A PRINCESS OF MARS & WARLORD OF MARS

By Edgar Rice Burroughs

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 A PRINCESS OF MARS
To My Son Jack

FOREWORD

To the Reader of this Work:

In submitting Captain Carter's strange manuscript to you in book form, I believe that
a few words relative to this remarkable personality will be of interest.

My first recollection of Captain Carter is of the few months he spent at my father's

home in Virginia, just prior to the opening of the civil war. I was then a child of but five
years, yet I well remember the tall, dark, smooth-faced, athletic man whom I called
Uncle Jack.

He seemed always to be laughing; and he entered into the sports of the children with
the same hearty good fellowship he displayed toward those pastimes in which the men
and women of his own age indulged; or he would sit for an hour at a time entertaining
my old grandmother with stories of his strange, wild life in all parts of the world. We all
loved him, and our slaves fairly worshipped the ground he trod.

He was a splendid specimen of manhood, standing a good two inches over six feet,
broad of shoulder and narrow of hip, with the carriage of the trained fighting man. His
features were regular and clear cut, his hair black and closely cropped, while his eyes
were of a steel gray, reflecting a strong and loyal character, filled with fire and initiative.
His manners were perfect, and his courtliness was that of a typical southern gentleman of
the highest type.

His horsemanship, especially after hounds, was a marvel and delight even in that
country of magnificent horsemen. I have often heard my father caution him against his
wild recklessness, but he would only laugh, and say that the tumble that killed him would
be from the back of a horse yet unfoaled.

When the war broke out he left us, nor did I see him again for some fifteen or
sixteen years. When he returned it was without warning, and I was much surprised to
note that he had not aged apparently a moment, nor had he changed in any other outward
way. He was, when others were with him, the same genial, happy fellow we had known
of old, but when he thought himself alone I have seen him sit for hours gazing off into
space, his face set in a look of wistful longing and hopeless misery; and at night he would
sit thus looking up into the heavens, at what I did not know until I read his manuscript
years afterward.

He told us that he had been prospecting and mining in Arizona part of the time since
the war; and that he had been very successful was evidenced by the unlimited amount of

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money with which he was supplied. As to the details of his life during these years he was
very reticent, in fact he would not talk of them at all.

He remained with us for about a year and then went to New York, where he
purchased a little place on the Hudson, where I visited him once a year on the occasions
of my trips to the New York market—my father and I owning and operating a string of
general stores throughout Virginia at that time. Captain Carter had a small but beautiful
cottage, situated on a bluff overlooking the river, and during one of my last visits, in the
winter of 1885, I observed he was much occupied in writing, I presume now, upon this
manuscript.

He told me at this time that if anything should happen to him he wished me to take
charge of his estate, and he gave me a key to a compartment in the safe which stood in
his study, telling me I would find his will there and some personal instructions which he
had me pledge myself to carry out with absolute fidelity.

After I had retired for the night I have seen him from my window standing in the
moonlight on the brink of the bluff overlooking the Hudson with his arms stretched out to
the heavens as though in appeal. I thought at the time that he was praying, although I
never understood that he was in the strict sense of the term a religious man.

Several months after I had returned home from my last visit, the first of March,
1886, I think, I received a telegram from him asking me to come to him at once. I had
always been his favorite among the younger generation of Carters and so I hastened to
comply with his demand.

I arrived at the little station, about a mile from his grounds, on the morning of
March 4, 1886, and when I asked the livery man to drive me out to Captain Carter's he
replied that if I was a friend of the Captain's he had some very bad news for me; the
Captain had been found dead shortly after daylight that very morning by the watchman
attached to an adjoining property.

For some reason this news did not surprise me, but I hurried out to his place as
quickly as possible, so that I could take charge of the body and of his affairs.

I found the watchman who had discovered him, together with the local police chief
and several townspeople, assembled in his little study. The watchman related the few
details connected with the finding of the body, which he said had been still warm when
he came upon it. It lay, he said, stretched full length in the snow with the arms
outstretched above the head toward the edge of the bluff, and when he showed me the
spot it flashed upon me that it was the identical one where I had seen him on those other
nights, with his arms raised in supplication to the skies.

There were no marks of violence on the body, and with the aid of a local physician
the coroner's jury quickly reached a decision of death from heart failure. Left alone in the
study, I opened the safe and withdrew the contents of the drawer in which he had told me

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I would find my instructions. They were in part peculiar indeed, but I have followed them
to each last detail as faithfully as I was able.

He directed that I remove his body to Virginia without embalming, and that he be
laid in an open coffin within a tomb which he previously had had constructed and which,
as I later learned, was well ventilated. The instructions impressed upon me that I must
personally see that this was carried out just as he directed, even in secrecy if necessary.

His property was left in such a way that I was to receive the entire income for
twenty-five years, when the principal was to become mine. His further instructions
related to this manuscript which I was to retain sealed and unread, just as I found it, for
eleven years; nor was I to divulge its contents until twenty-one years after his death.

A strange feature about the tomb, where his body still lies, is that the massive door
is equipped with a single, huge gold-plated spring lock which can be opened _only from
the inside_.

Yours very sincerely,

Edgar Rice Burroughs.

CHAPTER I

ON THE ARIZONA HILLS

I am a very old man; how old I do not know. Possibly I am a hundred, possibly
more; but I cannot tell because I have never aged as other men, nor do I remember any
childhood. So far as I can recollect I have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I
appear today as I did forty years and more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living
forever; that some day I shall die the real death from which there is no resurrection. I do
not know why I should fear death, I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet I have
the same horror of it as you who have never died, and it is because of this terror of death,
I believe, that I am so convinced of my mortality.

And because of this conviction I have determined to write down the story of the
interesting periods of my life and of my death. I cannot explain the phenomena; I can
only set down here in the words of an ordinary soldier of fortune a chronicle of the
strange events that befell me during the ten years that my dead body lay undiscovered in
an Arizona cave.

I have never told this story, nor shall mortal man see this manuscript until after I
have passed over for eternity. I know that the average human mind will not believe what

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it cannot grasp, and so I do not purpose being pilloried by the public, the pulpit, and the
press, and held up as a colossal liar when I am but telling the simple truths which some
day science will substantiate. Possibly the suggestions which I gained upon Mars, and the
knowledge which I can set down in this chronicle, will aid in an earlier understanding of
the mysteries of our sister planet; mysteries to you, but no longer mysteries to me.

My name is John Carter; I am better known as Captain Jack Carter of Virginia. At

the close of the Civil War I found myself possessed of several hundred thousand dollars
(Confederate) and a captain's commission in the cavalry arm of an army which no longer
existed; the servant of a state which had vanished with the hopes of the South.
Masterless, penniless, and with my only means of livelihood, fighting, gone, I determined
to work my way to the southwest and attempt to retrieve my fallen fortunes in a search
for gold.

I spent nearly a year prospecting in company with another Confederate officer,

Captain James K. Powell of Richmond. We were extremely fortunate, for late in the
winter of 1865, after many hardships and privations, we located the most remarkable
gold-bearing quartz vein that our wildest dreams had ever pictured. Powell, who was a
mining engineer by education, stated that we had uncovered over a million dollars worth
of ore in a trifle over three months.

As our equipment was crude in the extreme we decided that one of us must return to
civilization, purchase the necessary machinery and return with a sufficient force of men
properly to work the mine.

As Powell was familiar with the country, as well as with the mechanical
requirements of mining we determined that it would be best for him to make the trip. It
was agreed that I was to hold down our claim against the remote possibility of its being
jumped by some wandering prospector.

On March 3, 1866, Powell and I packed his provisions on two of our burros, and
bidding me good-bye he mounted his horse, and started down the mountainside toward
the valley, across which led the first stage of his journey.

The morning of Powell's departure was, like nearly all Arizona mornings, clear and
beautiful; I could see him and his little pack animals picking their way down the
mountainside toward the valley, and all during the morning I would catch occasional
glimpses of them as they topped a hog back or came out upon a level plateau. My last
sight of Powell was about three in the afternoon as he entered the shadows of the range
on the opposite side of the valley.

Some half hour later I happened to glance casually across the valley and was much
surprised to note three little dots in about the same place I had last seen my friend and his
two pack animals. I am not given to needless worrying, but the more I tried to convince
myself that all was well with Powell, and that the dots I had seen on his trail were
antelope or wild horses, the less I was able to assure myself.

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 Since we had entered the territory we had not seen a hostile Indian, and we had,
therefore, become careless in the extreme, and were wont to ridicule the stories we had
heard of the great numbers of these vicious marauders that were supposed to haunt the
trails, taking their toll in lives and torture of every white party which fell into their
merciless clutches.

Powell, I knew, was well armed and, further, an experienced Indian fighter; but I
too had lived and fought for years among the Sioux in the North, and I knew that his
chances were small against a party of cunning trailing Apaches. Finally I could endure
the suspense no longer, and, arming myself with my two Colt revolvers and a carbine, I
strapped two belts of cartridges about me and catching my saddle horse, started down the
trail taken by Powell in the morning.

As soon as I reached comparatively level ground I urged my mount into a canter and
continued this, where the going permitted, until, close upon dusk, I discovered the point
where other tracks joined those of Powell. They were the tracks of unshod ponies, three
of them, and the ponies had been galloping.

I followed rapidly until, darkness shutting down, I was forced to await the rising of
the moon, and given an opportunity to speculate on the question of the wisdom of my
chase. Possibly I had conjured up impossible dangers, like some nervous old housewife,
and when I should catch up with Powell would get a good laugh for my pains. However,
I am not prone to sensitiveness, and the following of a sense of duty, wherever it may
lead, has always been a kind of fetich with me throughout my life; which may account
for the honors bestowed upon me by three republics and the decorations and friendships
of an old and powerful emperor and several lesser kings, in whose service my sword has
been red many a time.

About nine o'clock the moon was sufficiently bright for me to proceed on my way
and I had no difficulty in following the trail at a fast walk, and in some places at a brisk
trot until, about midnight, I reached the water hole where Powell had expected to camp. I
came upon the spot unexpectedly, finding it entirely deserted, with no signs of having
been recently occupied as a camp.

I was interested to note that the tracks of the pursuing horsemen, for such I was now
convinced they must be, continued after Powell with only a brief stop at the hole for
water; and always at the same rate of speed as his.

I was positive now that the trailers were Apaches and that they wished to capture
Powell alive for the fiendish pleasure of the torture, so I urged my horse onward at a
most dangerous pace, hoping against hope that I would catch up with the red rascals
before they attacked him.

Further speculation was suddenly cut short by the faint report of two shots far ahead
of me. I knew that Powell would need me now if ever, and I instantly urged my horse to
his topmost speed up the narrow and difficult mountain trail.

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 I had forged ahead for perhaps a mile or more without hearing further sounds, when
the trail suddenly debouched onto a small, open plateau near the summit of the pass. I
had passed through a narrow, overhanging gorge just before entering suddenly upon this
table land, and the sight which met my eyes filled me with consternation and dismay.

The little stretch of level land was white with Indian tepees, and there were probably
half a thousand red warriors clustered around some object near the center of the camp.
Their attention was so wholly riveted to this point of interest that they did not notice me,
and I easily could have turned back into the dark recesses of the gorge and made my
escape with perfect safety. The fact, however, that this thought did not occur to me until
the following day removes any possible right to a claim to heroism to which the narration
of this episode might possibly otherwise entitle me.

I do not believe that I am made of the stuff which constitutes heroes, because, in all
of the hundreds of instances that my voluntary acts have placed me face to face with
death, I cannot recall a single one where any alternative step to that I took occurred to me
until many hours later. My mind is evidently so constituted that I am subconsciously
forced into the path of duty without recourse to tiresome mental processes. However that
may be, I have never regretted that cowardice is not optional with me.

In this instance I was, of course, positive that Powell was the center of attraction,
but whether I thought or acted first I do not know, but within an instant from the moment
the scene broke upon my view I had whipped out my revolvers and was charging down
upon the entire army of warriors, shooting rapidly, and whooping at the top of my lungs.
Singlehanded, I could not have pursued better tactics, for the red men, convinced by
sudden surprise that not less than a regiment of regulars was upon them, turned and fled
in every direction for their bows, arrows, and rifles.

The view which their hurried routing disclosed filled me with apprehension and
with rage. Under the clear rays of the Arizona moon lay Powell, his body fairly bristling
with the hostile arrows of the braves. That he was already dead I could not but be
convinced, and yet I would have saved his body from mutilation at the hands of the
Apaches as quickly as I would have saved the man himself from death.

Riding close to him I reached down from the saddle, and grasping his cartridge belt
drew him up across the withers of my mount. A backward glance convinced me that to
return by the way I had come would be more hazardous than to continue across the
plateau, so, putting spurs to my poor beast, I made a dash for the opening to the pass
which I could distinguish on the far side of the table land.

The Indians had by this time discovered that I was alone and I was pursued with
imprecations, arrows, and rifle balls. The fact that it is difficult to aim anything but
imprecations accurately by moonlight, that they were upset by the sudden and
unexpected manner of my advent, and that I was a rather rapidly moving target saved me
from the various deadly projectiles of the enemy and permitted me to reach the shadows
of the surrounding peaks before an orderly pursuit could be organized.

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 My horse was traveling practically unguided as I knew that I had probably less
knowledge of the exact location of the trail to the pass than he, and thus it happened that
he entered a defile which led to the summit of the range and not to the pass which I had
hoped would carry me to the valley and to safety. It is probable, however, that to this fact
I owe my life and the remarkable experiences and adventures which befell me during the
following ten years.

My first knowledge that I was on the wrong trail came when I heard the yells of the
pursuing savages suddenly grow fainter and fainter far off to my left.

I knew then that they had passed to the left of the jagged rock formation at the edge
of the plateau, to the right of which my horse had borne me and the body of Powell.

I drew rein on a little level promontory overlooking the trail below and to my left,
and saw the party of pursuing savages disappearing around the point of a neighboring
peak.

I knew the Indians would soon discover that they were on the wrong trail and that
the search for me would be renewed in the right direction as soon as they located my
tracks.

I had gone but a short distance further when what seemed to be an excellent trail
opened up around the face of a high cliff. The trail was level and quite broad and led
upward and in the general direction I wished to go. The cliff arose for several hundred
feet on my right, and on my left was an equal and nearly perpendicular drop to the
bottom of a rocky ravine.

I had followed this trail for perhaps a hundred yards when a sharp turn to the right
brought me to the mouth of a large cave. The opening was about four feet in height and
three to four feet wide, and at this opening the trail ended.

It was now morning, and, with the customary lack of dawn which is a startling
characteristic of Arizona, it had become daylight almost without warning.

Dismounting, I laid Powell upon the ground, but the most painstaking examination
failed to reveal the faintest spark of life. I forced water from my canteen between his
dead lips, bathed his face and rubbed his hands, working over him continuously for the
better part of an hour in the face of the fact that I knew him to be dead.

I was very fond of Powell; he was thoroughly a man in every respect; a polished
southern gentleman; a staunch and true friend; and it was with a feeling of the deepest
grief that I finally gave up my crude endeavors at resuscitation.

Leaving Powell's body where it lay on the ledge I crept into the cave to reconnoiter.
I found a large chamber, possibly a hundred feet in diameter and thirty or forty feet in
height; a smooth and well-worn floor, and many other evidences that the cave had, at

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some remote period, been inhabited. The back of the cave was so lost in dense shadow
that I could not distinguish whether there were openings into other apartments or not.

As I was continuing my examination I commenced to feel a pleasant drowsiness

creeping over me which I attributed to the fatigue of my long and strenuous ride, and the
reaction from the excitement of the fight and the pursuit. I felt comparatively safe in my
present location as I knew that one man could defend the trail to the cave against an
army.

I soon became so drowsy that I could scarcely resist the strong desire to throw
myself on the floor of the cave for a few moments' rest, but I knew that this would never
do, as it would mean certain death at the hands of my red friends, who might be upon me
at any moment. With an effort I started toward the opening of the cave only to reel
drunkenly against a side wall, and from there slip prone upon the floor.

CHAPTER II

THE ESCAPE OF THE DEAD

A sense of delicious dreaminess overcame me, my muscles relaxed, and I was on

the point of giving way to my desire to sleep when the sound of approaching horses
reached my ears. I attempted to spring to my feet but was horrified to discover that my
muscles refused to respond to my will. I was now thoroughly awake, but as unable to
move a muscle as though turned to stone. It was then, for the first time, that I noticed a
slight vapor filling the cave. It was extremely tenuous and only noticeable against the
opening which led to daylight. There also came to my nostrils a faintly pungent odor, and
I could only assume that I had been overcome by some poisonous gas, but why I should
retain my mental faculties and yet be unable to move I could not fathom.

I lay facing the opening of the cave and where I could see the short stretch of trail
which lay between the cave and the turn of the cliff around which the trail led. The noise
of the approaching horses had ceased, and I judged the Indians were creeping stealthily
upon me along the little ledge which led to my living tomb. I remember that I hoped they
would make short work of me as I did not particularly relish the thought of the
innumerable things they might do to me if the spirit prompted them.

I had not long to wait before a stealthy sound apprised me of their nearness, and
then a war-bonneted, paint-streaked face was thrust cautiously around the shoulder of the
cliff, and savage eyes looked into mine. That he could see me in the dim light of the cave
I was sure for the early morning sun was falling full upon me through the opening.

The fellow, instead of approaching, merely stood and stared; his eyes bulging and
his jaw dropped. And then another savage face appeared, and a third and fourth and fifth,

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craning their necks over the shoulders of their fellows whom they could not pass upon
the narrow ledge. Each face was the picture of awe and fear, but for what reason I did not
know, nor did I learn until ten years later. That there were still other braves behind those
who regarded me was apparent from the fact that the leaders passed back whispered word
to those behind them.

Suddenly a low but distinct moaning sound issued from the recesses of the cave
behind me, and, as it reached the ears of the Indians, they turned and fled in terror, panic-
stricken. So frantic were their efforts to escape from the unseen thing behind me that one
of the braves was hurled headlong from the cliff to the rocks below. Their wild cries
echoed in the canyon for a short time, and then all was still once more.

The sound which had frightened them was not repeated, but it had been sufficient as
it was to start me speculating on the possible horror which lurked in the shadows at my
back. Fear is a relative term and so I can only measure my feelings at that time by what I
had experienced in previous positions of danger and by those that I have passed through
since; but I can say without shame that if the sensations I endured during the next few
minutes were fear, then may God help the coward, for cowardice is of a surety its own
punishment.

To be held paralyzed, with one's back toward some horrible and unknown danger
from the very sound of which the ferocious Apache warriors turn in wild stampede, as a
flock of sheep would madly flee from a pack of wolves, seems to me the last word in
fearsome predicaments for a man who had ever been used to fighting for his life with all
the energy of a powerful physique.

Several times I thought I heard faint sounds behind me as of somebody moving

cautiously, but eventually even these ceased, and I was left to the contemplation of my
position without interruption. I could but vaguely conjecture the cause of my paralysis,
and my only hope lay in that it might pass off as suddenly as it had fallen upon me.

Late in the afternoon my horse, which had been standing with dragging rein before
the cave, started slowly down the trail, evidently in search of food and water, and I was
left alone with my mysterious unknown companion and the dead body of my friend,
which lay just within my range of vision upon the ledge where I had placed it in the early
morning.

From then until possibly midnight all was silence, the silence of the dead; then,
suddenly, the awful moan of the morning broke upon my startled ears, and there came
again from the black shadows the sound of a moving thing, and a faint rustling as of dead
leaves. The shock to my already overstrained nervous system was terrible in the extreme,
and with a superhuman effort I strove to break my awful bonds. It was an effort of the
mind, of the will, of the nerves; not muscular, for I could not move even so much as my
little finger, but none the less mighty for all that. And then something gave, there was a
momentary feeling of nausea, a sharp click as of the snapping of a steel wire, and I stood
with my back against the wall of the cave facing my unknown foe.

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 And then the moonlight flooded the cave, and there before me lay my own body as
it had been lying all these hours, with the eyes staring toward the open ledge and the
hands resting limply upon the ground. I looked first at my lifeless clay there upon the
floor of the cave and then down at myself in utter bewilderment; for there I lay clothed,
and yet here I stood but naked as at the minute of my birth.

The transition had been so sudden and so unexpected that it left me for a moment
forgetful of aught else than my strange metamorphosis. My first thought was, is this then
death! Have I indeed passed over forever into that other life! But I could not well believe
this, as I could feel my heart pounding against my ribs from the exertion of my efforts to
release myself from the anaesthesis which had held me. My breath was coming in quick,
short gasps, cold sweat stood out from every pore of my body, and the ancient
experiment of pinching revealed the fact that I was anything other than a wraith.

Again was I suddenly recalled to my immediate surroundings by a repetition of the

weird moan from the depths of the cave. Naked and unarmed as I was, I had no desire to
face the unseen thing which menaced me.

My revolvers were strapped to my lifeless body which, for some unfathomable

reason, I could not bring myself to touch. My carbine was in its boot, strapped to my
saddle, and as my horse had wandered off I was left without means of defense. My only
alternative seemed to lie in flight and my decision was crystallized by a recurrence of the
rustling sound from the thing which now seemed, in the darkness of the cave and to my
distorted imagination, to be creeping stealthily upon me.

Unable longer to resist the temptation to escape this horrible place I leaped quickly
through the opening into the starlight of a clear Arizona night. The crisp, fresh mountain
air outside the cave acted as an immediate tonic and I felt new life and new courage
coursing through me. Pausing upon the brink of the ledge I upbraided myself for what
now seemed to me wholly unwarranted apprehension. I reasoned with myself that I had
lain helpless for many hours within the cave, yet nothing had molested me, and my better
judgment, when permitted the direction of clear and logical reasoning, convinced me that
the noises I had heard must have resulted from purely natural and harmless causes;
probably the conformation of the cave was such that a slight breeze had caused the
sounds I heard.

I decided to investigate, but first I lifted my head to fill my lungs with the pure,
invigorating night air of the mountains. As I did so I saw stretching far below me the
beautiful vista of rocky gorge, and level, cacti-studded flat, wrought by the moonlight
into a miracle of soft splendor and wondrous enchantment.

Few western wonders are more inspiring than the beauties of an Arizona moonlit
landscape; the silvered mountains in the distance, the strange lights and shadows upon
hog back and arroyo, and the grotesque details of the stiff, yet beautiful cacti form a
picture at once enchanting and inspiring; as though one were catching for the first time a

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glimpse of some dead and forgotten world, so different is it from the aspect of any other
spot upon our earth.

As I stood thus meditating, I turned my gaze from the landscape to the heavens
where the myriad stars formed a gorgeous and fitting canopy for the wonders of the
earthly scene. My attention was quickly riveted by a large red star close to the distant
horizon. As I gazed upon it I felt a spell of overpowering fascination—it was Mars, the
god of war, and for me, the fighting man, it had always held the power of irresistible
enchantment. As I gazed at it on that far-gone night it seemed to call across the
unthinkable void, to lure me to it, to draw me as the lodestone attracts a particle of iron.

My longing was beyond the power of opposition; I closed my eyes, stretched out my
arms toward the god of my vocation and felt myself drawn with the suddenness of
thought through the trackless immensity of space. There was an instant of extreme cold
and utter darkness.

CHAPTER III

MY ADVENT ON MARS

I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I knew that I was on Mars;
not once did I question either my sanity or my wakefulness. I was not asleep, no need for
pinching here; my inner consciousness told me as plainly that I was upon Mars as your
conscious mind tells you that you are upon Earth. You do not question the fact; neither
did I.

I found myself lying prone upon a bed of yellowish, mosslike vegetation which
stretched around me in all directions for interminable miles. I seemed to be lying in a
deep, circular basin, along the outer verge of which I could distinguish the irregularities
of low hills.

It was midday, the sun was shining full upon me and the heat of it was rather intense
upon my naked body, yet no greater than would have been true under similar conditions
on an Arizona desert. Here and there were slight outcroppings of quartz-bearing rock
which glistened in the sunlight; and a little to my left, perhaps a hundred yards, appeared
a low, walled enclosure about four feet in height. No water, and no other vegetation than
the moss was in evidence, and as I was somewhat thirsty I determined to do a little
exploring.

Springing to my feet I received my first Martian surprise, for the effort, which on
Earth would have brought me standing upright, carried me into the Martian air to the
height of about three yards. I alighted softly upon the ground, however, without
appreciable shock or jar. Now commenced a series of evolutions which even then seemed

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ludicrous in the extreme. I found that I must learn to walk all over again, as the muscular
exertion which carried me easily and safely upon Earth played strange antics with me
upon Mars.

Instead of progressing in a sane and dignified manner, my attempts to walk resulted

in a variety of hops which took me clear of the ground a couple of feet at each step and
landed me sprawling upon my face or back at the end of each second or third hop. My
muscles, perfectly attuned and accustomed to the force of gravity on Earth, played the
mischief with me in attempting for the first time to cope with the lesser gravitation and
lower air pressure on Mars.

I was determined, however, to explore the low structure which was the only
evidence of habitation in sight, and so I hit upon the unique plan of reverting to first
principles in locomotion, creeping. I did fairly well at this and in a few moments had
reached the low, encircling wall of the enclosure.

There appeared to be no doors or windows upon the side nearest me, but as the wall
was but about four feet high I cautiously gained my feet and peered over the top upon the
strangest sight it had ever been given me to see.

The roof of the enclosure was of solid glass about four or five inches in thickness,
and beneath this were several hundred large eggs, perfectly round and snowy white. The
eggs were nearly uniform in size being about two and one-half feet in diameter.

Five or six had already hatched and the grotesque caricatures which sat blinking in
the sunlight were enough to cause me to doubt my sanity. They seemed mostly head,
with little scrawny bodies, long necks and six legs, or, as I afterward learned, two legs
and two arms, with an intermediary pair of limbs which could be used at will either as
arms or legs. Their eyes were set at the extreme sides of their heads a trifle above the
center and protruded in such a manner that they could be directed either forward or back
and also independently of each other, thus permitting this queer animal to look in any
direction, or in two directions at once, without the necessity of turning the head.

The ears, which were slightly above the eyes and closer together, were small, cup-
shaped antennae, protruding not more than an inch on these young specimens. Their
noses were but longitudinal slits in the center of their faces, midway between their
mouths and ears.

There was no hair on their bodies, which were of a very light yellowish-green color.
In the adults, as I was to learn quite soon, this color deepens to an olive green and is
darker in the male than in the female. Further, the heads of the adults are not so out of
proportion to their bodies as in the case of the young.

The iris of the eyes is blood red, as in Albinos, while the pupil is dark. The eyeball
itself is very white, as are the teeth. These latter add a most ferocious appearance to an
otherwise fearsome and terrible countenance, as the lower tusks curve upward to sharp

13
points which end about where the eyes of earthly human beings are located. The
whiteness of the teeth is not that of ivory, but of the snowiest and most gleaming of
china. Against the dark background of their olive skins their tusks stand out in a most
striking manner, making these weapons present a singularly formidable appearance.

Most of these details I noted later, for I was given but little time to speculate on the
wonders of my new discovery. I had seen that the eggs were in the process of hatching,
and as I stood watching the hideous little monsters break from their shells I failed to note
the approach of a score of full-grown Martians from behind me.

Coming, as they did, over the soft and soundless moss, which covers practically the
entire surface of Mars with the exception of the frozen areas at the poles and the scattered
cultivated districts, they might have captured me easily, but their intentions were far
more sinister. It was the rattling of the accouterments of the foremost warrior which
warned me.

On such a little thing my life hung that I often marvel that I escaped so easily. Had
not the rifle of the leader of the party swung from its fastenings beside his saddle in such
a way as to strike against the butt of his great metal-shod spear I should have snuffed out
without ever knowing that death was near me. But the little sound caused me to turn, and
there upon me, not ten feet from my breast, was the point of that huge spear, a spear forty
feet long, tipped with gleaming metal, and held low at the side of a mounted replica of
the little devils I had been watching.

But how puny and harmless they now looked beside this huge and terrific
incarnation of hate, of vengeance and of death. The man himself, for such I may call him,
was fully fifteen feet in height and, on Earth, would have weighed some four hundred
pounds. He sat his mount as we sit a horse, grasping the animal's barrel with his lower
limbs, while the hands of his two right arms held his immense spear low at the side of his
mount; his two left arms were outstretched laterally to help preserve his balance, the
thing he rode having neither bridle or reins of any description for guidance.

And his mount! How can earthly words describe it! It towered ten feet at the
shoulder; had four legs on either side; a broad flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root,
and which it held straight out behind while running; a gaping mouth which split its head
from its snout to its long, massive neck.

Like its master, it was entirely devoid of hair, but was of a dark slate color and
exceeding smooth and glossy. Its belly was white, and its legs shaded from the slate of its
shoulders and hips to a vivid yellow at the feet. The feet themselves were heavily padded
and nailless, which fact had also contributed to the noiselessness of their approach, and,
in common with a multiplicity of legs, is a characteristic feature of the fauna of Mars.
The highest type of man and one other animal, the only mammal existing on Mars, alone
have well-formed nails, and there are absolutely no hoofed animals in existence there.

14
 Behind this first charging demon trailed nineteen others, similar in all respects, but,
as I learned later, bearing individual characteristics peculiar to themselves; precisely as
no two of us are identical although we are all cast in a similar mold. This picture, or
rather materialized nightmare, which I have described at length, made but one terrible
and swift impression on me as I turned to meet it.

Unarmed and naked as I was, the first law of nature manifested itself in the only
possible solution of my immediate problem, and that was to get out of the vicinity of the
point of the charging spear. Consequently I gave a very earthly and at the same time
superhuman leap to reach the top of the Martian incubator, for such I had determined it
must be.

My effort was crowned with a success which appalled me no less than it seemed to
surprise the Martian warriors, for it carried me fully thirty feet into the air and landed me
a hundred feet from my pursuers and on the opposite side of the enclosure.

I alighted upon the soft moss easily and without mishap, and turning saw my
enemies lined up along the further wall. Some were surveying me with expressions
which I afterward discovered marked extreme astonishment, and the others were
evidently satisfying themselves that I had not molested their young.

They were conversing together in low tones, and gesticulating and pointing toward
me. Their discovery that I had not harmed the little Martians, and that I was unarmed,
must have caused them to look upon me with less ferocity; but, as I was to learn later, the
thing which weighed most in my favor was my exhibition of hurdling.

While the Martians are immense, their bones are very large and they are muscled
only in proportion to the gravitation which they must overcome. The result is that they
are infinitely less agile and less powerful, in proportion to their weight, than an Earth
man, and I doubt that were one of them suddenly to be transported to Earth he could lift
his own weight from the ground; in fact, I am convinced that he could not do so.

My feat then was as marvelous upon Mars as it would have been upon Earth, and
from desiring to annihilate me they suddenly looked upon me as a wonderful discovery
to be captured and exhibited among their fellows.

The respite my unexpected agility had given me permitted me to formulate plans for
the immediate future and to note more closely the appearance of the warriors, for I could
not disassociate these people in my mind from those other warriors who, only the day
before, had been pursuing me.

I noted that each was armed with several other weapons in addition to the huge
spear which I have described. The weapon which caused me to decide against an attempt
at escape by flight was what was evidently a rifle of some description, and which I felt,
for some reason, they were peculiarly efficient in handling.

15
 These rifles were of a white metal stocked with wood, which I learned later was a
very light and intensely hard growth much prized on Mars, and entirely unknown to us
denizens of Earth. The metal of the barrel is an alloy composed principally of aluminum
and steel which they have learned to temper to a hardness far exceeding that of the steel
with which we are familiar. The weight of these rifles is comparatively little, and with the
small caliber, explosive, radium projectiles which they use, and the great length of the
barrel, they are deadly in the extreme and at ranges which would be unthinkable on
Earth. The theoretic effective radius of this rifle is three hundred miles, but the best they
can do in actual service when equipped with their wireless finders and sighters is but a
trifle over two hundred miles.

This is quite far enough to imbue me with great respect for the Martian firearm, and
some telepathic force must have warned me against an attempt to escape in broad
daylight from under the muzzles of twenty of these death-dealing machines.

The Martians, after conversing for a short time, turned and rode away in the
direction from which they had come, leaving one of their number alone by the enclosure.
When they had covered perhaps two hundred yards they halted, and turning their mounts
toward us sat watching the warrior by the enclosure.

He was the one whose spear had so nearly transfixed me, and was evidently the
leader of the band, as I had noted that they seemed to have moved to their present
position at his direction. When his force had come to a halt he dismounted, threw down
his spear and small arms, and came around the end of the incubator toward me, entirely
unarmed and as naked as I, except for the ornaments strapped upon his head, limbs, and
breast.

When he was within about fifty feet of me he unclasped an enormous metal armlet,
and holding it toward me in the open palm of his hand, addressed me in a clear, resonant
voice, but in a language, it is needless to say, I could not understand. He then stopped as
though waiting for my reply, pricking up his antennae-like ears and cocking his strange-
looking eyes still further toward me.

As the silence became painful I concluded to hazard a little conversation on my own

part, as I had guessed that he was making overtures of peace. The throwing down of his
weapons and the withdrawing of his troop before his advance toward me would have
signified a peaceful mission anywhere on Earth, so why not, then, on Mars!

Placing my hand over my heart I bowed low to the Martian and explained to him
that while I did not understand his language, his actions spoke for the peace and
friendship that at the present moment were most dear to my heart. Of course I might have
been a babbling brook for all the intelligence my speech carried to him, but he
understood the action with which I immediately followed my words.

Stretching my hand toward him, I advanced and took the armlet from his open palm,
clasping it about my arm above the elbow; smiled at him and stood waiting. His wide

16
mouth spread into an answering smile, and locking one of his intermediary arms in mine
we turned and walked back toward his mount. At the same time he motioned his
followers to advance. They started toward us on a wild run, but were checked by a signal
from him. Evidently he feared that were I to be really frightened again I might jump
entirely out of the landscape.

He exchanged a few words with his men, motioned to me that I would ride behind
one of them, and then mounted his own animal. The fellow designated reached down two
or three hands and lifted me up behind him on the glossy back of his mount, where I
hung on as best I could by the belts and straps which held the Martian's weapons and
ornaments.

The entire cavalcade then turned and galloped away toward the range of hills in the
distance.

CHAPTER IV

A PRISONER

We had gone perhaps ten miles when the ground began to rise very rapidly. We
were, as I was later to learn, nearing the edge of one of Mars' long-dead seas, in the
bottom of which my encounter with the Martians had taken place.

In a short time we gained the foot of the mountains, and after traversing a narrow
gorge came to an open valley, at the far extremity of which was a low table land upon
which I beheld an enormous city. Toward this we galloped, entering it by what appeared
to be a ruined roadway leading out from the city, but only to the edge of the table land,
where it ended abruptly in a flight of broad steps.

Upon closer observation I saw as we passed them that the buildings were deserted,
and while not greatly decayed had the appearance of not having been tenanted for years,
possibly for ages. Toward the center of the city was a large plaza, and upon this and in
the buildings immediately surrounding it were camped some nine or ten hundred
creatures of the same breed as my captors, for such I now considered them despite the
suave manner in which I had been trapped.

With the exception of their ornaments all were naked. The women varied in
appearance but little from the men, except that their tusks were much larger in proportion
to their height, in some instances curving nearly to their high-set ears. Their bodies were
smaller and lighter in color, and their fingers and toes bore the rudiments of nails, which
were entirely lacking among the males. The adult females ranged in height from ten to
twelve feet.

17
 The children were light in color, even lighter than the women, and all looked
precisely alike to me, except that some were taller than others; older, I presumed.

I saw no signs of extreme age among them, nor is there any appreciable difference
in their appearance from the age of maturity, about forty, until, at about the age of one
thousand years, they go voluntarily upon their last strange pilgrimage down the river Iss,
which leads no living Martian knows whither and from whose bosom no Martian has
ever returned, or would be allowed to live did he return after once embarking upon its
cold, dark waters.

Only about one Martian in a thousand dies of sickness or disease, and possibly
about twenty take the voluntary pilgrimage. The other nine hundred and seventy-nine die
violent deaths in duels, in hunting, in aviation and in war; but perhaps by far the greatest
death loss comes during the age of childhood, when vast numbers of the little Martians
fall victims to the great white apes of Mars.

The average life expectancy of a Martian after the age of maturity is about three
hundred years, but would be nearer the one-thousand mark were it not for the various
means leading to violent death. Owing to the waning resources of the planet it evidently
became necessary to counteract the increasing longevity which their remarkable skill in
therapeutics and surgery produced, and so human life has come to be considered but
lightly on Mars, as is evidenced by their dangerous sports and the almost continual
warfare between the various communities.

There are other and natural causes tending toward a diminution of population, but
nothing contributes so greatly to this end as the fact that no male or female Martian is
ever voluntarily without a weapon of destruction.

As we neared the plaza and my presence was discovered we were immediately

surrounded by hundreds of the creatures who seemed anxious to pluck me from my seat
behind my guard. A word from the leader of the party stilled their clamor, and we
proceeded at a trot across the plaza to the entrance of as magnificent an edifice as mortal
eye has rested upon.

The building was low, but covered an enormous area. It was constructed of
gleaming white marble inlaid with gold and brilliant stones which sparkled and
scintillated in the sunlight. The main entrance was some hundred feet in width and
projected from the building proper to form a huge canopy above the entrance hall. There
was no stairway, but a gentle incline to the first floor of the building opened into an
enormous chamber encircled by galleries.

On the floor of this chamber, which was dotted with highly carved wooden desks
and chairs, were assembled about forty or fifty male Martians around the steps of a
rostrum. On the platform proper squatted an enormous warrior heavily loaded with metal
ornaments, gay-colored feathers and beautifully wrought leather trappings ingeniously

18
set with precious stones. From his shoulders depended a short cape of white fur lined
with brilliant scarlet silk.

What struck me as most remarkable about this assemblage and the hall in which
they were congregated was the fact that the creatures were entirely out of proportion to
the desks, chairs, and other furnishings; these being of a size adapted to human beings
such as I, whereas the great bulks of the Martians could scarcely have squeezed into the
chairs, nor was there room beneath the desks for their long legs. Evidently, then, there
were other denizens on Mars than the wild and grotesque creatures into whose hands I
had fallen, but the evidences of extreme antiquity which showed all around me indicated
that these buildings might have belonged to some long-extinct and forgotten race in the
dim antiquity of Mars.

Our party had halted at the entrance to the building, and at a sign from the leader I
had been lowered to the ground. Again locking his arm in mine, we had proceeded into
the audience chamber. There were few formalities observed in approaching the Martian
chieftain. My captor merely strode up to the rostrum, the others making way for him as
he advanced. The chieftain rose to his feet and uttered the name of my escort who, in
turn, halted and repeated the name of the ruler followed by his title.

At the time, this ceremony and the words they uttered meant nothing to me, but later
I came to know that this was the customary greeting between green Martians. Had the
men been strangers, and therefore unable to exchange names, they would have silently
exchanged ornaments, had their missions been peaceful—otherwise they would have
exchanged shots, or have fought out their introduction with some other of their various
weapons.

My captor, whose name was Tars Tarkas, was virtually the vice-chieftain of the
community, and a man of great ability as a statesman and warrior. He evidently
explained briefly the incidents connected with his expedition, including my capture, and
when he had concluded the chieftain addressed me at some length.

I replied in our good old English tongue merely to convince him that neither of us
could understand the other; but I noticed that when I smiled slightly on concluding, he
did likewise. This fact, and the similar occurrence during my first talk with Tars Tarkas,
convinced me that we had at least something in common; the ability to smile, therefore to
laugh; denoting a sense of humor. But I was to learn that the Martian smile is merely
perfunctory, and that the Martian laugh is a thing to cause strong men to blanch in horror.

The ideas of humor among the green men of Mars are widely at variance with our
conceptions of incitants to merriment. The death agonies of a fellow being are, to these
strange creatures provocative of the wildest hilarity, while their chief form of commonest
amusement is to inflict death on their prisoners of war in various ingenious and horrible
ways.

19
 The assembled warriors and chieftains examined me closely, feeling my muscles
and the texture of my skin. The principal chieftain then evidently signified a desire to see
me perform, and, motioning me to follow, he started with Tars Tarkas for the open plaza.

Now, I had made no attempt to walk, since my first signal failure, except while
tightly grasping Tars Tarkas' arm, and so now I went skipping and flitting about among
the desks and chairs like some monstrous grasshopper. After bruising myself severely,
much to the amusement of the Martians, I again had recourse to creeping, but this did not
suit them and I was roughly jerked to my feet by a towering fellow who had laughed
most heartily at my misfortunes.

As he banged me down upon my feet his face was bent close to mine and I did the
only thing a gentleman might do under the circumstances of brutality, boorishness, and
lack of consideration for a stranger's rights; I swung my fist squarely to his jaw and he
went down like a felled ox. As he sunk to the floor I wheeled around with my back
toward the nearest desk, expecting to be overwhelmed by the vengeance of his fellows,
but determined to give them as good a battle as the unequal odds would permit before I
gave up my life.

My fears were groundless, however, as the other Martians, at first struck dumb with
wonderment, finally broke into wild peals of laughter and applause. I did not recognize
the applause as such, but later, when I had become acquainted with their customs, I
learned that I had won what they seldom accord, a manifestation of approbation.

The fellow whom I had struck lay where he had fallen, nor did any of his mates
approach him. Tars Tarkas advanced toward me, holding out one of his arms, and we
thus proceeded to the plaza without further mishap. I did not, of course, know the reason
for which we had come to the open, but I was not long in being enlightened. They first
repeated the word "sak" a number of times, and then Tars Tarkas made several jumps,
repeating the same word before each leap; then, turning to me, he said, "sak!" I saw what
they were after, and gathering myself together I "sakked" with such marvelous success
that I cleared a good hundred and fifty feet; nor did I this time, lose my equilibrium, but
landed squarely upon my feet without falling. I then returned by easy jumps of twenty-
five or thirty feet to the little group of warriors.

My exhibition had been witnessed by several hundred lesser Martians, and they
immediately broke into demands for a repetition, which the chieftain then ordered me to
make; but I was both hungry and thirsty, and determined on the spot that my only method
of salvation was to demand the consideration from these creatures which they evidently
would not voluntarily accord. I therefore ignored the repeated commands to "sak," and
each time they were made I motioned to my mouth and rubbed my stomach.

Tars Tarkas and the chief exchanged a few words, and the former, calling to a
young female among the throng, gave her some instructions and motioned me to
accompany her. I grasped her proffered arm and together we crossed the plaza toward a
large building on the far side.

20
 My fair companion was about eight feet tall, having just arrived at maturity, but not
yet to her full height. She was of a light olive-green color, with a smooth, glossy hide.
Her name, as I afterward learned, was Sola, and she belonged to the retinue of Tars
Tarkas. She conducted me to a spacious chamber in one of the buildings fronting on the
plaza, and which, from the litter of silks and furs upon the floor, I took to be the sleeping
quarters of several of the natives.

The room was well lighted by a number of large windows and was beautifully
decorated with mural paintings and mosaics, but upon all there seemed to rest that
indefinable touch of the finger of antiquity which convinced me that the architects and
builders of these wondrous creations had nothing in common with the crude half-brutes
which now occupied them.

Sola motioned me to be seated upon a pile of silks near the center of the room, and,
turning, made a peculiar hissing sound, as though signaling to someone in an adjoining
room. In response to her call I obtained my first sight of a new Martian wonder. It
waddled in on its ten short legs, and squatted down before the girl like an obedient
puppy. The thing was about the size of a Shetland pony, but its head bore a slight
resemblance to that of a frog, except that the jaws were equipped with three rows of long,
sharp tusks.

CHAPTER V

I ELUDE MY WATCH DOG

Sola stared into the brute's wicked-looking eyes, muttered a word or two of
command, pointed to me, and left the chamber. I could not but wonder what this
ferocious-looking monstrosity might do when left alone in such close proximity to such a
relatively tender morsel of meat; but my fears were groundless, as the beast, after
surveying me intently for a moment, crossed the room to the only exit which led to the
street, and lay down full length across the threshold.

This was my first experience with a Martian watch dog, but it was destined not to be
my last, for this fellow guarded me carefully during the time I remained a captive among
these green men; twice saving my life, and never voluntarily being away from me a
moment.

While Sola was away I took occasion to examine more minutely the room in which
I found myself captive. The mural painting depicted scenes of rare and wonderful beauty;
mountains, rivers, lake, ocean, meadow, trees and flowers, winding roadways, sun-kissed
gardens—scenes which might have portrayed earthly views but for the different colorings
of the vegetation. The work had evidently been wrought by a master hand, so subtle the
atmosphere, so perfect the technique; yet nowhere was there a representation of a living

21
animal, either human or brute, by which I could guess at the likeness of these other and
perhaps extinct denizens of Mars.

While I was allowing my fancy to run riot in wild conjecture on the possible
explanation of the strange anomalies which I had so far met with on Mars, Sola returned
bearing both food and drink. These she placed on the floor beside me, and seating herself
a short ways off regarded me intently. The food consisted of about a pound of some solid
substance of the consistency of cheese and almost tasteless, while the liquid was
apparently milk from some animal. It was not unpleasant to the taste, though slightly
acid, and I learned in a short time to prize it very highly. It came, as I later discovered,
not from an animal, as there is only one mammal on Mars and that one very rare indeed,
but from a large plant which grows practically without water, but seems to distill its
plentiful supply of milk from the products of the soil, the moisture of the air, and the rays
of the sun. A single plant of this species will give eight or ten quarts of milk per day.

After I had eaten I was greatly invigorated, but feeling the need of rest I stretched
out upon the silks and was soon asleep. I must have slept several hours, as it was dark
when I awoke, and I was very cold. I noticed that someone had thrown a fur over me, but
it had become partially dislodged and in the darkness I could not see to replace it.
Suddenly a hand reached out and pulled the fur over me, shortly afterwards adding
another to my covering.

I presumed that my watchful guardian was Sola, nor was I wrong. This girl alone,
among all the green Martians with whom I came in contact, disclosed characteristics of
sympathy, kindliness, and affection; her ministrations to my bodily wants were unfailing,
and her solicitous care saved me from much suffering and many hardships.

As I was to learn, the Martian nights are extremely cold, and as there is practically
no twilight or dawn, the changes in temperature are sudden and most uncomfortable, as
are the transitions from brilliant daylight to darkness. The nights are either brilliantly
illumined or very dark, for if neither of the two moons of Mars happen to be in the sky
almost total darkness results, since the lack of atmosphere, or, rather, the very thin
atmosphere, fails to diffuse the starlight to any great extent; on the other hand, if both of
the moons are in the heavens at night the surface of the ground is brightly illuminated.

Both of Mars' moons are vastly nearer her than is our moon to Earth; the nearer
moon being but about five thousand miles distant, while the further is but little more than
fourteen thousand miles away, against the nearly one-quarter million miles which
separate us from our moon. The nearer moon of Mars makes a complete revolution
around the planet in a little over seven and one-half hours, so that she may be seen
hurtling through the sky like some huge meteor two or three times each night, revealing
all her phases during each transit of the heavens.

The further moon revolves about Mars in something over thirty and one-quarter
hours, and with her sister satellite makes a nocturnal Martian scene one of splendid and
weird grandeur. And it is well that nature has so graciously and abundantly lighted the

22
Martian night, for the green men of Mars, being a nomadic race without high intellectual
development, have but crude means for artificial lighting; depending principally upon
torches, a kind of candle, and a peculiar oil lamp which generates a gas and burns
without a wick.

This last device produces an intensely brilliant far-reaching white light, but as the
natural oil which it requires can only be obtained by mining in one of several widely
separated and remote localities it is seldom used by these creatures whose only thought is
for today, and whose hatred for manual labor has kept them in a semi-barbaric state for
countless ages.

After Sola had replenished my coverings I again slept, nor did I awaken until
daylight. The other occupants of the room, five in number, were all females, and they
were still sleeping, piled high with a motley array of silks and furs. Across the threshold
lay stretched the sleepless guardian brute, just as I had last seen him on the preceding
day; apparently he had not moved a muscle; his eyes were fairly glued upon me, and I
fell to wondering just what might befall me should I endeavor to escape.

I have ever been prone to seek adventure and to investigate and experiment where
wiser men would have left well enough alone. It therefore now occurred to me that the
surest way of learning the exact attitude of this beast toward me would be to attempt to
leave the room. I felt fairly secure in my belief that I could escape him should he pursue
me once I was outside the building, for I had begun to take great pride in my ability as a
jumper. Furthermore, I could see from the shortness of his legs that the brute himself was
no jumper and probably no runner.

Slowly and carefully, therefore, I gained my feet, only to see that my watcher did
the same; cautiously I advanced toward him, finding that by moving with a shuffling gait
I could retain my balance as well as make reasonably rapid progress. As I neared the
brute he backed cautiously away from me, and when I had reached the open he moved to
one side to let me pass. He then fell in behind me and followed about ten paces in my
rear as I made my way along the deserted street.

Evidently his mission was to protect me only, I thought, but when we reached the
edge of the city he suddenly sprang before me, uttering strange sounds and baring his
ugly and ferocious tusks. Thinking to have some amusement at his expense, I rushed
toward him, and when almost upon him sprang into the air, alighting far beyond him and
away from the city. He wheeled instantly and charged me with the most appalling speed I
had ever beheld. I had thought his short legs a bar to swiftness, but had he been coursing
with greyhounds the latter would have appeared as though asleep on a door mat. As I was
to learn, this is the fleetest animal on Mars, and owing to its intelligence, loyalty, and
ferocity is used in hunting, in war, and as the protector of the Martian man.

I quickly saw that I would have difficulty in escaping the fangs of the beast on a
straightaway course, and so I met his charge by doubling in my tracks and leaping over
him as he was almost upon me. This maneuver gave me a considerable advantage, and I

23
was able to reach the city quite a bit ahead of him, and as he came tearing after me I
jumped for a window about thirty feet from the ground in the face of one of the buildings
overlooking the valley.

Grasping the sill I pulled myself up to a sitting posture without looking into the
building, and gazed down at the baffled animal beneath me. My exultation was short-
lived, however, for scarcely had I gained a secure seat upon the sill than a huge hand
grasped me by the neck from behind and dragged me violently into the room. Here I was
thrown upon my back, and beheld standing over me a colossal ape-like creature, white
and hairless except for an enormous shock of bristly hair upon its head.

CHAPTER VI

A FIGHT THAT WON FRIENDS

The thing, which more nearly resembled our earthly men than it did the Martians I
had seen, held me pinioned to the ground with one huge foot, while it jabbered and
gesticulated at some answering creature behind me. This other, which was evidently its
mate, soon came toward us, bearing a mighty stone cudgel with which it evidently
intended to brain me.

The creatures were about ten or fifteen feet tall, standing erect, and had, like the
green Martians, an intermediary set of arms or legs, midway between their upper and
lower limbs. Their eyes were close together and non-protruding; their ears were high set,
but more laterally located than those of the Martians, while their snouts and teeth were
strikingly like those of our African gorilla. Altogether they were not unlovely when
viewed in comparison with the green Martians.

The cudgel was swinging in the arc which ended upon my upturned face when a
bolt of myriad-legged horror hurled itself through the doorway full upon the breast of my
executioner. With a shriek of fear the ape which held me leaped through the open
window, but its mate closed in a terrific death struggle with my preserver, which was
nothing less than my faithful watch-thing; I cannot bring myself to call so hideous a
creature a dog.

As quickly as possible I gained my feet and backing against the wall I witnessed
such a battle as it is vouchsafed few beings to see. The strength, agility, and blind
ferocity of these two creatures is approached by nothing known to earthly man. My beast
had an advantage in his first hold, having sunk his mighty fangs far into the breast of his
adversary; but the great arms and paws of the ape, backed by muscles far transcending
those of the Martian men I had seen, had locked the throat of my guardian and slowly
were choking out his life, and bending back his head and neck upon his body, where I
momentarily expected the former to fall limp at the end of a broken neck.

24
 In accomplishing this the ape was tearing away the entire front of its breast, which
was held in the vise-like grip of the powerful jaws. Back and forth upon the floor they
rolled, neither one emitting a sound of fear or pain. Presently I saw the great eyes of my
beast bulging completely from their sockets and blood flowing from its nostrils. That he
was weakening perceptibly was evident, but so also was the ape, whose struggles were
growing momentarily less.

Suddenly I came to myself and, with that strange instinct which seems ever to
prompt me to my duty, I seized the cudgel, which had fallen to the floor at the
commencement of the battle, and swinging it with all the power of my earthly arms I
crashed it full upon the head of the ape, crushing his skull as though it had been an
eggshell.

Scarcely had the blow descended when I was confronted with a new danger. The
ape's mate, recovered from its first shock of terror, had returned to the scene of the
encounter by way of the interior of the building. I glimpsed him just before he reached
the doorway and the sight of him, now roaring as he perceived his lifeless fellow
stretched upon the floor, and frothing at the mouth, in the extremity of his rage, filled me,
I must confess, with dire forebodings.

I am ever willing to stand and fight when the odds are not too overwhelmingly
against me, but in this instance I perceived neither glory nor profit in pitting my
relatively puny strength against the iron muscles and brutal ferocity of this enraged
denizen of an unknown world; in fact, the only outcome of such an encounter, so far as I
might be concerned, seemed sudden death.

I was standing near the window and I knew that once in the street I might gain the
plaza and safety before the creature could overtake me; at least there was a chance for
safety in flight, against almost certain death should I remain and fight however
desperately.

It is true I held the cudgel, but what could I do with it against his four great arms?
Even should I break one of them with my first blow, for I figured that he would attempt
to ward off the cudgel, he could reach out and annihilate me with the others before I
could recover for a second attack.

In the instant that these thoughts passed through my mind I had turned to make for
the window, but my eyes alighting on the form of my erstwhile guardian threw all
thoughts of flight to the four winds. He lay gasping upon the floor of the chamber, his
great eyes fastened upon me in what seemed a pitiful appeal for protection. I could not
withstand that look, nor could I, on second thought, have deserted my rescuer without
giving as good an account of myself in his behalf as he had in mine.

Without more ado, therefore, I turned to meet the charge of the infuriated bull ape.
He was now too close upon me for the cudgel to prove of any effective assistance, so I
merely threw it as heavily as I could at his advancing bulk. It struck him just below the

25
knees, eliciting a howl of pain and rage, and so throwing him off his balance that he
lunged full upon me with arms wide stretched to ease his fall.

Again, as on the preceding day, I had recourse to earthly tactics, and swinging my
right fist full upon the point of his chin I followed it with a smashing left to the pit of his
stomach. The effect was marvelous, for, as I lightly sidestepped, after delivering the
second blow, he reeled and fell upon the floor doubled up with pain and gasping for
wind. Leaping over his prostrate body, I seized the cudgel and finished the monster
before he could regain his feet.

As I delivered the blow a low laugh rang out behind me, and, turning, I beheld Tars
Tarkas, Sola, and three or four warriors standing in the doorway of the chamber. As my
eyes met theirs I was, for the second time, the recipient of their zealously guarded
applause.

My absence had been noted by Sola on her awakening, and she had quickly
informed Tars Tarkas, who had set out immediately with a handful of warriors to search
for me. As they had approached the limits of the city they had witnessed the actions of
the bull ape as he bolted into the building, frothing with rage.

They had followed immediately behind him, thinking it barely possible that his
actions might prove a clew to my whereabouts and had witnessed my short but decisive
battle with him. This encounter, together with my set-to with the Martian warrior on the
previous day and my feats of jumping placed me upon a high pinnacle in their regard.
Evidently devoid of all the finer sentiments of friendship, love, or affection, these people
fairly worship physical prowess and bravery, and nothing is too good for the object of
their adoration as long as he maintains his position by repeated examples of his skill,
strength, and courage.

Sola, who had accompanied the searching party of her own volition, was the only
one of the Martians whose face had not been twisted in laughter as I battled for my life.
She, on the contrary, was sober with apparent solicitude and, as soon as I had finished the
monster, rushed to me and carefully examined my body for possible wounds or injuries.
Satisfying herself that I had come off unscathed she smiled quietly, and, taking my hand,
started toward the door of the chamber.

Tars Tarkas and the other warriors had entered and were standing over the now
rapidly reviving brute which had saved my life, and whose life I, in turn, had rescued.
They seemed to be deep in argument, and finally one of them addressed me, but
remembering my ignorance of his language turned back to Tars Tarkas, who, with a word
and gesture, gave some command to the fellow and turned to follow us from the room.

There seemed something menacing in their attitude toward my beast, and I hesitated
to leave until I had learned the outcome. It was well I did so, for the warrior drew an evil
looking pistol from its holster and was on the point of putting an end to the creature when

26
I sprang forward and struck up his arm. The bullet striking the wooden casing of the
window exploded, blowing a hole completely through the wood and masonry.

I then knelt down beside the fearsome-looking thing, and raising it to its feet
motioned for it to follow me. The looks of surprise which my actions elicited from the
Martians were ludicrous; they could not understand, except in a feeble and childish way,
such attributes as gratitude and compassion. The warrior whose gun I had struck up
looked enquiringly at Tars Tarkas, but the latter signed that I be left to my own devices,
and so we returned to the plaza with my great beast following close at heel, and Sola
grasping me tightly by the arm.

I had at least two friends on Mars; a young woman who watched over me with
motherly solicitude, and a dumb brute which, as I later came to know, held in its poor
ugly carcass more love, more loyalty, more gratitude than could have been found in the
entire five million green Martians who rove the deserted cities and dead sea bottoms of
Mars.

CHAPTER VII

CHILD-RAISING ON MARS

After a breakfast, which was an exact replica of the meal of the preceding day and
an index of practically every meal which followed while I was with the green men of
Mars, Sola escorted me to the plaza, where I found the entire community engaged in
watching or helping at the harnessing of huge mastodonian animals to great three-
wheeled chariots. There were about two hundred and fifty of these vehicles, each drawn
by a single animal, any one of which, from their appearance, might easily have drawn the
entire wagon train when fully loaded.

The chariots themselves were large, commodious, and gorgeously decorated. In

each was seated a female Martian loaded with ornaments of metal, with jewels and silks
and furs, and upon the back of each of the beasts which drew the chariots was perched a
young Martian driver. Like the animals upon which the warriors were mounted, the
heavier draft animals wore neither bit nor bridle, but were guided entirely by telepathic
means.

This power is wonderfully developed in all Martians, and accounts largely for the
simplicity of their language and the relatively few spoken words exchanged even in long
conversations. It is the universal language of Mars, through the medium of which the
higher and lower animals of this world of paradoxes are able to communicate to a greater
or less extent, depending upon the intellectual sphere of the species and the development
of the individual.

27
 As the cavalcade took up the line of march in single file, Sola dragged me into an
empty chariot and we proceeded with the procession toward the point by which I had
entered the city the day before. At the head of the caravan rode some two hundred
warriors, five abreast, and a like number brought up the rear, while twenty-five or thirty
outriders flanked us on either side.

Every one but myself—men, women, and children—were heavily armed, and at the
tail of each chariot trotted a Martian hound, my own beast following closely behind ours;
in fact, the faithful creature never left me voluntarily during the entire ten years I spent
on Mars. Our way led out across the little valley before the city, through the hills, and
down into the dead sea bottom which I had traversed on my journey from the incubator
to the plaza. The incubator, as it proved, was the terminal point of our journey this day,
and, as the entire cavalcade broke into a mad gallop as soon as we reached the level
expanse of sea bottom, we were soon within sight of our goal.

On reaching it the chariots were parked with military precision on the four sides of
the enclosure, and half a score of warriors, headed by the enormous chieftain, and
including Tars Tarkas and several other lesser chiefs, dismounted and advanced toward
it. I could see Tars Tarkas explaining something to the principal chieftain, whose name,
by the way, was, as nearly as I can translate it into English, Lorquas Ptomel, Jed; jed
being his title.

I was soon appraised of the subject of their conversation, as, calling to Sola, Tars
Tarkas signed for her to send me to him. I had by this time mastered the intricacies of
walking under Martian conditions, and quickly responding to his command I advanced to
the side of the incubator where the warriors stood.

As I reached their side a glance showed me that all but a very few eggs had hatched,
the incubator being fairly alive with the hideous little devils. They ranged in height from
three to four feet, and were moving restlessly about the enclosure as though searching for
food.

As I came to a halt before him, Tars Tarkas pointed over the incubator and said,
"Sak." I saw that he wanted me to repeat my performance of yesterday for the edification
of Lorquas Ptomel, and, as I must confess that my prowess gave me no little satisfaction,
I responded quickly, leaping entirely over the parked chariots on the far side of the
incubator. As I returned, Lorquas Ptomel grunted something at me, and turning to his
warriors gave a few words of command relative to the incubator. They paid no further
attention to me and I was thus permitted to remain close and watch their operations,
which consisted in breaking an opening in the wall of the incubator large enough to
permit of the exit of the young Martians.

On either side of this opening the women and the younger Martians, both male and
female, formed two solid walls leading out through the chariots and quite away into the
plain beyond. Between these walls the little Martians scampered, wild as deer; being
permitted to run the full length of the aisle, where they were captured one at a time by the

28
women and older children; the last in the line capturing the first little one to reach the end
of the gauntlet, her opposite in the line capturing the second, and so on until all the little
fellows had left the enclosure and been appropriated by some youth or female. As the
women caught the young they fell out of line and returned to their respective chariots,
while those who fell into the hands of the young men were later turned over to some of
the women.

I saw that the ceremony, if it could be dignified by such a name, was over, and
seeking out Sola I found her in our chariot with a hideous little creature held tightly in
her arms.

The work of rearing young, green Martians consists solely in teaching them to talk,
and to use the weapons of warfare with which they are loaded down from the very first
year of their lives. Coming from eggs in which they have lain for five years, the period of
incubation, they step forth into the world perfectly developed except in size. Entirely
unknown to their mothers, who, in turn, would have difficulty in pointing out the fathers
with any degree of accuracy, they are the common children of the community, and their
education devolves upon the females who chance to capture them as they leave the
incubator.

Their foster mothers may not even have had an egg in the incubator, as was the case
with Sola, who had not commenced to lay, until less than a year before she became the
mother of another woman's offspring. But this counts for little among the green Martians,
as parental and filial love is as unknown to them as it is common among us. I believe this
horrible system which has been carried on for ages is the direct cause of the loss of all the
finer feelings and higher humanitarian instincts among these poor creatures. From birth
they know no father or mother love, they know not the meaning of the word home; they
are taught that they are only suffered to live until they can demonstrate by their physique
and ferocity that they are fit to live. Should they prove deformed or defective in any way
they are promptly shot; nor do they see a tear shed for a single one of the many cruel
hardships they pass through from earliest infancy.

I do not mean that the adult Martians are unnecessarily or intentionally cruel to the
young, but theirs is a hard and pitiless struggle for existence upon a dying planet, the
natural resources of which have dwindled to a point where the support of each additional
life means an added tax upon the community into which it is thrown.

By careful selection they rear only the hardiest specimens of each species, and with
almost supernatural foresight they regulate the birth rate to merely offset the loss by
death.

Each adult Martian female brings forth about thirteen eggs each year, and those
which meet the size, weight, and specific gravity tests are hidden in the recesses of some
subterranean vault where the temperature is too low for incubation. Every year these eggs
are carefully examined by a council of twenty chieftains, and all but about one hundred
of the most perfect are destroyed out of each yearly supply. At the end of five years about

29
five hundred almost perfect eggs have been chosen from the thousands brought forth.
These are then placed in the almost air-tight incubators to be hatched by the sun's rays
after a period of another five years. The hatching which we had witnessed today was a
fairly representative event of its kind, all but about one per cent of the eggs hatching in
two days. If the remaining eggs ever hatched we knew nothing of the fate of the little
Martians. They were not wanted, as their offspring might inherit and transmit the
tendency to prolonged incubation, and thus upset the system which has maintained for
ages and which permits the adult Martians to figure the proper time for return to the
incubators, almost to an hour.

The incubators are built in remote fastnesses, where there is little or no likelihood of
their being discovered by other tribes. The result of such a catastrophe would mean no
children in the community for another five years. I was later to witness the results of the
discovery of an alien incubator.

The community of which the green Martians with whom my lot was cast formed a
part was composed of some thirty thousand souls. They roamed an enormous tract of arid
and semi-arid land between forty and eighty degrees south latitude, and bounded on the
east and west by two large fertile tracts. Their headquarters lay in the southwest corner of
this district, near the crossing of two of the so-called Martian canals.

As the incubator had been placed far north of their own territory in a supposedly
uninhabited and unfrequented area, we had before us a tremendous journey, concerning
which I, of course, knew nothing.

After our return to the dead city I passed several days in comparative idleness. On
the day following our return all the warriors had ridden forth early in the morning and
had not returned until just before darkness fell. As I later learned, they had been to the
subterranean vaults in which the eggs were kept and had transported them to the
incubator, which they had then walled up for another five years, and which, in all
probability, would not be visited again during that period.

The vaults which hid the eggs until they were ready for the incubator were located
many miles south of the incubator, and would be visited yearly by the council of twenty
chieftains. Why they did not arrange to build their vaults and incubators nearer home has
always been a mystery to me, and, like many other Martian mysteries, unsolved and
unsolvable by earthly reasoning and customs.

Sola's duties were now doubled, as she was compelled to care for the young Martian
as well as for me, but neither one of us required much attention, and as we were both
about equally advanced in Martian education, Sola took it upon herself to train us
together.

Her prize consisted in a male about four feet tall, very strong and physically perfect;
also, he learned quickly, and we had considerable amusement, at least I did, over the
keen rivalry we displayed. The Martian language, as I have said, is extremely simple, and

30
in a week I could make all my wants known and understand nearly everything that was
said to me. Likewise, under Sola's tutelage, I developed my telepathic powers so that I
shortly could sense practically everything that went on around me.

What surprised Sola most in me was that while I could catch telepathic messages
easily from others, and often when they were not intended for me, no one could read a jot
from my mind under any circumstances. At first this vexed me, but later I was very glad
of it, as it gave me an undoubted advantage over the Martians.

CHAPTER VIII

A FAIR CAPTIVE FROM THE SKY

The third day after the incubator ceremony we set forth toward home, but scarcely
had the head of the procession debouched into the open ground before the city than
orders were given for an immediate and hasty return. As though trained for years in this
particular evolution, the green Martians melted like mist into the spacious doorways of
the nearby buildings, until, in less than three minutes, the entire cavalcade of chariots,
mastodons and mounted warriors was nowhere to be seen.

Sola and I had entered a building upon the front of the city, in fact, the same one in
which I had had my encounter with the apes, and, wishing to see what had caused the
sudden retreat, I mounted to an upper floor and peered from the window out over the
valley and the hills beyond; and there I saw the cause of their sudden scurrying to cover.
A huge craft, long, low, and gray-painted, swung slowly over the crest of the nearest hill.
Following it came another, and another, and another, until twenty of them, swinging low
above the ground, sailed slowly and majestically toward us.

Each carried a strange banner swung from stem to stern above the upper works, and
upon the prow of each was painted some odd device that gleamed in the sunlight and
showed plainly even at the distance at which we were from the vessels. I could see
figures crowding the forward decks and upper works of the air craft. Whether they had
discovered us or simply were looking at the deserted city I could not say, but in any event
they received a rude reception, for suddenly and without warning the green Martian
warriors fired a terrific volley from the windows of the buildings facing the little valley
across which the great ships were so peacefully advancing.

Instantly the scene changed as by magic; the foremost vessel swung broadside
toward us, and bringing her guns into play returned our fire, at the same time moving
parallel to our front for a short distance and then turning back with the evident intention
of completing a great circle which would bring her up to position once more opposite our
firing line; the other vessels followed in her wake, each one opening upon us as she
swung into position. Our own fire never diminished, and I doubt if twenty-five per cent

31
of our shots went wild. It had never been given me to see such deadly accuracy of aim,
and it seemed as though a little figure on one of the craft dropped at the explosion of each
bullet, while the banners and upper works dissolved in spurts of flame as the irresistible
projectiles of our warriors mowed through them.

The fire from the vessels was most ineffectual, owing, as I afterward learned, to the
unexpected suddenness of the first volley, which caught the ship's crews entirely
unprepared and the sighting apparatus of the guns unprotected from the deadly aim of our
warriors.

It seems that each green warrior has certain objective points for his fire under
relatively identical circumstances of warfare. For example, a proportion of them, always
the best marksmen, direct their fire entirely upon the wireless finding and sighting
apparatus of the big guns of an attacking naval force; another detail attends to the smaller
guns in the same way; others pick off the gunners; still others the officers; while certain
other quotas concentrate their attention upon the other members of the crew, upon the
upper works, and upon the steering gear and propellers.

Twenty minutes after the first volley the great fleet swung trailing off in the
direction from which it had first appeared. Several of the craft were limping perceptibly,
and seemed but barely under the control of their depleted crews. Their fire had ceased
entirely and all their energies seemed focused upon escape. Our warriors then rushed up
to the roofs of the buildings which we occupied and followed the retreating armada with
a continuous fusillade of deadly fire.

One by one, however, the ships managed to dip below the crests of the outlying hills
until only one barely moving craft was in sight. This had received the brunt of our fire
and seemed to be entirely unmanned, as not a moving figure was visible upon her decks.
Slowly she swung from her course, circling back toward us in an erratic and pitiful
manner. Instantly the warriors ceased firing, for it was quite apparent that the vessel was
entirely helpless, and, far from being in a position to inflict harm upon us, she could not
even control herself sufficiently to escape.

As she neared the city the warriors rushed out upon the plain to meet her, but it was
evident that she still was too high for them to hope to reach her decks. From my vantage
point in the window I could see the bodies of her crew strewn about, although I could not
make out what manner of creatures they might be. Not a sign of life was manifest upon
her as she drifted slowly with the light breeze in a southeasterly direction.

She was drifting some fifty feet above the ground, followed by all but some hundred
of the warriors who had been ordered back to the roofs to cover the possibility of a return
of the fleet, or of reinforcements. It soon became evident that she would strike the face of
the buildings about a mile south of our position, and as I watched the progress of the
chase I saw a number of warriors gallop ahead, dismount and enter the building she
seemed destined to touch.

32
 As the craft neared the building, and just before she struck, the Martian warriors
swarmed upon her from the windows, and with their great spears eased the shock of the
collision, and in a few moments they had thrown out grappling hooks and the big boat
was being hauled to ground by their fellows below.

After making her fast, they swarmed the sides and searched the vessel from stem to
stern. I could see them examining the dead sailors, evidently for signs of life, and
presently a party of them appeared from below dragging a little figure among them. The
creature was considerably less than half as tall as the green Martian warriors, and from
my balcony I could see that it walked erect upon two legs and surmised that it was some
new and strange Martian monstrosity with which I had not as yet become acquainted.

They removed their prisoner to the ground and then commenced a systematic rifling
of the vessel. This operation required several hours, during which time a number of the
chariots were requisitioned to transport the loot, which consisted in arms, ammunition,
silks, furs, jewels, strangely carved stone vessels, and a quantity of solid foods and
liquids, including many casks of water, the first I had seen since my advent upon Mars.

After the last load had been removed the warriors made lines fast to the craft and
towed her far out into the valley in a southwesterly direction. A few of them then boarded
her and were busily engaged in what appeared, from my distant position, as the emptying
of the contents of various carboys upon the dead bodies of the sailors and over the decks
and works of the vessel.

This operation concluded, they hastily clambered over her sides, sliding down the
guy ropes to the ground. The last warrior to leave the deck turned and threw something
back upon the vessel, waiting an instant to note the outcome of his act. As a faint spurt of
flame rose from the point where the missile struck he swung over the side and was
quickly upon the ground. Scarcely had he alighted than the guy ropes were simultaneous
released, and the great warship, lightened by the removal of the loot, soared majestically
into the air, her decks and upper works a mass of roaring flames.

Slowly she drifted to the southeast, rising higher and higher as the flames ate away
her wooden parts and diminished the weight upon her. Ascending to the roof of the
building I watched her for hours, until finally she was lost in the dim vistas of the
distance. The sight was awe-inspiring in the extreme as one contemplated this mighty
floating funeral pyre, drifting unguided and unmanned through the lonely wastes of the
Martian heavens; a derelict of death and destruction, typifying the life story of these
strange and ferocious creatures into whose unfriendly hands fate had carried it.

Much depressed, and, to me, unaccountably so, I slowly descended to the street. The
scene I had witnessed seemed to mark the defeat and annihilation of the forces of a
kindred people, rather than the routing by our green warriors of a horde of similar,
though unfriendly, creatures. I could not fathom the seeming hallucination, nor could I
free myself from it; but somewhere in the innermost recesses of my soul I felt a strange
yearning toward these unknown foemen, and a mighty hope surged through me that the

33
fleet would return and demand a reckoning from the green warriors who had so ruthlessly
and wantonly attacked it.

Close at my heel, in his now accustomed place, followed Woola, the hound, and as I
emerged upon the street Sola rushed up to me as though I had been the object of some
search on her part. The cavalcade was returning to the plaza, the homeward march having
been given up for that day; nor, in fact, was it recommenced for more than a week, owing
to the fear of a return attack by the air craft.

Lorquas Ptomel was too astute an old warrior to be caught upon the open plains
with a caravan of chariots and children, and so we remained at the deserted city until the
danger seemed passed.

As Sola and I entered the plaza a sight met my eyes which filled my whole being
with a great surge of mingled hope, fear, exultation, and depression, and yet most
dominant was a subtle sense of relief and happiness; for just as we neared the throng of
Martians I caught a glimpse of the prisoner from the battle craft who was being roughly
dragged into a nearby building by a couple of green Martian females.

And the sight which met my eyes was that of a slender, girlish figure, similar in
every detail to the earthly women of my past life. She did not see me at first, but just as
she was disappearing through the portal of the building which was to be her prison she
turned, and her eyes met mine. Her face was oval and beautiful in the extreme, her every
feature was finely chiseled and exquisite, her eyes large and lustrous and her head
surmounted by a mass of coal black, waving hair, caught loosely into a strange yet
becoming coiffure. Her skin was of a light reddish copper color, against which the
crimson glow of her cheeks and the ruby of her beautifully molded lips shone with a
strangely enhancing effect.

She was as destitute of clothes as the green Martians who accompanied her; indeed,
save for her highly wrought ornaments she was entirely naked, nor could any apparel
have enhanced the beauty of her perfect and symmetrical figure.

As her gaze rested on me her eyes opened wide in astonishment, and she made a
little sign with her free hand; a sign which I did not, of course, understand. Just a moment
we gazed upon each other, and then the look of hope and renewed courage which had
glorified her face as she discovered me, faded into one of utter dejection, mingled with
loathing and contempt. I realized I had not answered her signal, and ignorant as I was of
Martian customs, I intuitively felt that she had made an appeal for succor and protection
which my unfortunate ignorance had prevented me from answering. And then she was
dragged out of my sight into the depths of the deserted edifice.

CHAPTER IX

34
 I LEARN THE LANGUAGE

As I came back to myself I glanced at Sola, who had witnessed this encounter and I
was surprised to note a strange expression upon her usually expressionless countenance.
What her thoughts were I did not know, for as yet I had learned but little of the Martian
tongue; enough only to suffice for my daily needs.

As I reached the doorway of our building a strange surprise awaited me. A warrior
approached bearing the arms, ornaments, and full accouterments of his kind. These he
presented to me with a few unintelligible words, and a bearing at once respectful and
menacing.

Later, Sola, with the aid of several of the other women, remodeled the trappings to
fit my lesser proportions, and after they completed the work I went about garbed in all
the panoply of war.

From then on Sola instructed me in the mysteries of the various weapons, and with
the Martian young I spent several hours each day practicing upon the plaza. I was not yet
proficient with all the weapons, but my great familiarity with similar earthly weapons
made me an unusually apt pupil, and I progressed in a very satisfactory manner.

The training of myself and the young Martians was conducted solely by the women,
who not only attend to the education of the young in the arts of individual defense and
offense, but are also the artisans who produce every manufactured article wrought by the
green Martians. They make the powder, the cartridges, the firearms; in fact everything of
value is produced by the females. In time of actual warfare they form a part of the
reserves, and when the necessity arises fight with even greater intelligence and ferocity
than the men.

The men are trained in the higher branches of the art of war; in strategy and the
maneuvering of large bodies of troops. They make the laws as they are needed; a new
law for each emergency. They are unfettered by precedent in the administration of
justice. Customs have been handed down by ages of repetition, but the punishment for
ignoring a custom is a matter for individual treatment by a jury of the culprit's peers, and
I may say that justice seldom misses fire, but seems rather to rule in inverse ratio to the
ascendency of law. In one respect at least the Martians are a happy people; they have no
lawyers.

I did not see the prisoner again for several days subsequent to our first encounter,
and then only to catch a fleeting glimpse of her as she was being conducted to the great
audience chamber where I had had my first meeting with Lorquas Ptomel. I could not but
note the unnecessary harshness and brutality with which her guards treated her; so
different from the almost maternal kindliness which Sola manifested toward me, and the
respectful attitude of the few green Martians who took the trouble to notice me at all.

35
 I had observed on the two occasions when I had seen her that the prisoner
exchanged words with her guards, and this convinced me that they spoke, or at least
could make themselves understood by a common language. With this added incentive I
nearly drove Sola distracted by my importunities to hasten on my education and within a
few more days I had mastered the Martian tongue sufficiently well to enable me to carry
on a passable conversation and to fully understand practically all that I heard.

At this time our sleeping quarters were occupied by three or four females and a
couple of the recently hatched young, beside Sola and her youthful ward, myself, and
Woola the hound. After they had retired for the night it was customary for the adults to
carry on a desultory conversation for a short time before lapsing into sleep, and now that
I could understand their language I was always a keen listener, although I never proffered
any remarks myself.

On the night following the prisoner's visit to the audience chamber the conversation
finally fell upon this subject, and I was all ears on the instant. I had feared to question
Sola relative to the beautiful captive, as I could not but recall the strange expression I had
noted upon her face after my first encounter with the prisoner. That it denoted jealousy I
could not say, and yet, judging all things by mundane standards as I still did, I felt it safer
to affect indifference in the matter until I learned more surely Sola's attitude toward the
object of my solicitude.

Sarkoja, one of the older women who shared our domicile, had been present at the
audience as one of the captive's guards, and it was toward her the question turned.

"When," asked one of the women, "will we enjoy the death throes of the red one? or
does Lorquas Ptomel, Jed, intend holding her for ransom?"

"They have decided to carry her with us back to Thark, and exhibit her last agonies
at the great games before Tal Hajus," replied Sarkoja.

"What will be the manner of her going out?" inquired Sola. "She is very small and
very beautiful; I had hoped that they would hold her for ransom."

Sarkoja and the other women grunted angrily at this evidence of weakness on the
part of Sola.

"It is sad, Sola, that you were not born a million years ago," snapped Sarkoja, "when
all the hollows of the land were filled with water, and the peoples were as soft as the stuff
they sailed upon. In our day we have progressed to a point where such sentiments mark
weakness and atavism. It will not be well for you to permit Tars Tarkas to learn that you
hold such degenerate sentiments, as I doubt that he would care to entrust such as you
with the grave responsibilities of maternity."

"I see nothing wrong with my expression of interest in this red woman," retorted
Sola. "She has never harmed us, nor would she should we have fallen into her hands. It is

36
only the men of her kind who war upon us, and I have ever thought that their attitude
toward us is but the reflection of ours toward them. They live at peace with all their
fellows, except when duty calls upon them to make war, while we are at peace with none;
forever warring among our own kind as well as upon the red men, and even in our own
communities the individuals fight amongst themselves. Oh, it is one continual, awful
period of bloodshed from the time we break the shell until we gladly embrace the bosom
of the river of mystery, the dark and ancient Iss which carries us to an unknown, but at
least no more frightful and terrible existence! Fortunate indeed is he who meets his end in
an early death. Say what you please to Tars Tarkas, he can mete out no worse fate to me
than a continuation of the horrible existence we are forced to lead in this life."

This wild outbreak on the part of Sola so greatly surprised and shocked the other
women, that, after a few words of general reprimand, they all lapsed into silence and
were soon asleep. One thing the episode had accomplished was to assure me of Sola's
friendliness toward the poor girl, and also to convince me that I had been extremely
fortunate in falling into her hands rather than those of some of the other females. I knew
that she was fond of me, and now that I had discovered that she hated cruelty and
barbarity I was confident that I could depend upon her to aid me and the girl captive to
escape, provided of course that such a thing was within the range of possibilities.

I did not even know that there were any better conditions to escape to, but I was
more than willing to take my chances among people fashioned after my own mold rather
than to remain longer among the hideous and bloodthirsty green men of Mars. But where
to go, and how, was as much of a puzzle to me as the age-old search for the spring of
eternal life has been to earthly men since the beginning of time.

I decided that at the first opportunity I would take Sola into my confidence and
openly ask her to aid me, and with this resolution strong upon me I turned among my
silks and furs and slept the dreamless and refreshing sleep of Mars.

CHAPTER X

CHAMPION AND CHIEF

Early the next morning I was astir. Considerable freedom was allowed me, as Sola
had informed me that so long as I did not attempt to leave the city I was free to go and
come as I pleased. She had warned me, however, against venturing forth unarmed, as this
city, like all other deserted metropolises of an ancient Martian civilization, was peopled
by the great white apes of my second day's adventure.

In advising me that I must not leave the boundaries of the city Sola had explained
that Woola would prevent this anyway should I attempt it, and she warned me most
urgently not to arouse his fierce nature by ignoring his warnings should I venture too

37
close to the forbidden territory. His nature was such, she said, that he would bring me
back into the city dead or alive should I persist in opposing him; "preferably dead," she
added.

On this morning I had chosen a new street to explore when suddenly I found myself
at the limits of the city. Before me were low hills pierced by narrow and inviting ravines.
I longed to explore the country before me, and, like the pioneer stock from which I
sprang, to view what the landscape beyond the encircling hills might disclose from the
summits which shut out my view.

It also occurred to me that this would prove an excellent opportunity to test the
qualities of Woola. I was convinced that the brute loved me; I had seen more evidences
of affection in him than in any other Martian animal, man or beast, and I was sure that
gratitude for the acts that had twice saved his life would more than outweigh his loyalty
to the duty imposed upon him by cruel and loveless masters.

As I approached the boundary line Woola ran anxiously before me, and thrust his
body against my legs. His expression was pleading rather than ferocious, nor did he bare
his great tusks or utter his fearful guttural warnings. Denied the friendship and
companionship of my kind, I had developed considerable affection for Woola and Sola,
for the normal earthly man must have some outlet for his natural affections, and so I
decided upon an appeal to a like instinct in this great brute, sure that I would not be
disappointed.

I had never petted nor fondled him, but now I sat upon the ground and putting my
arms around his heavy neck I stroked and coaxed him, talking in my newly acquired
Martian tongue as I would have to my hound at home, as I would have talked to any
other friend among the lower animals. His response to my manifestation of affection was
remarkable to a degree; he stretched his great mouth to its full width, baring the entire
expanse of his upper rows of tusks and wrinkling his snout until his great eyes were
almost hidden by the folds of flesh. If you have ever seen a collie smile you may have
some idea of Woola's facial distortion.

He threw himself upon his back and fairly wallowed at my feet; jumped up and
sprang upon me, rolling me upon the ground by his great weight; then wriggling and
squirming around me like a playful puppy presenting its back for the petting it craves. I
could not resist the ludicrousness of the spectacle, and holding my sides I rocked back
and forth in the first laughter which had passed my lips in many days; the first, in fact,
since the morning Powell had left camp when his horse, long unused, had precipitately
and unexpectedly bucked him off headforemost into a pot of frijoles.

My laughter frightened Woola, his antics ceased and he crawled pitifully toward
me, poking his ugly head far into my lap; and then I remembered what laughter signified
on Mars—torture, suffering, death. Quieting myself, I rubbed the poor old fellow's head
and back, talked to him for a few minutes, and then in an authoritative tone commanded
him to follow me, and arising started for the hills.

38
 There was no further question of authority between us; Woola was my devoted
slave from that moment hence, and I his only and undisputed master. My walk to the hills
occupied but a few minutes, and I found nothing of particular interest to reward me.
Numerous brilliantly colored and strangely formed wild flowers dotted the ravines and
from the summit of the first hill I saw still other hills stretching off toward the north, and
rising, one range above another, until lost in mountains of quite respectable dimensions;
though I afterward found that only a few peaks on all Mars exceed four thousand feet in
height; the suggestion of magnitude was merely relative.

My morning's walk had been large with importance to me for it had resulted in a
perfect understanding with Woola, upon whom Tars Tarkas relied for my safe keeping. I
now knew that while theoretically a prisoner I was virtually free, and I hastened to regain
the city limits before the defection of Woola could be discovered by his erstwhile
masters. The adventure decided me never again to leave the limits of my prescribed
stamping grounds until I was ready to venture forth for good and all, as it would certainly
result in a curtailment of my liberties, as well as the probable death of Woola, were we to
be discovered.

On regaining the plaza I had my third glimpse of the captive girl. She was standing
with her guards before the entrance to the audience chamber, and as I approached she
gave me one haughty glance and turned her back full upon me. The act was so womanly,
so earthly womanly, that though it stung my pride it also warmed my heart with a feeling
of companionship; it was good to know that someone else on Mars beside myself had
human instincts of a civilized order, even though the manifestation of them was so
painful and mortifying.

Had a green Martian woman desired to show dislike or contempt she would, in all
likelihood, have done it with a sword thrust or a movement of her trigger finger; but as
their sentiments are mostly atrophied it would have required a serious injury to have
aroused such passions in them. Sola, let me add, was an exception; I never saw her
perform a cruel or uncouth act, or fail in uniform kindliness and good nature. She was
indeed, as her fellow Martian had said of her, an atavism; a dear and precious reversion
to a former type of loved and loving ancestor.

Seeing that the prisoner seemed the center of attraction I halted to view the
proceedings. I had not long to wait for presently Lorquas Ptomel and his retinue of
chieftains approached the building and, signing the guards to follow with the prisoner
entered the audience chamber. Realizing that I was a somewhat favored character, and
also convinced that the warriors did not know of my proficiency in their language, as I
had pleaded with Sola to keep this a secret on the grounds that I did not wish to be forced
to talk with the men until I had perfectly mastered the Martian tongue, I chanced an
attempt to enter the audience chamber and listen to the proceedings.

The council squatted upon the steps of the rostrum, while below them stood the
prisoner and her two guards. I saw that one of the women was Sarkoja, and thus
understood how she had been present at the hearing of the preceding day, the results of

39
which she had reported to the occupants of our dormitory last night. Her attitude toward
the captive was most harsh and brutal. When she held her, she sunk her rudimentary nails
into the poor girl's flesh, or twisted her arm in a most painful manner. When it was
necessary to move from one spot to another she either jerked her roughly, or pushed her
headlong before her. She seemed to be venting upon this poor defenseless creature all the
hatred, cruelty, ferocity, and spite of her nine hundred years, backed by unguessable ages
of fierce and brutal ancestors.

The other woman was less cruel because she was entirely indifferent; if the prisoner
had been left to her alone, and fortunately she was at night, she would have received no
harsh treatment, nor, by the same token would she have received any attention at all.

As Lorquas Ptomel raised his eyes to address the prisoner they fell on me and he
turned to Tars Tarkas with a word, and gesture of impatience. Tars Tarkas made some
reply which I could not catch, but which caused Lorquas Ptomel to smile; after which
they paid no further attention to me.

"What is your name?" asked Lorquas Ptomel, addressing the prisoner.

"Dejah Thoris, daughter of Mors Kajak of Helium."

"And the nature of your expedition?" he continued.

"It was a purely scientific research party sent out by my father's father, the Jeddak of
Helium, to rechart the air currents, and to take atmospheric density tests," replied the fair
prisoner, in a low, well-modulated voice.

"We were unprepared for battle," she continued, "as we were on a peaceful mission,
as our banners and the colors of our craft denoted. The work we were doing was as much
in your interests as in ours, for you know full well that were it not for our labors and the
fruits of our scientific operations there would not be enough air or water on Mars to
support a single human life. For ages we have maintained the air and water supply at
practically the same point without an appreciable loss, and we have done this in the face
of the brutal and ignorant interference of your green men.

"Why, oh, why will you not learn to live in amity with your fellows, must you ever
go on down the ages to your final extinction but little above the plane of the dumb brutes
that serve you! A people without written language, without art, without homes, without
love; the victim of eons of the horrible community idea. Owning everything in common,
even to your women and children, has resulted in your owning nothing in common. You
hate each other as you hate all else except yourselves. Come back to the ways of our
common ancestors, come back to the light of kindliness and fellowship. The way is open
to you, you will find the hands of the red men stretched out to aid you. Together we may
do still more to regenerate our dying planet. The granddaughter of the greatest and
mightiest of the red jeddaks has asked you. Will you come?"

40
 Lorquas Ptomel and the warriors sat looking silently and intently at the young
woman for several moments after she had ceased speaking. What was passing in their
minds no man may know, but that they were moved I truly believe, and if one man high
among them had been strong enough to rise above custom, that moment would have
marked a new and mighty era for Mars.

I saw Tars Tarkas rise to speak, and on his face was such an expression as I had
never seen upon the countenance of a green Martian warrior. It bespoke an inward and
mighty battle with self, with heredity, with age-old custom, and as he opened his mouth
to speak, a look almost of benignity, of kindliness, momentarily lighted up his fierce and
terrible countenance.

What words of moment were to have fallen from his lips were never spoken, as just
then a young warrior, evidently sensing the trend of thought among the older men, leaped
down from the steps of the rostrum, and striking the frail captive a powerful blow across
the face, which felled her to the floor, placed his foot upon her prostrate form and turning
toward the assembled council broke into peals of horrid, mirthless laughter.

For an instant I thought Tars Tarkas would strike him dead, nor did the aspect of
Lorquas Ptomel augur any too favorably for the brute, but the mood passed, their old
selves reasserted their ascendency, and they smiled. It was portentous however that they
did not laugh aloud, for the brute's act constituted a side-splitting witticism according to
the ethics which rule green Martian humor.

That I have taken moments to write down a part of what occurred as that blow fell
does not signify that I remained inactive for any such length of time. I think I must have
sensed something of what was coming, for I realize now that I was crouched as for a
spring as I saw the blow aimed at her beautiful, upturned, pleading face, and ere the hand
descended I was halfway across the hall.

Scarcely had his hideous laugh rang out but once, when I was upon him. The brute
was twelve feet in height and armed to the teeth, but I believe that I could have accounted
for the whole roomful in the terrific intensity of my rage. Springing upward, I struck him
full in the face as he turned at my warning cry and then as he drew his short-sword I drew
mine and sprang up again upon his breast, hooking one leg over the butt of his pistol and
grasping one of his huge tusks with my left hand while I delivered blow after blow upon
his enormous chest.

He could not use his short-sword to advantage because I was too close to him, nor
could he draw his pistol, which he attempted to do in direct opposition to Martian custom
which says that you may not fight a fellow warrior in private combat with any other than
the weapon with which you are attacked. In fact he could do nothing but make a wild and
futile attempt to dislodge me. With all his immense bulk he was little if any stronger than
I, and it was but the matter of a moment or two before he sank, bleeding and lifeless, to
the floor.

41
 Dejah Thoris had raised herself upon one elbow and was watching the battle with
wide, staring eyes. When I had regained my feet I raised her in my arms and bore her to
one of the benches at the side of the room.

Again no Martian interfered with me, and tearing a piece of silk from my cape I
endeavored to staunch the flow of blood from her nostrils. I was soon successful as her
injuries amounted to little more than an ordinary nosebleed, and when she could speak
she placed her hand upon my arm and looking up into my eyes, said:

"Why did you do it? You who refused me even friendly recognition in the first hour
of my peril! And now you risk your life and kill one of your companions for my sake. I
cannot understand. What strange manner of man are you, that you consort with the green
men, though your form is that of my race, while your color is little darker than that of the
white ape? Tell me, are you human, or are you more than human?"

"It is a strange tale," I replied, "too long to attempt to tell you now, and one which I
so much doubt the credibility of myself that I fear to hope that others will believe it.
Suffice it, for the present, that I am your friend, and, so far as our captors will permit,
your protector and your servant."

"Then you too are a prisoner? But why, then, those arms and the regalia of a
Tharkian chieftain? What is your name? Where your country?"

"Yes, Dejah Thoris, I too am a prisoner; my name is John Carter, and I claim
Virginia, one of the United States of America, Earth, as my home; but why I am
permitted to wear arms I do not know, nor was I aware that my regalia was that of a
chieftain."

We were interrupted at this juncture by the approach of one of the warriors, bearing
arms, accouterments and ornaments, and in a flash one of her questions was answered
and a puzzle cleared up for me. I saw that the body of my dead antagonist had been
stripped, and I read in the menacing yet respectful attitude of the warrior who had
brought me these trophies of the kill the same demeanor as that evinced by the other who
had brought me my original equipment, and now for the first time I realized that my
blow, on the occasion of my first battle in the audience chamber had resulted in the death
of my adversary.

The reason for the whole attitude displayed toward me was now apparent; I had won
my spurs, so to speak, and in the crude justice, which always marks Martian dealings,
and which, among other things, has caused me to call her the planet of paradoxes, I was
accorded the honors due a conqueror; the trappings and the position of the man I killed.
In truth, I was a Martian chieftain, and this I learned later was the cause of my great
freedom and my toleration in the audience chamber.

42
 As I had turned to receive the dead warrior's chattels I had noticed that Tars Tarkas
and several others had pushed forward toward us, and the eyes of the former rested upon
me in a most quizzical manner. Finally he addressed me:

"You speak the tongue of Barsoom quite readily for one who was deaf and dumb to
us a few short days ago. Where did you learn it, John Carter?"

"You, yourself, are responsible, Tars Tarkas," I replied, "in that you furnished me
with an instructress of remarkable ability; I have to thank Sola for my learning."

"She has done well," he answered, "but your education in other respects needs
considerable polish. Do you know what your unprecedented temerity would have cost
you had you failed to kill either of the two chieftains whose metal you now wear?"

"I presume that that one whom I had failed to kill, would have killed me," I
answered, smiling.

"No, you are wrong. Only in the last extremity of self-defense would a Martian
warrior kill a prisoner; we like to save them for other purposes," and his face bespoke
possibilities that were not pleasant to dwell upon.

"But one thing can save you now," he continued. "Should you, in recognition of
your remarkable valor, ferocity, and prowess, be considered by Tal Hajus as worthy of
his service you may be taken into the community and become a full-fledged Tharkian.
Until we reach the headquarters of Tal Hajus it is the will of Lorquas Ptomel that you be
accorded the respect your acts have earned you. You will be treated by us as a Tharkian
chieftain, but you must not forget that every chief who ranks you is responsible for your
safe delivery to our mighty and most ferocious ruler. I am done."

"I hear you, Tars Tarkas," I answered. "As you know I am not of Barsoom; your
ways are not my ways, and I can only act in the future as I have in the past, in accordance
with the dictates of my conscience and guided by the standards of mine own people. If
you will leave me alone I will go in peace, but if not, let the individual Barsoomians with
whom I must deal either respect my rights as a stranger among you, or take whatever
consequences may befall. Of one thing let us be sure, whatever may be your ultimate
intentions toward this unfortunate young woman, whoever would offer her injury or
insult in the future must figure on making a full accounting to me. I understand that you
belittle all sentiments of generosity and kindliness, but I do not, and I can convince your
most doughty warrior that these characteristics are not incompatible with an ability to
fight."

Ordinarily I am not given to long speeches, nor ever before had I descended to
bombast, but I had guessed at the keynote which would strike an answering chord in the
breasts of the green Martians, nor was I wrong, for my harangue evidently deeply
impressed them, and their attitude toward me thereafter was still further respectful.

43
 Tars Tarkas himself seemed pleased with my reply, but his only comment was more
or less enigmatical—"And I think I know Tal Hajus, Jeddak of Thark."

I now turned my attention to Dejah Thoris, and assisting her to her feet I turned with
her toward the exit, ignoring her hovering guardian harpies as well as the inquiring
glances of the chieftains. Was I not now a chieftain also! Well, then, I would assume the
responsibilities of one. They did not molest us, and so Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium,
and John Carter, gentleman of Virginia, followed by the faithful Woola, passed through
utter silence from the audience chamber of Lorquas Ptomel, Jed among the Tharks of
Barsoom.

CHAPTER XI

WITH DEJAH THORIS

As we reached the open the two female guards who had been detailed to watch over
Dejah Thoris hurried up and made as though to assume custody of her once more. The
poor child shrank against me and I felt her two little hands fold tightly over my arm.
Waving the women away, I informed them that Sola would attend the captive hereafter,
and I further warned Sarkoja that any more of her cruel attentions bestowed upon Dejah
Thoris would result in Sarkoja's sudden and painful demise.

My threat was unfortunate and resulted in more harm than good to Dejah Thoris,
for, as I learned later, men do not kill women upon Mars, nor women, men. So Sarkoja
merely gave us an ugly look and departed to hatch up deviltries against us.

I soon found Sola and explained to her that I wished her to guard Dejah Thoris as
she had guarded me; that I wished her to find other quarters where they would not be
molested by Sarkoja, and I finally informed her that I myself would take up my quarters
among the men.

Sola glanced at the accouterments which were carried in my hand and slung across
my shoulder.

"You are a great chieftain now, John Carter," she said, "and I must do your bidding,
though indeed I am glad to do it under any circumstances. The man whose metal you
carry was young, but he was a great warrior, and had by his promotions and kills won his
way close to the rank of Tars Tarkas, who, as you know, is second to Lorquas Ptomel
only. You are eleventh, there are but ten chieftains in this community who rank you in
prowess."

"And if I should kill Lorquas Ptomel?" I asked.

44
 "You would be first, John Carter; but you may only win that honor by the will of the
entire council that Lorquas Ptomel meet you in combat, or should he attack you, you may
kill him in self-defense, and thus win first place."

I laughed, and changed the subject. I had no particular desire to kill Lorquas Ptomel,
and less to be a jed among the Tharks.

I accompanied Sola and Dejah Thoris in a search for new quarters, which we found
in a building nearer the audience chamber and of far more pretentious architecture than
our former habitation. We also found in this building real sleeping apartments with
ancient beds of highly wrought metal swinging from enormous gold chains depending
from the marble ceilings. The decoration of the walls was most elaborate, and, unlike the
frescoes in the other buildings I had examined, portrayed many human figures in the
compositions. These were of people like myself, and of a much lighter color than Dejah
Thoris. They were clad in graceful, flowing robes, highly ornamented with metal and
jewels, and their luxuriant hair was of a beautiful golden and reddish bronze. The men
were beardless and only a few wore arms. The scenes depicted for the most part, a fair-
skinned, fair-haired people at play.

Dejah Thoris clasped her hands with an exclamation of rapture as she gazed upon
these magnificent works of art, wrought by a people long extinct; while Sola, on the other
hand, apparently did not see them.

We decided to use this room, on the second floor and overlooking the plaza, for
Dejah Thoris and Sola, and another room adjoining and in the rear for the cooking and
supplies. I then dispatched Sola to bring the bedding and such food and utensils as she
might need, telling her that I would guard Dejah Thoris until her return.

As Sola departed Dejah Thoris turned to me with a faint smile.

"And whereto, then, would your prisoner escape should you leave her, unless it was
to follow you and crave your protection, and ask your pardon for the cruel thoughts she
has harbored against you these past few days?"

"You are right," I answered, "there is no escape for either of us unless we go

together."

"I heard your challenge to the creature you call Tars Tarkas, and I think I understand
your position among these people, but what I cannot fathom is your statement that you
are not of Barsoom."

"In the name of my first ancestor, then," she continued, "where may you be from?
You are like unto my people, and yet so unlike. You speak my language, and yet I heard
you tell Tars Tarkas that you had but learned it recently. All Barsoomians speak the same
tongue from the ice-clad south to the ice-clad north, though their written languages differ.
Only in the valley Dor, where the river Iss empties into the lost sea of Korus, is there

45
supposed to be a different language spoken, and, except in the legends of our ancestors,
there is no record of a Barsoomian returning up the river Iss, from the shores of Korus in
the valley of Dor. Do not tell me that you have thus returned! They would kill you
horribly anywhere upon the surface of Barsoom if that were true; tell me it is not!"

Her eyes were filled with a strange, weird light; her voice was pleading, and her
little hands, reached up upon my breast, were pressed against me as though to wring a
denial from my very heart.

"I do not know your customs, Dejah Thoris, but in my own Virginia a gentleman
does not lie to save himself; I am not of Dor; I have never seen the mysterious Iss; the
lost sea of Korus is still lost, so far as I am concerned. Do you believe me?"

And then it struck me suddenly that I was very anxious that she should believe me.
It was not that I feared the results which would follow a general belief that I had returned
from the Barsoomian heaven or hell, or whatever it was. Why was it, then! Why should I
care what she thought? I looked down at her; her beautiful face upturned, and her
wonderful eyes opening up the very depth of her soul; and as my eyes met hers I knew
why, and—I shuddered.

A similar wave of feeling seemed to stir her; she drew away from me with a sigh,
and with her earnest, beautiful face turned up to mine, she whispered: "I believe you,
John Carter; I do not know what a 'gentleman' is, nor have I ever heard before of
Virginia; but on Barsoom no man lies; if he does not wish to speak the truth he is silent.
Where is this Virginia, your country, John Carter?" she asked, and it seemed that this fair
name of my fair land had never sounded more beautiful than as it fell from those perfect
lips on that far-gone day.

"I am of another world," I answered, "the great planet Earth, which revolves about
our common sun and next within the orbit of your Barsoom, which we know as Mars.
How I came here I cannot tell you, for I do not know; but here I am, and since my
presence has permitted me to serve Dejah Thoris I am glad that I am here."

She gazed at me with troubled eyes, long and questioningly. That it was difficult to
believe my statement I well knew, nor could I hope that she would do so however much I
craved her confidence and respect. I would much rather not have told her anything of my
antecedents, but no man could look into the depth of those eyes and refuse her slightest
behest.

Finally she smiled, and, rising, said: "I shall have to believe even though I cannot
understand. I can readily perceive that you are not of the Barsoom of today; you are like
us, yet different—but why should I trouble my poor head with such a problem, when my
heart tells me that I believe because I wish to believe!"

It was good logic, good, earthly, feminine logic, and if it satisfied her I certainly
could pick no flaws in it. As a matter of fact it was about the only kind of logic that could

46
be brought to bear upon my problem. We fell into a general conversation then, asking
and answering many questions on each side. She was curious to learn of the customs of
my people and displayed a remarkable knowledge of events on Earth. When I questioned
her closely on this seeming familiarity with earthly things she laughed, and cried out:

"Why, every school boy on Barsoom knows the geography, and much concerning
the fauna and flora, as well as the history of your planet fully as well as of his own. Can
we not see everything which takes place upon Earth, as you call it; is it not hanging there
in the heavens in plain sight?"

This baffled me, I must confess, fully as much as my statements had confounded
her; and I told her so. She then explained in general the instruments her people had used
and been perfecting for ages, which permit them to throw upon a screen a perfect image
of what is transpiring upon any planet and upon many of the stars. These pictures are so
perfect in detail that, when photographed and enlarged, objects no greater than a blade of
grass may be distinctly recognized. I afterward, in Helium, saw many of these pictures,
as well as the instruments which produced them.

"If, then, you are so familiar with earthly things," I asked, "why is it that you do not
recognize me as identical with the inhabitants of that planet?"

She smiled again as one might in bored indulgence of a questioning child.

"Because, John Carter," she replied, "nearly every planet and star having
atmospheric conditions at all approaching those of Barsoom, shows forms of animal life
almost identical with you and me; and, further, Earth men, almost without exception,
cover their bodies with strange, unsightly pieces of cloth, and their heads with hideous
contraptions the purpose of which we have been unable to conceive; while you, when
found by the Tharkian warriors, were entirely undisfigured and unadorned.

"The fact that you wore no ornaments is a strong proof of your un-Barsoomian
origin, while the absence of grotesque coverings might cause a doubt as to your
earthliness."

I then narrated the details of my departure from the Earth, explaining that my body
there lay fully clothed in all the, to her, strange garments of mundane dwellers. At this
point Sola returned with our meager belongings and her young Martian protege, who, of
course, would have to share the quarters with them.

Sola asked us if we had had a visitor during her absence, and seemed much
surprised when we answered in the negative. It seemed that as she had mounted the
approach to the upper floors where our quarters were located, she had met Sarkoja
descending. We decided that she must have been eavesdropping, but as we could recall
nothing of importance that had passed between us we dismissed the matter as of little
consequence, merely promising ourselves to be warned to the utmost caution in the
future.

47
 Dejah Thoris and I then fell to examining the architecture and decorations of the
beautiful chambers of the building we were occupying. She told me that these people had
presumably flourished over a hundred thousand years before. They were the early
progenitors of her race, but had mixed with the other great race of early Martians, who
were very dark, almost black, and also with the reddish yellow race which had flourished
at the same time.

These three great divisions of the higher Martians had been forced into a mighty
alliance as the drying up of the Martian seas had compelled them to seek the
comparatively few and always diminishing fertile areas, and to defend themselves, under
new conditions of life, against the wild hordes of green men.

Ages of close relationship and intermarrying had resulted in the race of red men, of
which Dejah Thoris was a fair and beautiful daughter. During the ages of hardships and
incessant warring between their own various races, as well as with the green men, and
before they had fitted themselves to the changed conditions, much of the high civilization
and many of the arts of the fair-haired Martians had become lost; but the red race of
today has reached a point where it feels that it has made up in new discoveries and in a
more practical civilization for all that lies irretrievably buried with the ancient
Barsoomians, beneath the countless intervening ages.

These ancient Martians had been a highly cultivated and literary race, but during the
vicissitudes of those trying centuries of readjustment to new conditions, not only did their
advancement and production cease entirely, but practically all their archives, records, and
literature were lost.

Dejah Thoris related many interesting facts and legends concerning this lost race of
noble and kindly people. She said that the city in which we were camping was supposed
to have been a center of commerce and culture known as Korad. It had been built upon a
beautiful, natural harbor, landlocked by magnificent hills. The little valley on the west
front of the city, she explained, was all that remained of the harbor, while the pass
through the hills to the old sea bottom had been the channel through which the shipping
passed up to the city's gates.

The shores of the ancient seas were dotted with just such cities, and lesser ones, in
diminishing numbers, were to be found converging toward the center of the oceans, as
the people had found it necessary to follow the receding waters until necessity had forced
upon them their ultimate salvation, the so-called Martian canals.

We had been so engrossed in exploration of the building and in our conversation

that it was late in the afternoon before we realized it. We were brought back to a
realization of our present conditions by a messenger bearing a summons from Lorquas
Ptomel directing me to appear before him forthwith. Bidding Dejah Thoris and Sola
farewell, and commanding Woola to remain on guard, I hastened to the audience
chamber, where I found Lorquas Ptomel and Tars Tarkas seated upon the rostrum.

48
 CHAPTER XII

A PRISONER WITH POWER

As I entered and saluted, Lorquas Ptomel signaled me to advance, and, fixing his
great, hideous eyes upon me, addressed me thus:

"You have been with us a few days, yet during that time you have by your prowess
won a high position among us. Be that as it may, you are not one of us; you owe us no
allegiance.

"Your position is a peculiar one," he continued; "you are a prisoner and yet you give
commands which must be obeyed; you are an alien and yet you are a Tharkian chieftain;
you are a midget and yet you can kill a mighty warrior with one blow of your fist. And
now you are reported to have been plotting to escape with another prisoner of another
race; a prisoner who, from her own admission, half believes you are returned from the
valley of Dor. Either one of these accusations, if proved, would be sufficient grounds for
your execution, but we are a just people and you shall have a trial on our return to Thark,
if Tal Hajus so commands.

"But," he continued, in his fierce guttural tones, "if you run off with the red girl it is
I who shall have to account to Tal Hajus; it is I who shall have to face Tars Tarkas, and
either demonstrate my right to command, or the metal from my dead carcass will go to a
better man, for such is the custom of the Tharks.

"I have no quarrel with Tars Tarkas; together we rule supreme the greatest of the
lesser communities among the green men; we do not wish to fight between ourselves;
and so if you were dead, John Carter, I should be glad. Under two conditions only,
however, may you be killed by us without orders from Tal Hajus; in personal combat in
self-defense, should you attack one of us, or were you apprehended in an attempt to
escape.

"As a matter of justice I must warn you that we only await one of these two excuses
for ridding ourselves of so great a responsibility. The safe delivery of the red girl to Tal
Hajus is of the greatest importance. Not in a thousand years have the Tharks made such a
capture; she is the granddaughter of the greatest of the red jeddaks, who is also our
bitterest enemy. I have spoken. The red girl told us that we were without the softer
sentiments of humanity, but we are a just and truthful race. You may go."

Turning, I left the audience chamber. So this was the beginning of Sarkoja's
persecution! I knew that none other could be responsible for this report which had
reached the ears of Lorquas Ptomel so quickly, and now I recalled those portions of our
conversation which had touched upon escape and upon my origin.

49
 Sarkoja was at this time Tars Tarkas' oldest and most trusted female. As such she
was a mighty power behind the throne, for no warrior had the confidence of Lorquas
Ptomel to such an extent as did his ablest lieutenant, Tars Tarkas.

However, instead of putting thoughts of possible escape from my mind, my

audience with Lorquas Ptomel only served to center my every faculty on this subject.
Now, more than before, the absolute necessity for escape, in so far as Dejah Thoris was
concerned, was impressed upon me, for I was convinced that some horrible fate awaited
her at the headquarters of Tal Hajus.

As described by Sola, this monster was the exaggerated personification of all the
ages of cruelty, ferocity, and brutality from which he had descended. Cold, cunning,
calculating; he was, also, in marked contrast to most of his fellows, a slave to that brute
passion which the waning demands for procreation upon their dying planet has almost
stilled in the Martian breast.

The thought that the divine Dejah Thoris might fall into the clutches of such an
abysmal atavism started the cold sweat upon me. Far better that we save friendly bullets
for ourselves at the last moment, as did those brave frontier women of my lost land, who
took their own lives rather than fall into the hands of the Indian braves.

As I wandered about the plaza lost in my gloomy forebodings Tars Tarkas

approached me on his way from the audience chamber. His demeanor toward me was
unchanged, and he greeted me as though we had not just parted a few moments before.

"Where are your quarters, John Carter?" he asked.

"I have selected none," I replied. "It seemed best that I quartered either by myself or
among the other warriors, and I was awaiting an opportunity to ask your advice. As you
know," and I smiled, "I am not yet familiar with all the customs of the Tharks."

"Come with me," he directed, and together we moved off across the plaza to a
building which I was glad to see adjoined that occupied by Sola and her charges.

"My quarters are on the first floor of this building," he said, "and the second floor
also is fully occupied by warriors, but the third floor and the floors above are vacant; you
may take your choice of these.

"I understand," he continued, "that you have given up your woman to the red
prisoner. Well, as you have said, your ways are not our ways, but you can fight well
enough to do about as you please, and so, if you wish to give your woman to a captive, it
is your own affair; but as a chieftain you should have those to serve you, and in
accordance with our customs you may select any or all the females from the retinues of
the chieftains whose metal you now wear."

50
 I thanked him, but assured him that I could get along very nicely without assistance
except in the matter of preparing food, and so he promised to send women to me for this
purpose and also for the care of my arms and the manufacture of my ammunition, which
he said would be necessary. I suggested that they might also bring some of the sleeping
silks and furs which belonged to me as spoils of combat, for the nights were cold and I
had none of my own.

He promised to do so, and departed. Left alone, I ascended the winding corridor to
the upper floors in search of suitable quarters. The beauties of the other buildings were
repeated in this, and, as usual, I was soon lost in a tour of investigation and discovery.

I finally chose a front room on the third floor, because this brought me nearer to
Dejah Thoris, whose apartment was on the second floor of the adjoining building, and it
flashed upon me that I could rig up some means of communication whereby she might
signal me in case she needed either my services or my protection.

Adjoining my sleeping apartment were baths, dressing rooms, and other sleeping
and living apartments, in all some ten rooms on this floor. The windows of the back
rooms overlooked an enormous court, which formed the center of the square made by the
buildings which faced the four contiguous streets, and which was now given over to the
quartering of the various animals belonging to the warriors occupying the adjoining
buildings.

While the court was entirely overgrown with the yellow, moss-like vegetation
which blankets practically the entire surface of Mars, yet numerous fountains, statuary,
benches, and pergola-like contraptions bore witness to the beauty which the court must
have presented in bygone times, when graced by the fair-haired, laughing people whom
stern and unalterable cosmic laws had driven not only from their homes, but from all
except the vague legends of their descendants.

One could easily picture the gorgeous foliage of the luxuriant Martian vegetation
which once filled this scene with life and color; the graceful figures of the beautiful
women, the straight and handsome men; the happy frolicking children—all sunlight,
happiness and peace. It was difficult to realize that they had gone; down through ages of
darkness, cruelty, and ignorance, until their hereditary instincts of culture and
humanitarianism had risen ascendant once more in the final composite race which now is
dominant upon Mars.

My thoughts were cut short by the advent of several young females bearing loads of
weapons, silks, furs, jewels, cooking utensils, and casks of food and drink, including
considerable loot from the air craft. All this, it seemed, had been the property of the two
chieftains I had slain, and now, by the customs of the Tharks, it had become mine. At my
direction they placed the stuff in one of the back rooms, and then departed, only to return
with a second load, which they advised me constituted the balance of my goods. On the
second trip they were accompanied by ten or fifteen other women and youths, who, it
seemed, formed the retinues of the two chieftains.

51
 They were not their families, nor their wives, nor their servants; the relationship was
peculiar, and so unlike anything known to us that it is most difficult to describe. All
property among the green Martians is owned in common by the community, except the
personal weapons, ornaments and sleeping silks and furs of the individuals. These alone
can one claim undisputed right to, nor may he accumulate more of these than are required
for his actual needs. The surplus he holds merely as custodian, and it is passed on to the
younger members of the community as necessity demands.

The women and children of a man's retinue may be likened to a military unit for
which he is responsible in various ways, as in matters of instruction, discipline,
sustenance, and the exigencies of their continual roamings and their unending strife with
other communities and with the red Martians. His women are in no sense wives. The
green Martians use no word corresponding in meaning with this earthly word. Their
mating is a matter of community interest solely, and is directed without reference to
natural selection. The council of chieftains of each community control the matter as
surely as the owner of a Kentucky racing stud directs the scientific breeding of his stock
for the improvement of the whole.

In theory it may sound well, as is often the case with theories, but the results of ages
of this unnatural practice, coupled with the community interest in the offspring being
held paramount to that of the mother, is shown in the cold, cruel creatures, and their
gloomy, loveless, mirthless existence.

It is true that the green Martians are absolutely virtuous, both men and women, with
the exception of such degenerates as Tal Hajus; but better far a finer balance of human
characteristics even at the expense of a slight and occasional loss of chastity.

Finding that I must assume responsibility for these creatures, whether I would or
not, I made the best of it and directed them to find quarters on the upper floors, leaving
the third floor to me. One of the girls I charged with the duties of my simple cuisine, and
directed the others to take up the various activities which had formerly constituted their
vocations. Thereafter I saw little of them, nor did I care to.

CHAPTER XIII

LOVE-MAKING ON MARS

Following the battle with the air ships, the community remained within the city for
several days, abandoning the homeward march until they could feel reasonably assured
that the ships would not return; for to be caught on the open plains with a cavalcade of
chariots and children was far from the desire of even so warlike a people as the green
Martians.

52
 During our period of inactivity, Tars Tarkas had instructed me in many of the
customs and arts of war familiar to the Tharks, including lessons in riding and guiding
the great beasts which bore the warriors. These creatures, which are known as thoats, are
as dangerous and vicious as their masters, but when once subdued are sufficiently
tractable for the purposes of the green Martians.

Two of these animals had fallen to me from the warriors whose metal I wore, and in
a short time I could handle them quite as well as the native warriors. The method was not
at all complicated. If the thoats did not respond with sufficient celerity to the telepathic
instructions of their riders they were dealt a terrific blow between the ears with the butt
of a pistol, and if they showed fight this treatment was continued until the brutes either
were subdued, or had unseated their riders.

In the latter case it became a life and death struggle between the man and the beast.
If the former were quick enough with his pistol he might live to ride again, though upon
some other beast; if not, his torn and mangled body was gathered up by his women and
burned in accordance with Tharkian custom.

My experience with Woola determined me to attempt the experiment of kindness in

my treatment of my thoats. First I taught them that they could not unseat me, and even
rapped them sharply between the ears to impress upon them my authority and mastery.
Then, by degrees, I won their confidence in much the same manner as I had adopted
countless times with my many mundane mounts. I was ever a good hand with animals,
and by inclination, as well as because it brought more lasting and satisfactory results, I
was always kind and humane in my dealings with the lower orders. I could take a human
life, if necessary, with far less compunction than that of a poor, unreasoning,
irresponsible brute.

In the course of a few days my thoats were the wonder of the entire community.
They would follow me like dogs, rubbing their great snouts against my body in awkward
evidence of affection, and respond to my every command with an alacrity and docility
which caused the Martian warriors to ascribe to me the possession of some earthly power
unknown on Mars.

"How have you bewitched them?" asked Tars Tarkas one afternoon, when he had
seen me run my arm far between the great jaws of one of my thoats which had wedged a
piece of stone between two of his teeth while feeding upon the moss-like vegetation
within our court yard.

"By kindness," I replied. "You see, Tars Tarkas, the softer sentiments have their
value, even to a warrior. In the height of battle as well as upon the march I know that my
thoats will obey my every command, and therefore my fighting efficiency is enhanced,
and I am a better warrior for the reason that I am a kind master. Your other warriors
would find it to the advantage of themselves as well as of the community to adopt my
methods in this respect. Only a few days since you, yourself, told me that these great

53
brutes, by the uncertainty of their tempers, often were the means of turning victory into
defeat, since, at a crucial moment, they might elect to unseat and rend their riders."

"Show me how you accomplish these results," was Tars Tarkas' only rejoinder.

And so I explained as carefully as I could the entire method of training I had

adopted with my beasts, and later he had me repeat it before Lorquas Ptomel and the
assembled warriors. That moment marked the beginning of a new existence for the poor
thoats, and before I left the community of Lorquas Ptomel I had the satisfaction of
observing a regiment of as tractable and docile mounts as one might care to see. The
effect on the precision and celerity of the military movements was so remarkable that
Lorquas Ptomel presented me with a massive anklet of gold from his own leg, as a sign
of his appreciation of my service to the horde.

On the seventh day following the battle with the air craft we again took up the
march toward Thark, all probability of another attack being deemed remote by Lorquas
Ptomel.

During the days just preceding our departure I had seen but little of Dejah Thoris, as
I had been kept very busy by Tars Tarkas with my lessons in the art of Martian warfare,
as well as in the training of my thoats. The few times I had visited her quarters she had
been absent, walking upon the streets with Sola, or investigating the buildings in the near
vicinity of the plaza. I had warned them against venturing far from the plaza for fear of
the great white apes, whose ferocity I was only too well acquainted with. However, since
Woola accompanied them on all their excursions, and as Sola was well armed, there was
comparatively little cause for fear.

On the evening before our departure I saw them approaching along one of the great
avenues which lead into the plaza from the east. I advanced to meet them, and telling
Sola that I would take the responsibility for Dejah Thoris' safekeeping, I directed her to
return to her quarters on some trivial errand. I liked and trusted Sola, but for some reason
I desired to be alone with Dejah Thoris, who represented to me all that I had left behind
upon Earth in agreeable and congenial companionship. There seemed bonds of mutual
interest between us as powerful as though we had been born under the same roof rather
than upon different planets, hurtling through space some forty-eight million miles apart.

That she shared my sentiments in this respect I was positive, for on my approach the
look of pitiful hopelessness left her sweet countenance to be replaced by a smile of joyful
welcome, as she placed her little right hand upon my left shoulder in true red Martian
salute.

"Sarkoja told Sola that you had become a true Thark," she said, "and that I would
now see no more of you than of any of the other warriors."

"Sarkoja is a liar of the first magnitude," I replied, "notwithstanding the proud claim
of the Tharks to absolute verity."

54
 Dejah Thoris laughed.

"I knew that even though you became a member of the community you would not
cease to be my friend; 'A warrior may change his metal, but not his heart,' as the saying is
upon Barsoom."

"I think they have been trying to keep us apart," she continued, "for whenever you
have been off duty one of the older women of Tars Tarkas' retinue has always arranged to
trump up some excuse to get Sola and me out of sight. They have had me down in the
pits below the buildings helping them mix their awful radium powder, and make their
terrible projectiles. You know that these have to be manufactured by artificial light, as
exposure to sunlight always results in an explosion. You have noticed that their bullets
explode when they strike an object? Well, the opaque, outer coating is broken by the
impact, exposing a glass cylinder, almost solid, in the forward end of which is a minute
particle of radium powder. The moment the sunlight, even though diffused, strikes this
powder it explodes with a violence which nothing can withstand. If you ever witness a
night battle you will note the absence of these explosions, while the morning following
the battle will be filled at sunrise with the sharp detonations of exploding missiles fired
the preceding night. As a rule, however, non-exploding projectiles are used at night." [I
have used the word radium in describing this powder because in the light of recent
discoveries on Earth I believe it to be a mixture of which radium is the base. In Captain
Carter's manuscript it is mentioned always by the name used in the written language of
Helium and is spelled in hieroglyphics which it would be difficult and useless to
reproduce.]

While I was much interested in Dejah Thoris' explanation of this wonderful adjunct
to Martian warfare, I was more concerned by the immediate problem of their treatment of
her. That they were keeping her away from me was not a matter for surprise, but that they
should subject her to dangerous and arduous labor filled me with rage.

"Have they ever subjected you to cruelty and ignominy, Dejah Thoris?" I asked,
feeling the hot blood of my fighting ancestors leap in my veins as I awaited her reply.

"Only in little ways, John Carter," she answered. "Nothing that can harm me outside
my pride. They know that I am the daughter of ten thousand jeddaks, that I trace my
ancestry straight back without a break to the builder of the first great waterway, and they,
who do not even know their own mothers, are jealous of me. At heart they hate their
horrid fates, and so wreak their poor spite on me who stand for everything they have not,
and for all they most crave and never can attain. Let us pity them, my chieftain, for even
though we die at their hands we can afford them pity, since we are greater than they and
they know it."

Had I known the significance of those words "my chieftain," as applied by a red
Martian woman to a man, I should have had the surprise of my life, but I did not know at
that time, nor for many months thereafter. Yes, I still had much to learn upon Barsoom.

55
 "I presume it is the better part of wisdom that we bow to our fate with as good grace
as possible, Dejah Thoris; but I hope, nevertheless, that I may be present the next time
that any Martian, green, red, pink, or violet, has the temerity to even so much as frown on
you, my princess."

Dejah Thoris caught her breath at my last words, and gazed upon me with dilated
eyes and quickening breath, and then, with an odd little laugh, which brought roguish
dimples to the corners of her mouth, she shook her head and cried:

"What a child! A great warrior and yet a stumbling little child."

"What have I done now?" I asked, in sore perplexity.

"Some day you shall know, John Carter, if we live; but I may not tell you. And I, the
daughter of Mors Kajak, son of Tardos Mors, have listened without anger," she
soliloquized in conclusion.

Then she broke out again into one of her gay, happy, laughing moods; joking with
me on my prowess as a Thark warrior as contrasted with my soft heart and natural
kindliness.

"I presume that should you accidentally wound an enemy you would take him home
and nurse him back to health," she laughed.

"That is precisely what we do on Earth," I answered. "At least among civilized

men."

This made her laugh again. She could not understand it, for, with all her tenderness
and womanly sweetness, she was still a Martian, and to a Martian the only good enemy is
a dead enemy; for every dead foeman means so much more to divide between those who
live.

I was very curious to know what I had said or done to cause her so much
perturbation a moment before and so I continued to importune her to enlighten me.

"No," she exclaimed, "it is enough that you have said it and that I have listened. And
when you learn, John Carter, and if I be dead, as likely I shall be ere the further moon has
circled Barsoom another twelve times, remember that I listened and that I—smiled."

It was all Greek to me, but the more I begged her to explain the more positive
became her denials of my request, and, so, in very hopelessness, I desisted.

Day had now given away to night and as we wandered along the great avenue
lighted by the two moons of Barsoom, and with Earth looking down upon us out of her
luminous green eye, it seemed that we were alone in the universe, and I, at least, was
content that it should be so.

56
 The chill of the Martian night was upon us, and removing my silks I threw them
across the shoulders of Dejah Thoris. As my arm rested for an instant upon her I felt a
thrill pass through every fiber of my being such as contact with no other mortal had even
produced; and it seemed to me that she had leaned slightly toward me, but of that I was
not sure. Only I knew that as my arm rested there across her shoulders longer than the act
of adjusting the silk required she did not draw away, nor did she speak. And so, in
silence, we walked the surface of a dying world, but in the breast of one of us at least had
been born that which is ever oldest, yet ever new.

I loved Dejah Thoris. The touch of my arm upon her naked shoulder had spoken to
me in words I would not mistake, and I knew that I had loved her since the first moment
that my eyes had met hers that first time in the plaza of the dead city of Korad.

CHAPTER XIV

A DUEL TO THE DEATH

My first impulse was to tell her of my love, and then I thought of the helplessness of
her position wherein I alone could lighten the burdens of her captivity, and protect her in
my poor way against the thousands of hereditary enemies she must face upon our arrival
at Thark. I could not chance causing her additional pain or sorrow by declaring a love
which, in all probability she did not return. Should I be so indiscreet, her position would
be even more unbearable than now, and the thought that she might feel that I was taking
advantage of her helplessness, to influence her decision was the final argument which
sealed my lips.

"Why are you so quiet, Dejah Thoris?" I asked. "Possibly you would rather return to
Sola and your quarters."

"No," she murmured, "I am happy here. I do not know why it is that I should always
be happy and contented when you, John Carter, a stranger, are with me; yet at such times
it seems that I am safe and that, with you, I shall soon return to my father's court and feel
his strong arms about me and my mother's tears and kisses on my cheek."

"Do people kiss, then, upon Barsoom?" I asked, when she had explained the word
she used, in answer to my inquiry as to its meaning.

"Parents, brothers, and sisters, yes; and," she added in a low, thoughtful tone,
"lovers."

"And you, Dejah Thoris, have parents and brothers and sisters?"

"Yes."

57
 "And a—lover?"

She was silent, nor could I venture to repeat the question.

"The man of Barsoom," she finally ventured, "does not ask personal questions of
women, except his mother, and the woman he has fought for and won."

"But I have fought—" I started, and then I wished my tongue had been cut from my
mouth; for she turned even as I caught myself and ceased, and drawing my silks from her
shoulder she held them out to me, and without a word, and with head held high, she
moved with the carriage of the queen she was toward the plaza and the doorway of her
quarters.

I did not attempt to follow her, other than to see that she reached the building in
safety, but, directing Woola to accompany her, I turned disconsolately and entered my
own house. I sat for hours cross-legged, and cross-tempered, upon my silks meditating
upon the queer freaks chance plays upon us poor devils of mortals.

So this was love! I had escaped it for all the years I had roamed the five continents
and their encircling seas; in spite of beautiful women and urging opportunity; in spite of a
half-desire for love and a constant search for my ideal, it had remained for me to fall
furiously and hopelessly in love with a creature from another world, of a species similar
possibly, yet not identical with mine. A woman who was hatched from an egg, and
whose span of life might cover a thousand years; whose people had strange customs and
ideas; a woman whose hopes, whose pleasures, whose standards of virtue and of right
and wrong might vary as greatly from mine as did those of the green Martians.

Yes, I was a fool, but I was in love, and though I was suffering the greatest misery I
had ever known I would not have had it otherwise for all the riches of Barsoom. Such is
love, and such are lovers wherever love is known.

To me, Dejah Thoris was all that was perfect; all that was virtuous and beautiful and
noble and good. I believed that from the bottom of my heart, from the depth of my soul
on that night in Korad as I sat cross-legged upon my silks while the nearer moon of
Barsoom raced through the western sky toward the horizon, and lighted up the gold and
marble, and jeweled mosaics of my world-old chamber, and I believe it today as I sit at
my desk in the little study overlooking the Hudson. Twenty years have intervened; for
ten of them I lived and fought for Dejah Thoris and her people, and for ten I have lived
upon her memory.

The morning of our departure for Thark dawned clear and hot, as do all Martian
mornings except for the six weeks when the snow melts at the poles.

I sought out Dejah Thoris in the throng of departing chariots, but she turned her
shoulder to me, and I could see the red blood mount to her cheek. With the foolish

58
inconsistency of love I held my peace when I might have plead ignorance of the nature of
my offense, or at least the gravity of it, and so have effected, at worst, a half conciliation.

My duty dictated that I must see that she was comfortable, and so I glanced into her
chariot and rearranged her silks and furs. In doing so I noted with horror that she was
heavily chained by one ankle to the side of the vehicle.

"What does this mean?" I cried, turning to Sola.

"Sarkoja thought it best," she answered, her face betokening her disapproval of the
procedure.

Examining the manacles I saw that they fastened with a massive spring lock.

"Where is the key, Sola? Let me have it."

"Sarkoja wears it, John Carter," she answered.

I turned without further word and sought out Tars Tarkas, to whom I vehemently
objected to the unnecessary humiliations and cruelties, as they seemed to my lover's eyes,
that were being heaped upon Dejah Thoris.

"John Carter," he answered, "if ever you and Dejah Thoris escape the Tharks it will
be upon this journey. We know that you will not go without her. You have shown
yourself a mighty fighter, and we do not wish to manacle you, so we hold you both in the
easiest way that will yet ensure security. I have spoken."

I saw the strength of his reasoning at a flash, and knew that it were futile to appeal
from his decision, but I asked that the key be taken from Sarkoja and that she be directed
to leave the prisoner alone in future.

"This much, Tars Tarkas, you may do for me in return for the friendship that, I must
confess, I feel for you."

"Friendship?" he replied. "There is no such thing, John Carter; but have your will. I
shall direct that Sarkoja cease to annoy the girl, and I myself will take the custody of the
key."

"Unless you wish me to assume the responsibility," I said, smiling.

He looked at me long and earnestly before he spoke.

"Were you to give me your word that neither you nor Dejah Thoris would attempt to
escape until after we have safely reached the court of Tal Hajus you might have the key
and throw the chains into the river Iss."

59
 "It were better that you held the key, Tars Tarkas," I replied

He smiled, and said no more, but that night as we were making camp I saw him
unfasten Dejah Thoris' fetters himself.

With all his cruel ferocity and coldness there was an undercurrent of something in
Tars Tarkas which he seemed ever battling to subdue. Could it be a vestige of some
human instinct come back from an ancient forbear to haunt him with the horror of his
people's ways!

As I was approaching Dejah Thoris' chariot I passed Sarkoja, and the black,
venomous look she accorded me was the sweetest balm I had felt for many hours. Lord,
how she hated me! It bristled from her so palpably that one might almost have cut it with
a sword.

A few moments later I saw her deep in conversation with a warrior named Zad; a
big, hulking, powerful brute, but one who had never made a kill among his own
chieftains, and a second name only with the metal of some chieftain. It was this custom
which entitled me to the names of either of the chieftains I had killed; in fact, some of the
warriors addressed me as Dotar Sojat, a combination of the surnames of the two warrior
chieftains whose metal I had taken, or, in other words, whom I had slain in fair fight.

As Sarkoja talked with Zad he cast occasional glances in my direction, while she
seemed to be urging him very strongly to some action. I paid little attention to it at the
time, but the next day I had good reason to recall the circumstances, and at the same time
gain a slight insight into the depths of Sarkoja's hatred and the lengths to which she was
capable of going to wreak her horrid vengeance on me.

Dejah Thoris would have none of me again on this evening, and though I spoke her
name she neither replied, nor conceded by so much as the flutter of an eyelid that she
realized my existence. In my extremity I did what most other lovers would have done; I
sought word from her through an intimate. In this instance it was Sola whom I
intercepted in another part of camp.

"What is the matter with Dejah Thoris?" I blurted out at her. "Why will she not
speak to me?"

Sola seemed puzzled herself, as though such strange actions on the part of two
humans were quite beyond her, as indeed they were, poor child.

"She says you have angered her, and that is all she will say, except that she is the
daughter of a jed and the granddaughter of a jeddak and she has been humiliated by a
creature who could not polish the teeth of her grandmother's sorak."

I pondered over this report for some time, finally asking, "What might a sorak be,
Sola?"

60
 "A little animal about as big as my hand, which the red Martian women keep to play
with," explained Sola.

Not fit to polish the teeth of her grandmother's cat! I must rank pretty low in the
consideration of Dejah Thoris, I thought; but I could not help laughing at the strange
figure of speech, so homely and in this respect so earthly. It made me homesick, for it
sounded very much like "not fit to polish her shoes." And then commenced a train of
thought quite new to me. I began to wonder what my people at home were doing. I had
not seen them for years. There was a family of Carters in Virginia who claimed close
relationship with me; I was supposed to be a great uncle, or something of the kind
equally foolish. I could pass anywhere for twenty-five to thirty years of age, and to be a
great uncle always seemed the height of incongruity, for my thoughts and feelings were
those of a boy. There was two little kiddies in the Carter family whom I had loved and
who had thought there was no one on Earth like Uncle Jack; I could see them just as
plainly, as I stood there under the moonlit skies of Barsoom, and I longed for them as I
had never longed for any mortals before. By nature a wanderer, I had never known the
true meaning of the word home, but the great hall of the Carters had always stood for all
that the word did mean to me, and now my heart turned toward it from the cold and
unfriendly peoples I had been thrown amongst. For did not even Dejah Thoris despise
me! I was a low creature, so low in fact that I was not even fit to polish the teeth of her
grandmother's cat; and then my saving sense of humor came to my rescue, and laughing I
turned into my silks and furs and slept upon the moon-haunted ground the sleep of a tired
and healthy fighting man.

We broke camp the next day at an early hour and marched with only a single halt
until just before dark. Two incidents broke the tediousness of the march. About noon we
espied far to our right what was evidently an incubator, and Lorquas Ptomel directed Tars
Tarkas to investigate it. The latter took a dozen warriors, including myself, and we raced
across the velvety carpeting of moss to the little enclosure.

It was indeed an incubator, but the eggs were very small in comparison with those I
had seen hatching in ours at the time of my arrival on Mars.

Tars Tarkas dismounted and examined the enclosure minutely, finally announcing
that it belonged to the green men of Warhoon and that the cement was scarcely dry where
it had been walled up.

"They cannot be a day's march ahead of us," he exclaimed, the light of battle leaping
to his fierce face.

The work at the incubator was short indeed. The warriors tore open the entrance and
a couple of them, crawling in, soon demolished all the eggs with their short-swords. Then
remounting we dashed back to join the cavalcade. During the ride I took occasion to ask
Tars Tarkas if these Warhoons whose eggs we had destroyed were a smaller people than
his Tharks.

61
 "I noticed that their eggs were so much smaller than those I saw hatching in your
incubator," I added.

He explained that the eggs had just been placed there; but, like all green Martian
eggs, they would grow during the five-year period of incubation until they obtained the
size of those I had seen hatching on the day of my arrival on Barsoom. This was indeed
an interesting piece of information, for it had always seemed remarkable to me that the
green Martian women, large as they were, could bring forth such enormous eggs as I had
seen the four-foot infants emerging from. As a matter of fact, the new-laid egg is but
little larger than an ordinary goose egg, and as it does not commence to grow until
subjected to the light of the sun the chieftains have little difficulty in transporting several
hundreds of them at one time from the storage vaults to the incubators.

Shortly after the incident of the Warhoon eggs we halted to rest the animals, and it
was during this halt that the second of the day's interesting episodes occurred. I was
engaged in changing my riding cloths from one of my thoats to the other, for I divided
the day's work between them, when Zad approached me, and without a word struck my
animal a terrific blow with his long-sword.

I did not need a manual of green Martian etiquette to know what reply to make, for,
in fact, I was so wild with anger that I could scarcely refrain from drawing my pistol and
shooting him down for the brute he was; but he stood waiting with drawn long-sword,
and my only choice was to draw my own and meet him in fair fight with his choice of
weapons or a lesser one.

This latter alternative is always permissible, therefore I could have used my short-
sword, my dagger, my hatchet, or my fists had I wished, and been entirely within my
rights, but I could not use firearms or a spear while he held only his long-sword.

I chose the same weapon he had drawn because I knew he prided himself upon his
ability with it, and I wished, if I worsted him at all, to do it with his own weapon. The
fight that followed was a long one and delayed the resumption of the march for an hour.
The entire community surrounded us, leaving a clear space about one hundred feet in
diameter for our battle.

Zad first attempted to rush me down as a bull might a wolf, but I was much too
quick for him, and each time I side-stepped his rushes he would go lunging past me, only
to receive a nick from my sword upon his arm or back. He was soon streaming blood
from a half dozen minor wounds, but I could not obtain an opening to deliver an effective
thrust. Then he changed his tactics, and fighting warily and with extreme dexterity, he
tried to do by science what he was unable to do by brute strength. I must admit that he
was a magnificent swordsman, and had it not been for my greater endurance and the
remarkable agility the lesser gravitation of Mars lent me I might not have been able to
put up the creditable fight I did against him.

62
 We circled for some time without doing much damage on either side; the long,
straight, needle-like swords flashing in the sunlight, and ringing out upon the stillness as
they crashed together with each effective parry. Finally Zad, realizing that he was tiring
more than I, evidently decided to close in and end the battle in a final blaze of glory for
himself; just as he rushed me a blinding flash of light struck full in my eyes, so that I
could not see his approach and could only leap blindly to one side in an effort to escape
the mighty blade that it seemed I could already feel in my vitals. I was only partially
successful, as a sharp pain in my left shoulder attested, but in the sweep of my glance as I
sought to again locate my adversary, a sight met my astonished gaze which paid me well
for the wound the temporary blindness had caused me. There, upon Dejah Thoris' chariot
stood three figures, for the purpose evidently of witnessing the encounter above the heads
of the intervening Tharks. There were Dejah Thoris, Sola, and Sarkoja, and as my
fleeting glance swept over them a little tableau was presented which will stand graven in
my memory to the day of my death.

As I looked, Dejah Thoris turned upon Sarkoja with the fury of a young tigress and
struck something from her upraised hand; something which flashed in the sunlight as it
spun to the ground. Then I knew what had blinded me at that crucial moment of the fight,
and how Sarkoja had found a way to kill me without herself delivering the final thrust.
Another thing I saw, too, which almost lost my life for me then and there, for it took my
mind for the fraction of an instant entirely from my antagonist; for, as Dejah Thoris
struck the tiny mirror from her hand, Sarkoja, her face livid with hatred and baffled rage,
whipped out her dagger and aimed a terrific blow at Dejah Thoris; and then Sola, our
dear and faithful Sola, sprang between them; the last I saw was the great knife
descending upon her shielding breast.

My enemy had recovered from his thrust and was making it extremely interesting
for me, so I reluctantly gave my attention to the work in hand, but my mind was not upon
the battle.

We rushed each other furiously time after time, 'til suddenly, feeling the sharp point
of his sword at my breast in a thrust I could neither parry nor escape, I threw myself upon
him with outstretched sword and with all the weight of my body, determined that I would
not die alone if I could prevent it. I felt the steel tear into my chest, all went black before
me, my head whirled in dizziness, and I felt my knees giving beneath me.

CHAPTER XV

SOLA TELLS ME HER STORY

When consciousness returned, and, as I soon learned, I was down but a moment, I
sprang quickly to my feet searching for my sword, and there I found it, buried to the hilt
in the green breast of Zad, who lay stone dead upon the ochre moss of the ancient sea

63
bottom. As I regained my full senses I found his weapon piercing my left breast, but only
through the flesh and muscles which cover my ribs, entering near the center of my chest
and coming out below the shoulder. As I had lunged I had turned so that his sword
merely passed beneath the muscles, inflicting a painful but not dangerous wound.

Removing the blade from my body I also regained my own, and turning my back
upon his ugly carcass, I moved, sick, sore, and disgusted, toward the chariots which bore
my retinue and my belongings. A murmur of Martian applause greeted me, but I cared
not for it.

Bleeding and weak I reached my women, who, accustomed to such happenings,

dressed my wounds, applying the wonderful healing and remedial agents which make
only the most instantaneous of death blows fatal. Give a Martian woman a chance and
death must take a back seat. They soon had me patched up so that, except for weakness
from loss of blood and a little soreness around the wound, I suffered no great distress
from this thrust which, under earthly treatment, undoubtedly would have put me flat on
my back for days.

As soon as they were through with me I hastened to the chariot of Dejah Thoris,
where I found my poor Sola with her chest swathed in bandages, but apparently little the
worse for her encounter with Sarkoja, whose dagger it seemed had struck the edge of one
of Sola's metal breast ornaments and, thus deflected, had inflicted but a slight flesh
wound.

As I approached I found Dejah Thoris lying prone upon her silks and furs, her lithe
form wracked with sobs. She did not notice my presence, nor did she hear me speaking
with Sola, who was standing a short distance from the vehicle.

"Is she injured?" I asked of Sola, indicating Dejah Thoris by an inclination of my

head.

"No," she answered, "she thinks that you are dead."

"And that her grandmother's cat may now have no one to polish its teeth?" I queried,
smiling.

"I think you wrong her, John Carter," said Sola. "I do not understand either her ways
or yours, but I am sure the granddaughter of ten thousand jeddaks would never grieve
like this over any who held but the highest claim upon her affections. They are a proud
race, but they are just, as are all Barsoomians, and you must have hurt or wronged her
grievously that she will not admit your existence living, though she mourns you dead.

"Tears are a strange sight upon Barsoom," she continued, "and so it is difficult for
me to interpret them. I have seen but two people weep in all my life, other than Dejah
Thoris; one wept from sorrow, the other from baffled rage. The first was my mother,

64
years ago before they killed her; the other was Sarkoja, when they dragged her from me
today."

"Your mother!" I exclaimed, "but, Sola, you could not have known your mother,
child."

"But I did. And my father also," she added. "If you would like to hear the strange
and un-Barsoomian story come to the chariot tonight, John Carter, and I will tell you that
of which I have never spoken in all my life before. And now the signal has been given to
resume the march, you must go."

"I will come tonight, Sola," I promised. "Be sure to tell Dejah Thoris I am alive and
well. I shall not force myself upon her, and be sure that you do not let her know I saw her
tears. If she would speak with me I but await her command."

Sola mounted the chariot, which was swinging into its place in line, and I hastened
to my waiting thoat and galloped to my station beside Tars Tarkas at the rear of the
column.

We made a most imposing and awe-inspiring spectacle as we strung out across the
yellow landscape; the two hundred and fifty ornate and brightly colored chariots,
preceded by an advance guard of some two hundred mounted warriors and chieftains
riding five abreast and one hundred yards apart, and followed by a like number in the
same formation, with a score or more of flankers on either side; the fifty extra mastodons,
or heavy draught animals, known as zitidars, and the five or six hundred extra thoats of
the warriors running loose within the hollow square formed by the surrounding warriors.
The gleaming metal and jewels of the gorgeous ornaments of the men and women,
duplicated in the trappings of the zitidars and thoats, and interspersed with the flashing
colors of magnificent silks and furs and feathers, lent a barbaric splendor to the caravan
which would have turned an East Indian potentate green with envy.

The enormous broad tires of the chariots and the padded feet of the animals brought
forth no sound from the moss-covered sea bottom; and so we moved in utter silence, like
some huge phantasmagoria, except when the stillness was broken by the guttural
growling of a goaded zitidar, or the squealing of fighting thoats. The green Martians
converse but little, and then usually in monosyllables, low and like the faint rumbling of
distant thunder.

We traversed a trackless waste of moss which, bending to the pressure of broad tire
or padded foot, rose up again behind us, leaving no sign that we had passed. We might
indeed have been the wraiths of the departed dead upon the dead sea of that dying planet
for all the sound or sign we made in passing. It was the first march of a large body of
men and animals I had ever witnessed which raised no dust and left no spoor; for there is
no dust upon Mars except in the cultivated districts during the winter months, and even
then the absence of high winds renders it almost unnoticeable.

65
 We camped that night at the foot of the hills we had been approaching for two days
and which marked the southern boundary of this particular sea. Our animals had been
two days without drink, nor had they had water for nearly two months, not since shortly
after leaving Thark; but, as Tars Tarkas explained to me, they require but little and can
live almost indefinitely upon the moss which covers Barsoom, and which, he told me,
holds in its tiny stems sufficient moisture to meet the limited demands of the animals.

After partaking of my evening meal of cheese-like food and vegetable milk I sought
out Sola, whom I found working by the light of a torch upon some of Tars Tarkas'
trappings. She looked up at my approach, her face lighting with pleasure and with
welcome.

"I am glad you came," she said; "Dejah Thoris sleeps and I am lonely. Mine own
people do not care for me, John Carter; I am too unlike them. It is a sad fate, since I must
live my life amongst them, and I often wish that I were a true green Martian woman,
without love and without hope; but I have known love and so I am lost.

"I promised to tell you my story, or rather the story of my parents. From what I have
learned of you and the ways of your people I am sure that the tale will not seem strange
to you, but among green Martians it has no parallel within the memory of the oldest
living Thark, nor do our legends hold many similar tales.

"My mother was rather small, in fact too small to be allowed the responsibilities of
maternity, as our chieftains breed principally for size. She was also less cold and cruel
than most green Martian women, and caring little for their society, she often roamed the
deserted avenues of Thark alone, or went and sat among the wild flowers that deck the
nearby hills, thinking thoughts and wishing wishes which I believe I alone among
Tharkian women today may understand, for am I not the child of my mother?

"And there among the hills she met a young warrior, whose duty it was to guard the
feeding zitidars and thoats and see that they roamed not beyond the hills. They spoke at
first only of such things as interest a community of Tharks, but gradually, as they came to
meet more often, and, as was now quite evident to both, no longer by chance, they talked
about themselves, their likes, their ambitions and their hopes. She trusted him and told
him of the awful repugnance she felt for the cruelties of their kind, for the hideous,
loveless lives they must ever lead, and then she waited for the storm of denunciation to
break from his cold, hard lips; but instead he took her in his arms and kissed her.

"They kept their love a secret for six long years. She, my mother, was of the retinue
of the great Tal Hajus, while her lover was a simple warrior, wearing only his own metal.
Had their defection from the traditions of the Tharks been discovered both would have
paid the penalty in the great arena before Tal Hajus and the assembled hordes.

"The egg from which I came was hidden beneath a great glass vessel upon the
highest and most inaccessible of the partially ruined towers of ancient Thark. Once each
year my mother visited it for the five long years it lay there in the process of incubation.

66
She dared not come oftener, for in the mighty guilt of her conscience she feared that her
every move was watched. During this period my father gained great distinction as a
warrior and had taken the metal from several chieftains. His love for my mother had
never diminished, and his own ambition in life was to reach a point where he might wrest
the metal from Tal Hajus himself, and thus, as ruler of the Tharks, be free to claim her as
his own, as well as, by the might of his power, protect the child which otherwise would
be quickly dispatched should the truth become known.

"It was a wild dream, that of wresting the metal from Tal Hajus in five short years,
but his advance was rapid, and he soon stood high in the councils of Thark. But one day
the chance was lost forever, in so far as it could come in time to save his loved ones, for
he was ordered away upon a long expedition to the ice-clad south, to make war upon the
natives there and despoil them of their furs, for such is the manner of the green
Barsoomian; he does not labor for what he can wrest in battle from others.

"He was gone for four years, and when he returned all had been over for three; for
about a year after his departure, and shortly before the time for the return of an
expedition which had gone forth to fetch the fruits of a community incubator, the egg had
hatched. Thereafter my mother continued to keep me in the old tower, visiting me nightly
and lavishing upon me the love the community life would have robbed us both of. She
hoped, upon the return of the expedition from the incubator, to mix me with the other
young assigned to the quarters of Tal Hajus, and thus escape the fate which would surely
follow discovery of her sin against the ancient traditions of the green men.

"She taught me rapidly the language and customs of my kind, and one night she told
me the story I have told to you up to this point, impressing upon me the necessity for
absolute secrecy and the great caution I must exercise after she had placed me with the
other young Tharks to permit no one to guess that I was further advanced in education
than they, nor by any sign to divulge in the presence of others my affection for her, or my
knowledge of my parentage; and then drawing me close to her she whispered in my ear
the name of my father.

"And then a light flashed out upon the darkness of the tower chamber, and there
stood Sarkoja, her gleaming, baleful eyes fixed in a frenzy of loathing and contempt upon
my mother. The torrent of hatred and abuse she poured out upon her turned my young
heart cold in terror. That she had heard the entire story was apparent, and that she had
suspected something wrong from my mother's long nightly absences from her quarters
accounted for her presence there on that fateful night.

"One thing she had not heard, nor did she know, the whispered name of my father.
This was apparent from her repeated demands upon my mother to disclose the name of
her partner in sin, but no amount of abuse or threats could wring this from her, and to
save me from needless torture she lied, for she told Sarkoja that she alone knew nor
would she even tell her child.

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 "With final imprecations, Sarkoja hastened away to Tal Hajus to report her
discovery, and while she was gone my mother, wrapping me in the silks and furs of her
night coverings, so that I was scarcely noticeable, descended to the streets and ran wildly
away toward the outskirts of the city, in the direction which led to the far south, out
toward the man whose protection she might not claim, but on whose face she wished to
look once more before she died.

"As we neared the city's southern extremity a sound came to us from across the
mossy flat, from the direction of the only pass through the hills which led to the gates, the
pass by which caravans from either north or south or east or west would enter the city.
The sounds we heard were the squealing of thoats and the grumbling of zitidars, with the
occasional clank of arms which announced the approach of a body of warriors. The
thought uppermost in her mind was that it was my father returned from his expedition,
but the cunning of the Thark held her from headlong and precipitate flight to greet him.

"Retreating into the shadows of a doorway she awaited the coming of the cavalcade
which shortly entered the avenue, breaking its formation and thronging the thoroughfare
from wall to wall. As the head of the procession passed us the lesser moon swung clear
of the overhanging roofs and lit up the scene with all the brilliancy of her wondrous light.
My mother shrank further back into the friendly shadows, and from her hiding place saw
that the expedition was not that of my father, but the returning caravan bearing the young
Tharks. Instantly her plan was formed, and as a great chariot swung close to our hiding
place she slipped stealthily in upon the trailing tailboard, crouching low in the shadow of
the high side, straining me to her bosom in a frenzy of love.

"She knew, what I did not, that never again after that night would she hold me to her
breast, nor was it likely we would ever look upon each other's face again. In the
confusion of the plaza she mixed me with the other children, whose guardians during the
journey were now free to relinquish their responsibility. We were herded together into a
great room, fed by women who had not accompanied the expedition, and the next day we
were parceled out among the retinues of the chieftains.

"I never saw my mother after that night. She was imprisoned by Tal Hajus, and
every effort, including the most horrible and shameful torture, was brought to bear upon
her to wring from her lips the name of my father; but she remained steadfast and loyal,
dying at last amidst the laughter of Tal Hajus and his chieftains during some awful
torture she was undergoing.

"I learned afterwards that she told them that she had killed me to save me from a
like fate at their hands, and that she had thrown my body to the white apes. Sarkoja alone
disbelieved her, and I feel to this day that she suspects my true origin, but does not dare
expose me, at the present, at all events, because she also guesses, I am sure, the identity
of my father.

"When he returned from his expedition and learned the story of my mother's fate I
was present as Tal Hajus told him; but never by the quiver of a muscle did he betray the

68
slightest emotion; only he did not laugh as Tal Hajus gleefully described her death
struggles. From that moment on he was the cruelest of the cruel, and I am awaiting the
day when he shall win the goal of his ambition, and feel the carcass of Tal Hajus beneath
his foot, for I am as sure that he but waits the opportunity to wreak a terrible vengeance,
and that his great love is as strong in his breast as when it first transfigured him nearly
forty years ago, as I am that we sit here upon the edge of a world-old ocean while
sensible people sleep, John Carter."

"And your father, Sola, is he with us now?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied, "but he does not know me for what I am, nor does he know who
betrayed my mother to Tal Hajus. I alone know my father's name, and only I and Tal
Hajus and Sarkoja know that it was she who carried the tale that brought death and
torture upon her he loved."

We sat silent for a few moments, she wrapped in the gloomy thoughts of her terrible
past, and I in pity for the poor creatures whom the heartless, senseless customs of their
race had doomed to loveless lives of cruelty and of hate. Presently she spoke.

"John Carter, if ever a real man walked the cold, dead bosom of Barsoom you are
one. I know that I can trust you, and because the knowledge may someday help you or
him or Dejah Thoris or myself, I am going to tell you the name of my father, nor place
any restrictions or conditions upon your tongue. When the time comes, speak the truth if
it seems best to you. I trust you because I know that you are not cursed with the terrible
trait of absolute and unswerving truthfulness, that you could lie like one of your own
Virginia gentlemen if a lie would save others from sorrow or suffering. My father's name
is Tars Tarkas."

CHAPTER XVI

WE PLAN ESCAPE

The remainder of our journey to Thark was uneventful. We were twenty days upon
the road, crossing two sea bottoms and passing through or around a number of ruined
cities, mostly smaller than Korad. Twice we crossed the famous Martian waterways, or
canals, so-called by our earthly astronomers. When we approached these points a warrior
would be sent far ahead with a powerful field glass, and if no great body of red Martian
troops was in sight we would advance as close as possible without chance of being seen
and then camp until dark, when we would slowly approach the cultivated tract, and,
locating one of the numerous, broad highways which cross these areas at regular
intervals, creep silently and stealthily across to the arid lands upon the other side. It
required five hours to make one of these crossings without a single halt, and the other

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consumed the entire night, so that we were just leaving the confines of the high-walled
fields when the sun broke out upon us.

Crossing in the darkness, as we did, I was unable to see but little, except as the
nearer moon, in her wild and ceaseless hurtling through the Barsoomian heavens, lit up
little patches of the landscape from time to time, disclosing walled fields and low,
rambling buildings, presenting much the appearance of earthly farms. There were many
trees, methodically arranged, and some of them were of enormous height; there were
animals in some of the enclosures, and they announced their presence by terrified
squealings and snortings as they scented our queer, wild beasts and wilder human beings.

Only once did I perceive a human being, and that was at the intersection of our
crossroad with the wide, white turnpike which cuts each cultivated district longitudinally
at its exact center. The fellow must have been sleeping beside the road, for, as I came
abreast of him, he raised upon one elbow and after a single glance at the approaching
caravan leaped shrieking to his feet and fled madly down the road, scaling a nearby wall
with the agility of a scared cat. The Tharks paid him not the slightest attention; they were
not out upon the warpath, and the only sign that I had that they had seen him was a
quickening of the pace of the caravan as we hastened toward the bordering desert which
marked our entrance into the realm of Tal Hajus.

Not once did I have speech with Dejah Thoris, as she sent no word to me that I
would be welcome at her chariot, and my foolish pride kept me from making any
advances. I verily believe that a man's way with women is in inverse ratio to his prowess
among men. The weakling and the saphead have often great ability to charm the fair sex,
while the fighting man who can face a thousand real dangers unafraid, sits hiding in the
shadows like some frightened child.

Just thirty days after my advent upon Barsoom we entered the ancient city of Thark,
from whose long-forgotten people this horde of green men have stolen even their name.
The hordes of Thark number some thirty thousand souls, and are divided into twenty-five
communities. Each community has its own jed and lesser chieftains, but all are under the
rule of Tal Hajus, Jeddak of Thark. Five communities make their headquarters at the city
of Thark, and the balance are scattered among other deserted cities of ancient Mars
throughout the district claimed by Tal Hajus.

We made our entry into the great central plaza early in the afternoon. There were no
enthusiastic friendly greetings for the returned expedition. Those who chanced to be in
sight spoke the names of warriors or women with whom they came in direct contact, in
the formal greeting of their kind, but when it was discovered that they brought two
captives a greater interest was aroused, and Dejah Thoris and I were the centers of
inquiring groups.

We were soon assigned to new quarters, and the balance of the day was devoted to
settling ourselves to the changed conditions. My home now was upon an avenue leading
into the plaza from the south, the main artery down which we had marched from the

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gates of the city. I was at the far end of the square and had an entire building to myself.
The same grandeur of architecture which was so noticeable a characteristic of Korad was
in evidence here, only, if that were possible, on a larger and richer scale. My quarters
would have been suitable for housing the greatest of earthly emperors, but to these queer
creatures nothing about a building appealed to them but its size and the enormity of its
chambers; the larger the building, the more desirable; and so Tal Hajus occupied what
must have been an enormous public building, the largest in the city, but entirely unfitted
for residence purposes; the next largest was reserved for Lorquas Ptomel, the next for the
jed of a lesser rank, and so on to the bottom of the list of five jeds. The warriors occupied
the buildings with the chieftains to whose retinues they belonged; or, if they preferred,
sought shelter among any of the thousands of untenanted buildings in their own quarter
of town; each community being assigned a certain section of the city. The selection of
building had to be made in accordance with these divisions, except in so far as the jeds
were concerned, they all occupying edifices which fronted upon the plaza.

When I had finally put my house in order, or rather seen that it had been done, it
was nearing sunset, and I hastened out with the intention of locating Sola and her
charges, as I had determined upon having speech with Dejah Thoris and trying to impress
on her the necessity of our at least patching up a truce until I could find some way of
aiding her to escape. I searched in vain until the upper rim of the great red sun was just
disappearing behind the horizon and then I spied the ugly head of Woola peering from a
second-story window on the opposite side of the very street where I was quartered, but
nearer the plaza.

Without waiting for a further invitation I bolted up the winding runway which led to
the second floor, and entering a great chamber at the front of the building was greeted by
the frenzied Woola, who threw his great carcass upon me, nearly hurling me to the floor;
the poor old fellow was so glad to see me that I thought he would devour me, his head
split from ear to ear, showing his three rows of tusks in his hobgoblin smile.

Quieting him with a word of command and a caress, I looked hurriedly through the
approaching gloom for a sign of Dejah Thoris, and then, not seeing her, I called her
name. There was an answering murmur from the far corner of the apartment, and with a
couple of quick strides I was standing beside her where she crouched among the furs and
silks upon an ancient carved wooden seat. As I waited she rose to her full height and
looking me straight in the eye said:

"What would Dotar Sojat, Thark, of Dejah Thoris his captive?"

"Dejah Thoris, I do not know how I have angered you. It was furtherest from my
desire to hurt or offend you, whom I had hoped to protect and comfort. Have none of me
if it is your will, but that you must aid me in effecting your escape, if such a thing be
possible, is not my request, but my command. When you are safe once more at your
father's court you may do with me as you please, but from now on until that day I am
your master, and you must obey and aid me."

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 She looked at me long and earnestly and I thought that she was softening toward
me.

"I understand your words, Dotar Sojat," she replied, "but you I do not understand.
You are a queer mixture of child and man, of brute and noble. I only wish that I might
read your heart."

"Look down at your feet, Dejah Thoris; it lies there now where it has lain since that
other night at Korad, and where it will ever lie beating alone for you until death stills it
forever."

She took a little step toward me, her beautiful hands outstretched in a strange,
groping gesture.

"What do you mean, John Carter?" she whispered. "What are you saying to me?"

"I am saying what I had promised myself that I would not say to you, at least until
you were no longer a captive among the green men; what from your attitude toward me
for the past twenty days I had thought never to say to you; I am saying, Dejah Thoris,
that I am yours, body and soul, to serve you, to fight for you, and to die for you. Only one
thing I ask of you in return, and that is that you make no sign, either of condemnation or
of approbation of my words until you are safe among your own people, and that whatever
sentiments you harbor toward me they be not influenced or colored by gratitude;
whatever I may do to serve you will be prompted solely from selfish motives, since it
gives me more pleasure to serve you than not."

"I will respect your wishes, John Carter, because I understand the motives which
prompt them, and I accept your service no more willingly than I bow to your authority;
your word shall be my law. I have twice wronged you in my thoughts and again I ask
your forgiveness."

Further conversation of a personal nature was prevented by the entrance of Sola,

who was much agitated and wholly unlike her usual calm and possessed self.

"That horrible Sarkoja has been before Tal Hajus," she cried, "and from what I
heard upon the plaza there is little hope for either of you."

"What do they say?" inquired Dejah Thoris.

"That you will be thrown to the wild calots [dogs] in the great arena as soon as the
hordes have assembled for the yearly games."

"Sola," I said, "you are a Thark, but you hate and loathe the customs of your people
as much as we do. Will you not accompany us in one supreme effort to escape? I am sure
that Dejah Thoris can offer you a home and protection among her people, and your fate
can be no worse among them than it must ever be here."

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 "Yes," cried Dejah Thoris, "come with us, Sola, you will be better off among the red
men of Helium than you are here, and I can promise you not only a home with us, but the
love and affection your nature craves and which must always be denied you by the
customs of your own race. Come with us, Sola; we might go without you, but your fate
would be terrible if they thought you had connived to aid us. I know that even that fear
would not tempt you to interfere in our escape, but we want you with us, we want you to
come to a land of sunshine and happiness, amongst a people who know the meaning of
love, of sympathy, and of gratitude. Say that you will, Sola; tell me that you will."

"The great waterway which leads to Helium is but fifty miles to the south,"
murmured Sola, half to herself; "a swift thoat might make it in three hours; and then to
Helium it is five hundred miles, most of the way through thinly settled districts. They
would know and they would follow us. We might hide among the great trees for a time,
but the chances are small indeed for escape. They would follow us to the very gates of
Helium, and they would take toll of life at every step; you do not know them."

"Is there no other way we might reach Helium?" I asked. "Can you not draw me a
rough map of the country we must traverse, Dejah Thoris?"

"Yes," she replied, and taking a great diamond from her hair she drew upon the
marble floor the first map of Barsoomian territory I had ever seen. It was crisscrossed in
every direction with long straight lines, sometimes running parallel and sometimes
converging toward some great circle. The lines, she said, were waterways; the circles,
cities; and one far to the northwest of us she pointed out as Helium. There were other
cities closer, but she said she feared to enter many of them, as they were not all friendly
toward Helium.

Finally, after studying the map carefully in the moonlight which now flooded the
room, I pointed out a waterway far to the north of us which also seemed to lead to
Helium.

"Does not this pierce your grandfather's territory?" I asked.

"Yes," she answered, "but it is two hundred miles north of us; it is one of the
waterways we crossed on the trip to Thark."

"They would never suspect that we would try for that distant waterway," I
answered, "and that is why I think that it is the best route for our escape."

Sola agreed with me, and it was decided that we should leave Thark this same night;
just as quickly, in fact, as I could find and saddle my thoats. Sola was to ride one and
Dejah Thoris and I the other; each of us carrying sufficient food and drink to last us for
two days, since the animals could not be urged too rapidly for so long a distance.

I directed Sola to proceed with Dejah Thoris along one of the less frequented
avenues to the southern boundary of the city, where I would overtake them with the

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thoats as quickly as possible; then, leaving them to gather what food, silks, and furs we
were to need, I slipped quietly to the rear of the first floor, and entered the courtyard,
where our animals were moving restlessly about, as was their habit, before settling down
for the night.

In the shadows of the buildings and out beneath the radiance of the Martian moons
moved the great herd of thoats and zitidars, the latter grunting their low gutturals and the
former occasionally emitting the sharp squeal which denotes the almost habitual state of
rage in which these creatures passed their existence. They were quieter now, owing to the
absence of man, but as they scented me they became more restless and their hideous
noise increased. It was risky business, this entering a paddock of thoats alone and at
night; first, because their increasing noisiness might warn the nearby warriors that
something was amiss, and also because for the slightest cause, or for no cause at all some
great bull thoat might take it upon himself to lead a charge upon me.

Having no desire to awaken their nasty tempers upon such a night as this, where so
much depended upon secrecy and dispatch, I hugged the shadows of the buildings, ready
at an instant's warning to leap into the safety of a nearby door or window. Thus I moved
silently to the great gates which opened upon the street at the back of the court, and as I
neared the exit I called softly to my two animals. How I thanked the kind providence
which had given me the foresight to win the love and confidence of these wild dumb
brutes, for presently from the far side of the court I saw two huge bulks forcing their way
toward me through the surging mountains of flesh.

They came quite close to me, rubbing their muzzles against my body and nosing for
the bits of food it was always my practice to reward them with. Opening the gates I
ordered the two great beasts to pass out, and then slipping quietly after them I closed the
portals behind me.

I did not saddle or mount the animals there, but instead walked quietly in the
shadows of the buildings toward an unfrequented avenue which led toward the point I
had arranged to meet Dejah Thoris and Sola. With the noiselessness of disembodied
spirits we moved stealthily along the deserted streets, but not until we were within sight
of the plain beyond the city did I commence to breathe freely. I was sure that Sola and
Dejah Thoris would find no difficulty in reaching our rendezvous undetected, but with
my great thoats I was not so sure for myself, as it was quite unusual for warriors to leave
the city after dark; in fact there was no place for them to go within any but a long ride.

I reached the appointed meeting place safely, but as Dejah Thoris and Sola were not
there I led my animals into the entrance hall of one of the large buildings. Presuming that
one of the other women of the same household may have come in to speak to Sola, and
so delayed their departure, I did not feel any undue apprehension until nearly an hour had
passed without a sign of them, and by the time another half hour had crawled away I was
becoming filled with grave anxiety. Then there broke upon the stillness of the night the
sound of an approaching party, which, from the noise, I knew could be no fugitives
creeping stealthily toward liberty. Soon the party was near me, and from the black

74
shadows of my entranceway I perceived a score of mounted warriors, who, in passing,
dropped a dozen words that fetched my heart clean into the top of my head.

"He would likely have arranged to meet them just without the city, and so—" I
heard no more, they had passed on; but it was enough. Our plan had been discovered, and
the chances for escape from now on to the fearful end would be small indeed. My one
hope now was to return undetected to the quarters of Dejah Thoris and learn what fate
had overtaken her, but how to do it with these great monstrous thoats upon my hands,
now that the city probably was aroused by the knowledge of my escape was a problem of
no mean proportions.

Suddenly an idea occurred to me, and acting on my knowledge of the construction

of the buildings of these ancient Martian cities with a hollow court within the center of
each square, I groped my way blindly through the dark chambers, calling the great thoats
after me. They had difficulty in negotiating some of the doorways, but as the buildings
fronting the city's principal exposures were all designed upon a magnificent scale, they
were able to wriggle through without sticking fast; and thus we finally made the inner
court where I found, as I had expected, the usual carpet of moss-like vegetation which
would prove their food and drink until I could return them to their own enclosure. That
they would be as quiet and contented here as elsewhere I was confident, nor was there
but the remotest possibility that they would be discovered, as the green men had no great
desire to enter these outlying buildings, which were frequented by the only thing, I
believe, which caused them the sensation of fear—the great white apes of Barsoom.

Removing the saddle trappings, I hid them just within the rear doorway of the
building through which we had entered the court, and, turning the beasts loose, quickly
made my way across the court to the rear of the buildings upon the further side, and
thence to the avenue beyond. Waiting in the doorway of the building until I was assured
that no one was approaching, I hurried across to the opposite side and through the first
doorway to the court beyond; thus, crossing through court after court with only the slight
chance of detection which the necessary crossing of the avenues entailed, I made my way
in safety to the courtyard in the rear of Dejah Thoris' quarters.

Here, of course, I found the beasts of the warriors who quartered in the adjacent
buildings, and the warriors themselves I might expect to meet within if I entered; but,
fortunately for me, I had another and safer method of reaching the upper story where
Dejah Thoris should be found, and, after first determining as nearly as possible which of
the buildings she occupied, for I had never observed them before from the court side, I
took advantage of my relatively great strength and agility and sprang upward until I
grasped the sill of a second-story window which I thought to be in the rear of her
apartment. Drawing myself inside the room I moved stealthily toward the front of the
building, and not until I had quite reached the doorway of her room was I made aware by
voices that it was occupied.

I did not rush headlong in, but listened without to assure myself that it was Dejah
Thoris and that it was safe to venture within. It was well indeed that I took this

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precaution, for the conversation I heard was in the low gutturals of men, and the words
which finally came to me proved a most timely warning. The speaker was a chieftain and
he was giving orders to four of his warriors.

"And when he returns to this chamber," he was saying, "as he surely will when he
finds she does not meet him at the city's edge, you four are to spring upon him and
disarm him. It will require the combined strength of all of you to do it if the reports they
bring back from Korad are correct. When you have him fast bound bear him to the vaults
beneath the jeddak's quarters and chain him securely where he may be found when Tal
Hajus wishes him. Allow him to speak with none, nor permit any other to enter this
apartment before he comes. There will be no danger of the girl returning, for by this time
she is safe in the arms of Tal Hajus, and may all her ancestors have pity upon her, for Tal
Hajus will have none; the great Sarkoja has done a noble night's work. I go, and if you
fail to capture him when he comes, I commend your carcasses to the cold bosom of Iss."

CHAPTER XVII

A COSTLY RECAPTURE

As the speaker ceased he turned to leave the apartment by the door where I was
standing, but I needed to wait no longer; I had heard enough to fill my soul with dread,
and stealing quietly away I returned to the courtyard by the way I had come. My plan of
action was formed upon the instant, and crossing the square and the bordering avenue
upon the opposite side I soon stood within the courtyard of Tal Hajus.

The brilliantly lighted apartments of the first floor told me where first to seek, and
advancing to the windows I peered within. I soon discovered that my approach was not to
be the easy thing I had hoped, for the rear rooms bordering the court were filled with
warriors and women. I then glanced up at the stories above, discovering that the third was
apparently unlighted, and so decided to make my entrance to the building from that point.
It was the work of but a moment for me to reach the windows above, and soon I had
drawn myself within the sheltering shadows of the unlighted third floor.

Fortunately the room I had selected was untenanted, and creeping noiselessly to the
corridor beyond I discovered a light in the apartments ahead of me. Reaching what
appeared to be a doorway I discovered that it was but an opening upon an immense inner
chamber which towered from the first floor, two stories below me, to the dome-like roof
of the building, high above my head. The floor of this great circular hall was thronged
with chieftains, warriors and women, and at one end was a great raised platform upon
which squatted the most hideous beast I had ever put my eyes upon. He had all the cold,
hard, cruel, terrible features of the green warriors, but accentuated and debased by the
animal passions to which he had given himself over for many years. There was not a
mark of dignity or pride upon his bestial countenance, while his enormous bulk spread

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itself out upon the platform where he squatted like some huge devil fish, his six limbs
accentuating the similarity in a horrible and startling manner.

But the sight that froze me with apprehension was that of Dejah Thoris and Sola
standing there before him, and the fiendish leer of him as he let his great protruding eyes
gloat upon the lines of her beautiful figure. She was speaking, but I could not hear what
she said, nor could I make out the low grumbling of his reply. She stood there erect
before him, her head high held, and even at the distance I was from them I could read the
scorn and disgust upon her face as she let her haughty glance rest without sign of fear
upon him. She was indeed the proud daughter of a thousand jeddaks, every inch of her
dear, precious little body; so small, so frail beside the towering warriors around her, but
in her majesty dwarfing them into insignificance; she was the mightiest figure among
them and I verily believe that they felt it.

Presently Tal Hajus made a sign that the chamber be cleared, and that the prisoners
be left alone before him. Slowly the chieftains, the warriors and the women melted away
into the shadows of the surrounding chambers, and Dejah Thoris and Sola stood alone
before the jeddak of the Tharks.

One chieftain alone had hesitated before departing; I saw him standing in the
shadows of a mighty column, his fingers nervously toying with the hilt of his great-sword
and his cruel eyes bent in implacable hatred upon Tal Hajus. It was Tars Tarkas, and I
could read his thoughts as they were an open book for the undisguised loathing upon his
face. He was thinking of that other woman who, forty years ago, had stood before this
beast, and could I have spoken a word into his ear at that moment the reign of Tal Hajus
would have been over; but finally he also strode from the room, not knowing that he left
his own daughter at the mercy of the creature he most loathed.

Tal Hajus arose, and I, half fearing, half anticipating his intentions, hurried to the
winding runway which led to the floors below. No one was near to intercept me, and I
reached the main floor of the chamber unobserved, taking my station in the shadow of
the same column that Tars Tarkas had but just deserted. As I reached the floor Tal Hajus
was speaking.

"Princess of Helium, I might wring a mighty ransom from your people would I but
return you to them unharmed, but a thousand times rather would I watch that beautiful
face writhe in the agony of torture; it shall be long drawn out, that I promise you; ten
days of pleasure were all too short to show the love I harbor for your race. The terrors of
your death shall haunt the slumbers of the red men through all the ages to come; they will
shudder in the shadows of the night as their fathers tell them of the awful vengeance of
the green men; of the power and might and hate and cruelty of Tal Hajus. But before the
torture you shall be mine for one short hour, and word of that too shall go forth to Tardos
Mors, Jeddak of Helium, your grandfather, that he may grovel upon the ground in the
agony of his sorrow. Tomorrow the torture will commence; tonight thou art Tal Hajus';
come!"

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 He sprang down from the platform and grasped her roughly by the arm, but scarcely
had he touched her than I leaped between them. My short-sword, sharp and gleaming was
in my right hand; I could have plunged it into his putrid heart before he realized that I
was upon him; but as I raised my arm to strike I thought of Tars Tarkas, and, with all my
rage, with all my hatred, I could not rob him of that sweet moment for which he had lived
and hoped all these long, weary years, and so, instead, I swung my good right fist full
upon the point of his jaw. Without a sound he slipped to the floor as one dead.

In the same deathly silence I grasped Dejah Thoris by the hand, and motioning Sola
to follow we sped noiselessly from the chamber and to the floor above. Unseen we
reached a rear window and with the straps and leather of my trappings I lowered, first
Sola and then Dejah Thoris to the ground below. Dropping lightly after them I drew them
rapidly around the court in the shadows of the buildings, and thus we returned over the
same course I had so recently followed from the distant boundary of the city.

We finally came upon my thoats in the courtyard where I had left them, and placing
the trappings upon them we hastened through the building to the avenue beyond.
Mounting, Sola upon one beast, and Dejah Thoris behind me upon the other, we rode
from the city of Thark through the hills to the south.

Instead of circling back around the city to the northwest and toward the nearest
waterway which lay so short a distance from us, we turned to the northeast and struck out
upon the mossy waste across which, for two hundred dangerous and weary miles, lay
another main artery leading to Helium.

No word was spoken until we had left the city far behind, but I could hear the quiet
sobbing of Dejah Thoris as she clung to me with her dear head resting against my
shoulder.

"If we make it, my chieftain, the debt of Helium will be a mighty one; greater than
she can ever pay you; and should we not make it," she continued, "the debt is no less,
though Helium will never know, for you have saved the last of our line from worse than
death."

I did not answer, but instead reached to my side and pressed the little fingers of her I
loved where they clung to me for support, and then, in unbroken silence, we sped over
the yellow, moonlit moss; each of us occupied with his own thoughts. For my part I
could not be other than joyful had I tried, with Dejah Thoris' warm body pressed close to
mine, and with all our unpassed danger my heart was singing as gaily as though we were
already entering the gates of Helium.

Our earlier plans had been so sadly upset that we now found ourselves without food
or drink, and I alone was armed. We therefore urged our beasts to a speed that must tell
on them sorely before we could hope to sight the ending of the first stage of our journey.

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 We rode all night and all the following day with only a few short rests. On the
second night both we and our animals were completely fagged, and so we lay down upon
the moss and slept for some five or six hours, taking up the journey once more before
daylight. All the following day we rode, and when, late in the afternoon we had sighted
no distant trees, the mark of the great waterways throughout all Barsoom, the terrible
truth flashed upon us—we were lost.

Evidently we had circled, but which way it was difficult to say, nor did it seem
possible with the sun to guide us by day and the moons and stars by night. At any rate no
waterway was in sight, and the entire party was almost ready to drop from hunger, thirst
and fatigue. Far ahead of us and a trifle to the right we could distinguish the outlines of
low mountains. These we decided to attempt to reach in the hope that from some ridge
we might discern the missing waterway. Night fell upon us before we reached our goal,
and, almost fainting from weariness and weakness, we lay down and slept.

I was awakened early in the morning by some huge body pressing close to mine,
and opening my eyes with a start I beheld my blessed old Woola snuggling close to me;
the faithful brute had followed us across that trackless waste to share our fate, whatever it
might be. Putting my arms about his neck I pressed my cheek close to his, nor am I
ashamed that I did it, nor of the tears that came to my eyes as I thought of his love for
me. Shortly after this Dejah Thoris and Sola awakened, and it was decided that we push
on at once in an effort to gain the hills.

We had gone scarcely a mile when I noticed that my thoat was commencing to
stumble and stagger in a most pitiful manner, although we had not attempted to force
them out of a walk since about noon of the preceding day. Suddenly he lurched wildly to
one side and pitched violently to the ground. Dejah Thoris and I were thrown clear of
him and fell upon the soft moss with scarcely a jar; but the poor beast was in a pitiable
condition, not even being able to rise, although relieved of our weight. Sola told me that
the coolness of the night, when it fell, together with the rest would doubtless revive him,
and so I decided not to kill him, as was my first intention, as I had thought it cruel to
leave him alone there to die of hunger and thirst. Relieving him of his trappings, which I
flung down beside him, we left the poor fellow to his fate, and pushed on with the one
thoat as best we could. Sola and I walked, making Dejah Thoris ride, much against her
will. In this way we had progressed to within about a mile of the hills we were
endeavoring to reach when Dejah Thoris, from her point of vantage upon the thoat, cried
out that she saw a great party of mounted men filing down from a pass in the hills several
miles away. Sola and I both looked in the direction she indicated, and there, plainly
discernible, were several hundred mounted warriors. They seemed to be headed in a
southwesterly direction, which would take them away from us.

They doubtless were Thark warriors who had been sent out to capture us, and we
breathed a great sigh of relief that they were traveling in the opposite direction. Quickly
lifting Dejah Thoris from the thoat, I commanded the animal to lie down and we three did
the same, presenting as small an object as possible for fear of attracting the attention of
the warriors toward us.

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 We could see them as they filed out of the pass, just for an instant, before they were
lost to view behind a friendly ridge; to us a most providential ridge; since, had they been
in view for any great length of time, they scarcely could have failed to discover us. As
what proved to be the last warrior came into view from the pass, he halted and, to our
consternation, threw his small but powerful fieldglass to his eye and scanned the sea
bottom in all directions. Evidently he was a chieftain, for in certain marching formations
among the green men a chieftain brings up the extreme rear of the column. As his glass
swung toward us our hearts stopped in our breasts, and I could feel the cold sweat start
from every pore in my body.

Presently it swung full upon us and—stopped. The tension on our nerves was near
the breaking point, and I doubt if any of us breathed for the few moments he held us
covered by his glass; and then he lowered it and we could see him shout a command to
the warriors who had passed from our sight behind the ridge. He did not wait for them to
join him, however, instead he wheeled his thoat and came tearing madly in our direction.

There was but one slight chance and that we must take quickly. Raising my strange
Martian rifle to my shoulder I sighted and touched the button which controlled the
trigger; there was a sharp explosion as the missile reached its goal, and the charging
chieftain pitched backward from his flying mount.

Springing to my feet I urged the thoat to rise, and directed Sola to take Dejah Thoris
with her upon him and make a mighty effort to reach the hills before the green warriors
were upon us. I knew that in the ravines and gullies they might find a temporary hiding
place, and even though they died there of hunger and thirst it would be better so than that
they fell into the hands of the Tharks. Forcing my two revolvers upon them as a slight
means of protection, and, as a last resort, as an escape for themselves from the horrid
death which recapture would surely mean, I lifted Dejah Thoris in my arms and placed
her upon the thoat behind Sola, who had already mounted at my command.

"Good-bye, my princess," I whispered, "we may meet in Helium yet. I have escaped
from worse plights than this," and I tried to smile as I lied.

"What," she cried, "are you not coming with us?"

"How may I, Dejah Thoris? Someone must hold these fellows off for a while, and I
can better escape them alone than could the three of us together."

She sprang quickly from the thoat and, throwing her dear arms about my neck,
turned to Sola, saying with quiet dignity: "Fly, Sola! Dejah Thoris remains to die with the
man she loves."

Those words are engraved upon my heart. Ah, gladly would I give up my life a
thousand times could I only hear them once again; but I could not then give even a
second to the rapture of her sweet embrace, and pressing my lips to hers for the first time,
I picked her up bodily and tossed her to her seat behind Sola again, commanding the

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latter in peremptory tones to hold her there by force, and then, slapping the thoat upon
the flank, I saw them borne away; Dejah Thoris struggling to the last to free herself from
Sola's grasp.

Turning, I beheld the green warriors mounting the ridge and looking for their
chieftain. In a moment they saw him, and then me; but scarcely had they discovered me
than I commenced firing, lying flat upon my belly in the moss. I had an even hundred
rounds in the magazine of my rifle, and another hundred in the belt at my back, and I
kept up a continuous stream of fire until I saw all of the warriors who had been first to
return from behind the ridge either dead or scurrying to cover.

My respite was short-lived however, for soon the entire party, numbering some
thousand men, came charging into view, racing madly toward me. I fired until my rifle
was empty and they were almost upon me, and then a glance showing me that Dejah
Thoris and Sola had disappeared among the hills, I sprang up, throwing down my useless
gun, and started away in the direction opposite to that taken by Sola and her charge.

If ever Martians had an exhibition of jumping, it was granted those astonished

warriors on that day long years ago, but while it led them away from Dejah Thoris it did
not distract their attention from endeavoring to capture me.

They raced wildly after me until, finally, my foot struck a projecting piece of quartz,
and down I went sprawling upon the moss. As I looked up they were upon me, and
although I drew my long-sword in an attempt to sell my life as dearly as possible, it was
soon over. I reeled beneath their blows which fell upon me in perfect torrents; my head
swam; all was black, and I went down beneath them to oblivion.

CHAPTER XVIII

CHAINED IN WARHOON

It must have been several hours before I regained consciousness and I well
remember the feeling of surprise which swept over me as I realized that I was not dead.

I was lying among a pile of sleeping silks and furs in the corner of a small room in
which were several green warriors, and bending over me was an ancient and ugly female.

As I opened my eyes she turned to one of the warriors, saying,

"He will live, O Jed."

"'Tis well," replied the one so addressed, rising and approaching my couch, "he
should render rare sport for the great games."

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 And now as my eyes fell upon him, I saw that he was no Thark, for his ornaments
and metal were not of that horde. He was a huge fellow, terribly scarred about the face
and chest, and with one broken tusk and a missing ear. Strapped on either breast were
human skulls and depending from these a number of dried human hands.

His reference to the great games of which I had heard so much while among the
Tharks convinced me that I had but jumped from purgatory into gehenna.

After a few more words with the female, during which she assured him that I was
now fully fit to travel, the jed ordered that we mount and ride after the main column.

I was strapped securely to as wild and unmanageable a thoat as I had ever seen, and,
with a mounted warrior on either side to prevent the beast from bolting, we rode forth at
a furious pace in pursuit of the column. My wounds gave me but little pain, so
wonderfully and rapidly had the applications and injections of the female exercised their
therapeutic powers, and so deftly had she bound and plastered the injuries.

Just before dark we reached the main body of troops shortly after they had made
camp for the night. I was immediately taken before the leader, who proved to be the
jeddak of the hordes of Warhoon.

Like the jed who had brought me, he was frightfully scarred, and also decorated
with the breastplate of human skulls and dried dead hands which seemed to mark all the
greater warriors among the Warhoons, as well as to indicate their awful ferocity, which
greatly transcends even that of the Tharks.

The jeddak, Bar Comas, who was comparatively young, was the object of the fierce
and jealous hatred of his old lieutenant, Dak Kova, the jed who had captured me, and I
could not but note the almost studied efforts which the latter made to affront his superior.

He entirely omitted the usual formal salutation as we entered the presence of the
jeddak, and as he pushed me roughly before the ruler he exclaimed in a loud and
menacing voice.

"I have brought a strange creature wearing the metal of a Thark whom it is my
pleasure to have battle with a wild thoat at the great games."

"He will die as Bar Comas, your jeddak, sees fit, if at all," replied the young ruler,
with emphasis and dignity.

"If at all?" roared Dak Kova. "By the dead hands at my throat but he shall die, Bar
Comas. No maudlin weakness on your part shall save him. O, would that Warhoon were
ruled by a real jeddak rather than by a water-hearted weakling from whom even old Dak
Kova could tear the metal with his bare hands!"

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 Bar Comas eyed the defiant and insubordinate chieftain for an instant, his
expression one of haughty, fearless contempt and hate, and then without drawing a
weapon and without uttering a word he hurled himself at the throat of his defamer.

I never before had seen two green Martian warriors battle with nature's weapons and
the exhibition of animal ferocity which ensued was as fearful a thing as the most
disordered imagination could picture. They tore at each others' eyes and ears with their
hands and with their gleaming tusks repeatedly slashed and gored until both were cut
fairly to ribbons from head to foot.

Bar Comas had much the better of the battle as he was stronger, quicker and more
intelligent. It soon seemed that the encounter was done saving only the final death thrust
when Bar Comas slipped in breaking away from a clinch. It was the one little opening
that Dak Kova needed, and hurling himself at the body of his adversary he buried his
single mighty tusk in Bar Comas' groin and with a last powerful effort ripped the young
jeddak wide open the full length of his body, the great tusk finally wedging in the bones
of Bar Comas' jaw. Victor and vanquished rolled limp and lifeless upon the moss, a huge
mass of torn and bloody flesh.

Bar Comas was stone dead, and only the most herculean efforts on the part of Dak
Kova's females saved him from the fate he deserved. Three days later he walked without
assistance to the body of Bar Comas which, by custom, had not been moved from where
it fell, and placing his foot upon the neck of his erstwhile ruler he assumed the title of
Jeddak of Warhoon.

The dead jeddak's hands and head were removed to be added to the ornaments of his
conqueror, and then his women cremated what remained, amid wild and terrible laughter.

The injuries to Dak Kova had delayed the march so greatly that it was decided to
give up the expedition, which was a raid upon a small Thark community in retaliation for
the destruction of the incubator, until after the great games, and the entire body of
warriors, ten thousand in number, turned back toward Warhoon.

My introduction to these cruel and bloodthirsty people was but an index to the
scenes I witnessed almost daily while with them. They are a smaller horde than the
Tharks but much more ferocious. Not a day passed but that some members of the various
Warhoon communities met in deadly combat. I have seen as high as eight mortal duels
within a single day.

We reached the city of Warhoon after some three days march and I was immediately
cast into a dungeon and heavily chained to the floor and walls. Food was brought me at
intervals but owing to the utter darkness of the place I do not know whether I lay there
days, or weeks, or months. It was the most horrible experience of all my life and that my
mind did not give way to the terrors of that inky blackness has been a wonder to me ever
since. The place was filled with creeping, crawling things; cold, sinuous bodies passed
over me when I lay down, and in the darkness I occasionally caught glimpses of

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gleaming, fiery eyes, fixed in horrible intentness upon me. No sound reached me from
the world above and no word would my jailer vouchsafe when my food was brought to
me, although I at first bombarded him with questions.

Finally all the hatred and maniacal loathing for these awful creatures who had
placed me in this horrible place was centered by my tottering reason upon this single
emissary who represented to me the entire horde of Warhoons.

I had noticed that he always advanced with his dim torch to where he could place
the food within my reach and as he stooped to place it upon the floor his head was about
on a level with my breast. So, with the cunning of a madman, I backed into the far corner
of my cell when next I heard him approaching and gathering a little slack of the great
chain which held me in my hand I waited his coming, crouching like some beast of prey.
As he stooped to place my food upon the ground I swung the chain above my head and
crashed the links with all my strength upon his skull. Without a sound he slipped to the
floor, stone dead.

Laughing and chattering like the idiot I was fast becoming I fell upon his prostrate
form my fingers feeling for his dead throat. Presently they came in contact with a small
chain at the end of which dangled a number of keys. The touch of my fingers on these
keys brought back my reason with the suddenness of thought. No longer was I a jibbering
idiot, but a sane, reasoning man with the means of escape within my very hands.

As I was groping to remove the chain from about my victim's neck I glanced up into
the darkness to see six pairs of gleaming eyes fixed, unwinking, upon me. Slowly they
approached and slowly I shrank back from the awful horror of them. Back into my corner
I crouched holding my hands palms out, before me, and stealthily on came the awful eyes
until they reached the dead body at my feet. Then slowly they retreated but this time with
a strange grating sound and finally they disappeared in some black and distant recess of
my dungeon.

CHAPTER XIX

BATTLING IN THE ARENA

Slowly I regained my composure and finally essayed again to attempt to remove the
keys from the dead body of my former jailer. But as I reached out into the darkness to
locate it I found to my horror that it was gone. Then the truth flashed on me; the owners
of those gleaming eyes had dragged my prize away from me to be devoured in their
neighboring lair; as they had been waiting for days, for weeks, for months, through all
this awful eternity of my imprisonment to drag my dead carcass to their feast.

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 For two days no food was brought me, but then a new messenger appeared and my
incarceration went on as before, but not again did I allow my reason to be submerged by
the horror of my position.

Shortly after this episode another prisoner was brought in and chained near me. By
the dim torch light I saw that he was a red Martian and I could scarcely await the
departure of his guards to address him. As their retreating footsteps died away in the
distance, I called out softly the Martian word of greeting, kaor.

"Who are you who speaks out of the darkness?" he answered

"John Carter, a friend of the red men of Helium."

"I am of Helium," he said, "but I do not recall your name."

And then I told him my story as I have written it here, omitting only any reference
to my love for Dejah Thoris. He was much excited by the news of Helium's princess and
seemed quite positive that she and Sola could easily have reached a point of safety from
where they left me. He said that he knew the place well because the defile through which
the Warhoon warriors had passed when they discovered us was the only one ever used by
them when marching to the south.

"Dejah Thoris and Sola entered the hills not five miles from a great waterway and
are now probably quite safe," he assured me.

My fellow prisoner was Kantos Kan, a padwar (lieutenant) in the navy of Helium.
He had been a member of the ill-fated expedition which had fallen into the hands of the
Tharks at the time of Dejah Thoris' capture, and he briefly related the events which
followed the defeat of the battleships.

Badly injured and only partially manned they had limped slowly toward Helium, but
while passing near the city of Zodanga, the capital of Helium's hereditary enemies among
the red men of Barsoom, they had been attacked by a great body of war vessels and all
but the craft to which Kantos Kan belonged were either destroyed or captured. His vessel
was chased for days by three of the Zodangan war ships but finally escaped during the
darkness of a moonless night.

Thirty days after the capture of Dejah Thoris, or about the time of our coming to
Thark, his vessel had reached Helium with about ten survivors of the original crew of
seven hundred officers and men. Immediately seven great fleets, each of one hundred
mighty war ships, had been dispatched to search for Dejah Thoris, and from these vessels
two thousand smaller craft had been kept out continuously in futile search for the missing
princess.

Two green Martian communities had been wiped off the face of Barsoom by the
avenging fleets, but no trace of Dejah Thoris had been found. They had been searching

85
among the northern hordes, and only within the past few days had they extended their
quest to the south.

Kantos Kan had been detailed to one of the small one-man fliers and had had the
misfortune to be discovered by the Warhoons while exploring their city. The bravery and
daring of the man won my greatest respect and admiration. Alone he had landed at the
city's boundary and on foot had penetrated to the buildings surrounding the plaza. For
two days and nights he had explored their quarters and their dungeons in search of his
beloved princess only to fall into the hands of a party of Warhoons as he was about to
leave, after assuring himself that Dejah Thoris was not a captive there.

During the period of our incarceration Kantos Kan and I became well acquainted,
and formed a warm personal friendship. A few days only elapsed, however, before we
were dragged forth from our dungeon for the great games. We were conducted early one
morning to an enormous amphitheater, which instead of having been built upon the
surface of the ground was excavated below the surface. It had partially filled with debris
so that how large it had originally been was difficult to say. In its present condition it
held the entire twenty thousand Warhoons of the assembled hordes.

The arena was immense but extremely uneven and unkempt. Around it the
Warhoons had piled building stone from some of the ruined edifices of the ancient city to
prevent the animals and the captives from escaping into the audience, and at each end
had been constructed cages to hold them until their turns came to meet some horrible
death upon the arena.

Kantos Kan and I were confined together in one of the cages. In the others were
wild calots, thoats, mad zitidars, green warriors, and women of other hordes, and many
strange and ferocious wild beasts of Barsoom which I had never before seen. The din of
their roaring, growling and squealing was deafening and the formidable appearance of
any one of them was enough to make the stoutest heart feel grave forebodings.

Kantos Kan explained to me that at the end of the day one of these prisoners would
gain freedom and the others would lie dead about the arena. The winners in the various
contests of the day would be pitted against each other until only two remained alive; the
victor in the last encounter being set free, whether animal or man. The following morning
the cages would be filled with a new consignment of victims, and so on throughout the
ten days of the games.

Shortly after we had been caged the amphitheater began to fill and within an hour
every available part of the seating space was occupied. Dak Kova, with his jeds and
chieftains, sat at the center of one side of the arena upon a large raised platform.

At a signal from Dak Kova the doors of two cages were thrown open and a dozen
green Martian females were driven to the center of the arena. Each was given a dagger
and then, at the far end, a pack of twelve calots, or wild dogs were loosed upon them.

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 As the brutes, growling and foaming, rushed upon the almost defenseless women I
turned my head that I might not see the horrid sight. The yells and laughter of the green
horde bore witness to the excellent quality of the sport and when I turned back to the
arena, as Kantos Kan told me it was over, I saw three victorious calots, snarling and
growling over the bodies of their prey. The women had given a good account of
themselves.

Next a mad zitidar was loosed among the remaining dogs, and so it went throughout
the long, hot, horrible day.

During the day I was pitted against first men and then beasts, but as I was armed
with a long-sword and always outclassed my adversary in agility and generally in
strength as well, it proved but child's play to me. Time and time again I won the applause
of the bloodthirsty multitude, and toward the end there were cries that I be taken from the
arena and be made a member of the hordes of Warhoon.

Finally there were but three of us left, a great green warrior of some far northern
horde, Kantos Kan, and myself.

The other two were to battle and then I to fight the conqueror for the liberty which
was accorded the final winner.

Kantos Kan had fought several times during the day and like myself had always
proven victorious, but occasionally by the smallest of margins, especially when pitted
against the green warriors. I had little hope that he could best his giant adversary who had
mowed down all before him during the day. The fellow towered nearly sixteen feet in
height, while Kantos Kan was some inches under six feet. As they advanced to meet one
another I saw for the first time a trick of Martian swordsmanship which centered Kantos
Kan's every hope of victory and life on one cast of the dice, for, as he came to within
about twenty feet of the huge fellow he threw his sword arm far behind him over his
shoulder and with a mighty sweep hurled his weapon point foremost at the green warrior.
It flew true as an arrow and piercing the poor devil's heart laid him dead upon the arena.

Kantos Kan and I were now pitted against each other but as we approached to the
encounter I whispered to him to prolong the battle until nearly dark in the hope that we
might find some means of escape. The horde evidently guessed that we had no hearts to
fight each other and so they howled in rage as neither of us placed a fatal thrust. Just as I
saw the sudden coming of dark I whispered to Kantos Kan to thrust his sword between
my left arm and my body. As he did so I staggered back clasping the sword tightly with
my arm and thus fell to the ground with his weapon apparently protruding from my chest.
Kantos Kan perceived my coup and stepping quickly to my side he placed his foot upon
my neck and withdrawing his sword from my body gave me the final death blow through
the neck which is supposed to sever the jugular vein, but in this instance the cold blade
slipped harmlessly into the sand of the arena. In the darkness which had now fallen none
could tell but that he had really finished me. I whispered to him to go and claim his
freedom and then look for me in the hills east of the city, and so he left me.

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 When the amphitheater had cleared I crept stealthily to the top and as the great
excavation lay far from the plaza and in an untenanted portion of the great dead city I had
little trouble in reaching the hills beyond.

CHAPTER XX

IN THE ATMOSPHERE FACTORY

For two days I waited there for Kantos Kan, but as he did not come I started off on
foot in a northwesterly direction toward a point where he had told me lay the nearest
waterway. My only food consisted of vegetable milk from the plants which gave so
bounteously of this priceless fluid.

Through two long weeks I wandered, stumbling through the nights guided only by
the stars and hiding during the days behind some protruding rock or among the
occasional hills I traversed. Several times I was attacked by wild beasts; strange, uncouth
monstrosities that leaped upon me in the dark, so that I had ever to grasp my long-sword
in my hand that I might be ready for them. Usually my strange, newly acquired telepathic
power warned me in ample time, but once I was down with vicious fangs at my jugular
and a hairy face pressed close to mine before I knew that I was even threatened.

What manner of thing was upon me I did not know, but that it was large and heavy
and many-legged I could feel. My hands were at its throat before the fangs had a chance
to bury themselves in my neck, and slowly I forced the hairy face from me and closed my
fingers, vise-like, upon its windpipe.

Without sound we lay there, the beast exerting every effort to reach me with those
awful fangs, and I straining to maintain my grip and choke the life from it as I kept it
from my throat. Slowly my arms gave to the unequal struggle, and inch by inch the
burning eyes and gleaming tusks of my antagonist crept toward me, until, as the hairy
face touched mine again, I realized that all was over. And then a living mass of
destruction sprang from the surrounding darkness full upon the creature that held me
pinioned to the ground. The two rolled growling upon the moss, tearing and rending one
another in a frightful manner, but it was soon over and my preserver stood with lowered
head above the throat of the dead thing which would have killed me.

The nearer moon, hurtling suddenly above the horizon and lighting up the
Barsoomian scene, showed me that my preserver was Woola, but from whence he had
come, or how found me, I was at a loss to know. That I was glad of his companionship it
is needless to say, but my pleasure at seeing him was tempered by anxiety as to the
reason of his leaving Dejah Thoris. Only her death I felt sure, could account for his
absence from her, so faithful I knew him to be to my commands.

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 By the light of the now brilliant moons I saw that he was but a shadow of his former
self, and as he turned from my caress and commenced greedily to devour the dead
carcass at my feet I realized that the poor fellow was more than half starved. I, myself,
was in but little better plight but I could not bring myself to eat the uncooked flesh and I
had no means of making a fire. When Woola had finished his meal I again took up my
weary and seemingly endless wandering in quest of the elusive waterway.

At daybreak of the fifteenth day of my search I was overjoyed to see the high trees
that denoted the object of my search. About noon I dragged myself wearily to the portals
of a huge building which covered perhaps four square miles and towered two hundred
feet in the air. It showed no aperture in the mighty walls other than the tiny door at which
I sank exhausted, nor was there any sign of life about it.

I could find no bell or other method of making my presence known to the inmates of
the place, unless a small round role in the wall near the door was for that purpose. It was
of about the bigness of a lead pencil and thinking that it might be in the nature of a
speaking tube I put my mouth to it and was about to call into it when a voice issued from
it asking me whom I might be, where from, and the nature of my errand.

I explained that I had escaped from the Warhoons and was dying of starvation and
exhaustion.

"You wear the metal of a green warrior and are followed by a calot, yet you are of
the figure of a red man. In color you are neither green nor red. In the name of the ninth
day, what manner of creature are you?"

"I am a friend of the red men of Barsoom and I am starving. In the name of
humanity open to us," I replied.

Presently the door commenced to recede before me until it had sunk into the wall
fifty feet, then it stopped and slid easily to the left, exposing a short, narrow corridor of
concrete, at the further end of which was another door, similar in every respect to the one
I had just passed. No one was in sight, yet immediately we passed the first door it slid
gently into place behind us and receded rapidly to its original position in the front wall of
the building. As the door had slipped aside I had noted its great thickness, fully twenty
feet, and as it reached its place once more after closing behind us, great cylinders of steel
had dropped from the ceiling behind it and fitted their lower ends into apertures
countersunk in the floor.

A second and third door receded before me and slipped to one side as the first,
before I reached a large inner chamber where I found food and drink set out upon a great
stone table. A voice directed me to satisfy my hunger and to feed my calot, and while I
was thus engaged my invisible host put me through a severe and searching cross-
examination.

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 "Your statements are most remarkable," said the voice, on concluding its
questioning, "but you are evidently speaking the truth, and it is equally evident that you
are not of Barsoom. I can tell that by the conformation of your brain and the strange
location of your internal organs and the shape and size of your heart."

"Can you see through me?" I exclaimed.

"Yes, I can see all but your thoughts, and were you a Barsoomian I could read
those."

Then a door opened at the far side of the chamber and a strange, dried up, little
mummy of a man came toward me. He wore but a single article of clothing or
adornment, a small collar of gold from which depended upon his chest a great ornament
as large as a dinner plate set solid with huge diamonds, except for the exact center which
was occupied by a strange stone, an inch in diameter, that scintillated nine different and
distinct rays; the seven colors of our earthly prism and two beautiful rays which, to me,
were new and nameless. I cannot describe them any more than you could describe red to
a blind man. I only know that they were beautiful in the extreme.

The old man sat and talked with me for hours, and the strangest part of our
intercourse was that I could read his every thought while he could not fathom an iota
from my mind unless I spoke.

I did not apprise him of my ability to sense his mental operations, and thus I learned
a great deal which proved of immense value to me later and which I would never have
known had he suspected my strange power, for the Martians have such perfect control of
their mental machinery that they are able to direct their thoughts with absolute precision.

The building in which I found myself contained the machinery which produces that
artificial atmosphere which sustains life on Mars. The secret of the entire process hinges
on the use of the ninth ray, one of the beautiful scintillations which I had noted
emanating from the great stone in my host's diadem.

This ray is separated from the other rays of the sun by means of finely adjusted
instruments placed upon the roof of the huge building, three-quarters of which is used for
reservoirs in which the ninth ray is stored. This product is then treated electrically, or
rather certain proportions of refined electric vibrations are incorporated with it, and the
result is then pumped to the five principal air centers of the planet where, as it is released,
contact with the ether of space transforms it into atmosphere.

There is always sufficient reserve of the ninth ray stored in the great building to
maintain the present Martian atmosphere for a thousand years, and the only fear, as my
new friend told me, was that some accident might befall the pumping apparatus.

He led me to an inner chamber where I beheld a battery of twenty radium pumps

any one of which was equal to the task of furnishing all Mars with the atmosphere

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compound. For eight hundred years, he told me, he had watched these pumps which are
used alternately a day each at a stretch, or a little over twenty-four and one-half Earth
hours. He has one assistant who divides the watch with him. Half a Martian year, about
three hundred and forty-four of our days, each of these men spend alone in this huge,
isolated plant.

Every red Martian is taught during earliest childhood the principles of the
manufacture of atmosphere, but only two at one time ever hold the secret of ingress to the
great building, which, built as it is with walls a hundred and fifty feet thick, is absolutely
unassailable, even the roof being guarded from assault by air craft by a glass covering
five feet thick.

The only fear they entertain of attack is from the green Martians or some demented
red man, as all Barsoomians realize that the very existence of every form of life of Mars
is dependent upon the uninterrupted working of this plant.

One curious fact I discovered as I watched his thoughts was that the outer doors are
manipulated by telepathic means. The locks are so finely adjusted that the doors are
released by the action of a certain combination of thought waves. To experiment with my
new-found toy I thought to surprise him into revealing this combination and so I asked
him in a casual manner how he had managed to unlock the massive doors for me from
the inner chambers of the building. As quick as a flash there leaped to his mind nine
Martian sounds, but as quickly faded as he answered that this was a secret he must not
divulge.

From then on his manner toward me changed as though he feared that he had been
surprised into divulging his great secret, and I read suspicion and fear in his looks and
thoughts, though his words were still fair.

Before I retired for the night he promised to give me a letter to a nearby agricultural
officer who would help me on my way to Zodanga, which he said, was the nearest
Martian city.

"But be sure that you do not let them know you are bound for Helium as they are at
war with that country. My assistant and I are of no country, we belong to all Barsoom
and this talisman which we wear protects us in all lands, even among the green men—
though we do not trust ourselves to their hands if we can avoid it," he added.

"And so good-night, my friend," he continued, "may you have a long and restful
sleep—yes, a long sleep."

And though he smiled pleasantly I saw in his thoughts the wish that he had never
admitted me, and then a picture of him standing over me in the night, and the swift thrust
of a long dagger and the half formed words, "I am sorry, but it is for the best good of
Barsoom."

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 As he closed the door of my chamber behind him his thoughts were cut off from me
as was the sight of him, which seemed strange to me in my little knowledge of thought
transference.

What was I to do? How could I escape through these mighty walls? Easily could I
kill him now that I was warned, but once he was dead I could no more escape, and with
the stopping of the machinery of the great plant I should die with all the other inhabitants
of the planet—all, even Dejah Thoris were she not already dead. For the others I did not
give the snap of my finger, but the thought of Dejah Thoris drove from my mind all
desire to kill my mistaken host.

Cautiously I opened the door of my apartment and, followed by Woola, sought the
inner of the great doors. A wild scheme had come to me; I would attempt to force the
great locks by the nine thought waves I had read in my host's mind.

Creeping stealthily through corridor after corridor and down winding runways
which turned hither and thither I finally reached the great hall in which I had broken my
long fast that morning. Nowhere had I seen my host, nor did I know where he kept
himself by night.

I was on the point of stepping boldly out into the room when a slight noise behind
me warned me back into the shadows of a recess in the corridor. Dragging Woola after
me I crouched low in the darkness.

Presently the old man passed close by me, and as he entered the dimly lighted
chamber which I had been about to pass through I saw that he held a long thin dagger in
his hand and that he was sharpening it upon a stone. In his mind was the decision to
inspect the radium pumps, which would take about thirty minutes, and then return to my
bed chamber and finish me.

As he passed through the great hall and disappeared down the runway which led to
the pump-room, I stole stealthily from my hiding place and crossed to the great door, the
inner of the three which stood between me and liberty.

Concentrating my mind upon the massive lock I hurled the nine thought waves
against it. In breathless expectancy I waited, when finally the great door moved softly
toward me and slid quietly to one side. One after the other the remaining mighty portals
opened at my command and Woola and I stepped forth into the darkness, free, but little
better off than we had been before, other than that we had full stomachs.

Hastening away from the shadows of the formidable pile I made for the first
crossroad, intending to strike the central turnpike as quickly as possible. This I reached
about morning and entering the first enclosure I came to I searched for some evidences of
a habitation.

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 There were low rambling buildings of concrete barred with heavy impassable doors,
and no amount of hammering and hallooing brought any response. Weary and exhausted
from sleeplessness I threw myself upon the ground commanding Woola to stand guard.

Some time later I was awakened by his frightful growlings and opened my eyes to
see three red Martians standing a short distance from us and covering me with their rifles.

"I am unarmed and no enemy," I hastened to explain. "I have been a prisoner among
the green men and am on my way to Zodanga. All I ask is food and rest for myself and
my calot and the proper directions for reaching my destination."

They lowered their rifles and advanced pleasantly toward me placing their right
hands upon my left shoulder, after the manner of their custom of salute, and asking me
many questions about myself and my wanderings. They then took me to the house of one
of them which was only a short distance away.

The buildings I had been hammering at in the early morning were occupied only by
stock and farm produce, the house proper standing among a grove of enormous trees,
and, like all red-Martian homes, had been raised at night some forty or fifty feet from the
ground on a large round metal shaft which slid up or down within a sleeve sunk in the
ground, and was operated by a tiny radium engine in the entrance hall of the building.
Instead of bothering with bolts and bars for their dwellings, the red Martians simply run
them up out of harm's way during the night. They also have private means for lowering
or raising them from the ground without if they wish to go away and leave them.

These brothers, with their wives and children, occupied three similar houses on this
farm. They did no work themselves, being government officers in charge. The labor was
performed by convicts, prisoners of war, delinquent debtors and confirmed bachelors
who were too poor to pay the high celibate tax which all red-Martian governments
impose.

They were the personification of cordiality and hospitality and I spent several days
with them, resting and recuperating from my long and arduous experiences.

When they had heard my story—I omitted all reference to Dejah Thoris and the old
man of the atmosphere plant—they advised me to color my body to more nearly
resemble their own race and then attempt to find employment in Zodanga, either in the
army or the navy.

"The chances are small that your tale will be believed until after you have proven
your trustworthiness and won friends among the higher nobles of the court. This you can
most easily do through military service, as we are a warlike people on Barsoom,"
explained one of them, "and save our richest favors for the fighting man."

When I was ready to depart they furnished me with a small domestic bull thoat,
such as is used for saddle purposes by all red Martians. The animal is about the size of a

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horse and quite gentle, but in color and shape an exact replica of his huge and fierce
cousin of the wilds.

The brothers had supplied me with a reddish oil with which I anointed my entire
body and one of them cut my hair, which had grown quite long, in the prevailing fashion
of the time, square at the back and banged in front, so that I could have passed anywhere
upon Barsoom as a full-fledged red Martian. My metal and ornaments were also renewed
in the style of a Zodangan gentleman, attached to the house of Ptor, which was the family
name of my benefactors.

They filled a little sack at my side with Zodangan money. The medium of exchange
upon Mars is not dissimilar from our own except that the coins are oval. Paper money is
issued by individuals as they require it and redeemed twice yearly. If a man issues more
than he can redeem, the government pays his creditors in full and the debtor works out
the amount upon the farms or in mines, which are all owned by the government. This
suits everybody except the debtor as it has been a difficult thing to obtain sufficient
voluntary labor to work the great isolated farm lands of Mars, stretching as they do like
narrow ribbons from pole to pole, through wild stretches peopled by wild animals and
wilder men.

When I mentioned my inability to repay them for their kindness to me they assured
me that I would have ample opportunity if I lived long upon Barsoom, and bidding me
farewell they watched me until I was out of sight upon the broad white turnpike.

CHAPTER XXI

AN AIR SCOUT FOR ZODANGA

As I proceeded on my journey toward Zodanga many strange and interesting sights

arrested my attention, and at the several farm houses where I stopped I learned a number
of new and instructive things concerning the methods and manners of Barsoom.

The water which supplies the farms of Mars is collected in immense underground
reservoirs at either pole from the melting ice caps, and pumped through long conduits to
the various populated centers. Along either side of these conduits, and extending their
entire length, lie the cultivated districts. These are divided into tracts of about the same
size, each tract being under the supervision of one or more government officers.

Instead of flooding the surface of the fields, and thus wasting immense quantities of
water by evaporation, the precious liquid is carried underground through a vast network
of small pipes directly to the roots of the vegetation. The crops upon Mars are always
uniform, for there are no droughts, no rains, no high winds, and no insects, or destroying
birds.

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 On this trip I tasted the first meat I had eaten since leaving Earth—large, juicy
steaks and chops from the well-fed domestic animals of the farms. Also I enjoyed
luscious fruits and vegetables, but not a single article of food which was exactly similar
to anything on Earth. Every plant and flower and vegetable and animal has been so
refined by ages of careful, scientific cultivation and breeding that the like of them on
Earth dwindled into pale, gray, characterless nothingness by comparison.

At a second stop I met some highly cultivated people of the noble class and while in
conversation we chanced to speak of Helium. One of the older men had been there on a
diplomatic mission several years before and spoke with regret of the conditions which
seemed destined ever to keep these two countries at war.

"Helium," he said, "rightly boasts the most beautiful women of Barsoom, and of all
her treasures the wondrous daughter of Mors Kajak, Dejah Thoris, is the most exquisite
flower.

"Why," he added, "the people really worship the ground she walks upon and since
her loss on that ill-starred expedition all Helium has been draped in mourning.

"That our ruler should have attacked the disabled fleet as it was returning to Helium
was but another of his awful blunders which I fear will sooner or later compel Zodanga
to elevate a wiser man to his place."

"Even now, though our victorious armies are surrounding Helium, the people of
Zodanga are voicing their displeasure, for the war is not a popular one, since it is not
based on right or justice. Our forces took advantage of the absence of the principal fleet
of Helium on their search for the princess, and so we have been able easily to reduce the
city to a sorry plight. It is said she will fall within the next few passages of the further
moon."

"And what, think you, may have been the fate of the princess, Dejah Thoris?" I
asked as casually as possible.

"She is dead," he answered. "This much was learned from a green warrior recently
captured by our forces in the south. She escaped from the hordes of Thark with a strange
creature of another world, only to fall into the hands of the Warhoons. Their thoats were
found wandering upon the sea bottom and evidences of a bloody conflict were discovered
nearby."

While this information was in no way reassuring, neither was it at all conclusive
proof of the death of Dejah Thoris, and so I determined to make every effort possible to
reach Helium as quickly as I could and carry to Tardos Mors such news of his
granddaughter's possible whereabouts as lay in my power.

Ten days after leaving the three Ptor brothers I arrived at Zodanga. From the
moment that I had come in contact with the red inhabitants of Mars I had noticed that

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Woola drew a great amount of unwelcome attention to me, since the huge brute belonged
to a species which is never domesticated by the red men. Were one to stroll down
Broadway with a Numidian lion at his heels the effect would be somewhat similar to that
which I should have produced had I entered Zodanga with Woola.

The very thought of parting with the faithful fellow caused me so great regret and
genuine sorrow that I put it off until just before we arrived at the city's gates; but then,
finally, it became imperative that we separate. Had nothing further than my own safety or
pleasure been at stake no argument could have prevailed upon me to turn away the one
creature upon Barsoom that had never failed in a demonstration of affection and loyalty;
but as I would willingly have offered my life in the service of her in search of whom I
was about to challenge the unknown dangers of this, to me, mysterious city, I could not
permit even Woola's life to threaten the success of my venture, much less his momentary
happiness, for I doubted not he soon would forget me. And so I bade the poor beast an
affectionate farewell, promising him, however, that if I came through my adventure in
safety that in some way I should find the means to search him out.

He seemed to understand me fully, and when I pointed back in the direction of

Thark he turned sorrowfully away, nor could I bear to watch him go; but resolutely set
my face toward Zodanga and with a touch of heartsickness approached her frowning
walls.

The letter I bore from them gained me immediate entrance to the vast, walled city. It
was still very early in the morning and the streets were practically deserted. The
residences, raised high upon their metal columns, resembled huge rookeries, while the
uprights themselves presented the appearance of steel tree trunks. The shops as a rule
were not raised from the ground nor were their doors bolted or barred, since thievery is
practically unknown upon Barsoom. Assassination is the ever-present fear of all
Barsoomians, and for this reason alone their homes are raised high above the ground at
night, or in times of danger.

The Ptor brothers had given me explicit directions for reaching the point of the city
where I could find living accommodations and be near the offices of the government
agents to whom they had given me letters. My way led to the central square or plaza,
which is a characteristic of all Martian cities.

The plaza of Zodanga covers a square mile and is bounded by the palaces of the
jeddak, the jeds, and other members of the royalty and nobility of Zodanga, as well as by
the principal public buildings, cafes, and shops.

As I was crossing the great square lost in wonder and admiration of the magnificent
architecture and the gorgeous scarlet vegetation which carpeted the broad lawns I
discovered a red Martian walking briskly toward me from one of the avenues. He paid
not the slightest attention to me, but as he came abreast I recognized him, and turning I
placed my hand upon his shoulder, calling out:

96
 "Kaor, Kantos Kan!"

Like lightning he wheeled and before I could so much as lower my hand the point of
his long-sword was at my breast.

"Who are you?" he growled, and then as a backward leap carried me fifty feet from
his sword he dropped the point to the ground and exclaimed, laughing,

"I do not need a better reply, there is but one man upon all Barsoom who can
bounce about like a rubber ball. By the mother of the further moon, John Carter, how
came you here, and have you become a Darseen that you can change your color at will?"

"You gave me a bad half minute my friend," he continued, after I had briefly
outlined my adventures since parting with him in the arena at Warhoon. "Were my name
and city known to the Zodangans I would shortly be sitting on the banks of the lost sea of
Korus with my revered and departed ancestors. I am here in the interest of Tardos Mors,
Jeddak of Helium, to discover the whereabouts of Dejah Thoris, our princess. Sab Than,
prince of Zodanga, has her hidden in the city and has fallen madly in love with her. His
father, Than Kosis, Jeddak of Zodanga, has made her voluntary marriage to his son the
price of peace between our countries, but Tardos Mors will not accede to the demands
and has sent word that he and his people would rather look upon the dead face of their
princess than see her wed to any than her own choice, and that personally he would
prefer being engulfed in the ashes of a lost and burning Helium to joining the metal of his
house with that of Than Kosis. His reply was the deadliest affront he could have put upon
Than Kosis and the Zodangans, but his people love him the more for it and his strength in
Helium is greater today than ever.

"I have been here three days," continued Kantos Kan, "but I have not yet found
where Dejah Thoris is imprisoned. Today I join the Zodangan navy as an air scout and I
hope in this way to win the confidence of Sab Than, the prince, who is commander of
this division of the navy, and thus learn the whereabouts of Dejah Thoris. I am glad that
you are here, John Carter, for I know your loyalty to my princess and two of us working
together should be able to accomplish much."

The plaza was now commencing to fill with people going and coming upon the
daily activities of their duties. The shops were opening and the cafes filling with early
morning patrons. Kantos Kan led me to one of these gorgeous eating places where we
were served entirely by mechanical apparatus. No hand touched the food from the time it
entered the building in its raw state until it emerged hot and delicious upon the tables
before the guests, in response to the touching of tiny buttons to indicate their desires.

After our meal, Kantos Kan took me with him to the headquarters of the air-scout
squadron and introducing me to his superior asked that I be enrolled as a member of the
corps. In accordance with custom an examination was necessary, but Kantos Kan had
told me to have no fear on this score as he would attend to that part of the matter. He

97
accomplished this by taking my order for examination to the examining officer and
representing himself as John Carter.

"This ruse will be discovered later," he cheerfully explained, "when they check up
my weights, measurements, and other personal identification data, but it will be several
months before this is done and our mission should be accomplished or have failed long
before that time."

The next few days were spent by Kantos Kan in teaching me the intricacies of flying
and of repairing the dainty little contrivances which the Martians use for this purpose.
The body of the one-man air craft is about sixteen feet long, two feet wide and three
inches thick, tapering to a point at each end. The driver sits on top of this plane upon a
seat constructed over the small, noiseless radium engine which propels it. The medium of
buoyancy is contained within the thin metal walls of the body and consists of the eighth
Barsoomian ray, or ray of propulsion, as it may be termed in view of its properties.

This ray, like the ninth ray, is unknown on Earth, but the Martians have discovered
that it is an inherent property of all light no matter from what source it emanates. They
have learned that it is the solar eighth ray which propels the light of the sun to the various
planets, and that it is the individual eighth ray of each planet which "reflects," or propels
the light thus obtained out into space once more. The solar eighth ray would be absorbed
by the surface of Barsoom, but the Barsoomian eighth ray, which tends to propel light
from Mars into space, is constantly streaming out from the planet constituting a force of
repulsion of gravity which when confined is able to lift enormous weights from the
surface of the ground.

It is this ray which has enabled them to so perfect aviation that battle ships far
outweighing anything known upon Earth sail as gracefully and lightly through the thin air
of Barsoom as a toy balloon in the heavy atmosphere of Earth.

During the early years of the discovery of this ray many strange accidents occurred
before the Martians learned to measure and control the wonderful power they had found.
In one instance, some nine hundred years before, the first great battle ship to be built with
eighth ray reservoirs was stored with too great a quantity of the rays and she had sailed
up from Helium with five hundred officers and men, never to return.

Her power of repulsion for the planet was so great that it had carried her far into
space, where she can be seen today, by the aid of powerful telescopes, hurtling through
the heavens ten thousand miles from Mars; a tiny satellite that will thus encircle Barsoom
to the end of time.

The fourth day after my arrival at Zodanga I made my first flight, and as a result of
it I won a promotion which included quarters in the palace of Than Kosis.

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 As I rose above the city I circled several times, as I had seen Kantos Kan do, and
then throwing my engine into top speed I raced at terrific velocity toward the south,
following one of the great waterways which enter Zodanga from that direction.

I had traversed perhaps two hundred miles in a little less than an hour when I
descried far below me a party of three green warriors racing madly toward a small figure
on foot which seemed to be trying to reach the confines of one of the walled fields.

Dropping my machine rapidly toward them, and circling to the rear of the warriors,
I soon saw that the object of their pursuit was a red Martian wearing the metal of the
scout squadron to which I was attached. A short distance away lay his tiny flier,
surrounded by the tools with which he had evidently been occupied in repairing some
damage when surprised by the green warriors.

They were now almost upon him; their flying mounts charging down on the
relatively puny figure at terrific speed, while the warriors leaned low to the right, with
their great metal-shod spears. Each seemed striving to be the first to impale the poor
Zodangan and in another moment his fate would have been sealed had it not been for my
timely arrival.

Driving my fleet air craft at high speed directly behind the warriors I soon overtook
them and without diminishing my speed I rammed the prow of my little flier between the
shoulders of the nearest. The impact sufficient to have torn through inches of solid steel,
hurled the fellow's headless body into the air over the head of his thoat, where it fell
sprawling upon the moss. The mounts of the other two warriors turned squealing in
terror, and bolted in opposite directions.

Reducing my speed I circled and came to the ground at the feet of the astonished
Zodangan. He was warm in his thanks for my timely aid and promised that my day's
work would bring the reward it merited, for it was none other than a cousin of the jeddak
of Zodanga whose life I had saved.

We wasted no time in talk as we knew that the warriors would surely return as soon
as they had gained control of their mounts. Hastening to his damaged machine we were
bending every effort to finish the needed repairs and had almost completed them when
we saw the two green monsters returning at top speed from opposite sides of us. When
they had approached within a hundred yards their thoats again became unmanageable and
absolutely refused to advance further toward the air craft which had frightened them.

The warriors finally dismounted and hobbling their animals advanced toward us on
foot with drawn long-swords.

I advanced to meet the larger, telling the Zodangan to do the best he could with the
other. Finishing my man with almost no effort, as had now from much practice become
habitual with me, I hastened to return to my new acquaintance whom I found indeed in
desperate straits.

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 He was wounded and down with the huge foot of his antagonist upon his throat and
the great long-sword raised to deal the final thrust. With a bound I cleared the fifty feet
intervening between us, and with outstretched point drove my sword completely through
the body of the green warrior. His sword fell, harmless, to the ground and he sank limply
upon the prostrate form of the Zodangan.

A cursory examination of the latter revealed no mortal injuries and after a brief rest
he asserted that he felt fit to attempt the return voyage. He would have to pilot his own
craft, however, as these frail vessels are not intended to convey but a single person.

Quickly completing the repairs we rose together into the still, cloudless Martian sky,
and at great speed and without further mishap returned to Zodanga.

As we neared the city we discovered a mighty concourse of civilians and troops

assembled upon the plain before the city. The sky was black with naval vessels and
private and public pleasure craft, flying long streamers of gay-colored silks, and banners
and flags of odd and picturesque design.

My companion signaled that I slow down, and running his machine close beside
mine suggested that we approach and watch the ceremony, which, he said, was for the
purpose of conferring honors on individual officers and men for bravery and other
distinguished service. He then unfurled a little ensign which denoted that his craft bore a
member of the royal family of Zodanga, and together we made our way through the maze
of low-lying air vessels until we hung directly over the jeddak of Zodanga and his staff.
All were mounted upon the small domestic bull thoats of the red Martians, and their
trappings and ornamentation bore such a quantity of gorgeously colored feathers that I
could not but be struck with the startling resemblance the concourse bore to a band of the
red Indians of my own Earth.

One of the staff called the attention of Than Kosis to the presence of my companion
above them and the ruler motioned for him to descend. As they waited for the troops to
move into position facing the jeddak the two talked earnestly together, the jeddak and his
staff occasionally glancing up at me. I could not hear their conversation and presently it
ceased and all dismounted, as the last body of troops had wheeled into position before
their emperor. A member of the staff advanced toward the troops, and calling the name of
a soldier commanded him to advance. The officer then recited the nature of the heroic act
which had won the approval of the jeddak, and the latter advanced and placed a metal
ornament upon the left arm of the lucky man.

Ten men had been so decorated when the aide called out,

"John Carter, air scout!"

Never in my life had I been so surprised, but the habit of military discipline is strong
within me, and I dropped my little machine lightly to the ground and advanced on foot as

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I had seen the others do. As I halted before the officer, he addressed me in a voice
audible to the entire assemblage of troops and spectators.

"In recognition, John Carter," he said, "of your remarkable courage and skill in
defending the person of the cousin of the jeddak Than Kosis and, singlehanded,
vanquishing three green warriors, it is the pleasure of our jeddak to confer on you the
mark of his esteem."

Than Kosis then advanced toward me and placing an ornament upon me, said:

"My cousin has narrated the details of your wonderful achievement, which seems
little short of miraculous, and if you can so well defend a cousin of the jeddak how much
better could you defend the person of the jeddak himself. You are therefore appointed a
padwar of The Guards and will be quartered in my palace hereafter."

I thanked him, and at his direction joined the members of his staff. After the
ceremony I returned my machine to its quarters on the roof of the barracks of the air-
scout squadron, and with an orderly from the palace to guide me I reported to the officer
in charge of the palace.

CHAPTER XXII

I FIND DEJAH

The major-domo to whom I reported had been given instructions to station me near
the person of the jeddak, who, in time of war, is always in great danger of assassination,
as the rule that all is fair in war seems to constitute the entire ethics of Martian conflict.

He therefore escorted me immediately to the apartment in which Than Kosis then

was. The ruler was engaged in conversation with his son, Sab Than, and several courtiers
of his household, and did not perceive my entrance.

The walls of the apartment were completely hung with splendid tapestries which hid
any windows or doors which may have pierced them. The room was lighted by
imprisoned rays of sunshine held between the ceiling proper and what appeared to be a
ground-glass false ceiling a few inches below.

My guide drew aside one of the tapestries, disclosing a passage which encircled the
room, between the hangings and the walls of the chamber. Within this passage I was to
remain, he said, so long as Than Kosis was in the apartment. When he left I was to
follow. My only duty was to guard the ruler and keep out of sight as much as possible. I
would be relieved after a period of four hours. The major-domo then left me.

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 The tapestries were of a strange weaving which gave the appearance of heavy
solidity from one side, but from my hiding place I could perceive all that took place
within the room as readily as though there had been no curtain intervening.

Scarcely had I gained my post than the tapestry at the opposite end of the chamber
separated and four soldiers of The Guard entered, surrounding a female figure. As they
approached Than Kosis the soldiers fell to either side and there standing before the
jeddak and not ten feet from me, her beautiful face radiant with smiles, was Dejah
Thoris.

Sab Than, Prince of Zodanga, advanced to meet her, and hand in hand they
approached close to the jeddak. Than Kosis looked up in surprise, and, rising, saluted her.

"To what strange freak do I owe this visit from the Princess of Helium, who, two
days ago, with rare consideration for my pride, assured me that she would prefer Tal
Hajus, the green Thark, to my son?"

Dejah Thoris only smiled the more and with the roguish dimples playing at the
corners of her mouth she made answer:

"From the beginning of time upon Barsoom it has been the prerogative of woman to
change her mind as she listed and to dissemble in matters concerning her heart. That you
will forgive, Than Kosis, as has your son. Two days ago I was not sure of his love for
me, but now I am, and I have come to beg of you to forget my rash words and to accept
the assurance of the Princess of Helium that when the time comes she will wed Sab Than,
Prince of Zodanga."

"I am glad that you have so decided," replied Than Kosis. "It is far from my desire
to push war further against the people of Helium, and, your promise shall be recorded
and a proclamation to my people issued forthwith."

"It were better, Than Kosis," interrupted Dejah Thoris, "that the proclamation wait
the ending of this war. It would look strange indeed to my people and to yours were the
Princess of Helium to give herself to her country's enemy in the midst of hostilities."

"Cannot the war be ended at once?" spoke Sab Than. "It requires but the word of
Than Kosis to bring peace. Say it, my father, say the word that will hasten my happiness,
and end this unpopular strife."

"We shall see," replied Than Kosis, "how the people of Helium take to peace. I shall
at least offer it to them."

Dejah Thoris, after a few words, turned and left the apartment, still followed by her
guards.

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 Thus was the edifice of my brief dream of happiness dashed, broken, to the ground
of reality. The woman for whom I had offered my life, and from whose lips I had so
recently heard a declaration of love for me, had lightly forgotten my very existence and
smilingly given herself to the son of her people's most hated enemy.

Although I had heard it with my own ears I could not believe it. I must search out
her apartments and force her to repeat the cruel truth to me alone before I would be
convinced, and so I deserted my post and hastened through the passage behind the
tapestries toward the door by which she had left the chamber. Slipping quietly through
this opening I discovered a maze of winding corridors, branching and turning in every
direction.

Running rapidly down first one and then another of them I soon became hopelessly
lost and was standing panting against a side wall when I heard voices near me.
Apparently they were coming from the opposite side of the partition against which I
leaned and presently I made out the tones of Dejah Thoris. I could not hear the words but
I knew that I could not possibly be mistaken in the voice.

Moving on a few steps I discovered another passageway at the end of which lay a
door. Walking boldly forward I pushed into the room only to find myself in a small
antechamber in which were the four guards who had accompanied her. One of them
instantly arose and accosted me, asking the nature of my business.

"I am from Than Kosis," I replied, "and wish to speak privately with Dejah Thoris,
Princess of Helium."

"And your order?" asked the fellow.

I did not know what he meant, but replied that I was a member of The Guard, and
without waiting for a reply from him I strode toward the opposite door of the
antechamber, behind which I could hear Dejah Thoris conversing.

But my entrance was not to be so easily accomplished. The guardsman stepped

before me, saying,

"No one comes from Than Kosis without carrying an order or the password. You
must give me one or the other before you may pass."

"The only order I require, my friend, to enter where I will, hangs at my side," I
answered, tapping my long-sword; "will you let me pass in peace or no?"

For reply he whipped out his own sword, calling to the others to join him, and thus
the four stood, with drawn weapons, barring my further progress.

"You are not here by the order of Than Kosis," cried the one who had first
addressed me, "and not only shall you not enter the apartments of the Princess of Helium

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but you shall go back to Than Kosis under guard to explain this unwarranted temerity.
Throw down your sword; you cannot hope to overcome four of us," he added with a grim
smile.

My reply was a quick thrust which left me but three antagonists and I can assure
you that they were worthy of my metal. They had me backed against the wall in no time,
fighting for my life. Slowly I worked my way to a corner of the room where I could force
them to come at me only one at a time, and thus we fought upward of twenty minutes; the
clanging of steel on steel producing a veritable bedlam in the little room.

The noise had brought Dejah Thoris to the door of her apartment, and there she
stood throughout the conflict with Sola at her back peering over her shoulder. Her face
was set and emotionless and I knew that she did not recognize me, nor did Sola.

Finally a lucky cut brought down a second guardsman and then, with only two
opposing me, I changed my tactics and rushed them down after the fashion of my
fighting that had won me many a victory. The third fell within ten seconds after the
second, and the last lay dead upon the bloody floor a few moments later. They were
brave men and noble fighters, and it grieved me that I had been forced to kill them, but I
would have willingly depopulated all Barsoom could I have reached the side of my Dejah
Thoris in no other way.

Sheathing my bloody blade I advanced toward my Martian Princess, who still stood
mutely gazing at me without sign of recognition.

"Who are you, Zodangan?" she whispered. "Another enemy to harass me in my

misery?"

"I am a friend," I answered, "a once cherished friend."

"No friend of Helium's princess wears that metal," she replied, "and yet the voice! I
have heard it before; it is not—it cannot be—no, for he is dead."

"It is, though, my Princess, none other than John Carter," I said. "Do you not
recognize, even through paint and strange metal, the heart of your chieftain?"

As I came close to her she swayed toward me with outstretched hands, but as I
reached to take her in my arms she drew back with a shudder and a little moan of misery.

"Too late, too late," she grieved. "O my chieftain that was, and whom I thought
dead, had you but returned one little hour before—but now it is too late, too late."

"What do you mean, Dejah Thoris?" I cried. "That you would not have promised
yourself to the Zodangan prince had you known that I lived?"

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 "Think you, John Carter, that I would give my heart to you yesterday and today to
another? I thought that it lay buried with your ashes in the pits of Warhoon, and so today
I have promised my body to another to save my people from the curse of a victorious
Zodangan army."

"But I am not dead, my princess. I have come to claim you, and all Zodanga cannot
prevent it."

"It is too late, John Carter, my promise is given, and on Barsoom that is final. The
ceremonies which follow later are but meaningless formalities. They make the fact of
marriage no more certain than does the funeral cortege of a jeddak again place the seal of
death upon him. I am as good as married, John Carter. No longer may you call me your
princess. No longer are you my chieftain."

"I know but little of your customs here upon Barsoom, Dejah Thoris, but I do know
that I love you, and if you meant the last words you spoke to me that day as the hordes of
Warhoon were charging down upon us, no other man shall ever claim you as his bride.
You meant them then, my princess, and you mean them still! Say that it is true."

"I meant them, John Carter," she whispered. "I cannot repeat them now for I have
given myself to another. Ah, if you had only known our ways, my friend," she continued,
half to herself, "the promise would have been yours long months ago, and you could have
claimed me before all others. It might have meant the fall of Helium, but I would have
given my empire for my Tharkian chief."

Then aloud she said: "Do you remember the night when you offended me? You
called me your princess without having asked my hand of me, and then you boasted that
you had fought for me. You did not know, and I should not have been offended; I see that
now. But there was no one to tell you what I could not, that upon Barsoom there are two
kinds of women in the cities of the red men. The one they fight for that they may ask
them in marriage; the other kind they fight for also, but never ask their hands. When a
man has won a woman he may address her as his princess, or in any of the several terms
which signify possession. You had fought for me, but had never asked me in marriage,
and so when you called me your princess, you see," she faltered, "I was hurt, but even
then, John Carter, I did not repulse you, as I should have done, until you made it doubly
worse by taunting me with having won me through combat."

"I do not need ask your forgiveness now, Dejah Thoris," I cried. "You must know
that my fault was of ignorance of your Barsoomian customs. What I failed to do, through
implicit belief that my petition would be presumptuous and unwelcome, I do now, Dejah
Thoris; I ask you to be my wife, and by all the Virginian fighting blood that flows in my
veins you shall be."

"No, John Carter, it is useless," she cried, hopelessly, "I may never be yours while
Sab Than lives."

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 "You have sealed his death warrant, my princess—Sab Than dies."

"Nor that either," she hastened to explain. "I may not wed the man who slays my
husband, even in self-defense. It is custom. We are ruled by custom upon Barsoom. It is
useless, my friend. You must bear the sorrow with me. That at least we may share in
common. That, and the memory of the brief days among the Tharks. You must go now,
nor ever see me again. Good-bye, my chieftain that was."

Disheartened and dejected, I withdrew from the room, but I was not entirely
discouraged, nor would I admit that Dejah Thoris was lost to me until the ceremony had
actually been performed.

As I wandered along the corridors, I was as absolutely lost in the mazes of winding
passageways as I had been before I discovered Dejah Thoris' apartments.

I knew that my only hope lay in escape from the city of Zodanga, for the matter of
the four dead guardsmen would have to be explained, and as I could never reach my
original post without a guide, suspicion would surely rest on me so soon as I was
discovered wandering aimlessly through the palace.

Presently I came upon a spiral runway leading to a lower floor, and this I followed
downward for several stories until I reached the doorway of a large apartment in which
were a number of guardsmen. The walls of this room were hung with transparent
tapestries behind which I secreted myself without being apprehended.

The conversation of the guardsmen was general, and awakened no interest in me

until an officer entered the room and ordered four of the men to relieve the detail who
were guarding the Princess of Helium. Now, I knew, my troubles would commence in
earnest and indeed they were upon me all too soon, for it seemed that the squad had
scarcely left the guardroom before one of their number burst in again breathlessly, crying
that they had found their four comrades butchered in the antechamber.

In a moment the entire palace was alive with people. Guardsmen, officers, courtiers,
servants, and slaves ran helter-skelter through the corridors and apartments carrying
messages and orders, and searching for signs of the assassin.

This was my opportunity and slim as it appeared I grasped it, for as a number of
soldiers came hurrying past my hiding place I fell in behind them and followed through
the mazes of the palace until, in passing through a great hall, I saw the blessed light of
day coming in through a series of larger windows.

Here I left my guides, and, slipping to the nearest window, sought for an avenue of
escape. The windows opened upon a great balcony which overlooked one of the broad
avenues of Zodanga. The ground was about thirty feet below, and at a like distance from
the building was a wall fully twenty feet high, constructed of polished glass about a foot
in thickness. To a red Martian escape by this path would have appeared impossible, but

106
to me, with my earthly strength and agility, it seemed already accomplished. My only
fear was in being detected before darkness fell, for I could not make the leap in broad
daylight while the court below and the avenue beyond were crowded with Zodangans.

Accordingly I searched for a hiding place and finally found one by accident, inside a
huge hanging ornament which swung from the ceiling of the hall, and about ten feet from
the floor. Into the capacious bowl-like vase I sprang with ease, and scarcely had I settled
down within it than I heard a number of people enter the apartment. The group stopped
beneath my hiding place and I could plainly overhear their every word.

"It is the work of Heliumites," said one of the men.

"Yes, O Jeddak, but how had they access to the palace? I could believe that even
with the diligent care of your guardsmen a single enemy might reach the inner chambers,
but how a force of six or eight fighting men could have done so unobserved is beyond
me. We shall soon know, however, for here comes the royal psychologist."

Another man now joined the group, and, after making his formal greetings to his
ruler, said:

"O mighty Jeddak, it is a strange tale I read in the dead minds of your faithful
guardsmen. They were felled not by a number of fighting men, but by a single opponent."

He paused to let the full weight of this announcement impress his hearers, and that
his statement was scarcely credited was evidenced by the impatient exclamation of
incredulity which escaped the lips of Than Kosis.

"What manner of weird tale are you bringing me, Notan?" he cried.

"It is the truth, my Jeddak," replied the psychologist. "In fact the impressions were
strongly marked on the brain of each of the four guardsmen. Their antagonist was a very
tall man, wearing the metal of one of your own guardsmen, and his fighting ability was
little short of marvelous for he fought fair against the entire four and vanquished them by
his surpassing skill and superhuman strength and endurance. Though he wore the metal
of Zodanga, my Jeddak, such a man was never seen before in this or any other country
upon Barsoom.

"The mind of the Princess of Helium whom I have examined and questioned was a
blank to me, she has perfect control, and I could not read one iota of it. She said that she
witnessed a portion of the encounter, and that when she looked there was but one man
engaged with the guardsmen; a man whom she did not recognize as ever having seen."

"Where is my erstwhile savior?" spoke another of the party, and I recognized the
voice of the cousin of Than Kosis, whom I had rescued from the green warriors. "By the
metal of my first ancestor," he went on, "but the description fits him to perfection,
especially as to his fighting ability."

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 "Where is this man?" cried Than Kosis. "Have him brought to me at once. What
know you of him, cousin? It seemed strange to me now that I think upon it that there
should have been such a fighting man in Zodanga, of whose name, even, we were
ignorant before today. And his name too, John Carter, who ever heard of such a name
upon Barsoom!"

Word was soon brought that I was nowhere to be found, either in the palace or at
my former quarters in the barracks of the air-scout squadron. Kantos Kan, they had found
and questioned, but he knew nothing of my whereabouts, and as to my past, he had told
them he knew as little, since he had but recently met me during our captivity among the
Warhoons.

"Keep your eyes on this other one," commanded Than Kosis. "He also is a stranger
and likely as not they both hail from Helium, and where one is we shall sooner or later
find the other. Quadruple the air patrol, and let every man who leaves the city by air or
ground be subjected to the closest scrutiny."

Another messenger now entered with word that I was still within the palace walls.

"The likeness of every person who has entered or left the palace grounds today has
been carefully examined," concluded the fellow, "and not one approaches the likeness of
this new padwar of the guards, other than that which was recorded of him at the time he
entered."

"Then we will have him shortly," commented Than Kosis contentedly, "and in the
meanwhile we will repair to the apartments of the Princess of Helium and question her in
regard to the affair. She may know more than she cared to divulge to you, Notan. Come."

They left the hall, and, as darkness had fallen without, I slipped lightly from my
hiding place and hastened to the balcony. Few were in sight, and choosing a moment
when none seemed near I sprang quickly to the top of the glass wall and from there to the
avenue beyond the palace grounds.

CHAPTER XXIII

LOST IN THE SKY

Without effort at concealment I hastened to the vicinity of our quarters, where I felt
sure I should find Kantos Kan. As I neared the building I became more careful, as I
judged, and rightly, that the place would be guarded. Several men in civilian metal
loitered near the front entrance and in the rear were others. My only means of reaching,
unseen, the upper story where our apartments were situated was through an adjoining

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building, and after considerable maneuvering I managed to attain the roof of a shop
several doors away.

Leaping from roof to roof, I soon reached an open window in the building where I
hoped to find the Heliumite, and in another moment I stood in the room before him. He
was alone and showed no surprise at my coming, saying he had expected me much
earlier, as my tour of duty must have ended some time since.

I saw that he knew nothing of the events of the day at the palace, and when I had
enlightened him he was all excitement. The news that Dejah Thoris had promised her
hand to Sab Than filled him with dismay.

"It cannot be," he exclaimed. "It is impossible! Why no man in all Helium but
would prefer death to the selling of our loved princess to the ruling house of Zodanga.
She must have lost her mind to have assented to such an atrocious bargain. You, who do
not know how we of Helium love the members of our ruling house, cannot appreciate the
horror with which I contemplate such an unholy alliance."

"What can be done, John Carter?" he continued. "You are a resourceful man. Can
you not think of some way to save Helium from this disgrace?"

"If I can come within sword's reach of Sab Than," I answered, "I can solve the
difficulty in so far as Helium is concerned, but for personal reasons I would prefer that
another struck the blow that frees Dejah Thoris."

Kantos Kan eyed me narrowly before he spoke.

"You love her!" he said. "Does she know it?"

"She knows it, Kantos Kan, and repulses me only because she is promised to Sab
Than."

The splendid fellow sprang to his feet, and grasping me by the shoulder raised his
sword on high, exclaiming:

"And had the choice been left to me I could not have chosen a more fitting mate for
the first princess of Barsoom. Here is my hand upon your shoulder, John Carter, and my
word that Sab Than shall go out at the point of my sword for the sake of my love for
Helium, for Dejah Thoris, and for you. This very night I shall try to reach his quarters in
the palace."

"How?" I asked. "You are strongly guarded and a quadruple force patrols the sky."

He bent his head in thought a moment, then raised it with an air of confidence.

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 "I only need to pass these guards and I can do it," he said at last. "I know a secret
entrance to the palace through the pinnacle of the highest tower. I fell upon it by chance
one day as I was passing above the palace on patrol duty. In this work it is required that
we investigate any unusual occurrence we may witness, and a face peering from the
pinnacle of the high tower of the palace was, to me, most unusual. I therefore drew near
and discovered that the possessor of the peering face was none other than Sab Than. He
was slightly put out at being detected and commanded me to keep the matter to myself,
explaining that the passage from the tower led directly to his apartments, and was known
only to him. If I can reach the roof of the barracks and get my machine I can be in Sab
Than's quarters in five minutes; but how am I to escape from this building, guarded as
you say it is?"

"How well are the machine sheds at the barracks guarded?" I asked.

"There is usually but one man on duty there at night upon the roof."

"Go to the roof of this building, Kantos Kan, and wait me there."

Without stopping to explain my plans I retraced my way to the street and hastened
to the barracks. I did not dare to enter the building, filled as it was with members of the
air-scout squadron, who, in common with all Zodanga, were on the lookout for me.

The building was an enormous one, rearing its lofty head fully a thousand feet into
the air. But few buildings in Zodanga were higher than these barracks, though several
topped it by a few hundred feet; the docks of the great battleships of the line standing
some fifteen hundred feet from the ground, while the freight and passenger stations of the
merchant squadrons rose nearly as high.

It was a long climb up the face of the building, and one fraught with much danger,
but there was no other way, and so I essayed the task. The fact that Barsoomian
architecture is extremely ornate made the feat much simpler than I had anticipated, since
I found ornamental ledges and projections which fairly formed a perfect ladder for me all
the way to the eaves of the building. Here I met my first real obstacle. The eaves
projected nearly twenty feet from the wall to which I clung, and though I encircled the
great building I could find no opening through them.

The top floor was alight, and filled with soldiers engaged in the pastimes of their
kind; I could not, therefore, reach the roof through the building.

There was one slight, desperate chance, and that I decided I must take—it was for
Dejah Thoris, and no man has lived who would not risk a thousand deaths for such as
she.

Clinging to the wall with my feet and one hand, I unloosened one of the long leather
straps of my trappings at the end of which dangled a great hook by which air sailors are

110
hung to the sides and bottoms of their craft for various purposes of repair, and by means
of which landing parties are lowered to the ground from the battleships.

I swung this hook cautiously to the roof several times before it finally found
lodgment; gently I pulled on it to strengthen its hold, but whether it would bear the
weight of my body I did not know. It might be barely caught upon the very outer verge of
the roof, so that as my body swung out at the end of the strap it would slip off and launch
me to the pavement a thousand feet below.

An instant I hesitated, and then, releasing my grasp upon the supporting ornament, I
swung out into space at the end of the strap. Far below me lay the brilliantly lighted
streets, the hard pavements, and death. There was a little jerk at the top of the supporting
eaves, and a nasty slipping, grating sound which turned me cold with apprehension; then
the hook caught and I was safe.

Clambering quickly aloft I grasped the edge of the eaves and drew myself to the
surface of the roof above. As I gained my feet I was confronted by the sentry on duty,
into the muzzle of whose revolver I found myself looking.

"Who are you and whence came you?" he cried.

"I am an air scout, friend, and very near a dead one, for just by the merest chance I
escaped falling to the avenue below," I replied.

"But how came you upon the roof, man? No one has landed or come up from the
building for the past hour. Quick, explain yourself, or I call the guard."

"Look you here, sentry, and you shall see how I came and how close a shave I had
to not coming at all," I answered, turning toward the edge of the roof, where, twenty feet
below, at the end of my strap, hung all my weapons.

The fellow, acting on impulse of curiosity, stepped to my side and to his undoing,
for as he leaned to peer over the eaves I grasped him by his throat and his pistol arm and
threw him heavily to the roof. The weapon dropped from his grasp, and my fingers
choked off his attempted cry for assistance. I gagged and bound him and then hung him
over the edge of the roof as I myself had hung a few moments before. I knew it would be
morning before he would be discovered, and I needed all the time that I could gain.

Donning my trappings and weapons I hastened to the sheds, and soon had out both
my machine and Kantos Kan's. Making his fast behind mine I started my engine, and
skimming over the edge of the roof I dove down into the streets of the city far below the
plane usually occupied by the air patrol. In less than a minute I was settling safely upon
the roof of our apartment beside the astonished Kantos Kan.

I lost no time in explanation, but plunged immediately into a discussion of our plans
for the immediate future. It was decided that I was to try to make Helium while Kantos

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Kan was to enter the palace and dispatch Sab Than. If successful he was then to follow
me. He set my compass for me, a clever little device which will remain steadfastly fixed
upon any given point on the surface of Barsoom, and bidding each other farewell we rose
together and sped in the direction of the palace which lay in the route which I must take
to reach Helium.

As we neared the high tower a patrol shot down from above, throwing its piercing
searchlight full upon my craft, and a voice roared out a command to halt, following with
a shot as I paid no attention to his hail. Kantos Kan dropped quickly into the darkness,
while I rose steadily and at terrific speed raced through the Martian sky followed by a
dozen of the air-scout craft which had joined the pursuit, and later by a swift cruiser
carrying a hundred men and a battery of rapid-fire guns. By twisting and turning my little
machine, now rising and now falling, I managed to elude their search-lights most of the
time, but I was also losing ground by these tactics, and so I decided to hazard everything
on a straight-away course and leave the result to fate and the speed of my machine.

Kantos Kan had shown me a trick of gearing, which is known only to the navy of
Helium, that greatly increased the speed of our machines, so that I felt sure I could
distance my pursuers if I could dodge their projectiles for a few moments.

As I sped through the air the screeching of the bullets around me convinced me that
only by a miracle could I escape, but the die was cast, and throwing on full speed I raced
a straight course toward Helium. Gradually I left my pursuers further and further behind,
and I was just congratulating myself on my lucky escape, when a well-directed shot from
the cruiser exploded at the prow of my little craft. The concussion nearly capsized her,
and with a sickening plunge she hurtled downward through the dark night.

How far I fell before I regained control of the plane I do not know, but I must have
been very close to the ground when I started to rise again, as I plainly heard the squealing
of animals below me. Rising again I scanned the heavens for my pursuers, and finally
making out their lights far behind me, saw that they were landing, evidently in search of
me.

Not until their lights were no longer discernible did I venture to flash my little lamp
upon my compass, and then I found to my consternation that a fragment of the projectile
had utterly destroyed my only guide, as well as my speedometer. It was true I could
follow the stars in the general direction of Helium, but without knowing the exact
location of the city or the speed at which I was traveling my chances for finding it were
slim.

Helium lies a thousand miles southwest of Zodanga, and with my compass intact I
should have made the trip, barring accidents, in between four and five hours. As it turned
out, however, morning found me speeding over a vast expanse of dead sea bottom after
nearly six hours of continuous flight at high speed. Presently a great city showed below
me, but it was not Helium, as that alone of all Barsoomian metropolises consists in two

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immense circular walled cities about seventy-five miles apart and would have been easily
distinguishable from the altitude at which I was flying.

Believing that I had come too far to the north and west, I turned back in a
southeasterly direction, passing during the forenoon several other large cities, but none
resembling the description which Kantos Kan had given me of Helium. In addition to the
twin-city formation of Helium, another distinguishing feature is the two immense towers,
one of vivid scarlet rising nearly a mile into the air from the center of one of the cities,
while the other, of bright yellow and of the same height, marks her sister.

CHAPTER XXIV

TARS TARKAS FINDS A FRIEND

About noon I passed low over a great dead city of ancient Mars, and as I skimmed
out across the plain beyond I came full upon several thousand green warriors engaged in
a terrific battle. Scarcely had I seen them than a volley of shots was directed at me, and
with the almost unfailing accuracy of their aim my little craft was instantly a ruined
wreck, sinking erratically to the ground.

I fell almost directly in the center of the fierce combat, among warriors who had not
seen my approach so busily were they engaged in life and death struggles. The men were
fighting on foot with long-swords, while an occasional shot from a sharpshooter on the
outskirts of the conflict would bring down a warrior who might for an instant separate
himself from the entangled mass.

As my machine sank among them I realized that it was fight or die, with good
chances of dying in any event, and so I struck the ground with drawn long-sword ready to
defend myself as I could.

I fell beside a huge monster who was engaged with three antagonists, and as I
glanced at his fierce face, filled with the light of battle, I recognized Tars Tarkas the
Thark. He did not see me, as I was a trifle behind him, and just then the three warriors
opposing him, and whom I recognized as Warhoons, charged simultaneously. The
mighty fellow made quick work of one of them, but in stepping back for another thrust he
fell over a dead body behind him and was down and at the mercy of his foes in an instant.
Quick as lightning they were upon him, and Tars Tarkas would have been gathered to his
fathers in short order had I not sprung before his prostrate form and engaged his
adversaries. I had accounted for one of them when the mighty Thark regained his feet
and quickly settled the other.

He gave me one look, and a slight smile touched his grim lip as, touching my
shoulder, he said,

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 "I would scarcely recognize you, John Carter, but there is no other mortal upon
Barsoom who would have done what you have for me. I think I have learned that there is
such a thing as friendship, my friend."

He said no more, nor was there opportunity, for the Warhoons were closing in about
us, and together we fought, shoulder to shoulder, during all that long, hot afternoon, until
the tide of battle turned and the remnant of the fierce Warhoon horde fell back upon their
thoats, and fled into the gathering darkness.

Ten thousand men had been engaged in that titanic struggle, and upon the field of
battle lay three thousand dead. Neither side asked or gave quarter, nor did they attempt to
take prisoners.

On our return to the city after the battle we had gone directly to Tars Tarkas'
quarters, where I was left alone while the chieftain attended the customary council which
immediately follows an engagement.

As I sat awaiting the return of the green warrior I heard something move in an
adjoining apartment, and as I glanced up there rushed suddenly upon me a huge and
hideous creature which bore me backward upon the pile of silks and furs upon which I
had been reclining. It was Woola—faithful, loving Woola. He had found his way back to
Thark and, as Tars Tarkas later told me, had gone immediately to my former quarters
where he had taken up his pathetic and seemingly hopeless watch for my return.

"Tal Hajus knows that you are here, John Carter," said Tars Tarkas, on his return
from the jeddak's quarters; "Sarkoja saw and recognized you as we were returning. Tal
Hajus has ordered me to bring you before him tonight. I have ten thoats, John Carter; you
may take your choice from among them, and I will accompany you to the nearest
waterway that leads to Helium. Tars Tarkas may be a cruel green warrior, but he can be a
friend as well. Come, we must start."

"And when you return, Tars Tarkas?" I asked.

"The wild calots, possibly, or worse," he replied. "Unless I should chance to have
the opportunity I have so long waited of battling with Tal Hajus."

"We will stay, Tars Tarkas, and see Tal Hajus tonight. You shall not sacrifice
yourself, and it may be that tonight you can have the chance you wait."

He objected strenuously, saying that Tal Hajus often flew into wild fits of passion at
the mere thought of the blow I had dealt him, and that if ever he laid his hands upon me I
would be subjected to the most horrible tortures.

While we were eating I repeated to Tars Tarkas the story which Sola had told me
that night upon the sea bottom during the march to Thark.

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 He said but little, but the great muscles of his face worked in passion and in agony
at recollection of the horrors which had been heaped upon the only thing he had ever
loved in all his cold, cruel, terrible existence.

He no longer demurred when I suggested that we go before Tal Hajus, only saying
that he would like to speak to Sarkoja first. At his request I accompanied him to her
quarters, and the look of venomous hatred she cast upon me was almost adequate
recompense for any future misfortunes this accidental return to Thark might bring me.

"Sarkoja," said Tars Tarkas, "forty years ago you were instrumental in bringing
about the torture and death of a woman named Gozava. I have just discovered that the
warrior who loved that woman has learned of your part in the transaction. He may not
kill you, Sarkoja, it is not our custom, but there is nothing to prevent him tying one end
of a strap about your neck and the other end to a wild thoat, merely to test your fitness to
survive and help perpetuate our race. Having heard that he would do this on the morrow,
I thought it only right to warn you, for I am a just man. The river Iss is but a short
pilgrimage, Sarkoja. Come, John Carter."

The next morning Sarkoja was gone, nor was she ever seen after.

In silence we hastened to the jeddak's palace, where we were immediately admitted

to his presence; in fact, he could scarcely wait to see me and was standing erect upon his
platform glowering at the entrance as I came in.

"Strap him to that pillar," he shrieked. "We shall see who it is dares strike the
mighty Tal Hajus. Heat the irons; with my own hands I shall burn the eyes from his head
that he may not pollute my person with his vile gaze."

"Chieftains of Thark," I cried, turning to the assembled council and ignoring Tal
Hajus, "I have been a chief among you, and today I have fought for Thark shoulder to
shoulder with her greatest warrior. You owe me, at least, a hearing. I have won that much
today. You claim to be just people—"

"Silence," roared Tal Hajus. "Gag the creature and bind him as I command."

"Justice, Tal Hajus," exclaimed Lorquas Ptomel. "Who are you to set aside the
customs of ages among the Tharks."

"Yes, justice!" echoed a dozen voices, and so, while Tal Hajus fumed and frothed, I
continued.

"You are a brave people and you love bravery, but where was your mighty jeddak
during the fighting today? I did not see him in the thick of battle; he was not there. He
rends defenseless women and little children in his lair, but how recently has one of you
seen him fight with men? Why, even I, a midget beside him, felled him with a single
blow of my fist. Is it of such that the Tharks fashion their jeddaks? There stands beside

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me now a great Thark, a mighty warrior and a noble man. Chieftains, how sounds, Tars
Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark?"

A roar of deep-toned applause greeted this suggestion.

"It but remains for this council to command, and Tal Hajus must prove his fitness to
rule. Were he a brave man he would invite Tars Tarkas to combat, for he does not love
him, but Tal Hajus is afraid; Tal Hajus, your jeddak, is a coward. With my bare hands I
could kill him, and he knows it."

After I ceased there was tense silence, as all eyes were riveted upon Tal Hajus. He
did not speak or move, but the blotchy green of his countenance turned livid, and the
froth froze upon his lips.

"Tal Hajus," said Lorquas Ptomel in a cold, hard voice, "never in my long life have I
seen a jeddak of the Tharks so humiliated. There could be but one answer to this
arraignment. We wait it." And still Tal Hajus stood as though electrified.

"Chieftains," continued Lorquas Ptomel, "shall the jeddak, Tal Hajus, prove his
fitness to rule over Tars Tarkas?"

There were twenty chieftains about the rostrum, and twenty swords flashed high in
assent.

There was no alternative. That decree was final, and so Tal Hajus drew his long-
sword and advanced to meet Tars Tarkas.

The combat was soon over, and, with his foot upon the neck of the dead monster,
Tars Tarkas became jeddak among the Tharks.

His first act was to make me a full-fledged chieftain with the rank I had won by my
combats the first few weeks of my captivity among them.

Seeing the favorable disposition of the warriors toward Tars Tarkas, as well as
toward me, I grasped the opportunity to enlist them in my cause against Zodanga. I told
Tars Tarkas the story of my adventures, and in a few words had explained to him the
thought I had in mind.

"John Carter has made a proposal," he said, addressing the council, "which meets
with my sanction. I shall put it to you briefly. Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium, who
was our prisoner, is now held by the jeddak of Zodanga, whose son she must wed to save
her country from devastation at the hands of the Zodangan forces.

"John Carter suggests that we rescue her and return her to Helium. The loot of
Zodanga would be magnificent, and I have often thought that had we an alliance with the
people of Helium we could obtain sufficient assurance of sustenance to permit us to

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increase the size and frequency of our hatchings, and thus become unquestionably
supreme among the green men of all Barsoom. What say you?"

It was a chance to fight, an opportunity to loot, and they rose to the bait as a
speckled trout to a fly.

For Tharks they were wildly enthusiastic, and before another half hour had passed
twenty mounted messengers were speeding across dead sea bottoms to call the hordes
together for the expedition.

In three days we were on the march toward Zodanga, one hundred thousand strong,
as Tars Tarkas had been able to enlist the services of three smaller hordes on the promise
of the great loot of Zodanga.

At the head of the column I rode beside the great Thark while at the heels of my
mount trotted my beloved Woola.

We traveled entirely by night, timing our marches so that we camped during the day
at deserted cities where, even to the beasts, we were all kept indoors during the daylight
hours. On the march Tars Tarkas, through his remarkable ability and statesmanship,
enlisted fifty thousand more warriors from various hordes, so that, ten days after we set
out we halted at midnight outside the great walled city of Zodanga, one hundred and fifty
thousand strong.

The fighting strength and efficiency of this horde of ferocious green monsters was
equivalent to ten times their number of red men. Never in the history of Barsoom, Tars
Tarkas told me, had such a force of green warriors marched to battle together. It was a
monstrous task to keep even a semblance of harmony among them, and it was a marvel to
me that he got them to the city without a mighty battle among themselves.

But as we neared Zodanga their personal quarrels were submerged by their greater
hatred for the red men, and especially for the Zodangans, who had for years waged a
ruthless campaign of extermination against the green men, directing special attention
toward despoiling their incubators.

Now that we were before Zodanga the task of obtaining entry to the city devolved
upon me, and directing Tars Tarkas to hold his forces in two divisions out of earshot of
the city, with each division opposite a large gateway, I took twenty dismounted warriors
and approached one of the small gates that pierced the walls at short intervals. These
gates have no regular guard, but are covered by sentries, who patrol the avenue that
encircles the city just within the walls as our metropolitan police patrol their beats.

The walls of Zodanga are seventy-five feet in height and fifty feet thick. They are
built of enormous blocks of carborundum, and the task of entering the city seemed, to my
escort of green warriors, an impossibility. The fellows who had been detailed to
accompany me were of one of the smaller hordes, and therefore did not know me.

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 Placing three of them with their faces to the wall and arms locked, I commanded
two more to mount to their shoulders, and a sixth I ordered to climb upon the shoulders
of the upper two. The head of the topmost warrior towered over forty feet from the
ground.

In this way, with ten warriors, I built a series of three steps from the ground to the
shoulders of the topmost man. Then starting from a short distance behind them I ran
swiftly up from one tier to the next, and with a final bound from the broad shoulders of
the highest I clutched the top of the great wall and quietly drew myself to its broad
expanse. After me I dragged six lengths of leather from an equal number of my warriors.
These lengths we had previously fastened together, and passing one end to the topmost
warrior I lowered the other end cautiously over the opposite side of the wall toward the
avenue below. No one was in sight, so, lowering myself to the end of my leather strap, I
dropped the remaining thirty feet to the pavement below.

I had learned from Kantos Kan the secret of opening these gates, and in another
moment my twenty great fighting men stood within the doomed city of Zodanga.

I found to my delight that I had entered at the lower boundary of the enormous
palace grounds. The building itself showed in the distance a blaze of glorious light, and
on the instant I determined to lead a detachment of warriors directly within the palace
itself, while the balance of the great horde was attacking the barracks of the soldiery.

Dispatching one of my men to Tars Tarkas for a detail of fifty Tharks, with word of
my intentions, I ordered ten warriors to capture and open one of the great gates while
with the nine remaining I took the other. We were to do our work quietly, no shots were
to be fired and no general advance made until I had reached the palace with my fifty
Tharks. Our plans worked to perfection. The two sentries we met were dispatched to their
fathers upon the banks of the lost sea of Korus, and the guards at both gates followed
them in silence.

CHAPTER XXV

THE LOOTING OF ZODANGA

As the great gate where I stood swung open my fifty Tharks, headed by Tars Tarkas
himself, rode in upon their mighty thoats. I led them to the palace walls, which I
negotiated easily without assistance. Once inside, however, the gate gave me
considerable trouble, but I finally was rewarded by seeing it swing upon its huge hinges,
and soon my fierce escort was riding across the gardens of the jeddak of Zodanga.

As we approached the palace I could see through the great windows of the first floor
into the brilliantly illuminated audience chamber of Than Kosis. The immense hall was

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crowded with nobles and their women, as though some important function was in
progress. There was not a guard in sight without the palace, due, I presume, to the fact
that the city and palace walls were considered impregnable, and so I came close and
peered within.

At one end of the chamber, upon massive golden thrones encrusted with diamonds,
sat Than Kosis and his consort, surrounded by officers and dignitaries of state. Before
them stretched a broad aisle lined on either side with soldiery, and as I looked there
entered this aisle at the far end of the hall, the head of a procession which advanced to the
foot of the throne.

First there marched four officers of the jeddak's Guard bearing a huge salver on
which reposed, upon a cushion of scarlet silk, a great golden chain with a collar and
padlock at each end. Directly behind these officers came four others carrying a similar
salver which supported the magnificent ornaments of a prince and princess of the
reigning house of Zodanga.

At the foot of the throne these two parties separated and halted, facing each other at
opposite sides of the aisle. Then came more dignitaries, and the officers of the palace and
of the army, and finally two figures entirely muffled in scarlet silk, so that not a feature
of either was discernible. These two stopped at the foot of the throne, facing Than Kosis.
When the balance of the procession had entered and assumed their stations Than Kosis
addressed the couple standing before him. I could not hear his words, but presently two
officers advanced and removed the scarlet robe from one of the figures, and I saw that
Kantos Kan had failed in his mission, for it was Sab Than, Prince of Zodanga, who stood
revealed before me.

Than Kosis now took a set of the ornaments from one of the salvers and placed one
of the collars of gold about his son's neck, springing the padlock fast. After a few more
words addressed to Sab Than he turned to the other figure, from which the officers now
removed the enshrouding silks, disclosing to my now comprehending view Dejah Thoris,
Princess of Helium.

The object of the ceremony was clear to me; in another moment Dejah Thoris would
be joined forever to the Prince of Zodanga. It was an impressive and beautiful ceremony,
I presume, but to me it seemed the most fiendish sight I had ever witnessed, and as the
ornaments were adjusted upon her beautiful figure and her collar of gold swung open in
the hands of Than Kosis I raised my long-sword above my head, and, with the heavy hilt,
I shattered the glass of the great window and sprang into the midst of the astonished
assemblage. With a bound I was on the steps of the platform beside Than Kosis, and as
he stood riveted with surprise I brought my long-sword down upon the golden chain that
would have bound Dejah Thoris to another.

In an instant all was confusion; a thousand drawn swords menaced me from every
quarter, and Sab Than sprang upon me with a jeweled dagger he had drawn from his
nuptial ornaments. I could have killed him as easily as I might a fly, but the age-old

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custom of Barsoom stayed my hand, and grasping his wrist as the dagger flew toward my
heart I held him as though in a vise and with my long-sword pointed to the far end of the
hall.

"Zodanga has fallen," I cried. "Look!"

All eyes turned in the direction I had indicated, and there, forging through the
portals of the entranceway rode Tars Tarkas and his fifty warriors on their great thoats.

A cry of alarm and amazement broke from the assemblage, but no word of fear, and
in a moment the soldiers and nobles of Zodanga were hurling themselves upon the
advancing Tharks.

Thrusting Sab Than headlong from the platform, I drew Dejah Thoris to my side.
Behind the throne was a narrow doorway and in this Than Kosis now stood facing me,
with drawn long-sword. In an instant we were engaged, and I found no mean antagonist.

As we circled upon the broad platform I saw Sab Than rushing up the steps to aid
his father, but, as he raised his hand to strike, Dejah Thoris sprang before him and then
my sword found the spot that made Sab Than jeddak of Zodanga. As his father rolled
dead upon the floor the new jeddak tore himself free from Dejah Thoris' grasp, and again
we faced each other. He was soon joined by a quartet of officers, and, with my back
against a golden throne, I fought once again for Dejah Thoris. I was hard pressed to
defend myself and yet not strike down Sab Than and, with him, my last chance to win the
woman I loved. My blade was swinging with the rapidity of lightning as I sought to parry
the thrusts and cuts of my opponents. Two I had disarmed, and one was down, when
several more rushed to the aid of their new ruler, and to avenge the death of the old.

As they advanced there were cries of "The woman! The woman! Strike her down; it
is her plot. Kill her! Kill her!"

Calling to Dejah Thoris to get behind me I worked my way toward the little
doorway back of the throne, but the officers realized my intentions, and three of them
sprang in behind me and blocked my chances for gaining a position where I could have
defended Dejah Thoris against any army of swordsmen.

The Tharks were having their hands full in the center of the room, and I began to
realize that nothing short of a miracle could save Dejah Thoris and myself, when I saw
Tars Tarkas surging through the crowd of pygmies that swarmed about him. With one
swing of his mighty longsword he laid a dozen corpses at his feet, and so he hewed a
pathway before him until in another moment he stood upon the platform beside me,
dealing death and destruction right and left.

The bravery of the Zodangans was awe-inspiring, not one attempted to escape, and
when the fighting ceased it was because only Tharks remained alive in the great hall,
other than Dejah Thoris and myself.

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 Sab Than lay dead beside his father, and the corpses of the flower of Zodangan
nobility and chivalry covered the floor of the bloody shambles.

My first thought when the battle was over was for Kantos Kan, and leaving Dejah
Thoris in charge of Tars Tarkas I took a dozen warriors and hastened to the dungeons
beneath the palace. The jailers had all left to join the fighters in the throne room, so we
searched the labyrinthine prison without opposition.

I called Kantos Kan's name aloud in each new corridor and compartment, and
finally I was rewarded by hearing a faint response. Guided by the sound, we soon found
him helpless in a dark recess.

He was overjoyed at seeing me, and to know the meaning of the fight, faint echoes
of which had reached his prison cell. He told me that the air patrol had captured him
before he reached the high tower of the palace, so that he had not even seen Sab Than.

We discovered that it would be futile to attempt to cut away the bars and chains
which held him prisoner, so, at his suggestion I returned to search the bodies on the floor
above for keys to open the padlocks of his cell and of his chains.

Fortunately among the first I examined I found his jailer, and soon we had Kantos
Kan with us in the throne room.

The sounds of heavy firing, mingled with shouts and cries, came to us from the
city's streets, and Tars Tarkas hastened away to direct the fighting without. Kantos Kan
accompanied him to act as guide, the green warriors commencing a thorough search of
the palace for other Zodangans and for loot, and Dejah Thoris and I were left alone.

She had sunk into one of the golden thrones, and as I turned to her she greeted me
with a wan smile.

"Was there ever such a man!" she exclaimed. "I know that Barsoom has never
before seen your like. Can it be that all Earth men are as you? Alone, a stranger, hunted,
threatened, persecuted, you have done in a few short months what in all the past ages of
Barsoom no man has ever done: joined together the wild hordes of the sea bottoms and
brought them to fight as allies of a red Martian people."

"The answer is easy, Dejah Thoris," I replied smiling. "It was not I who did it, it was
love, love for Dejah Thoris, a power that would work greater miracles than this you have
seen."

A pretty flush overspread her face and she answered,

"You may say that now, John Carter, and I may listen, for I am free."

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 "And more still I have to say, ere it is again too late," I returned. "I have done many
strange things in my life, many things that wiser men would not have dared, but never in
my wildest fancies have I dreamed of winning a Dejah Thoris for myself—for never had
I dreamed that in all the universe dwelt such a woman as the Princess of Helium. That
you are a princess does not abash me, but that you are you is enough to make me doubt
my sanity as I ask you, my princess, to be mine."

"He does not need to be abashed who so well knew the answer to his plea before the
plea were made," she replied, rising and placing her dear hands upon my shoulders, and
so I took her in my arms and kissed her.

And thus in the midst of a city of wild conflict, filled with the alarms of war; with
death and destruction reaping their terrible harvest around her, did Dejah Thoris, Princess
of Helium, true daughter of Mars, the God of War, promise herself in marriage to John
Carter, Gentleman of Virginia.

CHAPTER XXVI

THROUGH CARNAGE TO JOY

Sometime later Tars Tarkas and Kantos Kan returned to report that Zodanga had
been completely reduced. Her forces were entirely destroyed or captured, and no further
resistance was to be expected from within. Several battleships had escaped, but there
were thousands of war and merchant vessels under guard of Thark warriors.

The lesser hordes had commenced looting and quarreling among themselves, so it
was decided that we collect what warriors we could, man as many vessels as possible
with Zodangan prisoners and make for Helium without further loss of time.

Five hours later we sailed from the roofs of the dock buildings with a fleet of two
hundred and fifty battleships, carrying nearly one hundred thousand green warriors,
followed by a fleet of transports with our thoats.

Behind us we left the stricken city in the fierce and brutal clutches of some forty
thousand green warriors of the lesser hordes. They were looting, murdering, and fighting
amongst themselves. In a hundred places they had applied the torch, and columns of
dense smoke were rising above the city as though to blot out from the eye of heaven the
horrid sights beneath.

In the middle of the afternoon we sighted the scarlet and yellow towers of Helium,
and a short time later a great fleet of Zodangan battleships rose from the camps of the
besiegers without the city, and advanced to meet us.

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 The banners of Helium had been strung from stem to stern of each of our mighty
craft, but the Zodangans did not need this sign to realize that we were enemies, for our
green Martian warriors had opened fire upon them almost as they left the ground. With
their uncanny marksmanship they raked the on-coming fleet with volley after volley.

The twin cities of Helium, perceiving that we were friends, sent out hundreds of
vessels to aid us, and then began the first real air battle I had ever witnessed.

The vessels carrying our green warriors were kept circling above the contending
fleets of Helium and Zodanga, since their batteries were useless in the hands of the
Tharks who, having no navy, have no skill in naval gunnery. Their small-arm fire,
however, was most effective, and the final outcome of the engagement was strongly
influenced, if not wholly determined, by their presence.

At first the two forces circled at the same altitude, pouring broadside after broadside
into each other. Presently a great hole was torn in the hull of one of the immense battle
craft from the Zodangan camp; with a lurch she turned completely over, the little figures
of her crew plunging, turning and twisting toward the ground a thousand feet below; then
with sickening velocity she tore after them, almost completely burying herself in the soft
loam of the ancient sea bottom.

A wild cry of exultation arose from the Heliumite squadron, and with redoubled
ferocity they fell upon the Zodangan fleet. By a pretty maneuver two of the vessels of
Helium gained a position above their adversaries, from which they poured upon them
from their keel bomb batteries a perfect torrent of exploding bombs.

Then, one by one, the battleships of Helium succeeded in rising above the
Zodangans, and in a short time a number of the beleaguering battleships were drifting
hopeless wrecks toward the high scarlet tower of greater Helium. Several others
attempted to escape, but they were soon surrounded by thousands of tiny individual
fliers, and above each hung a monster battleship of Helium ready to drop boarding parties
upon their decks.

Within but little more than an hour from the moment the victorious Zodangan
squadron had risen to meet us from the camp of the besiegers the battle was over, and the
remaining vessels of the conquered Zodangans were headed toward the cities of Helium
under prize crews.

There was an extremely pathetic side to the surrender of these mighty fliers, the
result of an age-old custom which demanded that surrender should be signalized by the
voluntary plunging to earth of the commander of the vanquished vessel. One after
another the brave fellows, holding their colors high above their heads, leaped from the
towering bows of their mighty craft to an awful death.

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 Not until the commander of the entire fleet took the fearful plunge, thus indicating
the surrender of the remaining vessels, did the fighting cease, and the useless sacrifice of
brave men come to an end.

We now signaled the flagship of Helium's navy to approach, and when she was
within hailing distance I called out that we had the Princess Dejah Thoris on board, and
that we wished to transfer her to the flagship that she might be taken immediately to the
city.

As the full import of my announcement bore in upon them a great cry arose from
the decks of the flagship, and a moment later the colors of the Princess of Helium broke
from a hundred points upon her upper works. When the other vessels of the squadron
caught the meaning of the signals flashed them they took up the wild acclaim and
unfurled her colors in the gleaming sunlight.

The flagship bore down upon us, and as she swung gracefully to and touched our
side a dozen officers sprang upon our decks. As their astonished gaze fell upon the
hundreds of green warriors, who now came forth from the fighting shelters, they stopped
aghast, but at sight of Kantos Kan, who advanced to meet them, they came forward,
crowding about him.

Dejah Thoris and I then advanced, and they had no eyes for other than her. She
received them gracefully, calling each by name, for they were men high in the esteem
and service of her grandfather, and she knew them well.

"Lay your hands upon the shoulder of John Carter," she said to them, turning toward
me, "the man to whom Helium owes her princess as well as her victory today."

They were very courteous to me and said many kind and complimentary things, but
what seemed to impress them most was that I had won the aid of the fierce Tharks in my
campaign for the liberation of Dejah Thoris, and the relief of Helium.

"You owe your thanks more to another man than to me," I said, "and here he is;
meet one of Barsoom's greatest soldiers and statesmen, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark."

With the same polished courtesy that had marked their manner toward me they
extended their greetings to the great Thark, nor, to my surprise, was he much behind
them in ease of bearing or in courtly speech. Though not a garrulous race, the Tharks are
extremely formal, and their ways lend themselves amazingly well to dignified and
courtly manners.

Dejah Thoris went aboard the flagship, and was much put out that I would not
follow, but, as I explained to her, the battle was but partly won; we still had the land
forces of the besieging Zodangans to account for, and I would not leave Tars Tarkas until
that had been accomplished.

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 The commander of the naval forces of Helium promised to arrange to have the
armies of Helium attack from the city in conjunction with our land attack, and so the
vessels separated and Dejah Thoris was borne in triumph back to the court of her
grandfather, Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium.

In the distance lay our fleet of transports, with the thoats of the green warriors,
where they had remained during the battle. Without landing stages it was to be a difficult
matter to unload these beasts upon the open plain, but there was nothing else for it, and
so we put out for a point about ten miles from the city and began the task.

It was necessary to lower the animals to the ground in slings and this work occupied
the remainder of the day and half the night. Twice we were attacked by parties of
Zodangan cavalry, but with little loss, however, and after darkness shut down they
withdrew.

As soon as the last thoat was unloaded Tars Tarkas gave the command to advance,
and in three parties we crept upon the Zodangan camp from the north, the south and the
east.

About a mile from the main camp we encountered their outposts and, as had been
prearranged, accepted this as the signal to charge. With wild, ferocious cries and amidst
the nasty squealing of battle-enraged thoats we bore down upon the Zodangans.

We did not catch them napping, but found a well-entrenched battle line confronting
us. Time after time we were repulsed until, toward noon, I began to fear for the result of
the battle.

The Zodangans numbered nearly a million fighting men, gathered from pole to pole,
wherever stretched their ribbon-like waterways, while pitted against them were less than
a hundred thousand green warriors. The forces from Helium had not arrived, nor could
we receive any word from them.

Just at noon we heard heavy firing all along the line between the Zodangans and the
cities, and we knew then that our much-needed reinforcements had come.

Again Tars Tarkas ordered the charge, and once more the mighty thoats bore their
terrible riders against the ramparts of the enemy. At the same moment the battle line of
Helium surged over the opposite breastworks of the Zodangans and in another moment
they were being crushed as between two millstones. Nobly they fought, but in vain.

The plain before the city became a veritable shambles ere the last Zodangan
surrendered, but finally the carnage ceased, the prisoners were marched back to Helium,
and we entered the greater city's gates, a huge triumphal procession of conquering
heroes.

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 The broad avenues were lined with women and children, among which were the few
men whose duties necessitated that they remain within the city during the battle. We were
greeted with an endless round of applause and showered with ornaments of gold,
platinum, silver, and precious jewels. The city had gone mad with joy.

My fierce Tharks caused the wildest excitement and enthusiasm. Never before had
an armed body of green warriors entered the gates of Helium, and that they came now as
friends and allies filled the red men with rejoicing.

That my poor services to Dejah Thoris had become known to the Heliumites was
evidenced by the loud crying of my name, and by the loads of ornaments that were
fastened upon me and my huge thoat as we passed up the avenues to the palace, for even
in the face of the ferocious appearance of Woola the populace pressed close about me.

As we approached this magnificent pile we were met by a party of officers who

greeted us warmly and requested that Tars Tarkas and his jeds with the jeddaks and jeds
of his wild allies, together with myself, dismount and accompany them to receive from
Tardos Mors an expression of his gratitude for our services.

At the top of the great steps leading up to the main portals of the palace stood the
royal party, and as we reached the lower steps one of their number descended to meet us.

He was an almost perfect specimen of manhood; tall, straight as an arrow, superbly

muscled and with the carriage and bearing of a ruler of men. I did not need to be told that
he was Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium.

The first member of our party he met was Tars Tarkas and his first words sealed
forever the new friendship between the races.

"That Tardos Mors," he said, earnestly, "may meet the greatest living warrior of
Barsoom is a priceless honor, but that he may lay his hand on the shoulder of a friend and
ally is a far greater boon."

"Jeddak of Helium," returned Tars Tarkas, "it has remained for a man of another
world to teach the green warriors of Barsoom the meaning of friendship; to him we owe
the fact that the hordes of Thark can understand you; that they can appreciate and
reciprocate the sentiments so graciously expressed."

Tardos Mors then greeted each of the green jeddaks and jeds, and to each spoke
words of friendship and appreciation.

As he approached me he laid both hands upon my shoulders.

"Welcome, my son," he said; "that you are granted, gladly, and without one word of
opposition, the most precious jewel in all Helium, yes, on all Barsoom, is sufficient
earnest of my esteem."

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 We were then presented to Mors Kajak, Jed of lesser Helium, and father of Dejah
Thoris. He had followed close behind Tardos Mors and seemed even more affected by
the meeting than had his father.

He tried a dozen times to express his gratitude to me, but his voice choked with
emotion and he could not speak, and yet he had, as I was to later learn, a reputation for
ferocity and fearlessness as a fighter that was remarkable even upon warlike Barsoom. In
common with all Helium he worshiped his daughter, nor could he think of what she had
escaped without deep emotion.

CHAPTER XXVII

FROM JOY TO DEATH

For ten days the hordes of Thark and their wild allies were feasted and entertained,
and, then, loaded with costly presents and escorted by ten thousand soldiers of Helium
commanded by Mors Kajak, they started on the return journey to their own lands. The jed
of lesser Helium with a small party of nobles accompanied them all the way to Thark to
cement more closely the new bonds of peace and friendship.

Sola also accompanied Tars Tarkas, her father, who before all his chieftains had
acknowledged her as his daughter.

Three weeks later, Mors Kajak and his officers, accompanied by Tars Tarkas and
Sola, returned upon a battleship that had been dispatched to Thark to fetch them in time
for the ceremony which made Dejah Thoris and John Carter one.

For nine years I served in the councils and fought in the armies of Helium as a
prince of the house of Tardos Mors. The people seemed never to tire of heaping honors
upon me, and no day passed that did not bring some new proof of their love for my
princess, the incomparable Dejah Thoris.

In a golden incubator upon the roof of our palace lay a snow-white egg. For nearly
five years ten soldiers of the jeddak's Guard had constantly stood over it, and not a day
passed when I was in the city that Dejah Thoris and I did not stand hand in hand before
our little shrine planning for the future, when the delicate shell should break.

Vivid in my memory is the picture of the last night as we sat there talking in low
tones of the strange romance which had woven our lives together and of this wonder
which was coming to augment our happiness and fulfill our hopes.

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 In the distance we saw the bright-white light of an approaching airship, but we
attached no special significance to so common a sight. Like a bolt of lightning it raced
toward Helium until its very speed bespoke the unusual.

Flashing the signals which proclaimed it a dispatch bearer for the jeddak, it circled
impatiently awaiting the tardy patrol boat which must convoy it to the palace docks.

Ten minutes after it touched at the palace a message called me to the council
chamber, which I found filling with the members of that body.

On the raised platform of the throne was Tardos Mors, pacing back and forth with
tense-drawn face. When all were in their seats he turned toward us.

"This morning," he said, "word reached the several governments of Barsoom that
the keeper of the atmosphere plant had made no wireless report for two days, nor had
almost ceaseless calls upon him from a score of capitals elicited a sign of response.

"The ambassadors of the other nations asked us to take the matter in hand and
hasten the assistant keeper to the plant. All day a thousand cruisers have been searching
for him until just now one of them returns bearing his dead body, which was found in the
pits beneath his house horribly mutilated by some assassin.

"I do not need to tell you what this means to Barsoom. It would take months to
penetrate those mighty walls, in fact the work has already commenced, and there would
be little to fear were the engine of the pumping plant to run as it should and as they all
have for hundreds of years now; but the worst, we fear, has happened. The instruments
show a rapidly decreasing air pressure on all parts of Barsoom—the engine has stopped."

"My gentlemen," he concluded, "we have at best three days to live."

There was absolute silence for several minutes, and then a young noble arose, and
with his drawn sword held high above his head addressed Tardos Mors.

"The men of Helium have prided themselves that they have ever shown Barsoom
how a nation of red men should live, now is our opportunity to show them how they
should die. Let us go about our duties as though a thousand useful years still lay before
us."

The chamber rang with applause and as there was nothing better to do than to allay
the fears of the people by our example we went our ways with smiles upon our faces and
sorrow gnawing at our hearts.

When I returned to my palace I found that the rumor already had reached Dejah
Thoris, so I told her all that I had heard.

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 "We have been very happy, John Carter," she said, "and I thank whatever fate
overtakes us that it permits us to die together."

The next two days brought no noticeable change in the supply of air, but on the
morning of the third day breathing became difficult at the higher altitudes of the rooftops.
The avenues and plazas of Helium were filled with people. All business had ceased. For
the most part the people looked bravely into the face of their unalterable doom. Here and
there, however, men and women gave way to quiet grief.

Toward the middle of the day many of the weaker commenced to succumb and
within an hour the people of Barsoom were sinking by thousands into the
unconsciousness which precedes death by asphyxiation.

Dejah Thoris and I with the other members of the royal family had collected in a
sunken garden within an inner courtyard of the palace. We conversed in low tones, when
we conversed at all, as the awe of the grim shadow of death crept over us. Even Woola
seemed to feel the weight of the impending calamity, for he pressed close to Dejah
Thoris and to me, whining pitifully.

The little incubator had been brought from the roof of our palace at request of Dejah
Thoris and now she sat gazing longingly upon the unknown little life that now she would
never know.

As it was becoming perceptibly difficult to breathe Tardos Mors arose, saying,

"Let us bid each other farewell. The days of the greatness of Barsoom are over.
Tomorrow's sun will look down upon a dead world which through all eternity must go
swinging through the heavens peopled not even by memories. It is the end."

He stooped and kissed the women of his family, and laid his strong hand upon the
shoulders of the men.

As I turned sadly from him my eyes fell upon Dejah Thoris. Her head was drooping
upon her breast, to all appearances she was lifeless. With a cry I sprang to her and raised
her in my arms.

Her eyes opened and looked into mine.

"Kiss me, John Carter," she murmured. "I love you! I love you! It is cruel that we
must be torn apart who were just starting upon a life of love and happiness."

As I pressed her dear lips to mine the old feeling of unconquerable power and
authority rose in me. The fighting blood of Virginia sprang to life in my veins.

"It shall not be, my princess," I cried. "There is, there must be some way, and John
Carter, who has fought his way through a strange world for love of you, will find it."

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 And with my words there crept above the threshold of my conscious mind a series
of nine long forgotten sounds. Like a flash of lightning in the darkness their full purport
dawned upon me—the key to the three great doors of the atmosphere plant!

Turning suddenly toward Tardos Mors as I still clasped my dying love to my breast
I cried.

"A flier, Jeddak! Quick! Order your swiftest flier to the palace top. I can save
Barsoom yet."

He did not wait to question, but in an instant a guard was racing to the nearest dock
and though the air was thin and almost gone at the rooftop they managed to launch the
fastest one-man, air-scout machine that the skill of Barsoom had ever produced.

Kissing Dejah Thoris a dozen times and commanding Woola, who would have
followed me, to remain and guard her, I bounded with my old agility and strength to the
high ramparts of the palace, and in another moment I was headed toward the goal of the
hopes of all Barsoom.

I had to fly low to get sufficient air to breathe, but I took a straight course across an
old sea bottom and so had to rise only a few feet above the ground.

I traveled with awful velocity for my errand was a race against time with death. The
face of Dejah Thoris hung always before me. As I turned for a last look as I left the
palace garden I had seen her stagger and sink upon the ground beside the little incubator.
That she had dropped into the last coma which would end in death, if the air supply
remained unreplenished, I well knew, and so, throwing caution to the winds, I flung
overboard everything but the engine and compass, even to my ornaments, and lying on
my belly along the deck with one hand on the steering wheel and the other pushing the
speed lever to its last notch I split the thin air of dying Mars with the speed of a meteor.

An hour before dark the great walls of the atmosphere plant loomed suddenly before
me, and with a sickening thud I plunged to the ground before the small door which was
withholding the spark of life from the inhabitants of an entire planet.

Beside the door a great crew of men had been laboring to pierce the wall, but they
had scarcely scratched the flint-like surface, and now most of them lay in the last sleep
from which not even air would awaken them.

Conditions seemed much worse here than at Helium, and it was with difficulty that I
breathed at all. There were a few men still conscious, and to one of these I spoke.

"If I can open these doors is there a man who can start the engines?" I asked.

"I can," he replied, "if you open quickly. I can last but a few moments more. But it
is useless, they are both dead and no one else upon Barsoom knew the secret of these

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awful locks. For three days men crazed with fear have surged about this portal in vain
attempts to solve its mystery."

I had no time to talk, I was becoming very weak and it was with difficulty that I
controlled my mind at all.

But, with a final effort, as I sank weakly to my knees I hurled the nine thought
waves at that awful thing before me. The Martian had crawled to my side and with
staring eyes fixed on the single panel before us we waited in the silence of death.

Slowly the mighty door receded before us. I attempted to rise and follow it but I was
too weak.

"After it," I cried to my companion, "and if you reach the pump room turn loose all
the pumps. It is the only chance Barsoom has to exist tomorrow!"

From where I lay I opened the second door, and then the third, and as I saw the hope
of Barsoom crawling weakly on hands and knees through the last doorway I sank
unconscious upon the ground.

CHAPTER XXVIII

AT THE ARIZONA CAVE

It was dark when I opened my eyes again. Strange, stiff garments were upon my
body; garments that cracked and powdered away from me as I rose to a sitting posture.

I felt myself over from head to foot and from head to foot I was clothed, though
when I fell unconscious at the little doorway I had been naked. Before me was a small
patch of moonlit sky which showed through a ragged aperture.

As my hands passed over my body they came in contact with pockets and in one of
these a small parcel of matches wrapped in oiled paper. One of these matches I struck,
and its dim flame lighted up what appeared to be a huge cave, toward the back of which I
discovered a strange, still figure huddled over a tiny bench. As I approached it I saw that
it was the dead and mummified remains of a little old woman with long black hair, and
the thing it leaned over was a small charcoal burner upon which rested a round copper
vessel containing a small quantity of greenish powder.

Behind her, depending from the roof upon rawhide thongs, and stretching entirely
across the cave, was a row of human skeletons. From the thong which held them
stretched another to the dead hand of the little old woman; as I touched the cord the
skeletons swung to the motion with a noise as of the rustling of dry leaves.

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 It was a most grotesque and horrid tableau and I hastened out into the fresh air; glad
to escape from so gruesome a place.

The sight that met my eyes as I stepped out upon a small ledge which ran before the
entrance of the cave filled me with consternation.

A new heaven and a new landscape met my gaze. The silvered mountains in the
distance, the almost stationary moon hanging in the sky, the cacti-studded valley below
me were not of Mars. I could scarcely believe my eyes, but the truth slowly forced itself
upon me—I was looking upon Arizona from the same ledge from which ten years before
I had gazed with longing upon Mars.

Burying my head in my arms I turned, broken, and sorrowful, down the trail from
the cave.

Above me shone the red eye of Mars holding her awful secret, forty-eight million
miles away.

Did the Martian reach the pump room? Did the vitalizing air reach the people of that
distant planet in time to save them? Was my Dejah Thoris alive, or did her beautiful body
lie cold in death beside the tiny golden incubator in the sunken garden of the inner
courtyard of the palace of Tardos Mors, the jeddak of Helium?

For ten years I have waited and prayed for an answer to my questions. For ten years
I have waited and prayed to be taken back to the world of my lost love. I would rather lie
dead beside her there than live on Earth all those millions of terrible miles from her.

The old mine, which I found untouched, has made me fabulously wealthy; but what
care I for wealth!

As I sit here tonight in my little study overlooking the Hudson, just twenty years
have elapsed since I first opened my eyes upon Mars.

I can see her shining in the sky through the little window by my desk, and tonight
she seems calling to me again as she has not called before since that long dead night, and
I think I can see, across that awful abyss of space, a beautiful black-haired woman
standing in the garden of a palace, and at her side is a little boy who puts his arm around
her as she points into the sky toward the planet Earth, while at their feet is a huge and
hideous creature with a heart of gold.

I believe that they are waiting there for me, and something tells me that I shall soon
know.

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 Warlord of Mars

ON THE RIVER ISS

In the shadows of the forest that flanks the crimson plain by the side of the Lost Sea
of Korus in the Valley Dor, beneath the hurtling moons of Mars, speeding their meteoric
way close above the bosom of the dying planet, I crept stealthily along the trail of a
shadowy form that hugged the darker places with a persistency that proclaimed the
sinister nature of its errand.

For six long Martian months I had haunted the vicinity of the hateful Temple of the
Sun, within whose slow-revolving shaft, far beneath the surface of Mars, my princess lay
entombed—but whether alive or dead I knew not. Had Phaidor's slim blade found that
beloved heart? Time only would reveal the truth.

Six hundred and eighty-seven Martian days must come and go before the cell's door
would again come opposite the tunnel's end where last I had seen my ever-beautiful
Dejah Thoris.

Half of them had passed, or would on the morrow, yet vivid in my memory,
obliterating every event that had come before or after, there remained the last scene
before the gust of smoke blinded my eyes and the narrow slit that had given me sight of
the interior of her cell closed between me and the Princess of Helium for a long Martian
year.

As if it were yesterday, I still saw the beautiful face of Phaidor, daughter of Matai
Shang, distorted with jealous rage and hatred as she sprang forward with raised dagger
upon the woman I loved.

I saw the red girl, Thuvia of Ptarth, leap forward to prevent the hideous deed.

The smoke from the burning temple had come then to blot out the tragedy, but in
my ears rang the single shriek as the knife fell. Then silence, and when the smoke had
cleared, the revolving temple had shut off all sight or sound from the chamber in which
the three beautiful women were imprisoned.

Much there had been to occupy my attention since that terrible moment; but never
for an instant had the memory of the thing faded, and all the time that I could spare from
the numerous duties that had devolved upon me in the reconstruction of the government
of the First Born since our victorious fleet and land forces had overwhelmed them, had
been spent close to the grim shaft that held the mother of my boy, Carthoris of Helium.

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 The race of blacks that for ages had worshiped Issus, the false deity of Mars, had
been left in a state of chaos by my revealment of her as naught more than a wicked old
woman. In their rage they had torn her to pieces.

From the high pinnacle of their egotism the First Born had been plunged to the
depths of humiliation. Their deity was gone, and with her the whole false fabric of their
religion. Their vaunted navy had fallen in defeat before the superior ships and fighting
men of the red men of Helium.

Fierce green warriors from the ocher sea bottoms of outer Mars had ridden their
wild thoats across the sacred gardens of the Temple of Issus, and Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of
Thark, fiercest of them all, had sat upon the throne of Issus and ruled the First Born while
the allies were deciding the conquered nation's fate.

Almost unanimous was the request that I ascend the ancient throne of the black
men, even the First Born themselves concurring in it; but I would have none of it. My
heart could never be with the race that had heaped indignities upon my princess and my
son.

At my suggestion Xodar became Jeddak of the First Born. He had been a dator, or
prince, until Issus had degraded him, so that his fitness for the high office bestowed was
unquestioned.

The peace of the Valley Dor thus assured, the green warriors dispersed to their
desolate sea bottoms, while we of Helium returned to our own country. Here again was a
throne offered me, since no word had been received from the missing Jeddak of Helium,
Tardos Mors, grandfather of Dejah Thoris, or his son, Mors Kajak, Jed of Helium, her
father.

Over a year had elapsed since they had set out to explore the northern hemisphere in
search of Carthoris, and at last their disheartened people had accepted as truth the vague
rumors of their death that had filtered in from the frozen region of the pole.

Once again I refused a throne, for I would not believe that the mighty Tardos Mors,
or his no less redoubtable son, was dead.

"Let one of their own blood rule you until they return," I said to the assembled
nobles of Helium, as I addressed them from the Pedestal of Truth beside the Throne of
Righteousness in the Temple of Reward, from the very spot where I had stood a year
before when Zat Arras pronounced the sentence of death upon me.

As I spoke I stepped forward and laid my hand upon the shoulder of Carthoris
where he stood in the front rank of the circle of nobles about me.

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 As one, the nobles and the people lifted their voices in a long cheer of approbation.
Ten thousand swords sprang on high from as many scabbards, and the glorious fighting
men of ancient Helium hailed Carthoris Jeddak of Helium.

His tenure of office was to be for life or until his great-grandfather, or grandfather,
should return. Having thus satisfactorily arranged this important duty for Helium, I
started the following day for the Valley Dor that I might remain close to the Temple of
the Sun until the fateful day that should see the opening of the prison cell where my lost
love lay buried.

Hor Vastus and Kantos Kan, with my other noble lieutenants, I left with Carthoris at
Helium, that he might have the benefit of their wisdom, bravery, and loyalty in the
performance of the arduous duties which had devolved upon him. Only Woola, my
Martian hound, accompanied me.

At my heels tonight the faithful beast moved softly in my tracks. As large as a

Shetland pony, with hideous head and frightful fangs, he was indeed an awesome
spectacle, as he crept after me on his ten short, muscular legs; but to me he was the
embodiment of love and loyalty.

The figure ahead was that of the black dator of the First Born, Thurid, whose
undying enmity I had earned that time I laid him low with my bare hands in the courtyard
of the Temple of Issus, and bound him with his own harness before the noble men and
women who had but a moment before been extolling his prowess.

Like many of his fellows, he had apparently accepted the new order of things with
good grace, and had sworn fealty to Xodar, his new ruler; but I knew that he hated me,
and I was sure that in his heart he envied and hated Xodar, so I had kept a watch upon his
comings and goings, to the end that of late I had become convinced that he was occupied
with some manner of intrigue.

Several times I had observed him leaving the walled city of the First Born after
dark, taking his way out into the cruel and horrible Valley Dor, where no honest business
could lead any man.

Tonight he moved quickly along the edge of the forest until well beyond sight or
sound of the city, then he turned across the crimson sward toward the shore of the Lost
Sea of Korus.

The rays of the nearer moon, swinging low across the valley, touched his jewel-
incrusted harness with a thousand changing lights and glanced from the glossy ebony of
his smooth hide. Twice he turned his head back toward the forest, after the manner of one
who is upon an evil errand, though he must have felt quite safe from pursuit.

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 I did not dare follow him there beneath the moonlight, since it best suited my plans
not to interrupt his—I wished him to reach his destination unsuspecting, that I might
learn just where that destination lay and the business that awaited the night prowler there.

So it was that I remained hidden until after Thurid had disappeared over the edge of
the steep bank beside the sea a quarter of a mile away. Then, with Woola following, I
hastened across the open after the black dator.

The quiet of the tomb lay upon the mysterious valley of death, crouching deep in its
warm nest within the sunken area at the south pole of the dying planet. In the far distance
the Golden Cliffs raised their mighty barrier faces far into the starlit heavens, the
precious metals and scintillating jewels that composed them sparkling in the brilliant
light of Mars's two gorgeous moons.

At my back was the forest, pruned and trimmed like the sward to parklike symmetry
by the browsing of the ghoulish plant men.

Before me lay the Lost Sea of Korus, while farther on I caught the shimmering
ribbon of Iss, the River of Mystery, where it wound out from beneath the Golden Cliffs
to empty into Korus, to which for countless ages had been borne the deluded and
unhappy Martians of the outer world upon the voluntary pilgrimage to this false heaven.

The plant men, with their blood-sucking hands, and the monstrous white apes that
make Dor hideous by day, were hidden in their lairs for the night.

There was no longer a Holy Thern upon the balcony in the Golden Cliffs above the
Iss to summon them with weird cry to the victims floating down to their maws upon the
cold, broad bosom of ancient Iss.

The navies of Helium and the First Born had cleared the fortresses and the temples
of the therns when they had refused to surrender and accept the new order of things that
had swept their false religion from long-suffering Mars.

In a few isolated countries they still retained their age-old power; but Matai Shang,
their hekkador, Father of Therns, had been driven from his temple. Strenuous had been
our endeavors to capture him; but with a few of the faithful he had escaped, and was in
hiding—where we knew not.

As I came cautiously to the edge of the low cliff overlooking the Lost Sea of Korus
I saw Thurid pushing out upon the bosom of the shimmering water in a small skiff—one
of those strangely wrought craft of unthinkable age which the Holy Therns, with their
organization of priests and lesser therns, were wont to distribute along the banks of the
Iss, that the long journey of their victims might be facilitated.

Drawn up on the beach below me were a score of similar boats, each with its long
pole, at one end of which was a pike, at the other a paddle. Thurid was hugging the shore,

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and as he passed out of sight round a near-by promontory I shoved one of the boats into
the water and, calling Woola into it, pushed out from shore.

The pursuit of Thurid carried me along the edge of the sea toward the mouth of the
Iss. The farther moon lay close to the horizon, casting a dense shadow beneath the cliffs
that fringed the water. Thuria, the nearer moon, had set, nor would it rise again for near
four hours, so that I was ensured concealing darkness for that length of time at least.

On and on went the black warrior. Now he was opposite the mouth of the Iss.
Without an instant's hesitation he turned up the grim river, paddling hard against the
strong current.

After him came Woola and I, closer now, for the man was too intent upon forcing
his craft up the river to have any eyes for what might be transpiring behind him. He
hugged the shore where the current was less strong.

Presently he came to the dark cavernous portal in the face of the Golden Cliffs,
through which the river poured. On into the Stygian darkness beyond he urged his craft.

It seemed hopeless to attempt to follow him here where I could not see my hand
before my face, and I was almost on the point of giving up the pursuit and drifting back
to the mouth of the river, there to await his return, when a sudden bend showed a faint
luminosity ahead.

My quarry was plainly visible again, and in the increasing light from the
phosphorescent rock that lay embedded in great patches in the roughly arched roof of the
cavern I had no difficulty in following him.

It was my first trip upon the bosom of Iss, and the things I saw there will live
forever in my memory.

Terrible as they were, they could not have commenced to approximate the horrible
conditions which must have obtained before Tars Tarkas, the great green warrior, Xodar,
the black dator, and I brought the light of truth to the outer world and stopped the mad
rush of millions upon the voluntary pilgrimage to what they believed would end in a
beautiful valley of peace and happiness and love.

Even now the low islands which dotted the broad stream were choked with the
skeletons and half devoured carcasses of those who, through fear or a sudden awakening
to the truth, had halted almost at the completion of their journey.

In the awful stench of these frightful charnel isles haggard maniacs screamed and
gibbered and fought among the torn remnants of their grisly feasts; while on those which
contained but clean-picked bones they battled with one another, the weaker furnishing
sustenance for the stronger; or with clawlike hands clutched at the bloated bodies that
drifted down with the current.

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 Thurid paid not the slightest attention to the screaming things that either menaced or
pleaded with him as the mood directed them—evidently he was familiar with the horrid
sights that surrounded him. He continued up the river for perhaps a mile; and then,
crossing over to the left bank, drew his craft up on a low ledge that lay almost on a level
with the water.

I dared not follow across the stream, for he most surely would have seen me. Instead
I stopped close to the opposite wall beneath an overhanging mass of rock that cast a
dense shadow beneath it. Here I could watch Thurid without danger of discovery.

The black was standing upon the ledge beside his boat, looking up the river, as
though he were awaiting one whom he expected from that direction.

As I lay there beneath the dark rocks I noticed that a strong current seemed to flow
directly toward the center of the river, so that it was difficult to hold my craft in its
position. I edged farther into the shadow that I might find a hold upon the bank; but,
though I proceeded several yards, I touched nothing; and then, finding that I would soon
reach a point from where I could no longer see the black man, I was compelled to remain
where I was, holding my position as best I could by paddling strongly against the current
which flowed from beneath the rocky mass behind me.

I could not imagine what might cause this strong lateral flow, for the main channel
of the river was plainly visible to me from where I sat, and I could see the rippling
junction of it and the mysterious current which had aroused my curiosity.

While I was still speculating upon the phenomenon, my attention was suddenly
riveted upon Thurid, who had raised both palms forward above his head in the universal
salute of Martians, and a moment later his "Kaor!" the Barsoomian word of greeting,
came in low but distinct tones.

I turned my eyes up the river in the direction that his were bent, and presently there
came within my limited range of vision a long boat, in which were six men. Five were at
the paddles, while the sixth sat in the seat of honor.

The white skins, the flowing yellow wigs which covered their bald pates, and the
gorgeous diadems set in circlets of gold about their heads marked them as Holy Therns.

As they drew up beside the ledge upon which Thurid awaited them, he in the bow of
the boat arose to step ashore, and then I saw that it was none other than Matai Shang,
Father of Therns.

The evident cordiality with which the two men exchanged greetings filled me with
wonder, for the black and white men of Barsoom were hereditary enemies—nor ever
before had I known of two meeting other than in battle.

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 Evidently the reverses that had recently overtaken both peoples had resulted in an
alliance between these two individuals—at least against the common enemy—and now I
saw why Thurid had come so often out into the Valley Dor by night, and that the nature
of his conspiring might be such as to strike very close to me or to my friends.

I wished that I might have found a point closer to the two men from which to have
heard their conversation; but it was out of the question now to attempt to cross the river,
and so I lay quietly watching them, who would have given so much to have known how
close I lay to them, and how easily they might have overcome and killed me with their
superior force.

Several times Thurid pointed across the river in my direction, but that his gestures
had any reference to me I did not for a moment believe. Presently he and Matai Shang
entered the latter's boat, which turned out into the river and, swinging round, forged
steadily across in my direction.

As they advanced I moved my boat farther and farther in beneath the overhanging
wall, but at last it became evident that their craft was holding the same course. The five
paddlers sent the larger boat ahead at a speed that taxed my energies to equal.

Every instant I expected to feel my prow crash against solid rock. The light from the
river was no longer visible, but ahead I saw the faint tinge of a distant radiance, and still
the water before me was open.

At last the truth dawned upon me—I was following a subterranean river which
emptied into the Iss at the very point where I had hidden.

The rowers were now quite close to me. The noise of their own paddles drowned the
sound of mine, but in another instant the growing light ahead would reveal me to them.

There was no time to be lost. Whatever action I was to take must be taken at once.
Swinging the prow of my boat toward the right, I sought the river's rocky side, and there
I lay while Matai Shang and Thurid approached up the center of the stream, which was
much narrower than the Iss.

As they came nearer I heard the voices of Thurid and the Father of Therns raised in
argument.

"I tell you, Thern," the black dator was saying, "that I wish only vengeance upon
John Carter, Prince of Helium. I am leading you into no trap. What could I gain by
betraying you to those who have ruined my nation and my house?"

"Let us stop here a moment that I may hear your plans," replied the hekkador, "and
then we may proceed with a better understanding of our duties and obligations."

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 To the rowers he issued the command that brought their boat in toward the bank not
a dozen paces beyond the spot where I lay.

Had they pulled in below me they must surely have seen me against the faint glow
of light ahead, but from where they finally came to rest I was as secure from detection as
though miles separated us.

The few words I had already overheard whetted my curiosity, and I was anxious to
learn what manner of vengeance Thurid was planning against me. Nor had I long to wait.
I listened intently.

"There are no obligations, Father of Therns," continued the First Born. "Thurid,
Dator of Issus, has no price. When the thing has been accomplished I shall be glad if you
will see to it that I am well received, as is befitting my ancient lineage and noble rank, at
some court that is yet loyal to thy ancient faith, for I cannot return to the Valley Dor or
elsewhere within the power of the Prince of Helium; but even that I do not demand—it
shall be as your own desire in the matter directs."

"It shall be as you wish, Dator," replied Matai Shang; "nor is that all—power and
riches shall be yours if you restore my daughter, Phaidor, to me, and place within my
power Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium.

"Ah," he continued with a malicious snarl, "but the Earth man shall suffer for the
indignities he has put upon the holy of holies, nor shall any vileness be too vile to inflict
upon his princess. Would that it were in my power to force him to witness the
humiliation and degradation of the red woman."

"You shall have your way with her before another day has passed, Matai Shang,"
said Thurid, "if you but say the word."

"I have heard of the Temple of the Sun, Dator," replied Matai Shang, "but never
have I heard that its prisoners could be released before the allotted year of their
incarceration had elapsed. How, then, may you accomplish the impossible?"

"Access may be had to any cell of the temple at any time," replied Thurid. "Only
Issus knew this; nor was it ever Issus' way to divulge more of her secrets than were
necessary. By chance, after her death, I came upon an ancient plan of the temple, and
there I found, plainly writ, the most minute directions for reaching the cells at any time.

"And more I learned—that many men had gone thither for Issus in the past, always
on errands of death and torture to the prisoners; but those who thus learned the secret
way were wont to die mysteriously immediately they had returned and made their reports
to cruel Issus."

"Let us proceed, then," said Matai Shang at last. "I must trust you, yet at the same
time you must trust me, for we are six to your one."

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 "I do not fear," replied Thurid, "nor need you. Our hatred of the common enemy is
sufficient bond to insure our loyalty to each other, and after we have defiled the Princess
of Helium there will be still greater reason for the maintenance of our allegiance—unless
I greatly mistake the temper of her lord."

Matai Shang spoke to the paddlers. The boat moved on up the tributary.

It was with difficulty that I restrained myself from rushing upon them and slaying
the two vile plotters; but quickly I saw the mad rashness of such an act, which would cut
down the only man who could lead the way to Dejah Thoris' prison before the long
Martian year had swung its interminable circle.

If he should lead Matai Shang to that hollowed spot, then, too, should he lead John
Carter, Prince of Helium.

With silent paddle I swung slowly into the wake of the larger craft.

UNDER THE MOUNTAINS

As we advanced up the river which winds beneath the Golden Cliffs out of the
bowels of the Mountains of Otz to mingle its dark waters with the grim and mysterious
Iss the faint glow which had appeared before us grew gradually into an all-enveloping
radiance.

The river widened until it presented the aspect of a large lake whose vaulted dome,
lighted by glowing phosphorescent rock, was splashed with the vivid rays of the
diamond, the sapphire, the ruby, and the countless, nameless jewels of Barsoom which
lay incrusted in the virgin gold which forms the major portion of these magnificent cliffs.

Beyond the lighted chamber of the lake was darkness—what lay behind the
darkness I could not even guess.

To have followed the thern boat across the gleaming water would have been to
invite instant detection, and so, though I was loath to permit Thurid to pass even for an
instant beyond my sight, I was forced to wait in the shadows until the other boat had
passed from my sight at the far extremity of the lake.

Then I paddled out upon the brilliant surface in the direction they had taken.

When, after what seemed an eternity, I reached the shadows at the upper end of the
lake I found that the river issued from a low aperture, to pass beneath which it was
necessary that I compel Woola to lie flat in the boat, and I, myself, must need bend
double before the low roof cleared my head.

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 Immediately the roof rose again upon the other side, but no longer was the way
brilliantly lighted. Instead only a feeble glow emanated from small and scattered patches
of phosphorescent rock in wall and roof.

Directly before me the river ran into this smaller chamber through three separate
arched openings.

Thurid and the therns were nowhere to be seen—into which of the dark holes had
they disappeared? There was no means by which I might know, and so I chose the center
opening as being as likely to lead me in the right direction as another.

Here the way was through utter darkness. The stream was narrow—so narrow that
in the blackness I was constantly bumping first one rock wall and then another as the
river wound hither and thither along its flinty bed.

Far ahead I presently heard a deep and sullen roar which increased in volume as I
advanced, and then broke upon my ears with all the intensity of its mad fury as I swung
round a sharp curve into a dimly lighted stretch of water.

Directly before me the river thundered down from above in a mighty waterfall that
filled the narrow gorge from side to side, rising far above me several hundred feet—as
magnificent a spectacle as I ever had seen.

But the roar—the awful, deafening roar of those tumbling waters penned in the
rocky, subterranean vault! Had the fall not entirely blocked my further passage and
shown me that I had followed the wrong course I believe that I should have fled anyway
before the maddening tumult.

Thurid and the therns could not have come this way. By stumbling upon the wrong
course I had lost the trail, and they had gained so much ahead of me that now I might not
be able to find them before it was too late, if, in fact, I could find them at all.

It had taken several hours to force my way up to the falls against the strong current,
and other hours would be required for the descent, although the pace would be much
swifter.

With a sigh I turned the prow of my craft down stream, and with mighty strokes
hastened with reckless speed through the dark and tortuous channel until once again I
came to the chamber into which flowed the three branches of the river.

Two unexplored channels still remained from which to choose; nor was there any
means by which I could judge which was the more likely to lead me to the plotters.

Never in my life, that I can recall, have I suffered such an agony of indecision. So
much depended upon a correct choice; so much depended upon haste.

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 The hours that I had already lost might seal the fate of the incomparable Dejah
Thoris were she not already dead—to sacrifice other hours, and maybe days in a fruitless
exploration of another blind lead would unquestionably prove fatal.

Several times I essayed the right-hand entrance only to turn back as though warned
by some strange intuitive sense that this was not the way. At last, convinced by the oft-
recurring phenomenon, I cast my all upon the left-hand archway; yet it was with a
lingering doubt that I turned a parting look at the sullen waters which rolled, dark and
forbidding, from beneath the grim, low archway on the right.

And as I looked there came bobbing out upon the current from the Stygian darkness
of the interior the shell of one of the great, succulent fruits of the sorapus tree.

I could scarce restrain a shout of elation as this silent, insensate messenger floated
past me, on toward the Iss and Korus, for it told me that journeying Martians were above
me on that very stream.

They had eaten of this marvelous fruit which nature concentrates within the hard
shell of the sorapus nut, and having eaten had cast the husk overboard. It could have
come from no others than the party I sought.

Quickly I abandoned all thought of the left-hand passage, and a moment later had
turned into the right. The stream soon widened, and recurring areas of phosphorescent
rock lighted my way.

I made good time, but was convinced that I was nearly a day behind those I was
tracking. Neither Woola nor I had eaten since the previous day, but in so far as he was
concerned it mattered but little, since practically all the animals of the dead sea bottoms
of Mars are able to go for incredible periods without nourishment.

Nor did I suffer. The water of the river was sweet and cold, for it was unpolluted by
decaying bodies—like the Iss—and as for food, why the mere thought that I was nearing
my beloved princess raised me above every material want.

As I proceeded, the river became narrower and the current swift and turbulent—so
swift in fact that it was with difficulty that I forced my craft upward at all. I could not
have been making to exceed a hundred yards an hour when, at a bend, I was confronted
by a series of rapids through which the river foamed and boiled at a terrific rate.

My heart sank within me. The sorapus nutshell had proved a false prophet, and,
after all, my intuition had been correct—it was the left-hand channel that I should have
followed.

Had I been a woman I should have wept. At my right was a great, slow-moving
eddy that circled far beneath the cliff's overhanging side, and to rest my tired muscles
before turning back I let my boat drift into its embrace.

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 I was almost prostrated by disappointment. It would mean another half-day's loss of
time to retrace my way and take the only passage that yet remained unexplored. What
hellish fate had led me to select from three possible avenues the two that were wrong?

As the lazy current of the eddy carried me slowly about the periphery of the watery
circle my boat twice touched the rocky side of the river in the dark recess beneath the
cliff. A third time it struck, gently as it had before, but the contact resulted in a different
sound—the sound of wood scraping upon wood.

In an instant I was on the alert, for there could be no wood within that buried river
that had not been man brought. Almost coincidentally with my first apprehension of the
noise, my hand shot out across the boat's side, and a second later I felt my fingers
gripping the gunwale of another craft.

As though turned to stone I sat in tense and rigid silence, straining my eyes into the
utter darkness before me in an effort to discover if the boat were occupied.

It was entirely possible that there might be men on board it who were still ignorant
of my presence, for the boat was scraping gently against the rocks upon one side, so that
the gentle touch of my boat upon the other easily could have gone unnoticed.

Peer as I would I could not penetrate the darkness, and then I listened intently for
the sound of breathing near me; but except for the noise of the rapids, the soft scraping of
the boats, and the lapping of the water at their sides I could distinguish no sound. As
usual, I thought rapidly.

A rope lay coiled in the bottom of my own craft. Very softly I gathered it up, and
making one end fast to the bronze ring in the prow I stepped gingerly into the boat beside
me. In one hand I grasped the rope, in the other my keen long-sword.

For a full minute, perhaps, I stood motionless after entering the strange craft. It had
rocked a trifle beneath my weight, but it had been the scraping of its side against the side
of my own boat that had seemed most likely to alarm its occupants, if there were any.

But there was no answering sound, and a moment later I had felt from stem to stern
and found the boat deserted.

Groping with my hands along the face of the rocks to which the craft was moored, I
discovered a narrow ledge which I knew must be the avenue taken by those who had
come before me. That they could be none other than Thurid and his party I was
convinced by the size and build of the boat I had found.

Calling to Woola to follow me I stepped out upon the ledge. The great, savage
brute, agile as a cat, crept after me.

144
 As he passed through the boat that had been occupied by Thurid and the therns he
emitted a single low growl, and when he came beside me upon the ledge and my hand
rested upon his neck I felt his short mane bristling with anger. I think he sensed
telepathically the recent presence of an enemy, for I had made no effort to impart to him
the nature of our quest or the status of those we tracked.

This omission I now made haste to correct, and, after the manner of green Martians
with their beasts, I let him know partially by the weird and uncanny telepathy of
Barsoom and partly by word of mouth that we were upon the trail of those who had
recently occupied the boat through which we had just passed.

A soft purr, like that of a great cat, indicated that Woola understood, and then, with
a word to him to follow, I turned to the right along the ledge, but scarcely had I done so
than I felt his mighty fangs tugging at my leathern harness.

As I turned to discover the cause of his act he continued to pull me steadily in the
opposite direction, nor would he desist until I had turned about and indicated that I would
follow him voluntarily.

Never had I known him to be in error in a matter of tracking, so it was with a feeling
of entire security that I moved cautiously in the huge beast's wake. Through Cimmerian
darkness he moved along the narrow ledge beside the boiling rapids.

As we advanced, the way led from beneath the overhanging cliffs out into a dim
light, and then it was that I saw that the trail had been cut from the living rock, and that it
ran up along the river's side beyond the rapids.

For hours we followed the dark and gloomy river farther and farther into the bowels
of Mars. From the direction and distance I knew that we must be well beneath the Valley
Dor, and possibly beneath the Sea of Omean as well—it could not be much farther now
to the Temple of the Sun.

Even as my mind framed the thought, Woola halted suddenly before a narrow,
arched doorway in the cliff by the trail's side. Quickly he crouched back away from the
entrance, at the same time turning his eyes toward me.

Words could not have more plainly told me that danger of some sort lay near by,
and so I pressed quietly forward to his side, and passing him looked into the aperture at
our right.

Before me was a fair-sized chamber that, from its appointments, I knew must have
at one time been a guardroom. There were racks for weapons, and slightly raised
platforms for the sleeping silks and furs of the warriors, but now its only occupants were
two of the therns who had been of the party with Thurid and Matai Shang.

145
 The men were in earnest conversation, and from their tones it was apparent that they
were entirely unaware that they had listeners.

"I tell you," one of them was saying, "I do not trust the black one. There was no
necessity for leaving us here to guard the way. Against what, pray, should we guard this
long-forgotten, abysmal path? It was but a ruse to divide our numbers.

"He will have Matai Shang leave others elsewhere on some pretext or other, and
then at last he will fall upon us with his confederates and slay us all."

"I believe you, Lakor," replied the other, "there can never be aught else than deadly
hatred between thern and First Born. And what think you of the ridiculous matter of the
light? 'Let the light shine with the intensity of three radium units for fifty tals, and for one
xat let it shine with the intensity of one radium unit, and then for twenty-five tals with
nine units.' Those were his very words, and to think that wise old Matai Shang should
listen to such foolishness."

"Indeed, it is silly," replied Lakor. "It will open nothing other than the way to a
quick death for us all. He had to make some answer when Matai Shang asked him flatly
what he should do when he came to the Temple of the Sun, and so he made his answer
quickly from his imagination—I would wager a hekkador's diadem that he could not now
repeat it himself."

"Let us not remain here longer, Lakor," spoke the other thern. "Perchance if we
hasten after them we may come in time to rescue Matai Shang, and wreak our own
vengeance upon the black dator. What say you?"

"Never in a long life," answered Lakor, "have I disobeyed a single command of the
Father of Therns. I shall stay here until I rot if he does not return to bid me elsewhere."

Lakor's companion shook his head.

"You are my superior," he said; "I cannot do other than you sanction, though I still
believe that we are foolish to remain."

I, too, thought that they were foolish to remain, for I saw from Woola's actions that
the trail led through the room where the two therns held guard. I had no reason to harbor
any considerable love for this race of self-deified demons, yet I would have passed them
by were it possible without molesting them.

It was worth trying anyway, for a fight might delay us considerably, or even put an
end entirely to my search—better men than I have gone down before fighters of meaner
ability than that possessed by the fierce thern warriors.

146
 Signaling Woola to heel I stepped suddenly into the room before the two men. At
sight of me their long-swords flashed from the harness at their sides, but I raised my hand
in a gesture of restraint.

"I seek Thurid, the black dator," I said. "My quarrel is with him, not with you. Let
me pass then in peace, for if I mistake not he is as much your enemy as mine, and you
can have no cause to protect him."

They lowered their swords and Lakor spoke.

"I know not whom you may be, with the white skin of a thern and the black hair of a
red man; but were it only Thurid whose safety were at stake you might pass, and
welcome, in so far as we be concerned.

"Tell us who you be, and what mission calls you to this unknown world beneath the
Valley Dor, then maybe we can see our way to let you pass upon the errand which we
should like to undertake would our orders permit."

I was surprised that neither of them had recognized me, for I thought that I was
quite sufficiently well known either by personal experience or reputation to every thern
upon Barsoom as to make my identity immediately apparent in any part of the planet. In
fact, I was the only white man upon Mars whose hair was black and whose eyes were
gray, with the exception of my son, Carthoris.

To reveal my identity might be to precipitate an attack, for every thern upon

Barsoom knew that to me they owed the fall of their age-old spiritual supremacy. On the
other hand my reputation as a fighting man might be sufficient to pass me by these two
were their livers not of the right complexion to welcome a battle to the death.

To be quite candid I did not attempt to delude myself with any such sophistry, since
I knew well that upon war-like Mars there are few cowards, and that every man, whether
prince, priest, or peasant, glories in deadly strife. And so I gripped my long-sword the
tighter as I replied to Lakor.

"I believe that you will see the wisdom of permitting me to pass unmolested," I said,
"for it would avail you nothing to die uselessly in the rocky bowels of Barsoom merely to
protect a hereditary enemy, such as Thurid, Dator of the First Born.

"That you shall die should you elect to oppose me is evidenced by the moldering
corpses of all the many great Barsoomian warriors who have gone down beneath this
blade—I am John Carter, Prince of Helium."

For a moment that name seemed to paralyze the two men; but only for a moment,
and then the younger of them, with a vile name upon his lips, rushed toward me with
ready sword.

147
 He had been standing a little behind his companion, Lakor, during our parley, and
now, ere he could engage me, the older man grasped his harness and drew him back.

"Hold!" commanded Lakor. "There will be plenty of time to fight if we find it wise
to fight at all. There be good reasons why every thern upon Barsoom should yearn to spill
the blood of the blasphemer, the sacrilegist; but let us mix wisdom with our righteous
hate. The Prince of Helium is bound upon an errand which we ourselves, but a moment
since, were wishing that we might undertake.

"Let him go then and slay the black. When he returns we shall still be here to bar his
way to the outer world, and thus we shall have rid ourselves of two enemies, nor have
incurred the displeasure of the Father of Therns."

As he spoke I could not but note the crafty glint in his evil eyes, and while I saw the
apparent logic of his reasoning I felt, subconsciously perhaps, that his words did but veil
some sinister intent. The other thern turned toward him in evident surprise, but when
Lakor had whispered a few brief words into his ear he, too, drew back and nodded
acquiescence to his superior's suggestion.

"Proceed, John Carter," said Lakor; "but know that if Thurid does not lay you low
there will be those awaiting your return who will see that you never pass again into the
sunlight of the upper world. Go!"

During our conversation Woola had been growling and bristling close to my side.
Occasionally he would look up into my face with a low, pleading whine, as though
begging for the word that would send him headlong at the bare throats before him. He,
too, sensed the villainy behind the smooth words.

Beyond the therns several doorways opened off the guardroom, and toward the one
upon the extreme right Lakor motioned.

"That way leads to Thurid," he said.

But when I would have called Woola to follow me there the beast whined and held
back, and at last ran quickly to the first opening at the left, where he stood emitting his
coughing bark, as though urging me to follow him upon the right way.

I turned a questioning look upon Lakor.

"The brute is seldom wrong," I said, "and while I do not doubt your superior
knowledge, Thern, I think that I shall do well to listen to the voice of instinct that is
backed by love and loyalty."

As I spoke I smiled grimly that he might know without words that I distrusted him.

"As you will," the fellow replied with a shrug. "In the end it shall be all the same."

148
 I turned and followed Woola into the left-hand passage, and though my back was
toward my enemies, my ears were on the alert; yet I heard no sound of pursuit. The
passageway was dimly lighted by occasional radium bulbs, the universal lighting
medium of Barsoom.

These same lamps may have been doing continuous duty in these subterranean
chambers for ages, since they require no attention and are so compounded that they give
off but the minutest of their substance in the generation of years of luminosity.

We had proceeded for but a short distance when we commenced to pass the mouths
of diverging corridors, but not once did Woola hesitate. It was at the opening to one of
these corridors upon my right that I presently heard a sound that spoke more plainly to
John Carter, fighting man, than could the words of my mother tongue—it was the clank
of metal—the metal of a warrior's harness—and it came from a little distance up the
corridor upon my right.

Woola heard it, too, and like a flash he had wheeled and stood facing the threatened
danger, his mane all abristle and all his rows of glistening fangs bared by snarling,
backdrawn lips. With a gesture I silenced him, and together we drew aside into another
corridor a few paces farther on.

Here we waited; nor did we have long to wait, for presently we saw the shadows of
two men fall upon the floor of the main corridor athwart the doorway of our hiding place.
Very cautiously they were moving now—the accidental clank that had alarmed me was
not repeated.

Presently they came opposite our station; nor was I surprised to see that the two
were Lakor and his companion of the guardroom.

They walked very softly, and in the right hand of each gleamed a keen long-sword.
They halted quite close to the entrance of our retreat, whispering to each other.

"Can it be that we have distanced them already?" said Lakor.

"Either that or the beast has led the man upon a wrong trail," replied the other, "for
the way which we took is by far the shorter to this point—for him who knows it. John
Carter would have found it a short road to death had he taken it as you suggested to him."

"Yes," said Lakor, "no amount of fighting ability would have saved him from the
pivoted flagstone. He surely would have stepped upon it, and by now, if the pit beneath it
has a bottom, which Thurid denies, he should have been rapidly approaching it. Curses
on that calot of his that warned him toward the safer avenue!"

"There be other dangers ahead of him, though," spoke Lakor's fellow, "which he
may not so easily escape—should he succeed in escaping our two good swords.

149
Consider, for example, what chance he will have, coming unexpectedly into the chamber
of—"

I would have given much to have heard the balance of that conversation that I might
have been warned of the perils that lay ahead, but fate intervened, and just at the very
instant of all other instants that I would not have elected to do it, I sneezed.

THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN

There was nothing for it now other than to fight; nor did I have any advantage as I
sprang, sword in hand, into the corridor before the two therns, for my untimely sneeze
had warned them of my presence and they were ready for me.

There were no words, for they would have been a waste of breath. The very
presence of the two proclaimed their treachery. That they were following to fall upon me
unawares was all too plain, and they, of course, must have known that I understood their
plan.

In an instant I was engaged with both, and though I loathe the very name of thern, I
must in all fairness admit that they are mighty swordsmen; and these two were no
exception, unless it were that they were even more skilled and fearless than the average
among their race.

While it lasted it was indeed as joyous a conflict as I ever had experienced. Twice at
least I saved my breast from the mortal thrust of piercing steel only by the wondrous
agility with which my earthly muscles endow me under the conditions of lesser gravity
and air pressure upon Mars.

Yet even so I came near to tasting death that day in the gloomy corridor beneath
Mars's southern pole, for Lakor played a trick upon me that in all my experience of
fighting upon two planets I never before had witnessed the like of.

The other thern was engaging me at the time, and I was forcing him back—touching
him here and there with my point until he was bleeding from a dozen wounds, yet not
being able to penetrate his marvelous guard to reach a vulnerable spot for the brief instant
that would have been sufficient to send him to his ancestors.

It was then that Lakor quickly unslung a belt from his harness, and as I stepped back
to parry a wicked thrust he lashed one end of it about my left ankle so that it wound there
for an instant, while he jerked suddenly upon the other end, throwing me heavily upon
my back.

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 Then, like leaping panthers, they were upon me; but they had reckoned without
Woola, and before ever a blade touched me, a roaring embodiment of a thousand demons
hurtled above my prostrate form and my loyal Martian calot was upon them.

Imagine, if you can, a huge grizzly with ten legs armed with mighty talons and an
enormous froglike mouth splitting his head from ear to ear, exposing three rows of long,
white tusks. Then endow this creature of your imagination with the agility and ferocity of
a half-starved Bengal tiger and the strength of a span of bulls, and you will have some
faint conception of Woola in action.

Before I could call him off he had crushed Lakor into a jelly with a single blow of
one mighty paw, and had literally torn the other thern to ribbons; yet when I spoke to him
sharply he cowed sheepishly as though he had done a thing to deserve censure and
chastisement.

Never had I had the heart to punish Woola during the long years that had passed
since that first day upon Mars when the green jed of the Tharks had placed him on guard
over me, and I had won his love and loyalty from the cruel and loveless masters of his
former life, yet I believe he would have submitted to any cruelty that I might have
inflicted upon him, so wondrous was his affection for me.

The diadem in the center of the circlet of gold upon the brow of Lakor proclaimed
him a Holy Thern, while his companion, not thus adorned, was a lesser thern, though
from his harness I gleaned that he had reached the Ninth Cycle, which is but one below
that of the Holy Therns.

As I stood for a moment looking at the gruesome havoc Woola had wrought, there
recurred to me the memory of that other occasion upon which I had masqueraded in the
wig, diadem, and harness of Sator Throg, the Holy Thern whom Thuvia of Ptarth had
slain, and now it occurred to me that it might prove of worth to utilize Lakor's trappings
for the same purpose.

A moment later I had torn his yellow wig from his bald pate and transferred it and
the circlet, as well as all his harness, to my own person.

Woola did not approve of the metamorphosis. He sniffed at me and growled

ominously, but when I spoke to him and patted his huge head he at length became
reconciled to the change, and at my command trotted off along the corridor in the
direction we had been going when our progress had been interrupted by the therns.

We moved cautiously now, warned by the fragment of conversation I had

overheard. I kept abreast of Woola that we might have the benefit of all our eyes for what
might appear suddenly ahead to menace us, and well it was that we were forewarned.

At the bottom of a flight of narrow steps the corridor turned sharply back upon
itself, immediately making another turn in the original direction, so that at that point it

151
formed a perfect letter S, the top leg of which debouched suddenly into a large chamber,
illy lighted, and the floor of which was completely covered by venomous snakes and
loathsome reptiles.

To have attempted to cross that floor would have been to court instant death, and for
a moment I was almost completely discouraged. Then it occurred to me that Thurid and
Matai Shang with their party must have crossed it, and so there was a way.

Had it not been for the fortunate accident by which I overheard even so small a
portion of the therns' conversation we should have blundered at least a step or two into
that wriggling mass of destruction, and a single step would have been all-sufficient to
have sealed our doom.

These were the only reptiles I had ever seen upon Barsoom, but I knew from their
similarity to the fossilized remains of supposedly extinct species I had seen in the
museums of Helium that they comprised many of the known prehistoric reptilian genera,
as well as others undiscovered.

A more hideous aggregation of monsters had never before assailed my vision. It

would be futile to attempt to describe them to Earth men, since substance is the only
thing which they possess in common with any creature of the past or present with which
you are familiar—even their venom is of an unearthly virulence that, by comparison,
would make the cobra de capello seem quite as harmless as an angleworm.

As they spied me there was a concerted rush by those nearest the entrance where we
stood, but a line of radium bulbs inset along the threshold of their chamber brought them
to a sudden halt—evidently they dared not cross that line of light.

I had been quite sure that they would not venture beyond the room in which I had
discovered them, though I had not guessed at what deterred them. The simple fact that we
had found no reptiles in the corridor through which we had just come was sufficient
assurance that they did not venture there.

I drew Woola out of harm's way, and then began a careful survey of as much of the
Chamber of Reptiles as I could see from where I stood. As my eyes became accustomed
to the dim light of its interior I gradually made out a low gallery at the far end of the
apartment from which opened several exits.

Coming as close to the threshold as I dared, I followed this gallery with my eyes,
discovering that it circled the room as far as I could see. Then I glanced above me along
the upper edge of the entrance to which we had come, and there, to my delight, I saw an
end of the gallery not a foot above my head. In an instant I had leaped to it and called
Woola after me.

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 Here there were no reptiles—the way was clear to the opposite side of the hideous
chamber—and a moment later Woola and I dropped down to safety in the corridor
beyond.

Not ten minutes later we came into a vast circular apartment of white marble, the
walls of which were inlaid with gold in the strange hieroglyphics of the First Born.

From the high dome of this mighty apartment a huge circular column extended to
the floor, and as I watched I saw that it slowly revolved.

I had reached the base of the Temple of the Sun!

Somewhere above me lay Dejah Thoris, and with her were Phaidor, daughter of
Matai Shang, and Thuvia of Ptarth. But how to reach them, now that I had found the only
vulnerable spot in their mighty prison, was still a baffling riddle.

Slowly I circled the great shaft, looking for a means of ingress. Part way around I
found a tiny radium flash torch, and as I examined it in mild curiosity as to its presence
there in this almost inaccessible and unknown spot, I came suddenly upon the insignia of
the house of Thurid jewel-inset in its metal case.

I am upon the right trail, I thought, as I slipped the bauble into the pocket-pouch
which hung from my harness. Then I continued my search for the entrance, which I knew
must be somewhere about; nor had I long to search, for almost immediately thereafter I
came upon a small door so cunningly inlaid in the shaft's base that it might have passed
unnoticed by a less keen or careful observer.

There was the door that would lead me within the prison, but where was the means
to open it? No button or lock were visible. Again and again I went carefully over every
square inch of its surface, but the most that I could find was a tiny pinhole a little above
and to the right of the door's center—a pinhole that seemed only an accident of
manufacture or an imperfection of material.

Into this minute aperture I attempted to peer, but whether it was but a fraction of an
inch deep or passed completely through the door I could not tell—at least no light
showed beyond it. I put my ear to it next and listened, but again my efforts brought
negligible results.

During these experiments Woola had been standing at my side gazing intently at the
door, and as my glance fell upon him it occurred to me to test the correctness of my
hypothesis, that this portal had been the means of ingress to the temple used by Thurid,
the black dator, and Matai Shang, Father of Therns.

Turning away abruptly, I called to him to follow me. For a moment he hesitated,
and then leaped after me, whining and tugging at my harness to draw me back. I walked

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on, however, some distance from the door before I let him have his way, that I might see
precisely what he would do. Then I permitted him to lead me wherever he would.

Straight back to that baffling portal he dragged me, again taking up his position
facing the blank stone, gazing straight at its shining surface. For an hour I worked to
solve the mystery of the combination that would open the way before me.

Carefully I recalled every circumstance of my pursuit of Thurid, and my conclusion

was identical with my original belief—that Thurid had come this way without other
assistance than his own knowledge and passed through the door that barred my progress,
unaided from within. But how had he accomplished it?

I recalled the incident of the Chamber of Mystery in the Golden Cliffs that time I
had freed Thuvia of Ptarth from the dungeon of the therns, and she had taken a slender,
needle-like key from the keyring of her dead jailer to open the door leading back into the
Chamber of Mystery where Tars Tarkas fought for his life with the great banths. Such a
tiny keyhole as now defied me had opened the way to the intricate lock in that other door.

Hastily I dumped the contents of my pocket-pouch upon the ground before me.
Could I but find a slender bit of steel I might yet fashion a key that would give me
ingress to the temple prison.

As I examined the heterogeneous collection of odds and ends that is always to be

found in the pocket-pouch of a Martian warrior my hand fell upon the emblazoned
radium flash torch of the black dator.

As I was about to lay the thing aside as of no value in my present predicament my

eyes chanced upon a few strange characters roughly and freshly scratched upon the soft
gold of the case.

Casual curiosity prompted me to decipher them, but what I read carried no

immediate meaning to my mind. There were three sets of characters, one below another:

3 |—| 50 T
1 |—| 1 X
9 |—| 25 T

For only an instant my curiosity was piqued, and then I replaced the torch in my
pocket-pouch, but my fingers had not unclasped from it when there rushed to my
memory the recollection of the conversation between Lakor and his companion when the
lesser thern had quoted the words of Thurid and scoffed at them: "And what think you of
the ridiculous matter of the light? Let the light shine with the intensity of three radium
units for fifty tals"—ah, there was the first line of characters upon the torch's metal
case—3—50 T; "and for one xat let it shine with the intensity of one radium unit"—there
was the second line; "and then for twenty-five tals with nine units."

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 The formula was complete; but—what did it mean?

I thought I knew, and, seizing a powerful magnifying glass from the litter of my
pocket-pouch, I applied myself to a careful examination of the marble immediately about
the pinhole in the door. I could have cried aloud in exultation when my scrutiny disclosed
the almost invisible incrustation of particles of carbonized electrons which are thrown off
by these Martian torches.

It was evident that for countless ages radium torches had been applied to this
pinhole, and for what purpose there could be but a single answer—the mechanism of the
lock was actuated by light rays; and I, John Carter, Prince of Helium, held the
combination in my hand—scratched by the hand of my enemy upon his own torch case.

In a cylindrical bracelet of gold about my wrist was my Barsoomian chronometer—

a delicate instrument that records the tals and xats and zodes of Martian time, presenting
them to view beneath a strong crystal much after the manner of an earthly odometer.

Timing my operations carefully, I held the torch to the small aperture in the door,
regulating the intensity of the light by means of the thumb-lever upon the side of the
case.

For fifty tals I let three units of light shine full in the pinhole, then one unit for one
xat, and for twenty-five tals nine units. Those last twenty-five tals were the longest
twenty-five seconds of my life. Would the lock click at the end of those seemingly
interminable intervals of time?

Twenty-three! Twenty-four! Twenty-five!

I shut off the light with a snap. For seven tals I waited—there had been no
appreciable effect upon the lock's mechanism. Could it be that my theory was entirely
wrong?

Hold! Had the nervous strain resulted in a hallucination, or did the door really
move? Slowly the solid stone sank noiselessly back into the wall—there was no
hallucination here.

Back and back it slid for ten feet until it had disclosed at its right a narrow doorway
leading into a dark and narrow corridor that paralleled the outer wall. Scarcely was the
entrance uncovered than Woola and I had leaped through—then the door slipped quietly
back into place.

Down the corridor at some distance I saw the faint reflection of a light, and toward
this we made our way. At the point where the light shone was a sharp turn, and a little
distance beyond this a brilliantly lighted chamber.

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 Here we discovered a spiral stairway leading up from the center of the circular
room.

Immediately I knew that we had reached the center of the base of the Temple of the
Sun—the spiral runway led upward past the inner walls of the prison cells. Somewhere
above me was Dejah Thoris, unless Thurid and Matai Shang had already succeeded in
stealing her.

We had scarcely started up the runway when Woola suddenly displayed the wildest
excitement. He leaped back and forth, snapping at my legs and harness, until I thought
that he was mad, and finally when I pushed him from me and started once more to ascend
he grasped my sword arm between his jaws and dragged me back.

No amount of scolding or cuffing would suffice to make him release me, and I was
entirely at the mercy of his brute strength unless I cared to use my dagger upon him with
my left hand; but, mad or no, I had not the heart to run the sharp blade into that faithful
body.

Down into the chamber he dragged me, and across it to the side opposite that at
which we had entered. Here was another doorway leading into a corridor which ran
directly down a steep incline. Without a moment's hesitation Woola jerked me along this
rocky passage.

Presently he stopped and released me, standing between me and the way we had
come, looking up into my face as though to ask if I would now follow him voluntarily or
if he must still resort to force.

Looking ruefully at the marks of his great teeth upon my bare arm I decided to do as
he seemed to wish me to do. After all, his strange instinct might be more dependable than
my faulty human judgment.

And well it was that I had been forced to follow him. But a short distance from the
circular chamber we came suddenly into a brilliantly lighted labyrinth of crystal glass
partitioned passages.

At first I thought it was one vast, unbroken chamber, so clear and transparent were
the walls of the winding corridors, but after I had nearly brained myself a couple of times
by attempting to pass through solid vitreous walls I went more carefully.

We had proceeded but a few yards along the corridor that had given us entrance to
this strange maze when Woola gave mouth to a most frightful roar, at the same time
dashing against the clear partition at our left.

The resounding echoes of that fearsome cry were still reverberating through the
subterranean chambers when I saw the thing that had startled it from the faithful beast.

156
 Far in the distance, dimly through the many thicknesses of intervening crystal, as in
a haze that made them seem unreal and ghostly, I discerned the figures of eight people—
three females and five men.

At the same instant, evidently startled by Woola's fierce cry, they halted and looked
about. Then, of a sudden, one of them, a woman, held her arms out toward me, and even
at that great distance I could see that her lips moved—it was Dejah Thoris, my ever
beautiful and ever youthful Princess of Helium.

With her were Thuvia of Ptarth, Phaidor, daughter of Matai Shang, and Thurid, and
the Father of Therns, and the three lesser therns that had accompanied them.

Thurid shook his fist at me, and then two of the therns grasped Dejah Thoris and
Thuvia roughly by their arms and hurried them on. A moment later they had disappeared
into a stone corridor beyond the labyrinth of glass.

They say that love is blind; but so great a love as that of Dejah Thoris that knew me
even beneath the thern disguise I wore and across the misty vista of that crystal maze
must indeed be far from blind.

THE SECRET TOWER

I have no stomach to narrate the monotonous events of the tedious days that Woola
and I spent ferreting our way across the labyrinth of glass, through the dark and devious
ways beyond that led beneath the Valley Dor and Golden Cliffs to emerge at last upon
the flank of the Otz Mountains just above the Valley of Lost Souls—that pitiful
purgatory peopled by the poor unfortunates who dare not continue their abandoned
pilgrimage to Dor, or return to the various lands of the outer world from whence they
came.

Here the trail of Dejah Thoris' abductors led along the mountains' base, across steep
and rugged ravines, by the side of appalling precipices, and sometimes out into the
valley, where we found fighting aplenty with the members of the various tribes that make
up the population of this vale of hopelessness.

But through it all we came at last to where the way led up a narrow gorge that grew
steeper and more impracticable at every step until before us loomed a mighty fortress
buried beneath the side of an overhanging cliff.

Here was the secret hiding place of Matai Shang, Father of Therns. Here,
surrounded by a handful of the faithful, the hekkador of the ancient faith, who had once
been served by millions of vassals and dependents, dispensed the spiritual words among

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the half dozen nations of Barsoom that still clung tenaciously to their false and
discredited religion.

Darkness was just falling as we came in sight of the seemingly impregnable walls of
this mountain stronghold, and lest we be seen I drew back with Woola behind a jutting
granite promontory, into a clump of the hardy, purple scrub that thrives upon the barren
sides of Otz.

Here we lay until the quick transition from daylight to darkness had passed. Then I
crept out to approach the fortress walls in search of a way within.

Either through carelessness or over-confidence in the supposed inaccessibility of

their hiding place, the triple-barred gate stood ajar. Beyond were a handful of guards,
laughing and talking over one of their incomprehensible Barsoomian games.

I saw that none of the guardsmen had been of the party that accompanied Thurid
and Matai Shang; and so, relying entirely upon my disguise, I walked boldly through the
gateway and up to the thern guard.

The men stopped their game and looked up at me, but there was no sign of
suspicion. Similarly they looked at Woola, growling at my heel.

"Kaor!" I said in true Martian greeting, and the warriors arose and saluted me. "I
have but just found my way hither from the Golden Cliffs," I continued, "and seek
audience with the hekkador, Matai Shang, Father of Therns. Where may he be found?"

"Follow me," said one of the guard, and, turning, led me across the outer courtyard
toward a second buttressed wall.

Why the apparent ease with which I seemingly deceived them did not rouse my
suspicions I know not, unless it was that my mind was still so full of that fleeting glimpse
of my beloved princess that there was room in it for naught else. Be that as it may, the
fact is that I marched buoyantly behind my guide straight into the jaws of death.

Afterward I learned that thern spies had been aware of my coming for hours before I
reached the hidden fortress.

The gate had been purposely left ajar to tempt me on. The guards had been schooled
well in their part of the conspiracy; and I, more like a schoolboy than a seasoned warrior,
ran headlong into the trap.

At the far side of the outer court a narrow door let into the angle made by one of the
buttresses with the wall. Here my guide produced a key and opened the way within; then,
stepping back, he motioned me to enter.

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 "Matai Shang is in the temple court beyond," he said; and as Woola and I passed
through, the fellow closed the door quickly upon us.

The nasty laugh that came to my ears through the heavy planking of the door after
the lock clicked was my first intimation that all was not as it should be.

I found myself in a small, circular chamber within the buttress. Before me a door
opened, presumably, upon the inner court beyond. For a moment I hesitated, all my
suspicions now suddenly, though tardily, aroused; then, with a shrug of my shoulders, I
opened the door and stepped out into the glare of torches that lighted the inner court.

Directly opposite me a massive tower rose to a height of three hundred feet. It was
of the strangely beautiful modern Barsoomian style of architecture, its entire surface hand
carved in bold relief with intricate and fanciful designs. Thirty feet above the courtyard
and overlooking it was a broad balcony, and there, indeed, was Matai Shang, and with
him were Thurid and Phaidor, Thuvia, and Dejah Thoris—the last two heavily ironed. A
handful of thern warriors stood just behind the little party.

As I entered the enclosure the eyes of those in the balcony were full upon me.

An ugly smile distorted the cruel lips of Matai Shang. Thurid hurled a taunt at me
and placed a familiar hand upon the shoulder of my princess. Like a tigress she turned
upon him, striking the beast a heavy blow with the manacles upon her wrist.

He would have struck back had not Matai Shang interfered, and then I saw that the
two men were not over-friendly; for the manner of the thern was arrogant and
domineering as he made it plain to the First Born that the Princess of Helium was the
personal property of the Father of Therns. And Thurid's bearing toward the ancient
hekkador savored not at all of liking or respect.

When the altercation in the balcony had subsided Matai Shang turned again to me.

"Earth man," he cried, "you have earned a more ignoble death than now lies within
our weakened power to inflict upon you; but that the death you die tonight may be
doubly bitter, know you that when you have passed, your widow becomes the wife of
Matai Shang, Hekkador of the Holy Therns, for a Martian year.

"At the end of that time, as you know, she shall be discarded, as is the law among
us, but not, as is usual, to lead a quiet and honored life as high priestess of some hallowed
shrine. Instead, Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, shall become the plaything of my
lieutenants—perhaps of thy most hated enemy, Thurid, the black dator."

As he ceased speaking he awaited in silence evidently for some outbreak of rage

upon my part—something that would have added to the spice of his revenge. But I did
not give him the satisfaction that he craved.

159
 Instead, I did the one thing of all others that might rouse his anger and increase his
hatred of me; for I knew that if I died Dejah Thoris, too, would find a way to die before
they could heap further tortures or indignities upon her.

Of all the holy of holies which the thern venerates and worships none is more
revered than the yellow wig which covers his bald pate, and next thereto comes the
circlet of gold and the great diadem, whose scintillant rays mark the attainment of the
Tenth Cycle.

And, knowing this, I removed the wig and circlet from my head, tossing them
carelessly upon the flagging of the court. Then I wiped my feet upon the yellow tresses;
and as a groan of rage arose from the balcony I spat full upon the holy diadem.

Matai Shang went livid with anger, but upon the lips of Thurid I could see a grim
smile of amusement, for to him these things were not holy; so, lest he should derive too
much amusement from my act, I cried: "And thus did I with the holies of Issus, Goddess
of Life Eternal, ere I threw Issus herself to the mob that once had worshiped her, to be
torn to pieces in her own temple."

That put an end to Thurid's grinning, for he had been high in the favor of Issus.

"Let us have an end to this blaspheming!" he cried, turning to the Father of Therns.

Matai Shang rose and, leaning over the edge of the balcony, gave voice to the weird
call that I had heard from the lips of the priests upon the tiny balcony upon the face of the
Golden Cliffs overlooking the Valley Dor, when, in times past, they called the fearsome
white apes and the hideous plant men to the feast of victims floating down the broad
bosom of the mysterious Iss toward the silian-infested waters of the Lost Sea of Korus.
"Let loose the death!" he cried, and immediately a dozen doors in the base of the tower
swung open, and a dozen grim and terrible banths sprang into the arena.

This was not the first time that I had faced the ferocious Barsoomian lion, but never
had I been pitted, single-handed, against a full dozen of them. Even with the assistance of
the fierce Woola, there could be but a single outcome to so unequal a struggle.

For a moment the beasts hesitated beneath the brilliant glare of the torches; but
presently their eyes, becoming accustomed to the light, fell upon Woola and me, and with
bristling manes and deep-throated roars they advanced, lashing their tawny sides with
their powerful tails.

In the brief interval of life that was left me I shot a last, parting glance toward my
Dejah Thoris. Her beautiful face was set in an expression of horror; and as my eyes met
hers she extended both arms toward me as, struggling with the guards who now held her,
she endeavored to cast herself from the balcony into the pit beneath, that she might share
my death with me. Then, as the banths were about to close upon me, she turned and
buried her dear face in her arms.

160
 Suddenly my attention was drawn toward Thuvia of Ptarth. The beautiful girl was
leaning far over the edge of the balcony, her eyes bright with excitement.

In another instant the banths would be upon me, but I could not force my gaze from
the features of the red girl, for I knew that her expression meant anything but the
enjoyment of the grim tragedy that would so soon be enacted below her; there was some
deeper, hidden meaning which I sought to solve.

For an instant I thought of relying on my earthly muscles and agility to escape the
banths and reach the balcony, which I could easily have done, but I could not bring
myself to desert the faithful Woola and leave him to die alone beneath the cruel fangs of
the hungry banths; that is not the way upon Barsoom, nor was it ever the way of John
Carter.

Then the secret of Thuvia's excitement became apparent as from her lips there
issued the purring sound I had heard once before; that time that, within the Golden Cliffs,
she called the fierce banths about her and led them as a shepherdess might lead her flock
of meek and harmless sheep.

At the first note of that soothing sound the banths halted in their tracks, and every
fierce head went high as the beasts sought the origin of the familiar call. Presently they
discovered the red girl in the balcony above them, and, turning, roared out their
recognition and their greeting.

Guards sprang to drag Thuvia away, but ere they had succeeded she had hurled a
volley of commands at the listening brutes, and as one they turned and marched back into
their dens.

"You need not fear them now, John Carter!" cried Thuvia, before they could silence
her. "Those banths will never harm you now, nor Woola, either."

It was all I cared to know. There was naught to keep me from that balcony now, and
with a long, running leap I sprang far aloft until my hands grasped its lowest sill.

In an instant all was wild confusion. Matai Shang shrank back. Thurid sprang
forward with drawn sword to cut me down.

Again Dejah Thoris wielded her heavy irons and fought him back. Then Matai
Shang grasped her about the waist and dragged her away through a door leading within
the tower.

For an instant Thurid hesitated, and then, as though fearing that the Father of Therns
would escape him with the Princess of Helium, he, too, dashed from the balcony in their
wake.

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 Phaidor alone retained her presence of mind. Two of the guards she ordered to bear
away Thuvia of Ptarth; the others she commanded to remain and prevent me from
following. Then she turned toward me.

"John Carter," she cried, "for the last time I offer you the love of Phaidor, daughter
of the Holy Hekkador. Accept and your princess shall be returned to the court of her
grandfather, and you shall live in peace and happiness. Refuse and the fate that my father
has threatened shall fall upon Dejah Thoris.

"You cannot save her now, for by this time they have reached a place where even
you may not follow. Refuse and naught can save you; for, though the way to the last
stronghold of the Holy Therns was made easy for you, the way hence hath been made
impossible. What say you?"

"You knew my answer, Phaidor," I replied, "before ever you spoke. Make way," I
cried to the guards, "for John Carter, Prince of Helium, would pass!"

With that I leaped over the low baluster that surrounded the balcony, and with
drawn long-sword faced my enemies.

There were three of them; but Phaidor must have guessed what the outcome of the
battle would be, for she turned and fled from the balcony the moment she saw that I
would have none of her proposition.

The three guardsmen did not wait for my attack. Instead, they rushed me—the three
of them simultaneously; and it was that which gave me an advantage, for they fouled one
another in the narrow precincts of the balcony, so that the foremost of them stumbled full
upon my blade at the first onslaught.

The red stain upon my point roused to its full the old blood-lust of the fighting man
that has ever been so strong within my breast, so that my blade flew through the air with
a swiftness and deadly accuracy that threw the two remaining therns into wild despair.

When at last the sharp steel found the heart of one of them the other turned to flee,
and, guessing that his steps would lead him along the way taken by those I sought, I let
him keep ever far enough ahead to think that he was safely escaping my sword.

Through several inner chambers he raced until he came to a spiral runway. Up this
he dashed, I in close pursuit. At the upper end we came out into a small chamber, the
walls of which were plank except for a single window overlooking the slopes of Otz and
the Valley of Lost Souls beyond.

Here the fellow tore frantically at what appeared to be but a piece of the blank wall
opposite the single window. In an instant I guessed that it was a secret exit from the
room, and so I paused that he might have an opportunity to negotiate it, for I cared

162
nothing to take the life of this poor servitor—all I craved was a clear road in pursuit of
Dejah Thoris, my long-lost princess.

But, try as he would, the panel would yield neither to cunning nor force, so that
eventually he gave it up and turned to face me.

"Go thy way, Thern," I said to him, pointing toward the entrance to the runway up
which we had but just come. "I have no quarrel with you, nor do I crave your life. Go!"

For answer he sprang upon me with his sword, and so suddenly, at that, that I was
like to have gone down before his first rush. So there was nothing for it but to give him
what he sought, and that as quickly as might be, that I might not be delayed too long in
this chamber while Matai Shang and Thurid made way with Dejah Thoris and Thuvia of
Ptarth.

The fellow was a clever swordsman—resourceful and extremely tricky. In fact, he

seemed never to have heard that there existed such a thing as a code of honor, for he
repeatedly outraged a dozen Barsoomian fighting customs that an honorable man would
rather die than ignore.

He even went so far as to snatch his holy wig from his head and throw it in my face,
so as to blind me for a moment while he thrust at my unprotected breast.

When he thrust, however, I was not there, for I had fought with therns before; and
while none had ever resorted to precisely that same expedient, I knew them to be the least
honorable and most treacherous fighters upon Mars, and so was ever on the alert for
some new and devilish subterfuge when I was engaged with one of their race.

But at length he overdid the thing; for, drawing his shortsword, he hurled it,
javelinwise, at my body, at the same instant rushing upon me with his long-sword. A
single sweeping circle of my own blade caught the flying weapon and hurled it clattering
against the far wall, and then, as I sidestepped my antagonist's impetuous rush, I let him
have my point full in the stomach as he hurtled by.

Clear to the hilt my weapon passed through his body, and with a frightful shriek he
sank to the floor, dead.

Halting only for the brief instant that was required to wrench my sword from the
carcass of my late antagonist, I sprang across the chamber to the blank wall beyond,
through which the thern had attempted to pass. Here I sought for the secret of its lock, but
all to no avail.

In despair I tried to force the thing, but the cold, unyielding stone might well have
laughed at my futile, puny endeavors. In fact, I could have sworn that I caught the faint
suggestion of taunting laughter from beyond the baffling panel.

163
 In disgust I desisted from my useless efforts and stepped to the chamber's single
window.

The slopes of Otz and the distant Valley of Lost Souls held nothing to compel my
interest then; but, towering far above me, the tower's carved wall riveted my keenest
attention.

Somewhere within that massive pile was Dejah Thoris. Above me I could see
windows. There, possibly, lay the only way by which I could reach her. The risk was
great, but not too great when the fate of a world's most wondrous woman was at stake.

I glanced below. A hundred feet beneath lay jagged granite boulders at the brink of
a frightful chasm upon which the tower abutted; and if not upon the boulders, then at the
chasm's bottom, lay death, should a foot slip but once, or clutching fingers loose their
hold for the fraction of an instant.

But there was no other way and with a shrug, which I must admit was half shudder,
I stepped to the window's outer sill and began my perilous ascent.

To my dismay I found that, unlike the ornamentation upon most Heliumetic

structures, the edges of the carvings were quite generally rounded, so that at best my
every hold was most precarious.

Fifty feet above me commenced a series of projecting cylindrical stones some six
inches in diameter. These apparently circled the tower at six-foot intervals, in bands six
feet apart; and as each stone cylinder protruded some four or five inches beyond the
surface of the other ornamentation, they presented a comparatively easy mode of ascent
could I but reach them.

Laboriously I climbed toward them by way of some windows which lay below
them, for I hoped that I might find ingress to the tower through one of these, and thence
an easier avenue along which to prosecute my search.

At times so slight was my hold upon the rounded surfaces of the carving's edges that
a sneeze, a cough, or even a slight gust of wind would have dislodged me and sent me
hurtling to the depths below.

But finally I reached a point where my fingers could just clutch the sill of the lowest
window, and I was on the point of breathing a sigh of relief when the sound of voices
came to me from above through the open window.

"He can never solve the secret of that lock." The voice was Matai Shang's. "Let us
proceed to the hangar above that we may be far to the south before he finds another
way—should that be possible."

164
 "All things seem possible to that vile calot," replied another voice, which I
recognized as Thurid's.

"Then let us haste," said Matai Shang. "But to be doubly sure, I will leave two who
shall patrol this runway. Later they may follow us upon another flier—overtaking us at
Kaol."

My upstretched fingers never reached the window's sill. At the first sound of the
voices I drew back my hand and clung there to my perilous perch, flattened against the
perpendicular wall, scarce daring to breathe.

What a horrible position, indeed, in which to be discovered by Thurid! He had but

to lean from the window to push me with his sword's point into eternity.

Presently the sound of the voices became fainter, and once again I took up my
hazardous ascent, now more difficult, since more circuitous, for I must climb so as to
avoid the windows.

Matai Shang's reference to the hangar and the fliers indicated that my destination lay
nothing short of the roof of the tower, and toward this seemingly distant goal I set my
face.

The most difficult and dangerous part of the journey was accomplished at last, and it
was with relief that I felt my fingers close about the lowest of the stone cylinders.

It is true that these projections were too far apart to make the balance of the ascent
anything of a sinecure, but I at least had always within my reach a point of safety to
which I might cling in case of accident.

Some ten feet below the roof, the wall inclined slightly inward possibly a foot in the
last ten feet, and here the climbing was indeed immeasurably easier, so that my fingers
soon clutched the eaves.

As I drew my eyes above the level of the tower's top I saw a flier all but ready to
rise.

Upon her deck were Matai Shang, Phaidor, Dejah Thoris, Thuvia of Ptarth, and a
few thern warriors, while near her was Thurid in the act of clambering aboard.

He was not ten paces from me, facing in the opposite direction; and what cruel freak
of fate should have caused him to turn about just as my eyes topped the roof's edge I may
not even guess.

But turn he did; and when his eyes met mine his wicked face lighted with a
malignant smile as he leaped toward me, where I was hastening to scramble to the secure
footing of the roof.

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 Dejah Thoris must have seen me at the same instant, for she screamed a useless
warning just as Thurid's foot, swinging in a mighty kick, landed full in my face.

Like a felled ox, I reeled and tumbled backward over the tower's side.

ON THE KAOLIAN ROAD

If there be a fate that is sometimes cruel to me, there surely is a kind and merciful
Providence which watches over me.

As I toppled from the tower into the horrid abyss below I counted myself already
dead; and Thurid must have done likewise, for he evidently did not even trouble himself
to look after me, but must have turned and mounted the waiting flier at once.

Ten feet only I fell, and then a loop of my tough, leathern harness caught upon one
of the cylindrical stone projections in the tower's surface—and held. Even when I had
ceased to fall I could not believe the miracle that had preserved me from instant death,
and for a moment I hung there, cold sweat exuding from every pore of my body.

But when at last I had worked myself back to a firm position I hesitated to ascend,
since I could not know that Thurid was not still awaiting me above.

Presently, however, there came to my ears the whirring of the propellers of a flier,
and as each moment the sound grew fainter I realized that the party had proceeded
toward the south without assuring themselves as to my fate.

Cautiously I retraced my way to the roof, and I must admit that it was with no
pleasant sensation that I raised my eyes once more above its edge; but, to my relief, there
was no one in sight, and a moment later I stood safely upon its broad surface.

To reach the hangar and drag forth the only other flier which it contained was the
work of but an instant; and just as the two thern warriors whom Matai Shang had left to
prevent this very contingency emerged upon the roof from the tower's interior, I rose
above them with a taunting laugh.

Then I dived rapidly to the inner court where I had last seen Woola, and to my
immense relief found the faithful beast still there.

The twelve great banths lay in the doorways of their lairs, eyeing him and growling
ominously, but they had not disobeyed Thuvia's injunction; and I thanked the fate that
had made her their keeper within the Golden Cliffs, and endowed her with the kind and
sympathetic nature that had won the loyalty and affection of these fierce beasts for her.

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 Woola leaped in frantic joy when he discovered me; and as the flier touched the
pavement of the court for a brief instant he bounded to the deck beside me, and in the
bearlike manifestation of his exuberant happiness all but caused me to wreck the vessel
against the courtyard's rocky wall.

Amid the angry shouting of thern guardsmen we rose high above the last fortress of
the Holy Therns, and then raced straight toward the northeast and Kaol, the destination
which I had heard from the lips of Matai Shang.

Far ahead, a tiny speck in the distance, I made out another flier late in the afternoon.
It could be none other than that which bore my lost love and my enemies.

I had gained considerably on the craft by night; and then, knowing that they must
have sighted me and would show no lights after dark, I set my destination compass upon
her—that wonderful little Martian mechanism which, once attuned to the object of
destination, points away toward it, irrespective of every change in its location.

All that night we raced through the Barsoomian void, passing over low hills and
dead sea bottoms; above long-deserted cities and populous centers of red Martian
habitation upon the ribbon-like lines of cultivated land which border the globe-encircling
waterways, which Earth men call the canals of Mars.

Dawn showed that I had gained appreciably upon the flier ahead of me. It was a
larger craft than mine, and not so swift; but even so, it had covered an immense distance
since the flight began.

The change in vegetation below showed me that we were rapidly nearing the
equator. I was now near enough to my quarry to have used my bow gun; but, though I
could see that Dejah Thoris was not on deck, I feared to fire upon the craft which bore
her.

Thurid was deterred by no such scruples; and though it must have been difficult for
him to believe that it was really I who followed them, he could not very well doubt the
witness of his own eyes; and so he trained their stern gun upon me with his own hands,
and an instant later an explosive radium projectile whizzed perilously close above my
deck.

The black's next shot was more accurate, striking my flier full upon the prow and
exploding with the instant of contact, ripping wide open the bow buoyancy tanks and
disabling the engine.

So quickly did my bow drop after the shot that I scarce had time to lash Woola to
the deck and buckle my own harness to a gunwale ring before the craft was hanging stern
up and making her last long drop to ground.

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 Her stern buoyancy tanks prevented her dropping with great rapidity; but Thurid
was firing rapidly now in an attempt to burst these also, that I might be dashed to death in
the swift fall that would instantly follow a successful shot.

Shot after shot tore past or into us, but by a miracle neither Woola nor I was hit, nor
were the after tanks punctured. This good fortune could not last indefinitely, and, assured
that Thurid would not again leave me alive, I awaited the bursting of the next shell that
hit; and then, throwing my hands above my head, I let go my hold and crumpled, limp
and inert, dangling in my harness like a corpse.

The ruse worked, and Thurid fired no more at us. Presently I heard the diminishing
sound of whirring propellers and realized that again I was safe.

Slowly the stricken flier sank to the ground, and when I had freed myself and Woola
from the entangling wreckage I found that we were upon the verge of a natural forest—so
rare a thing upon the bosom of dying Mars that, outside of the forest in the Valley Dor
beside the Lost Sea of Korus, I never before had seen its like upon the planet.

From books and travelers I had learned something of the little-known land of Kaol,
which lies along the equator almost halfway round the planet to the east of Helium.

It comprises a sunken area of extreme tropical heat, and is inhabited by a nation of

red men varying but little in manners, customs, and appearance from the balance of the
red men of Barsoom.

I knew that they were among those of the outer world who still clung tenaciously to
the discredited religion of the Holy Therns, and that Matai Shang would find a ready
welcome and safe refuge among them; while John Carter could look for nothing better
than an ignoble death at their hands.

The isolation of the Kaolians is rendered almost complete by the fact that no
waterway connects their land with that of any other nation, nor have they any need of a
waterway since the low, swampy land which comprises the entire area of their domain
self-waters their abundant tropical crops.

For great distances in all directions rugged hills and arid stretches of dead sea
bottom discourage intercourse with them, and since there is practically no such thing as
foreign commerce upon warlike Barsoom, where each nation is sufficient to itself, really
little has been known relative to the court of the Jeddak of Kaol and the numerous
strange, but interesting, people over whom he rules.

Occasional hunting parties have traveled to this out-of-the-way corner of the globe,
but the hostility of the natives has usually brought disaster upon them, so that even the
sport of hunting the strange and savage creatures which haunt the jungle fastnesses of
Kaol has of later years proved insufficient lure even to the most intrepid warriors.

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 It was upon the verge of the land of the Kaols that I now knew myself to be, but in
what direction to search for Dejah Thoris, or how far into the heart of the great forest I
might have to penetrate I had not the faintest idea.

But not so Woola.

Scarcely had I disentangled him than he raised his head high in air and commenced
circling about at the edge of the forest. Presently he halted, and, turning to see if I were
following, set off straight into the maze of trees in the direction we had been going before
Thurid's shot had put an end to our flier.

As best I could, I stumbled after him down a steep declivity beginning at the forest's
edge.

Immense trees reared their mighty heads far above us, their broad fronds completely
shutting off the slightest glimpse of the sky. It was easy to see why the Kaolians needed
no navy; their cities, hidden in the midst of this towering forest, must be entirely invisible
from above, nor could a landing be made by any but the smallest fliers, and then only
with the greatest risk of accident.

How Thurid and Matai Shang were to land I could not imagine, though later I was
to learn that to the level of the forest top there rises in each city of Kaol a slender
watchtower which guards the Kaolians by day and by night against the secret approach of
a hostile fleet. To one of these the hekkador of the Holy Therns had no difficulty in
approaching, and by its means the party was safely lowered to the ground.

As Woola and I approached the bottom of the declivity the ground became soft and
mushy, so that it was with the greatest difficulty that we made any headway whatever.

Slender purple grasses topped with red and yellow fern-like fronds grew rankly all
about us to the height of several feet above my head.

Myriad creepers hung festooned in graceful loops from tree to tree, and among them
were several varieties of the Martian "man-flower," whose blooms have eyes and hands
with which to see and seize the insects which form their diet.

The repulsive calot tree was, too, much in evidence. It is a carnivorous plant of
about the bigness of a large sage-brush such as dots our western plains. Each branch ends
in a set of strong jaws, which have been known to drag down and devour large and
formidable beasts of prey.

Both Woola and I had several narrow escapes from these greedy, arboreous
monsters.

Occasional areas of firm sod gave us intervals of rest from the arduous labor of
traversing this gorgeous, twilight swamp, and it was upon one of these that I finally

169
decided to make camp for the night which my chronometer warned me would soon be
upon us.

Many varieties of fruit grew in abundance about us; and as Martian calots are
omnivorous, Woola had no difficulty in making a square meal after I had brought down
the viands for him. Then, having eaten, too, I lay down with my back to that of my
faithful hound, and dropped into a deep and dreamless sleep.

The forest was shrouded in impenetrable darkness when a low growl from Woola
awakened me. All about us I could hear the stealthy movement of great, padded feet, and
now and then the wicked gleam of green eyes upon us. Arising, I drew my long-sword
and waited.

Suddenly a deep-toned, horrid roar burst from some savage throat almost at my side.
What a fool I had been not to have found safer lodgings for myself and Woola among the
branches of one of the countless trees that surrounded us!

By daylight it would have been comparatively easy to have hoisted Woola aloft in
one manner or another, but now it was too late. There was nothing for it but to stand our
ground and take our medicine, though, from the hideous racket which now assailed our
ears, and for which that first roar had seemed to be the signal, I judged that we must be in
the midst of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the fierce, man-eating denizens of the
Kaolian jungle.

All the balance of the night they kept up their infernal din, but why they did not
attack us I could not guess, nor am I sure to this day, unless it is that none of them ever
venture upon the patches of scarlet sward which dot the swamp.

When morning broke they were still there, walking about as in a circle, but always
just beyond the edge of the sward. A more terrifying aggregation of fierce and blood-
thirsty monsters it would be difficult to imagine.

Singly and in pairs they commenced wandering off into the jungle shortly after
sunrise, and when the last of them had departed Woola and I resumed our journey.

Occasionally we caught glimpses of horrid beasts all during the day; but,
fortunately, we were never far from a sward island, and when they saw us their pursuit
always ended at the verge of the solid sod.

Toward noon we stumbled upon a well-constructed road running in the general

direction we had been pursuing. Everything about this highway marked it as the work of
skilled engineers, and I was confident, from the indications of antiquity which it bore, as
well as from the very evident signs of its being still in everyday use, that it must lead to
one of the principal cities of Kaol.

170
 Just as we entered it from one side a huge monster emerged from the jungle upon
the other, and at sight of us charged madly in our direction.

Imagine, if you can, a bald-faced hornet of your earthly experience grown to the size
of a prize Hereford bull, and you will have some faint conception of the ferocious
appearance and awesome formidability of the winged monster that bore down upon me.

Frightful jaws in front and mighty, poisoned sting behind made my relatively puny
long-sword seem a pitiful weapon of defense indeed. Nor could I hope to escape the
lightning-like movements or hide from those myriad facet eyes which covered three-
fourths of the hideous head, permitting the creature to see in all directions at one and the
same time.

Even my powerful and ferocious Woola was as helpless as a kitten before that
frightful thing. But to flee were useless, even had it ever been to my liking to turn my
back upon a danger; so I stood my ground, Woola snarling at my side, my only hope to
die as I had always lived—fighting.

The creature was upon us now, and at the instant there seemed to me a single slight
chance for victory. If I could but remove the terrible menace of certain death hidden in
the poison sacs that fed the sting the struggle would be less unequal.

At the thought I called to Woola to leap upon the creature's head and hang there, and
as his mighty jaws closed upon that fiendish face, and glistening fangs buried themselves
in the bone and cartilage and lower part of one of the huge eyes, I dived beneath the great
body as the creature rose, dragging Woola from the ground, that it might bring its sting
beneath and pierce the body of the thing hanging to its head.

To put myself in the path of that poison-laden lance was to court instant death, but it
was the only way; and as the thing shot lightning-like toward me I swung my long-sword
in a terrific cut that severed the deadly member close to the gorgeously marked body.

Then, like a battering-ram, one of the powerful hind legs caught me full in the chest
and hurled me, half stunned and wholly winded, clear across the broad highway and into
the underbrush of the jungle that fringes it.

Fortunately, I passed between the boles of trees; had I struck one of them I should
have been badly injured, if not killed, so swiftly had I been catapulted by that enormous
hind leg.

Dazed though I was, I stumbled to my feet and staggered back to Woola's

assistance, to find his savage antagonist circling ten feet above the ground, beating madly
at the clinging calot with all six powerful legs.

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 Even during my sudden flight through the air I had not once released my grip upon
my long-sword, and now I ran beneath the two battling monsters, jabbing the winged
terror repeatedly with its sharp point.

The thing might easily have risen out of my reach, but evidently it knew as little
concerning retreat in the face of danger as either Woola or I, for it dropped quickly
toward me, and before I could escape had grasped my shoulder between its powerful
jaws.

Time and again the now useless stub of its giant sting struck futilely against my
body, but the blows alone were almost as effective as the kick of a horse; so that when I
say futilely, I refer only to the natural function of the disabled member—eventually the
thing would have hammered me to a pulp. Nor was it far from accomplishing this when
an interruption occurred that put an end forever to its hostilities.

From where I hung a few feet above the road I could see along the highway a few
hundred yards to where it turned toward the east, and just as I had about given up all
hope of escaping the perilous position in which I now was I saw a red warrior come into
view from around the bend.

He was mounted on a splendid thoat, one of the smaller species used by red men,
and in his hand was a wondrous long, light lance.

His mount was walking sedately when I first perceived them, but the instant that the
red man's eyes fell upon us a word to the thoat brought the animal at full charge down
upon us. The long lance of the warrior dipped toward us, and as thoat and rider hurtled
beneath, the point passed through the body of our antagonist.

With a convulsive shudder the thing stiffened, the jaws relaxed, dropping me to the
ground, and then, careening once in mid air, the creature plunged headforemost to the
road, full upon Woola, who still clung tenaciously to its gory head.

By the time I had regained my feet the red man had turned and ridden back to us.
Woola, finding his enemy inert and lifeless, released his hold at my command and
wriggled from beneath the body that had covered him, and together we faced the warrior
looking down upon us.

I started to thank the stranger for his timely assistance, but he cut me off
peremptorily.

"Who are you," he asked, "who dare enter the land of Kaol and hunt in the royal
forest of the jeddak?"

Then, as he noted my white skin through the coating of grime and blood that
covered me, his eyes went wide and in an altered tone he whispered: "Can it be that you
are a Holy Thern?"

172
 I might have deceived the fellow for a time, as I had deceived others, but I had cast
away the yellow wig and the holy diadem in the presence of Matai Shang, and I knew
that it would not be long ere my new acquaintance discovered that I was no thern at all.

"I am not a thern," I replied, and then, flinging caution to the winds, I said: "I am
John Carter, Prince of Helium, whose name may not be entirely unknown to you."

If his eyes had gone wide when he thought that I was a Holy Thern, they fairly
popped now that he knew that I was John Carter. I grasped my long-sword more firmly
as I spoke the words which I was sure would precipitate an attack, but to my surprise
they precipitated nothing of the kind.

"John Carter, Prince of Helium," he repeated slowly, as though he could not quite
grasp the truth of the statement. "John Carter, the mightiest warrior of Barsoom!"

And then he dismounted and placed his hand upon my shoulder after the manner of
most friendly greeting upon Mars.

"It is my duty, and it should be my pleasure, to kill you, John Carter," he said, "but
always in my heart of hearts have I admired your prowess and believed in your sincerity
the while I have questioned and disbelieved the therns and their religion.

"It would mean my instant death were my heresy to be suspected in the court of
Kulan Tith, but if I may serve you, Prince, you have but to command Torkar Bar, Dwar
of the Kaolian Road."

Truth and honesty were writ large upon the warrior's noble countenance, so that I
could not but have trusted him, enemy though he should have been. His title of Captain
of the Kaolian Road explained his timely presence in the heart of the savage forest, for
every highway upon Barsoom is patrolled by doughty warriors of the noble class, nor is
there any service more honorable than this lonely and dangerous duty in the less
frequented sections of the domains of the red men of Barsoom.

"Torkar Bar has already placed a great debt of gratitude upon my shoulders," I
replied, pointing to the carcass of the creature from whose heart he was dragging his long
spear.

The red man smiled.

"It was fortunate that I came when I did," he said. "Only this poisoned spear
pricking the very heart of a sith can kill it quickly enough to save its prey. In this section
of Kaol we are all armed with a long sith spear, whose point is smeared with the poison
of the creature it is intended to kill; no other virus acts so quickly upon the beast as its
own.

173
 "Look," he continued, drawing his dagger and making an incision in the carcass a
foot above the root of the sting, from which he presently drew forth two sacs, each of
which held fully a gallon of the deadly liquid.

"Thus we maintain our supply, though were it not for certain commercial uses to
which the virus is put, it would scarcely be necessary to add to our present store, since
the sith is almost extinct.

"Only occasionally do we now run upon one. Of old, however, Kaol was overrun
with the frightful monsters that often came in herds of twenty or thirty, darting down
from above into our cities and carrying away women, children, and even warriors."

As he spoke I had been wondering just how much I might safely tell this man of the
mission which brought me to his land, but his next words anticipated the broaching of the
subject on my part, and rendered me thankful that I had not spoken too soon.

"And now as to yourself, John Carter," he said, "I shall not ask your business here,
nor do I wish to hear it. I have eyes and ears and ordinary intelligence, and yesterday
morning I saw the party that came to the city of Kaol from the north in a small flier. But
one thing I ask of you, and that is: the word of John Carter that he contemplates no overt
act against either the nation of Kaol or its jeddak."

"You may have my word as to that, Torkar Bar," I replied.

"My way leads along the Kaolian road, away from the city of Kaol," he continued.
"I have seen no one—John Carter least of all. Nor have you seen Torkar Bar, nor ever
heard of him. You understand?"

"Perfectly," I replied.

He laid his hand upon my shoulder.

"This road leads directly into the city of Kaol," he said. "I wish you fortune," and
vaulting to the back of his thoat he trotted away without even a backward glance.

It was after dark when Woola and I spied through the mighty forest the great wall
which surrounds the city of Kaol.

We had traversed the entire way without mishap or adventure, and though the few
we had met had eyed the great calot wonderingly, none had pierced the red pigment with
which I had smoothly smeared every square inch of my body.

But to traverse the surrounding country, and to enter the guarded city of Kulan Tith,
Jeddak of Kaol, were two very different things. No man enters a Martian city without
giving a very detailed and satisfactory account of himself, nor did I delude myself with

174
the belief that I could for a moment impose upon the acumen of the officers of the guard
to whom I should be taken the moment I applied at any one of the gates.

My only hope seemed to lie in entering the city surreptitiously under cover of the
darkness, and once in, trust to my own wits to hide myself in some crowded quarter
where detection would be less liable to occur.

With this idea in view I circled the great wall, keeping within the fringe of the
forest, which is cut away for a short distance from the wall all about the city, that no
enemy may utilize the trees as a means of ingress.

Several times I attempted to scale the barrier at different points, but not even my
earthly muscles could overcome that cleverly constructed rampart. To a height of thirty
feet the face of the wall slanted outward, and then for almost an equal distance it was
perpendicular, above which it slanted in again for some fifteen feet to the crest.

And smooth! Polished glass could not be more so. Finally I had to admit that at last
I had discovered a Barsoomian fortification which I could not negotiate.

Discouraged, I withdrew into the forest beside a broad highway which entered the
city from the east, and with Woola beside me lay down to sleep.

A HERO IN KAOL

It was daylight when I was awakened by the sound of stealthy movement near by.

As I opened my eyes Woola, too, moved and, coming up to his haunches, stared
through the intervening brush toward the road, each hair upon his neck stiffly erect.

At first I could see nothing, but presently I caught a glimpse of a bit of smooth and
glossy green moving among the scarlet and purple and yellow of the vegetation.

Motioning Woola to remain quietly where he was, I crept forward to investigate,

and from behind the bole of a great tree I saw a long line of the hideous green warriors of
the dead sea bottoms hiding in the dense jungle beside the road.

As far as I could see, the silent line of destruction and death stretched away from the
city of Kaol. There could be but one explanation. The green men were expecting an
exodus of a body of red troops from the nearest city gate, and they were lying there in
ambush to leap upon them.

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 I owed no fealty to the Jeddak of Kaol, but he was of the same race of noble red
men as my own princess, and I would not stand supinely by and see his warriors
butchered by the cruel and heartless demons of the waste places of Barsoom.

Cautiously I retraced my steps to where I had left Woola, and warning him to
silence, signaled him to follow me. Making a considerable detour to avoid the chance of
falling into the hands of the green men, I came at last to the great wall.

A hundred yards to my right was the gate from which the troops were evidently
expected to issue, but to reach it I must pass the flank of the green warriors within easy
sight of them, and, fearing that my plan to warn the Kaolians might thus be thwarted, I
decided upon hastening toward the left, where another gate a mile away would give me
ingress to the city.

I knew that the word I brought would prove a splendid passport to Kaol, and I must
admit that my caution was due more to my ardent desire to make my way into the city
than to avoid a brush with the green men. As much as I enjoy a fight, I cannot always
indulge myself, and just now I had more weighty matters to occupy my time than spilling
the blood of strange warriors.

Could I but win beyond the city's wall, there might be opportunity in the confusion
and excitement which were sure to follow my announcement of an invading force of
green warriors to find my way within the palace of the jeddak, where I was sure Matai
Shang and his party would be quartered.

But scarcely had I taken a hundred steps in the direction of the farther gate when the
sound of marching troops, the clank of metal, and the squealing of thoats just within the
city apprised me of the fact that the Kaolians were already moving toward the other gate.

There was no time to be lost. In another moment the gate would be opened and the
head of the column pass out upon the death-bordered highway.

Turning back toward the fateful gate, I ran rapidly along the edge of the clearing,
taking the ground in the mighty leaps that had first made me famous upon Barsoom.
Thirty, fifty, a hundred feet at a bound are nothing for the muscles of an athletic Earth
man upon Mars.

As I passed the flank of the waiting green men they saw my eyes turned upon them,
and in an instant, knowing that all secrecy was at an end, those nearest me sprang to their
feet in an effort to cut me off before I could reach the gate.

At the same instant the mighty portal swung wide and the head of the Kaolian
column emerged. A dozen green warriors had succeeded in reaching a point between me
and the gate, but they had but little idea who it was they had elected to detain.

176
 I did not slacken my speed an iota as I dashed among them, and as they fell before
my blade I could not but recall the happy memory of those other battles when Tars
Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, mightiest of Martian green men, had stood shoulder to shoulder
with me through long, hot Martian days, as together we hewed down our enemies until
the pile of corpses about us rose higher than a tall man's head.

When several pressed me too closely, there before the carved gateway of Kaol, I
leaped above their heads, and fashioning my tactics after those of the hideous plant men
of Dor, struck down upon my enemies' heads as I passed above them.

From the city the red warriors were rushing toward us, and from the jungle the
savage horde of green men were coming to meet them. In a moment I was in the very
center of as fierce and bloody a battle as I had ever passed through.

These Kaolians are most noble fighters, nor are the green men of the equator one
whit less warlike than their cold, cruel cousins of the temperate zone. There were many
times when either side might have withdrawn without dishonor and thus ended hostilities,
but from the mad abandon with which each invariably renewed hostilities I soon came to
believe that what need not have been more than a trifling skirmish would end only with
the complete extermination of one force or the other.

With the joy of battle once roused within me, I took keen delight in the fray, and
that my fighting was noted by the Kaolians was often evidenced by the shouts of
applause directed at me.

If I sometimes seem to take too great pride in my fighting ability, it must be

remembered that fighting is my vocation. If your vocation be shoeing horses, or painting
pictures, and you can do one or the other better than your fellows, then you are a fool if
you are not proud of your ability. And so I am very proud that upon two planets no
greater fighter has ever lived than John Carter, Prince of Helium.

And I outdid myself that day to impress the fact upon the natives of Kaol, for I
wished to win a way into their hearts—and their city. Nor was I to be disappointed in my
desire.

All day we fought, until the road was red with blood and clogged with corpses.
Back and forth along the slippery highway the tide of battle surged, but never once was
the gateway to Kaol really in danger.

There were breathing spells when I had a chance to converse with the red men
beside whom I fought, and once the jeddak, Kulan Tith himself, laid his hand upon my
shoulder and asked my name.

"I am Dotar Sojat," I replied, recalling a name given me by the Tharks many years
before, from the surnames of the first two of their warriors I had killed, which is the
custom among them.

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 "You are a mighty warrior, Dotar Sojat," he replied, "and when this day is done I
shall speak with you again in the great audience chamber."

And then the fight surged upon us once more and we were separated, but my heart's
desire was attained, and it was with renewed vigor and a joyous soul that I laid about me
with my long-sword until the last of the green men had had enough and had withdrawn
toward their distant sea bottom.

Not until the battle was over did I learn why the red troops had sallied forth that
day. It seemed that Kulan Tith was expecting a visit from a mighty jeddak of the north—
a powerful and the only ally of the Kaolians, and it had been his wish to meet his guest a
full day's journey from Kaol.

But now the march of the welcoming host was delayed until the following morning,
when the troops again set out from Kaol. I had not been bidden to the presence of Kulan
Tith after the battle, but he had sent an officer to find me and escort me to comfortable
quarters in that part of the palace set aside for the officers of the royal guard.

There, with Woola, I had spent a comfortable night, and rose much refreshed after
the arduous labors of the past few days. Woola had fought with me through the battle of
the previous day, true to the instincts and training of a Martian war dog, great numbers of
which are often to be found with the savage green hordes of the dead sea bottoms.

Neither of us had come through the conflict unscathed, but the marvelous, healing
salves of Barsoom had sufficed, overnight, to make us as good as new.

I breakfasted with a number of the Kaolian officers, whom I found as courteous and
delightful hosts as even the nobles of Helium, who are renowned for their ease of
manners and excellence of breeding. The meal was scarcely concluded when a messenger
arrived from Kulan Tith summoning me before him.

As I entered the royal presence the jeddak rose, and stepping from the dais which
supported his magnificent throne, came forward to meet me—a mark of distinction that is
seldom accorded to other than a visiting ruler.

"Kaor, Dotar Sojat!" he greeted me. "I have summoned you to receive the grateful
thanks of the people of Kaol, for had it not been for your heroic bravery in daring fate to
warn us of the ambuscade we must surely have fallen into the well-laid trap. Tell me
more of yourself—from what country you come, and what errand brings you to the court
of Kulan Tith."

"I am from Hastor," I said, for in truth I had a small palace in that southern city
which lies within the far-flung dominions of the Heliumetic nation.

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 "My presence in the land of Kaol is partly due to accident, my flier being wrecked
upon the southern fringe of your great forest. It was while seeking entrance to the city of
Kaol that I discovered the green horde lying in wait for your troops."

If Kulan Tith wondered what business brought me in a flier to the very edge of his
domain he was good enough not to press me further for an explanation, which I should
indeed have had difficulty in rendering.

During my audience with the jeddak another party entered the chamber from behind
me, so that I did not see their faces until Kulan Tith stepped past me to greet them,
commanding me to follow and be presented.

As I turned toward them it was with difficulty that I controlled my features, for
there, listening to Kulan Tith's eulogistic words concerning me, stood my arch-enemies,
Matai Shang and Thurid.

"Holy Hekkador of the Holy Therns," the jeddak was saying, "shower thy blessings
upon Dotar Sojat, the valorous stranger from distant Hastor, whose wondrous heroism
and marvelous ferocity saved the day for Kaol yesterday."

Matai Shang stepped forward and laid his hand upon my shoulder. No slightest
indication that he recognized me showed upon his countenance—my disguise was
evidently complete.

He spoke kindly to me and then presented me to Thurid. The black, too, was
evidently entirely deceived. Then Kulan Tith regaled them, much to my amusement, with
details of my achievements upon the field of battle.

The thing that seemed to have impressed him most was my remarkable agility, and
time and again he described the wondrous way in which I had leaped completely over an
antagonist, cleaving his skull wide open with my long-sword as I passed above him.

I thought that I saw Thurid's eyes widen a bit during the narrative, and several times
I surprised him gazing intently into my face through narrowed lids. Was he commencing
to suspect? And then Kulan Tith told of the savage calot that fought beside me, and after
that I saw suspicion in the eyes of Matai Shang—or did I but imagine it?

At the close of the audience Kulan Tith announced that he would have me
accompany him upon the way to meet his royal guest, and as I departed with an officer
who was to procure proper trappings and a suitable mount for me, both Matai Shang and
Thurid seemed most sincere in professing their pleasure at having had an opportunity to
know me. It was with a sigh of relief that I quitted the chamber, convinced that nothing
more than a guilty conscience had prompted my belief that either of my enemies
suspected my true identity.

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 A half-hour later I rode out of the city gate with the column that accompanied Kulan
Tith upon the way to meet his friend and ally. Though my eyes and ears had been wide
open during my audience with the jeddak and my various passages through the palace, I
had seen or heard nothing of Dejah Thoris or Thuvia of Ptarth. That they must be
somewhere within the great rambling edifice I was positive, and I should have given
much to have found a way to remain behind during Kulan Tith's absence, that I might
search for them.

Toward noon we came in touch with the head of the column we had set out to meet.

It was a gorgeous train that accompanied the visiting jeddak, and for miles it
stretched along the wide, white road to Kaol. Mounted troops, their trappings of jewel
and metal-incrusted leather glistening in the sunlight, formed the vanguard of the body,
and then came a thousand gorgeous chariots drawn by huge zitidars.

These low, commodious wagons moved two abreast, and on either side of them
marched solid ranks of mounted warriors, for in the chariots were the women and
children of the royal court. Upon the back of each monster zitidar rode a Martian youth,
and the whole scene carried me back to my first days upon Barsoom, now twenty-two
years in the past, when I had first beheld the gorgeous spectacle of a caravan of the green
horde of Tharks.

Never before today had I seen zitidars in the service of red men. These brutes are
huge mastodonian animals that tower to an immense height even beside the giant green
men and their giant thoats; but when compared to the relatively small red man and his
breed of thoats they assume Brobdingnagian proportions that are truly appalling.

The beasts were hung with jeweled trappings and saddlepads of gay silk,
embroidered in fanciful designs with strings of diamonds, pearls, rubies, emeralds, and
the countless unnamed jewels of Mars, while from each chariot rose a dozen standards
from which streamers, flags, and pennons fluttered in the breeze.

Just in front of the chariots the visiting jeddak rode alone upon a pure white thoat—
another unusual sight upon Barsoom—and after them came interminable ranks of
mounted spearmen, riflemen, and swordsmen. It was indeed a most imposing sight.

Except for the clanking of accouterments and the occasional squeal of an angry
thoat or the low guttural of a zitidar, the passage of the cavalcade was almost noiseless,
for neither thoat nor zitidar is a hoofed animal, and the broad tires of the chariots are of
an elastic composition, which gives forth no sound.

Now and then the gay laughter of a woman or the chatter of children could be heard,
for the red Martians are a social, pleasure-loving people—in direct antithesis to the cold
and morbid race of green men.

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 The forms and ceremonials connected with the meeting of the two jeddaks
consumed an hour, and then we turned and retraced our way toward the city of Kaol,
which the head of the column reached just before dark, though it must have been nearly
morning before the rear guard passed through the gateway.

Fortunately, I was well up toward the head of the column, and after the great
banquet, which I attended with the officers of the royal guard, I was free to seek repose.
There was so much activity and bustle about the palace all during the night with the
constant arrival of the noble officers of the visiting jeddak's retinue that I dared not
attempt to prosecute a search for Dejah Thoris, and so, as soon as it was seemly for me to
do so, I returned to my quarters.

As I passed along the corridors between the banquet hall and the apartments that
had been allotted me, I had a sudden feeling that I was under surveillance, and, turning
quickly in my tracks, caught a glimpse of a figure which darted into an open doorway the
instant I wheeled about.

Though I ran quickly back to the spot where the shadower had disappeared I could
find no trace of him, yet in the brief glimpse that I had caught I could have sworn that I
had seen a white face surmounted by a mass of yellow hair.

The incident gave me considerable food for speculation, since if I were right in the
conclusion induced by the cursory glimpse I had had of the spy, then Matai Shang and
Thurid must suspect my identity, and if that were true not even the service I had rendered
Kulan Tith could save me from his religious fanaticism.

But never did vague conjecture or fruitless fears for the future lie with sufficient
weight upon my mind to keep me from my rest, and so tonight I threw myself upon my
sleeping silks and furs and passed at once into dreamless slumber.

Calots are not permitted within the walls of the palace proper, and so I had had to
relegate poor Woola to quarters in the stables where the royal thoats are kept. He had
comfortable, even luxurious apartments, but I would have given much to have had him
with me; and if he had been, the thing which happened that night would not have come to
pass.

I could not have slept over a quarter of an hour when I was suddenly awakened by
the passing of some cold and clammy thing across my forehead. Instantly I sprang to my
feet, clutching in the direction I thought the presence lay. For an instant my hand touched
against human flesh, and then, as I lunged headforemost through the darkness to seize my
nocturnal visitor, my foot became entangled in my sleeping silks and I fell sprawling to
the floor.

By the time I had resumed my feet and found the button which controlled the light
my caller had disappeared. Careful search of the room revealed nothing to explain either

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the identity or business of the person who had thus secretly sought me in the dead of
night.

That the purpose might be theft I could not believe, since thieves are practically
unknown upon Barsoom. Assassination, however, is rampant, but even this could not
have been the motive of my stealthy friend, for he might easily have killed me had he
desired.

I had about given up fruitless conjecture and was on the point of returning to sleep
when a dozen Kaolian guardsmen entered my apartment. The officer in charge was one
of my genial hosts of the morning, but now upon his face was no sign of friendship.

"Kulan Tith commands your presence before him," he said. "Come!"

NEW ALLIES

Surrounded by guardsmen I marched back along the corridors of the palace of

Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol, to the great audience chamber in the center of the massive
structure.

As I entered the brilliantly lighted apartment, filled with the nobles of Kaol and the
officers of the visiting jeddak, all eyes were turned upon me. Upon the great dais at the
end of the chamber stood three thrones, upon which sat Kulan Tith and his two guests,
Matai Shang, and the visiting jeddak.

Up the broad center aisle we marched beneath deadly silence, and at the foot of the
thrones we halted.

"Prefer thy charge," said Kulan Tith, turning to one who stood among the nobles at
his right; and then Thurid, the black dator of the First Born, stepped forward and faced
me.

"Most noble Jeddak," he said, addressing Kulan Tith, "from the first I suspected this
stranger within thy palace. Your description of his fiendish prowess tallied with that of
the arch-enemy of truth upon Barsoom.

"But that there might be no mistake I despatched a priest of your own holy cult to
make the test that should pierce his disguise and reveal the truth. Behold the result!" and
Thurid pointed a rigid finger at my forehead.

All eyes followed the direction of that accusing digit—I alone seemed at a loss to
guess what fatal sign rested upon my brow.

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 The officer beside me guessed my perplexity; and as the brows of Kulan Tith
darkened in a menacing scowl as his eyes rested upon me, the noble drew a small mirror
from his pocket-pouch and held it before my face.

One glance at the reflection it gave back to me was sufficient.

From my forehead the hand of the sneaking thern had reached out through the
concealing darkness of my bed-chamber and wiped away a patch of the disguising red
pigment as broad as my palm. Beneath showed the tanned texture of my own white skin.

For a moment Thurid ceased speaking, to enhance, I suspect, the dramatic effect of
his disclosure. Then he resumed.

"Here, O Kulan Tith," he cried, "is he who has desecrated the temples of the Gods
of Mars, who has violated the persons of the Holy Therns themselves and turned a world
against its age-old religion. Before you, in your power, Jeddak of Kaol, Defender of the
Holies, stands John Carter, Prince of Helium!"

Kulan Tith looked toward Matai Shang as though for corroboration of these charges.
The Holy Thern nodded his head.

"It is indeed the arch-blasphemer," he said. "Even now he has followed me to the
very heart of thy palace, Kulan Tith, for the sole purpose of assassinating me. He—"

"He lies!" I cried. "Kulan Tith, listen that you may know the truth. Listen while I tell
you why John Carter has followed Matai Shang to the heart of thy palace. Listen to me as
well as to them, and then judge if my acts be not more in accord with true Barsoomian
chivalry and honor than those of these revengeful devotees of the spurious creeds from
whose cruel bonds I have freed your planet."

"Silence!" roared the jeddak, leaping to his feet and laying his hand upon the hilt of
his sword. "Silence, blasphemer! Kulan Tith need not permit the air of his audience
chamber to be defiled by the heresies that issue from your polluted throat to judge you.

"You stand already self-condemned. It but remains to determine the manner of your
death. Even the service that you rendered the arms of Kaol shall avail you naught; it was
but a base subterfuge whereby you might win your way into my favor and reach the side
of this holy man whose life you craved. To the pits with him!" he concluded, addressing
the officer of my guard.

Here was a pretty pass, indeed! What chance had I against a whole nation? What
hope for me of mercy at the hands of the fanatical Kulan Tith with such advisers as Matai
Shang and Thurid. The black grinned malevolently in my face.

"You shall not escape this time, Earth man," he taunted.

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 The guards closed toward me. A red haze blurred my vision. The fighting blood of
my Virginian sires coursed hot through my veins. The lust of battle in all its mad fury
was upon me.

With a leap I was beside Thurid, and ere the devilish smirk had faded from his
handsome face I had caught him full upon the mouth with my clenched fist; and as the
good, old American blow landed, the black dator shot back a dozen feet, to crumple in a
heap at the foot of Kulan Tith's throne, spitting blood and teeth from his hurt mouth.

Then I drew my sword and swung round, on guard, to face a nation.

In an instant the guardsmen were upon me, but before a blow had been struck a
mighty voice rose above the din of shouting warriors, and a giant figure leaped from the
dais beside Kulan Tith and, with drawn long-sword, threw himself between me and my
adversaries.

It was the visiting jeddak.

"Hold!" he cried. "If you value my friendship, Kulan Tith, and the age-old peace
that has existed between our peoples, call off your swordsmen; for wherever or against
whomsoever fights John Carter, Prince of Helium, there beside him and to the death
fights Thuvan Dihn, Jeddak of Ptarth."

The shouting ceased and the menacing points were lowered as a thousand eyes
turned first toward Thuvan Dihn in surprise and then toward Kulan Tith in question. At
first the Jeddak of Kaol went white in rage, but before he spoke he had mastered himself,
so that his tone was calm and even as befitted intercourse between two great jeddaks.

"Thuvan Dihn," he said slowly, "must have great provocation thus to desecrate the
ancient customs which inspire the deportment of a guest within the palace of his host.
Lest I, too, should forget myself as has my royal friend, I should prefer to remain silent
until the Jeddak of Ptarth has won from me applause for his action by relating the causes
which provoked it."

I could see that the Jeddak of Ptarth was of half a mind to throw his metal in Kulan
Tith's face, but he controlled himself even as well as had his host.

"None knows better than Thuvan Dihn," he said, "the laws which govern the acts of
men in the domains of their neighbors; but Thuvan Dihn owes allegiance to a higher law
than these—the law of gratitude. Nor to any man upon Barsoom does he owe a greater
debt of gratitude than to John Carter, Prince of Helium.

"Years ago, Kulan Tith," he continued, "upon the occasion of your last visit to me,
you were greatly taken with the charms and graces of my only daughter, Thuvia. You
saw how I adored her, and later you learned that, inspired by some unfathomable whim,

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she had taken the last, long, voluntary pilgrimage upon the cold bosom of the mysterious
Iss, leaving me desolate.

"Some months ago I first heard of the expedition which John Carter had led against
Issus and the Holy Therns. Faint rumors of the atrocities reported to have been
committed by the therns upon those who for countless ages have floated down the mighty
Iss came to my ears.

"I heard that thousands of prisoners had been released, few of whom dared to return
to their own countries owing to the mandate of terrible death which rests against all who
return from the Valley Dor.

"For a time I could not believe the heresies which I heard, and I prayed that my
daughter Thuvia might have died before she ever committed the sacrilege of returning to
the outer world. But then my father's love asserted itself, and I vowed that I would prefer
eternal damnation to further separation from her if she could be found.

"So I sent emissaries to Helium, and to the court of Xodar, Jeddak of the First Born,
and to him who now rules those of the thern nation that have renounced their religion;
and from each and all I heard the same story of unspeakable cruelties and atrocities
perpetrated upon the poor defenseless victims of their religion by the Holy Therns.

"Many there were who had seen or known my daughter, and from therns who had
been close to Matai Shang I learned of the indignities that he personally heaped upon her;
and I was glad when I came here to find that Matai Shang was also your guest, for I
should have sought him out had it taken a lifetime.

"More, too, I heard, and that of the chivalrous kindness that John Carter had
accorded my daughter. They told me how he fought for her and rescued her, and how he
spurned escape from the savage Warhoons of the south, sending her to safety upon his
own thoat and remaining upon foot to meet the green warriors.

"Can you wonder, Kulan Tith, that I am willing to jeopardize my life, the peace of
my nation, or even your friendship, which I prize more than aught else, to champion the
Prince of Helium?"

For a moment Kulan Tith was silent. I could see by the expression of his face that
he was sore perplexed. Then he spoke.

"Thuvan Dihn," he said, and his tone was friendly though sad, "who am I to judge
my fellow-man? In my eyes the Father of Therns is still holy, and the religion which he
teaches the only true religion, but were I faced by the same problem that has vexed you I
doubt not that I should feel and act precisely as you have.

"In so far as the Prince of Helium is concerned I may act, but between you and
Matai Shang my only office can be one of conciliation. The Prince of Helium shall be

185
escorted in safety to the boundary of my domain ere the sun has set again, where he shall
be free to go whither he will; but upon pain of death must he never again enter the land of
Kaol.

"If there be a quarrel between you and the Father of Therns, I need not ask that the
settlement of it be deferred until both have passed beyond the limits of my power. Are
you satisfied, Thuvan Dihn?"

The Jeddak of Ptarth nodded his assent, but the ugly scowl that he bent upon Matai
Shang harbored ill for that pasty-faced godling.

"The Prince of Helium is far from satisfied," I cried, breaking rudely in upon the
beginnings of peace, for I had no stomach for peace at the price that had been named.

"I have escaped death in a dozen forms to follow Matai Shang and overtake him,
and I do not intend to be led, like a decrepit thoat to the slaughter, from the goal that I
have won by the prowess of my sword arm and the might of my muscles.

"Nor will Thuvan Dihn, Jeddak of Ptarth, be satisfied when he has heard me
through. Do you know why I have followed Matai Shang and Thurid, the black dator,
from the forests of the Valley Dor across half a world through almost insurmountable
difficulties?

"Think you that John Carter, Prince of Helium, would stoop to assassination? Can
Kulan Tith be such a fool as to believe that lie, whispered in his ear by the Holy Thern or
Dator Thurid?

"I do not follow Matai Shang to kill him, though the God of mine own planet knows
that my hands itch to be at his throat. I follow him, Thuvan Dihn, because with him are
two prisoners—my wife, Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, and your daughter, Thuvia of
Ptarth.

"Now think you that I shall permit myself to be led beyond the walls of Kaol unless
the mother of my son accompanies me, and thy daughter be restored?"

Thuvan Dihn turned upon Kulan Tith. Rage flamed in his keen eyes; but by the
masterfulness of his self-control he kept his tones level as he spoke.

"Knew you this thing, Kulan Tith?" he asked. "Knew you that my daughter lay a
prisoner in your palace?"

"He could not know it," interrupted Matai Shang, white with what I am sure was
more fear than rage. "He could not know it, for it is a lie."

I would have had his life for that upon the spot, but even as I sprang toward him
Thuvan Dihn laid a heavy hand upon my shoulder.

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 "Wait," he said to me, and then to Kulan Tith. "It is not a lie. This much have I
learned of the Prince of Helium—he does not lie. Answer me, Kulan Tith—I have asked
you a question."

"Three women came with the Father of Therns," replied Kulan Tith. "Phaidor, his
daughter, and two who were reported to be her slaves. If these be Thuvia of Ptarth and
Dejah Thoris of Helium I did not know it—I have seen neither. But if they be, then shall
they be returned to you on the morrow."

As he spoke he looked straight at Matai Shang, not as a devotee should look at a

high priest, but as a ruler of men looks at one to whom he issues a command.

It must have been plain to the Father of Therns, as it was to me, that the recent
disclosures of his true character had done much already to weaken the faith of Kulan
Tith, and that it would require but little more to turn the powerful jeddak into an avowed
enemy; but so strong are the seeds of superstition that even the great Kaolian still
hesitated to cut the final strand that bound him to his ancient religion.

Matai Shang was wise enough to seem to accept the mandate of his follower, and
promised to bring the two slave women to the audience chamber on the morrow.

"It is almost morning now," he said, "and I should dislike to break in upon the
slumber of my daughter, or I would have them fetched at once that you might see that the
Prince of Helium is mistaken," and he emphasized the last word in an effort to affront me
so subtlety that I could not take open offense.

I was about to object to any delay, and demand that the Princess of Helium be
brought to me forthwith, when Thuvan Dihn made such insistence seem unnecessary.

"I should like to see my daughter at once," he said, "but if Kulan Tith will give me
his assurance that none will be permitted to leave the palace this night, and that no harm
shall befall either Dejah Thoris or Thuvia of Ptarth between now and the moment they
are brought into our presence in this chamber at daylight I shall not insist."

"None shall leave the palace tonight," replied the Jeddak of Kaol, "and Matai Shang
will give us assurance that no harm will come to the two women?"

The thern assented with a nod. A few moments later Kulan Tith indicated that the
audience was at an end, and at Thuvan Dihn's invitation I accompanied the Jeddak of
Ptarth to his own apartments, where we sat until daylight, while he listened to the account
of my experiences upon his planet and to all that had befallen his daughter during the
time that we had been together.

I found the father of Thuvia a man after my own heart, and that night saw the
beginning of a friendship which has grown until it is second only to that which obtains
between Tars Tarkas, the green Jeddak of Thark, and myself.

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 The first burst of Mars's sudden dawn brought messengers from Kulan Tith,
summoning us to the audience chamber where Thuvan Dihn was to receive his daughter
after years of separation, and I was to be reunited with the glorious daughter of Helium
after an almost unbroken separation of twelve years.

My heart pounded within my bosom until I looked about me in embarrassment, so

sure was I that all within the room must hear. My arms ached to enfold once more the
divine form of her whose eternal youth and undying beauty were but outward
manifestations of a perfect soul.

At last the messenger despatched to fetch Matai Shang returned. I craned my neck
to catch the first glimpse of those who should be following, but the messenger was alone.

Halting before the throne he addressed his jeddak in a voice that was plainly audible
to all within the chamber.

"O Kulan Tith, Mightiest of Jeddaks," he cried, after the fashion of the court, "your
messenger returns alone, for when he reached the apartments of the Father of Therns he
found them empty, as were those occupied by his suite."

Kulan Tith went white.

A low groan burst from the lips of Thuvan Dihn who stood next me, not having
ascended the throne which awaited him beside his host. For a moment the silence of
death reigned in the great audience chamber of Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol. It was he
who broke the spell.

Rising from his throne he stepped down from the dais to the side of Thuvan Dihn.
Tears dimmed his eyes as he placed both his hands upon the shoulders of his friend.

"O Thuvan Dihn," he cried, "that this should have happened in the palace of thy best
friend! With my own hands would I have wrung the neck of Matai Shang had I guessed
what was in his foul heart. Last night my life-long faith was weakened—this morning it
has been shattered; but too late, too late.

"To wrest your daughter and the wife of this royal warrior from the clutches of these
archfiends you have but to command the resources of a mighty nation, for all Kaol is at
your disposal. What may be done? Say the word!"

"First," I suggested, "let us find those of your people who be responsible for the
escape of Matai Shang and his followers. Without assistance on the part of the palace
guard this thing could not have come to pass. Seek the guilty, and from them force an
explanation of the manner of their going and the direction they have taken."

Before Kulan Tith could issue the commands that would initiate the investigation a
handsome young officer stepped forward and addressed his jeddak.

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 "O Kulan Tith, Mightiest of Jeddaks," he said, "I alone be responsible for this
grievous error. Last night it was I who commanded the palace guard. I was on duty in
other parts of the palace during the audience of the early morning, and knew nothing of
what transpired then, so that when the Father of Therns summoned me and explained that
it was your wish that his party be hastened from the city because of the presence here of a
deadly enemy who sought the Holy Hekkador's life I did only what a lifetime of training
has taught me was the proper thing to do—I obeyed him whom I believed to be the ruler
of us all, mightier even than thou, mightiest of jeddaks.

"Let the consequences and the punishment fall on me alone, for I alone am guilty.
Those others of the palace guard who assisted in the flight did so under my instructions."

Kulan Tith looked first at me and then at Thuvan Dihn, as though to ask our
judgment upon the man, but the error was so evidently excusable that neither of us had
any mind to see the young officer suffer for a mistake that any might readily have made.

"How left they," asked Thuvan Dihn, "and what direction did they take?"

"They left as they came," replied the officer, "upon their own flier. For some time
after they had departed I watched the vessel's lights, which vanished finally due north."

"Where north could Matai Shang find an asylum?" asked Thuvan Dihn of Kulan
Tith.

For some moments the Jeddak of Kaol stood with bowed head, apparently deep in
thought. Then a sudden light brightened his countenance.

"I have it!" he cried. "Only yesterday Matai Shang let drop a hint of his destination,
telling me of a race of people unlike ourselves who dwell far to the north. They, he said,
had always been known to the Holy Therns and were devout and faithful followers of the
ancient cult. Among them would he find a perpetual haven of refuge, where no 'lying
heretics' might seek him out. It is there that Matai Shang has gone."

"And in all Kaol there be no flier wherein to follow," I cried.

"Nor nearer than Ptarth," replied Thuvan Dihn.

"Wait!" I exclaimed, "beyond the southern fringe of this great forest lies the wreck
of the thern flier which brought me that far upon my way. If you will loan me men to
fetch it, and artificers to assist me, I can repair it in two days, Kulan Tith."

I had been more than half suspicious of the seeming sincerity of the Kaolian
jeddak's sudden apostasy, but the alacrity with which he embraced my suggestion, and
the despatch with which a force of officers and men were placed at my disposal entirely
removed the last vestige of my doubts.

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 Two days later the flier rested upon the top of the watchtower, ready to depart.
Thuvan Dihn and Kulan Tith had offered me the entire resources of two nations—
millions of fighting men were at my disposal; but my flier could hold but one other than
myself and Woola.

As I stepped aboard her, Thuvan Dihn took his place beside me. I cast a look of
questioning surprise upon him. He turned to the highest of his own officers who had
accompanied him to Kaol.

"To you I entrust the return of my retinue to Ptarth," he said. "There my son rules
ably in my absence. The Prince of Helium shall not go alone into the land of his enemies.
I have spoken. Farewell!"

THROUGH THE CARRION CAVES

Straight toward the north, day and night, our destination compass led us after the
fleeing flier upon which it had remained set since I first attuned it after leaving the thern
fortress.

Early in the second night we noticed the air becoming perceptibly colder, and from
the distance we had come from the equator were assured that we were rapidly
approaching the north arctic region.

My knowledge of the efforts that had been made by countless expeditions to explore
that unknown land bade me to caution, for never had flier returned who had passed to any
considerable distance beyond the mighty ice-barrier that fringes the southern hem of the
frigid zone.

What became of them none knew—only that they passed forever out of the sight of
man into that grim and mysterious country of the pole.

The distance from the barrier to the pole was no more than a swift flier should cover
in a few hours, and so it was assumed that some frightful catastrophe awaited those who
reached the "forbidden land," as it had come to be called by the Martians of the outer
world.

Thus it was that I went more slowly as we approached the barrier, for it was my
intention to move cautiously by day over the ice-pack that I might discover, before I had
run into a trap, if there really lay an inhabited country at the north pole, for there only
could I imagine a spot where Matai Shang might feel secure from John Carter, Prince of
Helium.

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 We were flying at a snail's pace but a few feet above the ground—literally feeling
our way along through the darkness, for both moons had set, and the night was black
with the clouds that are to be found only at Mars's two extremities.

Suddenly a towering wall of white rose directly in our path, and though I threw the
helm hard over, and reversed our engine, I was too late to avoid collision. With a
sickening crash we struck the high looming obstacle three-quarters on.

The flier reeled half over; the engine stopped; as one, the patched buoyancy tanks
burst, and we plunged, headforemost, to the ground twenty feet beneath.

Fortunately none of us was injured, and when we had disentangled ourselves from
the wreckage, and the lesser moon had burst again from below the horizon, we found that
we were at the foot of a mighty ice-barrier, from which outcropped great patches of the
granite hills which hold it from encroaching farther toward the south.

What fate! With the journey all but completed to be thus wrecked upon the wrong
side of that precipitous and unscalable wall of rock and ice!

I looked at Thuvan Dihn. He but shook his head dejectedly.

The balance of the night we spent shivering in our inadequate sleeping silks and furs
upon the snow that lies at the foot of the ice-barrier.

With daylight my battered spirits regained something of their accustomed

hopefulness, though I must admit that there was little enough for them to feed upon.

"What shall we do?" asked Thuvan Dihn. "How may we pass that which is
impassable?"

"First we must disprove its impassability," I replied. "Nor shall I admit that it is
impassable before I have followed its entire circle and stand again upon this spot,
defeated. The sooner we start, the better, for I see no other way, and it will take us more
than a month to travel the weary, frigid miles that lie before us."

For five days of cold and suffering and privation we traversed the rough and frozen
way which lies at the foot of the ice-barrier. Fierce, fur-bearing creatures attacked us by
daylight and by dark. Never for a moment were we safe from the sudden charge of some
huge demon of the north.

The apt was our most consistent and dangerous foe.

It is a huge, white-furred creature with six limbs, four of which, short and heavy,
carry it swiftly over the snow and ice; while the other two, growing forward from its
shoulders on either side of its long, powerful neck, terminate in white, hairless hands,
with which it seizes and holds its prey.

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 Its head and mouth are more similar in appearance to those of a hippopotamus than
to any other earthly animal, except that from the sides of the lower jawbone two mighty
horns curve slightly downward toward the front.

Its two huge eyes inspired my greatest curiosity. They extend in two vast, oval
patches from the center of the top of the cranium down either side of the head to below
the roots of the horns, so that these weapons really grow out from the lower part of the
eyes, which are composed of several thousand ocelli each.

This eye structure seemed remarkable in a beast whose haunts were upon a glaring
field of ice and snow, and though I found upon minute examination of several that we
killed that each ocellus is furnished with its own lid, and that the animal can at will close
as many of the facets of his huge eyes as he chooses, yet I was positive that nature had
thus equipped him because much of his life was to be spent in dark, subterranean
recesses.

Shortly after this we came upon the hugest apt that we had seen. The creature stood
fully eight feet at the shoulder, and was so sleek and clean and glossy that I could have
sworn that he had but recently been groomed.

He stood head-on eyeing us as we approached him, for we had found it a waste of

time to attempt to escape the perpetual bestial rage which seems to possess these demon
creatures, who rove the dismal north attacking every living thing that comes within the
scope of their far-seeing eyes.

Even when their bellies are full and they can eat no more, they kill purely for the
pleasure which they derive from taking life, and so when this particular apt failed to
charge us, and instead wheeled and trotted away as we neared him, I should have been
greatly surprised had I not chanced to glimpse the sheen of a golden collar about its neck.

Thuvan Dihn saw it, too, and it carried the same message of hope to us both. Only
man could have placed that collar there, and as no race of Martians of which we knew
aught ever had attempted to domesticate the ferocious apt, he must belong to a people of
the north of whose very existence we were ignorant—possibly to the fabled yellow men
of Barsoom; that once powerful race which was supposed to be extinct, though
sometimes, by theorists, thought still to exist in the frozen north.

Simultaneously we started upon the trail of the great beast. Woola was quickly
made to understand our desires, so that it was unnecessary to attempt to keep in sight of
the animal whose swift flight over the rough ground soon put him beyond our vision.

For the better part of two hours the trail paralleled the barrier, and then suddenly
turned toward it through the roughest and seemingly most impassable country I ever had
beheld.

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 Enormous granite boulders blocked the way on every hand; deep rifts in the ice
threatened to engulf us at the least misstep; and from the north a slight breeze wafted to
our nostrils an unspeakable stench that almost choked us.

For another two hours we were occupied in traversing a few hundred yards to the
foot of the barrier.

Then, turning about the corner of a wall-like outcropping of granite, we came upon
a smooth area of two or three acres before the base of the towering pile of ice and rock
that had baffled us for days, and before us beheld the dark and cavernous mouth of a
cave.

From this repelling portal the horrid stench was emanating, and as Thuvan Dihn
espied the place he halted with an exclamation of profound astonishment.

"By all my ancestors!" he ejaculated. "That I should have lived to witness the reality
of the fabled Carrion Caves! If these indeed be they, we have found a way beyond the
ice-barrier.

"The ancient chronicles of the first historians of Barsoom—so ancient that we have
for ages considered them mythology—record the passing of the yellow men from the
ravages of the green hordes that overran Barsoom as the drying up of the great oceans
drove the dominant races from their strongholds.

"They tell of the wanderings of the remnants of this once powerful race, harassed at
every step, until at last they found a way through the ice-barrier of the north to a fertile
valley at the pole.

"At the opening to the subterranean passage that led to their haven of refuge a
mighty battle was fought in which the yellow men were victorious, and within the caves
that gave ingress to their new home they piled the bodies of the dead, both yellow and
green, that the stench might warn away their enemies from further pursuit.

"And ever since that long-gone day have the dead of this fabled land been carried to
the Carrion Caves, that in death and decay they might serve their country and warn away
invading enemies. Here, too, is brought, so the fable runs, all the waste stuff of the
nation—everything that is subject to rot, and that can add to the foul stench that assails
our nostrils.

"And death lurks at every step among rotting dead, for here the fierce apts lair,
adding to the putrid accumulation with the fragments of their own prey which they
cannot devour. It is a horrid avenue to our goal, but it is the only one."

"You are sure, then, that we have found the way to the land of the yellow men?" I
cried.

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 "As sure as may be," he replied; "having only ancient legend to support my belief.
But see how closely, so far, each detail tallies with the world-old story of the hegira of
the yellow race. Yes, I am sure that we have discovered the way to their ancient hiding
place."

"If it be true, and let us pray that such may be the case," I said, "then here may we
solve the mystery of the disappearance of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, and Mors
Kajak, his son, for no other spot upon Barsoom has remained unexplored by the many
expeditions and the countless spies that have been searching for them for nearly two
years. The last word that came from them was that they sought Carthoris, my own brave
son, beyond the ice-barrier."

As we talked we had been approaching the entrance to the cave, and as we crossed
the threshold I ceased to wonder that the ancient green enemies of the yellow men had
been halted by the horrors of that awful way.

The bones of dead men lay man high upon the broad floor of the first cave, and over
all was a putrid mush of decaying flesh, through which the apts had beaten a hideous trail
toward the entrance to the second cave beyond.

The roof of this first apartment was low, like all that we traversed subsequently, so
that the foul odors were confined and condensed to such an extent that they seemed to
possess tangible substance. One was almost tempted to draw his short-sword and hew his
way through in search of pure air beyond.

"Can man breathe this polluted air and live?" asked Thuvan Dihn, choking.

"Not for long, I imagine," I replied; "so let us make haste. I will go first, and you
bring up the rear, with Woola between. Come," and with the words I dashed forward,
across the fetid mass of putrefaction.

It was not until we had passed through seven caves of different sizes and varying
but little in the power and quality of their stenches that we met with any physical
opposition. Then, within the eighth cave, we came upon a lair of apts.

A full score of the mighty beasts were disposed about the chamber. Some were
sleeping, while others tore at the fresh-killed carcasses of new-brought prey, or fought
among themselves in their love-making.

Here in the dim light of their subterranean home the value of their great eyes was
apparent, for these inner caves are shrouded in perpetual gloom that is but little less than
utter darkness.

To attempt to pass through the midst of that fierce herd seemed, even to me, the
height of folly, and so I proposed to Thuvan Dihn that he return to the outer world with
Woola, that the two might find their way to civilization and come again with a sufficient

194
force to overcome not only the apts, but any further obstacles that might lie between us
and our goal.

"In the meantime," I continued, "I may discover some means of winning my way
alone to the land of the yellow men, but if I am unsuccessful one life only will have been
sacrificed. Should we all go on and perish, there will be none to guide a succoring party
to Dejah Thoris and your daughter."

"I shall not return and leave you here alone, John Carter," replied Thuvan Dihn.
"Whether you go on to victory or death, the Jeddak of Ptarth remains at your side. I have
spoken."

I knew from his tone that it were useless to attempt to argue the question, and so I
compromised by sending Woola back with a hastily penned note enclosed in a small
metal case and fastened about his neck. I commanded the faithful creature to seek
Carthoris at Helium, and though half a world and countless dangers lay between I knew
that if the thing could be done Woola would do it.

Equipped as he was by nature with marvelous speed and endurance, and with
frightful ferocity that made him a match for any single enemy of the way, his keen
intelligence and wondrous instinct should easily furnish all else that was needed for the
successful accomplishment of his mission.

It was with evident reluctance that the great beast turned to leave me in compliance
with my command, and ere he had gone I could not resist the inclination to throw my
arms about his great neck in a parting hug. He rubbed his cheek against mine in a final
caress, and a moment later was speeding through the Carrion Caves toward the outer
world.

In my note to Carthoris I had given explicit directions for locating the Carrion
Caves, impressing upon him the necessity for making entrance to the country beyond
through this avenue, and not to attempt under any circumstances to cross the ice-barrier
with a fleet. I told him that what lay beyond the eighth cave I could not even guess; but I
was sure that somewhere upon the other side of the ice-barrier his mother lay in the
power of Matai Shang, and that possibly his grandfather and great-grandfather as well, if
they lived.

Further, I advised him to call upon Kulan Tith and the son of Thuvan Dihn for
warriors and ships that the expedition might be sufficiently strong to insure success at the
first blow.

"And," I concluded, "if there be time bring Tars Tarkas with you, for if I live until
you reach me I can think of few greater pleasures than to fight once more, shoulder to
shoulder, with my old friend."

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 When Woola had left us Thuvan Dihn and I, hiding in the seventh cave, discussed
and discarded many plans for crossing the eighth chamber. From where we stood we saw
that the fighting among the apts was growing less, and that many that had been feeding
had ceased and lain down to sleep.

Presently it became apparent that in a short time all the ferocious monsters might be
peacefully slumbering, and thus a hazardous opportunity be presented to us to cross
through their lair.

One by one the remaining brutes stretched themselves upon the bubbling
decomposition that covered the mass of bones upon the floor of their den, until but a
single apt remained awake. This huge fellow roamed restlessly about, nosing among his
companion and the abhorrent litter of the cave.

Occasionally he would stop to peer intently toward first one of the exits from the
chamber and then the other. His whole demeanor was as of one who acts as sentry.

We were at last forced to the belief that he would not sleep while the other
occupants of the lair slept, and so cast about in our minds for some scheme whereby we
might trick him. Finally I suggested a plan to Thuvan Dihn, and as it seemed as good as
any that we had discussed we decided to put it to the test.

To this end Thuvan Dihn placed himself close against the cave's wall, beside the
entrance to the eighth chamber, while I deliberately showed myself to the guardian apt as
he looked toward our retreat. Then I sprang to the opposite side of the entrance, flattening
my body close to the wall.

Without a sound the great beast moved rapidly toward the seventh cave to see what
manner of intruder had thus rashly penetrated so far within the precincts of his habitation.

As he poked his head through the narrow aperture that connects the two caves a
heavy long-sword was awaiting him upon either hand, and before he had an opportunity
to emit even a single growl his severed head rolled at our feet.

Quickly we glanced into the eighth chamber—not an apt had moved. Crawling over
the carcass of the huge beast that blocked the doorway Thuvan Dihn and I cautiously
entered the forbidding and dangerous den.

Like snails we wound our silent and careful way among the huge, recumbent forms.
The only sound above our breathing was the sucking noise of our feet as we lifted them
from the ooze of decaying flesh through which we crept.

Halfway across the chamber and one of the mighty beasts directly before me moved
restlessly at the very instant that my foot was poised above his head, over which I must
step.

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 Breathlessly I waited, balancing upon one foot, for I did not dare move a muscle. In
my right hand was my keen short-sword, the point hovering an inch above the thick fur
beneath which beat the savage heart.

Finally the apt relaxed, sighing, as with the passing of a bad dream, and resumed the
regular respiration of deep slumber. I planted my raised foot beyond the fierce head and
an instant later had stepped over the beast.

Thuvan Dihn followed directly after me, and another moment found us at the further
door, undetected.

The Carrion Caves consist of a series of twenty-seven connecting chambers, and

present the appearance of having been eroded by running water in some far-gone age
when a mighty river found its way to the south through this single breach in the barrier of
rock and ice that hems the country of the pole.

Thuvan Dihn and I traversed the remaining nineteen caverns without adventure or
mishap.

We were afterward to learn that but once a month is it possible to find all the apts of
the Carrion Caves in a single chamber.

At other times they roam singly or in pairs in and out of the caves, so that it would
have been practically impossible for two men to have passed through the entire twenty-
seven chambers without encountering an apt in nearly every one of them. Once a month
they sleep for a full day, and it was our good fortune to stumble by accident upon one of
these occasions.

Beyond the last cave we emerged into a desolate country of snow and ice, but found
a well-marked trail leading north. The way was boulder-strewn, as had been that south of
the barrier, so that we could see but a short distance ahead of us at any time.

After a couple of hours we passed round a huge boulder to come to a steep declivity
leading down into a valley.

Directly before us we saw a half dozen men—fierce, black-bearded fellows, with

skins the color of a ripe lemon.

"The yellow men of Barsoom!" ejaculated Thuvan Dihn, as though even now that he
saw them he found it scarce possible to believe that the very race we expected to find
hidden in this remote and inaccessible land did really exist.

We withdrew behind an adjacent boulder to watch the actions of the little party,
which stood huddled at the foot of another huge rock, their backs toward us.

197
 One of them was peering round the edge of the granite mass as though watching one
who approached from the opposite side.

Presently the object of his scrutiny came within the range of my vision and I saw
that it was another yellow man. All were clothed in magnificent furs—the six in the black
and yellow striped hide of the orluk, while he who approached alone was resplendent in
the pure white skin of an apt.

The yellow men were armed with two swords, and a short javelin was slung across
the back of each, while from their left arms hung cuplike shields no larger than a dinner
plate, the concave sides of which turned outward toward an antagonist.

They seemed puny and futile implements of safety against an even ordinary
swordsman, but I was later to see the purpose of them and with what wondrous dexterity
the yellow men manipulate them.

One of the swords which each of the warriors carried caught my immediate
attention. I call it a sword, but really it was a sharp-edged blade with a complete hook at
the far end.

The other sword was of about the same length as the hooked instrument, and
somewhere between that of my long-sword and my short-sword. It was straight and two-
edged. In addition to the weapons I have enumerated each man carried a dagger in his
harness.

As the white-furred one approached, the six grasped their swords more firmly—the
hooked instrument in the left hand, the straight sword in the right, while above the left
wrist the small shield was held rigid upon a metal bracelet.

As the lone warrior came opposite them the six rushed out upon him with fiendish
yells that resembled nothing more closely than the savage war cry of the Apaches of the
South-west.

Instantly the attacked drew both his swords, and as the six fell upon him I witnessed
as pretty fighting as one might care to see.

With their sharp hooks the combatants attempted to take hold of an adversary, but
like lightning the cupshaped shield would spring before the darting weapon and into its
hollow the hook would plunge.

Once the lone warrior caught an antagonist in the side with his hook, and drawing
him close ran his sword through him.

But the odds were too unequal, and, though he who fought alone was by far the best
and bravest of them all, I saw that it was but a question of time before the remaining five
would find an opening through his marvelous guard and bring him down.

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 Now my sympathies have ever been with the weaker side of an argument, and
though I knew nothing of the cause of the trouble I could not stand idly by and see a
brave man butchered by superior numbers.

As a matter of fact I presume I gave little attention to seeking an excuse, for I love a
good fight too well to need any other reason for joining in when one is afoot.

So it was that before Thuvan Dihn knew what I was about he saw me standing by
the side of the white-clad yellow man, battling like mad with his five adversaries.

WITH THE YELLOW MEN

Thuvan Dihn was not long in joining me; and, though we found the hooked weapon
a strange and savage thing with which to deal, the three of us soon despatched the five
black-bearded warriors who opposed us.

When the battle was over our new acquaintance turned to me, and removing the
shield from his wrist, held it out. I did not know the significance of his act, but judged
that it was but a form of expressing his gratitude to me.

I afterward learned that it symbolized the offering of a man's life in return for some
great favor done him; and my act of refusing, which I had immediately done, was what
was expected of me.

"Then accept from Talu, Prince of Marentina," said the yellow man, "this token of
my gratitude," and reaching beneath one of his wide sleeves he withdrew a bracelet and
placed it upon my arm. He then went through the same ceremony with Thuvan Dihn.

Next he asked our names, and from what land we hailed. He seemed quite familiar
with the geography of the outerworld, and when I said I was from Helium he raised his
brows.

"Ah," he said, "you seek your ruler and his company?"

"Know you of them?" I asked.

"But little more than that they were captured by my uncle, Salensus Oll, Jeddak of
Jeddaks, Ruler of Okar, land of the yellow men of Barsoom. As to their fate I know
nothing, for I am at war with my uncle, who would crush my power in the principality of
Marentina.

"These from whom you have just saved me are warriors he has sent out to find and
slay me, for they know that often I come alone to hunt and kill the sacred apt which

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Salensus Oll so much reveres. It is partly because I hate his religion that Salensus Oll
hates me; but mostly does he fear my growing power and the great faction which has
arisen throughout Okar that would be glad to see me ruler of Okar and Jeddak of Jeddaks
in his place.

"He is a cruel and tyrannous master whom all hate, and were it not for the great fear
they have of him I could raise an army overnight that would wipe out the few that might
remain loyal to him. My own people are faithful to me, and the little valley of Marentina
has paid no tribute to the court of Salensus Oll for a year.

"Nor can he force us, for a dozen men may hold the narrow way to Marentina
against a million. But now, as to thine own affairs. How may I aid you? My palace is at
your disposal, if you wish to honor me by coming to Marentina."

"When our work is done we shall be glad to accept your invitation," I replied. "But
now you can assist us most by directing us to the court of Salensus Oll, and suggesting
some means by which we may gain admission to the city and the palace, or whatever
other place we find our friends to be confined."

Talu gazed ruefully at our smooth faces and at Thuvan Dihn's red skin and my white
one.

"First you must come to Marentina," he said, "for a great change must be wrought in
your appearance before you can hope to enter any city in Okar. You must have yellow
faces and black beards, and your apparel and trappings must be those least likely to
arouse suspicion. In my palace is one who can make you appear as truly yellow men as
does Salensus Oll himself."

His counsel seemed wise; and as there was apparently no other way to insure a
successful entry to Kadabra, the capital city of Okar, we set out with Talu, Prince of
Marentina, for his little, rock-bound country.

The way was over some of the worst traveling I have ever seen, and I do not wonder
that in this land where there are neither thoats nor fliers that Marentina is in little fear of
invasion; but at last we reached our destination, the first view of which I had from a
slight elevation a half-mile from the city.

Nestled in a deep valley lay a city of Martian concrete, whose every street and plaza
and open space was roofed with glass. All about lay snow and ice, but there was none
upon the rounded, domelike, crystal covering that enveloped the whole city.

Then I saw how these people combated the rigors of the arctic, and lived in luxury
and comfort in the midst of a land of perpetual ice. Their cities were veritable hothouses,
and when I had come within this one my respect and admiration for the scientific and
engineering skill of this buried nation was unbounded.

200
 The moment we entered the city Talu threw off his outer garments of fur, as did we,
and I saw that his apparel differed but little from that of the red races of Barsoom. Except
for his leathern harness, covered thick with jewels and metal, he was naked, nor could
one have comfortably worn apparel in that warm and humid atmosphere.

For three days we remained the guests of Prince Talu, and during that time he
showered upon us every attention and courtesy within his power. He showed us all that
was of interest in his great city.

The Marentina atmosphere plant will maintain life indefinitely in the cities of the
north pole after all life upon the balance of dying Mars is extinct through the failure of
the air supply, should the great central plant again cease functioning as it did upon that
memorable occasion that gave me the opportunity of restoring life and happiness to the
strange world that I had already learned to love so well.

He showed us the heating system that stores the sun's rays in great reservoirs
beneath the city, and how little is necessary to maintain the perpetual summer heat of the
glorious garden spot within this arctic paradise.

Broad avenues of sod sewn with the seed of the ocher vegetation of the dead sea
bottoms carried the noiseless traffic of light and airy ground fliers that are the only form
of artificial transportation used north of the gigantic ice-barrier.

The broad tires of these unique fliers are but rubber-like gas bags filled with the
eighth Barsoomian ray, or ray of propulsion—that remarkable discovery of the Martians
that has made possible the great fleets of mighty airships that render the red man of the
outer world supreme. It is this ray which propels the inherent or reflected light of the
planet off into space, and when confined gives to the Martian craft their airy buoyancy.

The ground fliers of Marentina contain just sufficient buoyancy in their automobile-
like wheels to give the cars traction for steering purposes; and though the hind wheels are
geared to the engine, and aid in driving the machine, the bulk of this work is carried by a
small propeller at the stern.

I know of no more delightful sensation than that of riding in one of these

luxuriously appointed cars which skim, light and airy as feathers, along the soft, mossy
avenues of Marentina. They move with absolute noiselessness between borders of
crimson sward and beneath arching trees gorgeous with the wondrous blooms that mark
so many of the highly cultivated varieties of Barsoomian vegetation.

By the end of the third day the court barber—I can think of no other earthly
appellation by which to describe him—had wrought so remarkable a transformation in
both Thuvan Dihn and myself that our own wives would never have known us. Our skins
were of the same lemon color as his own, and great, black beards and mustaches had
been deftly affixed to our smooth faces. The trappings of warriors of Okar aided in the

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deception; and for wear beyond the hothouse cities we each had suits of the black- and
yellow-striped orluk.

Talu gave us careful directions for the journey to Kadabra, the capital city of the
Okar nation, which is the racial name of the yellow men. This good friend even
accompanied us part way, and then, promising to aid us in any way that he found
possible, bade us adieu.

On parting he slipped upon my finger a curiously wrought ring set with a dead-
black, lusterless stone, which appeared more like a bit of bituminous coal than the
priceless Barsoomian gem which in reality it is.

"There had been but three others cut from the mother stone," he said, "which is in
my possession. These three are worn by nobles high in my confidence, all of whom have
been sent on secret missions to the court of Salensus Oll.

"Should you come within fifty feet of any of these three you will feel a rapid,
pricking sensation in the finger upon which you wear this ring. He who wears one of its
mates will experience the same feeling; it is caused by an electrical action that takes
place the moment two of these gems cut from the same mother stone come within the
radius of each other's power. By it you will know that a friend is at hand upon whom you
may depend for assistance in time of need.

"Should another wearer of one of these gems call upon you for aid do not deny him,
and should death threaten you swallow the ring rather than let it fall into the hands of
enemies. Guard it with your life, John Carter, for some day it may mean more than life to
you."

With this parting admonition our good friend turned back toward Marentina, and we
set our faces in the direction of the city of Kadabra and the court of Salensus Oll, Jeddak
of Jeddaks.

That very evening we came within sight of the walled and glass-roofed city of
Kadabra. It lies in a low depression near the pole, surrounded by rocky, snow-clad hills.
From the pass through which we entered the valley we had a splendid view of this great
city of the north. Its crystal domes sparkled in the brilliant sunlight gleaming above the
frost-covered outer wall that circles the entire one hundred miles of its circumference.

At regular intervals great gates give entrance to the city; but even at the distance
from which we looked upon the massive pile we could see that all were closed, and, in
accordance with Talu's suggestion, we deferred attempting to enter the city until the
following morning.

As he had said, we found numerous caves in the hillsides about us, and into one of
these we crept for the night. Our warm orluk skins kept us perfectly comfortable, and it

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was only after a most refreshing sleep that we awoke shortly after daylight on the
following morning.

Already the city was astir, and from several of the gates we saw parties of yellow
men emerging. Following closely each detail of the instructions given us by our good
friend of Marentina, we remained concealed for several hours until one party of some
half dozen warriors had passed along the trail below our hiding place and entered the
hills by way of the pass along which we had come the previous evening.

After giving them time to get well out of sight of our cave, Thuvan Dihn and I crept
out and followed them, overtaking them when they were well into the hills.

When we had come almost to them I called aloud to their leader, when the whole
party halted and turned toward us. The crucial test had come. Could we but deceive these
men the rest would be comparatively easy.

"Kaor!" I cried as I came closer to them.

"Kaor!" responded the officer in charge of the party.

"We be from Illall," I continued, giving the name of the most remote city of Okar,
which has little or no intercourse with Kadabra. "Only yesterday we arrived, and this
morning the captain of the gate told us that you were setting out to hunt orluks, which is a
sport we do not find in our own neighborhood. We have hastened after you to pray that
you allow us to accompany you."

The officer was entirely deceived, and graciously permitted us to go with them for
the day. The chance guess that they were bound upon an orluk hunt proved correct, and
Talu had said that the chances were ten to one that such would be the mission of any
party leaving Kadabra by the pass through which we entered the valley, since that way
leads directly to the vast plains frequented by this elephantine beast of prey.

In so far as the hunt was concerned, the day was a failure, for we did not see a single
orluk; but this proved more than fortunate for us, since the yellow men were so chagrined
by their misfortune that they would not enter the city by the same gate by which they had
left it in the morning, as it seemed that they had made great boasts to the captain of that
gate about their skill at this dangerous sport.

We, therefore, approached Kadabra at a point several miles from that at which the
party had quitted it in the morning, and so were relieved of the danger of embarrassing
questions and explanations on the part of the gate captain, whom we had said had
directed us to this particular hunting party.

We had come quite close to the city when my attention was attracted toward a tall,
black shaft that reared its head several hundred feet into the air from what appeared to be
a tangled mass of junk or wreckage, now partially snow-covered.

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 I did not dare venture an inquiry for fear of arousing suspicion by evident ignorance
of something which as a yellow man I should have known; but before we reached the city
gate I was to learn the purpose of that grim shaft and the meaning of the mighty
accumulation beneath it.

We had come almost to the gate when one of the party called to his fellows, at the
same time pointing toward the distant southern horizon. Following the direction he
indicated, my eyes descried the hull of a large flier approaching rapidly from above the
crest of the encircling hills.

"Still other fools who would solve the mysteries of the forbidden north," said the
officer, half to himself. "Will they never cease their fatal curiosity?"

"Let us hope not," answered one of the warriors, "for then what should we do for
slaves and sport?"

"True; but what stupid beasts they are to continue to come to a region from whence
none of them ever has returned."

"Let us tarry and watch the end of this one," suggested one of the men.

The officer looked toward the city.

"The watch has seen him," he said; "we may remain, for we may be needed."

I looked toward the city and saw several hundred warriors issuing from the nearest
gate. They moved leisurely, as though there were no need for haste—nor was there, as I
was presently to learn.

Then I turned my eyes once more toward the flier. She was moving rapidly toward
the city, and when she had come close enough I was surprised to see that her propellers
were idle.

Straight for that grim shaft she bore. At the last minute I saw the great blades move
to reverse her, yet on she came as though drawn by some mighty, irresistible power.

Intense excitement prevailed upon her deck, where men were running hither and
thither, manning the guns and preparing to launch the small, one-man fliers, a fleet of
which is part of the equipment of every Martian war vessel. Closer and closer to the
black shaft the ship sped. In another instant she must strike, and then I saw the familiar
signal flown that sends the lesser boats in a great flock from the deck of the mother ship.

Instantly a hundred tiny fliers rose from her deck, like a swarm of huge dragon flies;
but scarcely were they clear of the battleship than the nose of each turned toward the
shaft, and they, too, rushed on at frightful speed toward the same now seemingly
inevitable end that menaced the larger vessel.

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 A moment later the collision came. Men were hurled in every direction from the
ship's deck, while she, bent and crumpled, took the last, long plunge to the scrap-heap at
the shaft's base.

With her fell a shower of her own tiny fliers, for each of them had come in violent
collision with the solid shaft.

I noticed that the wrecked fliers scraped down the shaft's side, and that their fall was
not as rapid as might have been expected; and then suddenly the secret of the shaft burst
upon me, and with it an explanation of the cause that prevented a flier that passed too far
across the ice-barrier ever returning.

The shaft was a mighty magnet, and when once a vessel came within the radius of
its powerful attraction for the aluminum steel that enters so largely into the construction
of all Barsoomian craft, no power on earth could prevent such an end as we had just
witnessed.

I afterward learned that the shaft rests directly over the magnetic pole of Mars, but
whether this adds in any way to its incalculable power of attraction I do not know. I am a
fighting man, not a scientist.

Here, at last, was an explanation of the long absence of Tardos Mors and Mors
Kajak. These valiant and intrepid warriors had dared the mysteries and dangers of the
frozen north to search for Carthoris, whose long absence had bowed in grief the head of
his beautiful mother, Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium.

The moment that the last of the fliers came to rest at the base of the shaft the black-
bearded, yellow warriors swarmed over the mass of wreckage upon which they lay,
making prisoners of those who were uninjured and occasionally despatching with a
sword-thrust one of the wounded who seemed prone to resent their taunts and insults.

A few of the uninjured red men battled bravely against their cruel foes, but for the
most part they seemed too overwhelmed by the horror of the catastrophe that had
befallen them to do more than submit supinely to the golden chains with which they were
manacled.

When the last of the prisoners had been confined, the party returned to the city, at
the gate of which we met a pack of fierce, gold-collared apts, each of which marched
between two warriors, who held them with strong chains of the same metal as their
collars.

Just beyond the gate the attendants loosened the whole terrible herd, and as they
bounded off toward the grim, black shaft I did not need to ask to know their mission. Had
there not been those within the cruel city of Kadabra who needed succor far worse than
the poor unfortunate dead and dying out there in the cold upon the bent and broken

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carcasses of a thousand fliers I could not have restrained my desire to hasten back and do
battle with those horrid creatures that had been despatched to rend and devour them.

As it was I could but follow the yellow warriors, with bowed head, and give thanks
for the chance that had given Thuvan Dihn and me such easy ingress to the capital of
Salensus Oll.

Once within the gates, we had no difficulty in eluding our friends of the morning,
and presently found ourselves in a Martian hostelry.

IN DURANCE

The public houses of Barsoom, I have found, vary but little. There is no privacy for
other than married couples.

Men without their wives are escorted to a large chamber, the floor of which is
usually of white marble or heavy glass, kept scrupulously clean. Here are many small,
raised platforms for the guest's sleeping silks and furs, and if he have none of his own
clean, fresh ones are furnished at a nominal charge.

Once a man's belongings have been deposited upon one of these platforms he is a
guest of the house, and that platform his own until he leaves. No one will disturb or
molest his belongings, as there are no thieves upon Mars.

As assassination is the one thing to be feared, the proprietors of the hostelries

furnish armed guards, who pace back and forth through the sleeping-rooms day and
night. The number of guards and gorgeousness of their trappings quite usually denote the
status of the hotel.

No meals are served in these houses, but generally a public eating place adjoins
them. Baths are connected with the sleeping chambers, and each guest is required to
bathe daily or depart from the hotel.

Usually on a second or third floor there is a large sleeping-room for single women
guests, but its appointments do not vary materially from the chamber occupied by men.
The guards who watch the women remain in the corridor outside the sleeping chamber,
while female slaves pace back and forth among the sleepers within, ready to notify the
warriors should their presence be required.

I was surprised to note that all the guards with the hotel at which we stopped were
red men, and on inquiring of one of them I learned that they were slaves purchased by the
proprietors of the hotels from the government. The man whose post was past my sleeping
platform had been commander of the navy of a great Martian nation; but fate had carried

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his flagship across the ice-barrier within the radius of power of the magnetic shaft, and
now for many tedious years he had been a slave of the yellow men.

He told me that princes, jeds, and even jeddaks of the outer world, were among the
menials who served the yellow race; but when I asked him if he had heard of the fate of
Mors Kajak or Tardos Mors he shook his head, saying that he never had heard of their
being prisoners here, though he was very familiar with the reputations and fame they
bore in the outer world.

Neither had he heard any rumor of the coming of the Father of Therns and the black
dator of the First Born, but he hastened to explain that he knew little of what took place
within the palace. I could see that he wondered not a little that a yellow man should be so
inquisitive about certain red prisoners from beyond the ice-barrier, and that I should be so
ignorant of customs and conditions among my own race.

In fact, I had forgotten my disguise upon discovering a red man pacing before my
sleeping platform; but his growing expression of surprise warned me in time, for I had no
mind to reveal my identity to any unless some good could come of it, and I did not see
how this poor fellow could serve me yet, though I had it in my mind that later I might be
the means of serving him and all the other thousands of prisoners who do the bidding of
their stern masters in Kadabra.

Thuvan Dihn and I discussed our plans as we sat together among our sleeping silks
and furs that night in the midst of the hundreds of yellow men who occupied the
apartment with us. We spoke in low whispers, but, as that is only what courtesy demands
in a public sleeping place, we roused no suspicion.

At last, determining that all must be but idle speculation until after we had had a
chance to explore the city and attempt to put into execution the plan Talu had suggested,
we bade each other good night and turned to sleep.

After breakfasting the following morning we set out to see Kadabra, and as, through
the generosity of the prince of Marentina, we were well supplied with the funds current
in Okar we purchased a handsome ground flier. Having learned to drive them while in
Marentina, we spent a delightful and profitable day exploring the city, and late in the
afternoon at the hour Talu told us we would find government officials in their offices, we
stopped before a magnificent building on the plaza opposite the royal grounds and the
palace.

Here we walked boldly in past the armed guard at the door, to be met by a red slave
within who asked our wishes.

"Tell Sorav, your master, that two warriors from Illall wish to take service in the
palace guard," I said.

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 Sorav, Talu had told us, was the commander of the forces of the palace, and as men
from the further cities of Okar—and especially Illall—were less likely to be tainted with
the germ of intrigue which had for years infected the household of Salensus Oll, he was
sure that we would be welcomed and few questions asked us.

He had primed us with such general information as he thought would be necessary

for us to pass muster before Sorav, after which we would have to undergo a further
examination before Salensus Oll that he might determine our physical fitness and our
ability as warriors.

The little experience we had had with the strange hooked sword of the yellow man
and his cuplike shield made it seem rather unlikely that either of us could pass this final
test, but there was the chance that we might be quartered in the palace of Salensus Oll for
several days after being accepted by Sorav before the Jeddak of Jeddaks would find time
to put us to the final test.

After a wait of several minutes in an ante-chamber we were summoned into the

private office of Sorav, where we were courteously greeted by this ferocious-appearing,
black-bearded officer. He asked us our names and stations in our own city, and having
received replies that were evidently satisfactory to him, he put certain questions to us that
Talu had foreseen and prepared us for.

The interview could not have lasted over ten minutes when Sorav summoned an aid
whom he instructed to record us properly, and then escort us to the quarters in the palace
which are set aside for aspirants to membership in the palace guard.

The aid took us to his own office first, where he measured and weighed and
photographed us simultaneously with a machine ingeniously devised for that purpose,
five copies being instantly reproduced in five different offices of the government, two of
which are located in other cities miles distant. Then he led us through the palace grounds
to the main guardroom of the palace, there turning us over to the officer in charge.

This individual again questioned us briefly, and finally despatched a soldier to guide
us to our quarters. These we found located upon the second floor of the palace in a semi-
detached tower at the rear of the edifice.

When we asked our guide why we were quartered so far from the guardroom he
replied that the custom of the older members of the guard of picking quarrels with
aspirants to try their metal had resulted in so many deaths that it was found difficult to
maintain the guard at its full strength while this custom prevailed. Salensus Oll had,
therefore, set apart these quarters for aspirants, and here they were securely locked
against the danger of attack by members of the guard.

This unwelcome information put a sudden check to all our well-laid plans, for it
meant that we should virtually be prisoners in the palace of Salensus Oll until the time
that he should see fit to give us the final examination for efficiency.

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 As it was this interval upon which we had banked to accomplish so much in our
search for Dejah Thoris and Thuvia of Ptarth, our chagrin was unbounded when we heard
the great lock click behind our guide as he had quitted us after ushering us into the
chambers we were to occupy.

With a wry face I turned to Thuvan Dihn. My companion but shook his head
disconsolately and walked to one of the windows upon the far side of the apartment.

Scarcely had he gazed beyond them than he called to me in a tone of suppressed

excitement and surprise. In an instant I was by his side.

"Look!" said Thuvan Dihn, pointing toward the courtyard below.

As my eyes followed the direction indicated I saw two women pacing back and
forth in an enclosed garden.

At the same moment I recognized them—they were Dejah Thoris and Thuvia of
Ptarth!

There were they whom I had trailed from one pole to another, the length of a world.
Only ten feet of space and a few metal bars separated me from them.

With a cry I attracted their attention, and as Dejah Thoris looked up full into my
eyes I made the sign of love that the men of Barsoom make to their women.

To my astonishment and horror her head went high, and as a look of utter contempt
touched her finely chiseled features she turned her back full upon me. My body is
covered with the scars of a thousand conflicts, but never in all my long life have I
suffered such anguish from a wound, for this time the steel of a woman's look had
entered my heart.

With a groan I turned away and buried my face in my arms. I heard Thuvan Dihn
call aloud to Thuvia, but an instant later his exclamation of surprise betokened that he,
too, had been repulsed by his own daughter.

"They will not even listen," he cried to me. "They have put their hands over their
ears and walked to the farther end of the garden. Ever heard you of such mad work, John
Carter? The two must be bewitched."

Presently I mustered the courage to return to the window, for even though she
spurned me I loved her, and could not keep my eyes from feasting upon her divine face
and figure, but when she saw me looking she again turned away.

I was at my wit's end to account for her strange actions, and that Thuvia, too, had
turned against her father seemed incredible. Could it be that my incomparable princess
still clung to the hideous faith from which I had rescued her world? Could it be that she

209
looked upon me with loathing and contempt because I had returned from the Valley Dor,
or because I had desecrated the temples and persons of the Holy Therns?

To naught else could I ascribe her strange deportment, yet it seemed far from
possible that such could be the case, for the love of Dejah Thoris for John Carter had
been a great and wondrous love—far above racial distinctions, creed, or religion.

As I gazed ruefully at the back of her haughty, royal head a gate at the opposite end
of the garden opened and a man entered. As he did so he turned and slipped something
into the hand of the yellow guardsman beyond the gate, nor was the distance too great
that I might not see that money had passed between them.

Instantly I knew that this newcomer had bribed his way within the garden. Then he
turned in the direction of the two women, and I saw that he was none other than Thurid,
the black dator of the First Born.

He approached quite close to them before he spoke, and as they turned at the sound
of his voice I saw Dejah Thoris shrink from him.

There was a nasty leer upon his face as he stepped close to her and spoke again. I
could not hear his words, but her answer came clearly.

"The granddaughter of Tardos Mors can always die," she said, "but she could never
live at the price you name."

Then I saw the black scoundrel go upon his knees beside her, fairly groveling in the
dirt, pleading with her. Only part of what he said came to me, for though he was
evidently laboring under the stress of passion and excitement, it was equally apparent
that he did not dare raise his voice for fear of detection.

"I would save you from Matai Shang," I heard him say. "You know the fate that
awaits you at his hands. Would you not choose me rather than the other?"

"I would choose neither," replied Dejah Thoris, "even were I free to choose, as you
know well I am not."

"You ARE free!" he cried. "John Carter, Prince of Helium, is dead."

"I know better than that; but even were he dead, and I must needs choose another
mate, it should be a plant man or a great white ape in preference to either Matai Shang or
you, black calot," she answered with a sneer of contempt.

Of a sudden the vicious beast lost all control of himself, as with a vile oath he
leaped at the slender woman, gripping her tender throat in his brute clutch. Thuvia
screamed and sprang to aid her fellow-prisoner, and at the same instant I, too, went mad,

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and tearing at the bars that spanned my window I ripped them from their sockets as they
had been but copper wire.

Hurling myself through the aperture I reached the garden, but a hundred feet from
where the black was choking the life from my Dejah Thoris, and with a single great
bound I was upon him. I spoke no word as I tore his defiling fingers from that beautiful
throat, nor did I utter a sound as I hurled him twenty feet from me.

Foaming with rage, Thurid regained his feet and charged me like a mad bull.

"Yellow man," he shrieked, "you knew not upon whom you had laid your vile
hands, but ere I am done with you, you will know well what it means to offend the
person of a First Born."

Then he was upon me, reaching for my throat, and precisely as I had done that day
in the courtyard of the Temple of Issus I did here in the garden of the palace of Salensus
Oll. I ducked beneath his outstretched arms, and as he lunged past me I planted a terrific
right upon the side of his jaw.

Just as he had done upon that other occasion he did now. Like a top he spun round,
his knees gave beneath him, and he crumpled to the ground at my feet. Then I heard a
voice behind me.

It was the deep voice of authority that marks the ruler of men, and when I turned to
face the resplendent figure of a giant yellow man I did not need to ask to know that it was
Salensus Oll. At his right stood Matai Shang, and behind them a score of guardsmen.

"Who are you," he cried, "and what means this intrusion within the precincts of the
women's garden? I do not recall your face. How came you here?"

But for his last words I should have forgotten my disguise entirely and told him
outright that I was John Carter, Prince of Helium; but his question recalled me to myself.
I pointed to the dislodged bars of the window above.

"I am an aspirant to membership in the palace guard," I said, "and from yonder
window in the tower where I was confined awaiting the final test for fitness I saw this
brute attack the—this woman. I could not stand idly by, O Jeddak, and see this thing
done within the very palace grounds, and yet feel that I was fit to serve and guard your
royal person."

I had evidently made an impression upon the ruler of Okar by my fair words, and
when he had turned to Dejah Thoris and Thuvia of Ptarth, and both had corroborated my
statements it began to look pretty dark for Thurid.

I saw the ugly gleam in Matai Shang's evil eyes as Dejah Thoris narrated all that had
passed between Thurid and herself, and when she came to that part which dealt with my

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interference with the dator of the First Born her gratitude was quite apparent, though I
could see by her eyes that something puzzled her strangely.

I did not wonder at her attitude toward me while others were present; but that she
should have denied me while she and Thuvia were the only occupants of the garden still
cut me sorely.

As the examination proceeded I cast a glance at Thurid and startled him looking
wide-eyed and wonderingly at me, and then of a sudden he laughed full in my face.

A moment later Salensus Oll turned toward the black.

"What have you to say in explanation of these charges?" he asked in a deep and
terrible voice. "Dare you aspire to one whom the Father of Therns has chosen—one who
might even be a fit mate for the Jeddak of Jeddaks himself?"

And then the black-bearded tyrant turned and cast a sudden greedy look upon Dejah
Thoris, as though with the words a new thought and a new desire had sprung up within
his mind and breast.

Thurid had been about to reply and, with a malicious grin upon his face, was
pointing an accusing finger at me, when Salensus Oll's words and the expression of his
face cut him short.

A cunning look crept into his eyes, and I knew from the expression of his face that
his next words were not the ones he had intended to speak.

"O Mightiest of Jeddaks," he said, "the man and the women do not speak the truth.
The fellow had come into the garden to assist them to escape. I was beyond and
overheard their conversation, and when I entered, the woman screamed and the man
sprang upon me and would have killed me.

"What know you of this man? He is a stranger to you, and I dare say that you will
find him an enemy and a spy. Let him be put on trial, Salensus Oll, rather than your
friend and guest, Thurid, Dator of the First Born."

Salensus Oll looked puzzled. He turned again and looked upon Dejah Thoris, and
then Thurid stepped quite close to him and whispered something in his ear—what, I
know not.

Presently the yellow ruler turned to one of his officers.

"See that this man be securely confined until we have time to go deeper into this
affair," he commanded, "and as bars alone seem inadequate to restrain him, let chains be
added."

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 Then he turned and left the garden, taking Dejah Thoris with him—his hand upon
her shoulder. Thurid and Matai Shang went also, and as they reached the gateway the
black turned and laughed again aloud in my face.

What could be the meaning of his sudden change toward me? Could he suspect my
true identity? It must be that, and the thing that had betrayed me was the trick and blow
that had laid him low for the second time.

As the guards dragged me away my heart was very sad and bitter indeed, for now to
the two relentless enemies that had hounded her for so long another and a more powerful
one had been added, for I would have been but a fool had I not recognized the sudden
love for Dejah Thoris that had just been born in the terrible breast of Salensus Oll, Jeddak
of Jeddaks, ruler of Okar.

THE PIT OF PLENTY

I did not languish long within the prison of Salensus Oll. During the short time that I
lay there, fettered with chains of gold, I often wondered as to the fate of Thuvan Dihn,
Jeddak of Ptarth.

My brave companion had followed me into the garden as I attacked Thurid, and
when Salensus Oll had left with Dejah Thoris and the others, leaving Thuvia of Ptarth
behind, he, too, had remained in the garden with his daughter, apparently unnoticed, for
he was appareled similarly to the guards.

The last I had seen of him he stood waiting for the warriors who escorted me to
close the gate behind them, that he might be alone with Thuvia. Could it be possible that
they had escaped? I doubted it, and yet with all my heart I hoped that it might be true.

The third day of my incarceration brought a dozen warriors to escort me to the

audience chamber, where Salensus Oll himself was to try me. A great number of nobles
crowded the room, and among them I saw Thurid, but Matai Shang was not there.

Dejah Thoris, as radiantly beautiful as ever, sat upon a small throne beside Salensus
Oll. The expression of sad hopelessness upon her dear face cut deep into my heart.

Her position beside the Jeddak of Jeddaks boded ill for her and me, and on the
instant that I saw her there, there sprang to my mind the firm intention never to leave that
chamber alive if I must leave her in the clutches of this powerful tyrant.

I had killed better men than Salensus Oll, and killed them with my bare hands, and
now I swore to myself that I should kill him if I found that the only way to save the
Princess of Helium. That it would mean almost instant death for me I cared not, except

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that it would remove me from further efforts in behalf of Dejah Thoris, and for this
reason alone I would have chosen another way, for even though I should kill Salensus Oll
that act would not restore my beloved wife to her own people. I determined to wait the
final outcome of the trial, that I might learn all that I could of the Okarian ruler's
intentions, and then act accordingly.

Scarcely had I come before him than Salensus Oll summoned Thurid also.

"Dator Thurid," he said, "you have made a strange request of me; but, in accordance
with your wishes and your promise that it will result only to my interests, I have decided
to accede.

"You tell me that a certain announcement will be the means of convicting this
prisoner and, at the same time, open the way to the gratification of my dearest wish."

Thurid nodded.

"Then shall I make the announcement here before all my nobles," continued
Salensus Oll. "For a year no queen has sat upon the throne beside me, and now it suits me
to take to wife one who is reputed the most beautiful woman upon Barsoom. A statement
which none may truthfully deny.

"Nobles of Okar, unsheathe your swords and do homage to Dejah Thoris, Princess
of Helium and future Queen of Okar, for at the end of the allotted ten days she shall
become the wife of Salensus Oll."

As the nobles drew their blades and lifted them on high, in accordance with the
ancient custom of Okar when a jeddak announces his intention to wed, Dejah Thoris
sprang to her feet and, raising her hand aloft, cried in a loud voice that they desist.

"I may not be the wife of Salensus Oll," she pleaded, "for already I be a wife and
mother. John Carter, Prince of Helium, still lives. I know it to be true, for I overheard
Matai Shang tell his daughter Phaidor that he had seen him in Kaor, at the court of Kulan
Tith, Jeddak. A jeddak does not wed a married woman, nor will Salensus Oll thus violate
the bonds of matrimony."

Salensus Oll turned upon Thurid with an ugly look.

"Is this the surprise you held in store for me?" he cried. "You assured me that no
obstacle which might not be easily overcome stood between me and this woman, and
now I find that the one insuperable obstacle intervenes. What mean you, man? What have
you to say?"

"And should I deliver John Carter into your hands, Salensus Oll, would you not feel
that I had more than satisfied the promise that I made you?" answered Thurid.

214
 "Talk not like a fool," cried the enraged jeddak. "I am no child to be thus played
with."

"I am talking only as a man who knows," replied Thurid. "Knows that he can do all
that he claims."

"Then turn John Carter over to me within ten days or yourself suffer the end that I
should mete out to him were he in my power!" snapped the Jeddak of Jeddaks, with an
ugly scowl.

"You need not wait ten days, Salensus Oll," replied Thurid; and then, turning
suddenly upon me as he extended a pointing finger, he cried: "There stands John Carter,
Prince of Helium!"

"Fool!" shrieked Salensus Oll. "Fool! John Carter is a white man. This fellow be as
yellow as myself. John Carter's face is smooth—Matai Shang has described him to me.
This prisoner has a beard and mustache as large and black as any in Okar. Quick,
guardsmen, to the pits with the black maniac who wishes to throw his life away for a
poor joke upon your ruler!"

"Hold!" cried Thurid, and springing forward before I could guess his intention, he
had grasped my beard and ripped the whole false fabric from my face and head, revealing
my smooth, tanned skin beneath and my close-cropped black hair.

Instantly pandemonium reigned in the audience chamber of Salensus Oll. Warriors

pressed forward with drawn blades, thinking that I might be contemplating the
assassination of the Jeddak of Jeddaks; while others, out of curiosity to see one whose
name was familiar from pole to pole, crowded behind their fellows.

As my identity was revealed I saw Dejah Thoris spring to her feet—amazement writ
large upon her face—and then through that jam of armed men she forced her way before
any could prevent. A moment only and she was before me with outstretched arms and
eyes filled with the light of her great love.

"John Carter! John Carter!" she cried as I folded her to my breast, and then of a
sudden I knew why she had denied me in the garden beneath the tower.

What a fool I had been! Expecting that she would penetrate the marvelous disguise
that had been wrought for me by the barber of Marentina! She had not known me, that
was all; and when she saw the sign of love from a stranger she was offended and
righteously indignant. Indeed, but I had been a fool.

"And it was you," she cried, "who spoke to me from the tower! How could I dream
that my beloved Virginian lay behind that fierce beard and that yellow skin?"

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 She had been wont to call me her Virginian as a term of endearment, for she knew
that I loved the sound of that beautiful name, made a thousand times more beautiful and
hallowed by her dear lips, and as I heard it again after all those long years my eyes
became dimmed with tears and my voice choked with emotion.

But an instant did I crush that dear form to me ere Salensus Oll, trembling with rage
and jealousy, shouldered his way to us.

"Seize the man," he cried to his warriors, and a hundred ruthless hands tore us apart.

Well it was for the nobles of the court of Okar that John Carter had been disarmed.
As it was, a dozen of them felt the weight of my clenched fists, and I had fought my way
half up the steps before the throne to which Salensus Oll had carried Dejah Thoris ere
ever they could stop me.

Then I went down, fighting, beneath a half-hundred warriors; but before they had
battered me into unconsciousness I heard that from the lips of Dejah Thoris that made all
my suffering well worth while.

Standing there beside the great tyrant, who clutched her by the arm, she pointed to
where I fought alone against such awful odds.

"Think you, Salensus Oll, that the wife of such as he is," she cried, "would ever
dishonor his memory, were he a thousand times dead, by mating with a lesser mortal?
Lives there upon any world such another as John Carter, Prince of Helium? Lives there
another man who could fight his way back and forth across a warlike planet, facing
savage beasts and hordes of savage men, for the love of a woman?

"I, Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, am his. He fought for me and won me. If you
be a brave man you will honor the bravery that is his, and you will not kill him. Make
him a slave if you will, Salensus Oll; but spare his life. I would rather be a slave with
such as he than be Queen of Okar."

"Neither slave nor queen dictates to Salensus Oll," replied the Jeddak of Jeddaks.
"John Carter shall die a natural death in the Pit of Plenty, and the day he dies Dejah
Thoris shall become my queen."

I did not hear her reply, for it was then that a blow upon my head brought
unconsciousness, and when I recovered my senses only a handful of guardsmen remained
in the audience chamber with me. As I opened my eyes they goaded me with the points
of their swords and bade me rise.

Then they led me through long corridors to a court far toward the center of the
palace.

216
 In the center of the court was a deep pit, near the edge of which stood half a dozen
other guardsmen, awaiting me. One of them carried a long rope in his hands, which he
commenced to make ready as we approached.

We had come to within fifty feet of these men when I felt a sudden strange and
rapid pricking sensation in one of my fingers.

For a moment I was nonplused by the odd feeling, and then there came to me
recollection of that which in the stress of my adventure I had entirely forgotten—the gift
ring of Prince Talu of Marentina.

Instantly I looked toward the group we were nearing, at the same time raising my
left hand to my forehead, that the ring might be visible to one who sought it.
Simultaneously one of the waiting warriors raised his left hand, ostensibly to brush back
his hair, and upon one of his fingers I saw the duplicate of my own ring.

A quick look of intelligence passed between us, after which I kept my eyes turned
away from the warrior and did not look at him again, for fear that I might arouse the
suspicion of the Okarians. When we reached the edge of the pit I saw that it was very
deep, and presently I realized I was soon to judge just how far it extended below the
surface of the court, for he who held the rope passed it about my body in such a way that
it could be released from above at any time; and then, as all the warriors grasped it, he
pushed me forward, and I fell into the yawning abyss.

After the first jerk as I reached the end of the rope that had been paid out to let me
fall below the pit's edge they lowered me quickly but smoothly. The moment before the
plunge, while two or three of the men had been assisting in adjusting the rope about me,
one of them had brought his mouth close to my cheek, and in the brief interval before I
was cast into the forbidding hole he breathed a single word into my ear:

"Courage!"

The pit, which my imagination had pictured as bottomless, proved to be not more
than a hundred feet in depth; but as its walls were smoothly polished it might as well
have been a thousand feet, for I could never hope to escape without outside assistance.

For a day I was left in darkness; and then, quite suddenly, a brilliant light illumined
my strange cell. I was reasonably hungry and thirsty by this time, not having tasted food
or drink since the day prior to my incarceration.

To my amazement I found the sides of the pit, that I had thought smooth, lined with
shelves, upon which were the most delicious viands and liquid refreshments that Okar
afforded.

With an exclamation of delight I sprang forward to partake of some of the welcome

food, but ere ever I reached it the light was extinguished, and, though I groped my way

217
about the chamber, my hands came in contact with nothing beside the smooth, hard wall
that I had felt on my first examination of my prison.

Immediately the pangs of hunger and thirst began to assail me. Where before I had
had but a mild craving for food and drink, I now actually suffered for want of it, and all
because of the tantalizing sight that I had had of food almost within my grasp.

Once more darkness and silence enveloped me, a silence that was broken only by a
single mocking laugh.

For another day nothing occurred to break the monotony of my imprisonment or

relieve the suffering superinduced by hunger and thirst. Slowly the pangs became less
keen, as suffering deadened the activity of certain nerves; and then the light flashed on
once again, and before me stood an array of new and tempting dishes, with great bottles
of clear water and flagons of refreshing wine, upon the outside of which the cold sweat of
condensation stood.

Again, with the hunger madness of a wild beast, I sprang forward to seize those
tempting dishes; but, as before, the light went out and I came to a sudden stop against a
hard wall.

Then the mocking laugh rang out for a second time.

The Pit of Plenty!

Ah, what a cruel mind must have devised this exquisite, hellish torture! Day after
day was the thing repeated, until I was on the verge of madness; and then, as I had done
in the pits of the Warhoons, I took a new, firm hold upon my reason and forced it back
into the channels of sanity.

By sheer will-power I regained control over my tottering mentality, and so

successful was I that the next time that the light came I sat quite still and looked
indifferently at the fresh and tempting food almost within my reach. Glad I was that I had
done so, for it gave me an opportunity to solve the seeming mystery of those vanishing
banquets.

As I made no move to reach the food, the torturers left the light turned on in the
hope that at last I could refrain no longer from giving them the delicious thrill of
enjoyment that my former futile efforts to obtain it had caused.

And as I sat scrutinizing the laden shelves I presently saw how the thing was
accomplished, and so simple was it that I wondered I had not guessed it before. The wall
of my prison was of clearest glass—behind the glass were the tantalizing viands.

218
 After nearly an hour the light went out, but this time there was no mocking
laughter—at least not upon the part of my tormentors; but I, to be at quits with them,
gave a low laugh that none might mistake for the cackle of a maniac.

Nine days passed, and I was weak from hunger and thirst, but no longer suffering—
I was past that. Then, down through the darkness above, a little parcel fell to the floor at
my side.

Indifferently I groped for it, thinking it but some new invention of my jailers to add
to my sufferings.

At last I found it—a tiny package wrapped in paper, at the end of a strong and
slender cord. As I opened it a few lozenges fell to the floor. As I gathered them up,
feeling of them and smelling of them, I discovered that they were tablets of concentrated
food such as are quite common in all parts of Barsoom.

Poison! I thought.

Well, what of it? Why not end my misery now rather than drag out a few more
wretched days in this dark pit? Slowly I raised one of the little pellets to my lips.

"Good-bye, my Dejah Thoris!" I breathed. "I have lived for you and fought for you,
and now my next dearest wish is to be realized, for I shall die for you," and, taking the
morsel in my mouth, I devoured it.

One by one I ate them all, nor ever did anything taste better than those tiny bits of
nourishment, within which I knew must lie the seeds of death—possibly of some
hideous, torturing death.

As I sat quietly upon the floor of my prison, waiting for the end, my fingers by
accident came in contact with the bit of paper in which the things had been wrapped; and
as I idly played with it, my mind roaming far back into the past, that I might live again
for a few brief moments before I died some of the many happy moments of a long and
happy life, I became aware of strange protuberances upon the smooth surface of the
parchment-like substance in my hands.

For a time they carried no special significance to my mind—I merely was mildly
wondrous that they were there; but at last they seemed to take form, and then I realized
that there was but a single line of them, like writing.

Now, more interestedly, my fingers traced and retraced them. There were four
separate and distinct combinations of raised lines. Could it be that these were four words,
and that they were intended to carry a message to me?

The more I thought of it the more excited I became, until my fingers raced madly
back and forth over those bewildering little hills and valleys upon that bit of paper.

219
 But I could make nothing of them, and at last I decided that my very haste was
preventing me from solving the mystery. Then I took it more slowly. Again and again my
forefinger traced the first of those four combinations.

Martian writing is rather difficult to explain to an Earth man—it is something of a

cross between shorthand and picture-writing, and is an entirely different language from
the spoken language of Mars.

Upon Barsoom there is but a single oral language.

It is spoken today by every race and nation, just as it was at the beginning of human
life upon Barsoom. It has grown with the growth of the planet's learning and scientific
achievements, but so ingenious a thing it is that new words to express new thoughts or
describe new conditions or discoveries form themselves—no other word could explain
the thing that a new word is required for other than the word that naturally falls to it, and
so, no matter how far removed two nations or races, their spoken languages are identical.

Not so their written languages, however. No two nations have the same written
language, and often cities of the same nation have a written language that differs greatly
from that of the nation to which they belong.

Thus it was that the signs upon the paper, if in reality they were words, baffled me
for some time; but at last I made out the first one.

It was "courage," and it was written in the letters of Marentina.

Courage!

That was the word the yellow guardsman had whispered in my ear as I stood upon
the verge of the Pit of Plenty.

The message must be from him, and he I knew was a friend.

With renewed hope I bent my every energy to the deciphering of the balance of the
message, and at last success rewarded my endeavor—I had read the four words:

"Courage! Follow the rope."

"FOLLOW THE ROPE"

What could it mean?

"Follow the rope." What rope?

220
 Presently I recalled the cord that had been attached to the parcel when it fell at my
side, and after a little groping my hand came in contact with it again. It depended from
above, and when I pulled upon it I discovered that it was rigidly fastened, possibly at the
pit's mouth.

Upon examination I found that the cord, though small, was amply able to sustain the
weight of several men. Then I made another discovery—there was a second message
knotted in the rope at about the height of my head. This I deciphered more easily, now
that the key was mine.

"Bring the rope with you. Beyond the knots lies danger."

That was all there was to this message. It was evidently hastily formed—an
afterthought.

I did not pause longer than to learn the contents of the second message, and, though
I was none too sure of the meaning of the final admonition, "Beyond the knots lies
danger," yet I was sure that here before me lay an avenue of escape, and that the sooner I
took advantage of it the more likely was I to win to liberty.

At least, I could be but little worse off than I had been in the Pit of Plenty.

I was to find, however, ere I was well out of that damnable hole that I might have
been very much worse off had I been compelled to remain there another two minutes.

It had taken me about that length of time to ascend some fifty feet above the bottom
when a noise above attracted my attention. To my chagrin I saw that the covering of the
pit was being removed far above me, and in the light of the courtyard beyond I saw a
number of yellow warriors.

Could it be that I was laboriously working my way into some new trap? Were the
messages spurious, after all? And then, just as my hope and courage had ebbed to their
lowest, I saw two things.

One was the body of a huge, struggling, snarling apt being lowered over the side of
the pit toward me, and the other was an aperture in the side of the shaft—an aperture
larger than a man's body, into which my rope led.

Just as I scrambled into the dark hole before me the apt passed me, reaching out
with his mighty hands to clutch me, and snapping, growling, and roaring in a most
frightful manner.

Plainly now I saw the end for which Salensus Oll had destined me. After first
torturing me with starvation he had caused this fierce beast to be lowered into my prison
to finish the work that the jeddak's hellish imagination had conceived.

221
 And then another truth flashed upon me—I had lived nine days of the allotted ten
which must intervene before Salensus Oll could make Dejah Thoris his queen. The
purpose of the apt was to insure my death before the tenth day.

I almost laughed aloud as I thought how Salensus Oll's measure of safety was to aid
in defeating the very end he sought, for when they discovered that the apt was alone in
the Pit of Plenty they could not know but that he had completely devoured me, and so no
suspicion of my escape would cause a search to be made for me.

Coiling the rope that had carried me thus far upon my strange journey, I sought for
the other end, but found that as I followed it forward it extended always before me. So
this was the meaning of the words: "Follow the rope."

The tunnel through which I crawled was low and dark. I had followed it for several
hundred yards when I felt a knot beneath my fingers. "Beyond the knots lies danger."

Now I went with the utmost caution, and a moment later a sharp turn in the tunnel
brought me to an opening into a large, brilliantly lighted chamber.

The trend of the tunnel I had been traversing had been slightly upward, and from
this I judged that the chamber into which I now found myself looking must be either on
the first floor of the palace or directly beneath the first floor.

Upon the opposite wall were many strange instruments and devices, and in the
center of the room stood a long table, at which two men were seated in earnest
conversation.

He who faced me was a yellow man—a little, wizened-up, pasty-faced old fellow
with great eyes that showed the white round the entire circumference of the iris.

His companion was a black man, and I did not need to see his face to know that it
was Thurid, for there was no other of the First Born north of the ice-barrier.

Thurid was speaking as I came within hearing of the men's voices.

"Solan," he was saying, "there is no risk and the reward is great. You know that you
hate Salensus Oll and that nothing would please you more than to thwart him in some
cherished plan. There be nothing that he more cherishes today than the idea of wedding
the beautiful Princess of Helium; but I, too, want her, and with your help I may win her.

"You need not more than step from this room for an instant when I give you the
signal. I will do the rest, and then, when I am gone, you may come and throw the great
switch back into its place, and all will be as before. I need but an hour's start to be safe
beyond the devilish power that you control in this hidden chamber beneath the palace of
your master. See how easy," and with the words the black dator rose from his seat and,

222
crossing the room, laid his hand upon a large, burnished lever that protruded from the
opposite wall.

"No! No!" cried the little old man, springing after him, with a wild shriek. "Not that
one! Not that one! That controls the sunray tanks, and should you pull it too far down, all
Kadabra would be consumed by heat before I could replace it. Come away! Come away!
You know not with what mighty powers you play. This is the lever that you seek. Note
well the symbol inlaid in white upon its ebon surface."

Thurid approached and examined the handle of the lever.

"Ah, a magnet," he said. "I will remember. It is settled then I take it," he continued.

The old man hesitated. A look of combined greed and apprehension overspread his
none too beautiful features.

"Double the figure," he said. "Even that were all too small an amount for the service
you ask. Why, I risk my life by even entertaining you here within the forbidden precincts
of my station. Should Salensus Oll learn of it he would have me thrown to the apts before
the day was done."

"He dare not do that, and you know it full well, Solan," contradicted the black. "Too
great a power of life and death you hold over the people of Kadabra for Salensus Oll ever
to risk threatening you with death. Before ever his minions could lay their hands upon
you, you might seize this very lever from which you have just warned me and wipe out
the entire city."

"And myself into the bargain," said Solan, with a shudder.

"But if you were to die, anyway, you would find the nerve to do it," replied Thurid.

"Yes," muttered Solan, "I have often thought upon that very thing. Well, First Born,
is your red princess worth the price I ask for my services, or will you go without her and
see her in the arms of Salensus Oll tomorrow night?"

"Take your price, yellow man," replied Thurid, with an oath. "Half now and the
balance when you have fulfilled your contract."

With that the dator threw a well-filled money-pouch upon the table.

Solan opened the pouch and with trembling fingers counted its contents. His weird
eyes assumed a greedy expression, and his unkempt beard and mustache twitched with
the muscles of his mouth and chin. It was quite evident from his very mannerism that
Thurid had keenly guessed the man's weakness—even the clawlike, clutching movement
of the fingers betokened the avariciousness of the miser.

223
 Having satisfied himself that the amount was correct, Solan replaced the money in
the pouch and rose from the table.

"Now," he said, "are you quite sure that you know the way to your destination? You
must travel quickly to cover the ground to the cave and from thence beyond the Great
Power, all within a brief hour, for no more dare I spare you."

"Let me repeat it to you," said Thurid, "that you may see if I be letter-perfect."

"Proceed," replied Solan.

"Through yonder door," he commenced, pointing to a door at the far end of the
apartment, "I follow a corridor, passing three diverging corridors upon my right; then
into the fourth right-hand corridor straight to where three corridors meet; here again I
follow to the right, hugging the left wall closely to avoid the pit.

"At the end of this corridor I shall come to a spiral runway, which I must follow
down instead of up; after that the way is along but a single branchless corridor. Am I
right?"

"Quite right, Dator," answered Solan; "and now begone. Already have you tempted
fate too long within this forbidden place."

"Tonight, or tomorrow, then, you may expect the signal," said Thurid, rising to go.

"Tonight, or tomorrow," repeated Solan, and as the door closed behind his guest the
old man continued to mutter as he turned back to the table, where he again dumped the
contents of the money-pouch, running his fingers through the heap of shining metal;
piling the coins into little towers; counting, recounting, and fondling the wealth the while
he muttered on and on in a crooning undertone.

Presently his fingers ceased their play; his eyes popped wider than ever as they
fastened upon the door through which Thurid had disappeared. The croon changed to a
querulous muttering, and finally to an ugly growl.

Then the old man rose from the table, shaking his fist at the closed door. Now he
raised his voice, and his words came distinctly.

"Fool!" he muttered. "Think you that for your happiness Solan will give up his life?
If you escaped, Salensus Oll would know that only through my connivance could you
have succeeded. Then would he send for me. What would you have me do? Reduce the
city and myself to ashes? No, fool, there is a better way—a better way for Solan to keep
thy money and be revenged upon Salensus Oll."

He laughed in a nasty, cackling note.

224
 "Poor fool! You may throw the great switch that will give you the freedom of the air
of Okar, and then, in fatuous security, go on with thy red princess to the freedom of—
death. When you have passed beyond this chamber in your flight, what can prevent Solan
replacing the switch as it was before your vile hand touched it? Nothing; and then the
Guardian of the North will claim you and your woman, and Salensus Oll, when he sees
your dead bodies, will never dream that the hand of Solan had aught to do with the
thing."

Then his voice dropped once more into mutterings that I could not translate, but I
had heard enough to cause me to guess a great deal more, and I thanked the kind
Providence that had led me to this chamber at a time so filled with importance to Dejah
Thoris and myself as this.

But how to pass the old man now! The cord, almost invisible upon the floor,
stretched straight across the apartment to a door upon the far side.

There was no other way of which I knew, nor could I afford to ignore the advice to
"follow the rope." I must cross this room, but however I should accomplish it undetected
with that old man in the very center of it baffled me.

Of course I might have sprung in upon him and with my bare hands silenced him
forever, but I had heard enough to convince me that with him alive the knowledge that I
had gained might serve me at some future moment, while should I kill him and another
be stationed in his place Thurid would not come hither with Dejah Thoris, as was quite
evidently his intention.

As I stood in the dark shadow of the tunnel's end racking my brain for a feasible
plan the while I watched, catlike, the old man's every move, he took up the money-pouch
and crossed to one end of the apartment, where, bending to his knees, he fumbled with a
panel in the wall.

Instantly I guessed that here was the hiding place in which he hoarded his wealth,
and while he bent there, his back toward me, I entered the chamber upon tiptoe, and with
the utmost stealth essayed to reach the opposite side before he should complete his task
and turn again toward the room's center.

Scarcely thirty steps, all told, must I take, and yet it seemed to my overwrought
imagination that that farther wall was miles away; but at last I reached it, nor once had I
taken my eyes from the back of the old miser's head.

He did not turn until my hand was upon the button that controlled the door through
which my way led, and then he turned away from me as I passed through and gently
closed the door.

225
 For an instant I paused, my ear close to the panel, to learn if he had suspected aught,
but as no sound of pursuit came from within I wheeled and made my way along the new
corridor, following the rope, which I coiled and brought with me as I advanced.

But a short distance farther on I came to the rope's end at a point where five
corridors met. What was I to do? Which way should I turn? I was nonplused.

A careful examination of the end of the rope revealed the fact that it had been
cleanly cut with some sharp instrument. This fact and the words that had cautioned me
that danger lay beyond the KNOTS convinced me that the rope had been severed since
my friend had placed it as my guide, for I had but passed a single knot, whereas there had
evidently been two or more in the entire length of the cord.

Now, indeed, was I in a pretty fix, for neither did I know which avenue to follow
nor when danger lay directly in my path; but there was nothing else to be done than
follow one of the corridors, for I could gain nothing by remaining where I was.

So I chose the central opening, and passed on into its gloomy depths with a prayer
upon my lips.

The floor of the tunnel rose rapidly as I advanced, and a moment later the way came
to an abrupt end before a heavy door.

I could hear nothing beyond, and, with my accustomed rashness, pushed the portal
wide to step into a room filled with yellow warriors.

The first to see me opened his eyes wide in astonishment, and at the same instant I
felt the tingling sensation in my finger that denoted the presence of a friend of the ring.

Then others saw me, and there was a concerted rush to lay hands upon me, for these
were all members of the palace guard—men familiar with my face.

The first to reach me was the wearer of the mate to my strange ring, and as he came
close he whispered: "Surrender to me!" then in a loud voice shouted: "You are my
prisoner, white man," and menaced me with his two weapons.

And so John Carter, Prince of Helium, meekly surrendered to a single antagonist.

The others now swarmed about us, asking many questions, but I would not talk to them,
and finally my captor announced that he would lead me back to my cell.

An officer ordered several other warriors to accompany him, and a moment later we
were retracing the way I had just come. My friend walked close beside me, asking many
silly questions about the country from which I had come, until finally his fellows paid no
further attention to him or his gabbling.

226
 Gradually, as he spoke, he lowered his voice, so that presently he was able to
converse with me in a low tone without attracting attention. His ruse was a clever one,
and showed that Talu had not misjudged the man's fitness for the dangerous duty upon
which he was detailed.

When he had fully assured himself that the other guardsmen were not listening, he
asked me why I had not followed the rope, and when I told him that it had ended at the
five corridors he said that it must have been cut by someone in need of a piece of rope,
for he was sure that "the stupid Kadabrans would never have guessed its purpose."

Before we had reached the spot from which the five corridors diverge my
Marentinian friend had managed to drop to the rear of the little column with me, and
when we came in sight of the branching ways he whispered:

"Run up the first upon the right. It leads to the watchtower upon the south wall. I
will direct the pursuit up the next corridor," and with that he gave me a great shove into
the dark mouth of the tunnel, at the same time crying out in simulated pain and alarm as
he threw himself upon the floor as though I had felled him with a blow.

From behind the voices of the excited guardsmen came reverberating along the
corridor, suddenly growing fainter as Talu's spy led them up the wrong passageway in
fancied pursuit.

As I ran for my life through the dark galleries beneath the palace of Salensus Oll I
must indeed have presented a remarkable appearance had there been any to note it, for
though death loomed large about me, my face was split by a broad grin as I thought of
the resourcefulness of the nameless hero of Marentina to whom I owed my life.

Of such stuff are the men of my beloved Helium, and when I meet another of their
kind, of whatever race or color, my heart goes out to him as it did now to my new friend
who had risked his life for me simply because I wore the mate to the ring his ruler had
put upon his finger.

The corridor along which I ran led almost straight for a considerable distance,
terminating at the foot of a spiral runway, up which I proceeded to emerge presently into
a circular chamber upon the first floor of a tower.

In this apartment a dozen red slaves were employed polishing or repairing the
weapons of the yellow men. The walls of the room were lined with racks in which were
hundreds of straight and hooked swords, javelins, and daggers. It was evidently an
armory. There were but three warriors guarding the workers.

My eyes took in the entire scene at a glance. Here were weapons in plenty! Here
were sinewy red warriors to wield them!

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 And here now was John Carter, Prince of Helium, in need both of weapons and
warriors!

As I stepped into the apartment, guards and prisoners saw me simultaneously.

Close to the entrance where I stood was a rack of straight swords, and as my hand
closed upon the hilt of one of them my eyes fell upon the faces of two of the prisoners
who worked side by side.

One of the guards started toward me. "Who are you?" he demanded. "What do you
here?"

"I come for Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, and his son, Mors Kajak," I cried,
pointing to the two red prisoners, who had now sprung to their feet, wide-eyed in
astonished recognition.

"Rise, red men! Before we die let us leave a memorial in the palace of Okar's tyrant
that will stand forever in the annals of Kadabra to the honor and glory of Helium," for I
had seen that all the prisoners there were men of Tardos Mors's navy.

Then the first guardsman was upon me and the fight was on, but scarce did we
engage ere, to my horror, I saw that the red slaves were shackled to the floor.

THE MAGNET SWITCH

The guardsmen paid not the slightest attention to their wards, for the red men could
not move over two feet from the great rings to which they were padlocked, though each
had seized a weapon upon which he had been engaged when I entered the room, and
stood ready to join me could they have but done so.

The yellow men devoted all their attention to me, nor were they long in discovering
that the three of them were none too many to defend the armory against John Carter.
Would that I had had my own good long-sword in my hand that day; but, as it was, I
rendered a satisfactory account of myself with the unfamiliar weapon of the yellow man.

At first I had a time of it dodging their villainous hook-swords, but after a minute or
two I had succeeded in wresting a second straight sword from one of the racks along the
wall, and thereafter, using it to parry the hooks of my antagonists, I felt more evenly
equipped.

The three of them were on me at once, and but for a lucky circumstance my end
might have come quickly. The foremost guardsman made a vicious lunge for my side
with his hook after the three of them had backed me against the wall, but as I sidestepped

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and raised my arm his weapon but grazed my side, passing into a rack of javelins, where
it became entangled.

Before he could release it I had run him through, and then, falling back upon the
tactics that have saved me a hundred times in tight pinches, I rushed the two remaining
warriors, forcing them back with a perfect torrent of cuts and thrusts, weaving my sword
in and out about their guards until I had the fear of death upon them.

Then one of them commenced calling for help, but it was too late to save them.

They were as putty in my hands now, and I backed them about the armory as I
would until I had them where I wanted them—within reach of the swords of the shackled
slaves. In an instant both lay dead upon the floor. But their cries had not been entirely
fruitless, for now I heard answering shouts and the footfalls of many men running and the
clank of accouterments and the commands of officers.

"The door! Quick, John Carter, bar the door!" cried Tardos Mors.

Already the guard was in sight, charging across the open court that was visible
through the doorway.

A dozen seconds would bring them into the tower. A single leap carried me to the
heavy portal. With a resounding bang I slammed it shut.

"The bar!" shouted Tardos Mors.

I tried to slip the huge fastening into place, but it defied my every attempt.

"Raise it a little to release the catch," cried one of the red men.

I could hear the yellow warriors leaping along the flagging just beyond the door. I
raised the bar and shot it to the right just as the foremost of the guardsmen threw himself
against the opposite side of the massive panels.

The barrier held—I had been in time, but by the fraction of a second only.

Now I turned my attention to the prisoners. To Tardos Mors I went first, asking
where the keys might be which would unfasten their fetters.

"The officer of the guard has them," replied the Jeddak of Helium, "and he is among
those without who seek entrance. You will have to force them."

Most of the prisoners were already hacking at their bonds with the swords in their
hands. The yellow men were battering at the door with javelins and axes.

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 I turned my attention to the chains that held Tardos Mors. Again and again I cut
deep into the metal with my sharp blade, but ever faster and faster fell the torrent of
blows upon the portal.

At last a link parted beneath my efforts, and a moment later Tardos Mors was free,
though a few inches of trailing chain still dangled from his ankle.

A splinter of wood falling inward from the door announced the headway that our
enemies were making toward us.

The mighty panels trembled and bent beneath the furious onslaught of the enraged
yellow men.

What with the battering upon the door and the hacking of the red men at their chains
the din within the armory was appalling. No sooner was Tardos Mors free than he turned
his attention to another of the prisoners, while I set to work to liberate Mors Kajak.

We must work fast if we would have all those fetters cut before the door gave way.
Now a panel crashed inward upon the floor, and Mors Kajak sprang to the opening to
defend the way until we should have time to release the others.

With javelins snatched from the wall he wrought havoc among the foremost of the
Okarians while we battled with the insensate metal that stood between our fellows and
freedom.

At length all but one of the prisoners were freed, and then the door fell with a
mighty crash before a hastily improvised battering-ram, and the yellow horde was upon
us.

"To the upper chambers!" shouted the red man who was still fettered to the floor.
"To the upper chambers! There you may defend the tower against all Kadabra. Do not
delay because of me, who could pray for no better death than in the service of Tardos
Mors and the Prince of Helium."

But I would have sacrificed the life of every man of us rather than desert a single
red man, much less the lion-hearted hero who begged us to leave him.

"Cut his chains," I cried to two of the red men, "while the balance of us hold off the
foe."

There were ten of us now to do battle with the Okarian guard, and I warrant that that
ancient watchtower never looked down upon a more hotly contested battle than took
place that day within its own grim walls.

The first inrushing wave of yellow warriors recoiled from the slashing blades of ten
of Helium's veteran fighting men. A dozen Okarian corpses blocked the doorway, but

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over the gruesome barrier a score more of their fellows dashed, shouting their hoarse and
hideous war-cry.

Upon the bloody mound we met them, hand to hand, stabbing where the quarters
were too close to cut, thrusting when we could push a foeman to arm's length; and
mingled with the wild cry of the Okarian there rose and fell the glorious words: "For
Helium! For Helium!" that for countless ages have spurred on the bravest of the brave to
those deeds of valor that have sent the fame of Helium's heroes broadcast throughout the
length and breadth of a world.

Now were the fetters struck from the last of the red men, and thirteen strong we met
each new charge of the soldiers of Salensus Oll. Scarce one of us but bled from a score of
wounds, yet none had fallen.

From without we saw hundreds of guardsmen pouring into the courtyard, and along
the lower corridor from which I had found my way to the armory we could hear the clank
of metal and the shouting of men.

In a moment we should be attacked from two sides, and with all our prowess we
could not hope to withstand the unequal odds which would thus divide our attention and
our small numbers.

"To the upper chambers!" cried Tardos Mors, and a moment later we fell back
toward the runway that led to the floors above.

Here another bloody battle was waged with the force of yellow men who charged
into the armory as we fell back from the doorway. Here we lost our first man, a noble
fellow whom we could ill spare; but at length all had backed into the runway except
myself, who remained to hold back the Okarians until the others were safe above.

In the mouth of the narrow spiral but a single warrior could attack me at a time, so
that I had little difficulty in holding them all back for the brief moment that was
necessary. Then, backing slowly before them, I commenced the ascent of the spiral.

All the long way to the tower's top the guardsmen pressed me closely. When one
went down before my sword another scrambled over the dead man to take his place; and
thus, taking an awful toll with each few feet gained, I came to the spacious glass-walled
watchtower of Kadabra.

Here my companions clustered ready to take my place, and for a moment's respite I
stepped to one side while they held the enemy off.

From the lofty perch a view could be had for miles in every direction. Toward the
south stretched the rugged, ice-clad waste to the edge of the mighty barrier. Toward the
east and west, and dimly toward the north I descried other Okarian cities, while in the

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immediate foreground, just beyond the walls of Kadabra, the grim guardian shaft reared
its somber head.

Then I cast my eyes down into the streets of Kadabra, from which a sudden tumult
had arisen, and there I saw a battle raging, and beyond the city's walls I saw armed men
marching in great columns toward a near-by gate.

Eagerly I pressed forward against the glass wall of the observatory, scarce daring to
credit the testimony of my own eyes. But at last I could doubt no longer, and with a shout
of joy that rose strangely in the midst of the cursing and groaning of the battling men at
the entrance to the chamber, I called to Tardos Mors.

As he joined me I pointed down into the streets of Kadabra and to the advancing
columns beyond, above which floated bravely in the arctic air the flags and banners of
Helium.

An instant later every red man in the lofty chamber had seen the inspiring sight, and
such a shout of thanksgiving arose as I warrant never before echoed through that age-old
pile of stone.

But still we must fight on, for though our troops had entered Kadabra, the city was
yet far from capitulation, nor had the palace been even assaulted. Turn and turn about we
held the top of the runway while the others feasted their eyes upon the sight of our valiant
countrymen battling far beneath us.

Now they have rushed the palace gate! Great battering-rams are dashed against its
formidable surface. Now they are repulsed by a deadly shower of javelins from the wall's
top!

Once again they charge, but a sortie by a large force of Okarians from an
intersecting avenue crumples the head of the column, and the men of Helium go down,
fighting, beneath an overwhelming force.

The palace gate flies open and a force of the jeddak's own guard, picked men from
the flower of the Okarian army, sallies forth to shatter the broken regiments. For a
moment it looks as though nothing could avert defeat, and then I see a noble figure upon
a mighty thoat—not the tiny thoat of the red man, but one of his huge cousins of the dead
sea bottoms.

The warrior hews his way to the front, and behind him rally the disorganized
soldiers of Helium. As he raises his head aloft to fling a challenge at the men upon the
palace walls I see his face, and my heart swells in pride and happiness as the red warriors
leap to the side of their leader and win back the ground that they had but just lost—the
face of him upon the mighty thoat is the face of my son—Carthoris of Helium.

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 At his side fights a huge Martian war-hound, nor did I need a second look to know
that it was Woola—my faithful Woola who had thus well performed his arduous task and
brought the succoring legions in the nick of time.

"In the nick of time?"

Who yet might say that they were not too late to save, but surely they could avenge!
And such retribution as that unconquered army would deal out to the hateful Okarians! I
sighed to think that I might not be alive to witness it.

Again I turned to the windows. The red men had not yet forced the outer palace
wall, but they were fighting nobly against the best that Okar afforded—valiant warriors
who contested every inch of the way.

Now my attention was caught by a new element without the city wall—a great body
of mounted warriors looming large above the red men. They were the huge green allies
of Helium—the savage hordes from the dead sea bottoms of the far south.

In grim and terrible silence they sped on toward the gate, the padded hoofs of their
frightful mounts giving forth no sound. Into the doomed city they charged, and as they
wheeled across the wide plaza before the palace of the Jeddak of Jeddaks I saw, riding at
their head, the mighty figure of their mighty leader—Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark.

My wish, then, was to be gratified, for I was to see my old friend battling once
again, and though not shoulder to shoulder with him, I, too, would be fighting in the
same cause here in the high tower of Okar.

Nor did it seem that our foes would ever cease their stubborn attacks, for still they
came, though the way to our chamber was often clogged with the bodies of their dead. At
times they would pause long enough to drag back the impeding corpses, and then fresh
warriors would forge upward to taste the cup of death.

I had been taking my turn with the others in defending the approach to our lofty
retreat when Mors Kajak, who had been watching the battle in the street below, called
aloud in sudden excitement. There was a note of apprehension in his voice that brought
me to his side the instant that I could turn my place over to another, and as I reached him
he pointed far out across the waste of snow and ice toward the southern horizon.

"Alas!" he cried, "that I should be forced to witness cruel fate betray them without
power to warn or aid; but they be past either now."

As I looked in the direction he indicated I saw the cause of his perturbation. A

mighty fleet of fliers was approaching majestically toward Kadabra from the direction of
the ice-barrier. On and on they came with ever increasing velocity.

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 "The grim shaft that they call the Guardian of the North is beckoning to them," said
Mors Kajak sadly, "just as it beckoned to Tardos Mors and his great fleet; see where they
lie, crumpled and broken, a grim and terrible monument to the mighty force of
destruction which naught can resist."

I, too, saw; but something else I saw that Mors Kajak did not; in my mind's eye I
saw a buried chamber whose walls were lined with strange instruments and devices.

In the center of the chamber was a long table, and before it sat a little, pop-eyed old
man counting his money; but, plainest of all, I saw upon the wall a great switch with a
small magnet inlaid within the surface of its black handle.

Then I glanced out at the fast-approaching fleet. In five minutes that mighty armada
of the skies would be bent and worthless scrap, lying at the base of the shaft beyond the
city's wall, and yellow hordes would be loosed from another gate to rush out upon the
few survivors stumbling blindly down through the mass of wreckage; then the apts would
come. I shuddered at the thought, for I could vividly picture the whole horrible scene.

Quick have I always been to decide and act. The impulse that moves me and the
doing of the thing seem simultaneous; for if my mind goes through the tedious formality
of reasoning, it must be a subconscious act of which I am not objectively aware.
Psychologists tell me that, as the subconscious does not reason, too close a scrutiny of
my mental activities might prove anything but flattering; but be that as it may, I have
often won success while the thinker would have been still at the endless task of
comparing various judgments.

And now celerity of action was the prime essential to the success of the thing that I
had decided upon.

Grasping my sword more firmly in my hand, I called to the red man at the opening
to the runway to stand aside.

"Way for the Prince of Helium!" I shouted; and before the astonished yellow man
whose misfortune it was to be at the fighting end of the line at that particular moment
could gather his wits together my sword had decapitated him, and I was rushing like a
mad bull down upon those behind him.

"Way for the Prince of Helium!" I shouted as I cut a path through the astonished
guardsmen of Salensus Oll.

Hewing to right and left, I beat my way down that warrior-choked spiral until, near
the bottom, those below, thinking that an army was descending upon them, turned and
fled.

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 The armory at the first floor was vacant when I entered it, the last of the Okarians
having fled into the courtyard, so none saw me continue down the spiral toward the
corridor beneath.

Here I ran as rapidly as my legs would carry me toward the five corners, and there
plunged into the passageway that led to the station of the old miser.

Without the formality of a knock, I burst into the room. There sat the old man at his
table; but as he saw me he sprang to his feet, drawing his sword.

With scarce more than a glance toward him I leaped for the great switch; but, quick
as I was, that wiry old fellow was there before me.

How he did it I shall never know, nor does it seem credible that any Martian-born
creature could approximate the marvelous speed of my earthly muscles.

Like a tiger he turned upon me, and I was quick to see why Solan had been chosen
for this important duty.

Never in all my life have I seen such wondrous swordsmanship and such uncanny
agility as that ancient bag of bones displayed. He was in forty places at the same time,
and before I had half a chance to awaken to my danger he was like to have made a
monkey of me, and a dead monkey at that.

It is strange how new and unexpected conditions bring out unguessed ability to meet
them.

That day in the buried chamber beneath the palace of Salensus Oll I learned what
swordsmanship meant, and to what heights of sword mastery I could achieve when pitted
against such a wizard of the blade as Solan.

For a time he liked to have bested me; but presently the latent possibilities that must
have been lying dormant within me for a lifetime came to the fore, and I fought as I had
never dreamed a human being could fight.

That that duel-royal should have taken place in the dark recesses of a cellar, without
a single appreciative eye to witness it has always seemed to me almost a world
calamity—at least from the viewpoint Barsoomian, where bloody strife is the first and
greatest consideration of individuals, nations, and races.

I was fighting to reach the switch, Solan to prevent me; and, though we stood not
three feet from it, I could not win an inch toward it, for he forced me back an inch for the
first five minutes of our battle.

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 I knew that if I were to throw it in time to save the oncoming fleet it must be done in
the next few seconds, and so I tried my old rushing tactics; but I might as well have
rushed a brick wall for all that Solan gave way.

In fact, I came near to impaling myself upon his point for my pains; but right was on
my side, and I think that that must give a man greater confidence than though he knew
himself to be battling in a wicked cause.

At least, I did not want in confidence; and when I next rushed Solan it was to one
side with implicit confidence that he must turn to meet my new line of attack, and turn he
did, so that now we fought with our sides towards the coveted goal—the great switch
stood within my reach upon my right hand.

To uncover my breast for an instant would have been to court sudden death, but I
saw no other way than to chance it, if by so doing I might rescue that oncoming,
succoring fleet; and so, in the face of a wicked sword-thrust, I reached out my point and
caught the great switch a sudden blow that released it from its seating.

So surprised and horrified was Solan that he forgot to finish his thrust; instead, he
wheeled toward the switch with a loud shriek—a shriek which was his last, for before his
hand could touch the lever it sought, my sword's point had passed through his heart.

THE TIDE OF BATTLE

But solan's last loud cry had not been without effect, for a moment later a dozen
guardsmen burst into the chamber, though not before I had so bent and demolished the
great switch that it could not be again used to turn the powerful current into the mighty
magnet of destruction it controlled.

The result of the sudden coming of the guardsmen had been to compel me to seek
seclusion in the first passageway that I could find, and that to my disappointment proved
to be not the one with which I was familiar, but another upon its left.

They must have either heard or guessed which way I went, for I had proceeded but a
short distance when I heard the sound of pursuit. I had no mind to stop and fight these
men here when there was fighting aplenty elsewhere in the city of Kadabra—fighting that
could be of much more avail to me and mine than useless life-taking far below the
palace.

But the fellows were pressing me; and as I did not know the way at all, I soon saw
that they would overtake me unless I found a place to conceal myself until they had
passed, which would then give me an opportunity to return the way I had come and
regain the tower, or possibly find a way to reach the city streets.

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 The passageway had risen rapidly since leaving the apartment of the switch, and
now ran level and well lighted straight into the distance as far as I could see. The moment
that my pursuers reached this straight stretch I would be in plain sight of them, with no
chance to escape from the corridor undetected.

Presently I saw a series of doors opening from either side of the corridor, and as
they all looked alike to me I tried the first one that I reached. It opened into a small
chamber, luxuriously furnished, and was evidently an ante-chamber off some office or
audience chamber of the palace.

On the far side was a heavily curtained doorway beyond which I heard the hum of
voices. Instantly I crossed the small chamber, and, parting the curtains, looked within the
larger apartment.

Before me were a party of perhaps fifty gorgeously clad nobles of the court,
standing before a throne upon which sat Salensus Oll. The Jeddak of Jeddaks was
addressing them.

"The allotted hour has come," he was saying as I entered the apartment; "and though
the enemies of Okar be within her gates, naught may stay the will of Salensus Oll. The
great ceremony must be omitted that no single man may be kept from his place in the
defenses other than the fifty that custom demands shall witness the creation of a new
queen in Okar.

"In a moment the thing shall have been done and we may return to the battle, while
she who is now the Princess of Helium looks down from the queen's tower upon the
annihilation of her former countrymen and witnesses the greatness which is her
husband's."

Then, turning to a courtier, he issued some command in a low voice.

The addressed hastened to a small door at the far end of the chamber and, swinging
it wide, cried: "Way for Dejah Thoris, future Queen of Okar!"

Immediately two guardsmen appeared dragging the unwilling bride toward the altar.
Her hands were still manacled behind her, evidently to prevent suicide.

Her disheveled hair and panting bosom betokened that, chained though she was, still
had she fought against the thing that they would do to her.

At sight of her Salensus Oll rose and drew his sword, and the sword of each of the
fifty nobles was raised on high to form an arch, beneath which the poor, beautiful
creature was dragged toward her doom.

A grim smile forced itself to my lips as I thought of the rude awakening that lay in
store for the ruler of Okar, and my itching fingers fondled the hilt of my bloody sword.

237
 As I watched the procession that moved slowly toward the throne—a procession
which consisted of but a handful of priests, who followed Dejah Thoris and the two
guardsmen—I caught a fleeting glimpse of a black face peering from behind the
draperies that covered the wall back of the dais upon which stood Salensus Oll awaiting
his bride.

Now the guardsmen were forcing the Princess of Helium up the few steps to the side
of the tyrant of Okar, and I had no eyes and no thoughts for aught else. A priest opened a
book and, raising his hand, commenced to drone out a sing-song ritual. Salensus Oll
reached for the hand of his bride.

I had intended waiting until some circumstance should give me a reasonable hope of
success; for, even though the entire ceremony should be completed, there could be no
valid marriage while I lived. What I was most concerned in, of course, was the rescuing
of Dejah Thoris—I wished to take her from the palace of Salensus Oll, if such a thing
were possible; but whether it were accomplished before or after the mock marriage was a
matter of secondary import.

When, however, I saw the vile hand of Salensus Oll reach out for the hand of my
beloved princess I could restrain myself no longer, and before the nobles of Okar knew
that aught had happened I had leaped through their thin line and was upon the dais beside
Dejah Thoris and Salensus Oll.

With the flat of my sword I struck down his polluting hand; and grasping Dejah
Thoris round the waist, I swung her behind me as, with my back against the draperies of
the dais, I faced the tyrant of the north and his roomful of noble warriors.

The Jeddak of Jeddaks was a great mountain of a man—a coarse, brutal beast of a
man—and as he towered above me there, his fierce black whiskers and mustache
bristling in rage, I can well imagine that a less seasoned warrior might have trembled
before him.

With a snarl he sprang toward me with naked sword, but whether Salensus Oll was
a good swordsman or a poor I never learned; for with Dejah Thoris at my back I was no
longer human—I was a superman, and no man could have withstood me then.

With a single, low: "For the Princess of Helium!" I ran my blade straight through
the rotten heart of Okar's rotten ruler, and before the white, drawn faces of his nobles
Salensus Oll rolled, grinning in horrible death, to the foot of the steps below his marriage
throne.

For a moment tense silence reigned in the nuptial-room. Then the fifty nobles
rushed upon me. Furiously we fought, but the advantage was mine, for I stood upon a
raised platform above them, and I fought for the most glorious woman of a glorious race,
and I fought for a great love and for the mother of my boy.

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 And from behind my shoulder, in the silvery cadence of that dear voice, rose the
brave battle anthem of Helium which the nation's women sing as their men march out to
victory.

That alone was enough to inspire me to victory over even greater odds, and I verily
believe that I should have bested the entire roomful of yellow warriors that day in the
nuptial chamber of the palace at Kadabra had not interruption come to my aid.

Fast and furious was the fighting as the nobles of Salensus Oll sprang, time and
again, up the steps before the throne only to fall back before a sword hand that seemed to
have gained a new wizardry from its experience with the cunning Solan.

Two were pressing me so closely that I could not turn when I heard a movement
behind me, and noted that the sound of the battle anthem had ceased. Was Dejah Thoris
preparing to take her place beside me?

Heroic daughter of a heroic world! It would not be unlike her to have seized a sword
and fought at my side, for, though the women of Mars are not trained in the arts of war,
the spirit is theirs, and they have been known to do that very thing upon countless
occasions.

But she did not come, and glad I was, for it would have doubled my burden in
protecting her before I should have been able to force her back again out of harm's way.
She must be contemplating some cunning strategy, I thought, and so I fought on secure in
the belief that my divine princess stood close behind me.

For half an hour at least I must have fought there against the nobles of Okar ere ever
a one placed a foot upon the dais where I stood, and then of a sudden all that remained of
them formed below me for a last, mad, desperate charge; but even as they advanced the
door at the far end of the chamber swung wide and a wild-eyed messenger sprang into
the room.

"The Jeddak of Jeddaks!" he cried. "Where is the Jeddak of Jeddaks? The city has
fallen before the hordes from beyond the barrier, and but now the great gate of the palace
itself has been forced and the warriors of the south are pouring into its sacred precincts.

"Where is Salensus Oll? He alone may revive the flagging courage of our warriors.
He alone may save the day for Okar. Where is Salensus Oll?"

The nobles stepped back from about the dead body of their ruler, and one of them
pointed to the grinning corpse.

The messenger staggered back in horror as though from a blow in the face.

"Then fly, nobles of Okar!" he cried, "for naught can save you. Hark! They come!"

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 As he spoke we heard the deep roar of angry men from the corridor without, and the
clank of metal and the clang of swords.

Without another glance toward me, who had stood a spectator of the tragic scene,
the nobles wheeled and fled from the apartment through another exit.

Almost immediately a force of yellow warriors appeared in the doorway through

which the messenger had come. They were backing toward the apartment, stubbornly
resisting the advance of a handful of red men who faced them and forced them slowly but
inevitably back.

Above the heads of the contestants I could see from my elevated station upon the
dais the face of my old friend Kantos Kan. He was leading the little party that had won its
way into the very heart of the palace of Salensus Oll.

In an instant I saw that by attacking the Okarians from the rear I could so quickly
disorganize them that their further resistance would be short-lived, and with this idea in
mind I sprang from the dais, casting a word of explanation to Dejah Thoris over my
shoulder, though I did not turn to look at her.

With myself ever between her enemies and herself, and with Kantos Kan and his
warriors winning to the apartment, there could be no danger to Dejah Thoris standing
there alone beside the throne.

I wanted the men of Helium to see me and to know that their beloved princess was
here, too, for I knew that this knowledge would inspire them to even greater deeds of
valor than they had performed in the past, though great indeed must have been those
which won for them a way into the almost impregnable palace of the tyrant of the north.

As I crossed the chamber to attack the Kadabrans from the rear a small doorway at
my left opened, and, to my surprise, revealed the figures of Matai Shang, Father of
Therns and Phaidor, his daughter, peering into the room.

A quick glance about they took. Their eyes rested for a moment, wide in horror,
upon the dead body of Salensus Oll, upon the blood that crimsoned the floor, upon the
corpses of the nobles who had fallen thick before the throne, upon me, and upon the
battling warriors at the other door.

They did not essay to enter the apartment, but scanned its every corner from where
they stood, and then, when their eyes had sought its entire area, a look of fierce rage
overspread the features of Matai Shang, and a cold and cunning smile touched the lips of
Phaidor.

Then they were gone, but not before a taunting laugh was thrown directly in my
face by the woman.

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 I did not understand then the meaning of Matai Shang's rage or Phaidor's pleasure,
but I knew that neither boded good for me.

A moment later I was upon the backs of the yellow men, and as the red men of
Helium saw me above the shoulders of their antagonists a great shout rang through the
corridor, and for a moment drowned the noise of battle.

"For the Prince of Helium!" they cried. "For the Prince of Helium!" and, like hungry
lions upon their prey, they fell once more upon the weakening warriors of the north.

The yellow men, cornered between two enemies, fought with the desperation that
utter hopelessness often induces. Fought as I should have fought had I been in their stead,
with the determination to take as many of my enemies with me when I died as lay within
the power of my sword arm.

It was a glorious battle, but the end seemed inevitable, when presently from down
the corridor behind the red men came a great body of reenforcing yellow warriors.

Now were the tables turned, and it was the men of Helium who seemed doomed to
be ground between two millstones. All were compelled to turn to meet this new assault
by a greatly superior force, so that to me was left the remnants of the yellow men within
the throneroom.

They kept me busy, too; so busy that I began to wonder if indeed I should ever be
done with them. Slowly they pressed me back into the room, and when they had all
passed in after me, one of them closed and bolted the door, effectually barring the way
against the men of Kantos Kan.

It was a clever move, for it put me at the mercy of a dozen men within a chamber
from which assistance was locked out, and it gave the red men in the corridor beyond no
avenue of escape should their new antagonists press them too closely.

But I have faced heavier odds myself than were pitted against me that day, and I
knew that Kantos Kan had battled his way from a hundred more dangerous traps than that
in which he now was. So it was with no feelings of despair that I turned my attention to
the business of the moment.

Constantly my thoughts reverted to Dejah Thoris, and I longed for the moment
when, the fighting done, I could fold her in my arms, and hear once more the words of
love which had been denied me for so many years.

During the fighting in the chamber I had not even a single chance to so much as
steal a glance at her where she stood behind me beside the throne of the dead ruler. I
wondered why she no longer urged me on with the strains of the martial hymn of
Helium; but I did not need more than the knowledge that I was battling for her to bring
out the best that is in me.

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 It would be wearisome to narrate the details of that bloody struggle; of how we
fought from the doorway, the full length of the room to the very foot of the throne before
the last of my antagonists fell with my blade piercing his heart.

And then, with a glad cry, I turned with outstretched arms to seize my princess, and
as my lips smothered hers to reap the reward that would be thrice ample payment for the
bloody encounters through which I had passed for her dear sake from the south pole to
the north.

The glad cry died, frozen upon my lips; my arms dropped limp and lifeless to my
sides; as one who reels beneath the burden of a mortal wound I staggered up the steps
before the throne.

Dejah Thoris was gone.

REWARDS

With the realization that Dejah Thoris was no longer within the throneroom came
the belated recollection of the dark face that I had glimpsed peering from behind the
draperies that backed the throne of Salensus Oll at the moment that I had first come so
unexpectedly upon the strange scene being enacted within the chamber.

Why had the sight of that evil countenance not warned me to greater caution? Why
had I permitted the rapid development of new situations to efface the recollection of that
menacing danger? But, alas, vain regret would not erase the calamity that had befallen.

Once again had Dejah Thoris fallen into the clutches of that archfiend, Thurid, the
black dator of the First Born. Again was all my arduous labor gone for naught. Now I
realized the cause of the rage that had been writ so large upon the features of Matai
Shang and the cruel pleasure that I had seen upon the face of Phaidor.

They had known or guessed the truth, and the hekkador of the Holy Therns, who
had evidently come to the chamber in the hope of thwarting Salensus Oll in his
contemplated perfidy against the high priest who coveted Dejah Thoris for himself,
realized that Thurid had stolen the prize from beneath his very nose.

Phaidor's pleasure had been due to her realization of what this last cruel blow would
mean to me, as well as to a partial satisfaction of her jealous hatred for the Princess of
Helium.

My first thought was to look beyond the draperies at the back of the throne, for there
it was that I had seen Thurid. With a single jerk I tore the priceless stuff from its
fastenings, and there before me was revealed a narrow doorway behind the throne.

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 No question entered my mind but that here lay the opening of the avenue of escape
which Thurid had followed, and had there been it would have been dissipated by the
sight of a tiny, jeweled ornament which lay a few steps within the corridor beyond.

As I snatched up the bauble I saw that it bore the device of the Princess of Helium,
and then pressing it to my lips I dashed madly along the winding way that led gently
downward toward the lower galleries of the palace.

I had followed but a short distance when I came upon the room in which Solan
formerly had held sway. His dead body still lay where I had left it, nor was there any sign
that another had passed through the room since I had been there; but I knew that two had
done so—Thurid, the black dator, and Dejah Thoris.

For a moment I paused uncertain as to which of the several exits from the apartment
would lead me upon the right path. I tried to recollect the directions which I had heard
Thurid repeat to Solan, and at last, slowly, as though through a heavy fog, the memory of
the words of the First Born came to me:

"Follow a corridor, passing three diverging corridors upon the right; then into the
fourth right-hand corridor to where three corridors meet; here again follow to the right,
hugging the left wall closely to avoid the pit. At the end of this corridor I shall come to a
spiral runway which I must follow down instead of up; after that the way is along but a
single branchless corridor."

And I recalled the exit at which he had pointed as he spoke.

It did not take me long to start upon that unknown way, nor did I go with caution,
although I knew that there might be grave dangers before me.

Part of the way was black as sin, but for the most it was fairly well lighted. The
stretch where I must hug the left wall to avoid the pits was darkest of them all, and I was
nearly over the edge of the abyss before I knew that I was near the danger spot. A narrow
ledge, scarce a foot wide, was all that had been left to carry the initiated past that frightful
cavity into which the unknowing must surely have toppled at the first step. But at last I
had won safely beyond it, and then a feeble light made the balance of the way plain,
until, at the end of the last corridor, I came suddenly out into the glare of day upon a field
of snow and ice.

Clad for the warm atmosphere of the hothouse city of Kadabra, the sudden change
to arctic frigidity was anything but pleasant; but the worst of it was that I knew I could
not endure the bitter cold, almost naked as I was, and that I would perish before ever I
could overtake Thurid and Dejah Thoris.

To be thus blocked by nature, who had had all the arts and wiles of cunning man
pitted against him, seemed a cruel fate, and as I staggered back into the warmth of the
tunnel's end I was as near hopelessness as I ever have been.

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 I had by no means given up my intention of continuing the pursuit, for if needs be I
would go ahead though I perished ere ever I reached my goal, but if there were a safer
way it were well worth the delay to attempt to discover it, that I might come again to the
side of Dejah Thoris in fit condition to do battle for her.

Scarce had I returned to the tunnel than I stumbled over a portion of a fur garment
that seemed fastened to the floor of the corridor close to the wall. In the darkness I could
not see what held it, but by groping with my hands I discovered that it was wedged
beneath the bottom of a closed door.

Pushing the portal aside, I found myself upon the threshold of a small chamber, the
walls of which were lined with hooks from which depended suits of the complete outdoor
apparel of the yellow men.

Situated as it was at the mouth of a tunnel leading from the palace, it was quite
evident that this was the dressing-room used by the nobles leaving and entering the
hothouse city, and that Thurid, having knowledge of it, had stopped here to outfit himself
and Dejah Thoris before venturing into the bitter cold of the arctic world beyond.

In his haste he had dropped several garments upon the floor, and the telltale fur that
had fallen partly within the corridor had proved the means of guiding me to the very spot
he would least have wished me to have knowledge of.

It required but the matter of a few seconds to don the necessary orluk-skin clothing,
with the heavy, fur-lined boots that are so essential a part of the garmenture of one who
would successfully contend with the frozen trails and the icy winds of the bleak
northland.

Once more I stepped beyond the tunnel's mouth to find the fresh tracks of Thurid
and Dejah Thoris in the new-fallen snow. Now, at last, was my task an easy one, for
though the going was rough in the extreme, I was no longer vexed by doubts as to the
direction I should follow, or harassed by darkness or hidden dangers.

Through a snow-covered canyon the way led up toward the summit of low hills.
Beyond these it dipped again into another canon, only to rise a quarter-mile farther on
toward a pass which skirted the flank of a rocky hill.

I could see by the signs of those who had gone before that when Dejah Thoris had
walked she had been continually holding back, and that the black man had been
compelled to drag her. For other stretches only his foot-prints were visible, deep and
close together in the heavy snow, and I knew from these signs that then he had been
forced to carry her, and I could well imagine that she had fought him fiercely every step
of the way.

As I came round the jutting promontory of the hill's shoulder I saw that which
quickened my pulses and set my heart to beating high, for within a tiny basin between the

244
crest of this hill and the next stood four people before the mouth of a great cave, and
beside them upon the gleaming snow rested a flier which had evidently but just been
dragged from its hiding place.

The four were Dejah Thoris, Phaidor, Thurid, and Matai Shang. The two men were
engaged in a heated argument—the Father of Therns threatening, while the black scoffed
at him as he went about the work at which he was engaged.

As I crept toward them cautiously that I might come as near as possible before being
discovered, I saw that finally the men appeared to have reached some sort of a
compromise, for with Phaidor's assistance they both set about dragging the resisting
Dejah Thoris to the flier's deck.

Here they made her fast, and then both again descended to the ground to complete
the preparations for departure. Phaidor entered the small cabin upon the vessel's deck.

I had come to within a quarter of a mile of them when Matai Shang espied me. I saw
him seize Thurid by the shoulder, wheeling him around in my direction as he pointed to
where I was now plainly visible, for the moment that I knew I had been perceived I cast
aside every attempt at stealth and broke into a mad race for the flier.

The two redoubled their efforts at the propeller at which they were working, and
which very evidently was being replaced after having been removed for some purpose of
repair.

They had the thing completed before I had covered half the distance that lay
between me and them, and then both made a rush for the boarding-ladder.

Thurid was the first to reach it, and with the agility of a monkey clambered swiftly
to the boat's deck, where a touch of the button controlling the buoyancy tanks sent the
craft slowly upward, though not with the speed that marks the well-conditioned flier.

I was still some hundred yards away as I saw them rising from my grasp.

Back by the city of Kadabra lay a great fleet of mighty fliers—the ships of Helium
and Ptarth that I had saved from destruction earlier in the day; but before ever I could
reach them Thurid could easily make good his escape.

As I ran I saw Matai Shang clambering up the swaying, swinging ladder toward the
deck, while above him leaned the evil face of the First Born. A trailing rope from the
vessel's stern put new hope in me, for if I could but reach it before it whipped too high
above my head there was yet a chance to gain the deck by its slender aid.

That there was something radically wrong with the flier was evident from its lack of
buoyancy, and the further fact that though Thurid had turned twice to the starting lever

245
the boat still hung motionless in the air, except for a slight drifting with a low breeze
from the north.

Now Matai Shang was close to the gunwale. A long, claw-like hand was reaching
up to grasp the metal rail.

Thurid leaned farther down toward his co-conspirator.

Suddenly a raised dagger gleamed in the upflung hand of the black. Down it drove
toward the white face of the Father of Therns. With a loud shriek of fear the Holy
Hekkador grasped frantically at that menacing arm.

I was almost to the trailing rope by now. The craft was still rising slowly, the while
it drifted from me. Then I stumbled on the icy way, striking my head upon a rock as I fell
sprawling but an arm's length from the rope, the end of which was now just leaving the
ground.

With the blow upon my head came unconsciousness.

It could not have been more than a few seconds that I lay senseless there upon the
northern ice, while all that was dearest to me drifted farther from my reach in the clutches
of that black fiend, for when I opened my eyes Thurid and Matai Shang yet battled at the
ladder's top, and the flier drifted but a hundred yards farther to the south—but the end of
the trailing rope was now a good thirty feet above the ground.

Goaded to madness by the cruel misfortune that had tripped me when success was
almost within my grasp, I tore frantically across the intervening space, and just beneath
the rope's dangling end I put my earthly muscles to the supreme test.

With a mighty, catlike bound I sprang upward toward that slender strand—the only
avenue which yet remained that could carry me to my vanishing love.

A foot above its lowest end my fingers closed. Tightly as I clung I felt the rope
slipping, slipping through my grasp. I tried to raise my free hand to take a second hold
above my first, but the change of position that resulted caused me to slip more rapidly
toward the end of the rope.

Slowly I felt the tantalizing thing escaping me. In a moment all that I had gained
would be lost—then my fingers reached a knot at the very end of the rope and slipped no
more.

With a prayer of gratitude upon my lips I scrambled upward toward the boat's deck.
I could not see Thurid and Matai Shang now, but I heard the sounds of conflict and thus
knew that they still fought—the thern for his life and the black for the increased
buoyancy that relief from the weight of even a single body would give the craft.

246
 Should Matai Shang die before I reached the deck my chances of ever reaching it
would be slender indeed, for the black dator need but cut the rope above me to be freed
from me forever, for the vessel had drifted across the brink of a chasm into whose
yawning depths my body would drop to be crushed to a shapeless pulp should Thurid
reach the rope now.

At last my hand closed upon the ship's rail and that very instant a horrid shriek rang
out below me that sent my blood cold and turned my horrified eyes downward to a
shrieking, hurtling, twisting thing that shot downward into the awful chasm beneath me.

It was Matai Shang, Holy Hekkador, Father of Therns, gone to his last accounting.

Then my head came above the deck and I saw Thurid, dagger in hand, leaping
toward me. He was opposite the forward end of the cabin, while I was attempting to
clamber aboard near the vessel's stern. But a few paces lay between us. No power on
earth could raise me to that deck before the infuriated black would be upon me.

My end had come. I knew it; but had there been a doubt in my mind the nasty leer
of triumph upon that wicked face would have convinced me. Beyond Thurid I could see
my Dejah Thoris, wide-eyed and horrified, struggling at her bonds. That she should be
forced to witness my awful death made my bitter fate seem doubly cruel.

I ceased my efforts to climb across the gunwale. Instead I took a firm grasp upon the
rail with my left hand and drew my dagger.

I should at least die as I had lived—fighting.

As Thurid came opposite the cabin's doorway a new element projected itself into the
grim tragedy of the air that was being enacted upon the deck of Matai Shang's disabled
flier.

It was Phaidor.

With flushed face and disheveled hair, and eyes that betrayed the recent presence of
mortal tears—above which this proud goddess had always held herself—she leaped to
the deck directly before me.

In her hand was a long, slim dagger. I cast a last look upon my beloved princess,
smiling, as men should who are about to die. Then I turned my face up toward Phaidor—
waiting for the blow.

Never have I seen that beautiful face more beautiful than it was at that moment. It
seemed incredible that one so lovely could yet harbor within her fair bosom a heart so
cruel and relentless, and today there was a new expression in her wondrous eyes that I
never before had seen there—an unfamiliar softness, and a look of suffering.

247
 Thurid was beside her now—pushing past to reach me first, and then what happened
happened so quickly that it was all over before I could realize the truth of it.

Phaidor's slim hand shot out to close upon the black's dagger wrist. Her right hand
went high with its gleaming blade.

"That for Matai Shang!" she cried, and she buried her blade deep in the dator's
breast. "That for the wrong you would have done Dejah Thoris!" and again the sharp
steel sank into the bloody flesh.

"And that, and that, and that!" she shrieked, "for John Carter, Prince of Helium,"
and with each word her sharp point pierced the vile heart of the great villain. Then, with a
vindictive shove she cast the carcass of the First Born from the deck to fall in awful
silence after the body of his victim.

I had been so paralyzed by surprise that I had made no move to reach the deck
during the awe-inspiring scene which I had just witnessed, and now I was to be still
further amazed by her next act, for Phaidor extended her hand to me and assisted me to
the deck, where I stood gazing at her in unconcealed and stupefied wonderment.

A wan smile touched her lips—it was not the cruel and haughty smile of the
goddess with which I was familiar. "You wonder, John Carter," she said, "what strange
thing has wrought this change in me? I will tell you. It is love—love of you," and when I
darkened my brows in disapproval of her words she raised an appealing hand.

"Wait," she said. "It is a different love from mine—it is the love of your princess,
Dejah Thoris, for you that has taught me what true love may be—what it should be, and
how far from real love was my selfish and jealous passion for you.

"Now I am different. Now could I love as Dejah Thoris loves, and so my only
happiness can be to know that you and she are once more united, for in her alone can you
find true happiness.

"But I am unhappy because of the wickedness that I have wrought. I have many sins
to expiate, and though I be deathless, life is all too short for the atonement.

"But there is another way, and if Phaidor, daughter of the Holy Hekkador of the
Holy Therns, has sinned she has this day already made partial reparation, and lest you
doubt the sincerity of her protestations and her avowal of a new love that embraces Dejah
Thoris also, she will prove her sincerity in the only way that lies open—having saved you
for another, Phaidor leaves you to her embraces."

With her last word she turned and leaped from the vessel's deck into the abyss
below.

248
 With a cry of horror I sprang forward in a vain attempt to save the life that for two
years I would so gladly have seen extinguished. I was too late.

With tear-dimmed eyes I turned away that I might not see the awful sight beneath.

A moment later I had struck the bonds from Dejah Thoris, and as her dear arms
went about my neck and her perfect lips pressed to mine I forgot the horrors that I had
witnessed and the suffering that I had endured in the rapture of my reward.

THE NEW RULER

The flier upon whose deck Dejah Thoris and I found ourselves after twelve long
years of separation proved entirely useless. Her buoyancy tanks leaked badly. Her engine
would not start. We were helpless there in mid air above the arctic ice.

The craft had drifted across the chasm which held the corpses of Matai Shang,
Thurid, and Phaidor, and now hung above a low hill. Opening the buoyancy escape
valves I permitted her to come slowly to the ground, and as she touched, Dejah Thoris
and I stepped from her deck and, hand in hand, turned back across the frozen waste
toward the city of Kadabra.

Through the tunnel that had led me in pursuit of them we passed, walking slowly,
for we had much to say to each other.

She told me of that last terrible moment months before when the door of her prison
cell within the Temple of the Sun was slowly closing between us. Of how Phaidor had
sprung upon her with uplifted dagger, and of Thuvia's shriek as she had realized the foul
intention of the thern goddess.

It had been that cry that had rung in my ears all the long, weary months that I had
been left in cruel doubt as to my princess' fate; for I had not known that Thuvia had
wrested the blade from the daughter of Matai Shang before it had touched either Dejah
Thoris or herself.

She told me, too, of the awful eternity of her imprisonment. Of the cruel hatred of
Phaidor, and the tender love of Thuvia, and of how even when despair was the darkest
those two red girls had clung to the same hope and belief—that John Carter would find a
way to release them.

Presently we came to the chamber of Solan. I had been proceeding without thought
of caution, for I was sure that the city and the palace were both in the hands of my friends
by this time.

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 And so it was that I bolted into the chamber full into the midst of a dozen nobles of
the court of Salensus Oll. They were passing through on their way to the outside world
along the corridors we had just traversed.

At sight of us they halted in their tracks, and then an ugly smile overspread the
features of their leader.

"The author of all our misfortunes!" he cried, pointing at me. "We shall have the
satisfaction of a partial vengeance at least when we leave behind us here the dead and
mutilated corpses of the Prince and Princess of Helium.

"When they find them," he went on, jerking his thumb upward toward the palace
above, "they will realize that the vengeance of the yellow man costs his enemies dear.
Prepare to die, John Carter, but that your end may be the more bitter, know that I may
change my intention as to meting a merciful death to your princess—possibly she shall
be preserved as a plaything for my nobles."

I stood close to the instrument-covered wall—Dejah Thoris at my side. She looked

up at me wonderingly as the warriors advanced upon us with drawn swords, for mine still
hung within its scabbard at my side, and there was a smile upon my lips.

The yellow nobles, too, looked in surprise, and then as I made no move to draw they
hesitated, fearing a ruse; but their leader urged them on. When they had come almost
within sword's reach of me I raised my hand and laid it upon the polished surface of a
great lever, and then, still smiling grimly, I looked my enemies full in the face.

As one they came to a sudden stop, casting affrighted glances at me and at one
another.

"Stop!" shrieked their leader. "You dream not what you do!"

"Right you are," I replied. "John Carter does not dream. He knows—knows that
should one of you take another step toward Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, I pull this
lever wide, and she and I shall die together; but we shall not die alone."

The nobles shrank back, whispering together for a few moments. At last their leader
turned to me.

"Go your way, John Carter," he said, "and we shall go ours."

"Prisoners do not go their own way," I answered, "and you are prisoners—prisoners
of the Prince of Helium."

Before they could make answer a door upon the opposite side of the apartment
opened and a score of yellow men poured into the apartment. For an instant the nobles
looked relieved, and then as their eyes fell upon the leader of the new party their faces

250
fell, for he was Talu, rebel Prince of Marentina, and they knew that they could look for
neither aid nor mercy at his hands.

"Well done, John Carter," he cried. "You turn their own mighty power against them.
Fortunate for Okar is it that you were here to prevent their escape, for these be the
greatest villains north of the ice-barrier, and this one"—pointing to the leader of the
party—"would have made himself Jeddak of Jeddaks in the place of the dead Salensus
Oll. Then indeed would we have had a more villainous ruler than the hated tyrant who
fell before your sword."

The Okarian nobles now submitted to arrest, since nothing but death faced them
should they resist, and, escorted by the warriors of Talu, we made our way to the great
audience chamber that had been Salensus Oll's. Here was a vast concourse of warriors.

Red men from Helium and Ptarth, yellow men of the north, rubbing elbows with the
blacks of the First Born who had come under my friend Xodar to help in the search for
me and my princess. There were savage, green warriors from the dead sea bottoms of the
south, and a handful of white-skinned therns who had renounced their religion and sworn
allegiance to Xodar.

There was Tardos Mors and Mors Kajak, and tall and mighty in his gorgeous
warrior trappings, Carthoris, my son. These three fell upon Dejah Thoris as we entered
the apartment, and though the lives and training of royal Martians tend not toward vulgar
demonstration, I thought that they would suffocate her with their embraces.

And there were Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, and Kantos Kan, my old-time friends,
and leaping and tearing at my harness in the exuberance of his great love was dear old
Woola—frantic mad with happiness.

Long and loud was the cheering that burst forth at sight of us; deafening was the din
of ringing metal as the veteran warriors of every Martian clime clashed their blades
together on high in token of success and victory, but as I passed among the throng of
saluting nobles and warriors, jeds and jeddaks, my heart still was heavy, for there were
two faces missing that I would have given much to have seen there—Thuvan Dihn and
Thuvia of Ptarth were not to be found in the great chamber.

I made inquiries concerning them among men of every nation, and at last from one
of the yellow prisoners of war I learned that they had been apprehended by an officer of
the palace as they sought to reach the Pit of Plenty while I lay imprisoned there.

I did not need to ask to know what had sent them thither—the courageous jeddak
and his loyal daughter. My informer said that they lay now in one of the many buried
dungeons of the palace where they had been placed pending a decision as to their fate by
the tyrant of the north.

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 A moment later searching parties were scouring the ancient pile in search of them,
and my cup of happiness was full when I saw them being escorted into the room by a
cheering guard of honor.

Thuvia's first act was to rush to the side of Dejah Thoris, and I needed no better
proof of the love these two bore for each other than the sincerity with which they
embraced.

Looking down upon that crowded chamber stood the silent and empty throne of
Okar.

Of all the strange scenes it must have witnessed since that long-dead age that had
first seen a Jeddak of Jeddaks take his seat upon it, none might compare with that upon
which it now looked down, and as I pondered the past and future of that long-buried race
of black-bearded yellow men I thought that I saw a brighter and more useful existence for
them among the great family of friendly nations that now stretched from the south pole
almost to their very doors.

Twenty-two years before I had been cast, naked and a stranger, into this strange and
savage world. The hand of every race and nation was raised in continual strife and
warring against the men of every other land and color. Today, by the might of my sword
and the loyalty of the friends my sword had made for me, black man and white, red man
and green rubbed shoulders in peace and good-fellowship. All the nations of Barsoom
were not yet as one, but a great stride forward toward that goal had been taken, and now
if I could but cement the fierce yellow race into this solidarity of nations I should feel
that I had rounded out a great lifework, and repaid to Mars at least a portion of the
immense debt of gratitude I owed her for having given me my Dejah Thoris.

And as I thought, I saw but one way, and a single man who could insure the success
of my hopes. As is ever the way with me, I acted then as I always act—without
deliberation and without consultation.

Those who do not like my plans and my ways of promoting them have always their
swords at their sides wherewith to back up their disapproval; but now there seemed to be
no dissenting voice, as, grasping Talu by the arm, I sprang to the throne that had once
been Salensus Oll's.

"Warriors of Barsoom," I cried, "Kadabra has fallen, and with her the hateful tyrant
of the north; but the integrity of Okar must be preserved. The red men are ruled by red
jeddaks, the green warriors of the ancient seas acknowledge none but a green ruler, the
First Born of the south pole take their law from black Xodar; nor would it be to the
interests of either yellow or red man were a red jeddak to sit upon the throne of Okar.

"There be but one warrior best fitted for the ancient and mighty title of Jeddak of
Jeddaks of the North. Men of Okar, raise your swords to your new ruler—Talu, the rebel
prince of Marentina!"

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 And then a great cry of rejoicing rose among the free men of Marentina and the
Kadabran prisoners, for all had thought that the red men would retain that which they had
taken by force of arms, for such had been the way upon Barsoom, and that they should be
ruled henceforth by an alien Jeddak.

The victorious warriors who had followed Carthoris joined in the mad
demonstration, and amidst the wild confusion and the tumult and the cheering, Dejah
Thoris and I passed out into the gorgeous garden of the jeddaks that graces the inner
courtyard of the palace of Kadabra.

At our heels walked Woola, and upon a carved seat of wondrous beauty beneath a
bower of purple blooms we saw two who had preceded us—Thuvia of Ptarth and
Carthoris of Helium.

The handsome head of the handsome youth was bent low above the beautiful face of
his companion. I looked at Dejah Thoris, smiling, and as I drew her close to me I
whispered: "Why not?"

Indeed, why not? What matter ages in this world of perpetual youth?

We remained at Kadabra, the guests of Talu, until after his formal induction into
office, and then, upon the great fleet which I had been so fortunate to preserve from
destruction, we sailed south across the ice-barrier; but not before we had witnessed the
total demolition of the grim Guardian of the North under orders of the new Jeddak of
Jeddaks.

"Henceforth," he said, as the work was completed, "the fleets of the red men and the
black are free to come and go across the ice-barrier as over their own lands.

"The Carrion Caves shall be cleansed, that the green men may find an easy way to
the land of the yellow, and the hunting of the sacred apt shall be the sport of my nobles
until no single specimen of that hideous creature roams the frozen north."

We bade our yellow friends farewell with real regret, as we set sail for Ptarth. There
we remained, the guest of Thuvan Dihn, for a month; and I could see that Carthoris
would have remained forever had he not been a Prince of Helium.

Above the mighty forests of Kaol we hovered until word from Kulan Tith brought
us to his single landing-tower, where all day and half a night the vessels disembarked
their crews. At the city of Kaol we visited, cementing the new ties that had been formed
between Kaol and Helium, and then one long-to-be-remembered day we sighted the tall,
thin towers of the twin cities of Helium.

The people had long been preparing for our coming. The sky was gorgeous with
gaily trimmed fliers. Every roof within both cities was spread with costly silks and
tapestries.

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 Gold and jewels were scattered over roof and street and plaza, so that the two cities
seemed ablaze with the fires of the hearts of the magnificent stones and burnished metal
that reflected the brilliant sunlight, changing it into countless glorious hues.

At last, after twelve years, the royal family of Helium was reunited in their own
mighty city, surrounded by joy-mad millions before the palace gates. Women and
children and mighty warriors wept in gratitude for the fate that had restored their beloved
Tardos Mors and the divine princess whom the whole nation idolized. Nor did any of us
who had been upon that expedition of indescribable danger and glory lack for plaudits.

That night a messenger came to me as I sat with Dejah Thoris and Carthoris upon
the roof of my city palace, where we had long since caused a lovely garden to be made
that we three might find seclusion and quiet happiness among ourselves, far from the
pomp and ceremony of court, to summon us to the Temple of Reward—"where one is to
be judged this night," the summons concluded.

I racked my brain to try and determine what important case there might be pending
which could call the royal family from their palaces on the eve of their return to Helium
after years of absence; but when the jeddak summons no man delays.

As our flier touched the landing stage at the temple's top we saw countless other
craft arriving and departing. In the streets below a great multitude surged toward the
great gates of the temple.

Slowly there came to me the recollection of the deferred doom that awaited me
since that time I had been tried here in the Temple by Zat Arras for the sin of returning
from the Valley Dor and the Lost Sea of Korus.

Could it be possible that the strict sense of justice which dominates the men of Mars
had caused them to overlook the great good that had come out of my heresy? Could they
ignore the fact that to me, and me alone, was due the rescue of Carthoris, of Dejah
Thoris, of Mors Kajak, of Tardos Mors?

I could not believe it, and yet for what other purpose could I have been summoned
to the Temple of Reward immediately upon the return of Tardos Mors to his throne?

My first surprise as I entered the temple and approached the Throne of

Righteousness was to note the men who sat there as judges. There was Kulan Tith,
Jeddak of Kaol, whom we had but just left within his own palace a few days since; there
was Thuvan Dihn, Jeddak of Ptarth—how came he to Helium as soon as we?

There was Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, and Xodar, Jeddak of the First Born; there
was Talu, Jeddak of Jeddaks of the North, whom I could have sworn was still in his ice-
bound hothouse city beyond the northern barrier, and among them sat Tardos Mors and
Mors Kajak, with enough lesser jeds and jeddaks to make up the thirty-one who must sit
in judgment upon their fellow-man.

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 A right royal tribunal indeed, and such a one, I warrant, as never before sat together
during all the history of ancient Mars.

As I entered, silence fell upon the great concourse of people that packed the
auditorium. Then Tardos Mors arose.

"John Carter," he said in his deep, martial voice, "take your place upon the Pedestal
of Truth, for you are to be tried by a fair and impartial tribunal of your fellow-men."

With level eye and high-held head I did as he bade, and as I glanced about that
circle of faces that a moment before I could have sworn contained the best friends I had
upon Barsoom, I saw no single friendly glance—only stern, uncompromising judges,
there to do their duty.

A clerk rose and from a great book read a long list of the more notable deeds that I
had thought to my credit, covering a long period of twenty-two years since first I had
stepped the ocher sea bottom beside the incubator of the Tharks. With the others he read
of all that I had done within the circle of the Otz Mountains where the Holy Therns and
the First Born had held sway.

It is the way upon Barsoom to recite a man's virtues with his sins when he is come
to trial, and so I was not surprised that all that was to my credit should be read there to
my judges—who knew it all by heart—even down to the present moment. When the
reading had ceased Tardos Mors arose.

"Most righteous judges," he exclaimed, "you have heard recited all that is known of
John Carter, Prince of Helium—the good with the bad. What is your judgment?"

Then Tars Tarkas came slowly to his feet, unfolding all his mighty, towering height
until he loomed, a green-bronze statue, far above us all. He turned a baleful eye upon
me—he, Tars Tarkas, with whom I had fought through countless battles; whom I loved
as a brother.

I could have wept had I not been so mad with rage that I almost whipped my sword
out and had at them all upon the spot.

"Judges," he said, "there can be but one verdict. No longer may John Carter be
Prince of Helium"—he paused—"but instead let him be Jeddak of Jeddaks, Warlord of
Barsoom!"

As the thirty-one judges sprang to their feet with drawn and upraised swords in
unanimous concurrence in the verdict, the storm broke throughout the length and breadth
and height of that mighty building until I thought the roof would fall from the thunder of
the mad shouting.

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 Now, at last, I saw the grim humor of the method they had adopted to do me this
great honor, but that there was any hoax in the reality of the title they had conferred upon
me was readily disproved by the sincerity of the congratulations that were heaped upon
me by the judges first and then the nobles.

Presently fifty of the mightiest nobles of the greatest courts of Mars marched down
the broad Aisle of Hope bearing a splendid car upon their shoulders, and as the people
saw who sat within, the cheers that had rung out for me paled into insignificance beside
those which thundered through the vast edifice now, for she whom the nobles carried was
Dejah Thoris, beloved Princess of Helium.

Straight to the Throne of Righteousness they bore her, and there Tardos Mors
assisted her from the car, leading her forward to my side.

"Let a world's most beautiful woman share the honor of her husband," he said.

Before them all I drew my wife close to me and kissed her upon the lips.

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