conducting me -himself to a large apartment, the same in which I had found my new -harness, where he pointed out a pile of rich sleeping silks and furs, -bid me a Barsoomian good night and left me, locking the door after him -upon the outside, and leaving me to guess whether I were more guest or -prisoner. - - - - - CHAPTER II - PREFERMENT - - -Three weeks passed rapidly. I had mastered enough of the Barsoomian -tongue to enable me to converse with my host in a reasonably -satisfactory manner, and I was also progressing slowly in the mastery of -the written language of his nation, which is different, of course, from -the written language of all other Barsoomian nations, though the spoken -language of all is identical. In these three weeks I had learned much of -the strange place in which I was half guest and half prisoner and of my -remarkable host-jailer, Ras Thavas, the old surgeon of Toonol, whom I -had accompanied almost constantly day after day until gradually there -had unfolded before my astounded faculties an understanding of the -purposes of the institution over which he ruled and in which he laboured -practically alone; for the slaves and attendants that served him were -but hewers of wood and carriers of water. It was his brain alone and his -skill that directed the sometimes beneficent, the sometimes malevolent, -but always marvellous activities of his life’s work. - -Ras Thavas himself was as remarkable as the things he accomplished. He -was never intentionally cruel; he was not, I am sure, intentionally -wicked. He was guilty of the most diabolical cruelties and the basest of -crimes; yet in the next moment he might perform a deed that if -duplicated upon Earth would have raised him to the highest pinnacle of -man’s esteem. Though I know that I am safe in saying that he was never -prompted to a cruel or criminal act by base motives, neither was he ever -urged to a humanitarian one by high motives. He had a purely scientific -mind entirely devoid of the cloying influences of sentiment, of which he -possessed none. His was a practical mind, as evidenced by the enormous -fees he demanded for his professional services; yet I know that he would -not operate for money alone and I have seen him devote days to the study -of a scientific problem the solution of which could add nothing to his -wealth, while the quarters that he furnished his waiting clients were -overflowing with wealthy patrons waiting to pour money into his coffers. - -His treatment of me was based entirely upon scientific requirements. I -offered a problem. I was either, quite evidently, not a Barsoomian at -all, or I was of a species of which he had no knowledge. It therefore -best suited the purposes of science that I be preserved and studied. I -knew much about my own planet. It pleased Ras Thavas’ scientific mind to -milk me of all I knew in the hope that he might derive some suggestion -that would solve one of the Barsoomian scientific riddles that still -baffle their savants; but he was compelled to admit that in this respect -I was a total loss, not alone because I was densely ignorant upon -practically all scientific subjects, but because the learned sciences on -Earth have not advanced even to the swaddling-clothes stage as compared -with the remarkable progress of corresponding activities on Mars. Yet he -kept me by him, training me in many of the minor duties of his vast -laboratory. I was entrusted with the formula of the “embalming fluid” -and taught how to withdraw a subject’s blood and replace it with this -marvellous preservative that arrests decay without altering in the -minutest detail the nerve or tissue structure of the body. I learned -also the secret of the few drops of solution which, added to the -rewarmed blood before it is returned to the veins of the subject, -revitalizes the latter and restores to normal and healthy activity each -and every organ of the body. - -He told me once why he had permitted me to learn these things that he -had kept a secret from all others, and why he kept me with him at all -times in preference to any of the numerous individuals of his own race -that served him and me in lesser capacities both day and night. - -“Vad Varo,” he said, using the Barsoomian name that he had given me -because he insisted that my own name was meaningless and impractical, -“for many years I have needed an assistant, but heretofore I have never -felt that I had discovered one who might work here for me wholeheartedly -and disinterestedly without ever having reason to go elsewhere or to -divulge my secrets to others. You, in all Barsoom, are unique—you have -no other friend or acquaintance than myself. Were you to leave me you -would find yourself in a world of enemies, for all are suspicious of a -stranger. You would not survive a dozen dawns and you would be cold and -hungry and miserable—a wretched outcast in a hostile world. Here you -have every luxury that the mind of man can devise or the hand of man -produce, and you are occupied with work of such engrossing interest that -your every hour must be fruitful of unparalleled satisfaction. There is -no selfish reason, therefore, why you should leave me and there is every -reason why you should remain. I expect no loyalty other than that which -may be prompted by egoism. You make an ideal assistant, not only for the -reasons I have just given you, but because you are intelligent and -quick-witted, and now I have decided, after observing you carefully for -a sufficient time, that you can serve me in yet another capacity—that -of personal bodyguard. - -“You may have noticed that I alone of all those connected with my -laboratory am armed. This is unusual upon Barsoom, where people of all -classes, and all ages and both sexes habitually go armed. But many of -these people I could not trust armed as they would slay me; and were I -to give arms to those whom I might trust, who knows but that the others -would obtain possession of them and slay me, or even those whom I had -trusted turn against me, for there is not one who might not wish to go -forth from this place back among his own people—only you, Vad Varo, for -there is no other place for you to go. So I have decided to give you -weapons. - -“You saved my life once. A similar opportunity might again present -itself. I know that, being a reasoning and reasonable creature, you will -not slay me, for you have nothing to gain and everything to lose by my -death, which would leave you friendless and unprotected in a world of -strangers where assassination is the order of society and natural death -one of the rarest of phenomena. Here are your arms.” He stepped to a -cabinet which he unlocked, displaying an assortment of weapons, and -selected for me a long-sword, a short-sword, a pistol and a dagger. - -“You seem sure of my loyalty, Ras Thavas,” I said. - -He shrugged his shoulders. “I am only sure that I know perfectly where -your interests lie—sentimentalists have words: love, loyalty, -friendship, enmity, jealousy, hate, a thousand others; a waste of -words—one word defines them all: self-interest. All men of intelligence -realize this. They analyse an individual and by his predilections and -his needs they classify him as friend or foe, leaving to the weak-minded -idiots who like to be deceived the drooling drivel of sentiment.” - -I smiled as I buckled my weapons to my harness, but I held my peace. -Nothing could be gained by arguing with the man and, too, I felt quite -sure that in any purely academic controversy I should get the worst of -it; but many of the matters of which he had spoken had aroused my -curiosity and one had reawakened in my mind a matter to which I had -given considerable thought. While partially explained by some of his -remarks I still wondered why the red-man from whom I had rescued him had -seemed so venomously bent upon slaying him the day of my advent upon -Barsoom, and so, as we sat chatting after our evening meal, I asked him. - -“A sentimentalist,” he said. “A sentimentalist of the most pronounced -type. Why that fellow hated me with a venom absolutely unbelievable by -any of the reactions of a trained, analytical mind such as mine; but -having witnessed his reactions I become cognizant of a state of mind -that I cannot of myself even imagine. Consider the facts. He was the -victim of assassination—a young warrior in the prime of life, -possessing a handsome face and a splendid physique. One of my agents -paid his relatives a satisfactory sum for the corpse and brought it to -me. It is thus that I obtain practically all of my material. I treated -it in the manner with which you are familiar. For a year the body lay in -the laboratory, there being no occasion during that time that I had use -for it; but eventually a rich client came, a not overly prepossessing -man of considerable years. He had fallen desperately in love with a -young woman who was attended by many handsome suitors. My client had -more money than any of them, more brains, more experience, but he lacked -the one thing that each of the others had that always weighs heavily -with the undeveloped, unreasoning, sentiment-ridden minds of young -females—good looks. - -“Now 378-J-493811-P had what my client lacked and could afford to -purchase. Quickly we reached an agreement as to price and I transferred -the brain of my rich client to the head of 378-J-493811-P and my client -went away and for all I know won the hand of the beautiful moron; and -378-J-493811-P might have rested on indefinitely upon his ersite slab -until I needed him or a part of him in my work, had I not, merely by -chance, selected him for resurgence because of an existing need for -another male slave. - -“Mind you now, the man had been murdered. He was dead. I bought and paid -for the corpse and all there was in it. He might have lain dead forever -upon one of my ersite slabs had I not breathed new life into his dead -veins. Did he have the brains to view the transaction in a wise and -dispassionate manner? He did not. His sentimental reactions caused him -to reproach me because I had given him another body, though it seemed to -me that, looking at the matter from a standpoint of sentiment, if one -must, he should have considered me as a benefactor for having given him -life again in a perfectly healthy, if somewhat used, body. - -“He had spoken to me upon the subject several times, begging me to -restore his body to him, a thing of which, of course, as I explained to -him, was utterly out of the question unless chance happened to bring to -my laboratory the corpse of the client who had purchased his carcass—a -contingency quite beyond the pale of possibility for one as wealthy as -my client. The fellow even suggested that I permit him to go forth and -assassinate my client, bringing the body back that I might reverse the -operation and restore his body to his brain. When I refused to divulge -the name of the present possessor of his body he grew sulky, but until -the very hour of your arrival, when he attacked me, I did not suspect -the depth of his hate complex. - -“Sentiment is indeed a bar to all progress. We of Toonol are probably -less subject to its vagaries than most other nations upon Barsoom, but -yet most of my fellow countrymen are victims of it in varying degrees. -It has its rewards and compensations, however. Without it we could -preserve no stable form of government and the Phundahlians, or some -other people, would overrun and conquer us; but enough of our lower -classes have sentiment to a sufficient degree to give them loyalty to -the Jeddak of Toonol and the upper classes are brainy enough to know -that it is to their own best interests to keep him upon his throne. - -“The Phundahlians, upon the other hand, are egregious sentimentalists, -filled with crass stupidities and superstitions, slaves to every variety -of brain withering conceit. Why the very fact that they keep the old -termagant, Xaxa, on the throne brands them with their stupid idiocy. She -is an ignorant, arrogant, selfish, stupid, cruel virago, yet the -Phundahlians would fight and die for her because her father was Jeddak -of Phundahl. She taxes them until they can scarce stagger beneath their -burden, she misrules them, exploits them, betrays them, and they fall -down and worship at her feet. Why? Because her father was Jeddak of -Phundahl and his father before him and so on back into antiquity; -because they are ruled by sentiment rather than reason; because their -wicked rulers play upon this sentiment. - -“She had nothing to recommend her to a sane person—not even beauty. You -know, you saw her.” - -“I saw her?” I demanded. - -“You assisted me the day that we gave her old brain a new casket—the -day you arrived from what you call your Earth.” - -“She! That old woman was Jeddara of Phundahl?” - -“That was Xaxa,” he assured me. - -“Why, you did not accord her the treatment that one of the Earth would -suppose would be accorded a ruler, and so I had no idea that she was -more than a rich old woman.” - -“I am Ras Thavas,” said the old man. “Why should I incline the head to -any other? In my world nothing counts but brain and in that respect, and -without egotism, I may say that I acknowledge no superior.” - -“Then you are not without sentiment,” I said, smiling. “You acknowledge -pride in your intellect!” - -“It is not pride,” he said, patiently, for him, “it is merely a fact -that I state. A fact that I should have no difficulty in proving. In all -probability I have the most highly developed and perfectly functioning -mind among all the learned men of my acquaintance, and reason indicates -that this fact also suggests that I possess the most highly developed -and perfectly functioning mind upon Barsoom. From what I know of Earth -and from what I have seen of you, I am convinced that there is no mind -upon your planet that may even faintly approximate in power that which I -have developed during a thousand years of active study and research. -Rasoom (Mercury) or Cosoom (Venus) may possibly support intelligences -equal to or even greater than mine. While we have made some study of -their thought waves, our instruments are not yet sufficiently developed -to more than suggest that they are of extreme refinement, power and -flexibility.” - -“And what of the girl whose body you gave to the Jeddara?” I asked, -irrelevantly, for my mind could not efface the memory of that sweet body -that must, indeed, have possessed an equally sweet and fine brain. - -“Merely a subject! Merely a subject!” he replied with a wave of his -hand. - -“What will become of her?” I insisted. - -“What difference does it make?” he demanded. “I bought her with a batch -of prisoners of war. I do not even recall from what country my agent -obtained them, or from whence they originated. Such matters are of no -import.” - -“She was alive when you bought her?” I demanded. - -“Yes. Why?” - -“You—er—ah—killed her, then?” - -“Killed her! No; I preserved her. That was some ten years ago. Why -should I permit her to grow old and wrinkled? She would no longer have -the same value then, would she? No, I preserved her. When Xaxa bought -her she was just as fresh and young as the day she arrived. I kept her a -long time. Many women looked at her and wanted her face and figure, but -it took a Jeddara to afford her. She brought the highest price that I -have ever been paid. - -“Yes, I kept her a long time, but I knew that some day she would bring -my price. She was indeed beautiful and so sentiment has its uses—were -it not for sentiment there would be no fools to support this work that I -am doing, thus permitting me to carry on investigations of far greater -merit. You would be surprised, I know, were I to tell you that I feel -that I am almost upon the point of being able to produce rational human -beings through the action upon certain chemical combinations of a group -of rays probably entirely undiscovered by your scientists, if I am to -judge by the paucity of your knowledge concerning such things.” - -“I would not be surprised,” I assured him. “I would not be surprised by -anything that you might accomplish.” - - - - - CHAPTER III - VALLA DIA - - -I lay awake a long time that night thinking of 4296-E-2631-H, the -beautiful girl whose perfect body had been stolen to furnish a gorgeous -setting for the cruel brain of a tyrant. It seemed such a horrid crime -that I could not rid my mind of it and I think that contemplation of it -sowed the first seed of my hatred and loathing for Ras Thavas. I could -not conjure a creature so utterly devoid of bowels of compassion as to -even consider for a moment the frightful ravishing of that sweet and -lovely body for even the holiest of purposes, much less one that could -have been induced to do so for filthy pelf. - -So much did I think upon the girl that night that her image was the -first to impinge upon my returning consciousness at dawn, and after I -had eaten, Ras Thavas not having appeared, I went directly to the -storage room where the poor thing was. Here she lay, identified only by -a small panel, bearing a number: 4296-E-2631-H. The body of an old woman -with a disfigured face lay before me in the rigid immobility of death; -yet that was not the figure that I saw, but instead, a vision of radiant -loveliness whose imprisoned soul lay dormant beneath those greying -locks. - -The creature here with the face and form of Xaxa was not Xaxa at all, -for all that made the other what she was had been transferred to this -cold corpse. How frightful would be the awakening, should awakening ever -come! I shuddered to think of the horror that must overwhelm the girl -when first she realized the horrid crime that had been perpetrated upon -her. Who was she? What story lay locked in that dead and silent brain? -What loves must have been hers whose beauty was so great and upon whose -fair face had lain the indelible imprint of graciousness! Would Ras -Thavas ever arouse her from this happy semblance of death?—far happier -than any quickening ever could be for her. I shrank from the thought of -her awakening and yet I longed to hear her speak, to know that that -brain lived again, to learn her name, to listen to the story of this -gentle life that had been so rudely snatched from its proper environment -and so cruelly handled by the hand of Fate. And suppose she were -awakened! Suppose she were awakened and that I—— A hand was laid upon -my shoulder and I turned to look into the face of Ras Thavas. - -“You seem interested in this subject,” he said. - -“I was wondering,” I replied, “what the reaction of this girl’s brain would -be were she to awaken to the discovery that she had become an old, -disfigured woman.” - -He stroked his chin and eyed me narrowly. “An interesting experiment,” -he mused. “I am gratified to discover that you are taking a scientific -interest in the labours that I am carrying on. The psychological phases -of my work I have, I must confess, rather neglected during the past -hundred years or so, though I formerly gave them a great deal of -attention. It would be interesting to observe and study several of these -cases. This one, especially, might prove of value to you as an initial -study, it being simple and regular. Later we will let you examine into a -case where a man’s brain has been transferred to a woman’s skull, and a -woman’s brain to a man’s. There are also the interesting cases where a -portion of diseased or injured brain has been replaced by a portion of -the brain from another subject; and, for experimental purposes alone, -those human brains that have been transplanted to the craniums of -beasts, and _vice versa_, offer tremendous opportunities for -observation. I have in mind one case in which I transferred half the -brain of an ape to the skull of a man, after having removed half of his -brain, which I grafted upon the remaining part of the brain in the ape’s -skull. That was a matter of several years ago and I have often thought -that I should like to recall these two subjects and note the results. I -shall have to have a look at them—as I recall it they are in vault -L-42-X, beneath building 4-J-21. We shall have to have a look at them -some day soon—it has been years since I have been below. There must be -some very interesting specimens there that have escaped my mind. But -come! let us recall 4296-E-2631-H.” - -“No!” I exclaimed, laying a hand upon his arm. “It would be horrible.” - -He turned a surprised look upon me and then a nasty, sneering smile -curled his lips. “Maudlin, sentimental fool!” he cried. “Who dare say no -to me?” - -I laid a hand upon the hilt of my long-sword and looked him steadily in -the eye. “Ras Thavas,” I said, “you are master in your own house; but -while I am your guest treat me with courtesy.” - -He returned my look for a moment but his eyes wavered. “I was hasty,” he -said. “Let it pass.” That, I let answer for an apology—really it was -more than I had expected—but the event was not unfortunate. I think he -treated me with far greater respect thereafter; but now he turned -immediately to the slab bearing the mortal remains of 4296-E-2631-H. - -“Prepare the subject for revivification,” he said, “and make what study -you can of all its reactions.” With that he left the room. - -I was now fairly adept at this work which I set about with some -misgivings but with the assurance that I was doing right in obeying Ras -Thavas while I remained a member of his entourage. The blood that had -once flowed through the veins of the beautiful body that Ras Thavas had -sold to Xaxa reposed in an hermetically sealed vessel upon the shelf -above the corpse. As I had before done in other cases beneath the -watchful eyes of the old surgeon I now did for the first time alone. The -blood heated, the incisions made, the tubes attached and the few drops -of life-giving solution added to the blood, I was now ready to restore -life to that delicate brain that had lain dead for ten years. As my -finger rested upon the little button that actuated the motor that was to -send the revivifying liquid into those dormant veins, I experienced such -a sensation as I imagined no mortal man has ever felt. - -I had become master of life and death, and yet at this moment that I -stood there upon the point of resurrecting the dead I felt more like a -murderer than a saviour. I tried to view the procedure dispassionately -through the cold eye of science, but I failed miserably. I could only -see a stricken girl grieving for her lost beauties. With a muffled oath -I turned away. I could not do it! And then, as though an outside force -had seized upon me, my finger moved unerringly to the button and pressed -it. I cannot explain it, unless upon the theory of dual mentality, which -may explain many things. Perhaps my subjective mind directed the act. I -do not know. Only I know that I did it, the motor started, the level of -the blood in the container commenced gradually to lower. - -Spell-bound, I stood watching. Presently the vessel was empty. I shut -off the motor, removed the tubes, sealed the openings with tape. The red -glow of life tinged the body, replacing the sallow, purplish hue of -death. The breasts rose and fell regularly, the head turned slightly and -the eyelids moved. A faint sigh issued from between the parting lips. -For a long time there was no other sign of life, then, suddenly, the -eyes opened. They were dull at first, but presently they commenced to -fill with questioning wonderment. They rested on me and then passed on -about that portion of the room that was visible from the position of the -body. Then they came back to me and remained steadily fixed upon my -countenance after having once surveyed me up and down. There was still -the questioning in them, but there was no fear. - -“Where am I?” she asked. The voice was that of an old woman—high and -harsh. A startled expression filled her eyes. “What is the matter with -me? What is wrong with my voice? What has happened?” - -I laid a hand upon her forehead. “Don’t bother about it now,” I said, -soothingly. “Wait until sometime when you are stronger. Then I will tell -you.” - -She sat up. “I am strong,” she said, and then her eyes swept her lower -body and limbs and a look of utter horror crossed her face. “What has -happened to me? In the name of my first ancestor, what has happened to -me?” - -The shrill, harsh voice grated upon me. It was the voice of Xaxa and -Xaxa now must possess the sweet musical tones that alone would have -harmonized with the beautiful face she had stolen. I tried to forget -those strident notes and think only of the pulchritude of the envelope -that had once graced the soul within this old and withered carcass. - -She extended a hand and laid it gently upon mine. The act was beautiful, -the movements graceful. The brain of the girl directed the muscles, but -the old, rough vocal chords of Xaxa could give forth no sweeter notes. -“Tell me, please!” she begged. There were tears in the old eyes, I’ll -venture for the first time in many years. “Tell me! You do not seem -unkind.” - -And so I told her. She listened intently and when I was through she -sighed. “After all,” she said, “it is not so dreadful, now that I really -know. It is better than being dead.” That made me glad that I had -pressed the button. She was glad to be alive, even draped in the hideous -carcass of Xaxa. I told her as much. - -“You were so beautiful,” I told her. - -“And now I am so ugly?” I made no answer. - -“After all, what difference does it make?” she inquired presently. “This -old body cannot change me, or make me different from what I have always -been. The good in me remains and whatever of sweetness and kindness, and -I can be happy to be alive and perhaps to do some good. I was terrified -at first, because I did not know what had happened to me. I thought that -maybe I had contracted some terrible disease that had so altered -me—that horrified me; but now that I know—pouf! what of it?” - -“You are wonderful,” I said. “Most women would have gone mad with the -horror and grief of it—to lose such wondrous beauty as was yours—and -you do not care.” - -“Oh, yes, I care, my friend,” she corrected me, “but I do not care -enough to ruin my life in all other respects because of it, or to cast a -shadow upon the lives of those around me. I have had my beauty and -enjoyed it. It is not an unalloyed happiness I can assure you. Men -killed one another because of it; two great nations went to war because -of it; and perhaps my father lost his throne or his life—I do not know, -for I was captured by the enemy while the war still raged. It may be -raging yet and men dying because I was too beautiful. No one will fight -for me now, though,” she added, with a rueful smile. - -“Do you know how long you have been here?” I asked. - -“Yes,” she replied. “It was the day before yesterday that they brought -me hither.” - -“It was ten years ago,” I told her. - -“Ten years! Impossible.” - -I pointed to the corpses around us. “You have lain like this for ten -years,” I explained. “There are subjects here who have lain thus for -fifty, Ras Thavas tells me.” - -“Ten years! Ten years! What may not have happened in ten years! It is -better thus. I should fear to go back now. I should not want to know -that my father, my mother too, perhaps, were gone. It is better thus. -Perhaps you will let me sleep again? May I not?” - -“That remains with Ras Thavas,” I replied; “but for a while I am to -observe you.” - -“Observe me?” - -“Study you—your reactions.” - -“Ah! and what good will that do?” - -“It may do some good in the world.” - -“It may give this horrid Ras Thavas some new ideas for his torture -chamber—some new scheme for coining money from the suffering of his -victims,” she said, her harsh voice saddened. - -“Some of his works are good,” I told her. “The money he makes permits -him to maintain this wonderful establishment where he constantly carries -on countless experiments. Many of his operations are beneficent. -Yesterday a warrior was brought in whose arm was crushed beyond repair. -Ras Thavas gave him a new arm. A demented child was brought. Ras Thavas -gave her a new brain. The arm and the brain were taken from two who had -met violent deaths. Through Ras Thavas they were permitted, after death, -to give life and happiness to others.” - -She thought for a moment. “I am content,” she said. “I only hope that -you will always be the observer.” - -Presently Ras Thavas came and examined her. “A good subject,” he said. -He looked at the chart where I had made a very brief record following -the other entries relative to the history of Case No. 4296-E-2631-H. Of -course this is, naturally, a rather free translation of this particular -identification number. The Barsoomians have no alphabet such as ours and -their numbering system is quite different. The thirteen characters above -were represented by four Toonolian characters, yet the meaning was quite -the same—they represented, in contracted form, the case number, the -room, the table and the building. - -“The subject will be quartered near you where you may regularly observe -it,” continued Ras Thavas. “There is a chamber adjoining yours. I will -see that it is unlocked. Take the subject there. When not under your -observation, lock it in.” _It_ was only another _case_ to him. - -I took the girl, if I may so call her, to her quarters. On the way I -asked her her name, for it seemed to me an unnecessary discourtesy -always to address her and refer to her as 4296-E-2631-H, and this I -explained to her. - -“It is considerate of you to think of that,” she said, “but really that -is all that I am here—just another subject for vivisection.” - -“You are more than that to me,” I told her. “You are friendless and -helpless. I want to be of service to you—to make your lot easier if I -can.” - -“Thank you again,” she said. “My name is Valla Dia, and yours?” - -“Ras Thavas calls me Vad Varo,” I told her. - -“But that is not your name?” - -“My name is Ulysses Paxton.” - -“It is a strange name, unlike any that I have ever heard, but you are -unlike any man I have ever seen—you do not seem Barsoomian. Your colour -is unlike that of any race.” - -“I am not of Barsoom, but from Earth, the planet you sometimes call -Jasoom. That is why I differ in appearance from any you have known -before.” - -“Jasoom! There is another Jasoomian here whose fame has reached to the -remotest corners of Barsoom, but I never have seen him.” - -“John Carter?” I asked. - -“Yes, The War Lord. He was of Helium and my people were not friendly -with those of Helium. I never could understand how he came here. And now -there is another from Jasoom—how can it be? How did you cross the great -void?” - -I shook my head. “I cannot even guess,” I told her. - -“Jasoom must be peopled with wonderful men,” she said. It was a pretty -compliment. - -“As Barsoom is with beautiful women,” I replied. - -She glanced down ruefully at her old and wrinkled body. - -“I have seen the real you,” I said gently. - -“I hate to think of my face,” she said. “I know it is a frightful -thing.” - -“It is not you, remember that when you see it and do not feel too -badly.” - -“Is it as bad as that?” she asked. - -I did not reply. “Never mind,” she said presently. “If I had not beauty -of the soul, I was not beautiful, no matter how perfect my features may -have been; but if I possessed beauty of soul then I have it now. So I -can think beautiful thoughts and perform beautiful deeds and that, I -think, is the real test of beauty, after all.” - -“And there is hope,” I added, almost in a whisper. - -“Hope? No, there is no hope, if what you mean to suggest is that I may -some time regain my lost self. You have told me enough to convince me -that that can never be.” - -“We will not speak of it,” I said, “but we may think of it and sometimes -thinking a great deal of a thing helps us to find a way to get it, if we -want it badly enough.” - -“I do not want to hope,” she said, “for it will but mean disappointment -for me. I shall be happy as I am. Hoping, I should always be unhappy.” - -I had ordered food for her and after it was brought Ras Thavas sent for -me and I left her, locking the door of her chamber as the old surgeon -had instructed. I found Ras Thavas in his office, a small room which -adjoined a very large one in which were a score of clerks arranging and -classifying reports from various departments of the great laboratory. He -arose as I entered. - -“Come with me, Vad Varo,” he directed. “We will have a look at the two -cases in L-42-X, the two of which I spoke.” - -“The man with half a simian brain and the ape with a half human brain?” -I asked. - -He nodded and preceded me towards the runway that led to the vaults -beneath the building. As we descended, the corridors and passageways -indicated long disuse. The floors were covered with an impalpable dust, -long undisturbed; the tiny radium bulbs that faintly illuminated the -sub-barsoomian depths were likewise coated. As we proceeded, we passed -many doorways on either side, each marked with its descriptive -hieroglyphic. Several of the openings had been tightly sealed with -masonry. What gruesome secrets were hid within? At last we came to -L-42-X. Here the bodies were arranged on shelves, several rows of which -almost completely filled the room from floor to ceiling, except for a -rectangular space in the centre of the chamber, which accommodated an -ersite topped operating table with its array of surgical instruments, -its motor and other laboratory equipment. - -Ras Thavas searched out the subjects of his strange experiment and -together we carried the human body to the table. While Ras Thavas -attached the tubes I returned for the vessel of blood which reposed upon -the same shelf with the corpse. The now familiar method of -revivification was soon accomplished and presently we were watching the -return of consciousness to the subject. - -The man sat up and looked at us, then he cast a quick glance about the -chamber; there was a savage light in his eyes as they returned to us. -Slowly he backed from the table to the floor, keeping the former between -us. - -“We will not harm you,” said Ras Thavas. - -The man attempted to reply, but his words were unintelligible gibberish, -then he shook his head and growled. Ras Thavas took a step towards him -and the man dropped to all fours, his knuckles resting on the floor, and -backed away, growling. - -“Come!” cried Ras Thavas. “We will not harm you.” Again he attempted to -approach the subject, but the man only backed quickly away, growling -more fiercely; and then suddenly he wheeled and climbed quickly to the -top of the highest shelf, where he squatted upon a corpse and gibbered -at us. - -“We shall have to have help,” said Ras Thavas and, going to the doorway, -he blew a signal upon his whistle. - -“What are you blowing that for?” demanded the man suddenly. “Who are -you? What am I doing here? What has happened to me?” - -“Come down,” said Ras Thavas. “We are friends.” - -Slowly the man descended to the floor and came towards us, but he still -moved with his knuckles to the pavement. He looked about at the corpses -and a new light entered his eyes. - -“I am hungry!” he cried. “I will eat!” and with that he seized the -nearest corpse and dragged it to the floor. - -“Stop! Stop!” cried Ras Thavas, leaping forward. “You will ruin the -subject,” but the man only backed away, dragging the corpse along the -floor after him. It was then that the attendants came and with their -help we subdued and bound the poor creature. Then Ras Thavas had the -attendants bring the body of the ape and he told them to remain, as we -might need them. - -The subject was a large specimen of the Barsoomian white ape, one of the -most savage and fearsome denizens of the Red Planet, and because of the -creature’s great strength and ferocity Ras Thavas took the precaution to -see that it was securely bound before resurgence. - -It was a colossal creature about ten or fifteen feet tall, standing -erect, and had an intermediary set of arms or legs midway between its -upper and lower limbs. The eyes were close together and non-protruding; -the ears were high set, while its snout and teeth were strikingly like -those of our African gorilla. - -With returning consciousness the creature eyed us questioningly. Several -times it seemed to essay to speak, but only inarticulate sounds issued -from its throat. Then it lay still for a period. - -Ras Thavas spoke to it. “If you understand my words, nod your head.” The -creature nodded. - -“Would you like to be freed of your bonds?” asked the surgeon. - -Again the creature nodded an affirmative. - -“I fear that you will attempt to injure us, or escape,” said Ras Thavas. - -The ape was apparently trying very hard to articulate and at last there -issued from its lips a sound that could not be misunderstood. It was the -single word no. - -“You will not harm us or try to escape?” Ras Thavas repeated his -question. - -“No,” said the ape, and this time the word was clearly enunciated. - -“We shall see,” said Ras Thavas. “But remember that with our weapons we -may dispatch you quickly if you attack us.” - -The ape nodded, and then, very laboriously: “I will not harm you.” - -At a sign from Ras Thavas the attendants removed the bonds and the -creature sat up. It stretched its limbs and slid easily to the floor, -where it stood erect upon two feet, which was not surprising, since the -white ape goes more often upon two feet than six; a fact of which I was -not cognizant at the time, but which Ras Thavas explained to me later in -commenting upon the fact that the human subject had gone upon all fours, -which, to Ras Thavas, indicated a reversion to type in the fractional -ape-brain transplanted to the human skull. - -Ras Thavas examined the subject at considerable length and then resumed -his examination of the human subject which continued to evince more -simian characteristics than human, though it spoke more easily than the -ape, because, undoubtedly, of its more perfect vocal organs. It was only -by exerting the closest attention that the diction of the ape became -understandable at all. - -“There is nothing remarkable about these subjects,” said Ras Thavas, -after devoting half a day to them. “They bear out what I had already -determined years ago in the transplanting of entire brains; that the act -of transplanting stimulates growth and activity of brain cells. You will -note that in each subject the transplanted portions of the brains are -more active—they, in a considerable measure, control. That is why we -have the human subject displaying distinctly simian characteristics, -while the ape behaves in a more human manner; though if longer and -closer observation were desirable you would doubtless find that each -reverted at times to his own nature—that is the ape would be more -wholly an ape and the human more manlike—but it is not worth the time, -of which I have already given too much to a rather unprofitable -forenoon. I shall leave you now to restore the subjects to anaesthesia -while I return to the laboratories above. The attendants will remain -here to assist you, if required.” - -The ape, who had been an interested listener, now stepped forward. “Oh, -please, I pray you,” it mumbled, “do not again condemn me to these -horrid shelves. I recall the day that I was brought here securely bound, -and though I have no recollection of what has transpired since I can but -guess from the appearance of my own skin and that of these dusty corpses -that I have lain here long. I beg that you will permit me to live and -either restore me to my fellows or allow me to serve in some capacity in -this establishment, of which I saw something between the time of my -capture and the day that I was carried into this laboratory, bound and -helpless, to one of your cold, ersite slabs.” - -Ras Thavas made a gesture of impatience. “Nonsense!” he cried. “You are -better off here, where you can be preserved in the interests of -science.” - -“Accede to his request,” I begged, “and I will myself take over all -responsibility for him while I profit by the study that he will afford -me.” - -“Do as you are directed,” snapped Ras Thavas as he quit the room. - -I shrugged my shoulders. “There is nothing for it, then,” I said. - -“I might dispatch you all and escape,” mused the ape, aloud, “but you -would have helped me. I could not kill one who would have befriended -me—yet I shrink from the thought of another death. How long have I lain -here?” - -I referred to the history of his case that had been brought and -suspended at the head of the table. “Twelve years,” I told him. - -“And yet, why not?” he demanded of himself. “This man would slay me—why -should I not slay him first.” - -“It would do you no good,” I assured him, “for you could never escape. -Instead you would be really killed, dying a death from which Ras Thavas -would probably think it not worth while ever to recall you, while I, who -might find the opportunity at some later date and who have the -inclination, would be dead at your hands and thus incapable of saving -you.” - -I had been speaking in a low voice, close to his ear, that the -attendants might not overhear me. The ape listened intently. - -“You will do as you suggest?” he asked. - -“At the first opportunity that presents itself,” I assured him. - -“Very well,” he said, “I will submit, trusting to you.” - -A half hour later both subjects had been returned to their shelves. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - THE COMPACT - - -Days ran into weeks, weeks into months, as day by day I labored at the -side of Ras Thavas, and more and more the old surgeon took me into his -confidence, more and more he imparted to me the secrets of his skill and -his profession. Gradually he permitted me to perform more and more -important functions in the actual practice of his vast laboratory. I -started transferring limbs from one subject to another, then internal -organs of the digestive tract. Then he entrusted to me a complete -operation upon a paying client. I removed the kidneys from a rich old -man, replacing them with healthy ones from a young subject. The -following day I gave a stunted child new thyroid glands. A week later I -transferred two hearts and then, at last, came the great day for -me—unassisted, with Ras Thavas standing silently beside me, I took the -brain of an old man and transplanted it within the cranium of a youth. - -When I had done Ras Thavas laid a hand upon my shoulder. “I could not -have done better myself,” he said. He seemed much elated and I could not -but wonder at this unusual demonstration of emotion upon his part, he -who so prided himself upon his lack of emotionalism. I had often -pondered the purpose which influenced Ras Thavas to devote so much time -to my training, but never had I hit upon any more satisfactory -explanation than that he had need of assistance in his growing practice. -Yet when I consulted the records, that were now open to me, I discovered -that his practice was no greater than it had been for many years; and -even had it been there was really no reason why he should have trained -me in preference to one of his red-Martian assistants, his belief in my -loyalty not being sufficient warrant, in my mind, for this preferment -when he could, as well as not, have kept me for a bodyguard and trained -one of his own kind to aid him in his surgical work. - -But I was presently to learn that he had an excellent reason for what he -was doing—Ras Thavas always had an excellent reason for whatever he -did. One night after we had finished our evening meal he sat looking at -me intently as he so often did, as though he would read my mind, which, -by the way, he was totally unable to do, much to his surprise and -chagrin; for unless a Martian is constantly upon the alert any other -Martian can read clearly his every thought; but Ras Thavas was unable to -read mine. He said that it was due to the fact that I was not a -Barsoomian. Yet I could often read the minds of his assistants, when -they were off their guard, though never had I read aught of Ras Thavas’ -thoughts, nor, I am sure, had any other read them. He kept his brain -sealed like one of his own blood jars, nor was he ever for a moment -found with his barriers down. - -He sat looking at me this evening for a long time, nor did it in the -least embarrass me, so accustomed was I to his peculiarities. “Perhaps,” -he said presently, “one of the reasons that I trust you is due to the -fact that I cannot ever, at any time, fathom your mind; so, if you -harbor traitorous thoughts concerning me I do not know it, while the -others, every one of them, reveal their inmost souls to my searching -mind and in each one there is envy, jealousy or hatred of me. Them, I -know, I cannot trust. Therefore I must accept the risk and place all my -dependence upon you, and my reason tells me that my choice is a wise -one—I have told you upon what grounds it based my selection of you as -my bodyguard. The same holds true in my selection of you for the thing I -have in mind. You cannot harm me without harming yourself and no man -will intentionally do that; nor is there any reason why you should feel -any deep antagonism towards me. - -“You are, of course, a sentimentalist and doubtless you look with horror -upon many of the acts of a sane, rational, scientific mind; but you are -also highly intelligent and can, therefore, appreciate better than -another, even though you may not approve them, the motives that prompt -me to do many of those things of which your sentimentality disapproves. -I may have offended you, but I have never wronged you, nor have I -wronged any creature for which you might have felt some of your -so-called friendship or love. Are my premises incorrect, or my reasoning -faulty?” - -I assured him to the contrary. - -“Very well! Now let me explain why I have gone to such pains to train -you as no other human being, aside from myself, has ever been trained. I -am not ready to use you yet, or rather you are not ready; but if you -know my purpose you will realize the necessity for bending your energy -to the consummation of my purpose, and to that end you will strive even -more diligently than you have to perfect yourself in the high, -scientific art I am imparting to you. - -“I am a very old man,” he continued after a brief pause, “even as age -goes upon Barsoom. I have lived more than a thousand years. I have -passed the allotted natural span of life, but I am not through with my -life’s work—I have but barely started it. I must not die. Barsoom must -not be robbed of this wondrous brain and skill of mine. I have long had -in mind a plan to thwart death, but it required another with skill equal -to mine—two such might live for ever. I have selected you to be that -other, for reasons that I already have explained—they are undefiled by -sentimentalism. I did not choose you because I love you, or because I -feel friendship for you, or because I think that you love me, or feel -friendship towards me. I chose you because I knew that of all the -inhabitants of a world you were the one least likely to fail me. For a -time you will have my life in your hands. You will understand now why I -have not been able to choose carelessly.” - -“This plan that I have chosen is simplicity itself provided that I can -count upon just two essential factors—skill and self-interested loyalty -in an assistant. My body is about worn out. I must have a new one. My -laboratory is filled with wonderful bodies, young and complete with -potential strength and health. I have but to select one of these and -have my skilled assistant transfer my brain from this old carcass to the -new one.” He paused. - -“I understand now, why you have trained me,” I said. “It has puzzled me -greatly.” - -“Thus and thus only may I continue my labors,” he went on, “and thus may -Barsoom be assured a continuance practically indefinitely, of the -benefits that my brain may bestow upon her children. I may live for -ever, provided I always have a skilled assistant, and I may assure -myself of such by seeing to it that he never dies; when he wears out one -organ, or his whole body, I can replace either from my great storehouse -of perfect parts, and for me he can perform the same service. Thus may -we continue to live indefinitely; for the brain, I believe, is almost -deathless, unless injured or attacked by disease. - -“You are not ready as yet to be entrusted with this important task. You -must transfer many more brains and meet with and overcome the various -irregularities and idiosyncrasies that constitute the never failing -differences that render no two operations identical. When you gain -sufficient proficiency I shall be the first to know it and then we shall -lose no time in making Barsoom safe for posterity.” - -The old man was far from achieving hatred of himself. However, his plan -was an excellent one, both for himself and for me. It assured us -immortality—we might live for ever and always with strong, healthy, -young bodies. The outlook was alluring—and what a wonderful position it -placed me in. If the old man could be assured of my loyalty because of -self-interest, similarly might I depend upon his loyalty; for he could -not afford to antagonize the one creature in the world who could assure -him immortality, or withhold it from him. For the first time since I had -entered his establishment I felt safe. - -As soon as I had left him I went directly to Valla Dia’s apartment, for -I wanted to tell her this wonderful news. In the weeks that had passed -since her resurrection I had seen much of her and in our daily -intercourse there had been revealed to me little by little the wondrous -beauties of her soul, until at last I no longer saw the hideous, -disfigured face of Xaxa when I looked upon her, but the eyes of my heart -penetrated deeper to the loveliness that lay within that sweet mind. She -had become my confidant, as I was hers, and this association constituted -the one great pleasure of my existence upon Barsoom. - -Her congratulations, when I told her of what had come to me, were very -sincere and lovely. She said that she hoped I would use this great power -of mine to do good in the world. I assured her that I would and that -among the first things that I should demand of Ras Thavas was that he -should give Valla Dia a beautiful body; but she shook her head. - -“No, my friend,” she said, “if I may not have my own body this old one -of Xaxa’s is quite as good for me as another. Without my own body I -should not care to return to my native country; while were Ras Thavas to -give me the beautiful body of another, I should always be in danger of -the covetousness of his clients, any one of whom might see and desire to -purchase it, leaving to me her old husk, conceivably one quite terribly -diseased or maimed. No, my friend, I am satisfied with the body of Xaxa, -unless I may again possess my own, for Xaxa at least bequeathed me a -tough and healthy envelope, however ugly it may be; and for what do -looks count here? You, alone, are my friend—that I have your friendship -is enough. You admire me for what I am, not for what I look like, so let -us leave well enough alone.” - -“If you could regain your own body and return to your native country, -you would like that?” I demanded. - -“Oh, do not say it!” she cried. “The simple thought of it drives me mad -with longing. I must not harbour so hopeless a dream that at best may -only tantalize me into greater abhorrence of my lot.” - -“Do not say that it is hopeless,” I urged. “Death, only, renders hope -futile.” - -“You mean to be kind,” she said, “but you are only hurting me. There can -be no hope.” - -“May I hope for you, then?” I asked. “For I surely see a way; however -slight a possibility for success it may have, still, it is a way.” - -She shook her head. “There is no way,” she said, with finality. “No more -will Duhor know me.” - -“Duhor?” I repeated. “Your—someone you care for very much?” - -“I care for Duhor very much,” she answered with a smile, “but Duhor is -not someone—Duhor is my home, the country of my ancestors.” - -“How came you to leave Duhor?” I asked. “You have never told me, Valla -Dia.” - -“It was because of the ruthlessness of Jal Had, Prince of Amhor,” she -replied. “Hereditary enemies were Duhor and Amhor; but Jal Had came -disguised into the city of Duhor, having heard, they say, of the great -beauty attributed to the only daughter of Kor San, Jeddak of Duhor; and -when he had seen her he determined to possess her. Returning to Amhor he -sent ambassadors to the court of Kor San to sue for the hand of the -Princess of Duhor; but Kor San, who had no son, had determined to wed -his daughter to one of his own Jeds, that the son of this union, with -the blood of Kor San in his veins, might rule over the people of Duhor; -and so the offer of Jal Had was declined. - -“This so incensed the Amhorian that he equipped a great fleet and set -forth to conquer Duhor and take by force that which he could not win by -honorable methods. Duhor was, at that time, at war with Helium and all -her forces were far afield in the south, with the exception of a small -army that had been left behind to guard the city. Jal Had, therefore, -could not have selected a more propitious time for an attack. Duhor -fell, and while his troops were looting the fair city Jal Had, with a -picked force, sacked the palace of the Jeddak and searched for the -princess; but the princess had no mind to go back with him as Princess -of Amhor. From the moment that the vanguard of the Amhorian fleet was -seen in the sky she had known, with the others of the city, the purpose -for which they came, and so she used her head to defeat that purpose. - -“There was in her retinue a cosmetologist whose duty it was to preserve -the lustrous beauty of the princess’ hair and skin and prepare her for -public audiences, for fêtes and for the daily intercourse of the court. -He was a master of his art; he could render the ugly pleasant to look -upon, he could make the plain lovely, and he could make the lovely -radiant. She called him quickly to her and commanded him to make the -radiant ugly; and when he had done with her none might guess that she -was the Princess of Duhor, so deftly had he wrought with his pigments -and his tiny brushes. - -“When Jal Had could not find the princess within the palace, and no -amount of threat or torture could force a statement of her whereabouts -from the loyal lips of her people, the Amhorian ordered that every woman -within the palace be seized and taken to Amhor; there to be held as -hostages until the princess of Duhor should be delivered to him in -marriage. We were, therefore, all seized and placed upon an Amhorian war -ship which was sent back to Amhor ahead of the balance of the fleet, -which remained to complete the sacking of Duhor. - -“When the ship, with its small convoy, had covered some four thousand of -the five thousand haads that separate Duhor from Amhor, it was sighted -by a fleet from Phundahl which immediately attacked. The convoying ships -were destroyed or driven off and that which carried us was captured. We -were taken to Phundahl where we were put upon the auction block and I -fell to the bid of one of Ras Thavas’ agents. The rest you know.” - -“And what became of the princess?” I asked. - -“Perhaps she died—her party was separated in Phundahl—but death could -not more definitely prevent her return to Duhor. The Princess of Duhor -will never again see her native country.” - -“But you may!” I cried, for I had suddenly hit upon a plan. “Where is -Duhor?” - -“You are going there?” she asked, laughingly. - -“Yes!” - -“You are mad, my friend,” she said. “Duhor lies a full seven thousand, -eight hundred haads from Toonol, upon the opposite side of the snow-clad -Artolian Hills. You, a stranger and alone, could never reach it; for -between lie the Toonolian Marshes, wild hordes, savage beasts and -warlike cities. You would but die uselessly within the first dozen -haads, even could you escape from the island upon which stands the -laboratory of Ras Thavas; and what motive is there to prompt you to such -a useless sacrifice?” - -I could not tell her. I could not look upon that withered figure and -into that hideous and disfigured face and say: “It is because I love -you, Valla Dia.” But that, alas, was my only reason. Gradually, as I had -come to know her through the slow revealment of the wondrous beauty of -her mind and soul, there had crept into my heart a knowledge of my love; -and yet, explain it I cannot, I could not speak the words to that -frightful old hag. I had seen the gorgeous mundane tabernacle that had -housed the equally gorgeous spirit of the real Valla Dia—_that_ I could -love; her heart and soul and mind I could love; but I could not love the -body of Xaxa. I was torn, too, by other emotions, induced by a great -doubt—could Valla Dia return my love. Habilitated in the corpse of -Xaxa, with no other suitor, nay, with no other friend she might, out of -gratitude or through sheer loneliness, be attracted to me; but once -again were she Valla Dia the beautiful and returned to the palace of her -king, surrounded by the great nobles of Duhor, would she have either -eyes or heart for a lone and friendless exile from another world? I -doubted it—and yet that doubt did not deter me from my determination to -carry out, as far as Fate would permit, the mad scheme that was -revolving in my brain. - -“You have not answered my question, Vad Varo,” she interrupted my -surging thoughts. “Why would you do this thing?” - -“To right the wrong that has been done you, Valla Dia,” I said. - -She sighed. “Do not attempt it, please,” she begged. “You would but rob -me of my one friend, whose association is the only source of happiness -remaining to me. I appreciate your generosity and your loyalty, even -though I may not understand them; your unselfish desire to serve me at -such suicidal risk touches me more deeply than I can reveal, adding -still further to the debt I owe you; but you must not attempt it—you -must not.” - -“If it troubles you, Valla Dia,” I replied, “we will not speak of it -again; but know always that it is never from my thoughts. Some day I -shall find a way, even though the plan I now have fails me.” - -The days moved on and on, the gorgeous Martian nights, filled with her -hurtling moons, followed one upon another. Ras Thavas spent more and -more time in directing my work of brain transference. I had long since -become an adept; and I realized that the time was rapidly approaching -when Ras Thavas would feel that he could safely entrust to my hands and -skill his life and future. He would be wholly within my power and he -knew that I knew it. I could slay him; I could permit him to remain for -ever in the preserving grip of his own anaesthetic; or I could play any -trick upon him that I chose, even to giving him the body of a calot or a -part of the brain of an ape; but he must take the chance and that I -knew, for he was failing rapidly. Already almost stone blind, it was -only the wonderful spectacles that he had himself invented that -permitted him to see at all; long deaf, he used artificial means for -hearing; and now his heart was showing symptoms of fatigue that he could -not longer ignore. - -One morning I was summoned to his sleeping apartment by a slave. I found -the old surgeon lying, a shrunken, pitiful heap of withered skin and -bones. - -“We must hasten, Vad Varo,” he said in a weak whisper. “My heart was -like to have stopped a few tals ago. It was then that I sent for you.” -He pointed to a door leading from his chamber. “There,” he said, “you -will find the body I have chosen. There, in the private laboratory I -long ago built for this very purpose, you will perform the greatest -surgical operation that the universe has ever known, transferring its -most perfect brain to the most beautiful and perfect body that ever has -passed beneath these ancient eyes. You will find the head already -prepared to receive my brain; the brain of the subject having been -removed and destroyed—totally destroyed by fire. I could not possibly -chance the existence of a brain desiring and scheming to regain its -wondrous body. No, I destroyed it. Call slaves and have them bear my -body to the ersite slab.” - -“That will not be necessary,” I told him; and lifting his shrunken form -in my arms as he had been an earthly babe, I carried him into the -adjoining room where I found a perfectly lighted and appointed -laboratory containing two operating tables, one of which was occupied by -the body of a red-man. Upon the surface of the other, which was vacant, -I laid Ras Thavas, then I turned to look at the new envelope he had -chosen. Never, I believe, had I beheld so perfect a form, so handsome a -face—Ras Thavas had indeed chosen well for himself. Then I turned back -to the old surgeon. Deftly, as he had taught me, I made the two -incisions and attached the tubes. My finger rested upon the button that -would start the motor pumping his blood from his veins and his -marvellous preservative-anaesthetic into them. Then I spoke. - -“Ras Thavas,” I said, “you have long been training me to this end. I -have labored assiduously to prepare myself that there might be no -slightest cause for apprehension as to the outcome. You have, -coincidentally, taught me that one’s every act should be prompted by -self-interest only. You are satisfied, therefore, that I am not doing -this for you because I love you, or because I feel any friendship for -you; but you think that you have offered me enough in placing before me -a similar opportunity for immortality. - -“Regardless of your teaching I am afraid that I am still somewhat of a -sentimentalist. I crave the redressing of wrongs. I crave friendship and -love. The price you offer is not enough. Are you willing to pay more -that this operation may be successfully concluded?” - -He looked at me steadily for a long minute. “What do you want?” he -asked. I could see that he was trembling with anger, but he did not -raise his voice. - -“Do you recall 4296-E-2631-H?” I inquired. - -“The subject with the body of Xaxa? Yes, I recall the case. What of it?” - -“I wish her body returned to her. That is the price you must pay for -this operation.” - -He glared at me. “It is impossible. Xaxa has the body. Even if I cared -to do so, I could never recover it. Proceed with the operation!” - -“When you have promised me,” I insisted. - -“I cannot promise the impossible—I cannot obtain Xaxa. Ask me something -else. I am not unwilling to grant any reasonable request.” - -“That is all I wish—just that; but I do not insist that you obtain the -body. If I bring Xaxa here will you make the transfer?” - -“It would mean war between Toonol and Phundahl,” he fumed. - -“That does not interest me,” I said. “Quick! Reach a decision. In five -tals I shall press this button. If you promise what I ask, you shall be -restored with a new and beautiful body; if you refuse you shall lie here -in the semblance of death for ever.” - -“I promise,” he said slowly, “that when you bring the body of Xaxa to me -I will transfer to that body any brain that you select from among my -subjects.” - -“Good!” I exclaimed, and pressed the button. - - - - - CHAPTER V - DANGER - - -Ras Thavas awakened from the anaesthetic a new and gorgeous creature—a -youth of such wondrous beauty that he seemed of heavenly rather than -worldly origin; but in that beautiful head was the hard, cold, -thousand-year-old brain of the master surgeon. As he opened his eyes he -looked upon me coldly. - -“You have done well,” he said. - -“What I have done, I have done for friendship—perhaps for love,” I -said, “so you can thank the sentimentalism you decry for the success of -the transfer.” - -He made no reply. - -“And now,” I continued, “I shall look to you for the fulfilment of the -promise you have made me.” - -“When you bring Xaxa’s body I shall transfer to it the brain of any of -my subjects you may select,” he said, “but were I you, I would not risk -my life in such an impossible venture—you cannot succeed. Select -another body—there are many beautiful ones—and I will give it the -brain of 4296-E-2631-H.” - -“None other than the body now owned by the Jeddara Xaxa will fulfill -your promise to me,” I said. - -He shrugged and there was a cold smile upon his handsome lips. “Very -well,” he said, “fetch Xaxa. When do you start?” - -“I am not yet ready. I will let you know when I am.” - -“Good and now begone—but wait! First go to the office and see what -cases await us and if there be any that do not require my personal -attention, and they fall within your skill and knowledge, attend to them -yourself.” - -As I left him I noticed a crafty smile of satisfaction upon his lips. -What had aroused that? I did not like it and as I walked away I tried to -conjure what could possibly have passed through that wondrous brain to -call forth at that particular instant so unpleasant a smile. As I passed -through the doorway and into the corridor beyond I heard him summon his -personal slave and body servant, Yamdor, a huge fellow whose loyalty he -kept through the bestowal of lavish gifts and countless favors. So great -was the fellow’s power that all feared him, as a word to the master from -the lips of Yamdor might easily send any of the numerous slaves or -attendants to an ersite slab for eternity. It was rumored that he was -the result of an unnatural experiment which had combined the brain of a -woman with the body of a man, and there was much in his actions and -mannerisms to justify this general belief. His touch, when he worked -about his master, was soft and light, his movements graceful, his ways -gentle, but his mind was jealous, vindictive and unforgiving. - -I believe that he did not like me, through jealousy of the authority I -had attained in the establishment of Ras Thavas; for there was no -questioning the fact that I was a lieutenant, while he was but a slave; -yet he always accorded me the utmost respect. He was, however, merely a -minor cog in the machinery of the great institution presided over by the -sovereign mind of Ras Thavas, and as such I had given him little -consideration; nor did I now as I bent my steps towards the office. - -I had gone but a short distance when I recalled a matter of importance -upon which it was necessary for me to obtain instructions from Ras -Thavas immediately; and so I wheeled about and retraced my way towards -his apartments, through the open doorway of which, as I approached, I -heard the new voice of the master surgeon. Ras Thavas had always spoken -in rather loud tones, whether as a vocal reflection of his naturally -domineering and authoritative character, or because of his deafness, I -do not know; and now, with the fresh young vocal chords of his new body, -his words rang out clearly and distinctly in the corridor leading to his -room. - -“You will, therefore, Yamdor,” he was saying, “go at once and, selecting -two slaves in whose silence and discretion you may trust, take the -subject from the apartments of Vad Varo and destroy it—let no vestige -of body or brain remain. Immediately after, you will bring the two -slaves to the laboratory F-30-L, permitting them to speak to no one, and -I will consign them to silence and forgetfulness for eternity. - -“Vad Varo will discover the absence of the subject and report the matter -to me. During my investigation you will confess that you aided -4296-E-2631-H to escape, but that you have no idea where it intended -going. I will sentence you to death as punishment, but at last, -explaining how urgently I need your services and upon your solemn -promise never to transgress again, I will defer punishment for the term -of your continued good behaviour. Do you thoroughly understand the -entire plan?” - -“Yes, master,” replied Yamdor. - -“Then depart at once and select the slaves who are to assist you.” - -Quickly and silently I sped along the corridor until the first -intersection permitted me to place myself out of sight of anyone coming -from Ras Thavas’ apartment; then I went directly to the chamber occupied -by Valla Dia. Unlocking the door I threw it open and beckoned her to -come out. “Quick! Valla Dia!” I cried. “No time is to be lost. In -attempting to save you I have but brought destruction upon you. First we -must find a hiding place for you, and that at once—afterwards we can -plan for the future.” - -The place that first occurred to me as affording adequate concealment -was the half forgotten vaults in the pits beneath the laboratories, and -towards these I hastened Valla Dia. As we proceeded I narrated all that -had transpired, nor did she once reproach me; but, instead, expressed -naught but gratitude for what she was pleased to designate as my -unselfish friendship. That it had miscarried, she assured me, was no -reflection upon me and she insisted that she would rather die in the -knowledge that she possessed one such friend than to live on -indefinitely, friendless. - -We came at last to the chamber I sought—vault L-42-X, in building -4-J-21, where reposed the bodies of the ape and the man, each of which -possessed half the brain of the other. Here I was forced to leave Valla -Dia for the time, that I might hasten to the office and perform the -duties imposed upon me by Ras Thavas, lest his suspicions be aroused -when Yamdor reported that he had found her apartment vacant. - -I reached the office without it being discovered by anyone who might -report the fact to Ras Thavas that I had been a long time coming from -his apartment. To my relief, I found there were no cases. Without -appearing in any undue haste, I nevertheless soon found an excuse to -depart and at once made my way towards my own quarters, moving in a -leisurely and unconcerned manner and humming as was my wont (a habit -which greatly irritated Ras Thavas), snatches from some song that had -been popular at the time that I quit Earth. In this instance it was “Oh, -Frenchy.” - -I was thus engaged when I met Yamdor moving hurriedly along the corridor -leading from my apartment, in company with two male slaves. I greeted -him pleasantly, as was my custom, and he returned my greeting; but there -was an expression of fear and suspicion in his eyes. I went at once to -my quarters, opened the door leading to the chamber formerly occupied by -Valla Dia and then hastened immediately to the apartment of Ras Thavas, -where I found him conversing with Yamdor. I rushed in apparently -breathless and simulating great excitement. - -“Ras Thavas,” I demanded, “what have you done with 4296-E-2631-H? She -has disappeared; her apartment is empty; and as I was approaching it I -met Yamdor and two other slaves coming from that direction.” I turned -then upon Yamdor and pointed an accusing finger at him. “Yamdor!” I -cried. “What have you done with this woman?” - -Both Ras Thavas and Yamdor seemed genuinely puzzled and I congratulated -myself that I had thus readily thrown them off the track. The master -surgeon declared that he would make an immediate investigation; and he -at once ordered a thorough search of the ground and of the island -outside the enclosure. Yamdor denied any knowledge of the woman and I, -at least, was aware of the sincerity of his protestations, but not so -Ras Thavas. I could see a hint of suspicion in his eyes as he questioned -his body servant; but evidently he could conjure no motive for any such -treasonable action on the part of Yamdor as would have been represented -by the abduction of the woman and the consequent gross disobedience of -orders. - -Ras Thavas’ investigation revealed nothing. I think as it progressed -that he became gradually more and more imbued with a growing suspicion -that I might know more about the disappearance of Valla Dia than my -attitude indicated, for I presently became aware of a delicately -concealed espionage. Up to this time I had been able to smuggle food to -Valla Dia every night, after Ras Thavas had retired to his quarters. -Then, on one occasion, I suddenly became subconsciously aware that I was -being followed, and instead of going to the vaults I went to the office, -where I added some observations to my report upon a case I had handled -that day. Returning to my room I hummed a few bars from “Over There,” -that the suggestion of my unconcern might be accentuated. From the -moment that I quit my quarters until I returned to them I was sure that -eyes had been watching my every move. What was I to do? Valla Dia must -have food, without it she would die; and were I to be followed to her -hiding place while taking it to her, she would die; Ras Thavas would see -to that. - -Half the night I lay awake, racking my brains for some solution to the -problem. There seemed only one way—I must elude the spies. If I could -do this but one single time I could carry out the balance of a plan that -had occurred to me, and which was, I thought, the only one feasible that -might eventually lead to the resurrection of Valla Dia in her own body. -The way was long, the risks great; but I was young, in love and utterly -reckless of consequences in so far as they concerned me; it was Valla -Dia’s happiness alone that I could not risk too greatly, other than -under dire stress. Well, the stress existed and I must risk that, even -as I risked my life. - -My plan was formulated and I lay awake upon my sleeping silks and furs -in the darkness of my room, awaiting the time when I might put it into -execution. My window, which was upon the third floor, overlooked the -walled enclosure, upon the scarlet sward of which I had made my first -bow to Barsoom. Across the open casement I had watched Cluros, the -farther moon, take his slow deliberate way. He had already set. Behind -him, Thuria, his elusive mistress, fled through the heavens. In five -xats (about 15 minutes) she would set; and then for about three and -three quarters Earth hours the heavens would be dark, except for the -stars. - -In the corridor, perhaps, lurked those watchful eyes. I prayed God that -they might not be elsewhere as Thuria sank at last beneath the horizon -and I swung to my window ledge, in my hand a long rope fabricated from -braided strips torn from my sleeping silks while I had awaited the -setting of the moons. One end I had fastened to a heavy sorapus bench -which I had drawn close to the window. I dropped the free end of the -rope and started my descent. My Earthly muscles, untried in such -endeavours, I had not trusted to the task of carrying me to my window -ledge in a single leap, when I should be returning. I felt that they -would, but I did not know; and too much depended upon the success of my -venture to risk any unnecessary chance of failure. And so I had prepared -the rope. - -Whether I was being observed I did not know. I must go on as though none -were spying upon me. In less than four hours Thuria would return (just -before the sudden Barsoomian dawn) and in the interval I must reach -Valla Dia, persuade her of the necessity of my plan and carry out its -details, returning to my chamber before Thuria could disclose me to any -accidental observer. I carried my weapons with me and in my heart was -unbending determination to slay whoever might cross my path and -recognize me during the course of my errand, however innocent of evil -intent against me he might be. - -The night was quiet except for the usual distant sounds that I had heard -ever since I had been here—sounds that I had interpreted as the cries -of savage beasts. Once I had asked Ras Thavas about them, but he had -been in ill humor and had ignored my question. I reached the ground -quickly and without hesitation moved directly to the nearest entrance of -the building, having previously searched out and determined upon the -route I would follow to the vault. No one was visible and I was -confident, when at last I reached the doorway, that I had come through -undetected. Valla Dia was so happy to see me again that it almost -brought the tears to my eyes. - -“I thought that something had happened to you,” she cried, “for I knew -that you would not remain away so long of your own volition.” - -I told her of my conviction that I was being watched and that it would -not be possible for me longer to bring food to her without incurring -almost certain detection, which would spell immediate death for her. - -“There is a single alternative,” I said, “and that I dread even to -suggest and would not were there any other way. You must be securely -hidden for a long time, until Ras Thavas’ suspicions have been allayed; -for as long as he has me watched I cannot possibly carry out the plans I -have formulated for your eventual release, the restoration of your own -body and your return to Duhor.” - -“Your will shall be my law, Vad Varo.” - -I shook my head. “It will be harder for you than you imagine.” - -“What is the way?” she asked. - -I pointed to the ersite topped table. “You must pass again through that -ordeal that I may hide you away in this vault until the time is ripe for -the carrying out of my plans. Can you endure it?” - -She smiled. “Why not?” she asked. “It is only sleep—if it lasts for -ever I shall be no wiser.” - -I was surprised that she did not shrink from the idea, but I was very -glad since I knew that it was the only way that we had a chance for -success. Without my help she disposed herself upon the ersite slab. - -“I am ready, Vad Varo,” she said, bravely; “but first promise me that -you will take no risks in this mad venture. You cannot succeed. When I -close my eyes I know that it will be for the last time if my -resurrection depends upon the successful outcome of the maddest venture -that ever man conceived; yet I am happy, because I know that it is -inspired by the greatest friendship with which any mortal woman has ever -been blessed.” - -As she talked I had been adjusting the tubes and now I stood beside her -with my finger upon the starting button of the motor. - -“Good-bye, Vad Varo,” she whispered. - -“Not good-bye, Valla Dia, but only a sweet sleep for what to you will be -the briefest instant. You will seem but to close your eyes and open them -again. As you see me now, I shall be standing here beside you as though -I never had departed from you. As I am the last that you look upon -to-night before you close your eyes, so shall I be the first that you -shall look upon as you open them on that new and beautiful morning; but -you shall not again look forth through the eyes of Xaxa, but from the -limpid depths of your own beautiful orbs.” - -She smiled and shook her head. Two tears formed beneath her lids. I -pressed her hand in mine and touched the button. - - - - - CHAPTER VI - SUSPICIONS - - -In so far as I could know I reached my apartment without detection. -Hiding my rope where I was sure it would not be discovered, I sought my -sleeping silks and furs and was soon asleep. - -The following morning as I emerged from my quarters I caught a fleeting -glimpse of a figure in a nearby corridor and from then on for a long -time I had further evidence that Ras Thavas suspicioned me. I went at -once to his quarters, as had been my habit. He seemed restless, but he -gave me no hint that he held any assurance that I had been responsible -for the disappearance of Valla Dia, and I think that he was far from -positive of it. It was simply that his judgment pointed to the fact that -I was the only person who might have any reason for interfering in any -way with this particular subject, and he was having me watched to either -prove or disprove the truth of his reasonable suspicions. His -restlessness he explained to me himself. - -“I have often studied the reaction of others who have undergone brain -transference,” he said, “and so I am not wholly surprised at my own. Not -only has my brain energy been stimulated, resulting in an increased -production of nervous energy, but I also feel the effects of the young -tissue and youthful blood of my new body. They are affecting my -consciousness in a way that my experiment had vaguely indicated, but -which I now see must be actually experienced to be fully understood. My -thoughts, my inclinations, even my ambitions have been changed, or at -least coloured, by the transfer. It will take some time for me to find -myself.” - -Though uninterested, I listened politely until he was through and then I -changed the subject. “Have you located the missing woman?” I asked. - -He shook his head, negatively. - -“You must appreciate, Ras Thavas,” I said, “that I fully realize that -you must have known that the removal or destruction of that woman would -entirely frustrate my entire plan. You are master here. Nothing that -passes is without your knowledge.” - -“You mean that I am responsible for the disappearance of the woman?” he -demanded. - -“Certainly. It is obvious. I demand that she be restored.” - -He lost his temper. “Who are you to demand?” he shouted. “You are naught -but a slave. Cease your impudence or I shall erase you—erase you. It -will be as though you never had existed.” - -I laughed in his face. “Anger is the most futile attribute of the -sentimentalist,” I reminded him. “You will not erase me, for I alone -stand between you and mortality.” - -“I can train another,” he parried. - -“But you could not trust him,” I pointed out. - -“But you bargained with me for my life when you had me in your power,” -he cried. - -“For nothing that it would have harmed you to have granted willingly. I -did not ask anything for myself. Be that as it may, you will trust me -again. You will trust, for no other reason than that you will be forced -to trust me. So why not win my gratitude and my loyalty by returning the -woman to me and carrying out in spirit as well as in fact the terms of -our agreement?” - -He turned and looked steadily at me. “Vad Varo,” he said, “I give you -the word of honor of a Barsoomian noble that I know absolutely nothing -concerning the whereabouts of 4296-E-2631-H.” - -“Perhaps Yamdor does,” I persisted. - -“Nor Yamdor. Of my knowledge no person in any way connected with me -knows what became of it. I have spoken the truth.” - -Well, the conversation was not as profitless as it might appear, for I -was sure that it had almost convinced Ras Thavas that I was equally as -ignorant of the fate of Valla Dia as was he. That it had not wholly -convinced him was evidenced by the fact that the espionage continued for -a long time, a fact which determined me to use Ras Thavas’ own methods -in my own defence. I had had allotted to me a number of slaves, and -these I had won over by kindness and understanding until I knew that I -had the full measure of their loyalty. They had no reason to love Ras -Thavas and every reason to hate him; on the other hand they had no -reason to hate me, and I saw to it that they had every reason to love -me. - -The result was that I had no difficulty in enlisting the services of a -couple of them to spy upon Ras Thavas’ spies, with the result that I was -soon apprised that my suspicions were well founded—I was being -constantly watched every minute that I was out of my apartments, but the -spying did not come beyond my outer chamber walls. That was why I had -been successful in reaching the vault in the manner that I had, the -spies having assumed that I would leave my chamber only by its natural -exit, had been content to guard that and permit my windows to go -unwatched. - -I think it was about two of our months that the spying continued and -then my men reported that it seemed to have ceased entirely. All that -time I was fretting at the delay, for I wanted to be about my plans -which would have been absolutely impossible for me to carry out if I -were being watched. I had spent the interval in studying the geography -of the north-eastern Barsoomian hemisphere where my activities were to -be carried on, and also in scanning a great number of case histories and -inspecting the subjects to which they referred; but at last, with the -removal of the spies, it began to look as though I might soon commence -to put my plans in active operation. - -Ras Thavas had for some time permitted me considerable freedom in -independent investigation and experiment, and this I determined to take -advantage of in every possible way that might forward my plans for the -resurrection of Valla Dia. My study of the histories of many of the -cases had been with the possibility in mind of discovering subjects that -might be of assistance to me in my venture. Among those that had -occupied my careful attention were, quite naturally, the cases with -which I had been most familiar, namely: 378-J-493811-P, the red-man from -whose vicious attack I had saved Ras Thavas upon the day of my advent -upon Mars; and he whose brain had been divided with an ape. - -The former, 378-J-493811-P, had been a native of Phundahl—a young -warrior attached to the court of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl—and a victim -of assassination. His body had been purchased by a Phundahlian noble for -the purpose, as Ras Thavas had narrated, of winning the favor of a young -beauty. I felt that I might possibly enlist his services, but that would -depend upon the extent of his loyalty towards Xaxa, which I could only -determine by reviving and questioning him. - -He whose brain had been divided with an ape had originated in Ptarth, -which lay at a considerable distance to the west of Phundahl and a -little south and about an equal distance from Duhor, which lay north and -a little west of it. An inhabitant of Ptarth, I reasoned, would know -much of the entire country included in the triangle formed by Phundahl, -Ptarth and Duhor; the strength and ferocity of the great ape would prove -of value in crossing beast infested wastes; and I felt that I could hold -forth sufficient promise to the human half of the great beast’s brain, -which really now dominated the creature, to win its support and loyalty. -The third subject that I had tentatively selected had been a notorious -Toonolian assassin, whose audacity, fearlessness and swordsmanship had -won for him a reputation that had spread far beyond the boundaries of -his country. - -Ras Thavas, himself a Toonolian, had given me something of the history -of this man whose grim calling is not without honor upon Barsoom, and -which Gor Hajus had raised still higher in the esteem of his countrymen -through the fact that he never struck down a woman or a good man and -that he never struck from behind. His killings were always the results -of fair fights in which the victim had every opportunity to defend -himself and slay his attacker; and he was famous for his loyalty to his -friends. In fact this very loyalty had been a contributing factor in his -downfall which had brought him to one of Ras Thavas’ ersite slabs some -years since, for he had earned the enmity of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of -Toonol, through his refusal to assassinate a man who once had befriended -Gor Hajus in some slight degree; following which Vobis Kan conceived the -suspicion that Gor Hajus had him marked for slaying. The result was -inevitable: Gor Hajus was arrested and condemned to death; immediately -following the execution of the sentence an agent of Ras Thavas had -purchased the body. - -These three, then, I had chosen to be my partners in my great adventure. -It is true that I had not discussed the matter with any one of them, but -my judgment assured me that I would have no difficulty in enlisting -their services and loyalty in return for their total resurrection. - -My first task lay in renewing the organs of 378-J-493811-P and of Gor -Hajus which had been injured by the wounds that had laid them low; the -former requiring a new lung and the latter a new heart, his executioner -having run him through with a short-sword. I hesitated to ask Ras -Thavas’ permission to experiment on these subjects for fear of the -possibility of arousing his suspicions, in which event he would probably -have them destroyed; and so I was forced to accomplish my designs by -subterfuge and stealth. To this end I made it a practice for weeks to -carry my regular laboratory work far into the night, often requiring the -services of various assistants that all might become accustomed to the -sight of me at work at unusual hours. In my selection of these -assistants I made it a point to choose two of the very spies that Ras -Thavas had set to watching me. While it was true that they were no -longer employed in this particular service, I had hopes that they would -carry word of my activities to their master; and I was careful to see -that they received from me the proper suggestions that would mould their -report in language far from harmful to me. By the merest suggestion I -carried to them the idea that I worked thus late purely for the love of -the work itself and the tremendous interest in it that Ras Thavas had -awakened within my mind. Some nights I worked with assistants and as -often I did not, but always I was careful to assure myself that the -following morning those in the office were made aware that I had labored -far into the preceding night. - -This groundwork carefully prepared, I had comparatively little fear of -the results of actual discovery when I set to work upon the warrior of -Phundahl and the assassin of Toonol. I chose the former first. His lung -was badly injured where my blade had passed through it, but from the -laboratory where were kept fractional bodies I brought a perfect lung, -with which I replaced the one that I had ruined. The work occupied but -half the night. So anxious was I to complete my task that I immediately -opened up the breast of Gor Hajus, for whom I had selected an unusually -strong and powerful heart, and by working rapidly I succeeded in -completing the transference before dawn. Having known the nature of the -wounds that had dispatched these two men, I had spent weeks in -performing similar operations that I might perfect myself especially in -this work; and having encountered no unusual pathological conditions in -either subject, the work had progressed smoothly and with great -rapidity. I had completed what I had feared would be the most difficult -part of my task and now, having removed as far as possible all signs of -the operation except the therapeutic tape which closed the incisions, I -returned to my quarters for a few minutes of much needed rest, praying -that Ras Thavas would not by any chance examine either of the subjects -upon which I had been working; although I had fortified myself against -such a contingency by entering full details of the operation upon the -history card of each subject that, in the event of discovery, any -suspicion of ulterior motives upon my part might be allayed by my play -of open frankness. - -I arose at the usual time and went at once to Ras Thavas’ apartment, -where I was met with a bombshell that nearly wrecked my composure. He -eyed me closely for a long minute before he spoke. - -“You worked late last night, Vad Varo,” he said. - -“I often do,” I replied, lightly; but my heart was heavy as a stone. - -“And what might it have been that so occupied your interest?” he -inquired. - -I felt as a mouse with which the cat is playing. “I have been doing -quite a little lung and heart transference of late,” I replied, “and I -became so engrossed with my work that I did not note the passage of -time.” - -“I have known that you worked late at night. Do you think it wise?” - -At that moment I felt that it had been very unwise, yet I assured him to -the contrary. - -“I was restless,” he said. “I could not sleep and so I went to your -quarters after midnight, but you were not there. I wanted someone with -whom to talk, but your slaves knew only that you were not there—where -you were they did not know—so I set out to search for you.” My heart -went into my sandals. “I guessed that you were in one of the -laboratories, but though I visited several I did not find you.” My heart -arose with the lightness of a feather. “Since my own transference I have -been cursed with restlessness and sleeplessness, so that I could almost -wish for the return of my old corpse—the youth of my body harmonizes -not with the antiquity of my brain. It is filled with latent urges and -desires that comport illy with the serious subject matter of my mind.” - -“What your body needs,” I said, “is exercise. It is young, strong, -virile. Work it hard and it will let your brain rest at night.” - -“I know that you are right,” he replied. “I have reached that same -conclusion myself. In fact, not finding you, I walked in the gardens for -an hour or more before returning to my quarters, and then I slept -soundly. I shall walk every night when I cannot sleep, or I shall go -into the laboratories and work as do you.” - -This news was most disquieting. Now I could never be sure but that Ras -Thavas was wandering about at night and I had one more very important -night’s work to do, perhaps two. The only way that I could be sure of -him was to be with him. - -“Send for me when you are restless,” I said, “and I will walk and work -with you. You should not go about thus at night alone.” - -“Very well,” he said, “I may do that occasionally.” - -I hoped that he would do it always, for then I would know that when he -failed to send for me he was safe in his own quarters. Yet I saw that I -must henceforth face the menace of detection; and knowing this I -determined to hasten the completion of my plans and to risk everything -on a single bold stroke. - -That night I had no opportunity to put it into action as Ras Thavas sent -for me early and informed me that we would walk in the gardens until he -was tired. Now, as I needed a full night for what I had in mind and as -Ras Thavas walked until midnight, I was compelled to forego everything -for that evening, but the following morning I persuaded him to walk -early on the pretext that I should like to go beyond the enclosure and -see something of Barsoom beside the inside of his laboratories and his -gardens. I had little confidence that he would grant my request, yet he -did so. I am sure he never would have done it had he possessed his old -body; but thus greatly had young blood changed Ras Thavas. - -I had never been beyond the buildings, nor had I seen beyond, since -there were no windows in the outside walls of any of the structures and -upon the garden side the trees had grown to such a height that they -obstructed all view beyond them. For a time we walked in another garden -just inside the outer wall, and then I asked Ras Thavas if I might go -even beyond this. - -“No,” he said. “It would not be safe.” - -“And why not?” I asked. - -“I will show you and at the same time give you a much broader view of -the outside world than you could obtain by merely passing through the -gate. Come, follow me!” - -He led me immediately to a lofty tower that rose at the corner of the -largest building of the group that comprised his vast establishment. -Within was a circular runway which led not only upward, but down as -well. This we ascended, passing openings at each floor, until we came at -last out upon its lofty summit. - -About me spread the first Barsoomian landscape of any extent upon which -my eyes had yet rested during the long months that I had spent upon the -Red Planet. For almost an Earthly year I had been immured within the -grim walls of Ras Thavas’ bloody laboratory, until, such creatures of -habit are we, the weird life there had grown to seem quite natural and -ordinary; but with this first glimpse of open country there surged up -within me an urge for freedom, for space, for room to move about, such -as I knew would not be long denied. - -Directly beneath lay an irregular patch of rocky land elevated perhaps a -dozen feet or more above the general level of the immediately -surrounding country. Its extent was, at a rough guess, a hundred acres. -Upon this stood the buildings and grounds, which were enclosed in a high -wall. The tower upon which we stood was situated at about the centre of -the total area enclosed. Beyond the outer wall was a strip of rocky -ground on which grew a sparse forest of fair sized trees interspersed -with patches of a jungle growth, and beyond all, what appeared to be an -oozy marsh through which were narrow water courses connecting occasional -open water—little lakes, the largest of which could have comprised -scarce two acres. This landscape extended as far as the eye could reach, -broken by occasional islands similar to that upon which we were and at a -short distance by the skyline of a large city, whose towers and domes -and minarets glistened and sparkled in the sun as though plated with -shining metals and picked out with precious gems. - -This, I knew, must be Toonol and all about us the Great Toonolian -Marshes which extend nearly eighteen hundred Earth miles east and west -and in some places have a width of three hundred miles. Little is known -about them in other portions of Barsoom as they are frequented by fierce -beasts, afford no landing places for fliers and are commanded by -Phundahl at their western end and Toonol at the east; inhospitable -kingdoms that invite no intercourse with the outside world and maintain -their independence alone by their inaccessibility and savage aloofness. - -As my eyes returned to the island at our feet I saw a huge form emerge -from one of the nearby patches of jungle a short distance beyond the -outer wall. It was followed by a second and a third. Ras Thavas saw that -the creatures had attracted my notice. - -“There,” he said, pointing to them, “are three of a number of similar -reasons why it would not have been safe for us to venture outside the -enclosure.” - -They were great white apes of Barsoom, creatures so savage that even -that fierce Barsoomian lion, the banth, hesitates to cross their path. - -“They serve two purposes,” explained Ras Thavas. “They discourage those -who might otherwise creep upon me by night from the city of Toonol, -where I am not without many good enemies, and they prevent desertion -upon the part of my slaves and assistants.” - -“But how do your clients reach you?” I asked. “How are your supplies -brought in?” - -He turned and pointed down toward the highest portion of the irregular -roof of the building below us. Built upon it was a large, shed-like -structure. “There,” he said, “I keep three small ships. One of them goes -every day to Toonol.” - -I was overcome with eagerness to know more about these ships, in which I -thought I saw a much needed means of escape from the island; but I dared -not question him for fear of arousing his suspicions. - -As we turned to descend the tower runway I expressed interest in the -structure which gave evidence of being far older than any of the -surrounding buildings. - -“This tower,” said Ras Thavas, “was built some twenty-three thousand -years ago by an ancestor of mine who was driven from Toonol by the -reigning Jeddak of the time. Here, and upon other islands, he gathered a -considerable following, dominated the surrounding marshes and defended -himself successfully for hundreds of years. While my family has been -permitted to return to Toonol since, this has been their home; to which, -one by one, have been added the various buildings which you see about -the tower, each floor of which connects with the adjacent building from -the roof to the lowest pits beneath the ground.” - -This information also interested me greatly since I thought that I saw -where it too might have considerable bearing upon my plan of escape, and -so, as we descended the runway, I encouraged Ras Thavas to discourse -upon the construction of the tower, its relation to the other buildings -and especially its accessibility from the pits. We walked again in the -outer garden and by the time we returned to Ras Thavas’ quarters it was -almost dark and the master surgeon was considerably fatigued. - -“I feel that I shall sleep well to-night,” he said as I left him. - -“I hope so, Ras Thavas,” I replied. - - - - - CHAPTER VII - ESCAPE - - -It was usually about three hours after the evening meal, which was -served immediately after dark, that the establishment quieted down -definitely for the night. While I should have preferred waiting longer -before undertaking that which I had in mind, I could not safely do so, -since there was much to be accomplished before dawn. So it was that with -the first indications that the occupants of the building in which my -work was to be performed had retired for the night, I left my quarters -and went directly to the laboratory, where, fortunately for my plans, -the bodies of Gor Hajus, the assassin of Toonol, and 378-J-493811-P both -reposed. It was the work of a few minutes to carry them to adjoining -tables, where I quickly strapped them securely against the possibility -that one or both of them might not be willing to agree to the -proposition I was about to make them, and thus force me to anaesthetize -them again. At last the incisions were made, the tubes attached and the -motors started. 378-J-493811-P, whom I shall hereafter call by his own -name, Dar Tarus, was the first to open his eyes; but he had not regained -full consciousness when Gor Hajus showed signs of life. - -I waited until both appeared quite restored. Dar Tarus was eyeing me -with growing recognition that brought a most venomous expression of -hatred to his countenance. Gor Hajus was frankly puzzled. The last he -remembered was the scene in the death chamber at the instant that his -executioner had run a sword through his heart. It was I who broke the -silence. - -“In the first place,” I said, “let me tell you where you are, if you do -not already know.” - -“I know well enough where I am,” growled Dar Tarus. - -“Ah!” exclaimed Gor Hajus, whose eyes had been roaming about the -chamber. “I can guess where I am. What Toonolian has not heard of Ras -Thavas? So they sold my corpse to the old butcher did they? And what -now? Did I just arrive?” - -“You have been here six years,” I told him, “and you may stay here for -ever unless we three can reach an agreement within the next few minutes, -and that goes for you too, Dar Tarus.” - -“Six years!” mused Gor Hajus. “Well, out with it, man. What do you want? -If it is to slay Ras Thavas, no! He has saved me from utter destruction; -but name me some other, preferably Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol. Find me -a blade and I will slay a hundred to regain life.” - -“I seek the life of none unless he stands in the way of the fulfilment -of my desire in this matter that I have in hand. Listen! Ras Thavas had -here a beautiful Duhorian girl. He sold her body to Xaxa, Jeddara of -Phundahl, transplanting the girl’s brain to the wrinkled and hideous -body of the Jeddara. It is my intention to regain the body, restore it -to its own brain and return the girl to Duhor.” - -Gor Hajus grinned. “You have a large contract on your hands,” he said, -“but I can see that you are a man after my own heart and I am with you. -It will give freedom and fighting, and all that I ask is a chance for -one thrust at Vobis Kan.” - -“I promise you life,” I replied; “but with the understanding that you -serve me faithfully and none other, undertaking no business of your own, -until mine has been carried to a successful conclusion.” - -“That means that I shall have to serve you for life,” he replied, “for -the thing you have undertaken you can never accomplish; but that is -better than lying here on a cold ersite slab waiting for old Ras Thavas -to come along and carve out my gizzard. I am yours! Let me up, that I -may feel a good pair of legs under me again.” - -“And you?” I asked, turning to Dar Tarus as I released the bonds that -held Gor Hajus. For the first time I now noticed that the ugly -expression that I had first noted upon the face of Dar Tarus had given -place to one of eagerness. - -“Strike off my bonds!” he cried. “I will follow you to the ends of -Barsoom and the way leads thus far to the fulfilment of your design; but -it will not. It will lead to Phundahl and to the chamber of the wicked -Xaxa, where, by the generosity of my ancestors, I may be given the -opportunity to avenge the hideous wrong the creature did me. You could -not have chosen one better fitted for your mission than Dar Tarus, one -time soldier of the Jeddara’s Guard, whom she had slain that in my -former body one of her rotten nobles might woo the girl I loved.” - -A moment later the two men stood at my side, and without more delay I -led them towards the runway that descended to the pits beneath the -building. As we went, I described to them the creature I had chosen to -be the fourth member of our strange party. Gor Hajus questioned the -wisdom of my choice, saying that the ape would attract too much -attention to us. Dar Tarus, however, believed that it might be helpful -in many respects, since it was possible that we might be compelled to -spend some time among the islands of the marshes which were often -infested with these creatures; while, once in Phundahl, the ape might -readily be used in the furtherance of our plans and would cause no -considerable comment in a city where many of these beasts are held in -captivity and often are seen performing for the edification of street -crowds. - -We went at once to the vault where the ape lay and where I had concealed -the anaesthetized body of Valla Dia. Here I revived the great anthropoid -and to my great relief found that the human half of its brain still was -dominant. Briefly I explained my plan as I had to the other two and won -the hearty promise of his support upon my engaging to restore his brain -to its rightful place upon the completion of our venture. - -First we must get off the island, and I outlined two plans I had in -mind. One was to steal one of Ras Thavas’ three fliers and set out -directly for Phundahl, and the other, in the event that the first did -not seem feasible, was to secrete ourselves aboard one of them on the -chance that we might either overpower the crew and take over the ship -after we had left the island, or escape undetected upon its arrival in -Toonol. Dar Tarus liked the first plan; the ape, whom we now called by -the name belonging to the human half of his brain, Hovan Du, preferred -the first alternative of the second plan; and Gor Hajus the second -alternative. - -Dar Tarus explained that as our principal objective was Phundahl, the -quicker we got there the better. Hovan Du argued that by seizing the -ship after it had left the island we would have longer time in which to -make our escape before the ship was missed and pursuit instituted, than -by seizing it now in the full knowledge that its absence would be -discovered within a few hours. Gor Hajus thought that it would be better -if we could come into Toonol secretly and there, through one of his -friends, secure arms and a flier of our own. It would never do, he -insisted, to attempt to go far without arms for himself and Dar Tarus, -nor could we hope to reach Phundahl without being overhauled by -pursuers; for we must plan on the hypothesis that Ras Thavas would -immediately discover my absence; that he would at once investigate; that -he would find Dar Tarus and Gor Hajus missing and thereupon lose no time -in advising Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, that Gor Hajus the assassin was -at large, whereupon the Jeddak’s best ships would be sent in pursuit. - -Gor Hajus’ reasoning was sound and coupled with my recollection that Ras -Thavas had told me that his three ships were slow, I could readily -foresee that our liberty would be of short duration were we to steal one -of the old surgeon’s fliers. - -As we discussed the matter we had made our way through the pits and I -had found the exit to the tower. Silently we passed upward along the -runway and out upon the roof. Both moons were winging low through the -heavens and the scene was almost as light as day. If anyone was about -discovery was certain. We hastened towards the hangar and were soon -within it, where, for a moment at least, I breathed far more easily than -I had beneath those two brilliant moons upon the exposed roof. - -The fliers were peculiar looking contrivances, low, squat, with rounded -bows and sterns and covered decks, their every line proclaiming them as -cargo carriers built for anything but speed. One was much smaller than -the other two and a second was evidently undergoing repairs. The third I -entered and examined carefully. Gor Hajus was with me and pointed out -several places where we might hide with little likelihood of discovery -unless it were suspected that we might be aboard, and that of course -constituted a very real danger; so much so that I had about decided to -risk all aboard the small flier, which Gor Hajus assured me would be the -fastest of the three, when Dar Tarus stuck his head into the ship and -motioned me to come quickly. - -“There is someone about,” he said when I reached his side. - -“Where?” I demanded. - -“Come,” he said, and led me to the rear of the hangar, which was flush -with the wall of the building upon which it stood, and pointed through -one of the windows into the inner garden where, to my consternation, I -saw Ras Thavas walking slowly to and fro. For an instant I was sick with -despair, for I knew that no ship could leave that roof unseen while -anyone was abroad in the garden beneath, and Ras Thavas least of all -people in the world; but suddenly a great light dawned upon me. I called -the three close to me and explained my plan. - -Instantly they grasped the possibilities in it and a moment later we had -run the small flier out upon the roof and turned her nose toward the -east, away from Toonol. Then Gor Hajus entered her, set the various -controls as we had decided, opened the throttle, slipped back to the -roof. The four of us hastened into the hangar and ran to the rear window -where we saw the ship moving slowly and gracefully out over the garden -and the head of Ras Thavas, whose ears must instantly have caught the -faint purring of the motor, for he was looking up by the time we reached -the window. - -Instantly he hailed the ship and stepping back from the window that he -might not see me I answered: “Good-bye, Ras Thavas! It is I, Vad Varo, -going out into a strange world to see what it is like. I shall return. -The spirits of your ancestors be with you until then.” That was a phrase -I had picked up from reading in Ras Thavas’ library and I was quite -proud of it. - -“Come back at once,” he shouted up in reply, “or you will be with the -spirits of your own ancestors before another day is done.” - -I made no reply. The ship was now at such a distance that I feared my -voice might no longer seem to come from it and that we should be -discovered. Without more delay we concealed ourselves aboard one of the -remaining fliers, that upon which no work was being done, and there -commenced as long and tiresome a period of waiting as I can recall ever -having passed through. - -I had at last given up any hope of the ship’s being flown that day when -I heard voices in the hangar, and presently the sound of footsteps -aboard the flier. A moment later a few commands were given and almost -immediately the ship moved slowly out into the open. - -The four of us were crowded into a small compartment built into a tiny -space between the forward and aft starboard buoyancy tanks. It was very -dark and poorly ventilated, having evidently been designed as a storage -closet to utilize otherwise waste space. We dared not converse for fear -of attracting attention to our presence, and for the same reason we -moved about as little as possible, since we had no means of knowing but -that some member of the crew might be just beyond the thin door that -separated us from the main cabin of the ship. Altogether we were most -uncomfortable; but the distance to Toonol is not so great but that we -might hope that our situation would soon be changed—at least if Toonol -was to be the destination of the ship. Of this we soon had cheering -hope. We had been out but a short time when, faintly, we heard a hail -and then the motors were immediately shut down and the ship stopped. - -“What ship?” we heard a voice demand, and from aboard our own came the -reply: - -“The Vosar, Tower of Thavas for Toonol.” We heard a scraping as the -other ship touched ours. - -“We are coming aboard to search you in the name of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of -Toonol. Make way!” shouted one from the other ship. Our cheer had been -of short duration. We heard the shuffling of many feet and Gor Hajus -whispered in my ear. - -“What shall we do?” he asked. - -I slipped my short-sword into his hand. “Fight!” I replied. - -“Good, Vad Varo,” he replied, and then I handed him my pistol and told -him to pass it on to Dar Tarus. We heard the voices again, but nearer -now. - -“What ho!” cried one. “It is Bal Zak himself, my old friend Bal Zak!” - -“None other,” replied a deep voice. “And whom did you expect to find in -command of the Vosar other than Bal Zak?” - -“Who could know but that it might have been this Vad Varo himself, or -even Gor Hajus,” said the other, “and our orders are to search all -ships.” - -“I would that they were here,” replied Bal Zak, “for the reward is high. -But how could they, when Ras Thavas himself with his own eyes saw them -fly off in the Pinsar before dawn this day and disappear in the east?” - -“Right you are, Bal Zak,” agreed the other, “and it were a waste of time -to search your ship. Come men! to our own!” - -I could feel the muscles about my heart relax with the receding -footfalls of Vobis Kan’s warriors as they quitted the deck of the Vosar -for their own ship, and my spirits rose with the renewed purring of our -own motor as Ras Thavas’ flier again got under way. Gor Hajus bent his -lips close to my ear. - -“The spirits of our ancestors smile upon us,” he whispered. “It is night -and the darkness will aid in covering our escape from the ship and the -landing stage.” - -“What makes you think it is night?” I asked. - -“Vobis Kan’s ship was close by when it hailed and asked our name. By -daylight it could have seen what ship we were.” - -He was right. We had been locked in that stuffy hole since before dawn, -and while I had thought that it had been for a considerable time, I also -had realized that the darkness and the inaction and the nervous strain -would tend to make it seem much longer than it really had been; so that -I would not have been greatly surprised had we made Toonol by daylight. - -The distance from the Tower of Thavas to Toonol is inconsiderable, so -that shortly after Vobis Kan’s ship had spoken to us we came to rest -upon the landing stage at our destination. For a long time we waited, -listening to the sounds of movement aboard the ship and wondering, upon -my part at least, as to what the intentions of the captain might be. It -was quite possible that Bal Zak might return to Thavas this same night, -especially if he had come to Toonol to fetch a rich or powerful patient -to the laboratories; but if he had come only for supplies he might well -lie here until the morrow. This much I had learned from Gor Hajus, my -own knowledge of the movements of the fliers of Ras Thavas being -considerably less than nothing; for, though I had been months a -lieutenant of the master surgeon, I had learned only the day before of -the existence of his small fleet, it being according to the policy of -Ras Thavas to tell me nothing unless the telling of it coincided with -and furthered his own plans. - -Questions which I asked he always answered, if he reasoned that the -effects would not be harmful to his own interests, but he volunteered -nothing that he did not particularly wish me to know; and the fact that -there were no windows in the outside walls of the building facing -towards Toonol, that I had never before the previous day been upon the -roof and that I never had seen a ship sail over the inner court towards -the east all tended to explain my ignorance of the fleet and its -customary operations. - -We waited quietly until silence fell upon the ship, betokening either -that the crew had retired for the night or that they had gone down into -the city. Then, after a whispered consultation with Gor Hajus, we -decided to make an attempt to leave the flier. It was our purpose to -seek a hiding place within the tower of the landing stage from which we -might investigate possible avenues of escape into the city, either at -once or upon the morrow when we might more easily mix with the crowd -that Gor Hajus said would certainly be in evidence from a few hours -after sunrise. - -Cautiously I opened the door of our closet and looked into the main -cabin beyond. It lay in darkness. Silently we filed out. The silence of -the tomb lay upon the flier, but from far below arose the subdued noises -of the city. So far, so good! Then, without sound, without warning, a -burst of brilliant light illuminated the interior of the cabin. I felt -my fingers tighten upon my sword-hilt as I glanced quickly about. - -Directly opposite us, in the narrow doorway of a small cabin, stood a -tall man whose handsome harness betokened the fact that he was no common -warrior. In either hand he held a heavy Barsoomian pistol, into the -muzzles of which we found ourselves staring. - - - - - CHAPTER VIII - HANDS UP! - - -In quiet tones he spoke the words of the Barsoomian equivalent of our -Earthly _hands up!_ The shadow of a grim smile touched his lips, and as -he saw us hesitate to obey his commands he spoke again. - -“Do as I tell you and you will be well off. Keep perfect silence. A -raised voice may spell your doom; a pistol shot most assuredly.” - -Gor Hajus raised his hands above his head and we others followed his -example. - -“I am Bal Zak,” announced the stranger. My heart slumped. - -“Then you had better commence firing,” said Gor Hajus, “for you will not -take us alive and we are four to one.” - -“Not so fast, Gor Hajus,” admonished the captain of the Vosar, “until -you learn what is in my mind.” - -“That, we already know for we heard you speak of the large reward that -awaited the captor of Vad Varo and Gor Hajus,” snapped the assassin of -Toonol. - -“Had I craved that reward so much I could have turned you over to the -dwar of Vobis Kan’s ship when he boarded us,” said Bal Zak. - -“You did not know we were aboard the Vosar,” I reminded him. - -“Ah, but I did.” - -Gor Hajus snorted his disbelief. - -“How then,” Bal Zak reminded us, “was I able to be ready upon this very -spot when you emerged from your hiding place? Yes, I knew that you were -aboard.” - -“But how?” demanded Dar Tarus. - -“It is immaterial,” replied Bal Zak, “but to satisfy your natural -curiosity I will tell you that I have quarters in a small room in the -Tower of Thavas, my windows overlook the roof and the hangar. My long -life spent aboard fliers has made me very sensitive to every sound of a -ship—motors changing their speed will awaken me in the dead of night, -as quickly as will their starting or their stopping. I was awakened by -the starting of the motors of the Pinsar; I saw three of you upon the -roof and the fourth drop from the deck of the flier as she started and -my judgment told me that the ship was being sent out unmanned for some -reason of which I had no knowledge. It was too late for me to prevent -the act and so I waited in silence to learn what would follow. I saw you -hasten into the hangar and I heard Ras Thavas’ hail and your reply, and -then I saw you board the Vosar. Immediately I descended to the roof and -ran noiselessly to the hangar, apprehending that you intended making -away with this ship; but there was no one about the controls; and from a -tiny port in the control room, through which one has a view of the main -cabin, I saw you enter the closet. I was at once convinced that your -only purpose was to stow away for Toonol and consequently, aside from -keeping an eye upon your hiding place, I went about my business as -usual.” - -“And you did not advise Ras Thavas?” I asked. - -“I advised no one,” he replied. “Years ago I learned to mind my own -business, to see all, to hear all and to tell nothing unless it profited -me to do so.” - -“But you said that the reward is high for our apprehension,” Gor Hajus -reminded him. “Would it not be profitable to collect it?” - -“There are in the breasts of honourable men,” replied Bal Zak, “forces -that rise superior to the lust for gold, and while Toonolians are -supposedly a people free from the withering influences of sentiment yet -I for one am not totally unconscious of the demand of gratitude. Six -years ago, Gor Hajus, you refused to assassinate my father, holding that -he was a good man, worthy to live and one that had once befriended you -slightly. To-day, through his son, you reap your reward and in some -measure are repaid for the punishment that was meted out to you by Vobis -Kan because of your refusal to slay the sire of Bal Zak. I have sent my -crew away that none aboard the Vosar but myself might have knowledge of -your presence. Tell me your plans and command me in what way I may be of -further service to you.” - -“We wish to reach the streets, unobserved,” replied Gor Hajus. “Can you -but help us in that we shall not put upon your shoulders further -responsibility for our escape. You have our gratitude and in Toonol, I -need not remind you, the gratitude of Gor Hajus is a possession that -even the Jeddak has craved.” - -“Your problem is complicated,” said Bal Zak, after a moment of thought, -“by the personnel of your party. The ape would immediately attract -attention and arouse suspicion. Knowing much of Ras Thavas’ experiments -I realized at once this morning, after watching him with you, that he -had the brain of a man; but this very fact would attract to him and to -you the closer attention of the masses.” - -“I do not need acquaint them with the fact,” growled Hovan Du. “To them -I need be but a captive ape. Are such unknown in Toonol?” - -“Not entirely, though they are rare,” replied Bal Zak. “But there is -also the white skin of Vad Varo! Ras Thavas appears to have known -nothing of the presence of the ape with you; but he full well knew of -Vad Varo, and your description has been spread by every means at his -command. You would be recognized immediately by the first Toonolian that -lays eyes upon you, and then there is Gor Hajus. He has been as dead for -six years, yet I venture there is scarce a Toonolian that broke the -shell prior to ten years ago who does not know the face of Gor Hajus as -well as he knows that of his own mother. The Jeddak himself was not -better known to the people of Toonol than Gor Hajus. That leaves but one -who might possibly escape suspicion and detection in the streets of -Toonol.” - -“If we could but obtain weapons for these others,” I suggested, “we -might even yet reach the house of Gor Hajus’ friend.” - -“Fight your way through the city of Toonol?” demanded Bal Zak. - -“If there is no other way we should have to,” I replied. - -“I admire the will,” commented the commander of the Vosar, “but fear -that the flesh is without sufficient strength. Wait! there is a -way—perhaps. On the stage just below this there is a public depot where -equilibrimotors are kept and rented. Could we find the means to obtain -four of these there would be a chance, at least, for you to elude the -air patrols and reach the house of Gor Hajus’ friend; and I think I see -a way to the accomplishment of that. The landing tower is closed for the -night but there are several watchmen distributed through it at different -levels. There is one at the equilibrimotor depot and, as I happen to -know, he is a devotee of jetan. He would rather play jetan than attend -to his duties as watchman. I often remain aboard the Vosar at night and -occasionally he and I indulge in a game. I will ask him up to-night and -while he is thus engaged you may go to the depot, help yourselves to -equilibrimotors and pray to your ancestors that no air patrol suspects -you as you cross the city towards your destination. What think you of -this plan, Gor Hajus?” - -“It is splendid,” replied the assassin. “And you, Vad Varo?” - -“If I knew what an equilibrimotor is I might be in a better position to -judge the merits of the plan,” I replied. “However, I am satisfied to -abide by the judgment of Gor Hajus. I can assure you, Bal Zak, of our -great appreciation, and as Gor Hajus has put the stamp of his approval -upon your plan I can only urge you to arrange that we may put it into -effect with as little delay as possible.” - -“Good!” exclaimed Bal Zak. “Come with me and I will conceal you until I -have lured the watchman to the jetan game within my cabin. After that -your fate will be in your own hands.” - -We followed him from the ship on to the deck of the landing stage and -close under the side of the Vosar opposite that from which the watchman -must approach the ship and enter it. Then, bidding us good luck, Bal Zak -departed. - -From the summit of the landing tower I had my first view of a Martian -city. Several hundred feet below me lay spread the broad, well-lighted -avenues of Toonol, many of which were crowded with people. Here and -there, in this central district, a building was raised high upon its -supporting, cylindrical metal shaft; while further out, where the -residences predominated, the city took on the appearance of a colossal -and grotesque forest. Among the larger palaces only an occasional suite -of rooms was thus raised high above the level of the others, these being -the sleeping apartments of the owners, their servants or their guests; -but the smaller homes were raised in their entirety, a precaution -necessitated by the constant activities of the followers of Gor Hajus’ -ancient profession that permitted no man to be free from the constant -menace of assassination. Throughout the central district the sky was -pierced by the lofty towers of several other landing stages; but, as I -was later to learn, these were comparatively few in number. Toonol is in -no sense a flying nation, supporting no such enormous fleets of merchant -ships and vessels of war as, for example, the twin cities of Helium or -the great capital of Ptarth. - -A peculiar feature of the street lighting of Toonol, and in fact the -same condition applies to the lighting of other Barsoomian cities I have -visited, I noted for the first time that night as I waited upon the -landing stage for the return of Bal Zak with the watchman. The -luminosity below me seemed confined directly to the area to be lighted; -there was no diffusion of light upward or beyond the limits the lamps -were designed to light. This was effected, I was told, by lamps designed -upon principles resulting from ages of investigation of the properties -of light waves and the laws governing them which permit Barsoomian -scientists to confine and control light as we confine and control -matter. The light waves leave the lamp, pass along a prescribed circuit -and return to the lamp. There is no waste nor, strange this seemed to -me, are there any dense shadows when lights are properly installed and -adjusted; for the waves in passing around objects to return to the lamp, -illuminate all sides of them. - -The effect of this lighting from the great height of the tower was -rather remarkable. The night was dark, there being no moons at that hour -upon this night, and the effect was that obtained when sitting in a -darkened auditorium and looking upon a brilliantly lighted stage. I was -still intent upon watching the life and colour beneath when we heard Bal -Zak returning. That he had been successful in his mission was apparent -from the fact that he was conversing with another. - -Five minutes later we crept quietly from our hiding place and descended -to the stage below where lay the equilibrimotor depot. As theft is -practically unknown upon Barsoom, except for purposes entirely -disassociated from a desire to obtain pecuniary profit through the thing -stolen, no precautions are taken against theft. We therefore found the -doors of the depot open and Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus quickly selected -four equilibrimotors and adjusted them upon us. They consist of a broad -belt, not unlike the life belt used aboard trans-oceanic liners upon -Earth; these belts are filled with the eighth Barsoomian ray, or ray of -propulsion, to a sufficient degree to just about equalize the pull of -gravity and thus to maintain a person in equilibrium between that force -and the opposite force exerted by the eighth ray. Permanently attached -to the back of the belt is a small radium motor, the controls for which -are upon the front of the belt. Rigidly attached to and projecting from -each side of the upper rim of the belt is a strong, light wing with -small hand levers for quickly altering its position. - -Gor Hajus quickly explained the method of control, but I could apprehend -that there might be embarrassment and trouble awaiting me before I -mastered the art of flying in an equilibrimotor. He showed me how to -tilt the wings downward in walking so that I would not leave the ground -at every step, and thus he led me to the edge of the landing stage. - -“We will rise here,” he said, “and keeping in the darkness of the upper -levels seek to reach the house of my friend without being detected. If -we are pursued by air patrols we must separate; and later those who -escape may gather just west of the city wall where you will find a small -lake with a deserted tower upon its northern rim—this tower will be our -rendezvous in event of trouble. Follow me!” He started his motor and -rose gracefully into the air. - -Hovan Du followed him and then it was my turn. I rose beautifully for -about twenty feet, floating out over the city which lay hundreds of feet -below, and then, quite suddenly, I turned upside down. I had done -something wrong—I was quite positive of it. It was a most startling -sensation, I can assure you, floating there with my head down, quite -helpless; while below me lay the streets of a great city and no softer, -I was sure, than the streets of Los Angeles or Paris. My motor was still -going, and as I manipulated the controls which operated the wings I -commenced to describe all sorts of strange loops and spirals and spins; -and then Dar Tarus came to my rescue. First he told me to lie quietly -and then directed the manipulation of each wing until I had gained an -upright position. After that I did fairly well and was soon rising in -the wake of Gor Hajus and Hovan Du. - -I need not describe in detail the hour of flying, or rather floating, -that ensued. Gor Hajus led us to a considerable altitude and there, -through the darkness above the city, our slow motors drove us towards a -district of magnificent homes surrounded by spacious grounds; and here, -as we hovered over a large palace, we were suddenly startled by a sharp -challenge coming from directly above us. - -“Who flies by night?” a voice demanded. - -“Friends of Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan,” replied Gor Hajus -quickly. - -“Let me see your night flying permit and your flier’s licence,” ordered -the one above us, at the same time swooping suddenly to our level and -giving me my first sight of a Martian policeman. He was equipped with a -much swifter and handier equilibrimotor than ours. I think that was the -first fact to impress us deeply, and it demonstrated the futility of -flight; for he could have given us ten minutes start and overhauled each -of us within another ten minutes, even though we had elected to fly in -different directions. The fellow was a warrior rather than a policeman, -though detailed to duty such as our Earthly police officers perform; the -city being patrolled both day and night by the warriors of Vobis Kan’s -army. - -He dropped now close to the assassin of Toonol, again demanding permit -and license and at the same time flashing a light in the face of my -comrade. - -“By the sword of the Jeddak!” he cried. “Fortune heaps her favors upon -me. Who would have thought an hour since that it would be I who would -collect the reward for the capture of Gor Hajus?” - -“Any other fool might have thought it,” returned Gor Hajus, “but he -would have been as wrong as you,” and as he spoke he struck with the -short-sword I had loaned him. - -The blow was broken by the wing of the warrior’s equilibrimotor, which -it demolished, yet it inflicted a severe wound in the fellow’s shoulder. -He tried to back off, but the damaged wing caused him only to wheel -around erratically; and then he seized upon his whistle and attempted to -blow a mighty blast that was cut short by another blow from Gor Hajus’ -sword that split the man’s head open to the bridge of his nose. - -“Quick!” cried the assassin. “We must drop into the gardens of Mu Tel, -for that signal will bring a swarm of air patrols about our heads.” - -The others I saw falling rapidly towards the ground, but again I had -trouble. Depress my wings as I would I moved only slightly downward and -upon a path that, if continued, would have landed me at a considerable -distance from the gardens of Mu Tel. I was approaching one of the -elevated portions of the palace, what appeared to be a small suite that -was raised upon its shining metal shaft far above the ground. From all -directions I could hear the screaming whistles of the air patrols -answering the last call of their comrade whose corpse floated just above -me, a guide even in death to point the way for his fellows to search us -out. They were sure to discover him and then I would be in plain view of -them and my fate sealed. - -Perhaps I could find ingress to the apartment looming darkly near! There -I might hide until the danger had passed, provided I could enter, -undetected. I directed my course towards the structure; an open window -took form through the darkness and then I collided with a fine wire -netting—I had run into a protecting curtain that fends off assassins of -the air from these high-flung sleeping apartments. I felt that I was -lost. If I could but reach the ground I might find concealment among the -trees and shrubbery that I had seen vaguely outlined beneath me in the -gardens of this Barsoomian prince; but I could not drop at a sufficient -angle to bring me to ground within the garden, and when I tried to -spiral down I turned over and started up again. I thought of ripping -open my belt and letting the eighth ray escape; but in my unfamiliarity -with this strange force I feared that such an act might precipitate me -to the ground with too great violence, though I was determined to have -recourse to it as a last alternative if nothing less drastic presented -itself. - -In my last attempt to spiral downward I rose rapidly feet foremost to a -sudden and surprising collision with some object above me. As I -frantically righted myself, fully expecting to be immediately seized by -a member of the air patrol, I found myself face to face with the corpse -of the warrior Gor Hajus had slain. The whistling of the air patrols -sounded ever nearer—it could be only a question of seconds now before I -was discovered—and with the stern necessity that confronted me, with -death looking me in the face, there burst upon me a possible avenue of -escape from my dilemma. - -Seizing tightly with my left hand the harness of the dead Toonolian, I -whipped out my dagger and slashed his buoyancy belt a dozen times. -Instantly, as the rays escaped, his body started to drag me downward. -Our descent was rapid, but not precipitate, and it was but a matter of -seconds before we landed gently upon the scarlet sward of the gardens of -Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan, close beside a clump of heavy -shrubbery. Above me sounded the whistles of the circling patrols as I -dragged the corpse of the warrior into the concealing depth of the -foliage. Nor was I an instant too soon for safety, as almost immediately -the brilliant rays of a searchlight shot downward from the deck of a -small patrol ship, illuminating the open spaces of the garden all about -me. A hurried glance through the branches and the leaves of my sanctuary -revealed nothing of my companions and I breathed a sigh of relief in the -thought that they, too, had found concealment. - -The light played for a short time about the gardens and then passed on, -as did the sound of the patrol’s whistles, as the search proceeded -elsewhere; thus giving me the assurance that no suspicion was directed -upon our hiding place. - -Left in darkness I appropriated such of the weapons of the dead warrior -as I coveted, after having removed my equilibrimotor, which I was first -minded to destroy, but which I finally decided to moor to one of the -larger shrubs against the possibility that I might again have need for -it; and now, secure in the conviction that the danger of discovery by -the air patrol had passed, I left my concealment and started in search -of my companions. - -Keeping well in the shadows of the trees and shrubs I moved in the -direction of the main building, which loomed darkly near at hand; for in -this direction I believed Gor Hajus would lead the others as I knew that -the palace of Mu Tel was to have been our destination. As I crept along, -moving with utmost stealth, Thuria, the nearer moon, shot suddenly above -the horizon, illuminating the night with her brilliant rays. I was close -to the building’s ornately carved wall at the moment; beside me was a -narrow niche, its interior cast in deepest shadow by Thuria’s brilliant -rays; to my left was an open bit of lawn upon which, revealed in every -detail of its terrifying presence, stood as fearsome a creature as my -Earthly eyes ever had rested upon. It was a beast about the size of a -Shetland pony, with ten short legs and a terrifying head that bore some -slight resemblance to that of a frog, except that the jaws were equipped -with three rows of long, sharp tusks. - -The thing had its nose in the air and was sniffing about, while its -great pop eyes moved swiftly here and there, assuring me, beyond the -shadow of a doubt, that it was searching for someone. I am not inclined -to be egotistical, yet I could not avoid the conviction that it was -searching for me. It was my first experience of a Martian watch dog; and -as I sought concealment within the dark shadows of the niche behind me, -at the very instant that the creature’s eyes alighted upon me, and heard -his growl and saw him charge straight towards me, I had a premonition -that it might prove my last experience with one. - -I drew my long-sword as I backed into the niche, but with a sense of the -utter inadequacy of the unaccustomed weapon in the face of this three or -four hundred pounds of ferocity incarnate. Slowly I backed away into the -shadows as the creature bore down upon me and then, as it entered the -niche, my back collided with a solid obstacle that put an end to further -retreat. - - - - - CHAPTER IX - THE PALACE OF MU TEL - - -As the calot entered the niche I experienced, I believe, all of the -reactions of the cornered rat, and I certainly know that I set myself to -fight in that proverbial manner. The beast was almost upon me and I was -metaphorically kicking myself for not having remained in the open where -there were many tall trees when the support at my back suddenly gave -way, a hand reached out of the darkness behind me and seized my harness -and I was drawn swiftly into inky blackness. A door slammed and the -silhouette of the calot against the moonlit entrance to the niche was -blotted out. - -A gruff voice spoke in my ear. “Come with me!” it said. A hand found -mine and thus I was led along through the darkness of what I soon -discovered was a narrow corridor from the constantly recurring -collisions I had first with one side of it and then with the other. - -Ascending gradually, the corridor turned abruptly at right angles and I -saw beyond my guide a dim luminosity that gradually increased until -another turn brought us to the threshold of a brilliantly lighted -chamber—a magnificent apartment, the gorgeous furnishings and -decorations of which beggar the meagre descriptive powers of my native -tongue. Gold, ivory, precious stones, marvelous woods, resplendent -fabrics, gorgeous furs and startling architecture combined to impress -upon my earthly vision such a picture as I had never even dreamed of -dreaming; and in the center of this room, surrounded by a little group -of Martians, were my three companions. - -My guide conducted me towards the party, the members of which had turned -towards us as we entered the chamber, and stopped before a tall -Barsoomian, resplendent in jewel encrusted harness. - -“Prince,” he said, “I was scarce a tal too soon. In fact, as I opened -the door to step out into the garden in search of him, as you directed, -there he was upon the opposite side with one of the calots of the garden -almost upon him.” - -“Good!” exclaimed he who had been addressed as prince, and then he -turned to Gor Hajus. “This is he, my friend, of whom you told me?” - -“This is Vad Varo, who claims to be from the planet Jasoom,” replied Gor -Hajus; “and this, Vad Varo, is Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan.” - -I bowed and the prince advanced and placed his right hand upon my left -shoulder in true Barsoomian acknowledgment of an introduction; when I -had done similarly, the ceremony was over. There was no silly -pleased-to-meet-you, how-do-you-do? or it’s-a-pleasure-I-assure-you. - -At Mu Tel’s request I narrated briefly what had befallen me between the -time I had become separated from my companions and the moment that one -of his officers had snatched me from impending disaster. Mu Tel gave -instructions that all traces of the dead patrol be removed before dawn -lest their discovery bring upon him the further suspicion of his uncle, -Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, whom it seemed had long been jealous of his -nephew’s growing popularity and fearful that he harbored aspirations for -the throne. - -It was later in the evening, during one of those elaborate meals for -which the princes of Barsoom are justly famous, when mellowed slightly -by the rare vintages with which he delighted his guests, that Mu Tel -discoursed with less restraint upon his imperial uncle. - -“The nobles have long been tired of Vobis Kan,” he said, “and the people -are tiring of him—he is a conscienceless tyrant—but he is our -hereditary ruler, and so they hesitate to change. We are a practical -people, little influenced by sentiment; yet there is enough to keep the -masses loyal to their Jeddak even after he has ceased to deserve their -loyalty, while the fear of the wrath of the masses keeps the nobles -loyal. There is also the natural suspicion that I, the next in line for -succession, would make them no less tyrannical a Jeddak than has Vobis -Kan, while, having youth, I might be much more active in cruel and -nefarious practices. - -“For myself, I would not hesitate to destroy my uncle and seize his -throne were I sure of the support of the army, for with the warriors of -Vobis Kan at my back I might defy the balance of Toonol. It is because -of this that I long since offered my friendship to Gor Hajus; not that -he might slay my uncle, but that when I had slain him in fair fight Gor -Hajus might win to me the loyalty of the Jeddak’s warriors, for great is -the popularity of Gor Hajus among the soldiers, who ever look up to such -a great fighter with reverence and devotion. I have offered Gor Hajus a -high place in the affairs of Toonol should he cast his lot with me; but -he tells me that he has first to fulfil his obligations to you, Vad -Varo, and for the furtherance of your adventure he has asked me to give -you what assistance I may. This I offer gladly, from purely practical -motives, since your early success will hasten mine. Therefore I propose -to place at your disposal a staunch flier that will carry you and your -companions to Phundahl.” - -This offer I naturally accepted, after which we fell to discussing plans -for our departure which we finally decided to attempt early the -following night, at a time when neither of the moons would be in the -heavens. After a brief discussion of equipment we were, at my request, -permitted to retire since I had not slept for more than thirty-six hours -and my companions for twenty-four. - -Slaves conducted us to our sleeping apartments, which were luxuriously -furnished, and arranged magnificent sleeping silks and furs for our -comfort. After they had left us Gor Hajus touched a button and the room -rose swiftly upon its metal shaft to a height of forty or fifty feet; -the wire netting automatically dropped about us, and we were safe for -the night. - -The following morning, after our apartment had been lowered to its -daylight level and before I was permitted to leave it, a slave was sent -to me by Mu Tel with instructions to stain my entire body the beautiful -copper-red of my Barsoomian friends; furnishing me with a disguise which -I well knew to be highly essential to the success of my venture, since -my white skin would have drawn unpleasant notice upon me in any city of -Barsoom. Another slave brought harness and weapons for Gor Hajus, Dar -Tarus and myself, and a collar and chain for Hovan Du, the ape-man. Our -harness, while of heavy material, and splendid workmanship, was quite -plain, being free of all insignia either of rank or service—such -harness as is customarily worn by the Barsoomian panthan, or soldier of -fortune, at such times as he is not definitely in the service of any -nation or individual. These panthans are virtually men without a -country, being roving mercenaries ready to sell their swords to the -highest bidder. Although they have no organization they are ruled by a -severe code of ethics and while in the employ of a master are, almost -without exception, loyal to him. They are generally supposed to be men -who have flown from the wrath of their own Jeddaks or the justice of -their own courts, but there is among them a sprinkling of adventurous -souls who have adopted their calling because of the thrills and -excitement it offers. While they are well paid, they are also great -gamblers and notorious spenders, with the result that they are almost -always without funds and often reduced to strange expedients for the -gaining of their livelihood between engagements; a fact which gave great -plausibility to our possession of a trained ape, which upon Mars would -appear no more remarkable than would to us the possession of a monkey or -parrot by an old salt just returned, from a long cruise, to one of our -Earthly ports. - -This day that I stayed in the palace of Mu Tel I spent much in the -company of the prince, who found pleasure in questioning me concerning -the customs, the politics, the civilization and the geography of Earth, -with much of which, I was surprised to note, he seemed quite familiar; a -fact which he explained was due to the marvelous development of -Barsoomian astronomical instruments, wireless photography and wireless -telephony; the last of which has been brought to such a state of -perfection that many Barsoomian savants have succeeded in learning -several Earthly languages, notably Urdu, English and Russian, and, a -few, Chinese also. These have doubtless been the first languages to -attract their attention because of the fact that they are spoken by -great numbers of people over large areas of the world. - -Mu Tel took me to a small auditorium in his palace that reminded me -somewhat of private projection rooms on Earth. It had, I should say, a -capacity of some two hundred persons and was built like a large camera -obscura; the audience sitting within the instrument, their backs towards -the lens and in front of them, filling one entire end of the room, a -large ground glass upon which is thrown the image to be observed. - -Mu Tel seated himself at a table upon which was a chart of the heavens. -Just above the chart was a movable arm carrying a pointer. This pointer -Mu Tel moved until it rested upon the planet Earth, then he switched off -the light in the room and immediately there appeared upon the ground -glass plate a view such as one might obtain from an airplane riding at -an elevation of a thousand feet. There was something strangely familiar -about the scene before me. It was of a desolate, wasted country. I saw -shattered stumps whose orderly arrangement proclaimed that here once an -orchard had blossomed and borne fruit. There were great, unsightly holes -in the earth and over and across all a tangle of barbed wire. I asked Mu -Tel how we might change the picture to another locality. He lighted a -small radio bulb between us and I saw a globe there, a globe of Earth, -and a small pointer fixed over it. - -“The side of this globe now presented to you represents the face of the -Earth turned towards us,” explained Mu Tel. “You will note that the -globe is slowly revolving. Place this pointer where you will upon the -globe and that portion of Jasoom will be revealed for you.” - -I moved the pointer very slowly and the picture changed. A ruined -village came into view. I saw some people moving among its ruins. They -were not soldiers. A little further on I came upon trenches and -dug-outs—there were no soldiers here, either. I moved the pointer -rapidly north and south along a vast line of trenches. Here and there in -villages there were soldiers, but they were all French soldiers and -never were they in the trenches. There were no German soldiers and no -fighting. The war was over, then! I moved the pointer to the Rhine and -across. There were soldiers in Germany—French soldiers, English -soldiers, American soldiers. We had won the war! I was glad, but it -seemed very far away and quite unreal—as though no such world existed -and no such peoples had ever fought—it was as though I were recalling -through its illustrations a novel that I had read a long time since. - -“You seem much interested in that war torn country,” remarked Mu Tel. - -“Yes,” I explained, “I fought in that war. Perhaps I was killed. I do -not know.” - -“And you won?” he asked. - -“Yes, my people won,” I replied. “We fought for a great principle and -for the peace and happiness of a world. I hope that we did not fight in -vain.” - -“If you mean that you hope that your principle will triumph because you -fought and won, or that peace will come, your hopes are futile. War -never brought peace—it but brings more and greater wars. War is -Nature’s natural state—it is folly to combat it. Peace should be -considered only as a time for preparation for the principal business of -man’s existence. Were it not for constant warring of one form of life -upon another, and even upon itself, the planets would be so overrun with -life that it would smother itself out. We found upon Barsoom that long -periods of peace brought plagues and terrible diseases that killed more -than the wars killed and in a much more hideous and painful way. There -is neither pleasure nor thrill nor reward of any sort to be gained by -dying in bed of a loathsome disease. We must all die—let us therefore -go out and die in a great and exciting game, and make room for the -millions who are to follow us. We have tried it out upon Barsoom and we -would not be without war.” - -Mu Tel told me much that day about the peculiar philosophy of -Toonolians. They believe that no good deed was ever performed except for -a selfish motive; they have no god and no religion; they believe, as do -all educated Barsoomians, that man came originally from the Tree of -Life, but unlike most of their fellows they do not believe that an -omnipotent being created the Tree of Life. They hold that the only sin -is failure—success, however achieved, is meritorious; and yet, -paradoxical as it may seem, they never break their given word. Mu Tel -explained that they overcame the baneful results of this degrading -weakness—this sentimental bosh—by seldom, if ever, binding themselves -to loyalty to another, and then only for a definitely prescribed period. - -As I came to know them better, and especially Gor Hajus, I began to -realize that much of their flaunted contempt of the finer sensibilities -was specious. It is true that generations of inhibition had to some -extent atrophied those characteristics of heart and soul which the -noblest among us so highly esteem; that friendship’s ties were lax and -that blood kinship awakened no high sense of responsibility or love even -between parents and children; yet Gor Hajus was essentially a man of -sentiment, though he would doubtless have run through the heart any who -had dared accuse him of it, thus perfectly proving the truth of the -other’s accusation. His pride in his reputation for integrity and -loyalty proved him a man of heart as truly as did his jealousy of his -reputation for heartlessness prove him a man of sentiment; and in all -this he was but typical of the people of Toonol. They denied deity, and -in the same breath worshiped the fetish of science that they had -permitted to obsess them quite as harmfully as do religious fanatics -accept the unreasoning rule of their imaginary gods; and so, with all -their vaunted knowledge, they were unintelligent because unbalanced. - -As the day drew to a close I became the more anxious to be away. Far to -the west across desolate leagues of marsh lay Phundahl, and in Phundahl -the beauteous body of the girl I loved and that I was sworn to restore -to its rightful owner. The evening meal was over and Mu Tel himself had -conducted us to a secret hangar in one of the towers of his palace. Here -artisans had prepared a flier for us, having removed during the day all -signs of its real ownership, even to slightly altering its lines; so -that in the event of capture Mu Tel’s name might in no way be connected -with the expedition. Provisions were stored, including plenty of raw -meat for Hovan Du, and, as the farther moon sank below the horizon and -darkness fell, a panel of the tower wall, directly in front of the -flier’s nose, slid aside. Mu Tel wished us luck and the ship slipped -silently out into the night. The flier, like many of her type, was -without cockpit or cabin; a low, metal hand-rail surmounted her gunwale; -heavy rings were set substantially in her deck and to these her crew was -supposed to cling or attach themselves by means of their harness hooks -provided for this and similar purposes; a low wind shield, with a rakish -slant, afforded some protection from the wind; the motor and controls -were all exposed, as all the space below decks was taken up by the -buoyancy tanks. In this type everything is sacrificed to speed; there is -no comfort aboard. When moving at high speed each member of the crew -lies extended at full length upon the deck, each in his allotted place -to give the necessary trim, and hangs on for dear life. These Toonolian -crafts, however, are not overly fast, so I was told, being far -outstripped in speed by the fliers of such nations as Helium and Ptarth -who have for ages devoted themselves to the perfection of their navies; -but this one was quite fast enough for our purposes, to the consummation -of which it would be pitted against fliers of no higher rating, and it -was certainly fast enough for me. In comparison with the slow moving -Vosar, it seemed to shoot through the air like an arrow. - -We wasted no time in strategy or stealth, but opened her wide as soon as -we were in the clear, and directed her straight towards the west and -Phundahl. Scarcely had we passed over the gardens of Mu Tel when we met -with our first adventure. We shot by a solitary figure floating in the -air and almost simultaneously there shrilled forth the warning whistle -of an air patrol. A shot whistled above us harmlessly and we were gone; -but within a few seconds I saw the rays of a searchlight shining down -from above and moving searchingly to and fro through the air. - -“A patrol boat!” shouted Gor Hajus in my ear. Hovan Du growled savagely -and shook the chain upon his collar. We raced on, trusting to the big -gods and the little gods and all our ancestors that the relentless eye -of light would not find us out; but it did. Within a few seconds it fell -full upon our deck from above and in front of us and there it clung as -the patrol boat dropped rapidly towards us while it maintained a high -rate of speed upon a course otherwise identical with ours. Then, to our -consternation, the ship opened fire on us with explosive bullets. These -projectiles contain a high explosive that is detonated by light rays -when the opaque covering of the projectile is broken by impact with the -target. It is therefore not at all necessary to make a direct hit for a -shot to be effective. If the projectile strikes the ground or the deck -of a vessel or any solid substance near its target, it does considerably -more damage when fired at a group of men than if it strikes but one of -them, since it will then explode if its outer shell is broken and kill -or wound several; while if it enters the body of an individual the light -rays cannot reach it and it accomplishes no more than a non-explosive -bullet. Moonlight is not powerful enough to detonate this explosive and -so projectiles fired at night, unless touched by the powerful rays of -searchlights, detonate at sunrise the following morning, making a -battlefield a most unsafe place at that time even though the contending -forces are no longer there. Similarly they make the removal of the -unexploded projectiles from the bodies of the wounded a most ticklish -operation which may well result in the instant death of both the patient -and the surgeon. - -Dar Tarus, at the controls, turned the nose of our flier upward directly -towards the patrol boat and at the same time shouted to us to -concentrate our fire upon her propellers. For myself, I could see little -but the blinding eye of the searchlight, and at that I fired with the -strange weapon to which I had received my first introduction but a few -hours since when it was presented to me by Mu Tel. To me that all -searching eye represented the greatest menace that confronted us, and -could we blind it the patrol boat would have no great advantage over us. -So I kept my rifle straight upon it, my finger on the button that -controlled the fire, and prayed for a hit. - -Gor Hajus knelt at my side, his weapon spitting bullets at the patrol -boat. Dar Tarus’ hands were busy with the controls and Hovan Du squatted -in the bow and growled. - -Suddenly Dar Tarus voiced an exclamation of alarm. “The controls are -hit!” he shouted. “We can’t alter our course—the ship is useless.” -Almost the same instant the searchlight was extinguished—one of my -bullets evidently having found it. We were quite close to the enemy now -and heard their shout of anger. Our own craft, out of control, was -running swiftly towards the other. It seemed that if there was not a -collision we would pass directly beneath the keel of the air patrol. I -asked Dar Tarus if our ship was beyond repair. - -“We could repair it if we had time,” he replied, “but it would take -hours and while we were thus delayed the whole air patrol force of -Toonol would be upon us.” - -“Then we must have another ship,” I said. Dar Tarus laughed. “You are -right, Vad Varo,” he replied, “but where shall we find it?” - -I pointed to the patrol boat. “We shall not have to look far.” - -Dar Tarus shrugged his shoulders. “Why not!” he exclaimed. “It would be -a glorious fight and a worthy death.” - -Gor Hajus slapped me on the shoulder. “To the death, my captain!” he -cried. - -Hovan Du shook his chain and roared. - -The two ships were rapidly approaching one another. We had stopped -firing now for fear that we might disable the craft we hoped to use for -our escape; and for some reason the crew of the patrol ship had ceased -firing at us—I never learned why. We were moving in a line that would -bring us directly beneath the other ship. I determined to board her at -all costs. I could see her keel boarding tackle slung beneath her, ready -to be lowered to the deck of a quarry when once her grappling hooks had -seized the prey. Doubtless they were already manning the latter, and as -soon as we were beneath her the steel tentacles would reach down and -seize us as her crew swarmed down the board tackle to our deck. - -I called Hovan Du and he crept back to my side where I whispered my -instructions in his ear. When I was done he nodded his head with a low -growl. I cast off the harness hook that held me to the deck, and the ape -and I moved to our bow after I had issued brief, whispered instructions -to Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus. We were now almost directly beneath the -enemy craft; I could see the grappling hooks being prepared for -lowering. Our bow ran beneath the stern of the other ship and the moment -was at hand for which I had been waiting. Now those upon the deck of the -patrol boat could not see Hovan Du or me. The boarding tackle of the -other ship swung fifteen feet above our heads; I whispered a word of -command to the ape and simultaneously we crouched and sprang for the -tackle. It may sound like a mad chance—failure meant almost certain -death—but I felt that if two of us could reach the deck of the patrol -boat while her crew was busy with the grappling gear it would be well -worth the risk. - -Gor Hajus had assured me that there would not be more than six men -aboard the patrol ship; that one would be at the controls and the others -manning the grappling hooks. It would be a most propitious time to gain -a footing on the enemy’s deck. - -Hovan Du and I made our leaps and Fortune smiled upon us, though the -huge ape but barely reached the tackle with one outstretched hand, while -my Earthly muscles carried me easily to my goal. Together we made our -way rapidly towards the bow of the patrol craft and without hesitation, -and as previously arranged, he clambered quickly up the starboard side -and I the port. If I were the more agile jumper Hovan Du far outclassed -me in climbing, with the result that he reached the rail and was -clambering over while my eyes were still below the level of the deck, -which was, perhaps, a fortunate thing for me since, by chance, I had -elected to gain the deck directly at a point where, unknown to me, one -of the crew of the ship was engaged with the grappling hooks. Had his -eyes not been attracted elsewhere by the shout of one of his fellows who -was first to see Hovan Du’s savage face rise above the gunwale, he could -have dispatched me with a single blow before ever I could have set foot -upon the deck. - -The ape had also come up directly in front of a Toonolian warrior and -this fellow had let out a yell of surprise and sought to draw his sword, -but the ape, for all his great bulk, was too quick for him; and as my -eyes topped the rail I saw the mighty anthropoid seize the unfortunate -man by the harness, drag him to the side and hurl him to destruction far -below. Instantly we were both over the rail and squarely on deck while -the remaining members of the craft’s crew, abandoning their stations, -ran forward to overpower us. I think that the sight of the great, savage -beast must have had a demoralizing effect upon them, for they hesitated, -each seeming to be willing to accord his fellow the honour of first -engaging us; but they did come on, though slowly. This hesitation I was -delighted to see, for it accorded perfectly with the plan that I had -worked out, which depended largely upon the success which might attend -the efforts of Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus to reach the deck of the patrol -when our craft had risen sufficiently close beneath the other to permit -them to reach the boarding tackle, which we were utilizing with reverse -English, as one might say. - -Gor Hajus had cautioned me to dispatch the man at the controls as -quickly as possible, since his very first act would be to injure them -the instant that there appeared any possibility that we might be -successful in our attempt to take his ship, and so I ran quickly towards -him and before he could draw I cut him down. There were now four against -us and we waited for them to advance that we might gain time for our -fellows to reach the deck. - -The four moved slowly forward and were almost within striking distance -when I saw Gor Hajus’ head appear above the stern rail, quickly followed -by that of Dar Tarus. - -“Look!” I cried to the enemy, “and surrender,” and I pointed astern. - -One of them turned to look and what he saw brought an exclamation of -surprise to his lips. “It is Gor Hajus,” he cried, and then, to me: -“What is your purpose with us if we surrender?” - -“We have no quarrel with you,” I replied. “We but wish to leave Toonol -and go our way in peace—we shall not harm you.” - -He turned to his fellows while, at a sign from me, my three companions -stopped their advance and waited. For a few minutes the four warriors -conversed in low tones, then he who had first spoken addressed me. - -“There are few Toonolians,” he said, “who would not be glad to serve Gor -Hajus, whom we had thought long dead, but to surrender our ship to you -would mean certain death for us when we reported our defeat at our -headquarters. On the other hand were we to continue our defence most of -us here upon the deck of this flier would be killed. If you can assure -us that your plans are not aimed at the safety of Toonol I can make a -suggestion that will afford an avenue of escape and safety for us all.” - -“We only wish to leave Toonol,” I replied. “No harm can come to Toonol -because of what I seek to accomplish.” - -“Good! and where do you wish to go?” - -“That I may not tell you.” - -“You may trust us, if you accept my proposal,” he assured me, “which is -that we convey you to your destination, after which we can return to -Toonol and report that we engaged you and that after a long running -fight, in which two of our number were killed, you eluded us in the -darkness and escaped.” - -“Can we trust these men?” I asked, addressing Gor Hajus, who assured me -that we could, and thus the compact was entered into which saw us -speeding rapidly towards Phundahl aboard one of Vobis Kan’s own fliers. - - - - - CHAPTER X - PHUNDAHL - - -The following night the Toonolian crew set us down just inside the wall -of the city of Phundahl, following the directions of Dar Tarus who was a -native of the city, had been a warrior of the Jeddara’s Guard and, prior -to that, seen service in Phundahl’s tiny navy. That he was familiar with -every detail of Phundahl’s defences and her systems of patrols was -evidenced by the fact that we landed without detection and that the -Toonolian ship rose and departed apparently unnoticed. - -Our landing place had been the roof of a low building built within and -against the city wall. From this roof Dar Tarus led us down an inclined -runway to the street, which, at this point, was quite deserted. The -street was narrow and dark, being flanked upon one side by the low -buildings built against the city wall and upon the other by higher -buildings, some of which were windowless and none showing any light. Dar -Tarus explained that he had chosen this point for our entrance because -it was a district of storage houses, and while a hive of industry during -the day, was always deserted at night, not even a watchman being -required owing to the almost total absence of thievery upon Barsoom. - -By devious and roundabout ways he led us finally to a section of -second-rate shops, eating places and hotels such as are frequented by -the common soldiers, artisans and slaves, where the only attention we -attracted was due to the curiosity aroused by Hovan Du. As we had not -eaten since leaving Mu Tel’s palace, our first consideration was food. -Mu Tel had furnished Gor Hajus with money, so that we had the means to -gratify our wants. Our first stop was at a small shop where Gor Hajus -purchased four or five pounds of thoat steak for Hovan Du, and then we -repaired to an eating place of which Dar Tarus knew. At first the -proprietor would not let us bring Hovan Du inside, but finally, after -much argument, he permitted us to lock the great ape in an inner room -where Hovan Du was forced to remain with his thoat meat while we sat at -a table in the outer room. - -I will say for Hovan Du that he played his role well, nor was there once -when the proprietor of the place, or any of his patrons, or the -considerable crowd that gathered to listen to the altercation, could -have guessed that the body of the great, savage beast was animated by a -human brain. It was really only when feeding or fighting that the simian -half of Hovan Du’s brain appeared to exercise any considerable influence -upon him; yet there seemed little doubt that it always coloured all his -thoughts and actions to some extent, accounting for his habitual -taciturnity and the quickness with which he was aroused to anger, as -well as to the fact that he never smiled, nor appeared to appreciate in -any degree the humor of a situation. He assured me, however, that the -human half of his brain not only appreciated but greatly enjoyed the -lighter episodes and occurrences of our adventure and the witty stories -and anecdotes related by Gor Hajus, the Assassin, but that his simian -anatomy had developed no muscles wherewith to evidence physical -expression of his mental reactions. - -We dined heartily, though upon rough and simple fare, but were glad to -escape the prying curiosity of the garrulous and gossipy proprietor, who -plied us with so many questions as to our past performances and future -plans that Dar Tarus, who was our spokesman here, was hard put to it to -quickly fabricate replies that would be always consistent. However, -escape we did at last, and once again in the street, Dar Tarus set out -to lead us to a public lodging house of which he knew. As we went we -approached a great building of wondrous beauty in and out of which -constant streams of people were pouring, and when we were before it Dar -Tarus asked us to wait without as he must enter. When I asked him why, -he told me that this was a temple of Tur, the god worshipped by the -people of Phundahl. - -“I have been away for a long time,” he said, “and have had no -opportunity to do honor to my god. I shall not keep you waiting long. -Gor Hajus, will you loan me a few pieces of gold?” - -In silence the Toonolian took a few pieces of money from one of his -pocket pouches and handed them to Dar Tarus, but I could see that it was -only with difficulty that he hid an expression of contempt, since the -Toonolians are atheists. - -I asked Dar Tarus if I might accompany him into the temple, which seemed -to please him very much; and so we fell in with the stream approaching -the broad entrance. Dar Tarus gave me two of the gold pieces that he had -borrowed from Gor Hajus and told me to follow directly behind him and do -whatever I saw him doing. Directly inside the main entrance, and spread -entirely across it at intervals that permitted space for the worshippers -to pass between them, was a line of priests, their entire bodies, -including their heads and faces, covered by a mantle of white cloth. In -front of each was a substantial stand upon which rested a cash drawer. -As we approached one of these we handed him a piece of gold which he -immediately changed into many pieces of lesser value, one of which we -dropped into a box at his side; whereupon he made several passes with -his hands above our heads, dipped one of his fingers into a bowl of -dirty water which he rubbed upon the ends of our noses, mumbled a few -words which I could not understand and turned to the next in line as we -passed on into the interior of the great temple. Never have I seen such -a gorgeous display of wealth and lavish ornamentation as confronted my -eyes in this, the first of the temples of Tur that it was my fortune to -behold. - -The enormous floor was unbroken by a single pillar and arranged upon it -at regular intervals were carven images resting upon gorgeous pedestals. -Some of these images were of men and some of women and many of them were -beautiful; and there were others of beasts and of strange, grotesque -creatures and many of these were hideous indeed. The first we approached -was that of a beautiful female figure; and about the pedestal of this -lay a number of men and women prone upon the floor against which they -bumped their heads seven times and then arose and dropped a piece of -money into a receptacle provided for that purpose, moving on then to -another figure. The next that Dar Tarus and I visited was that of a man -with the body of a _silian_, about the pedestal of which was arranged a -series of horizontal wooden bars in concentric circles. The bars were -about five feet from the floor and hanging from them by their knees were -a number of men and women, repeating monotonously, over and over again, -something that sounded to me like, _bibble-babble-blup_. - -Dar Tarus and I swung to the bars like the others and mumbled the -meaningless phrase for a minute or two, then we swung down, dropped a -coin into the box, and moved on. I asked Dar Tarus what the words were -that we had repeated and what they meant, but he said he did not know. I -asked him if anyone knew, but he appeared shocked and said that such a -question was sacrilegious and revealed a marked lack of faith. At the -next figure we visited the people were all upon their hands and knees -crawling madly in a circle about the pedestal. Seven times around they -crawled and then they arose and put some money in a dish and went their -ways. At another the people rolled about, saying, “Tur is Tur; Tur is -Tur; Tur is Tur,” and dropping money in a golden bowl when they were -done. - -“What god was that?” I whispered to Dar Tarus when we had quit this last -figure, which had no head, but eyes, nose and mouth in the center of its -belly. - -“There is but one god,” replied Dar Tarus solemnly, “and he is Tur!” - -“Was that Tur?” I inquired. - -“Silence, man,” whispered Dar Tarus. “They would tear you to pieces were -they to hear such heresy.” - -“Oh, I beg your pardon,” I exclaimed. “I did not mean to offend. I see -now that that is merely one of your idols.” - -Dar Tarus clapped a hand over my mouth. “S-s-s-t!” he cautioned to -silence. “We do not worship idols—there is but one god and he is Tur!” - -“Well, what are these?” I insisted, with a sweep of a hand that embraced -the several score images about which were gathered the thousands of -worshippers. - -“We must not ask,” he assured me. “It is enough that we have faith that -all the works of Tur are just and righteous. Come! I shall soon be -through and we may join our companions.” - -He led me next to the figure of a monstrosity with a mouth that ran -entirely around its head. It had a long tail and the breasts of a woman. -About this image were a great many people, each standing upon his head. -They also were repeating, over and over, “Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur; Tur is -Tur.” When we had done this for a minute or two, during which I had a -devil of a time maintaining my equilibrium, we arose, dropped a coin -into the box by the pedestal and moved on. - -“We may go now,” said Dar Tarus. “I have done well in the sight of Tur.” - -“I notice,” I remarked, “that the people repeated the same phrase before -this figure that they did at the last—Tur is Tur.” - -“Oh, no,” exclaimed Dar Tarus. “On the contrary they said just exactly -the opposite from what they said at the other. At that they said, Tur is -Tur; while at this they absolutely reversed it and said, Tur is Tur. Do -you not see? They turned it right around backwards, which makes a very -great difference.” - -“It sounded the same to me,” I insisted. - -“That is because you lack faith,” he said sadly, and we passed out of -the temple, after depositing the rest of our money in a huge chest, of -which there were many standing about almost filled with coins. - -We found Gor Hajus and Hovan Du awaiting us impatiently, the center of a -large and curious throng among which were many warriors in the metal of -Xaxa, the Jeddara of Phundahl. They wanted to see Hovan Du perform, but -Dar Tarus told them that he was tired and in an ugly mood. - -“To-morrow,” he said, “when he is rested I shall bring him out upon the -avenues to amuse you.” - -With difficulty we extricated ourselves, and passing into a quieter -avenue, took a roundabout way to the lodging place, where Hovan Du was -confined in a small chamber while Gor Hajus, Dar Tarus and I were -conducted by slaves to a large sleeping apartment where sleeping silks -and furs were arranged for us upon a low platform that encircled the -room and was broken only at the single entrance to the chamber. Here -were already sleeping a considerable number of men, while two armed -slaves patrolled the aisle to guard the guests from assassins. - -It was still early and some of the other lodgers were conversing in low -whispers so I sought to engage Dar Tarus in conversation relative to his -religion, about which I was curious. - -“The mysteries of religions always fascinate me, Dar Tarus,” I told him. - -“Ah, but that is the beauty of the religion of Tur,” he exclaimed, “it -has no mysteries. It is simple, natural, scientific and every word and -work of it is susceptible of proof through the pages of Turgan, the -great book written by Tur himself. - -“Tur’s home is upon the sun. There, one hundred thousands year ago, he -made Barsoom and tossed it out into space. Then he amused himself by -creating man in various forms and two sexes; and later he fashioned -animals to be food for man and each other, and caused vegetation and -water to appear that man and the animals might live. Do you not see how -simple and scientific it all is?” - -But it was Gor Hajus who told me most about the religion of Tur one day -when Dar Tarus was not about. He said that the Phundahlians maintained -that Tur still created every living thing with his own hands. They -denied vigorously that man possessed the power to reproduce his kind and -taught their young that all such belief was vile; and always they hid -every evidence of natural procreation, insisting to the death that even -those things which they witnessed with their own eyes and experienced -with their own bodies in the bringing forth of their young never -transpired. - -Turgan taught them that Barsoom is flat and they shut their minds to -every proof to the contrary. They would not leave Phundahl far for fear -of falling off the edge of the world; they would not permit the -development of aeronautics because should one of their ships -circumnavigate Barsoom it would be a wicked sacrilege in the eyes of Tur -who made Barsoom flat. - -They would not permit the use of telescopes, for Tur taught them that -there was no other world than Barsoom and to look at another would be -heresy; nor would they permit the teaching in their schools of any -history of Barsoom that antedated the creation of Barsoom by Tur, though -Barsoom has a well authenticated written history that reaches back more -than one hundred thousand years; nor would they permit any geography of -Barsoom except that which appears in Turgan, nor any scientific -researches along biological lines. Turgan is their only text book—if it -is not in Turgan it is a wicked lie. - -Much of all this and a great deal more I gathered from one source or -another during my brief stay in Phundahl, whose people are, I believe, -the least advanced in civilization of any of the red nations upon -Barsoom. Giving, as they do, all their best thought to religious -matters, they have become ignorant, bigoted and narrow, going as far to -one extreme as the Toonolians do to the other. - -However, I had not come to Phundahl to investigate her culture but to -steal her queen, and that thought was uppermost in my mind when I awoke -to a new day—my first in Phundahl. Following the morning meal we set -out in the direction of the palace to reconnoitre, Dar Tarus leading us -to a point from which he might easily direct us the balance of the way, -as he did not dare accompany us to the immediate vicinity of the royal -grounds for fear of recognition, the body he now possessed having -formerly belonged to a well-known noble. - -It was arranged that Gor Hajus should act as spokesman and I as keeper -of the ape. This arranged, we bade farewell to Dar Tarus and set forth, -the three of us, along a broad and beautiful avenue that led directly to -the palace gates. We had been planning and rehearsing the parts that we -were to play and which we hoped would prove so successful that they -would open the gates to us and win us to the presence of the Jeddara. - -As we strolled with seeming unconcern along the avenue, I had ample -opportunity to enjoy the novel and beautiful sights of this rich -boulevard of palaces. The sun shone down upon vivid scarlet lawns, -gorgeous flowered pimalia and a score of other rarely beautiful -Barsoomian shrubs and trees, while the avenue itself was shaded by -almost perfect specimens of the magnificent sorapus. The sleeping -apartments of the buildings had all been lowered to their daytime level, -and from a hundred balconies gorgeous silks and furs were airing in the -sun. Slaves were briskly engaged with their duties about the grounds, -while upon many a balcony women and children sat at their morning meal. -Among the children we aroused considerable enthusiasm, or at least Hovan -Du did, nor was he without interest to the adults. Some of them would -have detained us for an exhibition, but we moved steadily on towards the -palace, for nowhere else had we business or concern within the walls of -Phundahl. - -Around the palace gates was the usual crowd of loitering curiosity -seekers; for after all human nature is much the same everywhere, whether -skins be black or white, red or yellow or brown, upon Earth or upon -Mars. The crowd before Xaxa’s gates were largely made up of visitors -from the islands of that part of the Great Toonolian Marshes which owes -allegiance to Phundahl’s queen, and like all provincials eager for a -glimpse of royalty; though none the less to be interested by the antics -of a simian, wherefore we had a ready made audience awaiting our -arrival. Their natural fear of the great brute caused them to fall back -a little at our approach so that we had a clear avenue to the very gates -themselves, and there we halted while the crowds closed in behind, -forming a half circle about us. Gor Hajus addressed them in a loud tone -of voice that might be overheard by the warriors and their officers -beyond the gates, for it was really them we had come to entertain, not -the crowds in which we had not the slightest interest. - -“Men and women of Phundahl,” cried Gor Hajus, “behold two poor panthans, -who, risking their lives, have captured and trained one of the most -savage and ferocious and at the same time most intelligent specimens of -the great white ape of Barsoom ever before seen in captivity and at -great expense have brought it to Phundahl for your entertainment and -edification. My friends, this wonderful ape is endowed with human -intelligence; he understands every word that is spoken to him. With your -kind attention, my friends, I will endeavor to demonstrate the -remarkable intelligence of this ferocious, man-eating beast—an -intelligence that has entertained the crowned heads of Barsoom and -mystified the minds of her most learned savants.” - -I thought Gor Hajus did pretty well as a bally-hoo artist. I had to -smile as I listened, here upon Mars, to the familiar lines that I had -taught him out of my Earthly experience of county fairs and amusement -parks, so highly ludicrous they sounded falling from the lips of the -Assassin of Toonol; but they evidently interested his auditors and -impressed them, too, for they craned their necks and stood in earnest -eyed silence awaiting the performance of Hovan Du. Even better, several -members of the Jeddara’s Guard pricked up their ears and sauntered -towards the gates; and among them was an officer. - -Gor Hajus caused Hovan Du to lie down at word of command, to get up, to -stand upon one foot, and to indicate the number of fingers that Gor -Hajus held up by growling once for each finger, thus satisfying the -audience that he could count; but these simple things were only by way -of leading up to the more remarkable achievements which we hoped would -win an audience before the Jeddara. Gor Hajus borrowed a set of harness -and weapons from a man in the crowd and had Hovan Du don it and fence -with him, and then indeed did we hear exclamations of amazement. - -The warriors and the officer of Xaxa had drawn near the gates and were -interested spectators, which was precisely what we wished, and now Gor -Hajus was ready for the final, astounding revelation of Hovan Du’s -intelligence. - -“These things that you have witnessed are as nothing,” he cried. “Why -this wonderful beast can even read and write. He was captured in a -deserted city near Ptarth and can read and write the language of that -country. Is there among you one who, by chance, comes from that distant -country?” - -A slave spoke up. “I am from Ptarth.” - -“Good!” said Gor Hajus. “Write some simple instructions and hand them to -the ape. I will turn my back that you may know that I cannot assist him -in any way.” - -The slave drew forth a tablet from a pocket pouch and wrote briefly. -What he wrote he handed to Hovan Du. The ape read the message and -without hesitation moved quickly to the gate and handed it to the -officer standing upon the other side, the gate being constructed of -wrought metal in fanciful designs that offered no obstruction to the -view or to the passage of small articles. The officer took the message -and examined it. - -“What does it say?” he demanded of the slave that had penned it. - -“It says,” replied the latter: “Take this message to the officer who -stands just within the gates.” - -There were exclamations of surprise from all parts of the crowd and -Hovan Du was compelled to repeat his performance several times with -different messages which directed him to do various things, the officer -always taking a great interest in the proceedings. - -“It is marvellous,” said he at last. “The Jeddara would be amused by the -performance of this beast. Wait here, therefore, until I have sent word -to her that she may, if she so desires, command your presence.” - -Nothing could have better suited us and so we waited with what patience -we might for the messenger to return; and while we waited Hovan Du -continued to mystify his audience with new proofs of his great -intelligence. - - - - - CHAPTER XI - XAXA - - -The officer returned, the gates swung out and we were commanded to enter -the courtyard of the palace of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. After that -events transpired with great rapidity—surprising and totally unexpected -events. We were led through an intricate maze of corridors and chambers -until I became suspicious that we were purposely being confused, and -convinced that whether such was the intention or not the fact remained -that I could no more have retraced my steps to the outer courtyard than -I could have flown without wings. We had planned that, in the event of -gaining admission to the palace, we would carefully note whatever might -be essential to a speedy escape; but when, in a whisper, I asked Gor -Hajus if he could find his way out again he assured me that he was as -confused as I. - -The palace was in no sense remarkable nor particularly interesting, the -work of the Phundahlian artists being heavy and oppressing and without -indication of high imaginative genius. The scenes depicted were mostly -of a religious nature illustrating passages from Turgan, the Phundahlian -bible, and, for the most part, were a series of monotonous repetitions. -There was one, which appeared again and again, depicting Turgan creating -a round, flat Mars and hurling it into Space, that always reminded me of -a culinary artist turning a flap jack in a child’s window. - -There were also numerous paintings of what appeared to be court scenes -delineating members of the Phundahlian royal line in various activities; -it was noticeable that the more recent ones in which Xaxa appeared had -had the principal figure repainted so that there confronted me from time -to time portraits, none too well done, of the beautiful face and figure -of Valla Dia in the royal trappings of a Jeddara. The effect of these -upon me is not easy of description. They brought home to me the fact -that I was approaching, and should presently be face to face with, the -person of the woman to whom I had consecrated my love and my life, and -yet in that same person I should be confronting one whom I loathed and -would destroy. - -We were halted at last before a great door and from the number of -warriors and nobles congregated before it I was confident that we were -soon to be ushered into the presence of the Jeddara. As we waited those -assembled about us eyed us with, it seemed to me, more of hostility than -curiosity and when the door swung open they accompanied us, with the -exception of a few warriors, into the chamber beyond. The room was of -medium size and at the farther side, behind a massive table, sat Xaxa. -About her were grouped a number of heavily armed nobles. As I looked -them over I wondered if among them was he for whom the body of Dar Tarus -had been filched; for we had promised him that if conditions were -favorable we would attempt to recover it. - -Xaxa eyed us coldly as we were halted before her. “Let us see the beast -perform,” she commanded, and then suddenly: “What mean you by permitting -strangers to enter my presence bearing arms?” she cried. “Sag Or, see -that their weapons are removed!” and she turned to a handsome young -warrior standing near her. - -Sag Or! That was the name. Before me stood the noble for whom Dar Tarus -had suffered the loss of his liberty, his body and his love. Gor Hajus -had also recognized the name and Hovan Du, too; I could tell by the way -they eyed the man as he advanced. Curtly he instructed us to hand our -weapons to two warriors who advanced to receive them. Gor Hajus -hesitated. I admit that I did not know what course to pursue. - -Everyone seemed hostile and yet that might be, and doubtless was, but a -reflection of their attitude towards all strangers. If we refused to -disarm we were but three against a room full, if they chose to resort to -force; or if they turned us out of the palace because of it we would be -robbed of this seemingly god given opportunity to win to the very heart -of Xaxa’s palace and to her very presence, where we must eventually win -before we could strike. Would such an opportunity ever be freely offered -us again? I doubted it and felt that we had better assume a vague risk -now than, by refusing their demand, definitely arm their suspicions. So -I quietly removed my weapons and handed them to the warrior waiting to -receive them; and following my example, Gor Hajus did likewise, though I -can imagine with what poor grace. - -Once again Xaxa signified that she would see Hovan Du perform. As Gor -Hajus put him through his antics she watched listlessly; nor did -anything that the ape did arouse the slightest flicker of interest among -the entire group assembled about the Jeddara. As the thing dragged on I -became obsessed with apprehensions that all was not right. It seemed to -me that an effort was being made to detain us for some purpose—to gain -time. I could not understand, for instance, why Xaxa required that we -repeat several times the least interesting of the ape’s performances. -And all the time Xaxa sat playing with a long, slim dagger, and I saw -that she watched me quite as much as she watched Hovan Du, while I found -it difficult to keep my eyes averted from that perfect face, even though -I knew that it was but a stolen mask behind which lurked the cruel mind -of a tyrant and a murderess. - -At last came an interruption to the performance. The door opened and a -noble entered, who went directly to the Jeddara whom he addressed -briefly and in a low tone. I saw that she asked him several questions -and that she seemed vexed by his replies. Then she dismissed him with a -curt gesture and turned towards us. - -“Enough of this!” she cried. Her eyes rested upon mine and she pointed -her slim dagger at me. “Where is the other?” she demanded. - -“What other?” I inquired. - -“There were three of you, beside the ape. I know nothing about the ape, -nor where, nor how you acquired it; but I do know all about you, Vad -Varo, and Gor Hajus, the Assassin of Toonol, and Dar Tarus. Where is Dar -Tarus?” her voice was low and musical and entirely beautiful—the voice -of Valla Dia—but behind it I knew was the terrible personality of Xaxa, -and I knew too that it would be hard to deceive her, for she must have -received what information she had directly from Ras Thavas. It had been -stupid of me not to foresee that Ras Thavas would immediately guess the -purpose of my mission and warn Xaxa. I perceived instantly that it would -be worse than useless to deny our identity, rather I must explain our -presence—if I could. - -“Where is Dar Tarus?” she repeated. - -“How should I know?” I countered. “Dar Tarus has reasons to believe that -he would not be safe in Phundahl and I imagine that he is not anxious -that anyone should know his whereabouts—myself included. He helped me -to escape from the Island of Thavas, for which his liberty was to be his -reward. He has not chosen to accompany me further upon my adventures.” - -Xaxa seemed momentarily disarmed that I did not deny my -identity—evidently she had supposed that I would do so. - -“You admit then,” she said, “that you are Vad Varo, the assistant of Ras -Thavas?” - -“Have I ever sought to deny it?” - -“You have disguised yourself as a red-man of Barsoom.” - -“How could I travel in Barsoom otherwise, where every man’s hand is -against a stranger?” - -“And why would you travel in Barsoom?” Her eyes narrowed as she waited -for my reply. - -“As Ras Thavas has doubtless sent you word, I am from another world and -I would see more of this one,” I told her. “Is that strange?” - -“And you come to Phundahl and seek to gain entrance to my presence and -bring with you the notorious Assassin of Toonol that you may see more of -Barsoom?” - -“Gor Hajus may not return to Toonol,” I explained, “and so he must seek -service for his sword at some other court than that of Vobis Kan—in -Phundahl perhaps, or if not here he must move on. I hope that he will -decide to accompany me as I am a stranger in Barsoom, unaccustomed to -the manners and ways of her people. I would fare ill without a guide and -mentor.” - -“You shall fare ill,” she cried. “You have seen all of Barsoom that you -are destined to see—you have reached the end of your adventure. You -think to deceive me, eh? You do not know, perhaps, that I have heard of -your infatuation for Valla Dia or that I am fully conversant with the -purpose of your visit to Phundahl.” Her eyes left me and swept her -nobles and her warriors. “To the pits with them!” she cried. “Later we -shall choose the manner of their passing.” - -Instantly we were surrounded by a score of naked blades. There was no -escape for Gor Hajus or me, but I thought that I saw an opportunity for -Hovan Du to get away. I had had the possibility of such a contingency in -mind from the first and always I had been on the look-out for an avenue -of escape for one of us, and so the open windows at the right of the -Jeddara had not gone unnoticed, nor the great trees growing in the -courtyard beneath. Hovan Du was close beside me as Xaxa spoke. - -“Go!” I whispered. “The windows are open. Go, and tell Dar Tarus what -has happened to us,” and then I fell back away from him and dragged Gor -Hajus with me as though we would attempt to resist arrest; and while I -thus distracted their attention from him Hovan Du turned towards an open -window. He had taken but a few steps when a warrior attempted to halt -him; with that the ferocious brain of the anthropoid seemed to seize -dominion over the great creature. With a hideous growl he leaped with -the agility of a cat upon the unfortunate Phundahlian, swung him high in -giant hands and using his body as a flail tumbled his fellows to right -and left as he cut a swath towards the open window nearest him. - -Instantly pandemonium reigned in the apartment. The attention of all -seemed centered upon the great ape and even those who had been -confronting us turned to attack Hovan Du. And in the midst of the -confusion I saw Xaxa step to some heavy hangings directly behind her -desk, part them and disappear. - -“Come!” I whispered to Gor Hajus. Apparently intent only upon watching -the conflict between the ape and the warriors I moved forward with the -fighters but always to the left towards the desk that Xaxa had just -quitted. Hovan Du was giving a good account of himself. He had discarded -his first victim and one by one had seized others as they came within -range of his long arms and powerful hands, sometimes four at a time as -he stood well braced upon two of his hand-like feet and fought with the -other four. His shock of bristling hair stood erect upon his skull and -his fierce eyes blazed with rage as, towering high above his -antagonists, he fought for his life—the most feared of all the savage -creatures of Barsoom. Perhaps his greatest advantage lay in the inherent -fear of him that was a part of every man in that room who faced him, and -it forwarded my quickly conceived plan, too, for it kept every eye -turned upon Hovan Du, so that Gor Hajus and I were able to work our way -to the rear of the desk. I think Hovan Du must have sensed my intention -then, for he did the one thing best suited to attract every eye from us -to him and, too, he gave me notice that the human half of his brain was -still alert and watchful of our welfare. - -Heretofore the Phundahlians must have looked upon him as a remarkable -specimen of great ape, marvelously trained, but now, of a sudden, he -paralyzed them with awe, for his roars and growls took the form of words -and he spoke with the tongue of a human. He was near the window now. -Several of the nobles were pushing bravely forward. Among them was Sag -Or. Hovan Du reached forth and seized him, wrenching his weapons from -him. “I go,” he cried, “but let harm befall my friends and I shall -return and tear the heart from Xaxa. Tell her that, from the Great Ape -of Ptarth.” - -For an instant the warriors and the nobles stood transfixed with awe. -Every eye was upon Hovan Du as he stood there with the struggling figure -of Sag Or in his mighty grasp. Gor Hajus and I were forgotten. And then -Hovan Du turned and leaped to the sill of the window and from there -lightly to the branches of the nearest tree; and with him went Sag Or, -the favorite of Xaxa, the Jeddara. At the same instant I drew Gor Hajus -with me between the hangings in the rear of Xaxa’s desk, and as they -fell behind us we found ourselves in the narrow mouth of a dark -corridor. - -Without knowledge of where the passage led we could only follow it -blindly, urged on by the necessity for discovering a hiding place or an -avenue of escape from the palace before the pursuit, which we knew would -be immediately instituted, overtook us. As our eyes became accustomed to -the gloom, which was partially dispelled by a faint luminosity, we moved -more rapidly and presently came to a narrow spiral runway which -descended into a dark hole below the level of the corridor and also -arose into equal darkness above. - -“Which way?” I asked Gor Hajus. - -“They will expect us to descend,” he replied, “for in that direction -lies the nearest avenue of escape.” - -“Then we will go up.” - -“Good!” he exclaimed. “All we seek now is a place to hide until night -has fallen, for we may not escape by day.” - -We had scarcely started to ascend before we heard the first sound of -pursuit—the clank of accoutrements in the corridor beneath. Yet, even -with this urge from behind, we were forced to move with great caution, -for we knew not what lay before. At the next level there was a doorway, -the door closed and locked, but there was no corridor, nor anywhere to -hide, and so we continued on upward. The second level was identical with -that just beneath, but at the third a single corridor ran straight off -into darkness and at our right was a door, ajar. The sounds of pursuit -were appreciably nearer now and the necessity for concealment seemed -increasing as the square of their growing proportions until every other -consideration was overwhelmed by it. Nor is this so strange when the -purpose of my adventure is considered and that discovery now must -assuredly spell defeat and blast for ever the slender ray of hope that -remained for the resurrection of Valla Dia in her own flesh. - -There was scarce a moment for consideration. The corridor before us was -shrouded in darkness—it might be naught but a blind alley. The door was -close and ajar. I pushed it gently inward. An odor of heavy incense -greeted our nostrils and through the small aperture we saw a portion of -a large chamber garishly decorated. Directly before us, and almost -wholly obstructing our view of the entire chamber, stood a colossal -statue of a squatting manlike figure. Behind us we heard voices—our -pursuers already were ascending the spiral—they would be upon us in a -few seconds. I examined the door and discovered that it fastened with a -spring lock. I looked again into the chamber and saw no one within the -range of our vision, and then I motioned Gor Hajus to follow me and -stepping into the room closed the door behind us. We had burned our -bridges. As the door closed the lock engaged with a sharp, metallic -click. - -“What was that?” demanded a voice, originating, seemingly, at the far -end of the chamber. - -Gor Hajus looked at me and shrugged his shoulders in resignation (he -must have been thinking what I was thinking—that with two avenues we -had chosen the wrong one) but he smiled and there was no reproach in his -eyes. - -“It sounded from the direction of the Great Tur,” replied a second -voice. - -“Perhaps someone is at the door,” suggested the first speaker. - -Gor Hajus and I were flattened against the back of the statue that we -might postpone as long as possible our inevitable discovery should the -speakers decide to investigate the origin of the noise that had -attracted their suspicions. I was facing against the polished stone of -the figure’s back, my hands outspread upon it. Beneath my fingers were -the carven bits of its ornamental harness—jutting protuberances that -were costly gems set in these trappings of stone, and there were -gorgeous inlays of gold filagree; but these things I had no eyes for -now. We could hear the two conversing as they came nearer. Perhaps I was -nervous, I do not know. I am sure I never shrank from an encounter when -either duty or expediency called; but in this instance both demanded -that we avoid conflict and remain undiscovered. However that may be, my -fingers must have been moving nervously over the jeweled harness of the -figure when I became vaguely, perhaps subconsciously, aware that one of -the gems was loose in its setting. I do not recall that this made any -impression upon my conscious mind, but I do know that it seemed to catch -the attention of my wandering fingers and they must have paused to play -with the loosened stone. - -The voices seemed quite close now—it could be but a matter of seconds -before we should be confronted by their owners. My muscles seemed to -tense for the anticipated encounter and unconsciously I pressed heavily -upon the loosened setting—whereat a portion of the figure’s back gave -noiselessly inward revealing to us the dimly lighted interior of the -statue. We needed no further invitation; simultaneously we stepped -across the threshold and in almost the same movement I turned and closed -the panel gently behind us. I think that there was absolutely no sound -connected with the entire transaction; and following it we remained in -utter silence, motionless—scarce breathing. Our eyes became quickly -accustomed to the dim interior which we discovered was lighted through -numerous small orifices in the shell of the statue, which was entirely -hollow, and through these same orifices every outside sound came clearly -to our ears. - -We had scarcely closed the opening when we heard the voices directly -outside it and simultaneously there came a hammering on the door by -which we had entered the apartment from the corridor. “Who seeks -entrance to Xaxa’s Temple?” demanded one of the voices within the room. - -“’Tis I, dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard,” boomed a voice from without. “We -are seeking two who came to assassinate Xaxa.” - -“Came they this way?” - -“Think you, priest, that I should be seeking them here had they not?” - -“How long since?” - -“Scarce twenty tals since,” replied the dwar. - -“Then they are not here,” the priest assured him, “for we have been here -for a full zode[A] and no other has entered the temple during that time. -Look quickly to Xaxa’s apartments above and to the roof and the hangars, -for if you followed them up the spiral there is no other where they -might flee.” - ------ - -[A] A tal is about one second, and a zode approximately two and one-half -hours, Earth time. - ------ - -“Watch then the temple carefully until I return,” shouted the warrior -and we heard him and his men moving on up the spiral. - -Now we heard the priests conversing as they moved slowly past the -statue. - -“What could have caused the noise that first attracted our attention?” -asked one. - -“Perhaps the fugitives tried the door,” suggested the other. - -“It must have been that, but they did not enter or we should have seen -them when they emerged from behind the Great Tur, for we were facing him -at the time, nor have once turned our eyes from this end of the temple.” - -“Then at least they are not within the temple.” - -“And where else they may be is no concern of ours.” - -“No, nor if they reached Xaxa’s apartment, if they did not pass through -the temple.” - -“Perhaps they did reach it.” - -“And they were assassins!” - -“Worse things might befall Phundahl.” - -“Hush! the gods have ears.” - -“Of stone.” - -“But the ears of Xaxa are not of stone and they hear many things that -are not intended for them.” - -“The old she-banth!” - -“She is Jeddara and High Priestess.” - -“Yes, but——” the voices passed beyond the range of our ears at the far -end of the temple, yet they had told me much—that Xaxa was feared and -hated by the priesthood and that the priests themselves had none too -much reverence for their deity as evidenced by the remark of one that -the gods have ears of stone. And they had told us other things, -important things, when they conversed with the dwar of the Jeddara’s -Guard. - -Gor Hajus and I now felt that we had fallen by chance upon a most ideal -place of concealment, for the very guardians of the temple would swear -that we were not, could not be, where we were. Already had they thrown -the pursuers off our track. - -Now, for the first time, we had an opportunity to examine our hiding -place. The interior of the statue was hollow and far above us, perhaps -forty feet, we could see the outside light shining through the mouth, -ears and nostrils, just below which a circular platform could be -discerned running around the inside of the neck. A ladder with flat -rungs led upward from the base to the platform. Thick dust covered the -floor on which we stood, and the extremity of our position suggested a -careful examination of this dust, with the result that I was at once -impressed by the evidence that it revealed; which indicated that we were -the first to enter the statue for a long time, possibly for years, as -the fine coating of almost impalpable dust that covered the floor was -undisturbed. As I searched for this evidence my eyes fell upon something -lying huddled close to the base of the ladder and approaching nearer I -saw that it was a human skeleton, while a closer examination revealed -that the skull was crushed and one arm and several ribs broken. About it -lay, dust-covered, the most gorgeous trappings I had ever seen. Its -position at the foot of the ladder, as well as the crushed skull and -broken bones, appeared quite conclusive evidence of the manner in which -death had come—the man had fallen head foremost from the circular -platform forty feet above, carrying with him to eternity, doubtless, the -secret of the entrance to the interior of the Great Tur. - -I suggested this to Gor Hajus who was examining the dead man’s trappings -and he agreed with me that such must have been the manner of his death. - -“He was a high priest of Tur,” whispered Gor Hajus, “and probably a -member of the royal house—possibly a Jeddak. He has been dead a long -time.” - -“I am going up above,” I said. “I will test the ladder. If it is safe, -follow me up. I think we shall be able to see the interior of the temple -through the mouth of Tur.” - -“Go carefully,” Gor Hajus admonished. “The ladder is very old.” - -I went carefully, testing each rung before I trusted my weight to it, -but I found the old sorapus wood of which it was constructed sound and -as staunch as steel. How the high priest came to his death must always -remain a mystery, for the ladder or the circular platform would have -carried the weight of a hundred red-men. - -From the platform I could see through the mouth of Tur. Below me was a -large chamber along the sides of which were ranged other, though lesser, -idols. They were even more grotesque than those I had seen in the temple -in the city and their trappings were rich beyond the conception of -man—Earthman—for the gems of Barsoom scintillate with rays unknown to -us and of such gorgeous and blinding beauty as to transcend description. -Directly in front of the Great Tur was an altar of palthon, a rare and -beautiful stone, blood red, in which are traced in purest white Nature’s -most fanciful designs; the whole vastly enhanced by the wondrous polish -which the stone takes beneath the hand of the craftsman. - -Gor Hajus joined me and together we examined the interior of the temple. -Tall windows lined two sides, letting in a flood of light. At the far -end, opposite the Great Tur, were two enormous doors, closing the main -entrance to the chamber, and here stood the two priests whom we had -heard conversing. Otherwise the temple was deserted. Incense burned upon -tiny altars before each of the minor idols, but whether any burned -before the Great Tur we could not see. - -Having satisfied our curiosity relative to the temple, we returned our -attention to a further examination of the interior of Tur’s huge head -and were rewarded by the discovery of another ladder leading upward -against the rear wall to a higher and smaller platform that evidently -led to the eyes. It did not take me long to investigate and here I found -a most comfortable chair set before a control that operated the eyes, so -that they could be made to turn from side to side, or up or down, -according to the whim of the operator; and here too was a speaking-tube -leading to the mouth. This again I must needs investigate and so I -returned to the lower platform and there I discovered a device beneath -the tongue of the idol, and this device, which was in the nature of an -amplifier, was connected with the speaking-tube from above. I could not -repress a smile as I considered these silent witnesses to the perfidy of -man and thought of the broken thing lying at the foot of the ladder. -Tur, I could have sworn, had been silent for many years. - -Together Gor Hajus and I returned to the higher platform and again I -made a discovery—the eyes of Tur were veritable periscopes. By turning -them we could see any portion of the temple and what we saw through the -eyes was magnified. Nothing could escape the eyes of Tur and presently, -when the priests began to talk again, we discovered that nothing could -escape Tur’s ears, for every slightest sound in the temple came clearly -to us. What a valuable adjunct to high priesthood this Great Tur must -have been in the days when that broken skeleton lying below us was a -thing of blood and life! - - - - - CHAPTER XII - THE GREAT TUR - - -The day dragged wearily for Gor Hajus and me. We watched the various -priests who came in pairs at intervals to relieve those who had preceded -them, and we listened to their prattle, mostly idle gossip of court -scandals. At times they spoke of us and we learned that Hovan Du had -escaped with Sag Or, nor had they been located as yet, nor had Dar -Tarus. The whole court was mystified by our seemingly miraculous -disappearance. Three thousand people, the inmates and attaches of the -palace, were constantly upon the look-out for us. Every part of the -palace and the palace grounds had been searched and searched again. The -pits had been explored more thoroughly than they had been explored -within the memory of the oldest retainer, and it seemed that queer -things had been unearthed there—things of which not even Xaxa dreamed; -and the priests whispered that at least one great and powerful house -would fall because of what a dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard had discovered -in a remote precinct of the pits. - -As the sun dropped below the horizon and darkness came, the interior of -the temple was illuminated by a soft white light, brilliantly but -without the glare of Earthly artificial illumination. More priests came -and many young girls, priestesses. They performed before the idols, -chanting meaningless gibberish. Gradually the chamber filled with -worshippers, nobles of the Jeddara’s court with their women and their -retainers, forming in two lines along either side of the temple before -the lesser idols, leaving a wide aisle from the great entrance to the -foot of the Great Tur and towards this aisle they all faced, waiting. -For what were they waiting? Their eyes were turned expectantly towards -the closed doors of the great entrance and Gor Hajus and I felt our eyes -held there too, fascinated by the suggestion that they were about to -open and reveal some stupendous spectacle. - -And presently the doors did swing slowly open and all we saw was what -appeared to be a great roll of carpet lying upon its side across the -opening. Twenty slaves, naked but for their scant leather harness, stood -behind the huge roll; and as the doors swung fully open they rolled the -carpet inward to the very feet of the altar before the Great Tur, -covering the wide aisle from the entranceway almost to the idol with a -thick, soft rug of gold and white and blue. It was the most beautiful -thing in the temple where all else was blatant, loud and garish or -hideous, or grotesque. And then the doors closed and again we waited; -but not for long. Bugles sounded from without, the sound increasing as -they neared the entrance. Once more the doors swung in. Across the -entrance stood a double rank of gorgeously trapped nobles. Slowly they -entered the temple and behind them came a splendid chariot drawn by two -banths, the fierce Barsoomian lion, held in leash by slaves on either -side. Upon the chariot was a litter and in the litter, reclining at -ease, lay Xaxa. As she entered the temple the people commenced to chant -her praises in a monotonous sing-song. Chained to the chariot and -following on foot was a red warrior and behind him a procession composed -of fifty young men and an equal number of young girls. - -Gor Hajus touched my arm. “The prisoner,” he whispered, “do you -recognize him?” - -“Dar Tarus!” I exclaimed. - -It was Dar Tarus—they had discovered his hiding place and arrested him, -but what of Hovan Du? Had they taken him, also? If they had it must have -been only after slaying him, for they never would have sought to capture -the fierce beast, nor would he have brooked capture. I looked for Sag -Or, but he was nowhere to be seen within the temple and this fact gave -me hope that Hovan Du might be still at liberty. - -The chariot was halted before the altar and Xaxa alighted; the lock that -held Dar Tarus’ chain to the vehicle was opened and the banths were led -away by their attendants to one side of the temple behind the lesser -idols. Then Dar Tarus was dragged roughly to the altar and thrown upon -it and Xaxa, mounting the steps at its base, came close to his side and -with hands outstretched above him looked up at the Great Tur towering -above her. How beautiful she was! How richly trapped! Ah, Valla Dia! -that your sweet form should be debased to the cruel purposes of the -wicked mind that now animates you! - -Xaxa’s eyes now rested upon the face of the Great Tur. “O, Tur, Father -of Barsoom,” she cried, “behold the offering we place before you, -All-seeing, All-knowing, All-powerful One, and frown no more upon us in -silence. For a hundred years you have not deigned to speak aloud to your -faithful slaves; never since Hora San, the high priest, was taken away -by you on that long-gone night of mystery have you unsealed your lips to -your people. Speak, Great Tur! Give us some sign, ere we plunge this -dagger into the heart of our offering, that our works are pleasing in -thine eyes. Tell us whither went the two who came here to-day to -assassinate your high priestess; reveal to us the fate of Sag Or. Speak, -Great Tur, ere I strike,” and she raised her slim blade above the heart -of Dar Tarus and looked straight upward into the eyes of Tur. - -And then, as a bolt from the blue, I was struck by the great -inspiration. My hand sought the lever controlling the eyes of Tur and I -turned them until they completed a full circuit of the room and rested -again upon Xaxa. The effect was magical. Never before had I seen a whole -room full of people so absolutely stunned and awe-struck as were these. -As the eyes returned to Xaxa she seemed turned to stone and her copper -skin to have taken on an ashen purple hue. Her dagger remained stiffly -poised above the heart of Dar Tarus. Not for a hundred years had they -seen the eyes of the Great Tur move. Then I placed the speaking-tube to -my lips and the voice of Tur rumbled through the chamber. As from one -great throat a gasp arose from the crowded temple floor and the people -fell upon their knees and buried their faces in their hands. - -“Judgment is mine!” I cried. “Strike not lest ye be struck! To Tur is -the sacrifice!” - -I was silent then, attempting to plan how best to utilize the advantage -I had gained. Fearfully, one by one, the bowed heads were raised and -frightened eyes sought the face of Tur. I gave them another thrill by -letting the god’s eyes wander slowly over the upturned faces, and while -I was doing this I had another inspiration, which I imparted to Gor -Hajus in a low whisper. I could hear him chuckle as he started down the -ladder to carry my new plan into effect. Again I had recourse to the -speaking-tube. - -“The sacrifice is Tur’s,” I rumbled. “Tur will strike with his own hand. -Extinguish the lights and let no one move under pain of instant death -until Tur gives the word. Prostrate yourselves and bury your eyes in -your palms, for whosoever sees shall be blinded when the spirit of Tur -walks among his people.” - -Down they went again and one of the priests hurriedly extinguished the -lights, leaving the temple in total darkness; and while Gor Hajus was -engaged with his part of the performance I tried to cover any accidental -noise he might make by keeping up a running fire of celestial -revelation. - -“Xaxa, the high priestess, asks what has become of the two whom she -believed came to assassinate her. I, Tur took them to myself. Vengeance -is Tur’s! And Sag Or I took, also. In the guise of a great ape I came -and took Sag Or and none knew me; though even a fool might have guessed, -for who is there ever heard a great ape speak with tongue of man unless -he was animated by the spirit of Tur?” - -I guess that convinced them, it being just the sort of logic suited to -their religion, or it would have convinced them if they had not already -been convinced. I wondered what might be passing in the mind of the -doubting priest who had remarked that the gods had ears of stone. - -Presently I heard a noise upon the ladder beneath me and a moment later -someone climbed upon the circular landing. - -“All’s well,” whispered the voice of Gor Hajus. “Dar Tarus is with me.” - -“Light the temple!” I commanded through the speaking-tube. “Rise and -look upon your altar.” - -The lights flashed on and the people rose, trembling, to their feet. -Every eye was bent upon the altar and what they saw there seemed to -crush them with terror. Some of the women screamed and fainted. It all -impressed me with the belief that none of them had taken this god of -theirs with any great amount of seriousness, and now when they were -confronted with absolute proof of his miraculous powers they were swept -completely off their feet. Where, a few moments before, they had seen a -live sacrifice awaiting the knife of the high priestess they saw now -only a dust-covered human skull. I grant you that without an explanation -it might have seemed a miracle to almost anyone so quickly had Gor Hajus -run from the base of the idol with the skull of the dead high priest and -returned again leading Dar Tarus with him. I had been a bit concerned as -to what the attitude of Dar Tarus might be, who was no more conversant -with the hoax than were the Phundahlians, but Gor Hajus had whispered -“For Valla Dia” in his ear and he had understood and come quickly. - -“The Great Tur,” I now announced, “is angry with his people. For a long -time they have denied him in their hearts even while they made open -worship of him. The Great Tur is angry with Xaxa. Only through Xaxa may -the people of Phundahl be saved from destruction, for the Great Tur is -angry. Go then from the temple and the palace leaving no human being -here other than Xaxa, the high priestess of Tur. Leave her here in -solitude beside the altar. Tur would speak with her alone.” - -I could see Xaxa fairly shrivel in fright. - -“Is the Jeddara Xaxa, High Priestess of the Great God Tur, afraid to -meet her master?” I demanded. The woman’s jaw trembled so that she could -not reply. “Obey! or Xaxa and all her people shall be struck dead!” I -fairly screamed at them. - -Like cattle they turned and fled towards the entrance and Xaxa, her -knees shaking so that she could scarce stand erect, staggered after -them. A noble saw her and pushed her roughly back, but she shrieked and -ran after him when he had left her. Then others dragged her to the foot -of the altar and threw her roughly down and one menaced her with his -sword, but at that I called aloud that no harm must befall the Jeddara -if they did not wish the wrath of Tur to fall upon them all. They left -her lying there and so weak from fright was she that she could not rise, -and a moment later the temple was empty, but not until I had shouted -after them to clear the whole palace within a quarter zode, for my plan -required a free and unobstructed as well as unobserved field of action. - -The last of them was scarce out of sight ere we three descended from the -head of Tur and stepped out upon the temple floor behind the idol. -Quickly I ran towards the altar, upon the other side of which Xaxa had -dropped to the floor in a swoon. She still lay there and I gathered her -into my arms and ran quickly back to the door in the wall behind the -idol—the doorway through which Gor Hajus and I had entered the temple -earlier in the day. - -Preceded by Gor Hajus and followed by Dar Tarus, I ascended the runway -towards the roof where the conversation of the priests had informed us -were located the royal hangars. Had Hovan Du and Sag Or been with us my -cup of happiness would have been full, for within half a day, what had -seemed utter failure and defeat had been turned almost to assured -success. At the landing where lay Xaxa’s apartments we halted and looked -within, for the long night voyage I contemplated would be cold and the -body of Valla Dia must be kept warm with suitable robes even though it -was inhabited by the spirit of Xaxa. Seeing no one we entered and soon -found what we required. As I was adjusting a heavy robe of orluk about -the Jeddara she regained consciousness. Instantly she recognized me and -then Gor Hajus and finally Dar Tarus. Mechanically she felt for her -dagger, but it was not there and when she saw my smile she paled with -anger. At first she must have jumped to the conclusion that she had been -the victim of a hoax, but presently a doubt seemed to enter her -mind—she must have been recalling some of the things that had -transpired within the temple of the Great Tur, and these, neither she -nor any other mortal might explain. - -“Who are you?” she demanded. - -“I am Tur,” I replied, brazenly. - -“What is your purpose with me?” - -“I am going to take you away from Phundahl,” I replied. - -“But I do not wish to go. You are not Tur. You are Vad Varo. I shall -call for help and my guards will come and slay you.” - -“There is no one in the palace,” I reminded her. “Did I, Tur, not send -them away?” - -“I shall not go with you,” she announced firmly. “Rather would I die.” - -“You shall go with me, Xaxa,” I replied, and though she fought and -struggled we carried her from her apartment and up the spiral runway to -the roof where, I prayed, I should find the hangars and the royal -fliers; and as we stepped out into the fresh night air of Mars we did -see the hangars before us, but we saw something else—a group of -Phundahlian warriors of the Jeddara’s Guard whom they had evidently -failed to notify of the commands of Tur. At sight of them Xaxa cried -aloud in relief. - -“To me! To the Jeddara!” she cried. “Strike down these assassins and -save me!” - -There were three of them and there were three of us, but they were armed -and between us we had but Xaxa’s slender dagger. Gor Hajus carried that. -Victory seemed turned to defeat as they rushed towards us; but it was -Gor Hajus who gave them pause. He seized Xaxa and raised the blade, its -point above her heart. “Halt!” he cried, “or I strike.” - -The warriors hesitated; Xaxa was silent, stricken with fear. Thus we -stood in stalemate when, just beyond the three Phundahlian warriors, I -saw a movement at the roof’s edge. What was it? In the dim light I saw -something that seemed a human head, and yet unhuman, rise slowly above -the edge of the roof, and then, silently, a great form followed, and -then I recognized it—Hovan Du, the great white ape. - -“Tell them,” I cried to Xaxa in a loud voice that Hovan Du might hear, -“that I am Tur, for see, I come again in the semblance of a white ape!” -and I pointed to Hovan Du. “I would not destroy these poor warriors. Let -them lay down their weapons and go in peace.” - -The men turned, and seeing the great ape standing there behind them, -materialized, it might have been, out of thin air, were shaken. - -“Who is he, Jeddara?” demanded one of the men. - -“It is Tur,” replied Xaxa in a weak voice; “but save me from him! Save -me from him!” - -“Throw down your weapons and your harness and fly!” I commanded, “or Tur -will strike you dead. Heard you not the people rushing from the palace -at Tur’s command? How think you we brought Xaxa hither with a lesser -power than Tur’s when all her palace was filled with her fighting men? -Go, while yet you may in safety.” - -One of them unbuckled his harness and threw it with his weapons upon the -roof, and as he started at a run for the spiral his companions followed -his example. Then Hovan Du approached us. - -“Well done, Vad Varo,” he growled, “though I know not what it is all -about.” - -“That you shall know later,” I told him, “but now we must find a swift -flier and be upon our way. Where is Sag Or? Does he still live?” - -“I have him securely bound and safely hidden in one of the high towers -of the palace,” replied the ape. “It will be easy to get him when we -have launched a flier.” - -Xaxa was eyeing us ragefully. “You are not Tur!” she cried. “The ape has -exposed you.” - -“But too late to profit you in any way, Jeddara,” I assured her. “Nor -could you convince one of your people who stood in the temple this night -that I am not Tur. Nor do you, yourself, know that I am not. The ways of -Tur, the all-powerful, all-knowing, are beyond the conception of mortal -man. To you then, Jeddara, I am Tur, and you will find me all-powerful -enough for my purposes.” - -I think she was still perplexed as we found and dragged forth a flier, -aboard which we placed her, and turned the craft’s nose towards a lofty -tower where Hovan Du told us lay Sag Or. - -“I shall be glad to see myself again,” said Dar Tarus, with a laugh. - -“And you shall be yourself again, Dar Tarus,” I told him, “as soon as -ever we can come again to the pits of Ras Thavas.” - -“Would that I might be reunited with my sweet Kara Vasa,” he sighed. -“Then, Vad Varo, the last full measure of my gratitude would be yours.” - -“Where may we find her?” - -“Alas, I do not know. It was while I was searching for her that I was -apprehended by the agents of Xaxa. I had been to her father’s palace -only to learn that he had been assassinated and his property -confiscated. The whereabouts of Kara Vasa they either did not know or -would not divulge; but they held me there upon one pretext or another -until a detachment of the Jeddara’s Guard could come and arrest me.” - -“We shall have to make inquiries of Sag Or,” I said. - -We were now coming to a stop alongside a window of the tower Hovan Du -had indicated, and he and Dar Tarus leaped to the sill and disappeared -within. We were all armed now, having taken the weapons discarded by the -three warriors at the hangars, and with a good flier beneath our feet -and all our little company reunited, with Xaxa and Sag Or, whom they -were now conducting aboard, we were indeed in high spirits. - -As we got under way again, setting our nose towards the east, I asked -Sag Or if he knew what had become of Kara Vasa, but he assured me, in -surly tones, that he did not. - -“Think again, Sag Or,” I admonished him, “and think hard, for perhaps -upon your answer your life depends.” - -“What chance have I for life?” he sneered, casting an ugly look towards -Dar Tarus. - -“You have every chance,” I replied. “Your life lies in the hollow of my -hand; and you serve me well it shall be yours, though in your own body -and not in that belonging to Dar Tarus.” - -“You do not intend destroying me?” - -“Neither you nor Xaxa,” I answered. “Xaxa shall live on in her own body -and you in yours.” - -“I do not wish to live in my own body,” snapped the Jeddara. - -Dar Tarus stood looking at Sag Or—looking at his own body like some -disembodied soul—as weird a situation as I have ever encountered. - -“Tell me, Sag Or,” he said, “what has become of Kara Vasa. When my body -has been restored to me and yours to you I shall hold no enmity against -you if you have not harmed Kara Vasa and will tell me where she be.” - -“I cannot tell you, for I do not know. She was not harmed, but the day -after you were assassinated she disappeared from Phundahl. We were -positive that she was spirited away by her father, but from him we could -learn nothing. Then he was assassinated,” the man glanced at Xaxa, “and -since, we have learned nothing. A slave told us that Kara Vasa, with -some of her father’s warriors, had embarked upon a flier and set out for -Helium, where she purposed placing herself under the protection of the -great War Lord of Barsoom; but of the truth of that we know nothing. -This is the truth. I, Sag Or, have spoken!” - -It was futile then to search Phundahl for Kara Vasa and so we held our -course towards the east and the Tower of Thavas. - - - - - CHAPTER XIII - BACK TO THAVAS - - -All that night we sped beneath the hurtling moons of Mars, as strange a -company as was ever foregathered upon any planet, I will swear. Two men, -each possessing the body of the other, an old and wicked empress whose -fair body belonged to a youthful damsel beloved by another of this -company, a great white ape dominated by half the brain of a human being, -and I, a creature of a distant planet, with Gor Hajus, the Assassin of -Toonol, completed the mad roster. - -I could scarce keep my eyes from the fair form and face of Xaxa, and it -is well that I was thus fascinated for I caught her in the act of -attempting to hurl herself overboard, so repugnant to her was the -prospect of living again in her own old and hideous corpse. After that I -kept her securely bound and fastened to the deck, though it hurt me to -see the bonds upon those fair limbs. - -Dar Tarus was almost equally fascinated by the contemplation of his own -body, which he had not seen for many years. - -“By my first ancestor,” he ejaculated. “It must be that I was the least -vain of fellows, for I give you my word I had no idea that I was so fair -to look upon. I can say this now without seeming egotism, since I am -speaking of Sag Or,” and he laughed aloud at his little joke. - -But the fact remained that the body and face of Dar Tarus were beautiful -indeed, though there was a hint of steel in the eyes and the set of the -jaw that betokened fighting blood. Little wonder, then, that Sag Or had -coveted the body of this young warrior; for his own, which Dar Tarus now -possessed, was marked by dissipation and age; nor that Dar Tarus yearned -to come again into his own. - -Just before dawn we dropped to one of the numerous small islands that -dot the Great Toonolian Marshes and nosing the ship between the boles of -great trees we came to rest upon the surface of the ground, half buried -in the lush and gorgeous jungle grasses, well hidden from the sight of -possible pursuers. Here Hovan Du found fruits and nuts for us which the -simian section of his brain pronounced safe for human consumption, and -instinct led him to a nearby spring from which there bubbled delicious -water. We four were half famished and much fatigued, so that the food -and water were most welcome to us; nor did Xaxa and Sag Or refuse them. -Having eaten, three of us lay down upon the ship’s deck to sleep, after -securely chaining our prisoners, while the fourth stood watch. In this -way, taking turns, we slept away most of the day and when night fell, -rested and refreshed, we were ready to resume our flight. - -Making a wide detour to the south we avoided Toonol and about two hours -before dawn we sighted the high Tower of Thavas. I think we were all -keyed up to the highest pitch of excitement, for there was not one -aboard that flier but whose whole life would be seriously affected by -the success or failure of our venture. As a first precaution we secured -the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind their backs and placed gags in their -mouths, lest they succeed in giving warning of our approach. - -Cluros had long since set and Thuria was streaming towards the horizon -as we stopped our motor and drifted without lights a mile or two south -of the tower while we waited impatiently for Thuria to leave the heavens -to darkness and the world to us. To the north-west the lights of Toonol -shone plainly against the dark background of the windows of the great -laboratory of Ras Thavas, but the tower itself was dark from plinth to -pinnacle. - -And now the nearer moon dropped plummetlike beneath the horizon and left -the scene to darkness and to us. Dar Tarus started the motor, the -wonderful, silent motor of Barsoom, and we moved slowly, close to the -ground, towards Ras Thavas’ island, with no sound other than the gentle -whirring of our propeller; nor could that have been heard scarce a -hundred feet so slowly was it turning. Close off the island we came to a -stop behind a cluster of giant trees and Hovan Du, going into the bow, -uttered a few low growls. Then we stood waiting in silence, listening. -There was a rustling in the dense undergrowth upon the shore. Again -Hovan Du voiced his low, grim call and this time there came an answer -from the black shadows. Hovan Du spoke in the language of the great apes -and the invisible creature replied. - -For five minutes, during which time we were aware from the different -voices that others had joined in the conversation from the shore, the -apes conversed, and then Hovan Du turned to me. - -“It is arranged,” he said. “They will permit us to hide our ship beneath -these trees and they will permit us to pass out again when we are ready -and board her, nor will they harm us in any way. All they ask is that -when we are through we shall leave the gate open that leads to the inner -court.” - -“Do they understand that while an ape goes in with us none will return -with us?” I asked. - -“Yes; but they will not harm us.” - -“Why do they wish the gate left open?” - -“Do not inquire too closely, Vad Varo,” replied Hovan Du. “It should be -enough that the great apes make it possible for you to restore Valla -Dia’s body to her brain and escape with her from this terrible place.” - -“It is enough,” I replied. “When may we land?” - -“At once. They will help us drag the ship beneath the trees and make her -fast.” - -“But first we must top the wall to the inner court,” I reminded him. - -“Yes, true—I had forgotten that we cannot open the gate from this -side.” - -He spoke again, then, to the apes, whom we had not yet seen; and then he -told us that all was arranged and that he and Dar Tarus would return -with the ship after landing us inside the wall. - -Again we got under way and rising slowly above the outer wall dropped -silently to the courtyard beyond. The night was unusually dark, clouds -having followed Thuria and blotted out the stars after the moon had set. -No one could have seen the ship at a distance of fifty feet, and we -moved almost without noise. Quietly we lowered our prisoners over the -side and Gor Hajus and I remained with them while Dar Tarus and Hovan Du -rose again and piloted the ship back to its hiding place. - -I moved at once to the gate and, unlatching it, waited. I heard nothing. -Never, I think, have I endured such utter silence. There came no sound -from the great pile rising behind me, nor any from the dark jungle -beyond the wall. Dimly I could see the huddled forms of Gor Hajus, Xaxa -and Sag Or beside me—otherwise I might have been alone in the darkness -and immensity of space. - -It seemed an eternity that I waited there before I heard a soft -scratching on the panels of the heavy gate. I pushed it open and Dar -Tarus and Hovan Du stepped silently within as I closed and relatched it. -No one spoke. All had been carefully planned so that there was no need -of speech. Dar Tarus and I led the way, Gor Hajus and Hovan Du brought -up the rear with the prisoners. We moved directly to the entrance to the -tower, found the runway and descended to the pits. Every fortune seemed -with us. We met no one, we had no difficulty in finding the vault we -sought, and once within we secured the door so that we had no fear of -interruption—that was our first concern—and then I hastened to the -spot where I had hidden Valla Dia behind the body of a large warrior, -tucked far back against the wall in a dark corner. My heart stood still -as I dragged aside the body of the warrior, for always had I feared that -Ras Thavas, knowing my interest in her and guessing the purpose of my -venture, would cause every chamber and pit to be searched and every body -to be examined until he found her for whom he sought; but my fears had -been baseless, for there lay the body of Xaxa, the old and wrinkled -casket of the lovely brain of my beloved, where I had hidden it against -this very night. Gently I lifted it out and bore it to one of the two -ersite topped tables. Xaxa, standing there bound and gagged, looked on -with eyes that shot hate and loathing at me and at that hideous body to -which her brain was so soon to be restored. - -As I lifted her to the adjoining slab she tried to wriggle from my grasp -and hurl herself to the floor, but I held her and soon had strapped her -securely in place. A moment later she was unconscious and the -re-transference was well under way. Gor Hajus, Sag Or and Hovan Du were -interested spectators, but to Dar Tarus, who stood ready to assist me, -it was an old story, for he had worked in the laboratory and seen more -than enough of similar operations. I will not bore you with a -description of it—it was but a repetition of what I had done many times -in preparation for this very event. - -At last it was completed and my heart fairly stood still as I replaced -the embalming fluid with Valla Dia’s own life blood and saw the color -mount to her cheeks and her rounded bosom rise and fall to her gentle -breathing. Then she opened her eyes and looked up into mine. - -“What has happened, Vad Varo?” she asked. “Has something gone amiss that -you have recalled me so soon, or did I not respond to the fluid?” - -Her eyes wandered past me to the faces of the others standing about. -“What does it mean?” she asked. “Who are these?” - -I raised her gently in my arms and pointed at the body of Xaxa lying -deathlike on the ersite slab beside her. Valla Dia’s eyes went wide. “It -is done?” she cried, and clapped her hands to her face and felt of all -her features and of the soft, delicate contours of her smooth neck; and -yet she could scarce believe it and asked for a glass and I took one -from Xaxa’s pocket pouch and handed it to her. She looked long into it -and the tears commenced to roll down her cheeks, and then she looked up -at me through the mist of them and put her dear arms about my neck and -drew my face down to hers. “My chieftain,” she whispered—that was all. -But it was enough. For those two words I had risked my life and faced -unknown dangers, and gladly would I risk my life again for that same -reward and always, for ever. - -Another night had fallen before I had completed the restoration of Dar -Tarus and Hovan Du. Xaxa, and Sag Or and the great ape I left sleeping -the deathlike sleep of Ras Thavas’ marvelous anaesthetic. The great ape -I had no intention of restoring, but the others I felt bound to return -to Phundahl, though Dar Tarus, now resplendent in his own flesh and the -gorgeous trappings of Sag Or, urged me not to inflict them again upon -the long suffering Phundahlians. - -“But I have given my word,” I told him. - -“Then they must be returned,” he said. - -“Though what I may do afterward is another matter,” I added, for there -had suddenly occurred to me a bold scheme. - -I did not tell Dar Tarus what it was nor would I have had time, for at -the very instant we heard someone without trying the door and then we -heard voices and presently the door was tried again, this time with -force. We made no noise, but just waited. I hoped that whoever it was -would go away. The door was very strong and when they tried to force it -they must soon have realized the futility of it because they quickly -desisted and we heard their voices for only a short time thereafter and -then they seemed to have gone away. - -“We must leave,” I said, “before they return.” - -Strapping the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind them and placing gags in -their mouths I quickly restored them to life, nor ever did I see two -less grateful. The looks they cast upon me might well have killed could -looks do that, and with what disgust they viewed one another was writ -plain in their eyes. - -Cautiously unbolting the door I opened it very quietly, a naked sword in -my right hand and Dar Tarus, Gor Hajus and Hovan Du ready with theirs at -my shoulder, and as it swung back it revealed two standing in the -corridor watching—two of Ras Thavas’ slaves; and one of them was -Yamdor, his body servant. At sight of us the fellow gave a loud cry of -recognition and before I could leap through the doorway and prevent -them, they had both turned and were flying up the corridor as fast as -their feet would carry them. - -Now there was no time to be lost—everything must be sacrificed to -speed. Without thought of caution or silence we hastened through the -pits towards the runway in the tower; and when we stepped into the inner -court it was night again, but the farther moon was in the heavens and -there were no clouds. The result was that we were instantly discovered -by a sentry, who gave the alarm as he ran forward to intercept us. - -What was a sentry doing in the courtyard of Ras Thavas? I could not -understand. And what were these? A dozen armed warriors were hurrying -across the court on the heels of the sentry. - -“Toonolians!” shouted Gor Hajus. “The warriors of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of -Toonol!” - -Breathlessly we raced for the gate. If we could but reach it first! But -we were handicapped by our prisoners, who held back the moment they -discovered how they might embarrass us, and so it was that we all met in -front of the gate. Dar Tarus and Gor Hajus and Hovan Du and I put Valla -Dia and our prisoners behind us and fought the twenty warriors of Toonol -with the odds five to one against us; but we had more heart in the fight -than they and perhaps that gave us an advantage, though I am sure that -Gor Hajus was as ten men himself so terrible was the effect of his name -alone upon the men of Toonol. - -“Gor Hajus!” cried one, the first to recognize him. - -“Yes, it is Gor Hajus,” replied the assassin. “Prepare to meet your -ancestors!” and he drove into them like a racing propeller, and I was -upon his right and Hovan Du and Dar Tarus upon his left. - -It was a pretty fight, but it must eventually have gone against us, so -greatly were we outnumbered, had I not thought of the apes and the gate -beside us. Working my way to it I threw it open and there upon the -outside, attracted by the noise of the conflict, stood a full dozen of -the great beasts. I called to Gor Hajus and the others to fall back -beside the gate, and as the apes rushed in I pointed to the Toonolian -warriors. - -I think the apes were at a loss to know which were friends and which -were foes, but the Toonolians apprised them by attacking them, while we -stood aside with our points upon the ground. Just a moment we stood thus -waiting. Then as the apes rushed among the Toonolian warriors, we -slipped into the darkness of the jungle beyond the outer wall and sought -our flier. Behind us we could hear the growls and the roars of the -beasts mingled with the shouts and the curses of the men; and the sound -still rose from the courtyard as we clambered aboard the flier and -pushed off into the night. - -As soon as we felt that we were safely escaped from the Island of Thavas -I removed the gags from the mouths of Xaxa and Sag Or and I can tell you -that I immediately regretted it, for never in my life had I been -subjected to such horrid abuse as poured from the wrinkled old lips of -the Jeddara; and it was only when I started to gag her again that she -promised to desist. - -My plans were now well laid and they included a return to Phundahl since -I could not start for Duhor with Valla Dia without provisions and fuel; -nor could I obtain these elsewhere than in Phundahl, since I felt that I -held the key that would unlock the resources of that city to me; whereas -all Toonol was in arms against us owing to Vobis Kan’s fear of Gor -Hajus. - -So we retraced our way towards Phundahl as secretly as we had come, for -I had no mind to be apprehended before we had gained entrance to the -palace of Xaxa. - -Again we rested over daylight upon the same island that had given us -sanctuary two days before, and at dark we set out upon the last leg of -our journey to Phundahl. If there had been pursuit we had seen naught of -it; and that might easily be explained by the great extent of the -uninhabited marshes across which we flew and the far southerly course -that we followed close above the ground. - -As we neared Phundahl I caused Xaxa and Sag Or to be again gagged, and -further, I had their heads bandaged so that none might recognize them; -and then we sailed straight over the city towards the palace, hoping -that we would not be discovered and yet ready in the event that we -should be. - -But we came to the hangars on the roof apparently unseen and constantly -I coached each upon the part he was to play. As we were settling slowly -to the roof Dar Tarus, Hovan Du and Valla Dia quickly bound Gor Hajus -and me and wrapped our heads in bandages, for we had seen below the -figures of the hangar guard. Had we found the roof unguarded the binding -of Gor Hajus and me had been unnecessary. - -As we dropped nearer one of the guard hailed us. “What ship?” he cried. - -“The royal flier of the Jeddara of Phundahl,” replied Dar Tarus, -“returning with Xaxa and Sag Or.” - -The warriors whispered among themselves as we dropped nearer and I must -confess that I felt a bit nervous as to the outcome of our ruse; but -they permitted us to land without a word and when they saw Valla Dia -they saluted her after the manner of Barsoom, as, with the regal -carriage of an empress, she descended from the deck of the flier. - -“Carry the prisoners to my apartments!” she commanded, addressing the -guard, and with the help of Hovan Du and Dar Tarus the four bound and -muffled figures were carried from the flier down the spiral runway to -the apartments of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. Here excited slaves -hastened to do the bidding of the Jeddara. Word must have flown through -the palace with the speed of light that Xaxa had returned, for almost -immediately court functionaries began to arrive and be announced; but -Valla Dia sent word that she would see no one for a while. Then she -dismissed her slaves, and at my suggestion Dar Tarus investigated the -apartments with a view to finding a safe hiding place for Gor Hajus, me, -and the prisoners. This he soon found in a small antechamber directly -off the main apartment of the royal suite; the bonds were removed from -the assassin and myself and together we carried Xaxa and Sag Or into the -room. - -The entrance here was furnished with a heavy door over which there were -hangings that completely hid it. I bade Hovan Du, who, like the rest of -us, wore Phundahlian harness, stand guard before the hangings and let no -one enter but members of our own party. Gor Hajus and I took up our -positions just within the hangings through which we cut small holes that -permitted us to see all that went on within the main chamber, for I was -greatly concerned for Valla Dia’s safety while she posed as Xaxa, whom I -knew to be both feared and hated by her people and therefore always -liable to assassination. - -Valla Dia summoned the slaves and bade them admit the officials of the -court, and as the doors opened fully a score of nobles entered. They -appeared ill at ease and I could guess that they were recalling the -episode in the temple when they had deserted their Jeddara and even -hurled her roughly at the feet of the Great Tur, but Valla Dia soon put -them at their ease. - -“I have summoned you,” she said, “to hear the word of Tur. Tur would -speak again to his people. Three days and three nights have I spent with -Tur. His anger against Phundahl is great. He bids me summon all the -higher nobles to the temple after the evening meal to-night, and all the -priests, and the commanders and dwars of the Guard, and as many of the -lesser nobles as be in the palace; and then shall the people of Phundahl -hear the word and the law of Tur and all those who shall obey shall live -and all those who shall not obey shall die; and woe be to him who, -having been summoned, shall not be in the temple this night. I, Xaxa, -Jeddara of Phundahl, have spoken! Go!” - -They went and they seemed glad to go. Then Valla Dia summoned the odwar -of the Guard, who would be in our world a general, and she told him to -clear the palace of every living being from the temple level to the roof -an hour before the evening meal, nor to permit any one to enter the -temple or the levels above it until the hour appointed for the -assembling in the temple to hear the word of Tur, excepting however -those who might be in her own apartments, which were not to be entered -upon pain of death. She made it all very clear and plain and the odwar -understood and I think he trembled a trifle, for all were in great fear -of the Jeddara Xaxa; and then he went away and the slaves were dismissed -and we were alone. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV - JOHN CARTER - - -Half an hour before the evening meal we carried Xaxa and Sag Or down the -spiral runway and placed them in the base of the Great Tur and Gor Hajus -and I took our places on the upper platform behind the eyes and voice of -the idol. Valla Dia, Dar Tarus and Hovan Du remained in the royal -apartments. Our plans were well formulated. There was no one between the -door at the rear of the Great Tur and the flier that lay ready on the -roof in the event that we were forced to flee through any miscarriage of -our mad scheme. - -The minutes dragged slowly by and darkness fell. The time was -approaching. We heard the doors of the temple open and beyond we saw the -great corridor brilliantly lighted. It was empty except for two priests -who stood hesitating nervously in the doorway. Finally one of them -mustered up sufficient courage to enter and switch on the lights. More -bravely now they advanced and prostrated themselves before the altar of -the Great Tur. When they arose and looked up into the face of the idol I -could not resist the temptation to turn those huge eyes until they had -rolled completely about the interior of the chamber and rested again -upon the priests; but I did not speak and I think the effect of the -awful silence in the presence of the living god was more impressive than -would words have been. The two priests simply collapsed. They slid to -the floor and lay there trembling, moaning and supplicating Tur to have -mercy on them, nor did they rise before the first of the worshippers -arrived. - -Thereafter the temple filled rapidly and I could see the word of Tur had -been well and thoroughly disseminated. They came as they had before; but -there were more this time, and they ranged upon either side of the -central aisle and there they waited, their eyes divided between the -doorway and the god. About the time that I thought the next scene was -about to be enacted I let Tur’s eyes travel over the assemblage that -they might be keyed to the proper pitch for what was to follow. They -reacted precisely as had the priests, falling upon the floor and moaning -and supplicating; and there they remained until the sounds of bugles -announced the coming of the Jeddara. Then they rose unsteadily to their -feet. The great doors swung open and there was the carpet and the slaves -behind it. As they rolled it down towards the altar the bugles sounded -louder and the head of the royal procession came into view. I had -ordered it thus to permit of greater pageantry than was possible when -the doors opened immediately upon the head of the procession. My plan -permitted the audience to see the royal retinue advancing down the long -corridor and the effect was splendid. First came the double rank of -nobles and behind these the chariot drawn by the two banths, bearing the -litter upon which reclined Valla Dia. Behind her walked Dar Tarus, but -all within that room thought they were looking upon the Jeddara Xaxa and -her favorite, Sag Or. Hovan Du walked behind Sag Or and following came -the fifty young men and the fifty maidens. - -The chariot halted before the altar and Valla Dia descended and knelt -and the voices that had been chanting the praises of Xaxa were stilled -as the beautiful creature extended her hands towards the Great Tur and -looked up into his face. - -“We are ready, Master!” she cried. “Speak! We await the word of Tur!” - -A gasp arose from the kneeling assemblage, a gasp that ended in a sob. I -felt that they were pretty well worked up and that everything ought to -go off without a hitch. I placed the speaking-tube to my lips. - -“I am Tur!” I thundered and the people trembled. “I come to pass -judgment on the men of Phundahl. As you receive my word so shall you -prosper or so shall you perish. The sins of the people may be atoned by -two who have sinned most in my sight.” I let the eyes of Tur rove about -over the audience and then brought them to rest upon Valla Dia. “Xaxa, -are you ready to atone for your sins and for the sins of your people?” - -Valla Dia bowed her beautiful head. “Thy will is law, Master!” she -replied. - -“And Sag Or,” I continued, “you have sinned. Are you prepared to pay?” - -“As Tur shall require,” said Dar Tarus. - -“Then it is my will,” I boomed, “that Xaxa and Sag Or shall give back to -those from whom they stole them, the beautiful bodies they now wear; -that he from whom Sag Or took this body shall become Jeddak of Phundahl -and High Priest of Tur; and that she from whom Xaxa stole her body shall -be returned in pomp to her native country. I have spoken. Let any who -would revolt against my word speak now or for ever hold his peace.” - -There was no objection voiced. I had felt pretty certain that there -would not be. I doubt if any god ever looked down upon a more subdued -and chastened flock. As I had talked, Gor Hajus had descended to the -base of the idol and removed the bonds from the feet and legs of Xaxa -and Sag Or. - -“Extinguish the lights!” I commanded. A trembling priest did my bidding. - -Valla Dia and Dar Tarus were standing side by side before the altar when -the lights went out. In the next minute they and Gor Hajus must have -worked fast, for when I heard a low whistle from the interior of the -idol’s base, the prearranged signal that Gor Hajus had finished his -work, and ordered the lights on again, there stood Xaxa and Sag Or where -Valla Dia and Dar Tarus had been, and the latter were nowhere in sight. -I think the dramatic effect of that transformation upon the people there -was the most stupendous thing I have ever seen. There was no cord or gag -upon either Xaxa or Sag Or, nothing to indicate that they had been -brought hither by force—no one about who might have so brought them. -The illusion was perfect—it was a gesture of omnipotence that simply -staggered the intellect. But I wasn’t through. - -“You have heard Xaxa renounce her throne,” I said, “and Sag Or submit to -the judgment of Tur.” - -“I have not renounced my throne!” cried Xaxa. “It is all a——” - -“Silence!” I thundered. “Prepare to greet the new Jeddak, Dar Tarus of -Phundahl!” I turned my eyes towards the great doors and the eyes of the -assemblage followed mine. They swung open and there stood Dar Tarus, -resplendent in the trappings of Hora San, the long dead Jeddak and high -priest, whose bones we had robbed in the base of the idol an hour -earlier. How Dar Tarus had managed to make the change so quickly is -beyond me, but he had done it and the effect was colossal. He looked -every inch a Jeddak as he moved with slow dignity up the wide aisle -along the blue and gold and white carpet. Xaxa turned purple with rage. -“Impostor!” she shrieked. “Seize him! Kill him!” and she ran forward to -meet him as though she would slay him with her bare hands. - -“Take her away,” said Dar Tarus in a quiet voice, and at that Xaxa fell -foaming to the floor. She shrieked and gasped and then lay still—a -wicked old woman dead of apoplexy. And when Sag Or saw her lying there -he must have been the first to realize that she was dead and that there -was now no one to protect him from the hatreds that are leveled always -at the person of a ruler’s favorite. He looked wildly about for an -instant and then threw himself at the feet of Dar Tarus. - -“You promised to protect me!” he cried. - -“None shall harm you,” replied Dar Tarus. “Go your way and live in -peace.” Then he turned his eyes upward towards the face of the Great -Tur. “What is thy will, Master?” he cried. “Dar Tarus, thy servant, -awaits thy commands!” - -I permitted an impressive silence before I replied. - -“Let the priests of Tur, the lesser nobles and a certain number of the -Jeddak’s Guard go forth into the city and spread the word of Tur among -the people that they may know that Tur smiles again upon Phundahl and -that they have a new Jeddak who stands high in the favor of Tur. Let the -higher nobles attend presently in the chambers that were Xaxa’s and do -honor to Valla Dia in whose perfect body their Jeddara once ruled them, -and effect the necessary arrangements for her proper return to Duhor, -her native city. There also will they find two who have served Tur well -and these shall be accorded the hospitality and friendship of every -Phundahlian—Gor Hajus of Toonol and Vad Varo of Jasoom. Go! and when -the last has gone let the temple be darkened. I, Tur, have spoken!” - -Valla Dia had gone directly to the apartments of the former Jeddara and -the moment that the lights were extinguished Gor Hajus and I joined her. -She could not wait to hear the outcome of our ruse, and when I assured -her that there had been no hitch the tears came to her eyes for very -joy. - -“You have accomplished the impossible, my chieftain,” she murmured, “and -already can I see the hills of Duhor and the towers of my native city. -Ah, Vad Varo, I had not dreamed that life might again hold for me such -happy prospects. I owe you life and more than life.” - -We were interrupted by the coming of Dar Tarus, and with him were Hovan -Du and a number of the higher nobles. The latter received us pleasantly, -though I think they were mystified as to just how we were linked with -the service of their god; nor, I am sure, did one of them ever learn. -They were frankly delighted to be rid of Xaxa; and while they could not -understand Tur’s purpose in elevating a former warrior of the Guard to -the throne, yet they were content if it served to relieve them from the -wrath of their god, now a very real and terrible god, since the miracles -that had been performed in the temple. That Dar Tarus had been of a -noble family relieved them of embarrassment, and I noted that they -treated him with great respect. I was positive that they would continue -to treat him so, for he was also high priest and for the first time in a -hundred years he would bring to the Great Tur in the royal Temple the -voice of god, for Hovan Du had agreed to take service with Dar Tarus, -and Gor Hajus as well, so that there would never be lacking a tongue -wherewith Tur might speak. I foresaw great possibilities for the reign -of Dar Tarus, Jeddak of Phundahl. - -At the meeting held in the apartments of Xaxa it was decided that Valla -Dia should rest two days in Phundahl while a small fleet was preparing -to transport her to Duhor. Dar Tarus assigned Xaxa’s apartments for her -use and gave her slaves from different cities to attend upon her, all of -whom were to be freed and returned with Valla Dia to her native land. - -It was almost dawn before we sought our sleeping silks and furs and the -sun was high before we awoke. Gor Hajus and I breakfasted with Valla -Dia, outside whose door we had spread our beds that we might not leave -her unprotected for a moment that it was not necessary. We had scarce -finished our meal when a messenger came from Dar Tarus summoning us to -the audience chamber, where we found some of the higher officers of the -court gathered about the throne upon which Dar Tarus sat, looking every -inch an emperor. He greeted us kindly, rising and descending from his -dais to receive Valla Dia and escort her to one of the benches he had -placed beside the throne for her and for me. - -“There is one,” he said to me, “who has come to Phundahl over night and -now begs audience of the Jeddak—one whom I thought you might like to -meet again,” and he signed to one of his attendants to admit the -petitioner; and when the doors at the opposite end of the room opened I -saw Ras Thavas standing there. He did not recognize me or Valla Dia or -Gor Hajus until he was almost at the foot of the throne, and when he did -he looked puzzled and glanced again quickly at Dar Tarus. - -“Ras Thavas of the Tower of Thavas, Toonol,” announced an officer. - -“What would Ras Thavas of the Jeddak of Phundahl?” asked Dar Tarus. - -“I came seeking audience of Xaxa,” replied Ras Thavas, “not knowing of -her death or your accession until this very morning; but I see Sag Or -upon Xaxa’s throne and beside him one whom I thought was Xaxa, though -they tell me Xaxa is dead, and another who was my assistant at Thavas -and one who is the Assassin of Toonol, and I am confused, Jeddak, and do -not know whether I be among friends or foes.” - -“Speak as though Xaxa still sat upon the throne of Phundahl,” Dar Tarus -told him, “for though I am Dar Tarus, whom you wronged, and not Sag Or, -yet need you have no fear in the court of Phundahl.” - -“Then let me tell you that Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, learning that -Gor Hajus had escaped me, swore that I had set him free to assassinate -him, and he sent warriors who took my island and would have imprisoned -me had I not been warned in time to escape; and I came hither to Xaxa to -beg her to send warriors to drive the men of Toonol from my island and -restore it to me that I may carry on my scientific labors.” - -Dar Tarus turned to me. “Vad Varo, of all others you are most familiar -with the work of Ras Thavas. Would you see him again restored to his -island and his laboratory?” - -“Only on condition that he devote his great skill to the amelioration of -human suffering,” I replied, “and no longer prostitute it to the foul -purposes of greed and sin.” This led to a discussion which lasted for -hours, the results of which were of far-reaching significance. Ras -Thavas agreed to all that I required and Dar Tarus commissioned Gor -Hajus to head an army against Toonol. - -But these matters, while of vast interest to those most directly -concerned, have no direct bearing upon the story of my adventures upon -Barsoom, as I had no part in them, since upon the second day I boarded a -flier with Valla Dia and, escorted by a Phundahlian fleet, set out -towards Duhor. Dar Tarus accompanied us for a short distance. When the -fleet was stopped at the shore of the great marsh he bade us farewell, -and was about to step to the deck of his own ship and return to Phundahl -when a shout arose from the deck of one of the other ships and word was -soon passed that a lookout had sighted what appeared to be a great fleet -far to the south-west. Nor was it long before it became plainly visible -to us all and equally plain that it was headed for Phundahl. - -Dar Tarus told me then that as much as he regretted it, there seemed -nothing to do but return at once to his capital with the entire fleet, -since he could not spare a single ship or man if this proved an enemy -fleet, nor could Valla Dia or I interpose any objection; and so we -turned about and sped as rapidly as the slow ships of Phundahl permitted -back towards the city. - -The stranger fleet had sighted us at about the same time that we had -sighted it, and we saw it change its course and bear down upon us; and -as it came nearer it fell into single file and prepared to encircle us. -I was standing at Dar Tarus’ side when the colors of the approaching -fleet became distinguishable and we first learned that it was from -Helium. - -“Signal and ask if they come in peace,” directed Dar Tarus. - -“We seek word with Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl,” came the reply. “The -question of peace or war will be hers to decide.” - -“Tell them that Xaxa is dead and that I, Dar Tarus, Jeddak of Phundahl, -will receive the commander of Helium’s fleet in peace upon the deck of -this ship, or that I will receive him in war with all my guns. I, Dar -Tarus, have spoken!” - -From the bow of a great ship of Helium there broke the flag of truce and -when Dar Tarus’ ship answered it in kind the other drew near and -presently we could see the men of Helium upon her decks. Slowly the -great flier came alongside our smaller ship and when the two had been -made fast a party of officers boarded us. They were fine looking men, -and at their head was one whom I recognized immediately though I never -before had laid eyes upon him. I think he was the most impressive figure -I have ever seen as he advanced slowly across the deck towards us—John -Carter, Prince of Helium, Warlord of Barsoom. - -“Dar Tarus,” he said, “John Carter greets you and in peace, though it -had been different, I think, had Xaxa still reigned.” - -“You came to war upon Xaxa?” asked Dar Tarus. - -“We came to right a wrong,” replied the Warlord. “But from what we know -of Xaxa that could have been done only by force.” - -“What wrong has Phundahl done Helium?” demanded Dar Tarus. - -“The wrong was against one of your own people—even against you in -person.” - -“I do not understand,” said Dar Tarus. - -“There is one aboard my ship who may be able to explain to you, Dar -Tarus,” replied John Carter, with a smile. He turned and spoke to one of -his aides in a whisper, and the man saluted and returned to the deck of -his own ship. “You shall see with your own eyes, Dar Tarus.” Suddenly -his eyes narrowed. “This is indeed Dar Tarus who was a warrior of the -Jeddara’s Guard and supposedly assassinated by her command?” - -“It is,” replied Dar Tarus. - -“I must be certain,” said the Warlord. - -“There is no question about it, John Carter,” I spoke up in English. - -His eyes went wide, and when they fell upon me and he noted my lighter -skin, from which the dye was wearing away, he stepped forward and held -out his hand. - -“A countryman?” he asked. - -“Yes, an American,” I replied. - -“I was almost surprised,” he said. “Yet why should I be? I have -crossed—there is no reason why others should not. And you have -accomplished it! You must come to Helium with me and tell me all about -it.” - -Further conversation was interrupted by the return of the aide, who -brought a young woman with him. At sight of her Dar Tarus uttered a cry -of joy and sprang forward, and I did not need to be told that this was -Kara Vasa. - -There is little more to tell that might not bore you in the telling—of -how John Carter himself took Valla Dia and me to Duhor after attending -the nuptials of Dar Tarus and Kara Vasa; and of the great surprise that -awaited me in Duhor, where I learned for the first time that Kor San, -Jeddak of Duhor, was the father of Valla Dia; and of the honors and the -great riches that he heaped upon me when Valla Dia and I were wed. - -John Carter was present at the wedding and we initiated upon Barsoom a -good old American custom, for the Warlord acted as best man; and then he -insisted that we follow that up with a honeymoon and bore us off to -Helium, where I am writing this. - -Even now it seems like a dream that I can look out of my window and see -the scarlet and the yellow towers of the twin cities of Helium; that I -have met, and see daily, Cathoris, Thuvia of Ptarth, Tara of Helium, -Gahan of Gathol and that peerless creature, Dejah Thoris, Princess of -Mars. Though to me, beautiful as she is, there is another even more -beautiful—Valla Dia, Princess of Duhor—Mrs. Ulysses Paxton. - - - - - TRANSCRIBER NOTES - -Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. Where multiple -spellings occur, majority use has been employed. - -Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious printer errors -occur. - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER MIND OF MARS *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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-Burroughs
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: The master mind of Mars
-
-Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
-
-Release Date: January 4, 2023 [eBook #69703]
-
-Language: English
-
-Produced by: Al Haines, Cindy Beyer & the online Distributed
- Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER MIND OF MARS ***
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- [Cover Illustration]
-
-
-
-
- BATTLE DAMAGE
-
- Dar Tarus called in alarm, “We can’t alter our course—the ship
- is useless!”
-
- Almost at the same instant, one of my bullets found and
- extinguished the enemy searchlight. Our craft was out of
- control, running swiftly toward a collision with the Toonolian
- flyer.
-
- I asked Dar Tarus if our ship was beyond repair. His reply was
- that it would take hours—in which time the whole Toonolian air
- patrol would be upon us.
-
- “Then we must have another ship!” I said. I pointed at the enemy
- craft. “We shall not have to look far.”
-
- Dar Tarus shrugged. “Why not? It would be a glorious fight . . .
- and a worthy death!”
-
-
-
-
- Edgar Rice Burroughs
- MARS NOVELS
-
- A PRINCESS OF MARS (#1)
- THE GODS OF MARS (#2)
- THE WARLORD OF MARS (#3)
- THUVIA, MAID OF MARS (#4)
- THE CHESSMEN OF MARS (#5)
- THE MASTER MIND OF MARS (#6)
- A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS (#7)
- SWORDS OF MARS (#8)
- SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS (#9)
- LLANA OF GATHOL (#10)
- JOHN CARTER OF MARS (#11)
-
-
-
-
- THE
- MASTER MIND
- OF MARS
-
-
- Edgar Rice Burroughs
-
-
-
-
-
- _The Master Mind of Mars_ was first published in _Amazing
- Stories Annual_ magazine, Volume I, number 1 on July 15, 1927.
-
- Copyright © 1927 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.
-
- ISBN 0-345-33424-8
-
-
-
-
- C O N T E N T S
-
- CHAPTER PAGE
- A Letter 7
-
- I The House of the Dead 10
-
- II Preferment 20
-
- III Valla Dia 28
-
- IV The Compact 42
-
- V Danger 53
-
- VI Suspicions 61
-
- VII Escape 72
-
- VIII Hands Up! 81
-
- IX The Palace of Mu Tel 92
-
- X Phundahl 106
-
- XI Xaxa 116
-
- XII The Great Tur 129
-
- XIII Back to Thavas 140
-
- XIV John Carter 150
-
-
-
-
- A LETTER
-
-
- HELIUM, June 8th, 1925
-MY DEAR MR. BURROUGHS:
-
-It was in the Fall of nineteen seventeen at an officers’ training camp
-that I first became acquainted with John Carter, War Lord of Barsoom,
-through the pages of your novel “A Princess of Mars.” The story made a
-profound impression upon me and while my better judgment assured me that
-it was but a highly imaginative piece of fiction, a suggestion of the
-verity of it pervaded my inner consciousness to such an extent that I
-found myself dreaming of Mars and John Carter, of Dejah Thoris, of Tars
-Tarkas and of Woola as if they had been entities of my own experience
-rather than the figments of your imagination.
-
-It is true that in those days of strenuous preparation there was little
-time for dreaming, yet there were brief moments before sleep claimed me
-at night and these were my dreams. Such dreams! Always of Mars, and
-during my waking hours at night my eyes always sought out the Red Planet
-when he was above the horizon and clung there seeking a solution of the
-seemingly unfathomable riddle he has presented to the Earthman for ages.
-
-Perhaps the thing became an obsession. I know it clung to me all during
-my training camp days, and at night, on the deck of the transport, I
-would lie on my back gazing up into the red eye of the god of battle—my
-god—and wishing that, like John Carter, I might be drawn across the
-great void to the haven of my desire.
-
-And then came the hideous days and nights in the trenches—the rats, the
-vermin, the mud—with an occasional glorious break in the monotony when
-we were ordered over the top. I loved it then and I loved the bursting
-shells, the mad, wild chaos of the thundering guns, but the rats and the
-vermin and the mud—God! how I hated them. It sounds like boasting, I
-know, and I am sorry; but I wanted to write you just the truth about
-myself. I think you will understand. And it may account for much that
-happened afterwards.
-
-There came at last to me what had come to so many others upon those
-bloody fields. It came within the week that I had received my first
-promotion and my captaincy, of which I was greatly proud, though humbly
-so; realizing as I did my youth, the great responsibility that it placed
-upon me as well as the opportunities it offered, not only in service to
-my country but, in a personal way, to the men of my command. We had
-advanced a matter of two kilometers and with a small detachment I was
-holding a very advanced position when I received orders to fall back to
-the new line. That is the last that I remember until I regained
-consciousness after dark. A shell must have burst among us. What became
-of my men I never knew. It was cold and very dark when I awoke and at
-first, for an instant, I was quite comfortable—before I was fully
-conscious, I imagine—and then I commenced to feel pain. It grew until
-it seemed unbearable. It was in my legs. I reached down to feel them,
-but my hand recoiled from what it found, and when I tried to move my
-legs I discovered that I was dead from the waist down. Then the moon
-came out from behind a cloud and I saw that I lay within a shell hole
-and that I was not alone—the dead were all about me.
-
-It was a long time before I found the moral courage and the physical
-strength to draw myself up upon one elbow that I might view the havoc
-that had been done me. One look was enough, I sank back in an agony of
-mental and physical anguish—my legs had been blown away from midway
-between the hips and knees. For some reason I was not bleeding
-excessively, yet I know that I had lost a great deal of blood and that I
-was gradually losing enough to put me out of my misery in a short time
-if I were not soon found; and as I lay there on my back, tortured with
-pain, I prayed that they would not come in time, for I shrank more from
-the thought of going maimed through life than I shrank from the thought
-of death. Then my eyes suddenly focussed upon the bright red eye of Mars
-and there surged through me a sudden wave of hope. I stretched out my
-arms towards Mars, I did not seem to question or to doubt for an instant
-as I prayed to the god of my vocation to reach forth and succour me. I
-knew that he would do it, my faith was complete, and yet so great was
-the mental effort that I made to throw off the hideous bonds of my
-mutilated flesh that I felt a momentary qualm of nausea and then a sharp
-click as of the snapping of a steel wire, and suddenly I stood naked
-upon two good legs looking down upon the bloody, distorted thing that
-had been I. Just for an instant did I stand thus before I turned my eyes
-aloft again to my star of destiny and with outstretched arms stand there
-in the cold of that French night—waiting.
-
-Suddenly I felt myself drawn with the speed of thought through the
-trackless wastes of interplanetary space. There was an instant of
-extreme cold and utter darkness, then——
-
-But the rest is in the manuscript that, with the aid of one greater than
-either of us, I have found the means to transmit to you with this
-letter. You and a few others of the chosen will believe in it—for the
-rest it matters not as yet. The time will come—but why tell you what
-you already know?
-
-My salutations and my congratulations—the latter on your good fortune
-in having been chosen as the medium through which Earthmen shall become
-better acquainted with the manners and customs of Barsoom, against the
-time that they shall pass through space as easily as John Carter, and
-visit the scenes that he has described to them through you, as have I.
-
- Your sincere friend,
- ULYSSES PAXTON,
- _Late Captain, ——th Inf., U.S. Army_.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER I
- THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD
-
-
-I must have closed my eyes involuntarily during the transition for when
-I opened them I was lying flat on my back gazing up into a brilliant,
-sun-lit sky, while standing a few feet from me and looking down upon me
-with the most mystified expression was as strange a looking individual
-as my eyes ever had rested upon. He appeared to be quite an old man, for
-he was wrinkled and withered beyond description. His limbs were
-emaciated; his ribs showed distinctly beneath his shrunken hide; his
-cranium was large and well developed, which, in conjunction with his
-wasted limbs and torso, lent him the appearance of top heaviness, as
-though he had a head beyond all proportion to his body, which was, I am
-sure, really not the case.
-
-As he stared down upon me through enormous, many lensed spectacles I
-found the opportunity to examine him as minutely in return. He was,
-perhaps, five feet five in height, though doubtless he had been taller
-in youth, since he was somewhat bent; he was naked except for some
-rather plain and well-worn leather harness which supported his weapons
-and pocket pouches, and one great ornament, a collar, jewel studded,
-that he wore around his scraggy neck—such a collar as a dowager empress
-of pork or real estate might barter her soul for, if she had one. His
-skin was red, his scant locks grey. As he looked at me his puzzled
-expression increased in intensity, he grasped his chin between the thumb
-and fingers of his left hand and slowly raising his right hand he
-scratched his head most deliberately. Then he spoke to me, but in a
-language I did not understand.
-
-At his first words I sat up and shook my head. Then I looked about me. I
-was seated upon a crimson sward within a high walled enclosure, at least
-two, and possibly three, sides of which were formed by the outer walls
-of a structure that in some respects resembled more closely a feudal
-castle of Europe than any familiar form of architecture that comes to my
-mind. The façade presented to my view was ornately carved and of most
-irregular design, the roof line being so broken as to almost suggest a
-ruin, and yet the whole seemed harmonious and not without beauty. Within
-the enclosure grew a number of trees and shrubs, all weirdly strange and
-all, or almost all, profusely flowering. About them wound walks of
-coloured pebbles among which scintillated what appeared to be rare and
-beautiful gems, so lovely were the strange, unearthly rays that leaped
-and played in the sunshine.
-
-The old man spoke again, peremptorily this time, as though repeating a
-command that had been ignored, but again I shook my head. Then he laid a
-hand upon one of his two swords, but as he drew the weapon I leaped to
-my feet, with such remarkable results that I cannot even now say which
-of us was the more surprised. I must have sailed ten feet into the air
-and back about twenty feet from where I had been sitting; then I was
-sure that I was upon Mars (not that I had for one instant doubted it),
-for the effects of the lesser gravity, the colour of the sward and the
-skin-hue of the red Martians I had seen described in the manuscripts of
-John Carter, those marvellous and as yet unappreciated contributions to
-the scientific literature of a world. There could be no doubt of it, I
-stood upon the soil of the Red Planet, I had come to the world of my
-dreams—to Barsoom.
-
-So startled was the old man by my agility that he jumped a bit himself,
-though doubtless involuntarily, but, however, with certain results. His
-spectacles tumbled from his nose to the sward, and then it was that I
-discovered that the pitiful old wretch was practically blind when
-deprived of these artificial aids to vision, for he got to his knees and
-commenced to grope frantically for the lost glasses, as though his very
-life depended upon finding them in the instant. Possibly he thought that
-I might take advantage of his helplessness and slay him. Though the
-spectacles were enormous and lay within a couple of feet of him he could
-not find them, his hands, seemingly afflicted by that strange perversity
-that sometimes confounds our simplest acts, passing all about the lost
-object of their search, yet never once coming in contact with it.
-
-As I stood watching his futile efforts and considering the advisability
-of restoring to him the means that would enable him more readily to find
-my heart with his sword point, I became aware that another had entered
-the enclosure. Looking towards the building I saw a large red-man
-running rapidly towards the little old man of the spectacles. The
-newcomer was quite naked, he carried a club in one hand, and there was
-upon his face such an expression as unquestionably boded ill for the
-helpless husk of humanity grovelling, mole-like, for its lost
-spectacles.
-
-My first impulse was to remain neutral in an affair that it seemed could
-not possibly concern me and of which I had no slightest knowledge upon
-which to base a predilection towards either of the parties involved; but
-a second glance at the face of the club-bearer aroused a question as to
-whether it might not concern me after all. There was that in the
-expression upon the man’s face that betokened either an inherent
-savageness of disposition or a maniacal cast of mind which might turn
-his evidently murderous attentions upon me after he had dispatched his
-elderly victim, while, in outward appearance at least, the latter was a
-sane and relatively harmless individual. It is true that his move to
-draw his sword against me was not indicative of a friendly disposition
-towards me, but at least, if there were any choice, he seemed the lesser
-of two evils.
-
-He was still groping for his spectacles and the naked man was almost
-upon him as I reached the decision to cast my lot upon the side of the
-old man. I was twenty feet away, naked and unarmed, but to cover the
-distance with my Earthly muscles required but an instant, and a naked
-sword lay by the old man’s side where he had discarded it the better to
-search for his spectacles. So it was that I faced the attacker at the
-instant that he came within striking distance of his victim, and the
-blow which had been intended for another was aimed at me. I sidestepped
-it and then I learned that the greater agility of my Earthly muscles had
-its disadvantages as well as its advantages, for, indeed, I had to learn
-to walk at the very instant that I had to learn to fight with a new
-weapon against a maniac armed with a bludgeon, or at least, so I assumed
-him to be and I think that it is not strange that I should have done so,
-what with his frightful show of rage and the terrible expression upon
-his face.
-
-As I stumbled about endeavouring to accustom myself to the new
-conditions, I found that instead of offering any serious opposition to
-my antagonist I was hard put to it to escape death at his hands, so
-often did I stumble and fall sprawling upon the scarlet sward; so that
-the duel from its inception became but a series of efforts, upon his
-part to reach and crush me with his great club, and upon mine to dodge
-and elude him. It was mortifying but it is the truth. However, this did
-not last indefinitely, for soon I learned, and quickly too under the
-exigencies of the situation, to command my muscles, and then I stood my
-ground and when he aimed a blow at me, and I had dodged it, I touched
-him with my point and brought blood along with a savage roar of pain. He
-went more cautiously then, and taking advantage of the change I pressed
-him so that he fell back. The effect upon me was magical, giving me new
-confidence, so that I set upon him in good earnest, thrusting and
-cutting until I had him bleeding in a half-dozen places, yet taking good
-care to avoid his mighty swings, any one of which would have felled an
-ox.
-
-In my attempts to elude him in the beginning of the duel we had crossed
-the enclosure and were now fighting at a considerable distance from the
-point of our first meeting. It now happened that I stood facing towards
-that point at the moment that the old man regained his spectacles, which
-he quickly adjusted to his eyes. Immediately he looked about until he
-discovered us, whereupon he commenced to yell excitedly at us at the
-same time running in our direction and drawing his short-sword as he
-ran. The red-man was pressing me hard, but I had gained almost complete
-control of myself, and fearing that I was soon to have two antagonists
-instead of one I set upon him with redoubled intensity. He missed me by
-the fraction of an inch, the wind in the wake of his bludgeon fanning my
-scalp, but he left an opening into which I stepped, running my sword
-fairly through his heart. At least I thought that I had pierced his
-heart, but I had forgotten what I had once read in one of John Carter’s
-manuscripts to the effect that all the Martian internal organs are not
-disposed identically with those of Earthmen. However, the immediate
-results were quite as satisfactory as though I had found his heart, for
-the wound was sufficiently grievous to place him _hors de combat_, and
-at that instant the old gentleman arrived. He found me ready, but I had
-mistaken his intentions. He made no unfriendly gestures with his weapon,
-but seemed to be trying to convince me that he had no intention of
-harming me. He was very excited and apparently tremendously annoyed that
-I could not understand him, and perplexed, too. He hopped about
-screaming strange sentences at me that bore the tones of peremptory
-commands, rabid invective and impotent rage. But the fact that he had
-returned his sword to its scabbard had greater significance than all his
-jabbering, and when he ceased to yell at me and commenced to talk in a
-sort of pantomime I realized that he was making overtures of peace if
-not of friendship, so I lowered my point and bowed. It was all that I
-could think of to assure him that I had no immediate intention of
-spitting him.
-
-He seemed satisfied and at once turned his attention to the fallen man.
-He examined his pulse and listened to his heart, then, nodding his head,
-he arose and taking a whistle from one of his pocket pouches sounded a
-single loud blast. There emerged immediately from one of the surrounding
-buildings a score of naked red-men who came running towards us. None was
-armed. To these he issued a few curt orders, whereupon they gathered the
-fallen one in their arms and bore him off. Then the old man started
-towards the building, motioning me to accompany him. There seemed
-nothing else for me to do but obey. Wherever I might be upon Mars, the
-chances were a million to one that I would be among enemies; and so I
-was as well off here as elsewhere and must depend upon my own
-resourcefulness, skill and agility to make my way upon the Red Planet.
-
-The old man led me into a small chamber from which opened numerous
-doors, through one of which they were just bearing my late antagonist.
-We followed into a large, brilliantly lighted chamber wherein there
-burst upon my astounded vision the most gruesome scene that I ever had
-beheld. Rows upon rows of tables arranged in parallel lines filled the
-room and with few exceptions each table bore a similar grisly burden, a
-partially dismembered or otherwise mutilated human corpse. Above each
-table was a shelf bearing containers of various sizes and shapes, while
-from the bottom of the shelf depended numerous surgical instruments,
-suggesting that my entrance upon Barsoom was to be through a gigantic
-medical college.
-
-At a word from the old man, those who bore the Barsoomian I had wounded
-laid him upon an empty table and left the apartment. Whereupon my host,
-if so I may call him, for certainly he was not as yet my captor,
-motioned me forward. While he conversed in ordinary tones, he made two
-incisions in the body of my late antagonist; one, I imagine, in a large
-vein and one in an artery, to which he deftly attached the ends of two
-tubes, one of which was connected with an empty glass receptacle and the
-other with a similar receptacle filled with a colourless, transparent
-liquid resembling clear water. The connections made, the old gentleman
-pressed a button controlling a small motor, whereupon the victim’s blood
-was pumped into the empty jar while the contents of the other was forced
-into the emptying veins and arteries.
-
-The tones and gestures of the old man as he addressed me during this
-operation convinced me that he was explaining in detail the method and
-purpose of what was transpiring, but as I understood no word of all he
-said I was as much in the dark when he had completed his discourse as I
-was before he started it, though what I had seen made it appear
-reasonable to believe that I was witnessing an ordinary Barsoomian
-embalming. Having removed the tubes the old man closed the openings he
-had made by covering them with bits of what appeared to be heavy
-adhesive tape and then motioned me to follow him. We went from room to
-room, in each of which were the same gruesome exhibits. At many of the
-bodies the old man paused to make a brief examination or to refer to
-what appeared to be a record of the case, that hung upon a hook at the
-head of each of the tables.
-
-From the last of the chambers we visited upon the first floor my host
-led me up an inclined runway to the second floor where there were rooms
-similar to those below, but here the tables bore whole rather than
-mutilated bodies, all of which were patched in various places with
-adhesive tape. As we were passing among the bodies in one of these rooms
-a Barsoomian girl, whom I took to be a servant or slave, entered and
-addressed the old man, whereupon he signed me to follow him and together
-we descended another runway to the first floor of another building.
-
-Here, in a large, gorgeously decorated and sumptuously furnished
-apartment an elderly red-woman awaited us. She appeared to be quite old
-and her face was terribly disfigured as by some injury. Her trappings
-were magnificent and she was attended by a score of women and armed
-warriors, suggesting that she was a person of some consequence, but the
-little old man treated her quite brusquely, as I could see, quite to the
-horror of her attendants.
-
-Their conversation was lengthy and at the conclusion of it, at the
-direction of the woman, one of her male escort advanced and opening a
-pocket pouch at his side withdrew a handful of what appeared to me to be
-Martian coins. A quantity of these he counted out and handed to the
-little old man, who then beckoned the woman to follow him, a gesture
-which included me. Several of her women and guard started to accompany
-us, but these the old man waved back peremptorily; whereupon there
-ensued a heated discussion between the woman and one of her warriors on
-one side and the old man on the other, which terminated in his
-proffering the return of the woman’s money with a disgusted air. This
-seemed to settle the argument, for she refused the coins, spoke briefly
-to her people and accompanied the old man and myself alone.
-
-He led the way to the second floor and to a chamber which I had not
-previously visited. It closely resembled the others except that all the
-bodies therein were of young women, many of them of great beauty.
-Following closely at the heels of the old man the woman inspected the
-gruesome exhibit with painstaking care. Thrice she passed slowly among
-the tables examining their ghastly burdens. Each time she paused longest
-before a certain one which bore the figure of the most beautiful
-creature I had ever looked upon; then she returned the fourth time to it
-and stood looking long and earnestly into the dead face. For awhile she
-stood there talking with the old man, apparently asking innumerable
-questions, to which he returned quick, brusque replies, then she
-indicated the body with a gesture and nodded assent to the withered
-keeper of this ghastly exhibit.
-
-Immediately the old fellow sounded a blast upon his whistle, summoning a
-number of servants to whom he issued brief instructions, after which he
-led us to another chamber, a smaller one in which were several empty
-tables similar to those upon which the corpses lay in adjoining rooms.
-Two female slaves or attendants were in this room and at a word from
-their master they removed the trappings from the old woman, unloosed her
-hair and helped her to one of the tables. Here she was thoroughly
-sprayed with what I presume was an antiseptic solution of some nature,
-carefully dried and removed to another table, at a distance of about
-twenty inches from which stood a second parallel table.
-
-Now the door of the chamber swung open and two attendants appeared
-bearing the body of the beautiful girl we had seen in the adjoining
-room. This they deposited upon the table the old woman had just quitted
-and as she had been sprayed so was the corpse, after which it was
-transferred to the table beside that on which she lay. The little old
-man now made two incisions in the body of the old woman, just as he had
-in the body of the red-man who had fallen to my sword; her blood was
-drawn from her veins and the clear liquid pumped into them, life left
-her and she lay upon the polished ersite slab that formed the table top,
-as much a corpse as the poor, beautiful, dead creature at her side.
-
-The little old man, who had removed the harness down to his waist and
-been thoroughly sprayed, now selected a sharp knife from among the
-instruments above the table and removed the old woman’s scalp, following
-the hair line entirely around her head. In a similar manner he then
-removed the scalp from the corpse of the young woman, after which, by
-means of a tiny circular saw attached to the end of a flexible,
-revolving shaft he sawed through the skull of each, following the line
-exposed by the removal of the scalps. This and the balance of the
-marvellous operation was so skilfully performed as to baffle
-description. Suffice it to say that at the end of four hours he had
-transferred the brain of each woman to the brain pan of the other,
-deftly connected the severed nerves and ganglia, replaced the skulls and
-scalps and bound both heads securely with his peculiar adhesive tape,
-which was not only antiseptic and healing but anaesthetic, locally, as
-well.
-
-He now reheated the blood that he had withdrawn from the body of the old
-woman, adding a few drops of some clear chemical solution, withdrew the
-liquid from the veins of the beautiful corpse, replacing it with the
-blood of the old woman and simultaneously administering a hypodermic
-injection.
-
-During the entire operation he had not spoken a word. Now he issued a
-few instructions in his curt manner to his assistants, motioned me to
-follow him, and left the room. He led me to a distant part of the
-building or series of buildings that composed the whole, ushered me into
-a luxurious apartment, opened the door to a Barsoomian bath and left me
-in the hands of trained servants. Refreshed and rested I left the bath
-after an hour of relaxation to find harness and trappings awaiting me in
-the adjoining chamber. Though plain, they were of good material, but
-there were no weapons with them.
-
-Naturally I had been thinking much upon the strange things I had
-witnessed since my advent upon Mars, but what puzzled me most lay in the
-seemingly inexplicable act of the old woman in paying my host what was
-evidently a considerable sum to murder her and transfer to the inside of
-her skull the brain of a corpse. Was it the outcome of some horrible
-religious fanaticism, or was there an explanation that my Earthly mind
-could not grasp?
-
-I had reached no decision in the matter when I was summoned to follow a
-slave to another and nearby apartment where I found my host awaiting me
-before a table loaded with delicious foods, to which, it is needless to
-say, I did ample justice after my long fast and longer weeks of rough
-army fare.
-
-During the meal my host attempted to converse with me, but, naturally,
-the effort was fruitless of results. He waxed quite excited at times and
-upon three distinct occasions laid his hand upon one of his swords when
-I failed to comprehend what he was saying to me, an action which
-resulted in a growing conviction upon my part that he was partially
-demented; but he evinced sufficient self-control in each instance to
-avert a catastrophe for one of us.
-
-The meal over he sat for a long time in deep meditation, then a sudden
-resolution seemed to possess him. He turned suddenly upon me with a
-faint suggestion of a smile and dove headlong into what was to prove an
-intensive course of instruction in the Barsoomian language. It was long
-after dark before he permitted me to retire for the night, conducting me
-himself to a large apartment, the same in which I had found my new
-harness, where he pointed out a pile of rich sleeping silks and furs,
-bid me a Barsoomian good night and left me, locking the door after him
-upon the outside, and leaving me to guess whether I were more guest or
-prisoner.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER II
- PREFERMENT
-
-
-Three weeks passed rapidly. I had mastered enough of the Barsoomian
-tongue to enable me to converse with my host in a reasonably
-satisfactory manner, and I was also progressing slowly in the mastery of
-the written language of his nation, which is different, of course, from
-the written language of all other Barsoomian nations, though the spoken
-language of all is identical. In these three weeks I had learned much of
-the strange place in which I was half guest and half prisoner and of my
-remarkable host-jailer, Ras Thavas, the old surgeon of Toonol, whom I
-had accompanied almost constantly day after day until gradually there
-had unfolded before my astounded faculties an understanding of the
-purposes of the institution over which he ruled and in which he laboured
-practically alone; for the slaves and attendants that served him were
-but hewers of wood and carriers of water. It was his brain alone and his
-skill that directed the sometimes beneficent, the sometimes malevolent,
-but always marvellous activities of his life’s work.
-
-Ras Thavas himself was as remarkable as the things he accomplished. He
-was never intentionally cruel; he was not, I am sure, intentionally
-wicked. He was guilty of the most diabolical cruelties and the basest of
-crimes; yet in the next moment he might perform a deed that if
-duplicated upon Earth would have raised him to the highest pinnacle of
-man’s esteem. Though I know that I am safe in saying that he was never
-prompted to a cruel or criminal act by base motives, neither was he ever
-urged to a humanitarian one by high motives. He had a purely scientific
-mind entirely devoid of the cloying influences of sentiment, of which he
-possessed none. His was a practical mind, as evidenced by the enormous
-fees he demanded for his professional services; yet I know that he would
-not operate for money alone and I have seen him devote days to the study
-of a scientific problem the solution of which could add nothing to his
-wealth, while the quarters that he furnished his waiting clients were
-overflowing with wealthy patrons waiting to pour money into his coffers.
-
-His treatment of me was based entirely upon scientific requirements. I
-offered a problem. I was either, quite evidently, not a Barsoomian at
-all, or I was of a species of which he had no knowledge. It therefore
-best suited the purposes of science that I be preserved and studied. I
-knew much about my own planet. It pleased Ras Thavas’ scientific mind to
-milk me of all I knew in the hope that he might derive some suggestion
-that would solve one of the Barsoomian scientific riddles that still
-baffle their savants; but he was compelled to admit that in this respect
-I was a total loss, not alone because I was densely ignorant upon
-practically all scientific subjects, but because the learned sciences on
-Earth have not advanced even to the swaddling-clothes stage as compared
-with the remarkable progress of corresponding activities on Mars. Yet he
-kept me by him, training me in many of the minor duties of his vast
-laboratory. I was entrusted with the formula of the “embalming fluid”
-and taught how to withdraw a subject’s blood and replace it with this
-marvellous preservative that arrests decay without altering in the
-minutest detail the nerve or tissue structure of the body. I learned
-also the secret of the few drops of solution which, added to the
-rewarmed blood before it is returned to the veins of the subject,
-revitalizes the latter and restores to normal and healthy activity each
-and every organ of the body.
-
-He told me once why he had permitted me to learn these things that he
-had kept a secret from all others, and why he kept me with him at all
-times in preference to any of the numerous individuals of his own race
-that served him and me in lesser capacities both day and night.
-
-“Vad Varo,” he said, using the Barsoomian name that he had given me
-because he insisted that my own name was meaningless and impractical,
-“for many years I have needed an assistant, but heretofore I have never
-felt that I had discovered one who might work here for me wholeheartedly
-and disinterestedly without ever having reason to go elsewhere or to
-divulge my secrets to others. You, in all Barsoom, are unique—you have
-no other friend or acquaintance than myself. Were you to leave me you
-would find yourself in a world of enemies, for all are suspicious of a
-stranger. You would not survive a dozen dawns and you would be cold and
-hungry and miserable—a wretched outcast in a hostile world. Here you
-have every luxury that the mind of man can devise or the hand of man
-produce, and you are occupied with work of such engrossing interest that
-your every hour must be fruitful of unparalleled satisfaction. There is
-no selfish reason, therefore, why you should leave me and there is every
-reason why you should remain. I expect no loyalty other than that which
-may be prompted by egoism. You make an ideal assistant, not only for the
-reasons I have just given you, but because you are intelligent and
-quick-witted, and now I have decided, after observing you carefully for
-a sufficient time, that you can serve me in yet another capacity—that
-of personal bodyguard.
-
-“You may have noticed that I alone of all those connected with my
-laboratory am armed. This is unusual upon Barsoom, where people of all
-classes, and all ages and both sexes habitually go armed. But many of
-these people I could not trust armed as they would slay me; and were I
-to give arms to those whom I might trust, who knows but that the others
-would obtain possession of them and slay me, or even those whom I had
-trusted turn against me, for there is not one who might not wish to go
-forth from this place back among his own people—only you, Vad Varo, for
-there is no other place for you to go. So I have decided to give you
-weapons.
-
-“You saved my life once. A similar opportunity might again present
-itself. I know that, being a reasoning and reasonable creature, you will
-not slay me, for you have nothing to gain and everything to lose by my
-death, which would leave you friendless and unprotected in a world of
-strangers where assassination is the order of society and natural death
-one of the rarest of phenomena. Here are your arms.” He stepped to a
-cabinet which he unlocked, displaying an assortment of weapons, and
-selected for me a long-sword, a short-sword, a pistol and a dagger.
-
-“You seem sure of my loyalty, Ras Thavas,” I said.
-
-He shrugged his shoulders. “I am only sure that I know perfectly where
-your interests lie—sentimentalists have words: love, loyalty,
-friendship, enmity, jealousy, hate, a thousand others; a waste of
-words—one word defines them all: self-interest. All men of intelligence
-realize this. They analyse an individual and by his predilections and
-his needs they classify him as friend or foe, leaving to the weak-minded
-idiots who like to be deceived the drooling drivel of sentiment.”
-
-I smiled as I buckled my weapons to my harness, but I held my peace.
-Nothing could be gained by arguing with the man and, too, I felt quite
-sure that in any purely academic controversy I should get the worst of
-it; but many of the matters of which he had spoken had aroused my
-curiosity and one had reawakened in my mind a matter to which I had
-given considerable thought. While partially explained by some of his
-remarks I still wondered why the red-man from whom I had rescued him had
-seemed so venomously bent upon slaying him the day of my advent upon
-Barsoom, and so, as we sat chatting after our evening meal, I asked him.
-
-“A sentimentalist,” he said. “A sentimentalist of the most pronounced
-type. Why that fellow hated me with a venom absolutely unbelievable by
-any of the reactions of a trained, analytical mind such as mine; but
-having witnessed his reactions I become cognizant of a state of mind
-that I cannot of myself even imagine. Consider the facts. He was the
-victim of assassination—a young warrior in the prime of life,
-possessing a handsome face and a splendid physique. One of my agents
-paid his relatives a satisfactory sum for the corpse and brought it to
-me. It is thus that I obtain practically all of my material. I treated
-it in the manner with which you are familiar. For a year the body lay in
-the laboratory, there being no occasion during that time that I had use
-for it; but eventually a rich client came, a not overly prepossessing
-man of considerable years. He had fallen desperately in love with a
-young woman who was attended by many handsome suitors. My client had
-more money than any of them, more brains, more experience, but he lacked
-the one thing that each of the others had that always weighs heavily
-with the undeveloped, unreasoning, sentiment-ridden minds of young
-females—good looks.
-
-“Now 378-J-493811-P had what my client lacked and could afford to
-purchase. Quickly we reached an agreement as to price and I transferred
-the brain of my rich client to the head of 378-J-493811-P and my client
-went away and for all I know won the hand of the beautiful moron; and
-378-J-493811-P might have rested on indefinitely upon his ersite slab
-until I needed him or a part of him in my work, had I not, merely by
-chance, selected him for resurgence because of an existing need for
-another male slave.
-
-“Mind you now, the man had been murdered. He was dead. I bought and paid
-for the corpse and all there was in it. He might have lain dead forever
-upon one of my ersite slabs had I not breathed new life into his dead
-veins. Did he have the brains to view the transaction in a wise and
-dispassionate manner? He did not. His sentimental reactions caused him
-to reproach me because I had given him another body, though it seemed to
-me that, looking at the matter from a standpoint of sentiment, if one
-must, he should have considered me as a benefactor for having given him
-life again in a perfectly healthy, if somewhat used, body.
-
-“He had spoken to me upon the subject several times, begging me to
-restore his body to him, a thing of which, of course, as I explained to
-him, was utterly out of the question unless chance happened to bring to
-my laboratory the corpse of the client who had purchased his carcass—a
-contingency quite beyond the pale of possibility for one as wealthy as
-my client. The fellow even suggested that I permit him to go forth and
-assassinate my client, bringing the body back that I might reverse the
-operation and restore his body to his brain. When I refused to divulge
-the name of the present possessor of his body he grew sulky, but until
-the very hour of your arrival, when he attacked me, I did not suspect
-the depth of his hate complex.
-
-“Sentiment is indeed a bar to all progress. We of Toonol are probably
-less subject to its vagaries than most other nations upon Barsoom, but
-yet most of my fellow countrymen are victims of it in varying degrees.
-It has its rewards and compensations, however. Without it we could
-preserve no stable form of government and the Phundahlians, or some
-other people, would overrun and conquer us; but enough of our lower
-classes have sentiment to a sufficient degree to give them loyalty to
-the Jeddak of Toonol and the upper classes are brainy enough to know
-that it is to their own best interests to keep him upon his throne.
-
-“The Phundahlians, upon the other hand, are egregious sentimentalists,
-filled with crass stupidities and superstitions, slaves to every variety
-of brain withering conceit. Why the very fact that they keep the old
-termagant, Xaxa, on the throne brands them with their stupid idiocy. She
-is an ignorant, arrogant, selfish, stupid, cruel virago, yet the
-Phundahlians would fight and die for her because her father was Jeddak
-of Phundahl. She taxes them until they can scarce stagger beneath their
-burden, she misrules them, exploits them, betrays them, and they fall
-down and worship at her feet. Why? Because her father was Jeddak of
-Phundahl and his father before him and so on back into antiquity;
-because they are ruled by sentiment rather than reason; because their
-wicked rulers play upon this sentiment.
-
-“She had nothing to recommend her to a sane person—not even beauty. You
-know, you saw her.”
-
-“I saw her?” I demanded.
-
-“You assisted me the day that we gave her old brain a new casket—the
-day you arrived from what you call your Earth.”
-
-“She! That old woman was Jeddara of Phundahl?”
-
-“That was Xaxa,” he assured me.
-
-“Why, you did not accord her the treatment that one of the Earth would
-suppose would be accorded a ruler, and so I had no idea that she was
-more than a rich old woman.”
-
-“I am Ras Thavas,” said the old man. “Why should I incline the head to
-any other? In my world nothing counts but brain and in that respect, and
-without egotism, I may say that I acknowledge no superior.”
-
-“Then you are not without sentiment,” I said, smiling. “You acknowledge
-pride in your intellect!”
-
-“It is not pride,” he said, patiently, for him, “it is merely a fact
-that I state. A fact that I should have no difficulty in proving. In all
-probability I have the most highly developed and perfectly functioning
-mind among all the learned men of my acquaintance, and reason indicates
-that this fact also suggests that I possess the most highly developed
-and perfectly functioning mind upon Barsoom. From what I know of Earth
-and from what I have seen of you, I am convinced that there is no mind
-upon your planet that may even faintly approximate in power that which I
-have developed during a thousand years of active study and research.
-Rasoom (Mercury) or Cosoom (Venus) may possibly support intelligences
-equal to or even greater than mine. While we have made some study of
-their thought waves, our instruments are not yet sufficiently developed
-to more than suggest that they are of extreme refinement, power and
-flexibility.”
-
-“And what of the girl whose body you gave to the Jeddara?” I asked,
-irrelevantly, for my mind could not efface the memory of that sweet body
-that must, indeed, have possessed an equally sweet and fine brain.
-
-“Merely a subject! Merely a subject!” he replied with a wave of his
-hand.
-
-“What will become of her?” I insisted.
-
-“What difference does it make?” he demanded. “I bought her with a batch
-of prisoners of war. I do not even recall from what country my agent
-obtained them, or from whence they originated. Such matters are of no
-import.”
-
-“She was alive when you bought her?” I demanded.
-
-“Yes. Why?”
-
-“You—er—ah—killed her, then?”
-
-“Killed her! No; I preserved her. That was some ten years ago. Why
-should I permit her to grow old and wrinkled? She would no longer have
-the same value then, would she? No, I preserved her. When Xaxa bought
-her she was just as fresh and young as the day she arrived. I kept her a
-long time. Many women looked at her and wanted her face and figure, but
-it took a Jeddara to afford her. She brought the highest price that I
-have ever been paid.
-
-“Yes, I kept her a long time, but I knew that some day she would bring
-my price. She was indeed beautiful and so sentiment has its uses—were
-it not for sentiment there would be no fools to support this work that I
-am doing, thus permitting me to carry on investigations of far greater
-merit. You would be surprised, I know, were I to tell you that I feel
-that I am almost upon the point of being able to produce rational human
-beings through the action upon certain chemical combinations of a group
-of rays probably entirely undiscovered by your scientists, if I am to
-judge by the paucity of your knowledge concerning such things.”
-
-“I would not be surprised,” I assured him. “I would not be surprised by
-anything that you might accomplish.”
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER III
- VALLA DIA
-
-
-I lay awake a long time that night thinking of 4296-E-2631-H, the
-beautiful girl whose perfect body had been stolen to furnish a gorgeous
-setting for the cruel brain of a tyrant. It seemed such a horrid crime
-that I could not rid my mind of it and I think that contemplation of it
-sowed the first seed of my hatred and loathing for Ras Thavas. I could
-not conjure a creature so utterly devoid of bowels of compassion as to
-even consider for a moment the frightful ravishing of that sweet and
-lovely body for even the holiest of purposes, much less one that could
-have been induced to do so for filthy pelf.
-
-So much did I think upon the girl that night that her image was the
-first to impinge upon my returning consciousness at dawn, and after I
-had eaten, Ras Thavas not having appeared, I went directly to the
-storage room where the poor thing was. Here she lay, identified only by
-a small panel, bearing a number: 4296-E-2631-H. The body of an old woman
-with a disfigured face lay before me in the rigid immobility of death;
-yet that was not the figure that I saw, but instead, a vision of radiant
-loveliness whose imprisoned soul lay dormant beneath those greying
-locks.
-
-The creature here with the face and form of Xaxa was not Xaxa at all,
-for all that made the other what she was had been transferred to this
-cold corpse. How frightful would be the awakening, should awakening ever
-come! I shuddered to think of the horror that must overwhelm the girl
-when first she realized the horrid crime that had been perpetrated upon
-her. Who was she? What story lay locked in that dead and silent brain?
-What loves must have been hers whose beauty was so great and upon whose
-fair face had lain the indelible imprint of graciousness! Would Ras
-Thavas ever arouse her from this happy semblance of death?—far happier
-than any quickening ever could be for her. I shrank from the thought of
-her awakening and yet I longed to hear her speak, to know that that
-brain lived again, to learn her name, to listen to the story of this
-gentle life that had been so rudely snatched from its proper environment
-and so cruelly handled by the hand of Fate. And suppose she were
-awakened! Suppose she were awakened and that I—— A hand was laid upon
-my shoulder and I turned to look into the face of Ras Thavas.
-
-“You seem interested in this subject,” he said.
-
-“I was wondering,” I replied, “what the reaction of this girl’s brain would
-be were she to awaken to the discovery that she had become an old,
-disfigured woman.”
-
-He stroked his chin and eyed me narrowly. “An interesting experiment,”
-he mused. “I am gratified to discover that you are taking a scientific
-interest in the labours that I am carrying on. The psychological phases
-of my work I have, I must confess, rather neglected during the past
-hundred years or so, though I formerly gave them a great deal of
-attention. It would be interesting to observe and study several of these
-cases. This one, especially, might prove of value to you as an initial
-study, it being simple and regular. Later we will let you examine into a
-case where a man’s brain has been transferred to a woman’s skull, and a
-woman’s brain to a man’s. There are also the interesting cases where a
-portion of diseased or injured brain has been replaced by a portion of
-the brain from another subject; and, for experimental purposes alone,
-those human brains that have been transplanted to the craniums of
-beasts, and _vice versa_, offer tremendous opportunities for
-observation. I have in mind one case in which I transferred half the
-brain of an ape to the skull of a man, after having removed half of his
-brain, which I grafted upon the remaining part of the brain in the ape’s
-skull. That was a matter of several years ago and I have often thought
-that I should like to recall these two subjects and note the results. I
-shall have to have a look at them—as I recall it they are in vault
-L-42-X, beneath building 4-J-21. We shall have to have a look at them
-some day soon—it has been years since I have been below. There must be
-some very interesting specimens there that have escaped my mind. But
-come! let us recall 4296-E-2631-H.”
-
-“No!” I exclaimed, laying a hand upon his arm. “It would be horrible.”
-
-He turned a surprised look upon me and then a nasty, sneering smile
-curled his lips. “Maudlin, sentimental fool!” he cried. “Who dare say no
-to me?”
-
-I laid a hand upon the hilt of my long-sword and looked him steadily in
-the eye. “Ras Thavas,” I said, “you are master in your own house; but
-while I am your guest treat me with courtesy.”
-
-He returned my look for a moment but his eyes wavered. “I was hasty,” he
-said. “Let it pass.” That, I let answer for an apology—really it was
-more than I had expected—but the event was not unfortunate. I think he
-treated me with far greater respect thereafter; but now he turned
-immediately to the slab bearing the mortal remains of 4296-E-2631-H.
-
-“Prepare the subject for revivification,” he said, “and make what study
-you can of all its reactions.” With that he left the room.
-
-I was now fairly adept at this work which I set about with some
-misgivings but with the assurance that I was doing right in obeying Ras
-Thavas while I remained a member of his entourage. The blood that had
-once flowed through the veins of the beautiful body that Ras Thavas had
-sold to Xaxa reposed in an hermetically sealed vessel upon the shelf
-above the corpse. As I had before done in other cases beneath the
-watchful eyes of the old surgeon I now did for the first time alone. The
-blood heated, the incisions made, the tubes attached and the few drops
-of life-giving solution added to the blood, I was now ready to restore
-life to that delicate brain that had lain dead for ten years. As my
-finger rested upon the little button that actuated the motor that was to
-send the revivifying liquid into those dormant veins, I experienced such
-a sensation as I imagined no mortal man has ever felt.
-
-I had become master of life and death, and yet at this moment that I
-stood there upon the point of resurrecting the dead I felt more like a
-murderer than a saviour. I tried to view the procedure dispassionately
-through the cold eye of science, but I failed miserably. I could only
-see a stricken girl grieving for her lost beauties. With a muffled oath
-I turned away. I could not do it! And then, as though an outside force
-had seized upon me, my finger moved unerringly to the button and pressed
-it. I cannot explain it, unless upon the theory of dual mentality, which
-may explain many things. Perhaps my subjective mind directed the act. I
-do not know. Only I know that I did it, the motor started, the level of
-the blood in the container commenced gradually to lower.
-
-Spell-bound, I stood watching. Presently the vessel was empty. I shut
-off the motor, removed the tubes, sealed the openings with tape. The red
-glow of life tinged the body, replacing the sallow, purplish hue of
-death. The breasts rose and fell regularly, the head turned slightly and
-the eyelids moved. A faint sigh issued from between the parting lips.
-For a long time there was no other sign of life, then, suddenly, the
-eyes opened. They were dull at first, but presently they commenced to
-fill with questioning wonderment. They rested on me and then passed on
-about that portion of the room that was visible from the position of the
-body. Then they came back to me and remained steadily fixed upon my
-countenance after having once surveyed me up and down. There was still
-the questioning in them, but there was no fear.
-
-“Where am I?” she asked. The voice was that of an old woman—high and
-harsh. A startled expression filled her eyes. “What is the matter with
-me? What is wrong with my voice? What has happened?”
-
-I laid a hand upon her forehead. “Don’t bother about it now,” I said,
-soothingly. “Wait until sometime when you are stronger. Then I will tell
-you.”
-
-She sat up. “I am strong,” she said, and then her eyes swept her lower
-body and limbs and a look of utter horror crossed her face. “What has
-happened to me? In the name of my first ancestor, what has happened to
-me?”
-
-The shrill, harsh voice grated upon me. It was the voice of Xaxa and
-Xaxa now must possess the sweet musical tones that alone would have
-harmonized with the beautiful face she had stolen. I tried to forget
-those strident notes and think only of the pulchritude of the envelope
-that had once graced the soul within this old and withered carcass.
-
-She extended a hand and laid it gently upon mine. The act was beautiful,
-the movements graceful. The brain of the girl directed the muscles, but
-the old, rough vocal chords of Xaxa could give forth no sweeter notes.
-“Tell me, please!” she begged. There were tears in the old eyes, I’ll
-venture for the first time in many years. “Tell me! You do not seem
-unkind.”
-
-And so I told her. She listened intently and when I was through she
-sighed. “After all,” she said, “it is not so dreadful, now that I really
-know. It is better than being dead.” That made me glad that I had
-pressed the button. She was glad to be alive, even draped in the hideous
-carcass of Xaxa. I told her as much.
-
-“You were so beautiful,” I told her.
-
-“And now I am so ugly?” I made no answer.
-
-“After all, what difference does it make?” she inquired presently. “This
-old body cannot change me, or make me different from what I have always
-been. The good in me remains and whatever of sweetness and kindness, and
-I can be happy to be alive and perhaps to do some good. I was terrified
-at first, because I did not know what had happened to me. I thought that
-maybe I had contracted some terrible disease that had so altered
-me—that horrified me; but now that I know—pouf! what of it?”
-
-“You are wonderful,” I said. “Most women would have gone mad with the
-horror and grief of it—to lose such wondrous beauty as was yours—and
-you do not care.”
-
-“Oh, yes, I care, my friend,” she corrected me, “but I do not care
-enough to ruin my life in all other respects because of it, or to cast a
-shadow upon the lives of those around me. I have had my beauty and
-enjoyed it. It is not an unalloyed happiness I can assure you. Men
-killed one another because of it; two great nations went to war because
-of it; and perhaps my father lost his throne or his life—I do not know,
-for I was captured by the enemy while the war still raged. It may be
-raging yet and men dying because I was too beautiful. No one will fight
-for me now, though,” she added, with a rueful smile.
-
-“Do you know how long you have been here?” I asked.
-
-“Yes,” she replied. “It was the day before yesterday that they brought
-me hither.”
-
-“It was ten years ago,” I told her.
-
-“Ten years! Impossible.”
-
-I pointed to the corpses around us. “You have lain like this for ten
-years,” I explained. “There are subjects here who have lain thus for
-fifty, Ras Thavas tells me.”
-
-“Ten years! Ten years! What may not have happened in ten years! It is
-better thus. I should fear to go back now. I should not want to know
-that my father, my mother too, perhaps, were gone. It is better thus.
-Perhaps you will let me sleep again? May I not?”
-
-“That remains with Ras Thavas,” I replied; “but for a while I am to
-observe you.”
-
-“Observe me?”
-
-“Study you—your reactions.”
-
-“Ah! and what good will that do?”
-
-“It may do some good in the world.”
-
-“It may give this horrid Ras Thavas some new ideas for his torture
-chamber—some new scheme for coining money from the suffering of his
-victims,” she said, her harsh voice saddened.
-
-“Some of his works are good,” I told her. “The money he makes permits
-him to maintain this wonderful establishment where he constantly carries
-on countless experiments. Many of his operations are beneficent.
-Yesterday a warrior was brought in whose arm was crushed beyond repair.
-Ras Thavas gave him a new arm. A demented child was brought. Ras Thavas
-gave her a new brain. The arm and the brain were taken from two who had
-met violent deaths. Through Ras Thavas they were permitted, after death,
-to give life and happiness to others.”
-
-She thought for a moment. “I am content,” she said. “I only hope that
-you will always be the observer.”
-
-Presently Ras Thavas came and examined her. “A good subject,” he said.
-He looked at the chart where I had made a very brief record following
-the other entries relative to the history of Case No. 4296-E-2631-H. Of
-course this is, naturally, a rather free translation of this particular
-identification number. The Barsoomians have no alphabet such as ours and
-their numbering system is quite different. The thirteen characters above
-were represented by four Toonolian characters, yet the meaning was quite
-the same—they represented, in contracted form, the case number, the
-room, the table and the building.
-
-“The subject will be quartered near you where you may regularly observe
-it,” continued Ras Thavas. “There is a chamber adjoining yours. I will
-see that it is unlocked. Take the subject there. When not under your
-observation, lock it in.” _It_ was only another _case_ to him.
-
-I took the girl, if I may so call her, to her quarters. On the way I
-asked her her name, for it seemed to me an unnecessary discourtesy
-always to address her and refer to her as 4296-E-2631-H, and this I
-explained to her.
-
-“It is considerate of you to think of that,” she said, “but really that
-is all that I am here—just another subject for vivisection.”
-
-“You are more than that to me,” I told her. “You are friendless and
-helpless. I want to be of service to you—to make your lot easier if I
-can.”
-
-“Thank you again,” she said. “My name is Valla Dia, and yours?”
-
-“Ras Thavas calls me Vad Varo,” I told her.
-
-“But that is not your name?”
-
-“My name is Ulysses Paxton.”
-
-“It is a strange name, unlike any that I have ever heard, but you are
-unlike any man I have ever seen—you do not seem Barsoomian. Your colour
-is unlike that of any race.”
-
-“I am not of Barsoom, but from Earth, the planet you sometimes call
-Jasoom. That is why I differ in appearance from any you have known
-before.”
-
-“Jasoom! There is another Jasoomian here whose fame has reached to the
-remotest corners of Barsoom, but I never have seen him.”
-
-“John Carter?” I asked.
-
-“Yes, The War Lord. He was of Helium and my people were not friendly
-with those of Helium. I never could understand how he came here. And now
-there is another from Jasoom—how can it be? How did you cross the great
-void?”
-
-I shook my head. “I cannot even guess,” I told her.
-
-“Jasoom must be peopled with wonderful men,” she said. It was a pretty
-compliment.
-
-“As Barsoom is with beautiful women,” I replied.
-
-She glanced down ruefully at her old and wrinkled body.
-
-“I have seen the real you,” I said gently.
-
-“I hate to think of my face,” she said. “I know it is a frightful
-thing.”
-
-“It is not you, remember that when you see it and do not feel too
-badly.”
-
-“Is it as bad as that?” she asked.
-
-I did not reply. “Never mind,” she said presently. “If I had not beauty
-of the soul, I was not beautiful, no matter how perfect my features may
-have been; but if I possessed beauty of soul then I have it now. So I
-can think beautiful thoughts and perform beautiful deeds and that, I
-think, is the real test of beauty, after all.”
-
-“And there is hope,” I added, almost in a whisper.
-
-“Hope? No, there is no hope, if what you mean to suggest is that I may
-some time regain my lost self. You have told me enough to convince me
-that that can never be.”
-
-“We will not speak of it,” I said, “but we may think of it and sometimes
-thinking a great deal of a thing helps us to find a way to get it, if we
-want it badly enough.”
-
-“I do not want to hope,” she said, “for it will but mean disappointment
-for me. I shall be happy as I am. Hoping, I should always be unhappy.”
-
-I had ordered food for her and after it was brought Ras Thavas sent for
-me and I left her, locking the door of her chamber as the old surgeon
-had instructed. I found Ras Thavas in his office, a small room which
-adjoined a very large one in which were a score of clerks arranging and
-classifying reports from various departments of the great laboratory. He
-arose as I entered.
-
-“Come with me, Vad Varo,” he directed. “We will have a look at the two
-cases in L-42-X, the two of which I spoke.”
-
-“The man with half a simian brain and the ape with a half human brain?”
-I asked.
-
-He nodded and preceded me towards the runway that led to the vaults
-beneath the building. As we descended, the corridors and passageways
-indicated long disuse. The floors were covered with an impalpable dust,
-long undisturbed; the tiny radium bulbs that faintly illuminated the
-sub-barsoomian depths were likewise coated. As we proceeded, we passed
-many doorways on either side, each marked with its descriptive
-hieroglyphic. Several of the openings had been tightly sealed with
-masonry. What gruesome secrets were hid within? At last we came to
-L-42-X. Here the bodies were arranged on shelves, several rows of which
-almost completely filled the room from floor to ceiling, except for a
-rectangular space in the centre of the chamber, which accommodated an
-ersite topped operating table with its array of surgical instruments,
-its motor and other laboratory equipment.
-
-Ras Thavas searched out the subjects of his strange experiment and
-together we carried the human body to the table. While Ras Thavas
-attached the tubes I returned for the vessel of blood which reposed upon
-the same shelf with the corpse. The now familiar method of
-revivification was soon accomplished and presently we were watching the
-return of consciousness to the subject.
-
-The man sat up and looked at us, then he cast a quick glance about the
-chamber; there was a savage light in his eyes as they returned to us.
-Slowly he backed from the table to the floor, keeping the former between
-us.
-
-“We will not harm you,” said Ras Thavas.
-
-The man attempted to reply, but his words were unintelligible gibberish,
-then he shook his head and growled. Ras Thavas took a step towards him
-and the man dropped to all fours, his knuckles resting on the floor, and
-backed away, growling.
-
-“Come!” cried Ras Thavas. “We will not harm you.” Again he attempted to
-approach the subject, but the man only backed quickly away, growling
-more fiercely; and then suddenly he wheeled and climbed quickly to the
-top of the highest shelf, where he squatted upon a corpse and gibbered
-at us.
-
-“We shall have to have help,” said Ras Thavas and, going to the doorway,
-he blew a signal upon his whistle.
-
-“What are you blowing that for?” demanded the man suddenly. “Who are
-you? What am I doing here? What has happened to me?”
-
-“Come down,” said Ras Thavas. “We are friends.”
-
-Slowly the man descended to the floor and came towards us, but he still
-moved with his knuckles to the pavement. He looked about at the corpses
-and a new light entered his eyes.
-
-“I am hungry!” he cried. “I will eat!” and with that he seized the
-nearest corpse and dragged it to the floor.
-
-“Stop! Stop!” cried Ras Thavas, leaping forward. “You will ruin the
-subject,” but the man only backed away, dragging the corpse along the
-floor after him. It was then that the attendants came and with their
-help we subdued and bound the poor creature. Then Ras Thavas had the
-attendants bring the body of the ape and he told them to remain, as we
-might need them.
-
-The subject was a large specimen of the Barsoomian white ape, one of the
-most savage and fearsome denizens of the Red Planet, and because of the
-creature’s great strength and ferocity Ras Thavas took the precaution to
-see that it was securely bound before resurgence.
-
-It was a colossal creature about ten or fifteen feet tall, standing
-erect, and had an intermediary set of arms or legs midway between its
-upper and lower limbs. The eyes were close together and non-protruding;
-the ears were high set, while its snout and teeth were strikingly like
-those of our African gorilla.
-
-With returning consciousness the creature eyed us questioningly. Several
-times it seemed to essay to speak, but only inarticulate sounds issued
-from its throat. Then it lay still for a period.
-
-Ras Thavas spoke to it. “If you understand my words, nod your head.” The
-creature nodded.
-
-“Would you like to be freed of your bonds?” asked the surgeon.
-
-Again the creature nodded an affirmative.
-
-“I fear that you will attempt to injure us, or escape,” said Ras Thavas.
-
-The ape was apparently trying very hard to articulate and at last there
-issued from its lips a sound that could not be misunderstood. It was the
-single word no.
-
-“You will not harm us or try to escape?” Ras Thavas repeated his
-question.
-
-“No,” said the ape, and this time the word was clearly enunciated.
-
-“We shall see,” said Ras Thavas. “But remember that with our weapons we
-may dispatch you quickly if you attack us.”
-
-The ape nodded, and then, very laboriously: “I will not harm you.”
-
-At a sign from Ras Thavas the attendants removed the bonds and the
-creature sat up. It stretched its limbs and slid easily to the floor,
-where it stood erect upon two feet, which was not surprising, since the
-white ape goes more often upon two feet than six; a fact of which I was
-not cognizant at the time, but which Ras Thavas explained to me later in
-commenting upon the fact that the human subject had gone upon all fours,
-which, to Ras Thavas, indicated a reversion to type in the fractional
-ape-brain transplanted to the human skull.
-
-Ras Thavas examined the subject at considerable length and then resumed
-his examination of the human subject which continued to evince more
-simian characteristics than human, though it spoke more easily than the
-ape, because, undoubtedly, of its more perfect vocal organs. It was only
-by exerting the closest attention that the diction of the ape became
-understandable at all.
-
-“There is nothing remarkable about these subjects,” said Ras Thavas,
-after devoting half a day to them. “They bear out what I had already
-determined years ago in the transplanting of entire brains; that the act
-of transplanting stimulates growth and activity of brain cells. You will
-note that in each subject the transplanted portions of the brains are
-more active—they, in a considerable measure, control. That is why we
-have the human subject displaying distinctly simian characteristics,
-while the ape behaves in a more human manner; though if longer and
-closer observation were desirable you would doubtless find that each
-reverted at times to his own nature—that is the ape would be more
-wholly an ape and the human more manlike—but it is not worth the time,
-of which I have already given too much to a rather unprofitable
-forenoon. I shall leave you now to restore the subjects to anaesthesia
-while I return to the laboratories above. The attendants will remain
-here to assist you, if required.”
-
-The ape, who had been an interested listener, now stepped forward. “Oh,
-please, I pray you,” it mumbled, “do not again condemn me to these
-horrid shelves. I recall the day that I was brought here securely bound,
-and though I have no recollection of what has transpired since I can but
-guess from the appearance of my own skin and that of these dusty corpses
-that I have lain here long. I beg that you will permit me to live and
-either restore me to my fellows or allow me to serve in some capacity in
-this establishment, of which I saw something between the time of my
-capture and the day that I was carried into this laboratory, bound and
-helpless, to one of your cold, ersite slabs.”
-
-Ras Thavas made a gesture of impatience. “Nonsense!” he cried. “You are
-better off here, where you can be preserved in the interests of
-science.”
-
-“Accede to his request,” I begged, “and I will myself take over all
-responsibility for him while I profit by the study that he will afford
-me.”
-
-“Do as you are directed,” snapped Ras Thavas as he quit the room.
-
-I shrugged my shoulders. “There is nothing for it, then,” I said.
-
-“I might dispatch you all and escape,” mused the ape, aloud, “but you
-would have helped me. I could not kill one who would have befriended
-me—yet I shrink from the thought of another death. How long have I lain
-here?”
-
-I referred to the history of his case that had been brought and
-suspended at the head of the table. “Twelve years,” I told him.
-
-“And yet, why not?” he demanded of himself. “This man would slay me—why
-should I not slay him first.”
-
-“It would do you no good,” I assured him, “for you could never escape.
-Instead you would be really killed, dying a death from which Ras Thavas
-would probably think it not worth while ever to recall you, while I, who
-might find the opportunity at some later date and who have the
-inclination, would be dead at your hands and thus incapable of saving
-you.”
-
-I had been speaking in a low voice, close to his ear, that the
-attendants might not overhear me. The ape listened intently.
-
-“You will do as you suggest?” he asked.
-
-“At the first opportunity that presents itself,” I assured him.
-
-“Very well,” he said, “I will submit, trusting to you.”
-
-A half hour later both subjects had been returned to their shelves.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER IV
- THE COMPACT
-
-
-Days ran into weeks, weeks into months, as day by day I labored at the
-side of Ras Thavas, and more and more the old surgeon took me into his
-confidence, more and more he imparted to me the secrets of his skill and
-his profession. Gradually he permitted me to perform more and more
-important functions in the actual practice of his vast laboratory. I
-started transferring limbs from one subject to another, then internal
-organs of the digestive tract. Then he entrusted to me a complete
-operation upon a paying client. I removed the kidneys from a rich old
-man, replacing them with healthy ones from a young subject. The
-following day I gave a stunted child new thyroid glands. A week later I
-transferred two hearts and then, at last, came the great day for
-me—unassisted, with Ras Thavas standing silently beside me, I took the
-brain of an old man and transplanted it within the cranium of a youth.
-
-When I had done Ras Thavas laid a hand upon my shoulder. “I could not
-have done better myself,” he said. He seemed much elated and I could not
-but wonder at this unusual demonstration of emotion upon his part, he
-who so prided himself upon his lack of emotionalism. I had often
-pondered the purpose which influenced Ras Thavas to devote so much time
-to my training, but never had I hit upon any more satisfactory
-explanation than that he had need of assistance in his growing practice.
-Yet when I consulted the records, that were now open to me, I discovered
-that his practice was no greater than it had been for many years; and
-even had it been there was really no reason why he should have trained
-me in preference to one of his red-Martian assistants, his belief in my
-loyalty not being sufficient warrant, in my mind, for this preferment
-when he could, as well as not, have kept me for a bodyguard and trained
-one of his own kind to aid him in his surgical work.
-
-But I was presently to learn that he had an excellent reason for what he
-was doing—Ras Thavas always had an excellent reason for whatever he
-did. One night after we had finished our evening meal he sat looking at
-me intently as he so often did, as though he would read my mind, which,
-by the way, he was totally unable to do, much to his surprise and
-chagrin; for unless a Martian is constantly upon the alert any other
-Martian can read clearly his every thought; but Ras Thavas was unable to
-read mine. He said that it was due to the fact that I was not a
-Barsoomian. Yet I could often read the minds of his assistants, when
-they were off their guard, though never had I read aught of Ras Thavas’
-thoughts, nor, I am sure, had any other read them. He kept his brain
-sealed like one of his own blood jars, nor was he ever for a moment
-found with his barriers down.
-
-He sat looking at me this evening for a long time, nor did it in the
-least embarrass me, so accustomed was I to his peculiarities. “Perhaps,”
-he said presently, “one of the reasons that I trust you is due to the
-fact that I cannot ever, at any time, fathom your mind; so, if you
-harbor traitorous thoughts concerning me I do not know it, while the
-others, every one of them, reveal their inmost souls to my searching
-mind and in each one there is envy, jealousy or hatred of me. Them, I
-know, I cannot trust. Therefore I must accept the risk and place all my
-dependence upon you, and my reason tells me that my choice is a wise
-one—I have told you upon what grounds it based my selection of you as
-my bodyguard. The same holds true in my selection of you for the thing I
-have in mind. You cannot harm me without harming yourself and no man
-will intentionally do that; nor is there any reason why you should feel
-any deep antagonism towards me.
-
-“You are, of course, a sentimentalist and doubtless you look with horror
-upon many of the acts of a sane, rational, scientific mind; but you are
-also highly intelligent and can, therefore, appreciate better than
-another, even though you may not approve them, the motives that prompt
-me to do many of those things of which your sentimentality disapproves.
-I may have offended you, but I have never wronged you, nor have I
-wronged any creature for which you might have felt some of your
-so-called friendship or love. Are my premises incorrect, or my reasoning
-faulty?”
-
-I assured him to the contrary.
-
-“Very well! Now let me explain why I have gone to such pains to train
-you as no other human being, aside from myself, has ever been trained. I
-am not ready to use you yet, or rather you are not ready; but if you
-know my purpose you will realize the necessity for bending your energy
-to the consummation of my purpose, and to that end you will strive even
-more diligently than you have to perfect yourself in the high,
-scientific art I am imparting to you.
-
-“I am a very old man,” he continued after a brief pause, “even as age
-goes upon Barsoom. I have lived more than a thousand years. I have
-passed the allotted natural span of life, but I am not through with my
-life’s work—I have but barely started it. I must not die. Barsoom must
-not be robbed of this wondrous brain and skill of mine. I have long had
-in mind a plan to thwart death, but it required another with skill equal
-to mine—two such might live for ever. I have selected you to be that
-other, for reasons that I already have explained—they are undefiled by
-sentimentalism. I did not choose you because I love you, or because I
-feel friendship for you, or because I think that you love me, or feel
-friendship towards me. I chose you because I knew that of all the
-inhabitants of a world you were the one least likely to fail me. For a
-time you will have my life in your hands. You will understand now why I
-have not been able to choose carelessly.”
-
-“This plan that I have chosen is simplicity itself provided that I can
-count upon just two essential factors—skill and self-interested loyalty
-in an assistant. My body is about worn out. I must have a new one. My
-laboratory is filled with wonderful bodies, young and complete with
-potential strength and health. I have but to select one of these and
-have my skilled assistant transfer my brain from this old carcass to the
-new one.” He paused.
-
-“I understand now, why you have trained me,” I said. “It has puzzled me
-greatly.”
-
-“Thus and thus only may I continue my labors,” he went on, “and thus may
-Barsoom be assured a continuance practically indefinitely, of the
-benefits that my brain may bestow upon her children. I may live for
-ever, provided I always have a skilled assistant, and I may assure
-myself of such by seeing to it that he never dies; when he wears out one
-organ, or his whole body, I can replace either from my great storehouse
-of perfect parts, and for me he can perform the same service. Thus may
-we continue to live indefinitely; for the brain, I believe, is almost
-deathless, unless injured or attacked by disease.
-
-“You are not ready as yet to be entrusted with this important task. You
-must transfer many more brains and meet with and overcome the various
-irregularities and idiosyncrasies that constitute the never failing
-differences that render no two operations identical. When you gain
-sufficient proficiency I shall be the first to know it and then we shall
-lose no time in making Barsoom safe for posterity.”
-
-The old man was far from achieving hatred of himself. However, his plan
-was an excellent one, both for himself and for me. It assured us
-immortality—we might live for ever and always with strong, healthy,
-young bodies. The outlook was alluring—and what a wonderful position it
-placed me in. If the old man could be assured of my loyalty because of
-self-interest, similarly might I depend upon his loyalty; for he could
-not afford to antagonize the one creature in the world who could assure
-him immortality, or withhold it from him. For the first time since I had
-entered his establishment I felt safe.
-
-As soon as I had left him I went directly to Valla Dia’s apartment, for
-I wanted to tell her this wonderful news. In the weeks that had passed
-since her resurrection I had seen much of her and in our daily
-intercourse there had been revealed to me little by little the wondrous
-beauties of her soul, until at last I no longer saw the hideous,
-disfigured face of Xaxa when I looked upon her, but the eyes of my heart
-penetrated deeper to the loveliness that lay within that sweet mind. She
-had become my confidant, as I was hers, and this association constituted
-the one great pleasure of my existence upon Barsoom.
-
-Her congratulations, when I told her of what had come to me, were very
-sincere and lovely. She said that she hoped I would use this great power
-of mine to do good in the world. I assured her that I would and that
-among the first things that I should demand of Ras Thavas was that he
-should give Valla Dia a beautiful body; but she shook her head.
-
-“No, my friend,” she said, “if I may not have my own body this old one
-of Xaxa’s is quite as good for me as another. Without my own body I
-should not care to return to my native country; while were Ras Thavas to
-give me the beautiful body of another, I should always be in danger of
-the covetousness of his clients, any one of whom might see and desire to
-purchase it, leaving to me her old husk, conceivably one quite terribly
-diseased or maimed. No, my friend, I am satisfied with the body of Xaxa,
-unless I may again possess my own, for Xaxa at least bequeathed me a
-tough and healthy envelope, however ugly it may be; and for what do
-looks count here? You, alone, are my friend—that I have your friendship
-is enough. You admire me for what I am, not for what I look like, so let
-us leave well enough alone.”
-
-“If you could regain your own body and return to your native country,
-you would like that?” I demanded.
-
-“Oh, do not say it!” she cried. “The simple thought of it drives me mad
-with longing. I must not harbour so hopeless a dream that at best may
-only tantalize me into greater abhorrence of my lot.”
-
-“Do not say that it is hopeless,” I urged. “Death, only, renders hope
-futile.”
-
-“You mean to be kind,” she said, “but you are only hurting me. There can
-be no hope.”
-
-“May I hope for you, then?” I asked. “For I surely see a way; however
-slight a possibility for success it may have, still, it is a way.”
-
-She shook her head. “There is no way,” she said, with finality. “No more
-will Duhor know me.”
-
-“Duhor?” I repeated. “Your—someone you care for very much?”
-
-“I care for Duhor very much,” she answered with a smile, “but Duhor is
-not someone—Duhor is my home, the country of my ancestors.”
-
-“How came you to leave Duhor?” I asked. “You have never told me, Valla
-Dia.”
-
-“It was because of the ruthlessness of Jal Had, Prince of Amhor,” she
-replied. “Hereditary enemies were Duhor and Amhor; but Jal Had came
-disguised into the city of Duhor, having heard, they say, of the great
-beauty attributed to the only daughter of Kor San, Jeddak of Duhor; and
-when he had seen her he determined to possess her. Returning to Amhor he
-sent ambassadors to the court of Kor San to sue for the hand of the
-Princess of Duhor; but Kor San, who had no son, had determined to wed
-his daughter to one of his own Jeds, that the son of this union, with
-the blood of Kor San in his veins, might rule over the people of Duhor;
-and so the offer of Jal Had was declined.
-
-“This so incensed the Amhorian that he equipped a great fleet and set
-forth to conquer Duhor and take by force that which he could not win by
-honorable methods. Duhor was, at that time, at war with Helium and all
-her forces were far afield in the south, with the exception of a small
-army that had been left behind to guard the city. Jal Had, therefore,
-could not have selected a more propitious time for an attack. Duhor
-fell, and while his troops were looting the fair city Jal Had, with a
-picked force, sacked the palace of the Jeddak and searched for the
-princess; but the princess had no mind to go back with him as Princess
-of Amhor. From the moment that the vanguard of the Amhorian fleet was
-seen in the sky she had known, with the others of the city, the purpose
-for which they came, and so she used her head to defeat that purpose.
-
-“There was in her retinue a cosmetologist whose duty it was to preserve
-the lustrous beauty of the princess’ hair and skin and prepare her for
-public audiences, for fêtes and for the daily intercourse of the court.
-He was a master of his art; he could render the ugly pleasant to look
-upon, he could make the plain lovely, and he could make the lovely
-radiant. She called him quickly to her and commanded him to make the
-radiant ugly; and when he had done with her none might guess that she
-was the Princess of Duhor, so deftly had he wrought with his pigments
-and his tiny brushes.
-
-“When Jal Had could not find the princess within the palace, and no
-amount of threat or torture could force a statement of her whereabouts
-from the loyal lips of her people, the Amhorian ordered that every woman
-within the palace be seized and taken to Amhor; there to be held as
-hostages until the princess of Duhor should be delivered to him in
-marriage. We were, therefore, all seized and placed upon an Amhorian war
-ship which was sent back to Amhor ahead of the balance of the fleet,
-which remained to complete the sacking of Duhor.
-
-“When the ship, with its small convoy, had covered some four thousand of
-the five thousand haads that separate Duhor from Amhor, it was sighted
-by a fleet from Phundahl which immediately attacked. The convoying ships
-were destroyed or driven off and that which carried us was captured. We
-were taken to Phundahl where we were put upon the auction block and I
-fell to the bid of one of Ras Thavas’ agents. The rest you know.”
-
-“And what became of the princess?” I asked.
-
-“Perhaps she died—her party was separated in Phundahl—but death could
-not more definitely prevent her return to Duhor. The Princess of Duhor
-will never again see her native country.”
-
-“But you may!” I cried, for I had suddenly hit upon a plan. “Where is
-Duhor?”
-
-“You are going there?” she asked, laughingly.
-
-“Yes!”
-
-“You are mad, my friend,” she said. “Duhor lies a full seven thousand,
-eight hundred haads from Toonol, upon the opposite side of the snow-clad
-Artolian Hills. You, a stranger and alone, could never reach it; for
-between lie the Toonolian Marshes, wild hordes, savage beasts and
-warlike cities. You would but die uselessly within the first dozen
-haads, even could you escape from the island upon which stands the
-laboratory of Ras Thavas; and what motive is there to prompt you to such
-a useless sacrifice?”
-
-I could not tell her. I could not look upon that withered figure and
-into that hideous and disfigured face and say: “It is because I love
-you, Valla Dia.” But that, alas, was my only reason. Gradually, as I had
-come to know her through the slow revealment of the wondrous beauty of
-her mind and soul, there had crept into my heart a knowledge of my love;
-and yet, explain it I cannot, I could not speak the words to that
-frightful old hag. I had seen the gorgeous mundane tabernacle that had
-housed the equally gorgeous spirit of the real Valla Dia—_that_ I could
-love; her heart and soul and mind I could love; but I could not love the
-body of Xaxa. I was torn, too, by other emotions, induced by a great
-doubt—could Valla Dia return my love. Habilitated in the corpse of
-Xaxa, with no other suitor, nay, with no other friend she might, out of
-gratitude or through sheer loneliness, be attracted to me; but once
-again were she Valla Dia the beautiful and returned to the palace of her
-king, surrounded by the great nobles of Duhor, would she have either
-eyes or heart for a lone and friendless exile from another world? I
-doubted it—and yet that doubt did not deter me from my determination to
-carry out, as far as Fate would permit, the mad scheme that was
-revolving in my brain.
-
-“You have not answered my question, Vad Varo,” she interrupted my
-surging thoughts. “Why would you do this thing?”
-
-“To right the wrong that has been done you, Valla Dia,” I said.
-
-She sighed. “Do not attempt it, please,” she begged. “You would but rob
-me of my one friend, whose association is the only source of happiness
-remaining to me. I appreciate your generosity and your loyalty, even
-though I may not understand them; your unselfish desire to serve me at
-such suicidal risk touches me more deeply than I can reveal, adding
-still further to the debt I owe you; but you must not attempt it—you
-must not.”
-
-“If it troubles you, Valla Dia,” I replied, “we will not speak of it
-again; but know always that it is never from my thoughts. Some day I
-shall find a way, even though the plan I now have fails me.”
-
-The days moved on and on, the gorgeous Martian nights, filled with her
-hurtling moons, followed one upon another. Ras Thavas spent more and
-more time in directing my work of brain transference. I had long since
-become an adept; and I realized that the time was rapidly approaching
-when Ras Thavas would feel that he could safely entrust to my hands and
-skill his life and future. He would be wholly within my power and he
-knew that I knew it. I could slay him; I could permit him to remain for
-ever in the preserving grip of his own anaesthetic; or I could play any
-trick upon him that I chose, even to giving him the body of a calot or a
-part of the brain of an ape; but he must take the chance and that I
-knew, for he was failing rapidly. Already almost stone blind, it was
-only the wonderful spectacles that he had himself invented that
-permitted him to see at all; long deaf, he used artificial means for
-hearing; and now his heart was showing symptoms of fatigue that he could
-not longer ignore.
-
-One morning I was summoned to his sleeping apartment by a slave. I found
-the old surgeon lying, a shrunken, pitiful heap of withered skin and
-bones.
-
-“We must hasten, Vad Varo,” he said in a weak whisper. “My heart was
-like to have stopped a few tals ago. It was then that I sent for you.”
-He pointed to a door leading from his chamber. “There,” he said, “you
-will find the body I have chosen. There, in the private laboratory I
-long ago built for this very purpose, you will perform the greatest
-surgical operation that the universe has ever known, transferring its
-most perfect brain to the most beautiful and perfect body that ever has
-passed beneath these ancient eyes. You will find the head already
-prepared to receive my brain; the brain of the subject having been
-removed and destroyed—totally destroyed by fire. I could not possibly
-chance the existence of a brain desiring and scheming to regain its
-wondrous body. No, I destroyed it. Call slaves and have them bear my
-body to the ersite slab.”
-
-“That will not be necessary,” I told him; and lifting his shrunken form
-in my arms as he had been an earthly babe, I carried him into the
-adjoining room where I found a perfectly lighted and appointed
-laboratory containing two operating tables, one of which was occupied by
-the body of a red-man. Upon the surface of the other, which was vacant,
-I laid Ras Thavas, then I turned to look at the new envelope he had
-chosen. Never, I believe, had I beheld so perfect a form, so handsome a
-face—Ras Thavas had indeed chosen well for himself. Then I turned back
-to the old surgeon. Deftly, as he had taught me, I made the two
-incisions and attached the tubes. My finger rested upon the button that
-would start the motor pumping his blood from his veins and his
-marvellous preservative-anaesthetic into them. Then I spoke.
-
-“Ras Thavas,” I said, “you have long been training me to this end. I
-have labored assiduously to prepare myself that there might be no
-slightest cause for apprehension as to the outcome. You have,
-coincidentally, taught me that one’s every act should be prompted by
-self-interest only. You are satisfied, therefore, that I am not doing
-this for you because I love you, or because I feel any friendship for
-you; but you think that you have offered me enough in placing before me
-a similar opportunity for immortality.
-
-“Regardless of your teaching I am afraid that I am still somewhat of a
-sentimentalist. I crave the redressing of wrongs. I crave friendship and
-love. The price you offer is not enough. Are you willing to pay more
-that this operation may be successfully concluded?”
-
-He looked at me steadily for a long minute. “What do you want?” he
-asked. I could see that he was trembling with anger, but he did not
-raise his voice.
-
-“Do you recall 4296-E-2631-H?” I inquired.
-
-“The subject with the body of Xaxa? Yes, I recall the case. What of it?”
-
-“I wish her body returned to her. That is the price you must pay for
-this operation.”
-
-He glared at me. “It is impossible. Xaxa has the body. Even if I cared
-to do so, I could never recover it. Proceed with the operation!”
-
-“When you have promised me,” I insisted.
-
-“I cannot promise the impossible—I cannot obtain Xaxa. Ask me something
-else. I am not unwilling to grant any reasonable request.”
-
-“That is all I wish—just that; but I do not insist that you obtain the
-body. If I bring Xaxa here will you make the transfer?”
-
-“It would mean war between Toonol and Phundahl,” he fumed.
-
-“That does not interest me,” I said. “Quick! Reach a decision. In five
-tals I shall press this button. If you promise what I ask, you shall be
-restored with a new and beautiful body; if you refuse you shall lie here
-in the semblance of death for ever.”
-
-“I promise,” he said slowly, “that when you bring the body of Xaxa to me
-I will transfer to that body any brain that you select from among my
-subjects.”
-
-“Good!” I exclaimed, and pressed the button.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER V
- DANGER
-
-
-Ras Thavas awakened from the anaesthetic a new and gorgeous creature—a
-youth of such wondrous beauty that he seemed of heavenly rather than
-worldly origin; but in that beautiful head was the hard, cold,
-thousand-year-old brain of the master surgeon. As he opened his eyes he
-looked upon me coldly.
-
-“You have done well,” he said.
-
-“What I have done, I have done for friendship—perhaps for love,” I
-said, “so you can thank the sentimentalism you decry for the success of
-the transfer.”
-
-He made no reply.
-
-“And now,” I continued, “I shall look to you for the fulfilment of the
-promise you have made me.”
-
-“When you bring Xaxa’s body I shall transfer to it the brain of any of
-my subjects you may select,” he said, “but were I you, I would not risk
-my life in such an impossible venture—you cannot succeed. Select
-another body—there are many beautiful ones—and I will give it the
-brain of 4296-E-2631-H.”
-
-“None other than the body now owned by the Jeddara Xaxa will fulfill
-your promise to me,” I said.
-
-He shrugged and there was a cold smile upon his handsome lips. “Very
-well,” he said, “fetch Xaxa. When do you start?”
-
-“I am not yet ready. I will let you know when I am.”
-
-“Good and now begone—but wait! First go to the office and see what
-cases await us and if there be any that do not require my personal
-attention, and they fall within your skill and knowledge, attend to them
-yourself.”
-
-As I left him I noticed a crafty smile of satisfaction upon his lips.
-What had aroused that? I did not like it and as I walked away I tried to
-conjure what could possibly have passed through that wondrous brain to
-call forth at that particular instant so unpleasant a smile. As I passed
-through the doorway and into the corridor beyond I heard him summon his
-personal slave and body servant, Yamdor, a huge fellow whose loyalty he
-kept through the bestowal of lavish gifts and countless favors. So great
-was the fellow’s power that all feared him, as a word to the master from
-the lips of Yamdor might easily send any of the numerous slaves or
-attendants to an ersite slab for eternity. It was rumored that he was
-the result of an unnatural experiment which had combined the brain of a
-woman with the body of a man, and there was much in his actions and
-mannerisms to justify this general belief. His touch, when he worked
-about his master, was soft and light, his movements graceful, his ways
-gentle, but his mind was jealous, vindictive and unforgiving.
-
-I believe that he did not like me, through jealousy of the authority I
-had attained in the establishment of Ras Thavas; for there was no
-questioning the fact that I was a lieutenant, while he was but a slave;
-yet he always accorded me the utmost respect. He was, however, merely a
-minor cog in the machinery of the great institution presided over by the
-sovereign mind of Ras Thavas, and as such I had given him little
-consideration; nor did I now as I bent my steps towards the office.
-
-I had gone but a short distance when I recalled a matter of importance
-upon which it was necessary for me to obtain instructions from Ras
-Thavas immediately; and so I wheeled about and retraced my way towards
-his apartments, through the open doorway of which, as I approached, I
-heard the new voice of the master surgeon. Ras Thavas had always spoken
-in rather loud tones, whether as a vocal reflection of his naturally
-domineering and authoritative character, or because of his deafness, I
-do not know; and now, with the fresh young vocal chords of his new body,
-his words rang out clearly and distinctly in the corridor leading to his
-room.
-
-“You will, therefore, Yamdor,” he was saying, “go at once and, selecting
-two slaves in whose silence and discretion you may trust, take the
-subject from the apartments of Vad Varo and destroy it—let no vestige
-of body or brain remain. Immediately after, you will bring the two
-slaves to the laboratory F-30-L, permitting them to speak to no one, and
-I will consign them to silence and forgetfulness for eternity.
-
-“Vad Varo will discover the absence of the subject and report the matter
-to me. During my investigation you will confess that you aided
-4296-E-2631-H to escape, but that you have no idea where it intended
-going. I will sentence you to death as punishment, but at last,
-explaining how urgently I need your services and upon your solemn
-promise never to transgress again, I will defer punishment for the term
-of your continued good behaviour. Do you thoroughly understand the
-entire plan?”
-
-“Yes, master,” replied Yamdor.
-
-“Then depart at once and select the slaves who are to assist you.”
-
-Quickly and silently I sped along the corridor until the first
-intersection permitted me to place myself out of sight of anyone coming
-from Ras Thavas’ apartment; then I went directly to the chamber occupied
-by Valla Dia. Unlocking the door I threw it open and beckoned her to
-come out. “Quick! Valla Dia!” I cried. “No time is to be lost. In
-attempting to save you I have but brought destruction upon you. First we
-must find a hiding place for you, and that at once—afterwards we can
-plan for the future.”
-
-The place that first occurred to me as affording adequate concealment
-was the half forgotten vaults in the pits beneath the laboratories, and
-towards these I hastened Valla Dia. As we proceeded I narrated all that
-had transpired, nor did she once reproach me; but, instead, expressed
-naught but gratitude for what she was pleased to designate as my
-unselfish friendship. That it had miscarried, she assured me, was no
-reflection upon me and she insisted that she would rather die in the
-knowledge that she possessed one such friend than to live on
-indefinitely, friendless.
-
-We came at last to the chamber I sought—vault L-42-X, in building
-4-J-21, where reposed the bodies of the ape and the man, each of which
-possessed half the brain of the other. Here I was forced to leave Valla
-Dia for the time, that I might hasten to the office and perform the
-duties imposed upon me by Ras Thavas, lest his suspicions be aroused
-when Yamdor reported that he had found her apartment vacant.
-
-I reached the office without it being discovered by anyone who might
-report the fact to Ras Thavas that I had been a long time coming from
-his apartment. To my relief, I found there were no cases. Without
-appearing in any undue haste, I nevertheless soon found an excuse to
-depart and at once made my way towards my own quarters, moving in a
-leisurely and unconcerned manner and humming as was my wont (a habit
-which greatly irritated Ras Thavas), snatches from some song that had
-been popular at the time that I quit Earth. In this instance it was “Oh,
-Frenchy.”
-
-I was thus engaged when I met Yamdor moving hurriedly along the corridor
-leading from my apartment, in company with two male slaves. I greeted
-him pleasantly, as was my custom, and he returned my greeting; but there
-was an expression of fear and suspicion in his eyes. I went at once to
-my quarters, opened the door leading to the chamber formerly occupied by
-Valla Dia and then hastened immediately to the apartment of Ras Thavas,
-where I found him conversing with Yamdor. I rushed in apparently
-breathless and simulating great excitement.
-
-“Ras Thavas,” I demanded, “what have you done with 4296-E-2631-H? She
-has disappeared; her apartment is empty; and as I was approaching it I
-met Yamdor and two other slaves coming from that direction.” I turned
-then upon Yamdor and pointed an accusing finger at him. “Yamdor!” I
-cried. “What have you done with this woman?”
-
-Both Ras Thavas and Yamdor seemed genuinely puzzled and I congratulated
-myself that I had thus readily thrown them off the track. The master
-surgeon declared that he would make an immediate investigation; and he
-at once ordered a thorough search of the ground and of the island
-outside the enclosure. Yamdor denied any knowledge of the woman and I,
-at least, was aware of the sincerity of his protestations, but not so
-Ras Thavas. I could see a hint of suspicion in his eyes as he questioned
-his body servant; but evidently he could conjure no motive for any such
-treasonable action on the part of Yamdor as would have been represented
-by the abduction of the woman and the consequent gross disobedience of
-orders.
-
-Ras Thavas’ investigation revealed nothing. I think as it progressed
-that he became gradually more and more imbued with a growing suspicion
-that I might know more about the disappearance of Valla Dia than my
-attitude indicated, for I presently became aware of a delicately
-concealed espionage. Up to this time I had been able to smuggle food to
-Valla Dia every night, after Ras Thavas had retired to his quarters.
-Then, on one occasion, I suddenly became subconsciously aware that I was
-being followed, and instead of going to the vaults I went to the office,
-where I added some observations to my report upon a case I had handled
-that day. Returning to my room I hummed a few bars from “Over There,”
-that the suggestion of my unconcern might be accentuated. From the
-moment that I quit my quarters until I returned to them I was sure that
-eyes had been watching my every move. What was I to do? Valla Dia must
-have food, without it she would die; and were I to be followed to her
-hiding place while taking it to her, she would die; Ras Thavas would see
-to that.
-
-Half the night I lay awake, racking my brains for some solution to the
-problem. There seemed only one way—I must elude the spies. If I could
-do this but one single time I could carry out the balance of a plan that
-had occurred to me, and which was, I thought, the only one feasible that
-might eventually lead to the resurrection of Valla Dia in her own body.
-The way was long, the risks great; but I was young, in love and utterly
-reckless of consequences in so far as they concerned me; it was Valla
-Dia’s happiness alone that I could not risk too greatly, other than
-under dire stress. Well, the stress existed and I must risk that, even
-as I risked my life.
-
-My plan was formulated and I lay awake upon my sleeping silks and furs
-in the darkness of my room, awaiting the time when I might put it into
-execution. My window, which was upon the third floor, overlooked the
-walled enclosure, upon the scarlet sward of which I had made my first
-bow to Barsoom. Across the open casement I had watched Cluros, the
-farther moon, take his slow deliberate way. He had already set. Behind
-him, Thuria, his elusive mistress, fled through the heavens. In five
-xats (about 15 minutes) she would set; and then for about three and
-three quarters Earth hours the heavens would be dark, except for the
-stars.
-
-In the corridor, perhaps, lurked those watchful eyes. I prayed God that
-they might not be elsewhere as Thuria sank at last beneath the horizon
-and I swung to my window ledge, in my hand a long rope fabricated from
-braided strips torn from my sleeping silks while I had awaited the
-setting of the moons. One end I had fastened to a heavy sorapus bench
-which I had drawn close to the window. I dropped the free end of the
-rope and started my descent. My Earthly muscles, untried in such
-endeavours, I had not trusted to the task of carrying me to my window
-ledge in a single leap, when I should be returning. I felt that they
-would, but I did not know; and too much depended upon the success of my
-venture to risk any unnecessary chance of failure. And so I had prepared
-the rope.
-
-Whether I was being observed I did not know. I must go on as though none
-were spying upon me. In less than four hours Thuria would return (just
-before the sudden Barsoomian dawn) and in the interval I must reach
-Valla Dia, persuade her of the necessity of my plan and carry out its
-details, returning to my chamber before Thuria could disclose me to any
-accidental observer. I carried my weapons with me and in my heart was
-unbending determination to slay whoever might cross my path and
-recognize me during the course of my errand, however innocent of evil
-intent against me he might be.
-
-The night was quiet except for the usual distant sounds that I had heard
-ever since I had been here—sounds that I had interpreted as the cries
-of savage beasts. Once I had asked Ras Thavas about them, but he had
-been in ill humor and had ignored my question. I reached the ground
-quickly and without hesitation moved directly to the nearest entrance of
-the building, having previously searched out and determined upon the
-route I would follow to the vault. No one was visible and I was
-confident, when at last I reached the doorway, that I had come through
-undetected. Valla Dia was so happy to see me again that it almost
-brought the tears to my eyes.
-
-“I thought that something had happened to you,” she cried, “for I knew
-that you would not remain away so long of your own volition.”
-
-I told her of my conviction that I was being watched and that it would
-not be possible for me longer to bring food to her without incurring
-almost certain detection, which would spell immediate death for her.
-
-“There is a single alternative,” I said, “and that I dread even to
-suggest and would not were there any other way. You must be securely
-hidden for a long time, until Ras Thavas’ suspicions have been allayed;
-for as long as he has me watched I cannot possibly carry out the plans I
-have formulated for your eventual release, the restoration of your own
-body and your return to Duhor.”
-
-“Your will shall be my law, Vad Varo.”
-
-I shook my head. “It will be harder for you than you imagine.”
-
-“What is the way?” she asked.
-
-I pointed to the ersite topped table. “You must pass again through that
-ordeal that I may hide you away in this vault until the time is ripe for
-the carrying out of my plans. Can you endure it?”
-
-She smiled. “Why not?” she asked. “It is only sleep—if it lasts for
-ever I shall be no wiser.”
-
-I was surprised that she did not shrink from the idea, but I was very
-glad since I knew that it was the only way that we had a chance for
-success. Without my help she disposed herself upon the ersite slab.
-
-“I am ready, Vad Varo,” she said, bravely; “but first promise me that
-you will take no risks in this mad venture. You cannot succeed. When I
-close my eyes I know that it will be for the last time if my
-resurrection depends upon the successful outcome of the maddest venture
-that ever man conceived; yet I am happy, because I know that it is
-inspired by the greatest friendship with which any mortal woman has ever
-been blessed.”
-
-As she talked I had been adjusting the tubes and now I stood beside her
-with my finger upon the starting button of the motor.
-
-“Good-bye, Vad Varo,” she whispered.
-
-“Not good-bye, Valla Dia, but only a sweet sleep for what to you will be
-the briefest instant. You will seem but to close your eyes and open them
-again. As you see me now, I shall be standing here beside you as though
-I never had departed from you. As I am the last that you look upon
-to-night before you close your eyes, so shall I be the first that you
-shall look upon as you open them on that new and beautiful morning; but
-you shall not again look forth through the eyes of Xaxa, but from the
-limpid depths of your own beautiful orbs.”
-
-She smiled and shook her head. Two tears formed beneath her lids. I
-pressed her hand in mine and touched the button.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER VI
- SUSPICIONS
-
-
-In so far as I could know I reached my apartment without detection.
-Hiding my rope where I was sure it would not be discovered, I sought my
-sleeping silks and furs and was soon asleep.
-
-The following morning as I emerged from my quarters I caught a fleeting
-glimpse of a figure in a nearby corridor and from then on for a long
-time I had further evidence that Ras Thavas suspicioned me. I went at
-once to his quarters, as had been my habit. He seemed restless, but he
-gave me no hint that he held any assurance that I had been responsible
-for the disappearance of Valla Dia, and I think that he was far from
-positive of it. It was simply that his judgment pointed to the fact that
-I was the only person who might have any reason for interfering in any
-way with this particular subject, and he was having me watched to either
-prove or disprove the truth of his reasonable suspicions. His
-restlessness he explained to me himself.
-
-“I have often studied the reaction of others who have undergone brain
-transference,” he said, “and so I am not wholly surprised at my own. Not
-only has my brain energy been stimulated, resulting in an increased
-production of nervous energy, but I also feel the effects of the young
-tissue and youthful blood of my new body. They are affecting my
-consciousness in a way that my experiment had vaguely indicated, but
-which I now see must be actually experienced to be fully understood. My
-thoughts, my inclinations, even my ambitions have been changed, or at
-least coloured, by the transfer. It will take some time for me to find
-myself.”
-
-Though uninterested, I listened politely until he was through and then I
-changed the subject. “Have you located the missing woman?” I asked.
-
-He shook his head, negatively.
-
-“You must appreciate, Ras Thavas,” I said, “that I fully realize that
-you must have known that the removal or destruction of that woman would
-entirely frustrate my entire plan. You are master here. Nothing that
-passes is without your knowledge.”
-
-“You mean that I am responsible for the disappearance of the woman?” he
-demanded.
-
-“Certainly. It is obvious. I demand that she be restored.”
-
-He lost his temper. “Who are you to demand?” he shouted. “You are naught
-but a slave. Cease your impudence or I shall erase you—erase you. It
-will be as though you never had existed.”
-
-I laughed in his face. “Anger is the most futile attribute of the
-sentimentalist,” I reminded him. “You will not erase me, for I alone
-stand between you and mortality.”
-
-“I can train another,” he parried.
-
-“But you could not trust him,” I pointed out.
-
-“But you bargained with me for my life when you had me in your power,”
-he cried.
-
-“For nothing that it would have harmed you to have granted willingly. I
-did not ask anything for myself. Be that as it may, you will trust me
-again. You will trust, for no other reason than that you will be forced
-to trust me. So why not win my gratitude and my loyalty by returning the
-woman to me and carrying out in spirit as well as in fact the terms of
-our agreement?”
-
-He turned and looked steadily at me. “Vad Varo,” he said, “I give you
-the word of honor of a Barsoomian noble that I know absolutely nothing
-concerning the whereabouts of 4296-E-2631-H.”
-
-“Perhaps Yamdor does,” I persisted.
-
-“Nor Yamdor. Of my knowledge no person in any way connected with me
-knows what became of it. I have spoken the truth.”
-
-Well, the conversation was not as profitless as it might appear, for I
-was sure that it had almost convinced Ras Thavas that I was equally as
-ignorant of the fate of Valla Dia as was he. That it had not wholly
-convinced him was evidenced by the fact that the espionage continued for
-a long time, a fact which determined me to use Ras Thavas’ own methods
-in my own defence. I had had allotted to me a number of slaves, and
-these I had won over by kindness and understanding until I knew that I
-had the full measure of their loyalty. They had no reason to love Ras
-Thavas and every reason to hate him; on the other hand they had no
-reason to hate me, and I saw to it that they had every reason to love
-me.
-
-The result was that I had no difficulty in enlisting the services of a
-couple of them to spy upon Ras Thavas’ spies, with the result that I was
-soon apprised that my suspicions were well founded—I was being
-constantly watched every minute that I was out of my apartments, but the
-spying did not come beyond my outer chamber walls. That was why I had
-been successful in reaching the vault in the manner that I had, the
-spies having assumed that I would leave my chamber only by its natural
-exit, had been content to guard that and permit my windows to go
-unwatched.
-
-I think it was about two of our months that the spying continued and
-then my men reported that it seemed to have ceased entirely. All that
-time I was fretting at the delay, for I wanted to be about my plans
-which would have been absolutely impossible for me to carry out if I
-were being watched. I had spent the interval in studying the geography
-of the north-eastern Barsoomian hemisphere where my activities were to
-be carried on, and also in scanning a great number of case histories and
-inspecting the subjects to which they referred; but at last, with the
-removal of the spies, it began to look as though I might soon commence
-to put my plans in active operation.
-
-Ras Thavas had for some time permitted me considerable freedom in
-independent investigation and experiment, and this I determined to take
-advantage of in every possible way that might forward my plans for the
-resurrection of Valla Dia. My study of the histories of many of the
-cases had been with the possibility in mind of discovering subjects that
-might be of assistance to me in my venture. Among those that had
-occupied my careful attention were, quite naturally, the cases with
-which I had been most familiar, namely: 378-J-493811-P, the red-man from
-whose vicious attack I had saved Ras Thavas upon the day of my advent
-upon Mars; and he whose brain had been divided with an ape.
-
-The former, 378-J-493811-P, had been a native of Phundahl—a young
-warrior attached to the court of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl—and a victim
-of assassination. His body had been purchased by a Phundahlian noble for
-the purpose, as Ras Thavas had narrated, of winning the favor of a young
-beauty. I felt that I might possibly enlist his services, but that would
-depend upon the extent of his loyalty towards Xaxa, which I could only
-determine by reviving and questioning him.
-
-He whose brain had been divided with an ape had originated in Ptarth,
-which lay at a considerable distance to the west of Phundahl and a
-little south and about an equal distance from Duhor, which lay north and
-a little west of it. An inhabitant of Ptarth, I reasoned, would know
-much of the entire country included in the triangle formed by Phundahl,
-Ptarth and Duhor; the strength and ferocity of the great ape would prove
-of value in crossing beast infested wastes; and I felt that I could hold
-forth sufficient promise to the human half of the great beast’s brain,
-which really now dominated the creature, to win its support and loyalty.
-The third subject that I had tentatively selected had been a notorious
-Toonolian assassin, whose audacity, fearlessness and swordsmanship had
-won for him a reputation that had spread far beyond the boundaries of
-his country.
-
-Ras Thavas, himself a Toonolian, had given me something of the history
-of this man whose grim calling is not without honor upon Barsoom, and
-which Gor Hajus had raised still higher in the esteem of his countrymen
-through the fact that he never struck down a woman or a good man and
-that he never struck from behind. His killings were always the results
-of fair fights in which the victim had every opportunity to defend
-himself and slay his attacker; and he was famous for his loyalty to his
-friends. In fact this very loyalty had been a contributing factor in his
-downfall which had brought him to one of Ras Thavas’ ersite slabs some
-years since, for he had earned the enmity of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of
-Toonol, through his refusal to assassinate a man who once had befriended
-Gor Hajus in some slight degree; following which Vobis Kan conceived the
-suspicion that Gor Hajus had him marked for slaying. The result was
-inevitable: Gor Hajus was arrested and condemned to death; immediately
-following the execution of the sentence an agent of Ras Thavas had
-purchased the body.
-
-These three, then, I had chosen to be my partners in my great adventure.
-It is true that I had not discussed the matter with any one of them, but
-my judgment assured me that I would have no difficulty in enlisting
-their services and loyalty in return for their total resurrection.
-
-My first task lay in renewing the organs of 378-J-493811-P and of Gor
-Hajus which had been injured by the wounds that had laid them low; the
-former requiring a new lung and the latter a new heart, his executioner
-having run him through with a short-sword. I hesitated to ask Ras
-Thavas’ permission to experiment on these subjects for fear of the
-possibility of arousing his suspicions, in which event he would probably
-have them destroyed; and so I was forced to accomplish my designs by
-subterfuge and stealth. To this end I made it a practice for weeks to
-carry my regular laboratory work far into the night, often requiring the
-services of various assistants that all might become accustomed to the
-sight of me at work at unusual hours. In my selection of these
-assistants I made it a point to choose two of the very spies that Ras
-Thavas had set to watching me. While it was true that they were no
-longer employed in this particular service, I had hopes that they would
-carry word of my activities to their master; and I was careful to see
-that they received from me the proper suggestions that would mould their
-report in language far from harmful to me. By the merest suggestion I
-carried to them the idea that I worked thus late purely for the love of
-the work itself and the tremendous interest in it that Ras Thavas had
-awakened within my mind. Some nights I worked with assistants and as
-often I did not, but always I was careful to assure myself that the
-following morning those in the office were made aware that I had labored
-far into the preceding night.
-
-This groundwork carefully prepared, I had comparatively little fear of
-the results of actual discovery when I set to work upon the warrior of
-Phundahl and the assassin of Toonol. I chose the former first. His lung
-was badly injured where my blade had passed through it, but from the
-laboratory where were kept fractional bodies I brought a perfect lung,
-with which I replaced the one that I had ruined. The work occupied but
-half the night. So anxious was I to complete my task that I immediately
-opened up the breast of Gor Hajus, for whom I had selected an unusually
-strong and powerful heart, and by working rapidly I succeeded in
-completing the transference before dawn. Having known the nature of the
-wounds that had dispatched these two men, I had spent weeks in
-performing similar operations that I might perfect myself especially in
-this work; and having encountered no unusual pathological conditions in
-either subject, the work had progressed smoothly and with great
-rapidity. I had completed what I had feared would be the most difficult
-part of my task and now, having removed as far as possible all signs of
-the operation except the therapeutic tape which closed the incisions, I
-returned to my quarters for a few minutes of much needed rest, praying
-that Ras Thavas would not by any chance examine either of the subjects
-upon which I had been working; although I had fortified myself against
-such a contingency by entering full details of the operation upon the
-history card of each subject that, in the event of discovery, any
-suspicion of ulterior motives upon my part might be allayed by my play
-of open frankness.
-
-I arose at the usual time and went at once to Ras Thavas’ apartment,
-where I was met with a bombshell that nearly wrecked my composure. He
-eyed me closely for a long minute before he spoke.
-
-“You worked late last night, Vad Varo,” he said.
-
-“I often do,” I replied, lightly; but my heart was heavy as a stone.
-
-“And what might it have been that so occupied your interest?” he
-inquired.
-
-I felt as a mouse with which the cat is playing. “I have been doing
-quite a little lung and heart transference of late,” I replied, “and I
-became so engrossed with my work that I did not note the passage of
-time.”
-
-“I have known that you worked late at night. Do you think it wise?”
-
-At that moment I felt that it had been very unwise, yet I assured him to
-the contrary.
-
-“I was restless,” he said. “I could not sleep and so I went to your
-quarters after midnight, but you were not there. I wanted someone with
-whom to talk, but your slaves knew only that you were not there—where
-you were they did not know—so I set out to search for you.” My heart
-went into my sandals. “I guessed that you were in one of the
-laboratories, but though I visited several I did not find you.” My heart
-arose with the lightness of a feather. “Since my own transference I have
-been cursed with restlessness and sleeplessness, so that I could almost
-wish for the return of my old corpse—the youth of my body harmonizes
-not with the antiquity of my brain. It is filled with latent urges and
-desires that comport illy with the serious subject matter of my mind.”
-
-“What your body needs,” I said, “is exercise. It is young, strong,
-virile. Work it hard and it will let your brain rest at night.”
-
-“I know that you are right,” he replied. “I have reached that same
-conclusion myself. In fact, not finding you, I walked in the gardens for
-an hour or more before returning to my quarters, and then I slept
-soundly. I shall walk every night when I cannot sleep, or I shall go
-into the laboratories and work as do you.”
-
-This news was most disquieting. Now I could never be sure but that Ras
-Thavas was wandering about at night and I had one more very important
-night’s work to do, perhaps two. The only way that I could be sure of
-him was to be with him.
-
-“Send for me when you are restless,” I said, “and I will walk and work
-with you. You should not go about thus at night alone.”
-
-“Very well,” he said, “I may do that occasionally.”
-
-I hoped that he would do it always, for then I would know that when he
-failed to send for me he was safe in his own quarters. Yet I saw that I
-must henceforth face the menace of detection; and knowing this I
-determined to hasten the completion of my plans and to risk everything
-on a single bold stroke.
-
-That night I had no opportunity to put it into action as Ras Thavas sent
-for me early and informed me that we would walk in the gardens until he
-was tired. Now, as I needed a full night for what I had in mind and as
-Ras Thavas walked until midnight, I was compelled to forego everything
-for that evening, but the following morning I persuaded him to walk
-early on the pretext that I should like to go beyond the enclosure and
-see something of Barsoom beside the inside of his laboratories and his
-gardens. I had little confidence that he would grant my request, yet he
-did so. I am sure he never would have done it had he possessed his old
-body; but thus greatly had young blood changed Ras Thavas.
-
-I had never been beyond the buildings, nor had I seen beyond, since
-there were no windows in the outside walls of any of the structures and
-upon the garden side the trees had grown to such a height that they
-obstructed all view beyond them. For a time we walked in another garden
-just inside the outer wall, and then I asked Ras Thavas if I might go
-even beyond this.
-
-“No,” he said. “It would not be safe.”
-
-“And why not?” I asked.
-
-“I will show you and at the same time give you a much broader view of
-the outside world than you could obtain by merely passing through the
-gate. Come, follow me!”
-
-He led me immediately to a lofty tower that rose at the corner of the
-largest building of the group that comprised his vast establishment.
-Within was a circular runway which led not only upward, but down as
-well. This we ascended, passing openings at each floor, until we came at
-last out upon its lofty summit.
-
-About me spread the first Barsoomian landscape of any extent upon which
-my eyes had yet rested during the long months that I had spent upon the
-Red Planet. For almost an Earthly year I had been immured within the
-grim walls of Ras Thavas’ bloody laboratory, until, such creatures of
-habit are we, the weird life there had grown to seem quite natural and
-ordinary; but with this first glimpse of open country there surged up
-within me an urge for freedom, for space, for room to move about, such
-as I knew would not be long denied.
-
-Directly beneath lay an irregular patch of rocky land elevated perhaps a
-dozen feet or more above the general level of the immediately
-surrounding country. Its extent was, at a rough guess, a hundred acres.
-Upon this stood the buildings and grounds, which were enclosed in a high
-wall. The tower upon which we stood was situated at about the centre of
-the total area enclosed. Beyond the outer wall was a strip of rocky
-ground on which grew a sparse forest of fair sized trees interspersed
-with patches of a jungle growth, and beyond all, what appeared to be an
-oozy marsh through which were narrow water courses connecting occasional
-open water—little lakes, the largest of which could have comprised
-scarce two acres. This landscape extended as far as the eye could reach,
-broken by occasional islands similar to that upon which we were and at a
-short distance by the skyline of a large city, whose towers and domes
-and minarets glistened and sparkled in the sun as though plated with
-shining metals and picked out with precious gems.
-
-This, I knew, must be Toonol and all about us the Great Toonolian
-Marshes which extend nearly eighteen hundred Earth miles east and west
-and in some places have a width of three hundred miles. Little is known
-about them in other portions of Barsoom as they are frequented by fierce
-beasts, afford no landing places for fliers and are commanded by
-Phundahl at their western end and Toonol at the east; inhospitable
-kingdoms that invite no intercourse with the outside world and maintain
-their independence alone by their inaccessibility and savage aloofness.
-
-As my eyes returned to the island at our feet I saw a huge form emerge
-from one of the nearby patches of jungle a short distance beyond the
-outer wall. It was followed by a second and a third. Ras Thavas saw that
-the creatures had attracted my notice.
-
-“There,” he said, pointing to them, “are three of a number of similar
-reasons why it would not have been safe for us to venture outside the
-enclosure.”
-
-They were great white apes of Barsoom, creatures so savage that even
-that fierce Barsoomian lion, the banth, hesitates to cross their path.
-
-“They serve two purposes,” explained Ras Thavas. “They discourage those
-who might otherwise creep upon me by night from the city of Toonol,
-where I am not without many good enemies, and they prevent desertion
-upon the part of my slaves and assistants.”
-
-“But how do your clients reach you?” I asked. “How are your supplies
-brought in?”
-
-He turned and pointed down toward the highest portion of the irregular
-roof of the building below us. Built upon it was a large, shed-like
-structure. “There,” he said, “I keep three small ships. One of them goes
-every day to Toonol.”
-
-I was overcome with eagerness to know more about these ships, in which I
-thought I saw a much needed means of escape from the island; but I dared
-not question him for fear of arousing his suspicions.
-
-As we turned to descend the tower runway I expressed interest in the
-structure which gave evidence of being far older than any of the
-surrounding buildings.
-
-“This tower,” said Ras Thavas, “was built some twenty-three thousand
-years ago by an ancestor of mine who was driven from Toonol by the
-reigning Jeddak of the time. Here, and upon other islands, he gathered a
-considerable following, dominated the surrounding marshes and defended
-himself successfully for hundreds of years. While my family has been
-permitted to return to Toonol since, this has been their home; to which,
-one by one, have been added the various buildings which you see about
-the tower, each floor of which connects with the adjacent building from
-the roof to the lowest pits beneath the ground.”
-
-This information also interested me greatly since I thought that I saw
-where it too might have considerable bearing upon my plan of escape, and
-so, as we descended the runway, I encouraged Ras Thavas to discourse
-upon the construction of the tower, its relation to the other buildings
-and especially its accessibility from the pits. We walked again in the
-outer garden and by the time we returned to Ras Thavas’ quarters it was
-almost dark and the master surgeon was considerably fatigued.
-
-“I feel that I shall sleep well to-night,” he said as I left him.
-
-“I hope so, Ras Thavas,” I replied.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER VII
- ESCAPE
-
-
-It was usually about three hours after the evening meal, which was
-served immediately after dark, that the establishment quieted down
-definitely for the night. While I should have preferred waiting longer
-before undertaking that which I had in mind, I could not safely do so,
-since there was much to be accomplished before dawn. So it was that with
-the first indications that the occupants of the building in which my
-work was to be performed had retired for the night, I left my quarters
-and went directly to the laboratory, where, fortunately for my plans,
-the bodies of Gor Hajus, the assassin of Toonol, and 378-J-493811-P both
-reposed. It was the work of a few minutes to carry them to adjoining
-tables, where I quickly strapped them securely against the possibility
-that one or both of them might not be willing to agree to the
-proposition I was about to make them, and thus force me to anaesthetize
-them again. At last the incisions were made, the tubes attached and the
-motors started. 378-J-493811-P, whom I shall hereafter call by his own
-name, Dar Tarus, was the first to open his eyes; but he had not regained
-full consciousness when Gor Hajus showed signs of life.
-
-I waited until both appeared quite restored. Dar Tarus was eyeing me
-with growing recognition that brought a most venomous expression of
-hatred to his countenance. Gor Hajus was frankly puzzled. The last he
-remembered was the scene in the death chamber at the instant that his
-executioner had run a sword through his heart. It was I who broke the
-silence.
-
-“In the first place,” I said, “let me tell you where you are, if you do
-not already know.”
-
-“I know well enough where I am,” growled Dar Tarus.
-
-“Ah!” exclaimed Gor Hajus, whose eyes had been roaming about the
-chamber. “I can guess where I am. What Toonolian has not heard of Ras
-Thavas? So they sold my corpse to the old butcher did they? And what
-now? Did I just arrive?”
-
-“You have been here six years,” I told him, “and you may stay here for
-ever unless we three can reach an agreement within the next few minutes,
-and that goes for you too, Dar Tarus.”
-
-“Six years!” mused Gor Hajus. “Well, out with it, man. What do you want?
-If it is to slay Ras Thavas, no! He has saved me from utter destruction;
-but name me some other, preferably Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol. Find me
-a blade and I will slay a hundred to regain life.”
-
-“I seek the life of none unless he stands in the way of the fulfilment
-of my desire in this matter that I have in hand. Listen! Ras Thavas had
-here a beautiful Duhorian girl. He sold her body to Xaxa, Jeddara of
-Phundahl, transplanting the girl’s brain to the wrinkled and hideous
-body of the Jeddara. It is my intention to regain the body, restore it
-to its own brain and return the girl to Duhor.”
-
-Gor Hajus grinned. “You have a large contract on your hands,” he said,
-“but I can see that you are a man after my own heart and I am with you.
-It will give freedom and fighting, and all that I ask is a chance for
-one thrust at Vobis Kan.”
-
-“I promise you life,” I replied; “but with the understanding that you
-serve me faithfully and none other, undertaking no business of your own,
-until mine has been carried to a successful conclusion.”
-
-“That means that I shall have to serve you for life,” he replied, “for
-the thing you have undertaken you can never accomplish; but that is
-better than lying here on a cold ersite slab waiting for old Ras Thavas
-to come along and carve out my gizzard. I am yours! Let me up, that I
-may feel a good pair of legs under me again.”
-
-“And you?” I asked, turning to Dar Tarus as I released the bonds that
-held Gor Hajus. For the first time I now noticed that the ugly
-expression that I had first noted upon the face of Dar Tarus had given
-place to one of eagerness.
-
-“Strike off my bonds!” he cried. “I will follow you to the ends of
-Barsoom and the way leads thus far to the fulfilment of your design; but
-it will not. It will lead to Phundahl and to the chamber of the wicked
-Xaxa, where, by the generosity of my ancestors, I may be given the
-opportunity to avenge the hideous wrong the creature did me. You could
-not have chosen one better fitted for your mission than Dar Tarus, one
-time soldier of the Jeddara’s Guard, whom she had slain that in my
-former body one of her rotten nobles might woo the girl I loved.”
-
-A moment later the two men stood at my side, and without more delay I
-led them towards the runway that descended to the pits beneath the
-building. As we went, I described to them the creature I had chosen to
-be the fourth member of our strange party. Gor Hajus questioned the
-wisdom of my choice, saying that the ape would attract too much
-attention to us. Dar Tarus, however, believed that it might be helpful
-in many respects, since it was possible that we might be compelled to
-spend some time among the islands of the marshes which were often
-infested with these creatures; while, once in Phundahl, the ape might
-readily be used in the furtherance of our plans and would cause no
-considerable comment in a city where many of these beasts are held in
-captivity and often are seen performing for the edification of street
-crowds.
-
-We went at once to the vault where the ape lay and where I had concealed
-the anaesthetized body of Valla Dia. Here I revived the great anthropoid
-and to my great relief found that the human half of its brain still was
-dominant. Briefly I explained my plan as I had to the other two and won
-the hearty promise of his support upon my engaging to restore his brain
-to its rightful place upon the completion of our venture.
-
-First we must get off the island, and I outlined two plans I had in
-mind. One was to steal one of Ras Thavas’ three fliers and set out
-directly for Phundahl, and the other, in the event that the first did
-not seem feasible, was to secrete ourselves aboard one of them on the
-chance that we might either overpower the crew and take over the ship
-after we had left the island, or escape undetected upon its arrival in
-Toonol. Dar Tarus liked the first plan; the ape, whom we now called by
-the name belonging to the human half of his brain, Hovan Du, preferred
-the first alternative of the second plan; and Gor Hajus the second
-alternative.
-
-Dar Tarus explained that as our principal objective was Phundahl, the
-quicker we got there the better. Hovan Du argued that by seizing the
-ship after it had left the island we would have longer time in which to
-make our escape before the ship was missed and pursuit instituted, than
-by seizing it now in the full knowledge that its absence would be
-discovered within a few hours. Gor Hajus thought that it would be better
-if we could come into Toonol secretly and there, through one of his
-friends, secure arms and a flier of our own. It would never do, he
-insisted, to attempt to go far without arms for himself and Dar Tarus,
-nor could we hope to reach Phundahl without being overhauled by
-pursuers; for we must plan on the hypothesis that Ras Thavas would
-immediately discover my absence; that he would at once investigate; that
-he would find Dar Tarus and Gor Hajus missing and thereupon lose no time
-in advising Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, that Gor Hajus the assassin was
-at large, whereupon the Jeddak’s best ships would be sent in pursuit.
-
-Gor Hajus’ reasoning was sound and coupled with my recollection that Ras
-Thavas had told me that his three ships were slow, I could readily
-foresee that our liberty would be of short duration were we to steal one
-of the old surgeon’s fliers.
-
-As we discussed the matter we had made our way through the pits and I
-had found the exit to the tower. Silently we passed upward along the
-runway and out upon the roof. Both moons were winging low through the
-heavens and the scene was almost as light as day. If anyone was about
-discovery was certain. We hastened towards the hangar and were soon
-within it, where, for a moment at least, I breathed far more easily than
-I had beneath those two brilliant moons upon the exposed roof.
-
-The fliers were peculiar looking contrivances, low, squat, with rounded
-bows and sterns and covered decks, their every line proclaiming them as
-cargo carriers built for anything but speed. One was much smaller than
-the other two and a second was evidently undergoing repairs. The third I
-entered and examined carefully. Gor Hajus was with me and pointed out
-several places where we might hide with little likelihood of discovery
-unless it were suspected that we might be aboard, and that of course
-constituted a very real danger; so much so that I had about decided to
-risk all aboard the small flier, which Gor Hajus assured me would be the
-fastest of the three, when Dar Tarus stuck his head into the ship and
-motioned me to come quickly.
-
-“There is someone about,” he said when I reached his side.
-
-“Where?” I demanded.
-
-“Come,” he said, and led me to the rear of the hangar, which was flush
-with the wall of the building upon which it stood, and pointed through
-one of the windows into the inner garden where, to my consternation, I
-saw Ras Thavas walking slowly to and fro. For an instant I was sick with
-despair, for I knew that no ship could leave that roof unseen while
-anyone was abroad in the garden beneath, and Ras Thavas least of all
-people in the world; but suddenly a great light dawned upon me. I called
-the three close to me and explained my plan.
-
-Instantly they grasped the possibilities in it and a moment later we had
-run the small flier out upon the roof and turned her nose toward the
-east, away from Toonol. Then Gor Hajus entered her, set the various
-controls as we had decided, opened the throttle, slipped back to the
-roof. The four of us hastened into the hangar and ran to the rear window
-where we saw the ship moving slowly and gracefully out over the garden
-and the head of Ras Thavas, whose ears must instantly have caught the
-faint purring of the motor, for he was looking up by the time we reached
-the window.
-
-Instantly he hailed the ship and stepping back from the window that he
-might not see me I answered: “Good-bye, Ras Thavas! It is I, Vad Varo,
-going out into a strange world to see what it is like. I shall return.
-The spirits of your ancestors be with you until then.” That was a phrase
-I had picked up from reading in Ras Thavas’ library and I was quite
-proud of it.
-
-“Come back at once,” he shouted up in reply, “or you will be with the
-spirits of your own ancestors before another day is done.”
-
-I made no reply. The ship was now at such a distance that I feared my
-voice might no longer seem to come from it and that we should be
-discovered. Without more delay we concealed ourselves aboard one of the
-remaining fliers, that upon which no work was being done, and there
-commenced as long and tiresome a period of waiting as I can recall ever
-having passed through.
-
-I had at last given up any hope of the ship’s being flown that day when
-I heard voices in the hangar, and presently the sound of footsteps
-aboard the flier. A moment later a few commands were given and almost
-immediately the ship moved slowly out into the open.
-
-The four of us were crowded into a small compartment built into a tiny
-space between the forward and aft starboard buoyancy tanks. It was very
-dark and poorly ventilated, having evidently been designed as a storage
-closet to utilize otherwise waste space. We dared not converse for fear
-of attracting attention to our presence, and for the same reason we
-moved about as little as possible, since we had no means of knowing but
-that some member of the crew might be just beyond the thin door that
-separated us from the main cabin of the ship. Altogether we were most
-uncomfortable; but the distance to Toonol is not so great but that we
-might hope that our situation would soon be changed—at least if Toonol
-was to be the destination of the ship. Of this we soon had cheering
-hope. We had been out but a short time when, faintly, we heard a hail
-and then the motors were immediately shut down and the ship stopped.
-
-“What ship?” we heard a voice demand, and from aboard our own came the
-reply:
-
-“The Vosar, Tower of Thavas for Toonol.” We heard a scraping as the
-other ship touched ours.
-
-“We are coming aboard to search you in the name of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of
-Toonol. Make way!” shouted one from the other ship. Our cheer had been
-of short duration. We heard the shuffling of many feet and Gor Hajus
-whispered in my ear.
-
-“What shall we do?” he asked.
-
-I slipped my short-sword into his hand. “Fight!” I replied.
-
-“Good, Vad Varo,” he replied, and then I handed him my pistol and told
-him to pass it on to Dar Tarus. We heard the voices again, but nearer
-now.
-
-“What ho!” cried one. “It is Bal Zak himself, my old friend Bal Zak!”
-
-“None other,” replied a deep voice. “And whom did you expect to find in
-command of the Vosar other than Bal Zak?”
-
-“Who could know but that it might have been this Vad Varo himself, or
-even Gor Hajus,” said the other, “and our orders are to search all
-ships.”
-
-“I would that they were here,” replied Bal Zak, “for the reward is high.
-But how could they, when Ras Thavas himself with his own eyes saw them
-fly off in the Pinsar before dawn this day and disappear in the east?”
-
-“Right you are, Bal Zak,” agreed the other, “and it were a waste of time
-to search your ship. Come men! to our own!”
-
-I could feel the muscles about my heart relax with the receding
-footfalls of Vobis Kan’s warriors as they quitted the deck of the Vosar
-for their own ship, and my spirits rose with the renewed purring of our
-own motor as Ras Thavas’ flier again got under way. Gor Hajus bent his
-lips close to my ear.
-
-“The spirits of our ancestors smile upon us,” he whispered. “It is night
-and the darkness will aid in covering our escape from the ship and the
-landing stage.”
-
-“What makes you think it is night?” I asked.
-
-“Vobis Kan’s ship was close by when it hailed and asked our name. By
-daylight it could have seen what ship we were.”
-
-He was right. We had been locked in that stuffy hole since before dawn,
-and while I had thought that it had been for a considerable time, I also
-had realized that the darkness and the inaction and the nervous strain
-would tend to make it seem much longer than it really had been; so that
-I would not have been greatly surprised had we made Toonol by daylight.
-
-The distance from the Tower of Thavas to Toonol is inconsiderable, so
-that shortly after Vobis Kan’s ship had spoken to us we came to rest
-upon the landing stage at our destination. For a long time we waited,
-listening to the sounds of movement aboard the ship and wondering, upon
-my part at least, as to what the intentions of the captain might be. It
-was quite possible that Bal Zak might return to Thavas this same night,
-especially if he had come to Toonol to fetch a rich or powerful patient
-to the laboratories; but if he had come only for supplies he might well
-lie here until the morrow. This much I had learned from Gor Hajus, my
-own knowledge of the movements of the fliers of Ras Thavas being
-considerably less than nothing; for, though I had been months a
-lieutenant of the master surgeon, I had learned only the day before of
-the existence of his small fleet, it being according to the policy of
-Ras Thavas to tell me nothing unless the telling of it coincided with
-and furthered his own plans.
-
-Questions which I asked he always answered, if he reasoned that the
-effects would not be harmful to his own interests, but he volunteered
-nothing that he did not particularly wish me to know; and the fact that
-there were no windows in the outside walls of the building facing
-towards Toonol, that I had never before the previous day been upon the
-roof and that I never had seen a ship sail over the inner court towards
-the east all tended to explain my ignorance of the fleet and its
-customary operations.
-
-We waited quietly until silence fell upon the ship, betokening either
-that the crew had retired for the night or that they had gone down into
-the city. Then, after a whispered consultation with Gor Hajus, we
-decided to make an attempt to leave the flier. It was our purpose to
-seek a hiding place within the tower of the landing stage from which we
-might investigate possible avenues of escape into the city, either at
-once or upon the morrow when we might more easily mix with the crowd
-that Gor Hajus said would certainly be in evidence from a few hours
-after sunrise.
-
-Cautiously I opened the door of our closet and looked into the main
-cabin beyond. It lay in darkness. Silently we filed out. The silence of
-the tomb lay upon the flier, but from far below arose the subdued noises
-of the city. So far, so good! Then, without sound, without warning, a
-burst of brilliant light illuminated the interior of the cabin. I felt
-my fingers tighten upon my sword-hilt as I glanced quickly about.
-
-Directly opposite us, in the narrow doorway of a small cabin, stood a
-tall man whose handsome harness betokened the fact that he was no common
-warrior. In either hand he held a heavy Barsoomian pistol, into the
-muzzles of which we found ourselves staring.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER VIII
- HANDS UP!
-
-
-In quiet tones he spoke the words of the Barsoomian equivalent of our
-Earthly _hands up!_ The shadow of a grim smile touched his lips, and as
-he saw us hesitate to obey his commands he spoke again.
-
-“Do as I tell you and you will be well off. Keep perfect silence. A
-raised voice may spell your doom; a pistol shot most assuredly.”
-
-Gor Hajus raised his hands above his head and we others followed his
-example.
-
-“I am Bal Zak,” announced the stranger. My heart slumped.
-
-“Then you had better commence firing,” said Gor Hajus, “for you will not
-take us alive and we are four to one.”
-
-“Not so fast, Gor Hajus,” admonished the captain of the Vosar, “until
-you learn what is in my mind.”
-
-“That, we already know for we heard you speak of the large reward that
-awaited the captor of Vad Varo and Gor Hajus,” snapped the assassin of
-Toonol.
-
-“Had I craved that reward so much I could have turned you over to the
-dwar of Vobis Kan’s ship when he boarded us,” said Bal Zak.
-
-“You did not know we were aboard the Vosar,” I reminded him.
-
-“Ah, but I did.”
-
-Gor Hajus snorted his disbelief.
-
-“How then,” Bal Zak reminded us, “was I able to be ready upon this very
-spot when you emerged from your hiding place? Yes, I knew that you were
-aboard.”
-
-“But how?” demanded Dar Tarus.
-
-“It is immaterial,” replied Bal Zak, “but to satisfy your natural
-curiosity I will tell you that I have quarters in a small room in the
-Tower of Thavas, my windows overlook the roof and the hangar. My long
-life spent aboard fliers has made me very sensitive to every sound of a
-ship—motors changing their speed will awaken me in the dead of night,
-as quickly as will their starting or their stopping. I was awakened by
-the starting of the motors of the Pinsar; I saw three of you upon the
-roof and the fourth drop from the deck of the flier as she started and
-my judgment told me that the ship was being sent out unmanned for some
-reason of which I had no knowledge. It was too late for me to prevent
-the act and so I waited in silence to learn what would follow. I saw you
-hasten into the hangar and I heard Ras Thavas’ hail and your reply, and
-then I saw you board the Vosar. Immediately I descended to the roof and
-ran noiselessly to the hangar, apprehending that you intended making
-away with this ship; but there was no one about the controls; and from a
-tiny port in the control room, through which one has a view of the main
-cabin, I saw you enter the closet. I was at once convinced that your
-only purpose was to stow away for Toonol and consequently, aside from
-keeping an eye upon your hiding place, I went about my business as
-usual.”
-
-“And you did not advise Ras Thavas?” I asked.
-
-“I advised no one,” he replied. “Years ago I learned to mind my own
-business, to see all, to hear all and to tell nothing unless it profited
-me to do so.”
-
-“But you said that the reward is high for our apprehension,” Gor Hajus
-reminded him. “Would it not be profitable to collect it?”
-
-“There are in the breasts of honourable men,” replied Bal Zak, “forces
-that rise superior to the lust for gold, and while Toonolians are
-supposedly a people free from the withering influences of sentiment yet
-I for one am not totally unconscious of the demand of gratitude. Six
-years ago, Gor Hajus, you refused to assassinate my father, holding that
-he was a good man, worthy to live and one that had once befriended you
-slightly. To-day, through his son, you reap your reward and in some
-measure are repaid for the punishment that was meted out to you by Vobis
-Kan because of your refusal to slay the sire of Bal Zak. I have sent my
-crew away that none aboard the Vosar but myself might have knowledge of
-your presence. Tell me your plans and command me in what way I may be of
-further service to you.”
-
-“We wish to reach the streets, unobserved,” replied Gor Hajus. “Can you
-but help us in that we shall not put upon your shoulders further
-responsibility for our escape. You have our gratitude and in Toonol, I
-need not remind you, the gratitude of Gor Hajus is a possession that
-even the Jeddak has craved.”
-
-“Your problem is complicated,” said Bal Zak, after a moment of thought,
-“by the personnel of your party. The ape would immediately attract
-attention and arouse suspicion. Knowing much of Ras Thavas’ experiments
-I realized at once this morning, after watching him with you, that he
-had the brain of a man; but this very fact would attract to him and to
-you the closer attention of the masses.”
-
-“I do not need acquaint them with the fact,” growled Hovan Du. “To them
-I need be but a captive ape. Are such unknown in Toonol?”
-
-“Not entirely, though they are rare,” replied Bal Zak. “But there is
-also the white skin of Vad Varo! Ras Thavas appears to have known
-nothing of the presence of the ape with you; but he full well knew of
-Vad Varo, and your description has been spread by every means at his
-command. You would be recognized immediately by the first Toonolian that
-lays eyes upon you, and then there is Gor Hajus. He has been as dead for
-six years, yet I venture there is scarce a Toonolian that broke the
-shell prior to ten years ago who does not know the face of Gor Hajus as
-well as he knows that of his own mother. The Jeddak himself was not
-better known to the people of Toonol than Gor Hajus. That leaves but one
-who might possibly escape suspicion and detection in the streets of
-Toonol.”
-
-“If we could but obtain weapons for these others,” I suggested, “we
-might even yet reach the house of Gor Hajus’ friend.”
-
-“Fight your way through the city of Toonol?” demanded Bal Zak.
-
-“If there is no other way we should have to,” I replied.
-
-“I admire the will,” commented the commander of the Vosar, “but fear
-that the flesh is without sufficient strength. Wait! there is a
-way—perhaps. On the stage just below this there is a public depot where
-equilibrimotors are kept and rented. Could we find the means to obtain
-four of these there would be a chance, at least, for you to elude the
-air patrols and reach the house of Gor Hajus’ friend; and I think I see
-a way to the accomplishment of that. The landing tower is closed for the
-night but there are several watchmen distributed through it at different
-levels. There is one at the equilibrimotor depot and, as I happen to
-know, he is a devotee of jetan. He would rather play jetan than attend
-to his duties as watchman. I often remain aboard the Vosar at night and
-occasionally he and I indulge in a game. I will ask him up to-night and
-while he is thus engaged you may go to the depot, help yourselves to
-equilibrimotors and pray to your ancestors that no air patrol suspects
-you as you cross the city towards your destination. What think you of
-this plan, Gor Hajus?”
-
-“It is splendid,” replied the assassin. “And you, Vad Varo?”
-
-“If I knew what an equilibrimotor is I might be in a better position to
-judge the merits of the plan,” I replied. “However, I am satisfied to
-abide by the judgment of Gor Hajus. I can assure you, Bal Zak, of our
-great appreciation, and as Gor Hajus has put the stamp of his approval
-upon your plan I can only urge you to arrange that we may put it into
-effect with as little delay as possible.”
-
-“Good!” exclaimed Bal Zak. “Come with me and I will conceal you until I
-have lured the watchman to the jetan game within my cabin. After that
-your fate will be in your own hands.”
-
-We followed him from the ship on to the deck of the landing stage and
-close under the side of the Vosar opposite that from which the watchman
-must approach the ship and enter it. Then, bidding us good luck, Bal Zak
-departed.
-
-From the summit of the landing tower I had my first view of a Martian
-city. Several hundred feet below me lay spread the broad, well-lighted
-avenues of Toonol, many of which were crowded with people. Here and
-there, in this central district, a building was raised high upon its
-supporting, cylindrical metal shaft; while further out, where the
-residences predominated, the city took on the appearance of a colossal
-and grotesque forest. Among the larger palaces only an occasional suite
-of rooms was thus raised high above the level of the others, these being
-the sleeping apartments of the owners, their servants or their guests;
-but the smaller homes were raised in their entirety, a precaution
-necessitated by the constant activities of the followers of Gor Hajus’
-ancient profession that permitted no man to be free from the constant
-menace of assassination. Throughout the central district the sky was
-pierced by the lofty towers of several other landing stages; but, as I
-was later to learn, these were comparatively few in number. Toonol is in
-no sense a flying nation, supporting no such enormous fleets of merchant
-ships and vessels of war as, for example, the twin cities of Helium or
-the great capital of Ptarth.
-
-A peculiar feature of the street lighting of Toonol, and in fact the
-same condition applies to the lighting of other Barsoomian cities I have
-visited, I noted for the first time that night as I waited upon the
-landing stage for the return of Bal Zak with the watchman. The
-luminosity below me seemed confined directly to the area to be lighted;
-there was no diffusion of light upward or beyond the limits the lamps
-were designed to light. This was effected, I was told, by lamps designed
-upon principles resulting from ages of investigation of the properties
-of light waves and the laws governing them which permit Barsoomian
-scientists to confine and control light as we confine and control
-matter. The light waves leave the lamp, pass along a prescribed circuit
-and return to the lamp. There is no waste nor, strange this seemed to
-me, are there any dense shadows when lights are properly installed and
-adjusted; for the waves in passing around objects to return to the lamp,
-illuminate all sides of them.
-
-The effect of this lighting from the great height of the tower was
-rather remarkable. The night was dark, there being no moons at that hour
-upon this night, and the effect was that obtained when sitting in a
-darkened auditorium and looking upon a brilliantly lighted stage. I was
-still intent upon watching the life and colour beneath when we heard Bal
-Zak returning. That he had been successful in his mission was apparent
-from the fact that he was conversing with another.
-
-Five minutes later we crept quietly from our hiding place and descended
-to the stage below where lay the equilibrimotor depot. As theft is
-practically unknown upon Barsoom, except for purposes entirely
-disassociated from a desire to obtain pecuniary profit through the thing
-stolen, no precautions are taken against theft. We therefore found the
-doors of the depot open and Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus quickly selected
-four equilibrimotors and adjusted them upon us. They consist of a broad
-belt, not unlike the life belt used aboard trans-oceanic liners upon
-Earth; these belts are filled with the eighth Barsoomian ray, or ray of
-propulsion, to a sufficient degree to just about equalize the pull of
-gravity and thus to maintain a person in equilibrium between that force
-and the opposite force exerted by the eighth ray. Permanently attached
-to the back of the belt is a small radium motor, the controls for which
-are upon the front of the belt. Rigidly attached to and projecting from
-each side of the upper rim of the belt is a strong, light wing with
-small hand levers for quickly altering its position.
-
-Gor Hajus quickly explained the method of control, but I could apprehend
-that there might be embarrassment and trouble awaiting me before I
-mastered the art of flying in an equilibrimotor. He showed me how to
-tilt the wings downward in walking so that I would not leave the ground
-at every step, and thus he led me to the edge of the landing stage.
-
-“We will rise here,” he said, “and keeping in the darkness of the upper
-levels seek to reach the house of my friend without being detected. If
-we are pursued by air patrols we must separate; and later those who
-escape may gather just west of the city wall where you will find a small
-lake with a deserted tower upon its northern rim—this tower will be our
-rendezvous in event of trouble. Follow me!” He started his motor and
-rose gracefully into the air.
-
-Hovan Du followed him and then it was my turn. I rose beautifully for
-about twenty feet, floating out over the city which lay hundreds of feet
-below, and then, quite suddenly, I turned upside down. I had done
-something wrong—I was quite positive of it. It was a most startling
-sensation, I can assure you, floating there with my head down, quite
-helpless; while below me lay the streets of a great city and no softer,
-I was sure, than the streets of Los Angeles or Paris. My motor was still
-going, and as I manipulated the controls which operated the wings I
-commenced to describe all sorts of strange loops and spirals and spins;
-and then Dar Tarus came to my rescue. First he told me to lie quietly
-and then directed the manipulation of each wing until I had gained an
-upright position. After that I did fairly well and was soon rising in
-the wake of Gor Hajus and Hovan Du.
-
-I need not describe in detail the hour of flying, or rather floating,
-that ensued. Gor Hajus led us to a considerable altitude and there,
-through the darkness above the city, our slow motors drove us towards a
-district of magnificent homes surrounded by spacious grounds; and here,
-as we hovered over a large palace, we were suddenly startled by a sharp
-challenge coming from directly above us.
-
-“Who flies by night?” a voice demanded.
-
-“Friends of Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan,” replied Gor Hajus
-quickly.
-
-“Let me see your night flying permit and your flier’s licence,” ordered
-the one above us, at the same time swooping suddenly to our level and
-giving me my first sight of a Martian policeman. He was equipped with a
-much swifter and handier equilibrimotor than ours. I think that was the
-first fact to impress us deeply, and it demonstrated the futility of
-flight; for he could have given us ten minutes start and overhauled each
-of us within another ten minutes, even though we had elected to fly in
-different directions. The fellow was a warrior rather than a policeman,
-though detailed to duty such as our Earthly police officers perform; the
-city being patrolled both day and night by the warriors of Vobis Kan’s
-army.
-
-He dropped now close to the assassin of Toonol, again demanding permit
-and license and at the same time flashing a light in the face of my
-comrade.
-
-“By the sword of the Jeddak!” he cried. “Fortune heaps her favors upon
-me. Who would have thought an hour since that it would be I who would
-collect the reward for the capture of Gor Hajus?”
-
-“Any other fool might have thought it,” returned Gor Hajus, “but he
-would have been as wrong as you,” and as he spoke he struck with the
-short-sword I had loaned him.
-
-The blow was broken by the wing of the warrior’s equilibrimotor, which
-it demolished, yet it inflicted a severe wound in the fellow’s shoulder.
-He tried to back off, but the damaged wing caused him only to wheel
-around erratically; and then he seized upon his whistle and attempted to
-blow a mighty blast that was cut short by another blow from Gor Hajus’
-sword that split the man’s head open to the bridge of his nose.
-
-“Quick!” cried the assassin. “We must drop into the gardens of Mu Tel,
-for that signal will bring a swarm of air patrols about our heads.”
-
-The others I saw falling rapidly towards the ground, but again I had
-trouble. Depress my wings as I would I moved only slightly downward and
-upon a path that, if continued, would have landed me at a considerable
-distance from the gardens of Mu Tel. I was approaching one of the
-elevated portions of the palace, what appeared to be a small suite that
-was raised upon its shining metal shaft far above the ground. From all
-directions I could hear the screaming whistles of the air patrols
-answering the last call of their comrade whose corpse floated just above
-me, a guide even in death to point the way for his fellows to search us
-out. They were sure to discover him and then I would be in plain view of
-them and my fate sealed.
-
-Perhaps I could find ingress to the apartment looming darkly near! There
-I might hide until the danger had passed, provided I could enter,
-undetected. I directed my course towards the structure; an open window
-took form through the darkness and then I collided with a fine wire
-netting—I had run into a protecting curtain that fends off assassins of
-the air from these high-flung sleeping apartments. I felt that I was
-lost. If I could but reach the ground I might find concealment among the
-trees and shrubbery that I had seen vaguely outlined beneath me in the
-gardens of this Barsoomian prince; but I could not drop at a sufficient
-angle to bring me to ground within the garden, and when I tried to
-spiral down I turned over and started up again. I thought of ripping
-open my belt and letting the eighth ray escape; but in my unfamiliarity
-with this strange force I feared that such an act might precipitate me
-to the ground with too great violence, though I was determined to have
-recourse to it as a last alternative if nothing less drastic presented
-itself.
-
-In my last attempt to spiral downward I rose rapidly feet foremost to a
-sudden and surprising collision with some object above me. As I
-frantically righted myself, fully expecting to be immediately seized by
-a member of the air patrol, I found myself face to face with the corpse
-of the warrior Gor Hajus had slain. The whistling of the air patrols
-sounded ever nearer—it could be only a question of seconds now before I
-was discovered—and with the stern necessity that confronted me, with
-death looking me in the face, there burst upon me a possible avenue of
-escape from my dilemma.
-
-Seizing tightly with my left hand the harness of the dead Toonolian, I
-whipped out my dagger and slashed his buoyancy belt a dozen times.
-Instantly, as the rays escaped, his body started to drag me downward.
-Our descent was rapid, but not precipitate, and it was but a matter of
-seconds before we landed gently upon the scarlet sward of the gardens of
-Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan, close beside a clump of heavy
-shrubbery. Above me sounded the whistles of the circling patrols as I
-dragged the corpse of the warrior into the concealing depth of the
-foliage. Nor was I an instant too soon for safety, as almost immediately
-the brilliant rays of a searchlight shot downward from the deck of a
-small patrol ship, illuminating the open spaces of the garden all about
-me. A hurried glance through the branches and the leaves of my sanctuary
-revealed nothing of my companions and I breathed a sigh of relief in the
-thought that they, too, had found concealment.
-
-The light played for a short time about the gardens and then passed on,
-as did the sound of the patrol’s whistles, as the search proceeded
-elsewhere; thus giving me the assurance that no suspicion was directed
-upon our hiding place.
-
-Left in darkness I appropriated such of the weapons of the dead warrior
-as I coveted, after having removed my equilibrimotor, which I was first
-minded to destroy, but which I finally decided to moor to one of the
-larger shrubs against the possibility that I might again have need for
-it; and now, secure in the conviction that the danger of discovery by
-the air patrol had passed, I left my concealment and started in search
-of my companions.
-
-Keeping well in the shadows of the trees and shrubs I moved in the
-direction of the main building, which loomed darkly near at hand; for in
-this direction I believed Gor Hajus would lead the others as I knew that
-the palace of Mu Tel was to have been our destination. As I crept along,
-moving with utmost stealth, Thuria, the nearer moon, shot suddenly above
-the horizon, illuminating the night with her brilliant rays. I was close
-to the building’s ornately carved wall at the moment; beside me was a
-narrow niche, its interior cast in deepest shadow by Thuria’s brilliant
-rays; to my left was an open bit of lawn upon which, revealed in every
-detail of its terrifying presence, stood as fearsome a creature as my
-Earthly eyes ever had rested upon. It was a beast about the size of a
-Shetland pony, with ten short legs and a terrifying head that bore some
-slight resemblance to that of a frog, except that the jaws were equipped
-with three rows of long, sharp tusks.
-
-The thing had its nose in the air and was sniffing about, while its
-great pop eyes moved swiftly here and there, assuring me, beyond the
-shadow of a doubt, that it was searching for someone. I am not inclined
-to be egotistical, yet I could not avoid the conviction that it was
-searching for me. It was my first experience of a Martian watch dog; and
-as I sought concealment within the dark shadows of the niche behind me,
-at the very instant that the creature’s eyes alighted upon me, and heard
-his growl and saw him charge straight towards me, I had a premonition
-that it might prove my last experience with one.
-
-I drew my long-sword as I backed into the niche, but with a sense of the
-utter inadequacy of the unaccustomed weapon in the face of this three or
-four hundred pounds of ferocity incarnate. Slowly I backed away into the
-shadows as the creature bore down upon me and then, as it entered the
-niche, my back collided with a solid obstacle that put an end to further
-retreat.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER IX
- THE PALACE OF MU TEL
-
-
-As the calot entered the niche I experienced, I believe, all of the
-reactions of the cornered rat, and I certainly know that I set myself to
-fight in that proverbial manner. The beast was almost upon me and I was
-metaphorically kicking myself for not having remained in the open where
-there were many tall trees when the support at my back suddenly gave
-way, a hand reached out of the darkness behind me and seized my harness
-and I was drawn swiftly into inky blackness. A door slammed and the
-silhouette of the calot against the moonlit entrance to the niche was
-blotted out.
-
-A gruff voice spoke in my ear. “Come with me!” it said. A hand found
-mine and thus I was led along through the darkness of what I soon
-discovered was a narrow corridor from the constantly recurring
-collisions I had first with one side of it and then with the other.
-
-Ascending gradually, the corridor turned abruptly at right angles and I
-saw beyond my guide a dim luminosity that gradually increased until
-another turn brought us to the threshold of a brilliantly lighted
-chamber—a magnificent apartment, the gorgeous furnishings and
-decorations of which beggar the meagre descriptive powers of my native
-tongue. Gold, ivory, precious stones, marvelous woods, resplendent
-fabrics, gorgeous furs and startling architecture combined to impress
-upon my earthly vision such a picture as I had never even dreamed of
-dreaming; and in the center of this room, surrounded by a little group
-of Martians, were my three companions.
-
-My guide conducted me towards the party, the members of which had turned
-towards us as we entered the chamber, and stopped before a tall
-Barsoomian, resplendent in jewel encrusted harness.
-
-“Prince,” he said, “I was scarce a tal too soon. In fact, as I opened
-the door to step out into the garden in search of him, as you directed,
-there he was upon the opposite side with one of the calots of the garden
-almost upon him.”
-
-“Good!” exclaimed he who had been addressed as prince, and then he
-turned to Gor Hajus. “This is he, my friend, of whom you told me?”
-
-“This is Vad Varo, who claims to be from the planet Jasoom,” replied Gor
-Hajus; “and this, Vad Varo, is Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan.”
-
-I bowed and the prince advanced and placed his right hand upon my left
-shoulder in true Barsoomian acknowledgment of an introduction; when I
-had done similarly, the ceremony was over. There was no silly
-pleased-to-meet-you, how-do-you-do? or it’s-a-pleasure-I-assure-you.
-
-At Mu Tel’s request I narrated briefly what had befallen me between the
-time I had become separated from my companions and the moment that one
-of his officers had snatched me from impending disaster. Mu Tel gave
-instructions that all traces of the dead patrol be removed before dawn
-lest their discovery bring upon him the further suspicion of his uncle,
-Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, whom it seemed had long been jealous of his
-nephew’s growing popularity and fearful that he harbored aspirations for
-the throne.
-
-It was later in the evening, during one of those elaborate meals for
-which the princes of Barsoom are justly famous, when mellowed slightly
-by the rare vintages with which he delighted his guests, that Mu Tel
-discoursed with less restraint upon his imperial uncle.
-
-“The nobles have long been tired of Vobis Kan,” he said, “and the people
-are tiring of him—he is a conscienceless tyrant—but he is our
-hereditary ruler, and so they hesitate to change. We are a practical
-people, little influenced by sentiment; yet there is enough to keep the
-masses loyal to their Jeddak even after he has ceased to deserve their
-loyalty, while the fear of the wrath of the masses keeps the nobles
-loyal. There is also the natural suspicion that I, the next in line for
-succession, would make them no less tyrannical a Jeddak than has Vobis
-Kan, while, having youth, I might be much more active in cruel and
-nefarious practices.
-
-“For myself, I would not hesitate to destroy my uncle and seize his
-throne were I sure of the support of the army, for with the warriors of
-Vobis Kan at my back I might defy the balance of Toonol. It is because
-of this that I long since offered my friendship to Gor Hajus; not that
-he might slay my uncle, but that when I had slain him in fair fight Gor
-Hajus might win to me the loyalty of the Jeddak’s warriors, for great is
-the popularity of Gor Hajus among the soldiers, who ever look up to such
-a great fighter with reverence and devotion. I have offered Gor Hajus a
-high place in the affairs of Toonol should he cast his lot with me; but
-he tells me that he has first to fulfil his obligations to you, Vad
-Varo, and for the furtherance of your adventure he has asked me to give
-you what assistance I may. This I offer gladly, from purely practical
-motives, since your early success will hasten mine. Therefore I propose
-to place at your disposal a staunch flier that will carry you and your
-companions to Phundahl.”
-
-This offer I naturally accepted, after which we fell to discussing plans
-for our departure which we finally decided to attempt early the
-following night, at a time when neither of the moons would be in the
-heavens. After a brief discussion of equipment we were, at my request,
-permitted to retire since I had not slept for more than thirty-six hours
-and my companions for twenty-four.
-
-Slaves conducted us to our sleeping apartments, which were luxuriously
-furnished, and arranged magnificent sleeping silks and furs for our
-comfort. After they had left us Gor Hajus touched a button and the room
-rose swiftly upon its metal shaft to a height of forty or fifty feet;
-the wire netting automatically dropped about us, and we were safe for
-the night.
-
-The following morning, after our apartment had been lowered to its
-daylight level and before I was permitted to leave it, a slave was sent
-to me by Mu Tel with instructions to stain my entire body the beautiful
-copper-red of my Barsoomian friends; furnishing me with a disguise which
-I well knew to be highly essential to the success of my venture, since
-my white skin would have drawn unpleasant notice upon me in any city of
-Barsoom. Another slave brought harness and weapons for Gor Hajus, Dar
-Tarus and myself, and a collar and chain for Hovan Du, the ape-man. Our
-harness, while of heavy material, and splendid workmanship, was quite
-plain, being free of all insignia either of rank or service—such
-harness as is customarily worn by the Barsoomian panthan, or soldier of
-fortune, at such times as he is not definitely in the service of any
-nation or individual. These panthans are virtually men without a
-country, being roving mercenaries ready to sell their swords to the
-highest bidder. Although they have no organization they are ruled by a
-severe code of ethics and while in the employ of a master are, almost
-without exception, loyal to him. They are generally supposed to be men
-who have flown from the wrath of their own Jeddaks or the justice of
-their own courts, but there is among them a sprinkling of adventurous
-souls who have adopted their calling because of the thrills and
-excitement it offers. While they are well paid, they are also great
-gamblers and notorious spenders, with the result that they are almost
-always without funds and often reduced to strange expedients for the
-gaining of their livelihood between engagements; a fact which gave great
-plausibility to our possession of a trained ape, which upon Mars would
-appear no more remarkable than would to us the possession of a monkey or
-parrot by an old salt just returned, from a long cruise, to one of our
-Earthly ports.
-
-This day that I stayed in the palace of Mu Tel I spent much in the
-company of the prince, who found pleasure in questioning me concerning
-the customs, the politics, the civilization and the geography of Earth,
-with much of which, I was surprised to note, he seemed quite familiar; a
-fact which he explained was due to the marvelous development of
-Barsoomian astronomical instruments, wireless photography and wireless
-telephony; the last of which has been brought to such a state of
-perfection that many Barsoomian savants have succeeded in learning
-several Earthly languages, notably Urdu, English and Russian, and, a
-few, Chinese also. These have doubtless been the first languages to
-attract their attention because of the fact that they are spoken by
-great numbers of people over large areas of the world.
-
-Mu Tel took me to a small auditorium in his palace that reminded me
-somewhat of private projection rooms on Earth. It had, I should say, a
-capacity of some two hundred persons and was built like a large camera
-obscura; the audience sitting within the instrument, their backs towards
-the lens and in front of them, filling one entire end of the room, a
-large ground glass upon which is thrown the image to be observed.
-
-Mu Tel seated himself at a table upon which was a chart of the heavens.
-Just above the chart was a movable arm carrying a pointer. This pointer
-Mu Tel moved until it rested upon the planet Earth, then he switched off
-the light in the room and immediately there appeared upon the ground
-glass plate a view such as one might obtain from an airplane riding at
-an elevation of a thousand feet. There was something strangely familiar
-about the scene before me. It was of a desolate, wasted country. I saw
-shattered stumps whose orderly arrangement proclaimed that here once an
-orchard had blossomed and borne fruit. There were great, unsightly holes
-in the earth and over and across all a tangle of barbed wire. I asked Mu
-Tel how we might change the picture to another locality. He lighted a
-small radio bulb between us and I saw a globe there, a globe of Earth,
-and a small pointer fixed over it.
-
-“The side of this globe now presented to you represents the face of the
-Earth turned towards us,” explained Mu Tel. “You will note that the
-globe is slowly revolving. Place this pointer where you will upon the
-globe and that portion of Jasoom will be revealed for you.”
-
-I moved the pointer very slowly and the picture changed. A ruined
-village came into view. I saw some people moving among its ruins. They
-were not soldiers. A little further on I came upon trenches and
-dug-outs—there were no soldiers here, either. I moved the pointer
-rapidly north and south along a vast line of trenches. Here and there in
-villages there were soldiers, but they were all French soldiers and
-never were they in the trenches. There were no German soldiers and no
-fighting. The war was over, then! I moved the pointer to the Rhine and
-across. There were soldiers in Germany—French soldiers, English
-soldiers, American soldiers. We had won the war! I was glad, but it
-seemed very far away and quite unreal—as though no such world existed
-and no such peoples had ever fought—it was as though I were recalling
-through its illustrations a novel that I had read a long time since.
-
-“You seem much interested in that war torn country,” remarked Mu Tel.
-
-“Yes,” I explained, “I fought in that war. Perhaps I was killed. I do
-not know.”
-
-“And you won?” he asked.
-
-“Yes, my people won,” I replied. “We fought for a great principle and
-for the peace and happiness of a world. I hope that we did not fight in
-vain.”
-
-“If you mean that you hope that your principle will triumph because you
-fought and won, or that peace will come, your hopes are futile. War
-never brought peace—it but brings more and greater wars. War is
-Nature’s natural state—it is folly to combat it. Peace should be
-considered only as a time for preparation for the principal business of
-man’s existence. Were it not for constant warring of one form of life
-upon another, and even upon itself, the planets would be so overrun with
-life that it would smother itself out. We found upon Barsoom that long
-periods of peace brought plagues and terrible diseases that killed more
-than the wars killed and in a much more hideous and painful way. There
-is neither pleasure nor thrill nor reward of any sort to be gained by
-dying in bed of a loathsome disease. We must all die—let us therefore
-go out and die in a great and exciting game, and make room for the
-millions who are to follow us. We have tried it out upon Barsoom and we
-would not be without war.”
-
-Mu Tel told me much that day about the peculiar philosophy of
-Toonolians. They believe that no good deed was ever performed except for
-a selfish motive; they have no god and no religion; they believe, as do
-all educated Barsoomians, that man came originally from the Tree of
-Life, but unlike most of their fellows they do not believe that an
-omnipotent being created the Tree of Life. They hold that the only sin
-is failure—success, however achieved, is meritorious; and yet,
-paradoxical as it may seem, they never break their given word. Mu Tel
-explained that they overcame the baneful results of this degrading
-weakness—this sentimental bosh—by seldom, if ever, binding themselves
-to loyalty to another, and then only for a definitely prescribed period.
-
-As I came to know them better, and especially Gor Hajus, I began to
-realize that much of their flaunted contempt of the finer sensibilities
-was specious. It is true that generations of inhibition had to some
-extent atrophied those characteristics of heart and soul which the
-noblest among us so highly esteem; that friendship’s ties were lax and
-that blood kinship awakened no high sense of responsibility or love even
-between parents and children; yet Gor Hajus was essentially a man of
-sentiment, though he would doubtless have run through the heart any who
-had dared accuse him of it, thus perfectly proving the truth of the
-other’s accusation. His pride in his reputation for integrity and
-loyalty proved him a man of heart as truly as did his jealousy of his
-reputation for heartlessness prove him a man of sentiment; and in all
-this he was but typical of the people of Toonol. They denied deity, and
-in the same breath worshiped the fetish of science that they had
-permitted to obsess them quite as harmfully as do religious fanatics
-accept the unreasoning rule of their imaginary gods; and so, with all
-their vaunted knowledge, they were unintelligent because unbalanced.
-
-As the day drew to a close I became the more anxious to be away. Far to
-the west across desolate leagues of marsh lay Phundahl, and in Phundahl
-the beauteous body of the girl I loved and that I was sworn to restore
-to its rightful owner. The evening meal was over and Mu Tel himself had
-conducted us to a secret hangar in one of the towers of his palace. Here
-artisans had prepared a flier for us, having removed during the day all
-signs of its real ownership, even to slightly altering its lines; so
-that in the event of capture Mu Tel’s name might in no way be connected
-with the expedition. Provisions were stored, including plenty of raw
-meat for Hovan Du, and, as the farther moon sank below the horizon and
-darkness fell, a panel of the tower wall, directly in front of the
-flier’s nose, slid aside. Mu Tel wished us luck and the ship slipped
-silently out into the night. The flier, like many of her type, was
-without cockpit or cabin; a low, metal hand-rail surmounted her gunwale;
-heavy rings were set substantially in her deck and to these her crew was
-supposed to cling or attach themselves by means of their harness hooks
-provided for this and similar purposes; a low wind shield, with a rakish
-slant, afforded some protection from the wind; the motor and controls
-were all exposed, as all the space below decks was taken up by the
-buoyancy tanks. In this type everything is sacrificed to speed; there is
-no comfort aboard. When moving at high speed each member of the crew
-lies extended at full length upon the deck, each in his allotted place
-to give the necessary trim, and hangs on for dear life. These Toonolian
-crafts, however, are not overly fast, so I was told, being far
-outstripped in speed by the fliers of such nations as Helium and Ptarth
-who have for ages devoted themselves to the perfection of their navies;
-but this one was quite fast enough for our purposes, to the consummation
-of which it would be pitted against fliers of no higher rating, and it
-was certainly fast enough for me. In comparison with the slow moving
-Vosar, it seemed to shoot through the air like an arrow.
-
-We wasted no time in strategy or stealth, but opened her wide as soon as
-we were in the clear, and directed her straight towards the west and
-Phundahl. Scarcely had we passed over the gardens of Mu Tel when we met
-with our first adventure. We shot by a solitary figure floating in the
-air and almost simultaneously there shrilled forth the warning whistle
-of an air patrol. A shot whistled above us harmlessly and we were gone;
-but within a few seconds I saw the rays of a searchlight shining down
-from above and moving searchingly to and fro through the air.
-
-“A patrol boat!” shouted Gor Hajus in my ear. Hovan Du growled savagely
-and shook the chain upon his collar. We raced on, trusting to the big
-gods and the little gods and all our ancestors that the relentless eye
-of light would not find us out; but it did. Within a few seconds it fell
-full upon our deck from above and in front of us and there it clung as
-the patrol boat dropped rapidly towards us while it maintained a high
-rate of speed upon a course otherwise identical with ours. Then, to our
-consternation, the ship opened fire on us with explosive bullets. These
-projectiles contain a high explosive that is detonated by light rays
-when the opaque covering of the projectile is broken by impact with the
-target. It is therefore not at all necessary to make a direct hit for a
-shot to be effective. If the projectile strikes the ground or the deck
-of a vessel or any solid substance near its target, it does considerably
-more damage when fired at a group of men than if it strikes but one of
-them, since it will then explode if its outer shell is broken and kill
-or wound several; while if it enters the body of an individual the light
-rays cannot reach it and it accomplishes no more than a non-explosive
-bullet. Moonlight is not powerful enough to detonate this explosive and
-so projectiles fired at night, unless touched by the powerful rays of
-searchlights, detonate at sunrise the following morning, making a
-battlefield a most unsafe place at that time even though the contending
-forces are no longer there. Similarly they make the removal of the
-unexploded projectiles from the bodies of the wounded a most ticklish
-operation which may well result in the instant death of both the patient
-and the surgeon.
-
-Dar Tarus, at the controls, turned the nose of our flier upward directly
-towards the patrol boat and at the same time shouted to us to
-concentrate our fire upon her propellers. For myself, I could see little
-but the blinding eye of the searchlight, and at that I fired with the
-strange weapon to which I had received my first introduction but a few
-hours since when it was presented to me by Mu Tel. To me that all
-searching eye represented the greatest menace that confronted us, and
-could we blind it the patrol boat would have no great advantage over us.
-So I kept my rifle straight upon it, my finger on the button that
-controlled the fire, and prayed for a hit.
-
-Gor Hajus knelt at my side, his weapon spitting bullets at the patrol
-boat. Dar Tarus’ hands were busy with the controls and Hovan Du squatted
-in the bow and growled.
-
-Suddenly Dar Tarus voiced an exclamation of alarm. “The controls are
-hit!” he shouted. “We can’t alter our course—the ship is useless.”
-Almost the same instant the searchlight was extinguished—one of my
-bullets evidently having found it. We were quite close to the enemy now
-and heard their shout of anger. Our own craft, out of control, was
-running swiftly towards the other. It seemed that if there was not a
-collision we would pass directly beneath the keel of the air patrol. I
-asked Dar Tarus if our ship was beyond repair.
-
-“We could repair it if we had time,” he replied, “but it would take
-hours and while we were thus delayed the whole air patrol force of
-Toonol would be upon us.”
-
-“Then we must have another ship,” I said. Dar Tarus laughed. “You are
-right, Vad Varo,” he replied, “but where shall we find it?”
-
-I pointed to the patrol boat. “We shall not have to look far.”
-
-Dar Tarus shrugged his shoulders. “Why not!” he exclaimed. “It would be
-a glorious fight and a worthy death.”
-
-Gor Hajus slapped me on the shoulder. “To the death, my captain!” he
-cried.
-
-Hovan Du shook his chain and roared.
-
-The two ships were rapidly approaching one another. We had stopped
-firing now for fear that we might disable the craft we hoped to use for
-our escape; and for some reason the crew of the patrol ship had ceased
-firing at us—I never learned why. We were moving in a line that would
-bring us directly beneath the other ship. I determined to board her at
-all costs. I could see her keel boarding tackle slung beneath her, ready
-to be lowered to the deck of a quarry when once her grappling hooks had
-seized the prey. Doubtless they were already manning the latter, and as
-soon as we were beneath her the steel tentacles would reach down and
-seize us as her crew swarmed down the board tackle to our deck.
-
-I called Hovan Du and he crept back to my side where I whispered my
-instructions in his ear. When I was done he nodded his head with a low
-growl. I cast off the harness hook that held me to the deck, and the ape
-and I moved to our bow after I had issued brief, whispered instructions
-to Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus. We were now almost directly beneath the
-enemy craft; I could see the grappling hooks being prepared for
-lowering. Our bow ran beneath the stern of the other ship and the moment
-was at hand for which I had been waiting. Now those upon the deck of the
-patrol boat could not see Hovan Du or me. The boarding tackle of the
-other ship swung fifteen feet above our heads; I whispered a word of
-command to the ape and simultaneously we crouched and sprang for the
-tackle. It may sound like a mad chance—failure meant almost certain
-death—but I felt that if two of us could reach the deck of the patrol
-boat while her crew was busy with the grappling gear it would be well
-worth the risk.
-
-Gor Hajus had assured me that there would not be more than six men
-aboard the patrol ship; that one would be at the controls and the others
-manning the grappling hooks. It would be a most propitious time to gain
-a footing on the enemy’s deck.
-
-Hovan Du and I made our leaps and Fortune smiled upon us, though the
-huge ape but barely reached the tackle with one outstretched hand, while
-my Earthly muscles carried me easily to my goal. Together we made our
-way rapidly towards the bow of the patrol craft and without hesitation,
-and as previously arranged, he clambered quickly up the starboard side
-and I the port. If I were the more agile jumper Hovan Du far outclassed
-me in climbing, with the result that he reached the rail and was
-clambering over while my eyes were still below the level of the deck,
-which was, perhaps, a fortunate thing for me since, by chance, I had
-elected to gain the deck directly at a point where, unknown to me, one
-of the crew of the ship was engaged with the grappling hooks. Had his
-eyes not been attracted elsewhere by the shout of one of his fellows who
-was first to see Hovan Du’s savage face rise above the gunwale, he could
-have dispatched me with a single blow before ever I could have set foot
-upon the deck.
-
-The ape had also come up directly in front of a Toonolian warrior and
-this fellow had let out a yell of surprise and sought to draw his sword,
-but the ape, for all his great bulk, was too quick for him; and as my
-eyes topped the rail I saw the mighty anthropoid seize the unfortunate
-man by the harness, drag him to the side and hurl him to destruction far
-below. Instantly we were both over the rail and squarely on deck while
-the remaining members of the craft’s crew, abandoning their stations,
-ran forward to overpower us. I think that the sight of the great, savage
-beast must have had a demoralizing effect upon them, for they hesitated,
-each seeming to be willing to accord his fellow the honour of first
-engaging us; but they did come on, though slowly. This hesitation I was
-delighted to see, for it accorded perfectly with the plan that I had
-worked out, which depended largely upon the success which might attend
-the efforts of Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus to reach the deck of the patrol
-when our craft had risen sufficiently close beneath the other to permit
-them to reach the boarding tackle, which we were utilizing with reverse
-English, as one might say.
-
-Gor Hajus had cautioned me to dispatch the man at the controls as
-quickly as possible, since his very first act would be to injure them
-the instant that there appeared any possibility that we might be
-successful in our attempt to take his ship, and so I ran quickly towards
-him and before he could draw I cut him down. There were now four against
-us and we waited for them to advance that we might gain time for our
-fellows to reach the deck.
-
-The four moved slowly forward and were almost within striking distance
-when I saw Gor Hajus’ head appear above the stern rail, quickly followed
-by that of Dar Tarus.
-
-“Look!” I cried to the enemy, “and surrender,” and I pointed astern.
-
-One of them turned to look and what he saw brought an exclamation of
-surprise to his lips. “It is Gor Hajus,” he cried, and then, to me:
-“What is your purpose with us if we surrender?”
-
-“We have no quarrel with you,” I replied. “We but wish to leave Toonol
-and go our way in peace—we shall not harm you.”
-
-He turned to his fellows while, at a sign from me, my three companions
-stopped their advance and waited. For a few minutes the four warriors
-conversed in low tones, then he who had first spoken addressed me.
-
-“There are few Toonolians,” he said, “who would not be glad to serve Gor
-Hajus, whom we had thought long dead, but to surrender our ship to you
-would mean certain death for us when we reported our defeat at our
-headquarters. On the other hand were we to continue our defence most of
-us here upon the deck of this flier would be killed. If you can assure
-us that your plans are not aimed at the safety of Toonol I can make a
-suggestion that will afford an avenue of escape and safety for us all.”
-
-“We only wish to leave Toonol,” I replied. “No harm can come to Toonol
-because of what I seek to accomplish.”
-
-“Good! and where do you wish to go?”
-
-“That I may not tell you.”
-
-“You may trust us, if you accept my proposal,” he assured me, “which is
-that we convey you to your destination, after which we can return to
-Toonol and report that we engaged you and that after a long running
-fight, in which two of our number were killed, you eluded us in the
-darkness and escaped.”
-
-“Can we trust these men?” I asked, addressing Gor Hajus, who assured me
-that we could, and thus the compact was entered into which saw us
-speeding rapidly towards Phundahl aboard one of Vobis Kan’s own fliers.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER X
- PHUNDAHL
-
-
-The following night the Toonolian crew set us down just inside the wall
-of the city of Phundahl, following the directions of Dar Tarus who was a
-native of the city, had been a warrior of the Jeddara’s Guard and, prior
-to that, seen service in Phundahl’s tiny navy. That he was familiar with
-every detail of Phundahl’s defences and her systems of patrols was
-evidenced by the fact that we landed without detection and that the
-Toonolian ship rose and departed apparently unnoticed.
-
-Our landing place had been the roof of a low building built within and
-against the city wall. From this roof Dar Tarus led us down an inclined
-runway to the street, which, at this point, was quite deserted. The
-street was narrow and dark, being flanked upon one side by the low
-buildings built against the city wall and upon the other by higher
-buildings, some of which were windowless and none showing any light. Dar
-Tarus explained that he had chosen this point for our entrance because
-it was a district of storage houses, and while a hive of industry during
-the day, was always deserted at night, not even a watchman being
-required owing to the almost total absence of thievery upon Barsoom.
-
-By devious and roundabout ways he led us finally to a section of
-second-rate shops, eating places and hotels such as are frequented by
-the common soldiers, artisans and slaves, where the only attention we
-attracted was due to the curiosity aroused by Hovan Du. As we had not
-eaten since leaving Mu Tel’s palace, our first consideration was food.
-Mu Tel had furnished Gor Hajus with money, so that we had the means to
-gratify our wants. Our first stop was at a small shop where Gor Hajus
-purchased four or five pounds of thoat steak for Hovan Du, and then we
-repaired to an eating place of which Dar Tarus knew. At first the
-proprietor would not let us bring Hovan Du inside, but finally, after
-much argument, he permitted us to lock the great ape in an inner room
-where Hovan Du was forced to remain with his thoat meat while we sat at
-a table in the outer room.
-
-I will say for Hovan Du that he played his role well, nor was there once
-when the proprietor of the place, or any of his patrons, or the
-considerable crowd that gathered to listen to the altercation, could
-have guessed that the body of the great, savage beast was animated by a
-human brain. It was really only when feeding or fighting that the simian
-half of Hovan Du’s brain appeared to exercise any considerable influence
-upon him; yet there seemed little doubt that it always coloured all his
-thoughts and actions to some extent, accounting for his habitual
-taciturnity and the quickness with which he was aroused to anger, as
-well as to the fact that he never smiled, nor appeared to appreciate in
-any degree the humor of a situation. He assured me, however, that the
-human half of his brain not only appreciated but greatly enjoyed the
-lighter episodes and occurrences of our adventure and the witty stories
-and anecdotes related by Gor Hajus, the Assassin, but that his simian
-anatomy had developed no muscles wherewith to evidence physical
-expression of his mental reactions.
-
-We dined heartily, though upon rough and simple fare, but were glad to
-escape the prying curiosity of the garrulous and gossipy proprietor, who
-plied us with so many questions as to our past performances and future
-plans that Dar Tarus, who was our spokesman here, was hard put to it to
-quickly fabricate replies that would be always consistent. However,
-escape we did at last, and once again in the street, Dar Tarus set out
-to lead us to a public lodging house of which he knew. As we went we
-approached a great building of wondrous beauty in and out of which
-constant streams of people were pouring, and when we were before it Dar
-Tarus asked us to wait without as he must enter. When I asked him why,
-he told me that this was a temple of Tur, the god worshipped by the
-people of Phundahl.
-
-“I have been away for a long time,” he said, “and have had no
-opportunity to do honor to my god. I shall not keep you waiting long.
-Gor Hajus, will you loan me a few pieces of gold?”
-
-In silence the Toonolian took a few pieces of money from one of his
-pocket pouches and handed them to Dar Tarus, but I could see that it was
-only with difficulty that he hid an expression of contempt, since the
-Toonolians are atheists.
-
-I asked Dar Tarus if I might accompany him into the temple, which seemed
-to please him very much; and so we fell in with the stream approaching
-the broad entrance. Dar Tarus gave me two of the gold pieces that he had
-borrowed from Gor Hajus and told me to follow directly behind him and do
-whatever I saw him doing. Directly inside the main entrance, and spread
-entirely across it at intervals that permitted space for the worshippers
-to pass between them, was a line of priests, their entire bodies,
-including their heads and faces, covered by a mantle of white cloth. In
-front of each was a substantial stand upon which rested a cash drawer.
-As we approached one of these we handed him a piece of gold which he
-immediately changed into many pieces of lesser value, one of which we
-dropped into a box at his side; whereupon he made several passes with
-his hands above our heads, dipped one of his fingers into a bowl of
-dirty water which he rubbed upon the ends of our noses, mumbled a few
-words which I could not understand and turned to the next in line as we
-passed on into the interior of the great temple. Never have I seen such
-a gorgeous display of wealth and lavish ornamentation as confronted my
-eyes in this, the first of the temples of Tur that it was my fortune to
-behold.
-
-The enormous floor was unbroken by a single pillar and arranged upon it
-at regular intervals were carven images resting upon gorgeous pedestals.
-Some of these images were of men and some of women and many of them were
-beautiful; and there were others of beasts and of strange, grotesque
-creatures and many of these were hideous indeed. The first we approached
-was that of a beautiful female figure; and about the pedestal of this
-lay a number of men and women prone upon the floor against which they
-bumped their heads seven times and then arose and dropped a piece of
-money into a receptacle provided for that purpose, moving on then to
-another figure. The next that Dar Tarus and I visited was that of a man
-with the body of a _silian_, about the pedestal of which was arranged a
-series of horizontal wooden bars in concentric circles. The bars were
-about five feet from the floor and hanging from them by their knees were
-a number of men and women, repeating monotonously, over and over again,
-something that sounded to me like, _bibble-babble-blup_.
-
-Dar Tarus and I swung to the bars like the others and mumbled the
-meaningless phrase for a minute or two, then we swung down, dropped a
-coin into the box, and moved on. I asked Dar Tarus what the words were
-that we had repeated and what they meant, but he said he did not know. I
-asked him if anyone knew, but he appeared shocked and said that such a
-question was sacrilegious and revealed a marked lack of faith. At the
-next figure we visited the people were all upon their hands and knees
-crawling madly in a circle about the pedestal. Seven times around they
-crawled and then they arose and put some money in a dish and went their
-ways. At another the people rolled about, saying, “Tur is Tur; Tur is
-Tur; Tur is Tur,” and dropping money in a golden bowl when they were
-done.
-
-“What god was that?” I whispered to Dar Tarus when we had quit this last
-figure, which had no head, but eyes, nose and mouth in the center of its
-belly.
-
-“There is but one god,” replied Dar Tarus solemnly, “and he is Tur!”
-
-“Was that Tur?” I inquired.
-
-“Silence, man,” whispered Dar Tarus. “They would tear you to pieces were
-they to hear such heresy.”
-
-“Oh, I beg your pardon,” I exclaimed. “I did not mean to offend. I see
-now that that is merely one of your idols.”
-
-Dar Tarus clapped a hand over my mouth. “S-s-s-t!” he cautioned to
-silence. “We do not worship idols—there is but one god and he is Tur!”
-
-“Well, what are these?” I insisted, with a sweep of a hand that embraced
-the several score images about which were gathered the thousands of
-worshippers.
-
-“We must not ask,” he assured me. “It is enough that we have faith that
-all the works of Tur are just and righteous. Come! I shall soon be
-through and we may join our companions.”
-
-He led me next to the figure of a monstrosity with a mouth that ran
-entirely around its head. It had a long tail and the breasts of a woman.
-About this image were a great many people, each standing upon his head.
-They also were repeating, over and over, “Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur; Tur is
-Tur.” When we had done this for a minute or two, during which I had a
-devil of a time maintaining my equilibrium, we arose, dropped a coin
-into the box by the pedestal and moved on.
-
-“We may go now,” said Dar Tarus. “I have done well in the sight of Tur.”
-
-“I notice,” I remarked, “that the people repeated the same phrase before
-this figure that they did at the last—Tur is Tur.”
-
-“Oh, no,” exclaimed Dar Tarus. “On the contrary they said just exactly
-the opposite from what they said at the other. At that they said, Tur is
-Tur; while at this they absolutely reversed it and said, Tur is Tur. Do
-you not see? They turned it right around backwards, which makes a very
-great difference.”
-
-“It sounded the same to me,” I insisted.
-
-“That is because you lack faith,” he said sadly, and we passed out of
-the temple, after depositing the rest of our money in a huge chest, of
-which there were many standing about almost filled with coins.
-
-We found Gor Hajus and Hovan Du awaiting us impatiently, the center of a
-large and curious throng among which were many warriors in the metal of
-Xaxa, the Jeddara of Phundahl. They wanted to see Hovan Du perform, but
-Dar Tarus told them that he was tired and in an ugly mood.
-
-“To-morrow,” he said, “when he is rested I shall bring him out upon the
-avenues to amuse you.”
-
-With difficulty we extricated ourselves, and passing into a quieter
-avenue, took a roundabout way to the lodging place, where Hovan Du was
-confined in a small chamber while Gor Hajus, Dar Tarus and I were
-conducted by slaves to a large sleeping apartment where sleeping silks
-and furs were arranged for us upon a low platform that encircled the
-room and was broken only at the single entrance to the chamber. Here
-were already sleeping a considerable number of men, while two armed
-slaves patrolled the aisle to guard the guests from assassins.
-
-It was still early and some of the other lodgers were conversing in low
-whispers so I sought to engage Dar Tarus in conversation relative to his
-religion, about which I was curious.
-
-“The mysteries of religions always fascinate me, Dar Tarus,” I told him.
-
-“Ah, but that is the beauty of the religion of Tur,” he exclaimed, “it
-has no mysteries. It is simple, natural, scientific and every word and
-work of it is susceptible of proof through the pages of Turgan, the
-great book written by Tur himself.
-
-“Tur’s home is upon the sun. There, one hundred thousands year ago, he
-made Barsoom and tossed it out into space. Then he amused himself by
-creating man in various forms and two sexes; and later he fashioned
-animals to be food for man and each other, and caused vegetation and
-water to appear that man and the animals might live. Do you not see how
-simple and scientific it all is?”
-
-But it was Gor Hajus who told me most about the religion of Tur one day
-when Dar Tarus was not about. He said that the Phundahlians maintained
-that Tur still created every living thing with his own hands. They
-denied vigorously that man possessed the power to reproduce his kind and
-taught their young that all such belief was vile; and always they hid
-every evidence of natural procreation, insisting to the death that even
-those things which they witnessed with their own eyes and experienced
-with their own bodies in the bringing forth of their young never
-transpired.
-
-Turgan taught them that Barsoom is flat and they shut their minds to
-every proof to the contrary. They would not leave Phundahl far for fear
-of falling off the edge of the world; they would not permit the
-development of aeronautics because should one of their ships
-circumnavigate Barsoom it would be a wicked sacrilege in the eyes of Tur
-who made Barsoom flat.
-
-They would not permit the use of telescopes, for Tur taught them that
-there was no other world than Barsoom and to look at another would be
-heresy; nor would they permit the teaching in their schools of any
-history of Barsoom that antedated the creation of Barsoom by Tur, though
-Barsoom has a well authenticated written history that reaches back more
-than one hundred thousand years; nor would they permit any geography of
-Barsoom except that which appears in Turgan, nor any scientific
-researches along biological lines. Turgan is their only text book—if it
-is not in Turgan it is a wicked lie.
-
-Much of all this and a great deal more I gathered from one source or
-another during my brief stay in Phundahl, whose people are, I believe,
-the least advanced in civilization of any of the red nations upon
-Barsoom. Giving, as they do, all their best thought to religious
-matters, they have become ignorant, bigoted and narrow, going as far to
-one extreme as the Toonolians do to the other.
-
-However, I had not come to Phundahl to investigate her culture but to
-steal her queen, and that thought was uppermost in my mind when I awoke
-to a new day—my first in Phundahl. Following the morning meal we set
-out in the direction of the palace to reconnoitre, Dar Tarus leading us
-to a point from which he might easily direct us the balance of the way,
-as he did not dare accompany us to the immediate vicinity of the royal
-grounds for fear of recognition, the body he now possessed having
-formerly belonged to a well-known noble.
-
-It was arranged that Gor Hajus should act as spokesman and I as keeper
-of the ape. This arranged, we bade farewell to Dar Tarus and set forth,
-the three of us, along a broad and beautiful avenue that led directly to
-the palace gates. We had been planning and rehearsing the parts that we
-were to play and which we hoped would prove so successful that they
-would open the gates to us and win us to the presence of the Jeddara.
-
-As we strolled with seeming unconcern along the avenue, I had ample
-opportunity to enjoy the novel and beautiful sights of this rich
-boulevard of palaces. The sun shone down upon vivid scarlet lawns,
-gorgeous flowered pimalia and a score of other rarely beautiful
-Barsoomian shrubs and trees, while the avenue itself was shaded by
-almost perfect specimens of the magnificent sorapus. The sleeping
-apartments of the buildings had all been lowered to their daytime level,
-and from a hundred balconies gorgeous silks and furs were airing in the
-sun. Slaves were briskly engaged with their duties about the grounds,
-while upon many a balcony women and children sat at their morning meal.
-Among the children we aroused considerable enthusiasm, or at least Hovan
-Du did, nor was he without interest to the adults. Some of them would
-have detained us for an exhibition, but we moved steadily on towards the
-palace, for nowhere else had we business or concern within the walls of
-Phundahl.
-
-Around the palace gates was the usual crowd of loitering curiosity
-seekers; for after all human nature is much the same everywhere, whether
-skins be black or white, red or yellow or brown, upon Earth or upon
-Mars. The crowd before Xaxa’s gates were largely made up of visitors
-from the islands of that part of the Great Toonolian Marshes which owes
-allegiance to Phundahl’s queen, and like all provincials eager for a
-glimpse of royalty; though none the less to be interested by the antics
-of a simian, wherefore we had a ready made audience awaiting our
-arrival. Their natural fear of the great brute caused them to fall back
-a little at our approach so that we had a clear avenue to the very gates
-themselves, and there we halted while the crowds closed in behind,
-forming a half circle about us. Gor Hajus addressed them in a loud tone
-of voice that might be overheard by the warriors and their officers
-beyond the gates, for it was really them we had come to entertain, not
-the crowds in which we had not the slightest interest.
-
-“Men and women of Phundahl,” cried Gor Hajus, “behold two poor panthans,
-who, risking their lives, have captured and trained one of the most
-savage and ferocious and at the same time most intelligent specimens of
-the great white ape of Barsoom ever before seen in captivity and at
-great expense have brought it to Phundahl for your entertainment and
-edification. My friends, this wonderful ape is endowed with human
-intelligence; he understands every word that is spoken to him. With your
-kind attention, my friends, I will endeavor to demonstrate the
-remarkable intelligence of this ferocious, man-eating beast—an
-intelligence that has entertained the crowned heads of Barsoom and
-mystified the minds of her most learned savants.”
-
-I thought Gor Hajus did pretty well as a bally-hoo artist. I had to
-smile as I listened, here upon Mars, to the familiar lines that I had
-taught him out of my Earthly experience of county fairs and amusement
-parks, so highly ludicrous they sounded falling from the lips of the
-Assassin of Toonol; but they evidently interested his auditors and
-impressed them, too, for they craned their necks and stood in earnest
-eyed silence awaiting the performance of Hovan Du. Even better, several
-members of the Jeddara’s Guard pricked up their ears and sauntered
-towards the gates; and among them was an officer.
-
-Gor Hajus caused Hovan Du to lie down at word of command, to get up, to
-stand upon one foot, and to indicate the number of fingers that Gor
-Hajus held up by growling once for each finger, thus satisfying the
-audience that he could count; but these simple things were only by way
-of leading up to the more remarkable achievements which we hoped would
-win an audience before the Jeddara. Gor Hajus borrowed a set of harness
-and weapons from a man in the crowd and had Hovan Du don it and fence
-with him, and then indeed did we hear exclamations of amazement.
-
-The warriors and the officer of Xaxa had drawn near the gates and were
-interested spectators, which was precisely what we wished, and now Gor
-Hajus was ready for the final, astounding revelation of Hovan Du’s
-intelligence.
-
-“These things that you have witnessed are as nothing,” he cried. “Why
-this wonderful beast can even read and write. He was captured in a
-deserted city near Ptarth and can read and write the language of that
-country. Is there among you one who, by chance, comes from that distant
-country?”
-
-A slave spoke up. “I am from Ptarth.”
-
-“Good!” said Gor Hajus. “Write some simple instructions and hand them to
-the ape. I will turn my back that you may know that I cannot assist him
-in any way.”
-
-The slave drew forth a tablet from a pocket pouch and wrote briefly.
-What he wrote he handed to Hovan Du. The ape read the message and
-without hesitation moved quickly to the gate and handed it to the
-officer standing upon the other side, the gate being constructed of
-wrought metal in fanciful designs that offered no obstruction to the
-view or to the passage of small articles. The officer took the message
-and examined it.
-
-“What does it say?” he demanded of the slave that had penned it.
-
-“It says,” replied the latter: “Take this message to the officer who
-stands just within the gates.”
-
-There were exclamations of surprise from all parts of the crowd and
-Hovan Du was compelled to repeat his performance several times with
-different messages which directed him to do various things, the officer
-always taking a great interest in the proceedings.
-
-“It is marvellous,” said he at last. “The Jeddara would be amused by the
-performance of this beast. Wait here, therefore, until I have sent word
-to her that she may, if she so desires, command your presence.”
-
-Nothing could have better suited us and so we waited with what patience
-we might for the messenger to return; and while we waited Hovan Du
-continued to mystify his audience with new proofs of his great
-intelligence.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XI
- XAXA
-
-
-The officer returned, the gates swung out and we were commanded to enter
-the courtyard of the palace of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. After that
-events transpired with great rapidity—surprising and totally unexpected
-events. We were led through an intricate maze of corridors and chambers
-until I became suspicious that we were purposely being confused, and
-convinced that whether such was the intention or not the fact remained
-that I could no more have retraced my steps to the outer courtyard than
-I could have flown without wings. We had planned that, in the event of
-gaining admission to the palace, we would carefully note whatever might
-be essential to a speedy escape; but when, in a whisper, I asked Gor
-Hajus if he could find his way out again he assured me that he was as
-confused as I.
-
-The palace was in no sense remarkable nor particularly interesting, the
-work of the Phundahlian artists being heavy and oppressing and without
-indication of high imaginative genius. The scenes depicted were mostly
-of a religious nature illustrating passages from Turgan, the Phundahlian
-bible, and, for the most part, were a series of monotonous repetitions.
-There was one, which appeared again and again, depicting Turgan creating
-a round, flat Mars and hurling it into Space, that always reminded me of
-a culinary artist turning a flap jack in a child’s window.
-
-There were also numerous paintings of what appeared to be court scenes
-delineating members of the Phundahlian royal line in various activities;
-it was noticeable that the more recent ones in which Xaxa appeared had
-had the principal figure repainted so that there confronted me from time
-to time portraits, none too well done, of the beautiful face and figure
-of Valla Dia in the royal trappings of a Jeddara. The effect of these
-upon me is not easy of description. They brought home to me the fact
-that I was approaching, and should presently be face to face with, the
-person of the woman to whom I had consecrated my love and my life, and
-yet in that same person I should be confronting one whom I loathed and
-would destroy.
-
-We were halted at last before a great door and from the number of
-warriors and nobles congregated before it I was confident that we were
-soon to be ushered into the presence of the Jeddara. As we waited those
-assembled about us eyed us with, it seemed to me, more of hostility than
-curiosity and when the door swung open they accompanied us, with the
-exception of a few warriors, into the chamber beyond. The room was of
-medium size and at the farther side, behind a massive table, sat Xaxa.
-About her were grouped a number of heavily armed nobles. As I looked
-them over I wondered if among them was he for whom the body of Dar Tarus
-had been filched; for we had promised him that if conditions were
-favorable we would attempt to recover it.
-
-Xaxa eyed us coldly as we were halted before her. “Let us see the beast
-perform,” she commanded, and then suddenly: “What mean you by permitting
-strangers to enter my presence bearing arms?” she cried. “Sag Or, see
-that their weapons are removed!” and she turned to a handsome young
-warrior standing near her.
-
-Sag Or! That was the name. Before me stood the noble for whom Dar Tarus
-had suffered the loss of his liberty, his body and his love. Gor Hajus
-had also recognized the name and Hovan Du, too; I could tell by the way
-they eyed the man as he advanced. Curtly he instructed us to hand our
-weapons to two warriors who advanced to receive them. Gor Hajus
-hesitated. I admit that I did not know what course to pursue.
-
-Everyone seemed hostile and yet that might be, and doubtless was, but a
-reflection of their attitude towards all strangers. If we refused to
-disarm we were but three against a room full, if they chose to resort to
-force; or if they turned us out of the palace because of it we would be
-robbed of this seemingly god given opportunity to win to the very heart
-of Xaxa’s palace and to her very presence, where we must eventually win
-before we could strike. Would such an opportunity ever be freely offered
-us again? I doubted it and felt that we had better assume a vague risk
-now than, by refusing their demand, definitely arm their suspicions. So
-I quietly removed my weapons and handed them to the warrior waiting to
-receive them; and following my example, Gor Hajus did likewise, though I
-can imagine with what poor grace.
-
-Once again Xaxa signified that she would see Hovan Du perform. As Gor
-Hajus put him through his antics she watched listlessly; nor did
-anything that the ape did arouse the slightest flicker of interest among
-the entire group assembled about the Jeddara. As the thing dragged on I
-became obsessed with apprehensions that all was not right. It seemed to
-me that an effort was being made to detain us for some purpose—to gain
-time. I could not understand, for instance, why Xaxa required that we
-repeat several times the least interesting of the ape’s performances.
-And all the time Xaxa sat playing with a long, slim dagger, and I saw
-that she watched me quite as much as she watched Hovan Du, while I found
-it difficult to keep my eyes averted from that perfect face, even though
-I knew that it was but a stolen mask behind which lurked the cruel mind
-of a tyrant and a murderess.
-
-At last came an interruption to the performance. The door opened and a
-noble entered, who went directly to the Jeddara whom he addressed
-briefly and in a low tone. I saw that she asked him several questions
-and that she seemed vexed by his replies. Then she dismissed him with a
-curt gesture and turned towards us.
-
-“Enough of this!” she cried. Her eyes rested upon mine and she pointed
-her slim dagger at me. “Where is the other?” she demanded.
-
-“What other?” I inquired.
-
-“There were three of you, beside the ape. I know nothing about the ape,
-nor where, nor how you acquired it; but I do know all about you, Vad
-Varo, and Gor Hajus, the Assassin of Toonol, and Dar Tarus. Where is Dar
-Tarus?” her voice was low and musical and entirely beautiful—the voice
-of Valla Dia—but behind it I knew was the terrible personality of Xaxa,
-and I knew too that it would be hard to deceive her, for she must have
-received what information she had directly from Ras Thavas. It had been
-stupid of me not to foresee that Ras Thavas would immediately guess the
-purpose of my mission and warn Xaxa. I perceived instantly that it would
-be worse than useless to deny our identity, rather I must explain our
-presence—if I could.
-
-“Where is Dar Tarus?” she repeated.
-
-“How should I know?” I countered. “Dar Tarus has reasons to believe that
-he would not be safe in Phundahl and I imagine that he is not anxious
-that anyone should know his whereabouts—myself included. He helped me
-to escape from the Island of Thavas, for which his liberty was to be his
-reward. He has not chosen to accompany me further upon my adventures.”
-
-Xaxa seemed momentarily disarmed that I did not deny my
-identity—evidently she had supposed that I would do so.
-
-“You admit then,” she said, “that you are Vad Varo, the assistant of Ras
-Thavas?”
-
-“Have I ever sought to deny it?”
-
-“You have disguised yourself as a red-man of Barsoom.”
-
-“How could I travel in Barsoom otherwise, where every man’s hand is
-against a stranger?”
-
-“And why would you travel in Barsoom?” Her eyes narrowed as she waited
-for my reply.
-
-“As Ras Thavas has doubtless sent you word, I am from another world and
-I would see more of this one,” I told her. “Is that strange?”
-
-“And you come to Phundahl and seek to gain entrance to my presence and
-bring with you the notorious Assassin of Toonol that you may see more of
-Barsoom?”
-
-“Gor Hajus may not return to Toonol,” I explained, “and so he must seek
-service for his sword at some other court than that of Vobis Kan—in
-Phundahl perhaps, or if not here he must move on. I hope that he will
-decide to accompany me as I am a stranger in Barsoom, unaccustomed to
-the manners and ways of her people. I would fare ill without a guide and
-mentor.”
-
-“You shall fare ill,” she cried. “You have seen all of Barsoom that you
-are destined to see—you have reached the end of your adventure. You
-think to deceive me, eh? You do not know, perhaps, that I have heard of
-your infatuation for Valla Dia or that I am fully conversant with the
-purpose of your visit to Phundahl.” Her eyes left me and swept her
-nobles and her warriors. “To the pits with them!” she cried. “Later we
-shall choose the manner of their passing.”
-
-Instantly we were surrounded by a score of naked blades. There was no
-escape for Gor Hajus or me, but I thought that I saw an opportunity for
-Hovan Du to get away. I had had the possibility of such a contingency in
-mind from the first and always I had been on the look-out for an avenue
-of escape for one of us, and so the open windows at the right of the
-Jeddara had not gone unnoticed, nor the great trees growing in the
-courtyard beneath. Hovan Du was close beside me as Xaxa spoke.
-
-“Go!” I whispered. “The windows are open. Go, and tell Dar Tarus what
-has happened to us,” and then I fell back away from him and dragged Gor
-Hajus with me as though we would attempt to resist arrest; and while I
-thus distracted their attention from him Hovan Du turned towards an open
-window. He had taken but a few steps when a warrior attempted to halt
-him; with that the ferocious brain of the anthropoid seemed to seize
-dominion over the great creature. With a hideous growl he leaped with
-the agility of a cat upon the unfortunate Phundahlian, swung him high in
-giant hands and using his body as a flail tumbled his fellows to right
-and left as he cut a swath towards the open window nearest him.
-
-Instantly pandemonium reigned in the apartment. The attention of all
-seemed centered upon the great ape and even those who had been
-confronting us turned to attack Hovan Du. And in the midst of the
-confusion I saw Xaxa step to some heavy hangings directly behind her
-desk, part them and disappear.
-
-“Come!” I whispered to Gor Hajus. Apparently intent only upon watching
-the conflict between the ape and the warriors I moved forward with the
-fighters but always to the left towards the desk that Xaxa had just
-quitted. Hovan Du was giving a good account of himself. He had discarded
-his first victim and one by one had seized others as they came within
-range of his long arms and powerful hands, sometimes four at a time as
-he stood well braced upon two of his hand-like feet and fought with the
-other four. His shock of bristling hair stood erect upon his skull and
-his fierce eyes blazed with rage as, towering high above his
-antagonists, he fought for his life—the most feared of all the savage
-creatures of Barsoom. Perhaps his greatest advantage lay in the inherent
-fear of him that was a part of every man in that room who faced him, and
-it forwarded my quickly conceived plan, too, for it kept every eye
-turned upon Hovan Du, so that Gor Hajus and I were able to work our way
-to the rear of the desk. I think Hovan Du must have sensed my intention
-then, for he did the one thing best suited to attract every eye from us
-to him and, too, he gave me notice that the human half of his brain was
-still alert and watchful of our welfare.
-
-Heretofore the Phundahlians must have looked upon him as a remarkable
-specimen of great ape, marvelously trained, but now, of a sudden, he
-paralyzed them with awe, for his roars and growls took the form of words
-and he spoke with the tongue of a human. He was near the window now.
-Several of the nobles were pushing bravely forward. Among them was Sag
-Or. Hovan Du reached forth and seized him, wrenching his weapons from
-him. “I go,” he cried, “but let harm befall my friends and I shall
-return and tear the heart from Xaxa. Tell her that, from the Great Ape
-of Ptarth.”
-
-For an instant the warriors and the nobles stood transfixed with awe.
-Every eye was upon Hovan Du as he stood there with the struggling figure
-of Sag Or in his mighty grasp. Gor Hajus and I were forgotten. And then
-Hovan Du turned and leaped to the sill of the window and from there
-lightly to the branches of the nearest tree; and with him went Sag Or,
-the favorite of Xaxa, the Jeddara. At the same instant I drew Gor Hajus
-with me between the hangings in the rear of Xaxa’s desk, and as they
-fell behind us we found ourselves in the narrow mouth of a dark
-corridor.
-
-Without knowledge of where the passage led we could only follow it
-blindly, urged on by the necessity for discovering a hiding place or an
-avenue of escape from the palace before the pursuit, which we knew would
-be immediately instituted, overtook us. As our eyes became accustomed to
-the gloom, which was partially dispelled by a faint luminosity, we moved
-more rapidly and presently came to a narrow spiral runway which
-descended into a dark hole below the level of the corridor and also
-arose into equal darkness above.
-
-“Which way?” I asked Gor Hajus.
-
-“They will expect us to descend,” he replied, “for in that direction
-lies the nearest avenue of escape.”
-
-“Then we will go up.”
-
-“Good!” he exclaimed. “All we seek now is a place to hide until night
-has fallen, for we may not escape by day.”
-
-We had scarcely started to ascend before we heard the first sound of
-pursuit—the clank of accoutrements in the corridor beneath. Yet, even
-with this urge from behind, we were forced to move with great caution,
-for we knew not what lay before. At the next level there was a doorway,
-the door closed and locked, but there was no corridor, nor anywhere to
-hide, and so we continued on upward. The second level was identical with
-that just beneath, but at the third a single corridor ran straight off
-into darkness and at our right was a door, ajar. The sounds of pursuit
-were appreciably nearer now and the necessity for concealment seemed
-increasing as the square of their growing proportions until every other
-consideration was overwhelmed by it. Nor is this so strange when the
-purpose of my adventure is considered and that discovery now must
-assuredly spell defeat and blast for ever the slender ray of hope that
-remained for the resurrection of Valla Dia in her own flesh.
-
-There was scarce a moment for consideration. The corridor before us was
-shrouded in darkness—it might be naught but a blind alley. The door was
-close and ajar. I pushed it gently inward. An odor of heavy incense
-greeted our nostrils and through the small aperture we saw a portion of
-a large chamber garishly decorated. Directly before us, and almost
-wholly obstructing our view of the entire chamber, stood a colossal
-statue of a squatting manlike figure. Behind us we heard voices—our
-pursuers already were ascending the spiral—they would be upon us in a
-few seconds. I examined the door and discovered that it fastened with a
-spring lock. I looked again into the chamber and saw no one within the
-range of our vision, and then I motioned Gor Hajus to follow me and
-stepping into the room closed the door behind us. We had burned our
-bridges. As the door closed the lock engaged with a sharp, metallic
-click.
-
-“What was that?” demanded a voice, originating, seemingly, at the far
-end of the chamber.
-
-Gor Hajus looked at me and shrugged his shoulders in resignation (he
-must have been thinking what I was thinking—that with two avenues we
-had chosen the wrong one) but he smiled and there was no reproach in his
-eyes.
-
-“It sounded from the direction of the Great Tur,” replied a second
-voice.
-
-“Perhaps someone is at the door,” suggested the first speaker.
-
-Gor Hajus and I were flattened against the back of the statue that we
-might postpone as long as possible our inevitable discovery should the
-speakers decide to investigate the origin of the noise that had
-attracted their suspicions. I was facing against the polished stone of
-the figure’s back, my hands outspread upon it. Beneath my fingers were
-the carven bits of its ornamental harness—jutting protuberances that
-were costly gems set in these trappings of stone, and there were
-gorgeous inlays of gold filagree; but these things I had no eyes for
-now. We could hear the two conversing as they came nearer. Perhaps I was
-nervous, I do not know. I am sure I never shrank from an encounter when
-either duty or expediency called; but in this instance both demanded
-that we avoid conflict and remain undiscovered. However that may be, my
-fingers must have been moving nervously over the jeweled harness of the
-figure when I became vaguely, perhaps subconsciously, aware that one of
-the gems was loose in its setting. I do not recall that this made any
-impression upon my conscious mind, but I do know that it seemed to catch
-the attention of my wandering fingers and they must have paused to play
-with the loosened stone.
-
-The voices seemed quite close now—it could be but a matter of seconds
-before we should be confronted by their owners. My muscles seemed to
-tense for the anticipated encounter and unconsciously I pressed heavily
-upon the loosened setting—whereat a portion of the figure’s back gave
-noiselessly inward revealing to us the dimly lighted interior of the
-statue. We needed no further invitation; simultaneously we stepped
-across the threshold and in almost the same movement I turned and closed
-the panel gently behind us. I think that there was absolutely no sound
-connected with the entire transaction; and following it we remained in
-utter silence, motionless—scarce breathing. Our eyes became quickly
-accustomed to the dim interior which we discovered was lighted through
-numerous small orifices in the shell of the statue, which was entirely
-hollow, and through these same orifices every outside sound came clearly
-to our ears.
-
-We had scarcely closed the opening when we heard the voices directly
-outside it and simultaneously there came a hammering on the door by
-which we had entered the apartment from the corridor. “Who seeks
-entrance to Xaxa’s Temple?” demanded one of the voices within the room.
-
-“’Tis I, dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard,” boomed a voice from without. “We
-are seeking two who came to assassinate Xaxa.”
-
-“Came they this way?”
-
-“Think you, priest, that I should be seeking them here had they not?”
-
-“How long since?”
-
-“Scarce twenty tals since,” replied the dwar.
-
-“Then they are not here,” the priest assured him, “for we have been here
-for a full zode[A] and no other has entered the temple during that time.
-Look quickly to Xaxa’s apartments above and to the roof and the hangars,
-for if you followed them up the spiral there is no other where they
-might flee.”
-
------
-
-[A] A tal is about one second, and a zode approximately two and one-half
-hours, Earth time.
-
------
-
-“Watch then the temple carefully until I return,” shouted the warrior
-and we heard him and his men moving on up the spiral.
-
-Now we heard the priests conversing as they moved slowly past the
-statue.
-
-“What could have caused the noise that first attracted our attention?”
-asked one.
-
-“Perhaps the fugitives tried the door,” suggested the other.
-
-“It must have been that, but they did not enter or we should have seen
-them when they emerged from behind the Great Tur, for we were facing him
-at the time, nor have once turned our eyes from this end of the temple.”
-
-“Then at least they are not within the temple.”
-
-“And where else they may be is no concern of ours.”
-
-“No, nor if they reached Xaxa’s apartment, if they did not pass through
-the temple.”
-
-“Perhaps they did reach it.”
-
-“And they were assassins!”
-
-“Worse things might befall Phundahl.”
-
-“Hush! the gods have ears.”
-
-“Of stone.”
-
-“But the ears of Xaxa are not of stone and they hear many things that
-are not intended for them.”
-
-“The old she-banth!”
-
-“She is Jeddara and High Priestess.”
-
-“Yes, but——” the voices passed beyond the range of our ears at the far
-end of the temple, yet they had told me much—that Xaxa was feared and
-hated by the priesthood and that the priests themselves had none too
-much reverence for their deity as evidenced by the remark of one that
-the gods have ears of stone. And they had told us other things,
-important things, when they conversed with the dwar of the Jeddara’s
-Guard.
-
-Gor Hajus and I now felt that we had fallen by chance upon a most ideal
-place of concealment, for the very guardians of the temple would swear
-that we were not, could not be, where we were. Already had they thrown
-the pursuers off our track.
-
-Now, for the first time, we had an opportunity to examine our hiding
-place. The interior of the statue was hollow and far above us, perhaps
-forty feet, we could see the outside light shining through the mouth,
-ears and nostrils, just below which a circular platform could be
-discerned running around the inside of the neck. A ladder with flat
-rungs led upward from the base to the platform. Thick dust covered the
-floor on which we stood, and the extremity of our position suggested a
-careful examination of this dust, with the result that I was at once
-impressed by the evidence that it revealed; which indicated that we were
-the first to enter the statue for a long time, possibly for years, as
-the fine coating of almost impalpable dust that covered the floor was
-undisturbed. As I searched for this evidence my eyes fell upon something
-lying huddled close to the base of the ladder and approaching nearer I
-saw that it was a human skeleton, while a closer examination revealed
-that the skull was crushed and one arm and several ribs broken. About it
-lay, dust-covered, the most gorgeous trappings I had ever seen. Its
-position at the foot of the ladder, as well as the crushed skull and
-broken bones, appeared quite conclusive evidence of the manner in which
-death had come—the man had fallen head foremost from the circular
-platform forty feet above, carrying with him to eternity, doubtless, the
-secret of the entrance to the interior of the Great Tur.
-
-I suggested this to Gor Hajus who was examining the dead man’s trappings
-and he agreed with me that such must have been the manner of his death.
-
-“He was a high priest of Tur,” whispered Gor Hajus, “and probably a
-member of the royal house—possibly a Jeddak. He has been dead a long
-time.”
-
-“I am going up above,” I said. “I will test the ladder. If it is safe,
-follow me up. I think we shall be able to see the interior of the temple
-through the mouth of Tur.”
-
-“Go carefully,” Gor Hajus admonished. “The ladder is very old.”
-
-I went carefully, testing each rung before I trusted my weight to it,
-but I found the old sorapus wood of which it was constructed sound and
-as staunch as steel. How the high priest came to his death must always
-remain a mystery, for the ladder or the circular platform would have
-carried the weight of a hundred red-men.
-
-From the platform I could see through the mouth of Tur. Below me was a
-large chamber along the sides of which were ranged other, though lesser,
-idols. They were even more grotesque than those I had seen in the temple
-in the city and their trappings were rich beyond the conception of
-man—Earthman—for the gems of Barsoom scintillate with rays unknown to
-us and of such gorgeous and blinding beauty as to transcend description.
-Directly in front of the Great Tur was an altar of palthon, a rare and
-beautiful stone, blood red, in which are traced in purest white Nature’s
-most fanciful designs; the whole vastly enhanced by the wondrous polish
-which the stone takes beneath the hand of the craftsman.
-
-Gor Hajus joined me and together we examined the interior of the temple.
-Tall windows lined two sides, letting in a flood of light. At the far
-end, opposite the Great Tur, were two enormous doors, closing the main
-entrance to the chamber, and here stood the two priests whom we had
-heard conversing. Otherwise the temple was deserted. Incense burned upon
-tiny altars before each of the minor idols, but whether any burned
-before the Great Tur we could not see.
-
-Having satisfied our curiosity relative to the temple, we returned our
-attention to a further examination of the interior of Tur’s huge head
-and were rewarded by the discovery of another ladder leading upward
-against the rear wall to a higher and smaller platform that evidently
-led to the eyes. It did not take me long to investigate and here I found
-a most comfortable chair set before a control that operated the eyes, so
-that they could be made to turn from side to side, or up or down,
-according to the whim of the operator; and here too was a speaking-tube
-leading to the mouth. This again I must needs investigate and so I
-returned to the lower platform and there I discovered a device beneath
-the tongue of the idol, and this device, which was in the nature of an
-amplifier, was connected with the speaking-tube from above. I could not
-repress a smile as I considered these silent witnesses to the perfidy of
-man and thought of the broken thing lying at the foot of the ladder.
-Tur, I could have sworn, had been silent for many years.
-
-Together Gor Hajus and I returned to the higher platform and again I
-made a discovery—the eyes of Tur were veritable periscopes. By turning
-them we could see any portion of the temple and what we saw through the
-eyes was magnified. Nothing could escape the eyes of Tur and presently,
-when the priests began to talk again, we discovered that nothing could
-escape Tur’s ears, for every slightest sound in the temple came clearly
-to us. What a valuable adjunct to high priesthood this Great Tur must
-have been in the days when that broken skeleton lying below us was a
-thing of blood and life!
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XII
- THE GREAT TUR
-
-
-The day dragged wearily for Gor Hajus and me. We watched the various
-priests who came in pairs at intervals to relieve those who had preceded
-them, and we listened to their prattle, mostly idle gossip of court
-scandals. At times they spoke of us and we learned that Hovan Du had
-escaped with Sag Or, nor had they been located as yet, nor had Dar
-Tarus. The whole court was mystified by our seemingly miraculous
-disappearance. Three thousand people, the inmates and attaches of the
-palace, were constantly upon the look-out for us. Every part of the
-palace and the palace grounds had been searched and searched again. The
-pits had been explored more thoroughly than they had been explored
-within the memory of the oldest retainer, and it seemed that queer
-things had been unearthed there—things of which not even Xaxa dreamed;
-and the priests whispered that at least one great and powerful house
-would fall because of what a dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard had discovered
-in a remote precinct of the pits.
-
-As the sun dropped below the horizon and darkness came, the interior of
-the temple was illuminated by a soft white light, brilliantly but
-without the glare of Earthly artificial illumination. More priests came
-and many young girls, priestesses. They performed before the idols,
-chanting meaningless gibberish. Gradually the chamber filled with
-worshippers, nobles of the Jeddara’s court with their women and their
-retainers, forming in two lines along either side of the temple before
-the lesser idols, leaving a wide aisle from the great entrance to the
-foot of the Great Tur and towards this aisle they all faced, waiting.
-For what were they waiting? Their eyes were turned expectantly towards
-the closed doors of the great entrance and Gor Hajus and I felt our eyes
-held there too, fascinated by the suggestion that they were about to
-open and reveal some stupendous spectacle.
-
-And presently the doors did swing slowly open and all we saw was what
-appeared to be a great roll of carpet lying upon its side across the
-opening. Twenty slaves, naked but for their scant leather harness, stood
-behind the huge roll; and as the doors swung fully open they rolled the
-carpet inward to the very feet of the altar before the Great Tur,
-covering the wide aisle from the entranceway almost to the idol with a
-thick, soft rug of gold and white and blue. It was the most beautiful
-thing in the temple where all else was blatant, loud and garish or
-hideous, or grotesque. And then the doors closed and again we waited;
-but not for long. Bugles sounded from without, the sound increasing as
-they neared the entrance. Once more the doors swung in. Across the
-entrance stood a double rank of gorgeously trapped nobles. Slowly they
-entered the temple and behind them came a splendid chariot drawn by two
-banths, the fierce Barsoomian lion, held in leash by slaves on either
-side. Upon the chariot was a litter and in the litter, reclining at
-ease, lay Xaxa. As she entered the temple the people commenced to chant
-her praises in a monotonous sing-song. Chained to the chariot and
-following on foot was a red warrior and behind him a procession composed
-of fifty young men and an equal number of young girls.
-
-Gor Hajus touched my arm. “The prisoner,” he whispered, “do you
-recognize him?”
-
-“Dar Tarus!” I exclaimed.
-
-It was Dar Tarus—they had discovered his hiding place and arrested him,
-but what of Hovan Du? Had they taken him, also? If they had it must have
-been only after slaying him, for they never would have sought to capture
-the fierce beast, nor would he have brooked capture. I looked for Sag
-Or, but he was nowhere to be seen within the temple and this fact gave
-me hope that Hovan Du might be still at liberty.
-
-The chariot was halted before the altar and Xaxa alighted; the lock that
-held Dar Tarus’ chain to the vehicle was opened and the banths were led
-away by their attendants to one side of the temple behind the lesser
-idols. Then Dar Tarus was dragged roughly to the altar and thrown upon
-it and Xaxa, mounting the steps at its base, came close to his side and
-with hands outstretched above him looked up at the Great Tur towering
-above her. How beautiful she was! How richly trapped! Ah, Valla Dia!
-that your sweet form should be debased to the cruel purposes of the
-wicked mind that now animates you!
-
-Xaxa’s eyes now rested upon the face of the Great Tur. “O, Tur, Father
-of Barsoom,” she cried, “behold the offering we place before you,
-All-seeing, All-knowing, All-powerful One, and frown no more upon us in
-silence. For a hundred years you have not deigned to speak aloud to your
-faithful slaves; never since Hora San, the high priest, was taken away
-by you on that long-gone night of mystery have you unsealed your lips to
-your people. Speak, Great Tur! Give us some sign, ere we plunge this
-dagger into the heart of our offering, that our works are pleasing in
-thine eyes. Tell us whither went the two who came here to-day to
-assassinate your high priestess; reveal to us the fate of Sag Or. Speak,
-Great Tur, ere I strike,” and she raised her slim blade above the heart
-of Dar Tarus and looked straight upward into the eyes of Tur.
-
-And then, as a bolt from the blue, I was struck by the great
-inspiration. My hand sought the lever controlling the eyes of Tur and I
-turned them until they completed a full circuit of the room and rested
-again upon Xaxa. The effect was magical. Never before had I seen a whole
-room full of people so absolutely stunned and awe-struck as were these.
-As the eyes returned to Xaxa she seemed turned to stone and her copper
-skin to have taken on an ashen purple hue. Her dagger remained stiffly
-poised above the heart of Dar Tarus. Not for a hundred years had they
-seen the eyes of the Great Tur move. Then I placed the speaking-tube to
-my lips and the voice of Tur rumbled through the chamber. As from one
-great throat a gasp arose from the crowded temple floor and the people
-fell upon their knees and buried their faces in their hands.
-
-“Judgment is mine!” I cried. “Strike not lest ye be struck! To Tur is
-the sacrifice!”
-
-I was silent then, attempting to plan how best to utilize the advantage
-I had gained. Fearfully, one by one, the bowed heads were raised and
-frightened eyes sought the face of Tur. I gave them another thrill by
-letting the god’s eyes wander slowly over the upturned faces, and while
-I was doing this I had another inspiration, which I imparted to Gor
-Hajus in a low whisper. I could hear him chuckle as he started down the
-ladder to carry my new plan into effect. Again I had recourse to the
-speaking-tube.
-
-“The sacrifice is Tur’s,” I rumbled. “Tur will strike with his own hand.
-Extinguish the lights and let no one move under pain of instant death
-until Tur gives the word. Prostrate yourselves and bury your eyes in
-your palms, for whosoever sees shall be blinded when the spirit of Tur
-walks among his people.”
-
-Down they went again and one of the priests hurriedly extinguished the
-lights, leaving the temple in total darkness; and while Gor Hajus was
-engaged with his part of the performance I tried to cover any accidental
-noise he might make by keeping up a running fire of celestial
-revelation.
-
-“Xaxa, the high priestess, asks what has become of the two whom she
-believed came to assassinate her. I, Tur took them to myself. Vengeance
-is Tur’s! And Sag Or I took, also. In the guise of a great ape I came
-and took Sag Or and none knew me; though even a fool might have guessed,
-for who is there ever heard a great ape speak with tongue of man unless
-he was animated by the spirit of Tur?”
-
-I guess that convinced them, it being just the sort of logic suited to
-their religion, or it would have convinced them if they had not already
-been convinced. I wondered what might be passing in the mind of the
-doubting priest who had remarked that the gods had ears of stone.
-
-Presently I heard a noise upon the ladder beneath me and a moment later
-someone climbed upon the circular landing.
-
-“All’s well,” whispered the voice of Gor Hajus. “Dar Tarus is with me.”
-
-“Light the temple!” I commanded through the speaking-tube. “Rise and
-look upon your altar.”
-
-The lights flashed on and the people rose, trembling, to their feet.
-Every eye was bent upon the altar and what they saw there seemed to
-crush them with terror. Some of the women screamed and fainted. It all
-impressed me with the belief that none of them had taken this god of
-theirs with any great amount of seriousness, and now when they were
-confronted with absolute proof of his miraculous powers they were swept
-completely off their feet. Where, a few moments before, they had seen a
-live sacrifice awaiting the knife of the high priestess they saw now
-only a dust-covered human skull. I grant you that without an explanation
-it might have seemed a miracle to almost anyone so quickly had Gor Hajus
-run from the base of the idol with the skull of the dead high priest and
-returned again leading Dar Tarus with him. I had been a bit concerned as
-to what the attitude of Dar Tarus might be, who was no more conversant
-with the hoax than were the Phundahlians, but Gor Hajus had whispered
-“For Valla Dia” in his ear and he had understood and come quickly.
-
-“The Great Tur,” I now announced, “is angry with his people. For a long
-time they have denied him in their hearts even while they made open
-worship of him. The Great Tur is angry with Xaxa. Only through Xaxa may
-the people of Phundahl be saved from destruction, for the Great Tur is
-angry. Go then from the temple and the palace leaving no human being
-here other than Xaxa, the high priestess of Tur. Leave her here in
-solitude beside the altar. Tur would speak with her alone.”
-
-I could see Xaxa fairly shrivel in fright.
-
-“Is the Jeddara Xaxa, High Priestess of the Great God Tur, afraid to
-meet her master?” I demanded. The woman’s jaw trembled so that she could
-not reply. “Obey! or Xaxa and all her people shall be struck dead!” I
-fairly screamed at them.
-
-Like cattle they turned and fled towards the entrance and Xaxa, her
-knees shaking so that she could scarce stand erect, staggered after
-them. A noble saw her and pushed her roughly back, but she shrieked and
-ran after him when he had left her. Then others dragged her to the foot
-of the altar and threw her roughly down and one menaced her with his
-sword, but at that I called aloud that no harm must befall the Jeddara
-if they did not wish the wrath of Tur to fall upon them all. They left
-her lying there and so weak from fright was she that she could not rise,
-and a moment later the temple was empty, but not until I had shouted
-after them to clear the whole palace within a quarter zode, for my plan
-required a free and unobstructed as well as unobserved field of action.
-
-The last of them was scarce out of sight ere we three descended from the
-head of Tur and stepped out upon the temple floor behind the idol.
-Quickly I ran towards the altar, upon the other side of which Xaxa had
-dropped to the floor in a swoon. She still lay there and I gathered her
-into my arms and ran quickly back to the door in the wall behind the
-idol—the doorway through which Gor Hajus and I had entered the temple
-earlier in the day.
-
-Preceded by Gor Hajus and followed by Dar Tarus, I ascended the runway
-towards the roof where the conversation of the priests had informed us
-were located the royal hangars. Had Hovan Du and Sag Or been with us my
-cup of happiness would have been full, for within half a day, what had
-seemed utter failure and defeat had been turned almost to assured
-success. At the landing where lay Xaxa’s apartments we halted and looked
-within, for the long night voyage I contemplated would be cold and the
-body of Valla Dia must be kept warm with suitable robes even though it
-was inhabited by the spirit of Xaxa. Seeing no one we entered and soon
-found what we required. As I was adjusting a heavy robe of orluk about
-the Jeddara she regained consciousness. Instantly she recognized me and
-then Gor Hajus and finally Dar Tarus. Mechanically she felt for her
-dagger, but it was not there and when she saw my smile she paled with
-anger. At first she must have jumped to the conclusion that she had been
-the victim of a hoax, but presently a doubt seemed to enter her
-mind—she must have been recalling some of the things that had
-transpired within the temple of the Great Tur, and these, neither she
-nor any other mortal might explain.
-
-“Who are you?” she demanded.
-
-“I am Tur,” I replied, brazenly.
-
-“What is your purpose with me?”
-
-“I am going to take you away from Phundahl,” I replied.
-
-“But I do not wish to go. You are not Tur. You are Vad Varo. I shall
-call for help and my guards will come and slay you.”
-
-“There is no one in the palace,” I reminded her. “Did I, Tur, not send
-them away?”
-
-“I shall not go with you,” she announced firmly. “Rather would I die.”
-
-“You shall go with me, Xaxa,” I replied, and though she fought and
-struggled we carried her from her apartment and up the spiral runway to
-the roof where, I prayed, I should find the hangars and the royal
-fliers; and as we stepped out into the fresh night air of Mars we did
-see the hangars before us, but we saw something else—a group of
-Phundahlian warriors of the Jeddara’s Guard whom they had evidently
-failed to notify of the commands of Tur. At sight of them Xaxa cried
-aloud in relief.
-
-“To me! To the Jeddara!” she cried. “Strike down these assassins and
-save me!”
-
-There were three of them and there were three of us, but they were armed
-and between us we had but Xaxa’s slender dagger. Gor Hajus carried that.
-Victory seemed turned to defeat as they rushed towards us; but it was
-Gor Hajus who gave them pause. He seized Xaxa and raised the blade, its
-point above her heart. “Halt!” he cried, “or I strike.”
-
-The warriors hesitated; Xaxa was silent, stricken with fear. Thus we
-stood in stalemate when, just beyond the three Phundahlian warriors, I
-saw a movement at the roof’s edge. What was it? In the dim light I saw
-something that seemed a human head, and yet unhuman, rise slowly above
-the edge of the roof, and then, silently, a great form followed, and
-then I recognized it—Hovan Du, the great white ape.
-
-“Tell them,” I cried to Xaxa in a loud voice that Hovan Du might hear,
-“that I am Tur, for see, I come again in the semblance of a white ape!”
-and I pointed to Hovan Du. “I would not destroy these poor warriors. Let
-them lay down their weapons and go in peace.”
-
-The men turned, and seeing the great ape standing there behind them,
-materialized, it might have been, out of thin air, were shaken.
-
-“Who is he, Jeddara?” demanded one of the men.
-
-“It is Tur,” replied Xaxa in a weak voice; “but save me from him! Save
-me from him!”
-
-“Throw down your weapons and your harness and fly!” I commanded, “or Tur
-will strike you dead. Heard you not the people rushing from the palace
-at Tur’s command? How think you we brought Xaxa hither with a lesser
-power than Tur’s when all her palace was filled with her fighting men?
-Go, while yet you may in safety.”
-
-One of them unbuckled his harness and threw it with his weapons upon the
-roof, and as he started at a run for the spiral his companions followed
-his example. Then Hovan Du approached us.
-
-“Well done, Vad Varo,” he growled, “though I know not what it is all
-about.”
-
-“That you shall know later,” I told him, “but now we must find a swift
-flier and be upon our way. Where is Sag Or? Does he still live?”
-
-“I have him securely bound and safely hidden in one of the high towers
-of the palace,” replied the ape. “It will be easy to get him when we
-have launched a flier.”
-
-Xaxa was eyeing us ragefully. “You are not Tur!” she cried. “The ape has
-exposed you.”
-
-“But too late to profit you in any way, Jeddara,” I assured her. “Nor
-could you convince one of your people who stood in the temple this night
-that I am not Tur. Nor do you, yourself, know that I am not. The ways of
-Tur, the all-powerful, all-knowing, are beyond the conception of mortal
-man. To you then, Jeddara, I am Tur, and you will find me all-powerful
-enough for my purposes.”
-
-I think she was still perplexed as we found and dragged forth a flier,
-aboard which we placed her, and turned the craft’s nose towards a lofty
-tower where Hovan Du told us lay Sag Or.
-
-“I shall be glad to see myself again,” said Dar Tarus, with a laugh.
-
-“And you shall be yourself again, Dar Tarus,” I told him, “as soon as
-ever we can come again to the pits of Ras Thavas.”
-
-“Would that I might be reunited with my sweet Kara Vasa,” he sighed.
-“Then, Vad Varo, the last full measure of my gratitude would be yours.”
-
-“Where may we find her?”
-
-“Alas, I do not know. It was while I was searching for her that I was
-apprehended by the agents of Xaxa. I had been to her father’s palace
-only to learn that he had been assassinated and his property
-confiscated. The whereabouts of Kara Vasa they either did not know or
-would not divulge; but they held me there upon one pretext or another
-until a detachment of the Jeddara’s Guard could come and arrest me.”
-
-“We shall have to make inquiries of Sag Or,” I said.
-
-We were now coming to a stop alongside a window of the tower Hovan Du
-had indicated, and he and Dar Tarus leaped to the sill and disappeared
-within. We were all armed now, having taken the weapons discarded by the
-three warriors at the hangars, and with a good flier beneath our feet
-and all our little company reunited, with Xaxa and Sag Or, whom they
-were now conducting aboard, we were indeed in high spirits.
-
-As we got under way again, setting our nose towards the east, I asked
-Sag Or if he knew what had become of Kara Vasa, but he assured me, in
-surly tones, that he did not.
-
-“Think again, Sag Or,” I admonished him, “and think hard, for perhaps
-upon your answer your life depends.”
-
-“What chance have I for life?” he sneered, casting an ugly look towards
-Dar Tarus.
-
-“You have every chance,” I replied. “Your life lies in the hollow of my
-hand; and you serve me well it shall be yours, though in your own body
-and not in that belonging to Dar Tarus.”
-
-“You do not intend destroying me?”
-
-“Neither you nor Xaxa,” I answered. “Xaxa shall live on in her own body
-and you in yours.”
-
-“I do not wish to live in my own body,” snapped the Jeddara.
-
-Dar Tarus stood looking at Sag Or—looking at his own body like some
-disembodied soul—as weird a situation as I have ever encountered.
-
-“Tell me, Sag Or,” he said, “what has become of Kara Vasa. When my body
-has been restored to me and yours to you I shall hold no enmity against
-you if you have not harmed Kara Vasa and will tell me where she be.”
-
-“I cannot tell you, for I do not know. She was not harmed, but the day
-after you were assassinated she disappeared from Phundahl. We were
-positive that she was spirited away by her father, but from him we could
-learn nothing. Then he was assassinated,” the man glanced at Xaxa, “and
-since, we have learned nothing. A slave told us that Kara Vasa, with
-some of her father’s warriors, had embarked upon a flier and set out for
-Helium, where she purposed placing herself under the protection of the
-great War Lord of Barsoom; but of the truth of that we know nothing.
-This is the truth. I, Sag Or, have spoken!”
-
-It was futile then to search Phundahl for Kara Vasa and so we held our
-course towards the east and the Tower of Thavas.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XIII
- BACK TO THAVAS
-
-
-All that night we sped beneath the hurtling moons of Mars, as strange a
-company as was ever foregathered upon any planet, I will swear. Two men,
-each possessing the body of the other, an old and wicked empress whose
-fair body belonged to a youthful damsel beloved by another of this
-company, a great white ape dominated by half the brain of a human being,
-and I, a creature of a distant planet, with Gor Hajus, the Assassin of
-Toonol, completed the mad roster.
-
-I could scarce keep my eyes from the fair form and face of Xaxa, and it
-is well that I was thus fascinated for I caught her in the act of
-attempting to hurl herself overboard, so repugnant to her was the
-prospect of living again in her own old and hideous corpse. After that I
-kept her securely bound and fastened to the deck, though it hurt me to
-see the bonds upon those fair limbs.
-
-Dar Tarus was almost equally fascinated by the contemplation of his own
-body, which he had not seen for many years.
-
-“By my first ancestor,” he ejaculated. “It must be that I was the least
-vain of fellows, for I give you my word I had no idea that I was so fair
-to look upon. I can say this now without seeming egotism, since I am
-speaking of Sag Or,” and he laughed aloud at his little joke.
-
-But the fact remained that the body and face of Dar Tarus were beautiful
-indeed, though there was a hint of steel in the eyes and the set of the
-jaw that betokened fighting blood. Little wonder, then, that Sag Or had
-coveted the body of this young warrior; for his own, which Dar Tarus now
-possessed, was marked by dissipation and age; nor that Dar Tarus yearned
-to come again into his own.
-
-Just before dawn we dropped to one of the numerous small islands that
-dot the Great Toonolian Marshes and nosing the ship between the boles of
-great trees we came to rest upon the surface of the ground, half buried
-in the lush and gorgeous jungle grasses, well hidden from the sight of
-possible pursuers. Here Hovan Du found fruits and nuts for us which the
-simian section of his brain pronounced safe for human consumption, and
-instinct led him to a nearby spring from which there bubbled delicious
-water. We four were half famished and much fatigued, so that the food
-and water were most welcome to us; nor did Xaxa and Sag Or refuse them.
-Having eaten, three of us lay down upon the ship’s deck to sleep, after
-securely chaining our prisoners, while the fourth stood watch. In this
-way, taking turns, we slept away most of the day and when night fell,
-rested and refreshed, we were ready to resume our flight.
-
-Making a wide detour to the south we avoided Toonol and about two hours
-before dawn we sighted the high Tower of Thavas. I think we were all
-keyed up to the highest pitch of excitement, for there was not one
-aboard that flier but whose whole life would be seriously affected by
-the success or failure of our venture. As a first precaution we secured
-the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind their backs and placed gags in their
-mouths, lest they succeed in giving warning of our approach.
-
-Cluros had long since set and Thuria was streaming towards the horizon
-as we stopped our motor and drifted without lights a mile or two south
-of the tower while we waited impatiently for Thuria to leave the heavens
-to darkness and the world to us. To the north-west the lights of Toonol
-shone plainly against the dark background of the windows of the great
-laboratory of Ras Thavas, but the tower itself was dark from plinth to
-pinnacle.
-
-And now the nearer moon dropped plummetlike beneath the horizon and left
-the scene to darkness and to us. Dar Tarus started the motor, the
-wonderful, silent motor of Barsoom, and we moved slowly, close to the
-ground, towards Ras Thavas’ island, with no sound other than the gentle
-whirring of our propeller; nor could that have been heard scarce a
-hundred feet so slowly was it turning. Close off the island we came to a
-stop behind a cluster of giant trees and Hovan Du, going into the bow,
-uttered a few low growls. Then we stood waiting in silence, listening.
-There was a rustling in the dense undergrowth upon the shore. Again
-Hovan Du voiced his low, grim call and this time there came an answer
-from the black shadows. Hovan Du spoke in the language of the great apes
-and the invisible creature replied.
-
-For five minutes, during which time we were aware from the different
-voices that others had joined in the conversation from the shore, the
-apes conversed, and then Hovan Du turned to me.
-
-“It is arranged,” he said. “They will permit us to hide our ship beneath
-these trees and they will permit us to pass out again when we are ready
-and board her, nor will they harm us in any way. All they ask is that
-when we are through we shall leave the gate open that leads to the inner
-court.”
-
-“Do they understand that while an ape goes in with us none will return
-with us?” I asked.
-
-“Yes; but they will not harm us.”
-
-“Why do they wish the gate left open?”
-
-“Do not inquire too closely, Vad Varo,” replied Hovan Du. “It should be
-enough that the great apes make it possible for you to restore Valla
-Dia’s body to her brain and escape with her from this terrible place.”
-
-“It is enough,” I replied. “When may we land?”
-
-“At once. They will help us drag the ship beneath the trees and make her
-fast.”
-
-“But first we must top the wall to the inner court,” I reminded him.
-
-“Yes, true—I had forgotten that we cannot open the gate from this
-side.”
-
-He spoke again, then, to the apes, whom we had not yet seen; and then he
-told us that all was arranged and that he and Dar Tarus would return
-with the ship after landing us inside the wall.
-
-Again we got under way and rising slowly above the outer wall dropped
-silently to the courtyard beyond. The night was unusually dark, clouds
-having followed Thuria and blotted out the stars after the moon had set.
-No one could have seen the ship at a distance of fifty feet, and we
-moved almost without noise. Quietly we lowered our prisoners over the
-side and Gor Hajus and I remained with them while Dar Tarus and Hovan Du
-rose again and piloted the ship back to its hiding place.
-
-I moved at once to the gate and, unlatching it, waited. I heard nothing.
-Never, I think, have I endured such utter silence. There came no sound
-from the great pile rising behind me, nor any from the dark jungle
-beyond the wall. Dimly I could see the huddled forms of Gor Hajus, Xaxa
-and Sag Or beside me—otherwise I might have been alone in the darkness
-and immensity of space.
-
-It seemed an eternity that I waited there before I heard a soft
-scratching on the panels of the heavy gate. I pushed it open and Dar
-Tarus and Hovan Du stepped silently within as I closed and relatched it.
-No one spoke. All had been carefully planned so that there was no need
-of speech. Dar Tarus and I led the way, Gor Hajus and Hovan Du brought
-up the rear with the prisoners. We moved directly to the entrance to the
-tower, found the runway and descended to the pits. Every fortune seemed
-with us. We met no one, we had no difficulty in finding the vault we
-sought, and once within we secured the door so that we had no fear of
-interruption—that was our first concern—and then I hastened to the
-spot where I had hidden Valla Dia behind the body of a large warrior,
-tucked far back against the wall in a dark corner. My heart stood still
-as I dragged aside the body of the warrior, for always had I feared that
-Ras Thavas, knowing my interest in her and guessing the purpose of my
-venture, would cause every chamber and pit to be searched and every body
-to be examined until he found her for whom he sought; but my fears had
-been baseless, for there lay the body of Xaxa, the old and wrinkled
-casket of the lovely brain of my beloved, where I had hidden it against
-this very night. Gently I lifted it out and bore it to one of the two
-ersite topped tables. Xaxa, standing there bound and gagged, looked on
-with eyes that shot hate and loathing at me and at that hideous body to
-which her brain was so soon to be restored.
-
-As I lifted her to the adjoining slab she tried to wriggle from my grasp
-and hurl herself to the floor, but I held her and soon had strapped her
-securely in place. A moment later she was unconscious and the
-re-transference was well under way. Gor Hajus, Sag Or and Hovan Du were
-interested spectators, but to Dar Tarus, who stood ready to assist me,
-it was an old story, for he had worked in the laboratory and seen more
-than enough of similar operations. I will not bore you with a
-description of it—it was but a repetition of what I had done many times
-in preparation for this very event.
-
-At last it was completed and my heart fairly stood still as I replaced
-the embalming fluid with Valla Dia’s own life blood and saw the color
-mount to her cheeks and her rounded bosom rise and fall to her gentle
-breathing. Then she opened her eyes and looked up into mine.
-
-“What has happened, Vad Varo?” she asked. “Has something gone amiss that
-you have recalled me so soon, or did I not respond to the fluid?”
-
-Her eyes wandered past me to the faces of the others standing about.
-“What does it mean?” she asked. “Who are these?”
-
-I raised her gently in my arms and pointed at the body of Xaxa lying
-deathlike on the ersite slab beside her. Valla Dia’s eyes went wide. “It
-is done?” she cried, and clapped her hands to her face and felt of all
-her features and of the soft, delicate contours of her smooth neck; and
-yet she could scarce believe it and asked for a glass and I took one
-from Xaxa’s pocket pouch and handed it to her. She looked long into it
-and the tears commenced to roll down her cheeks, and then she looked up
-at me through the mist of them and put her dear arms about my neck and
-drew my face down to hers. “My chieftain,” she whispered—that was all.
-But it was enough. For those two words I had risked my life and faced
-unknown dangers, and gladly would I risk my life again for that same
-reward and always, for ever.
-
-Another night had fallen before I had completed the restoration of Dar
-Tarus and Hovan Du. Xaxa, and Sag Or and the great ape I left sleeping
-the deathlike sleep of Ras Thavas’ marvelous anaesthetic. The great ape
-I had no intention of restoring, but the others I felt bound to return
-to Phundahl, though Dar Tarus, now resplendent in his own flesh and the
-gorgeous trappings of Sag Or, urged me not to inflict them again upon
-the long suffering Phundahlians.
-
-“But I have given my word,” I told him.
-
-“Then they must be returned,” he said.
-
-“Though what I may do afterward is another matter,” I added, for there
-had suddenly occurred to me a bold scheme.
-
-I did not tell Dar Tarus what it was nor would I have had time, for at
-the very instant we heard someone without trying the door and then we
-heard voices and presently the door was tried again, this time with
-force. We made no noise, but just waited. I hoped that whoever it was
-would go away. The door was very strong and when they tried to force it
-they must soon have realized the futility of it because they quickly
-desisted and we heard their voices for only a short time thereafter and
-then they seemed to have gone away.
-
-“We must leave,” I said, “before they return.”
-
-Strapping the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind them and placing gags in
-their mouths I quickly restored them to life, nor ever did I see two
-less grateful. The looks they cast upon me might well have killed could
-looks do that, and with what disgust they viewed one another was writ
-plain in their eyes.
-
-Cautiously unbolting the door I opened it very quietly, a naked sword in
-my right hand and Dar Tarus, Gor Hajus and Hovan Du ready with theirs at
-my shoulder, and as it swung back it revealed two standing in the
-corridor watching—two of Ras Thavas’ slaves; and one of them was
-Yamdor, his body servant. At sight of us the fellow gave a loud cry of
-recognition and before I could leap through the doorway and prevent
-them, they had both turned and were flying up the corridor as fast as
-their feet would carry them.
-
-Now there was no time to be lost—everything must be sacrificed to
-speed. Without thought of caution or silence we hastened through the
-pits towards the runway in the tower; and when we stepped into the inner
-court it was night again, but the farther moon was in the heavens and
-there were no clouds. The result was that we were instantly discovered
-by a sentry, who gave the alarm as he ran forward to intercept us.
-
-What was a sentry doing in the courtyard of Ras Thavas? I could not
-understand. And what were these? A dozen armed warriors were hurrying
-across the court on the heels of the sentry.
-
-“Toonolians!” shouted Gor Hajus. “The warriors of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of
-Toonol!”
-
-Breathlessly we raced for the gate. If we could but reach it first! But
-we were handicapped by our prisoners, who held back the moment they
-discovered how they might embarrass us, and so it was that we all met in
-front of the gate. Dar Tarus and Gor Hajus and Hovan Du and I put Valla
-Dia and our prisoners behind us and fought the twenty warriors of Toonol
-with the odds five to one against us; but we had more heart in the fight
-than they and perhaps that gave us an advantage, though I am sure that
-Gor Hajus was as ten men himself so terrible was the effect of his name
-alone upon the men of Toonol.
-
-“Gor Hajus!” cried one, the first to recognize him.
-
-“Yes, it is Gor Hajus,” replied the assassin. “Prepare to meet your
-ancestors!” and he drove into them like a racing propeller, and I was
-upon his right and Hovan Du and Dar Tarus upon his left.
-
-It was a pretty fight, but it must eventually have gone against us, so
-greatly were we outnumbered, had I not thought of the apes and the gate
-beside us. Working my way to it I threw it open and there upon the
-outside, attracted by the noise of the conflict, stood a full dozen of
-the great beasts. I called to Gor Hajus and the others to fall back
-beside the gate, and as the apes rushed in I pointed to the Toonolian
-warriors.
-
-I think the apes were at a loss to know which were friends and which
-were foes, but the Toonolians apprised them by attacking them, while we
-stood aside with our points upon the ground. Just a moment we stood thus
-waiting. Then as the apes rushed among the Toonolian warriors, we
-slipped into the darkness of the jungle beyond the outer wall and sought
-our flier. Behind us we could hear the growls and the roars of the
-beasts mingled with the shouts and the curses of the men; and the sound
-still rose from the courtyard as we clambered aboard the flier and
-pushed off into the night.
-
-As soon as we felt that we were safely escaped from the Island of Thavas
-I removed the gags from the mouths of Xaxa and Sag Or and I can tell you
-that I immediately regretted it, for never in my life had I been
-subjected to such horrid abuse as poured from the wrinkled old lips of
-the Jeddara; and it was only when I started to gag her again that she
-promised to desist.
-
-My plans were now well laid and they included a return to Phundahl since
-I could not start for Duhor with Valla Dia without provisions and fuel;
-nor could I obtain these elsewhere than in Phundahl, since I felt that I
-held the key that would unlock the resources of that city to me; whereas
-all Toonol was in arms against us owing to Vobis Kan’s fear of Gor
-Hajus.
-
-So we retraced our way towards Phundahl as secretly as we had come, for
-I had no mind to be apprehended before we had gained entrance to the
-palace of Xaxa.
-
-Again we rested over daylight upon the same island that had given us
-sanctuary two days before, and at dark we set out upon the last leg of
-our journey to Phundahl. If there had been pursuit we had seen naught of
-it; and that might easily be explained by the great extent of the
-uninhabited marshes across which we flew and the far southerly course
-that we followed close above the ground.
-
-As we neared Phundahl I caused Xaxa and Sag Or to be again gagged, and
-further, I had their heads bandaged so that none might recognize them;
-and then we sailed straight over the city towards the palace, hoping
-that we would not be discovered and yet ready in the event that we
-should be.
-
-But we came to the hangars on the roof apparently unseen and constantly
-I coached each upon the part he was to play. As we were settling slowly
-to the roof Dar Tarus, Hovan Du and Valla Dia quickly bound Gor Hajus
-and me and wrapped our heads in bandages, for we had seen below the
-figures of the hangar guard. Had we found the roof unguarded the binding
-of Gor Hajus and me had been unnecessary.
-
-As we dropped nearer one of the guard hailed us. “What ship?” he cried.
-
-“The royal flier of the Jeddara of Phundahl,” replied Dar Tarus,
-“returning with Xaxa and Sag Or.”
-
-The warriors whispered among themselves as we dropped nearer and I must
-confess that I felt a bit nervous as to the outcome of our ruse; but
-they permitted us to land without a word and when they saw Valla Dia
-they saluted her after the manner of Barsoom, as, with the regal
-carriage of an empress, she descended from the deck of the flier.
-
-“Carry the prisoners to my apartments!” she commanded, addressing the
-guard, and with the help of Hovan Du and Dar Tarus the four bound and
-muffled figures were carried from the flier down the spiral runway to
-the apartments of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. Here excited slaves
-hastened to do the bidding of the Jeddara. Word must have flown through
-the palace with the speed of light that Xaxa had returned, for almost
-immediately court functionaries began to arrive and be announced; but
-Valla Dia sent word that she would see no one for a while. Then she
-dismissed her slaves, and at my suggestion Dar Tarus investigated the
-apartments with a view to finding a safe hiding place for Gor Hajus, me,
-and the prisoners. This he soon found in a small antechamber directly
-off the main apartment of the royal suite; the bonds were removed from
-the assassin and myself and together we carried Xaxa and Sag Or into the
-room.
-
-The entrance here was furnished with a heavy door over which there were
-hangings that completely hid it. I bade Hovan Du, who, like the rest of
-us, wore Phundahlian harness, stand guard before the hangings and let no
-one enter but members of our own party. Gor Hajus and I took up our
-positions just within the hangings through which we cut small holes that
-permitted us to see all that went on within the main chamber, for I was
-greatly concerned for Valla Dia’s safety while she posed as Xaxa, whom I
-knew to be both feared and hated by her people and therefore always
-liable to assassination.
-
-Valla Dia summoned the slaves and bade them admit the officials of the
-court, and as the doors opened fully a score of nobles entered. They
-appeared ill at ease and I could guess that they were recalling the
-episode in the temple when they had deserted their Jeddara and even
-hurled her roughly at the feet of the Great Tur, but Valla Dia soon put
-them at their ease.
-
-“I have summoned you,” she said, “to hear the word of Tur. Tur would
-speak again to his people. Three days and three nights have I spent with
-Tur. His anger against Phundahl is great. He bids me summon all the
-higher nobles to the temple after the evening meal to-night, and all the
-priests, and the commanders and dwars of the Guard, and as many of the
-lesser nobles as be in the palace; and then shall the people of Phundahl
-hear the word and the law of Tur and all those who shall obey shall live
-and all those who shall not obey shall die; and woe be to him who,
-having been summoned, shall not be in the temple this night. I, Xaxa,
-Jeddara of Phundahl, have spoken! Go!”
-
-They went and they seemed glad to go. Then Valla Dia summoned the odwar
-of the Guard, who would be in our world a general, and she told him to
-clear the palace of every living being from the temple level to the roof
-an hour before the evening meal, nor to permit any one to enter the
-temple or the levels above it until the hour appointed for the
-assembling in the temple to hear the word of Tur, excepting however
-those who might be in her own apartments, which were not to be entered
-upon pain of death. She made it all very clear and plain and the odwar
-understood and I think he trembled a trifle, for all were in great fear
-of the Jeddara Xaxa; and then he went away and the slaves were dismissed
-and we were alone.
-
-
-
-
- CHAPTER XIV
- JOHN CARTER
-
-
-Half an hour before the evening meal we carried Xaxa and Sag Or down the
-spiral runway and placed them in the base of the Great Tur and Gor Hajus
-and I took our places on the upper platform behind the eyes and voice of
-the idol. Valla Dia, Dar Tarus and Hovan Du remained in the royal
-apartments. Our plans were well formulated. There was no one between the
-door at the rear of the Great Tur and the flier that lay ready on the
-roof in the event that we were forced to flee through any miscarriage of
-our mad scheme.
-
-The minutes dragged slowly by and darkness fell. The time was
-approaching. We heard the doors of the temple open and beyond we saw the
-great corridor brilliantly lighted. It was empty except for two priests
-who stood hesitating nervously in the doorway. Finally one of them
-mustered up sufficient courage to enter and switch on the lights. More
-bravely now they advanced and prostrated themselves before the altar of
-the Great Tur. When they arose and looked up into the face of the idol I
-could not resist the temptation to turn those huge eyes until they had
-rolled completely about the interior of the chamber and rested again
-upon the priests; but I did not speak and I think the effect of the
-awful silence in the presence of the living god was more impressive than
-would words have been. The two priests simply collapsed. They slid to
-the floor and lay there trembling, moaning and supplicating Tur to have
-mercy on them, nor did they rise before the first of the worshippers
-arrived.
-
-Thereafter the temple filled rapidly and I could see the word of Tur had
-been well and thoroughly disseminated. They came as they had before; but
-there were more this time, and they ranged upon either side of the
-central aisle and there they waited, their eyes divided between the
-doorway and the god. About the time that I thought the next scene was
-about to be enacted I let Tur’s eyes travel over the assemblage that
-they might be keyed to the proper pitch for what was to follow. They
-reacted precisely as had the priests, falling upon the floor and moaning
-and supplicating; and there they remained until the sounds of bugles
-announced the coming of the Jeddara. Then they rose unsteadily to their
-feet. The great doors swung open and there was the carpet and the slaves
-behind it. As they rolled it down towards the altar the bugles sounded
-louder and the head of the royal procession came into view. I had
-ordered it thus to permit of greater pageantry than was possible when
-the doors opened immediately upon the head of the procession. My plan
-permitted the audience to see the royal retinue advancing down the long
-corridor and the effect was splendid. First came the double rank of
-nobles and behind these the chariot drawn by the two banths, bearing the
-litter upon which reclined Valla Dia. Behind her walked Dar Tarus, but
-all within that room thought they were looking upon the Jeddara Xaxa and
-her favorite, Sag Or. Hovan Du walked behind Sag Or and following came
-the fifty young men and the fifty maidens.
-
-The chariot halted before the altar and Valla Dia descended and knelt
-and the voices that had been chanting the praises of Xaxa were stilled
-as the beautiful creature extended her hands towards the Great Tur and
-looked up into his face.
-
-“We are ready, Master!” she cried. “Speak! We await the word of Tur!”
-
-A gasp arose from the kneeling assemblage, a gasp that ended in a sob. I
-felt that they were pretty well worked up and that everything ought to
-go off without a hitch. I placed the speaking-tube to my lips.
-
-“I am Tur!” I thundered and the people trembled. “I come to pass
-judgment on the men of Phundahl. As you receive my word so shall you
-prosper or so shall you perish. The sins of the people may be atoned by
-two who have sinned most in my sight.” I let the eyes of Tur rove about
-over the audience and then brought them to rest upon Valla Dia. “Xaxa,
-are you ready to atone for your sins and for the sins of your people?”
-
-Valla Dia bowed her beautiful head. “Thy will is law, Master!” she
-replied.
-
-“And Sag Or,” I continued, “you have sinned. Are you prepared to pay?”
-
-“As Tur shall require,” said Dar Tarus.
-
-“Then it is my will,” I boomed, “that Xaxa and Sag Or shall give back to
-those from whom they stole them, the beautiful bodies they now wear;
-that he from whom Sag Or took this body shall become Jeddak of Phundahl
-and High Priest of Tur; and that she from whom Xaxa stole her body shall
-be returned in pomp to her native country. I have spoken. Let any who
-would revolt against my word speak now or for ever hold his peace.”
-
-There was no objection voiced. I had felt pretty certain that there
-would not be. I doubt if any god ever looked down upon a more subdued
-and chastened flock. As I had talked, Gor Hajus had descended to the
-base of the idol and removed the bonds from the feet and legs of Xaxa
-and Sag Or.
-
-“Extinguish the lights!” I commanded. A trembling priest did my bidding.
-
-Valla Dia and Dar Tarus were standing side by side before the altar when
-the lights went out. In the next minute they and Gor Hajus must have
-worked fast, for when I heard a low whistle from the interior of the
-idol’s base, the prearranged signal that Gor Hajus had finished his
-work, and ordered the lights on again, there stood Xaxa and Sag Or where
-Valla Dia and Dar Tarus had been, and the latter were nowhere in sight.
-I think the dramatic effect of that transformation upon the people there
-was the most stupendous thing I have ever seen. There was no cord or gag
-upon either Xaxa or Sag Or, nothing to indicate that they had been
-brought hither by force—no one about who might have so brought them.
-The illusion was perfect—it was a gesture of omnipotence that simply
-staggered the intellect. But I wasn’t through.
-
-“You have heard Xaxa renounce her throne,” I said, “and Sag Or submit to
-the judgment of Tur.”
-
-“I have not renounced my throne!” cried Xaxa. “It is all a——”
-
-“Silence!” I thundered. “Prepare to greet the new Jeddak, Dar Tarus of
-Phundahl!” I turned my eyes towards the great doors and the eyes of the
-assemblage followed mine. They swung open and there stood Dar Tarus,
-resplendent in the trappings of Hora San, the long dead Jeddak and high
-priest, whose bones we had robbed in the base of the idol an hour
-earlier. How Dar Tarus had managed to make the change so quickly is
-beyond me, but he had done it and the effect was colossal. He looked
-every inch a Jeddak as he moved with slow dignity up the wide aisle
-along the blue and gold and white carpet. Xaxa turned purple with rage.
-“Impostor!” she shrieked. “Seize him! Kill him!” and she ran forward to
-meet him as though she would slay him with her bare hands.
-
-“Take her away,” said Dar Tarus in a quiet voice, and at that Xaxa fell
-foaming to the floor. She shrieked and gasped and then lay still—a
-wicked old woman dead of apoplexy. And when Sag Or saw her lying there
-he must have been the first to realize that she was dead and that there
-was now no one to protect him from the hatreds that are leveled always
-at the person of a ruler’s favorite. He looked wildly about for an
-instant and then threw himself at the feet of Dar Tarus.
-
-“You promised to protect me!” he cried.
-
-“None shall harm you,” replied Dar Tarus. “Go your way and live in
-peace.” Then he turned his eyes upward towards the face of the Great
-Tur. “What is thy will, Master?” he cried. “Dar Tarus, thy servant,
-awaits thy commands!”
-
-I permitted an impressive silence before I replied.
-
-“Let the priests of Tur, the lesser nobles and a certain number of the
-Jeddak’s Guard go forth into the city and spread the word of Tur among
-the people that they may know that Tur smiles again upon Phundahl and
-that they have a new Jeddak who stands high in the favor of Tur. Let the
-higher nobles attend presently in the chambers that were Xaxa’s and do
-honor to Valla Dia in whose perfect body their Jeddara once ruled them,
-and effect the necessary arrangements for her proper return to Duhor,
-her native city. There also will they find two who have served Tur well
-and these shall be accorded the hospitality and friendship of every
-Phundahlian—Gor Hajus of Toonol and Vad Varo of Jasoom. Go! and when
-the last has gone let the temple be darkened. I, Tur, have spoken!”
-
-Valla Dia had gone directly to the apartments of the former Jeddara and
-the moment that the lights were extinguished Gor Hajus and I joined her.
-She could not wait to hear the outcome of our ruse, and when I assured
-her that there had been no hitch the tears came to her eyes for very
-joy.
-
-“You have accomplished the impossible, my chieftain,” she murmured, “and
-already can I see the hills of Duhor and the towers of my native city.
-Ah, Vad Varo, I had not dreamed that life might again hold for me such
-happy prospects. I owe you life and more than life.”
-
-We were interrupted by the coming of Dar Tarus, and with him were Hovan
-Du and a number of the higher nobles. The latter received us pleasantly,
-though I think they were mystified as to just how we were linked with
-the service of their god; nor, I am sure, did one of them ever learn.
-They were frankly delighted to be rid of Xaxa; and while they could not
-understand Tur’s purpose in elevating a former warrior of the Guard to
-the throne, yet they were content if it served to relieve them from the
-wrath of their god, now a very real and terrible god, since the miracles
-that had been performed in the temple. That Dar Tarus had been of a
-noble family relieved them of embarrassment, and I noted that they
-treated him with great respect. I was positive that they would continue
-to treat him so, for he was also high priest and for the first time in a
-hundred years he would bring to the Great Tur in the royal Temple the
-voice of god, for Hovan Du had agreed to take service with Dar Tarus,
-and Gor Hajus as well, so that there would never be lacking a tongue
-wherewith Tur might speak. I foresaw great possibilities for the reign
-of Dar Tarus, Jeddak of Phundahl.
-
-At the meeting held in the apartments of Xaxa it was decided that Valla
-Dia should rest two days in Phundahl while a small fleet was preparing
-to transport her to Duhor. Dar Tarus assigned Xaxa’s apartments for her
-use and gave her slaves from different cities to attend upon her, all of
-whom were to be freed and returned with Valla Dia to her native land.
-
-It was almost dawn before we sought our sleeping silks and furs and the
-sun was high before we awoke. Gor Hajus and I breakfasted with Valla
-Dia, outside whose door we had spread our beds that we might not leave
-her unprotected for a moment that it was not necessary. We had scarce
-finished our meal when a messenger came from Dar Tarus summoning us to
-the audience chamber, where we found some of the higher officers of the
-court gathered about the throne upon which Dar Tarus sat, looking every
-inch an emperor. He greeted us kindly, rising and descending from his
-dais to receive Valla Dia and escort her to one of the benches he had
-placed beside the throne for her and for me.
-
-“There is one,” he said to me, “who has come to Phundahl over night and
-now begs audience of the Jeddak—one whom I thought you might like to
-meet again,” and he signed to one of his attendants to admit the
-petitioner; and when the doors at the opposite end of the room opened I
-saw Ras Thavas standing there. He did not recognize me or Valla Dia or
-Gor Hajus until he was almost at the foot of the throne, and when he did
-he looked puzzled and glanced again quickly at Dar Tarus.
-
-“Ras Thavas of the Tower of Thavas, Toonol,” announced an officer.
-
-“What would Ras Thavas of the Jeddak of Phundahl?” asked Dar Tarus.
-
-“I came seeking audience of Xaxa,” replied Ras Thavas, “not knowing of
-her death or your accession until this very morning; but I see Sag Or
-upon Xaxa’s throne and beside him one whom I thought was Xaxa, though
-they tell me Xaxa is dead, and another who was my assistant at Thavas
-and one who is the Assassin of Toonol, and I am confused, Jeddak, and do
-not know whether I be among friends or foes.”
-
-“Speak as though Xaxa still sat upon the throne of Phundahl,” Dar Tarus
-told him, “for though I am Dar Tarus, whom you wronged, and not Sag Or,
-yet need you have no fear in the court of Phundahl.”
-
-“Then let me tell you that Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, learning that
-Gor Hajus had escaped me, swore that I had set him free to assassinate
-him, and he sent warriors who took my island and would have imprisoned
-me had I not been warned in time to escape; and I came hither to Xaxa to
-beg her to send warriors to drive the men of Toonol from my island and
-restore it to me that I may carry on my scientific labors.”
-
-Dar Tarus turned to me. “Vad Varo, of all others you are most familiar
-with the work of Ras Thavas. Would you see him again restored to his
-island and his laboratory?”
-
-“Only on condition that he devote his great skill to the amelioration of
-human suffering,” I replied, “and no longer prostitute it to the foul
-purposes of greed and sin.” This led to a discussion which lasted for
-hours, the results of which were of far-reaching significance. Ras
-Thavas agreed to all that I required and Dar Tarus commissioned Gor
-Hajus to head an army against Toonol.
-
-But these matters, while of vast interest to those most directly
-concerned, have no direct bearing upon the story of my adventures upon
-Barsoom, as I had no part in them, since upon the second day I boarded a
-flier with Valla Dia and, escorted by a Phundahlian fleet, set out
-towards Duhor. Dar Tarus accompanied us for a short distance. When the
-fleet was stopped at the shore of the great marsh he bade us farewell,
-and was about to step to the deck of his own ship and return to Phundahl
-when a shout arose from the deck of one of the other ships and word was
-soon passed that a lookout had sighted what appeared to be a great fleet
-far to the south-west. Nor was it long before it became plainly visible
-to us all and equally plain that it was headed for Phundahl.
-
-Dar Tarus told me then that as much as he regretted it, there seemed
-nothing to do but return at once to his capital with the entire fleet,
-since he could not spare a single ship or man if this proved an enemy
-fleet, nor could Valla Dia or I interpose any objection; and so we
-turned about and sped as rapidly as the slow ships of Phundahl permitted
-back towards the city.
-
-The stranger fleet had sighted us at about the same time that we had
-sighted it, and we saw it change its course and bear down upon us; and
-as it came nearer it fell into single file and prepared to encircle us.
-I was standing at Dar Tarus’ side when the colors of the approaching
-fleet became distinguishable and we first learned that it was from
-Helium.
-
-“Signal and ask if they come in peace,” directed Dar Tarus.
-
-“We seek word with Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl,” came the reply. “The
-question of peace or war will be hers to decide.”
-
-“Tell them that Xaxa is dead and that I, Dar Tarus, Jeddak of Phundahl,
-will receive the commander of Helium’s fleet in peace upon the deck of
-this ship, or that I will receive him in war with all my guns. I, Dar
-Tarus, have spoken!”
-
-From the bow of a great ship of Helium there broke the flag of truce and
-when Dar Tarus’ ship answered it in kind the other drew near and
-presently we could see the men of Helium upon her decks. Slowly the
-great flier came alongside our smaller ship and when the two had been
-made fast a party of officers boarded us. They were fine looking men,
-and at their head was one whom I recognized immediately though I never
-before had laid eyes upon him. I think he was the most impressive figure
-I have ever seen as he advanced slowly across the deck towards us—John
-Carter, Prince of Helium, Warlord of Barsoom.
-
-“Dar Tarus,” he said, “John Carter greets you and in peace, though it
-had been different, I think, had Xaxa still reigned.”
-
-“You came to war upon Xaxa?” asked Dar Tarus.
-
-“We came to right a wrong,” replied the Warlord. “But from what we know
-of Xaxa that could have been done only by force.”
-
-“What wrong has Phundahl done Helium?” demanded Dar Tarus.
-
-“The wrong was against one of your own people—even against you in
-person.”
-
-“I do not understand,” said Dar Tarus.
-
-“There is one aboard my ship who may be able to explain to you, Dar
-Tarus,” replied John Carter, with a smile. He turned and spoke to one of
-his aides in a whisper, and the man saluted and returned to the deck of
-his own ship. “You shall see with your own eyes, Dar Tarus.” Suddenly
-his eyes narrowed. “This is indeed Dar Tarus who was a warrior of the
-Jeddara’s Guard and supposedly assassinated by her command?”
-
-“It is,” replied Dar Tarus.
-
-“I must be certain,” said the Warlord.
-
-“There is no question about it, John Carter,” I spoke up in English.
-
-His eyes went wide, and when they fell upon me and he noted my lighter
-skin, from which the dye was wearing away, he stepped forward and held
-out his hand.
-
-“A countryman?” he asked.
-
-“Yes, an American,” I replied.
-
-“I was almost surprised,” he said. “Yet why should I be? I have
-crossed—there is no reason why others should not. And you have
-accomplished it! You must come to Helium with me and tell me all about
-it.”
-
-Further conversation was interrupted by the return of the aide, who
-brought a young woman with him. At sight of her Dar Tarus uttered a cry
-of joy and sprang forward, and I did not need to be told that this was
-Kara Vasa.
-
-There is little more to tell that might not bore you in the telling—of
-how John Carter himself took Valla Dia and me to Duhor after attending
-the nuptials of Dar Tarus and Kara Vasa; and of the great surprise that
-awaited me in Duhor, where I learned for the first time that Kor San,
-Jeddak of Duhor, was the father of Valla Dia; and of the honors and the
-great riches that he heaped upon me when Valla Dia and I were wed.
-
-John Carter was present at the wedding and we initiated upon Barsoom a
-good old American custom, for the Warlord acted as best man; and then he
-insisted that we follow that up with a honeymoon and bore us off to
-Helium, where I am writing this.
-
-Even now it seems like a dream that I can look out of my window and see
-the scarlet and the yellow towers of the twin cities of Helium; that I
-have met, and see daily, Cathoris, Thuvia of Ptarth, Tara of Helium,
-Gahan of Gathol and that peerless creature, Dejah Thoris, Princess of
-Mars. Though to me, beautiful as she is, there is another even more
-beautiful—Valla Dia, Princess of Duhor—Mrs. Ulysses Paxton.
-
-
-
-
- TRANSCRIBER NOTES
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diff --git a/old/old/69703-h/69703-h.htm b/old/old/69703-h/69703-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index f73b037..0000000 --- a/old/old/69703-h/69703-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,7375 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" -"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> -<head> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" /> -<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> -<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Master Mind of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs</title> -<link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg"/> -<style type="text/css"> - -body { margin-left: 20%; - margin-right: 20%; - text-align: justify; } - - .footnote-id { - text-indent:1.5em; - vertical-align:super; - font-size:smaller; - } - .pageno { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: silver; - text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute; - border:1px solid silver; padding:1px 3px; font-style:normal; - font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration:none; } - .pageno:after { color: gray; content: attr(title); } - .it { font-style:italic; } - .bold { font-weight:bold; } - .gesp { letter-spacing:0.2em; } - p { text-indent:0; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em; - text-align: justify; } - div.lgc { } - div.lgl { } - div.lgc p { text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } - div.lgl p { text-indent: -17px; margin-left:17px; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } - h1 { - text-align:center; - font-weight:normal; - page-break-before: always; - font-size:1.2em; margin:2em auto 1em auto - } - - - .lead-in { - font-variant: small-caps; - } - - hr.pbk { border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; width:100%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:2em } - hr.footnotemark { - border:none; - border-bottom:1px solid silver; - width:10%; - margin:1em auto 1em 0; - page-break-after: avoid; - } - .figcenter { - text-align:center; - margin:1em auto; - page-break-inside: avoid; - } - - div.blockquote60percent { margin:1em auto; width:60%; } - div.blockquote80percent { margin:1em auto; width:80%; } - div.blockquote60percent p { text-align:left; } - div.blockquote80percent p { text-align:left; } - div.footnote { margin:0 .5em; } - p.footnote { text-indent:1.5em; } - .nobreak { page-break-before: avoid; } - p.line { text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; } - table { page-break-inside: avoid; } - table.center { margin:0.5em auto; border-collapse: collapse; padding:3px; } - table.flushleft { margin:0.5em 0em; border-collapse: collapse; padding:3px; } - table.left { margin:0.5em 1.2em; border-collapse: collapse; padding:3px; } - .tab1c1 { } - .tab2c1 { } - .tab2c2 { } - .tab2c3 { } - .tab2c1-col2 { border-right: 0px solid black; } - .tab2c1-col3 { border-right: 0px solid black; } - .tdStyle0 { - padding: 3px 5px; text-align:left; vertical-align:top; - } - .tdStyle1 { - padding: 0px 5px; text-align:center; vertical-align:top; - } - .tdStyle2 { - padding: 0px 5px; text-align:right; vertical-align:top; - } - .tdStyle3 { - padding: 0px 5px; text-align:left; vertical-align:top;padding-left:29px; text-indent:-24px; - } - .tdStyle4 { - padding: 0px 5px; text-align:right; vertical-align:bottom; - } - .tdStyle5 { - padding: 0px 5px; text-align:left; vertical-align:top; - } - .pindent { margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-indent:1.5em; } - .noindent { margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-indent:0; } - .hang { padding-left:1.5em; text-indent:-1.5em; } - - h1 { font-size:1.2em; page-break-before: avoid; - line-height:200%; word-spacing:.2em;} - div.blockquote { margin-top:.5em; margin-bottom:.5em; } - .pindent {margin-top: 0.3em; margin-bottom: 0em;} - .sc { font-variant:small-caps; font-size:120%; } - .lead-in { font-size: 100%; } - hr.pbk { width:50%; } - -a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} -a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} -a:hover {color:red} - - </style> - </head> - <body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The master mind of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The master mind of Mars</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 4, 2023 [eBook #69703]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Al Haines, Cindy Beyer & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER MIND OF MARS ***</div> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:2em;font-size:1.2em;'>BATTLE DAMAGE</p> - -<div class='blockquote60percent'> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus called in alarm, “We can’t alter -our course—the ship is useless!”</p> - -</div> -<div class='blockquote60percent'> - -<p class='pindent'>Almost at the same instant, one of my -bullets found and extinguished the enemy -searchlight. Our craft was out of control, -running swiftly toward a collision with the -Toonolian flyer.</p> - -</div> -<div class='blockquote60percent'> - -<p class='pindent'>I asked Dar Tarus if our ship was beyond -repair. His reply was that it would take hours—in -which time the whole Toonolian air -patrol would be upon us.</p> - -</div> -<div class='blockquote60percent'> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then we must have another ship!” I said. -I pointed at the enemy craft. “We shall not -have to look far.”</p> - -</div> -<div class='blockquote60percent'> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus shrugged. “Why not? It would -be a glorious fight . . . and a worthy death!”</p> - -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='lgc' style='margin-bottom:2em;'> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line'>Edgar Rice Burroughs</p> -<p class='line'>MARS NOVELS</p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<table id='tab1' summary='' class='center'> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>A PRINCESS OF MARS (#1)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE GODS OF MARS (#2)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE WARLORD OF MARS (#3)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THUVIA, MAID OF MARS (#4)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE CHESSMEN OF MARS (#5)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE MASTER MIND OF MARS (#6)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS (#7)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>SWORDS OF MARS (#8)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS (#9)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>LLANA OF GATHOL (#10)</td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>JOHN CARTER OF MARS (#11)</td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' --> -<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;font-size:2em;'>THE</p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:2em;'>MASTER MIND</p> -<p class='line' style='font-size:2em;'>OF MARS</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line'> </p> -<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:8em;font-size:1.5em;'>Edgar Rice Burroughs</p> -<p class='line'> </p> -</div> <!-- end rend --> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div class='blockquote80percent'> - -<p class='noindent'><span style='font-size:smaller'><span class='it'>The Master Mind of Mars</span> was first published in <span class='it'>Amazing Stories -Annual</span> magazine, Volume I, number 1 on July 15, 1927.</span></p> - -</div> -<div class='blockquote80percent'> - -<p class='noindent'><span style='font-size:smaller'>Copyright © 1927 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.</span></p> - -</div> -<div class='blockquote80percent'> - -<p class='noindent'><span style='font-size:smaller'>ISBN 0-345-33424-8</span></p> - -</div> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<table id='tab2' summary='' class='center'> -<colgroup> -<col span='1' style='width: 2em;'/> -<col span='1' style='width: 17.5em;'/> -<col span='1' style='width: 2.5em;'/> -</colgroup> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tab2c1-col3 tdStyle1' colspan='3'><span style='font-size:larger'><span class='gesp'>CONTENTS</span></span></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tab2c1-col2 tdStyle5' colspan='2'><span style='font-size:x-small'>CHAPTER</span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><span style='font-size:x-small'>PAGE</span></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>A Letter</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_7'>7</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>I</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The House of the Dead</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_10'>10</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>II</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Preferment</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_20'>20</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>III</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Valla Dia</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_28'>28</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>IV</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The Compact</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_42'>42</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>V</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Danger</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_53'>53</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VI</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Suspicions</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_61'>61</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Escape</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_72'>72</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VIII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Hands Up!</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_81'>81</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>IX</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The Palace of Mu Tel</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>X</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Phundahl</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_106'>106</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XI</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Xaxa</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_116'>116</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The Great Tur</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XIII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Back to Thavas</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_140'>140</a></td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr> -<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XIV</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>John Carter</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_150'>150</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='7' id='Page_7'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>A LETTER</h1></div> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1em;'><span style='font-size:smaller'>HELIUM</span>, June 8th, 1925</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;margin-bottom:2em;font-size:.8em;'>MY DEAR MR. BURROUGHS:</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was in the Fall of nineteen seventeen at an officers’ -training camp that I first became acquainted with John -Carter, War Lord of Barsoom, through the pages of your -novel “A Princess of Mars.” The story made a profound -impression upon me and while my better judgment -assured me that it was but a highly imaginative piece of -fiction, a suggestion of the verity of it pervaded my inner -consciousness to such an extent that I found myself -dreaming of Mars and John Carter, of Dejah Thoris, of -Tars Tarkas and of Woola as if they had been entities -of my own experience rather than the figments of your -imagination.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It is true that in those days of strenuous preparation -there was little time for dreaming, yet there were brief -moments before sleep claimed me at night and these were -my dreams. Such dreams! Always of Mars, and during -my waking hours at night my eyes always sought out the -Red Planet when he was above the horizon and clung -there seeking a solution of the seemingly unfathomable -riddle he has presented to the Earthman for ages.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Perhaps the thing became an obsession. I know it -clung to me all during my training camp days, and at -night, on the deck of the transport, I would lie on my -back gazing up into the red eye of the god of battle—my -god—and wishing that, like John Carter, I might be -drawn across the great void to the haven of my desire.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And then came the hideous days and nights in the -trenches—the rats, the vermin, the mud—with an occasional -glorious break in the monotony when we were -ordered over the top. I loved it then and I loved the -bursting shells, the mad, wild chaos of the thundering -guns, but the rats and the vermin and the mud—God! -how I hated them. It sounds like boasting, I know, and I -am sorry; but I wanted to write you just the truth about -myself. I think you will understand. And it may account -for much that happened afterwards.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There came at last to me what had come to so many -others upon those bloody fields. It came within the -week that I had received my first promotion and my -captaincy, of which I was greatly proud, though humbly -so; realizing as I did my youth, the great responsibility -that it placed upon me as well as the opportunities it -offered, not only in service to my country but, in a personal -way, to the men of my command. We had advanced -a matter of two kilometers and with a small detachment -I was holding a very advanced position when I received -orders to fall back to the new line. That is the last that I -remember until I regained consciousness after dark. A -shell must have burst among us. What became of my -men I never knew. It was cold and very dark when I -awoke and at first, for an instant, I was quite comfortable—before -I was fully conscious, I imagine—and then -I commenced to feel pain. It grew until it seemed unbearable. -It was in my legs. I reached down to feel them, -but my hand recoiled from what it found, and when I -tried to move my legs I discovered that I was dead from -the waist down. Then the moon came out from behind a -cloud and I saw that I lay within a shell hole and that I -was not alone—the dead were all about me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was a long time before I found the moral courage -and the physical strength to draw myself up upon one -elbow that I might view the havoc that had been done -me. One look was enough, I sank back in an agony of -mental and physical anguish—my legs had been blown -away from midway between the hips and knees. For some -reason I was not bleeding excessively, yet I know that -I had lost a great deal of blood and that I was gradually -losing enough to put me out of my misery in a short time -if I were not soon found; and as I lay there on my back, -tortured with pain, I prayed that they would not come in -time, for I shrank more from the thought of going -maimed through life than I shrank from the thought of -death. Then my eyes suddenly focussed upon the bright -red eye of Mars and there surged through me a sudden -wave of hope. I stretched out my arms towards Mars, -I did not seem to question or to doubt for an instant as -I prayed to the god of my vocation to reach forth and -succour me. I knew that he would do it, my faith was -complete, and yet so great was the mental effort that I -made to throw off the hideous bonds of my mutilated -flesh that I felt a momentary qualm of nausea and then a -sharp click as of the snapping of a steel wire, and suddenly -I stood naked upon two good legs looking down -upon the bloody, distorted thing that had been I. Just -for an instant did I stand thus before I turned my eyes -aloft again to my star of destiny and with outstretched -arms stand there in the cold of that French night—waiting.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Suddenly I felt myself drawn with the speed of thought -through the trackless wastes of interplanetary space. -There was an instant of extreme cold and utter darkness, -then——</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But the rest is in the manuscript that, with the aid of -one greater than either of us, I have found the means -to transmit to you with this letter. You and a few others -of the chosen will believe in it—for the rest it matters -not as yet. The time will come—but why tell you what -you already know?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My salutations and my congratulations—the latter -on your good fortune in having been chosen as the -medium through which Earthmen shall become better acquainted -with the manners and customs of Barsoom, -against the time that they shall pass through space as -easily as John Carter, and visit the scenes that he has -described to them through you, as have I.</p> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:5em;'>Your sincere friend,</p> -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:.8em;'>ULYSSES PAXTON,</p> -<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1em;'><span class='it'>Late Captain, ——th Inf., U.S. Army</span>.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='10' id='Page_10'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER I<br/> THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>I must</span> have closed my eyes involuntarily during the -transition for when I opened them I was lying flat on -my back gazing up into a brilliant, sun-lit sky, while -standing a few feet from me and looking down upon me -with the most mystified expression was as strange a looking -individual as my eyes ever had rested upon. He appeared -to be quite an old man, for he was wrinkled and -withered beyond description. His limbs were emaciated; -his ribs showed distinctly beneath his shrunken hide; -his cranium was large and well developed, which, in conjunction -with his wasted limbs and torso, lent him the -appearance of top heaviness, as though he had a head -beyond all proportion to his body, which was, I am sure, -really not the case.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As he stared down upon me through enormous, many -lensed spectacles I found the opportunity to examine -him as minutely in return. He was, perhaps, five feet five -in height, though doubtless he had been taller in youth, -since he was somewhat bent; he was naked except for -some rather plain and well-worn leather harness which -supported his weapons and pocket pouches, and one great -ornament, a collar, jewel studded, that he wore around -his scraggy neck—such a collar as a dowager empress of -pork or real estate might barter her soul for, if she had -one. His skin was red, his scant locks grey. As he looked -at me his puzzled expression increased in intensity, he -grasped his chin between the thumb and fingers of his -left hand and slowly raising his right hand he scratched -his head most deliberately. Then he spoke to me, but in -a language I did not understand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At his first words I sat up and shook my head. Then -I looked about me. I was seated upon a crimson sward -within a high walled enclosure, at least two, and possibly -three, sides of which were formed by the outer walls of -a structure that in some respects resembled more closely -a feudal castle of Europe than any familiar form of -architecture that comes to my mind. The façade presented -to my view was ornately carved and of most irregular -design, the roof line being so broken as to almost -suggest a ruin, and yet the whole seemed harmonious -and not without beauty. Within the enclosure grew a -number of trees and shrubs, all weirdly strange and all, -or almost all, profusely flowering. About them wound -walks of coloured pebbles among which scintillated -what appeared to be rare and beautiful gems, so lovely -were the strange, unearthly rays that leaped and played -in the sunshine.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The old man spoke again, peremptorily this time, as -though repeating a command that had been ignored, but -again I shook my head. Then he laid a hand upon one -of his two swords, but as he drew the weapon I leaped -to my feet, with such remarkable results that I cannot -even now say which of us was the more surprised. I -must have sailed ten feet into the air and back about -twenty feet from where I had been sitting; then I was -sure that I was upon Mars (not that I had for one instant -doubted it), for the effects of the lesser gravity, the -colour of the sward and the skin-hue of the red Martians -I had seen described in the manuscripts of John Carter, -those marvellous and as yet unappreciated contributions -to the scientific literature of a world. There could be no -doubt of it, I stood upon the soil of the Red Planet, I -had come to the world of my dreams—to Barsoom.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>So startled was the old man by my agility that he -jumped a bit himself, though doubtless involuntarily, but, -however, with certain results. His spectacles tumbled -from his nose to the sward, and then it was that I discovered -that the pitiful old wretch was practically blind -when deprived of these artificial aids to vision, for he -got to his knees and commenced to grope frantically for -the lost glasses, as though his very life depended upon -finding them in the instant. Possibly he thought that I -might take advantage of his helplessness and slay him. -Though the spectacles were enormous and lay within a -couple of feet of him he could not find them, his hands, -seemingly afflicted by that strange perversity that sometimes -confounds our simplest acts, passing all about the -lost object of their search, yet never once coming in contact -with it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As I stood watching his futile efforts and considering -the advisability of restoring to him the means that would -enable him more readily to find my heart with his sword -point, I became aware that another had entered the -enclosure. Looking towards the building I saw a large -red-man running rapidly towards the little old man of the -spectacles. The newcomer was quite naked, he carried -a club in one hand, and there was upon his face such an -expression as unquestionably boded ill for the helpless -husk of humanity grovelling, mole-like, for its lost -spectacles.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My first impulse was to remain neutral in an affair -that it seemed could not possibly concern me and of -which I had no slightest knowledge upon which to base a -predilection towards either of the parties involved; but a -second glance at the face of the club-bearer aroused a -question as to whether it might not concern me after all. -There was that in the expression upon the man’s face -that betokened either an inherent savageness of disposition -or a maniacal cast of mind which might turn his -evidently murderous attentions upon me after he had dispatched -his elderly victim, while, in outward appearance -at least, the latter was a sane and relatively harmless individual. -It is true that his move to draw his sword against -me was not indicative of a friendly disposition towards -me, but at least, if there were any choice, he seemed the -lesser of two evils.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He was still groping for his spectacles and the naked -man was almost upon him as I reached the decision to -cast my lot upon the side of the old man. I was twenty -feet away, naked and unarmed, but to cover the distance -with my Earthly muscles required but an instant, and a -naked sword lay by the old man’s side where he had discarded -it the better to search for his spectacles. So it -was that I faced the attacker at the instant that he came -within striking distance of his victim, and the blow which -had been intended for another was aimed at me. I sidestepped -it and then I learned that the greater agility of -my Earthly muscles had its disadvantages as well as its -advantages, for, indeed, I had to learn to walk at the -very instant that I had to learn to fight with a new -weapon against a maniac armed with a bludgeon, or at -least, so I assumed him to be and I think that it is not -strange that I should have done so, what with his frightful -show of rage and the terrible expression upon his -face.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As I stumbled about endeavouring to accustom myself -to the new conditions, I found that instead of offering -any serious opposition to my antagonist I was hard -put to it to escape death at his hands, so often did I -stumble and fall sprawling upon the scarlet sward; so -that the duel from its inception became but a series of -efforts, upon his part to reach and crush me with his great -club, and upon mine to dodge and elude him. It was -mortifying but it is the truth. However, this did not last -indefinitely, for soon I learned, and quickly too under the -exigencies of the situation, to command my muscles, and -then I stood my ground and when he aimed a blow at -me, and I had dodged it, I touched him with my point -and brought blood along with a savage roar of pain. He -went more cautiously then, and taking advantage of the -change I pressed him so that he fell back. The effect -upon me was magical, giving me new confidence, so that -I set upon him in good earnest, thrusting and cutting until -I had him bleeding in a half-dozen places, yet taking -good care to avoid his mighty swings, any one of which -would have felled an ox.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In my attempts to elude him in the beginning of the -duel we had crossed the enclosure and were now fighting -at a considerable distance from the point of our first -meeting. It now happened that I stood facing towards -that point at the moment that the old man regained his -spectacles, which he quickly adjusted to his eyes. Immediately -he looked about until he discovered us, whereupon -he commenced to yell excitedly at us at the same time -running in our direction and drawing his short-sword as -he ran. The red-man was pressing me hard, but I had -gained almost complete control of myself, and fearing -that I was soon to have two antagonists instead of one -I set upon him with redoubled intensity. He missed me -by the fraction of an inch, the wind in the wake of his -bludgeon fanning my scalp, but he left an opening into -which I stepped, running my sword fairly through his -heart. At least I thought that I had pierced his heart, but -I had forgotten what I had once read in one of John -Carter’s manuscripts to the effect that all the Martian -internal organs are not disposed identically with those -of Earthmen. However, the immediate results were quite -as satisfactory as though I had found his heart, for the -wound was sufficiently grievous to place him <span class='it'>hors de -combat</span>, and at that instant the old gentleman arrived. He -found me ready, but I had mistaken his intentions. He -made no unfriendly gestures with his weapon, but seemed -to be trying to convince me that he had no intention of -harming me. He was very excited and apparently tremendously -annoyed that I could not understand him, and -perplexed, too. He hopped about screaming strange sentences -at me that bore the tones of peremptory commands, -rabid invective and impotent rage. But the fact -that he had returned his sword to its scabbard had -greater significance than all his jabbering, and when he -ceased to yell at me and commenced to talk in a sort of -pantomime I realized that he was making overtures of -peace if not of friendship, so I lowered my point and -bowed. It was all that I could think of to assure him that -I had no immediate intention of spitting him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He seemed satisfied and at once turned his attention -to the fallen man. He examined his pulse and listened to -his heart, then, nodding his head, he arose and taking a -whistle from one of his pocket pouches sounded a single -loud blast. There emerged immediately from one of the -surrounding buildings a score of naked red-men who -came running towards us. None was armed. To these -he issued a few curt orders, whereupon they gathered the -fallen one in their arms and bore him off. Then the old -man started towards the building, motioning me to accompany -him. There seemed nothing else for me to do -but obey. Wherever I might be upon Mars, the chances -were a million to one that I would be among enemies; -and so I was as well off here as elsewhere and must depend -upon my own resourcefulness, skill and agility to -make my way upon the Red Planet.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The old man led me into a small chamber from which -opened numerous doors, through one of which they were -just bearing my late antagonist. We followed into a large, -brilliantly lighted chamber wherein there burst upon my -astounded vision the most gruesome scene that I ever -had beheld. Rows upon rows of tables arranged in -parallel lines filled the room and with few exceptions each -table bore a similar grisly burden, a partially dismembered -or otherwise mutilated human corpse. Above each -table was a shelf bearing containers of various sizes and -shapes, while from the bottom of the shelf depended -numerous surgical instruments, suggesting that my entrance -upon Barsoom was to be through a gigantic medical -college.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At a word from the old man, those who bore the -Barsoomian I had wounded laid him upon an empty -table and left the apartment. Whereupon my host, if so I -may call him, for certainly he was not as yet my captor, -motioned me forward. While he conversed in ordinary -tones, he made two incisions in the body of my late -antagonist; one, I imagine, in a large vein and one in an -artery, to which he deftly attached the ends of two tubes, -one of which was connected with an empty glass receptacle -and the other with a similar receptacle filled with a -colourless, transparent liquid resembling clear water. The -connections made, the old gentleman pressed a button -controlling a small motor, whereupon the victim’s blood -was pumped into the empty jar while the contents of -the other was forced into the emptying veins and arteries.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The tones and gestures of the old man as he addressed -me during this operation convinced me that he was explaining -in detail the method and purpose of what was -transpiring, but as I understood no word of all he said -I was as much in the dark when he had completed his -discourse as I was before he started it, though what I had -seen made it appear reasonable to believe that I was -witnessing an ordinary Barsoomian embalming. Having -removed the tubes the old man closed the openings he -had made by covering them with bits of what appeared -to be heavy adhesive tape and then motioned me to -follow him. We went from room to room, in each of -which were the same gruesome exhibits. At many of the -bodies the old man paused to make a brief examination -or to refer to what appeared to be a record of the case, -that hung upon a hook at the head of each of the tables.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>From the last of the chambers we visited upon the first -floor my host led me up an inclined runway to the second -floor where there were rooms similar to those below, but -here the tables bore whole rather than mutilated bodies, -all of which were patched in various places with adhesive -tape. As we were passing among the bodies in one of -these rooms a Barsoomian girl, whom I took to be -a servant or slave, entered and addressed the old man, -whereupon he signed me to follow him and together we -descended another runway to the first floor of another -building.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Here, in a large, gorgeously decorated and sumptuously -furnished apartment an elderly red-woman awaited -us. She appeared to be quite old and her face was -terribly disfigured as by some injury. Her trappings were -magnificent and she was attended by a score of women -and armed warriors, suggesting that she was a person of -some consequence, but the little old man treated her -quite brusquely, as I could see, quite to the horror of -her attendants.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Their conversation was lengthy and at the conclusion -of it, at the direction of the woman, one of her male -escort advanced and opening a pocket pouch at his side -withdrew a handful of what appeared to me to be Martian -coins. A quantity of these he counted out and handed -to the little old man, who then beckoned the woman -to follow him, a gesture which included me. Several of -her women and guard started to accompany us, but these -the old man waved back peremptorily; whereupon -there ensued a heated discussion between the woman and -one of her warriors on one side and the old man on the -other, which terminated in his proffering the return of -the woman’s money with a disgusted air. This seemed to -settle the argument, for she refused the coins, spoke -briefly to her people and accompanied the old man and -myself alone.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He led the way to the second floor and to a chamber -which I had not previously visited. It closely resembled -the others except that all the bodies therein were of young -women, many of them of great beauty. Following closely -at the heels of the old man the woman inspected the gruesome -exhibit with painstaking care. Thrice she passed -slowly among the tables examining their ghastly burdens. -Each time she paused longest before a certain one -which bore the figure of the most beautiful creature I had -ever looked upon; then she returned the fourth time to it -and stood looking long and earnestly into the dead face. -For awhile she stood there talking with the old man, -apparently asking innumerable questions, to which he returned -quick, brusque replies, then she indicated the body -with a gesture and nodded assent to the withered keeper -of this ghastly exhibit.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Immediately the old fellow sounded a blast upon his -whistle, summoning a number of servants to whom he -issued brief instructions, after which he led us to another -chamber, a smaller one in which were several empty -tables similar to those upon which the corpses lay in -adjoining rooms. Two female slaves or attendants were -in this room and at a word from their master they removed -the trappings from the old woman, unloosed her -hair and helped her to one of the tables. Here she was -thoroughly sprayed with what I presume was an antiseptic -solution of some nature, carefully dried and removed to -another table, at a distance of about twenty inches from -which stood a second parallel table.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Now the door of the chamber swung open and two -attendants appeared bearing the body of the beautiful -girl we had seen in the adjoining room. This they deposited -upon the table the old woman had just quitted and as -she had been sprayed so was the corpse, after which it -was transferred to the table beside that on which she lay. -The little old man now made two incisions in the body of -the old woman, just as he had in the body of the red-man -who had fallen to my sword; her blood was -drawn from her veins and the clear liquid pumped into -them, life left her and she lay upon the polished ersite -slab that formed the table top, as much a corpse as the -poor, beautiful, dead creature at her side.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The little old man, who had removed the harness down -to his waist and been thoroughly sprayed, now selected a -sharp knife from among the instruments above the table -and removed the old woman’s scalp, following the -hair line entirely around her head. In a similar manner he -then removed the scalp from the corpse of the young -woman, after which, by means of a tiny circular saw -attached to the end of a flexible, revolving shaft he -sawed through the skull of each, following the line exposed -by the removal of the scalps. This and the balance -of the marvellous operation was so skilfully performed -as to baffle description. Suffice it to say that at -the end of four hours he had transferred the brain of -each woman to the brain pan of the other, deftly connected -the severed nerves and ganglia, replaced the skulls -and scalps and bound both heads securely with his peculiar -adhesive tape, which was not only antiseptic and -healing but anaesthetic, locally, as well.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He now reheated the blood that he had withdrawn -from the body of the old woman, adding a few drops of -some clear chemical solution, withdrew the liquid from -the veins of the beautiful corpse, replacing it with the -blood of the old woman and simultaneously administering -a hypodermic injection.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>During the entire operation he had not spoken a word. -Now he issued a few instructions in his curt manner to his -assistants, motioned me to follow him, and left the room. -He led me to a distant part of the building or series of -buildings that composed the whole, ushered me into a -luxurious apartment, opened the door to a Barsoomian -bath and left me in the hands of trained servants. Refreshed -and rested I left the bath after an hour of relaxation -to find harness and trappings awaiting me in the -adjoining chamber. Though plain, they were of good -material, but there were no weapons with them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Naturally I had been thinking much upon the strange -things I had witnessed since my advent upon Mars, but -what puzzled me most lay in the seemingly inexplicable act -of the old woman in paying my host what was evidently -a considerable sum to murder her and transfer to the -inside of her skull the brain of a corpse. Was it the -outcome of some horrible religious fanaticism, or was -there an explanation that my Earthly mind could not -grasp?</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had reached no decision in the matter when I was -summoned to follow a slave to another and nearby -apartment where I found my host awaiting me before a -table loaded with delicious foods, to which, it is needless -to say, I did ample justice after my long fast and -longer weeks of rough army fare.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>During the meal my host attempted to converse with -me, but, naturally, the effort was fruitless of results. He -waxed quite excited at times and upon three distinct occasions -laid his hand upon one of his swords when I -failed to comprehend what he was saying to me, an -action which resulted in a growing conviction upon my -part that he was partially demented; but he evinced sufficient -self-control in each instance to avert a catastrophe -for one of us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The meal over he sat for a long time in deep meditation, -then a sudden resolution seemed to possess him. -He turned suddenly upon me with a faint suggestion of a -smile and dove headlong into what was to prove an intensive -course of instruction in the Barsoomian language. -It was long after dark before he permitted me to retire -for the night, conducting me himself to a large apartment, -the same in which I had found my new harness, -where he pointed out a pile of rich sleeping silks and -furs, bid me a Barsoomian good night and left me, locking -the door after him upon the outside, and leaving me to -guess whether I were more guest or prisoner.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='20' id='Page_20'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER II<br/> PREFERMENT</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Three</span> weeks passed rapidly. I had mastered enough -of the Barsoomian tongue to enable me to converse with -my host in a reasonably satisfactory manner, and I was -also progressing slowly in the mastery of the written -language of his nation, which is different, of course, -from the written language of all other Barsoomian nations, -though the spoken language of all is identical. In these -three weeks I had learned much of the strange place -in which I was half guest and half prisoner and of my -remarkable host-jailer, Ras Thavas, the old surgeon of -Toonol, whom I had accompanied almost constantly day -after day until gradually there had unfolded before my -astounded faculties an understanding of the purposes of -the institution over which he ruled and in which he laboured -practically alone; for the slaves and attendants -that served him were but hewers of wood and carriers -of water. It was his brain alone and his skill that directed -the sometimes beneficent, the sometimes malevolent, -but always marvellous activities of his life’s work.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas himself was as remarkable as the things he -accomplished. He was never intentionally cruel; he was -not, I am sure, intentionally wicked. He was guilty of the -most diabolical cruelties and the basest of crimes; yet in -the next moment he might perform a deed that if duplicated -upon Earth would have raised him to the highest -pinnacle of man’s esteem. Though I know that I am safe -in saying that he was never prompted to a cruel or -criminal act by base motives, neither was he ever urged to -a humanitarian one by high motives. He had a purely -scientific mind entirely devoid of the cloying influences -of sentiment, of which he possessed none. His was a practical -mind, as evidenced by the enormous fees he demanded -for his professional services; yet I know that he -would not operate for money alone and I have seen him -devote days to the study of a scientific problem the -solution of which could add nothing to his wealth, while -the quarters that he furnished his waiting clients were -overflowing with wealthy patrons waiting to pour money -into his coffers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His treatment of me was based entirely upon scientific -requirements. I offered a problem. I was either, quite evidently, -not a Barsoomian at all, or I was of a species of -which he had no knowledge. It therefore best suited the -purposes of science that I be preserved and studied. I knew -much about my own planet. It pleased Ras Thavas’ -scientific mind to milk me of all I knew in the hope that -he might derive some suggestion that would solve one of -the Barsoomian scientific riddles that still baffle their savants; -but he was compelled to admit that in this respect I -was a total loss, not alone because I was densely ignorant -upon practically all scientific subjects, but because the -learned sciences on Earth have not advanced even to -the swaddling-clothes stage as compared with the remarkable -progress of corresponding activities on Mars. Yet he -kept me by him, training me in many of the minor duties -of his vast laboratory. I was entrusted with the formula -of the “embalming fluid” and taught how to withdraw a -subject’s blood and replace it with this marvellous preservative -that arrests decay without altering in the -minutest detail the nerve or tissue structure of the body. -I learned also the secret of the few drops of solution -which, added to the rewarmed blood before it is returned -to the veins of the subject, revitalizes the latter and -restores to normal and healthy activity each and every -organ of the body.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He told me once why he had permitted me to learn -these things that he had kept a secret from all others, -and why he kept me with him at all times in preference to -any of the numerous individuals of his own race that -served him and me in lesser capacities both day and -night.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Vad Varo,” he said, using the Barsoomian name that -he had given me because he insisted that my own name -was meaningless and impractical, “for many years I have -needed an assistant, but heretofore I have never felt that -I had discovered one who might work here for me wholeheartedly -and disinterestedly without ever having reason -to go elsewhere or to divulge my secrets to others. -You, in all Barsoom, are unique—you have no other -friend or acquaintance than myself. Were you to leave -me you would find yourself in a world of enemies, for all -are suspicious of a stranger. You would not survive a -dozen dawns and you would be cold and hungry and miserable—a -wretched outcast in a hostile world. Here you -have every luxury that the mind of man can devise or -the hand of man produce, and you are occupied with -work of such engrossing interest that your every hour -must be fruitful of unparalleled satisfaction. There is no -selfish reason, therefore, why you should leave me and -there is every reason why you should remain. I expect -no loyalty other than that which may be prompted by -egoism. You make an ideal assistant, not only for the -reasons I have just given you, but because you are intelligent -and quick-witted, and now I have decided, after -observing you carefully for a sufficient time, that you can -serve me in yet another capacity—that of personal bodyguard.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You may have noticed that I alone of all those connected -with my laboratory am armed. This is unusual -upon Barsoom, where people of all classes, and all ages -and both sexes habitually go armed. But many of these -people I could not trust armed as they would slay me; -and were I to give arms to those whom I might trust, who -knows but that the others would obtain possession of -them and slay me, or even those whom I had trusted turn -against me, for there is not one who might not wish to -go forth from this place back among his own people—only -you, Vad Varo, for there is no other place for you -to go. So I have decided to give you weapons.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You saved my life once. A similar opportunity might -again present itself. I know that, being a reasoning and -reasonable creature, you will not slay me, for you have -nothing to gain and everything to lose by my death, which -would leave you friendless and unprotected in a world of -strangers where assassination is the order of society and -natural death one of the rarest of phenomena. Here are -your arms.” He stepped to a cabinet which he unlocked, -displaying an assortment of weapons, and selected -for me a long-sword, a short-sword, a pistol and a dagger.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You seem sure of my loyalty, Ras Thavas,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He shrugged his shoulders. “I am only sure that I -know perfectly where your interests lie—sentimentalists -have words: love, loyalty, friendship, enmity, jealousy, -hate, a thousand others; a waste of words—one word -defines them all: self-interest. All men of intelligence realize -this. They analyse an individual and by his predilections -and his needs they classify him as friend or foe, leaving -to the weak-minded idiots who like to be deceived the -drooling drivel of sentiment.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I smiled as I buckled my weapons to my harness, -but I held my peace. Nothing could be gained by arguing -with the man and, too, I felt quite sure that in any -purely academic controversy I should get the worst of it; -but many of the matters of which he had spoken had -aroused my curiosity and one had reawakened in my -mind a matter to which I had given considerable thought. -While partially explained by some of his remarks I still -wondered why the red-man from whom I had rescued -him had seemed so venomously bent upon slaying him -the day of my advent upon Barsoom, and so, as we sat -chatting after our evening meal, I asked him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A sentimentalist,” he said. “A sentimentalist of the -most pronounced type. Why that fellow hated me with a -venom absolutely unbelievable by any of the reactions of a -trained, analytical mind such as mine; but having witnessed -his reactions I become cognizant of a state of -mind that I cannot of myself even imagine. Consider the -facts. He was the victim of assassination—a young warrior -in the prime of life, possessing a handsome face -and a splendid physique. One of my agents paid his relatives -a satisfactory sum for the corpse and brought it to -me. It is thus that I obtain practically all of my material. -I treated it in the manner with which you are familiar. For -a year the body lay in the laboratory, there being no occasion -during that time that I had use for it; but eventually -a rich client came, a not overly prepossessing man of -considerable years. He had fallen desperately in love with -a young woman who was attended by many handsome -suitors. My client had more money than any of them, -more brains, more experience, but he lacked the one -thing that each of the others had that always weighs -heavily with the undeveloped, unreasoning, sentiment-ridden -minds of young females—good looks.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Now 378-J-493811-P had what my client lacked and -could afford to purchase. Quickly we reached an agreement -as to price and I transferred the brain of my rich -client to the head of 378-J-493811-P and my client went -away and for all I know won the hand of the beautiful -moron; and 378-J-493811-P might have rested on indefinitely -upon his ersite slab until I needed him or a part -of him in my work, had I not, merely by chance, selected -him for resurgence because of an existing need for another -male slave.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Mind you now, the man had been murdered. He was -dead. I bought and paid for the corpse and all there was -in it. He might have lain dead forever upon one of my -ersite slabs had I not breathed new life into his dead veins. -Did he have the brains to view the transaction in a wise -and dispassionate manner? He did not. His sentimental -reactions caused him to reproach me because I had given -him another body, though it seemed to me that, looking -at the matter from a standpoint of sentiment, if one must, -he should have considered me as a benefactor for having -given him life again in a perfectly healthy, if somewhat -used, body.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He had spoken to me upon the subject several times, -begging me to restore his body to him, a thing of which, -of course, as I explained to him, was utterly out of the -question unless chance happened to bring to my laboratory -the corpse of the client who had purchased his -carcass—a contingency quite beyond the pale of possibility -for one as wealthy as my client. The fellow even suggested -that I permit him to go forth and assassinate my -client, bringing the body back that I might reverse the -operation and restore his body to his brain. When I refused -to divulge the name of the present possessor of -his body he grew sulky, but until the very hour of your -arrival, when he attacked me, I did not suspect the -depth of his hate complex.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Sentiment is indeed a bar to all progress. We of -Toonol are probably less subject to its vagaries than most -other nations upon Barsoom, but yet most of my fellow -countrymen are victims of it in varying degrees. It has -its rewards and compensations, however. Without it we -could preserve no stable form of government and the -Phundahlians, or some other people, would overrun and -conquer us; but enough of our lower classes have sentiment -to a sufficient degree to give them loyalty to the -Jeddak of Toonol and the upper classes are brainy enough -to know that it is to their own best interests to keep him -upon his throne.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The Phundahlians, upon the other hand, are egregious -sentimentalists, filled with crass stupidities and superstitions, -slaves to every variety of brain withering conceit. -Why the very fact that they keep the old termagant, -Xaxa, on the throne brands them with their stupid -idiocy. She is an ignorant, arrogant, selfish, stupid, cruel -virago, yet the Phundahlians would fight and die for her -because her father was Jeddak of Phundahl. She taxes -them until they can scarce stagger beneath their burden, -she misrules them, exploits them, betrays them, and they -fall down and worship at her feet. Why? Because her -father was Jeddak of Phundahl and his father before -him and so on back into antiquity; because they are ruled -by sentiment rather than reason; because their wicked -rulers play upon this sentiment.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She had nothing to recommend her to a sane person—not -even beauty. You know, you saw her.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I saw her?” I demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You assisted me the day that we gave her old brain a -new casket—the day you arrived from what you call -your Earth.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She! That old woman was Jeddara of Phundahl?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That was Xaxa,” he assured me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why, you did not accord her the treatment that one -of the Earth would suppose would be accorded a ruler, -and so I had no idea that she was more than a rich old -woman.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am Ras Thavas,” said the old man. “Why should I -incline the head to any other? In my world nothing counts -but brain and in that respect, and without egotism, I may -say that I acknowledge no superior.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then you are not without sentiment,” I said, smiling. -“You acknowledge pride in your intellect!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is not pride,” he said, patiently, for him, “it is -merely a fact that I state. A fact that I should have no -difficulty in proving. In all probability I have the most -highly developed and perfectly functioning mind among -all the learned men of my acquaintance, and reason indicates -that this fact also suggests that I possess the -most highly developed and perfectly functioning mind -upon Barsoom. From what I know of Earth and from what -I have seen of you, I am convinced that there is no mind -upon your planet that may even faintly approximate -in power that which I have developed during a thousand -years of active study and research. Rasoom (Mercury) or -Cosoom (Venus) may possibly support intelligences equal -to or even greater than mine. While we have made some -study of their thought waves, our instruments are not yet -sufficiently developed to more than suggest that they are -of extreme refinement, power and flexibility.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And what of the girl whose body you gave to the -Jeddara?” I asked, irrelevantly, for my mind could not -efface the memory of that sweet body that must, indeed, -have possessed an equally sweet and fine brain.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Merely a subject! Merely a subject!” he replied with -a wave of his hand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What will become of her?” I insisted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What difference does it make?” he demanded. “I -bought her with a batch of prisoners of war. I do not -even recall from what country my agent obtained them, -or from whence they originated. Such matters are of no -import.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She was alive when you bought her?” I demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes. Why?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You—er—ah—killed her, then?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Killed her! No; I preserved her. That was some ten -years ago. Why should I permit her to grow old and -wrinkled? She would no longer have the same value then, -would she? No, I preserved her. When Xaxa bought -her she was just as fresh and young as the day she arrived. -I kept her a long time. Many women looked at her -and wanted her face and figure, but it took a Jeddara -to afford her. She brought the highest price that I have -ever been paid.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I kept her a long time, but I knew that some -day she would bring my price. She was indeed beautiful -and so sentiment has its uses—were it not for sentiment -there would be no fools to support this work that I am -doing, thus permitting me to carry on investigations of -far greater merit. You would be surprised, I know, were I -to tell you that I feel that I am almost upon the point of -being able to produce rational human beings through the -action upon certain chemical combinations of a group of -rays probably entirely undiscovered by your scientists, if -I am to judge by the paucity of your knowledge concerning -such things.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I would not be surprised,” I assured him. “I would -not be surprised by anything that you might accomplish.”</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='28' id='Page_28'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER III<br/> VALLA DIA</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>I lay</span> awake a long time that night thinking of -4296-E-2631-H, the beautiful girl whose perfect body -had been stolen to furnish a gorgeous setting for the -cruel brain of a tyrant. It seemed such a horrid crime -that I could not rid my mind of it and I think that contemplation -of it sowed the first seed of my hatred and -loathing for Ras Thavas. I could not conjure a creature -so utterly devoid of bowels of compassion as to even -consider for a moment the frightful ravishing of that -sweet and lovely body for even the holiest of purposes, -much less one that could have been induced to do so -for filthy pelf.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>So much did I think upon the girl that night that her -image was the first to impinge upon my returning consciousness -at dawn, and after I had eaten, Ras Thavas -not having appeared, I went directly to the storage room -where the poor thing was. Here she lay, identified only -by a small panel, bearing a number: 4296-E-2631-H. -The body of an old woman with a disfigured face lay -before me in the rigid immobility of death; yet that was -not the figure that I saw, but instead, a vision of radiant -loveliness whose imprisoned soul lay dormant beneath -those greying locks.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The creature here with the face and form of Xaxa -was not Xaxa at all, for all that made the other what -she was had been transferred to this cold corpse. How -frightful would be the awakening, should awakening ever -come! I shuddered to think of the horror that must overwhelm -the girl when first she realized the horrid crime -that had been perpetrated upon her. Who was she? What -story lay locked in that dead and silent brain? What loves -must have been hers whose beauty was so great and upon -whose fair face had lain the indelible imprint of graciousness! -Would Ras Thavas ever arouse her from this happy -semblance of death?—far happier than any quickening -ever could be for her. I shrank from the thought of her -awakening and yet I longed to hear her speak, to know -that that brain lived again, to learn her name, to listen -to the story of this gentle life that had been so rudely -snatched from its proper environment and so cruelly -handled by the hand of Fate. And suppose she were awakened! -Suppose she were awakened and that I—— A hand -was laid upon my shoulder and I turned to look into the -face of Ras Thavas.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You seem interested in this subject,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I was wondering,” I replied, “what the reaction -of this girl’s brain would be were she to awaken to the discovery -that she had become an old, disfigured woman.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He stroked his chin and eyed me narrowly. “An interesting -experiment,” he mused. “I am gratified to discover -that you are taking a scientific interest in the labours that -I am carrying on. The psychological phases of my work I -have, I must confess, rather neglected during the past -hundred years or so, though I formerly gave them a great -deal of attention. It would be interesting to observe and -study several of these cases. This one, especially, might -prove of value to you as an initial study, it being simple -and regular. Later we will let you examine into a case -where a man’s brain has been transferred to a woman’s -skull, and a woman’s brain to a man’s. There are also the -interesting cases where a portion of diseased or injured -brain has been replaced by a portion of the brain from -another subject; and, for experimental purposes alone, -those human brains that have been transplanted to the -craniums of beasts, and <span class='it'>vice versa</span>, offer tremendous -opportunities for observation. I have in mind one case -in which I transferred half the brain of an ape to the -skull of a man, after having removed half of his brain, -which I grafted upon the remaining part of the brain in -the ape’s skull. That was a matter of several years ago -and I have often thought that I should like to recall -these two subjects and note the results. I shall have to -have a look at them—as I recall it they are in vault -L-42-X, beneath building 4-J-21. We shall have to have a -look at them some day soon—it has been years since I -have been below. There must be some very interesting -specimens there that have escaped my mind. But come! -let us recall 4296-E-2631-H.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No!” I exclaimed, laying a hand upon his arm. “It -would be horrible.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He turned a surprised look upon me and then a -nasty, sneering smile curled his lips. “Maudlin, sentimental -fool!” he cried. “Who dare say no to me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I laid a hand upon the hilt of my long-sword and -looked him steadily in the eye. “Ras Thavas,” I said, “you -are master in your own house; but while I am your -guest treat me with courtesy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He returned my look for a moment but his eyes -wavered. “I was hasty,” he said. “Let it pass.” That, I -let answer for an apology—really it was more than I had -expected—but the event was not unfortunate. I think he -treated me with far greater respect thereafter; but now -he turned immediately to the slab bearing the mortal -remains of 4296-E-2631-H.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Prepare the subject for revivification,” he said, “and -make what study you can of all its reactions.” With -that he left the room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I was now fairly adept at this work which I set about -with some misgivings but with the assurance that I was -doing right in obeying Ras Thavas while I remained a -member of his entourage. The blood that had once flowed -through the veins of the beautiful body that Ras Thavas -had sold to Xaxa reposed in an hermetically sealed vessel -upon the shelf above the corpse. As I had before done -in other cases beneath the watchful eyes of the old surgeon -I now did for the first time alone. The blood heated, -the incisions made, the tubes attached and the few drops -of life-giving solution added to the blood, I was now ready -to restore life to that delicate brain that had lain dead -for ten years. As my finger rested upon the little button -that actuated the motor that was to send the revivifying -liquid into those dormant veins, I experienced such a -sensation as I imagined no mortal man has ever felt.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had become master of life and death, and yet at this -moment that I stood there upon the point of resurrecting -the dead I felt more like a murderer than a saviour. I -tried to view the procedure dispassionately through the -cold eye of science, but I failed miserably. I could only -see a stricken girl grieving for her lost beauties. With a -muffled oath I turned away. I could not do it! And then, -as though an outside force had seized upon me, my finger -moved unerringly to the button and pressed it. I cannot -explain it, unless upon the theory of dual mentality, -which may explain many things. Perhaps my subjective -mind directed the act. I do not know. Only I know that -I did it, the motor started, the level of the blood in the -container commenced gradually to lower.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Spell-bound, I stood watching. Presently the vessel -was empty. I shut off the motor, removed the tubes, -sealed the openings with tape. The red glow of life tinged -the body, replacing the sallow, purplish hue of death. The -breasts rose and fell regularly, the head turned slightly -and the eyelids moved. A faint sigh issued from between -the parting lips. For a long time there was no other sign -of life, then, suddenly, the eyes opened. They were dull -at first, but presently they commenced to fill with questioning -wonderment. They rested on me and then passed -on about that portion of the room that was visible from -the position of the body. Then they came back to me -and remained steadily fixed upon my countenance after -having once surveyed me up and down. There was still -the questioning in them, but there was no fear.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where am I?” she asked. The voice was that of an -old woman—high and harsh. A startled expression filled -her eyes. “What is the matter with me? What is wrong -with my voice? What has happened?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I laid a hand upon her forehead. “Don’t bother about -it now,” I said, soothingly. “Wait until sometime when -you are stronger. Then I will tell you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She sat up. “I am strong,” she said, and then her eyes -swept her lower body and limbs and a look of utter -horror crossed her face. “What has happened to me? In -the name of my first ancestor, what has happened to -me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The shrill, harsh voice grated upon me. It was the -voice of Xaxa and Xaxa now must possess the sweet -musical tones that alone would have harmonized with -the beautiful face she had stolen. I tried to forget those -strident notes and think only of the pulchritude of the -envelope that had once graced the soul within this old -and withered carcass.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She extended a hand and laid it gently upon mine. -The act was beautiful, the movements graceful. The -brain of the girl directed the muscles, but the old, -rough vocal chords of Xaxa could give forth no sweeter -notes. “Tell me, please!” she begged. There were tears -in the old eyes, I’ll venture for the first time in many -years. “Tell me! You do not seem unkind.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And so I told her. She listened intently and when I -was through she sighed. “After all,” she said, “it is not -so dreadful, now that I really know. It is better than -being dead.” That made me glad that I had pressed the -button. She was glad to be alive, even draped in the -hideous carcass of Xaxa. I told her as much.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You were so beautiful,” I told her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And now I am so ugly?” I made no answer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“After all, what difference does it make?” she inquired -presently. “This old body cannot change me, or make -me different from what I have always been. The good in -me remains and whatever of sweetness and kindness, and -I can be happy to be alive and perhaps to do some -good. I was terrified at first, because I did not know -what had happened to me. I thought that maybe I had -contracted some terrible disease that had so altered me—that -horrified me; but now that I know—pouf! what -of it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are wonderful,” I said. “Most women would -have gone mad with the horror and grief of it—to lose -such wondrous beauty as was yours—and you do not -care.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, I care, my friend,” she corrected me, “but -I do not care enough to ruin my life in all other respects -because of it, or to cast a shadow upon the lives -of those around me. I have had my beauty and enjoyed -it. It is not an unalloyed happiness I can assure you. -Men killed one another because of it; two great nations -went to war because of it; and perhaps my father lost -his throne or his life—I do not know, for I was captured -by the enemy while the war still raged. It may be -raging yet and men dying because I was too beautiful. -No one will fight for me now, though,” she added, with -a rueful smile.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do you know how long you have been here?” I -asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” she replied. “It was the day before yesterday -that they brought me hither.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It was ten years ago,” I told her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ten years! Impossible.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I pointed to the corpses around us. “You have lain -like this for ten years,” I explained. “There are subjects -here who have lain thus for fifty, Ras Thavas tells -me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ten years! Ten years! What may not have happened -in ten years! It is better thus. I should fear to go back -now. I should not want to know that my father, my -mother too, perhaps, were gone. It is better thus. Perhaps -you will let me sleep again? May I not?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That remains with Ras Thavas,” I replied; “but for -a while I am to observe you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Observe me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Study you—your reactions.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ah! and what good will that do?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It may do some good in the world.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It may give this horrid Ras Thavas some new ideas -for his torture chamber—some new scheme for coining -money from the suffering of his victims,” she said, her -harsh voice saddened.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Some of his works are good,” I told her. “The money -he makes permits him to maintain this wonderful establishment -where he constantly carries on countless experiments. -Many of his operations are beneficent. Yesterday -a warrior was brought in whose arm was crushed -beyond repair. Ras Thavas gave him a new arm. A demented -child was brought. Ras Thavas gave her a new -brain. The arm and the brain were taken from two who -had met violent deaths. Through Ras Thavas they were -permitted, after death, to give life and happiness to -others.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She thought for a moment. “I am content,” she said. -“I only hope that you will always be the observer.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Presently Ras Thavas came and examined her. “A -good subject,” he said. He looked at the chart where I -had made a very brief record following the other entries -relative to the history of Case No. 4296-E-2631-H. Of -course this is, naturally, a rather free translation of this -particular identification number. The Barsoomians have -no alphabet such as ours and their numbering system -is quite different. The thirteen characters above were -represented by four Toonolian characters, yet the meaning -was quite the same—they represented, in contracted -form, the case number, the room, the table and the -building.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The subject will be quartered near you where you -may regularly observe it,” continued Ras Thavas. “There -is a chamber adjoining yours. I will see that it is unlocked. -Take the subject there. When not under your -observation, lock it in.” <span class='it'>It</span> was only another <span class='it'>case</span> to -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I took the girl, if I may so call her, to her quarters. -On the way I asked her her name, for it seemed to me -an unnecessary discourtesy always to address her and -refer to her as 4296-E-2631-H, and this I explained to -her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is considerate of you to think of that,” she said, -“but really that is all that I am here—just another subject -for vivisection.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are more than that to me,” I told her. “You -are friendless and helpless. I want to be of service to -you—to make your lot easier if I can.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Thank you again,” she said. “My name is Valla Dia, -and yours?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas calls me Vad Varo,” I told her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But that is not your name?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“My name is Ulysses Paxton.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is a strange name, unlike any that I have ever -heard, but you are unlike any man I have ever seen—you -do not seem Barsoomian. Your colour is unlike -that of any race.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am not of Barsoom, but from Earth, the planet -you sometimes call Jasoom. That is why I differ in -appearance from any you have known before.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Jasoom! There is another Jasoomian here whose -fame has reached to the remotest corners of Barsoom, -but I never have seen him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“John Carter?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, The War Lord. He was of Helium and my -people were not friendly with those of Helium. I never -could understand how he came here. And now there is -another from Jasoom—how can it be? How did you -cross the great void?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I shook my head. “I cannot even guess,” I told her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Jasoom must be peopled with wonderful men,” she -said. It was a pretty compliment.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“As Barsoom is with beautiful women,” I replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She glanced down ruefully at her old and wrinkled -body.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have seen the real you,” I said gently.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I hate to think of my face,” she said. “I know it is -a frightful thing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is not you, remember that when you see it and -do not feel too badly.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is it as bad as that?” she asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I did not reply. “Never mind,” she said presently. -“If I had not beauty of the soul, I was not beautiful, -no matter how perfect my features may have been; but -if I possessed beauty of soul then I have it now. So -I can think beautiful thoughts and perform beautiful -deeds and that, I think, is the real test of beauty, after -all.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And there is hope,” I added, almost in a whisper.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hope? No, there is no hope, if what you mean to -suggest is that I may some time regain my lost self. You -have told me enough to convince me that that can never -be.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We will not speak of it,” I said, “but we may think -of it and sometimes thinking a great deal of a thing -helps us to find a way to get it, if we want it badly -enough.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I do not want to hope,” she said, “for it will but -mean disappointment for me. I shall be happy as I -am. Hoping, I should always be unhappy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had ordered food for her and after it was brought -Ras Thavas sent for me and I left her, locking the -door of her chamber as the old surgeon had instructed. -I found Ras Thavas in his office, a small room which -adjoined a very large one in which were a score of -clerks arranging and classifying reports from various departments -of the great laboratory. He arose as I entered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come with me, Vad Varo,” he directed. “We will -have a look at the two cases in L-42-X, the two of -which I spoke.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The man with half a simian brain and the ape with -a half human brain?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He nodded and preceded me towards the runway -that led to the vaults beneath the building. As we descended, -the corridors and passageways indicated long -disuse. The floors were covered with an impalpable dust, -long undisturbed; the tiny radium bulbs that faintly illuminated -the sub-barsoomian depths were likewise -coated. As we proceeded, we passed many doorways -on either side, each marked with its descriptive -hieroglyphic. Several of the openings had been tightly -sealed with masonry. What gruesome secrets were hid -within? At last we came to L-42-X. Here the bodies -were arranged on shelves, several rows of which almost -completely filled the room from floor to ceiling, except -for a rectangular space in the centre of the chamber, -which accommodated an ersite topped operating table -with its array of surgical instruments, its motor and other -laboratory equipment.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas searched out the subjects of his strange -experiment and together we carried the human body to -the table. While Ras Thavas attached the tubes I returned -for the vessel of blood which reposed upon the -same shelf with the corpse. The now familiar method of -revivification was soon accomplished and presently we -were watching the return of consciousness to the subject.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The man sat up and looked at us, then he cast a -quick glance about the chamber; there was a savage -light in his eyes as they returned to us. Slowly he backed -from the table to the floor, keeping the former between -us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We will not harm you,” said Ras Thavas.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The man attempted to reply, but his words were unintelligible -gibberish, then he shook his head and growled. -Ras Thavas took a step towards him and the man -dropped to all fours, his knuckles resting on the floor, -and backed away, growling.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come!” cried Ras Thavas. “We will not harm you.” -Again he attempted to approach the subject, but the -man only backed quickly away, growling more fiercely; -and then suddenly he wheeled and climbed quickly to -the top of the highest shelf, where he squatted upon a -corpse and gibbered at us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We shall have to have help,” said Ras Thavas and, -going to the doorway, he blew a signal upon his -whistle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What are you blowing that for?” demanded the man -suddenly. “Who are you? What am I doing here? What -has happened to me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come down,” said Ras Thavas. “We are friends.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Slowly the man descended to the floor and came towards -us, but he still moved with his knuckles to the -pavement. He looked about at the corpses and a new -light entered his eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am hungry!” he cried. “I will eat!” and with that -he seized the nearest corpse and dragged it to the floor.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Stop! Stop!” cried Ras Thavas, leaping forward. “You -will ruin the subject,” but the man only backed away, -dragging the corpse along the floor after him. It was -then that the attendants came and with their help we -subdued and bound the poor creature. Then Ras Thavas -had the attendants bring the body of the ape and he -told them to remain, as we might need them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The subject was a large specimen of the Barsoomian -white ape, one of the most savage and fearsome denizens -of the Red Planet, and because of the creature’s great -strength and ferocity Ras Thavas took the precaution to -see that it was securely bound before resurgence.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was a colossal creature about ten or fifteen feet -tall, standing erect, and had an intermediary set of arms -or legs midway between its upper and lower limbs. The -eyes were close together and non-protruding; the ears -were high set, while its snout and teeth were strikingly -like those of our African gorilla.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>With returning consciousness the creature eyed us -questioningly. Several times it seemed to essay to speak, -but only inarticulate sounds issued from its throat. Then -it lay still for a period.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas spoke to it. “If you understand my -words, nod your head.” The creature nodded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Would you like to be freed of your bonds?” asked -the surgeon.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Again the creature nodded an affirmative.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I fear that you will attempt to injure us, or escape,” -said Ras Thavas.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The ape was apparently trying very hard to articulate -and at last there issued from its lips a sound that could -not be misunderstood. It was the single word no.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You will not harm us or try to escape?” Ras Thavas -repeated his question.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” said the ape, and this time the word was clearly -enunciated.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We shall see,” said Ras Thavas. “But remember -that with our weapons we may dispatch you quickly if -you attack us.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The ape nodded, and then, very laboriously: “I will -not harm you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At a sign from Ras Thavas the attendants removed -the bonds and the creature sat up. It stretched its limbs -and slid easily to the floor, where it stood erect upon -two feet, which was not surprising, since the white ape -goes more often upon two feet than six; a fact of which -I was not cognizant at the time, but which Ras Thavas -explained to me later in commenting upon the fact that -the human subject had gone upon all fours, which, to -Ras Thavas, indicated a reversion to type in the fractional -ape-brain transplanted to the human skull.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas examined the subject at considerable -length and then resumed his examination of the human -subject which continued to evince more simian characteristics -than human, though it spoke more easily than -the ape, because, undoubtedly, of its more perfect vocal -organs. It was only by exerting the closest attention that -the diction of the ape became understandable at all.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is nothing remarkable about these subjects,” -said Ras Thavas, after devoting half a day to them. -“They bear out what I had already determined years -ago in the transplanting of entire brains; that the act -of transplanting stimulates growth and activity of brain -cells. You will note that in each subject the transplanted -portions of the brains are more active—they, in a considerable -measure, control. That is why we have the -human subject displaying distinctly simian characteristics, -while the ape behaves in a more human manner; though -if longer and closer observation were desirable you -would doubtless find that each reverted at times to his -own nature—that is the ape would be more wholly an -ape and the human more manlike—but it is not worth -the time, of which I have already given too much to a -rather unprofitable forenoon. I shall leave you now to -restore the subjects to anaesthesia while I return to the -laboratories above. The attendants will remain here to -assist you, if required.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The ape, who had been an interested listener, now -stepped forward. “Oh, please, I pray you,” it mumbled, -“do not again condemn me to these horrid shelves. I -recall the day that I was brought here securely bound, -and though I have no recollection of what has transpired -since I can but guess from the appearance of my own -skin and that of these dusty corpses that I have lain -here long. I beg that you will permit me to live and -either restore me to my fellows or allow me to serve -in some capacity in this establishment, of which I saw -something between the time of my capture and the day -that I was carried into this laboratory, bound and helpless, -to one of your cold, ersite slabs.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas made a gesture of impatience. “Nonsense!” -he cried. “You are better off here, where you can be -preserved in the interests of science.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Accede to his request,” I begged, “and I will myself -take over all responsibility for him while I profit -by the study that he will afford me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do as you are directed,” snapped Ras Thavas as he -quit the room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I shrugged my shoulders. “There is nothing for it, -then,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I might dispatch you all and escape,” mused the -ape, aloud, “but you would have helped me. I could -not kill one who would have befriended me—yet I -shrink from the thought of another death. How long -have I lain here?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I referred to the history of his case that had been -brought and suspended at the head of the table. “Twelve -years,” I told him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And yet, why not?” he demanded of himself. “This -man would slay me—why should I not slay him first.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It would do you no good,” I assured him, “for you -could never escape. Instead you would be really killed, -dying a death from which Ras Thavas would probably -think it not worth while ever to recall you, while I, -who might find the opportunity at some later date and -who have the inclination, would be dead at your hands -and thus incapable of saving you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had been speaking in a low voice, close to his ear, -that the attendants might not overhear me. The ape listened -intently.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You will do as you suggest?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“At the first opportunity that presents itself,” I assured -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” he said, “I will submit, trusting to you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A half hour later both subjects had been returned to -their shelves.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='42' id='Page_42'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER IV<br/> THE COMPACT</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Days</span> ran into weeks, weeks into months, as day by day -I labored at the side of Ras Thavas, and more and more -the old surgeon took me into his confidence, more -and more he imparted to me the secrets of his skill -and his profession. Gradually he permitted me to perform -more and more important functions in the actual -practice of his vast laboratory. I started transferring -limbs from one subject to another, then internal organs -of the digestive tract. Then he entrusted to me a complete -operation upon a paying client. I removed the kidneys -from a rich old man, replacing them with healthy ones -from a young subject. The following day I gave a stunted -child new thyroid glands. A week later I transferred two -hearts and then, at last, came the great day for me—unassisted, -with Ras Thavas standing silently beside me, -I took the brain of an old man and transplanted it within -the cranium of a youth.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>When I had done Ras Thavas laid a hand upon my -shoulder. “I could not have done better myself,” he said. -He seemed much elated and I could not but wonder -at this unusual demonstration of emotion upon his part, -he who so prided himself upon his lack of emotionalism. -I had often pondered the purpose which influenced Ras -Thavas to devote so much time to my training, but never -had I hit upon any more satisfactory explanation than -that he had need of assistance in his growing practice. -Yet when I consulted the records, that were now open -to me, I discovered that his practice was no greater than -it had been for many years; and even had it been there -was really no reason why he should have trained me in -preference to one of his red-Martian assistants, his belief -in my loyalty not being sufficient warrant, in my mind, -for this preferment when he could, as well as not, have -kept me for a bodyguard and trained one of his own kind -to aid him in his surgical work.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But I was presently to learn that he had an excellent -reason for what he was doing—Ras Thavas always had -an excellent reason for whatever he did. One night after -we had finished our evening meal he sat looking at me -intently as he so often did, as though he would read -my mind, which, by the way, he was totally unable -to do, much to his surprise and chagrin; for unless a -Martian is constantly upon the alert any other Martian -can read clearly his every thought; but Ras Thavas -was unable to read mine. He said that it was due to the -fact that I was not a Barsoomian. Yet I could often read -the minds of his assistants, when they were off their -guard, though never had I read aught of Ras Thavas’ -thoughts, nor, I am sure, had any other read them. He -kept his brain sealed like one of his own blood jars, nor -was he ever for a moment found with his barriers down.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He sat looking at me this evening for a long time, nor -did it in the least embarrass me, so accustomed was I -to his peculiarities. “Perhaps,” he said presently, “one -of the reasons that I trust you is due to the fact that I -cannot ever, at any time, fathom your mind; so, if you -harbor traitorous thoughts concerning me I do not know -it, while the others, every one of them, reveal their -inmost souls to my searching mind and in each one there -is envy, jealousy or hatred of me. Them, I know, I cannot -trust. Therefore I must accept the risk and place all my -dependence upon you, and my reason tells me that my -choice is a wise one—I have told you upon what grounds -it based my selection of you as my bodyguard. The same -holds true in my selection of you for the thing I have in -mind. You cannot harm me without harming yourself and -no man will intentionally do that; nor is there any -reason why you should feel any deep antagonism towards -me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are, of course, a sentimentalist and doubtless -you look with horror upon many of the acts of a sane, -rational, scientific mind; but you are also highly intelligent -and can, therefore, appreciate better than another, -even though you may not approve them, the motives that -prompt me to do many of those things of which your -sentimentality disapproves. I may have offended you, but -I have never wronged you, nor have I wronged any -creature for which you might have felt some of your -so-called friendship or love. Are my premises incorrect, -or my reasoning faulty?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I assured him to the contrary.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Very well! Now let me explain why I have gone to -such pains to train you as no other human being, aside -from myself, has ever been trained. I am not ready to use -you yet, or rather you are not ready; but if you know -my purpose you will realize the necessity for bending your -energy to the consummation of my purpose, and to that -end you will strive even more diligently than you have to -perfect yourself in the high, scientific art I am imparting -to you.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am a very old man,” he continued after a brief -pause, “even as age goes upon Barsoom. I have lived -more than a thousand years. I have passed the allotted -natural span of life, but I am not through with my -life’s work—I have but barely started it. I must not die. -Barsoom must not be robbed of this wondrous brain and -skill of mine. I have long had in mind a plan to thwart -death, but it required another with skill equal to mine—two -such might live for ever. I have selected you to be -that other, for reasons that I already have explained—they -are undefiled by sentimentalism. I did not choose -you because I love you, or because I feel friendship for -you, or because I think that you love me, or feel friendship -towards me. I chose you because I knew that of all the -inhabitants of a world you were the one least likely to fail -me. For a time you will have my life in your hands. You -will understand now why I have not been able to choose -carelessly.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This plan that I have chosen is simplicity itself provided -that I can count upon just two essential factors—skill -and self-interested loyalty in an assistant. My body -is about worn out. I must have a new one. My laboratory -is filled with wonderful bodies, young and complete with -potential strength and health. I have but to select one -of these and have my skilled assistant transfer my brain -from this old carcass to the new one.” He paused.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I understand now, why you have trained me,” I -said. “It has puzzled me greatly.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Thus and thus only may I continue my labors,” he -went on, “and thus may Barsoom be assured a continuance -practically indefinitely, of the benefits that my brain may -bestow upon her children. I may live for ever, provided -I always have a skilled assistant, and I may assure myself -of such by seeing to it that he never dies; when he wears -out one organ, or his whole body, I can replace either -from my great storehouse of perfect parts, and for me -he can perform the same service. Thus may we continue -to live indefinitely; for the brain, I believe, is almost deathless, -unless injured or attacked by disease.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are not ready as yet to be entrusted with this -important task. You must transfer many more brains and -meet with and overcome the various irregularities and -idiosyncrasies that constitute the never failing differences -that render no two operations identical. When you gain -sufficient proficiency I shall be the first to know it and -then we shall lose no time in making Barsoom safe for -posterity.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The old man was far from achieving hatred of himself. -However, his plan was an excellent one, both for himself -and for me. It assured us immortality—we might live -for ever and always with strong, healthy, young bodies. -The outlook was alluring—and what a wonderful position -it placed me in. If the old man could be assured of -my loyalty because of self-interest, similarly might I -depend upon his loyalty; for he could not afford to antagonize -the one creature in the world who could assure -him immortality, or withhold it from him. For the first -time since I had entered his establishment I felt safe.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As soon as I had left him I went directly to Valla Dia’s -apartment, for I wanted to tell her this wonderful news. -In the weeks that had passed since her resurrection I had -seen much of her and in our daily intercourse there had -been revealed to me little by little the wondrous beauties -of her soul, until at last I no longer saw the hideous, disfigured -face of Xaxa when I looked upon her, but the -eyes of my heart penetrated deeper to the loveliness that -lay within that sweet mind. She had become my confidant, -as I was hers, and this association constituted the one -great pleasure of my existence upon Barsoom.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Her congratulations, when I told her of what had -come to me, were very sincere and lovely. She said that -she hoped I would use this great power of mine to do good -in the world. I assured her that I would and that among -the first things that I should demand of Ras Thavas was -that he should give Valla Dia a beautiful body; but she -shook her head.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, my friend,” she said, “if I may not have my own -body this old one of Xaxa’s is quite as good for me as -another. Without my own body I should not care to return -to my native country; while were Ras Thavas to give me -the beautiful body of another, I should always be in -danger of the covetousness of his clients, any one of -whom might see and desire to purchase it, leaving to me -her old husk, conceivably one quite terribly diseased or -maimed. No, my friend, I am satisfied with the body of -Xaxa, unless I may again possess my own, for Xaxa -at least bequeathed me a tough and healthy envelope, -however ugly it may be; and for what do looks count -here? You, alone, are my friend—that I have your -friendship is enough. You admire me for what I am, not -for what I look like, so let us leave well enough alone.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If you could regain your own body and return to your -native country, you would like that?” I demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, do not say it!” she cried. “The simple thought of -it drives me mad with longing. I must not harbour so -hopeless a dream that at best may only tantalize me into -greater abhorrence of my lot.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do not say that it is hopeless,” I urged. “Death, only, -renders hope futile.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You mean to be kind,” she said, “but you are only -hurting me. There can be no hope.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“May I hope for you, then?” I asked. “For I surely -see a way; however slight a possibility for success it may -have, still, it is a way.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She shook her head. “There is no way,” she said, with -finality. “No more will Duhor know me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Duhor?” I repeated. “Your—someone you care for -very much?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I care for Duhor very much,” she answered with a -smile, “but Duhor is not someone—Duhor is my home, -the country of my ancestors.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How came you to leave Duhor?” I asked. “You have -never told me, Valla Dia.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It was because of the ruthlessness of Jal Had, Prince -of Amhor,” she replied. “Hereditary enemies were Duhor -and Amhor; but Jal Had came disguised into the city of -Duhor, having heard, they say, of the great beauty attributed -to the only daughter of Kor San, Jeddak of -Duhor; and when he had seen her he determined to possess -her. Returning to Amhor he sent ambassadors to the -court of Kor San to sue for the hand of the Princess of -Duhor; but Kor San, who had no son, had determined to -wed his daughter to one of his own Jeds, that the son -of this union, with the blood of Kor San in his veins, -might rule over the people of Duhor; and so the offer -of Jal Had was declined.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This so incensed the Amhorian that he equipped -a great fleet and set forth to conquer Duhor and take by -force that which he could not win by honorable methods. -Duhor was, at that time, at war with Helium and -all her forces were far afield in the south, with the -exception of a small army that had been left behind to -guard the city. Jal Had, therefore, could not have selected -a more propitious time for an attack. Duhor fell, and -while his troops were looting the fair city Jal Had, with -a picked force, sacked the palace of the Jeddak and -searched for the princess; but the princess had no mind -to go back with him as Princess of Amhor. From the -moment that the vanguard of the Amhorian fleet was -seen in the sky she had known, with the others of the -city, the purpose for which they came, and so she used -her head to defeat that purpose.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There was in her retinue a cosmetologist whose duty -it was to preserve the lustrous beauty of the princess’ -hair and skin and prepare her for public audiences, for -fêtes and for the daily intercourse of the court. He was -a master of his art; he could render the ugly pleasant -to look upon, he could make the plain lovely, and he -could make the lovely radiant. She called him quickly to -her and commanded him to make the radiant ugly; and -when he had done with her none might guess that she -was the Princess of Duhor, so deftly had he wrought with -his pigments and his tiny brushes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“When Jal Had could not find the princess within the -palace, and no amount of threat or torture could force a -statement of her whereabouts from the loyal lips of her -people, the Amhorian ordered that every woman within -the palace be seized and taken to Amhor; there to be -held as hostages until the princess of Duhor should be -delivered to him in marriage. We were, therefore, all -seized and placed upon an Amhorian war ship which was -sent back to Amhor ahead of the balance of the fleet, -which remained to complete the sacking of Duhor.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“When the ship, with its small convoy, had covered -some four thousand of the five thousand haads that separate -Duhor from Amhor, it was sighted by a fleet from -Phundahl which immediately attacked. The convoying -ships were destroyed or driven off and that which carried -us was captured. We were taken to Phundahl where -we were put upon the auction block and I fell to the bid -of one of Ras Thavas’ agents. The rest you know.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And what became of the princess?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps she died—her party was separated in Phundahl—but -death could not more definitely prevent her -return to Duhor. The Princess of Duhor will never again -see her native country.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But you may!” I cried, for I had suddenly hit upon -a plan. “Where is Duhor?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are going there?” she asked, laughingly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You are mad, my friend,” she said. “Duhor lies a full -seven thousand, eight hundred haads from Toonol, upon -the opposite side of the snow-clad Artolian Hills. You, a -stranger and alone, could never reach it; for between -lie the Toonolian Marshes, wild hordes, savage beasts -and warlike cities. You would but die uselessly within -the first dozen haads, even could you escape from the -island upon which stands the laboratory of Ras Thavas; -and what motive is there to prompt you to such a useless -sacrifice?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I could not tell her. I could not look upon that withered -figure and into that hideous and disfigured face and -say: “It is because I love you, Valla Dia.” But that, alas, -was my only reason. Gradually, as I had come to know -her through the slow revealment of the wondrous beauty -of her mind and soul, there had crept into my heart a -knowledge of my love; and yet, explain it I cannot, I -could not speak the words to that frightful old hag. I had -seen the gorgeous mundane tabernacle that had housed -the equally gorgeous spirit of the real Valla Dia—<span class='it'>that</span> I -could love; her heart and soul and mind I could love; -but I could not love the body of Xaxa. I was torn, too, -by other emotions, induced by a great doubt—could -Valla Dia return my love. Habilitated in the corpse of -Xaxa, with no other suitor, nay, with no other friend -she might, out of gratitude or through sheer loneliness, -be attracted to me; but once again were she Valla Dia the -beautiful and returned to the palace of her king, surrounded -by the great nobles of Duhor, would she have -either eyes or heart for a lone and friendless exile from -another world? I doubted it—and yet that doubt did -not deter me from my determination to carry out, as far -as Fate would permit, the mad scheme that was revolving -in my brain.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have not answered my question, Vad Varo,” -she interrupted my surging thoughts. “Why would you -do this thing?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“To right the wrong that has been done you, Valla -Dia,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She sighed. “Do not attempt it, please,” she begged. -“You would but rob me of my one friend, whose association -is the only source of happiness remaining to me. I -appreciate your generosity and your loyalty, even -though I may not understand them; your unselfish desire -to serve me at such suicidal risk touches me more -deeply than I can reveal, adding still further to the debt -I owe you; but you must not attempt it—you must not.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If it troubles you, Valla Dia,” I replied, “we will not -speak of it again; but know always that it is never from -my thoughts. Some day I shall find a way, even though -the plan I now have fails me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The days moved on and on, the gorgeous Martian -nights, filled with her hurtling moons, followed one upon -another. Ras Thavas spent more and more time in directing -my work of brain transference. I had long since -become an adept; and I realized that the time was rapidly -approaching when Ras Thavas would feel that he could -safely entrust to my hands and skill his life and future. -He would be wholly within my power and he knew that -I knew it. I could slay him; I could permit him to remain -for ever in the preserving grip of his own anaesthetic; or -I could play any trick upon him that I chose, even to giving -him the body of a calot or a part of the brain of an -ape; but he must take the chance and that I knew, for he -was failing rapidly. Already almost stone blind, it was -only the wonderful spectacles that he had himself invented -that permitted him to see at all; long deaf, he used -artificial means for hearing; and now his heart was showing -symptoms of fatigue that he could not longer ignore.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>One morning I was summoned to his sleeping apartment -by a slave. I found the old surgeon lying, a shrunken, -pitiful heap of withered skin and bones.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We must hasten, Vad Varo,” he said in a weak whisper. -“My heart was like to have stopped a few tals ago. -It was then that I sent for you.” He pointed to a door -leading from his chamber. “There,” he said, “you will -find the body I have chosen. There, in the private laboratory -I long ago built for this very purpose, you will -perform the greatest surgical operation that the universe -has ever known, transferring its most perfect brain to the -most beautiful and perfect body that ever has passed -beneath these ancient eyes. You will find the head already -prepared to receive my brain; the brain of the subject -having been removed and destroyed—totally destroyed -by fire. I could not possibly chance the existence of a -brain desiring and scheming to regain its wondrous -body. No, I destroyed it. Call slaves and have them bear -my body to the ersite slab.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That will not be necessary,” I told him; and lifting -his shrunken form in my arms as he had been an earthly -babe, I carried him into the adjoining room where I -found a perfectly lighted and appointed laboratory containing -two operating tables, one of which was occupied -by the body of a red-man. Upon the surface of the other, -which was vacant, I laid Ras Thavas, then I turned to look -at the new envelope he had chosen. Never, I believe, -had I beheld so perfect a form, so handsome a face—Ras -Thavas had indeed chosen well for himself. Then I -turned back to the old surgeon. Deftly, as he had taught -me, I made the two incisions and attached the tubes. -My finger rested upon the button that would start the -motor pumping his blood from his veins and his marvellous -preservative-anaesthetic into them. Then I spoke.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas,” I said, “you have long been training me -to this end. I have labored assiduously to prepare myself -that there might be no slightest cause for apprehension -as to the outcome. You have, coincidentally, taught -me that one’s every act should be prompted by self-interest -only. You are satisfied, therefore, that I am not -doing this for you because I love you, or because I feel -any friendship for you; but you think that you have -offered me enough in placing before me a similar opportunity -for immortality.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Regardless of your teaching I am afraid that I am -still somewhat of a sentimentalist. I crave the redressing -of wrongs. I crave friendship and love. The price you -offer is not enough. Are you willing to pay more that -this operation may be successfully concluded?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He looked at me steadily for a long minute. “What do -you want?” he asked. I could see that he was trembling -with anger, but he did not raise his voice.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do you recall 4296-E-2631-H?” I inquired.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The subject with the body of Xaxa? Yes, I recall the -case. What of it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I wish her body returned to her. That is the price -you must pay for this operation.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He glared at me. “It is impossible. Xaxa has the body. -Even if I cared to do so, I could never recover it. Proceed -with the operation!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“When you have promised me,” I insisted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I cannot promise the impossible—I cannot obtain -Xaxa. Ask me something else. I am not unwilling to -grant any reasonable request.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That is all I wish—just that; but I do not insist that -you obtain the body. If I bring Xaxa here will you make -the transfer?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It would mean war between Toonol and Phundahl,” -he fumed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That does not interest me,” I said. “Quick! Reach a -decision. In five tals I shall press this button. If you -promise what I ask, you shall be restored with a new -and beautiful body; if you refuse you shall lie here in -the semblance of death for ever.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I promise,” he said slowly, “that when you bring the -body of Xaxa to me I will transfer to that body any -brain that you select from among my subjects.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good!” I exclaimed, and pressed the button.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='53' id='Page_53'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER V<br/> DANGER</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Ras Thavas</span> awakened from the anaesthetic a new and -gorgeous creature—a youth of such wondrous beauty -that he seemed of heavenly rather than worldly origin; -but in that beautiful head was the hard, cold, thousand-year-old -brain of the master surgeon. As he opened his -eyes he looked upon me coldly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have done well,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What I have done, I have done for friendship—perhaps -for love,” I said, “so you can thank the sentimentalism -you decry for the success of the transfer.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He made no reply.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And now,” I continued, “I shall look to you for the -fulfilment of the promise you have made me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“When you bring Xaxa’s body I shall transfer to it the -brain of any of my subjects you may select,” he said, -“but were I you, I would not risk my life in such an impossible -venture—you cannot succeed. Select another -body—there are many beautiful ones—and I will give it -the brain of 4296-E-2631-H.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“None other than the body now owned by the Jeddara -Xaxa will fulfill your promise to me,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He shrugged and there was a cold smile upon his handsome -lips. “Very well,” he said, “fetch Xaxa. When do -you start?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am not yet ready. I will let you know when I am.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good and now begone—but wait! First go to the office -and see what cases await us and if there be any that -do not require my personal attention, and they fall within -your skill and knowledge, attend to them yourself.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As I left him I noticed a crafty smile of satisfaction -upon his lips. What had aroused that? I did not like it -and as I walked away I tried to conjure what could possibly -have passed through that wondrous brain to call -forth at that particular instant so unpleasant a smile. As -I passed through the doorway and into the corridor beyond -I heard him summon his personal slave and body -servant, Yamdor, a huge fellow whose loyalty he kept -through the bestowal of lavish gifts and countless favors. -So great was the fellow’s power that all feared him, as a -word to the master from the lips of Yamdor might easily -send any of the numerous slaves or attendants to an -ersite slab for eternity. It was rumored that he was the -result of an unnatural experiment which had combined -the brain of a woman with the body of a man, and there -was much in his actions and mannerisms to justify this -general belief. His touch, when he worked about his master, -was soft and light, his movements graceful, his ways -gentle, but his mind was jealous, vindictive and unforgiving.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I believe that he did not like me, through jealousy of -the authority I had attained in the establishment of Ras -Thavas; for there was no questioning the fact that I was -a lieutenant, while he was but a slave; yet he always accorded -me the utmost respect. He was, however, merely -a minor cog in the machinery of the great institution presided -over by the sovereign mind of Ras Thavas, and as -such I had given him little consideration; nor did I now -as I bent my steps towards the office.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had gone but a short distance when I recalled a matter -of importance upon which it was necessary for me -to obtain instructions from Ras Thavas immediately; and -so I wheeled about and retraced my way towards his -apartments, through the open doorway of which, as I -approached, I heard the new voice of the master surgeon. -Ras Thavas had always spoken in rather loud tones, -whether as a vocal reflection of his naturally domineering -and authoritative character, or because of his deafness, -I do not know; and now, with the fresh young vocal -chords of his new body, his words rang out clearly and -distinctly in the corridor leading to his room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You will, therefore, Yamdor,” he was saying, “go at -once and, selecting two slaves in whose silence and discretion -you may trust, take the subject from the apartments -of Vad Varo and destroy it—let no vestige of -body or brain remain. Immediately after, you will bring -the two slaves to the laboratory F-30-L, permitting them -to speak to no one, and I will consign them to silence -and forgetfulness for eternity.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Vad Varo will discover the absence of the subject -and report the matter to me. During my investigation you -will confess that you aided 4296-E-2631-H to escape, -but that you have no idea where it intended going. I -will sentence you to death as punishment, but at last, -explaining how urgently I need your services and upon -your solemn promise never to transgress again, I will -defer punishment for the term of your continued good -behaviour. Do you thoroughly understand the entire -plan?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, master,” replied Yamdor.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then depart at once and select the slaves who are to -assist you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Quickly and silently I sped along the corridor until the -first intersection permitted me to place myself out of -sight of anyone coming from Ras Thavas’ apartment; then -I went directly to the chamber occupied by Valla Dia. -Unlocking the door I threw it open and beckoned her to -come out. “Quick! Valla Dia!” I cried. “No time is to be -lost. In attempting to save you I have but brought destruction -upon you. First we must find a hiding place for -you, and that at once—afterwards we can plan for the -future.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The place that first occurred to me as affording adequate -concealment was the half forgotten vaults in the -pits beneath the laboratories, and towards these I hastened -Valla Dia. As we proceeded I narrated all that had -transpired, nor did she once reproach me; but, instead, -expressed naught but gratitude for what she was pleased -to designate as my unselfish friendship. That it had miscarried, -she assured me, was no reflection upon me and -she insisted that she would rather die in the knowledge -that she possessed one such friend than to live on indefinitely, -friendless.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We came at last to the chamber I sought—vault L-42-X, -in building 4-J-21, where reposed the bodies of the -ape and the man, each of which possessed half the brain -of the other. Here I was forced to leave Valla Dia for the -time, that I might hasten to the office and perform the -duties imposed upon me by Ras Thavas, lest his suspicions -be aroused when Yamdor reported that he had -found her apartment vacant.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I reached the office without it being discovered by -anyone who might report the fact to Ras Thavas that I -had been a long time coming from his apartment. To -my relief, I found there were no cases. Without appearing -in any undue haste, I nevertheless soon found an -excuse to depart and at once made my way towards my -own quarters, moving in a leisurely and unconcerned -manner and humming as was my wont (a habit which -greatly irritated Ras Thavas), snatches from some song -that had been popular at the time that I quit Earth. In -this instance it was “Oh, Frenchy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I was thus engaged when I met Yamdor moving hurriedly -along the corridor leading from my apartment, in -company with two male slaves. I greeted him pleasantly, -as was my custom, and he returned my greeting; but -there was an expression of fear and suspicion in his eyes. -I went at once to my quarters, opened the door leading -to the chamber formerly occupied by Valla Dia and then -hastened immediately to the apartment of Ras Thavas, -where I found him conversing with Yamdor. I rushed -in apparently breathless and simulating great excitement.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas,” I demanded, “what have you done -with 4296-E-2631-H? She has disappeared; her apartment -is empty; and as I was approaching it I met Yamdor -and two other slaves coming from that direction.” I -turned then upon Yamdor and pointed an accusing finger -at him. “Yamdor!” I cried. “What have you done -with this woman?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Both Ras Thavas and Yamdor seemed genuinely puzzled -and I congratulated myself that I had thus readily -thrown them off the track. The master surgeon declared -that he would make an immediate investigation; and he -at once ordered a thorough search of the ground and of -the island outside the enclosure. Yamdor denied any -knowledge of the woman and I, at least, was aware of -the sincerity of his protestations, but not so Ras Thavas. -I could see a hint of suspicion in his eyes as he questioned -his body servant; but evidently he could conjure -no motive for any such treasonable action on the part of -Yamdor as would have been represented by the abduction -of the woman and the consequent gross disobedience -of orders.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas’ investigation revealed nothing. I think as -it progressed that he became gradually more and more -imbued with a growing suspicion that I might know more -about the disappearance of Valla Dia than my attitude -indicated, for I presently became aware of a delicately -concealed espionage. Up to this time I had been able to -smuggle food to Valla Dia every night, after Ras Thavas -had retired to his quarters. Then, on one occasion, I -suddenly became subconsciously aware that I was being -followed, and instead of going to the vaults I went to the -office, where I added some observations to my report -upon a case I had handled that day. Returning to my -room I hummed a few bars from “Over There,” that the -suggestion of my unconcern might be accentuated. From -the moment that I quit my quarters until I returned to -them I was sure that eyes had been watching my every -move. What was I to do? Valla Dia must have food, -without it she would die; and were I to be followed to -her hiding place while taking it to her, she would die; -Ras Thavas would see to that.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Half the night I lay awake, racking my brains for some -solution to the problem. There seemed only one way—I -must elude the spies. If I could do this but one single -time I could carry out the balance of a plan that had -occurred to me, and which was, I thought, the only one -feasible that might eventually lead to the resurrection of -Valla Dia in her own body. The way was long, the risks -great; but I was young, in love and utterly reckless of -consequences in so far as they concerned me; it was Valla -Dia’s happiness alone that I could not risk too greatly, -other than under dire stress. Well, the stress existed and -I must risk that, even as I risked my life.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My plan was formulated and I lay awake upon my -sleeping silks and furs in the darkness of my room, awaiting -the time when I might put it into execution. My window, -which was upon the third floor, overlooked the -walled enclosure, upon the scarlet sward of which I had -made my first bow to Barsoom. Across the open casement -I had watched Cluros, the farther moon, take his -slow deliberate way. He had already set. Behind him, -Thuria, his elusive mistress, fled through the heavens. In -five xats (about 15 minutes) she would set; and then for -about three and three quarters Earth hours the heavens -would be dark, except for the stars.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In the corridor, perhaps, lurked those watchful eyes. -I prayed God that they might not be elsewhere as Thuria -sank at last beneath the horizon and I swung to my window -ledge, in my hand a long rope fabricated from -braided strips torn from my sleeping silks while I had -awaited the setting of the moons. One end I had fastened -to a heavy sorapus bench which I had drawn close to the -window. I dropped the free end of the rope and started -my descent. My Earthly muscles, untried in such endeavours, -I had not trusted to the task of carrying me to -my window ledge in a single leap, when I should be returning. -I felt that they would, but I did not know; and -too much depended upon the success of my venture to -risk any unnecessary chance of failure. And so I had -prepared the rope.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Whether I was being observed I did not know. I must -go on as though none were spying upon me. In less than -four hours Thuria would return (just before the sudden -Barsoomian dawn) and in the interval I must reach -Valla Dia, persuade her of the necessity of my plan and -carry out its details, returning to my chamber before -Thuria could disclose me to any accidental observer. I -carried my weapons with me and in my heart was unbending -determination to slay whoever might cross my -path and recognize me during the course of my errand, -however innocent of evil intent against me he might be.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The night was quiet except for the usual distant sounds -that I had heard ever since I had been here—sounds -that I had interpreted as the cries of savage beasts. Once -I had asked Ras Thavas about them, but he had been in -ill humor and had ignored my question. I reached the -ground quickly and without hesitation moved directly to -the nearest entrance of the building, having previously -searched out and determined upon the route I would -follow to the vault. No one was visible and I was confident, -when at last I reached the doorway, that I had -come through undetected. Valla Dia was so happy to see -me again that it almost brought the tears to my eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I thought that something had happened to you,” she -cried, “for I knew that you would not remain away so -long of your own volition.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I told her of my conviction that I was being watched -and that it would not be possible for me longer to bring -food to her without incurring almost certain detection, -which would spell immediate death for her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is a single alternative,” I said, “and that I -dread even to suggest and would not were there any -other way. You must be securely hidden for a long time, -until Ras Thavas’ suspicions have been allayed; for as -long as he has me watched I cannot possibly carry out -the plans I have formulated for your eventual release, -the restoration of your own body and your return to -Duhor.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Your will shall be my law, Vad Varo.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I shook my head. “It will be harder for you than you -imagine.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What is the way?” she asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I pointed to the ersite topped table. “You must pass -again through that ordeal that I may hide you away in -this vault until the time is ripe for the carrying out of -my plans. Can you endure it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She smiled. “Why not?” she asked. “It is only sleep—if -it lasts for ever I shall be no wiser.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I was surprised that she did not shrink from the idea, -but I was very glad since I knew that it was the only -way that we had a chance for success. Without my help -she disposed herself upon the ersite slab.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am ready, Vad Varo,” she said, bravely; “but first -promise me that you will take no risks in this mad venture. -You cannot succeed. When I close my eyes I know -that it will be for the last time if my resurrection depends -upon the successful outcome of the maddest venture that -ever man conceived; yet I am happy, because I know -that it is inspired by the greatest friendship with which -any mortal woman has ever been blessed.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As she talked I had been adjusting the tubes and now -I stood beside her with my finger upon the starting button -of the motor.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good-bye, Vad Varo,” she whispered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not good-bye, Valla Dia, but only a sweet sleep for -what to you will be the briefest instant. You will seem -but to close your eyes and open them again. As you see -me now, I shall be standing here beside you as though I -never had departed from you. As I am the last that you -look upon to-night before you close your eyes, so shall I -be the first that you shall look upon as you open them -on that new and beautiful morning; but you shall not -again look forth through the eyes of Xaxa, but from the -limpid depths of your own beautiful orbs.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>She smiled and shook her head. Two tears formed beneath -her lids. I pressed her hand in mine and touched -the button.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='61' id='Page_61'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VI<br/> SUSPICIONS</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>In</span> so far as I could know I reached my apartment without -detection. Hiding my rope where I was sure it would -not be discovered, I sought my sleeping silks and furs -and was soon asleep.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The following morning as I emerged from my quarters -I caught a fleeting glimpse of a figure in a nearby -corridor and from then on for a long time I had further -evidence that Ras Thavas suspicioned me. I went at once -to his quarters, as had been my habit. He seemed restless, -but he gave me no hint that he held any assurance -that I had been responsible for the disappearance of -Valla Dia, and I think that he was far from positive of -it. It was simply that his judgment pointed to the fact -that I was the only person who might have any reason -for interfering in any way with this particular subject, -and he was having me watched to either prove or disprove -the truth of his reasonable suspicions. His restlessness -he explained to me himself.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have often studied the reaction of others who have -undergone brain transference,” he said, “and so I am -not wholly surprised at my own. Not only has my brain -energy been stimulated, resulting in an increased production -of nervous energy, but I also feel the effects of the -young tissue and youthful blood of my new body. They -are affecting my consciousness in a way that my experiment -had vaguely indicated, but which I now see must be -actually experienced to be fully understood. My thoughts, -my inclinations, even my ambitions have been changed, -or at least coloured, by the transfer. It will take some -time for me to find myself.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Though uninterested, I listened politely until he was -through and then I changed the subject. “Have you located -the missing woman?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He shook his head, negatively.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You must appreciate, Ras Thavas,” I said, “that I -fully realize that you must have known that the removal -or destruction of that woman would entirely frustrate -my entire plan. You are master here. Nothing that passes -is without your knowledge.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You mean that I am responsible for the disappearance -of the woman?” he demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Certainly. It is obvious. I demand that she be restored.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He lost his temper. “Who are you to demand?” he -shouted. “You are naught but a slave. Cease your impudence -or I shall erase you—erase you. It will be as -though you never had existed.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I laughed in his face. “Anger is the most futile attribute -of the sentimentalist,” I reminded him. “You will -not erase me, for I alone stand between you and mortality.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I can train another,” he parried.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But you could not trust him,” I pointed out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But you bargained with me for my life when you -had me in your power,” he cried.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“For nothing that it would have harmed you to have -granted willingly. I did not ask anything for myself. Be -that as it may, you will trust me again. You will trust, -for no other reason than that you will be forced to trust -me. So why not win my gratitude and my loyalty by returning -the woman to me and carrying out in spirit as -well as in fact the terms of our agreement?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He turned and looked steadily at me. “Vad Varo,” he -said, “I give you the word of honor of a Barsoomian -noble that I know absolutely nothing concerning the -whereabouts of 4296-E-2631-H.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps Yamdor does,” I persisted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Nor Yamdor. Of my knowledge no person in any -way connected with me knows what became of it. I have -spoken the truth.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Well, the conversation was not as profitless as it might -appear, for I was sure that it had almost convinced Ras -Thavas that I was equally as ignorant of the fate of -Valla Dia as was he. That it had not wholly convinced -him was evidenced by the fact that the espionage continued -for a long time, a fact which determined me to -use Ras Thavas’ own methods in my own defence. I had -had allotted to me a number of slaves, and these I had -won over by kindness and understanding until I knew -that I had the full measure of their loyalty. They had no -reason to love Ras Thavas and every reason to hate -him; on the other hand they had no reason to hate me, -and I saw to it that they had every reason to love me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The result was that I had no difficulty in enlisting the -services of a couple of them to spy upon Ras Thavas’ -spies, with the result that I was soon apprised that my -suspicions were well founded—I was being constantly -watched every minute that I was out of my apartments, -but the spying did not come beyond my outer chamber -walls. That was why I had been successful in reaching the -vault in the manner that I had, the spies having assumed -that I would leave my chamber only by its natural exit, -had been content to guard that and permit my windows -to go unwatched.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I think it was about two of our months that the spying -continued and then my men reported that it seemed -to have ceased entirely. All that time I was fretting at -the delay, for I wanted to be about my plans which -would have been absolutely impossible for me to carry -out if I were being watched. I had spent the interval in -studying the geography of the north-eastern Barsoomian -hemisphere where my activities were to be carried on, -and also in scanning a great number of case histories and -inspecting the subjects to which they referred; but at -last, with the removal of the spies, it began to look as -though I might soon commence to put my plans in active -operation.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas had for some time permitted me considerable -freedom in independent investigation and experiment, -and this I determined to take advantage of -in every possible way that might forward my plans for -the resurrection of Valla Dia. My study of the histories -of many of the cases had been with the possibility in -mind of discovering subjects that might be of assistance -to me in my venture. Among those that had occupied -my careful attention were, quite naturally, the cases -with which I had been most familiar, namely: 378-J-493811-P, -the red-man from whose vicious attack I had -saved Ras Thavas upon the day of my advent upon -Mars; and he whose brain had been divided with an -ape.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The former, 378-J-493811-P, had been a native of -Phundahl—a young warrior attached to the court of -Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl—and a victim of assassination. -His body had been purchased by a Phundahlian -noble for the purpose, as Ras Thavas had narrated, of -winning the favor of a young beauty. I felt that I might -possibly enlist his services, but that would depend upon -the extent of his loyalty towards Xaxa, which I could -only determine by reviving and questioning him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He whose brain had been divided with an ape had -originated in Ptarth, which lay at a considerable distance -to the west of Phundahl and a little south and -about an equal distance from Duhor, which lay north -and a little west of it. An inhabitant of Ptarth, I reasoned, -would know much of the entire country included -in the triangle formed by Phundahl, Ptarth and Duhor; -the strength and ferocity of the great ape would prove -of value in crossing beast infested wastes; and I felt -that I could hold forth sufficient promise to the human -half of the great beast’s brain, which really now dominated -the creature, to win its support and loyalty. The -third subject that I had tentatively selected had been -a notorious Toonolian assassin, whose audacity, fearlessness -and swordsmanship had won for him a reputation -that had spread far beyond the boundaries of his -country.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas, himself a Toonolian, had given me something -of the history of this man whose grim calling is -not without honor upon Barsoom, and which Gor -Hajus had raised still higher in the esteem of his countrymen -through the fact that he never struck down a -woman or a good man and that he never struck from -behind. His killings were always the results of fair fights -in which the victim had every opportunity to defend -himself and slay his attacker; and he was famous for -his loyalty to his friends. In fact this very loyalty had -been a contributing factor in his downfall which had -brought him to one of Ras Thavas’ ersite slabs some -years since, for he had earned the enmity of Vobis -Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, through his refusal to assassinate -a man who once had befriended Gor Hajus in some -slight degree; following which Vobis Kan conceived the -suspicion that Gor Hajus had him marked for slaying. -The result was inevitable: Gor Hajus was arrested and -condemned to death; immediately following the execution -of the sentence an agent of Ras Thavas had purchased -the body.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>These three, then, I had chosen to be my partners -in my great adventure. It is true that I had not discussed -the matter with any one of them, but my judgment -assured me that I would have no difficulty in -enlisting their services and loyalty in return for their -total resurrection.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My first task lay in renewing the organs of 378-J-493811-P -and of Gor Hajus which had been injured -by the wounds that had laid them low; the former requiring -a new lung and the latter a new heart, his -executioner having run him through with a short-sword. -I hesitated to ask Ras Thavas’ permission to experiment -on these subjects for fear of the possibility of -arousing his suspicions, in which event he would probably -have them destroyed; and so I was forced to accomplish -my designs by subterfuge and stealth. To this end -I made it a practice for weeks to carry my regular -laboratory work far into the night, often requiring the -services of various assistants that all might become accustomed -to the sight of me at work at unusual hours. -In my selection of these assistants I made it a point -to choose two of the very spies that Ras Thavas had -set to watching me. While it was true that they were -no longer employed in this particular service, I had -hopes that they would carry word of my activities to -their master; and I was careful to see that they received -from me the proper suggestions that would mould -their report in language far from harmful to me. By -the merest suggestion I carried to them the idea that -I worked thus late purely for the love of the work -itself and the tremendous interest in it that Ras Thavas -had awakened within my mind. Some nights I worked -with assistants and as often I did not, but always I -was careful to assure myself that the following morning -those in the office were made aware that I had labored -far into the preceding night.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This groundwork carefully prepared, I had comparatively -little fear of the results of actual discovery when -I set to work upon the warrior of Phundahl and the -assassin of Toonol. I chose the former first. His lung -was badly injured where my blade had passed through -it, but from the laboratory where were kept fractional -bodies I brought a perfect lung, with which I replaced -the one that I had ruined. The work occupied but half -the night. So anxious was I to complete my task that -I immediately opened up the breast of Gor Hajus, for -whom I had selected an unusually strong and powerful -heart, and by working rapidly I succeeded in completing -the transference before dawn. Having known the nature -of the wounds that had dispatched these two men, I -had spent weeks in performing similar operations that I -might perfect myself especially in this work; and having -encountered no unusual pathological conditions in -either subject, the work had progressed smoothly and -with great rapidity. I had completed what I had feared -would be the most difficult part of my task and now, -having removed as far as possible all signs of the operation -except the therapeutic tape which closed the incisions, -I returned to my quarters for a few minutes -of much needed rest, praying that Ras Thavas would -not by any chance examine either of the subjects upon -which I had been working; although I had fortified myself -against such a contingency by entering full details -of the operation upon the history card of each subject -that, in the event of discovery, any suspicion of ulterior -motives upon my part might be allayed by my play -of open frankness.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I arose at the usual time and went at once to Ras -Thavas’ apartment, where I was met with a bombshell -that nearly wrecked my composure. He eyed me closely -for a long minute before he spoke.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You worked late last night, Vad Varo,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I often do,” I replied, lightly; but my heart was -heavy as a stone.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And what might it have been that so occupied your -interest?” he inquired.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I felt as a mouse with which the cat is playing. “I -have been doing quite a little lung and heart transference -of late,” I replied, “and I became so engrossed with -my work that I did not note the passage of time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have known that you worked late at night. Do -you think it wise?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At that moment I felt that it had been very unwise, -yet I assured him to the contrary.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I was restless,” he said. “I could not sleep and so -I went to your quarters after midnight, but you were -not there. I wanted someone with whom to talk, but -your slaves knew only that you were not there—where -you were they did not know—so I set out to search -for you.” My heart went into my sandals. “I guessed -that you were in one of the laboratories, but though -I visited several I did not find you.” My heart arose -with the lightness of a feather. “Since my own transference -I have been cursed with restlessness and sleeplessness, -so that I could almost wish for the return of -my old corpse—the youth of my body harmonizes not -with the antiquity of my brain. It is filled with latent -urges and desires that comport illy with the serious subject -matter of my mind.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What your body needs,” I said, “is exercise. It is -young, strong, virile. Work it hard and it will let your -brain rest at night.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know that you are right,” he replied. “I have -reached that same conclusion myself. In fact, not finding -you, I walked in the gardens for an hour or more -before returning to my quarters, and then I slept soundly. -I shall walk every night when I cannot sleep, or I -shall go into the laboratories and work as do you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This news was most disquieting. Now I could never -be sure but that Ras Thavas was wandering about at -night and I had one more very important night’s work -to do, perhaps two. The only way that I could be sure -of him was to be with him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Send for me when you are restless,” I said, “and -I will walk and work with you. You should not go -about thus at night alone.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” he said, “I may do that occasionally.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I hoped that he would do it always, for then I would -know that when he failed to send for me he was safe -in his own quarters. Yet I saw that I must henceforth -face the menace of detection; and knowing this I determined -to hasten the completion of my plans and to -risk everything on a single bold stroke.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>That night I had no opportunity to put it into action -as Ras Thavas sent for me early and informed me -that we would walk in the gardens until he was tired. -Now, as I needed a full night for what I had in mind -and as Ras Thavas walked until midnight, I was compelled -to forego everything for that evening, but the -following morning I persuaded him to walk early on the -pretext that I should like to go beyond the enclosure -and see something of Barsoom beside the inside of his -laboratories and his gardens. I had little confidence that -he would grant my request, yet he did so. I am sure -he never would have done it had he possessed his old -body; but thus greatly had young blood changed Ras -Thavas.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had never been beyond the buildings, nor had I -seen beyond, since there were no windows in the outside -walls of any of the structures and upon the garden -side the trees had grown to such a height that they -obstructed all view beyond them. For a time we walked -in another garden just inside the outer wall, and then -I asked Ras Thavas if I might go even beyond this.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No,” he said. “It would not be safe.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And why not?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I will show you and at the same time give you a -much broader view of the outside world than you could -obtain by merely passing through the gate. Come, follow -me!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He led me immediately to a lofty tower that rose -at the corner of the largest building of the group that -comprised his vast establishment. Within was a circular -runway which led not only upward, but down as well. -This we ascended, passing openings at each floor, until -we came at last out upon its lofty summit.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>About me spread the first Barsoomian landscape of -any extent upon which my eyes had yet rested during -the long months that I had spent upon the Red Planet. -For almost an Earthly year I had been immured within -the grim walls of Ras Thavas’ bloody laboratory, until, -such creatures of habit are we, the weird life there had -grown to seem quite natural and ordinary; but with this -first glimpse of open country there surged up within me -an urge for freedom, for space, for room to move about, -such as I knew would not be long denied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Directly beneath lay an irregular patch of rocky land -elevated perhaps a dozen feet or more above the general -level of the immediately surrounding country. Its -extent was, at a rough guess, a hundred acres. Upon -this stood the buildings and grounds, which were enclosed -in a high wall. The tower upon which we stood -was situated at about the centre of the total area enclosed. -Beyond the outer wall was a strip of rocky -ground on which grew a sparse forest of fair sized trees -interspersed with patches of a jungle growth, and beyond -all, what appeared to be an oozy marsh through -which were narrow water courses connecting occasional -open water—little lakes, the largest of which could have -comprised scarce two acres. This landscape extended as -far as the eye could reach, broken by occasional islands -similar to that upon which we were and at a short distance -by the skyline of a large city, whose towers and -domes and minarets glistened and sparkled in the sun -as though plated with shining metals and picked out -with precious gems.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This, I knew, must be Toonol and all about us the -Great Toonolian Marshes which extend nearly eighteen -hundred Earth miles east and west and in some places -have a width of three hundred miles. Little is known -about them in other portions of Barsoom as they are -frequented by fierce beasts, afford no landing places for -fliers and are commanded by Phundahl at their western -end and Toonol at the east; inhospitable kingdoms that -invite no intercourse with the outside world and maintain -their independence alone by their inaccessibility -and savage aloofness.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As my eyes returned to the island at our feet I -saw a huge form emerge from one of the nearby patches -of jungle a short distance beyond the outer wall. It -was followed by a second and a third. Ras Thavas saw -that the creatures had attracted my notice.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There,” he said, pointing to them, “are three of a -number of similar reasons why it would not have been -safe for us to venture outside the enclosure.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They were great white apes of Barsoom, creatures so -savage that even that fierce Barsoomian lion, the banth, -hesitates to cross their path.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They serve two purposes,” explained Ras Thavas. -“They discourage those who might otherwise creep upon -me by night from the city of Toonol, where I am not -without many good enemies, and they prevent desertion -upon the part of my slaves and assistants.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But how do your clients reach you?” I asked. “How -are your supplies brought in?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He turned and pointed down toward the highest portion -of the irregular roof of the building below us. -Built upon it was a large, shed-like structure. “There,” -he said, “I keep three small ships. One of them goes -every day to Toonol.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I was overcome with eagerness to know more about -these ships, in which I thought I saw a much needed -means of escape from the island; but I dared not question -him for fear of arousing his suspicions.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we turned to descend the tower runway I expressed -interest in the structure which gave evidence of -being far older than any of the surrounding buildings.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This tower,” said Ras Thavas, “was built some -twenty-three thousand years ago by an ancestor of mine -who was driven from Toonol by the reigning Jeddak -of the time. Here, and upon other islands, he gathered -a considerable following, dominated the surrounding -marshes and defended himself successfully for hundreds -of years. While my family has been permitted to return -to Toonol since, this has been their home; to which, -one by one, have been added the various buildings -which you see about the tower, each floor of which connects -with the adjacent building from the roof to the -lowest pits beneath the ground.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This information also interested me greatly since I -thought that I saw where it too might have considerable -bearing upon my plan of escape, and so, as we descended -the runway, I encouraged Ras Thavas to discourse -upon the construction of the tower, its relation -to the other buildings and especially its accessibility from -the pits. We walked again in the outer garden and by -the time we returned to Ras Thavas’ quarters it was almost -dark and the master surgeon was considerably -fatigued.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I feel that I shall sleep well to-night,” he said as -I left him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I hope so, Ras Thavas,” I replied.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='72' id='Page_72'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VII<br/> ESCAPE</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>It</span> was usually about three hours after the evening meal, -which was served immediately after dark, that the establishment -quieted down definitely for the night. While I -should have preferred waiting longer before undertaking -that which I had in mind, I could not safely do so, -since there was much to be accomplished before dawn. -So it was that with the first indications that the occupants -of the building in which my work was to be performed -had retired for the night, I left my quarters -and went directly to the laboratory, where, fortunately -for my plans, the bodies of Gor Hajus, the assassin -of Toonol, and 378-J-493811-P both reposed. It was -the work of a few minutes to carry them to adjoining -tables, where I quickly strapped them securely against -the possibility that one or both of them might not be -willing to agree to the proposition I was about to make -them, and thus force me to anaesthetize them again. -At last the incisions were made, the tubes attached and -the motors started. 378-J-493811-P, whom I shall hereafter -call by his own name, Dar Tarus, was the first -to open his eyes; but he had not regained full consciousness -when Gor Hajus showed signs of life.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I waited until both appeared quite restored. Dar -Tarus was eyeing me with growing recognition that -brought a most venomous expression of hatred to his -countenance. Gor Hajus was frankly puzzled. The last -he remembered was the scene in the death chamber at -the instant that his executioner had run a sword -through his heart. It was I who broke the silence.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“In the first place,” I said, “let me tell you where -you are, if you do not already know.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I know well enough where I am,” growled Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” exclaimed Gor Hajus, whose eyes had been -roaming about the chamber. “I can guess where I am. -What Toonolian has not heard of Ras Thavas? So they -sold my corpse to the old butcher did they? And what -now? Did I just arrive?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have been here six years,” I told him, “and -you may stay here for ever unless we three can reach -an agreement within the next few minutes, and that goes -for you too, Dar Tarus.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Six years!” mused Gor Hajus. “Well, out with it, -man. What do you want? If it is to slay Ras Thavas, -no! He has saved me from utter destruction; but name -me some other, preferably Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol. -Find me a blade and I will slay a hundred to regain -life.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I seek the life of none unless he stands in the way -of the fulfilment of my desire in this matter that I have -in hand. Listen! Ras Thavas had here a beautiful -Duhorian girl. He sold her body to Xaxa, Jeddara of -Phundahl, transplanting the girl’s brain to the wrinkled -and hideous body of the Jeddara. It is my intention to -regain the body, restore it to its own brain and return -the girl to Duhor.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus grinned. “You have a large contract on -your hands,” he said, “but I can see that you are a -man after my own heart and I am with you. It will -give freedom and fighting, and all that I ask is a chance -for one thrust at Vobis Kan.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I promise you life,” I replied; “but with the understanding -that you serve me faithfully and none other, -undertaking no business of your own, until mine has -been carried to a successful conclusion.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That means that I shall have to serve you for life,” -he replied, “for the thing you have undertaken you can -never accomplish; but that is better than lying here on -a cold ersite slab waiting for old Ras Thavas to come -along and carve out my gizzard. I am yours! Let me -up, that I may feel a good pair of legs under me again.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you?” I asked, turning to Dar Tarus as I released -the bonds that held Gor Hajus. For the first time -I now noticed that the ugly expression that I had first -noted upon the face of Dar Tarus had given place to -one of eagerness.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Strike off my bonds!” he cried. “I will follow you -to the ends of Barsoom and the way leads thus far to -the fulfilment of your design; but it will not. It will -lead to Phundahl and to the chamber of the wicked -Xaxa, where, by the generosity of my ancestors, I may -be given the opportunity to avenge the hideous wrong -the creature did me. You could not have chosen one -better fitted for your mission than Dar Tarus, one time -soldier of the Jeddara’s Guard, whom she had slain that -in my former body one of her rotten nobles might woo -the girl I loved.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A moment later the two men stood at my side, and -without more delay I led them towards the runway that -descended to the pits beneath the building. As we went, -I described to them the creature I had chosen to be the -fourth member of our strange party. Gor Hajus questioned -the wisdom of my choice, saying that the ape -would attract too much attention to us. Dar Tarus, however, -believed that it might be helpful in many respects, -since it was possible that we might be compelled to -spend some time among the islands of the marshes which -were often infested with these creatures; while, once in -Phundahl, the ape might readily be used in the furtherance -of our plans and would cause no considerable -comment in a city where many of these beasts are held -in captivity and often are seen performing for the -edification of street crowds.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We went at once to the vault where the ape lay -and where I had concealed the anaesthetized body of -Valla Dia. Here I revived the great anthropoid and to -my great relief found that the human half of its brain -still was dominant. Briefly I explained my plan as I -had to the other two and won the hearty promise of -his support upon my engaging to restore his brain to its -rightful place upon the completion of our venture.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>First we must get off the island, and I outlined two -plans I had in mind. One was to steal one of Ras -Thavas’ three fliers and set out directly for Phundahl, -and the other, in the event that the first did not seem -feasible, was to secrete ourselves aboard one of them -on the chance that we might either overpower the crew -and take over the ship after we had left the island, -or escape undetected upon its arrival in Toonol. Dar -Tarus liked the first plan; the ape, whom we now called -by the name belonging to the human half of his brain, -Hovan Du, preferred the first alternative of the second -plan; and Gor Hajus the second alternative.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus explained that as our principal objective -was Phundahl, the quicker we got there the better. -Hovan Du argued that by seizing the ship after it had -left the island we would have longer time in which to -make our escape before the ship was missed and pursuit -instituted, than by seizing it now in the full knowledge -that its absence would be discovered within a few -hours. Gor Hajus thought that it would be better if -we could come into Toonol secretly and there, through -one of his friends, secure arms and a flier of our own. -It would never do, he insisted, to attempt to go far -without arms for himself and Dar Tarus, nor could we -hope to reach Phundahl without being overhauled by -pursuers; for we must plan on the hypothesis that Ras -Thavas would immediately discover my absence; that he -would at once investigate; that he would find Dar Tarus -and Gor Hajus missing and thereupon lose no time in -advising Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, that Gor Hajus -the assassin was at large, whereupon the Jeddak’s best -ships would be sent in pursuit.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus’ reasoning was sound and coupled with -my recollection that Ras Thavas had told me that his -three ships were slow, I could readily foresee that our -liberty would be of short duration were we to steal one -of the old surgeon’s fliers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we discussed the matter we had made our way -through the pits and I had found the exit to the tower. -Silently we passed upward along the runway and out -upon the roof. Both moons were winging low through -the heavens and the scene was almost as light as day. -If anyone was about discovery was certain. We hastened -towards the hangar and were soon within it, where, for -a moment at least, I breathed far more easily than I -had beneath those two brilliant moons upon the exposed -roof.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The fliers were peculiar looking contrivances, low, -squat, with rounded bows and sterns and covered decks, -their every line proclaiming them as cargo carriers -built for anything but speed. One was much smaller than -the other two and a second was evidently undergoing -repairs. The third I entered and examined carefully. Gor -Hajus was with me and pointed out several places -where we might hide with little likelihood of discovery -unless it were suspected that we might be aboard, and -that of course constituted a very real danger; so much -so that I had about decided to risk all aboard the small -flier, which Gor Hajus assured me would be the fastest -of the three, when Dar Tarus stuck his head into the -ship and motioned me to come quickly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is someone about,” he said when I reached -his side.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where?” I demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come,” he said, and led me to the rear of the -hangar, which was flush with the wall of the building -upon which it stood, and pointed through one of the -windows into the inner garden where, to my consternation, -I saw Ras Thavas walking slowly to and fro. For -an instant I was sick with despair, for I knew that no -ship could leave that roof unseen while anyone was -abroad in the garden beneath, and Ras Thavas least -of all people in the world; but suddenly a great light -dawned upon me. I called the three close to me and -explained my plan.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Instantly they grasped the possibilities in it and a -moment later we had run the small flier out upon the -roof and turned her nose toward the east, away from -Toonol. Then Gor Hajus entered her, set the various -controls as we had decided, opened the throttle, slipped -back to the roof. The four of us hastened into the hangar -and ran to the rear window where we saw the ship -moving slowly and gracefully out over the garden and -the head of Ras Thavas, whose ears must instantly have -caught the faint purring of the motor, for he was looking -up by the time we reached the window.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Instantly he hailed the ship and stepping back from -the window that he might not see me I answered: -“Good-bye, Ras Thavas! It is I, Vad Varo, going out -into a strange world to see what it is like. I shall return. -The spirits of your ancestors be with you until -then.” That was a phrase I had picked up from reading -in Ras Thavas’ library and I was quite proud of -it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come back at once,” he shouted up in reply, “or -you will be with the spirits of your own ancestors before -another day is done.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I made no reply. The ship was now at such a distance -that I feared my voice might no longer seem to -come from it and that we should be discovered. Without -more delay we concealed ourselves aboard one of the -remaining fliers, that upon which no work was being -done, and there commenced as long and tiresome a period -of waiting as I can recall ever having passed -through.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I had at last given up any hope of the ship’s being -flown that day when I heard voices in the hangar, and -presently the sound of footsteps aboard the flier. A moment -later a few commands were given and almost -immediately the ship moved slowly out into the open.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The four of us were crowded into a small compartment -built into a tiny space between the forward and -aft starboard buoyancy tanks. It was very dark and -poorly ventilated, having evidently been designed as a -storage closet to utilize otherwise waste space. We dared -not converse for fear of attracting attention to our presence, -and for the same reason we moved about as little -as possible, since we had no means of knowing but -that some member of the crew might be just beyond -the thin door that separated us from the main cabin of -the ship. Altogether we were most uncomfortable; but -the distance to Toonol is not so great but that we -might hope that our situation would soon be changed—at -least if Toonol was to be the destination of the -ship. Of this we soon had cheering hope. We had been -out but a short time when, faintly, we heard a hail -and then the motors were immediately shut down and -the ship stopped.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What ship?” we heard a voice demand, and from -aboard our own came the reply:</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The Vosar, Tower of Thavas for Toonol.” We heard -a scraping as the other ship touched ours.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We are coming aboard to search you in the name -of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol. Make way!” shouted -one from the other ship. Our cheer had been of short -duration. We heard the shuffling of many feet and Gor -Hajus whispered in my ear.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What shall we do?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I slipped my short-sword into his hand. “Fight!” I -replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good, Vad Varo,” he replied, and then I handed -him my pistol and told him to pass it on to Dar Tarus. -We heard the voices again, but nearer now.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What ho!” cried one. “It is Bal Zak himself, my old -friend Bal Zak!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“None other,” replied a deep voice. “And whom did -you expect to find in command of the Vosar other -than Bal Zak?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who could know but that it might have been this -Vad Varo himself, or even Gor Hajus,” said the other, -“and our orders are to search all ships.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I would that they were here,” replied Bal Zak, “for -the reward is high. But how could they, when Ras -Thavas himself with his own eyes saw them fly off in -the Pinsar before dawn this day and disappear in the -east?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Right you are, Bal Zak,” agreed the other, “and it -were a waste of time to search your ship. Come men! -to our own!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I could feel the muscles about my heart relax with -the receding footfalls of Vobis Kan’s warriors as they -quitted the deck of the Vosar for their own ship, and -my spirits rose with the renewed purring of our own -motor as Ras Thavas’ flier again got under way. Gor -Hajus bent his lips close to my ear.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The spirits of our ancestors smile upon us,” he whispered. -“It is night and the darkness will aid in covering -our escape from the ship and the landing stage.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What makes you think it is night?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Vobis Kan’s ship was close by when it hailed and -asked our name. By daylight it could have seen what -ship we were.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He was right. We had been locked in that stuffy hole -since before dawn, and while I had thought that it had -been for a considerable time, I also had realized that the -darkness and the inaction and the nervous strain would -tend to make it seem much longer than it really had -been; so that I would not have been greatly surprised -had we made Toonol by daylight.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The distance from the Tower of Thavas to Toonol is -inconsiderable, so that shortly after Vobis Kan’s ship had -spoken to us we came to rest upon the landing stage at -our destination. For a long time we waited, listening to -the sounds of movement aboard the ship and wondering, -upon my part at least, as to what the intentions of the -captain might be. It was quite possible that Bal Zak -might return to Thavas this same night, especially if he -had come to Toonol to fetch a rich or powerful patient -to the laboratories; but if he had come only for supplies -he might well lie here until the morrow. This much -I had learned from Gor Hajus, my own knowledge of the -movements of the fliers of Ras Thavas being considerably -less than nothing; for, though I had been months a -lieutenant of the master surgeon, I had learned only the -day before of the existence of his small fleet, it being -according to the policy of Ras Thavas to tell me nothing -unless the telling of it coincided with and furthered his -own plans.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Questions which I asked he always answered, if he -reasoned that the effects would not be harmful to his -own interests, but he volunteered nothing that he did not -particularly wish me to know; and the fact that there -were no windows in the outside walls of the building facing -towards Toonol, that I had never before the previous -day been upon the roof and that I never had seen a ship -sail over the inner court towards the east all tended to -explain my ignorance of the fleet and its customary operations.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We waited quietly until silence fell upon the ship, betokening -either that the crew had retired for the night or -that they had gone down into the city. Then, after a -whispered consultation with Gor Hajus, we decided to -make an attempt to leave the flier. It was our purpose to -seek a hiding place within the tower of the landing stage -from which we might investigate possible avenues of -escape into the city, either at once or upon the morrow -when we might more easily mix with the crowd that -Gor Hajus said would certainly be in evidence from a few -hours after sunrise.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Cautiously I opened the door of our closet and looked -into the main cabin beyond. It lay in darkness. Silently -we filed out. The silence of the tomb lay upon the flier, -but from far below arose the subdued noises of the city. -So far, so good! Then, without sound, without warning, a -burst of brilliant light illuminated the interior of the -cabin. I felt my fingers tighten upon my sword-hilt as I -glanced quickly about.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Directly opposite us, in the narrow doorway of a small -cabin, stood a tall man whose handsome harness betokened -the fact that he was no common warrior. In -either hand he held a heavy Barsoomian pistol, into the -muzzles of which we found ourselves staring.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='81' id='Page_81'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VIII<br/> HANDS UP!</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>In</span> quiet tones he spoke the words of the Barsoomian -equivalent of our Earthly <span class='it'>hands up!</span> The shadow of a grim -smile touched his lips, and as he saw us hesitate to obey -his commands he spoke again.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do as I tell you and you will be well off. Keep perfect -silence. A raised voice may spell your doom; a pistol -shot most assuredly.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus raised his hands above his head and we -others followed his example.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am Bal Zak,” announced the stranger. My heart -slumped.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then you had better commence firing,” said Gor -Hajus, “for you will not take us alive and we are four to -one.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not so fast, Gor Hajus,” admonished the captain -of the Vosar, “until you learn what is in my mind.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That, we already know for we heard you speak of the -large reward that awaited the captor of Vad Varo and Gor -Hajus,” snapped the assassin of Toonol.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Had I craved that reward so much I could have turned -you over to the dwar of Vobis Kan’s ship when he -boarded us,” said Bal Zak.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You did not know we were aboard the Vosar,” I -reminded him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ah, but I did.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus snorted his disbelief.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How then,” Bal Zak reminded us, “was I able to be -ready upon this very spot when you emerged from your -hiding place? Yes, I knew that you were aboard.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But how?” demanded Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is immaterial,” replied Bal Zak, “but to satisfy -your natural curiosity I will tell you that I have quarters -in a small room in the Tower of Thavas, my windows -overlook the roof and the hangar. My long life spent -aboard fliers has made me very sensitive to every sound -of a ship—motors changing their speed will awaken me in -the dead of night, as quickly as will their starting or their -stopping. I was awakened by the starting of the motors of -the Pinsar; I saw three of you upon the roof and the -fourth drop from the deck of the flier as she started and -my judgment told me that the ship was being sent out -unmanned for some reason of which I had no knowledge. -It was too late for me to prevent the act and so I waited -in silence to learn what would follow. I saw you hasten -into the hangar and I heard Ras Thavas’ hail and your -reply, and then I saw you board the Vosar. Immediately I -descended to the roof and ran noiselessly to the hangar, -apprehending that you intended making away with this -ship; but there was no one about the controls; and from -a tiny port in the control room, through which one has a -view of the main cabin, I saw you enter the closet. I -was at once convinced that your only purpose was to -stow away for Toonol and consequently, aside from -keeping an eye upon your hiding place, I went about my -business as usual.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you did not advise Ras Thavas?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I advised no one,” he replied. “Years ago I learned to -mind my own business, to see all, to hear all and to tell -nothing unless it profited me to do so.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But you said that the reward is high for our apprehension,” -Gor Hajus reminded him. “Would it not be -profitable to collect it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There are in the breasts of honourable men,” replied -Bal Zak, “forces that rise superior to the lust for -gold, and while Toonolians are supposedly a people free -from the withering influences of sentiment yet I for one -am not totally unconscious of the demand of gratitude. -Six years ago, Gor Hajus, you refused to assassinate -my father, holding that he was a good man, worthy to -live and one that had once befriended you slightly. -To-day, through his son, you reap your reward and in -some measure are repaid for the punishment that was -meted out to you by Vobis Kan because of your refusal -to slay the sire of Bal Zak. I have sent my crew -away that none aboard the Vosar but myself might have -knowledge of your presence. Tell me your plans and -command me in what way I may be of further service to -you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We wish to reach the streets, unobserved,” replied Gor -Hajus. “Can you but help us in that we shall not put -upon your shoulders further responsibility for our escape. -You have our gratitude and in Toonol, I need not remind -you, the gratitude of Gor Hajus is a possession that -even the Jeddak has craved.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Your problem is complicated,” said Bal Zak, after a -moment of thought, “by the personnel of your party. The -ape would immediately attract attention and arouse suspicion. -Knowing much of Ras Thavas’ experiments I realized -at once this morning, after watching him with you, -that he had the brain of a man; but this very fact would -attract to him and to you the closer attention of the -masses.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I do not need acquaint them with the fact,” growled -Hovan Du. “To them I need be but a captive ape. Are -such unknown in Toonol?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Not entirely, though they are rare,” replied Bal Zak. -“But there is also the white skin of Vad Varo! Ras Thavas -appears to have known nothing of the presence of the -ape with you; but he full well knew of Vad Varo, and -your description has been spread by every means at his -command. You would be recognized immediately by the -first Toonolian that lays eyes upon you, and then there -is Gor Hajus. He has been as dead for six years, yet I -venture there is scarce a Toonolian that broke the shell -prior to ten years ago who does not know the face of -Gor Hajus as well as he knows that of his own mother. -The Jeddak himself was not better known to the people -of Toonol than Gor Hajus. That leaves but one who -might possibly escape suspicion and detection in the -streets of Toonol.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If we could but obtain weapons for these others,” I -suggested, “we might even yet reach the house of Gor -Hajus’ friend.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Fight your way through the city of Toonol?” demanded -Bal Zak.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If there is no other way we should have to,” I replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I admire the will,” commented the commander of the -Vosar, “but fear that the flesh is without sufficient -strength. Wait! there is a way—perhaps. On the stage -just below this there is a public depot where equilibrimotors -are kept and rented. Could we find the means to -obtain four of these there would be a chance, at least, -for you to elude the air patrols and reach the house of -Gor Hajus’ friend; and I think I see a way to the accomplishment -of that. The landing tower is closed for -the night but there are several watchmen distributed -through it at different levels. There is one at the equilibrimotor -depot and, as I happen to know, he is a devotee of -jetan. He would rather play jetan than attend to his -duties as watchman. I often remain aboard the Vosar at -night and occasionally he and I indulge in a game. I will -ask him up to-night and while he is thus engaged you -may go to the depot, help yourselves to equilibrimotors -and pray to your ancestors that no air patrol suspects -you as you cross the city towards your destination. What -think you of this plan, Gor Hajus?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is splendid,” replied the assassin. “And you, Vad -Varo?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If I knew what an equilibrimotor is I might be in a -better position to judge the merits of the plan,” I replied. -“However, I am satisfied to abide by the judgment -of Gor Hajus. I can assure you, Bal Zak, of our great -appreciation, and as Gor Hajus has put the stamp of his -approval upon your plan I can only urge you to arrange -that we may put it into effect with as little delay as possible.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good!” exclaimed Bal Zak. “Come with me and I -will conceal you until I have lured the watchman to the -jetan game within my cabin. After that your fate will be -in your own hands.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We followed him from the ship on to the deck of -the landing stage and close under the side of the Vosar -opposite that from which the watchman must approach -the ship and enter it. Then, bidding us good luck, Bal Zak -departed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>From the summit of the landing tower I had my first -view of a Martian city. Several hundred feet below me -lay spread the broad, well-lighted avenues of Toonol, -many of which were crowded with people. Here and -there, in this central district, a building was raised high -upon its supporting, cylindrical metal shaft; while further -out, where the residences predominated, the city -took on the appearance of a colossal and grotesque forest. -Among the larger palaces only an occasional suite -of rooms was thus raised high above the level of the -others, these being the sleeping apartments of the owners, -their servants or their guests; but the smaller homes were -raised in their entirety, a precaution necessitated by the -constant activities of the followers of Gor Hajus’ ancient -profession that permitted no man to be free from the -constant menace of assassination. Throughout the central -district the sky was pierced by the lofty towers of -several other landing stages; but, as I was later to learn, -these were comparatively few in number. Toonol is in no -sense a flying nation, supporting no such enormous fleets -of merchant ships and vessels of war as, for example, the -twin cities of Helium or the great capital of Ptarth.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A peculiar feature of the street lighting of Toonol, and -in fact the same condition applies to the lighting of -other Barsoomian cities I have visited, I noted for the first -time that night as I waited upon the landing stage for the -return of Bal Zak with the watchman. The luminosity -below me seemed confined directly to the area to be -lighted; there was no diffusion of light upward or beyond -the limits the lamps were designed to light. This was -effected, I was told, by lamps designed upon principles -resulting from ages of investigation of the properties of -light waves and the laws governing them which permit -Barsoomian scientists to confine and control light as we -confine and control matter. The light waves leave the -lamp, pass along a prescribed circuit and return to the -lamp. There is no waste nor, strange this seemed to me, -are there any dense shadows when lights are properly -installed and adjusted; for the waves in passing around -objects to return to the lamp, illuminate all sides of -them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The effect of this lighting from the great height of the -tower was rather remarkable. The night was dark, there -being no moons at that hour upon this night, and the -effect was that obtained when sitting in a darkened auditorium -and looking upon a brilliantly lighted stage. I -was still intent upon watching the life and colour beneath -when we heard Bal Zak returning. That he had been successful -in his mission was apparent from the fact that -he was conversing with another.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Five minutes later we crept quietly from our hiding -place and descended to the stage below where lay the -equilibrimotor depot. As theft is practically unknown -upon Barsoom, except for purposes entirely disassociated -from a desire to obtain pecuniary profit through the thing -stolen, no precautions are taken against theft. We therefore -found the doors of the depot open and Gor Hajus -and Dar Tarus quickly selected four equilibrimotors and -adjusted them upon us. They consist of a broad belt, -not unlike the life belt used aboard trans-oceanic liners -upon Earth; these belts are filled with the eighth Barsoomian -ray, or ray of propulsion, to a sufficient degree -to just about equalize the pull of gravity and thus -to maintain a person in equilibrium between that force -and the opposite force exerted by the eighth ray. Permanently -attached to the back of the belt is a small -radium motor, the controls for which are upon the front -of the belt. Rigidly attached to and projecting from -each side of the upper rim of the belt is a strong, light -wing with small hand levers for quickly altering its -position.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus quickly explained the method of control, -but I could apprehend that there might be embarrassment -and trouble awaiting me before I mastered the art of -flying in an equilibrimotor. He showed me how to tilt -the wings downward in walking so that I would not -leave the ground at every step, and thus he led me to -the edge of the landing stage.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We will rise here,” he said, “and keeping in the darkness -of the upper levels seek to reach the house of my -friend without being detected. If we are pursued by air -patrols we must separate; and later those who escape -may gather just west of the city wall where you will -find a small lake with a deserted tower upon its northern -rim—this tower will be our rendezvous in event of trouble. -Follow me!” He started his motor and rose gracefully -into the air.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hovan Du followed him and then it was my turn. I -rose beautifully for about twenty feet, floating out over -the city which lay hundreds of feet below, and then, quite -suddenly, I turned upside down. I had done something -wrong—I was quite positive of it. It was a most startling -sensation, I can assure you, floating there with my head -down, quite helpless; while below me lay the streets of a -great city and no softer, I was sure, than the streets of -Los Angeles or Paris. My motor was still going, and -as I manipulated the controls which operated the wings -I commenced to describe all sorts of strange loops and -spirals and spins; and then Dar Tarus came to my rescue. -First he told me to lie quietly and then directed the -manipulation of each wing until I had gained an upright -position. After that I did fairly well and was soon rising -in the wake of Gor Hajus and Hovan Du.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I need not describe in detail the hour of flying, or -rather floating, that ensued. Gor Hajus led us to a considerable -altitude and there, through the darkness above -the city, our slow motors drove us towards a district of -magnificent homes surrounded by spacious grounds; and -here, as we hovered over a large palace, we were suddenly -startled by a sharp challenge coming from directly -above us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who flies by night?” a voice demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Friends of Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan,” replied -Gor Hajus quickly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let me see your night flying permit and your flier’s -licence,” ordered the one above us, at the same time -swooping suddenly to our level and giving me my first -sight of a Martian policeman. He was equipped with a -much swifter and handier equilibrimotor than ours. I -think that was the first fact to impress us deeply, and it -demonstrated the futility of flight; for he could have -given us ten minutes start and overhauled each of us -within another ten minutes, even though we had elected -to fly in different directions. The fellow was a warrior -rather than a policeman, though detailed to duty such -as our Earthly police officers perform; the city being -patrolled both day and night by the warriors of Vobis -Kan’s army.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He dropped now close to the assassin of Toonol, again -demanding permit and license and at the same time -flashing a light in the face of my comrade.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“By the sword of the Jeddak!” he cried. “Fortune -heaps her favors upon me. Who would have thought an -hour since that it would be I who would collect the reward -for the capture of Gor Hajus?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Any other fool might have thought it,” returned Gor -Hajus, “but he would have been as wrong as you,” and as -he spoke he struck with the short-sword I had loaned -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The blow was broken by the wing of the warrior’s -equilibrimotor, which it demolished, yet it inflicted a -severe wound in the fellow’s shoulder. He tried to back -off, but the damaged wing caused him only to wheel -around erratically; and then he seized upon his whistle -and attempted to blow a mighty blast that was cut short -by another blow from Gor Hajus’ sword that split the -man’s head open to the bridge of his nose.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Quick!” cried the assassin. “We must drop into the -gardens of Mu Tel, for that signal will bring a swarm -of air patrols about our heads.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The others I saw falling rapidly towards the ground, -but again I had trouble. Depress my wings as I would I -moved only slightly downward and upon a path that, if -continued, would have landed me at a considerable distance -from the gardens of Mu Tel. I was approaching -one of the elevated portions of the palace, what appeared -to be a small suite that was raised upon its -shining metal shaft far above the ground. From all directions -I could hear the screaming whistles of the air -patrols answering the last call of their comrade whose -corpse floated just above me, a guide even in death to -point the way for his fellows to search us out. They were -sure to discover him and then I would be in plain view -of them and my fate sealed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Perhaps I could find ingress to the apartment looming -darkly near! There I might hide until the danger -had passed, provided I could enter, undetected. I directed -my course towards the structure; an open window -took form through the darkness and then I collided -with a fine wire netting—I had run into a protecting -curtain that fends off assassins of the air from these high-flung -sleeping apartments. I felt that I was lost. If I -could but reach the ground I might find concealment -among the trees and shrubbery that I had seen vaguely -outlined beneath me in the gardens of this Barsoomian -prince; but I could not drop at a sufficient angle to -bring me to ground within the garden, and when I tried -to spiral down I turned over and started up again. I -thought of ripping open my belt and letting the eighth -ray escape; but in my unfamiliarity with this strange -force I feared that such an act might precipitate me to -the ground with too great violence, though I was -determined to have recourse to it as a last alternative -if nothing less drastic presented itself.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In my last attempt to spiral downward I rose rapidly -feet foremost to a sudden and surprising collision with -some object above me. As I frantically righted myself, -fully expecting to be immediately seized by a member of -the air patrol, I found myself face to face with the corpse -of the warrior Gor Hajus had slain. The whistling of -the air patrols sounded ever nearer—it could be only a -question of seconds now before I was discovered—and -with the stern necessity that confronted me, with death -looking me in the face, there burst upon me a possible -avenue of escape from my dilemma.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Seizing tightly with my left hand the harness of the -dead Toonolian, I whipped out my dagger and slashed -his buoyancy belt a dozen times. Instantly, as the rays -escaped, his body started to drag me downward. Our -descent was rapid, but not precipitate, and it was but a -matter of seconds before we landed gently upon the -scarlet sward of the gardens of Mu Tel, Prince of the -House of Kan, close beside a clump of heavy shrubbery. -Above me sounded the whistles of the circling patrols as -I dragged the corpse of the warrior into the concealing -depth of the foliage. Nor was I an instant too soon for -safety, as almost immediately the brilliant rays of a -searchlight shot downward from the deck of a small patrol -ship, illuminating the open spaces of the garden all about -me. A hurried glance through the branches and the leaves -of my sanctuary revealed nothing of my companions -and I breathed a sigh of relief in the thought that they, -too, had found concealment.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The light played for a short time about the gardens and -then passed on, as did the sound of the patrol’s whistles, -as the search proceeded elsewhere; thus giving me the -assurance that no suspicion was directed upon our hiding -place.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Left in darkness I appropriated such of the weapons of -the dead warrior as I coveted, after having removed my -equilibrimotor, which I was first minded to destroy, but -which I finally decided to moor to one of the larger -shrubs against the possibility that I might again have need -for it; and now, secure in the conviction that the danger -of discovery by the air patrol had passed, I left my concealment -and started in search of my companions.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Keeping well in the shadows of the trees and shrubs -I moved in the direction of the main building, which -loomed darkly near at hand; for in this direction I believed -Gor Hajus would lead the others as I knew that -the palace of Mu Tel was to have been our destination. -As I crept along, moving with utmost stealth, Thuria, the -nearer moon, shot suddenly above the horizon, illuminating -the night with her brilliant rays. I was close to -the building’s ornately carved wall at the moment; beside -me was a narrow niche, its interior cast in deepest -shadow by Thuria’s brilliant rays; to my left was an -open bit of lawn upon which, revealed in every detail of -its terrifying presence, stood as fearsome a creature as -my Earthly eyes ever had rested upon. It was a beast -about the size of a Shetland pony, with ten short legs -and a terrifying head that bore some slight resemblance -to that of a frog, except that the jaws were equipped -with three rows of long, sharp tusks.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The thing had its nose in the air and was sniffing -about, while its great pop eyes moved swiftly here and -there, assuring me, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that -it was searching for someone. I am not inclined to be -egotistical, yet I could not avoid the conviction that it -was searching for me. It was my first experience of a -Martian watch dog; and as I sought concealment within -the dark shadows of the niche behind me, at the very -instant that the creature’s eyes alighted upon me, and -heard his growl and saw him charge straight towards -me, I had a premonition that it might prove my last experience -with one.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I drew my long-sword as I backed into the niche, but -with a sense of the utter inadequacy of the unaccustomed -weapon in the face of this three or four hundred pounds -of ferocity incarnate. Slowly I backed away into the -shadows as the creature bore down upon me and then, -as it entered the niche, my back collided with a solid -obstacle that put an end to further retreat.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='92' id='Page_92'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER IX<br/> THE PALACE OF MU TEL</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>As</span> the calot entered the niche I experienced, I believe, -all of the reactions of the cornered rat, and I certainly -know that I set myself to fight in that proverbial manner. -The beast was almost upon me and I was metaphorically -kicking myself for not having remained in the open -where there were many tall trees when the support at my -back suddenly gave way, a hand reached out of the darkness -behind me and seized my harness and I was drawn -swiftly into inky blackness. A door slammed and the -silhouette of the calot against the moonlit entrance to -the niche was blotted out.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A gruff voice spoke in my ear. “Come with me!” it -said. A hand found mine and thus I was led along -through the darkness of what I soon discovered was a -narrow corridor from the constantly recurring collisions -I had first with one side of it and then with the other.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Ascending gradually, the corridor turned abruptly at -right angles and I saw beyond my guide a dim luminosity -that gradually increased until another turn brought us to -the threshold of a brilliantly lighted chamber—a magnificent -apartment, the gorgeous furnishings and decorations -of which beggar the meagre descriptive powers of -my native tongue. Gold, ivory, precious stones, marvelous -woods, resplendent fabrics, gorgeous furs and startling -architecture combined to impress upon my earthly -vision such a picture as I had never even dreamed of -dreaming; and in the center of this room, surrounded by -a little group of Martians, were my three companions.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My guide conducted me towards the party, the members -of which had turned towards us as we entered the -chamber, and stopped before a tall Barsoomian, resplendent -in jewel encrusted harness.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Prince,” he said, “I was scarce a tal too soon. In -fact, as I opened the door to step out into the garden in -search of him, as you directed, there he was upon the -opposite side with one of the calots of the garden almost -upon him.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good!” exclaimed he who had been addressed as -prince, and then he turned to Gor Hajus. “This is he, my -friend, of whom you told me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“This is Vad Varo, who claims to be from the planet -Jasoom,” replied Gor Hajus; “and this, Vad Varo, is -Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I bowed and the prince advanced and placed his right -hand upon my left shoulder in true Barsoomian acknowledgment -of an introduction; when I had done similarly, -the ceremony was over. There was no silly pleased-to-meet-you, -how-do-you-do? or it’s-a-pleasure-I-assure-you.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At Mu Tel’s request I narrated briefly what had befallen -me between the time I had become separated from -my companions and the moment that one of his officers -had snatched me from impending disaster. Mu Tel gave -instructions that all traces of the dead patrol be removed -before dawn lest their discovery bring upon him the further -suspicion of his uncle, Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, -whom it seemed had long been jealous of his nephew’s -growing popularity and fearful that he harbored aspirations -for the throne.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was later in the evening, during one of those elaborate -meals for which the princes of Barsoom are justly -famous, when mellowed slightly by the rare vintages -with which he delighted his guests, that Mu Tel discoursed -with less restraint upon his imperial uncle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The nobles have long been tired of Vobis Kan,” he -said, “and the people are tiring of him—he is a conscienceless -tyrant—but he is our hereditary ruler, and so -they hesitate to change. We are a practical people, little -influenced by sentiment; yet there is enough to keep the -masses loyal to their Jeddak even after he has ceased to -deserve their loyalty, while the fear of the wrath of the -masses keeps the nobles loyal. There is also the natural -suspicion that I, the next in line for succession, would -make them no less tyrannical a Jeddak than has Vobis -Kan, while, having youth, I might be much more active in -cruel and nefarious practices.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“For myself, I would not hesitate to destroy my uncle -and seize his throne were I sure of the support of the -army, for with the warriors of Vobis Kan at my back I -might defy the balance of Toonol. It is because of this -that I long since offered my friendship to Gor Hajus; not -that he might slay my uncle, but that when I had slain -him in fair fight Gor Hajus might win to me the loyalty -of the Jeddak’s warriors, for great is the popularity of Gor -Hajus among the soldiers, who ever look up to such a -great fighter with reverence and devotion. I have offered -Gor Hajus a high place in the affairs of Toonol should -he cast his lot with me; but he tells me that he has first -to fulfil his obligations to you, Vad Varo, and for the -furtherance of your adventure he has asked me to give -you what assistance I may. This I offer gladly, from -purely practical motives, since your early success will -hasten mine. Therefore I propose to place at your disposal -a staunch flier that will carry you and your companions -to Phundahl.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This offer I naturally accepted, after which we fell to -discussing plans for our departure which we finally decided -to attempt early the following night, at a time -when neither of the moons would be in the heavens. -After a brief discussion of equipment we were, at my -request, permitted to retire since I had not slept for -more than thirty-six hours and my companions for -twenty-four.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Slaves conducted us to our sleeping apartments, which -were luxuriously furnished, and arranged magnificent -sleeping silks and furs for our comfort. After they had -left us Gor Hajus touched a button and the room rose -swiftly upon its metal shaft to a height of forty or fifty -feet; the wire netting automatically dropped about us, -and we were safe for the night.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The following morning, after our apartment had been -lowered to its daylight level and before I was permitted -to leave it, a slave was sent to me by Mu Tel with instructions -to stain my entire body the beautiful copper-red -of my Barsoomian friends; furnishing me with a disguise -which I well knew to be highly essential to the success -of my venture, since my white skin would have -drawn unpleasant notice upon me in any city of Barsoom. -Another slave brought harness and weapons for -Gor Hajus, Dar Tarus and myself, and a collar and chain -for Hovan Du, the ape-man. Our harness, while of heavy -material, and splendid workmanship, was quite plain, being -free of all insignia either of rank or service—such -harness as is customarily worn by the Barsoomian panthan, -or soldier of fortune, at such times as he is not -definitely in the service of any nation or individual. -These panthans are virtually men without a country, -being roving mercenaries ready to sell their swords to -the highest bidder. Although they have no organization -they are ruled by a severe code of ethics and while in the -employ of a master are, almost without exception, loyal -to him. They are generally supposed to be men who have -flown from the wrath of their own Jeddaks or the justice -of their own courts, but there is among them a sprinkling -of adventurous souls who have adopted their calling because -of the thrills and excitement it offers. While they -are well paid, they are also great gamblers and notorious -spenders, with the result that they are almost always -without funds and often reduced to strange expedients -for the gaining of their livelihood between engagements; -a fact which gave great plausibility to our possession of -a trained ape, which upon Mars would appear no more -remarkable than would to us the possession of a monkey -or parrot by an old salt just returned, from a long cruise, -to one of our Earthly ports.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>This day that I stayed in the palace of Mu Tel I spent -much in the company of the prince, who found pleasure -in questioning me concerning the customs, the politics, -the civilization and the geography of Earth, with much of -which, I was surprised to note, he seemed quite familiar; -a fact which he explained was due to the marvelous development -of Barsoomian astronomical instruments, -wireless photography and wireless telephony; the last of -which has been brought to such a state of perfection that -many Barsoomian savants have succeeded in learning -several Earthly languages, notably Urdu, English and -Russian, and, a few, Chinese also. These have doubtless -been the first languages to attract their attention because -of the fact that they are spoken by great numbers of -people over large areas of the world.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mu Tel took me to a small auditorium in his palace -that reminded me somewhat of private projection rooms -on Earth. It had, I should say, a capacity of some two -hundred persons and was built like a large camera obscura; -the audience sitting within the instrument, their -backs towards the lens and in front of them, filling one -entire end of the room, a large ground glass upon which -is thrown the image to be observed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mu Tel seated himself at a table upon which was a -chart of the heavens. Just above the chart was a movable -arm carrying a pointer. This pointer Mu Tel moved until -it rested upon the planet Earth, then he switched off the -light in the room and immediately there appeared upon -the ground glass plate a view such as one might obtain -from an airplane riding at an elevation of a thousand -feet. There was something strangely familiar about the -scene before me. It was of a desolate, wasted country. -I saw shattered stumps whose orderly arrangement proclaimed -that here once an orchard had blossomed and -borne fruit. There were great, unsightly holes in the -earth and over and across all a tangle of barbed wire. I -asked Mu Tel how we might change the picture to another -locality. He lighted a small radio bulb between us -and I saw a globe there, a globe of Earth, and a small -pointer fixed over it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The side of this globe now presented to you represents -the face of the Earth turned towards us,” explained -Mu Tel. “You will note that the globe is slowly revolving. -Place this pointer where you will upon the globe -and that portion of Jasoom will be revealed for you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I moved the pointer very slowly and the picture -changed. A ruined village came into view. I saw some -people moving among its ruins. They were not soldiers. -A little further on I came upon trenches and dug-outs—there -were no soldiers here, either. I moved the pointer -rapidly north and south along a vast line of trenches. -Here and there in villages there were soldiers, but they -were all French soldiers and never were they in the -trenches. There were no German soldiers and no fighting. -The war was over, then! I moved the pointer to the -Rhine and across. There were soldiers in Germany—French -soldiers, English soldiers, American soldiers. We -had won the war! I was glad, but it seemed very far -away and quite unreal—as though no such world existed -and no such peoples had ever fought—it was as -though I were recalling through its illustrations a novel -that I had read a long time since.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You seem much interested in that war torn country,” -remarked Mu Tel.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” I explained, “I fought in that war. Perhaps I -was killed. I do not know.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you won?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, my people won,” I replied. “We fought for a -great principle and for the peace and happiness of a -world. I hope that we did not fight in vain.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“If you mean that you hope that your principle will -triumph because you fought and won, or that peace -will come, your hopes are futile. War never brought -peace—it but brings more and greater wars. War is Nature’s -natural state—it is folly to combat it. Peace should -be considered only as a time for preparation for the -principal business of man’s existence. Were it not for -constant warring of one form of life upon another, and -even upon itself, the planets would be so overrun with -life that it would smother itself out. We found upon -Barsoom that long periods of peace brought plagues and -terrible diseases that killed more than the wars killed -and in a much more hideous and painful way. There is -neither pleasure nor thrill nor reward of any sort to be -gained by dying in bed of a loathsome disease. We must -all die—let us therefore go out and die in a great and -exciting game, and make room for the millions who are -to follow us. We have tried it out upon Barsoom and we -would not be without war.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Mu Tel told me much that day about the peculiar philosophy -of Toonolians. They believe that no good deed -was ever performed except for a selfish motive; they -have no god and no religion; they believe, as do all educated -Barsoomians, that man came originally from the -Tree of Life, but unlike most of their fellows they do -not believe that an omnipotent being created the Tree of -Life. They hold that the only sin is failure—success, -however achieved, is meritorious; and yet, paradoxical -as it may seem, they never break their given word. Mu -Tel explained that they overcame the baneful results of -this degrading weakness—this sentimental bosh—by seldom, -if ever, binding themselves to loyalty to another, -and then only for a definitely prescribed period.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As I came to know them better, and especially Gor -Hajus, I began to realize that much of their flaunted -contempt of the finer sensibilities was specious. It is true -that generations of inhibition had to some extent atrophied -those characteristics of heart and soul which the -noblest among us so highly esteem; that friendship’s ties -were lax and that blood kinship awakened no high sense -of responsibility or love even between parents and children; -yet Gor Hajus was essentially a man of sentiment, -though he would doubtless have run through the heart -any who had dared accuse him of it, thus perfectly proving -the truth of the other’s accusation. His pride in his -reputation for integrity and loyalty proved him a man of -heart as truly as did his jealousy of his reputation for -heartlessness prove him a man of sentiment; and in all -this he was but typical of the people of Toonol. They -denied deity, and in the same breath worshiped the fetish -of science that they had permitted to obsess them quite -as harmfully as do religious fanatics accept the unreasoning -rule of their imaginary gods; and so, with all their -vaunted knowledge, they were unintelligent because unbalanced.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As the day drew to a close I became the more anxious -to be away. Far to the west across desolate leagues -of marsh lay Phundahl, and in Phundahl the beauteous -body of the girl I loved and that I was sworn to restore -to its rightful owner. The evening meal was over and -Mu Tel himself had conducted us to a secret hangar in -one of the towers of his palace. Here artisans had prepared -a flier for us, having removed during the day all -signs of its real ownership, even to slightly altering its -lines; so that in the event of capture Mu Tel’s name -might in no way be connected with the expedition. Provisions -were stored, including plenty of raw meat for -Hovan Du, and, as the farther moon sank below the horizon -and darkness fell, a panel of the tower wall, directly -in front of the flier’s nose, slid aside. Mu Tel -wished us luck and the ship slipped silently out into the -night. The flier, like many of her type, was without cockpit -or cabin; a low, metal hand-rail surmounted her -gunwale; heavy rings were set substantially in her deck -and to these her crew was supposed to cling or attach -themselves by means of their harness hooks provided -for this and similar purposes; a low wind shield, with a -rakish slant, afforded some protection from the wind; the -motor and controls were all exposed, as all the space -below decks was taken up by the buoyancy tanks. In -this type everything is sacrificed to speed; there is no -comfort aboard. When moving at high speed each member -of the crew lies extended at full length upon the -deck, each in his allotted place to give the necessary -trim, and hangs on for dear life. These Toonolian crafts, -however, are not overly fast, so I was told, being far -outstripped in speed by the fliers of such nations as -Helium and Ptarth who have for ages devoted themselves -to the perfection of their navies; but this one was quite -fast enough for our purposes, to the consummation of -which it would be pitted against fliers of no higher rating, -and it was certainly fast enough for me. In comparison -with the slow moving Vosar, it seemed to shoot through -the air like an arrow.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We wasted no time in strategy or stealth, but opened -her wide as soon as we were in the clear, and directed her -straight towards the west and Phundahl. Scarcely had -we passed over the gardens of Mu Tel when we met -with our first adventure. We shot by a solitary figure -floating in the air and almost simultaneously there shrilled -forth the warning whistle of an air patrol. A shot whistled -above us harmlessly and we were gone; but within -a few seconds I saw the rays of a searchlight shining -down from above and moving searchingly to and fro -through the air.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A patrol boat!” shouted Gor Hajus in my ear. Hovan -Du growled savagely and shook the chain upon his collar. -We raced on, trusting to the big gods and the little -gods and all our ancestors that the relentless eye of light -would not find us out; but it did. Within a few seconds it -fell full upon our deck from above and in front of us -and there it clung as the patrol boat dropped rapidly towards -us while it maintained a high rate of speed upon a -course otherwise identical with ours. Then, to our consternation, -the ship opened fire on us with explosive -bullets. These projectiles contain a high explosive that is -detonated by light rays when the opaque covering of the -projectile is broken by impact with the target. It is therefore -not at all necessary to make a direct hit for a shot -to be effective. If the projectile strikes the ground or the -deck of a vessel or any solid substance near its target, -it does considerably more damage when fired at a group -of men than if it strikes but one of them, since it will -then explode if its outer shell is broken and kill or wound -several; while if it enters the body of an individual the -light rays cannot reach it and it accomplishes no more -than a non-explosive bullet. Moonlight is not powerful -enough to detonate this explosive and so projectiles fired -at night, unless touched by the powerful rays of searchlights, -detonate at sunrise the following morning, making -a battlefield a most unsafe place at that time even -though the contending forces are no longer there. Similarly -they make the removal of the unexploded projectiles -from the bodies of the wounded a most ticklish operation -which may well result in the instant death of both -the patient and the surgeon.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus, at the controls, turned the nose of our -flier upward directly towards the patrol boat and at the -same time shouted to us to concentrate our fire upon -her propellers. For myself, I could see little but the -blinding eye of the searchlight, and at that I fired with -the strange weapon to which I had received my first introduction -but a few hours since when it was presented -to me by Mu Tel. To me that all searching eye represented -the greatest menace that confronted us, and -could we blind it the patrol boat would have no great -advantage over us. So I kept my rifle straight upon it, my -finger on the button that controlled the fire, and prayed -for a hit.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus knelt at my side, his weapon spitting bullets -at the patrol boat. Dar Tarus’ hands were busy with -the controls and Hovan Du squatted in the bow and -growled.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Suddenly Dar Tarus voiced an exclamation of alarm. -“The controls are hit!” he shouted. “We can’t alter our -course—the ship is useless.” Almost the same instant -the searchlight was extinguished—one of my bullets evidently -having found it. We were quite close to the enemy -now and heard their shout of anger. Our own craft, out -of control, was running swiftly towards the other. It -seemed that if there was not a collision we would pass -directly beneath the keel of the air patrol. I asked Dar -Tarus if our ship was beyond repair.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We could repair it if we had time,” he replied, “but -it would take hours and while we were thus delayed the -whole air patrol force of Toonol would be upon us.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then we must have another ship,” I said. Dar Tarus -laughed. “You are right, Vad Varo,” he replied, “but -where shall we find it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I pointed to the patrol boat. “We shall not have to -look far.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus shrugged his shoulders. “Why not!” he exclaimed. -“It would be a glorious fight and a worthy -death.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus slapped me on the shoulder. “To the death, -my captain!” he cried.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hovan Du shook his chain and roared.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The two ships were rapidly approaching one another. -We had stopped firing now for fear that we might disable -the craft we hoped to use for our escape; and for -some reason the crew of the patrol ship had ceased firing -at us—I never learned why. We were moving in a -line that would bring us directly beneath the other ship. -I determined to board her at all costs. I could see her -keel boarding tackle slung beneath her, ready to be lowered -to the deck of a quarry when once her grappling -hooks had seized the prey. Doubtless they were already -manning the latter, and as soon as we were beneath her -the steel tentacles would reach down and seize us as her -crew swarmed down the board tackle to our deck.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I called Hovan Du and he crept back to my side -where I whispered my instructions in his ear. When I -was done he nodded his head with a low growl. I cast -off the harness hook that held me to the deck, and the -ape and I moved to our bow after I had issued brief, -whispered instructions to Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus. We -were now almost directly beneath the enemy craft; I -could see the grappling hooks being prepared for lowering. -Our bow ran beneath the stern of the other ship -and the moment was at hand for which I had been waiting. -Now those upon the deck of the patrol boat could -not see Hovan Du or me. The boarding tackle of the -other ship swung fifteen feet above our heads; I whispered -a word of command to the ape and simultaneously -we crouched and sprang for the tackle. It may sound -like a mad chance—failure meant almost certain death—but -I felt that if two of us could reach the deck of the -patrol boat while her crew was busy with the grappling -gear it would be well worth the risk.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus had assured me that there would not be -more than six men aboard the patrol ship; that one -would be at the controls and the others manning the -grappling hooks. It would be a most propitious time to -gain a footing on the enemy’s deck.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Hovan Du and I made our leaps and Fortune smiled -upon us, though the huge ape but barely reached the -tackle with one outstretched hand, while my Earthly muscles -carried me easily to my goal. Together we made our -way rapidly towards the bow of the patrol craft and -without hesitation, and as previously arranged, he clambered -quickly up the starboard side and I the port. If I -were the more agile jumper Hovan Du far outclassed me -in climbing, with the result that he reached the rail and -was clambering over while my eyes were still below the -level of the deck, which was, perhaps, a fortunate thing -for me since, by chance, I had elected to gain the deck -directly at a point where, unknown to me, one of the -crew of the ship was engaged with the grappling hooks. -Had his eyes not been attracted elsewhere by the shout -of one of his fellows who was first to see Hovan Du’s -savage face rise above the gunwale, he could have dispatched -me with a single blow before ever I could have -set foot upon the deck.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The ape had also come up directly in front of a -Toonolian warrior and this fellow had let out a yell of -surprise and sought to draw his sword, but the ape, -for all his great bulk, was too quick for him; and as -my eyes topped the rail I saw the mighty anthropoid -seize the unfortunate man by the harness, drag him -to the side and hurl him to destruction far below. Instantly -we were both over the rail and squarely on deck -while the remaining members of the craft’s crew, abandoning -their stations, ran forward to overpower us. I -think that the sight of the great, savage beast must have -had a demoralizing effect upon them, for they hesitated, -each seeming to be willing to accord his fellow the honour -of first engaging us; but they did come on, though -slowly. This hesitation I was delighted to see, for it -accorded perfectly with the plan that I had worked out, -which depended largely upon the success which might -attend the efforts of Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus to reach -the deck of the patrol when our craft had risen sufficiently -close beneath the other to permit them to -reach the boarding tackle, which we were utilizing with -reverse English, as one might say.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus had cautioned me to dispatch the man -at the controls as quickly as possible, since his very -first act would be to injure them the instant that there -appeared any possibility that we might be successful in -our attempt to take his ship, and so I ran quickly towards -him and before he could draw I cut him down. -There were now four against us and we waited for them -to advance that we might gain time for our fellows to -reach the deck.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The four moved slowly forward and were almost within -striking distance when I saw Gor Hajus’ head appear -above the stern rail, quickly followed by that of Dar -Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Look!” I cried to the enemy, “and surrender,” and -I pointed astern.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>One of them turned to look and what he saw brought -an exclamation of surprise to his lips. “It is Gor Hajus,” -he cried, and then, to me: “What is your purpose with -us if we surrender?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We have no quarrel with you,” I replied. “We but -wish to leave Toonol and go our way in peace—we -shall not harm you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He turned to his fellows while, at a sign from me, -my three companions stopped their advance and waited. -For a few minutes the four warriors conversed in low -tones, then he who had first spoken addressed me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There are few Toonolians,” he said, “who would not -be glad to serve Gor Hajus, whom we had thought long -dead, but to surrender our ship to you would mean certain -death for us when we reported our defeat at our -headquarters. On the other hand were we to continue -our defence most of us here upon the deck of this flier -would be killed. If you can assure us that your plans -are not aimed at the safety of Toonol I can make a -suggestion that will afford an avenue of escape and -safety for us all.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We only wish to leave Toonol,” I replied. “No harm -can come to Toonol because of what I seek to accomplish.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good! and where do you wish to go?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That I may not tell you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You may trust us, if you accept my proposal,” he -assured me, “which is that we convey you to your destination, -after which we can return to Toonol and report -that we engaged you and that after a long running fight, -in which two of our number were killed, you eluded us -in the darkness and escaped.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Can we trust these men?” I asked, addressing Gor -Hajus, who assured me that we could, and thus the -compact was entered into which saw us speeding rapidly -towards Phundahl aboard one of Vobis Kan’s own -fliers.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='106' id='Page_106'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER X<br/> PHUNDAHL</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>The</span> following night the Toonolian crew set us down -just inside the wall of the city of Phundahl, following -the directions of Dar Tarus who was a native of the -city, had been a warrior of the Jeddara’s Guard and, -prior to that, seen service in Phundahl’s tiny navy. That -he was familiar with every detail of Phundahl’s defences -and her systems of patrols was evidenced by the fact -that we landed without detection and that the Toonolian -ship rose and departed apparently unnoticed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Our landing place had been the roof of a low building -built within and against the city wall. From this roof -Dar Tarus led us down an inclined runway to the street, -which, at this point, was quite deserted. The street was -narrow and dark, being flanked upon one side by the -low buildings built against the city wall and upon the -other by higher buildings, some of which were windowless -and none showing any light. Dar Tarus explained -that he had chosen this point for our entrance because -it was a district of storage houses, and while a hive -of industry during the day, was always deserted at night, -not even a watchman being required owing to the almost -total absence of thievery upon Barsoom.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>By devious and roundabout ways he led us finally to -a section of second-rate shops, eating places and hotels -such as are frequented by the common soldiers, artisans -and slaves, where the only attention we attracted was -due to the curiosity aroused by Hovan Du. As we -had not eaten since leaving Mu Tel’s palace, our first -consideration was food. Mu Tel had furnished Gor Hajus -with money, so that we had the means to gratify our -wants. Our first stop was at a small shop where Gor -Hajus purchased four or five pounds of thoat steak -for Hovan Du, and then we repaired to an eating place -of which Dar Tarus knew. At first the proprietor would -not let us bring Hovan Du inside, but finally, after much -argument, he permitted us to lock the great ape in an -inner room where Hovan Du was forced to remain -with his thoat meat while we sat at a table in the outer -room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I will say for Hovan Du that he played his role well, -nor was there once when the proprietor of the place, -or any of his patrons, or the considerable crowd that -gathered to listen to the altercation, could have guessed -that the body of the great, savage beast was animated -by a human brain. It was really only when feeding or -fighting that the simian half of Hovan Du’s brain appeared -to exercise any considerable influence upon him; -yet there seemed little doubt that it always coloured all -his thoughts and actions to some extent, accounting for -his habitual taciturnity and the quickness with which he -was aroused to anger, as well as to the fact that he -never smiled, nor appeared to appreciate in any degree -the humor of a situation. He assured me, however, that -the human half of his brain not only appreciated but -greatly enjoyed the lighter episodes and occurrences of -our adventure and the witty stories and anecdotes related -by Gor Hajus, the Assassin, but that his simian -anatomy had developed no muscles wherewith to evidence -physical expression of his mental reactions.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We dined heartily, though upon rough and simple fare, -but were glad to escape the prying curiosity of the -garrulous and gossipy proprietor, who plied us with so -many questions as to our past performances and future -plans that Dar Tarus, who was our spokesman here, -was hard put to it to quickly fabricate replies that would -be always consistent. However, escape we did at last, -and once again in the street, Dar Tarus set out to lead -us to a public lodging house of which he knew. As -we went we approached a great building of wondrous -beauty in and out of which constant streams of people -were pouring, and when we were before it Dar Tarus -asked us to wait without as he must enter. When I -asked him why, he told me that this was a temple of -Tur, the god worshipped by the people of Phundahl.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have been away for a long time,” he said, “and -have had no opportunity to do honor to my god. I -shall not keep you waiting long. Gor Hajus, will you -loan me a few pieces of gold?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>In silence the Toonolian took a few pieces of money -from one of his pocket pouches and handed them to -Dar Tarus, but I could see that it was only with difficulty -that he hid an expression of contempt, since the -Toonolians are atheists.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I asked Dar Tarus if I might accompany him into -the temple, which seemed to please him very much; and -so we fell in with the stream approaching the broad -entrance. Dar Tarus gave me two of the gold pieces -that he had borrowed from Gor Hajus and told me to -follow directly behind him and do whatever I saw him -doing. Directly inside the main entrance, and spread -entirely across it at intervals that permitted space for -the worshippers to pass between them, was a line of -priests, their entire bodies, including their heads and -faces, covered by a mantle of white cloth. In front of -each was a substantial stand upon which rested a cash -drawer. As we approached one of these we handed him -a piece of gold which he immediately changed into many -pieces of lesser value, one of which we dropped into -a box at his side; whereupon he made several passes -with his hands above our heads, dipped one of his fingers -into a bowl of dirty water which he rubbed upon -the ends of our noses, mumbled a few words which I -could not understand and turned to the next in line -as we passed on into the interior of the great temple. -Never have I seen such a gorgeous display of wealth -and lavish ornamentation as confronted my eyes in this, -the first of the temples of Tur that it was my fortune -to behold.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The enormous floor was unbroken by a single pillar -and arranged upon it at regular intervals were carven -images resting upon gorgeous pedestals. Some of these -images were of men and some of women and many -of them were beautiful; and there were others of beasts -and of strange, grotesque creatures and many of these -were hideous indeed. The first we approached was that -of a beautiful female figure; and about the pedestal of -this lay a number of men and women prone upon the -floor against which they bumped their heads seven times -and then arose and dropped a piece of money into a -receptacle provided for that purpose, moving on then -to another figure. The next that Dar Tarus and I -visited was that of a man with the body of a <span class='it'>silian</span>, -about the pedestal of which was arranged a series of -horizontal wooden bars in concentric circles. The bars -were about five feet from the floor and hanging from -them by their knees were a number of men and women, -repeating monotonously, over and over again, something -that sounded to me like, <span class='it'>bibble-babble-blup</span>.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus and I swung to the bars like the others -and mumbled the meaningless phrase for a minute or -two, then we swung down, dropped a coin into the box, -and moved on. I asked Dar Tarus what the words were -that we had repeated and what they meant, but he said -he did not know. I asked him if anyone knew, but he -appeared shocked and said that such a question was -sacrilegious and revealed a marked lack of faith. At -the next figure we visited the people were all upon -their hands and knees crawling madly in a circle about -the pedestal. Seven times around they crawled and then -they arose and put some money in a dish and went -their ways. At another the people rolled about, saying, -“Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur,” and dropping -money in a golden bowl when they were done.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What god was that?” I whispered to Dar Tarus -when we had quit this last figure, which had no head, -but eyes, nose and mouth in the center of its belly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is but one god,” replied Dar Tarus solemnly, -“and he is Tur!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Was that Tur?” I inquired.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Silence, man,” whispered Dar Tarus. “They would -tear you to pieces were they to hear such heresy.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I beg your pardon,” I exclaimed. “I did not -mean to offend. I see now that that is merely one of -your idols.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus clapped a hand over my mouth. “S-s-s-t!” -he cautioned to silence. “We do not worship idols—there -is but one god and he is Tur!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well, what are these?” I insisted, with a sweep of -a hand that embraced the several score images about -which were gathered the thousands of worshippers.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We must not ask,” he assured me. “It is enough -that we have faith that all the works of Tur are just -and righteous. Come! I shall soon be through and we -may join our companions.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He led me next to the figure of a monstrosity with -a mouth that ran entirely around its head. It had a -long tail and the breasts of a woman. About this image -were a great many people, each standing upon his head. -They also were repeating, over and over, “Tur is Tur; -Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur.” When we had done this for a -minute or two, during which I had a devil of a time -maintaining my equilibrium, we arose, dropped a coin -into the box by the pedestal and moved on.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We may go now,” said Dar Tarus. “I have done -well in the sight of Tur.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I notice,” I remarked, “that the people repeated the -same phrase before this figure that they did at the last—Tur -is Tur.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no,” exclaimed Dar Tarus. “On the contrary -they said just exactly the opposite from what they said -at the other. At that they said, Tur is Tur; while at -this they absolutely reversed it and said, Tur is Tur. -Do you not see? They turned it right around backwards, -which makes a very great difference.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It sounded the same to me,” I insisted.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That is because you lack faith,” he said sadly, and -we passed out of the temple, after depositing the rest -of our money in a huge chest, of which there were -many standing about almost filled with coins.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We found Gor Hajus and Hovan Du awaiting us impatiently, -the center of a large and curious throng -among which were many warriors in the metal of Xaxa, -the Jeddara of Phundahl. They wanted to see Hovan -Du perform, but Dar Tarus told them that he was tired -and in an ugly mood.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“To-morrow,” he said, “when he is rested I shall -bring him out upon the avenues to amuse you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>With difficulty we extricated ourselves, and passing -into a quieter avenue, took a roundabout way to the -lodging place, where Hovan Du was confined in a small -chamber while Gor Hajus, Dar Tarus and I were conducted -by slaves to a large sleeping apartment where -sleeping silks and furs were arranged for us upon a low -platform that encircled the room and was broken only -at the single entrance to the chamber. Here were already -sleeping a considerable number of men, while two -armed slaves patrolled the aisle to guard the guests from -assassins.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was still early and some of the other lodgers were -conversing in low whispers so I sought to engage Dar -Tarus in conversation relative to his religion, about which -I was curious.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The mysteries of religions always fascinate me, Dar -Tarus,” I told him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ah, but that is the beauty of the religion of Tur,” -he exclaimed, “it has no mysteries. It is simple, natural, -scientific and every word and work of it is susceptible -of proof through the pages of Turgan, the great book -written by Tur himself.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tur’s home is upon the sun. There, one hundred -thousands year ago, he made Barsoom and tossed it -out into space. Then he amused himself by creating -man in various forms and two sexes; and later he fashioned -animals to be food for man and each other, and -caused vegetation and water to appear that man and -the animals might live. Do you not see how simple and -scientific it all is?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But it was Gor Hajus who told me most about the -religion of Tur one day when Dar Tarus was not about. -He said that the Phundahlians maintained that Tur still -created every living thing with his own hands. They -denied vigorously that man possessed the power to reproduce -his kind and taught their young that all such -belief was vile; and always they hid every evidence of -natural procreation, insisting to the death that even those -things which they witnessed with their own eyes and -experienced with their own bodies in the bringing forth -of their young never transpired.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Turgan taught them that Barsoom is flat and they -shut their minds to every proof to the contrary. They -would not leave Phundahl far for fear of falling off the -edge of the world; they would not permit the development -of aeronautics because should one of their ships -circumnavigate Barsoom it would be a wicked sacrilege -in the eyes of Tur who made Barsoom flat.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They would not permit the use of telescopes, for Tur -taught them that there was no other world than Barsoom -and to look at another would be heresy; nor -would they permit the teaching in their schools of any -history of Barsoom that antedated the creation of Barsoom -by Tur, though Barsoom has a well authenticated -written history that reaches back more than one hundred -thousand years; nor would they permit any geography -of Barsoom except that which appears in Turgan, nor -any scientific researches along biological lines. Turgan -is their only text book—if it is not in Turgan it is a -wicked lie.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Much of all this and a great deal more I gathered -from one source or another during my brief stay in -Phundahl, whose people are, I believe, the least advanced -in civilization of any of the red nations upon -Barsoom. Giving, as they do, all their best thought to -religious matters, they have become ignorant, bigoted -and narrow, going as far to one extreme as the Toonolians -do to the other.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>However, I had not come to Phundahl to investigate -her culture but to steal her queen, and that thought -was uppermost in my mind when I awoke to a new -day—my first in Phundahl. Following the morning meal -we set out in the direction of the palace to reconnoitre, -Dar Tarus leading us to a point from which he might -easily direct us the balance of the way, as he did not -dare accompany us to the immediate vicinity of the -royal grounds for fear of recognition, the body he now -possessed having formerly belonged to a well-known -noble.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was arranged that Gor Hajus should act as spokesman -and I as keeper of the ape. This arranged, we -bade farewell to Dar Tarus and set forth, the three of -us, along a broad and beautiful avenue that led directly -to the palace gates. We had been planning and -rehearsing the parts that we were to play and which -we hoped would prove so successful that they would -open the gates to us and win us to the presence of -the Jeddara.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we strolled with seeming unconcern along the -avenue, I had ample opportunity to enjoy the novel -and beautiful sights of this rich boulevard of palaces. -The sun shone down upon vivid scarlet lawns, gorgeous -flowered pimalia and a score of other rarely beautiful -Barsoomian shrubs and trees, while the avenue itself -was shaded by almost perfect specimens of the magnificent -sorapus. The sleeping apartments of the buildings -had all been lowered to their daytime level, and from a -hundred balconies gorgeous silks and furs were airing -in the sun. Slaves were briskly engaged with their duties -about the grounds, while upon many a balcony women -and children sat at their morning meal. Among the children -we aroused considerable enthusiasm, or at least -Hovan Du did, nor was he without interest to the adults. -Some of them would have detained us for an exhibition, -but we moved steadily on towards the palace, for -nowhere else had we business or concern within the -walls of Phundahl.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Around the palace gates was the usual crowd of -loitering curiosity seekers; for after all human nature is -much the same everywhere, whether skins be black or -white, red or yellow or brown, upon Earth or upon -Mars. The crowd before Xaxa’s gates were largely made -up of visitors from the islands of that part of the Great -Toonolian Marshes which owes allegiance to Phundahl’s -queen, and like all provincials eager for a glimpse of -royalty; though none the less to be interested by the -antics of a simian, wherefore we had a ready made -audience awaiting our arrival. Their natural fear of the -great brute caused them to fall back a little at our -approach so that we had a clear avenue to the very -gates themselves, and there we halted while the crowds -closed in behind, forming a half circle about us. Gor -Hajus addressed them in a loud tone of voice that might -be overheard by the warriors and their officers beyond -the gates, for it was really them we had come to entertain, -not the crowds in which we had not the slightest -interest.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Men and women of Phundahl,” cried Gor Hajus, -“behold two poor panthans, who, risking their lives, -have captured and trained one of the most savage and -ferocious and at the same time most intelligent specimens -of the great white ape of Barsoom ever before -seen in captivity and at great expense have brought it -to Phundahl for your entertainment and edification. My -friends, this wonderful ape is endowed with human intelligence; -he understands every word that is spoken to -him. With your kind attention, my friends, I will endeavor -to demonstrate the remarkable intelligence of -this ferocious, man-eating beast—an intelligence that has -entertained the crowned heads of Barsoom and mystified -the minds of her most learned savants.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I thought Gor Hajus did pretty well as a bally-hoo -artist. I had to smile as I listened, here upon Mars, to -the familiar lines that I had taught him out of my -Earthly experience of county fairs and amusement parks, -so highly ludicrous they sounded falling from the lips -of the Assassin of Toonol; but they evidently interested -his auditors and impressed them, too, for they craned -their necks and stood in earnest eyed silence awaiting -the performance of Hovan Du. Even better, several members -of the Jeddara’s Guard pricked up their ears and -sauntered towards the gates; and among them was an -officer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus caused Hovan Du to lie down at word -of command, to get up, to stand upon one foot, and to -indicate the number of fingers that Gor Hajus held up -by growling once for each finger, thus satisfying the audience -that he could count; but these simple things -were only by way of leading up to the more remarkable -achievements which we hoped would win an audience -before the Jeddara. Gor Hajus borrowed a set -of harness and weapons from a man in the crowd and -had Hovan Du don it and fence with him, and then -indeed did we hear exclamations of amazement.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The warriors and the officer of Xaxa had drawn near -the gates and were interested spectators, which was precisely -what we wished, and now Gor Hajus was ready -for the final, astounding revelation of Hovan Du’s intelligence.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“These things that you have witnessed are as nothing,” -he cried. “Why this wonderful beast can even read -and write. He was captured in a deserted city near -Ptarth and can read and write the language of that -country. Is there among you one who, by chance, comes -from that distant country?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A slave spoke up. “I am from Ptarth.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good!” said Gor Hajus. “Write some simple instructions -and hand them to the ape. I will turn my back -that you may know that I cannot assist him in any -way.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The slave drew forth a tablet from a pocket pouch -and wrote briefly. What he wrote he handed to Hovan -Du. The ape read the message and without hesitation -moved quickly to the gate and handed it to the officer -standing upon the other side, the gate being constructed -of wrought metal in fanciful designs that offered no obstruction -to the view or to the passage of small articles. -The officer took the message and examined it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What does it say?” he demanded of the slave that -had penned it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It says,” replied the latter: “Take this message to -the officer who stands just within the gates.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There were exclamations of surprise from all parts -of the crowd and Hovan Du was compelled to repeat -his performance several times with different messages -which directed him to do various things, the officer -always taking a great interest in the proceedings.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is marvellous,” said he at last. “The Jeddara -would be amused by the performance of this beast. Wait -here, therefore, until I have sent word to her that she -may, if she so desires, command your presence.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Nothing could have better suited us and so we waited -with what patience we might for the messenger to return; -and while we waited Hovan Du continued to mystify -his audience with new proofs of his great intelligence.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='116' id='Page_116'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XI<br/> XAXA</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>The</span> officer returned, the gates swung out and we were -commanded to enter the courtyard of the palace of -Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. After that events transpired -with great rapidity—surprising and totally unexpected -events. We were led through an intricate maze of corridors -and chambers until I became suspicious that we -were purposely being confused, and convinced that -whether such was the intention or not the fact remained -that I could no more have retraced my steps to the -outer courtyard than I could have flown without wings. -We had planned that, in the event of gaining admission -to the palace, we would carefully note whatever might -be essential to a speedy escape; but when, in a whisper, -I asked Gor Hajus if he could find his way out again -he assured me that he was as confused as I.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The palace was in no sense remarkable nor particularly -interesting, the work of the Phundahlian artists -being heavy and oppressing and without indication of -high imaginative genius. The scenes depicted were mostly -of a religious nature illustrating passages from Turgan, -the Phundahlian bible, and, for the most part, were a -series of monotonous repetitions. There was one, which -appeared again and again, depicting Turgan creating a -round, flat Mars and hurling it into Space, that always -reminded me of a culinary artist turning a flap jack -in a child’s window.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There were also numerous paintings of what appeared -to be court scenes delineating members of the Phundahlian -royal line in various activities; it was noticeable -that the more recent ones in which Xaxa appeared -had had the principal figure repainted so that there confronted -me from time to time portraits, none too well -done, of the beautiful face and figure of Valla Dia in -the royal trappings of a Jeddara. The effect of these -upon me is not easy of description. They brought home -to me the fact that I was approaching, and should presently -be face to face with, the person of the woman -to whom I had consecrated my love and my life, and -yet in that same person I should be confronting one -whom I loathed and would destroy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We were halted at last before a great door and from -the number of warriors and nobles congregated before -it I was confident that we were soon to be ushered -into the presence of the Jeddara. As we waited those -assembled about us eyed us with, it seemed to me, more -of hostility than curiosity and when the door swung open -they accompanied us, with the exception of a few warriors, -into the chamber beyond. The room was of medium -size and at the farther side, behind a massive -table, sat Xaxa. About her were grouped a number of -heavily armed nobles. As I looked them over I wondered -if among them was he for whom the body of -Dar Tarus had been filched; for we had promised him -that if conditions were favorable we would attempt to -recover it.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Xaxa eyed us coldly as we were halted before her. -“Let us see the beast perform,” she commanded, and -then suddenly: “What mean you by permitting strangers -to enter my presence bearing arms?” she cried. “Sag Or, -see that their weapons are removed!” and she turned to -a handsome young warrior standing near her.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Sag Or! That was the name. Before me stood the -noble for whom Dar Tarus had suffered the loss of his -liberty, his body and his love. Gor Hajus had also -recognized the name and Hovan Du, too; I could tell by -the way they eyed the man as he advanced. Curtly he -instructed us to hand our weapons to two warriors who -advanced to receive them. Gor Hajus hesitated. I admit -that I did not know what course to pursue.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Everyone seemed hostile and yet that might be, and -doubtless was, but a reflection of their attitude towards -all strangers. If we refused to disarm we were but three -against a room full, if they chose to resort to force; or -if they turned us out of the palace because of it we would -be robbed of this seemingly god given opportunity to -win to the very heart of Xaxa’s palace and to her very -presence, where we must eventually win before we could -strike. Would such an opportunity ever be freely offered -us again? I doubted it and felt that we had better assume -a vague risk now than, by refusing their demand, definitely -arm their suspicions. So I quietly removed my -weapons and handed them to the warrior waiting to -receive them; and following my example, Gor Hajus did -likewise, though I can imagine with what poor grace.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Once again Xaxa signified that she would see Hovan -Du perform. As Gor Hajus put him through his antics -she watched listlessly; nor did anything that the ape did -arouse the slightest flicker of interest among the entire -group assembled about the Jeddara. As the thing dragged -on I became obsessed with apprehensions that all was -not right. It seemed to me that an effort was being made -to detain us for some purpose—to gain time. I could -not understand, for instance, why Xaxa required that we -repeat several times the least interesting of the ape’s performances. -And all the time Xaxa sat playing with a -long, slim dagger, and I saw that she watched me quite -as much as she watched Hovan Du, while I found it difficult -to keep my eyes averted from that perfect face, -even though I knew that it was but a stolen mask behind -which lurked the cruel mind of a tyrant and a murderess.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At last came an interruption to the performance. The -door opened and a noble entered, who went directly to -the Jeddara whom he addressed briefly and in a low tone. -I saw that she asked him several questions and that she -seemed vexed by his replies. Then she dismissed him -with a curt gesture and turned towards us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Enough of this!” she cried. Her eyes rested upon mine -and she pointed her slim dagger at me. “Where is the -other?” she demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What other?” I inquired.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There were three of you, beside the ape. I know nothing -about the ape, nor where, nor how you acquired it; -but I do know all about you, Vad Varo, and Gor Hajus, -the Assassin of Toonol, and Dar Tarus. Where is Dar -Tarus?” her voice was low and musical and entirely beautiful—the -voice of Valla Dia—but behind it I knew was -the terrible personality of Xaxa, and I knew too that it -would be hard to deceive her, for she must have received -what information she had directly from Ras Thavas. -It had been stupid of me not to foresee that Ras Thavas -would immediately guess the purpose of my mission and -warn Xaxa. I perceived instantly that it would be worse -than useless to deny our identity, rather I must explain -our presence—if I could.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where is Dar Tarus?” she repeated.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How should I know?” I countered. “Dar Tarus has -reasons to believe that he would not be safe in Phundahl -and I imagine that he is not anxious that anyone should -know his whereabouts—myself included. He helped me -to escape from the Island of Thavas, for which his liberty -was to be his reward. He has not chosen to accompany -me further upon my adventures.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Xaxa seemed momentarily disarmed that I did not -deny my identity—evidently she had supposed that I -would do so.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You admit then,” she said, “that you are Vad Varo, -the assistant of Ras Thavas?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Have I ever sought to deny it?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have disguised yourself as a red-man of Barsoom.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How could I travel in Barsoom otherwise, where every -man’s hand is against a stranger?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And why would you travel in Barsoom?” Her eyes -narrowed as she waited for my reply.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“As Ras Thavas has doubtless sent you word, I am -from another world and I would see more of this one,” I -told her. “Is that strange?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you come to Phundahl and seek to gain entrance -to my presence and bring with you the notorious -Assassin of Toonol that you may see more of Barsoom?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Gor Hajus may not return to Toonol,” I explained, -“and so he must seek service for his sword at some -other court than that of Vobis Kan—in Phundahl perhaps, -or if not here he must move on. I hope that he -will decide to accompany me as I am a stranger in -Barsoom, unaccustomed to the manners and ways of her -people. I would fare ill without a guide and mentor.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You shall fare ill,” she cried. “You have seen all of -Barsoom that you are destined to see—you have reached -the end of your adventure. You think to deceive me, eh? -You do not know, perhaps, that I have heard of your -infatuation for Valla Dia or that I am fully conversant -with the purpose of your visit to Phundahl.” Her eyes -left me and swept her nobles and her warriors. “To the -pits with them!” she cried. “Later we shall choose the -manner of their passing.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Instantly we were surrounded by a score of naked -blades. There was no escape for Gor Hajus or me, but -I thought that I saw an opportunity for Hovan Du to get -away. I had had the possibility of such a contingency -in mind from the first and always I had been on the -look-out for an avenue of escape for one of us, and so -the open windows at the right of the Jeddara had not -gone unnoticed, nor the great trees growing in the courtyard -beneath. Hovan Du was close beside me as Xaxa -spoke.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Go!” I whispered. “The windows are open. Go, and -tell Dar Tarus what has happened to us,” and then I fell -back away from him and dragged Gor Hajus with me -as though we would attempt to resist arrest; and while I -thus distracted their attention from him Hovan Du turned -towards an open window. He had taken but a few steps -when a warrior attempted to halt him; with that the -ferocious brain of the anthropoid seemed to seize -dominion over the great creature. With a hideous growl -he leaped with the agility of a cat upon the unfortunate -Phundahlian, swung him high in giant hands and using -his body as a flail tumbled his fellows to right and left -as he cut a swath towards the open window nearest -him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Instantly pandemonium reigned in the apartment. The -attention of all seemed centered upon the great ape and -even those who had been confronting us turned to -attack Hovan Du. And in the midst of the confusion I -saw Xaxa step to some heavy hangings directly behind -her desk, part them and disappear.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Come!” I whispered to Gor Hajus. Apparently intent -only upon watching the conflict between the ape and the -warriors I moved forward with the fighters but always to -the left towards the desk that Xaxa had just quitted. -Hovan Du was giving a good account of himself. He had -discarded his first victim and one by one had seized -others as they came within range of his long arms and -powerful hands, sometimes four at a time as he stood -well braced upon two of his hand-like feet and fought with -the other four. His shock of bristling hair stood erect -upon his skull and his fierce eyes blazed with rage as, -towering high above his antagonists, he fought for his -life—the most feared of all the savage creatures of -Barsoom. Perhaps his greatest advantage lay in the inherent -fear of him that was a part of every man in that -room who faced him, and it forwarded my quickly conceived -plan, too, for it kept every eye turned upon -Hovan Du, so that Gor Hajus and I were able to work -our way to the rear of the desk. I think Hovan Du -must have sensed my intention then, for he did the one -thing best suited to attract every eye from us to him and, -too, he gave me notice that the human half of his brain -was still alert and watchful of our welfare.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Heretofore the Phundahlians must have looked upon -him as a remarkable specimen of great ape, marvelously -trained, but now, of a sudden, he paralyzed them with -awe, for his roars and growls took the form of words -and he spoke with the tongue of a human. He was near -the window now. Several of the nobles were pushing -bravely forward. Among them was Sag Or. Hovan Du -reached forth and seized him, wrenching his weapons -from him. “I go,” he cried, “but let harm befall my -friends and I shall return and tear the heart from Xaxa. -Tell her that, from the Great Ape of Ptarth.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>For an instant the warriors and the nobles stood -transfixed with awe. Every eye was upon Hovan Du as -he stood there with the struggling figure of Sag Or in his -mighty grasp. Gor Hajus and I were forgotten. And then -Hovan Du turned and leaped to the sill of the window -and from there lightly to the branches of the nearest -tree; and with him went Sag Or, the favorite of Xaxa, the -Jeddara. At the same instant I drew Gor Hajus with me -between the hangings in the rear of Xaxa’s desk, and as -they fell behind us we found ourselves in the narrow -mouth of a dark corridor.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Without knowledge of where the passage led we could -only follow it blindly, urged on by the necessity for discovering -a hiding place or an avenue of escape from the -palace before the pursuit, which we knew would be immediately -instituted, overtook us. As our eyes became -accustomed to the gloom, which was partially dispelled -by a faint luminosity, we moved more rapidly and presently -came to a narrow spiral runway which descended -into a dark hole below the level of the corridor and also -arose into equal darkness above.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Which way?” I asked Gor Hajus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“They will expect us to descend,” he replied, “for in -that direction lies the nearest avenue of escape.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then we will go up.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Good!” he exclaimed. “All we seek now is a place to -hide until night has fallen, for we may not escape by -day.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We had scarcely started to ascend before we heard the -first sound of pursuit—the clank of accoutrements in the -corridor beneath. Yet, even with this urge from behind, -we were forced to move with great caution, for we knew -not what lay before. At the next level there was a doorway, -the door closed and locked, but there was no corridor, -nor anywhere to hide, and so we continued on upward. -The second level was identical with that just beneath, -but at the third a single corridor ran straight off -into darkness and at our right was a door, ajar. The -sounds of pursuit were appreciably nearer now and the -necessity for concealment seemed increasing as the square -of their growing proportions until every other consideration -was overwhelmed by it. Nor is this so strange when -the purpose of my adventure is considered and that discovery -now must assuredly spell defeat and blast for -ever the slender ray of hope that remained for the resurrection -of Valla Dia in her own flesh.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was scarce a moment for consideration. The -corridor before us was shrouded in darkness—it might -be naught but a blind alley. The door was close and ajar. -I pushed it gently inward. An odor of heavy incense -greeted our nostrils and through the small aperture we -saw a portion of a large chamber garishly decorated. -Directly before us, and almost wholly obstructing our -view of the entire chamber, stood a colossal statue of a -squatting manlike figure. Behind us we heard voices—our -pursuers already were ascending the spiral—they -would be upon us in a few seconds. I examined the door -and discovered that it fastened with a spring lock. I -looked again into the chamber and saw no one within -the range of our vision, and then I motioned Gor Hajus to -follow me and stepping into the room closed the door -behind us. We had burned our bridges. As the door -closed the lock engaged with a sharp, metallic click.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What was that?” demanded a voice, originating, seemingly, -at the far end of the chamber.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus looked at me and shrugged his shoulders -in resignation (he must have been thinking what I was -thinking—that with two avenues we had chosen the -wrong one) but he smiled and there was no reproach in -his eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It sounded from the direction of the Great Tur,” replied -a second voice.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps someone is at the door,” suggested the first -speaker.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus and I were flattened against the back of -the statue that we might postpone as long as possible our -inevitable discovery should the speakers decide to investigate -the origin of the noise that had attracted their -suspicions. I was facing against the polished stone of the -figure’s back, my hands outspread upon it. Beneath my -fingers were the carven bits of its ornamental harness—jutting -protuberances that were costly gems set in these -trappings of stone, and there were gorgeous inlays of -gold filagree; but these things I had no eyes for now. We -could hear the two conversing as they came nearer. Perhaps -I was nervous, I do not know. I am sure I never -shrank from an encounter when either duty or expediency -called; but in this instance both demanded that we avoid -conflict and remain undiscovered. However that may -be, my fingers must have been moving nervously over -the jeweled harness of the figure when I became vaguely, -perhaps subconsciously, aware that one of the gems was -loose in its setting. I do not recall that this made any -impression upon my conscious mind, but I do know that -it seemed to catch the attention of my wandering fingers -and they must have paused to play with the loosened -stone.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The voices seemed quite close now—it could be but -a matter of seconds before we should be confronted by -their owners. My muscles seemed to tense for the anticipated -encounter and unconsciously I pressed heavily -upon the loosened setting—whereat a portion of the -figure’s back gave noiselessly inward revealing to us the -dimly lighted interior of the statue. We needed no further -invitation; simultaneously we stepped across the -threshold and in almost the same movement I turned and -closed the panel gently behind us. I think that there -was absolutely no sound connected with the entire transaction; -and following it we remained in utter silence, -motionless—scarce breathing. Our eyes became quickly accustomed -to the dim interior which we discovered was -lighted through numerous small orifices in the shell of -the statue, which was entirely hollow, and through these -same orifices every outside sound came clearly to our -ears.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We had scarcely closed the opening when we heard -the voices directly outside it and simultaneously there -came a hammering on the door by which we had entered -the apartment from the corridor. “Who seeks entrance to -Xaxa’s Temple?” demanded one of the voices within the -room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“ ’Tis I, dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard,” boomed a voice -from without. “We are seeking two who came to assassinate -Xaxa.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Came they this way?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Think you, priest, that I should be seeking them -here had they not?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“How long since?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Scarce twenty tals since,” replied the dwar.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then they are not here,” the priest assured him, -“for we have been here for a full zode<a id='rA'/><a href='#fA' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[A]</span></sup></a> and no other -has entered the temple during that time. Look quickly to -Xaxa’s apartments above and to the roof and the hangars, -for if you followed them up the spiral there is no -other where they might flee.”</p> - -<hr class='footnotemark'/> - -<div class='footnote'> -<p class='footnote'> -<span class='footnote-id' id='fA'><a href='#rA'>[A]</a></span> - -<span style='font-size:smaller'>A tal is about one second, and a zode approximately two and -one-half hours, Earth time.</span></p> - -</div> - -<hr class='footnotemark'/> - -<p class='pindent'>“Watch then the temple carefully until I return,” -shouted the warrior and we heard him and his men moving -on up the spiral.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Now we heard the priests conversing as they moved -slowly past the statue.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What could have caused the noise that first attracted -our attention?” asked one.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps the fugitives tried the door,” suggested the -other.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It must have been that, but they did not enter or we -should have seen them when they emerged from behind -the Great Tur, for we were facing him at the time, nor -have once turned our eyes from this end of the temple.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then at least they are not within the temple.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And where else they may be is no concern of ours.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“No, nor if they reached Xaxa’s apartment, if they -did not pass through the temple.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps they did reach it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And they were assassins!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Worse things might befall Phundahl.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Hush! the gods have ears.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Of stone.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But the ears of Xaxa are not of stone and they hear -many things that are not intended for them.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The old she-banth!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“She is Jeddara and High Priestess.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but——” the voices passed beyond the range of -our ears at the far end of the temple, yet they had told -me much—that Xaxa was feared and hated by the priesthood -and that the priests themselves had none too much -reverence for their deity as evidenced by the remark of -one that the gods have ears of stone. And they had told -us other things, important things, when they conversed -with the dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus and I now felt that we had fallen by chance -upon a most ideal place of concealment, for the very -guardians of the temple would swear that we were not, -could not be, where we were. Already had they thrown -the pursuers off our track.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Now, for the first time, we had an opportunity to -examine our hiding place. The interior of the statue was -hollow and far above us, perhaps forty feet, we could -see the outside light shining through the mouth, ears -and nostrils, just below which a circular platform could -be discerned running around the inside of the neck. A -ladder with flat rungs led upward from the base to the -platform. Thick dust covered the floor on which we -stood, and the extremity of our position suggested a -careful examination of this dust, with the result that I -was at once impressed by the evidence that it revealed; -which indicated that we were the first to enter the statue -for a long time, possibly for years, as the fine coating of -almost impalpable dust that covered the floor was undisturbed. -As I searched for this evidence my eyes fell -upon something lying huddled close to the base of the -ladder and approaching nearer I saw that it was a human -skeleton, while a closer examination revealed that the -skull was crushed and one arm and several ribs broken. -About it lay, dust-covered, the most gorgeous trappings I -had ever seen. Its position at the foot of the ladder, as -well as the crushed skull and broken bones, appeared -quite conclusive evidence of the manner in which death -had come—the man had fallen head foremost from the -circular platform forty feet above, carrying with him to -eternity, doubtless, the secret of the entrance to the interior -of the Great Tur.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I suggested this to Gor Hajus who was examining the -dead man’s trappings and he agreed with me that such -must have been the manner of his death.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“He was a high priest of Tur,” whispered Gor Hajus, -“and probably a member of the royal house—possibly -a Jeddak. He has been dead a long time.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am going up above,” I said. “I will test the ladder. -If it is safe, follow me up. I think we shall be able to -see the interior of the temple through the mouth of Tur.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Go carefully,” Gor Hajus admonished. “The ladder -is very old.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I went carefully, testing each rung before I trusted -my weight to it, but I found the old sorapus wood of -which it was constructed sound and as staunch as steel. -How the high priest came to his death must always remain -a mystery, for the ladder or the circular platform -would have carried the weight of a hundred red-men.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>From the platform I could see through the mouth of -Tur. Below me was a large chamber along the sides of -which were ranged other, though lesser, idols. They were -even more grotesque than those I had seen in the temple -in the city and their trappings were rich beyond the conception -of man—Earthman—for the gems of Barsoom -scintillate with rays unknown to us and of such gorgeous -and blinding beauty as to transcend description. Directly -in front of the Great Tur was an altar of palthon, a -rare and beautiful stone, blood red, in which are traced -in purest white Nature’s most fanciful designs; the whole -vastly enhanced by the wondrous polish which the stone -takes beneath the hand of the craftsman.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus joined me and together we examined the -interior of the temple. Tall windows lined two sides, letting -in a flood of light. At the far end, opposite the -Great Tur, were two enormous doors, closing the main -entrance to the chamber, and here stood the two priests -whom we had heard conversing. Otherwise the temple -was deserted. Incense burned upon tiny altars before -each of the minor idols, but whether any burned before -the Great Tur we could not see.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Having satisfied our curiosity relative to the temple, we -returned our attention to a further examination of the -interior of Tur’s huge head and were rewarded by the -discovery of another ladder leading upward against the -rear wall to a higher and smaller platform that evidently -led to the eyes. It did not take me long to investigate and -here I found a most comfortable chair set before a control -that operated the eyes, so that they could be made to -turn from side to side, or up or down, according to the -whim of the operator; and here too was a speaking-tube -leading to the mouth. This again I must needs investigate -and so I returned to the lower platform and there I discovered -a device beneath the tongue of the idol, and this -device, which was in the nature of an amplifier, was -connected with the speaking-tube from above. I could not -repress a smile as I considered these silent witnesses to the -perfidy of man and thought of the broken thing lying at -the foot of the ladder. Tur, I could have sworn, had -been silent for many years.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Together Gor Hajus and I returned to the higher platform -and again I made a discovery—the eyes of Tur -were veritable periscopes. By turning them we could see -any portion of the temple and what we saw through the -eyes was magnified. Nothing could escape the eyes of -Tur and presently, when the priests began to talk again, -we discovered that nothing could escape Tur’s ears, for -every slightest sound in the temple came clearly to us. -What a valuable adjunct to high priesthood this Great -Tur must have been in the days when that broken -skeleton lying below us was a thing of blood and life!</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='129' id='Page_129'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XII<br/> THE GREAT TUR</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>The</span> day dragged wearily for Gor Hajus and me. We -watched the various priests who came in pairs at intervals -to relieve those who had preceded them, and we -listened to their prattle, mostly idle gossip of court -scandals. At times they spoke of us and we learned -that Hovan Du had escaped with Sag Or, nor had they -been located as yet, nor had Dar Tarus. The whole court -was mystified by our seemingly miraculous disappearance. -Three thousand people, the inmates and attaches of the -palace, were constantly upon the look-out for us. Every -part of the palace and the palace grounds had been -searched and searched again. The pits had been explored -more thoroughly than they had been explored -within the memory of the oldest retainer, and it seemed -that queer things had been unearthed there—things of -which not even Xaxa dreamed; and the priests whispered -that at least one great and powerful house would fall -because of what a dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard had discovered -in a remote precinct of the pits.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As the sun dropped below the horizon and darkness -came, the interior of the temple was illuminated by a soft -white light, brilliantly but without the glare of Earthly -artificial illumination. More priests came and many young -girls, priestesses. They performed before the idols, chanting -meaningless gibberish. Gradually the chamber filled -with worshippers, nobles of the Jeddara’s court with their -women and their retainers, forming in two lines along -either side of the temple before the lesser idols, leaving -a wide aisle from the great entrance to the foot of the -Great Tur and towards this aisle they all faced, waiting. -For what were they waiting? Their eyes were turned expectantly -towards the closed doors of the great entrance -and Gor Hajus and I felt our eyes held there too, fascinated -by the suggestion that they were about to open -and reveal some stupendous spectacle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And presently the doors did swing slowly open and -all we saw was what appeared to be a great roll of -carpet lying upon its side across the opening. Twenty -slaves, naked but for their scant leather harness, stood -behind the huge roll; and as the doors swung fully -open they rolled the carpet inward to the very feet of the -altar before the Great Tur, covering the wide aisle from -the entranceway almost to the idol with a thick, soft -rug of gold and white and blue. It was the most beautiful -thing in the temple where all else was blatant, loud and -garish or hideous, or grotesque. And then the doors -closed and again we waited; but not for long. Bugles -sounded from without, the sound increasing as they -neared the entrance. Once more the doors swung in. -Across the entrance stood a double rank of gorgeously -trapped nobles. Slowly they entered the temple and -behind them came a splendid chariot drawn by two -banths, the fierce Barsoomian lion, held in leash by -slaves on either side. Upon the chariot was a litter and -in the litter, reclining at ease, lay Xaxa. As she entered -the temple the people commenced to chant her praises -in a monotonous sing-song. Chained to the chariot and -following on foot was a red warrior and behind him a -procession composed of fifty young men and an equal -number of young girls.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus touched my arm. “The prisoner,” he whispered, -“do you recognize him?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Dar Tarus!” I exclaimed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was Dar Tarus—they had discovered his hiding place -and arrested him, but what of Hovan Du? Had they taken -him, also? If they had it must have been only after slaying -him, for they never would have sought to capture -the fierce beast, nor would he have brooked capture. I -looked for Sag Or, but he was nowhere to be seen within -the temple and this fact gave me hope that Hovan Du -might be still at liberty.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The chariot was halted before the altar and Xaxa -alighted; the lock that held Dar Tarus’ chain to the vehicle -was opened and the banths were led away by their attendants -to one side of the temple behind the lesser -idols. Then Dar Tarus was dragged roughly to the altar and -thrown upon it and Xaxa, mounting the steps at its base, -came close to his side and with hands outstretched above -him looked up at the Great Tur towering above her. How -beautiful she was! How richly trapped! Ah, Valla Dia! -that your sweet form should be debased to the cruel purposes -of the wicked mind that now animates you!</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Xaxa’s eyes now rested upon the face of the Great -Tur. “O, Tur, Father of Barsoom,” she cried, “behold the -offering we place before you, All-seeing, All-knowing, -All-powerful One, and frown no more upon us in silence. -For a hundred years you have not deigned to speak aloud -to your faithful slaves; never since Hora San, the high -priest, was taken away by you on that long-gone night of -mystery have you unsealed your lips to your people. -Speak, Great Tur! Give us some sign, ere we plunge this -dagger into the heart of our offering, that our works are -pleasing in thine eyes. Tell us whither went the two who -came here to-day to assassinate your high priestess; reveal -to us the fate of Sag Or. Speak, Great Tur, ere I -strike,” and she raised her slim blade above the heart of -Dar Tarus and looked straight upward into the eyes of -Tur.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And then, as a bolt from the blue, I was struck by -the great inspiration. My hand sought the lever controlling -the eyes of Tur and I turned them until they -completed a full circuit of the room and rested again -upon Xaxa. The effect was magical. Never before had I -seen a whole room full of people so absolutely stunned -and awe-struck as were these. As the eyes returned to -Xaxa she seemed turned to stone and her copper skin to -have taken on an ashen purple hue. Her dagger remained -stiffly poised above the heart of Dar Tarus. Not for a hundred -years had they seen the eyes of the Great Tur -move. Then I placed the speaking-tube to my lips and -the voice of Tur rumbled through the chamber. As from -one great throat a gasp arose from the crowded temple -floor and the people fell upon their knees and buried -their faces in their hands.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Judgment is mine!” I cried. “Strike not lest ye be -struck! To Tur is the sacrifice!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I was silent then, attempting to plan how best to utilize -the advantage I had gained. Fearfully, one by one, -the bowed heads were raised and frightened eyes sought -the face of Tur. I gave them another thrill by letting the -god’s eyes wander slowly over the upturned faces, and -while I was doing this I had another inspiration, which -I imparted to Gor Hajus in a low whisper. I could hear -him chuckle as he started down the ladder to carry my -new plan into effect. Again I had recourse to the speaking-tube.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The sacrifice is Tur’s,” I rumbled. “Tur will strike -with his own hand. Extinguish the lights and let no one -move under pain of instant death until Tur gives the -word. Prostrate yourselves and bury your eyes in your -palms, for whosoever sees shall be blinded when the -spirit of Tur walks among his people.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Down they went again and one of the priests hurriedly -extinguished the lights, leaving the temple in total -darkness; and while Gor Hajus was engaged with his -part of the performance I tried to cover any accidental -noise he might make by keeping up a running fire of -celestial revelation.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Xaxa, the high priestess, asks what has become of -the two whom she believed came to assassinate her. I, -Tur took them to myself. Vengeance is Tur’s! And Sag -Or I took, also. In the guise of a great ape I came and -took Sag Or and none knew me; though even a fool -might have guessed, for who is there ever heard a great -ape speak with tongue of man unless he was animated by -the spirit of Tur?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I guess that convinced them, it being just the sort of -logic suited to their religion, or it would have convinced -them if they had not already been convinced. I wondered -what might be passing in the mind of the doubting -priest who had remarked that the gods had ears of stone.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Presently I heard a noise upon the ladder beneath me -and a moment later someone climbed upon the circular -landing.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“All’s well,” whispered the voice of Gor Hajus. “Dar -Tarus is with me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Light the temple!” I commanded through the speaking-tube. -“Rise and look upon your altar.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The lights flashed on and the people rose, trembling, -to their feet. Every eye was bent upon the altar and -what they saw there seemed to crush them with terror. -Some of the women screamed and fainted. It all impressed -me with the belief that none of them had taken -this god of theirs with any great amount of seriousness, -and now when they were confronted with absolute proof -of his miraculous powers they were swept completely off -their feet. Where, a few moments before, they had seen -a live sacrifice awaiting the knife of the high priestess -they saw now only a dust-covered human skull. I grant -you that without an explanation it might have seemed a -miracle to almost anyone so quickly had Gor Hajus run -from the base of the idol with the skull of the dead high -priest and returned again leading Dar Tarus with him. I -had been a bit concerned as to what the attitude of Dar -Tarus might be, who was no more conversant with the -hoax than were the Phundahlians, but Gor Hajus had -whispered “For Valla Dia” in his ear and he had understood -and come quickly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The Great Tur,” I now announced, “is angry with -his people. For a long time they have denied him in -their hearts even while they made open worship of him. -The Great Tur is angry with Xaxa. Only through Xaxa -may the people of Phundahl be saved from destruction, -for the Great Tur is angry. Go then from the temple and -the palace leaving no human being here other than Xaxa, -the high priestess of Tur. Leave her here in solitude beside -the altar. Tur would speak with her alone.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I could see Xaxa fairly shrivel in fright.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Is the Jeddara Xaxa, High Priestess of the Great -God Tur, afraid to meet her master?” I demanded. The -woman’s jaw trembled so that she could not reply. -“Obey! or Xaxa and all her people shall be struck dead!” -I fairly screamed at them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Like cattle they turned and fled towards the entrance -and Xaxa, her knees shaking so that she could scarce -stand erect, staggered after them. A noble saw her and -pushed her roughly back, but she shrieked and ran after -him when he had left her. Then others dragged her to -the foot of the altar and threw her roughly down and one -menaced her with his sword, but at that I called aloud -that no harm must befall the Jeddara if they did not -wish the wrath of Tur to fall upon them all. They left -her lying there and so weak from fright was she that she -could not rise, and a moment later the temple was empty, -but not until I had shouted after them to clear the -whole palace within a quarter zode, for my plan required -a free and unobstructed as well as unobserved field of -action.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The last of them was scarce out of sight ere we three -descended from the head of Tur and stepped out upon -the temple floor behind the idol. Quickly I ran towards -the altar, upon the other side of which Xaxa had dropped -to the floor in a swoon. She still lay there and I gathered -her into my arms and ran quickly back to the door -in the wall behind the idol—the doorway through which -Gor Hajus and I had entered the temple earlier in the -day.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Preceded by Gor Hajus and followed by Dar Tarus, I -ascended the runway towards the roof where the conversation -of the priests had informed us were located -the royal hangars. Had Hovan Du and Sag Or been with -us my cup of happiness would have been full, for within -half a day, what had seemed utter failure and defeat -had been turned almost to assured success. At the landing -where lay Xaxa’s apartments we halted and looked -within, for the long night voyage I contemplated would -be cold and the body of Valla Dia must be kept warm -with suitable robes even though it was inhabited by the -spirit of Xaxa. Seeing no one we entered and soon found -what we required. As I was adjusting a heavy robe of -orluk about the Jeddara she regained consciousness. Instantly -she recognized me and then Gor Hajus and finally -Dar Tarus. Mechanically she felt for her dagger, but -it was not there and when she saw my smile she paled -with anger. At first she must have jumped to the conclusion -that she had been the victim of a hoax, but presently -a doubt seemed to enter her mind—she must have -been recalling some of the things that had transpired -within the temple of the Great Tur, and these, neither -she nor any other mortal might explain.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who are you?” she demanded.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am Tur,” I replied, brazenly.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What is your purpose with me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am going to take you away from Phundahl,” I replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But I do not wish to go. You are not Tur. You are -Vad Varo. I shall call for help and my guards will come -and slay you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is no one in the palace,” I reminded her. “Did -I, Tur, not send them away?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I shall not go with you,” she announced firmly. -“Rather would I die.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You shall go with me, Xaxa,” I replied, and though -she fought and struggled we carried her from her apartment -and up the spiral runway to the roof where, I -prayed, I should find the hangars and the royal fliers; -and as we stepped out into the fresh night air of Mars we -did see the hangars before us, but we saw something -else—a group of Phundahlian warriors of the Jeddara’s -Guard whom they had evidently failed to notify of the -commands of Tur. At sight of them Xaxa cried aloud in -relief.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“To me! To the Jeddara!” she cried. “Strike down -these assassins and save me!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There were three of them and there were three of -us, but they were armed and between us we had but -Xaxa’s slender dagger. Gor Hajus carried that. Victory -seemed turned to defeat as they rushed towards us; but -it was Gor Hajus who gave them pause. He seized Xaxa -and raised the blade, its point above her heart. “Halt!” -he cried, “or I strike.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The warriors hesitated; Xaxa was silent, stricken with -fear. Thus we stood in stalemate when, just beyond the -three Phundahlian warriors, I saw a movement at the -roof’s edge. What was it? In the dim light I saw something -that seemed a human head, and yet unhuman, rise -slowly above the edge of the roof, and then, silently, a -great form followed, and then I recognized it—Hovan -Du, the great white ape.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell them,” I cried to Xaxa in a loud voice that -Hovan Du might hear, “that I am Tur, for see, I come -again in the semblance of a white ape!” and I pointed to -Hovan Du. “I would not destroy these poor warriors. -Let them lay down their weapons and go in peace.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The men turned, and seeing the great ape standing -there behind them, materialized, it might have been, out -of thin air, were shaken.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Who is he, Jeddara?” demanded one of the men.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is Tur,” replied Xaxa in a weak voice; “but save -me from him! Save me from him!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Throw down your weapons and your harness and -fly!” I commanded, “or Tur will strike you dead. Heard -you not the people rushing from the palace at Tur’s -command? How think you we brought Xaxa hither with -a lesser power than Tur’s when all her palace was filled -with her fighting men? Go, while yet you may in safety.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>One of them unbuckled his harness and threw it with -his weapons upon the roof, and as he started at a run -for the spiral his companions followed his example. -Then Hovan Du approached us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Well done, Vad Varo,” he growled, “though I know -not what it is all about.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“That you shall know later,” I told him, “but now we -must find a swift flier and be upon our way. Where is -Sag Or? Does he still live?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have him securely bound and safely hidden in one -of the high towers of the palace,” replied the ape. “It -will be easy to get him when we have launched a flier.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Xaxa was eyeing us ragefully. “You are not Tur!” she -cried. “The ape has exposed you.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But too late to profit you in any way, Jeddara,” I assured -her. “Nor could you convince one of your people -who stood in the temple this night that I am not Tur. -Nor do you, yourself, know that I am not. The ways of -Tur, the all-powerful, all-knowing, are beyond the conception -of mortal man. To you then, Jeddara, I am Tur, -and you will find me all-powerful enough for my purposes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I think she was still perplexed as we found and dragged -forth a flier, aboard which we placed her, and turned the -craft’s nose towards a lofty tower where Hovan Du told -us lay Sag Or.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I shall be glad to see myself again,” said Dar Tarus, -with a laugh.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And you shall be yourself again, Dar Tarus,” I told -him, “as soon as ever we can come again to the pits of -Ras Thavas.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Would that I might be reunited with my sweet Kara -Vasa,” he sighed. “Then, Vad Varo, the last full measure -of my gratitude would be yours.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Where may we find her?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Alas, I do not know. It was while I was searching for -her that I was apprehended by the agents of Xaxa. I had -been to her father’s palace only to learn that he had -been assassinated and his property confiscated. The -whereabouts of Kara Vasa they either did not know or -would not divulge; but they held me there upon one -pretext or another until a detachment of the Jeddara’s -Guard could come and arrest me.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We shall have to make inquiries of Sag Or,” I said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We were now coming to a stop alongside a window -of the tower Hovan Du had indicated, and he and Dar -Tarus leaped to the sill and disappeared within. We were -all armed now, having taken the weapons discarded by -the three warriors at the hangars, and with a good flier -beneath our feet and all our little company reunited, -with Xaxa and Sag Or, whom they were now conducting -aboard, we were indeed in high spirits.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we got under way again, setting our nose towards -the east, I asked Sag Or if he knew what had become -of Kara Vasa, but he assured me, in surly tones, that he -did not.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Think again, Sag Or,” I admonished him, “and think -hard, for perhaps upon your answer your life depends.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What chance have I for life?” he sneered, casting an -ugly look towards Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have every chance,” I replied. “Your life lies in -the hollow of my hand; and you serve me well it shall -be yours, though in your own body and not in that belonging -to Dar Tarus.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You do not intend destroying me?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Neither you nor Xaxa,” I answered. “Xaxa shall live -on in her own body and you in yours.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I do not wish to live in my own body,” snapped the -Jeddara.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus stood looking at Sag Or—looking at his -own body like some disembodied soul—as weird a situation -as I have ever encountered.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell me, Sag Or,” he said, “what has become of Kara -Vasa. When my body has been restored to me and yours -to you I shall hold no enmity against you if you have not -harmed Kara Vasa and will tell me where she be.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I cannot tell you, for I do not know. She was not -harmed, but the day after you were assassinated she disappeared -from Phundahl. We were positive that she was -spirited away by her father, but from him we could learn -nothing. Then he was assassinated,” the man glanced at -Xaxa, “and since, we have learned nothing. A slave told -us that Kara Vasa, with some of her father’s warriors, -had embarked upon a flier and set out for Helium, where -she purposed placing herself under the protection of the -great War Lord of Barsoom; but of the truth of that we -know nothing. This is the truth. I, Sag Or, have spoken!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was futile then to search Phundahl for Kara Vasa -and so we held our course towards the east and the -Tower of Thavas.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='140' id='Page_140'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XIII<br/> BACK TO THAVAS</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>All</span> that night we sped beneath the hurtling moons of -Mars, as strange a company as was ever foregathered -upon any planet, I will swear. Two men, each possessing -the body of the other, an old and wicked empress whose -fair body belonged to a youthful damsel beloved by another -of this company, a great white ape dominated by -half the brain of a human being, and I, a creature of a -distant planet, with Gor Hajus, the Assassin of Toonol, -completed the mad roster.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I could scarce keep my eyes from the fair form and -face of Xaxa, and it is well that I was thus fascinated -for I caught her in the act of attempting to hurl herself -overboard, so repugnant to her was the prospect of living -again in her own old and hideous corpse. After that -I kept her securely bound and fastened to the deck, -though it hurt me to see the bonds upon those fair limbs.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus was almost equally fascinated by the contemplation -of his own body, which he had not seen for -many years.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“By my first ancestor,” he ejaculated. “It must be that -I was the least vain of fellows, for I give you my word -I had no idea that I was so fair to look upon. I can say -this now without seeming egotism, since I am speaking -of Sag Or,” and he laughed aloud at his little joke.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But the fact remained that the body and face of Dar -Tarus were beautiful indeed, though there was a hint of -steel in the eyes and the set of the jaw that betokened -fighting blood. Little wonder, then, that Sag Or had coveted -the body of this young warrior; for his own, which -Dar Tarus now possessed, was marked by dissipation and -age; nor that Dar Tarus yearned to come again into his -own.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Just before dawn we dropped to one of the numerous -small islands that dot the Great Toonolian Marshes -and nosing the ship between the boles of great trees we -came to rest upon the surface of the ground, half buried -in the lush and gorgeous jungle grasses, well hidden -from the sight of possible pursuers. Here Hovan Du found -fruits and nuts for us which the simian section of his brain -pronounced safe for human consumption, and instinct -led him to a nearby spring from which there bubbled -delicious water. We four were half famished and much -fatigued, so that the food and water were most welcome -to us; nor did Xaxa and Sag Or refuse them. Having -eaten, three of us lay down upon the ship’s deck to -sleep, after securely chaining our prisoners, while the -fourth stood watch. In this way, taking turns, we slept -away most of the day and when night fell, rested and refreshed, -we were ready to resume our flight.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Making a wide detour to the south we avoided Toonol -and about two hours before dawn we sighted the high -Tower of Thavas. I think we were all keyed up to the -highest pitch of excitement, for there was not one aboard -that flier but whose whole life would be seriously affected -by the success or failure of our venture. As a first -precaution we secured the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind -their backs and placed gags in their mouths, lest -they succeed in giving warning of our approach.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Cluros had long since set and Thuria was streaming -towards the horizon as we stopped our motor and drifted -without lights a mile or two south of the tower while -we waited impatiently for Thuria to leave the heavens -to darkness and the world to us. To the north-west the -lights of Toonol shone plainly against the dark background -of the windows of the great laboratory of Ras -Thavas, but the tower itself was dark from plinth to -pinnacle.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>And now the nearer moon dropped plummetlike beneath -the horizon and left the scene to darkness and to -us. Dar Tarus started the motor, the wonderful, silent -motor of Barsoom, and we moved slowly, close to the -ground, towards Ras Thavas’ island, with no sound other -than the gentle whirring of our propeller; nor could that -have been heard scarce a hundred feet so slowly was it -turning. Close off the island we came to a stop behind a -cluster of giant trees and Hovan Du, going into the bow, -uttered a few low growls. Then we stood waiting in silence, -listening. There was a rustling in the dense undergrowth -upon the shore. Again Hovan Du voiced his low, -grim call and this time there came an answer from the -black shadows. Hovan Du spoke in the language of the -great apes and the invisible creature replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>For five minutes, during which time we were aware -from the different voices that others had joined in the -conversation from the shore, the apes conversed, and -then Hovan Du turned to me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is arranged,” he said. “They will permit us to hide -our ship beneath these trees and they will permit us to -pass out again when we are ready and board her, nor -will they harm us in any way. All they ask is that when -we are through we shall leave the gate open that leads to -the inner court.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do they understand that while an ape goes in with us -none will return with us?” I asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes; but they will not harm us.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Why do they wish the gate left open?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Do not inquire too closely, Vad Varo,” replied Hovan -Du. “It should be enough that the great apes make it -possible for you to restore Valla Dia’s body to her brain -and escape with her from this terrible place.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is enough,” I replied. “When may we land?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“At once. They will help us drag the ship beneath the -trees and make her fast.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But first we must top the wall to the inner court,” I -reminded him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, true—I had forgotten that we cannot open the -gate from this side.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>He spoke again, then, to the apes, whom we had not -yet seen; and then he told us that all was arranged and -that he and Dar Tarus would return with the ship after -landing us inside the wall.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Again we got under way and rising slowly above the -outer wall dropped silently to the courtyard beyond. -The night was unusually dark, clouds having followed -Thuria and blotted out the stars after the moon had set. -No one could have seen the ship at a distance of fifty -feet, and we moved almost without noise. Quietly we -lowered our prisoners over the side and Gor Hajus and I -remained with them while Dar Tarus and Hovan Du rose -again and piloted the ship back to its hiding place.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I moved at once to the gate and, unlatching it, waited. -I heard nothing. Never, I think, have I endured such -utter silence. There came no sound from the great pile -rising behind me, nor any from the dark jungle beyond -the wall. Dimly I could see the huddled forms of Gor -Hajus, Xaxa and Sag Or beside me—otherwise I might -have been alone in the darkness and immensity of space.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It seemed an eternity that I waited there before I -heard a soft scratching on the panels of the heavy gate. -I pushed it open and Dar Tarus and Hovan Du stepped -silently within as I closed and relatched it. No one spoke. -All had been carefully planned so that there was no need -of speech. Dar Tarus and I led the way, Gor Hajus and -Hovan Du brought up the rear with the prisoners. We -moved directly to the entrance to the tower, found the -runway and descended to the pits. Every fortune seemed -with us. We met no one, we had no difficulty in finding -the vault we sought, and once within we secured the -door so that we had no fear of interruption—that was -our first concern—and then I hastened to the spot where -I had hidden Valla Dia behind the body of a large warrior, -tucked far back against the wall in a dark corner. -My heart stood still as I dragged aside the body of the -warrior, for always had I feared that Ras Thavas, knowing -my interest in her and guessing the purpose of my -venture, would cause every chamber and pit to be -searched and every body to be examined until he found -her for whom he sought; but my fears had been baseless, -for there lay the body of Xaxa, the old and wrinkled -casket of the lovely brain of my beloved, where I had -hidden it against this very night. Gently I lifted it out -and bore it to one of the two ersite topped tables. Xaxa, -standing there bound and gagged, looked on with eyes -that shot hate and loathing at me and at that hideous -body to which her brain was so soon to be restored.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As I lifted her to the adjoining slab she tried to wriggle -from my grasp and hurl herself to the floor, but I -held her and soon had strapped her securely in place. A -moment later she was unconscious and the re-transference -was well under way. Gor Hajus, Sag Or and Hovan -Du were interested spectators, but to Dar Tarus, who -stood ready to assist me, it was an old story, for he had -worked in the laboratory and seen more than enough of -similar operations. I will not bore you with a description -of it—it was but a repetition of what I had done many -times in preparation for this very event.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At last it was completed and my heart fairly stood -still as I replaced the embalming fluid with Valla Dia’s -own life blood and saw the color mount to her cheeks -and her rounded bosom rise and fall to her gentle -breathing. Then she opened her eyes and looked up into -mine.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What has happened, Vad Varo?” she asked. “Has -something gone amiss that you have recalled me so soon, -or did I not respond to the fluid?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Her eyes wandered past me to the faces of the others -standing about. “What does it mean?” she asked. “Who -are these?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I raised her gently in my arms and pointed at the body -of Xaxa lying deathlike on the ersite slab beside her. -Valla Dia’s eyes went wide. “It is done?” she cried, and -clapped her hands to her face and felt of all her features -and of the soft, delicate contours of her smooth neck; -and yet she could scarce believe it and asked for a glass -and I took one from Xaxa’s pocket pouch and handed -it to her. She looked long into it and the tears commenced -to roll down her cheeks, and then she looked up -at me through the mist of them and put her dear -arms about my neck and drew my face down to hers. -“My chieftain,” she whispered—that was all. But it was -enough. For those two words I had risked my life and -faced unknown dangers, and gladly would I risk my life -again for that same reward and always, for ever.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Another night had fallen before I had completed the -restoration of Dar Tarus and Hovan Du. Xaxa, and Sag -Or and the great ape I left sleeping the deathlike sleep -of Ras Thavas’ marvelous anaesthetic. The great ape I -had no intention of restoring, but the others I felt bound -to return to Phundahl, though Dar Tarus, now resplendent -in his own flesh and the gorgeous trappings of Sag Or, -urged me not to inflict them again upon the long suffering -Phundahlians.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“But I have given my word,” I told him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then they must be returned,” he said.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Though what I may do afterward is another matter,” -I added, for there had suddenly occurred to me a bold -scheme.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I did not tell Dar Tarus what it was nor would I have -had time, for at the very instant we heard someone without -trying the door and then we heard voices and presently -the door was tried again, this time with force. We -made no noise, but just waited. I hoped that whoever it -was would go away. The door was very strong and when -they tried to force it they must soon have realized the -futility of it because they quickly desisted and we heard -their voices for only a short time thereafter and then -they seemed to have gone away.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We must leave,” I said, “before they return.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Strapping the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind them -and placing gags in their mouths I quickly restored -them to life, nor ever did I see two less grateful. The -looks they cast upon me might well have killed could -looks do that, and with what disgust they viewed one -another was writ plain in their eyes.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Cautiously unbolting the door I opened it very quietly, -a naked sword in my right hand and Dar Tarus, Gor -Hajus and Hovan Du ready with theirs at my shoulder, -and as it swung back it revealed two standing in the corridor -watching—two of Ras Thavas’ slaves; and one of -them was Yamdor, his body servant. At sight of us the -fellow gave a loud cry of recognition and before I could -leap through the doorway and prevent them, they had -both turned and were flying up the corridor as fast as -their feet would carry them.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Now there was no time to be lost—everything must -be sacrificed to speed. Without thought of caution or silence -we hastened through the pits towards the runway -in the tower; and when we stepped into the inner court -it was night again, but the farther moon was in the heavens -and there were no clouds. The result was that we -were instantly discovered by a sentry, who gave the -alarm as he ran forward to intercept us.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>What was a sentry doing in the courtyard of Ras -Thavas? I could not understand. And what were these? -A dozen armed warriors were hurrying across the court -on the heels of the sentry.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Toonolians!” shouted Gor Hajus. “The warriors of -Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Breathlessly we raced for the gate. If we could but -reach it first! But we were handicapped by our prisoners, -who held back the moment they discovered how -they might embarrass us, and so it was that we all met in -front of the gate. Dar Tarus and Gor Hajus and Hovan -Du and I put Valla Dia and our prisoners behind us and -fought the twenty warriors of Toonol with the odds five -to one against us; but we had more heart in the fight -than they and perhaps that gave us an advantage, -though I am sure that Gor Hajus was as ten men himself -so terrible was the effect of his name alone upon the -men of Toonol.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Gor Hajus!” cried one, the first to recognize him.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, it is Gor Hajus,” replied the assassin. “Prepare -to meet your ancestors!” and he drove into them like a -racing propeller, and I was upon his right and Hovan Du -and Dar Tarus upon his left.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was a pretty fight, but it must eventually have gone -against us, so greatly were we outnumbered, had I not -thought of the apes and the gate beside us. Working my -way to it I threw it open and there upon the outside, attracted -by the noise of the conflict, stood a full dozen of -the great beasts. I called to Gor Hajus and the others to -fall back beside the gate, and as the apes rushed in I -pointed to the Toonolian warriors.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I think the apes were at a loss to know which were -friends and which were foes, but the Toonolians apprised -them by attacking them, while we stood aside -with our points upon the ground. Just a moment we stood -thus waiting. Then as the apes rushed among the Toonolian -warriors, we slipped into the darkness of the jungle -beyond the outer wall and sought our flier. Behind us we -could hear the growls and the roars of the beasts mingled -with the shouts and the curses of the men; and the -sound still rose from the courtyard as we clambered -aboard the flier and pushed off into the night.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As soon as we felt that we were safely escaped from -the Island of Thavas I removed the gags from the -mouths of Xaxa and Sag Or and I can tell you that -I immediately regretted it, for never in my life had I -been subjected to such horrid abuse as poured from -the wrinkled old lips of the Jeddara; and it was only -when I started to gag her again that she promised to -desist.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>My plans were now well laid and they included a -return to Phundahl since I could not start for Duhor -with Valla Dia without provisions and fuel; nor could -I obtain these elsewhere than in Phundahl, since I felt -that I held the key that would unlock the resources of -that city to me; whereas all Toonol was in arms against -us owing to Vobis Kan’s fear of Gor Hajus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>So we retraced our way towards Phundahl as secretly -as we had come, for I had no mind to be apprehended -before we had gained entrance to the palace of Xaxa.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Again we rested over daylight upon the same island -that had given us sanctuary two days before, and at -dark we set out upon the last leg of our journey to -Phundahl. If there had been pursuit we had seen -naught of it; and that might easily be explained by the -great extent of the uninhabited marshes across which -we flew and the far southerly course that we followed -close above the ground.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we neared Phundahl I caused Xaxa and Sag Or -to be again gagged, and further, I had their heads -bandaged so that none might recognize them; and then -we sailed straight over the city towards the palace, hoping -that we would not be discovered and yet ready in -the event that we should be.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But we came to the hangars on the roof apparently -unseen and constantly I coached each upon the part -he was to play. As we were settling slowly to the roof -Dar Tarus, Hovan Du and Valla Dia quickly bound -Gor Hajus and me and wrapped our heads in bandages, -for we had seen below the figures of the hangar guard. -Had we found the roof unguarded the binding of Gor -Hajus and me had been unnecessary.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>As we dropped nearer one of the guard hailed us. -“What ship?” he cried.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The royal flier of the Jeddara of Phundahl,” replied -Dar Tarus, “returning with Xaxa and Sag Or.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The warriors whispered among themselves as we -dropped nearer and I must confess that I felt a bit -nervous as to the outcome of our ruse; but they permitted -us to land without a word and when they saw -Valla Dia they saluted her after the manner of Barsoom, -as, with the regal carriage of an empress, she -descended from the deck of the flier.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Carry the prisoners to my apartments!” she commanded, -addressing the guard, and with the help of -Hovan Du and Dar Tarus the four bound and muffled -figures were carried from the flier down the spiral runway -to the apartments of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. -Here excited slaves hastened to do the bidding of the -Jeddara. Word must have flown through the palace with -the speed of light that Xaxa had returned, for almost -immediately court functionaries began to arrive and be -announced; but Valla Dia sent word that she would see -no one for a while. Then she dismissed her slaves, and -at my suggestion Dar Tarus investigated the apartments -with a view to finding a safe hiding place for Gor -Hajus, me, and the prisoners. This he soon found in a -small antechamber directly off the main apartment of -the royal suite; the bonds were removed from the -assassin and myself and together we carried Xaxa and -Sag Or into the room.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The entrance here was furnished with a heavy door -over which there were hangings that completely hid it. -I bade Hovan Du, who, like the rest of us, wore Phundahlian -harness, stand guard before the hangings and let -no one enter but members of our own party. Gor Hajus -and I took up our positions just within the hangings -through which we cut small holes that permitted us to -see all that went on within the main chamber, for I was -greatly concerned for Valla Dia’s safety while she posed -as Xaxa, whom I knew to be both feared and hated -by her people and therefore always liable to assassination.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia summoned the slaves and bade them admit -the officials of the court, and as the doors opened fully -a score of nobles entered. They appeared ill at ease -and I could guess that they were recalling the episode -in the temple when they had deserted their Jeddara and -even hurled her roughly at the feet of the Great Tur, -but Valla Dia soon put them at their ease.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have summoned you,” she said, “to hear the word -of Tur. Tur would speak again to his people. Three -days and three nights have I spent with Tur. His anger -against Phundahl is great. He bids me summon all the -higher nobles to the temple after the evening meal to-night, -and all the priests, and the commanders and dwars -of the Guard, and as many of the lesser nobles as be -in the palace; and then shall the people of Phundahl -hear the word and the law of Tur and all those who -shall obey shall live and all those who shall not obey -shall die; and woe be to him who, having been summoned, -shall not be in the temple this night. I, Xaxa, -Jeddara of Phundahl, have spoken! Go!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>They went and they seemed glad to go. Then Valla -Dia summoned the odwar of the Guard, who would -be in our world a general, and she told him to clear -the palace of every living being from the temple level -to the roof an hour before the evening meal, nor to permit -any one to enter the temple or the levels above -it until the hour appointed for the assembling in the -temple to hear the word of Tur, excepting however -those who might be in her own apartments, which were -not to be entered upon pain of death. She made it all -very clear and plain and the odwar understood and I -think he trembled a trifle, for all were in great fear of -the Jeddara Xaxa; and then he went away and the -slaves were dismissed and we were alone.</p> - -<div><span class='pageno' title='150' id='Page_150'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XIV<br/> JOHN CARTER</h1></div> - -<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Half</span> an hour before the evening meal we carried Xaxa -and Sag Or down the spiral runway and placed them -in the base of the Great Tur and Gor Hajus and I -took our places on the upper platform behind the eyes -and voice of the idol. Valla Dia, Dar Tarus and Hovan -Du remained in the royal apartments. Our plans were -well formulated. There was no one between the door -at the rear of the Great Tur and the flier that lay -ready on the roof in the event that we were forced -to flee through any miscarriage of our mad scheme.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The minutes dragged slowly by and darkness fell. The -time was approaching. We heard the doors of the temple -open and beyond we saw the great corridor brilliantly -lighted. It was empty except for two priests who -stood hesitating nervously in the doorway. Finally one -of them mustered up sufficient courage to enter and -switch on the lights. More bravely now they advanced -and prostrated themselves before the altar of the Great -Tur. When they arose and looked up into the face of -the idol I could not resist the temptation to turn those -huge eyes until they had rolled completely about the -interior of the chamber and rested again upon the priests; -but I did not speak and I think the effect of the awful -silence in the presence of the living god was more impressive -than would words have been. The two priests -simply collapsed. They slid to the floor and lay there -trembling, moaning and supplicating Tur to have mercy -on them, nor did they rise before the first of the worshippers -arrived.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Thereafter the temple filled rapidly and I could see -the word of Tur had been well and thoroughly disseminated. -They came as they had before; but there were -more this time, and they ranged upon either side of -the central aisle and there they waited, their eyes -divided between the doorway and the god. About the -time that I thought the next scene was about to be -enacted I let Tur’s eyes travel over the assemblage that -they might be keyed to the proper pitch for what was -to follow. They reacted precisely as had the priests, -falling upon the floor and moaning and supplicating; and -there they remained until the sounds of bugles announced -the coming of the Jeddara. Then they rose unsteadily -to their feet. The great doors swung open and there -was the carpet and the slaves behind it. As they rolled -it down towards the altar the bugles sounded louder -and the head of the royal procession came into view. -I had ordered it thus to permit of greater pageantry -than was possible when the doors opened immediately -upon the head of the procession. My plan permitted -the audience to see the royal retinue advancing down -the long corridor and the effect was splendid. First came -the double rank of nobles and behind these the chariot -drawn by the two banths, bearing the litter upon which -reclined Valla Dia. Behind her walked Dar Tarus, but -all within that room thought they were looking upon -the Jeddara Xaxa and her favorite, Sag Or. Hovan Du -walked behind Sag Or and following came the fifty -young men and the fifty maidens.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The chariot halted before the altar and Valla Dia -descended and knelt and the voices that had been chanting -the praises of Xaxa were stilled as the beautiful -creature extended her hands towards the Great Tur and -looked up into his face.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We are ready, Master!” she cried. “Speak! We -await the word of Tur!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>A gasp arose from the kneeling assemblage, a gasp -that ended in a sob. I felt that they were pretty well -worked up and that everything ought to go off without -a hitch. I placed the speaking-tube to my lips.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I am Tur!” I thundered and the people trembled. -“I come to pass judgment on the men of Phundahl. -As you receive my word so shall you prosper or so -shall you perish. The sins of the people may be atoned -by two who have sinned most in my sight.” I let the -eyes of Tur rove about over the audience and then -brought them to rest upon Valla Dia. “Xaxa, are you -ready to atone for your sins and for the sins of your -people?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia bowed her beautiful head. “Thy will is -law, Master!” she replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“And Sag Or,” I continued, “you have sinned. Are -you prepared to pay?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“As Tur shall require,” said Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then it is my will,” I boomed, “that Xaxa and Sag -Or shall give back to those from whom they stole -them, the beautiful bodies they now wear; that he from -whom Sag Or took this body shall become Jeddak of -Phundahl and High Priest of Tur; and that she from -whom Xaxa stole her body shall be returned in pomp -to her native country. I have spoken. Let any who -would revolt against my word speak now or for ever -hold his peace.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There was no objection voiced. I had felt pretty certain -that there would not be. I doubt if any god ever -looked down upon a more subdued and chastened flock. -As I had talked, Gor Hajus had descended to the base -of the idol and removed the bonds from the feet and -legs of Xaxa and Sag Or.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Extinguish the lights!” I commanded. A trembling -priest did my bidding.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia and Dar Tarus were standing side by side -before the altar when the lights went out. In the next -minute they and Gor Hajus must have worked fast, for -when I heard a low whistle from the interior of the -idol’s base, the prearranged signal that Gor Hajus had -finished his work, and ordered the lights on again, there -stood Xaxa and Sag Or where Valla Dia and Dar Tarus -had been, and the latter were nowhere in sight. I think -the dramatic effect of that transformation upon the people -there was the most stupendous thing I have ever -seen. There was no cord or gag upon either Xaxa or -Sag Or, nothing to indicate that they had been brought -hither by force—no one about who might have so -brought them. The illusion was perfect—it was a gesture -of omnipotence that simply staggered the intellect. -But I wasn’t through.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have heard Xaxa renounce her throne,” I said, -“and Sag Or submit to the judgment of Tur.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I have not renounced my throne!” cried Xaxa. “It -is all a——”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Silence!” I thundered. “Prepare to greet the new -Jeddak, Dar Tarus of Phundahl!” I turned my eyes towards -the great doors and the eyes of the assemblage -followed mine. They swung open and there stood Dar -Tarus, resplendent in the trappings of Hora San, the -long dead Jeddak and high priest, whose bones we had -robbed in the base of the idol an hour earlier. How -Dar Tarus had managed to make the change so quickly -is beyond me, but he had done it and the effect was -colossal. He looked every inch a Jeddak as he moved -with slow dignity up the wide aisle along the blue and -gold and white carpet. Xaxa turned purple with rage. -“Impostor!” she shrieked. “Seize him! Kill him!” and -she ran forward to meet him as though she would slay -him with her bare hands.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Take her away,” said Dar Tarus in a quiet voice, -and at that Xaxa fell foaming to the floor. She shrieked -and gasped and then lay still—a wicked old woman -dead of apoplexy. And when Sag Or saw her lying there -he must have been the first to realize that she was -dead and that there was now no one to protect him -from the hatreds that are leveled always at the person -of a ruler’s favorite. He looked wildly about for an -instant and then threw himself at the feet of Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You promised to protect me!” he cried.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“None shall harm you,” replied Dar Tarus. “Go your -way and live in peace.” Then he turned his eyes upward -towards the face of the Great Tur. “What is thy -will, Master?” he cried. “Dar Tarus, thy servant, awaits -thy commands!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>I permitted an impressive silence before I replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Let the priests of Tur, the lesser nobles and a certain -number of the Jeddak’s Guard go forth into the -city and spread the word of Tur among the people that -they may know that Tur smiles again upon Phundahl -and that they have a new Jeddak who stands high in -the favor of Tur. Let the higher nobles attend presently -in the chambers that were Xaxa’s and do honor to Valla -Dia in whose perfect body their Jeddara once ruled -them, and effect the necessary arrangements for her -proper return to Duhor, her native city. There also will -they find two who have served Tur well and these shall -be accorded the hospitality and friendship of every -Phundahlian—Gor Hajus of Toonol and Vad Varo of -Jasoom. Go! and when the last has gone let the temple -be darkened. I, Tur, have spoken!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia had gone directly to the apartments of the -former Jeddara and the moment that the lights were -extinguished Gor Hajus and I joined her. She could -not wait to hear the outcome of our ruse, and when -I assured her that there had been no hitch the tears -came to her eyes for very joy.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You have accomplished the impossible, my chieftain,” -she murmured, “and already can I see the hills of -Duhor and the towers of my native city. Ah, Vad Varo, -I had not dreamed that life might again hold for me -such happy prospects. I owe you life and more than -life.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>We were interrupted by the coming of Dar Tarus, -and with him were Hovan Du and a number of the -higher nobles. The latter received us pleasantly, though -I think they were mystified as to just how we were -linked with the service of their god; nor, I am sure, -did one of them ever learn. They were frankly delighted -to be rid of Xaxa; and while they could not -understand Tur’s purpose in elevating a former warrior -of the Guard to the throne, yet they were content if -it served to relieve them from the wrath of their god, -now a very real and terrible god, since the miracles -that had been performed in the temple. That Dar Tarus -had been of a noble family relieved them of embarrassment, -and I noted that they treated him with great respect. -I was positive that they would continue to treat -him so, for he was also high priest and for the first -time in a hundred years he would bring to the Great -Tur in the royal Temple the voice of god, for Hovan -Du had agreed to take service with Dar Tarus, and -Gor Hajus as well, so that there would never be lacking -a tongue wherewith Tur might speak. I foresaw -great possibilities for the reign of Dar Tarus, Jeddak -of Phundahl.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>At the meeting held in the apartments of Xaxa it -was decided that Valla Dia should rest two days in -Phundahl while a small fleet was preparing to transport -her to Duhor. Dar Tarus assigned Xaxa’s apartments -for her use and gave her slaves from different cities -to attend upon her, all of whom were to be freed and -returned with Valla Dia to her native land.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>It was almost dawn before we sought our sleeping -silks and furs and the sun was high before we awoke. -Gor Hajus and I breakfasted with Valla Dia, outside -whose door we had spread our beds that we might not -leave her unprotected for a moment that it was not -necessary. We had scarce finished our meal when a messenger -came from Dar Tarus summoning us to the audience -chamber, where we found some of the higher -officers of the court gathered about the throne upon -which Dar Tarus sat, looking every inch an emperor. -He greeted us kindly, rising and descending from his -dais to receive Valla Dia and escort her to one of the -benches he had placed beside the throne for her and -for me.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is one,” he said to me, “who has come to -Phundahl over night and now begs audience of the Jeddak—one -whom I thought you might like to meet -again,” and he signed to one of his attendants to admit -the petitioner; and when the doors at the opposite end -of the room opened I saw Ras Thavas standing there. -He did not recognize me or Valla Dia or Gor Hajus -until he was almost at the foot of the throne, and when -he did he looked puzzled and glanced again quickly at -Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas of the Tower of Thavas, Toonol,” announced -an officer.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What would Ras Thavas of the Jeddak of Phundahl?” -asked Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I came seeking audience of Xaxa,” replied Ras -Thavas, “not knowing of her death or your accession -until this very morning; but I see Sag Or upon Xaxa’s -throne and beside him one whom I thought was Xaxa, -though they tell me Xaxa is dead, and another who -was my assistant at Thavas and one who is the Assassin -of Toonol, and I am confused, Jeddak, and do not -know whether I be among friends or foes.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Speak as though Xaxa still sat upon the throne of -Phundahl,” Dar Tarus told him, “for though I am Dar -Tarus, whom you wronged, and not Sag Or, yet need -you have no fear in the court of Phundahl.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Then let me tell you that Vobis Kan, Jeddak of -Toonol, learning that Gor Hajus had escaped me, -swore that I had set him free to assassinate him, and -he sent warriors who took my island and would have -imprisoned me had I not been warned in time to escape; -and I came hither to Xaxa to beg her to send -warriors to drive the men of Toonol from my island -and restore it to me that I may carry on my scientific -labors.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus turned to me. “Vad Varo, of all others you -are most familiar with the work of Ras Thavas. Would -you see him again restored to his island and his laboratory?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Only on condition that he devote his great skill to -the amelioration of human suffering,” I replied, “and no -longer prostitute it to the foul purposes of greed and -sin.” This led to a discussion which lasted for hours, the -results of which were of far-reaching significance. Ras -Thavas agreed to all that I required and Dar Tarus commissioned -Gor Hajus to head an army against Toonol.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>But these matters, while of vast interest to those most -directly concerned, have no direct bearing upon the -story of my adventures upon Barsoom, as I had no part -in them, since upon the second day I boarded a flier -with Valla Dia and, escorted by a Phundahlian fleet, set -out towards Duhor. Dar Tarus accompanied us for a -short distance. When the fleet was stopped at the shore -of the great marsh he bade us farewell, and was about -to step to the deck of his own ship and return to Phundahl -when a shout arose from the deck of one of the -other ships and word was soon passed that a lookout -had sighted what appeared to be a great fleet far to the -south-west. Nor was it long before it became plainly -visible to us all and equally plain that it was headed for -Phundahl.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus told me then that as much as he regretted -it, there seemed nothing to do but return at once to his -capital with the entire fleet, since he could not spare a -single ship or man if this proved an enemy fleet, nor could -Valla Dia or I interpose any objection; and so we -turned about and sped as rapidly as the slow ships of -Phundahl permitted back towards the city.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>The stranger fleet had sighted us at about the same -time that we had sighted it, and we saw it change its -course and bear down upon us; and as it came nearer it -fell into single file and prepared to encircle us. I was -standing at Dar Tarus’ side when the colors of the approaching -fleet became distinguishable and we first -learned that it was from Helium.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Signal and ask if they come in peace,” directed Dar -Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We seek word with Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl,” -came the reply. “The question of peace or war will be -hers to decide.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Tell them that Xaxa is dead and that I, Dar Tarus, -Jeddak of Phundahl, will receive the commander of Helium’s -fleet in peace upon the deck of this ship, or that I -will receive him in war with all my guns. I, Dar Tarus, -have spoken!”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>From the bow of a great ship of Helium there broke -the flag of truce and when Dar Tarus’ ship answered it -in kind the other drew near and presently we could see -the men of Helium upon her decks. Slowly the great flier -came alongside our smaller ship and when the two had -been made fast a party of officers boarded us. They were -fine looking men, and at their head was one whom I -recognized immediately though I never before had laid -eyes upon him. I think he was the most impressive figure -I have ever seen as he advanced slowly across the -deck towards us—John Carter, Prince of Helium, Warlord -of Barsoom.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Dar Tarus,” he said, “John Carter greets you and in -peace, though it had been different, I think, had Xaxa -still reigned.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“You came to war upon Xaxa?” asked Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“We came to right a wrong,” replied the Warlord. -“But from what we know of Xaxa that could have been -done only by force.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“What wrong has Phundahl done Helium?” demanded -Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“The wrong was against one of your own people—even -against you in person.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I do not understand,” said Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is one aboard my ship who may be able to -explain to you, Dar Tarus,” replied John Carter, with a -smile. He turned and spoke to one of his aides in a -whisper, and the man saluted and returned to the deck -of his own ship. “You shall see with your own eyes, Dar -Tarus.” Suddenly his eyes narrowed. “This is indeed Dar -Tarus who was a warrior of the Jeddara’s Guard and -supposedly assassinated by her command?”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“It is,” replied Dar Tarus.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I must be certain,” said the Warlord.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“There is no question about it, John Carter,” I spoke -up in English.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>His eyes went wide, and when they fell upon me and he -noted my lighter skin, from which the dye was wearing -away, he stepped forward and held out his hand.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“A countryman?” he asked.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“Yes, an American,” I replied.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>“I was almost surprised,” he said. “Yet why should I -be? I have crossed—there is no reason why others -should not. And you have accomplished it! You must -come to Helium with me and tell me all about it.”</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Further conversation was interrupted by the return of -the aide, who brought a young woman with him. At -sight of her Dar Tarus uttered a cry of joy and sprang -forward, and I did not need to be told that this was Kara -Vasa.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>There is little more to tell that might not bore you in -the telling—of how John Carter himself took Valla Dia -and me to Duhor after attending the nuptials of Dar -Tarus and Kara Vasa; and of the great surprise that -awaited me in Duhor, where I learned for the first time -that Kor San, Jeddak of Duhor, was the father of Valla -Dia; and of the honors and the great riches that he -heaped upon me when Valla Dia and I were wed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>John Carter was present at the wedding and we initiated -upon Barsoom a good old American custom, for the -Warlord acted as best man; and then he insisted that we -follow that up with a honeymoon and bore us off to -Helium, where I am writing this.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Even now it seems like a dream that I can look out of -my window and see the scarlet and the yellow towers of -the twin cities of Helium; that I have met, and see daily, -Cathoris, Thuvia of Ptarth, Tara of Helium, Gahan of -Gathol and that peerless creature, Dejah Thoris, Princess -of Mars. Though to me, beautiful as she is, there is -another even more beautiful—Valla Dia, Princess of Duhor—Mrs. -Ulysses Paxton.</p> - -<hr class='pbk'/> - -<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>TRANSCRIBER NOTES</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected. -Where multiple spellings occur, majority use has been -employed.</p> - -<p class='pindent'>Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious -printer errors occur.</p> - -<p class='line'> </p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER MIND OF MARS ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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-<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The master mind of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs</p>
-<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
-at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
-are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
-country where you are located before using this eBook.
-</div>
-
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The master mind of Mars</p>
-<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: January 4, 2023 [eBook #69703]</p>
-<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p>
- <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Al Haines, Cindy Beyer & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net</p>
-<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASTER MIND OF MARS ***</div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:2em;font-size:1.2em;'>BATTLE DAMAGE</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote60percent'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus called in alarm, “We can’t alter
-our course—the ship is useless!”</p>
-
-</div>
-<div class='blockquote60percent'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Almost at the same instant, one of my
-bullets found and extinguished the enemy
-searchlight. Our craft was out of control,
-running swiftly toward a collision with the
-Toonolian flyer.</p>
-
-</div>
-<div class='blockquote60percent'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I asked Dar Tarus if our ship was beyond
-repair. His reply was that it would take hours—in
-which time the whole Toonolian air
-patrol would be upon us.</p>
-
-</div>
-<div class='blockquote60percent'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then we must have another ship!” I said.
-I pointed at the enemy craft. “We shall not
-have to look far.”</p>
-
-</div>
-<div class='blockquote60percent'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus shrugged. “Why not? It would
-be a glorious fight . . . and a worthy death!”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='lgc' style='margin-bottom:2em;'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Edgar Rice Burroughs</p>
-<p class='line'>MARS NOVELS</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<table id='tab1' summary='' class='center'>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>A PRINCESS OF MARS (#1)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE GODS OF MARS (#2)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE WARLORD OF MARS (#3)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THUVIA, MAID OF MARS (#4)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE CHESSMEN OF MARS (#5)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>THE MASTER MIND OF MARS (#6)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS (#7)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>SWORDS OF MARS (#8)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS (#9)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>LLANA OF GATHOL (#10)</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle0'>JOHN CARTER OF MARS (#11)</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:1em;font-size:2em;'>THE</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:2em;'>MASTER MIND</p>
-<p class='line' style='font-size:2em;'>OF MARS</p>
-<p class='line'> </p>
-<p class='line'> </p>
-<p class='line' style='margin-bottom:8em;font-size:1.5em;'>Edgar Rice Burroughs</p>
-<p class='line'> </p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='blockquote80percent'>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span style='font-size:smaller'><span class='it'>The Master Mind of Mars</span> was first published in <span class='it'>Amazing Stories
-Annual</span> magazine, Volume I, number 1 on July 15, 1927.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-<div class='blockquote80percent'>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span style='font-size:smaller'>Copyright © 1927 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-<div class='blockquote80percent'>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span style='font-size:smaller'>ISBN 0-345-33424-8</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<table id='tab2' summary='' class='center'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 2em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 17.5em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 2.5em;'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tab2c1-col3 tdStyle1' colspan='3'><span style='font-size:larger'><span class='gesp'>CONTENTS</span></span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tab2c1-col2 tdStyle5' colspan='2'><span style='font-size:x-small'>CHAPTER</span></td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><span style='font-size:x-small'>PAGE</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>A Letter</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_7'>7</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>I</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The House of the Dead</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_10'>10</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>II</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Preferment</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_20'>20</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>III</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Valla Dia</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_28'>28</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>IV</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The Compact</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_42'>42</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>V</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Danger</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_53'>53</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VI</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Suspicions</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_61'>61</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Escape</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_72'>72</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>VIII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Hands Up!</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_81'>81</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>IX</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The Palace of Mu Tel</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_92'>92</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>X</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Phundahl</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_106'>106</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XI</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Xaxa</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_116'>116</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>The Great Tur</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XIII</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>Back to Thavas</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_140'>140</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'> </td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'> </td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle2'>XIV</td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle3'>John Carter</td><td class='tab2c3 tdStyle4'><a href='#Page_150'>150</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='7' id='Page_7'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>A LETTER</h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1em;'><span style='font-size:smaller'>HELIUM</span>, June 8th, 1925</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:0em;margin-bottom:2em;font-size:.8em;'>MY DEAR MR. BURROUGHS:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was in the Fall of nineteen seventeen at an officers’
-training camp that I first became acquainted with John
-Carter, War Lord of Barsoom, through the pages of your
-novel “A Princess of Mars.” The story made a profound
-impression upon me and while my better judgment
-assured me that it was but a highly imaginative piece of
-fiction, a suggestion of the verity of it pervaded my inner
-consciousness to such an extent that I found myself
-dreaming of Mars and John Carter, of Dejah Thoris, of
-Tars Tarkas and of Woola as if they had been entities
-of my own experience rather than the figments of your
-imagination.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is true that in those days of strenuous preparation
-there was little time for dreaming, yet there were brief
-moments before sleep claimed me at night and these were
-my dreams. Such dreams! Always of Mars, and during
-my waking hours at night my eyes always sought out the
-Red Planet when he was above the horizon and clung
-there seeking a solution of the seemingly unfathomable
-riddle he has presented to the Earthman for ages.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Perhaps the thing became an obsession. I know it
-clung to me all during my training camp days, and at
-night, on the deck of the transport, I would lie on my
-back gazing up into the red eye of the god of battle—my
-god—and wishing that, like John Carter, I might be
-drawn across the great void to the haven of my desire.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And then came the hideous days and nights in the
-trenches—the rats, the vermin, the mud—with an occasional
-glorious break in the monotony when we were
-ordered over the top. I loved it then and I loved the
-bursting shells, the mad, wild chaos of the thundering
-guns, but the rats and the vermin and the mud—God!
-how I hated them. It sounds like boasting, I know, and I
-am sorry; but I wanted to write you just the truth about
-myself. I think you will understand. And it may account
-for much that happened afterwards.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There came at last to me what had come to so many
-others upon those bloody fields. It came within the
-week that I had received my first promotion and my
-captaincy, of which I was greatly proud, though humbly
-so; realizing as I did my youth, the great responsibility
-that it placed upon me as well as the opportunities it
-offered, not only in service to my country but, in a personal
-way, to the men of my command. We had advanced
-a matter of two kilometers and with a small detachment
-I was holding a very advanced position when I received
-orders to fall back to the new line. That is the last that I
-remember until I regained consciousness after dark. A
-shell must have burst among us. What became of my
-men I never knew. It was cold and very dark when I
-awoke and at first, for an instant, I was quite comfortable—before
-I was fully conscious, I imagine—and then
-I commenced to feel pain. It grew until it seemed unbearable.
-It was in my legs. I reached down to feel them,
-but my hand recoiled from what it found, and when I
-tried to move my legs I discovered that I was dead from
-the waist down. Then the moon came out from behind a
-cloud and I saw that I lay within a shell hole and that I
-was not alone—the dead were all about me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a long time before I found the moral courage
-and the physical strength to draw myself up upon one
-elbow that I might view the havoc that had been done
-me. One look was enough, I sank back in an agony of
-mental and physical anguish—my legs had been blown
-away from midway between the hips and knees. For some
-reason I was not bleeding excessively, yet I know that
-I had lost a great deal of blood and that I was gradually
-losing enough to put me out of my misery in a short time
-if I were not soon found; and as I lay there on my back,
-tortured with pain, I prayed that they would not come in
-time, for I shrank more from the thought of going
-maimed through life than I shrank from the thought of
-death. Then my eyes suddenly focussed upon the bright
-red eye of Mars and there surged through me a sudden
-wave of hope. I stretched out my arms towards Mars,
-I did not seem to question or to doubt for an instant as
-I prayed to the god of my vocation to reach forth and
-succour me. I knew that he would do it, my faith was
-complete, and yet so great was the mental effort that I
-made to throw off the hideous bonds of my mutilated
-flesh that I felt a momentary qualm of nausea and then a
-sharp click as of the snapping of a steel wire, and suddenly
-I stood naked upon two good legs looking down
-upon the bloody, distorted thing that had been I. Just
-for an instant did I stand thus before I turned my eyes
-aloft again to my star of destiny and with outstretched
-arms stand there in the cold of that French night—waiting.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Suddenly I felt myself drawn with the speed of thought
-through the trackless wastes of interplanetary space.
-There was an instant of extreme cold and utter darkness,
-then——</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But the rest is in the manuscript that, with the aid of
-one greater than either of us, I have found the means
-to transmit to you with this letter. You and a few others
-of the chosen will believe in it—for the rest it matters
-not as yet. The time will come—but why tell you what
-you already know?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My salutations and my congratulations—the latter
-on your good fortune in having been chosen as the
-medium through which Earthmen shall become better acquainted
-with the manners and customs of Barsoom,
-against the time that they shall pass through space as
-easily as John Carter, and visit the scenes that he has
-described to them through you, as have I.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:left;margin-left:5em;'>Your sincere friend,</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:.8em;'>ULYSSES PAXTON,</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:1em;'><span class='it'>Late Captain, ——th Inf., U.S. Army</span>.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='10' id='Page_10'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER I<br/> THE HOUSE OF THE DEAD</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>I must</span> have closed my eyes involuntarily during the
-transition for when I opened them I was lying flat on
-my back gazing up into a brilliant, sun-lit sky, while
-standing a few feet from me and looking down upon me
-with the most mystified expression was as strange a looking
-individual as my eyes ever had rested upon. He appeared
-to be quite an old man, for he was wrinkled and
-withered beyond description. His limbs were emaciated;
-his ribs showed distinctly beneath his shrunken hide;
-his cranium was large and well developed, which, in conjunction
-with his wasted limbs and torso, lent him the
-appearance of top heaviness, as though he had a head
-beyond all proportion to his body, which was, I am sure,
-really not the case.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As he stared down upon me through enormous, many
-lensed spectacles I found the opportunity to examine
-him as minutely in return. He was, perhaps, five feet five
-in height, though doubtless he had been taller in youth,
-since he was somewhat bent; he was naked except for
-some rather plain and well-worn leather harness which
-supported his weapons and pocket pouches, and one great
-ornament, a collar, jewel studded, that he wore around
-his scraggy neck—such a collar as a dowager empress of
-pork or real estate might barter her soul for, if she had
-one. His skin was red, his scant locks grey. As he looked
-at me his puzzled expression increased in intensity, he
-grasped his chin between the thumb and fingers of his
-left hand and slowly raising his right hand he scratched
-his head most deliberately. Then he spoke to me, but in
-a language I did not understand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At his first words I sat up and shook my head. Then
-I looked about me. I was seated upon a crimson sward
-within a high walled enclosure, at least two, and possibly
-three, sides of which were formed by the outer walls of
-a structure that in some respects resembled more closely
-a feudal castle of Europe than any familiar form of
-architecture that comes to my mind. The façade presented
-to my view was ornately carved and of most irregular
-design, the roof line being so broken as to almost
-suggest a ruin, and yet the whole seemed harmonious
-and not without beauty. Within the enclosure grew a
-number of trees and shrubs, all weirdly strange and all,
-or almost all, profusely flowering. About them wound
-walks of coloured pebbles among which scintillated
-what appeared to be rare and beautiful gems, so lovely
-were the strange, unearthly rays that leaped and played
-in the sunshine.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The old man spoke again, peremptorily this time, as
-though repeating a command that had been ignored, but
-again I shook my head. Then he laid a hand upon one
-of his two swords, but as he drew the weapon I leaped
-to my feet, with such remarkable results that I cannot
-even now say which of us was the more surprised. I
-must have sailed ten feet into the air and back about
-twenty feet from where I had been sitting; then I was
-sure that I was upon Mars (not that I had for one instant
-doubted it), for the effects of the lesser gravity, the
-colour of the sward and the skin-hue of the red Martians
-I had seen described in the manuscripts of John Carter,
-those marvellous and as yet unappreciated contributions
-to the scientific literature of a world. There could be no
-doubt of it, I stood upon the soil of the Red Planet, I
-had come to the world of my dreams—to Barsoom.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So startled was the old man by my agility that he
-jumped a bit himself, though doubtless involuntarily, but,
-however, with certain results. His spectacles tumbled
-from his nose to the sward, and then it was that I discovered
-that the pitiful old wretch was practically blind
-when deprived of these artificial aids to vision, for he
-got to his knees and commenced to grope frantically for
-the lost glasses, as though his very life depended upon
-finding them in the instant. Possibly he thought that I
-might take advantage of his helplessness and slay him.
-Though the spectacles were enormous and lay within a
-couple of feet of him he could not find them, his hands,
-seemingly afflicted by that strange perversity that sometimes
-confounds our simplest acts, passing all about the
-lost object of their search, yet never once coming in contact
-with it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As I stood watching his futile efforts and considering
-the advisability of restoring to him the means that would
-enable him more readily to find my heart with his sword
-point, I became aware that another had entered the
-enclosure. Looking towards the building I saw a large
-red-man running rapidly towards the little old man of the
-spectacles. The newcomer was quite naked, he carried
-a club in one hand, and there was upon his face such an
-expression as unquestionably boded ill for the helpless
-husk of humanity grovelling, mole-like, for its lost
-spectacles.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My first impulse was to remain neutral in an affair
-that it seemed could not possibly concern me and of
-which I had no slightest knowledge upon which to base a
-predilection towards either of the parties involved; but a
-second glance at the face of the club-bearer aroused a
-question as to whether it might not concern me after all.
-There was that in the expression upon the man’s face
-that betokened either an inherent savageness of disposition
-or a maniacal cast of mind which might turn his
-evidently murderous attentions upon me after he had dispatched
-his elderly victim, while, in outward appearance
-at least, the latter was a sane and relatively harmless individual.
-It is true that his move to draw his sword against
-me was not indicative of a friendly disposition towards
-me, but at least, if there were any choice, he seemed the
-lesser of two evils.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was still groping for his spectacles and the naked
-man was almost upon him as I reached the decision to
-cast my lot upon the side of the old man. I was twenty
-feet away, naked and unarmed, but to cover the distance
-with my Earthly muscles required but an instant, and a
-naked sword lay by the old man’s side where he had discarded
-it the better to search for his spectacles. So it
-was that I faced the attacker at the instant that he came
-within striking distance of his victim, and the blow which
-had been intended for another was aimed at me. I sidestepped
-it and then I learned that the greater agility of
-my Earthly muscles had its disadvantages as well as its
-advantages, for, indeed, I had to learn to walk at the
-very instant that I had to learn to fight with a new
-weapon against a maniac armed with a bludgeon, or at
-least, so I assumed him to be and I think that it is not
-strange that I should have done so, what with his frightful
-show of rage and the terrible expression upon his
-face.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As I stumbled about endeavouring to accustom myself
-to the new conditions, I found that instead of offering
-any serious opposition to my antagonist I was hard
-put to it to escape death at his hands, so often did I
-stumble and fall sprawling upon the scarlet sward; so
-that the duel from its inception became but a series of
-efforts, upon his part to reach and crush me with his great
-club, and upon mine to dodge and elude him. It was
-mortifying but it is the truth. However, this did not last
-indefinitely, for soon I learned, and quickly too under the
-exigencies of the situation, to command my muscles, and
-then I stood my ground and when he aimed a blow at
-me, and I had dodged it, I touched him with my point
-and brought blood along with a savage roar of pain. He
-went more cautiously then, and taking advantage of the
-change I pressed him so that he fell back. The effect
-upon me was magical, giving me new confidence, so that
-I set upon him in good earnest, thrusting and cutting until
-I had him bleeding in a half-dozen places, yet taking
-good care to avoid his mighty swings, any one of which
-would have felled an ox.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In my attempts to elude him in the beginning of the
-duel we had crossed the enclosure and were now fighting
-at a considerable distance from the point of our first
-meeting. It now happened that I stood facing towards
-that point at the moment that the old man regained his
-spectacles, which he quickly adjusted to his eyes. Immediately
-he looked about until he discovered us, whereupon
-he commenced to yell excitedly at us at the same time
-running in our direction and drawing his short-sword as
-he ran. The red-man was pressing me hard, but I had
-gained almost complete control of myself, and fearing
-that I was soon to have two antagonists instead of one
-I set upon him with redoubled intensity. He missed me
-by the fraction of an inch, the wind in the wake of his
-bludgeon fanning my scalp, but he left an opening into
-which I stepped, running my sword fairly through his
-heart. At least I thought that I had pierced his heart, but
-I had forgotten what I had once read in one of John
-Carter’s manuscripts to the effect that all the Martian
-internal organs are not disposed identically with those
-of Earthmen. However, the immediate results were quite
-as satisfactory as though I had found his heart, for the
-wound was sufficiently grievous to place him <span class='it'>hors de
-combat</span>, and at that instant the old gentleman arrived. He
-found me ready, but I had mistaken his intentions. He
-made no unfriendly gestures with his weapon, but seemed
-to be trying to convince me that he had no intention of
-harming me. He was very excited and apparently tremendously
-annoyed that I could not understand him, and
-perplexed, too. He hopped about screaming strange sentences
-at me that bore the tones of peremptory commands,
-rabid invective and impotent rage. But the fact
-that he had returned his sword to its scabbard had
-greater significance than all his jabbering, and when he
-ceased to yell at me and commenced to talk in a sort of
-pantomime I realized that he was making overtures of
-peace if not of friendship, so I lowered my point and
-bowed. It was all that I could think of to assure him that
-I had no immediate intention of spitting him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He seemed satisfied and at once turned his attention
-to the fallen man. He examined his pulse and listened to
-his heart, then, nodding his head, he arose and taking a
-whistle from one of his pocket pouches sounded a single
-loud blast. There emerged immediately from one of the
-surrounding buildings a score of naked red-men who
-came running towards us. None was armed. To these
-he issued a few curt orders, whereupon they gathered the
-fallen one in their arms and bore him off. Then the old
-man started towards the building, motioning me to accompany
-him. There seemed nothing else for me to do
-but obey. Wherever I might be upon Mars, the chances
-were a million to one that I would be among enemies;
-and so I was as well off here as elsewhere and must depend
-upon my own resourcefulness, skill and agility to
-make my way upon the Red Planet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The old man led me into a small chamber from which
-opened numerous doors, through one of which they were
-just bearing my late antagonist. We followed into a large,
-brilliantly lighted chamber wherein there burst upon my
-astounded vision the most gruesome scene that I ever
-had beheld. Rows upon rows of tables arranged in
-parallel lines filled the room and with few exceptions each
-table bore a similar grisly burden, a partially dismembered
-or otherwise mutilated human corpse. Above each
-table was a shelf bearing containers of various sizes and
-shapes, while from the bottom of the shelf depended
-numerous surgical instruments, suggesting that my entrance
-upon Barsoom was to be through a gigantic medical
-college.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At a word from the old man, those who bore the
-Barsoomian I had wounded laid him upon an empty
-table and left the apartment. Whereupon my host, if so I
-may call him, for certainly he was not as yet my captor,
-motioned me forward. While he conversed in ordinary
-tones, he made two incisions in the body of my late
-antagonist; one, I imagine, in a large vein and one in an
-artery, to which he deftly attached the ends of two tubes,
-one of which was connected with an empty glass receptacle
-and the other with a similar receptacle filled with a
-colourless, transparent liquid resembling clear water. The
-connections made, the old gentleman pressed a button
-controlling a small motor, whereupon the victim’s blood
-was pumped into the empty jar while the contents of
-the other was forced into the emptying veins and arteries.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The tones and gestures of the old man as he addressed
-me during this operation convinced me that he was explaining
-in detail the method and purpose of what was
-transpiring, but as I understood no word of all he said
-I was as much in the dark when he had completed his
-discourse as I was before he started it, though what I had
-seen made it appear reasonable to believe that I was
-witnessing an ordinary Barsoomian embalming. Having
-removed the tubes the old man closed the openings he
-had made by covering them with bits of what appeared
-to be heavy adhesive tape and then motioned me to
-follow him. We went from room to room, in each of
-which were the same gruesome exhibits. At many of the
-bodies the old man paused to make a brief examination
-or to refer to what appeared to be a record of the case,
-that hung upon a hook at the head of each of the tables.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From the last of the chambers we visited upon the first
-floor my host led me up an inclined runway to the second
-floor where there were rooms similar to those below, but
-here the tables bore whole rather than mutilated bodies,
-all of which were patched in various places with adhesive
-tape. As we were passing among the bodies in one of
-these rooms a Barsoomian girl, whom I took to be
-a servant or slave, entered and addressed the old man,
-whereupon he signed me to follow him and together we
-descended another runway to the first floor of another
-building.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Here, in a large, gorgeously decorated and sumptuously
-furnished apartment an elderly red-woman awaited
-us. She appeared to be quite old and her face was
-terribly disfigured as by some injury. Her trappings were
-magnificent and she was attended by a score of women
-and armed warriors, suggesting that she was a person of
-some consequence, but the little old man treated her
-quite brusquely, as I could see, quite to the horror of
-her attendants.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Their conversation was lengthy and at the conclusion
-of it, at the direction of the woman, one of her male
-escort advanced and opening a pocket pouch at his side
-withdrew a handful of what appeared to me to be Martian
-coins. A quantity of these he counted out and handed
-to the little old man, who then beckoned the woman
-to follow him, a gesture which included me. Several of
-her women and guard started to accompany us, but these
-the old man waved back peremptorily; whereupon
-there ensued a heated discussion between the woman and
-one of her warriors on one side and the old man on the
-other, which terminated in his proffering the return of
-the woman’s money with a disgusted air. This seemed to
-settle the argument, for she refused the coins, spoke
-briefly to her people and accompanied the old man and
-myself alone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He led the way to the second floor and to a chamber
-which I had not previously visited. It closely resembled
-the others except that all the bodies therein were of young
-women, many of them of great beauty. Following closely
-at the heels of the old man the woman inspected the gruesome
-exhibit with painstaking care. Thrice she passed
-slowly among the tables examining their ghastly burdens.
-Each time she paused longest before a certain one
-which bore the figure of the most beautiful creature I had
-ever looked upon; then she returned the fourth time to it
-and stood looking long and earnestly into the dead face.
-For awhile she stood there talking with the old man,
-apparently asking innumerable questions, to which he returned
-quick, brusque replies, then she indicated the body
-with a gesture and nodded assent to the withered keeper
-of this ghastly exhibit.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Immediately the old fellow sounded a blast upon his
-whistle, summoning a number of servants to whom he
-issued brief instructions, after which he led us to another
-chamber, a smaller one in which were several empty
-tables similar to those upon which the corpses lay in
-adjoining rooms. Two female slaves or attendants were
-in this room and at a word from their master they removed
-the trappings from the old woman, unloosed her
-hair and helped her to one of the tables. Here she was
-thoroughly sprayed with what I presume was an antiseptic
-solution of some nature, carefully dried and removed to
-another table, at a distance of about twenty inches from
-which stood a second parallel table.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now the door of the chamber swung open and two
-attendants appeared bearing the body of the beautiful
-girl we had seen in the adjoining room. This they deposited
-upon the table the old woman had just quitted and as
-she had been sprayed so was the corpse, after which it
-was transferred to the table beside that on which she lay.
-The little old man now made two incisions in the body of
-the old woman, just as he had in the body of the red-man
-who had fallen to my sword; her blood was
-drawn from her veins and the clear liquid pumped into
-them, life left her and she lay upon the polished ersite
-slab that formed the table top, as much a corpse as the
-poor, beautiful, dead creature at her side.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The little old man, who had removed the harness down
-to his waist and been thoroughly sprayed, now selected a
-sharp knife from among the instruments above the table
-and removed the old woman’s scalp, following the
-hair line entirely around her head. In a similar manner he
-then removed the scalp from the corpse of the young
-woman, after which, by means of a tiny circular saw
-attached to the end of a flexible, revolving shaft he
-sawed through the skull of each, following the line exposed
-by the removal of the scalps. This and the balance
-of the marvellous operation was so skilfully performed
-as to baffle description. Suffice it to say that at
-the end of four hours he had transferred the brain of
-each woman to the brain pan of the other, deftly connected
-the severed nerves and ganglia, replaced the skulls
-and scalps and bound both heads securely with his peculiar
-adhesive tape, which was not only antiseptic and
-healing but anaesthetic, locally, as well.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He now reheated the blood that he had withdrawn
-from the body of the old woman, adding a few drops of
-some clear chemical solution, withdrew the liquid from
-the veins of the beautiful corpse, replacing it with the
-blood of the old woman and simultaneously administering
-a hypodermic injection.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>During the entire operation he had not spoken a word.
-Now he issued a few instructions in his curt manner to his
-assistants, motioned me to follow him, and left the room.
-He led me to a distant part of the building or series of
-buildings that composed the whole, ushered me into a
-luxurious apartment, opened the door to a Barsoomian
-bath and left me in the hands of trained servants. Refreshed
-and rested I left the bath after an hour of relaxation
-to find harness and trappings awaiting me in the
-adjoining chamber. Though plain, they were of good
-material, but there were no weapons with them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Naturally I had been thinking much upon the strange
-things I had witnessed since my advent upon Mars, but
-what puzzled me most lay in the seemingly inexplicable act
-of the old woman in paying my host what was evidently
-a considerable sum to murder her and transfer to the
-inside of her skull the brain of a corpse. Was it the
-outcome of some horrible religious fanaticism, or was
-there an explanation that my Earthly mind could not
-grasp?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had reached no decision in the matter when I was
-summoned to follow a slave to another and nearby
-apartment where I found my host awaiting me before a
-table loaded with delicious foods, to which, it is needless
-to say, I did ample justice after my long fast and
-longer weeks of rough army fare.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>During the meal my host attempted to converse with
-me, but, naturally, the effort was fruitless of results. He
-waxed quite excited at times and upon three distinct occasions
-laid his hand upon one of his swords when I
-failed to comprehend what he was saying to me, an
-action which resulted in a growing conviction upon my
-part that he was partially demented; but he evinced sufficient
-self-control in each instance to avert a catastrophe
-for one of us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The meal over he sat for a long time in deep meditation,
-then a sudden resolution seemed to possess him.
-He turned suddenly upon me with a faint suggestion of a
-smile and dove headlong into what was to prove an intensive
-course of instruction in the Barsoomian language.
-It was long after dark before he permitted me to retire
-for the night, conducting me himself to a large apartment,
-the same in which I had found my new harness,
-where he pointed out a pile of rich sleeping silks and
-furs, bid me a Barsoomian good night and left me, locking
-the door after him upon the outside, and leaving me to
-guess whether I were more guest or prisoner.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='20' id='Page_20'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER II<br/> PREFERMENT</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Three</span> weeks passed rapidly. I had mastered enough
-of the Barsoomian tongue to enable me to converse with
-my host in a reasonably satisfactory manner, and I was
-also progressing slowly in the mastery of the written
-language of his nation, which is different, of course,
-from the written language of all other Barsoomian nations,
-though the spoken language of all is identical. In these
-three weeks I had learned much of the strange place
-in which I was half guest and half prisoner and of my
-remarkable host-jailer, Ras Thavas, the old surgeon of
-Toonol, whom I had accompanied almost constantly day
-after day until gradually there had unfolded before my
-astounded faculties an understanding of the purposes of
-the institution over which he ruled and in which he laboured
-practically alone; for the slaves and attendants
-that served him were but hewers of wood and carriers
-of water. It was his brain alone and his skill that directed
-the sometimes beneficent, the sometimes malevolent,
-but always marvellous activities of his life’s work.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas himself was as remarkable as the things he
-accomplished. He was never intentionally cruel; he was
-not, I am sure, intentionally wicked. He was guilty of the
-most diabolical cruelties and the basest of crimes; yet in
-the next moment he might perform a deed that if duplicated
-upon Earth would have raised him to the highest
-pinnacle of man’s esteem. Though I know that I am safe
-in saying that he was never prompted to a cruel or
-criminal act by base motives, neither was he ever urged to
-a humanitarian one by high motives. He had a purely
-scientific mind entirely devoid of the cloying influences
-of sentiment, of which he possessed none. His was a practical
-mind, as evidenced by the enormous fees he demanded
-for his professional services; yet I know that he
-would not operate for money alone and I have seen him
-devote days to the study of a scientific problem the
-solution of which could add nothing to his wealth, while
-the quarters that he furnished his waiting clients were
-overflowing with wealthy patrons waiting to pour money
-into his coffers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His treatment of me was based entirely upon scientific
-requirements. I offered a problem. I was either, quite evidently,
-not a Barsoomian at all, or I was of a species of
-which he had no knowledge. It therefore best suited the
-purposes of science that I be preserved and studied. I knew
-much about my own planet. It pleased Ras Thavas’
-scientific mind to milk me of all I knew in the hope that
-he might derive some suggestion that would solve one of
-the Barsoomian scientific riddles that still baffle their savants;
-but he was compelled to admit that in this respect I
-was a total loss, not alone because I was densely ignorant
-upon practically all scientific subjects, but because the
-learned sciences on Earth have not advanced even to
-the swaddling-clothes stage as compared with the remarkable
-progress of corresponding activities on Mars. Yet he
-kept me by him, training me in many of the minor duties
-of his vast laboratory. I was entrusted with the formula
-of the “embalming fluid” and taught how to withdraw a
-subject’s blood and replace it with this marvellous preservative
-that arrests decay without altering in the
-minutest detail the nerve or tissue structure of the body.
-I learned also the secret of the few drops of solution
-which, added to the rewarmed blood before it is returned
-to the veins of the subject, revitalizes the latter and
-restores to normal and healthy activity each and every
-organ of the body.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He told me once why he had permitted me to learn
-these things that he had kept a secret from all others,
-and why he kept me with him at all times in preference to
-any of the numerous individuals of his own race that
-served him and me in lesser capacities both day and
-night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Vad Varo,” he said, using the Barsoomian name that
-he had given me because he insisted that my own name
-was meaningless and impractical, “for many years I have
-needed an assistant, but heretofore I have never felt that
-I had discovered one who might work here for me wholeheartedly
-and disinterestedly without ever having reason
-to go elsewhere or to divulge my secrets to others.
-You, in all Barsoom, are unique—you have no other
-friend or acquaintance than myself. Were you to leave
-me you would find yourself in a world of enemies, for all
-are suspicious of a stranger. You would not survive a
-dozen dawns and you would be cold and hungry and miserable—a
-wretched outcast in a hostile world. Here you
-have every luxury that the mind of man can devise or
-the hand of man produce, and you are occupied with
-work of such engrossing interest that your every hour
-must be fruitful of unparalleled satisfaction. There is no
-selfish reason, therefore, why you should leave me and
-there is every reason why you should remain. I expect
-no loyalty other than that which may be prompted by
-egoism. You make an ideal assistant, not only for the
-reasons I have just given you, but because you are intelligent
-and quick-witted, and now I have decided, after
-observing you carefully for a sufficient time, that you can
-serve me in yet another capacity—that of personal bodyguard.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You may have noticed that I alone of all those connected
-with my laboratory am armed. This is unusual
-upon Barsoom, where people of all classes, and all ages
-and both sexes habitually go armed. But many of these
-people I could not trust armed as they would slay me;
-and were I to give arms to those whom I might trust, who
-knows but that the others would obtain possession of
-them and slay me, or even those whom I had trusted turn
-against me, for there is not one who might not wish to
-go forth from this place back among his own people—only
-you, Vad Varo, for there is no other place for you
-to go. So I have decided to give you weapons.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You saved my life once. A similar opportunity might
-again present itself. I know that, being a reasoning and
-reasonable creature, you will not slay me, for you have
-nothing to gain and everything to lose by my death, which
-would leave you friendless and unprotected in a world of
-strangers where assassination is the order of society and
-natural death one of the rarest of phenomena. Here are
-your arms.” He stepped to a cabinet which he unlocked,
-displaying an assortment of weapons, and selected
-for me a long-sword, a short-sword, a pistol and a dagger.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You seem sure of my loyalty, Ras Thavas,” I said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He shrugged his shoulders. “I am only sure that I
-know perfectly where your interests lie—sentimentalists
-have words: love, loyalty, friendship, enmity, jealousy,
-hate, a thousand others; a waste of words—one word
-defines them all: self-interest. All men of intelligence realize
-this. They analyse an individual and by his predilections
-and his needs they classify him as friend or foe, leaving
-to the weak-minded idiots who like to be deceived the
-drooling drivel of sentiment.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I smiled as I buckled my weapons to my harness,
-but I held my peace. Nothing could be gained by arguing
-with the man and, too, I felt quite sure that in any
-purely academic controversy I should get the worst of it;
-but many of the matters of which he had spoken had
-aroused my curiosity and one had reawakened in my
-mind a matter to which I had given considerable thought.
-While partially explained by some of his remarks I still
-wondered why the red-man from whom I had rescued
-him had seemed so venomously bent upon slaying him
-the day of my advent upon Barsoom, and so, as we sat
-chatting after our evening meal, I asked him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A sentimentalist,” he said. “A sentimentalist of the
-most pronounced type. Why that fellow hated me with a
-venom absolutely unbelievable by any of the reactions of a
-trained, analytical mind such as mine; but having witnessed
-his reactions I become cognizant of a state of
-mind that I cannot of myself even imagine. Consider the
-facts. He was the victim of assassination—a young warrior
-in the prime of life, possessing a handsome face
-and a splendid physique. One of my agents paid his relatives
-a satisfactory sum for the corpse and brought it to
-me. It is thus that I obtain practically all of my material.
-I treated it in the manner with which you are familiar. For
-a year the body lay in the laboratory, there being no occasion
-during that time that I had use for it; but eventually
-a rich client came, a not overly prepossessing man of
-considerable years. He had fallen desperately in love with
-a young woman who was attended by many handsome
-suitors. My client had more money than any of them,
-more brains, more experience, but he lacked the one
-thing that each of the others had that always weighs
-heavily with the undeveloped, unreasoning, sentiment-ridden
-minds of young females—good looks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now 378-J-493811-P had what my client lacked and
-could afford to purchase. Quickly we reached an agreement
-as to price and I transferred the brain of my rich
-client to the head of 378-J-493811-P and my client went
-away and for all I know won the hand of the beautiful
-moron; and 378-J-493811-P might have rested on indefinitely
-upon his ersite slab until I needed him or a part
-of him in my work, had I not, merely by chance, selected
-him for resurgence because of an existing need for another
-male slave.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mind you now, the man had been murdered. He was
-dead. I bought and paid for the corpse and all there was
-in it. He might have lain dead forever upon one of my
-ersite slabs had I not breathed new life into his dead veins.
-Did he have the brains to view the transaction in a wise
-and dispassionate manner? He did not. His sentimental
-reactions caused him to reproach me because I had given
-him another body, though it seemed to me that, looking
-at the matter from a standpoint of sentiment, if one must,
-he should have considered me as a benefactor for having
-given him life again in a perfectly healthy, if somewhat
-used, body.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He had spoken to me upon the subject several times,
-begging me to restore his body to him, a thing of which,
-of course, as I explained to him, was utterly out of the
-question unless chance happened to bring to my laboratory
-the corpse of the client who had purchased his
-carcass—a contingency quite beyond the pale of possibility
-for one as wealthy as my client. The fellow even suggested
-that I permit him to go forth and assassinate my
-client, bringing the body back that I might reverse the
-operation and restore his body to his brain. When I refused
-to divulge the name of the present possessor of
-his body he grew sulky, but until the very hour of your
-arrival, when he attacked me, I did not suspect the
-depth of his hate complex.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sentiment is indeed a bar to all progress. We of
-Toonol are probably less subject to its vagaries than most
-other nations upon Barsoom, but yet most of my fellow
-countrymen are victims of it in varying degrees. It has
-its rewards and compensations, however. Without it we
-could preserve no stable form of government and the
-Phundahlians, or some other people, would overrun and
-conquer us; but enough of our lower classes have sentiment
-to a sufficient degree to give them loyalty to the
-Jeddak of Toonol and the upper classes are brainy enough
-to know that it is to their own best interests to keep him
-upon his throne.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Phundahlians, upon the other hand, are egregious
-sentimentalists, filled with crass stupidities and superstitions,
-slaves to every variety of brain withering conceit.
-Why the very fact that they keep the old termagant,
-Xaxa, on the throne brands them with their stupid
-idiocy. She is an ignorant, arrogant, selfish, stupid, cruel
-virago, yet the Phundahlians would fight and die for her
-because her father was Jeddak of Phundahl. She taxes
-them until they can scarce stagger beneath their burden,
-she misrules them, exploits them, betrays them, and they
-fall down and worship at her feet. Why? Because her
-father was Jeddak of Phundahl and his father before
-him and so on back into antiquity; because they are ruled
-by sentiment rather than reason; because their wicked
-rulers play upon this sentiment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She had nothing to recommend her to a sane person—not
-even beauty. You know, you saw her.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I saw her?” I demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You assisted me the day that we gave her old brain a
-new casket—the day you arrived from what you call
-your Earth.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She! That old woman was Jeddara of Phundahl?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That was Xaxa,” he assured me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why, you did not accord her the treatment that one
-of the Earth would suppose would be accorded a ruler,
-and so I had no idea that she was more than a rich old
-woman.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am Ras Thavas,” said the old man. “Why should I
-incline the head to any other? In my world nothing counts
-but brain and in that respect, and without egotism, I may
-say that I acknowledge no superior.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then you are not without sentiment,” I said, smiling.
-“You acknowledge pride in your intellect!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is not pride,” he said, patiently, for him, “it is
-merely a fact that I state. A fact that I should have no
-difficulty in proving. In all probability I have the most
-highly developed and perfectly functioning mind among
-all the learned men of my acquaintance, and reason indicates
-that this fact also suggests that I possess the
-most highly developed and perfectly functioning mind
-upon Barsoom. From what I know of Earth and from what
-I have seen of you, I am convinced that there is no mind
-upon your planet that may even faintly approximate
-in power that which I have developed during a thousand
-years of active study and research. Rasoom (Mercury) or
-Cosoom (Venus) may possibly support intelligences equal
-to or even greater than mine. While we have made some
-study of their thought waves, our instruments are not yet
-sufficiently developed to more than suggest that they are
-of extreme refinement, power and flexibility.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And what of the girl whose body you gave to the
-Jeddara?” I asked, irrelevantly, for my mind could not
-efface the memory of that sweet body that must, indeed,
-have possessed an equally sweet and fine brain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Merely a subject! Merely a subject!” he replied with
-a wave of his hand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What will become of her?” I insisted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What difference does it make?” he demanded. “I
-bought her with a batch of prisoners of war. I do not
-even recall from what country my agent obtained them,
-or from whence they originated. Such matters are of no
-import.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She was alive when you bought her?” I demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes. Why?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You—er—ah—killed her, then?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Killed her! No; I preserved her. That was some ten
-years ago. Why should I permit her to grow old and
-wrinkled? She would no longer have the same value then,
-would she? No, I preserved her. When Xaxa bought
-her she was just as fresh and young as the day she arrived.
-I kept her a long time. Many women looked at her
-and wanted her face and figure, but it took a Jeddara
-to afford her. She brought the highest price that I have
-ever been paid.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I kept her a long time, but I knew that some
-day she would bring my price. She was indeed beautiful
-and so sentiment has its uses—were it not for sentiment
-there would be no fools to support this work that I am
-doing, thus permitting me to carry on investigations of
-far greater merit. You would be surprised, I know, were I
-to tell you that I feel that I am almost upon the point of
-being able to produce rational human beings through the
-action upon certain chemical combinations of a group of
-rays probably entirely undiscovered by your scientists, if
-I am to judge by the paucity of your knowledge concerning
-such things.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I would not be surprised,” I assured him. “I would
-not be surprised by anything that you might accomplish.”</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='28' id='Page_28'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER III<br/> VALLA DIA</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>I lay</span> awake a long time that night thinking of
-4296-E-2631-H, the beautiful girl whose perfect body
-had been stolen to furnish a gorgeous setting for the
-cruel brain of a tyrant. It seemed such a horrid crime
-that I could not rid my mind of it and I think that contemplation
-of it sowed the first seed of my hatred and
-loathing for Ras Thavas. I could not conjure a creature
-so utterly devoid of bowels of compassion as to even
-consider for a moment the frightful ravishing of that
-sweet and lovely body for even the holiest of purposes,
-much less one that could have been induced to do so
-for filthy pelf.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So much did I think upon the girl that night that her
-image was the first to impinge upon my returning consciousness
-at dawn, and after I had eaten, Ras Thavas
-not having appeared, I went directly to the storage room
-where the poor thing was. Here she lay, identified only
-by a small panel, bearing a number: 4296-E-2631-H.
-The body of an old woman with a disfigured face lay
-before me in the rigid immobility of death; yet that was
-not the figure that I saw, but instead, a vision of radiant
-loveliness whose imprisoned soul lay dormant beneath
-those greying locks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The creature here with the face and form of Xaxa
-was not Xaxa at all, for all that made the other what
-she was had been transferred to this cold corpse. How
-frightful would be the awakening, should awakening ever
-come! I shuddered to think of the horror that must overwhelm
-the girl when first she realized the horrid crime
-that had been perpetrated upon her. Who was she? What
-story lay locked in that dead and silent brain? What loves
-must have been hers whose beauty was so great and upon
-whose fair face had lain the indelible imprint of graciousness!
-Would Ras Thavas ever arouse her from this happy
-semblance of death?—far happier than any quickening
-ever could be for her. I shrank from the thought of her
-awakening and yet I longed to hear her speak, to know
-that that brain lived again, to learn her name, to listen
-to the story of this gentle life that had been so rudely
-snatched from its proper environment and so cruelly
-handled by the hand of Fate. And suppose she were awakened!
-Suppose she were awakened and that I—— A hand
-was laid upon my shoulder and I turned to look into the
-face of Ras Thavas.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You seem interested in this subject,” he said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I was wondering,” I replied, “what the reaction
-of this girl’s brain would be were she to awaken to the discovery
-that she had become an old, disfigured woman.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He stroked his chin and eyed me narrowly. “An interesting
-experiment,” he mused. “I am gratified to discover
-that you are taking a scientific interest in the labours that
-I am carrying on. The psychological phases of my work I
-have, I must confess, rather neglected during the past
-hundred years or so, though I formerly gave them a great
-deal of attention. It would be interesting to observe and
-study several of these cases. This one, especially, might
-prove of value to you as an initial study, it being simple
-and regular. Later we will let you examine into a case
-where a man’s brain has been transferred to a woman’s
-skull, and a woman’s brain to a man’s. There are also the
-interesting cases where a portion of diseased or injured
-brain has been replaced by a portion of the brain from
-another subject; and, for experimental purposes alone,
-those human brains that have been transplanted to the
-craniums of beasts, and <span class='it'>vice versa</span>, offer tremendous
-opportunities for observation. I have in mind one case
-in which I transferred half the brain of an ape to the
-skull of a man, after having removed half of his brain,
-which I grafted upon the remaining part of the brain in
-the ape’s skull. That was a matter of several years ago
-and I have often thought that I should like to recall
-these two subjects and note the results. I shall have to
-have a look at them—as I recall it they are in vault
-L-42-X, beneath building 4-J-21. We shall have to have a
-look at them some day soon—it has been years since I
-have been below. There must be some very interesting
-specimens there that have escaped my mind. But come!
-let us recall 4296-E-2631-H.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No!” I exclaimed, laying a hand upon his arm. “It
-would be horrible.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He turned a surprised look upon me and then a
-nasty, sneering smile curled his lips. “Maudlin, sentimental
-fool!” he cried. “Who dare say no to me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I laid a hand upon the hilt of my long-sword and
-looked him steadily in the eye. “Ras Thavas,” I said, “you
-are master in your own house; but while I am your
-guest treat me with courtesy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He returned my look for a moment but his eyes
-wavered. “I was hasty,” he said. “Let it pass.” That, I
-let answer for an apology—really it was more than I had
-expected—but the event was not unfortunate. I think he
-treated me with far greater respect thereafter; but now
-he turned immediately to the slab bearing the mortal
-remains of 4296-E-2631-H.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Prepare the subject for revivification,” he said, “and
-make what study you can of all its reactions.” With
-that he left the room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I was now fairly adept at this work which I set about
-with some misgivings but with the assurance that I was
-doing right in obeying Ras Thavas while I remained a
-member of his entourage. The blood that had once flowed
-through the veins of the beautiful body that Ras Thavas
-had sold to Xaxa reposed in an hermetically sealed vessel
-upon the shelf above the corpse. As I had before done
-in other cases beneath the watchful eyes of the old surgeon
-I now did for the first time alone. The blood heated,
-the incisions made, the tubes attached and the few drops
-of life-giving solution added to the blood, I was now ready
-to restore life to that delicate brain that had lain dead
-for ten years. As my finger rested upon the little button
-that actuated the motor that was to send the revivifying
-liquid into those dormant veins, I experienced such a
-sensation as I imagined no mortal man has ever felt.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had become master of life and death, and yet at this
-moment that I stood there upon the point of resurrecting
-the dead I felt more like a murderer than a saviour. I
-tried to view the procedure dispassionately through the
-cold eye of science, but I failed miserably. I could only
-see a stricken girl grieving for her lost beauties. With a
-muffled oath I turned away. I could not do it! And then,
-as though an outside force had seized upon me, my finger
-moved unerringly to the button and pressed it. I cannot
-explain it, unless upon the theory of dual mentality,
-which may explain many things. Perhaps my subjective
-mind directed the act. I do not know. Only I know that
-I did it, the motor started, the level of the blood in the
-container commenced gradually to lower.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Spell-bound, I stood watching. Presently the vessel
-was empty. I shut off the motor, removed the tubes,
-sealed the openings with tape. The red glow of life tinged
-the body, replacing the sallow, purplish hue of death. The
-breasts rose and fell regularly, the head turned slightly
-and the eyelids moved. A faint sigh issued from between
-the parting lips. For a long time there was no other sign
-of life, then, suddenly, the eyes opened. They were dull
-at first, but presently they commenced to fill with questioning
-wonderment. They rested on me and then passed
-on about that portion of the room that was visible from
-the position of the body. Then they came back to me
-and remained steadily fixed upon my countenance after
-having once surveyed me up and down. There was still
-the questioning in them, but there was no fear.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Where am I?” she asked. The voice was that of an
-old woman—high and harsh. A startled expression filled
-her eyes. “What is the matter with me? What is wrong
-with my voice? What has happened?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I laid a hand upon her forehead. “Don’t bother about
-it now,” I said, soothingly. “Wait until sometime when
-you are stronger. Then I will tell you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She sat up. “I am strong,” she said, and then her eyes
-swept her lower body and limbs and a look of utter
-horror crossed her face. “What has happened to me? In
-the name of my first ancestor, what has happened to
-me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The shrill, harsh voice grated upon me. It was the
-voice of Xaxa and Xaxa now must possess the sweet
-musical tones that alone would have harmonized with
-the beautiful face she had stolen. I tried to forget those
-strident notes and think only of the pulchritude of the
-envelope that had once graced the soul within this old
-and withered carcass.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She extended a hand and laid it gently upon mine.
-The act was beautiful, the movements graceful. The
-brain of the girl directed the muscles, but the old,
-rough vocal chords of Xaxa could give forth no sweeter
-notes. “Tell me, please!” she begged. There were tears
-in the old eyes, I’ll venture for the first time in many
-years. “Tell me! You do not seem unkind.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And so I told her. She listened intently and when I
-was through she sighed. “After all,” she said, “it is not
-so dreadful, now that I really know. It is better than
-being dead.” That made me glad that I had pressed the
-button. She was glad to be alive, even draped in the
-hideous carcass of Xaxa. I told her as much.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You were so beautiful,” I told her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And now I am so ugly?” I made no answer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“After all, what difference does it make?” she inquired
-presently. “This old body cannot change me, or make
-me different from what I have always been. The good in
-me remains and whatever of sweetness and kindness, and
-I can be happy to be alive and perhaps to do some
-good. I was terrified at first, because I did not know
-what had happened to me. I thought that maybe I had
-contracted some terrible disease that had so altered me—that
-horrified me; but now that I know—pouf! what
-of it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are wonderful,” I said. “Most women would
-have gone mad with the horror and grief of it—to lose
-such wondrous beauty as was yours—and you do not
-care.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, yes, I care, my friend,” she corrected me, “but
-I do not care enough to ruin my life in all other respects
-because of it, or to cast a shadow upon the lives
-of those around me. I have had my beauty and enjoyed
-it. It is not an unalloyed happiness I can assure you.
-Men killed one another because of it; two great nations
-went to war because of it; and perhaps my father lost
-his throne or his life—I do not know, for I was captured
-by the enemy while the war still raged. It may be
-raging yet and men dying because I was too beautiful.
-No one will fight for me now, though,” she added, with
-a rueful smile.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you know how long you have been here?” I
-asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” she replied. “It was the day before yesterday
-that they brought me hither.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was ten years ago,” I told her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ten years! Impossible.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I pointed to the corpses around us. “You have lain
-like this for ten years,” I explained. “There are subjects
-here who have lain thus for fifty, Ras Thavas tells
-me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ten years! Ten years! What may not have happened
-in ten years! It is better thus. I should fear to go back
-now. I should not want to know that my father, my
-mother too, perhaps, were gone. It is better thus. Perhaps
-you will let me sleep again? May I not?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That remains with Ras Thavas,” I replied; “but for
-a while I am to observe you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Observe me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Study you—your reactions.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! and what good will that do?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It may do some good in the world.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It may give this horrid Ras Thavas some new ideas
-for his torture chamber—some new scheme for coining
-money from the suffering of his victims,” she said, her
-harsh voice saddened.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Some of his works are good,” I told her. “The money
-he makes permits him to maintain this wonderful establishment
-where he constantly carries on countless experiments.
-Many of his operations are beneficent. Yesterday
-a warrior was brought in whose arm was crushed
-beyond repair. Ras Thavas gave him a new arm. A demented
-child was brought. Ras Thavas gave her a new
-brain. The arm and the brain were taken from two who
-had met violent deaths. Through Ras Thavas they were
-permitted, after death, to give life and happiness to
-others.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She thought for a moment. “I am content,” she said.
-“I only hope that you will always be the observer.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Presently Ras Thavas came and examined her. “A
-good subject,” he said. He looked at the chart where I
-had made a very brief record following the other entries
-relative to the history of Case No. 4296-E-2631-H. Of
-course this is, naturally, a rather free translation of this
-particular identification number. The Barsoomians have
-no alphabet such as ours and their numbering system
-is quite different. The thirteen characters above were
-represented by four Toonolian characters, yet the meaning
-was quite the same—they represented, in contracted
-form, the case number, the room, the table and the
-building.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The subject will be quartered near you where you
-may regularly observe it,” continued Ras Thavas. “There
-is a chamber adjoining yours. I will see that it is unlocked.
-Take the subject there. When not under your
-observation, lock it in.” <span class='it'>It</span> was only another <span class='it'>case</span> to
-him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I took the girl, if I may so call her, to her quarters.
-On the way I asked her her name, for it seemed to me
-an unnecessary discourtesy always to address her and
-refer to her as 4296-E-2631-H, and this I explained to
-her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is considerate of you to think of that,” she said,
-“but really that is all that I am here—just another subject
-for vivisection.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are more than that to me,” I told her. “You
-are friendless and helpless. I want to be of service to
-you—to make your lot easier if I can.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thank you again,” she said. “My name is Valla Dia,
-and yours?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas calls me Vad Varo,” I told her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But that is not your name?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My name is Ulysses Paxton.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is a strange name, unlike any that I have ever
-heard, but you are unlike any man I have ever seen—you
-do not seem Barsoomian. Your colour is unlike
-that of any race.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am not of Barsoom, but from Earth, the planet
-you sometimes call Jasoom. That is why I differ in
-appearance from any you have known before.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Jasoom! There is another Jasoomian here whose
-fame has reached to the remotest corners of Barsoom,
-but I never have seen him.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“John Carter?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, The War Lord. He was of Helium and my
-people were not friendly with those of Helium. I never
-could understand how he came here. And now there is
-another from Jasoom—how can it be? How did you
-cross the great void?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I shook my head. “I cannot even guess,” I told her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Jasoom must be peopled with wonderful men,” she
-said. It was a pretty compliment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As Barsoom is with beautiful women,” I replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She glanced down ruefully at her old and wrinkled
-body.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have seen the real you,” I said gently.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I hate to think of my face,” she said. “I know it is
-a frightful thing.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is not you, remember that when you see it and
-do not feel too badly.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Is it as bad as that?” she asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I did not reply. “Never mind,” she said presently.
-“If I had not beauty of the soul, I was not beautiful,
-no matter how perfect my features may have been; but
-if I possessed beauty of soul then I have it now. So
-I can think beautiful thoughts and perform beautiful
-deeds and that, I think, is the real test of beauty, after
-all.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And there is hope,” I added, almost in a whisper.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hope? No, there is no hope, if what you mean to
-suggest is that I may some time regain my lost self. You
-have told me enough to convince me that that can never
-be.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We will not speak of it,” I said, “but we may think
-of it and sometimes thinking a great deal of a thing
-helps us to find a way to get it, if we want it badly
-enough.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not want to hope,” she said, “for it will but
-mean disappointment for me. I shall be happy as I
-am. Hoping, I should always be unhappy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had ordered food for her and after it was brought
-Ras Thavas sent for me and I left her, locking the
-door of her chamber as the old surgeon had instructed.
-I found Ras Thavas in his office, a small room which
-adjoined a very large one in which were a score of
-clerks arranging and classifying reports from various departments
-of the great laboratory. He arose as I entered.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come with me, Vad Varo,” he directed. “We will
-have a look at the two cases in L-42-X, the two of
-which I spoke.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The man with half a simian brain and the ape with
-a half human brain?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He nodded and preceded me towards the runway
-that led to the vaults beneath the building. As we descended,
-the corridors and passageways indicated long
-disuse. The floors were covered with an impalpable dust,
-long undisturbed; the tiny radium bulbs that faintly illuminated
-the sub-barsoomian depths were likewise
-coated. As we proceeded, we passed many doorways
-on either side, each marked with its descriptive
-hieroglyphic. Several of the openings had been tightly
-sealed with masonry. What gruesome secrets were hid
-within? At last we came to L-42-X. Here the bodies
-were arranged on shelves, several rows of which almost
-completely filled the room from floor to ceiling, except
-for a rectangular space in the centre of the chamber,
-which accommodated an ersite topped operating table
-with its array of surgical instruments, its motor and other
-laboratory equipment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas searched out the subjects of his strange
-experiment and together we carried the human body to
-the table. While Ras Thavas attached the tubes I returned
-for the vessel of blood which reposed upon the
-same shelf with the corpse. The now familiar method of
-revivification was soon accomplished and presently we
-were watching the return of consciousness to the subject.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The man sat up and looked at us, then he cast a
-quick glance about the chamber; there was a savage
-light in his eyes as they returned to us. Slowly he backed
-from the table to the floor, keeping the former between
-us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We will not harm you,” said Ras Thavas.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The man attempted to reply, but his words were unintelligible
-gibberish, then he shook his head and growled.
-Ras Thavas took a step towards him and the man
-dropped to all fours, his knuckles resting on the floor,
-and backed away, growling.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come!” cried Ras Thavas. “We will not harm you.”
-Again he attempted to approach the subject, but the
-man only backed quickly away, growling more fiercely;
-and then suddenly he wheeled and climbed quickly to
-the top of the highest shelf, where he squatted upon a
-corpse and gibbered at us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We shall have to have help,” said Ras Thavas and,
-going to the doorway, he blew a signal upon his
-whistle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What are you blowing that for?” demanded the man
-suddenly. “Who are you? What am I doing here? What
-has happened to me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come down,” said Ras Thavas. “We are friends.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Slowly the man descended to the floor and came towards
-us, but he still moved with his knuckles to the
-pavement. He looked about at the corpses and a new
-light entered his eyes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am hungry!” he cried. “I will eat!” and with that
-he seized the nearest corpse and dragged it to the floor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Stop! Stop!” cried Ras Thavas, leaping forward. “You
-will ruin the subject,” but the man only backed away,
-dragging the corpse along the floor after him. It was
-then that the attendants came and with their help we
-subdued and bound the poor creature. Then Ras Thavas
-had the attendants bring the body of the ape and he
-told them to remain, as we might need them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The subject was a large specimen of the Barsoomian
-white ape, one of the most savage and fearsome denizens
-of the Red Planet, and because of the creature’s great
-strength and ferocity Ras Thavas took the precaution to
-see that it was securely bound before resurgence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a colossal creature about ten or fifteen feet
-tall, standing erect, and had an intermediary set of arms
-or legs midway between its upper and lower limbs. The
-eyes were close together and non-protruding; the ears
-were high set, while its snout and teeth were strikingly
-like those of our African gorilla.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With returning consciousness the creature eyed us
-questioningly. Several times it seemed to essay to speak,
-but only inarticulate sounds issued from its throat. Then
-it lay still for a period.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas spoke to it. “If you understand my
-words, nod your head.” The creature nodded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Would you like to be freed of your bonds?” asked
-the surgeon.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again the creature nodded an affirmative.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I fear that you will attempt to injure us, or escape,”
-said Ras Thavas.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The ape was apparently trying very hard to articulate
-and at last there issued from its lips a sound that could
-not be misunderstood. It was the single word no.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will not harm us or try to escape?” Ras Thavas
-repeated his question.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No,” said the ape, and this time the word was clearly
-enunciated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We shall see,” said Ras Thavas. “But remember
-that with our weapons we may dispatch you quickly if
-you attack us.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The ape nodded, and then, very laboriously: “I will
-not harm you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At a sign from Ras Thavas the attendants removed
-the bonds and the creature sat up. It stretched its limbs
-and slid easily to the floor, where it stood erect upon
-two feet, which was not surprising, since the white ape
-goes more often upon two feet than six; a fact of which
-I was not cognizant at the time, but which Ras Thavas
-explained to me later in commenting upon the fact that
-the human subject had gone upon all fours, which, to
-Ras Thavas, indicated a reversion to type in the fractional
-ape-brain transplanted to the human skull.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas examined the subject at considerable
-length and then resumed his examination of the human
-subject which continued to evince more simian characteristics
-than human, though it spoke more easily than
-the ape, because, undoubtedly, of its more perfect vocal
-organs. It was only by exerting the closest attention that
-the diction of the ape became understandable at all.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is nothing remarkable about these subjects,”
-said Ras Thavas, after devoting half a day to them.
-“They bear out what I had already determined years
-ago in the transplanting of entire brains; that the act
-of transplanting stimulates growth and activity of brain
-cells. You will note that in each subject the transplanted
-portions of the brains are more active—they, in a considerable
-measure, control. That is why we have the
-human subject displaying distinctly simian characteristics,
-while the ape behaves in a more human manner; though
-if longer and closer observation were desirable you
-would doubtless find that each reverted at times to his
-own nature—that is the ape would be more wholly an
-ape and the human more manlike—but it is not worth
-the time, of which I have already given too much to a
-rather unprofitable forenoon. I shall leave you now to
-restore the subjects to anaesthesia while I return to the
-laboratories above. The attendants will remain here to
-assist you, if required.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The ape, who had been an interested listener, now
-stepped forward. “Oh, please, I pray you,” it mumbled,
-“do not again condemn me to these horrid shelves. I
-recall the day that I was brought here securely bound,
-and though I have no recollection of what has transpired
-since I can but guess from the appearance of my own
-skin and that of these dusty corpses that I have lain
-here long. I beg that you will permit me to live and
-either restore me to my fellows or allow me to serve
-in some capacity in this establishment, of which I saw
-something between the time of my capture and the day
-that I was carried into this laboratory, bound and helpless,
-to one of your cold, ersite slabs.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas made a gesture of impatience. “Nonsense!”
-he cried. “You are better off here, where you can be
-preserved in the interests of science.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Accede to his request,” I begged, “and I will myself
-take over all responsibility for him while I profit
-by the study that he will afford me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do as you are directed,” snapped Ras Thavas as he
-quit the room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I shrugged my shoulders. “There is nothing for it,
-then,” I said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I might dispatch you all and escape,” mused the
-ape, aloud, “but you would have helped me. I could
-not kill one who would have befriended me—yet I
-shrink from the thought of another death. How long
-have I lain here?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I referred to the history of his case that had been
-brought and suspended at the head of the table. “Twelve
-years,” I told him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And yet, why not?” he demanded of himself. “This
-man would slay me—why should I not slay him first.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It would do you no good,” I assured him, “for you
-could never escape. Instead you would be really killed,
-dying a death from which Ras Thavas would probably
-think it not worth while ever to recall you, while I,
-who might find the opportunity at some later date and
-who have the inclination, would be dead at your hands
-and thus incapable of saving you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had been speaking in a low voice, close to his ear,
-that the attendants might not overhear me. The ape listened
-intently.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will do as you suggest?” he asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At the first opportunity that presents itself,” I assured
-him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” he said, “I will submit, trusting to you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A half hour later both subjects had been returned to
-their shelves.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='42' id='Page_42'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER IV<br/> THE COMPACT</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Days</span> ran into weeks, weeks into months, as day by day
-I labored at the side of Ras Thavas, and more and more
-the old surgeon took me into his confidence, more
-and more he imparted to me the secrets of his skill
-and his profession. Gradually he permitted me to perform
-more and more important functions in the actual
-practice of his vast laboratory. I started transferring
-limbs from one subject to another, then internal organs
-of the digestive tract. Then he entrusted to me a complete
-operation upon a paying client. I removed the kidneys
-from a rich old man, replacing them with healthy ones
-from a young subject. The following day I gave a stunted
-child new thyroid glands. A week later I transferred two
-hearts and then, at last, came the great day for me—unassisted,
-with Ras Thavas standing silently beside me,
-I took the brain of an old man and transplanted it within
-the cranium of a youth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When I had done Ras Thavas laid a hand upon my
-shoulder. “I could not have done better myself,” he said.
-He seemed much elated and I could not but wonder
-at this unusual demonstration of emotion upon his part,
-he who so prided himself upon his lack of emotionalism.
-I had often pondered the purpose which influenced Ras
-Thavas to devote so much time to my training, but never
-had I hit upon any more satisfactory explanation than
-that he had need of assistance in his growing practice.
-Yet when I consulted the records, that were now open
-to me, I discovered that his practice was no greater than
-it had been for many years; and even had it been there
-was really no reason why he should have trained me in
-preference to one of his red-Martian assistants, his belief
-in my loyalty not being sufficient warrant, in my mind,
-for this preferment when he could, as well as not, have
-kept me for a bodyguard and trained one of his own kind
-to aid him in his surgical work.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But I was presently to learn that he had an excellent
-reason for what he was doing—Ras Thavas always had
-an excellent reason for whatever he did. One night after
-we had finished our evening meal he sat looking at me
-intently as he so often did, as though he would read
-my mind, which, by the way, he was totally unable
-to do, much to his surprise and chagrin; for unless a
-Martian is constantly upon the alert any other Martian
-can read clearly his every thought; but Ras Thavas
-was unable to read mine. He said that it was due to the
-fact that I was not a Barsoomian. Yet I could often read
-the minds of his assistants, when they were off their
-guard, though never had I read aught of Ras Thavas’
-thoughts, nor, I am sure, had any other read them. He
-kept his brain sealed like one of his own blood jars, nor
-was he ever for a moment found with his barriers down.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He sat looking at me this evening for a long time, nor
-did it in the least embarrass me, so accustomed was I
-to his peculiarities. “Perhaps,” he said presently, “one
-of the reasons that I trust you is due to the fact that I
-cannot ever, at any time, fathom your mind; so, if you
-harbor traitorous thoughts concerning me I do not know
-it, while the others, every one of them, reveal their
-inmost souls to my searching mind and in each one there
-is envy, jealousy or hatred of me. Them, I know, I cannot
-trust. Therefore I must accept the risk and place all my
-dependence upon you, and my reason tells me that my
-choice is a wise one—I have told you upon what grounds
-it based my selection of you as my bodyguard. The same
-holds true in my selection of you for the thing I have in
-mind. You cannot harm me without harming yourself and
-no man will intentionally do that; nor is there any
-reason why you should feel any deep antagonism towards
-me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are, of course, a sentimentalist and doubtless
-you look with horror upon many of the acts of a sane,
-rational, scientific mind; but you are also highly intelligent
-and can, therefore, appreciate better than another,
-even though you may not approve them, the motives that
-prompt me to do many of those things of which your
-sentimentality disapproves. I may have offended you, but
-I have never wronged you, nor have I wronged any
-creature for which you might have felt some of your
-so-called friendship or love. Are my premises incorrect,
-or my reasoning faulty?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I assured him to the contrary.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Very well! Now let me explain why I have gone to
-such pains to train you as no other human being, aside
-from myself, has ever been trained. I am not ready to use
-you yet, or rather you are not ready; but if you know
-my purpose you will realize the necessity for bending your
-energy to the consummation of my purpose, and to that
-end you will strive even more diligently than you have to
-perfect yourself in the high, scientific art I am imparting
-to you.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am a very old man,” he continued after a brief
-pause, “even as age goes upon Barsoom. I have lived
-more than a thousand years. I have passed the allotted
-natural span of life, but I am not through with my
-life’s work—I have but barely started it. I must not die.
-Barsoom must not be robbed of this wondrous brain and
-skill of mine. I have long had in mind a plan to thwart
-death, but it required another with skill equal to mine—two
-such might live for ever. I have selected you to be
-that other, for reasons that I already have explained—they
-are undefiled by sentimentalism. I did not choose
-you because I love you, or because I feel friendship for
-you, or because I think that you love me, or feel friendship
-towards me. I chose you because I knew that of all the
-inhabitants of a world you were the one least likely to fail
-me. For a time you will have my life in your hands. You
-will understand now why I have not been able to choose
-carelessly.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This plan that I have chosen is simplicity itself provided
-that I can count upon just two essential factors—skill
-and self-interested loyalty in an assistant. My body
-is about worn out. I must have a new one. My laboratory
-is filled with wonderful bodies, young and complete with
-potential strength and health. I have but to select one
-of these and have my skilled assistant transfer my brain
-from this old carcass to the new one.” He paused.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I understand now, why you have trained me,” I
-said. “It has puzzled me greatly.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thus and thus only may I continue my labors,” he
-went on, “and thus may Barsoom be assured a continuance
-practically indefinitely, of the benefits that my brain may
-bestow upon her children. I may live for ever, provided
-I always have a skilled assistant, and I may assure myself
-of such by seeing to it that he never dies; when he wears
-out one organ, or his whole body, I can replace either
-from my great storehouse of perfect parts, and for me
-he can perform the same service. Thus may we continue
-to live indefinitely; for the brain, I believe, is almost deathless,
-unless injured or attacked by disease.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are not ready as yet to be entrusted with this
-important task. You must transfer many more brains and
-meet with and overcome the various irregularities and
-idiosyncrasies that constitute the never failing differences
-that render no two operations identical. When you gain
-sufficient proficiency I shall be the first to know it and
-then we shall lose no time in making Barsoom safe for
-posterity.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The old man was far from achieving hatred of himself.
-However, his plan was an excellent one, both for himself
-and for me. It assured us immortality—we might live
-for ever and always with strong, healthy, young bodies.
-The outlook was alluring—and what a wonderful position
-it placed me in. If the old man could be assured of
-my loyalty because of self-interest, similarly might I
-depend upon his loyalty; for he could not afford to antagonize
-the one creature in the world who could assure
-him immortality, or withhold it from him. For the first
-time since I had entered his establishment I felt safe.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As soon as I had left him I went directly to Valla Dia’s
-apartment, for I wanted to tell her this wonderful news.
-In the weeks that had passed since her resurrection I had
-seen much of her and in our daily intercourse there had
-been revealed to me little by little the wondrous beauties
-of her soul, until at last I no longer saw the hideous, disfigured
-face of Xaxa when I looked upon her, but the
-eyes of my heart penetrated deeper to the loveliness that
-lay within that sweet mind. She had become my confidant,
-as I was hers, and this association constituted the one
-great pleasure of my existence upon Barsoom.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Her congratulations, when I told her of what had
-come to me, were very sincere and lovely. She said that
-she hoped I would use this great power of mine to do good
-in the world. I assured her that I would and that among
-the first things that I should demand of Ras Thavas was
-that he should give Valla Dia a beautiful body; but she
-shook her head.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, my friend,” she said, “if I may not have my own
-body this old one of Xaxa’s is quite as good for me as
-another. Without my own body I should not care to return
-to my native country; while were Ras Thavas to give me
-the beautiful body of another, I should always be in
-danger of the covetousness of his clients, any one of
-whom might see and desire to purchase it, leaving to me
-her old husk, conceivably one quite terribly diseased or
-maimed. No, my friend, I am satisfied with the body of
-Xaxa, unless I may again possess my own, for Xaxa
-at least bequeathed me a tough and healthy envelope,
-however ugly it may be; and for what do looks count
-here? You, alone, are my friend—that I have your
-friendship is enough. You admire me for what I am, not
-for what I look like, so let us leave well enough alone.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If you could regain your own body and return to your
-native country, you would like that?” I demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, do not say it!” she cried. “The simple thought of
-it drives me mad with longing. I must not harbour so
-hopeless a dream that at best may only tantalize me into
-greater abhorrence of my lot.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do not say that it is hopeless,” I urged. “Death, only,
-renders hope futile.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You mean to be kind,” she said, “but you are only
-hurting me. There can be no hope.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“May I hope for you, then?” I asked. “For I surely
-see a way; however slight a possibility for success it may
-have, still, it is a way.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She shook her head. “There is no way,” she said, with
-finality. “No more will Duhor know me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Duhor?” I repeated. “Your—someone you care for
-very much?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I care for Duhor very much,” she answered with a
-smile, “but Duhor is not someone—Duhor is my home,
-the country of my ancestors.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How came you to leave Duhor?” I asked. “You have
-never told me, Valla Dia.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was because of the ruthlessness of Jal Had, Prince
-of Amhor,” she replied. “Hereditary enemies were Duhor
-and Amhor; but Jal Had came disguised into the city of
-Duhor, having heard, they say, of the great beauty attributed
-to the only daughter of Kor San, Jeddak of
-Duhor; and when he had seen her he determined to possess
-her. Returning to Amhor he sent ambassadors to the
-court of Kor San to sue for the hand of the Princess of
-Duhor; but Kor San, who had no son, had determined to
-wed his daughter to one of his own Jeds, that the son
-of this union, with the blood of Kor San in his veins,
-might rule over the people of Duhor; and so the offer
-of Jal Had was declined.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This so incensed the Amhorian that he equipped
-a great fleet and set forth to conquer Duhor and take by
-force that which he could not win by honorable methods.
-Duhor was, at that time, at war with Helium and
-all her forces were far afield in the south, with the
-exception of a small army that had been left behind to
-guard the city. Jal Had, therefore, could not have selected
-a more propitious time for an attack. Duhor fell, and
-while his troops were looting the fair city Jal Had, with
-a picked force, sacked the palace of the Jeddak and
-searched for the princess; but the princess had no mind
-to go back with him as Princess of Amhor. From the
-moment that the vanguard of the Amhorian fleet was
-seen in the sky she had known, with the others of the
-city, the purpose for which they came, and so she used
-her head to defeat that purpose.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There was in her retinue a cosmetologist whose duty
-it was to preserve the lustrous beauty of the princess’
-hair and skin and prepare her for public audiences, for
-fêtes and for the daily intercourse of the court. He was
-a master of his art; he could render the ugly pleasant
-to look upon, he could make the plain lovely, and he
-could make the lovely radiant. She called him quickly to
-her and commanded him to make the radiant ugly; and
-when he had done with her none might guess that she
-was the Princess of Duhor, so deftly had he wrought with
-his pigments and his tiny brushes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When Jal Had could not find the princess within the
-palace, and no amount of threat or torture could force a
-statement of her whereabouts from the loyal lips of her
-people, the Amhorian ordered that every woman within
-the palace be seized and taken to Amhor; there to be
-held as hostages until the princess of Duhor should be
-delivered to him in marriage. We were, therefore, all
-seized and placed upon an Amhorian war ship which was
-sent back to Amhor ahead of the balance of the fleet,
-which remained to complete the sacking of Duhor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When the ship, with its small convoy, had covered
-some four thousand of the five thousand haads that separate
-Duhor from Amhor, it was sighted by a fleet from
-Phundahl which immediately attacked. The convoying
-ships were destroyed or driven off and that which carried
-us was captured. We were taken to Phundahl where
-we were put upon the auction block and I fell to the bid
-of one of Ras Thavas’ agents. The rest you know.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And what became of the princess?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps she died—her party was separated in Phundahl—but
-death could not more definitely prevent her
-return to Duhor. The Princess of Duhor will never again
-see her native country.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But you may!” I cried, for I had suddenly hit upon
-a plan. “Where is Duhor?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are going there?” she asked, laughingly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are mad, my friend,” she said. “Duhor lies a full
-seven thousand, eight hundred haads from Toonol, upon
-the opposite side of the snow-clad Artolian Hills. You, a
-stranger and alone, could never reach it; for between
-lie the Toonolian Marshes, wild hordes, savage beasts
-and warlike cities. You would but die uselessly within
-the first dozen haads, even could you escape from the
-island upon which stands the laboratory of Ras Thavas;
-and what motive is there to prompt you to such a useless
-sacrifice?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I could not tell her. I could not look upon that withered
-figure and into that hideous and disfigured face and
-say: “It is because I love you, Valla Dia.” But that, alas,
-was my only reason. Gradually, as I had come to know
-her through the slow revealment of the wondrous beauty
-of her mind and soul, there had crept into my heart a
-knowledge of my love; and yet, explain it I cannot, I
-could not speak the words to that frightful old hag. I had
-seen the gorgeous mundane tabernacle that had housed
-the equally gorgeous spirit of the real Valla Dia—<span class='it'>that</span> I
-could love; her heart and soul and mind I could love;
-but I could not love the body of Xaxa. I was torn, too,
-by other emotions, induced by a great doubt—could
-Valla Dia return my love. Habilitated in the corpse of
-Xaxa, with no other suitor, nay, with no other friend
-she might, out of gratitude or through sheer loneliness,
-be attracted to me; but once again were she Valla Dia the
-beautiful and returned to the palace of her king, surrounded
-by the great nobles of Duhor, would she have
-either eyes or heart for a lone and friendless exile from
-another world? I doubted it—and yet that doubt did
-not deter me from my determination to carry out, as far
-as Fate would permit, the mad scheme that was revolving
-in my brain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have not answered my question, Vad Varo,”
-she interrupted my surging thoughts. “Why would you
-do this thing?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To right the wrong that has been done you, Valla
-Dia,” I said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She sighed. “Do not attempt it, please,” she begged.
-“You would but rob me of my one friend, whose association
-is the only source of happiness remaining to me. I
-appreciate your generosity and your loyalty, even
-though I may not understand them; your unselfish desire
-to serve me at such suicidal risk touches me more
-deeply than I can reveal, adding still further to the debt
-I owe you; but you must not attempt it—you must not.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If it troubles you, Valla Dia,” I replied, “we will not
-speak of it again; but know always that it is never from
-my thoughts. Some day I shall find a way, even though
-the plan I now have fails me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The days moved on and on, the gorgeous Martian
-nights, filled with her hurtling moons, followed one upon
-another. Ras Thavas spent more and more time in directing
-my work of brain transference. I had long since
-become an adept; and I realized that the time was rapidly
-approaching when Ras Thavas would feel that he could
-safely entrust to my hands and skill his life and future.
-He would be wholly within my power and he knew that
-I knew it. I could slay him; I could permit him to remain
-for ever in the preserving grip of his own anaesthetic; or
-I could play any trick upon him that I chose, even to giving
-him the body of a calot or a part of the brain of an
-ape; but he must take the chance and that I knew, for he
-was failing rapidly. Already almost stone blind, it was
-only the wonderful spectacles that he had himself invented
-that permitted him to see at all; long deaf, he used
-artificial means for hearing; and now his heart was showing
-symptoms of fatigue that he could not longer ignore.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One morning I was summoned to his sleeping apartment
-by a slave. I found the old surgeon lying, a shrunken,
-pitiful heap of withered skin and bones.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We must hasten, Vad Varo,” he said in a weak whisper.
-“My heart was like to have stopped a few tals ago.
-It was then that I sent for you.” He pointed to a door
-leading from his chamber. “There,” he said, “you will
-find the body I have chosen. There, in the private laboratory
-I long ago built for this very purpose, you will
-perform the greatest surgical operation that the universe
-has ever known, transferring its most perfect brain to the
-most beautiful and perfect body that ever has passed
-beneath these ancient eyes. You will find the head already
-prepared to receive my brain; the brain of the subject
-having been removed and destroyed—totally destroyed
-by fire. I could not possibly chance the existence of a
-brain desiring and scheming to regain its wondrous
-body. No, I destroyed it. Call slaves and have them bear
-my body to the ersite slab.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That will not be necessary,” I told him; and lifting
-his shrunken form in my arms as he had been an earthly
-babe, I carried him into the adjoining room where I
-found a perfectly lighted and appointed laboratory containing
-two operating tables, one of which was occupied
-by the body of a red-man. Upon the surface of the other,
-which was vacant, I laid Ras Thavas, then I turned to look
-at the new envelope he had chosen. Never, I believe,
-had I beheld so perfect a form, so handsome a face—Ras
-Thavas had indeed chosen well for himself. Then I
-turned back to the old surgeon. Deftly, as he had taught
-me, I made the two incisions and attached the tubes.
-My finger rested upon the button that would start the
-motor pumping his blood from his veins and his marvellous
-preservative-anaesthetic into them. Then I spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas,” I said, “you have long been training me
-to this end. I have labored assiduously to prepare myself
-that there might be no slightest cause for apprehension
-as to the outcome. You have, coincidentally, taught
-me that one’s every act should be prompted by self-interest
-only. You are satisfied, therefore, that I am not
-doing this for you because I love you, or because I feel
-any friendship for you; but you think that you have
-offered me enough in placing before me a similar opportunity
-for immortality.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Regardless of your teaching I am afraid that I am
-still somewhat of a sentimentalist. I crave the redressing
-of wrongs. I crave friendship and love. The price you
-offer is not enough. Are you willing to pay more that
-this operation may be successfully concluded?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He looked at me steadily for a long minute. “What do
-you want?” he asked. I could see that he was trembling
-with anger, but he did not raise his voice.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do you recall 4296-E-2631-H?” I inquired.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The subject with the body of Xaxa? Yes, I recall the
-case. What of it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I wish her body returned to her. That is the price
-you must pay for this operation.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He glared at me. “It is impossible. Xaxa has the body.
-Even if I cared to do so, I could never recover it. Proceed
-with the operation!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When you have promised me,” I insisted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I cannot promise the impossible—I cannot obtain
-Xaxa. Ask me something else. I am not unwilling to
-grant any reasonable request.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is all I wish—just that; but I do not insist that
-you obtain the body. If I bring Xaxa here will you make
-the transfer?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It would mean war between Toonol and Phundahl,”
-he fumed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That does not interest me,” I said. “Quick! Reach a
-decision. In five tals I shall press this button. If you
-promise what I ask, you shall be restored with a new
-and beautiful body; if you refuse you shall lie here in
-the semblance of death for ever.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I promise,” he said slowly, “that when you bring the
-body of Xaxa to me I will transfer to that body any
-brain that you select from among my subjects.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good!” I exclaimed, and pressed the button.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='53' id='Page_53'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER V<br/> DANGER</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Ras Thavas</span> awakened from the anaesthetic a new and
-gorgeous creature—a youth of such wondrous beauty
-that he seemed of heavenly rather than worldly origin;
-but in that beautiful head was the hard, cold, thousand-year-old
-brain of the master surgeon. As he opened his
-eyes he looked upon me coldly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have done well,” he said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What I have done, I have done for friendship—perhaps
-for love,” I said, “so you can thank the sentimentalism
-you decry for the success of the transfer.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He made no reply.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And now,” I continued, “I shall look to you for the
-fulfilment of the promise you have made me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When you bring Xaxa’s body I shall transfer to it the
-brain of any of my subjects you may select,” he said,
-“but were I you, I would not risk my life in such an impossible
-venture—you cannot succeed. Select another
-body—there are many beautiful ones—and I will give it
-the brain of 4296-E-2631-H.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“None other than the body now owned by the Jeddara
-Xaxa will fulfill your promise to me,” I said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He shrugged and there was a cold smile upon his handsome
-lips. “Very well,” he said, “fetch Xaxa. When do
-you start?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am not yet ready. I will let you know when I am.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good and now begone—but wait! First go to the office
-and see what cases await us and if there be any that
-do not require my personal attention, and they fall within
-your skill and knowledge, attend to them yourself.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As I left him I noticed a crafty smile of satisfaction
-upon his lips. What had aroused that? I did not like it
-and as I walked away I tried to conjure what could possibly
-have passed through that wondrous brain to call
-forth at that particular instant so unpleasant a smile. As
-I passed through the doorway and into the corridor beyond
-I heard him summon his personal slave and body
-servant, Yamdor, a huge fellow whose loyalty he kept
-through the bestowal of lavish gifts and countless favors.
-So great was the fellow’s power that all feared him, as a
-word to the master from the lips of Yamdor might easily
-send any of the numerous slaves or attendants to an
-ersite slab for eternity. It was rumored that he was the
-result of an unnatural experiment which had combined
-the brain of a woman with the body of a man, and there
-was much in his actions and mannerisms to justify this
-general belief. His touch, when he worked about his master,
-was soft and light, his movements graceful, his ways
-gentle, but his mind was jealous, vindictive and unforgiving.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I believe that he did not like me, through jealousy of
-the authority I had attained in the establishment of Ras
-Thavas; for there was no questioning the fact that I was
-a lieutenant, while he was but a slave; yet he always accorded
-me the utmost respect. He was, however, merely
-a minor cog in the machinery of the great institution presided
-over by the sovereign mind of Ras Thavas, and as
-such I had given him little consideration; nor did I now
-as I bent my steps towards the office.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had gone but a short distance when I recalled a matter
-of importance upon which it was necessary for me
-to obtain instructions from Ras Thavas immediately; and
-so I wheeled about and retraced my way towards his
-apartments, through the open doorway of which, as I
-approached, I heard the new voice of the master surgeon.
-Ras Thavas had always spoken in rather loud tones,
-whether as a vocal reflection of his naturally domineering
-and authoritative character, or because of his deafness,
-I do not know; and now, with the fresh young vocal
-chords of his new body, his words rang out clearly and
-distinctly in the corridor leading to his room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will, therefore, Yamdor,” he was saying, “go at
-once and, selecting two slaves in whose silence and discretion
-you may trust, take the subject from the apartments
-of Vad Varo and destroy it—let no vestige of
-body or brain remain. Immediately after, you will bring
-the two slaves to the laboratory F-30-L, permitting them
-to speak to no one, and I will consign them to silence
-and forgetfulness for eternity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Vad Varo will discover the absence of the subject
-and report the matter to me. During my investigation you
-will confess that you aided 4296-E-2631-H to escape,
-but that you have no idea where it intended going. I
-will sentence you to death as punishment, but at last,
-explaining how urgently I need your services and upon
-your solemn promise never to transgress again, I will
-defer punishment for the term of your continued good
-behaviour. Do you thoroughly understand the entire
-plan?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, master,” replied Yamdor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then depart at once and select the slaves who are to
-assist you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Quickly and silently I sped along the corridor until the
-first intersection permitted me to place myself out of
-sight of anyone coming from Ras Thavas’ apartment; then
-I went directly to the chamber occupied by Valla Dia.
-Unlocking the door I threw it open and beckoned her to
-come out. “Quick! Valla Dia!” I cried. “No time is to be
-lost. In attempting to save you I have but brought destruction
-upon you. First we must find a hiding place for
-you, and that at once—afterwards we can plan for the
-future.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The place that first occurred to me as affording adequate
-concealment was the half forgotten vaults in the
-pits beneath the laboratories, and towards these I hastened
-Valla Dia. As we proceeded I narrated all that had
-transpired, nor did she once reproach me; but, instead,
-expressed naught but gratitude for what she was pleased
-to designate as my unselfish friendship. That it had miscarried,
-she assured me, was no reflection upon me and
-she insisted that she would rather die in the knowledge
-that she possessed one such friend than to live on indefinitely,
-friendless.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We came at last to the chamber I sought—vault L-42-X,
-in building 4-J-21, where reposed the bodies of the
-ape and the man, each of which possessed half the brain
-of the other. Here I was forced to leave Valla Dia for the
-time, that I might hasten to the office and perform the
-duties imposed upon me by Ras Thavas, lest his suspicions
-be aroused when Yamdor reported that he had
-found her apartment vacant.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I reached the office without it being discovered by
-anyone who might report the fact to Ras Thavas that I
-had been a long time coming from his apartment. To
-my relief, I found there were no cases. Without appearing
-in any undue haste, I nevertheless soon found an
-excuse to depart and at once made my way towards my
-own quarters, moving in a leisurely and unconcerned
-manner and humming as was my wont (a habit which
-greatly irritated Ras Thavas), snatches from some song
-that had been popular at the time that I quit Earth. In
-this instance it was “Oh, Frenchy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I was thus engaged when I met Yamdor moving hurriedly
-along the corridor leading from my apartment, in
-company with two male slaves. I greeted him pleasantly,
-as was my custom, and he returned my greeting; but
-there was an expression of fear and suspicion in his eyes.
-I went at once to my quarters, opened the door leading
-to the chamber formerly occupied by Valla Dia and then
-hastened immediately to the apartment of Ras Thavas,
-where I found him conversing with Yamdor. I rushed
-in apparently breathless and simulating great excitement.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas,” I demanded, “what have you done
-with 4296-E-2631-H? She has disappeared; her apartment
-is empty; and as I was approaching it I met Yamdor
-and two other slaves coming from that direction.” I
-turned then upon Yamdor and pointed an accusing finger
-at him. “Yamdor!” I cried. “What have you done
-with this woman?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Both Ras Thavas and Yamdor seemed genuinely puzzled
-and I congratulated myself that I had thus readily
-thrown them off the track. The master surgeon declared
-that he would make an immediate investigation; and he
-at once ordered a thorough search of the ground and of
-the island outside the enclosure. Yamdor denied any
-knowledge of the woman and I, at least, was aware of
-the sincerity of his protestations, but not so Ras Thavas.
-I could see a hint of suspicion in his eyes as he questioned
-his body servant; but evidently he could conjure
-no motive for any such treasonable action on the part of
-Yamdor as would have been represented by the abduction
-of the woman and the consequent gross disobedience
-of orders.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas’ investigation revealed nothing. I think as
-it progressed that he became gradually more and more
-imbued with a growing suspicion that I might know more
-about the disappearance of Valla Dia than my attitude
-indicated, for I presently became aware of a delicately
-concealed espionage. Up to this time I had been able to
-smuggle food to Valla Dia every night, after Ras Thavas
-had retired to his quarters. Then, on one occasion, I
-suddenly became subconsciously aware that I was being
-followed, and instead of going to the vaults I went to the
-office, where I added some observations to my report
-upon a case I had handled that day. Returning to my
-room I hummed a few bars from “Over There,” that the
-suggestion of my unconcern might be accentuated. From
-the moment that I quit my quarters until I returned to
-them I was sure that eyes had been watching my every
-move. What was I to do? Valla Dia must have food,
-without it she would die; and were I to be followed to
-her hiding place while taking it to her, she would die;
-Ras Thavas would see to that.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Half the night I lay awake, racking my brains for some
-solution to the problem. There seemed only one way—I
-must elude the spies. If I could do this but one single
-time I could carry out the balance of a plan that had
-occurred to me, and which was, I thought, the only one
-feasible that might eventually lead to the resurrection of
-Valla Dia in her own body. The way was long, the risks
-great; but I was young, in love and utterly reckless of
-consequences in so far as they concerned me; it was Valla
-Dia’s happiness alone that I could not risk too greatly,
-other than under dire stress. Well, the stress existed and
-I must risk that, even as I risked my life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My plan was formulated and I lay awake upon my
-sleeping silks and furs in the darkness of my room, awaiting
-the time when I might put it into execution. My window,
-which was upon the third floor, overlooked the
-walled enclosure, upon the scarlet sward of which I had
-made my first bow to Barsoom. Across the open casement
-I had watched Cluros, the farther moon, take his
-slow deliberate way. He had already set. Behind him,
-Thuria, his elusive mistress, fled through the heavens. In
-five xats (about 15 minutes) she would set; and then for
-about three and three quarters Earth hours the heavens
-would be dark, except for the stars.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the corridor, perhaps, lurked those watchful eyes.
-I prayed God that they might not be elsewhere as Thuria
-sank at last beneath the horizon and I swung to my window
-ledge, in my hand a long rope fabricated from
-braided strips torn from my sleeping silks while I had
-awaited the setting of the moons. One end I had fastened
-to a heavy sorapus bench which I had drawn close to the
-window. I dropped the free end of the rope and started
-my descent. My Earthly muscles, untried in such endeavours,
-I had not trusted to the task of carrying me to
-my window ledge in a single leap, when I should be returning.
-I felt that they would, but I did not know; and
-too much depended upon the success of my venture to
-risk any unnecessary chance of failure. And so I had
-prepared the rope.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Whether I was being observed I did not know. I must
-go on as though none were spying upon me. In less than
-four hours Thuria would return (just before the sudden
-Barsoomian dawn) and in the interval I must reach
-Valla Dia, persuade her of the necessity of my plan and
-carry out its details, returning to my chamber before
-Thuria could disclose me to any accidental observer. I
-carried my weapons with me and in my heart was unbending
-determination to slay whoever might cross my
-path and recognize me during the course of my errand,
-however innocent of evil intent against me he might be.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The night was quiet except for the usual distant sounds
-that I had heard ever since I had been here—sounds
-that I had interpreted as the cries of savage beasts. Once
-I had asked Ras Thavas about them, but he had been in
-ill humor and had ignored my question. I reached the
-ground quickly and without hesitation moved directly to
-the nearest entrance of the building, having previously
-searched out and determined upon the route I would
-follow to the vault. No one was visible and I was confident,
-when at last I reached the doorway, that I had
-come through undetected. Valla Dia was so happy to see
-me again that it almost brought the tears to my eyes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I thought that something had happened to you,” she
-cried, “for I knew that you would not remain away so
-long of your own volition.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I told her of my conviction that I was being watched
-and that it would not be possible for me longer to bring
-food to her without incurring almost certain detection,
-which would spell immediate death for her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is a single alternative,” I said, “and that I
-dread even to suggest and would not were there any
-other way. You must be securely hidden for a long time,
-until Ras Thavas’ suspicions have been allayed; for as
-long as he has me watched I cannot possibly carry out
-the plans I have formulated for your eventual release,
-the restoration of your own body and your return to
-Duhor.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Your will shall be my law, Vad Varo.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I shook my head. “It will be harder for you than you
-imagine.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What is the way?” she asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I pointed to the ersite topped table. “You must pass
-again through that ordeal that I may hide you away in
-this vault until the time is ripe for the carrying out of
-my plans. Can you endure it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She smiled. “Why not?” she asked. “It is only sleep—if
-it lasts for ever I shall be no wiser.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I was surprised that she did not shrink from the idea,
-but I was very glad since I knew that it was the only
-way that we had a chance for success. Without my help
-she disposed herself upon the ersite slab.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am ready, Vad Varo,” she said, bravely; “but first
-promise me that you will take no risks in this mad venture.
-You cannot succeed. When I close my eyes I know
-that it will be for the last time if my resurrection depends
-upon the successful outcome of the maddest venture that
-ever man conceived; yet I am happy, because I know
-that it is inspired by the greatest friendship with which
-any mortal woman has ever been blessed.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As she talked I had been adjusting the tubes and now
-I stood beside her with my finger upon the starting button
-of the motor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good-bye, Vad Varo,” she whispered.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not good-bye, Valla Dia, but only a sweet sleep for
-what to you will be the briefest instant. You will seem
-but to close your eyes and open them again. As you see
-me now, I shall be standing here beside you as though I
-never had departed from you. As I am the last that you
-look upon to-night before you close your eyes, so shall I
-be the first that you shall look upon as you open them
-on that new and beautiful morning; but you shall not
-again look forth through the eyes of Xaxa, but from the
-limpid depths of your own beautiful orbs.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>She smiled and shook her head. Two tears formed beneath
-her lids. I pressed her hand in mine and touched
-the button.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='61' id='Page_61'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VI<br/> SUSPICIONS</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>In</span> so far as I could know I reached my apartment without
-detection. Hiding my rope where I was sure it would
-not be discovered, I sought my sleeping silks and furs
-and was soon asleep.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The following morning as I emerged from my quarters
-I caught a fleeting glimpse of a figure in a nearby
-corridor and from then on for a long time I had further
-evidence that Ras Thavas suspicioned me. I went at once
-to his quarters, as had been my habit. He seemed restless,
-but he gave me no hint that he held any assurance
-that I had been responsible for the disappearance of
-Valla Dia, and I think that he was far from positive of
-it. It was simply that his judgment pointed to the fact
-that I was the only person who might have any reason
-for interfering in any way with this particular subject,
-and he was having me watched to either prove or disprove
-the truth of his reasonable suspicions. His restlessness
-he explained to me himself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have often studied the reaction of others who have
-undergone brain transference,” he said, “and so I am
-not wholly surprised at my own. Not only has my brain
-energy been stimulated, resulting in an increased production
-of nervous energy, but I also feel the effects of the
-young tissue and youthful blood of my new body. They
-are affecting my consciousness in a way that my experiment
-had vaguely indicated, but which I now see must be
-actually experienced to be fully understood. My thoughts,
-my inclinations, even my ambitions have been changed,
-or at least coloured, by the transfer. It will take some
-time for me to find myself.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Though uninterested, I listened politely until he was
-through and then I changed the subject. “Have you located
-the missing woman?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He shook his head, negatively.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You must appreciate, Ras Thavas,” I said, “that I
-fully realize that you must have known that the removal
-or destruction of that woman would entirely frustrate
-my entire plan. You are master here. Nothing that passes
-is without your knowledge.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You mean that I am responsible for the disappearance
-of the woman?” he demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Certainly. It is obvious. I demand that she be restored.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He lost his temper. “Who are you to demand?” he
-shouted. “You are naught but a slave. Cease your impudence
-or I shall erase you—erase you. It will be as
-though you never had existed.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I laughed in his face. “Anger is the most futile attribute
-of the sentimentalist,” I reminded him. “You will
-not erase me, for I alone stand between you and mortality.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I can train another,” he parried.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But you could not trust him,” I pointed out.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But you bargained with me for my life when you
-had me in your power,” he cried.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“For nothing that it would have harmed you to have
-granted willingly. I did not ask anything for myself. Be
-that as it may, you will trust me again. You will trust,
-for no other reason than that you will be forced to trust
-me. So why not win my gratitude and my loyalty by returning
-the woman to me and carrying out in spirit as
-well as in fact the terms of our agreement?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He turned and looked steadily at me. “Vad Varo,” he
-said, “I give you the word of honor of a Barsoomian
-noble that I know absolutely nothing concerning the
-whereabouts of 4296-E-2631-H.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps Yamdor does,” I persisted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nor Yamdor. Of my knowledge no person in any
-way connected with me knows what became of it. I have
-spoken the truth.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Well, the conversation was not as profitless as it might
-appear, for I was sure that it had almost convinced Ras
-Thavas that I was equally as ignorant of the fate of
-Valla Dia as was he. That it had not wholly convinced
-him was evidenced by the fact that the espionage continued
-for a long time, a fact which determined me to
-use Ras Thavas’ own methods in my own defence. I had
-had allotted to me a number of slaves, and these I had
-won over by kindness and understanding until I knew
-that I had the full measure of their loyalty. They had no
-reason to love Ras Thavas and every reason to hate
-him; on the other hand they had no reason to hate me,
-and I saw to it that they had every reason to love me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The result was that I had no difficulty in enlisting the
-services of a couple of them to spy upon Ras Thavas’
-spies, with the result that I was soon apprised that my
-suspicions were well founded—I was being constantly
-watched every minute that I was out of my apartments,
-but the spying did not come beyond my outer chamber
-walls. That was why I had been successful in reaching the
-vault in the manner that I had, the spies having assumed
-that I would leave my chamber only by its natural exit,
-had been content to guard that and permit my windows
-to go unwatched.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I think it was about two of our months that the spying
-continued and then my men reported that it seemed
-to have ceased entirely. All that time I was fretting at
-the delay, for I wanted to be about my plans which
-would have been absolutely impossible for me to carry
-out if I were being watched. I had spent the interval in
-studying the geography of the north-eastern Barsoomian
-hemisphere where my activities were to be carried on,
-and also in scanning a great number of case histories and
-inspecting the subjects to which they referred; but at
-last, with the removal of the spies, it began to look as
-though I might soon commence to put my plans in active
-operation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas had for some time permitted me considerable
-freedom in independent investigation and experiment,
-and this I determined to take advantage of
-in every possible way that might forward my plans for
-the resurrection of Valla Dia. My study of the histories
-of many of the cases had been with the possibility in
-mind of discovering subjects that might be of assistance
-to me in my venture. Among those that had occupied
-my careful attention were, quite naturally, the cases
-with which I had been most familiar, namely: 378-J-493811-P,
-the red-man from whose vicious attack I had
-saved Ras Thavas upon the day of my advent upon
-Mars; and he whose brain had been divided with an
-ape.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The former, 378-J-493811-P, had been a native of
-Phundahl—a young warrior attached to the court of
-Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl—and a victim of assassination.
-His body had been purchased by a Phundahlian
-noble for the purpose, as Ras Thavas had narrated, of
-winning the favor of a young beauty. I felt that I might
-possibly enlist his services, but that would depend upon
-the extent of his loyalty towards Xaxa, which I could
-only determine by reviving and questioning him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He whose brain had been divided with an ape had
-originated in Ptarth, which lay at a considerable distance
-to the west of Phundahl and a little south and
-about an equal distance from Duhor, which lay north
-and a little west of it. An inhabitant of Ptarth, I reasoned,
-would know much of the entire country included
-in the triangle formed by Phundahl, Ptarth and Duhor;
-the strength and ferocity of the great ape would prove
-of value in crossing beast infested wastes; and I felt
-that I could hold forth sufficient promise to the human
-half of the great beast’s brain, which really now dominated
-the creature, to win its support and loyalty. The
-third subject that I had tentatively selected had been
-a notorious Toonolian assassin, whose audacity, fearlessness
-and swordsmanship had won for him a reputation
-that had spread far beyond the boundaries of his
-country.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ras Thavas, himself a Toonolian, had given me something
-of the history of this man whose grim calling is
-not without honor upon Barsoom, and which Gor
-Hajus had raised still higher in the esteem of his countrymen
-through the fact that he never struck down a
-woman or a good man and that he never struck from
-behind. His killings were always the results of fair fights
-in which the victim had every opportunity to defend
-himself and slay his attacker; and he was famous for
-his loyalty to his friends. In fact this very loyalty had
-been a contributing factor in his downfall which had
-brought him to one of Ras Thavas’ ersite slabs some
-years since, for he had earned the enmity of Vobis
-Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, through his refusal to assassinate
-a man who once had befriended Gor Hajus in some
-slight degree; following which Vobis Kan conceived the
-suspicion that Gor Hajus had him marked for slaying.
-The result was inevitable: Gor Hajus was arrested and
-condemned to death; immediately following the execution
-of the sentence an agent of Ras Thavas had purchased
-the body.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These three, then, I had chosen to be my partners
-in my great adventure. It is true that I had not discussed
-the matter with any one of them, but my judgment
-assured me that I would have no difficulty in
-enlisting their services and loyalty in return for their
-total resurrection.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My first task lay in renewing the organs of 378-J-493811-P
-and of Gor Hajus which had been injured
-by the wounds that had laid them low; the former requiring
-a new lung and the latter a new heart, his
-executioner having run him through with a short-sword.
-I hesitated to ask Ras Thavas’ permission to experiment
-on these subjects for fear of the possibility of
-arousing his suspicions, in which event he would probably
-have them destroyed; and so I was forced to accomplish
-my designs by subterfuge and stealth. To this end
-I made it a practice for weeks to carry my regular
-laboratory work far into the night, often requiring the
-services of various assistants that all might become accustomed
-to the sight of me at work at unusual hours.
-In my selection of these assistants I made it a point
-to choose two of the very spies that Ras Thavas had
-set to watching me. While it was true that they were
-no longer employed in this particular service, I had
-hopes that they would carry word of my activities to
-their master; and I was careful to see that they received
-from me the proper suggestions that would mould
-their report in language far from harmful to me. By
-the merest suggestion I carried to them the idea that
-I worked thus late purely for the love of the work
-itself and the tremendous interest in it that Ras Thavas
-had awakened within my mind. Some nights I worked
-with assistants and as often I did not, but always I
-was careful to assure myself that the following morning
-those in the office were made aware that I had labored
-far into the preceding night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This groundwork carefully prepared, I had comparatively
-little fear of the results of actual discovery when
-I set to work upon the warrior of Phundahl and the
-assassin of Toonol. I chose the former first. His lung
-was badly injured where my blade had passed through
-it, but from the laboratory where were kept fractional
-bodies I brought a perfect lung, with which I replaced
-the one that I had ruined. The work occupied but half
-the night. So anxious was I to complete my task that
-I immediately opened up the breast of Gor Hajus, for
-whom I had selected an unusually strong and powerful
-heart, and by working rapidly I succeeded in completing
-the transference before dawn. Having known the nature
-of the wounds that had dispatched these two men, I
-had spent weeks in performing similar operations that I
-might perfect myself especially in this work; and having
-encountered no unusual pathological conditions in
-either subject, the work had progressed smoothly and
-with great rapidity. I had completed what I had feared
-would be the most difficult part of my task and now,
-having removed as far as possible all signs of the operation
-except the therapeutic tape which closed the incisions,
-I returned to my quarters for a few minutes
-of much needed rest, praying that Ras Thavas would
-not by any chance examine either of the subjects upon
-which I had been working; although I had fortified myself
-against such a contingency by entering full details
-of the operation upon the history card of each subject
-that, in the event of discovery, any suspicion of ulterior
-motives upon my part might be allayed by my play
-of open frankness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I arose at the usual time and went at once to Ras
-Thavas’ apartment, where I was met with a bombshell
-that nearly wrecked my composure. He eyed me closely
-for a long minute before he spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You worked late last night, Vad Varo,” he said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I often do,” I replied, lightly; but my heart was
-heavy as a stone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And what might it have been that so occupied your
-interest?” he inquired.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I felt as a mouse with which the cat is playing. “I
-have been doing quite a little lung and heart transference
-of late,” I replied, “and I became so engrossed with
-my work that I did not note the passage of time.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have known that you worked late at night. Do
-you think it wise?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At that moment I felt that it had been very unwise,
-yet I assured him to the contrary.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I was restless,” he said. “I could not sleep and so
-I went to your quarters after midnight, but you were
-not there. I wanted someone with whom to talk, but
-your slaves knew only that you were not there—where
-you were they did not know—so I set out to search
-for you.” My heart went into my sandals. “I guessed
-that you were in one of the laboratories, but though
-I visited several I did not find you.” My heart arose
-with the lightness of a feather. “Since my own transference
-I have been cursed with restlessness and sleeplessness,
-so that I could almost wish for the return of
-my old corpse—the youth of my body harmonizes not
-with the antiquity of my brain. It is filled with latent
-urges and desires that comport illy with the serious subject
-matter of my mind.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What your body needs,” I said, “is exercise. It is
-young, strong, virile. Work it hard and it will let your
-brain rest at night.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I know that you are right,” he replied. “I have
-reached that same conclusion myself. In fact, not finding
-you, I walked in the gardens for an hour or more
-before returning to my quarters, and then I slept soundly.
-I shall walk every night when I cannot sleep, or I
-shall go into the laboratories and work as do you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This news was most disquieting. Now I could never
-be sure but that Ras Thavas was wandering about at
-night and I had one more very important night’s work
-to do, perhaps two. The only way that I could be sure
-of him was to be with him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Send for me when you are restless,” I said, “and
-I will walk and work with you. You should not go
-about thus at night alone.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Very well,” he said, “I may do that occasionally.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I hoped that he would do it always, for then I would
-know that when he failed to send for me he was safe
-in his own quarters. Yet I saw that I must henceforth
-face the menace of detection; and knowing this I determined
-to hasten the completion of my plans and to
-risk everything on a single bold stroke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>That night I had no opportunity to put it into action
-as Ras Thavas sent for me early and informed me
-that we would walk in the gardens until he was tired.
-Now, as I needed a full night for what I had in mind
-and as Ras Thavas walked until midnight, I was compelled
-to forego everything for that evening, but the
-following morning I persuaded him to walk early on the
-pretext that I should like to go beyond the enclosure
-and see something of Barsoom beside the inside of his
-laboratories and his gardens. I had little confidence that
-he would grant my request, yet he did so. I am sure
-he never would have done it had he possessed his old
-body; but thus greatly had young blood changed Ras
-Thavas.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had never been beyond the buildings, nor had I
-seen beyond, since there were no windows in the outside
-walls of any of the structures and upon the garden
-side the trees had grown to such a height that they
-obstructed all view beyond them. For a time we walked
-in another garden just inside the outer wall, and then
-I asked Ras Thavas if I might go even beyond this.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No,” he said. “It would not be safe.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And why not?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will show you and at the same time give you a
-much broader view of the outside world than you could
-obtain by merely passing through the gate. Come, follow
-me!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He led me immediately to a lofty tower that rose
-at the corner of the largest building of the group that
-comprised his vast establishment. Within was a circular
-runway which led not only upward, but down as well.
-This we ascended, passing openings at each floor, until
-we came at last out upon its lofty summit.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>About me spread the first Barsoomian landscape of
-any extent upon which my eyes had yet rested during
-the long months that I had spent upon the Red Planet.
-For almost an Earthly year I had been immured within
-the grim walls of Ras Thavas’ bloody laboratory, until,
-such creatures of habit are we, the weird life there had
-grown to seem quite natural and ordinary; but with this
-first glimpse of open country there surged up within me
-an urge for freedom, for space, for room to move about,
-such as I knew would not be long denied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Directly beneath lay an irregular patch of rocky land
-elevated perhaps a dozen feet or more above the general
-level of the immediately surrounding country. Its
-extent was, at a rough guess, a hundred acres. Upon
-this stood the buildings and grounds, which were enclosed
-in a high wall. The tower upon which we stood
-was situated at about the centre of the total area enclosed.
-Beyond the outer wall was a strip of rocky
-ground on which grew a sparse forest of fair sized trees
-interspersed with patches of a jungle growth, and beyond
-all, what appeared to be an oozy marsh through
-which were narrow water courses connecting occasional
-open water—little lakes, the largest of which could have
-comprised scarce two acres. This landscape extended as
-far as the eye could reach, broken by occasional islands
-similar to that upon which we were and at a short distance
-by the skyline of a large city, whose towers and
-domes and minarets glistened and sparkled in the sun
-as though plated with shining metals and picked out
-with precious gems.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This, I knew, must be Toonol and all about us the
-Great Toonolian Marshes which extend nearly eighteen
-hundred Earth miles east and west and in some places
-have a width of three hundred miles. Little is known
-about them in other portions of Barsoom as they are
-frequented by fierce beasts, afford no landing places for
-fliers and are commanded by Phundahl at their western
-end and Toonol at the east; inhospitable kingdoms that
-invite no intercourse with the outside world and maintain
-their independence alone by their inaccessibility
-and savage aloofness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As my eyes returned to the island at our feet I
-saw a huge form emerge from one of the nearby patches
-of jungle a short distance beyond the outer wall. It
-was followed by a second and a third. Ras Thavas saw
-that the creatures had attracted my notice.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There,” he said, pointing to them, “are three of a
-number of similar reasons why it would not have been
-safe for us to venture outside the enclosure.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They were great white apes of Barsoom, creatures so
-savage that even that fierce Barsoomian lion, the banth,
-hesitates to cross their path.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They serve two purposes,” explained Ras Thavas.
-“They discourage those who might otherwise creep upon
-me by night from the city of Toonol, where I am not
-without many good enemies, and they prevent desertion
-upon the part of my slaves and assistants.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But how do your clients reach you?” I asked. “How
-are your supplies brought in?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He turned and pointed down toward the highest portion
-of the irregular roof of the building below us.
-Built upon it was a large, shed-like structure. “There,”
-he said, “I keep three small ships. One of them goes
-every day to Toonol.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I was overcome with eagerness to know more about
-these ships, in which I thought I saw a much needed
-means of escape from the island; but I dared not question
-him for fear of arousing his suspicions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As we turned to descend the tower runway I expressed
-interest in the structure which gave evidence of
-being far older than any of the surrounding buildings.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This tower,” said Ras Thavas, “was built some
-twenty-three thousand years ago by an ancestor of mine
-who was driven from Toonol by the reigning Jeddak
-of the time. Here, and upon other islands, he gathered
-a considerable following, dominated the surrounding
-marshes and defended himself successfully for hundreds
-of years. While my family has been permitted to return
-to Toonol since, this has been their home; to which,
-one by one, have been added the various buildings
-which you see about the tower, each floor of which connects
-with the adjacent building from the roof to the
-lowest pits beneath the ground.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This information also interested me greatly since I
-thought that I saw where it too might have considerable
-bearing upon my plan of escape, and so, as we descended
-the runway, I encouraged Ras Thavas to discourse
-upon the construction of the tower, its relation
-to the other buildings and especially its accessibility from
-the pits. We walked again in the outer garden and by
-the time we returned to Ras Thavas’ quarters it was almost
-dark and the master surgeon was considerably
-fatigued.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I feel that I shall sleep well to-night,” he said as
-I left him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I hope so, Ras Thavas,” I replied.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='72' id='Page_72'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VII<br/> ESCAPE</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>It</span> was usually about three hours after the evening meal,
-which was served immediately after dark, that the establishment
-quieted down definitely for the night. While I
-should have preferred waiting longer before undertaking
-that which I had in mind, I could not safely do so,
-since there was much to be accomplished before dawn.
-So it was that with the first indications that the occupants
-of the building in which my work was to be performed
-had retired for the night, I left my quarters
-and went directly to the laboratory, where, fortunately
-for my plans, the bodies of Gor Hajus, the assassin
-of Toonol, and 378-J-493811-P both reposed. It was
-the work of a few minutes to carry them to adjoining
-tables, where I quickly strapped them securely against
-the possibility that one or both of them might not be
-willing to agree to the proposition I was about to make
-them, and thus force me to anaesthetize them again.
-At last the incisions were made, the tubes attached and
-the motors started. 378-J-493811-P, whom I shall hereafter
-call by his own name, Dar Tarus, was the first
-to open his eyes; but he had not regained full consciousness
-when Gor Hajus showed signs of life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I waited until both appeared quite restored. Dar
-Tarus was eyeing me with growing recognition that
-brought a most venomous expression of hatred to his
-countenance. Gor Hajus was frankly puzzled. The last
-he remembered was the scene in the death chamber at
-the instant that his executioner had run a sword
-through his heart. It was I who broke the silence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In the first place,” I said, “let me tell you where
-you are, if you do not already know.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I know well enough where I am,” growled Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah!” exclaimed Gor Hajus, whose eyes had been
-roaming about the chamber. “I can guess where I am.
-What Toonolian has not heard of Ras Thavas? So they
-sold my corpse to the old butcher did they? And what
-now? Did I just arrive?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have been here six years,” I told him, “and
-you may stay here for ever unless we three can reach
-an agreement within the next few minutes, and that goes
-for you too, Dar Tarus.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Six years!” mused Gor Hajus. “Well, out with it,
-man. What do you want? If it is to slay Ras Thavas,
-no! He has saved me from utter destruction; but name
-me some other, preferably Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol.
-Find me a blade and I will slay a hundred to regain
-life.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I seek the life of none unless he stands in the way
-of the fulfilment of my desire in this matter that I have
-in hand. Listen! Ras Thavas had here a beautiful
-Duhorian girl. He sold her body to Xaxa, Jeddara of
-Phundahl, transplanting the girl’s brain to the wrinkled
-and hideous body of the Jeddara. It is my intention to
-regain the body, restore it to its own brain and return
-the girl to Duhor.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus grinned. “You have a large contract on
-your hands,” he said, “but I can see that you are a
-man after my own heart and I am with you. It will
-give freedom and fighting, and all that I ask is a chance
-for one thrust at Vobis Kan.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I promise you life,” I replied; “but with the understanding
-that you serve me faithfully and none other,
-undertaking no business of your own, until mine has
-been carried to a successful conclusion.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That means that I shall have to serve you for life,”
-he replied, “for the thing you have undertaken you can
-never accomplish; but that is better than lying here on
-a cold ersite slab waiting for old Ras Thavas to come
-along and carve out my gizzard. I am yours! Let me
-up, that I may feel a good pair of legs under me again.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And you?” I asked, turning to Dar Tarus as I released
-the bonds that held Gor Hajus. For the first time
-I now noticed that the ugly expression that I had first
-noted upon the face of Dar Tarus had given place to
-one of eagerness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Strike off my bonds!” he cried. “I will follow you
-to the ends of Barsoom and the way leads thus far to
-the fulfilment of your design; but it will not. It will
-lead to Phundahl and to the chamber of the wicked
-Xaxa, where, by the generosity of my ancestors, I may
-be given the opportunity to avenge the hideous wrong
-the creature did me. You could not have chosen one
-better fitted for your mission than Dar Tarus, one time
-soldier of the Jeddara’s Guard, whom she had slain that
-in my former body one of her rotten nobles might woo
-the girl I loved.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A moment later the two men stood at my side, and
-without more delay I led them towards the runway that
-descended to the pits beneath the building. As we went,
-I described to them the creature I had chosen to be the
-fourth member of our strange party. Gor Hajus questioned
-the wisdom of my choice, saying that the ape
-would attract too much attention to us. Dar Tarus, however,
-believed that it might be helpful in many respects,
-since it was possible that we might be compelled to
-spend some time among the islands of the marshes which
-were often infested with these creatures; while, once in
-Phundahl, the ape might readily be used in the furtherance
-of our plans and would cause no considerable
-comment in a city where many of these beasts are held
-in captivity and often are seen performing for the
-edification of street crowds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We went at once to the vault where the ape lay
-and where I had concealed the anaesthetized body of
-Valla Dia. Here I revived the great anthropoid and to
-my great relief found that the human half of its brain
-still was dominant. Briefly I explained my plan as I
-had to the other two and won the hearty promise of
-his support upon my engaging to restore his brain to its
-rightful place upon the completion of our venture.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>First we must get off the island, and I outlined two
-plans I had in mind. One was to steal one of Ras
-Thavas’ three fliers and set out directly for Phundahl,
-and the other, in the event that the first did not seem
-feasible, was to secrete ourselves aboard one of them
-on the chance that we might either overpower the crew
-and take over the ship after we had left the island,
-or escape undetected upon its arrival in Toonol. Dar
-Tarus liked the first plan; the ape, whom we now called
-by the name belonging to the human half of his brain,
-Hovan Du, preferred the first alternative of the second
-plan; and Gor Hajus the second alternative.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus explained that as our principal objective
-was Phundahl, the quicker we got there the better.
-Hovan Du argued that by seizing the ship after it had
-left the island we would have longer time in which to
-make our escape before the ship was missed and pursuit
-instituted, than by seizing it now in the full knowledge
-that its absence would be discovered within a few
-hours. Gor Hajus thought that it would be better if
-we could come into Toonol secretly and there, through
-one of his friends, secure arms and a flier of our own.
-It would never do, he insisted, to attempt to go far
-without arms for himself and Dar Tarus, nor could we
-hope to reach Phundahl without being overhauled by
-pursuers; for we must plan on the hypothesis that Ras
-Thavas would immediately discover my absence; that he
-would at once investigate; that he would find Dar Tarus
-and Gor Hajus missing and thereupon lose no time in
-advising Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol, that Gor Hajus
-the assassin was at large, whereupon the Jeddak’s best
-ships would be sent in pursuit.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus’ reasoning was sound and coupled with
-my recollection that Ras Thavas had told me that his
-three ships were slow, I could readily foresee that our
-liberty would be of short duration were we to steal one
-of the old surgeon’s fliers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As we discussed the matter we had made our way
-through the pits and I had found the exit to the tower.
-Silently we passed upward along the runway and out
-upon the roof. Both moons were winging low through
-the heavens and the scene was almost as light as day.
-If anyone was about discovery was certain. We hastened
-towards the hangar and were soon within it, where, for
-a moment at least, I breathed far more easily than I
-had beneath those two brilliant moons upon the exposed
-roof.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The fliers were peculiar looking contrivances, low,
-squat, with rounded bows and sterns and covered decks,
-their every line proclaiming them as cargo carriers
-built for anything but speed. One was much smaller than
-the other two and a second was evidently undergoing
-repairs. The third I entered and examined carefully. Gor
-Hajus was with me and pointed out several places
-where we might hide with little likelihood of discovery
-unless it were suspected that we might be aboard, and
-that of course constituted a very real danger; so much
-so that I had about decided to risk all aboard the small
-flier, which Gor Hajus assured me would be the fastest
-of the three, when Dar Tarus stuck his head into the
-ship and motioned me to come quickly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is someone about,” he said when I reached
-his side.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Where?” I demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come,” he said, and led me to the rear of the
-hangar, which was flush with the wall of the building
-upon which it stood, and pointed through one of the
-windows into the inner garden where, to my consternation,
-I saw Ras Thavas walking slowly to and fro. For
-an instant I was sick with despair, for I knew that no
-ship could leave that roof unseen while anyone was
-abroad in the garden beneath, and Ras Thavas least
-of all people in the world; but suddenly a great light
-dawned upon me. I called the three close to me and
-explained my plan.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Instantly they grasped the possibilities in it and a
-moment later we had run the small flier out upon the
-roof and turned her nose toward the east, away from
-Toonol. Then Gor Hajus entered her, set the various
-controls as we had decided, opened the throttle, slipped
-back to the roof. The four of us hastened into the hangar
-and ran to the rear window where we saw the ship
-moving slowly and gracefully out over the garden and
-the head of Ras Thavas, whose ears must instantly have
-caught the faint purring of the motor, for he was looking
-up by the time we reached the window.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Instantly he hailed the ship and stepping back from
-the window that he might not see me I answered:
-“Good-bye, Ras Thavas! It is I, Vad Varo, going out
-into a strange world to see what it is like. I shall return.
-The spirits of your ancestors be with you until
-then.” That was a phrase I had picked up from reading
-in Ras Thavas’ library and I was quite proud of
-it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come back at once,” he shouted up in reply, “or
-you will be with the spirits of your own ancestors before
-another day is done.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I made no reply. The ship was now at such a distance
-that I feared my voice might no longer seem to
-come from it and that we should be discovered. Without
-more delay we concealed ourselves aboard one of the
-remaining fliers, that upon which no work was being
-done, and there commenced as long and tiresome a period
-of waiting as I can recall ever having passed
-through.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I had at last given up any hope of the ship’s being
-flown that day when I heard voices in the hangar, and
-presently the sound of footsteps aboard the flier. A moment
-later a few commands were given and almost
-immediately the ship moved slowly out into the open.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The four of us were crowded into a small compartment
-built into a tiny space between the forward and
-aft starboard buoyancy tanks. It was very dark and
-poorly ventilated, having evidently been designed as a
-storage closet to utilize otherwise waste space. We dared
-not converse for fear of attracting attention to our presence,
-and for the same reason we moved about as little
-as possible, since we had no means of knowing but
-that some member of the crew might be just beyond
-the thin door that separated us from the main cabin of
-the ship. Altogether we were most uncomfortable; but
-the distance to Toonol is not so great but that we
-might hope that our situation would soon be changed—at
-least if Toonol was to be the destination of the
-ship. Of this we soon had cheering hope. We had been
-out but a short time when, faintly, we heard a hail
-and then the motors were immediately shut down and
-the ship stopped.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What ship?” we heard a voice demand, and from
-aboard our own came the reply:</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Vosar, Tower of Thavas for Toonol.” We heard
-a scraping as the other ship touched ours.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We are coming aboard to search you in the name
-of Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol. Make way!” shouted
-one from the other ship. Our cheer had been of short
-duration. We heard the shuffling of many feet and Gor
-Hajus whispered in my ear.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What shall we do?” he asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I slipped my short-sword into his hand. “Fight!” I
-replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good, Vad Varo,” he replied, and then I handed
-him my pistol and told him to pass it on to Dar Tarus.
-We heard the voices again, but nearer now.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What ho!” cried one. “It is Bal Zak himself, my old
-friend Bal Zak!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“None other,” replied a deep voice. “And whom did
-you expect to find in command of the Vosar other
-than Bal Zak?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who could know but that it might have been this
-Vad Varo himself, or even Gor Hajus,” said the other,
-“and our orders are to search all ships.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I would that they were here,” replied Bal Zak, “for
-the reward is high. But how could they, when Ras
-Thavas himself with his own eyes saw them fly off in
-the Pinsar before dawn this day and disappear in the
-east?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Right you are, Bal Zak,” agreed the other, “and it
-were a waste of time to search your ship. Come men!
-to our own!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I could feel the muscles about my heart relax with
-the receding footfalls of Vobis Kan’s warriors as they
-quitted the deck of the Vosar for their own ship, and
-my spirits rose with the renewed purring of our own
-motor as Ras Thavas’ flier again got under way. Gor
-Hajus bent his lips close to my ear.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The spirits of our ancestors smile upon us,” he whispered.
-“It is night and the darkness will aid in covering
-our escape from the ship and the landing stage.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What makes you think it is night?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Vobis Kan’s ship was close by when it hailed and
-asked our name. By daylight it could have seen what
-ship we were.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He was right. We had been locked in that stuffy hole
-since before dawn, and while I had thought that it had
-been for a considerable time, I also had realized that the
-darkness and the inaction and the nervous strain would
-tend to make it seem much longer than it really had
-been; so that I would not have been greatly surprised
-had we made Toonol by daylight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The distance from the Tower of Thavas to Toonol is
-inconsiderable, so that shortly after Vobis Kan’s ship had
-spoken to us we came to rest upon the landing stage at
-our destination. For a long time we waited, listening to
-the sounds of movement aboard the ship and wondering,
-upon my part at least, as to what the intentions of the
-captain might be. It was quite possible that Bal Zak
-might return to Thavas this same night, especially if he
-had come to Toonol to fetch a rich or powerful patient
-to the laboratories; but if he had come only for supplies
-he might well lie here until the morrow. This much
-I had learned from Gor Hajus, my own knowledge of the
-movements of the fliers of Ras Thavas being considerably
-less than nothing; for, though I had been months a
-lieutenant of the master surgeon, I had learned only the
-day before of the existence of his small fleet, it being
-according to the policy of Ras Thavas to tell me nothing
-unless the telling of it coincided with and furthered his
-own plans.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Questions which I asked he always answered, if he
-reasoned that the effects would not be harmful to his
-own interests, but he volunteered nothing that he did not
-particularly wish me to know; and the fact that there
-were no windows in the outside walls of the building facing
-towards Toonol, that I had never before the previous
-day been upon the roof and that I never had seen a ship
-sail over the inner court towards the east all tended to
-explain my ignorance of the fleet and its customary operations.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We waited quietly until silence fell upon the ship, betokening
-either that the crew had retired for the night or
-that they had gone down into the city. Then, after a
-whispered consultation with Gor Hajus, we decided to
-make an attempt to leave the flier. It was our purpose to
-seek a hiding place within the tower of the landing stage
-from which we might investigate possible avenues of
-escape into the city, either at once or upon the morrow
-when we might more easily mix with the crowd that
-Gor Hajus said would certainly be in evidence from a few
-hours after sunrise.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Cautiously I opened the door of our closet and looked
-into the main cabin beyond. It lay in darkness. Silently
-we filed out. The silence of the tomb lay upon the flier,
-but from far below arose the subdued noises of the city.
-So far, so good! Then, without sound, without warning, a
-burst of brilliant light illuminated the interior of the
-cabin. I felt my fingers tighten upon my sword-hilt as I
-glanced quickly about.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Directly opposite us, in the narrow doorway of a small
-cabin, stood a tall man whose handsome harness betokened
-the fact that he was no common warrior. In
-either hand he held a heavy Barsoomian pistol, into the
-muzzles of which we found ourselves staring.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='81' id='Page_81'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER VIII<br/> HANDS UP!</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>In</span> quiet tones he spoke the words of the Barsoomian
-equivalent of our Earthly <span class='it'>hands up!</span> The shadow of a grim
-smile touched his lips, and as he saw us hesitate to obey
-his commands he spoke again.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do as I tell you and you will be well off. Keep perfect
-silence. A raised voice may spell your doom; a pistol
-shot most assuredly.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus raised his hands above his head and we
-others followed his example.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am Bal Zak,” announced the stranger. My heart
-slumped.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then you had better commence firing,” said Gor
-Hajus, “for you will not take us alive and we are four to
-one.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not so fast, Gor Hajus,” admonished the captain
-of the Vosar, “until you learn what is in my mind.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That, we already know for we heard you speak of the
-large reward that awaited the captor of Vad Varo and Gor
-Hajus,” snapped the assassin of Toonol.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Had I craved that reward so much I could have turned
-you over to the dwar of Vobis Kan’s ship when he
-boarded us,” said Bal Zak.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You did not know we were aboard the Vosar,” I
-reminded him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, but I did.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus snorted his disbelief.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How then,” Bal Zak reminded us, “was I able to be
-ready upon this very spot when you emerged from your
-hiding place? Yes, I knew that you were aboard.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But how?” demanded Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is immaterial,” replied Bal Zak, “but to satisfy
-your natural curiosity I will tell you that I have quarters
-in a small room in the Tower of Thavas, my windows
-overlook the roof and the hangar. My long life spent
-aboard fliers has made me very sensitive to every sound
-of a ship—motors changing their speed will awaken me in
-the dead of night, as quickly as will their starting or their
-stopping. I was awakened by the starting of the motors of
-the Pinsar; I saw three of you upon the roof and the
-fourth drop from the deck of the flier as she started and
-my judgment told me that the ship was being sent out
-unmanned for some reason of which I had no knowledge.
-It was too late for me to prevent the act and so I waited
-in silence to learn what would follow. I saw you hasten
-into the hangar and I heard Ras Thavas’ hail and your
-reply, and then I saw you board the Vosar. Immediately I
-descended to the roof and ran noiselessly to the hangar,
-apprehending that you intended making away with this
-ship; but there was no one about the controls; and from
-a tiny port in the control room, through which one has a
-view of the main cabin, I saw you enter the closet. I
-was at once convinced that your only purpose was to
-stow away for Toonol and consequently, aside from
-keeping an eye upon your hiding place, I went about my
-business as usual.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And you did not advise Ras Thavas?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I advised no one,” he replied. “Years ago I learned to
-mind my own business, to see all, to hear all and to tell
-nothing unless it profited me to do so.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But you said that the reward is high for our apprehension,”
-Gor Hajus reminded him. “Would it not be
-profitable to collect it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are in the breasts of honourable men,” replied
-Bal Zak, “forces that rise superior to the lust for
-gold, and while Toonolians are supposedly a people free
-from the withering influences of sentiment yet I for one
-am not totally unconscious of the demand of gratitude.
-Six years ago, Gor Hajus, you refused to assassinate
-my father, holding that he was a good man, worthy to
-live and one that had once befriended you slightly.
-To-day, through his son, you reap your reward and in
-some measure are repaid for the punishment that was
-meted out to you by Vobis Kan because of your refusal
-to slay the sire of Bal Zak. I have sent my crew
-away that none aboard the Vosar but myself might have
-knowledge of your presence. Tell me your plans and
-command me in what way I may be of further service to
-you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We wish to reach the streets, unobserved,” replied Gor
-Hajus. “Can you but help us in that we shall not put
-upon your shoulders further responsibility for our escape.
-You have our gratitude and in Toonol, I need not remind
-you, the gratitude of Gor Hajus is a possession that
-even the Jeddak has craved.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Your problem is complicated,” said Bal Zak, after a
-moment of thought, “by the personnel of your party. The
-ape would immediately attract attention and arouse suspicion.
-Knowing much of Ras Thavas’ experiments I realized
-at once this morning, after watching him with you,
-that he had the brain of a man; but this very fact would
-attract to him and to you the closer attention of the
-masses.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not need acquaint them with the fact,” growled
-Hovan Du. “To them I need be but a captive ape. Are
-such unknown in Toonol?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not entirely, though they are rare,” replied Bal Zak.
-“But there is also the white skin of Vad Varo! Ras Thavas
-appears to have known nothing of the presence of the
-ape with you; but he full well knew of Vad Varo, and
-your description has been spread by every means at his
-command. You would be recognized immediately by the
-first Toonolian that lays eyes upon you, and then there
-is Gor Hajus. He has been as dead for six years, yet I
-venture there is scarce a Toonolian that broke the shell
-prior to ten years ago who does not know the face of
-Gor Hajus as well as he knows that of his own mother.
-The Jeddak himself was not better known to the people
-of Toonol than Gor Hajus. That leaves but one who
-might possibly escape suspicion and detection in the
-streets of Toonol.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If we could but obtain weapons for these others,” I
-suggested, “we might even yet reach the house of Gor
-Hajus’ friend.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Fight your way through the city of Toonol?” demanded
-Bal Zak.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If there is no other way we should have to,” I replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I admire the will,” commented the commander of the
-Vosar, “but fear that the flesh is without sufficient
-strength. Wait! there is a way—perhaps. On the stage
-just below this there is a public depot where equilibrimotors
-are kept and rented. Could we find the means to
-obtain four of these there would be a chance, at least,
-for you to elude the air patrols and reach the house of
-Gor Hajus’ friend; and I think I see a way to the accomplishment
-of that. The landing tower is closed for
-the night but there are several watchmen distributed
-through it at different levels. There is one at the equilibrimotor
-depot and, as I happen to know, he is a devotee of
-jetan. He would rather play jetan than attend to his
-duties as watchman. I often remain aboard the Vosar at
-night and occasionally he and I indulge in a game. I will
-ask him up to-night and while he is thus engaged you
-may go to the depot, help yourselves to equilibrimotors
-and pray to your ancestors that no air patrol suspects
-you as you cross the city towards your destination. What
-think you of this plan, Gor Hajus?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is splendid,” replied the assassin. “And you, Vad
-Varo?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If I knew what an equilibrimotor is I might be in a
-better position to judge the merits of the plan,” I replied.
-“However, I am satisfied to abide by the judgment
-of Gor Hajus. I can assure you, Bal Zak, of our great
-appreciation, and as Gor Hajus has put the stamp of his
-approval upon your plan I can only urge you to arrange
-that we may put it into effect with as little delay as possible.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good!” exclaimed Bal Zak. “Come with me and I
-will conceal you until I have lured the watchman to the
-jetan game within my cabin. After that your fate will be
-in your own hands.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We followed him from the ship on to the deck of
-the landing stage and close under the side of the Vosar
-opposite that from which the watchman must approach
-the ship and enter it. Then, bidding us good luck, Bal Zak
-departed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From the summit of the landing tower I had my first
-view of a Martian city. Several hundred feet below me
-lay spread the broad, well-lighted avenues of Toonol,
-many of which were crowded with people. Here and
-there, in this central district, a building was raised high
-upon its supporting, cylindrical metal shaft; while further
-out, where the residences predominated, the city
-took on the appearance of a colossal and grotesque forest.
-Among the larger palaces only an occasional suite
-of rooms was thus raised high above the level of the
-others, these being the sleeping apartments of the owners,
-their servants or their guests; but the smaller homes were
-raised in their entirety, a precaution necessitated by the
-constant activities of the followers of Gor Hajus’ ancient
-profession that permitted no man to be free from the
-constant menace of assassination. Throughout the central
-district the sky was pierced by the lofty towers of
-several other landing stages; but, as I was later to learn,
-these were comparatively few in number. Toonol is in no
-sense a flying nation, supporting no such enormous fleets
-of merchant ships and vessels of war as, for example, the
-twin cities of Helium or the great capital of Ptarth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A peculiar feature of the street lighting of Toonol, and
-in fact the same condition applies to the lighting of
-other Barsoomian cities I have visited, I noted for the first
-time that night as I waited upon the landing stage for the
-return of Bal Zak with the watchman. The luminosity
-below me seemed confined directly to the area to be
-lighted; there was no diffusion of light upward or beyond
-the limits the lamps were designed to light. This was
-effected, I was told, by lamps designed upon principles
-resulting from ages of investigation of the properties of
-light waves and the laws governing them which permit
-Barsoomian scientists to confine and control light as we
-confine and control matter. The light waves leave the
-lamp, pass along a prescribed circuit and return to the
-lamp. There is no waste nor, strange this seemed to me,
-are there any dense shadows when lights are properly
-installed and adjusted; for the waves in passing around
-objects to return to the lamp, illuminate all sides of
-them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The effect of this lighting from the great height of the
-tower was rather remarkable. The night was dark, there
-being no moons at that hour upon this night, and the
-effect was that obtained when sitting in a darkened auditorium
-and looking upon a brilliantly lighted stage. I
-was still intent upon watching the life and colour beneath
-when we heard Bal Zak returning. That he had been successful
-in his mission was apparent from the fact that
-he was conversing with another.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Five minutes later we crept quietly from our hiding
-place and descended to the stage below where lay the
-equilibrimotor depot. As theft is practically unknown
-upon Barsoom, except for purposes entirely disassociated
-from a desire to obtain pecuniary profit through the thing
-stolen, no precautions are taken against theft. We therefore
-found the doors of the depot open and Gor Hajus
-and Dar Tarus quickly selected four equilibrimotors and
-adjusted them upon us. They consist of a broad belt,
-not unlike the life belt used aboard trans-oceanic liners
-upon Earth; these belts are filled with the eighth Barsoomian
-ray, or ray of propulsion, to a sufficient degree
-to just about equalize the pull of gravity and thus
-to maintain a person in equilibrium between that force
-and the opposite force exerted by the eighth ray. Permanently
-attached to the back of the belt is a small
-radium motor, the controls for which are upon the front
-of the belt. Rigidly attached to and projecting from
-each side of the upper rim of the belt is a strong, light
-wing with small hand levers for quickly altering its
-position.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus quickly explained the method of control,
-but I could apprehend that there might be embarrassment
-and trouble awaiting me before I mastered the art of
-flying in an equilibrimotor. He showed me how to tilt
-the wings downward in walking so that I would not
-leave the ground at every step, and thus he led me to
-the edge of the landing stage.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We will rise here,” he said, “and keeping in the darkness
-of the upper levels seek to reach the house of my
-friend without being detected. If we are pursued by air
-patrols we must separate; and later those who escape
-may gather just west of the city wall where you will
-find a small lake with a deserted tower upon its northern
-rim—this tower will be our rendezvous in event of trouble.
-Follow me!” He started his motor and rose gracefully
-into the air.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Hovan Du followed him and then it was my turn. I
-rose beautifully for about twenty feet, floating out over
-the city which lay hundreds of feet below, and then, quite
-suddenly, I turned upside down. I had done something
-wrong—I was quite positive of it. It was a most startling
-sensation, I can assure you, floating there with my head
-down, quite helpless; while below me lay the streets of a
-great city and no softer, I was sure, than the streets of
-Los Angeles or Paris. My motor was still going, and
-as I manipulated the controls which operated the wings
-I commenced to describe all sorts of strange loops and
-spirals and spins; and then Dar Tarus came to my rescue.
-First he told me to lie quietly and then directed the
-manipulation of each wing until I had gained an upright
-position. After that I did fairly well and was soon rising
-in the wake of Gor Hajus and Hovan Du.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I need not describe in detail the hour of flying, or
-rather floating, that ensued. Gor Hajus led us to a considerable
-altitude and there, through the darkness above
-the city, our slow motors drove us towards a district of
-magnificent homes surrounded by spacious grounds; and
-here, as we hovered over a large palace, we were suddenly
-startled by a sharp challenge coming from directly
-above us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who flies by night?” a voice demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Friends of Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan,” replied
-Gor Hajus quickly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Let me see your night flying permit and your flier’s
-licence,” ordered the one above us, at the same time
-swooping suddenly to our level and giving me my first
-sight of a Martian policeman. He was equipped with a
-much swifter and handier equilibrimotor than ours. I
-think that was the first fact to impress us deeply, and it
-demonstrated the futility of flight; for he could have
-given us ten minutes start and overhauled each of us
-within another ten minutes, even though we had elected
-to fly in different directions. The fellow was a warrior
-rather than a policeman, though detailed to duty such
-as our Earthly police officers perform; the city being
-patrolled both day and night by the warriors of Vobis
-Kan’s army.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He dropped now close to the assassin of Toonol, again
-demanding permit and license and at the same time
-flashing a light in the face of my comrade.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By the sword of the Jeddak!” he cried. “Fortune
-heaps her favors upon me. Who would have thought an
-hour since that it would be I who would collect the reward
-for the capture of Gor Hajus?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Any other fool might have thought it,” returned Gor
-Hajus, “but he would have been as wrong as you,” and as
-he spoke he struck with the short-sword I had loaned
-him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The blow was broken by the wing of the warrior’s
-equilibrimotor, which it demolished, yet it inflicted a
-severe wound in the fellow’s shoulder. He tried to back
-off, but the damaged wing caused him only to wheel
-around erratically; and then he seized upon his whistle
-and attempted to blow a mighty blast that was cut short
-by another blow from Gor Hajus’ sword that split the
-man’s head open to the bridge of his nose.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Quick!” cried the assassin. “We must drop into the
-gardens of Mu Tel, for that signal will bring a swarm
-of air patrols about our heads.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The others I saw falling rapidly towards the ground,
-but again I had trouble. Depress my wings as I would I
-moved only slightly downward and upon a path that, if
-continued, would have landed me at a considerable distance
-from the gardens of Mu Tel. I was approaching
-one of the elevated portions of the palace, what appeared
-to be a small suite that was raised upon its
-shining metal shaft far above the ground. From all directions
-I could hear the screaming whistles of the air
-patrols answering the last call of their comrade whose
-corpse floated just above me, a guide even in death to
-point the way for his fellows to search us out. They were
-sure to discover him and then I would be in plain view
-of them and my fate sealed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Perhaps I could find ingress to the apartment looming
-darkly near! There I might hide until the danger
-had passed, provided I could enter, undetected. I directed
-my course towards the structure; an open window
-took form through the darkness and then I collided
-with a fine wire netting—I had run into a protecting
-curtain that fends off assassins of the air from these high-flung
-sleeping apartments. I felt that I was lost. If I
-could but reach the ground I might find concealment
-among the trees and shrubbery that I had seen vaguely
-outlined beneath me in the gardens of this Barsoomian
-prince; but I could not drop at a sufficient angle to
-bring me to ground within the garden, and when I tried
-to spiral down I turned over and started up again. I
-thought of ripping open my belt and letting the eighth
-ray escape; but in my unfamiliarity with this strange
-force I feared that such an act might precipitate me to
-the ground with too great violence, though I was
-determined to have recourse to it as a last alternative
-if nothing less drastic presented itself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In my last attempt to spiral downward I rose rapidly
-feet foremost to a sudden and surprising collision with
-some object above me. As I frantically righted myself,
-fully expecting to be immediately seized by a member of
-the air patrol, I found myself face to face with the corpse
-of the warrior Gor Hajus had slain. The whistling of
-the air patrols sounded ever nearer—it could be only a
-question of seconds now before I was discovered—and
-with the stern necessity that confronted me, with death
-looking me in the face, there burst upon me a possible
-avenue of escape from my dilemma.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Seizing tightly with my left hand the harness of the
-dead Toonolian, I whipped out my dagger and slashed
-his buoyancy belt a dozen times. Instantly, as the rays
-escaped, his body started to drag me downward. Our
-descent was rapid, but not precipitate, and it was but a
-matter of seconds before we landed gently upon the
-scarlet sward of the gardens of Mu Tel, Prince of the
-House of Kan, close beside a clump of heavy shrubbery.
-Above me sounded the whistles of the circling patrols as
-I dragged the corpse of the warrior into the concealing
-depth of the foliage. Nor was I an instant too soon for
-safety, as almost immediately the brilliant rays of a
-searchlight shot downward from the deck of a small patrol
-ship, illuminating the open spaces of the garden all about
-me. A hurried glance through the branches and the leaves
-of my sanctuary revealed nothing of my companions
-and I breathed a sigh of relief in the thought that they,
-too, had found concealment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The light played for a short time about the gardens and
-then passed on, as did the sound of the patrol’s whistles,
-as the search proceeded elsewhere; thus giving me the
-assurance that no suspicion was directed upon our hiding
-place.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Left in darkness I appropriated such of the weapons of
-the dead warrior as I coveted, after having removed my
-equilibrimotor, which I was first minded to destroy, but
-which I finally decided to moor to one of the larger
-shrubs against the possibility that I might again have need
-for it; and now, secure in the conviction that the danger
-of discovery by the air patrol had passed, I left my concealment
-and started in search of my companions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Keeping well in the shadows of the trees and shrubs
-I moved in the direction of the main building, which
-loomed darkly near at hand; for in this direction I believed
-Gor Hajus would lead the others as I knew that
-the palace of Mu Tel was to have been our destination.
-As I crept along, moving with utmost stealth, Thuria, the
-nearer moon, shot suddenly above the horizon, illuminating
-the night with her brilliant rays. I was close to
-the building’s ornately carved wall at the moment; beside
-me was a narrow niche, its interior cast in deepest
-shadow by Thuria’s brilliant rays; to my left was an
-open bit of lawn upon which, revealed in every detail of
-its terrifying presence, stood as fearsome a creature as
-my Earthly eyes ever had rested upon. It was a beast
-about the size of a Shetland pony, with ten short legs
-and a terrifying head that bore some slight resemblance
-to that of a frog, except that the jaws were equipped
-with three rows of long, sharp tusks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The thing had its nose in the air and was sniffing
-about, while its great pop eyes moved swiftly here and
-there, assuring me, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that
-it was searching for someone. I am not inclined to be
-egotistical, yet I could not avoid the conviction that it
-was searching for me. It was my first experience of a
-Martian watch dog; and as I sought concealment within
-the dark shadows of the niche behind me, at the very
-instant that the creature’s eyes alighted upon me, and
-heard his growl and saw him charge straight towards
-me, I had a premonition that it might prove my last experience
-with one.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I drew my long-sword as I backed into the niche, but
-with a sense of the utter inadequacy of the unaccustomed
-weapon in the face of this three or four hundred pounds
-of ferocity incarnate. Slowly I backed away into the
-shadows as the creature bore down upon me and then,
-as it entered the niche, my back collided with a solid
-obstacle that put an end to further retreat.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='92' id='Page_92'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER IX<br/> THE PALACE OF MU TEL</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>As</span> the calot entered the niche I experienced, I believe,
-all of the reactions of the cornered rat, and I certainly
-know that I set myself to fight in that proverbial manner.
-The beast was almost upon me and I was metaphorically
-kicking myself for not having remained in the open
-where there were many tall trees when the support at my
-back suddenly gave way, a hand reached out of the darkness
-behind me and seized my harness and I was drawn
-swiftly into inky blackness. A door slammed and the
-silhouette of the calot against the moonlit entrance to
-the niche was blotted out.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A gruff voice spoke in my ear. “Come with me!” it
-said. A hand found mine and thus I was led along
-through the darkness of what I soon discovered was a
-narrow corridor from the constantly recurring collisions
-I had first with one side of it and then with the other.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Ascending gradually, the corridor turned abruptly at
-right angles and I saw beyond my guide a dim luminosity
-that gradually increased until another turn brought us to
-the threshold of a brilliantly lighted chamber—a magnificent
-apartment, the gorgeous furnishings and decorations
-of which beggar the meagre descriptive powers of
-my native tongue. Gold, ivory, precious stones, marvelous
-woods, resplendent fabrics, gorgeous furs and startling
-architecture combined to impress upon my earthly
-vision such a picture as I had never even dreamed of
-dreaming; and in the center of this room, surrounded by
-a little group of Martians, were my three companions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My guide conducted me towards the party, the members
-of which had turned towards us as we entered the
-chamber, and stopped before a tall Barsoomian, resplendent
-in jewel encrusted harness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Prince,” he said, “I was scarce a tal too soon. In
-fact, as I opened the door to step out into the garden in
-search of him, as you directed, there he was upon the
-opposite side with one of the calots of the garden almost
-upon him.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good!” exclaimed he who had been addressed as
-prince, and then he turned to Gor Hajus. “This is he, my
-friend, of whom you told me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This is Vad Varo, who claims to be from the planet
-Jasoom,” replied Gor Hajus; “and this, Vad Varo, is
-Mu Tel, Prince of the House of Kan.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I bowed and the prince advanced and placed his right
-hand upon my left shoulder in true Barsoomian acknowledgment
-of an introduction; when I had done similarly,
-the ceremony was over. There was no silly pleased-to-meet-you,
-how-do-you-do? or it’s-a-pleasure-I-assure-you.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At Mu Tel’s request I narrated briefly what had befallen
-me between the time I had become separated from
-my companions and the moment that one of his officers
-had snatched me from impending disaster. Mu Tel gave
-instructions that all traces of the dead patrol be removed
-before dawn lest their discovery bring upon him the further
-suspicion of his uncle, Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol,
-whom it seemed had long been jealous of his nephew’s
-growing popularity and fearful that he harbored aspirations
-for the throne.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was later in the evening, during one of those elaborate
-meals for which the princes of Barsoom are justly
-famous, when mellowed slightly by the rare vintages
-with which he delighted his guests, that Mu Tel discoursed
-with less restraint upon his imperial uncle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The nobles have long been tired of Vobis Kan,” he
-said, “and the people are tiring of him—he is a conscienceless
-tyrant—but he is our hereditary ruler, and so
-they hesitate to change. We are a practical people, little
-influenced by sentiment; yet there is enough to keep the
-masses loyal to their Jeddak even after he has ceased to
-deserve their loyalty, while the fear of the wrath of the
-masses keeps the nobles loyal. There is also the natural
-suspicion that I, the next in line for succession, would
-make them no less tyrannical a Jeddak than has Vobis
-Kan, while, having youth, I might be much more active in
-cruel and nefarious practices.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“For myself, I would not hesitate to destroy my uncle
-and seize his throne were I sure of the support of the
-army, for with the warriors of Vobis Kan at my back I
-might defy the balance of Toonol. It is because of this
-that I long since offered my friendship to Gor Hajus; not
-that he might slay my uncle, but that when I had slain
-him in fair fight Gor Hajus might win to me the loyalty
-of the Jeddak’s warriors, for great is the popularity of Gor
-Hajus among the soldiers, who ever look up to such a
-great fighter with reverence and devotion. I have offered
-Gor Hajus a high place in the affairs of Toonol should
-he cast his lot with me; but he tells me that he has first
-to fulfil his obligations to you, Vad Varo, and for the
-furtherance of your adventure he has asked me to give
-you what assistance I may. This I offer gladly, from
-purely practical motives, since your early success will
-hasten mine. Therefore I propose to place at your disposal
-a staunch flier that will carry you and your companions
-to Phundahl.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This offer I naturally accepted, after which we fell to
-discussing plans for our departure which we finally decided
-to attempt early the following night, at a time
-when neither of the moons would be in the heavens.
-After a brief discussion of equipment we were, at my
-request, permitted to retire since I had not slept for
-more than thirty-six hours and my companions for
-twenty-four.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Slaves conducted us to our sleeping apartments, which
-were luxuriously furnished, and arranged magnificent
-sleeping silks and furs for our comfort. After they had
-left us Gor Hajus touched a button and the room rose
-swiftly upon its metal shaft to a height of forty or fifty
-feet; the wire netting automatically dropped about us,
-and we were safe for the night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The following morning, after our apartment had been
-lowered to its daylight level and before I was permitted
-to leave it, a slave was sent to me by Mu Tel with instructions
-to stain my entire body the beautiful copper-red
-of my Barsoomian friends; furnishing me with a disguise
-which I well knew to be highly essential to the success
-of my venture, since my white skin would have
-drawn unpleasant notice upon me in any city of Barsoom.
-Another slave brought harness and weapons for
-Gor Hajus, Dar Tarus and myself, and a collar and chain
-for Hovan Du, the ape-man. Our harness, while of heavy
-material, and splendid workmanship, was quite plain, being
-free of all insignia either of rank or service—such
-harness as is customarily worn by the Barsoomian panthan,
-or soldier of fortune, at such times as he is not
-definitely in the service of any nation or individual.
-These panthans are virtually men without a country,
-being roving mercenaries ready to sell their swords to
-the highest bidder. Although they have no organization
-they are ruled by a severe code of ethics and while in the
-employ of a master are, almost without exception, loyal
-to him. They are generally supposed to be men who have
-flown from the wrath of their own Jeddaks or the justice
-of their own courts, but there is among them a sprinkling
-of adventurous souls who have adopted their calling because
-of the thrills and excitement it offers. While they
-are well paid, they are also great gamblers and notorious
-spenders, with the result that they are almost always
-without funds and often reduced to strange expedients
-for the gaining of their livelihood between engagements;
-a fact which gave great plausibility to our possession of
-a trained ape, which upon Mars would appear no more
-remarkable than would to us the possession of a monkey
-or parrot by an old salt just returned, from a long cruise,
-to one of our Earthly ports.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This day that I stayed in the palace of Mu Tel I spent
-much in the company of the prince, who found pleasure
-in questioning me concerning the customs, the politics,
-the civilization and the geography of Earth, with much of
-which, I was surprised to note, he seemed quite familiar;
-a fact which he explained was due to the marvelous development
-of Barsoomian astronomical instruments,
-wireless photography and wireless telephony; the last of
-which has been brought to such a state of perfection that
-many Barsoomian savants have succeeded in learning
-several Earthly languages, notably Urdu, English and
-Russian, and, a few, Chinese also. These have doubtless
-been the first languages to attract their attention because
-of the fact that they are spoken by great numbers of
-people over large areas of the world.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mu Tel took me to a small auditorium in his palace
-that reminded me somewhat of private projection rooms
-on Earth. It had, I should say, a capacity of some two
-hundred persons and was built like a large camera obscura;
-the audience sitting within the instrument, their
-backs towards the lens and in front of them, filling one
-entire end of the room, a large ground glass upon which
-is thrown the image to be observed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mu Tel seated himself at a table upon which was a
-chart of the heavens. Just above the chart was a movable
-arm carrying a pointer. This pointer Mu Tel moved until
-it rested upon the planet Earth, then he switched off the
-light in the room and immediately there appeared upon
-the ground glass plate a view such as one might obtain
-from an airplane riding at an elevation of a thousand
-feet. There was something strangely familiar about the
-scene before me. It was of a desolate, wasted country.
-I saw shattered stumps whose orderly arrangement proclaimed
-that here once an orchard had blossomed and
-borne fruit. There were great, unsightly holes in the
-earth and over and across all a tangle of barbed wire. I
-asked Mu Tel how we might change the picture to another
-locality. He lighted a small radio bulb between us
-and I saw a globe there, a globe of Earth, and a small
-pointer fixed over it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The side of this globe now presented to you represents
-the face of the Earth turned towards us,” explained
-Mu Tel. “You will note that the globe is slowly revolving.
-Place this pointer where you will upon the globe
-and that portion of Jasoom will be revealed for you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I moved the pointer very slowly and the picture
-changed. A ruined village came into view. I saw some
-people moving among its ruins. They were not soldiers.
-A little further on I came upon trenches and dug-outs—there
-were no soldiers here, either. I moved the pointer
-rapidly north and south along a vast line of trenches.
-Here and there in villages there were soldiers, but they
-were all French soldiers and never were they in the
-trenches. There were no German soldiers and no fighting.
-The war was over, then! I moved the pointer to the
-Rhine and across. There were soldiers in Germany—French
-soldiers, English soldiers, American soldiers. We
-had won the war! I was glad, but it seemed very far
-away and quite unreal—as though no such world existed
-and no such peoples had ever fought—it was as
-though I were recalling through its illustrations a novel
-that I had read a long time since.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You seem much interested in that war torn country,”
-remarked Mu Tel.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” I explained, “I fought in that war. Perhaps I
-was killed. I do not know.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And you won?” he asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, my people won,” I replied. “We fought for a
-great principle and for the peace and happiness of a
-world. I hope that we did not fight in vain.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If you mean that you hope that your principle will
-triumph because you fought and won, or that peace
-will come, your hopes are futile. War never brought
-peace—it but brings more and greater wars. War is Nature’s
-natural state—it is folly to combat it. Peace should
-be considered only as a time for preparation for the
-principal business of man’s existence. Were it not for
-constant warring of one form of life upon another, and
-even upon itself, the planets would be so overrun with
-life that it would smother itself out. We found upon
-Barsoom that long periods of peace brought plagues and
-terrible diseases that killed more than the wars killed
-and in a much more hideous and painful way. There is
-neither pleasure nor thrill nor reward of any sort to be
-gained by dying in bed of a loathsome disease. We must
-all die—let us therefore go out and die in a great and
-exciting game, and make room for the millions who are
-to follow us. We have tried it out upon Barsoom and we
-would not be without war.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Mu Tel told me much that day about the peculiar philosophy
-of Toonolians. They believe that no good deed
-was ever performed except for a selfish motive; they
-have no god and no religion; they believe, as do all educated
-Barsoomians, that man came originally from the
-Tree of Life, but unlike most of their fellows they do
-not believe that an omnipotent being created the Tree of
-Life. They hold that the only sin is failure—success,
-however achieved, is meritorious; and yet, paradoxical
-as it may seem, they never break their given word. Mu
-Tel explained that they overcame the baneful results of
-this degrading weakness—this sentimental bosh—by seldom,
-if ever, binding themselves to loyalty to another,
-and then only for a definitely prescribed period.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As I came to know them better, and especially Gor
-Hajus, I began to realize that much of their flaunted
-contempt of the finer sensibilities was specious. It is true
-that generations of inhibition had to some extent atrophied
-those characteristics of heart and soul which the
-noblest among us so highly esteem; that friendship’s ties
-were lax and that blood kinship awakened no high sense
-of responsibility or love even between parents and children;
-yet Gor Hajus was essentially a man of sentiment,
-though he would doubtless have run through the heart
-any who had dared accuse him of it, thus perfectly proving
-the truth of the other’s accusation. His pride in his
-reputation for integrity and loyalty proved him a man of
-heart as truly as did his jealousy of his reputation for
-heartlessness prove him a man of sentiment; and in all
-this he was but typical of the people of Toonol. They
-denied deity, and in the same breath worshiped the fetish
-of science that they had permitted to obsess them quite
-as harmfully as do religious fanatics accept the unreasoning
-rule of their imaginary gods; and so, with all their
-vaunted knowledge, they were unintelligent because unbalanced.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As the day drew to a close I became the more anxious
-to be away. Far to the west across desolate leagues
-of marsh lay Phundahl, and in Phundahl the beauteous
-body of the girl I loved and that I was sworn to restore
-to its rightful owner. The evening meal was over and
-Mu Tel himself had conducted us to a secret hangar in
-one of the towers of his palace. Here artisans had prepared
-a flier for us, having removed during the day all
-signs of its real ownership, even to slightly altering its
-lines; so that in the event of capture Mu Tel’s name
-might in no way be connected with the expedition. Provisions
-were stored, including plenty of raw meat for
-Hovan Du, and, as the farther moon sank below the horizon
-and darkness fell, a panel of the tower wall, directly
-in front of the flier’s nose, slid aside. Mu Tel
-wished us luck and the ship slipped silently out into the
-night. The flier, like many of her type, was without cockpit
-or cabin; a low, metal hand-rail surmounted her
-gunwale; heavy rings were set substantially in her deck
-and to these her crew was supposed to cling or attach
-themselves by means of their harness hooks provided
-for this and similar purposes; a low wind shield, with a
-rakish slant, afforded some protection from the wind; the
-motor and controls were all exposed, as all the space
-below decks was taken up by the buoyancy tanks. In
-this type everything is sacrificed to speed; there is no
-comfort aboard. When moving at high speed each member
-of the crew lies extended at full length upon the
-deck, each in his allotted place to give the necessary
-trim, and hangs on for dear life. These Toonolian crafts,
-however, are not overly fast, so I was told, being far
-outstripped in speed by the fliers of such nations as
-Helium and Ptarth who have for ages devoted themselves
-to the perfection of their navies; but this one was quite
-fast enough for our purposes, to the consummation of
-which it would be pitted against fliers of no higher rating,
-and it was certainly fast enough for me. In comparison
-with the slow moving Vosar, it seemed to shoot through
-the air like an arrow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We wasted no time in strategy or stealth, but opened
-her wide as soon as we were in the clear, and directed her
-straight towards the west and Phundahl. Scarcely had
-we passed over the gardens of Mu Tel when we met
-with our first adventure. We shot by a solitary figure
-floating in the air and almost simultaneously there shrilled
-forth the warning whistle of an air patrol. A shot whistled
-above us harmlessly and we were gone; but within
-a few seconds I saw the rays of a searchlight shining
-down from above and moving searchingly to and fro
-through the air.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A patrol boat!” shouted Gor Hajus in my ear. Hovan
-Du growled savagely and shook the chain upon his collar.
-We raced on, trusting to the big gods and the little
-gods and all our ancestors that the relentless eye of light
-would not find us out; but it did. Within a few seconds it
-fell full upon our deck from above and in front of us
-and there it clung as the patrol boat dropped rapidly towards
-us while it maintained a high rate of speed upon a
-course otherwise identical with ours. Then, to our consternation,
-the ship opened fire on us with explosive
-bullets. These projectiles contain a high explosive that is
-detonated by light rays when the opaque covering of the
-projectile is broken by impact with the target. It is therefore
-not at all necessary to make a direct hit for a shot
-to be effective. If the projectile strikes the ground or the
-deck of a vessel or any solid substance near its target,
-it does considerably more damage when fired at a group
-of men than if it strikes but one of them, since it will
-then explode if its outer shell is broken and kill or wound
-several; while if it enters the body of an individual the
-light rays cannot reach it and it accomplishes no more
-than a non-explosive bullet. Moonlight is not powerful
-enough to detonate this explosive and so projectiles fired
-at night, unless touched by the powerful rays of searchlights,
-detonate at sunrise the following morning, making
-a battlefield a most unsafe place at that time even
-though the contending forces are no longer there. Similarly
-they make the removal of the unexploded projectiles
-from the bodies of the wounded a most ticklish operation
-which may well result in the instant death of both
-the patient and the surgeon.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus, at the controls, turned the nose of our
-flier upward directly towards the patrol boat and at the
-same time shouted to us to concentrate our fire upon
-her propellers. For myself, I could see little but the
-blinding eye of the searchlight, and at that I fired with
-the strange weapon to which I had received my first introduction
-but a few hours since when it was presented
-to me by Mu Tel. To me that all searching eye represented
-the greatest menace that confronted us, and
-could we blind it the patrol boat would have no great
-advantage over us. So I kept my rifle straight upon it, my
-finger on the button that controlled the fire, and prayed
-for a hit.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus knelt at my side, his weapon spitting bullets
-at the patrol boat. Dar Tarus’ hands were busy with
-the controls and Hovan Du squatted in the bow and
-growled.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Suddenly Dar Tarus voiced an exclamation of alarm.
-“The controls are hit!” he shouted. “We can’t alter our
-course—the ship is useless.” Almost the same instant
-the searchlight was extinguished—one of my bullets evidently
-having found it. We were quite close to the enemy
-now and heard their shout of anger. Our own craft, out
-of control, was running swiftly towards the other. It
-seemed that if there was not a collision we would pass
-directly beneath the keel of the air patrol. I asked Dar
-Tarus if our ship was beyond repair.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We could repair it if we had time,” he replied, “but
-it would take hours and while we were thus delayed the
-whole air patrol force of Toonol would be upon us.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then we must have another ship,” I said. Dar Tarus
-laughed. “You are right, Vad Varo,” he replied, “but
-where shall we find it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I pointed to the patrol boat. “We shall not have to
-look far.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus shrugged his shoulders. “Why not!” he exclaimed.
-“It would be a glorious fight and a worthy
-death.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus slapped me on the shoulder. “To the death,
-my captain!” he cried.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Hovan Du shook his chain and roared.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The two ships were rapidly approaching one another.
-We had stopped firing now for fear that we might disable
-the craft we hoped to use for our escape; and for
-some reason the crew of the patrol ship had ceased firing
-at us—I never learned why. We were moving in a
-line that would bring us directly beneath the other ship.
-I determined to board her at all costs. I could see her
-keel boarding tackle slung beneath her, ready to be lowered
-to the deck of a quarry when once her grappling
-hooks had seized the prey. Doubtless they were already
-manning the latter, and as soon as we were beneath her
-the steel tentacles would reach down and seize us as her
-crew swarmed down the board tackle to our deck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I called Hovan Du and he crept back to my side
-where I whispered my instructions in his ear. When I
-was done he nodded his head with a low growl. I cast
-off the harness hook that held me to the deck, and the
-ape and I moved to our bow after I had issued brief,
-whispered instructions to Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus. We
-were now almost directly beneath the enemy craft; I
-could see the grappling hooks being prepared for lowering.
-Our bow ran beneath the stern of the other ship
-and the moment was at hand for which I had been waiting.
-Now those upon the deck of the patrol boat could
-not see Hovan Du or me. The boarding tackle of the
-other ship swung fifteen feet above our heads; I whispered
-a word of command to the ape and simultaneously
-we crouched and sprang for the tackle. It may sound
-like a mad chance—failure meant almost certain death—but
-I felt that if two of us could reach the deck of the
-patrol boat while her crew was busy with the grappling
-gear it would be well worth the risk.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus had assured me that there would not be
-more than six men aboard the patrol ship; that one
-would be at the controls and the others manning the
-grappling hooks. It would be a most propitious time to
-gain a footing on the enemy’s deck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Hovan Du and I made our leaps and Fortune smiled
-upon us, though the huge ape but barely reached the
-tackle with one outstretched hand, while my Earthly muscles
-carried me easily to my goal. Together we made our
-way rapidly towards the bow of the patrol craft and
-without hesitation, and as previously arranged, he clambered
-quickly up the starboard side and I the port. If I
-were the more agile jumper Hovan Du far outclassed me
-in climbing, with the result that he reached the rail and
-was clambering over while my eyes were still below the
-level of the deck, which was, perhaps, a fortunate thing
-for me since, by chance, I had elected to gain the deck
-directly at a point where, unknown to me, one of the
-crew of the ship was engaged with the grappling hooks.
-Had his eyes not been attracted elsewhere by the shout
-of one of his fellows who was first to see Hovan Du’s
-savage face rise above the gunwale, he could have dispatched
-me with a single blow before ever I could have
-set foot upon the deck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The ape had also come up directly in front of a
-Toonolian warrior and this fellow had let out a yell of
-surprise and sought to draw his sword, but the ape,
-for all his great bulk, was too quick for him; and as
-my eyes topped the rail I saw the mighty anthropoid
-seize the unfortunate man by the harness, drag him
-to the side and hurl him to destruction far below. Instantly
-we were both over the rail and squarely on deck
-while the remaining members of the craft’s crew, abandoning
-their stations, ran forward to overpower us. I
-think that the sight of the great, savage beast must have
-had a demoralizing effect upon them, for they hesitated,
-each seeming to be willing to accord his fellow the honour
-of first engaging us; but they did come on, though
-slowly. This hesitation I was delighted to see, for it
-accorded perfectly with the plan that I had worked out,
-which depended largely upon the success which might
-attend the efforts of Gor Hajus and Dar Tarus to reach
-the deck of the patrol when our craft had risen sufficiently
-close beneath the other to permit them to
-reach the boarding tackle, which we were utilizing with
-reverse English, as one might say.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus had cautioned me to dispatch the man
-at the controls as quickly as possible, since his very
-first act would be to injure them the instant that there
-appeared any possibility that we might be successful in
-our attempt to take his ship, and so I ran quickly towards
-him and before he could draw I cut him down.
-There were now four against us and we waited for them
-to advance that we might gain time for our fellows to
-reach the deck.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The four moved slowly forward and were almost within
-striking distance when I saw Gor Hajus’ head appear
-above the stern rail, quickly followed by that of Dar
-Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Look!” I cried to the enemy, “and surrender,” and
-I pointed astern.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One of them turned to look and what he saw brought
-an exclamation of surprise to his lips. “It is Gor Hajus,”
-he cried, and then, to me: “What is your purpose with
-us if we surrender?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We have no quarrel with you,” I replied. “We but
-wish to leave Toonol and go our way in peace—we
-shall not harm you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He turned to his fellows while, at a sign from me,
-my three companions stopped their advance and waited.
-For a few minutes the four warriors conversed in low
-tones, then he who had first spoken addressed me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are few Toonolians,” he said, “who would not
-be glad to serve Gor Hajus, whom we had thought long
-dead, but to surrender our ship to you would mean certain
-death for us when we reported our defeat at our
-headquarters. On the other hand were we to continue
-our defence most of us here upon the deck of this flier
-would be killed. If you can assure us that your plans
-are not aimed at the safety of Toonol I can make a
-suggestion that will afford an avenue of escape and
-safety for us all.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We only wish to leave Toonol,” I replied. “No harm
-can come to Toonol because of what I seek to accomplish.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good! and where do you wish to go?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That I may not tell you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You may trust us, if you accept my proposal,” he
-assured me, “which is that we convey you to your destination,
-after which we can return to Toonol and report
-that we engaged you and that after a long running fight,
-in which two of our number were killed, you eluded us
-in the darkness and escaped.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Can we trust these men?” I asked, addressing Gor
-Hajus, who assured me that we could, and thus the
-compact was entered into which saw us speeding rapidly
-towards Phundahl aboard one of Vobis Kan’s own
-fliers.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='106' id='Page_106'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER X<br/> PHUNDAHL</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>The</span> following night the Toonolian crew set us down
-just inside the wall of the city of Phundahl, following
-the directions of Dar Tarus who was a native of the
-city, had been a warrior of the Jeddara’s Guard and,
-prior to that, seen service in Phundahl’s tiny navy. That
-he was familiar with every detail of Phundahl’s defences
-and her systems of patrols was evidenced by the fact
-that we landed without detection and that the Toonolian
-ship rose and departed apparently unnoticed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Our landing place had been the roof of a low building
-built within and against the city wall. From this roof
-Dar Tarus led us down an inclined runway to the street,
-which, at this point, was quite deserted. The street was
-narrow and dark, being flanked upon one side by the
-low buildings built against the city wall and upon the
-other by higher buildings, some of which were windowless
-and none showing any light. Dar Tarus explained
-that he had chosen this point for our entrance because
-it was a district of storage houses, and while a hive
-of industry during the day, was always deserted at night,
-not even a watchman being required owing to the almost
-total absence of thievery upon Barsoom.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>By devious and roundabout ways he led us finally to
-a section of second-rate shops, eating places and hotels
-such as are frequented by the common soldiers, artisans
-and slaves, where the only attention we attracted was
-due to the curiosity aroused by Hovan Du. As we
-had not eaten since leaving Mu Tel’s palace, our first
-consideration was food. Mu Tel had furnished Gor Hajus
-with money, so that we had the means to gratify our
-wants. Our first stop was at a small shop where Gor
-Hajus purchased four or five pounds of thoat steak
-for Hovan Du, and then we repaired to an eating place
-of which Dar Tarus knew. At first the proprietor would
-not let us bring Hovan Du inside, but finally, after much
-argument, he permitted us to lock the great ape in an
-inner room where Hovan Du was forced to remain
-with his thoat meat while we sat at a table in the outer
-room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I will say for Hovan Du that he played his role well,
-nor was there once when the proprietor of the place,
-or any of his patrons, or the considerable crowd that
-gathered to listen to the altercation, could have guessed
-that the body of the great, savage beast was animated
-by a human brain. It was really only when feeding or
-fighting that the simian half of Hovan Du’s brain appeared
-to exercise any considerable influence upon him;
-yet there seemed little doubt that it always coloured all
-his thoughts and actions to some extent, accounting for
-his habitual taciturnity and the quickness with which he
-was aroused to anger, as well as to the fact that he
-never smiled, nor appeared to appreciate in any degree
-the humor of a situation. He assured me, however, that
-the human half of his brain not only appreciated but
-greatly enjoyed the lighter episodes and occurrences of
-our adventure and the witty stories and anecdotes related
-by Gor Hajus, the Assassin, but that his simian
-anatomy had developed no muscles wherewith to evidence
-physical expression of his mental reactions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We dined heartily, though upon rough and simple fare,
-but were glad to escape the prying curiosity of the
-garrulous and gossipy proprietor, who plied us with so
-many questions as to our past performances and future
-plans that Dar Tarus, who was our spokesman here,
-was hard put to it to quickly fabricate replies that would
-be always consistent. However, escape we did at last,
-and once again in the street, Dar Tarus set out to lead
-us to a public lodging house of which he knew. As
-we went we approached a great building of wondrous
-beauty in and out of which constant streams of people
-were pouring, and when we were before it Dar Tarus
-asked us to wait without as he must enter. When I
-asked him why, he told me that this was a temple of
-Tur, the god worshipped by the people of Phundahl.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have been away for a long time,” he said, “and
-have had no opportunity to do honor to my god. I
-shall not keep you waiting long. Gor Hajus, will you
-loan me a few pieces of gold?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In silence the Toonolian took a few pieces of money
-from one of his pocket pouches and handed them to
-Dar Tarus, but I could see that it was only with difficulty
-that he hid an expression of contempt, since the
-Toonolians are atheists.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I asked Dar Tarus if I might accompany him into
-the temple, which seemed to please him very much; and
-so we fell in with the stream approaching the broad
-entrance. Dar Tarus gave me two of the gold pieces
-that he had borrowed from Gor Hajus and told me to
-follow directly behind him and do whatever I saw him
-doing. Directly inside the main entrance, and spread
-entirely across it at intervals that permitted space for
-the worshippers to pass between them, was a line of
-priests, their entire bodies, including their heads and
-faces, covered by a mantle of white cloth. In front of
-each was a substantial stand upon which rested a cash
-drawer. As we approached one of these we handed him
-a piece of gold which he immediately changed into many
-pieces of lesser value, one of which we dropped into
-a box at his side; whereupon he made several passes
-with his hands above our heads, dipped one of his fingers
-into a bowl of dirty water which he rubbed upon
-the ends of our noses, mumbled a few words which I
-could not understand and turned to the next in line
-as we passed on into the interior of the great temple.
-Never have I seen such a gorgeous display of wealth
-and lavish ornamentation as confronted my eyes in this,
-the first of the temples of Tur that it was my fortune
-to behold.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The enormous floor was unbroken by a single pillar
-and arranged upon it at regular intervals were carven
-images resting upon gorgeous pedestals. Some of these
-images were of men and some of women and many
-of them were beautiful; and there were others of beasts
-and of strange, grotesque creatures and many of these
-were hideous indeed. The first we approached was that
-of a beautiful female figure; and about the pedestal of
-this lay a number of men and women prone upon the
-floor against which they bumped their heads seven times
-and then arose and dropped a piece of money into a
-receptacle provided for that purpose, moving on then
-to another figure. The next that Dar Tarus and I
-visited was that of a man with the body of a <span class='it'>silian</span>,
-about the pedestal of which was arranged a series of
-horizontal wooden bars in concentric circles. The bars
-were about five feet from the floor and hanging from
-them by their knees were a number of men and women,
-repeating monotonously, over and over again, something
-that sounded to me like, <span class='it'>bibble-babble-blup</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus and I swung to the bars like the others
-and mumbled the meaningless phrase for a minute or
-two, then we swung down, dropped a coin into the box,
-and moved on. I asked Dar Tarus what the words were
-that we had repeated and what they meant, but he said
-he did not know. I asked him if anyone knew, but he
-appeared shocked and said that such a question was
-sacrilegious and revealed a marked lack of faith. At
-the next figure we visited the people were all upon
-their hands and knees crawling madly in a circle about
-the pedestal. Seven times around they crawled and then
-they arose and put some money in a dish and went
-their ways. At another the people rolled about, saying,
-“Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur,” and dropping
-money in a golden bowl when they were done.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What god was that?” I whispered to Dar Tarus
-when we had quit this last figure, which had no head,
-but eyes, nose and mouth in the center of its belly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is but one god,” replied Dar Tarus solemnly,
-“and he is Tur!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Was that Tur?” I inquired.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Silence, man,” whispered Dar Tarus. “They would
-tear you to pieces were they to hear such heresy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I beg your pardon,” I exclaimed. “I did not
-mean to offend. I see now that that is merely one of
-your idols.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus clapped a hand over my mouth. “S-s-s-t!”
-he cautioned to silence. “We do not worship idols—there
-is but one god and he is Tur!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, what are these?” I insisted, with a sweep of
-a hand that embraced the several score images about
-which were gathered the thousands of worshippers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We must not ask,” he assured me. “It is enough
-that we have faith that all the works of Tur are just
-and righteous. Come! I shall soon be through and we
-may join our companions.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He led me next to the figure of a monstrosity with
-a mouth that ran entirely around its head. It had a
-long tail and the breasts of a woman. About this image
-were a great many people, each standing upon his head.
-They also were repeating, over and over, “Tur is Tur;
-Tur is Tur; Tur is Tur.” When we had done this for a
-minute or two, during which I had a devil of a time
-maintaining my equilibrium, we arose, dropped a coin
-into the box by the pedestal and moved on.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We may go now,” said Dar Tarus. “I have done
-well in the sight of Tur.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I notice,” I remarked, “that the people repeated the
-same phrase before this figure that they did at the last—Tur
-is Tur.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no,” exclaimed Dar Tarus. “On the contrary
-they said just exactly the opposite from what they said
-at the other. At that they said, Tur is Tur; while at
-this they absolutely reversed it and said, Tur is Tur.
-Do you not see? They turned it right around backwards,
-which makes a very great difference.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It sounded the same to me,” I insisted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is because you lack faith,” he said sadly, and
-we passed out of the temple, after depositing the rest
-of our money in a huge chest, of which there were
-many standing about almost filled with coins.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We found Gor Hajus and Hovan Du awaiting us impatiently,
-the center of a large and curious throng
-among which were many warriors in the metal of Xaxa,
-the Jeddara of Phundahl. They wanted to see Hovan
-Du perform, but Dar Tarus told them that he was tired
-and in an ugly mood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To-morrow,” he said, “when he is rested I shall
-bring him out upon the avenues to amuse you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With difficulty we extricated ourselves, and passing
-into a quieter avenue, took a roundabout way to the
-lodging place, where Hovan Du was confined in a small
-chamber while Gor Hajus, Dar Tarus and I were conducted
-by slaves to a large sleeping apartment where
-sleeping silks and furs were arranged for us upon a low
-platform that encircled the room and was broken only
-at the single entrance to the chamber. Here were already
-sleeping a considerable number of men, while two
-armed slaves patrolled the aisle to guard the guests from
-assassins.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was still early and some of the other lodgers were
-conversing in low whispers so I sought to engage Dar
-Tarus in conversation relative to his religion, about which
-I was curious.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The mysteries of religions always fascinate me, Dar
-Tarus,” I told him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, but that is the beauty of the religion of Tur,”
-he exclaimed, “it has no mysteries. It is simple, natural,
-scientific and every word and work of it is susceptible
-of proof through the pages of Turgan, the great book
-written by Tur himself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tur’s home is upon the sun. There, one hundred
-thousands year ago, he made Barsoom and tossed it
-out into space. Then he amused himself by creating
-man in various forms and two sexes; and later he fashioned
-animals to be food for man and each other, and
-caused vegetation and water to appear that man and
-the animals might live. Do you not see how simple and
-scientific it all is?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But it was Gor Hajus who told me most about the
-religion of Tur one day when Dar Tarus was not about.
-He said that the Phundahlians maintained that Tur still
-created every living thing with his own hands. They
-denied vigorously that man possessed the power to reproduce
-his kind and taught their young that all such
-belief was vile; and always they hid every evidence of
-natural procreation, insisting to the death that even those
-things which they witnessed with their own eyes and
-experienced with their own bodies in the bringing forth
-of their young never transpired.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Turgan taught them that Barsoom is flat and they
-shut their minds to every proof to the contrary. They
-would not leave Phundahl far for fear of falling off the
-edge of the world; they would not permit the development
-of aeronautics because should one of their ships
-circumnavigate Barsoom it would be a wicked sacrilege
-in the eyes of Tur who made Barsoom flat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They would not permit the use of telescopes, for Tur
-taught them that there was no other world than Barsoom
-and to look at another would be heresy; nor
-would they permit the teaching in their schools of any
-history of Barsoom that antedated the creation of Barsoom
-by Tur, though Barsoom has a well authenticated
-written history that reaches back more than one hundred
-thousand years; nor would they permit any geography
-of Barsoom except that which appears in Turgan, nor
-any scientific researches along biological lines. Turgan
-is their only text book—if it is not in Turgan it is a
-wicked lie.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Much of all this and a great deal more I gathered
-from one source or another during my brief stay in
-Phundahl, whose people are, I believe, the least advanced
-in civilization of any of the red nations upon
-Barsoom. Giving, as they do, all their best thought to
-religious matters, they have become ignorant, bigoted
-and narrow, going as far to one extreme as the Toonolians
-do to the other.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>However, I had not come to Phundahl to investigate
-her culture but to steal her queen, and that thought
-was uppermost in my mind when I awoke to a new
-day—my first in Phundahl. Following the morning meal
-we set out in the direction of the palace to reconnoitre,
-Dar Tarus leading us to a point from which he might
-easily direct us the balance of the way, as he did not
-dare accompany us to the immediate vicinity of the
-royal grounds for fear of recognition, the body he now
-possessed having formerly belonged to a well-known
-noble.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was arranged that Gor Hajus should act as spokesman
-and I as keeper of the ape. This arranged, we
-bade farewell to Dar Tarus and set forth, the three of
-us, along a broad and beautiful avenue that led directly
-to the palace gates. We had been planning and
-rehearsing the parts that we were to play and which
-we hoped would prove so successful that they would
-open the gates to us and win us to the presence of
-the Jeddara.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As we strolled with seeming unconcern along the
-avenue, I had ample opportunity to enjoy the novel
-and beautiful sights of this rich boulevard of palaces.
-The sun shone down upon vivid scarlet lawns, gorgeous
-flowered pimalia and a score of other rarely beautiful
-Barsoomian shrubs and trees, while the avenue itself
-was shaded by almost perfect specimens of the magnificent
-sorapus. The sleeping apartments of the buildings
-had all been lowered to their daytime level, and from a
-hundred balconies gorgeous silks and furs were airing
-in the sun. Slaves were briskly engaged with their duties
-about the grounds, while upon many a balcony women
-and children sat at their morning meal. Among the children
-we aroused considerable enthusiasm, or at least
-Hovan Du did, nor was he without interest to the adults.
-Some of them would have detained us for an exhibition,
-but we moved steadily on towards the palace, for
-nowhere else had we business or concern within the
-walls of Phundahl.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Around the palace gates was the usual crowd of
-loitering curiosity seekers; for after all human nature is
-much the same everywhere, whether skins be black or
-white, red or yellow or brown, upon Earth or upon
-Mars. The crowd before Xaxa’s gates were largely made
-up of visitors from the islands of that part of the Great
-Toonolian Marshes which owes allegiance to Phundahl’s
-queen, and like all provincials eager for a glimpse of
-royalty; though none the less to be interested by the
-antics of a simian, wherefore we had a ready made
-audience awaiting our arrival. Their natural fear of the
-great brute caused them to fall back a little at our
-approach so that we had a clear avenue to the very
-gates themselves, and there we halted while the crowds
-closed in behind, forming a half circle about us. Gor
-Hajus addressed them in a loud tone of voice that might
-be overheard by the warriors and their officers beyond
-the gates, for it was really them we had come to entertain,
-not the crowds in which we had not the slightest
-interest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Men and women of Phundahl,” cried Gor Hajus,
-“behold two poor panthans, who, risking their lives,
-have captured and trained one of the most savage and
-ferocious and at the same time most intelligent specimens
-of the great white ape of Barsoom ever before
-seen in captivity and at great expense have brought it
-to Phundahl for your entertainment and edification. My
-friends, this wonderful ape is endowed with human intelligence;
-he understands every word that is spoken to
-him. With your kind attention, my friends, I will endeavor
-to demonstrate the remarkable intelligence of
-this ferocious, man-eating beast—an intelligence that has
-entertained the crowned heads of Barsoom and mystified
-the minds of her most learned savants.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I thought Gor Hajus did pretty well as a bally-hoo
-artist. I had to smile as I listened, here upon Mars, to
-the familiar lines that I had taught him out of my
-Earthly experience of county fairs and amusement parks,
-so highly ludicrous they sounded falling from the lips
-of the Assassin of Toonol; but they evidently interested
-his auditors and impressed them, too, for they craned
-their necks and stood in earnest eyed silence awaiting
-the performance of Hovan Du. Even better, several members
-of the Jeddara’s Guard pricked up their ears and
-sauntered towards the gates; and among them was an
-officer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus caused Hovan Du to lie down at word
-of command, to get up, to stand upon one foot, and to
-indicate the number of fingers that Gor Hajus held up
-by growling once for each finger, thus satisfying the audience
-that he could count; but these simple things
-were only by way of leading up to the more remarkable
-achievements which we hoped would win an audience
-before the Jeddara. Gor Hajus borrowed a set
-of harness and weapons from a man in the crowd and
-had Hovan Du don it and fence with him, and then
-indeed did we hear exclamations of amazement.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The warriors and the officer of Xaxa had drawn near
-the gates and were interested spectators, which was precisely
-what we wished, and now Gor Hajus was ready
-for the final, astounding revelation of Hovan Du’s intelligence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These things that you have witnessed are as nothing,”
-he cried. “Why this wonderful beast can even read
-and write. He was captured in a deserted city near
-Ptarth and can read and write the language of that
-country. Is there among you one who, by chance, comes
-from that distant country?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A slave spoke up. “I am from Ptarth.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good!” said Gor Hajus. “Write some simple instructions
-and hand them to the ape. I will turn my back
-that you may know that I cannot assist him in any
-way.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The slave drew forth a tablet from a pocket pouch
-and wrote briefly. What he wrote he handed to Hovan
-Du. The ape read the message and without hesitation
-moved quickly to the gate and handed it to the officer
-standing upon the other side, the gate being constructed
-of wrought metal in fanciful designs that offered no obstruction
-to the view or to the passage of small articles.
-The officer took the message and examined it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What does it say?” he demanded of the slave that
-had penned it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It says,” replied the latter: “Take this message to
-the officer who stands just within the gates.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There were exclamations of surprise from all parts
-of the crowd and Hovan Du was compelled to repeat
-his performance several times with different messages
-which directed him to do various things, the officer
-always taking a great interest in the proceedings.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is marvellous,” said he at last. “The Jeddara
-would be amused by the performance of this beast. Wait
-here, therefore, until I have sent word to her that she
-may, if she so desires, command your presence.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Nothing could have better suited us and so we waited
-with what patience we might for the messenger to return;
-and while we waited Hovan Du continued to mystify
-his audience with new proofs of his great intelligence.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='116' id='Page_116'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XI<br/> XAXA</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>The</span> officer returned, the gates swung out and we were
-commanded to enter the courtyard of the palace of
-Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl. After that events transpired
-with great rapidity—surprising and totally unexpected
-events. We were led through an intricate maze of corridors
-and chambers until I became suspicious that we
-were purposely being confused, and convinced that
-whether such was the intention or not the fact remained
-that I could no more have retraced my steps to the
-outer courtyard than I could have flown without wings.
-We had planned that, in the event of gaining admission
-to the palace, we would carefully note whatever might
-be essential to a speedy escape; but when, in a whisper,
-I asked Gor Hajus if he could find his way out again
-he assured me that he was as confused as I.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The palace was in no sense remarkable nor particularly
-interesting, the work of the Phundahlian artists
-being heavy and oppressing and without indication of
-high imaginative genius. The scenes depicted were mostly
-of a religious nature illustrating passages from Turgan,
-the Phundahlian bible, and, for the most part, were a
-series of monotonous repetitions. There was one, which
-appeared again and again, depicting Turgan creating a
-round, flat Mars and hurling it into Space, that always
-reminded me of a culinary artist turning a flap jack
-in a child’s window.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There were also numerous paintings of what appeared
-to be court scenes delineating members of the Phundahlian
-royal line in various activities; it was noticeable
-that the more recent ones in which Xaxa appeared
-had had the principal figure repainted so that there confronted
-me from time to time portraits, none too well
-done, of the beautiful face and figure of Valla Dia in
-the royal trappings of a Jeddara. The effect of these
-upon me is not easy of description. They brought home
-to me the fact that I was approaching, and should presently
-be face to face with, the person of the woman
-to whom I had consecrated my love and my life, and
-yet in that same person I should be confronting one
-whom I loathed and would destroy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We were halted at last before a great door and from
-the number of warriors and nobles congregated before
-it I was confident that we were soon to be ushered
-into the presence of the Jeddara. As we waited those
-assembled about us eyed us with, it seemed to me, more
-of hostility than curiosity and when the door swung open
-they accompanied us, with the exception of a few warriors,
-into the chamber beyond. The room was of medium
-size and at the farther side, behind a massive
-table, sat Xaxa. About her were grouped a number of
-heavily armed nobles. As I looked them over I wondered
-if among them was he for whom the body of
-Dar Tarus had been filched; for we had promised him
-that if conditions were favorable we would attempt to
-recover it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Xaxa eyed us coldly as we were halted before her.
-“Let us see the beast perform,” she commanded, and
-then suddenly: “What mean you by permitting strangers
-to enter my presence bearing arms?” she cried. “Sag Or,
-see that their weapons are removed!” and she turned to
-a handsome young warrior standing near her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sag Or! That was the name. Before me stood the
-noble for whom Dar Tarus had suffered the loss of his
-liberty, his body and his love. Gor Hajus had also
-recognized the name and Hovan Du, too; I could tell by
-the way they eyed the man as he advanced. Curtly he
-instructed us to hand our weapons to two warriors who
-advanced to receive them. Gor Hajus hesitated. I admit
-that I did not know what course to pursue.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Everyone seemed hostile and yet that might be, and
-doubtless was, but a reflection of their attitude towards
-all strangers. If we refused to disarm we were but three
-against a room full, if they chose to resort to force; or
-if they turned us out of the palace because of it we would
-be robbed of this seemingly god given opportunity to
-win to the very heart of Xaxa’s palace and to her very
-presence, where we must eventually win before we could
-strike. Would such an opportunity ever be freely offered
-us again? I doubted it and felt that we had better assume
-a vague risk now than, by refusing their demand, definitely
-arm their suspicions. So I quietly removed my
-weapons and handed them to the warrior waiting to
-receive them; and following my example, Gor Hajus did
-likewise, though I can imagine with what poor grace.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Once again Xaxa signified that she would see Hovan
-Du perform. As Gor Hajus put him through his antics
-she watched listlessly; nor did anything that the ape did
-arouse the slightest flicker of interest among the entire
-group assembled about the Jeddara. As the thing dragged
-on I became obsessed with apprehensions that all was
-not right. It seemed to me that an effort was being made
-to detain us for some purpose—to gain time. I could
-not understand, for instance, why Xaxa required that we
-repeat several times the least interesting of the ape’s performances.
-And all the time Xaxa sat playing with a
-long, slim dagger, and I saw that she watched me quite
-as much as she watched Hovan Du, while I found it difficult
-to keep my eyes averted from that perfect face,
-even though I knew that it was but a stolen mask behind
-which lurked the cruel mind of a tyrant and a murderess.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At last came an interruption to the performance. The
-door opened and a noble entered, who went directly to
-the Jeddara whom he addressed briefly and in a low tone.
-I saw that she asked him several questions and that she
-seemed vexed by his replies. Then she dismissed him
-with a curt gesture and turned towards us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Enough of this!” she cried. Her eyes rested upon mine
-and she pointed her slim dagger at me. “Where is the
-other?” she demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What other?” I inquired.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There were three of you, beside the ape. I know nothing
-about the ape, nor where, nor how you acquired it;
-but I do know all about you, Vad Varo, and Gor Hajus,
-the Assassin of Toonol, and Dar Tarus. Where is Dar
-Tarus?” her voice was low and musical and entirely beautiful—the
-voice of Valla Dia—but behind it I knew was
-the terrible personality of Xaxa, and I knew too that it
-would be hard to deceive her, for she must have received
-what information she had directly from Ras Thavas.
-It had been stupid of me not to foresee that Ras Thavas
-would immediately guess the purpose of my mission and
-warn Xaxa. I perceived instantly that it would be worse
-than useless to deny our identity, rather I must explain
-our presence—if I could.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Where is Dar Tarus?” she repeated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How should I know?” I countered. “Dar Tarus has
-reasons to believe that he would not be safe in Phundahl
-and I imagine that he is not anxious that anyone should
-know his whereabouts—myself included. He helped me
-to escape from the Island of Thavas, for which his liberty
-was to be his reward. He has not chosen to accompany
-me further upon my adventures.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Xaxa seemed momentarily disarmed that I did not
-deny my identity—evidently she had supposed that I
-would do so.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You admit then,” she said, “that you are Vad Varo,
-the assistant of Ras Thavas?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Have I ever sought to deny it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have disguised yourself as a red-man of Barsoom.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How could I travel in Barsoom otherwise, where every
-man’s hand is against a stranger?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And why would you travel in Barsoom?” Her eyes
-narrowed as she waited for my reply.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As Ras Thavas has doubtless sent you word, I am
-from another world and I would see more of this one,” I
-told her. “Is that strange?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And you come to Phundahl and seek to gain entrance
-to my presence and bring with you the notorious
-Assassin of Toonol that you may see more of Barsoom?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Gor Hajus may not return to Toonol,” I explained,
-“and so he must seek service for his sword at some
-other court than that of Vobis Kan—in Phundahl perhaps,
-or if not here he must move on. I hope that he
-will decide to accompany me as I am a stranger in
-Barsoom, unaccustomed to the manners and ways of her
-people. I would fare ill without a guide and mentor.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You shall fare ill,” she cried. “You have seen all of
-Barsoom that you are destined to see—you have reached
-the end of your adventure. You think to deceive me, eh?
-You do not know, perhaps, that I have heard of your
-infatuation for Valla Dia or that I am fully conversant
-with the purpose of your visit to Phundahl.” Her eyes
-left me and swept her nobles and her warriors. “To the
-pits with them!” she cried. “Later we shall choose the
-manner of their passing.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Instantly we were surrounded by a score of naked
-blades. There was no escape for Gor Hajus or me, but
-I thought that I saw an opportunity for Hovan Du to get
-away. I had had the possibility of such a contingency
-in mind from the first and always I had been on the
-look-out for an avenue of escape for one of us, and so
-the open windows at the right of the Jeddara had not
-gone unnoticed, nor the great trees growing in the courtyard
-beneath. Hovan Du was close beside me as Xaxa
-spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Go!” I whispered. “The windows are open. Go, and
-tell Dar Tarus what has happened to us,” and then I fell
-back away from him and dragged Gor Hajus with me
-as though we would attempt to resist arrest; and while I
-thus distracted their attention from him Hovan Du turned
-towards an open window. He had taken but a few steps
-when a warrior attempted to halt him; with that the
-ferocious brain of the anthropoid seemed to seize
-dominion over the great creature. With a hideous growl
-he leaped with the agility of a cat upon the unfortunate
-Phundahlian, swung him high in giant hands and using
-his body as a flail tumbled his fellows to right and left
-as he cut a swath towards the open window nearest
-him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Instantly pandemonium reigned in the apartment. The
-attention of all seemed centered upon the great ape and
-even those who had been confronting us turned to
-attack Hovan Du. And in the midst of the confusion I
-saw Xaxa step to some heavy hangings directly behind
-her desk, part them and disappear.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come!” I whispered to Gor Hajus. Apparently intent
-only upon watching the conflict between the ape and the
-warriors I moved forward with the fighters but always to
-the left towards the desk that Xaxa had just quitted.
-Hovan Du was giving a good account of himself. He had
-discarded his first victim and one by one had seized
-others as they came within range of his long arms and
-powerful hands, sometimes four at a time as he stood
-well braced upon two of his hand-like feet and fought with
-the other four. His shock of bristling hair stood erect
-upon his skull and his fierce eyes blazed with rage as,
-towering high above his antagonists, he fought for his
-life—the most feared of all the savage creatures of
-Barsoom. Perhaps his greatest advantage lay in the inherent
-fear of him that was a part of every man in that
-room who faced him, and it forwarded my quickly conceived
-plan, too, for it kept every eye turned upon
-Hovan Du, so that Gor Hajus and I were able to work
-our way to the rear of the desk. I think Hovan Du
-must have sensed my intention then, for he did the one
-thing best suited to attract every eye from us to him and,
-too, he gave me notice that the human half of his brain
-was still alert and watchful of our welfare.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Heretofore the Phundahlians must have looked upon
-him as a remarkable specimen of great ape, marvelously
-trained, but now, of a sudden, he paralyzed them with
-awe, for his roars and growls took the form of words
-and he spoke with the tongue of a human. He was near
-the window now. Several of the nobles were pushing
-bravely forward. Among them was Sag Or. Hovan Du
-reached forth and seized him, wrenching his weapons
-from him. “I go,” he cried, “but let harm befall my
-friends and I shall return and tear the heart from Xaxa.
-Tell her that, from the Great Ape of Ptarth.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For an instant the warriors and the nobles stood
-transfixed with awe. Every eye was upon Hovan Du as
-he stood there with the struggling figure of Sag Or in his
-mighty grasp. Gor Hajus and I were forgotten. And then
-Hovan Du turned and leaped to the sill of the window
-and from there lightly to the branches of the nearest
-tree; and with him went Sag Or, the favorite of Xaxa, the
-Jeddara. At the same instant I drew Gor Hajus with me
-between the hangings in the rear of Xaxa’s desk, and as
-they fell behind us we found ourselves in the narrow
-mouth of a dark corridor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Without knowledge of where the passage led we could
-only follow it blindly, urged on by the necessity for discovering
-a hiding place or an avenue of escape from the
-palace before the pursuit, which we knew would be immediately
-instituted, overtook us. As our eyes became
-accustomed to the gloom, which was partially dispelled
-by a faint luminosity, we moved more rapidly and presently
-came to a narrow spiral runway which descended
-into a dark hole below the level of the corridor and also
-arose into equal darkness above.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Which way?” I asked Gor Hajus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They will expect us to descend,” he replied, “for in
-that direction lies the nearest avenue of escape.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then we will go up.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Good!” he exclaimed. “All we seek now is a place to
-hide until night has fallen, for we may not escape by
-day.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We had scarcely started to ascend before we heard the
-first sound of pursuit—the clank of accoutrements in the
-corridor beneath. Yet, even with this urge from behind,
-we were forced to move with great caution, for we knew
-not what lay before. At the next level there was a doorway,
-the door closed and locked, but there was no corridor,
-nor anywhere to hide, and so we continued on upward.
-The second level was identical with that just beneath,
-but at the third a single corridor ran straight off
-into darkness and at our right was a door, ajar. The
-sounds of pursuit were appreciably nearer now and the
-necessity for concealment seemed increasing as the square
-of their growing proportions until every other consideration
-was overwhelmed by it. Nor is this so strange when
-the purpose of my adventure is considered and that discovery
-now must assuredly spell defeat and blast for
-ever the slender ray of hope that remained for the resurrection
-of Valla Dia in her own flesh.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was scarce a moment for consideration. The
-corridor before us was shrouded in darkness—it might
-be naught but a blind alley. The door was close and ajar.
-I pushed it gently inward. An odor of heavy incense
-greeted our nostrils and through the small aperture we
-saw a portion of a large chamber garishly decorated.
-Directly before us, and almost wholly obstructing our
-view of the entire chamber, stood a colossal statue of a
-squatting manlike figure. Behind us we heard voices—our
-pursuers already were ascending the spiral—they
-would be upon us in a few seconds. I examined the door
-and discovered that it fastened with a spring lock. I
-looked again into the chamber and saw no one within
-the range of our vision, and then I motioned Gor Hajus to
-follow me and stepping into the room closed the door
-behind us. We had burned our bridges. As the door
-closed the lock engaged with a sharp, metallic click.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What was that?” demanded a voice, originating, seemingly,
-at the far end of the chamber.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus looked at me and shrugged his shoulders
-in resignation (he must have been thinking what I was
-thinking—that with two avenues we had chosen the
-wrong one) but he smiled and there was no reproach in
-his eyes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It sounded from the direction of the Great Tur,” replied
-a second voice.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps someone is at the door,” suggested the first
-speaker.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus and I were flattened against the back of
-the statue that we might postpone as long as possible our
-inevitable discovery should the speakers decide to investigate
-the origin of the noise that had attracted their
-suspicions. I was facing against the polished stone of the
-figure’s back, my hands outspread upon it. Beneath my
-fingers were the carven bits of its ornamental harness—jutting
-protuberances that were costly gems set in these
-trappings of stone, and there were gorgeous inlays of
-gold filagree; but these things I had no eyes for now. We
-could hear the two conversing as they came nearer. Perhaps
-I was nervous, I do not know. I am sure I never
-shrank from an encounter when either duty or expediency
-called; but in this instance both demanded that we avoid
-conflict and remain undiscovered. However that may
-be, my fingers must have been moving nervously over
-the jeweled harness of the figure when I became vaguely,
-perhaps subconsciously, aware that one of the gems was
-loose in its setting. I do not recall that this made any
-impression upon my conscious mind, but I do know that
-it seemed to catch the attention of my wandering fingers
-and they must have paused to play with the loosened
-stone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The voices seemed quite close now—it could be but
-a matter of seconds before we should be confronted by
-their owners. My muscles seemed to tense for the anticipated
-encounter and unconsciously I pressed heavily
-upon the loosened setting—whereat a portion of the
-figure’s back gave noiselessly inward revealing to us the
-dimly lighted interior of the statue. We needed no further
-invitation; simultaneously we stepped across the
-threshold and in almost the same movement I turned and
-closed the panel gently behind us. I think that there
-was absolutely no sound connected with the entire transaction;
-and following it we remained in utter silence,
-motionless—scarce breathing. Our eyes became quickly accustomed
-to the dim interior which we discovered was
-lighted through numerous small orifices in the shell of
-the statue, which was entirely hollow, and through these
-same orifices every outside sound came clearly to our
-ears.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We had scarcely closed the opening when we heard
-the voices directly outside it and simultaneously there
-came a hammering on the door by which we had entered
-the apartment from the corridor. “Who seeks entrance to
-Xaxa’s Temple?” demanded one of the voices within the
-room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ’Tis I, dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard,” boomed a voice
-from without. “We are seeking two who came to assassinate
-Xaxa.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Came they this way?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Think you, priest, that I should be seeking them
-here had they not?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How long since?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Scarce twenty tals since,” replied the dwar.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then they are not here,” the priest assured him,
-“for we have been here for a full zode<a id='rA'/><a href='#fA' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[A]</span></sup></a> and no other
-has entered the temple during that time. Look quickly to
-Xaxa’s apartments above and to the roof and the hangars,
-for if you followed them up the spiral there is no
-other where they might flee.”</p>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<p class='footnote'>
-<span class='footnote-id' id='fA'><a href='#rA'>[A]</a></span>
-
-<span style='font-size:smaller'>A tal is about one second, and a zode approximately two and
-one-half hours, Earth time.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Watch then the temple carefully until I return,”
-shouted the warrior and we heard him and his men moving
-on up the spiral.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now we heard the priests conversing as they moved
-slowly past the statue.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What could have caused the noise that first attracted
-our attention?” asked one.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps the fugitives tried the door,” suggested the
-other.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It must have been that, but they did not enter or we
-should have seen them when they emerged from behind
-the Great Tur, for we were facing him at the time, nor
-have once turned our eyes from this end of the temple.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then at least they are not within the temple.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And where else they may be is no concern of ours.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, nor if they reached Xaxa’s apartment, if they
-did not pass through the temple.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps they did reach it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And they were assassins!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Worse things might befall Phundahl.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hush! the gods have ears.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of stone.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But the ears of Xaxa are not of stone and they hear
-many things that are not intended for them.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The old she-banth!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She is Jeddara and High Priestess.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but——” the voices passed beyond the range of
-our ears at the far end of the temple, yet they had told
-me much—that Xaxa was feared and hated by the priesthood
-and that the priests themselves had none too much
-reverence for their deity as evidenced by the remark of
-one that the gods have ears of stone. And they had told
-us other things, important things, when they conversed
-with the dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus and I now felt that we had fallen by chance
-upon a most ideal place of concealment, for the very
-guardians of the temple would swear that we were not,
-could not be, where we were. Already had they thrown
-the pursuers off our track.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now, for the first time, we had an opportunity to
-examine our hiding place. The interior of the statue was
-hollow and far above us, perhaps forty feet, we could
-see the outside light shining through the mouth, ears
-and nostrils, just below which a circular platform could
-be discerned running around the inside of the neck. A
-ladder with flat rungs led upward from the base to the
-platform. Thick dust covered the floor on which we
-stood, and the extremity of our position suggested a
-careful examination of this dust, with the result that I
-was at once impressed by the evidence that it revealed;
-which indicated that we were the first to enter the statue
-for a long time, possibly for years, as the fine coating of
-almost impalpable dust that covered the floor was undisturbed.
-As I searched for this evidence my eyes fell
-upon something lying huddled close to the base of the
-ladder and approaching nearer I saw that it was a human
-skeleton, while a closer examination revealed that the
-skull was crushed and one arm and several ribs broken.
-About it lay, dust-covered, the most gorgeous trappings I
-had ever seen. Its position at the foot of the ladder, as
-well as the crushed skull and broken bones, appeared
-quite conclusive evidence of the manner in which death
-had come—the man had fallen head foremost from the
-circular platform forty feet above, carrying with him to
-eternity, doubtless, the secret of the entrance to the interior
-of the Great Tur.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I suggested this to Gor Hajus who was examining the
-dead man’s trappings and he agreed with me that such
-must have been the manner of his death.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He was a high priest of Tur,” whispered Gor Hajus,
-“and probably a member of the royal house—possibly
-a Jeddak. He has been dead a long time.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am going up above,” I said. “I will test the ladder.
-If it is safe, follow me up. I think we shall be able to
-see the interior of the temple through the mouth of Tur.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Go carefully,” Gor Hajus admonished. “The ladder
-is very old.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I went carefully, testing each rung before I trusted
-my weight to it, but I found the old sorapus wood of
-which it was constructed sound and as staunch as steel.
-How the high priest came to his death must always remain
-a mystery, for the ladder or the circular platform
-would have carried the weight of a hundred red-men.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From the platform I could see through the mouth of
-Tur. Below me was a large chamber along the sides of
-which were ranged other, though lesser, idols. They were
-even more grotesque than those I had seen in the temple
-in the city and their trappings were rich beyond the conception
-of man—Earthman—for the gems of Barsoom
-scintillate with rays unknown to us and of such gorgeous
-and blinding beauty as to transcend description. Directly
-in front of the Great Tur was an altar of palthon, a
-rare and beautiful stone, blood red, in which are traced
-in purest white Nature’s most fanciful designs; the whole
-vastly enhanced by the wondrous polish which the stone
-takes beneath the hand of the craftsman.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus joined me and together we examined the
-interior of the temple. Tall windows lined two sides, letting
-in a flood of light. At the far end, opposite the
-Great Tur, were two enormous doors, closing the main
-entrance to the chamber, and here stood the two priests
-whom we had heard conversing. Otherwise the temple
-was deserted. Incense burned upon tiny altars before
-each of the minor idols, but whether any burned before
-the Great Tur we could not see.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Having satisfied our curiosity relative to the temple, we
-returned our attention to a further examination of the
-interior of Tur’s huge head and were rewarded by the
-discovery of another ladder leading upward against the
-rear wall to a higher and smaller platform that evidently
-led to the eyes. It did not take me long to investigate and
-here I found a most comfortable chair set before a control
-that operated the eyes, so that they could be made to
-turn from side to side, or up or down, according to the
-whim of the operator; and here too was a speaking-tube
-leading to the mouth. This again I must needs investigate
-and so I returned to the lower platform and there I discovered
-a device beneath the tongue of the idol, and this
-device, which was in the nature of an amplifier, was
-connected with the speaking-tube from above. I could not
-repress a smile as I considered these silent witnesses to the
-perfidy of man and thought of the broken thing lying at
-the foot of the ladder. Tur, I could have sworn, had
-been silent for many years.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Together Gor Hajus and I returned to the higher platform
-and again I made a discovery—the eyes of Tur
-were veritable periscopes. By turning them we could see
-any portion of the temple and what we saw through the
-eyes was magnified. Nothing could escape the eyes of
-Tur and presently, when the priests began to talk again,
-we discovered that nothing could escape Tur’s ears, for
-every slightest sound in the temple came clearly to us.
-What a valuable adjunct to high priesthood this Great
-Tur must have been in the days when that broken
-skeleton lying below us was a thing of blood and life!</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='129' id='Page_129'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XII<br/> THE GREAT TUR</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>The</span> day dragged wearily for Gor Hajus and me. We
-watched the various priests who came in pairs at intervals
-to relieve those who had preceded them, and we
-listened to their prattle, mostly idle gossip of court
-scandals. At times they spoke of us and we learned
-that Hovan Du had escaped with Sag Or, nor had they
-been located as yet, nor had Dar Tarus. The whole court
-was mystified by our seemingly miraculous disappearance.
-Three thousand people, the inmates and attaches of the
-palace, were constantly upon the look-out for us. Every
-part of the palace and the palace grounds had been
-searched and searched again. The pits had been explored
-more thoroughly than they had been explored
-within the memory of the oldest retainer, and it seemed
-that queer things had been unearthed there—things of
-which not even Xaxa dreamed; and the priests whispered
-that at least one great and powerful house would fall
-because of what a dwar of the Jeddara’s Guard had discovered
-in a remote precinct of the pits.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As the sun dropped below the horizon and darkness
-came, the interior of the temple was illuminated by a soft
-white light, brilliantly but without the glare of Earthly
-artificial illumination. More priests came and many young
-girls, priestesses. They performed before the idols, chanting
-meaningless gibberish. Gradually the chamber filled
-with worshippers, nobles of the Jeddara’s court with their
-women and their retainers, forming in two lines along
-either side of the temple before the lesser idols, leaving
-a wide aisle from the great entrance to the foot of the
-Great Tur and towards this aisle they all faced, waiting.
-For what were they waiting? Their eyes were turned expectantly
-towards the closed doors of the great entrance
-and Gor Hajus and I felt our eyes held there too, fascinated
-by the suggestion that they were about to open
-and reveal some stupendous spectacle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And presently the doors did swing slowly open and
-all we saw was what appeared to be a great roll of
-carpet lying upon its side across the opening. Twenty
-slaves, naked but for their scant leather harness, stood
-behind the huge roll; and as the doors swung fully
-open they rolled the carpet inward to the very feet of the
-altar before the Great Tur, covering the wide aisle from
-the entranceway almost to the idol with a thick, soft
-rug of gold and white and blue. It was the most beautiful
-thing in the temple where all else was blatant, loud and
-garish or hideous, or grotesque. And then the doors
-closed and again we waited; but not for long. Bugles
-sounded from without, the sound increasing as they
-neared the entrance. Once more the doors swung in.
-Across the entrance stood a double rank of gorgeously
-trapped nobles. Slowly they entered the temple and
-behind them came a splendid chariot drawn by two
-banths, the fierce Barsoomian lion, held in leash by
-slaves on either side. Upon the chariot was a litter and
-in the litter, reclining at ease, lay Xaxa. As she entered
-the temple the people commenced to chant her praises
-in a monotonous sing-song. Chained to the chariot and
-following on foot was a red warrior and behind him a
-procession composed of fifty young men and an equal
-number of young girls.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gor Hajus touched my arm. “The prisoner,” he whispered,
-“do you recognize him?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dar Tarus!” I exclaimed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was Dar Tarus—they had discovered his hiding place
-and arrested him, but what of Hovan Du? Had they taken
-him, also? If they had it must have been only after slaying
-him, for they never would have sought to capture
-the fierce beast, nor would he have brooked capture. I
-looked for Sag Or, but he was nowhere to be seen within
-the temple and this fact gave me hope that Hovan Du
-might be still at liberty.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The chariot was halted before the altar and Xaxa
-alighted; the lock that held Dar Tarus’ chain to the vehicle
-was opened and the banths were led away by their attendants
-to one side of the temple behind the lesser
-idols. Then Dar Tarus was dragged roughly to the altar and
-thrown upon it and Xaxa, mounting the steps at its base,
-came close to his side and with hands outstretched above
-him looked up at the Great Tur towering above her. How
-beautiful she was! How richly trapped! Ah, Valla Dia!
-that your sweet form should be debased to the cruel purposes
-of the wicked mind that now animates you!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Xaxa’s eyes now rested upon the face of the Great
-Tur. “O, Tur, Father of Barsoom,” she cried, “behold the
-offering we place before you, All-seeing, All-knowing,
-All-powerful One, and frown no more upon us in silence.
-For a hundred years you have not deigned to speak aloud
-to your faithful slaves; never since Hora San, the high
-priest, was taken away by you on that long-gone night of
-mystery have you unsealed your lips to your people.
-Speak, Great Tur! Give us some sign, ere we plunge this
-dagger into the heart of our offering, that our works are
-pleasing in thine eyes. Tell us whither went the two who
-came here to-day to assassinate your high priestess; reveal
-to us the fate of Sag Or. Speak, Great Tur, ere I
-strike,” and she raised her slim blade above the heart of
-Dar Tarus and looked straight upward into the eyes of
-Tur.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And then, as a bolt from the blue, I was struck by
-the great inspiration. My hand sought the lever controlling
-the eyes of Tur and I turned them until they
-completed a full circuit of the room and rested again
-upon Xaxa. The effect was magical. Never before had I
-seen a whole room full of people so absolutely stunned
-and awe-struck as were these. As the eyes returned to
-Xaxa she seemed turned to stone and her copper skin to
-have taken on an ashen purple hue. Her dagger remained
-stiffly poised above the heart of Dar Tarus. Not for a hundred
-years had they seen the eyes of the Great Tur
-move. Then I placed the speaking-tube to my lips and
-the voice of Tur rumbled through the chamber. As from
-one great throat a gasp arose from the crowded temple
-floor and the people fell upon their knees and buried
-their faces in their hands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Judgment is mine!” I cried. “Strike not lest ye be
-struck! To Tur is the sacrifice!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I was silent then, attempting to plan how best to utilize
-the advantage I had gained. Fearfully, one by one,
-the bowed heads were raised and frightened eyes sought
-the face of Tur. I gave them another thrill by letting the
-god’s eyes wander slowly over the upturned faces, and
-while I was doing this I had another inspiration, which
-I imparted to Gor Hajus in a low whisper. I could hear
-him chuckle as he started down the ladder to carry my
-new plan into effect. Again I had recourse to the speaking-tube.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The sacrifice is Tur’s,” I rumbled. “Tur will strike
-with his own hand. Extinguish the lights and let no one
-move under pain of instant death until Tur gives the
-word. Prostrate yourselves and bury your eyes in your
-palms, for whosoever sees shall be blinded when the
-spirit of Tur walks among his people.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Down they went again and one of the priests hurriedly
-extinguished the lights, leaving the temple in total
-darkness; and while Gor Hajus was engaged with his
-part of the performance I tried to cover any accidental
-noise he might make by keeping up a running fire of
-celestial revelation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Xaxa, the high priestess, asks what has become of
-the two whom she believed came to assassinate her. I,
-Tur took them to myself. Vengeance is Tur’s! And Sag
-Or I took, also. In the guise of a great ape I came and
-took Sag Or and none knew me; though even a fool
-might have guessed, for who is there ever heard a great
-ape speak with tongue of man unless he was animated by
-the spirit of Tur?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I guess that convinced them, it being just the sort of
-logic suited to their religion, or it would have convinced
-them if they had not already been convinced. I wondered
-what might be passing in the mind of the doubting
-priest who had remarked that the gods had ears of stone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Presently I heard a noise upon the ladder beneath me
-and a moment later someone climbed upon the circular
-landing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All’s well,” whispered the voice of Gor Hajus. “Dar
-Tarus is with me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Light the temple!” I commanded through the speaking-tube.
-“Rise and look upon your altar.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The lights flashed on and the people rose, trembling,
-to their feet. Every eye was bent upon the altar and
-what they saw there seemed to crush them with terror.
-Some of the women screamed and fainted. It all impressed
-me with the belief that none of them had taken
-this god of theirs with any great amount of seriousness,
-and now when they were confronted with absolute proof
-of his miraculous powers they were swept completely off
-their feet. Where, a few moments before, they had seen
-a live sacrifice awaiting the knife of the high priestess
-they saw now only a dust-covered human skull. I grant
-you that without an explanation it might have seemed a
-miracle to almost anyone so quickly had Gor Hajus run
-from the base of the idol with the skull of the dead high
-priest and returned again leading Dar Tarus with him. I
-had been a bit concerned as to what the attitude of Dar
-Tarus might be, who was no more conversant with the
-hoax than were the Phundahlians, but Gor Hajus had
-whispered “For Valla Dia” in his ear and he had understood
-and come quickly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Great Tur,” I now announced, “is angry with
-his people. For a long time they have denied him in
-their hearts even while they made open worship of him.
-The Great Tur is angry with Xaxa. Only through Xaxa
-may the people of Phundahl be saved from destruction,
-for the Great Tur is angry. Go then from the temple and
-the palace leaving no human being here other than Xaxa,
-the high priestess of Tur. Leave her here in solitude beside
-the altar. Tur would speak with her alone.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I could see Xaxa fairly shrivel in fright.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Is the Jeddara Xaxa, High Priestess of the Great
-God Tur, afraid to meet her master?” I demanded. The
-woman’s jaw trembled so that she could not reply.
-“Obey! or Xaxa and all her people shall be struck dead!”
-I fairly screamed at them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Like cattle they turned and fled towards the entrance
-and Xaxa, her knees shaking so that she could scarce
-stand erect, staggered after them. A noble saw her and
-pushed her roughly back, but she shrieked and ran after
-him when he had left her. Then others dragged her to
-the foot of the altar and threw her roughly down and one
-menaced her with his sword, but at that I called aloud
-that no harm must befall the Jeddara if they did not
-wish the wrath of Tur to fall upon them all. They left
-her lying there and so weak from fright was she that she
-could not rise, and a moment later the temple was empty,
-but not until I had shouted after them to clear the
-whole palace within a quarter zode, for my plan required
-a free and unobstructed as well as unobserved field of
-action.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The last of them was scarce out of sight ere we three
-descended from the head of Tur and stepped out upon
-the temple floor behind the idol. Quickly I ran towards
-the altar, upon the other side of which Xaxa had dropped
-to the floor in a swoon. She still lay there and I gathered
-her into my arms and ran quickly back to the door
-in the wall behind the idol—the doorway through which
-Gor Hajus and I had entered the temple earlier in the
-day.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Preceded by Gor Hajus and followed by Dar Tarus, I
-ascended the runway towards the roof where the conversation
-of the priests had informed us were located
-the royal hangars. Had Hovan Du and Sag Or been with
-us my cup of happiness would have been full, for within
-half a day, what had seemed utter failure and defeat
-had been turned almost to assured success. At the landing
-where lay Xaxa’s apartments we halted and looked
-within, for the long night voyage I contemplated would
-be cold and the body of Valla Dia must be kept warm
-with suitable robes even though it was inhabited by the
-spirit of Xaxa. Seeing no one we entered and soon found
-what we required. As I was adjusting a heavy robe of
-orluk about the Jeddara she regained consciousness. Instantly
-she recognized me and then Gor Hajus and finally
-Dar Tarus. Mechanically she felt for her dagger, but
-it was not there and when she saw my smile she paled
-with anger. At first she must have jumped to the conclusion
-that she had been the victim of a hoax, but presently
-a doubt seemed to enter her mind—she must have
-been recalling some of the things that had transpired
-within the temple of the Great Tur, and these, neither
-she nor any other mortal might explain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who are you?” she demanded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am Tur,” I replied, brazenly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What is your purpose with me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am going to take you away from Phundahl,” I replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But I do not wish to go. You are not Tur. You are
-Vad Varo. I shall call for help and my guards will come
-and slay you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is no one in the palace,” I reminded her. “Did
-I, Tur, not send them away?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I shall not go with you,” she announced firmly.
-“Rather would I die.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You shall go with me, Xaxa,” I replied, and though
-she fought and struggled we carried her from her apartment
-and up the spiral runway to the roof where, I
-prayed, I should find the hangars and the royal fliers;
-and as we stepped out into the fresh night air of Mars we
-did see the hangars before us, but we saw something
-else—a group of Phundahlian warriors of the Jeddara’s
-Guard whom they had evidently failed to notify of the
-commands of Tur. At sight of them Xaxa cried aloud in
-relief.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To me! To the Jeddara!” she cried. “Strike down
-these assassins and save me!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There were three of them and there were three of
-us, but they were armed and between us we had but
-Xaxa’s slender dagger. Gor Hajus carried that. Victory
-seemed turned to defeat as they rushed towards us; but
-it was Gor Hajus who gave them pause. He seized Xaxa
-and raised the blade, its point above her heart. “Halt!”
-he cried, “or I strike.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The warriors hesitated; Xaxa was silent, stricken with
-fear. Thus we stood in stalemate when, just beyond the
-three Phundahlian warriors, I saw a movement at the
-roof’s edge. What was it? In the dim light I saw something
-that seemed a human head, and yet unhuman, rise
-slowly above the edge of the roof, and then, silently, a
-great form followed, and then I recognized it—Hovan
-Du, the great white ape.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tell them,” I cried to Xaxa in a loud voice that
-Hovan Du might hear, “that I am Tur, for see, I come
-again in the semblance of a white ape!” and I pointed to
-Hovan Du. “I would not destroy these poor warriors.
-Let them lay down their weapons and go in peace.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The men turned, and seeing the great ape standing
-there behind them, materialized, it might have been, out
-of thin air, were shaken.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who is he, Jeddara?” demanded one of the men.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is Tur,” replied Xaxa in a weak voice; “but save
-me from him! Save me from him!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Throw down your weapons and your harness and
-fly!” I commanded, “or Tur will strike you dead. Heard
-you not the people rushing from the palace at Tur’s
-command? How think you we brought Xaxa hither with
-a lesser power than Tur’s when all her palace was filled
-with her fighting men? Go, while yet you may in safety.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One of them unbuckled his harness and threw it with
-his weapons upon the roof, and as he started at a run
-for the spiral his companions followed his example.
-Then Hovan Du approached us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well done, Vad Varo,” he growled, “though I know
-not what it is all about.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That you shall know later,” I told him, “but now we
-must find a swift flier and be upon our way. Where is
-Sag Or? Does he still live?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have him securely bound and safely hidden in one
-of the high towers of the palace,” replied the ape. “It
-will be easy to get him when we have launched a flier.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Xaxa was eyeing us ragefully. “You are not Tur!” she
-cried. “The ape has exposed you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But too late to profit you in any way, Jeddara,” I assured
-her. “Nor could you convince one of your people
-who stood in the temple this night that I am not Tur.
-Nor do you, yourself, know that I am not. The ways of
-Tur, the all-powerful, all-knowing, are beyond the conception
-of mortal man. To you then, Jeddara, I am Tur,
-and you will find me all-powerful enough for my purposes.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I think she was still perplexed as we found and dragged
-forth a flier, aboard which we placed her, and turned the
-craft’s nose towards a lofty tower where Hovan Du told
-us lay Sag Or.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I shall be glad to see myself again,” said Dar Tarus,
-with a laugh.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And you shall be yourself again, Dar Tarus,” I told
-him, “as soon as ever we can come again to the pits of
-Ras Thavas.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Would that I might be reunited with my sweet Kara
-Vasa,” he sighed. “Then, Vad Varo, the last full measure
-of my gratitude would be yours.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Where may we find her?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Alas, I do not know. It was while I was searching for
-her that I was apprehended by the agents of Xaxa. I had
-been to her father’s palace only to learn that he had
-been assassinated and his property confiscated. The
-whereabouts of Kara Vasa they either did not know or
-would not divulge; but they held me there upon one
-pretext or another until a detachment of the Jeddara’s
-Guard could come and arrest me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We shall have to make inquiries of Sag Or,” I said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We were now coming to a stop alongside a window
-of the tower Hovan Du had indicated, and he and Dar
-Tarus leaped to the sill and disappeared within. We were
-all armed now, having taken the weapons discarded by
-the three warriors at the hangars, and with a good flier
-beneath our feet and all our little company reunited,
-with Xaxa and Sag Or, whom they were now conducting
-aboard, we were indeed in high spirits.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As we got under way again, setting our nose towards
-the east, I asked Sag Or if he knew what had become
-of Kara Vasa, but he assured me, in surly tones, that he
-did not.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Think again, Sag Or,” I admonished him, “and think
-hard, for perhaps upon your answer your life depends.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What chance have I for life?” he sneered, casting an
-ugly look towards Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have every chance,” I replied. “Your life lies in
-the hollow of my hand; and you serve me well it shall
-be yours, though in your own body and not in that belonging
-to Dar Tarus.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You do not intend destroying me?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Neither you nor Xaxa,” I answered. “Xaxa shall live
-on in her own body and you in yours.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not wish to live in my own body,” snapped the
-Jeddara.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus stood looking at Sag Or—looking at his
-own body like some disembodied soul—as weird a situation
-as I have ever encountered.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tell me, Sag Or,” he said, “what has become of Kara
-Vasa. When my body has been restored to me and yours
-to you I shall hold no enmity against you if you have not
-harmed Kara Vasa and will tell me where she be.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I cannot tell you, for I do not know. She was not
-harmed, but the day after you were assassinated she disappeared
-from Phundahl. We were positive that she was
-spirited away by her father, but from him we could learn
-nothing. Then he was assassinated,” the man glanced at
-Xaxa, “and since, we have learned nothing. A slave told
-us that Kara Vasa, with some of her father’s warriors,
-had embarked upon a flier and set out for Helium, where
-she purposed placing herself under the protection of the
-great War Lord of Barsoom; but of the truth of that we
-know nothing. This is the truth. I, Sag Or, have spoken!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was futile then to search Phundahl for Kara Vasa
-and so we held our course towards the east and the
-Tower of Thavas.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='140' id='Page_140'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XIII<br/> BACK TO THAVAS</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>All</span> that night we sped beneath the hurtling moons of
-Mars, as strange a company as was ever foregathered
-upon any planet, I will swear. Two men, each possessing
-the body of the other, an old and wicked empress whose
-fair body belonged to a youthful damsel beloved by another
-of this company, a great white ape dominated by
-half the brain of a human being, and I, a creature of a
-distant planet, with Gor Hajus, the Assassin of Toonol,
-completed the mad roster.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I could scarce keep my eyes from the fair form and
-face of Xaxa, and it is well that I was thus fascinated
-for I caught her in the act of attempting to hurl herself
-overboard, so repugnant to her was the prospect of living
-again in her own old and hideous corpse. After that
-I kept her securely bound and fastened to the deck,
-though it hurt me to see the bonds upon those fair limbs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus was almost equally fascinated by the contemplation
-of his own body, which he had not seen for
-many years.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By my first ancestor,” he ejaculated. “It must be that
-I was the least vain of fellows, for I give you my word
-I had no idea that I was so fair to look upon. I can say
-this now without seeming egotism, since I am speaking
-of Sag Or,” and he laughed aloud at his little joke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But the fact remained that the body and face of Dar
-Tarus were beautiful indeed, though there was a hint of
-steel in the eyes and the set of the jaw that betokened
-fighting blood. Little wonder, then, that Sag Or had coveted
-the body of this young warrior; for his own, which
-Dar Tarus now possessed, was marked by dissipation and
-age; nor that Dar Tarus yearned to come again into his
-own.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Just before dawn we dropped to one of the numerous
-small islands that dot the Great Toonolian Marshes
-and nosing the ship between the boles of great trees we
-came to rest upon the surface of the ground, half buried
-in the lush and gorgeous jungle grasses, well hidden
-from the sight of possible pursuers. Here Hovan Du found
-fruits and nuts for us which the simian section of his brain
-pronounced safe for human consumption, and instinct
-led him to a nearby spring from which there bubbled
-delicious water. We four were half famished and much
-fatigued, so that the food and water were most welcome
-to us; nor did Xaxa and Sag Or refuse them. Having
-eaten, three of us lay down upon the ship’s deck to
-sleep, after securely chaining our prisoners, while the
-fourth stood watch. In this way, taking turns, we slept
-away most of the day and when night fell, rested and refreshed,
-we were ready to resume our flight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Making a wide detour to the south we avoided Toonol
-and about two hours before dawn we sighted the high
-Tower of Thavas. I think we were all keyed up to the
-highest pitch of excitement, for there was not one aboard
-that flier but whose whole life would be seriously affected
-by the success or failure of our venture. As a first
-precaution we secured the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind
-their backs and placed gags in their mouths, lest
-they succeed in giving warning of our approach.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Cluros had long since set and Thuria was streaming
-towards the horizon as we stopped our motor and drifted
-without lights a mile or two south of the tower while
-we waited impatiently for Thuria to leave the heavens
-to darkness and the world to us. To the north-west the
-lights of Toonol shone plainly against the dark background
-of the windows of the great laboratory of Ras
-Thavas, but the tower itself was dark from plinth to
-pinnacle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>And now the nearer moon dropped plummetlike beneath
-the horizon and left the scene to darkness and to
-us. Dar Tarus started the motor, the wonderful, silent
-motor of Barsoom, and we moved slowly, close to the
-ground, towards Ras Thavas’ island, with no sound other
-than the gentle whirring of our propeller; nor could that
-have been heard scarce a hundred feet so slowly was it
-turning. Close off the island we came to a stop behind a
-cluster of giant trees and Hovan Du, going into the bow,
-uttered a few low growls. Then we stood waiting in silence,
-listening. There was a rustling in the dense undergrowth
-upon the shore. Again Hovan Du voiced his low,
-grim call and this time there came an answer from the
-black shadows. Hovan Du spoke in the language of the
-great apes and the invisible creature replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For five minutes, during which time we were aware
-from the different voices that others had joined in the
-conversation from the shore, the apes conversed, and
-then Hovan Du turned to me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is arranged,” he said. “They will permit us to hide
-our ship beneath these trees and they will permit us to
-pass out again when we are ready and board her, nor
-will they harm us in any way. All they ask is that when
-we are through we shall leave the gate open that leads to
-the inner court.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do they understand that while an ape goes in with us
-none will return with us?” I asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes; but they will not harm us.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why do they wish the gate left open?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do not inquire too closely, Vad Varo,” replied Hovan
-Du. “It should be enough that the great apes make it
-possible for you to restore Valla Dia’s body to her brain
-and escape with her from this terrible place.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is enough,” I replied. “When may we land?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At once. They will help us drag the ship beneath the
-trees and make her fast.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But first we must top the wall to the inner court,” I
-reminded him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, true—I had forgotten that we cannot open the
-gate from this side.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He spoke again, then, to the apes, whom we had not
-yet seen; and then he told us that all was arranged and
-that he and Dar Tarus would return with the ship after
-landing us inside the wall.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again we got under way and rising slowly above the
-outer wall dropped silently to the courtyard beyond.
-The night was unusually dark, clouds having followed
-Thuria and blotted out the stars after the moon had set.
-No one could have seen the ship at a distance of fifty
-feet, and we moved almost without noise. Quietly we
-lowered our prisoners over the side and Gor Hajus and I
-remained with them while Dar Tarus and Hovan Du rose
-again and piloted the ship back to its hiding place.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I moved at once to the gate and, unlatching it, waited.
-I heard nothing. Never, I think, have I endured such
-utter silence. There came no sound from the great pile
-rising behind me, nor any from the dark jungle beyond
-the wall. Dimly I could see the huddled forms of Gor
-Hajus, Xaxa and Sag Or beside me—otherwise I might
-have been alone in the darkness and immensity of space.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It seemed an eternity that I waited there before I
-heard a soft scratching on the panels of the heavy gate.
-I pushed it open and Dar Tarus and Hovan Du stepped
-silently within as I closed and relatched it. No one spoke.
-All had been carefully planned so that there was no need
-of speech. Dar Tarus and I led the way, Gor Hajus and
-Hovan Du brought up the rear with the prisoners. We
-moved directly to the entrance to the tower, found the
-runway and descended to the pits. Every fortune seemed
-with us. We met no one, we had no difficulty in finding
-the vault we sought, and once within we secured the
-door so that we had no fear of interruption—that was
-our first concern—and then I hastened to the spot where
-I had hidden Valla Dia behind the body of a large warrior,
-tucked far back against the wall in a dark corner.
-My heart stood still as I dragged aside the body of the
-warrior, for always had I feared that Ras Thavas, knowing
-my interest in her and guessing the purpose of my
-venture, would cause every chamber and pit to be
-searched and every body to be examined until he found
-her for whom he sought; but my fears had been baseless,
-for there lay the body of Xaxa, the old and wrinkled
-casket of the lovely brain of my beloved, where I had
-hidden it against this very night. Gently I lifted it out
-and bore it to one of the two ersite topped tables. Xaxa,
-standing there bound and gagged, looked on with eyes
-that shot hate and loathing at me and at that hideous
-body to which her brain was so soon to be restored.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As I lifted her to the adjoining slab she tried to wriggle
-from my grasp and hurl herself to the floor, but I
-held her and soon had strapped her securely in place. A
-moment later she was unconscious and the re-transference
-was well under way. Gor Hajus, Sag Or and Hovan
-Du were interested spectators, but to Dar Tarus, who
-stood ready to assist me, it was an old story, for he had
-worked in the laboratory and seen more than enough of
-similar operations. I will not bore you with a description
-of it—it was but a repetition of what I had done many
-times in preparation for this very event.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At last it was completed and my heart fairly stood
-still as I replaced the embalming fluid with Valla Dia’s
-own life blood and saw the color mount to her cheeks
-and her rounded bosom rise and fall to her gentle
-breathing. Then she opened her eyes and looked up into
-mine.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What has happened, Vad Varo?” she asked. “Has
-something gone amiss that you have recalled me so soon,
-or did I not respond to the fluid?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Her eyes wandered past me to the faces of the others
-standing about. “What does it mean?” she asked. “Who
-are these?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I raised her gently in my arms and pointed at the body
-of Xaxa lying deathlike on the ersite slab beside her.
-Valla Dia’s eyes went wide. “It is done?” she cried, and
-clapped her hands to her face and felt of all her features
-and of the soft, delicate contours of her smooth neck;
-and yet she could scarce believe it and asked for a glass
-and I took one from Xaxa’s pocket pouch and handed
-it to her. She looked long into it and the tears commenced
-to roll down her cheeks, and then she looked up
-at me through the mist of them and put her dear
-arms about my neck and drew my face down to hers.
-“My chieftain,” she whispered—that was all. But it was
-enough. For those two words I had risked my life and
-faced unknown dangers, and gladly would I risk my life
-again for that same reward and always, for ever.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Another night had fallen before I had completed the
-restoration of Dar Tarus and Hovan Du. Xaxa, and Sag
-Or and the great ape I left sleeping the deathlike sleep
-of Ras Thavas’ marvelous anaesthetic. The great ape I
-had no intention of restoring, but the others I felt bound
-to return to Phundahl, though Dar Tarus, now resplendent
-in his own flesh and the gorgeous trappings of Sag Or,
-urged me not to inflict them again upon the long suffering
-Phundahlians.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But I have given my word,” I told him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then they must be returned,” he said.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Though what I may do afterward is another matter,”
-I added, for there had suddenly occurred to me a bold
-scheme.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I did not tell Dar Tarus what it was nor would I have
-had time, for at the very instant we heard someone without
-trying the door and then we heard voices and presently
-the door was tried again, this time with force. We
-made no noise, but just waited. I hoped that whoever it
-was would go away. The door was very strong and when
-they tried to force it they must soon have realized the
-futility of it because they quickly desisted and we heard
-their voices for only a short time thereafter and then
-they seemed to have gone away.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We must leave,” I said, “before they return.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Strapping the hands of Xaxa and Sag Or behind them
-and placing gags in their mouths I quickly restored
-them to life, nor ever did I see two less grateful. The
-looks they cast upon me might well have killed could
-looks do that, and with what disgust they viewed one
-another was writ plain in their eyes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Cautiously unbolting the door I opened it very quietly,
-a naked sword in my right hand and Dar Tarus, Gor
-Hajus and Hovan Du ready with theirs at my shoulder,
-and as it swung back it revealed two standing in the corridor
-watching—two of Ras Thavas’ slaves; and one of
-them was Yamdor, his body servant. At sight of us the
-fellow gave a loud cry of recognition and before I could
-leap through the doorway and prevent them, they had
-both turned and were flying up the corridor as fast as
-their feet would carry them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now there was no time to be lost—everything must
-be sacrificed to speed. Without thought of caution or silence
-we hastened through the pits towards the runway
-in the tower; and when we stepped into the inner court
-it was night again, but the farther moon was in the heavens
-and there were no clouds. The result was that we
-were instantly discovered by a sentry, who gave the
-alarm as he ran forward to intercept us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What was a sentry doing in the courtyard of Ras
-Thavas? I could not understand. And what were these?
-A dozen armed warriors were hurrying across the court
-on the heels of the sentry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Toonolians!” shouted Gor Hajus. “The warriors of
-Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Breathlessly we raced for the gate. If we could but
-reach it first! But we were handicapped by our prisoners,
-who held back the moment they discovered how
-they might embarrass us, and so it was that we all met in
-front of the gate. Dar Tarus and Gor Hajus and Hovan
-Du and I put Valla Dia and our prisoners behind us and
-fought the twenty warriors of Toonol with the odds five
-to one against us; but we had more heart in the fight
-than they and perhaps that gave us an advantage,
-though I am sure that Gor Hajus was as ten men himself
-so terrible was the effect of his name alone upon the
-men of Toonol.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Gor Hajus!” cried one, the first to recognize him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, it is Gor Hajus,” replied the assassin. “Prepare
-to meet your ancestors!” and he drove into them like a
-racing propeller, and I was upon his right and Hovan Du
-and Dar Tarus upon his left.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was a pretty fight, but it must eventually have gone
-against us, so greatly were we outnumbered, had I not
-thought of the apes and the gate beside us. Working my
-way to it I threw it open and there upon the outside, attracted
-by the noise of the conflict, stood a full dozen of
-the great beasts. I called to Gor Hajus and the others to
-fall back beside the gate, and as the apes rushed in I
-pointed to the Toonolian warriors.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I think the apes were at a loss to know which were
-friends and which were foes, but the Toonolians apprised
-them by attacking them, while we stood aside
-with our points upon the ground. Just a moment we stood
-thus waiting. Then as the apes rushed among the Toonolian
-warriors, we slipped into the darkness of the jungle
-beyond the outer wall and sought our flier. Behind us we
-could hear the growls and the roars of the beasts mingled
-with the shouts and the curses of the men; and the
-sound still rose from the courtyard as we clambered
-aboard the flier and pushed off into the night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As soon as we felt that we were safely escaped from
-the Island of Thavas I removed the gags from the
-mouths of Xaxa and Sag Or and I can tell you that
-I immediately regretted it, for never in my life had I
-been subjected to such horrid abuse as poured from
-the wrinkled old lips of the Jeddara; and it was only
-when I started to gag her again that she promised to
-desist.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My plans were now well laid and they included a
-return to Phundahl since I could not start for Duhor
-with Valla Dia without provisions and fuel; nor could
-I obtain these elsewhere than in Phundahl, since I felt
-that I held the key that would unlock the resources of
-that city to me; whereas all Toonol was in arms against
-us owing to Vobis Kan’s fear of Gor Hajus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So we retraced our way towards Phundahl as secretly
-as we had come, for I had no mind to be apprehended
-before we had gained entrance to the palace of Xaxa.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again we rested over daylight upon the same island
-that had given us sanctuary two days before, and at
-dark we set out upon the last leg of our journey to
-Phundahl. If there had been pursuit we had seen
-naught of it; and that might easily be explained by the
-great extent of the uninhabited marshes across which
-we flew and the far southerly course that we followed
-close above the ground.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As we neared Phundahl I caused Xaxa and Sag Or
-to be again gagged, and further, I had their heads
-bandaged so that none might recognize them; and then
-we sailed straight over the city towards the palace, hoping
-that we would not be discovered and yet ready in
-the event that we should be.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But we came to the hangars on the roof apparently
-unseen and constantly I coached each upon the part
-he was to play. As we were settling slowly to the roof
-Dar Tarus, Hovan Du and Valla Dia quickly bound
-Gor Hajus and me and wrapped our heads in bandages,
-for we had seen below the figures of the hangar guard.
-Had we found the roof unguarded the binding of Gor
-Hajus and me had been unnecessary.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As we dropped nearer one of the guard hailed us.
-“What ship?” he cried.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The royal flier of the Jeddara of Phundahl,” replied
-Dar Tarus, “returning with Xaxa and Sag Or.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The warriors whispered among themselves as we
-dropped nearer and I must confess that I felt a bit
-nervous as to the outcome of our ruse; but they permitted
-us to land without a word and when they saw
-Valla Dia they saluted her after the manner of Barsoom,
-as, with the regal carriage of an empress, she
-descended from the deck of the flier.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Carry the prisoners to my apartments!” she commanded,
-addressing the guard, and with the help of
-Hovan Du and Dar Tarus the four bound and muffled
-figures were carried from the flier down the spiral runway
-to the apartments of Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl.
-Here excited slaves hastened to do the bidding of the
-Jeddara. Word must have flown through the palace with
-the speed of light that Xaxa had returned, for almost
-immediately court functionaries began to arrive and be
-announced; but Valla Dia sent word that she would see
-no one for a while. Then she dismissed her slaves, and
-at my suggestion Dar Tarus investigated the apartments
-with a view to finding a safe hiding place for Gor
-Hajus, me, and the prisoners. This he soon found in a
-small antechamber directly off the main apartment of
-the royal suite; the bonds were removed from the
-assassin and myself and together we carried Xaxa and
-Sag Or into the room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The entrance here was furnished with a heavy door
-over which there were hangings that completely hid it.
-I bade Hovan Du, who, like the rest of us, wore Phundahlian
-harness, stand guard before the hangings and let
-no one enter but members of our own party. Gor Hajus
-and I took up our positions just within the hangings
-through which we cut small holes that permitted us to
-see all that went on within the main chamber, for I was
-greatly concerned for Valla Dia’s safety while she posed
-as Xaxa, whom I knew to be both feared and hated
-by her people and therefore always liable to assassination.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia summoned the slaves and bade them admit
-the officials of the court, and as the doors opened fully
-a score of nobles entered. They appeared ill at ease
-and I could guess that they were recalling the episode
-in the temple when they had deserted their Jeddara and
-even hurled her roughly at the feet of the Great Tur,
-but Valla Dia soon put them at their ease.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have summoned you,” she said, “to hear the word
-of Tur. Tur would speak again to his people. Three
-days and three nights have I spent with Tur. His anger
-against Phundahl is great. He bids me summon all the
-higher nobles to the temple after the evening meal to-night,
-and all the priests, and the commanders and dwars
-of the Guard, and as many of the lesser nobles as be
-in the palace; and then shall the people of Phundahl
-hear the word and the law of Tur and all those who
-shall obey shall live and all those who shall not obey
-shall die; and woe be to him who, having been summoned,
-shall not be in the temple this night. I, Xaxa,
-Jeddara of Phundahl, have spoken! Go!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They went and they seemed glad to go. Then Valla
-Dia summoned the odwar of the Guard, who would
-be in our world a general, and she told him to clear
-the palace of every living being from the temple level
-to the roof an hour before the evening meal, nor to permit
-any one to enter the temple or the levels above
-it until the hour appointed for the assembling in the
-temple to hear the word of Tur, excepting however
-those who might be in her own apartments, which were
-not to be entered upon pain of death. She made it all
-very clear and plain and the odwar understood and I
-think he trembled a trifle, for all were in great fear of
-the Jeddara Xaxa; and then he went away and the
-slaves were dismissed and we were alone.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='150' id='Page_150'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>CHAPTER XIV<br/> JOHN CARTER</h1></div>
-
-<p class='noindent'><span class='lead-in'>Half</span> an hour before the evening meal we carried Xaxa
-and Sag Or down the spiral runway and placed them
-in the base of the Great Tur and Gor Hajus and I
-took our places on the upper platform behind the eyes
-and voice of the idol. Valla Dia, Dar Tarus and Hovan
-Du remained in the royal apartments. Our plans were
-well formulated. There was no one between the door
-at the rear of the Great Tur and the flier that lay
-ready on the roof in the event that we were forced
-to flee through any miscarriage of our mad scheme.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The minutes dragged slowly by and darkness fell. The
-time was approaching. We heard the doors of the temple
-open and beyond we saw the great corridor brilliantly
-lighted. It was empty except for two priests who
-stood hesitating nervously in the doorway. Finally one
-of them mustered up sufficient courage to enter and
-switch on the lights. More bravely now they advanced
-and prostrated themselves before the altar of the Great
-Tur. When they arose and looked up into the face of
-the idol I could not resist the temptation to turn those
-huge eyes until they had rolled completely about the
-interior of the chamber and rested again upon the priests;
-but I did not speak and I think the effect of the awful
-silence in the presence of the living god was more impressive
-than would words have been. The two priests
-simply collapsed. They slid to the floor and lay there
-trembling, moaning and supplicating Tur to have mercy
-on them, nor did they rise before the first of the worshippers
-arrived.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thereafter the temple filled rapidly and I could see
-the word of Tur had been well and thoroughly disseminated.
-They came as they had before; but there were
-more this time, and they ranged upon either side of
-the central aisle and there they waited, their eyes
-divided between the doorway and the god. About the
-time that I thought the next scene was about to be
-enacted I let Tur’s eyes travel over the assemblage that
-they might be keyed to the proper pitch for what was
-to follow. They reacted precisely as had the priests,
-falling upon the floor and moaning and supplicating; and
-there they remained until the sounds of bugles announced
-the coming of the Jeddara. Then they rose unsteadily
-to their feet. The great doors swung open and there
-was the carpet and the slaves behind it. As they rolled
-it down towards the altar the bugles sounded louder
-and the head of the royal procession came into view.
-I had ordered it thus to permit of greater pageantry
-than was possible when the doors opened immediately
-upon the head of the procession. My plan permitted
-the audience to see the royal retinue advancing down
-the long corridor and the effect was splendid. First came
-the double rank of nobles and behind these the chariot
-drawn by the two banths, bearing the litter upon which
-reclined Valla Dia. Behind her walked Dar Tarus, but
-all within that room thought they were looking upon
-the Jeddara Xaxa and her favorite, Sag Or. Hovan Du
-walked behind Sag Or and following came the fifty
-young men and the fifty maidens.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The chariot halted before the altar and Valla Dia
-descended and knelt and the voices that had been chanting
-the praises of Xaxa were stilled as the beautiful
-creature extended her hands towards the Great Tur and
-looked up into his face.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We are ready, Master!” she cried. “Speak! We
-await the word of Tur!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A gasp arose from the kneeling assemblage, a gasp
-that ended in a sob. I felt that they were pretty well
-worked up and that everything ought to go off without
-a hitch. I placed the speaking-tube to my lips.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I am Tur!” I thundered and the people trembled.
-“I come to pass judgment on the men of Phundahl.
-As you receive my word so shall you prosper or so
-shall you perish. The sins of the people may be atoned
-by two who have sinned most in my sight.” I let the
-eyes of Tur rove about over the audience and then
-brought them to rest upon Valla Dia. “Xaxa, are you
-ready to atone for your sins and for the sins of your
-people?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia bowed her beautiful head. “Thy will is
-law, Master!” she replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And Sag Or,” I continued, “you have sinned. Are
-you prepared to pay?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As Tur shall require,” said Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then it is my will,” I boomed, “that Xaxa and Sag
-Or shall give back to those from whom they stole
-them, the beautiful bodies they now wear; that he from
-whom Sag Or took this body shall become Jeddak of
-Phundahl and High Priest of Tur; and that she from
-whom Xaxa stole her body shall be returned in pomp
-to her native country. I have spoken. Let any who
-would revolt against my word speak now or for ever
-hold his peace.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was no objection voiced. I had felt pretty certain
-that there would not be. I doubt if any god ever
-looked down upon a more subdued and chastened flock.
-As I had talked, Gor Hajus had descended to the base
-of the idol and removed the bonds from the feet and
-legs of Xaxa and Sag Or.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Extinguish the lights!” I commanded. A trembling
-priest did my bidding.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia and Dar Tarus were standing side by side
-before the altar when the lights went out. In the next
-minute they and Gor Hajus must have worked fast, for
-when I heard a low whistle from the interior of the
-idol’s base, the prearranged signal that Gor Hajus had
-finished his work, and ordered the lights on again, there
-stood Xaxa and Sag Or where Valla Dia and Dar Tarus
-had been, and the latter were nowhere in sight. I think
-the dramatic effect of that transformation upon the people
-there was the most stupendous thing I have ever
-seen. There was no cord or gag upon either Xaxa or
-Sag Or, nothing to indicate that they had been brought
-hither by force—no one about who might have so
-brought them. The illusion was perfect—it was a gesture
-of omnipotence that simply staggered the intellect.
-But I wasn’t through.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have heard Xaxa renounce her throne,” I said,
-“and Sag Or submit to the judgment of Tur.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have not renounced my throne!” cried Xaxa. “It
-is all a——”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Silence!” I thundered. “Prepare to greet the new
-Jeddak, Dar Tarus of Phundahl!” I turned my eyes towards
-the great doors and the eyes of the assemblage
-followed mine. They swung open and there stood Dar
-Tarus, resplendent in the trappings of Hora San, the
-long dead Jeddak and high priest, whose bones we had
-robbed in the base of the idol an hour earlier. How
-Dar Tarus had managed to make the change so quickly
-is beyond me, but he had done it and the effect was
-colossal. He looked every inch a Jeddak as he moved
-with slow dignity up the wide aisle along the blue and
-gold and white carpet. Xaxa turned purple with rage.
-“Impostor!” she shrieked. “Seize him! Kill him!” and
-she ran forward to meet him as though she would slay
-him with her bare hands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Take her away,” said Dar Tarus in a quiet voice,
-and at that Xaxa fell foaming to the floor. She shrieked
-and gasped and then lay still—a wicked old woman
-dead of apoplexy. And when Sag Or saw her lying there
-he must have been the first to realize that she was
-dead and that there was now no one to protect him
-from the hatreds that are leveled always at the person
-of a ruler’s favorite. He looked wildly about for an
-instant and then threw himself at the feet of Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You promised to protect me!” he cried.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“None shall harm you,” replied Dar Tarus. “Go your
-way and live in peace.” Then he turned his eyes upward
-towards the face of the Great Tur. “What is thy
-will, Master?” he cried. “Dar Tarus, thy servant, awaits
-thy commands!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I permitted an impressive silence before I replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Let the priests of Tur, the lesser nobles and a certain
-number of the Jeddak’s Guard go forth into the
-city and spread the word of Tur among the people that
-they may know that Tur smiles again upon Phundahl
-and that they have a new Jeddak who stands high in
-the favor of Tur. Let the higher nobles attend presently
-in the chambers that were Xaxa’s and do honor to Valla
-Dia in whose perfect body their Jeddara once ruled
-them, and effect the necessary arrangements for her
-proper return to Duhor, her native city. There also will
-they find two who have served Tur well and these shall
-be accorded the hospitality and friendship of every
-Phundahlian—Gor Hajus of Toonol and Vad Varo of
-Jasoom. Go! and when the last has gone let the temple
-be darkened. I, Tur, have spoken!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Valla Dia had gone directly to the apartments of the
-former Jeddara and the moment that the lights were
-extinguished Gor Hajus and I joined her. She could
-not wait to hear the outcome of our ruse, and when
-I assured her that there had been no hitch the tears
-came to her eyes for very joy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have accomplished the impossible, my chieftain,”
-she murmured, “and already can I see the hills of
-Duhor and the towers of my native city. Ah, Vad Varo,
-I had not dreamed that life might again hold for me
-such happy prospects. I owe you life and more than
-life.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We were interrupted by the coming of Dar Tarus,
-and with him were Hovan Du and a number of the
-higher nobles. The latter received us pleasantly, though
-I think they were mystified as to just how we were
-linked with the service of their god; nor, I am sure,
-did one of them ever learn. They were frankly delighted
-to be rid of Xaxa; and while they could not
-understand Tur’s purpose in elevating a former warrior
-of the Guard to the throne, yet they were content if
-it served to relieve them from the wrath of their god,
-now a very real and terrible god, since the miracles
-that had been performed in the temple. That Dar Tarus
-had been of a noble family relieved them of embarrassment,
-and I noted that they treated him with great respect.
-I was positive that they would continue to treat
-him so, for he was also high priest and for the first
-time in a hundred years he would bring to the Great
-Tur in the royal Temple the voice of god, for Hovan
-Du had agreed to take service with Dar Tarus, and
-Gor Hajus as well, so that there would never be lacking
-a tongue wherewith Tur might speak. I foresaw
-great possibilities for the reign of Dar Tarus, Jeddak
-of Phundahl.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the meeting held in the apartments of Xaxa it
-was decided that Valla Dia should rest two days in
-Phundahl while a small fleet was preparing to transport
-her to Duhor. Dar Tarus assigned Xaxa’s apartments
-for her use and gave her slaves from different cities
-to attend upon her, all of whom were to be freed and
-returned with Valla Dia to her native land.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was almost dawn before we sought our sleeping
-silks and furs and the sun was high before we awoke.
-Gor Hajus and I breakfasted with Valla Dia, outside
-whose door we had spread our beds that we might not
-leave her unprotected for a moment that it was not
-necessary. We had scarce finished our meal when a messenger
-came from Dar Tarus summoning us to the audience
-chamber, where we found some of the higher
-officers of the court gathered about the throne upon
-which Dar Tarus sat, looking every inch an emperor.
-He greeted us kindly, rising and descending from his
-dais to receive Valla Dia and escort her to one of the
-benches he had placed beside the throne for her and
-for me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is one,” he said to me, “who has come to
-Phundahl over night and now begs audience of the Jeddak—one
-whom I thought you might like to meet
-again,” and he signed to one of his attendants to admit
-the petitioner; and when the doors at the opposite end
-of the room opened I saw Ras Thavas standing there.
-He did not recognize me or Valla Dia or Gor Hajus
-until he was almost at the foot of the throne, and when
-he did he looked puzzled and glanced again quickly at
-Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ras Thavas of the Tower of Thavas, Toonol,” announced
-an officer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What would Ras Thavas of the Jeddak of Phundahl?”
-asked Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I came seeking audience of Xaxa,” replied Ras
-Thavas, “not knowing of her death or your accession
-until this very morning; but I see Sag Or upon Xaxa’s
-throne and beside him one whom I thought was Xaxa,
-though they tell me Xaxa is dead, and another who
-was my assistant at Thavas and one who is the Assassin
-of Toonol, and I am confused, Jeddak, and do not
-know whether I be among friends or foes.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Speak as though Xaxa still sat upon the throne of
-Phundahl,” Dar Tarus told him, “for though I am Dar
-Tarus, whom you wronged, and not Sag Or, yet need
-you have no fear in the court of Phundahl.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then let me tell you that Vobis Kan, Jeddak of
-Toonol, learning that Gor Hajus had escaped me,
-swore that I had set him free to assassinate him, and
-he sent warriors who took my island and would have
-imprisoned me had I not been warned in time to escape;
-and I came hither to Xaxa to beg her to send
-warriors to drive the men of Toonol from my island
-and restore it to me that I may carry on my scientific
-labors.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus turned to me. “Vad Varo, of all others you
-are most familiar with the work of Ras Thavas. Would
-you see him again restored to his island and his laboratory?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Only on condition that he devote his great skill to
-the amelioration of human suffering,” I replied, “and no
-longer prostitute it to the foul purposes of greed and
-sin.” This led to a discussion which lasted for hours, the
-results of which were of far-reaching significance. Ras
-Thavas agreed to all that I required and Dar Tarus commissioned
-Gor Hajus to head an army against Toonol.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But these matters, while of vast interest to those most
-directly concerned, have no direct bearing upon the
-story of my adventures upon Barsoom, as I had no part
-in them, since upon the second day I boarded a flier
-with Valla Dia and, escorted by a Phundahlian fleet, set
-out towards Duhor. Dar Tarus accompanied us for a
-short distance. When the fleet was stopped at the shore
-of the great marsh he bade us farewell, and was about
-to step to the deck of his own ship and return to Phundahl
-when a shout arose from the deck of one of the
-other ships and word was soon passed that a lookout
-had sighted what appeared to be a great fleet far to the
-south-west. Nor was it long before it became plainly
-visible to us all and equally plain that it was headed for
-Phundahl.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dar Tarus told me then that as much as he regretted
-it, there seemed nothing to do but return at once to his
-capital with the entire fleet, since he could not spare a
-single ship or man if this proved an enemy fleet, nor could
-Valla Dia or I interpose any objection; and so we
-turned about and sped as rapidly as the slow ships of
-Phundahl permitted back towards the city.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The stranger fleet had sighted us at about the same
-time that we had sighted it, and we saw it change its
-course and bear down upon us; and as it came nearer it
-fell into single file and prepared to encircle us. I was
-standing at Dar Tarus’ side when the colors of the approaching
-fleet became distinguishable and we first
-learned that it was from Helium.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Signal and ask if they come in peace,” directed Dar
-Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We seek word with Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl,”
-came the reply. “The question of peace or war will be
-hers to decide.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tell them that Xaxa is dead and that I, Dar Tarus,
-Jeddak of Phundahl, will receive the commander of Helium’s
-fleet in peace upon the deck of this ship, or that I
-will receive him in war with all my guns. I, Dar Tarus,
-have spoken!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From the bow of a great ship of Helium there broke
-the flag of truce and when Dar Tarus’ ship answered it
-in kind the other drew near and presently we could see
-the men of Helium upon her decks. Slowly the great flier
-came alongside our smaller ship and when the two had
-been made fast a party of officers boarded us. They were
-fine looking men, and at their head was one whom I
-recognized immediately though I never before had laid
-eyes upon him. I think he was the most impressive figure
-I have ever seen as he advanced slowly across the
-deck towards us—John Carter, Prince of Helium, Warlord
-of Barsoom.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dar Tarus,” he said, “John Carter greets you and in
-peace, though it had been different, I think, had Xaxa
-still reigned.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You came to war upon Xaxa?” asked Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We came to right a wrong,” replied the Warlord.
-“But from what we know of Xaxa that could have been
-done only by force.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What wrong has Phundahl done Helium?” demanded
-Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The wrong was against one of your own people—even
-against you in person.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not understand,” said Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is one aboard my ship who may be able to
-explain to you, Dar Tarus,” replied John Carter, with a
-smile. He turned and spoke to one of his aides in a
-whisper, and the man saluted and returned to the deck
-of his own ship. “You shall see with your own eyes, Dar
-Tarus.” Suddenly his eyes narrowed. “This is indeed Dar
-Tarus who was a warrior of the Jeddara’s Guard and
-supposedly assassinated by her command?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is,” replied Dar Tarus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I must be certain,” said the Warlord.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is no question about it, John Carter,” I spoke
-up in English.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His eyes went wide, and when they fell upon me and he
-noted my lighter skin, from which the dye was wearing
-away, he stepped forward and held out his hand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A countryman?” he asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, an American,” I replied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I was almost surprised,” he said. “Yet why should I
-be? I have crossed—there is no reason why others
-should not. And you have accomplished it! You must
-come to Helium with me and tell me all about it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Further conversation was interrupted by the return of
-the aide, who brought a young woman with him. At
-sight of her Dar Tarus uttered a cry of joy and sprang
-forward, and I did not need to be told that this was Kara
-Vasa.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There is little more to tell that might not bore you in
-the telling—of how John Carter himself took Valla Dia
-and me to Duhor after attending the nuptials of Dar
-Tarus and Kara Vasa; and of the great surprise that
-awaited me in Duhor, where I learned for the first time
-that Kor San, Jeddak of Duhor, was the father of Valla
-Dia; and of the honors and the great riches that he
-heaped upon me when Valla Dia and I were wed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>John Carter was present at the wedding and we initiated
-upon Barsoom a good old American custom, for the
-Warlord acted as best man; and then he insisted that we
-follow that up with a honeymoon and bore us off to
-Helium, where I am writing this.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Even now it seems like a dream that I can look out of
-my window and see the scarlet and the yellow towers of
-the twin cities of Helium; that I have met, and see daily,
-Cathoris, Thuvia of Ptarth, Tara of Helium, Gahan of
-Gathol and that peerless creature, Dejah Thoris, Princess
-of Mars. Though to me, beautiful as she is, there is
-another even more beautiful—Valla Dia, Princess of Duhor—Mrs.
-Ulysses Paxton.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:.5em;font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>TRANSCRIBER NOTES</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Misspelled words and printer errors have been corrected.
-Where multiple spellings occur, majority use has been
-employed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Punctuation has been maintained except where obvious
-printer errors occur.</p>
-
-<p class='line'> </p>
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