A Princess of Mars

Published：2026-07-29 19:16:42 Source: miniature figures for 4 year olds under 50 dollars Author: Tiara Toys

A Princess of Mars

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

To My Son Jack

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

FOREWORD

To the Reader of this Work:

In submitting Captain Carter’s strange manuscript to you in book form, Ibelieve that a few words relative to this remarkable personality will be ofinterest.

My first recollection of Captain Carter is of the few months he spent at myfather’s home in Virginia, just prior to the opening of the civil war. Iwas 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 childrenwith the same hearty good fellowship he displayed toward those pastimes inwhich the men and women of his own age indulged; or he would sit for an hour ata time entertaining my old grandmother with stories of his strange, wild lifein all parts of the world. We all loved him, and our slaves fairly worshippedthe ground he trod.

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

His horsemanship, especially after hounds, was a marvel and delight even inthat country of magnificent horsemen. I have often heard my father caution himagainst his wild recklessness, but he would only laugh, and say that the tumblethat 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 orsixteen years. When he returned it was without warning, and I was muchsurprised to note that he had not aged apparently a moment, nor had he changedin 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 seenhim sit for hours gazing off into space, his face set in a look of wistfullonging and hopeless misery; and at night he would sit thus looking up into theheavens, 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 timesince the war; and that he had been very successful was evidenced by theunlimited amount of money with which he was supplied. As to the details of hislife during these years he was very reticent, in fact he would not talk of themat all.

He remained with us for about a year and then went to New York, where hepurchased a little place on the Hudson, where I visited him once a year on theoccasions of my trips to the New York market—my father and I owning andoperating a string of general stores throughout Virginia at that time. CaptainCarter had a small but beautiful cottage, situated on a bluff overlooking theriver, and during one of my last visits, in the winter of 1885, I observed hewas 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 totake charge of his estate, and he gave me a key to a compartment in the safewhich stood in his study, telling me I would find his will there and somepersonal instructions which he had me pledge myself to carry out with absolutefidelity.

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

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

I arrived at the little station, about a mile from his grounds, on the morningof March 4, 1886, and when I asked the livery man to drive me out to CaptainCarter’s he replied that if I was a friend of the Captain’s he hadsome very bad news for me; the Captain had been found dead shortly afterdaylight 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 placeas quickly as possible, so that I could take charge of the body and of hisaffairs.

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

There were no marks of violence on the body, and with the aid of a localphysician the coroner’s jury quickly reached a decision of death fromheart failure. Left alone in the study, I opened the safe and withdrew thecontents of the drawer in which he had told me I would find my instructions.They were in part peculiar indeed, but I have followed them to each last detailas faithfully as I was able.

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

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

A strange feature about the tomb, where his body still lies, is that themassive door is equipped with a single, huge gold-plated spring lock which canbe 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, possiblymore; but I cannot tell because I have never aged as other men, nor do Iremember any childhood. So far as I can recollect I have always been a man, aman of about thirty. I appear today as I did forty years and more ago, and yetI feel that I cannot go on living forever; that some day I shall die the realdeath from which there is no resurrection. I do not know why I should feardeath, I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet I have the same horrorof it as you who have never died, and it is because of this terror of death, Ibelieve, that I am so convinced of my mortality.

And because of this conviction I have determined to write down the story of theinteresting 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 achronicle of the strange events that befell me during the ten years that mydead body lay undiscovered in an Arizona cave.

I have never told this story, nor shall mortal man see this manuscript untilafter I have passed over for eternity. I know that the average human mind willnot believe what it cannot grasp, and so I do not purpose being pilloried bythe public, the pulpit, and the press, and held up as a colossal liar when I ambut telling the simple truths which some day science will substantiate.Possibly the suggestions which I gained upon Mars, and the knowledge which Ican set down in this chronicle, will aid in an earlier understanding of themysteries of our sister planet; mysteries to you, but no longer mysteries tome.

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 hundredthousand dollars (Confederate) and a captain’s commission in the cavalryarm of an army which no longer existed; the servant of a state which hadvanished with the hopes of the South. Masterless, penniless, and with my onlymeans of livelihood, fighting, gone, I determined to work my way to thesouthwest 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 inthe winter of 1865, after many hardships and privations, we located the mostremarkable gold-bearing quartz vein that our wildest dreams had ever pictured.Powell, who was a mining engineer by education, stated that we had uncoveredover 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 returnto civilization, purchase the necessary machinery and return with a sufficientforce of men properly to work the mine.

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

On March 3, 1866, Powell and I packed his provisions on two of our burros, andbidding me good-bye he mounted his horse, and started down the mountainsidetoward 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 theirway down the mountainside toward the valley, and all during the morning I wouldcatch occasional glimpses of them as they topped a hog back or came out upon alevel plateau. My last sight of Powell was about three in the afternoon as heentered 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 wasmuch surprised to note three little dots in about the same place I had lastseen 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 thatthe dots I had seen on his trail were antelope or wild horses, the less I wasable to assure myself.

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

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

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

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

About nine o’clock the moon was sufficiently bright for me to proceed onmy way and I had no difficulty in following the trail at a fast walk, and insome places at a brisk trot until, about midnight, I reached the water holewhere Powell had expected to camp. I came upon the spot unexpectedly, findingit 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 Iwas now convinced they must be, continued after Powell with only a brief stopat 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 tocapture Powell alive for the fiendish pleasure of the torture, so I urged myhorse onward at a most dangerous pace, hoping against hope that I would catchup with the red rascals before they attacked him.

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

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

The little stretch of level land was white with Indian tepees, and there wereprobably half a thousand red warriors clustered around some object near thecenter of the camp. Their attention was so wholly riveted to this point ofinterest that they did not notice me, and I easily could have turned back intothe dark recesses of the gorge and made my escape with perfect safety. Thefact, however, that this thought did not occur to me until the following dayremoves any possible right to a claim to heroism to which the narration of thisepisode 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 faceto face with death, I cannot recall a single one where any alternative step tothat I took occurred to me until many hours later. My mind is evidently soconstituted that I am subconsciously forced into the path of duty withoutrecourse to tiresome mental processes. However that may be, I have neverregretted that cowardice is not optional with me.

In this instance I was, of course, positive that Powell was the center ofattraction, but whether I thought or acted first I do not know, but within aninstant from the moment the scene broke upon my view I had whipped out myrevolvers and was charging down upon the entire army of warriors, shootingrapidly, and whooping at the top of my lungs. Singlehanded, I could not havepursued better tactics, for the red men, convinced by sudden surprise that notless than a regiment of regulars was upon them, turned and fled in everydirection for their bows, arrows, and rifles.

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

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

The Indians had by this time discovered that I was alone and I was pursued withimprecations, arrows, and rifle balls. The fact that it is difficult to aimanything but imprecations accurately by moonlight, that they were upset by thesudden and unexpected manner of my advent, and that I was a rather rapidlymoving target saved me from the various deadly projectiles of the enemy andpermitted me to reach the shadows of the surrounding peaks before an orderlypursuit could be organized.

My horse was traveling practically unguided as I knew that I had probably lessknowledge of the exact location of the trail to the pass than he, and thus ithappened that he entered a defile which led to the summit of the range and notto the pass which I had hoped would carry me to the valley and to safety. It isprobable, however, that to this fact I owe my life and the remarkableexperiences 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 ofthe 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 atthe edge of the plateau, to the right of which my horse had borne me and thebody of Powell.

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

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

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

I had followed this trail for perhaps a hundred yards when a sharp turn to theright brought me to the mouth of a large cave. The opening was about four feetin 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 startlingcharacteristic of Arizona, it had become daylight almost without warning.

Dismounting, I laid Powell upon the ground, but the most painstakingexamination failed to reveal the faintest spark of life. I forced water from mycanteen between his dead lips, bathed his face and rubbed his hands, workingover him continuously for the better part of an hour in the face of the factthat I knew him to be dead.

I was very fond of Powell; he was thoroughly a man in every respect; a polishedsouthern gentleman; a staunch and true friend; and it was with a feeling of thedeepest 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 toreconnoiter. I found a large chamber, possibly a hundred feet in diameter andthirty or forty feet in height; a smooth and well-worn floor, and many otherevidences that the cave had, at some remote period, been inhabited. The back ofthe cave was so lost in dense shadow that I could not distinguish whether therewere openings into other apartments or not.

As I was continuing my examination I commenced to feel a pleasant drowsinesscreeping over me which I attributed to the fatigue of my long and strenuousride, and the reaction from the excitement of the fight and the pursuit. I feltcomparatively safe in my present location as I knew that one man could defendthe trail to the cave against an army.

I soon became so drowsy that I could scarcely resist the strong desire to throwmyself on the floor of the cave for a few moments’ rest, but I knew thatthis would never do, as it would mean certain death at the hands of my redfriends, who might be upon me at any moment. With an effort I started towardthe opening of the cave only to reel drunkenly against a side wall, and fromthere 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 onthe point of giving way to my desire to sleep when the sound of approachinghorses reached my ears. I attempted to spring to my feet but was horrified todiscover that my muscles refused to respond to my will. I was now thoroughlyawake, 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 wasextremely tenuous and only noticeable against the opening which led todaylight. There also came to my nostrils a faintly pungent odor, and I couldonly assume that I had been overcome by some poisonous gas, but why I shouldretain 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 oftrail which lay between the cave and the turn of the cliff around which thetrail led. The noise of the approaching horses had ceased, and I judged theIndians were creeping stealthily upon me along the little ledge which led to myliving tomb. I remember that I hoped they would make short work of me as I didnot particularly relish the thought of the innumerable things they might do tome 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 theshoulder of the cliff, and savage eyes looked into mine. That he could see mein the dim light of the cave I was sure for the early morning sun was fallingfull upon me through the opening.

The fellow, instead of approaching, merely stood and stared; his eyes bulgingand his jaw dropped. And then another savage face appeared, and a third andfourth and fifth, craning their necks over the shoulders of their fellows whomthey could not pass upon the narrow ledge. Each face was the picture of awe andfear, but for what reason I did not know, nor did I learn until ten yearslater. That there were still other braves behind those who regarded me wasapparent from the fact that the leaders passed back whispered word to thosebehind them.

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

The sound which had frightened them was not repeated, but it had beensufficient as it was to start me speculating on the possible horror whichlurked in the shadows at my back. Fear is a relative term and so I can onlymeasure my feelings at that time by what I had experienced in previouspositions of danger and by those that I have passed through since; but I cansay without shame that if the sensations I endured during the next few minuteswere fear, then may God help the coward, for cowardice is of a surety its ownpunishment.

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

Several times I thought I heard faint sounds behind me as of somebody movingcautiously, but eventually even these ceased, and I was left to thecontemplation of my position without interruption. I could but vaguelyconjecture the cause of my paralysis, and my only hope lay in that it mightpass off as suddenly as it had fallen upon me.

Late in the afternoon my horse, which had been standing with dragging reinbefore the cave, started slowly down the trail, evidently in search of food andwater, and I was left alone with my mysterious unknown companion and the deadbody of my friend, which lay just within my range of vision upon the ledgewhere 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, andthere came again from the black shadows the sound of a moving thing, and afaint rustling as of dead leaves. The shock to my already overstrained nervoussystem was terrible in the extreme, and with a superhuman effort I strove tobreak 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 nonethe less mighty for all that. And then something gave, there was a momentaryfeeling of nausea, a sharp click as of the snapping of a steel wire, and Istood with my back against the wall of the cave facing my unknown foe.

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

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

Again was I suddenly recalled to my immediate surroundings by a repetition ofthe weird moan from the depths of the cave. Naked and unarmed as I was, I hadno desire to face the unseen thing which menaced me.

My revolvers were strapped to my lifeless body which, for some unfathomablereason, I could not bring myself to touch. My carbine was in its boot, strappedto my saddle, and as my horse had wandered off I was left without means ofdefense. My only alternative seemed to lie in flight and my decision wascrystallized by a recurrence of the rustling sound from the thing which nowseemed, in the darkness of the cave and to my distorted imagination, to becreeping stealthily upon me.

Unable longer to resist the temptation to escape this horrible place I leapedquickly through the opening into the starlight of a clear Arizona night. Thecrisp, fresh mountain air outside the cave acted as an immediate tonic and Ifelt new life and new courage coursing through me. Pausing upon the brink ofthe ledge I upbraided myself for what now seemed to me wholly unwarrantedapprehension. I reasoned with myself that I had lain helpless for many hourswithin the cave, yet nothing had molested me, and my better judgment, whenpermitted the direction of clear and logical reasoning, convinced me that thenoises 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 causedthe sounds I heard.

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

Few western wonders are more inspiring than the beauties of an Arizona moonlitlandscape; the silvered mountains in the distance, the strange lights andshadows upon hog back and arroyo, and the grotesque details of the stiff, yetbeautiful cacti form a picture at once enchanting and inspiring; as though onewere catching for the first time a glimpse of some dead and forgotten world, sodifferent 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 heavenswhere the myriad stars formed a gorgeous and fitting canopy for the wonders ofthe earthly scene. My attention was quickly riveted by a large red star closeto the distant horizon. As I gazed upon it I felt a spell of overpoweringfascination—it was Mars, the god of war, and for me, the fighting man, ithad always held the power of irresistible enchantment. As I gazed at it on thatfar-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 outmy arms toward the god of my vocation and felt myself drawn with the suddennessof thought through the trackless immensity of space. There was an instant ofextreme 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 wasupon Mars as your conscious mind tells you that you are upon Earth. You do notquestion the fact; neither did I.

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

It was midday, the sun was shining full upon me and the heat of it was ratherintense upon my naked body, yet no greater than would have been true undersimilar conditions on an Arizona desert. Here and there were slightoutcroppings of quartz-bearing rock which glistened in the sunlight; and alittle to my left, perhaps a hundred yards, appeared a low, walled enclosureabout four feet in height. No water, and no other vegetation than the moss wasin evidence, and as I was somewhat thirsty I determined to do a littleexploring.

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 theMartian air to the height of about three yards. I alighted softly upon theground, however, without appreciable shock or jar. Now commenced a series ofevolutions which even then seemed ludicrous in the extreme. I found that I mustlearn to walk all over again, as the muscular exertion which carried me easilyand safely upon Earth played strange antics with me upon Mars.

Instead of progressing in a sane and dignified manner, my attempts to walkresulted in a variety of hops which took me clear of the ground a couple offeet at each step and landed me sprawling upon my face or back at the end ofeach second or third hop. My muscles, perfectly attuned and accustomed to theforce of gravity on Earth, played the mischief with me in attempting for thefirst 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 onlyevidence of habitation in sight, and so I hit upon the unique plan of revertingto first principles in locomotion, creeping. I did fairly well at this and in afew 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 thewall was but about four feet high I cautiously gained my feet and peered overthe 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 inthickness, and beneath this were several hundred large eggs, perfectly roundand snowy white. The eggs were nearly uniform in size being about two andone-half feet in diameter.

Five or six had already hatched and the grotesque caricatures which satblinking in the sunlight were enough to cause me to doubt my sanity. Theyseemed mostly head, with little scrawny bodies, long necks and six legs, or, asI afterward learned, two legs and two arms, with an intermediary pair of limbswhich could be used at will either as arms or legs. Their eyes were set at theextreme sides of their heads a trifle above the center and protruded in such amanner that they could be directed either forward or back and alsoindependently of each other, thus permitting this queer animal to look in anydirection, or in two directions at once, without the necessity of turning thehead.

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, midwaybetween their mouths and ears.

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

The iris of the eyes is blood red, as in Albinos, while the pupil is dark. Theeyeball itself is very white, as are the teeth. These latter add a mostferocious appearance to an otherwise fearsome and terrible countenance, as thelower tusks curve upward to sharp points which end about where the eyes ofearthly human beings are located. The whiteness of the teeth is not that ofivory, but of the snowiest and most gleaming of china. Against the darkbackground of their olive skins their tusks stand out in a most strikingmanner, making these weapons present a singularly formidable appearance.

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

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

On such a little thing my life hung that I often marvel that I escaped soeasily. Had not the rifle of the leader of the party swung from its fasteningsbeside his saddle in such a way as to strike against the butt of his greatmetal-shod spear I should have snuffed out without ever knowing that death wasnear me. But the little sound caused me to turn, and there upon me, not tenfeet 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 ofthe little devils I had been watching.

But how puny and harmless they now looked beside this huge and terrificincarnation of hate, of vengeance and of death. The man himself, for such I maycall him, was fully fifteen feet in height and, on Earth, would have weighedsome four hundred pounds. He sat his mount as we sit a horse, grasping theanimal’s barrel with his lower limbs, while the hands of his two rightarms held his immense spear low at the side of his mount; his two left armswere outstretched laterally to help preserve his balance, the thing he rodehaving neither bridle or reins of any description for guidance.

And his mount! How can earthly words describe it! It towered ten feet at theshoulder; had four legs on either side; a broad flat tail, larger at the tipthan at the root, and which it held straight out behind while running; a gapingmouth 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 colorand exceeding smooth and glossy. Its belly was white, and its legs shaded fromthe slate of its shoulders and hips to a vivid yellow at the feet. The feetthemselves were heavily padded and nailless, which fact had also contributed tothe noiselessness of their approach, and, in common with a multiplicity oflegs, is a characteristic feature of the fauna of Mars. The highest type of manand one other animal, the only mammal existing on Mars, alone have well-formednails, and there are absolutely no hoofed animals in existence there.

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

Unarmed and naked as I was, the first law of nature manifested itself in theonly possible solution of my immediate problem, and that was to get out of thevicinity of the point of the charging spear. Consequently I gave a very earthlyand 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 seemedto surprise the Martian warriors, for it carried me fully thirty feet into theair and landed me a hundred feet from my pursuers and on the opposite side ofthe enclosure.

I alighted upon the soft moss easily and without mishap, and turning saw myenemies lined up along the further wall. Some were surveying me withexpressions which I afterward discovered marked extreme astonishment, and theothers were evidently satisfying themselves that I had not molested theiryoung.

They were conversing together in low tones, and gesticulating and pointingtoward me. Their discovery that I had not harmed the little Martians, and thatI 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 myexhibition of hurdling.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Martians, after conversing for a short time, turned and rode away in thedirection from which they had come, leaving one of their number alone by theenclosure. When they had covered perhaps two hundred yards they halted, andturning 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 theleader of the band, as I had noted that they seemed to have moved to theirpresent position at his direction. When his force had come to a halt hedismounted, threw down his spear and small arms, and came around the end of theincubator toward me, entirely unarmed and as naked as I, except for theornaments strapped upon his head, limbs, and breast.

When he was within about fifty feet of me he unclasped an enormous metalarmlet, and holding it toward me in the open palm of his hand, addressed me ina clear, resonant voice, but in a language, it is needless to say, I could notunderstand. He then stopped as though waiting for my reply, pricking up hisantennae-like ears and cocking his strange-looking eyes still further towardme.

As the silence became painful I concluded to hazard a little conversation on myown part, as I had guessed that he was making overtures of peace. The throwingdown of his weapons and the withdrawing of his troop before his advance towardme 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 himthat while I did not understand his language, his actions spoke for the peaceand friendship that at the present moment were most dear to my heart. Of courseI might have been a babbling brook for all the intelligence my speech carriedto him, but he understood the action with which I immediately followed mywords.

Stretching my hand toward him, I advanced and took the armlet from his openpalm, clasping it about my arm above the elbow; smiled at him and stoodwaiting. His wide mouth spread into an answering smile, and locking one of hisintermediary arms in mine we turned and walked back toward his mount. At thesame time he motioned his followers to advance. They started toward us on awild run, but were checked by a signal from him. Evidently he feared that wereI 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 behindone of them, and then mounted his own animal. The fellow designated reacheddown two or three hands and lifted me up behind him on the glossy back of hismount, where I hung on as best I could by the belts and straps which held theMartian’s weapons and ornaments.

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

CHAPTER IV
A PRISONER

We had gone perhaps ten miles when the ground began to rise very rapidly. Wewere, as I was later to learn, nearing the edge of one of Mars’ long-deadseas, 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 anarrow gorge came to an open valley, at the far extremity of which was a lowtable 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 ofbroad steps.

Upon closer observation I saw as we passed them that the buildings weredeserted, and while not greatly decayed had the appearance of not having beentenanted for years, possibly for ages. Toward the center of the city was alarge plaza, and upon this and in the buildings immediately surrounding it werecamped some nine or ten hundred creatures of the same breed as my captors, forsuch I now considered them despite the suave manner in which I had beentrapped.

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

The children were light in color, even lighter than the women, and all lookedprecisely alike to me, except that some were taller than others; older, Ipresumed.

I saw no signs of extreme age among them, nor is there any appreciabledifference in their appearance from the age of maturity, about forty, until, atabout the age of one thousand years, they go voluntarily upon their laststrange pilgrimage down the river Iss, which leads no living Martian knowswhither and from whose bosom no Martian has ever returned, or would be allowedto 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 possiblyabout twenty take the voluntary pilgrimage. The other nine hundred andseventy-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 apesof Mars.

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

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 orfemale Martian is ever voluntarily without a weapon of destruction.

As we neared the plaza and my presence was discovered we were immediatelysurrounded by hundreds of the creatures who seemed anxious to pluck me from myseat 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 magnificentan edifice as mortal eye has rested upon.

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

On the floor of this chamber, which was dotted with highly carved wooden desksand chairs, were assembled about forty or fifty male Martians around the stepsof a rostrum. On the platform proper squatted an enormous warrior heavilyloaded with metal ornaments, gay-colored feathers and beautifully wroughtleather trappings ingeniously set with precious stones. From his shouldersdepended a short cape of white fur lined with brilliant scarlet silk.

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

Our party had halted at the entrance to the building, and at a sign from theleader I had been lowered to the ground. Again locking his arm in mine, we hadproceeded into the audience chamber. There were few formalities observed inapproaching 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 feetand uttered the name of my escort who, in turn, halted and repeated the name ofthe ruler followed by his title.

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

My captor, whose name was Tars Tarkas, was virtually the vice-chieftain of thecommunity, and a man of great ability as a statesman and warrior. He evidentlyexplained briefly the incidents connected with his expedition, including mycapture, 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 ofus could understand the other; but I noticed that when I smiled slightly onconcluding, he did likewise. This fact, and the similar occurrence during myfirst talk with Tars Tarkas, convinced me that we had at least something incommon; 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 theMartian 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 ourconceptions of incitants to merriment. The death agonies of a fellow being are,to these strange creatures, provocative of the wildest hilarity, while theirchief form of commonest amusement is to inflict death on their prisoners of warin various ingenious and horrible ways.

The assembled warriors and chieftains examined me closely, feeling my musclesand the texture of my skin. The principal chieftain then evidently signified adesire to see me perform, and, motioning me to follow, he started with TarsTarkas for the open plaza.

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

As he banged me down upon my feet his face was bent close to mine and I did theonly thing a gentleman might do under the circumstances of brutality,boorishness, and lack of consideration for a stranger’s rights; I swungmy fist squarely to his jaw and he went down like a felled ox. As he sunk tothe floor I wheeled around with my back toward the nearest desk, expecting tobe overwhelmed by the vengeance of his fellows, but determined to give them asgood 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 dumbwith wonderment, finally broke into wild peals of laughter and applause. I didnot recognize the applause as such, but later, when I had become acquaintedwith their customs, I learned that I had won what they seldom accord, amanifestation of approbation.

The fellow whom I had struck lay where he had fallen, nor did any of his matesapproach him. Tars Tarkas advanced toward me, holding out one of his arms, andwe 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 beingenlightened. They first repeated the word “sak” a number of times,and then Tars Tarkas made several jumps, repeating the same word before eachleap; then, turning to me, he said, “sak!” I saw what they wereafter, and gathering myself together I “sakked” with such marveloussuccess 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 thenreturned by easy jumps of twenty-five or thirty feet to the little group ofwarriors.

My exhibition had been witnessed by several hundred lesser Martians, and theyimmediately broke into demands for a repetition, which the chieftain thenordered me to make; but I was both hungry and thirsty, and determined on thespot that my only method of salvation was to demand the consideration fromthese creatures which they evidently would not voluntarily accord. I thereforeignored the repeated commands to “sak,” and each time they weremade I motioned to my mouth and rubbed my stomach.

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

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

The room was well lighted by a number of large windows and was beautifullydecorated with mural paintings and mosaics, but upon all there seemed to restthat indefinable touch of the finger of antiquity which convinced me that thearchitects and builders of these wondrous creations had nothing in common withthe 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 inan adjoining room. In response to her call I obtained my first sight of a newMartian wonder. It waddled in on its ten short legs, and squatted down beforethe girl like an obedient puppy. The thing was about the size of a Shetlandpony, but its head bore a slight resemblance to that of a frog, except that thejaws 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 twoof command, pointed to me, and left the chamber. I could not but wonder whatthis ferocious-looking monstrosity might do when left alone in such closeproximity to such a relatively tender morsel of meat; but my fears weregroundless, as the beast, after surveying me intently for a moment, crossed theroom to the only exit which led to the street, and lay down full length acrossthe threshold.

This was my first experience with a Martian watch dog, but it was destined notto be my last, for this fellow guarded me carefully during the time I remaineda captive among these green men; twice saving my life, and never voluntarilybeing away from me a moment.

While Sola was away I took occasion to examine more minutely the room in whichI found myself captive. The mural painting depicted scenes of rare andwonderful beauty; mountains, rivers, lake, ocean, meadow, trees and flowers,winding roadways, sun-kissed gardens—scenes which might have portrayedearthly views but for the different colorings of the vegetation. The work hadevidently been wrought by a master hand, so subtle the atmosphere, so perfectthe technique; yet nowhere was there a representation of a living animal,either human or brute, by which I could guess at the likeness of these otherand perhaps extinct denizens of Mars.

While I was allowing my fancy to run riot in wild conjecture on the possibleexplanation of the strange anomalies which I had so far met with on Mars, Solareturned 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 consistedof about a pound of some solid substance of the consistency of cheese andalmost tasteless, while the liquid was apparently milk from some animal. It wasnot unpleasant to the taste, though slightly acid, and I learned in a shorttime to prize it very highly. It came, as I later discovered, not from ananimal, as there is only one mammal on Mars and that one very rare indeed, butfrom a large plant which grows practically without water, but seems to distillits plentiful supply of milk from the products of the soil, the moisture of theair, and the rays of the sun. A single plant of this species will give eight orten quarts of milk per day.

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

I presumed that my watchful guardian was Sola, nor was I wrong. This girlalone, among all the green Martians with whom I came in contact, disclosedcharacteristics of sympathy, kindliness, and affection; her ministrations to mybodily wants were unfailing, and her solicitous care saved me from muchsuffering and many hardships.

As I was to learn, the Martian nights are extremely cold, and as there ispractically no twilight or dawn, the changes in temperature are sudden and mostuncomfortable, as are the transitions from brilliant daylight to darkness. Thenights are either brilliantly illumined or very dark, for if neither of the twomoons of Mars happen to be in the sky almost total darkness results, since thelack of atmosphere, or, rather, the very thin atmosphere, fails to diffuse thestarlight to any great extent; on the other hand, if both of the moons are inthe 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; thenearer moon being but about five thousand miles distant, while the further isbut little more than fourteen thousand miles away, against the nearlyone-quarter million miles which separate us from our moon. The nearer moon ofMars makes a complete revolution around the planet in a little over seven andone-half hours, so that she may be seen hurtling through the sky like some hugemeteor two or three times each night, revealing all her phases during eachtransit of the heavens.

The further moon revolves about Mars in something over thirty and one-quarterhours, and with her sister satellite makes a nocturnal Martian scene one ofsplendid and weird grandeur. And it is well that nature has so graciously andabundantly lighted the Martian night, for the green men of Mars, being anomadic race without high intellectual development, have but crude means forartificial lighting; depending principally upon torches, a kind of candle, anda peculiar oil lamp which generates a gas and burns without a wick.

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

After Sola had replenished my coverings I again slept, nor did I awaken untildaylight. 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 hadlast seen him on the preceding day; apparently he had not moved a muscle; hiseyes were fairly glued upon me, and I fell to wondering just what might befallme should I endeavor to escape.

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

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

Evidently his mission was to protect me only, I thought, but when we reachedthe edge of the city he suddenly sprang before me, uttering strange sounds andbaring his ugly and ferocious tusks. Thinking to have some amusement at hisexpense, 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 andcharged me with the most appalling speed I had ever beheld. I had thought hisshort legs a bar to swiftness, but had he been coursing with greyhounds thelatter 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 Martianman.

I quickly saw that I would have difficulty in escaping the fangs of the beaston a straightaway course, and so I met his charge by doubling in my tracks andleaping over him as he was almost upon me. This maneuver gave me a considerableadvantage, and I was able to reach the city quite a bit ahead of him, and as hecame tearing after me I jumped for a window about thirty feet from the groundin the face of one of the buildings overlooking the valley.

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

CHAPTER VI
A FIGHT THAT WON FRIENDS

The thing, which more nearly resembled our earthly men than it did the MartiansI had seen, held me pinioned to the ground with one huge foot, while itjabbered and gesticulated at some answering creature behind me. This other,which was evidently its mate, soon came toward us, bearing a mighty stonecudgel 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 betweentheir upper and lower limbs. Their eyes were close together and non-protruding;their ears were high set, but more laterally located than those of theMartians, while their snouts and teeth were strikingly like those of ourAfrican gorilla. Altogether they were not unlovely when viewed in comparisonwith the green Martians.

The cudgel was swinging in the arc which ended upon my upturned face when abolt of myriad-legged horror hurled itself through the doorway full upon thebreast of my executioner. With a shriek of fear the ape which held me leapedthrough the open window, but its mate closed in a terrific death struggle withmy preserver, which was nothing less than my faithful watch-thing; I cannotbring myself to call so hideous a creature a dog.

As quickly as possible I gained my feet and backing against the wall Iwitnessed such a battle as it is vouchsafed few beings to see. The strength,agility, and blind ferocity of these two creatures is approached by nothingknown to earthly man. My beast had an advantage in his first hold, having sunkhis mighty fangs far into the breast of his adversary; but the great arms andpaws of the ape, backed by muscles far transcending those of the Martian men Ihad seen, had locked the throat of my guardian and slowly were choking out hislife, and bending back his head and neck upon his body, where I momentarilyexpected the former to fall limp at the end of a broken neck.

In accomplishing this the ape was tearing away the entire front of its breast,which was held in the vise-like grip of the powerful jaws. Back and forth uponthe floor they rolled, neither one emitting a sound of fear or pain. PresentlyI saw the great eyes of my beast bulging completely from their sockets andblood 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 toprompt me to my duty, I seized the cudgel, which had fallen to the floor at thecommencement of the battle, and swinging it with all the power of my earthlyarms I crashed it full upon the head of the ape, crushing his skull as thoughit had been an eggshell.

Scarcely had the blow descended when I was confronted with a new danger. Theape’s mate, recovered from its first shock of terror, had returned to thescene of the encounter by way of the interior of the building. I glimpsed himjust before he reached the doorway and the sight of him, now roaring as heperceived his lifeless fellow stretched upon the floor, and frothing at themouth, in the extremity of his rage, filled me, I must confess, with direforebodings.

I am ever willing to stand and fight when the odds are not too overwhelminglyagainst me, but in this instance I perceived neither glory nor profit inpitting my relatively puny strength against the iron muscles and brutalferocity of this enraged denizen of an unknown world; in fact, the only outcomeof 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 gainthe plaza and safety before the creature could overtake me; at least there wasa chance for safety in flight, against almost certain death should I remain andfight however desperately.

It is true I held the cudgel, but what could I do with it against his fourgreat arms? Even should I break one of them with my first blow, for I figuredthat he would attempt to ward off the cudgel, he could reach out and annihilateme 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 makefor the window, but my eyes alighting on the form of my erstwhile guardianthrew all thoughts of flight to the four winds. He lay gasping upon the floorof the chamber, his great eyes fastened upon me in what seemed a pitiful appealfor protection. I could not withstand that look, nor could I, on secondthought, have deserted my rescuer without giving as good an account of myselfin his behalf as he had in mine.

Without more ado, therefore, I turned to meet the charge of the infuriated bullape. He was now too close upon me for the cudgel to prove of any effectiveassistance, so I merely threw it as heavily as I could at his advancing bulk.It struck him just below the knees, eliciting a howl of pain and rage, and sothrowing him off his balance that he lunged full upon me with arms widestretched to ease his fall.

Again, as on the preceding day, I had recourse to earthly tactics, and swingingmy right fist full upon the point of his chin I followed it with a smashingleft to the pit of his stomach. The effect was marvelous, for, as I lightlysidestepped, after delivering the second blow, he reeled and fell upon thefloor doubled up with pain and gasping for wind. Leaping over his prostratebody, I seized the cudgel and finished the monster before he could regain hisfeet.

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

My absence had been noted by Sola on her awakening, and she had quicklyinformed Tars Tarkas, who had set out immediately with a handful of warriors tosearch for me. As they had approached the limits of the city they had witnessedthe 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 hisactions might prove a clew to my whereabouts and had witnessed my short butdecisive battle with him. This encounter, together with my set-to with theMartian warrior on the previous day and my feats of jumping placed me upon ahigh pinnacle in their regard. Evidently devoid of all the finer sentiments offriendship, love, or affection, these people fairly worship physical prowessand bravery, and nothing is too good for the object of their adoration as longas he maintains his position by repeated examples of his skill, strength, andcourage.

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

Tars Tarkas and the other warriors had entered and were standing over the nowrapidly reviving brute which had saved my life, and whose life I, in turn, hadrescued. They seemed to be deep in argument, and finally one of them addressedme, 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 tofollow us from the room.

There seemed something menacing in their attitude toward my beast, and Ihesitated to leave until I had learned the outcome. It was well I did so, forthe warrior drew an evil looking pistol from its holster and was on the pointof putting an end to the creature when I sprang forward and struck up his arm.The bullet striking the wooden casing of the window exploded, blowing a holecompletely through the wood and masonry.

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

I had at least two friends on Mars; a young woman who watched over me withmotherly solicitude, and a dumb brute which, as I later came to know, held inits poor ugly carcass more love, more loyalty, more gratitude than could havebeen found in the entire five million green Martians who rove the desertedcities 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 dayand an index of practically every meal which followed while I was with thegreen men of Mars, Sola escorted me to the plaza, where I found the entirecommunity engaged in watching or helping at the harnessing of huge mastodoniananimals to great three-wheeled chariots. There were about two hundred and fiftyof these vehicles, each drawn by a single animal, any one of which, from theirappearance, might easily have drawn the entire wagon train when fully loaded.

The chariots themselves were large, commodious, and gorgeously decorated. Ineach was seated a female Martian loaded with ornaments of metal, with jewelsand silks and furs, and upon the back of each of the beasts which drew thechariots was perched a young Martian driver. Like the animals upon which thewarriors 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 forthe simplicity of their language and the relatively few spoken words exchangedeven in long conversations. It is the universal language of Mars, through themedium of which the higher and lower animals of this world of paradoxes areable to communicate to a greater or less extent, depending upon theintellectual sphere of the species and the development of the individual.

As the cavalcade took up the line of march in single file, Sola dragged me intoan empty chariot and we proceeded with the procession toward the point by whichI had entered the city the day before. At the head of the caravan rode some twohundred warriors, five abreast, and a like number brought up the rear, whiletwenty-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 followingclosely behind ours; in fact, the faithful creature never left me voluntarilyduring the entire ten years I spent on Mars. Our way led out across the littlevalley before the city, through the hills, and down into the dead sea bottomwhich I had traversed on my journey from the incubator to the plaza. Theincubator, 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 levelexpanse of sea bottom, we were soon within sight of our goal.

On reaching it the chariots were parked with military precision on the foursides of the enclosure, and half a score of warriors, headed by the enormouschieftain, and including Tars Tarkas and several other lesser chiefs,dismounted and advanced toward it. I could see Tars Tarkas explaining somethingto the principal chieftain, whose name, by the way, was, as nearly as I cantranslate 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 theintricacies of walking under Martian conditions, and quickly responding to hiscommand 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 hadhatched, the incubator being fairly alive with the hideous little devils. Theyranged in height from three to four feet, and were moving restlessly about theenclosure as though searching for food.

As I came to a halt before him, Tars Tarkas pointed over the incubator andsaid, “Sak.” I saw that he wanted me to repeat my performance ofyesterday for the edification of Lorquas Ptomel, and, as I must confess that myprowess gave me no little satisfaction, I responded quickly, leaping entirelyover 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 fewwords of command relative to the incubator. They paid no further attention tome and I was thus permitted to remain close and watch their operations, whichconsisted in breaking an opening in the wall of the incubator large enough topermit of the exit of the young Martians.

On either side of this opening the women and the younger Martians, both maleand female, formed two solid walls leading out through the chariots and quiteaway 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 theywere captured one at a time by the women and older children; the last in theline capturing the first little one to reach the end of the gauntlet, heropposite in the line capturing the second, and so on until all the littlefellows 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 theirrespective chariots, while those who fell into the hands of the young men werelater turned over to some of the women.

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

The work of rearing young, green Martians consists solely in teaching them totalk, and to use the weapons of warfare with which they are loaded down fromthe very first year of their lives. Coming from eggs in which they have lainfor five years, the period of incubation, they step forth into the worldperfectly developed except in size. Entirely unknown to their mothers, who, inturn, would have difficulty in pointing out the fathers with any degree ofaccuracy, they are the common children of the community, and their educationdevolves upon the females who chance to capture them as they leave theincubator.

Their foster mothers may not even have had an egg in the incubator, as was thecase with Sola, who had not commenced to lay, until less than a year before shebecame the mother of another woman’s offspring. But this counts forlittle among the green Martians, as parental and filial love is as unknown tothem as it is common among us. I believe this horrible system which has beencarried on for ages is the direct cause of the loss of all the finer feelingsand higher humanitarian instincts among these poor creatures. From birth theyknow no father or mother love, they know not the meaning of the word home; theyare taught that they are only suffered to live until they can demonstrate bytheir physique and ferocity that they are fit to live. Should they provedeformed or defective in any way they are promptly shot; nor do they see a tearshed for a single one of the many cruel hardships they pass through fromearliest infancy.

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

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

Each adult Martian female brings forth about thirteen eggs each year, and thosewhich meet the size, weight, and specific gravity tests are hidden in therecesses of some subterranean vault where the temperature is too low forincubation. Every year these eggs are carefully examined by a council of twentychieftains, and all but about one hundred of the most perfect are destroyed outof each yearly supply. At the end of five years about five hundred almostperfect eggs have been chosen from the thousands brought forth. These are thenplaced in the almost air-tight incubators to be hatched by the sun’s raysafter a period of another five years. The hatching which we had witnessed todaywas a fairly representative event of its kind, all but about one per cent ofthe eggs hatching in two days. If the remaining eggs ever hatched we knewnothing of the fate of the little Martians. They were not wanted, as theiroffspring might inherit and transmit the tendency to prolonged incubation, andthus upset the system which has maintained for ages and which permits the adultMartians to figure the proper time for return to the incubators, almost to anhour.

The incubators are built in remote fastnesses, where there is little or nolikelihood of their being discovered by other tribes. The result of such acatastrophe would mean no children in the community for another five years. Iwas 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 apart was composed of some thirty thousand souls. They roamed an enormous tractof arid and semi-arid land between forty and eighty degrees south latitude, andbounded on the east and west by two large fertile tracts. Their headquarterslay in the southwest corner of this district, near the crossing of two of theso-called Martian canals.

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

After our return to the dead city I passed several days in comparativeidleness. On the day following our return all the warriors had ridden forthearly in the morning and had not returned until just before darkness fell. As Ilater learned, they had been to the subterranean vaults in which the eggs werekept and had transported them to the incubator, which they had then walled upfor another five years, and which, in all probability, would not be visitedagain during that period.

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

Sola’s duties were now doubled, as she was compelled to care for theyoung 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 itupon herself to train us together.

Her prize consisted in a male about four feet tall, very strong and physicallyperfect; also, he learned quickly, and we had considerable amusement, at leastI did, over the keen rivalry we displayed. The Martian language, as I havesaid, is extremely simple, and in a week I could make all my wants known andunderstand nearly everything that was said to me. Likewise, under Sola’stutelage, I developed my telepathic powers so that I shortly could sensepractically everything that went on around me.

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

CHAPTER VIII
A FAIR CAPTIVE FROM THE SKY

The third day after the incubator ceremony we set forth toward home, butscarcely had the head of the procession debouched into the open ground beforethe city than orders were given for an immediate and hasty return. As thoughtrained for years in this particular evolution, the green Martians melted likemist into the spacious doorways of the nearby buildings, until, in less thanthree minutes, the entire cavalcade of chariots, mastodons and mounted warriorswas nowhere to be seen.

Sola and I had entered a building upon the front of the city, in fact, the sameone in which I had had my encounter with the apes, and, wishing to see what hadcaused the sudden retreat, I mounted to an upper floor and peered from thewindow out over the valley and the hills beyond; and there I saw the cause oftheir 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, andanother, 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 thesunlight and showed plainly even at the distance at which we were from thevessels. I could see figures crowding the forward decks and upper works of theair craft. Whether they had discovered us or simply were looking at thedeserted 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 terrificvolley from the windows of the buildings facing the little valley across whichthe great ships were so peacefully advancing.

Instantly the scene changed as by magic; the foremost vessel swung broadsidetoward us, and bringing her guns into play returned our fire, at the same timemoving parallel to our front for a short distance and then turning back withthe evident intention of completing a great circle which would bring her up toposition once more opposite our firing line; the other vessels followed in herwake, each one opening upon us as she swung into position. Our own fire neverdiminished, and I doubt if twenty-five per cent of our shots went wild. It hadnever been given me to see such deadly accuracy of aim, and it seemed as thougha 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 theirresistible 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’screws entirely unprepared and the sighting apparatus of the guns unprotectedfrom the deadly aim of our warriors.

It seems that each green warrior has certain objective points for his fireunder relatively identical circumstances of warfare. For example, a proportionof them, always the best marksmen, direct their fire entirely upon the wirelessfinding 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 thegunners; still others the officers; while certain other quotas concentratetheir attention upon the other members of the crew, upon the upper works, andupon the steering gear and propellers.

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

One by one, however, the ships managed to dip below the crests of the outlyinghills until only one barely moving craft was in sight. This had received thebrunt of our fire and seemed to be entirely unmanned, as not a moving figurewas visible upon her decks. Slowly she swung from her course, circling backtoward us in an erratic and pitiful manner. Instantly the warriors ceasedfiring, 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 evencontrol herself sufficiently to escape.

As she neared the city the warriors rushed out upon the plain to meet her, butit 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 strewnabout, 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 lightbreeze in a southeasterly direction.

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

As the craft neared the building, and just before she struck, the Martianwarriors swarmed upon her from the windows, and with their great spears easedthe shock of the collision, and in a few moments they had thrown out grapplinghooks 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 stemto stern. I could see them examining the dead sailors, evidently for signs oflife, and presently a party of them appeared from below dragging a littlefigure among them. The creature was considerably less than half as tall as thegreen Martian warriors, and from my balcony I could see that it walked erectupon two legs and surmised that it was some new and strange Martian monstrositywith which I had not as yet become acquainted.

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

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

This operation concluded, they hastily clambered over her sides, sliding downthe guy ropes to the ground. The last warrior to leave the deck turned andthrew something back upon the vessel, waiting an instant to note the outcome ofhis act. As a faint spurt of flame rose from the point where the missile struckhe swung over the side and was quickly upon the ground. Scarcely had healighted than the guy ropes were simultaneously released, and the greatwarship, lightened by the removal of the loot, soared majestically into theair, her decks and upper works a mass of roaring flames.

Slowly she drifted to the southeast, rising higher and higher as the flames ateaway her wooden parts and diminished the weight upon her. Ascending to the roofof the building I watched her for hours, until finally she was lost in the dimvistas of the distance. The sight was awe-inspiring in the extreme as onecontemplated this mighty floating funeral pyre, drifting unguided and unmannedthrough the lonely wastes of the Martian heavens; a derelict of death anddestruction, typifying the life story of these strange and ferocious creaturesinto 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 theforces of a kindred people, rather than the routing by our green warriors of ahorde of similar, though unfriendly, creatures. I could not fathom the seeminghallucination, nor could I free myself from it; but somewhere in the innermostrecesses of my soul I felt a strange yearning toward these unknown foemen, anda mighty hope surged through me that the fleet would return and demand areckoning from the green warriors who had so ruthlessly and wantonly attackedit.

Close at my heel, in his now accustomed place, followed Woola, the hound, andas I emerged upon the street Sola rushed up to me as though I had been theobject 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 itrecommenced for more than a week, owing to the fear of a return attack by theair craft.

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

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

And the sight which met my eyes was that of a slender, girlish figure, similarin every detail to the earthly women of my past life. She did not see me atfirst, but just as she was disappearing through the portal of the buildingwhich was to be her prison she turned, and her eyes met mine. Her face was ovaland beautiful in the extreme, her every feature was finely chiseled andexquisite, her eyes large and lustrous and her head surmounted by a mass ofcoal 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 ofher cheeks and the ruby of her beautifully molded lips shone with a strangelyenhancing 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 couldany 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 alittle 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 renewedcourage which had glorified her face as she discovered me, faded into one ofutter dejection, mingled with loathing and contempt. I realized I had notanswered her signal, and ignorant as I was of Martian customs, I intuitivelyfelt that she had made an appeal for succor and protection which my unfortunateignorance had prevented me from answering. And then she was dragged out of mysight into the depths of the deserted edifice.

CHAPTER IX
I LEARN THE LANGUAGE

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

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

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

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

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

The men are trained in the higher branches of the art of war; in strategy andthe maneuvering of large bodies of troops. They make the laws as they areneeded; a new law for each emergency. They are unfettered by precedent in theadministration of justice. Customs have been handed down by ages of repetition,but the punishment for ignoring a custom is a matter for individual treatmentby a jury of the culprit’s peers, and I may say that justice seldommisses fire, but seems rather to rule in inverse ratio to the ascendency oflaw. In one respect at least the Martians are a happy people; they have nolawyers.

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

I had observed on the two occasions when I had seen her that the prisonerexchanged words with her guards, and this convinced me that they spoke, or atleast could make themselves understood by a common language. With this addedincentive I nearly drove Sola distracted by my importunities to hasten on myeducation and within a few more days I had mastered the Martian tonguesufficiently well to enable me to carry on a passable conversation and to fullyunderstand practically all that I heard.

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

On the night following the prisoner’s visit to the audience chamber theconversation 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 notbut recall the strange expression I had noted upon her face after my firstencounter 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 toaffect indifference in the matter until I learned more surely Sola’sattitude toward the object of my solicitude.

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

“When,” asked one of the women, “will we enjoy the deaththroes of the red one? or does Lorquas Ptomel, Jed, intend holding her forransom?”

“They have decided to carry her with us back to Thark, and exhibit herlast 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 holdher for ransom.”

Sarkoja and the other women grunted angrily at this evidence of weakness on thepart 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 withwater, and the peoples were as soft as the stuff they sailed upon. In our daywe 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 suchdegenerate sentiments, as I doubt that he would care to entrust such as youwith the grave responsibilities of maternity.”

“I see nothing wrong with my expression of interest in this redwoman,” retorted Sola. “She has never harmed us, nor would sheshould we have fallen into her hands. It is only the men of her kind who warupon us, and I have ever thought that their attitude toward us is but thereflection 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 ourown communities the individuals fight amongst themselves. Oh, it is onecontinual, awful period of bloodshed from the time we break the shell until wegladly embrace the bosom of the river of mystery, the dark and ancient Isswhich carries us to an unknown, but at least no more frightful and terribleexistence! Fortunate indeed is he who meets his end in an early death. Say whatyou please to Tars Tarkas, he can mete out no worse fate to me than acontinuation of the horrible existence we are forced to lead in thislife.”

This wild outbreak on the part of Sola so greatly surprised and shocked theother women, that, after a few words of general reprimand, they all lapsed intosilence and were soon asleep. One thing the episode had accomplished was toassure me of Sola’s friendliness toward the poor girl, and also toconvince me that I had been extremely fortunate in falling into her handsrather 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 wasconfident that I could depend upon her to aid me and the girl captive toescape, provided of course that such a thing was within the range ofpossibilities.

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

I decided that at the first opportunity I would take Sola into my confidenceand openly ask her to aid me, and with this resolution strong upon me I turnedamong 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, asSola had informed me that so long as I did not attempt to leave the city I wasfree to go and come as I pleased. She had warned me, however, against venturingforth unarmed, as this city, like all other deserted metropolises of an ancientMartian civilization, was peopled by the great white apes of my secondday’s adventure.

In advising me that I must not leave the boundaries of the city Sola hadexplained that Woola would prevent this anyway should I attempt it, and shewarned me most urgently not to arouse his fierce nature by ignoring hiswarnings should I venture too close to the forbidden territory. His nature wassuch, she said, that he would bring me back into the city dead or alive shouldI persist in opposing him; “preferably dead,” she added.

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

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

As I approached the boundary line Woola ran anxiously before me, and thrust hisbody against my legs. His expression was pleading rather than ferocious, nordid he bare his great tusks or utter his fearful guttural warnings. Denied thefriendship and companionship of my kind, I had developed considerable affectionfor Woola and Sola, for the normal earthly man must have some outlet for hisnatural affections, and so I decided upon an appeal to a like instinct in thisgreat brute, sure that I would not be disappointed.

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

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

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

There was no further question of authority between us; Woola was my devotedslave from that moment hence, and I his only and undisputed master. My walk tothe hills occupied but a few minutes, and I found nothing of particularinterest to reward me. Numerous brilliantly colored and strangely formed wildflowers dotted the ravines and from the summit of the first hill I saw stillother hills stretching off toward the north, and rising, one range aboveanother, until lost in mountains of quite respectable dimensions; though Iafterward found that only a few peaks on all Mars exceed four thousand feet inheight; the suggestion of magnitude was merely relative.

My morning’s walk had been large with importance to me for it hadresulted in a perfect understanding with Woola, upon whom Tars Tarkas reliedfor my safe keeping. I now knew that while theoretically a prisoner I wasvirtually free, and I hastened to regain the city limits before the defectionof Woola could be discovered by his erstwhile masters. The adventure decided menever again to leave the limits of my prescribed stamping grounds until I wasready to venture forth for good and all, as it would certainly result in acurtailment of my liberties, as well as the probable death of Woola, were we tobe discovered.

On regaining the plaza I had my third glimpse of the captive girl. She wasstanding with her guards before the entrance to the audience chamber, and as Iapproached she gave me one haughty glance and turned her back full upon me. Theact was so womanly, so earthly womanly, that though it stung my pride it alsowarmed my heart with a feeling of companionship; it was good to know thatsomeone 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 alllikelihood, have done it with a sword thrust or a movement of her triggerfinger; but as their sentiments are mostly atrophied it would have required aserious injury to have aroused such passions in them. Sola, let me add, was anexception; I never saw her perform a cruel or uncouth act, or fail in uniformkindliness and good nature. She was indeed, as her fellow Martian had said ofher, an atavism; a dear and precious reversion to a former type of loved andloving ancestor.

Seeing that the prisoner seemed the center of attraction I halted to view theproceedings. I had not long to wait for presently Lorquas Ptomel and hisretinue of chieftains approached the building and, signing the guards to followwith the prisoner entered the audience chamber. Realizing that I was a somewhatfavored character, and also convinced that the warriors did not know of myproficiency in their language, as I had plead with Sola to keep this a secreton the grounds that I did not wish to be forced to talk with the men until Ihad perfectly mastered the Martian tongue, I chanced an attempt to enter theaudience chamber and listen to the proceedings.

The council squatted upon the steps of the rostrum, while below them stood theprisoner and her two guards. I saw that one of the women was Sarkoja, and thusunderstood how she had been present at the hearing of the preceding day, theresults of which she had reported to the occupants of our dormitory last night.Her attitude toward the captive was most harsh and brutal. When she held her,she sunk her rudimentary nails into the poor girl’s flesh, or twisted herarm in a most painful manner. When it was necessary to move from one spot toanother she either jerked her roughly, or pushed her headlong before her. Sheseemed to be venting upon this poor defenseless creature all the hatred,cruelty, ferocity, and spite of her nine hundred years, backed by unguessableages of fierce and brutal ancestors.

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

As Lorquas Ptomel raised his eyes to address the prisoner they fell on me andhe turned to Tars Tarkas with a word, and gesture of impatience. Tars Tarkasmade some reply which I could not catch, but which caused Lorquas Ptomel tosmile; 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’sfather, the Jeddak of Helium, to rechart the air currents, and to takeatmospheric density tests,” replied the fair prisoner, in a low,well-modulated voice.

“We were unprepared for battle,” she continued, “as we wereon a peaceful mission, as our banners and the colors of our craft denoted. Thework we were doing was as much in your interests as in ours, for you know fullwell that were it not for our labors and the fruits of our scientificoperations there would not be enough air or water on Mars to support a singlehuman life. For ages we have maintained the air and water supply at practicallythe same point without an appreciable loss, and we have done this in the faceof the brutal and ignorant interference of you green men.

“Why, oh, why will you not learn to live in amity with your fellows. Mustyou ever go on down the ages to your final extinction but little above theplane of the dumb brutes that serve you! A people without written language,without art, without homes, without love; the victims of eons of the horriblecommunity 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 hateall else except yourselves. Come back to the ways of our common ancestors, comeback to the light of kindliness and fellowship. The way is open to you, youwill find the hands of the red men stretched out to aid you. Together we may dostill more to regenerate our dying planet. The granddaughter of the greatestand mightiest of the red jeddaks has asked you. Will you come?”

Lorquas Ptomel and the warriors sat looking silently and intently at the youngwoman for several moments after she had ceased speaking. What was passing intheir minds no man may know, but that they were moved I truly believe, and ifone man high among them had been strong enough to rise above custom, thatmoment 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 Ihad never seen upon the countenance of a green Martian warrior. It bespoke aninward and mighty battle with self, with heredity, with age-old custom, and ashe 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, asjust then a young warrior, evidently sensing the trend of thought among theolder men, leaped down from the steps of the rostrum, and striking the frailcaptive a powerful blow across the face, which felled her to the floor, placedhis foot upon her prostrate form and turning toward the assembled council brokeinto peals of horrid, mirthless laughter.

For an instant I thought Tars Tarkas would strike him dead, nor did the aspectof Lorquas Ptomel augur any too favorably for the brute, but the mood passed,their old selves reasserted their ascendency, and they smiled. It wasportentous however that they did not laugh aloud, for the brute’s actconstituted a side-splitting witticism according to the ethics which rule greenMartian humor.

That I have taken moments to write down a part of what occurred as that blowfell does not signify that I remained inactive for any such length of time. Ithink I must have sensed something of what was coming, for I realize now that Iwas 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 thehall.

Scarcely had his hideous laugh rang out but once, when I was upon him. Thebrute was twelve feet in height and armed to the teeth, but I believe that Icould have accounted for the whole roomful in the terrific intensity of myrage. Springing upward, I struck him full in the face as he turned at mywarning cry and then as he drew his short-sword I drew mine and sprang up againupon his breast, hooking one leg over the butt of his pistol and grasping oneof his huge tusks with my left hand while I delivered blow after blow upon hisenormous 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 toMartian custom which says that you may not fight a fellow warrior in privatecombat with any other than the weapon with which you are attacked. In fact hecould do nothing but make a wild and futile attempt to dislodge me. With allhis immense bulk he was little if any stronger than I, and it was but thematter of a moment or two before he sank, bleeding and lifeless, to the floor.

Dejah Thoris had raised herself upon one elbow and was watching the battle withwide, staring eyes. When I had regained my feet I raised her in my arms andbore 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 Iendeavored to staunch the flow of blood from her nostrils. I was soonsuccessful 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 myeyes, said:

“Why did you do it? You who refused me even friendly recognition in thefirst hour of my peril! And now you risk your life and kill one of yourcompanions for my sake. I cannot understand. What strange manner of man areyou, 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 youhuman, or are you more than human?”

“It is a strange tale,” I replied, “too long to attempt totell you now, and one which I so much doubt the credibility of myself that Ifear to hope that others will believe it. Suffice it, for the present, that Iam your friend, and, so far as our captors will permit, your protector and yourservant.”

“Then you too are a prisoner? But why, then, those arms and the regaliaof a Tharkian chieftain? What is your name? Where your country?”

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

We were interrupted at this juncture by the approach of one of the warriors,bearing arms, accoutrements and ornaments, and in a flash one of her questionswas answered and a puzzle cleared up for me. I saw that the body of my deadantagonist had been stripped, and I read in the menacing yet respectfulattitude of the warrior who had brought me these trophies of the kill the samedemeanor 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 firstbattle 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 hadwon my spurs, so to speak, and in the crude justice, which always marks Martiandealings, and which, among other things, has caused me to call her the planetof paradoxes, I was accorded the honors due a conqueror; the trappings and theposition of the man I killed. In truth, I was a Martian chieftain, and this Ilearned later was the cause of my great freedom and my toleration in theaudience chamber.

As I had turned to receive the dead warrior’s chattels I had noticed thatTars Tarkas and several others had pushed forward toward us, and the eyes ofthe 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 anddumb to us a few short days ago. Where did you learn it, John Carter?”

“You, yourself, are responsible, Tars Tarkas,” I replied, “inthat you furnished me with an instructress of remarkable ability; I have tothank Sola for my learning.”

“She has done well,” he answered, “but your education inother respects needs considerable polish. Do you know what your unprecedentedtemerity would have cost you had you failed to kill either of the twochieftains whose metal you now wear?”

“I presume that that one whom I had failed to kill, would have killedme,” I answered, smiling.

“No, you are wrong. Only in the last extremity of self-defense would aMartian warrior kill a prisoner; we like to save them for otherpurposes,” and his face bespoke possibilities that were not pleasant todwell upon.

“But one thing can save you now,” he continued. “Should you,in recognition of your remarkable valor, ferocity, and prowess, be consideredby Tal Hajus as worthy of his service you may be taken into the community andbecome a full-fledged Tharkian. Until we reach the headquarters of Tal Hajus itis the will of Lorquas Ptomel that you be accorded the respect your acts haveearned you. You will be treated by us as a Tharkian chieftain, but you must notforget that every chief who ranks you is responsible for your safe delivery toour mighty and most ferocious ruler. I am done.”

“I hear you, Tars Tarkas,” I answered. “As you know I am notof Barsoom; your ways are not my ways, and I can only act in the future as Ihave in the past, in accordance with the dictates of my conscience and guidedby the standards of mine own people. If you will leave me alone I will go inpeace, but if not, let the individual Barsoomians with whom I must deal eitherrespect my rights as a stranger among you, or take whatever consequences maybefall. Of one thing let us be sure, whatever may be your ultimate intentionstoward this unfortunate young woman, whoever would offer her injury or insultin the future must figure on making a full accounting to me. I understand thatyou belittle all sentiments of generosity and kindliness, but I do not, and Ican convince your most doughty warrior that these characteristics are notincompatible with an ability to fight.”

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

Tars Tarkas himself seemed pleased with my reply, but his only comment was moreor less enigmatical—“And I think I know Tal Hajus, Jeddak ofThark.”

I now turned my attention to Dejah Thoris, and assisting her to her feet Iturned with her toward the exit, ignoring her hovering guardian harpies as wellas 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 ofVirginia, followed by the faithful Woola, passed through utter silence from theaudience 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 watchover Dejah Thoris hurried up and made as though to assume custody of her oncemore. The poor child shrank against me and I felt her two little hands foldtightly over my arm. Waving the women away, I informed them that Sola wouldattend the captive hereafter, and I further warned Sarkoja that any more of hercruel attentions bestowed upon Dejah Thoris would result in Sarkoja’ssudden 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. SoSarkoja merely gave us an ugly look and departed to hatch up deviltries againstus.

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

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

“You are a great chieftain now, John Carter,” she said, “andI must do your bidding, though indeed I am glad to do it under anycircumstances. The man whose metal you carry was young, but he was a greatwarrior, and had by his promotions and kills won his way close to the rank ofTars Tarkas, who, as you know, is second to Lorquas Ptomel only. You areeleventh, there are but ten chieftains in this community who rank you inprowess.”

“And if I should kill Lorquas Ptomel?” I asked.

“You would be first, John Carter; but you may only win that honor by thewill of the entire council that Lorquas Ptomel meet you in combat, or should heattack 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 LorquasPtomel, and less to be a jed among the Tharks.

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

Dejah Thoris clasped her hands with an exclamation of rapture as she gazed uponthese 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, forDejah Thoris and Sola, and another room adjoining and in the rear for thecooking and supplies. I then dispatched Sola to bring the bedding and such foodand utensils as she might need, telling her that I would guard Dejah Thorisuntil 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 forthe cruel thoughts she has harbored against you these past few days?”

“You are right,” I answered, “there is no escape for eitherof us unless we go together.”

“I heard your challenge to the creature you call Tars Tarkas, and I thinkI understand your position among these people, but what I cannot fathom is yourstatement 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 butlearned it recently. All Barsoomians speak the same tongue from the ice-cladsouth to the ice-clad north, though their written languages differ. Only in thevalley Dor, where the river Iss empties into the lost sea of Korus, is theresupposed to be a different language spoken, and, except in the legends of ourancestors, there is no record of a Barsoomian returning up the river Iss, fromthe shores of Korus in the valley of Dor. Do not tell me that you have thusreturned! They would kill you horribly anywhere upon the surface of Barsoom ifthat were true; tell me it is not!”

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

“I do not know your customs, Dejah Thoris, but in my own Virginia agentleman does not lie to save himself; I am not of Dor; I have never seen themysterious 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 believeme. It was not that I feared the results which would follow a general beliefthat I had returned from the Barsoomian heaven or hell, or whatever it was. Whywas it, then! Why should I care what she thought? I looked down at her; herbeautiful face upturned, and her wonderful eyes opening up the very depth ofher 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 asigh, 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 hedoes not wish to speak the truth he is silent. Where is this Virginia, yourcountry, John Carter?” she asked, and it seemed that this fair name of myfair land had never sounded more beautiful than as it fell from those perfectlips 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 Iam glad that I am here.”

She gazed at me with troubled eyes, long and questioningly. That it wasdifficult to believe my statement I well knew, nor could I hope that she woulddo so however much I craved her confidence and respect. I would much rather nothave told her anything of my antecedents, but no man could look into the depthof those eyes and refuse her slightest behest.

Finally she smiled, and, rising, said: “I shall have to believe eventhough I cannot understand. I can readily perceive that you are not of theBarsoom of today; you are like us, yet different—but why should I troublemy poor head with such a problem, when my heart tells me that I believe becauseI wish to believe!”

It was good logic, good, earthly, feminine logic, and if it satisfied her Icertainly could pick no flaws in it. As a matter of fact it was about the onlykind of logic that could be brought to bear upon my problem. We fell into ageneral conversation then, asking and answering many questions on each side.She was curious to learn of the customs of my people and displayed a remarkableknowledge of events on Earth. When I questioned her closely on this seemingfamiliarity with earthly things she laughed, and cried out:

“Why, every school boy on Barsoom knows the geography, and muchconcerning the fauna and flora, as well as the history of your planet fully aswell as of his own. Can we not see everything which takes place upon Earth, asyou 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 confoundedher; and I told her so. She then explained in general the instruments herpeople had used and been perfecting for ages, which permit them to throw upon ascreen a perfect image of what is transpiring upon any planet and upon many ofthe stars. These pictures are so perfect in detail that, when photographed andenlarged, objects no greater than a blade of grass may be distinctlyrecognized. I afterward, in Helium, saw many of these pictures, as well as theinstruments 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 inhabitantsof that planet?”

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

“Because, John Carter,” she replied, “nearly every planet andstar having atmospheric conditions at all approaching those of Barsoom, showsforms of animal life almost identical with you and me; and, further, Earth men,almost without exception, cover their bodies with strange, unsightly pieces ofcloth, and their heads with hideous contraptions the purpose of which we havebeen unable to conceive; while you, when found by the Tharkian warriors, wereentirely undisfigured and unadorned.

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

I then narrated the details of my departure from the Earth, explaining that mybody there lay fully clothed in all the, to her, strange garments of mundanedwellers. At this point Sola returned with our meager belongings and her youngMartian 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 muchsurprised when we answered in the negative. It seemed that as she had mountedthe approach to the upper floors where our quarters were located, she had metSarkoja descending. We decided that she must have been eavesdropping, but as wecould recall nothing of importance that had passed between us we dismissed thematter as of little consequence, merely promising ourselves to be warned to theutmost caution in the future.

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

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

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

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

Dejah Thoris related many interesting facts and legends concerning this lostrace of noble and kindly people. She said that the city in which we werecamping was supposed to have been a center of commerce and culture known asKorad. It had been built upon a beautiful, natural harbor, landlocked bymagnificent hills. The little valley on the west front of the city, sheexplained, was all that remained of the harbor, while the pass through thehills to the old sea bottom had been the channel through which the shippingpassed up to the city’s gates.

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

We had been so engrossed in exploration of the building and in our conversationthat it was late in the afternoon before we realized it. We were brought backto a realization of our present conditions by a messenger bearing a summonsfrom Lorquas Ptomel directing me to appear before him forthwith. Bidding DejahThoris and Sola farewell, and commanding Woola to remain on guard, I hastenedto the audience chamber, where I found Lorquas Ptomel and Tars Tarkas seatedupon the rostrum.

CHAPTER XII
A PRISONER WITH POWER

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

“You have been with us a few days, yet during that time you have by yourprowess 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 aprisoner and yet you give commands which must be obeyed; you are an alien andyet you are a Tharkian chieftain; you are a midget and yet you can kill amighty warrior with one blow of your fist. And now you are reported to havebeen 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 foryour execution, but we are a just people and you shall have a trial on ourreturn to Thark, if Tal Hajus so commands.

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

“I have no quarrel with Tars Tarkas; together we rule supreme thegreatest of the lesser communities among the green men; we do not wish to fightbetween 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 fromTal Hajus; in personal combat in self-defense, should you attack one of us, orwere you apprehended in an attempt to escape.

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

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

Sarkoja was at this time Tars Tarkas’ oldest and most trusted female. Assuch she was a mighty power behind the throne, for no warrior had theconfidence 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, myaudience with Lorquas Ptomel only served to center my every faculty on thissubject. Now, more than before, the absolute necessity for escape, in so far asDejah Thoris was concerned, was impressed upon me, for I was convinced thatsome horrible fate awaited her at the headquarters of Tal Hajus.

As described by Sola, this monster was the exaggerated personification of allthe 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 upontheir dying planet has almost stilled in the Martian breast.

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

As I wandered about the plaza lost in my gloomy forebodings Tars Tarkasapproached me on his way from the audience chamber. His demeanor toward me wasunchanged, and he greeted me as though we had not just parted a few momentsbefore.

“Where are your quarters, John Carter?” he asked.

“I have selected none,” I replied. “It seemed best that Iquartered either by myself or among the other warriors, and I was awaiting anopportunity to ask your advice. As you know,” and I smiled, “I amnot yet familiar with all the customs of the Tharks.”

“Come with me,” he directed, and together we moved off across theplaza to a building which I was glad to see adjoined that occupied by Sola andher 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 thirdfloor and the floors above are vacant; you may take your choice of these.

“I understand,” he continued, “that you have given up yourwoman 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 togive your woman to a captive, it is your own affair; but as a chieftain youshould have those to serve you, and in accordance with our customs you mayselect any or all the females from the retinues of the chieftains whose metalyou now wear.”

I thanked him, but assured him that I could get along very nicely withoutassistance except in the matter of preparing food, and so he promised to sendwomen to me for this purpose and also for the care of my arms and themanufacture of my ammunition, which he said would be necessary. I suggestedthat they might also bring some of the sleeping silks and furs which belongedto 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 corridorto the upper floors in search of suitable quarters. The beauties of the otherbuildings were repeated in this, and, as usual, I was soon lost in a tour ofinvestigation and discovery.

I finally chose a front room on the third floor, because this brought me nearerto Dejah Thoris, whose apartment was on the second floor of the adjoiningbuilding, and it flashed upon me that I could rig up some means ofcommunication whereby she might signal me in case she needed either my servicesor my protection.

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

While the court was entirely overgrown with the yellow, moss-like vegetationwhich blankets practically the entire surface of Mars, yet numerous fountains,statuary, benches, and pergola-like contraptions bore witness to the beautywhich the court must have presented in bygone times, when graced by thefair-haired, laughing people whom stern and unalterable cosmic laws had drivennot only from their homes, but from all except the vague legends of theirdescendants.

One could easily picture the gorgeous foliage of the luxuriant Martianvegetation which once filled this scene with life and color; the gracefulfigures of the beautiful women, the straight and handsome men; the happyfrolicking children—all sunlight, happiness and peace. It was difficultto realize that they had gone; down through ages of darkness, cruelty, andignorance, until their hereditary instincts of culture and humanitarianism hadrisen ascendant once more in the final composite race which now is dominantupon Mars.

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

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

The women and children of a man’s retinue may be likened to a militaryunit for which he is responsible in various ways, as in matters of instruction,discipline, sustenance, and the exigencies of their continual roamings andtheir unending strife with other communities and with the red Martians. Hiswomen are in no sense wives. The green Martians use no word corresponding inmeaning with this earthly word. Their mating is a matter of community interestsolely, and is directed without reference to natural selection. The council ofchieftains of each community control the matter as surely as the owner of aKentucky racing stud directs the scientific breeding of his stock for theimprovement of the whole.

In theory it may sound well, as is often the case with theories, but theresults of ages of this unnatural practice, coupled with the community interestin the offspring being held paramount to that of the mother, is shown in thecold, 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 finerbalance of human characteristics even at the expense of a slight and occasionalloss of chastity.

Finding that I must assume responsibility for these creatures, whether I wouldor not, I made the best of it and directed them to find quarters on the upperfloors, leaving the third floor to me. One of the girls I charged with theduties of my simple cuisine, and directed the others to take up the variousactivities which had formerly constituted their vocations. Thereafter I sawlittle 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 cityfor several days, abandoning the homeward march until they could feelreasonably assured that the ships would not return; for to be caught on theopen plains with a cavalcade of chariots and children was far from the desireof even so warlike a people as the green Martians.

During our period of inactivity, Tars Tarkas had instructed me in many of thecustoms and arts of war familiar to the Tharks, including lessons in riding andguiding the great beasts which bore the warriors. These creatures, which areknown as thoats, are as dangerous and vicious as their masters, but when oncesubdued 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, andin a short time I could handle them quite as well as the native warriors. Themethod was not at all complicated. If the thoats did not respond withsufficient celerity to the telepathic instructions of their riders they weredealt a terrific blow between the ears with the butt of a pistol, and if theyshowed 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 thebeast. If the former were quick enough with his pistol he might live to rideagain, though upon some other beast; if not, his torn and mangled body wasgathered up by his women and burned in accordance with Tharkian custom.

My experience with Woola determined me to attempt the experiment of kindness inmy 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 authorityand mastery. Then, by degrees, I won their confidence in much the same manneras I had adopted countless times with my many mundane mounts. I was ever a goodhand with animals, and by inclination, as well as because it brought morelasting and satisfactory results, I was always kind and humane in my dealingswith the lower orders. I could take a human life, if necessary, with far lesscompunction 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 inawkward evidence of affection, and respond to my every command with an alacrityand docility which caused the Martian warriors to ascribe to me the possessionof 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 thoatswhich had wedged a piece of stone between two of his teeth while feeding uponthe moss-like vegetation within our court yard.

“By kindness,” I replied. “You see, Tars Tarkas, the softersentiments have their value, even to a warrior. In the height of battle as wellas upon the march I know that my thoats will obey my every command, andtherefore my fighting efficiency is enhanced, and I am a better warrior for thereason that I am a kind master. Your other warriors would find it to theadvantage of themselves as well as of the community to adopt my methods in thisrespect. Only a few days since you, yourself, told me that these great brutes,by the uncertainty of their tempers, often were the means of turning victoryinto defeat, since, at a crucial moment, they might elect to unseat and rendtheir 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 hadadopted with my beasts, and later he had me repeat it before Lorquas Ptomel andthe assembled warriors. That moment marked the beginning of a new existence forthe poor thoats, and before I left the community of Lorquas Ptomel I had thesatisfaction of observing a regiment of as tractable and docile mounts as onemight care to see. The effect on the precision and celerity of the militarymovements was so remarkable that Lorquas Ptomel presented me with a massiveanklet of gold from his own leg, as a sign of his appreciation of my service tothe horde.

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

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

On the evening before our departure I saw them approaching along one of thegreat 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. Iliked and trusted Sola, but for some reason I desired to be alone with DejahThoris, who represented to me all that I had left behind upon Earth inagreeable and congenial companionship. There seemed bonds of mutual interestbetween us as powerful as though we had been born under the same roof ratherthan upon different planets, hurtling through space some forty-eight millionmiles apart.

That she shared my sentiments in this respect I was positive, for on myapproach the look of pitiful hopelessness left her sweet countenance to bereplaced by a smile of joyful welcome, as she placed her little right hand uponmy 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 otherwarriors.”

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

Dejah Thoris laughed.

“I knew that even though you became a member of the community you wouldnot cease to be my friend; ‘A warrior may change his metal, but not hisheart,’ 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 TarsTarkas’ retinue has always arranged to trump up some excuse to get Solaand me out of sight. They have had me down in the pits below the buildingshelping them mix their awful radium powder, and make their terribleprojectiles. You know that these have to be manufactured by artificial light,as exposure to sunlight always results in an explosion. You have noticed thattheir bullets explode when they strike an object? Well, the opaque, outercoating is broken by the impact, exposing a glass cylinder, almost solid, inthe forward end of which is a minute particle of radium powder. The moment thesunlight, even though diffused, strikes this powder it explodes with a violencewhich nothing can withstand. If you ever witness a night battle you will notethe absence of these explosions, while the morning following the battle will befilled at sunrise with the sharp detonations of exploding missiles fired thepreceding night. As a rule, however, non-exploding projectiles are used atnight.”^[1]

[1]I have used the word radium in describing this powder because in the light ofrecent discoveries on Earth I believe it to be a mixture of which radium is thebase. In Captain Carter’s manuscript it is mentioned always by the nameused in the written language of Helium and is spelled in hieroglyphics which itwould be difficult and useless to reproduce.

While I was much interested in Dejah Thoris’ explanation of thiswonderful adjunct to Martian warfare, I was more concerned by the immediateproblem of their treatment of her. That they were keeping her away from me wasnot a matter for surprise, but that they should subject her to dangerous andarduous labor filled me with rage.

“Have they ever subjected you to cruelty and ignominy, DejahThoris?” I asked, feeling the hot blood of my fighting ancestors leap inmy veins as I awaited her reply.

“Only in little ways, John Carter,” she answered. “Nothingthat can harm me outside my pride. They know that I am the daughter of tenthousand jeddaks, that I trace my ancestry straight back without a break to thebuilder of the first great waterway, and they, who do not even know their ownmothers, are jealous of me. At heart they hate their horrid fates, and so wreaktheir poor spite on me who stand for everything they have not, and for all theymost crave and never can attain. Let us pity them, my chieftain, for eventhough we die at their hands we can afford them pity, since we are greater thanthey and they know it.”

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

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

Dejah Thoris caught her breath at my last words, and gazed upon me with dilatedeyes and quickening breath, and then, with an odd little laugh, which broughtroguish 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 tellyou. And I, the daughter of Mors Kajak, son of Tardos Mors, have listenedwithout anger,” she soliloquized in conclusion.

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

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

“That is precisely what we do on Earth,” I answered. “Atleast among civilized men.”

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

I was very curious to know what I had said or done to cause her so muchperturbation a moment before and so I continued to importune her to enlightenme.

“No,” she exclaimed, “it is enough that you have said it andthat I have listened. And when you learn, John Carter, and if I be dead, aslikely I shall be ere the further moon has circled Barsoom another twelvetimes, remember that I listened and that I—smiled.”

It was all Greek to me, but the more I begged her to explain the more positivebecame 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 avenuelighted by the two moons of Barsoom, and with Earth looking down upon us out ofher luminous green eye, it seemed that we were alone in the universe, and I, atleast, was content that it should be so.

The chill of the Martian night was upon us, and removing my silks I threw themacross the shoulders of Dejah Thoris. As my arm rested for an instant upon herI felt a thrill pass through every fiber of my being such as contact with noother mortal had even produced; and it seemed to me that she had leanedslightly toward me, but of that I was not sure. Only I knew that as my armrested there across her shoulders longer than the act of adjusting the silkrequired she did not draw away, nor did she speak. And so, in silence, wewalked the surface of a dying world, but in the breast of one of us at leasthad 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 tome in words I would not mistake, and I knew that I had loved her since thefirst moment that my eyes had met hers that first time in the plaza of the deadcity of Korad.

CHAPTER XIV
A DUEL TO THE DEATH

My first impulse was to tell her of my love, and then I thought of thehelplessness of her position wherein I alone could lighten the burdens of hercaptivity, and protect her in my poor way against the thousands of hereditaryenemies she must face upon our arrival at Thark. I could not chance causing heradditional pain or sorrow by declaring a love which, in all probability she didnot return. Should I be so indiscreet, her position would be even moreunbearable than now, and the thought that she might feel that I was takingadvantage of her helplessness, to influence her decision was the final argumentwhich sealed my lips.

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

“No,” she murmured, “I am happy here. I do not know why it isthat 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, Ishall soon return to my father’s court and feel his strong arms about meand my mother’s tears and kisses on my cheek.”

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

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

“And you, Dejah Thoris, have parents and brothers and sisters?”

“Yes.”

“And a—lover?”

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

“The man of Barsoom,” she finally ventured, “does not askpersonal questions of women, except his mother, and the woman he has fought forand won.”

“But I have fought—” I started, and then I wished my tonguehad 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 aword, and with head held high, she moved with the carriage of the queen she wastoward the plaza and the doorway of her quarters.

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

So this was love! I had escaped it for all the years I had roamed the fivecontinents and their encircling seas; in spite of beautiful women and urgingopportunity; in spite of a half-desire for love and a constant search for myideal, it had remained for me to fall furiously and hopelessly in love with acreature from another world, of a species similar possibly, yet not identicalwith mine. A woman who was hatched from an egg, and whose span of life mightcover a thousand years; whose people had strange customs and ideas; a womanwhose hopes, whose pleasures, whose standards of virtue and of right and wrongmight 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 greatestmisery I had ever known I would not have had it otherwise for all the riches ofBarsoom. Such is love, and such are lovers wherever love is known.

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

The morning of our departure for Thark dawned clear and hot, as do all Martianmornings 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 turnedher shoulder to me, and I could see the red blood mount to her cheek. With thefoolish inconsistency of love I held my peace when I might have pled ignoranceof the nature of my offense, or at least the gravity of it, and so haveeffected, at worst, a half conciliation.

I sought out Dejah Thoris in the throng of departing chariots.

My duty dictated that I must see that she was comfortable, and so I glancedinto her chariot and rearranged her silks and furs. In doing so I noted withhorror 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 herdisapproval 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 vehementlyobjected to the unnecessary humiliations and cruelties, as they seemed to mylover’s eyes, that were being heaped upon Dejah Thoris.

“John Carter,” he answered, “if ever you and Dejah Thorisescape the Tharks it will be upon this journey. We know that you will not gowithout her. You have shown yourself a mighty fighter, and we do not wish tomanacle you, so we hold you both in the easiest way that will yet ensuresecurity. I have spoken.”

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

“This much, Tars Tarkas, you may do for me in return for the friendshipthat, I must confess, I feel for you.”

“Friendship?” he replied. “There is no such thing, JohnCarter; but have your will. I shall direct that Sarkoja cease to annoy thegirl, 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 wouldattempt to escape until after we have safely reached the court of Tal Hajus youmight have the key and throw the chains into the river Iss.”

“It were better that you held the key, Tars Tarkas,” I replied.

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

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

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

A few moments later I saw her deep in conversation with a warrior named Zad; abig, hulking, powerful brute, but one who had never made a kill among his ownchieftains, and so was still an o mad, or man with one name; he couldwin a second name only with the metal of some chieftain. It was this customwhich entitled me to the names of either of the chieftains I had killed; infact, some of the warriors addressed me as Dotar Sojat, a combination of thesurnames of the two warrior chieftains whose metal I had taken, or, in otherwords, whom I had slain in fair fight.

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

Dejah Thoris would have none of me again on this evening, and though I spokeher name she neither replied, nor conceded by so much as the flutter of aneyelid that she realized my existence. In my extremity I did what most otherlovers would have done; I sought word from her through an intimate. In thisinstance 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 twohumans were quite beyond her, as indeed they were, poor child.

“She says you have angered her, and that is all she will say, except thatshe is the daughter of a jed and the granddaughter of a jeddak and she has beenhumiliated by a creature who could not polish the teeth of hergrandmother’s sorak.”

I pondered over this report for some time, finally asking, “What might asorak be, Sola?”

“A little animal about as big as my hand, which the red Martian womenkeep to play with,” explained Sola.

Not fit to polish the teeth of her grandmother’s cat! I must rank prettylow in the consideration of Dejah Thoris, I thought; but I could not helplaughing at the strange figure of speech, so homely and in this respect soearthly. It made me homesick, for it sounded very much like “not fit topolish 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 foryears. There was a family of Carters in Virginia who claimed close relationshipwith me; I was supposed to be a great uncle, or something of the kind equallyfoolish. I could pass anywhere for twenty-five to thirty years of age, and tobe a great uncle always seemed the height of incongruity, for my thoughts andfeelings were those of a boy. There were two little kiddies in the Carterfamily whom I had loved and who had thought there was no one on Earth likeUncle Jack; I could see them just as plainly, as I stood there under themoonlit skies of Barsoom, and I longed for them as I had never longed for anymortals before. By nature a wanderer, I had never known the true meaning of theword home, but the great hall of the Carters had always stood for all that theword did mean to me, and now my heart turned toward it from the cold andunfriendly peoples I had been thrown amongst. For did not even Dejah Thorisdespise me! I was a low creature, so low in fact that I was not even fit topolish the teeth of her grandmother’s cat; and then my saving sense ofhumor came to my rescue, and laughing I turned into my silks and furs and sleptupon 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 haltuntil just before dark. Two incidents broke the tediousness of the march. Aboutnoon we espied far to our right what was evidently an incubator, and LorquasPtomel directed Tars Tarkas to investigate it. The latter took a dozenwarriors, including myself, and we raced across the velvety carpeting of mossto the little enclosure.

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

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

“They cannot be a day’s march ahead of us,” he exclaimed, thelight of battle leaping to his fierce face.

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

“I noticed that their eggs were so much smaller than those I saw hatchingin your incubator,” I added.

He explained that the eggs had just been placed there; but, like all greenMartian eggs, they would grow during the five-year period of incubation untilthey obtained the size of those I had seen hatching on the day of my arrival onBarsoom. This was indeed an interesting piece of information, for it had alwaysseemed remarkable to me that the green Martian women, large as they were, couldbring forth such enormous eggs as I had seen the four-foot infants emergingfrom. As a matter of fact, the new-laid egg is but little larger than anordinary goose egg, and as it does not commence to grow until subjected to thelight of the sun the chieftains have little difficulty in transporting severalhundreds 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 interestingepisodes occurred. I was engaged in changing my riding cloths from one of mythoats to the other, for I divided the day’s work between them, when Zadapproached me, and without a word struck my animal a terrific blow with hislong-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 fromdrawing my pistol and shooting him down for the brute he was; but he stoodwaiting with drawn long-sword, and my only choice was to draw my own and meethim in fair fight with his choice of weapons or a lesser one.

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

I chose the same weapon he had drawn because I knew he prided himself upon hisability with it, and I wished, if I worsted him at all, to do it with his ownweapon. The fight that followed was a long one and delayed the resumption ofthe march for an hour. The entire community surrounded us, leaving a clearspace 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 tooquick for him, and each time I side-stepped his rushes he would go lunging pastme, only to receive a nick from my sword upon his arm or back. He was soonstreaming blood from a half dozen minor wounds, but I could not obtain anopening to deliver an effective thrust. Then he changed his tactics, andfighting warily and with extreme dexterity, he tried to do by science what hewas unable to do by brute strength. I must admit that he was a magnificentswordsman, and had it not been for my greater endurance and the remarkableagility the lesser gravitation of Mars lent me I might not have been able toput up the creditable fight I did against him.

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

As I looked, Dejah Thoris turned upon Sarkoja with the fury of a young tigressand struck something from her upraised hand; something which flashed in thesunlight as it spun to the ground. Then I knew what had blinded me at thatcrucial moment of the fight, and how Sarkoja had found a way to kill me withoutherself delivering the final thrust. Another thing I saw, too, which almostlost my life for me then and there, for it took my mind for the fraction of aninstant entirely from my antagonist; for, as Dejah Thoris struck the tinymirror 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 thenSola, our dear and faithful Sola, sprang between them; the last I saw was thegreat knife descending upon her shielding breast.

My enemy had recovered from his thrust and was making it extremely interestingfor me, so I reluctantly gave my attention to the work in hand, but my mind wasnot upon the battle.

We rushed each other furiously time after time, ’til suddenly, feelingthe sharp point of his sword at my breast in a thrust I could neither parry norescape, I threw myself upon him with outstretched sword and with all the weightof my body, determined that I would not die alone if I could prevent it. I feltthe steel tear into my chest, all went black before me, my head whirled indizziness, 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, Isprang quickly to my feet searching for my sword, and there I found it, buriedto the hilt in the green breast of Zad, who lay stone dead upon the ochre mossof the ancient sea bottom. As I regained my full senses I found his weaponpiercing my left breast, but only through the flesh and muscles which cover myribs, 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 themuscles, inflicting a painful but not dangerous wound.

Removing the blade from my body I also regained my own, and turning my backupon his ugly carcass, I moved, sick, sore, and disgusted, toward the chariotswhich bore my retinue and my belongings. A murmur of Martian applause greetedme, 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 whichmake only the most instantaneous of death blows fatal. Give a Martian woman achance 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 apparentlylittle the worse for her encounter with Sarkoja, whose dagger it seemed hadstruck the edge of one of Sola’s metal breast ornaments and, thusdeflected, had inflicted but a slight flesh wound.

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

“Is she injured?” I asked of Sola, indicating Dejah Thoris by aninclination 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 itsteeth?” I queried, smiling.

“I think you wrong her, John Carter,” said Sola. “I do notunderstand either her ways or yours, but I am sure the granddaughter of tenthousand jeddaks would never grieve like this over any who held but the highestclaim upon her affections. They are a proud race, but they are just, as are allBarsoomians, and you must have hurt or wronged her grievously that she will notadmit your existence living, though she mourns you dead.

“Tears are a strange sight upon Barsoom,” she continued, “andso it is difficult for me to interpret them. I have seen but two people weep inall my life, other than Dejah Thoris; one wept from sorrow, the other frombaffled rage. The first was my mother, years ago before they killed her; theother was Sarkoja, when they dragged her from me today.”

“Your mother!” I exclaimed, “but, Sola, you could not haveknown your mother, child.”

“But I did. And my father also,” she added. “If you wouldlike 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 mylife before. And now the signal has been given to resume the march, you mustgo.”

“I will come tonight, Sola,” I promised. “Be sure to tellDejah Thoris I am alive and well. I shall not force myself upon her, and besure that you do not let her know I saw her tears. If she would speak with me Ibut await her command.”

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

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

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

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

We camped that night at the foot of the hills we had been approaching for twodays and which marked the southern boundary of this particular sea. Our animalshad 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 whichcovers Barsoom, and which, he told me, holds in its tiny stems sufficientmoisture to meet the limited demands of the animals.

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

“I am glad you came,” she said; “Dejah Thoris sleeps and I amlonely. 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 thatI were a true green Martian woman, without love and without hope; but I haveknown love and so I am lost.

“I promised to tell you my story, or rather the story of my parents. Fromwhat I have learned of you and the ways of your people I am sure that the talewill not seem strange to you, but among green Martians it has no parallelwithin the memory of the oldest living Thark, nor do our legends hold manysimilar tales.

“My mother was rather small, in fact too small to be allowed theresponsibilities of maternity, as our chieftains breed principally for size.She was also less cold and cruel than most green Martian women, and caringlittle 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, thinkingthoughts and wishing wishes which I believe I alone among Tharkian women todaymay understand, for am I not the child of my mother?

“And there among the hills she met a young warrior, whose duty it was toguard the feeding zitidars and thoats and see that they roamed not beyond thehills. They spoke at first only of such things as interest a community ofTharks, but gradually, as they came to meet more often, and, as was now quiteevident to both, no longer by chance, they talked about themselves, theirlikes, their ambitions and their hopes. She trusted him and told him of theawful 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 ofdenunciation to break from his cold, hard lips; but instead he took her in hisarms and kissed her.

“They kept their love a secret for six long years. She, my mother, was ofthe 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 theTharks been discovered both would have paid the penalty in the great arenabefore Tal Hajus and the assembled hordes.

“The egg from which I came was hidden beneath a great glass vessel uponthe highest and most inaccessible of the partially ruined towers of ancientThark. Once each year my mother visited it for the five long years it lay therein the process of incubation. She dared not come oftener, for in the mightyguilt of her conscience she feared that her every move was watched. During thisperiod my father gained great distinction as a warrior and had taken the metalfrom several chieftains. His love for my mother had never diminished, and hisown ambition in life was to reach a point where he might wrest the metal fromTal Hajus himself, and thus, as ruler of the Tharks, be free to claim her ashis own, as well as, by the might of his power, protect the child whichotherwise would be quickly dispatched should the truth become known.

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

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

“She taught me rapidly the language and customs of my kind, and one nightshe told me the story I have told to you up to this point, impressing upon methe necessity for absolute secrecy and the great caution I must exercise aftershe had placed me with the other young Tharks to permit no one to guess that Iwas further advanced in education than they, nor by any sign to divulge in thepresence of others my affection for her, or my knowledge of my parentage; andthen 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, andthere stood Sarkoja, her gleaming, baleful eyes fixed in a frenzy of loathingand contempt upon my mother. The torrent of hatred and abuse she poured outupon her turned my young heart cold in terror. That she had heard the entirestory was apparent, and that she had suspected something wrong from mymother’s long nightly absences from her quarters accounted for herpresence there on that fateful night.

“One thing she had not heard, nor did she know, the whispered name of myfather. This was apparent from her repeated demands upon my mother to disclosethe name of her partner in sin, but no amount of abuse or threats could wringthis from her, and to save me from needless torture she lied, for she toldSarkoja that she alone knew nor would she ever tell her child.

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

“As we neared the city’s southern extremity a sound came to us fromacross the mossy flat, from the direction of the only pass through the hillswhich led to the gates, the pass by which caravans from either north or southor east or west would enter the city. The sounds we heard were the squealing ofthoats and the grumbling of zitidars, with the occasional clank of arms whichannounced the approach of a body of warriors. The thought uppermost in her mindwas that it was my father returned from his expedition, but the cunning of theThark held her from headlong and precipitate flight to greet him.

“Retreating into the shadows of a doorway she awaited the coming of thecavalcade which shortly entered the avenue, breaking its formation andthronging the thoroughfare from wall to wall. As the head of the processionpassed us the lesser moon swung clear of the overhanging roofs and lit up thescene with all the brilliancy of her wondrous light. My mother shrank furtherback into the friendly shadows, and from her hiding place saw that theexpedition was not that of my father, but the returning caravan bearing theyoung Tharks. Instantly her plan was formed, and as a great chariot swung closeto 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 afrenzy of love.

“She knew, what I did not, that never again after that night would shehold me to her breast, nor was it likely we would ever look upon eachother’s face again. In the confusion of the plaza she mixed me with theother children, whose guardians during the journey were now free to relinquishtheir responsibility. We were herded together into a great room, fed by womenwho had not accompanied the expedition, and the next day we were parceled outamong 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 broughtto bear upon her to wring from her lips the name of my father; but she remainedsteadfast and loyal, dying at last amidst the laughter of Tal Hajus and hischieftains during some awful torture she was undergoing.

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

“When he returned from his expedition and learned the story of mymother’s fate I was present as Tal Hajus told him; but never by thequiver of a muscle did he betray the slightest emotion; only he did not laughas Tal Hajus gleefully described her death struggles. From that moment on hewas the cruelest of the cruel, and I am awaiting the day when he shall win thegoal of his ambition, and feel the carcass of Tal Hajus beneath his foot, for Iam as sure that he but waits the opportunity to wreak a terrible vengeance, andthat his great love is as strong in his breast as when it first transfiguredhim nearly forty years ago, as I am that we sit here upon the edge of aworld-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 myfather’s name, and only I and Tal Hajus and Sarkoja know that it was shewho 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 herterrible 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 ofhate. Presently she spoke.

“John Carter, if ever a real man walked the cold, dead bosom of Barsoomyou are one. I know that I can trust you, and because the knowledge may somedayhelp you or him or Dejah Thoris or myself, I am going to tell you the name ofmy father, nor place any restrictions or conditions upon your tongue. When thetime comes, speak the truth if it seems best to you. I trust you because I knowthat you are not cursed with the terrible trait of absolute and unswervingtruthfulness, that you could lie like one of your own Virginia gentlemen if alie would save others from sorrow or suffering. My father’s name is TarsTarkas.”

CHAPTER XVI
WE PLAN ESCAPE

The remainder of our journey to Thark was uneventful. We were twenty days uponthe road, crossing two sea bottoms and passing through or around a number ofruined cities, mostly smaller than Korad. Twice we crossed the famous Martianwaterways, or canals, so-called by our earthly astronomers. When we approachedthese points a warrior would be sent far ahead with a powerful field glass, andif no great body of red Martian troops was in sight we would advance as closeas possible without chance of being seen and then camp until dark, when wewould slowly approach the cultivated tract, and, locating one of the numerous,broad highways which cross these areas at regular intervals, creep silently andstealthily across to the arid lands upon the other side. It required five hoursto make one of these crossings without a single halt, and the other consumedthe entire night, so that we were just leaving the confines of the high-walledfields when the sun broke out upon us.

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

Only once did I perceive a human being, and that was at the intersection of ourcrossroad with the wide, white turnpike which cuts each cultivated districtlongitudinally at its exact center. The fellow must have been sleeping besidethe road, for, as I came abreast of him, he raised upon one elbow and after asingle glance at the approaching caravan leaped shrieking to his feet and fledmadly 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 thewarpath, and the only sign that I had that they had seen him was a quickeningof the pace of the caravan as we hastened toward the bordering desert whichmarked 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 Iwould be welcome at her chariot, and my foolish pride kept me from making anyadvances. I verily believe that a man’s way with women is in inverseratio to his prowess among men. The weakling and the saphead have often greatability to charm the fair sex, while the fighting man who can face a thousandreal dangers unafraid, sits hiding in the shadows like some frightened child.

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

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

We were soon assigned to new quarters, and the balance of the day was devotedto settling ourselves to the changed conditions. My home now was upon an avenueleading into the plaza from the south, the main artery down which we hadmarched from the gates of the city. I was at the far end of the square and hadan entire building to myself. The same grandeur of architecture which was sonoticeable a characteristic of Korad was in evidence here, only, if that werepossible, on a larger and richer scale. My quarters would have been suitablefor housing the greatest of earthly emperors, but to these queer creaturesnothing about a building appealed to them but its size and the enormity of itschambers; the larger the building, the more desirable; and so Tal Hajusoccupied what must have been an enormous public building, the largest in thecity, but entirely unfitted for residence purposes; the next largest wasreserved for Lorquas Ptomel, the next for the jed of a lesser rank, and so onto the bottom of the list of five jeds. The warriors occupied the buildingswith the chieftains to whose retinues they belonged; or, if they preferred,sought shelter among any of the thousands of untenanted buildings in their ownquarter 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 whichfronted 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 Solaand her charges, as I had determined upon having speech with Dejah Thoris andtrying to impress on her the necessity of our at least patching up a truceuntil I could find some way of aiding her to escape. I searched in vain untilthe upper rim of the great red sun was just disappearing behind the horizon andthen I spied the ugly head of Woola peering from a second-story window on theopposite 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 whichled to the second floor, and entering a great chamber at the front of thebuilding was greeted by the frenzied Woola, who threw his great carcass uponme, nearly hurling me to the floor; the poor old fellow was so glad to see methat I thought he would devour me, his head split from ear to ear, showing histhree rows of tusks in his hobgoblin smile.

Quieting him with a word of command and a caress, I looked hurriedly throughthe approaching gloom for a sign of Dejah Thoris, and then, not seeing her, Icalled her name. There was an answering murmur from the far corner of theapartment, and with a couple of quick strides I was standing beside her whereshe crouched among the furs and silks upon an ancient carved wooden seat. As Iwaited 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 furtherestfrom 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 yourescape, if such a thing be possible, is not my request, but my command. Whenyou are safe once more at your father’s court you may do with me as youplease, but from now on until that day I am your master, and you must obey andaid me.”

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

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

“Look down at your feet, Dejah Thoris; it lies there now where it haslain since that other night at Korad, and where it will ever lie beating alonefor you until death stills it forever.”

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

“What do you mean, John Carter?” she whispered. “What are yousaying to me?”

“I am saying what I had promised myself that I would not say to you, atleast until you were no longer a captive among the green men; what from yourattitude 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, tofight for you, and to die for you. Only one thing I ask of you in return, andthat is that you make no sign, either of condemnation or of approbation of mywords until you are safe among your own people, and that whatever sentimentsyou harbor toward me they be not influenced or colored by gratitude; whatever Imay do to serve you will be prompted solely from selfish motives, since itgives me more pleasure to serve you than not.”

“I will respect your wishes, John Carter, because I understand themotives which prompt them, and I accept your service no more willingly than Ibow to your authority; your word shall be my law. I have twice wronged you inmy thoughts and again I ask your forgiveness.”

Further conversation of a personal nature was prevented by the entrance ofSola, who was much agitated and wholly unlike her usual calm and possessedself.

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

“What do they say?” inquired Dejah Thoris.

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

“Sola,” I said, “you are a Thark, but you hate and loathe thecustoms of your people as much as we do. Will you not accompany us in onesupreme effort to escape? I am sure that Dejah Thoris can offer you a home andprotection among her people, and your fate can be no worse among them than itmust ever be here.”

“Yes,” cried Dejah Thoris, “come with us, Sola, you will bebetter off among the red men of Helium than you are here, and I can promise younot only a home with us, but the love and affection your nature craves andwhich 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 thoughtyou had connived to aid us. I know that even that fear would not tempt you tointerfere in our escape, but we want you with us, we want you to come to a landof sunshine and happiness, amongst a people who know the meaning of love, ofsympathy, and of gratitude. Say that you will, Sola; tell me that youwill.”

“The great waterway which leads to Helium is but fifty miles to thesouth,” murmured Sola, half to herself; “a swift thoat might makeit in three hours; and then to Helium it is five hundred miles, most of the waythrough thinly settled districts. They would know and they would follow us. Wemight hide among the great trees for a time, but the chances are small indeedfor escape. They would follow us to the very gates of Helium, and they wouldtake toll of life at every step; you do not know them.”

“Is there no other way we might reach Helium?” I asked. “Canyou not draw me a rough map of the country we must traverse, DejahThoris?”

“Yes,” she replied, and taking a great diamond from her hair shedrew upon the marble floor the first map of Barsoomian territory I had everseen. 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 thenorthwest of us she pointed out as Helium. There were other cities closer, butshe said she feared to enter many of them, as they were not all friendly towardHelium.

She drew upon the marble floor the first map of Barsoomian territory I had ever seen.

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

“Does not this pierce your grandfather’s territory?” I asked.

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

“They would never suspect that we would try for that distantwaterway,” I answered, “and that is why I think that it is the bestroute for our escape.”

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

I directed Sola to proceed with Dejah Thoris along one of the less frequentedavenues to the southern boundary of the city, where I would overtake them withthe 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 firstfloor, and entered the courtyard, where our animals were moving restlesslyabout, as was their habit, before settling down for the night.

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

Having no desire to awaken their nasty tempers upon such a night as this, whereso much depended upon secrecy and dispatch, I hugged the shadows of thebuildings, ready at an instant’s warning to leap into the safety of anearby door or window. Thus I moved silently to the great gates which openedupon the street at the back of the court, and as I neared the exit I calledsoftly to my two animals. How I thanked the kind providence which had given methe foresight to win the love and confidence of these wild dumb brutes, forpresently from the far side of the court I saw two huge bulks forcing their waytoward me through the surging mountains of flesh.

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

I did not saddle or mount the animals there, but instead walked quietly in theshadows of the buildings toward an unfrequented avenue which led toward thepoint I had arranged to meet Dejah Thoris and Sola. With the noiselessness ofdisembodied spirits we moved stealthily along the deserted streets, but notuntil we were within sight of the plain beyond the city did I commence tobreathe freely. I was sure that Sola and Dejah Thoris would find no difficultyin reaching our rendezvous undetected, but with my great thoats I was not sosure for myself, as it was quite unusual for warriors to leave the city afterdark; 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 werenot there I led my animals into the entrance hall of one of the largebuildings. Presuming that one of the other women of the same household may havecome in to speak to Sola, and so delayed their departure, I did not feel anyundue apprehension until nearly an hour had passed without a sign of them, andby the time another half hour had crawled away I was becoming filled with graveanxiety. Then there broke upon the stillness of the night the sound of anapproaching party, which, from the noise, I knew could be no fugitives creepingstealthily toward liberty. Soon the party was near me, and from the blackshadows of my entranceway I perceived a score of mounted warriors, who, inpassing, dropped a dozen words that fetched my heart clean into the top of myhead.

“He would likely have arranged to meet them just without the city, andso—” I heard no more, they had passed on; but it was enough. Ourplan had been discovered, and the chances for escape from now on to the fearfulend would be small indeed. My one hope now was to return undetected to thequarters of Dejah Thoris and learn what fate had overtaken her, but how to doit with these great monstrous thoats upon my hands, now that the city probablywas 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 constructionof the buildings of these ancient Martian cities with a hollow court within thecenter of each square, I groped my way blindly through the dark chambers,calling the great thoats after me. They had difficulty in negotiating some ofthe doorways, but as the buildings fronting the city’s principalexposures were all designed upon a magnificent scale, they were able to wrigglethrough without sticking fast; and thus we finally made the inner court where Ifound, as I had expected, the usual carpet of moss-like vegetation which wouldprovide 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, asthe green men had no great desire to enter these outlying buildings, which werefrequented by the only thing, I believe, which caused them the sensation offear—the great white apes of Barsoom.

Removing the saddle trappings, I hid them just within the rear doorway of thebuilding 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 thefurther side, and thence to the avenue beyond. Waiting in the doorway of thebuilding until I was assured that no one was approaching, I hurried across tothe opposite side and through the first doorway to the court beyond; thus,crossing through court after court with only the slight chance of detectionwhich the necessary crossing of the avenues entailed, I made my way in safetyto the courtyard in the rear of Dejah Thoris’ quarters.

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

I did not rush headlong in, but listened without to assure myself that it wasDejah Thoris and that it was safe to venture within. It was well indeed that Itook this precaution, for the conversation I heard was in the low gutturals ofmen, and the words which finally came to me proved a most timely warning. Thespeaker was a chieftain and he was giving orders to four of his warriors.

“And when he returns to this chamber,” he was saying, “as hesurely will when he finds she does not meet him at the city’s edge, youfour are to spring upon him and disarm him. It will require the combinedstrength of all of you to do it if the reports they bring back from Korad arecorrect. When you have him fast bound bear him to the vaults beneath thejeddak’s quarters and chain him securely where he may be found when TalHajus wishes him. Allow him to speak with none, nor permit any other to enterthis 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 herancestors have pity upon her, for Tal Hajus will have none; the great Sarkojahas done a noble night’s work. I go, and if you fail to capture him whenhe 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 wasstanding, but I needed to wait no longer; I had heard enough to fill my soulwith dread, and stealing quietly away I returned to the courtyard by the way Ihad come. My plan of action was formed upon the instant, and crossing thesquare and the bordering avenue upon the opposite side I soon stood within thecourtyard of Tal Hajus.

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

Fortunately the room I had selected was untenanted, and creeping noiselessly tothe 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 openingupon an immense inner chamber which towered from the first floor, two storiesbelow me, to the dome-like roof of the building, high above my head. The floorof 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 hideousbeast I had ever put my eyes upon. He had all the cold, hard, cruel, terriblefeatures of the green warriors, but accentuated and debased by the animalpassions to which he had given himself over for many years. There was not amark of dignity or pride upon his bestial countenance, while his enormous bulkspread itself out upon the platform where he squatted like some huge devilfish, his six limbs accentuating the similarity in a horrible and startlingmanner.

But the sight that froze me with apprehension was that of Dejah Thoris and Solastanding there before him, and the fiendish leer of him as he let his greatprotruding 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 ofhis reply. She stood there erect before him, her head high held, and even atthe distance I was from them I could read the scorn and disgust upon her faceas she let her haughty glance rest without sign of fear upon him. She wasindeed the proud daughter of a thousand jeddaks, every inch of her dear,precious little body; so small, so frail beside the towering warriors aroundher, but in her majesty dwarfing them into insignificance; she was themightiest figure among them and I verily believe that they felt it.

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

One chieftain alone had hesitated before departing; I saw him standing in theshadows of a mighty column, his fingers nervously toying with the hilt of hisgreat-sword and his cruel eyes bent in implacable hatred upon Tal Hajus. It wasTars Tarkas, and I could read his thoughts as they were an open book for theundisguised 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 wordinto his ear at that moment the reign of Tal Hajus would have been over; butfinally he also strode from the room, not knowing that he left his own daughterat the mercy of the creature he most loathed.

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

“Princess of Helium, I might wring a mighty ransom from your people wouldI but return you to them unharmed, but a thousand times rather would I watchthat 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 Iharbor for your race. The terrors of your death shall haunt the slumbers of thered men through all the ages to come; they will shudder in the shadows of thenight as their fathers tell them of the awful vengeance of the green men; ofthe power and might and hate and cruelty of Tal Hajus. But before the tortureyou shall be mine for one short hour, and word of that too shall go forth toTardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, your grandfather, that he may grovel upon theground in the agony of his sorrow. Tomorrow the torture will commence; tonightthou art Tal Hajus’; come!”

He sprang down from the platform and grasped her roughly by the arm, butscarcely had he touched her than I leaped between them. My short-sword, sharpand gleaming was in my right hand; I could have plunged it into his putridheart before he realized that I was upon him; but as I raised my arm to strikeI thought of Tars Tarkas, and, with all my rage, with all my hatred, I couldnot rob him of that sweet moment for which he had lived and hoped all theselong, weary years, and so, instead, I swung my good right fist full upon thepoint 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 motioningSola 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 trappingsI lowered, first Sola and then Dejah Thoris to the ground below. Droppinglightly after them I drew them rapidly around the court in the shadows of thebuildings, and thus we returned over the same course I had so recently followedfrom the distant boundary of the city.

We finally came upon my thoats in the courtyard where I had left them, andplacing the trappings upon them we hastened through the building to the avenuebeyond. Mounting, Sola upon one beast, and Dejah Thoris behind me upon theother, 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 thenearest waterway which lay so short a distance from us, we turned to thenortheast and struck out upon the mossy waste across which, for two hundreddangerous 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 thequiet sobbing of Dejah Thoris as she clung to me with her dear head restingagainst 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,” shecontinued, “the debt is no less, though Helium will never know, for youhave saved the last of our line from worse than death.”

I did not answer, but instead reached to my side and pressed the little fingersof her I loved where they clung to me for support, and then, in unbrokensilence, we sped over the yellow, moonlit moss; each of us occupied with hisown thoughts. For my part I could not be other than joyful had I tried, withDejah Thoris’ warm body pressed close to mine, and with all our unpasseddanger my heart was singing as gaily as though we were already entering thegates of Helium.

Our earlier plans had been so sadly upset that we now found ourselves withoutfood or drink, and I alone was armed. We therefore urged our beasts to a speedthat must tell on them sorely before we could hope to sight the ending of thefirst stage of our journey.

We rode all night and all the following day with only a few short rests. On thesecond night both we and our animals were completely fagged, and so we lay downupon the moss and slept for some five or six hours, taking up the journey oncemore before daylight. All the following day we rode, and when, late in theafternoon we had sighted no distant trees, the mark of the great waterwaysthroughout 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 itseem 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 todrop from hunger, thirst and fatigue. Far ahead of us and a trifle to the rightwe could distinguish the outlines of low mountains. These we decided to attemptto reach in the hope that from some ridge we might discern the missingwaterway. Night fell upon us before we reached our goal, and, almost faintingfrom 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 closeto me; the faithful brute had followed us across that trackless waste to shareour fate, whatever it might be. Putting my arms about his neck I pressed mycheek close to his, nor am I ashamed that I did it, nor of the tears that cameto my eyes as I thought of his love for me. Shortly after this Dejah Thoris andSola awakened, and it was decided that we push on at once in an effort to gainthe hills.

We had gone scarcely a mile when I noticed that my thoat was commencing tostumble and stagger in a most pitiful manner, although we had not attempted toforce them out of a walk since about noon of the preceding day. Suddenly helurched wildly to one side and pitched violently to the ground. Dejah Thorisand 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 Idecided not to kill him, as was my first intention, as I had thought it cruelto leave him alone there to die of hunger and thirst. Relieving him of histrappings, 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, makingDejah Thoris ride, much against her will. In this way we had progressed towithin about a mile of the hills we were endeavoring to reach when DejahThoris, from her point of vantage upon the thoat, cried out that she saw agreat party of mounted men filing down from a pass in the hills several milesaway. Sola and I both looked in the direction she indicated, and there, plainlydiscernible, were several hundred mounted warriors. They seemed to be headed ina southwesterly direction, which would take them away from us.

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

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

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

There was but one slight chance and that we must take quickly. Raising mystrange Martian rifle to my shoulder I sighted and touched the button whichcontrolled the trigger; there was a sharp explosion as the missile reached itsgoal, 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 DejahThoris with her upon him and make a mighty effort to reach the hills before thegreen warriors were upon us. I knew that in the ravines and gullies they mightfind a temporary hiding place, and even though they died there of hunger andthirst 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 alast resort, as an escape for themselves from the horrid death which recapturewould surely mean, I lifted Dejah Thoris in my arms and placed her upon thethoat behind Sola, who had already mounted at my command.

“Good-bye, my princess,” I whispered, “we may meet in Heliumyet. I have escaped from worse plights than this,” and I tried to smileas I lied.

“What,” she cried, “are you not coming with us?”

“How may I, Dejah Thoris? Someone must hold these fellows off for awhile, and I can better escape them alone than could the three of ustogether.”

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

Those words are engraved upon my heart. Ah, gladly would I give up my life athousand times could I only hear them once again; but I could not then giveeven a second to the rapture of her sweet embrace, and pressing my lips to hersfor the first time, I picked her up bodily and tossed her to her seat behindSola again, commanding the latter in peremptory tones to hold her there byforce, 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 theirchieftain. In a moment they saw him, and then me; but scarcely had theydiscovered me than I commenced firing, lying flat upon my belly in the moss. Ihad an even hundred rounds in the magazine of my rifle, and another hundred inthe belt at my back, and I kept up a continuous stream of fire until I saw allof the warriors who had been first to return from behind the ridge either deador scurrying to cover.

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

If ever Martians had an exhibition of jumping, it was granted those astonishedwarriors on that day long years ago, but while it led them away from DejahThoris it did not distract their attention from endeavoring to capture me.

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

CHAPTER XVIII
CHAINED IN WARHOON

It must have been several hours before I regained consciousness and I wellremember the feeling of surprise which swept over me as I realized that I wasnot dead.

I was lying among a pile of sleeping silks and furs in the corner of a smallroom in which were several green warriors, and bending over me was an ancientand 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 andapproaching my couch, “he should render rare sport for the greatgames.”

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

His reference to the great games of which I had heard so much while among theTharks 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 wasnow fully fit to travel, the jed ordered that we mount and ride after the maincolumn.

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 butlittle pain, so wonderfully and rapidly had the applications and injections ofthe female exercised their therapeutic powers, and so deftly had she bound andplastered the injuries.

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

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

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

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

“I have brought a strange creature wearing the metal of a Thark whom itis 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 throatbut 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 awater-hearted weakling from whom even old Dak Kova could tear the metal withhis bare hands!”

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

I never before had seen two green Martian warriors battle with nature’sweapons and the exhibition of animal ferocity which ensued was as fearful athing as the most disordered imagination could picture. They tore at eachothers’ eyes and ears with their hands and with their gleaming tusksrepeatedly slashed and gored until both were cut fairly to ribbons from head tofoot.

Bar Comas had much the better of the battle as he was stronger, quicker andmore intelligent. It soon seemed that the encounter was done saving only thefinal death thrust when Bar Comas slipped in breaking away from a clinch. Itwas the one little opening that Dak Kova needed, and hurling himself at thebody 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 thefull length of his body, the great tusk finally wedging in the bones of BarComas’ 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 ofDak Kova’s females saved him from the fate he deserved. Three days laterhe walked without assistance to the body of Bar Comas which, by custom, had notbeen moved from where it fell, and placing his foot upon the neck of hiserstwhile ruler he assumed the title of Jeddak of Warhoon.

The dead jeddak’s hands and head were removed to be added to theornaments of his conqueror, and then his women cremated what remained, amidwild and terrible laughter.

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

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

We reached the city of Warhoon after some three days march and I wasimmediately 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 Ido not know whether I lay there days, or weeks, or months. It was the mosthorrible experience of all my life and that my mind did not give way to theterrors of that inky blackness has been a wonder to me ever since. The placewas filled with creeping, crawling things; cold, sinuous bodies passed over mewhen I lay down, and in the darkness I occasionally caught glimpses ofgleaming, fiery eyes, fixed in horrible intentness upon me. No sound reached mefrom the world above and no word would my jailer vouchsafe when my food wasbrought to me, although I at first bombarded him with questions.

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

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

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

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

CHAPTER XIX
BATTLING IN THE ARENA

Slowly I regained my composure and finally essayed again to attempt to removethe keys from the dead body of my former jailer. But as I reached out into thedarkness to locate it I found to my horror that it was gone. Then the truthflashed on me; the owners of those gleaming eyes had dragged my prize away fromme 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 todrag my dead carcass to their feast.

For two days no food was brought me, but then a new messenger appeared and myincarceration went on as before, but not again did I allow my reason to besubmerged 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 scarcelyawait the departure of his guards to address him. As their retreating footstepsdied 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 yourname.”

And then I told him my story as I have written it here, omitting only anyreference to my love for Dejah Thoris. He was much excited by the news ofHelium’s princess and seemed quite positive that she and Sola couldeasily have reached a point of safety from where they left me. He said that heknew the place well because the defile through which the Warhoon warriors hadpassed when they discovered us was the only one ever used by them when marchingto the south.

“Dejah Thoris and Sola entered the hills not five miles from a greatwaterway 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 thehands of the Tharks at the time of Dejah Thoris’ capture, and he brieflyrelated 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’shereditary enemies among the red men of Barsoom, they had been attacked by agreat body of war vessels and all but the craft to which Kantos Kan belongedwere either destroyed or captured. His vessel was chased for days by three ofthe Zodangan war ships but finally escaped during the darkness of a moonlessnight.

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

Two green Martian communities had been wiped off the face of Barsoom by theavenging fleets, but no trace of Dejah Thoris had been found. They had beensearching among the northern hordes, and only within the past few days had theyextended their quest to the south.

Kantos Kan had been detailed to one of the small one-man fliers and had had themisfortune to be discovered by the Warhoons while exploring their city. Thebravery and daring of the man won my greatest respect and admiration. Alone hehad landed at the city’s boundary and on foot had penetrated to thebuildings surrounding the plaza. For two days and nights he had explored theirquarters and their dungeons in search of his beloved princess only to fall intothe hands of a party of Warhoons as he was about to leave, after assuringhimself 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, beforewe were dragged forth from our dungeon for the great games. We were conductedearly one morning to an enormous amphitheater, which instead of having beenbuilt upon the surface of the ground was excavated below the surface. It hadpartially filled with debris so that how large it had originally been wasdifficult to say. In its present condition it held the entire twenty thousandWarhoons of the assembled hordes.

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

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

Kantos Kan explained to me that at the end of the day one of these prisonerswould gain freedom and the others would lie dead about the arena. The winnersin the various contests of the day would be pitted against each other untilonly 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 anew 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 anhour every available part of the seating space was occupied. Dak Kova, with hisjeds and chieftains, sat at the center of one side of the arena upon a largeraised platform.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kantos Kan had fought several times during the day and like myself had alwaysproven victorious, but occasionally by the smallest of margins, especially whenpitted against the green warriors. I had little hope that he could best hisgiant adversary who had mowed down all before him during the day. The fellowtowered nearly sixteen feet in height, while Kantos Kan was some inches undersix feet. As they advanced to meet one another I saw for the first time a trickof Martian swordsmanship which centered Kantos Kan’s every hope ofvictory and life on one cast of the dice, for, as he came to within abouttwenty feet of the huge fellow he threw his sword arm far behind him over hisshoulder and with a mighty sweep hurled his weapon point foremost at the greenwarrior. It flew true as an arrow and piercing the poor devil’s heartlaid him dead upon the arena.

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

When the amphitheater had cleared I crept stealthily to the top and as thegreat excavation lay far from the plaza and in an untenanted portion of thegreat 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 startedoff on foot in a northwesterly direction toward a point where he had told melay the nearest waterway. My only food consisted of vegetable milk from theplants which gave so bounteously of this priceless fluid.

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

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

Without sound we lay there, the beast exerting every effort to reach me withthose awful fangs, and I straining to maintain my grip and choke the life fromit 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 crepttoward me, until, as the hairy face touched mine again, I realized that all wasover. And then a living mass of destruction sprang from the surroundingdarkness full upon the creature that held me pinioned to the ground. The tworolled growling upon the moss, tearing and rending one another in a frightfulmanner, but it was soon over and my preserver stood with lowered head above thethroat of the dead thing which would have killed me.

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

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

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

I could find no bell or other method of making my presence known to the inmatesof the place, unless a small round hole in the wall near the door was for thatpurpose. It was of about the bigness of a lead pencil and thinking that itmight be in the nature of a speaking tube I put my mouth to it and was about tocall 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 starvationand exhaustion.

“You wear the metal of a green warrior and are followed by a calot, yetyou are of the figure of a red man. In color you are neither green nor red. Inthe name of the ninth ray, what manner of creature are you?”

“I am a friend of the red men of Barsoom and I am starving. In the nameof humanity open to us,” I replied.

Presently the door commenced to recede before me until it had sunk into thewall 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, yetimmediately we passed the first door it slid gently into place behind us andreceded rapidly to its original position in the front wall of the building. Asthe 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 cylindersof steel had dropped from the ceiling behind it and fitted their lower endsinto 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 outupon a great stone table. A voice directed me to satisfy my hunger and to feedmy calot, and while I was thus engaged my invisible host put me through asevere and searching cross-examination.

“Your statements are most remarkable,” said the voice, onconcluding 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 theconformation of your brain and the strange location of your internal organs andthe 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 couldread 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 clothingor adornment, a small collar of gold from which depended upon his chest a greatornament as large as a dinner plate set solid with huge diamonds, except forthe exact center which was occupied by a strange stone, an inch in diameter,that scintillated nine different and distinct rays; the seven colors of ourearthly prism and two beautiful rays which, to me, were new and nameless. Icannot describe them any more than you could describe red to a blind man. Ionly know that they were beautiful in the extreme.

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

The old man sat and talked with me for hours.

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

The building in which I found myself contained the machinery which producesthat artificial atmosphere which sustains life on Mars. The secret of theentire process hinges on the use of the ninth ray, one of the beautifulscintillations which I had noted emanating from the great stone in myhost’s diadem.

This ray is separated from the other rays of the sun by means of finelyadjusted instruments placed upon the roof of the huge building, three-quartersof which is used for reservoirs in which the ninth ray is stored. This productis then treated electrically, or rather certain proportions of refined electricvibrations are incorporated with it, and the result is then pumped to the fiveprincipal air centers of the planet where, as it is released, contact with theether of space transforms it into atmosphere.

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

He led me to an inner chamber where I beheld a battery of twenty radium pumpsany one of which was equal to the task of furnishing all Mars with theatmosphere compound. For eight hundred years, he told me, he had watched thesepumps which are used alternately a day each at a stretch, or a little overtwenty-four and one-half Earth hours. He has one assistant who divides thewatch with him. Half a Martian year, about three hundred and forty-four of ourdays, each of these men spend alone in this huge, isolated plant.

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

The only fear they entertain of attack is from the green Martians or somedemented red man, as all Barsoomians realize that the very existence of everyform 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 outerdoors are manipulated by telepathic means. The locks are so finely adjustedthat the doors are released by the action of a certain combination of thoughtwaves. To experiment with my new-found toy I thought to surprise him intorevealing this combination and so I asked him in a casual manner how he hadmanaged to unlock the massive doors for me from the inner chambers of thebuilding. As quick as a flash there leaped to his mind nine Martian sounds, butas 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 beensurprised into divulging his great secret, and I read suspicion and fear in hislooks and thoughts, though his words were still fair.

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

“But be sure that you do not let them know you are bound for Helium asthey are at war with that country. My assistant and I are of no country, webelong 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 handsif we can avoid it,” he added.

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

And though he smiled pleasantly I saw in his thoughts the wish that he hadnever admitted me, and then a picture of him standing over me in the night, andthe swift thrust of a long dagger and the half formed words, “I am sorry,but it is for the best good of Barsoom.”

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

What was I to do? How could I escape through these mighty walls? Easily could Ikill 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 allthe other inhabitants of the planet—all, even Dejah Thoris were she notalready dead. For the others I did not give the snap of my finger, but thethought 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 theinner of the great doors. A wild scheme had come to me; I would attempt toforce the great locks by the nine thought waves I had read in my host’smind.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I am unarmed and no enemy,” I hastened to explain. “I havebeen a prisoner among the green men and am on my way to Zodanga. All I ask isfood and rest for myself and my calot and the proper directions for reaching mydestination.”

They lowered their rifles and advanced pleasantly toward me placing their righthands upon my left shoulder, after the manner of their custom of salute, andasking me many questions about myself and my wanderings. They then took me tothe 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 onlyby stock and farm produce, the house proper standing among a grove of enormoustrees, and, like all red-Martian homes, had been raised at night some forty orfifty feet from the ground on a large round metal shaft which slid up or downwithin a sleeve sunk in the ground, and was operated by a tiny radium engine inthe entrance hall of the building. Instead of bothering with bolts and bars fortheir dwellings, the red Martians simply run them up out of harm’s wayduring the night. They also have private means for lowering or raising themfrom the ground without if they wish to go away and leave them.

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

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

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

“The chances are small that your tale will be believed until after youhave proven your trustworthiness and won friends among the higher nobles of thecourt. This you can most easily do through military service, as we are awarlike people on Barsoom,” explained one of them, “and save ourrichest 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 aboutthe size of a horse and quite gentle, but in color and shape an exact replicaof his huge and fierce cousin of the wilds.

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

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

When I mentioned my inability to repay them for their kindness to me theyassured 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 broadwhite turnpike.

CHAPTER XXI
AN AIR SCOUT FOR ZODANGA

As I proceeded on my journey toward Zodanga many strange and interesting sightsarrested my attention, and at the several farm houses where I stopped I learneda number of new and instructive things concerning the methods and manners ofBarsoom.

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

Instead of flooding the surface of the fields, and thus wasting immensequantities of water by evaporation, the precious liquid is carried undergroundthrough 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, nohigh winds, and no insects, or destroying birds.

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

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

“Helium,” he said, “rightly boasts the most beautiful womenof Barsoom, and of all her treasures the wondrous daughter of Mors Kajak, DejahThoris, is the most exquisite flower.

“Why,” he added, “the people really worship the ground shewalks upon and since her loss on that ill-starred expedition all Helium hasbeen draped in mourning.

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

“Even now, though our victorious armies are surrounding Helium, thepeople of Zodanga are voicing their displeasure, for the war is not a popularone, since it is not based on right or justice. Our forces took advantage ofthe 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 issaid she will fall within the next few passages of the further moon.”

“And what, think you, may have been the fate of the princess, DejahThoris?” I asked as casually as possible.

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

While this information was in no way reassuring, neither was it at allconclusive proof of the death of Dejah Thoris, and so I determined to makeevery effort possible to reach Helium as quickly as I could and carry to TardosMors such news of his granddaughter’s possible whereabouts as lay in mypower.

Ten days after leaving the three Ptor brothers I arrived at Zodanga. From themoment that I had come in contact with the red inhabitants of Mars I hadnoticed that Woola drew a great amount of unwelcome attention to me, since thehuge 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 effectwould be somewhat similar to that which I should have produced had I enteredZodanga with Woola.

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

He seemed to understand me fully, and when I pointed back in the direction ofThark he turned sorrowfully away, nor could I bear to watch him go; butresolutely set my face toward Zodanga and with a touch of heartsicknessapproached her frowning walls.

The letter I bore from them gained me immediate entrance to the vast, walledcity. It was still very early in the morning and the streets were practicallydeserted. The residences, raised high upon their metal columns, resembled hugerookeries, while the uprights themselves presented the appearance of steel treetrunks. The shops as a rule were not raised from the ground nor were theirdoors bolted or barred, since thievery is practically unknown upon Barsoom.Assassination is the ever-present fear of all Barsoomians, and for this reasonalone their homes are raised high above the ground at night, or in times ofdanger.

The Ptor brothers had given me explicit directions for reaching the point ofthe city where I could find living accommodations and be near the offices ofthe government agents to whom they had given me letters. My way led to thecentral 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 thejeddak, the jeds, and other members of the royalty and nobility of Zodanga, aswell as by the principal public buildings, cafes, and shops.

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

“Kaor, Kantos Kan!”

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

“Who are you?” he growled, and then as a backward leap carried mefifty 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 whocan bounce about like a rubber ball. By the mother of the further moon, JohnCarter, how came you here, and have you become a Darseen that you can changeyour color at will?”

“You gave me a bad half minute my friend,” he continued, after Ihad briefly outlined my adventures since parting with him in the arena atWarhoon. “Were my name and city known to the Zodangans I would shortly besitting on the banks of the lost sea of Korus with my revered and departedancestors. I am here in the interest of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, todiscover the whereabouts of Dejah Thoris, our princess. Sab Than, prince ofZodanga, has her hidden in the city and has fallen madly in love with her. Hisfather, Than Kosis, Jeddak of Zodanga, has made her voluntary marriage to hisson the price of peace between our countries, but Tardos Mors will not accedeto the demands and has sent word that he and his people would rather look uponthe 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 andburning Helium to joining the metal of his house with that of Than Kosis. Hisreply was the deadliest affront he could have put upon Than Kosis and theZodangans, but his people love him the more for it and his strength in Heliumis greater today than ever.

“I have been here three days,” continued Kantos Kan, “but Ihave not yet found where Dejah Thoris is imprisoned. Today I join the Zodangannavy 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 thewhereabouts of Dejah Thoris. I am glad that you are here, John Carter, for Iknow your loyalty to my princess and two of us working together should be ableto accomplish much.”

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

After our meal, Kantos Kan took me with him to the headquarters of theair-scout squadron and introducing me to his superior asked that I be enrolledas a member of the corps. In accordance with custom an examination wasnecessary, but Kantos Kan had told me to have no fear on this score as he wouldattend to that part of the matter. He accomplished this by taking my order forexamination 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 personalidentification data, but it will be several months before this is done and ourmission should be accomplished or have failed long before that time.”

The next few days were spent by Kantos Kan in teaching me the intricacies offlying and of repairing the dainty little contrivances which the Martians usefor 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. Thedriver sits on top of this plane upon a seat constructed over the small,noiseless radium engine which propels it. The medium of buoyancy is containedwithin the thin metal walls of the body and consists of the eighth Barsoomianray, 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 havediscovered that it is an inherent property of all light no matter from whatsource it emanates. They have learned that it is the solar eighth ray whichpropels the light of the sun to the various planets, and that it is theindividual eighth ray of each planet which “reflects,” or propelsthe light thus obtained out into space once more. The solar eighth ray would beabsorbed by the surface of Barsoom, but the Barsoomian eighth ray, which tendsto propel light from Mars into space, is constantly streaming out from theplanet constituting a force of repulsion of gravity which when confined is ableto lift enormous weights from the surface of the ground.

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

During the early years of the discovery of this ray many strange accidentsoccurred before the Martians learned to measure and control the wonderful powerthey had found. In one instance, some nine hundred years before, the firstgreat battle ship to be built with eighth ray reservoirs was stored with toogreat a quantity of the rays and she had sailed up from Helium with fivehundred officers and men, never to return.

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

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

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 towardthe south, following one of the great waterways which enter Zodanga from thatdirection.

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

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

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

Driving my fleet air craft at high speed directly behind the warriors I soonovertook them and without diminishing my speed I rammed the prow of my littleflier between the shoulders of the nearest. The impact sufficient to have tornthrough inches of solid steel, hurled the fellow’s headless body into theair over the head of his thoat, where it fell sprawling upon the moss. Themounts of the other two warriors turned squealing in terror, and bolted inopposite directions.

Reducing my speed I circled and came to the ground at the feet of theastonished Zodangan. He was warm in his thanks for my timely aid and promisedthat my day’s work would bring the reward it merited, for it was noneother 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 assoon as they had gained control of their mounts. Hastening to his damagedmachine we were bending every effort to finish the needed repairs and hadalmost completed them when we saw the two green monsters returning at top speedfrom opposite sides of us. When they had approached within a hundred yardstheir thoats again became unmanageable and absolutely refused to advancefurther toward the air craft which had frightened them.

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

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

He was wounded and down with the huge foot of his antagonist upon his throatand the great long-sword raised to deal the final thrust. With a bound Icleared the fifty feet intervening between us, and with outstretched pointdrove my sword completely through the body of the green warrior. His swordfell, harmless, to the ground and he sank limply upon the prostrate form of theZodangan.

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

Quickly completing the repairs we rose together into the still, cloudlessMartian 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 troopsassembled upon the plain before the city. The sky was black with naval vesselsand private and public pleasure craft, flying long streamers of gay-coloredsilks, and banners and flags of odd and picturesque design.

My companion signaled that I slow down, and running his machine close besidemine suggested that we approach and watch the ceremony, which, he said, was forthe purpose of conferring honors on individual officers and men for bravery andother distinguished service. He then unfurled a little ensign which denotedthat his craft bore a member of the royal family of Zodanga, and together wemade our way through the maze of low-lying air vessels until we hung directlyover the jeddak of Zodanga and his staff. All were mounted upon the smalldomestic bull thoats of the red Martians, and their trappings and ornamentationbore such a quantity of gorgeously colored feathers that I could not but bestruck with the startling resemblance the concourse bore to a band of the redIndians of my own Earth.

One of the staff called the attention of Than Kosis to the presence of mycompanion above them and the ruler motioned for him to descend. As they waitedfor the troops to move into position facing the jeddak the two talked earnestlytogether, the jeddak and his staff occasionally glancing up at me. I could nothear their conversation and presently it ceased and all dismounted, as the lastbody of troops had wheeled into position before their emperor. A member of thestaff advanced toward the troops, and calling the name of a soldier commandedhim to advance. The officer then recited the nature of the heroic act which hadwon the approval of the jeddak, and the latter advanced and placed a metalornament 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 disciplineis strong within me, and I dropped my little machine lightly to the ground andadvanced on foot as I had seen the others do. As I halted before the officer,he addressed me in a voice audible to the entire assemblage of troops andspectators.

“In recognition, John Carter,” he said, “of your remarkablecourage and skill in defending the person of the cousin of the jeddak ThanKosis and, singlehanded, vanquishing three green warriors, it is the pleasureof 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, whichseems little short of miraculous, and if you can so well defend a cousin of thejeddak how much better could you defend the person of the jeddak himself. Youare therefore appointed a padwar of The Guards and will be quartered in mypalace hereafter.”

I thanked him, and at his direction joined the members of his staff. After theceremony I returned my machine to its quarters on the roof of the barracks ofthe air-scout squadron, and with an orderly from the palace to guide me Ireported 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 menear the person of the jeddak, who, in time of war, is always in great dangerof assassination, as the rule that all is fair in war seems to constitute theentire ethics of Martian conflict.

He therefore escorted me immediately to the apartment in which Than Kosis thenwas. The ruler was engaged in conversation with his son, Sab Than, and severalcourtiers of his household, and did not perceive my entrance.

The walls of the apartment were completely hung with splendid tapestries whichhid any windows or doors which may have pierced them. The room was lighted byimprisoned rays of sunshine held between the ceiling proper and what appearedto be a ground-glass false ceiling a few inches below.

My guide drew aside one of the tapestries, disclosing a passage which encircledthe room, between the hangings and the walls of the chamber. Within thispassage 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 outof sight as much as possible. I would be relieved after a period of four hours.The major-domo then left me.

The tapestries were of a strange weaving which gave the appearance of heavysolidity from one side, but from my hiding place I could perceive all that tookplace within the room as readily as though there had been no curtainintervening.

Scarcely had I gained my post than the tapestry at the opposite end of thechamber separated and four soldiers of The Guard entered, surrounding a femalefigure. As they approached Than Kosis the soldiers fell to either side andthere standing before the jeddak and not ten feet from me, her beautiful faceradiant with smiles, was Dejah Thoris.

Sab Than, Prince of Zodanga, advanced to meet her, and hand in hand theyapproached 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 shewould prefer Tal Hajus, the green Thark, to my son?”

Dejah Thoris only smiled the more and with the roguish dimples playing at thecorners of her mouth she made answer:

“From the beginning of time upon Barsoom it has been the prerogative ofwoman to change her mind as she listed and to dissemble in matters concerningher heart. That you will forgive, Than Kosis, as has your son. Two days ago Iwas not sure of his love for me, but now I am, and I have come to beg of you toforget my rash words and to accept the assurance of the Princess of Helium thatwhen the time comes she will wed Sab Than, Prince of Zodanga.”

“I am glad that you have so decided,” replied Than Kosis. “Itis 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 issuedforthwith.”

“It were better, Than Kosis,” interrupted Dejah Thoris, “thatthe proclamation wait the ending of this war. It would look strange indeed tomy people and to yours were the Princess of Helium to give herself to hercountry’s enemy in the midst of hostilities.”

“Cannot the war be ended at once?” spoke Sab Than. “Itrequires but the word of Than Kosis to bring peace. Say it, my father, say theword that will hasten my happiness, and end this unpopular strife.”

“We shall see,” replied Than Kosis, “how the people of Heliumtake to peace. I shall at least offer it to them.”

Dejah Thoris, after a few words, turned and left the apartment, still followedby her guards.

Thus was the edifice of my brief dream of happiness dashed, broken, to theground of reality. The woman for whom I had offered my life, and from whoselips I had so recently heard a declaration of love for me, had lightlyforgotten my very existence and smilingly given herself to the son of herpeople’s most hated enemy.

Although I had heard it with my own ears I could not believe it. I must searchout her apartments and force her to repeat the cruel truth to me alone before Iwould be convinced, and so I deserted my post and hastened through the passagebehind 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 becamehopelessly lost and was standing panting against a side wall when I heardvoices near me. Apparently they were coming from the opposite side of thepartition against which I leaned and presently I made out the tones of DejahThoris. I could not hear the words but I knew that I could not possibly bemistaken in the voice.

Moving on a few steps I discovered another passageway at the end of which lay adoor. Walking boldly forward I pushed into the room only to find myself in asmall antechamber in which were the four guards who had accompanied her. One ofthem instantly arose and accosted me, asking the nature of my business.

“I am from Than Kosis,” I replied, “and wish to speakprivately 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, andwithout waiting for a reply from him I strode toward the opposite door of theantechamber, behind which I could hear Dejah Thoris conversing.

But my entrance was not to be so easily accomplished. The guardsman steppedbefore 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 myside,” I answered, tapping my long-sword; “will you let me pass inpeace or no?”

For reply he whipped out his own sword, calling to the others to join him, andthus the four stood, with drawn weapons, barring my further progress.

“You are not here by the order of Than Kosis,” cried the one whohad first addressed me, “and not only shall you not enter the apartmentsof the Princess of Helium but you shall go back to Than Kosis under guard toexplain this unwarranted temerity. Throw down your sword; you cannot hope toovercome four of us,” he added with a grim smile.

My reply was a quick thrust which left me but three antagonists and I canassure you that they were worthy of my metal. They had me backed against thewall in no time, fighting for my life. Slowly I worked my way to a corner ofthe room where I could force them to come at me only one at a time, and thus wefought upward of twenty minutes; the clanging of steel on steel producing averitable bedlam in the little room.

The noise had brought Dejah Thoris to the door of her apartment, and there shestood 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, nordid Sola.

Finally a lucky cut brought down a second guardsman and then, with only twoopposing me, I changed my tactics and rushed them down after the fashion of myfighting that had won me many a victory. The third fell within ten secondsafter the second, and the last lay dead upon the bloody floor a few momentslater. They were brave men and noble fighters, and it grieved me that I hadbeen forced to kill them, but I would have willingly depopulated all Barsoomcould I have reached the side of my Dejah Thoris in no other way.

Sheathing my bloody blade I advanced toward my Martian Princess, who stillstood mutely gazing at me without sign of recognition.

“Who are you, Zodangan?” she whispered. “Another enemy toharass me in my misery?”

“I am a friend,” I answered, “a once cherished friend.”

“No friend of Helium’s princess wears that metal,” shereplied, “and yet the voice! I have heard it before; it is not—itcannot 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 ofyour chieftain?”

As I came close to her she swayed toward me with outstretched hands, but as Ireached to take her in my arms she drew back with a shudder and a little moanof 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—butnow it is too late, too late.”

“What do you mean, Dejah Thoris?” I cried. “That you wouldnot have promised yourself to the Zodangan prince had you known that Ilived?”

“Think you, John Carter, that I would give my heart to you yesterday andtoday to another? I thought that it lay buried with your ashes in the pits ofWarhoon, and so today I have promised my body to another to save my people fromthe curse of a victorious Zodangan army.”

“But I am not dead, my princess. I have come to claim you, and allZodanga cannot prevent it.”

“It is too late, John Carter, my promise is given, and on Barsoom that isfinal. The ceremonies which follow later are but meaningless formalities. Theymake the fact of marriage no more certain than does the funeral cortege of ajeddak again place the seal of death upon him. I am as good as married, JohnCarter. No longer may you call me your princess. No longer are you mychieftain.”

“I know but little of your customs here upon Barsoom, Dejah Thoris, but Ido know that I love you, and if you meant the last words you spoke to me thatday as the hordes of Warhoon were charging down upon us, no other man shallever claim you as his bride. You meant them then, my princess, and you meanthem still! Say that it is true.”

“I meant them, John Carter,” she whispered. “I cannot repeatthem now for I have given myself to another. Ah, if you had only known ourways, my friend,” she continued, half to herself, “the promisewould have been yours long months ago, and you could have claimed me before allothers. It might have meant the fall of Helium, but I would have given myempire for my Tharkian chief.”

Then aloud she said: “Do you remember the night when you offended me? Youcalled me your princess without having asked my hand of me, and then youboasted that you had fought for me. You did not know, and I should not havebeen offended; I see that now. But there was no one to tell you what I couldnot, that upon Barsoom there are two kinds of women in the cities of the redmen. The one they fight for that they may ask them in marriage; the other kindthey fight for also, but never ask their hands. When a man has won a woman hemay address her as his princess, or in any of the several terms which signifypossession. You had fought for me, but had never asked me in marriage, and sowhen you called me your princess, you see,” she faltered, “I washurt, 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 throughcombat.”

“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 bepresumptuous 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 shallbe.”

“No, John Carter, it is useless,” she cried, hopelessly, “Imay never be yours while Sab Than lives.”

“You have sealed his death warrant, my princess—Sab Thandies.”

“Nor that either,” she hastened to explain. “I may not wedthe man who slays my husband, even in self-defense. It is custom. We are ruledby custom upon Barsoom. It is useless, my friend. You must bear the sorrow withme. That at least we may share in common. That, and the memory of the briefdays among the Tharks. You must go now, nor ever see me again. Good-bye, mychieftain that was.”

Disheartened and dejected, I withdrew from the room, but I was not entirelydiscouraged, nor would I admit that Dejah Thoris was lost to me until theceremony had actually been performed.

As I wandered along the corridors, I was as absolutely lost in the mazes ofwinding 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 matterof the four dead guardsmen would have to be explained, and as I could neverreach my original post without a guide, suspicion would surely rest on me sosoon as I was discovered wandering aimlessly through the palace.

Presently I came upon a spiral runway leading to a lower floor, and this Ifollowed downward for several stories until I reached the doorway of a largeapartment in which were a number of guardsmen. The walls of this room were hungwith transparent tapestries behind which I secreted myself without beingapprehended.

The conversation of the guardsmen was general, and awakened no interest in meuntil an officer entered the room and ordered four of the men to relieve thedetail who were guarding the Princess of Helium. Now, I knew, my troubles wouldcommence in earnest and indeed they were upon me all too soon, for it seemedthat the squad had scarcely left the guardroom before one of their number burstin again breathlessly, crying that they had found their four comrades butcheredin the antechamber.

In a moment the entire palace was alive with people. Guardsmen, officers,courtiers, servants, and slaves ran helter-skelter through the corridors andapartments carrying messages and orders, and searching for signs of theassassin.

This was my opportunity and slim as it appeared I grasped it, for as a numberof soldiers came hurrying past my hiding place I fell in behind them andfollowed through the mazes of the palace until, in passing through a greathall, I saw the blessed light of day coming in through a series of largerwindows.

Here I left my guides, and, slipping to the nearest window, sought for anavenue of escape. The windows opened upon a great balcony which overlooked oneof the broad avenues of Zodanga. The ground was about thirty feet below, and ata like distance from the building was a wall fully twenty feet high,constructed of polished glass about a foot in thickness. To a red Martianescape by this path would have appeared impossible, but to me, with my earthlystrength and agility, it seemed already accomplished. My only fear was in beingdetected before darkness fell, for I could not make the leap in broad daylightwhile 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, andabout ten feet from the floor. Into the capacious bowl-like vase I sprang withease, and scarcely had I settled down within it than I heard a number of peopleenter the apartment. The group stopped beneath my hiding place and I couldplainly 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 believethat even with the diligent care of your guardsmen a single enemy might reachthe inner chambers, but how a force of six or eight fighting men could havedone so unobserved is beyond me. We shall soon know, however, for here comesthe royal psychologist.”

Another man now joined the group, and, after making his formal greetings to hisruler, said:

“O mighty Jeddak, it is a strange tale I read in the dead minds of yourfaithful guardsmen. They were felled not by a number of fighting men, but by asingle opponent.”

He paused to let the full weight of this announcement impress his hearers, andthat his statement was scarcely credited was evidenced by the impatientexclamation 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. “Infact the impressions were strongly marked on the brain of each of the fourguardsmen. Their antagonist was a very tall man, wearing the metal of one ofyour own guardsmen, and his fighting ability was little short of marvelous forhe fought fair against the entire four and vanquished them by his surpassingskill and superhuman strength and endurance. Though he wore the metal ofZodanga, my Jeddak, such a man was never seen before in this or any othercountry upon Barsoom.

“The mind of the Princess of Helium whom I have examined and questionedwas a blank to me, she has perfect control, and I could not read one iota ofit. She said that she witnessed a portion of the encounter, and that when shelooked there was but one man engaged with the guardsmen; a man whom she did notrecognize as ever having seen.”

“Where is my erstwhile savior?” spoke another of the party, and Irecognized the voice of the cousin of Than Kosis, whom I had rescued from thegreen warriors. “By the metal of my first ancestor,” he went on,“but the description fits him to perfection, especially as to hisfighting ability.”

“Where is this man?” cried Than Kosis. “Have him brought tome at once. What know you of him, cousin? It seemed strange to me now that Ithink upon it that there should have been such a fighting man in Zodanga, ofwhose 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 orat 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 tomy past, he had told them he knew as little, since he had but recently met meduring our captivity among the Warhoons.

“Keep your eyes on this other one,” commanded Than Kosis. “Healso is a stranger and likely as not they both hail from Helium, and where oneis we shall sooner or later find the other. Quadruple the air patrol, and letevery man who leaves the city by air or ground be subjected to the closestscrutiny.”

Another messenger now entered with word that I was still within the palacewalls.

“The likeness of every person who has entered or left the palace groundstoday has been carefully examined,” concluded the fellow, “and notone approaches the likeness of this new padwar of the guards, other than thatwhich 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 ofHelium and question her in regard to the affair. She may know more than shecared to divulge to you, Notan. Come.”

They left the hall, and, as darkness had fallen without, I slipped lightly frommy hiding place and hastened to the balcony. Few were in sight, and choosing amoment when none seemed near I sprang quickly to the top of the glass wall andfrom 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, whereI felt sure I should find Kantos Kan. As I neared the building I became morecareful, as I judged, and rightly, that the place would be guarded. Several menin 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 weresituated was through an adjoining building, and after considerable maneuveringI 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 whereI hoped to find the Heliumite, and in another moment I stood in the room beforehim. He was alone and showed no surprise at my coming, saying he had expectedme 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 Ihad enlightened him he was all excitement. The news that Dejah Thoris hadpromised her hand to Sab Than filled him with dismay.

“It cannot be,” he exclaimed. “It is impossible! Why no manin all Helium but would prefer death to the selling of our loved princess tothe ruling house of Zodanga. She must have lost her mind to have assented tosuch an atrocious bargain. You, who do not know how we of Helium love themembers of our ruling house, cannot appreciate the horror with which Icontemplate such an unholy alliance.”

“What can be done, John Carter?” he continued. “You are aresourceful man. Can you not think of some way to save Helium from thisdisgrace?”

“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 forpersonal reasons I would prefer that another struck the blow that frees DejahThoris.”

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 promisedto Sab Than.”

The splendid fellow sprang to his feet, and grasping me by the shoulder raisedhis sword on high, exclaiming:

“And had the choice been left to me I could not have chosen a morefitting mate for the first princess of Barsoom. Here is my hand upon yourshoulder, John Carter, and my word that Sab Than shall go out at the point ofmy 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 quadrupleforce patrols the sky.”

He bent his head in thought a moment, then raised it with an air of confidence.

“I only need to pass these guards and I can do it,” he said atlast. “I know a secret entrance to the palace through the pinnacle of thehighest tower. I fell upon it by chance one day as I was passing above thepalace on patrol duty. In this work it is required that we investigate anyunusual occurrence we may witness, and a face peering from the pinnacle of thehigh tower of the palace was, to me, most unusual. I therefore drew near anddiscovered 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 matterto myself, explaining that the passage from the tower led directly to hisapartments, and was known only to him. If I can reach the roof of the barracksand get my machine I can be in Sab Than’s quarters in five minutes; buthow 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 theroof.”

“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 andhastened to the barracks. I did not dare to enter the building, filled as itwas 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 feetinto 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 greatbattleships of the line standing some fifteen hundred feet from the ground,while the freight and passenger stations of the merchant squadrons rose nearlyas high.

It was a long climb up the face of the building, and one fraught with muchdanger, but there was no other way, and so I essayed the task. The fact thatBarsoomian architecture is extremely ornate made the feat much simpler than Ihad anticipated, since I found ornamental ledges and projections which fairlyformed a perfect ladder for me all the way to the eaves of the building. Here Imet my first real obstacle. The eaves projected nearly twenty feet from thewall to which I clung, and though I encircled the great building I could findno opening through them.

The top floor was alight, and filled with soldiers engaged in the pastimes oftheir kind; I could not, therefore, reach the roof through the building.

There was one slight, desperate chance, and that I decided I must take—itwas for Dejah Thoris, and no man has lived who would not risk a thousand deathsfor such as she.

Clinging to the wall with my feet and one hand, I unloosened one of the longleather straps of my trappings at the end of which dangled a great hook bywhich air sailors are hung to the sides and bottoms of their craft for variouspurposes of repair, and by means of which landing parties are lowered to theground from the battleships.

I swung this hook cautiously to the roof several times before it finally foundlodgment; gently I pulled on it to strengthen its hold, but whether it wouldbear the weight of my body I did not know. It might be barely caught upon thevery outer verge of the roof, so that as my body swung out at the end of thestrap 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 supportingornament, I swung out into space at the end of the strap. Far below me lay thebrilliantly lighted streets, the hard pavements, and death. There was a littlejerk at the top of the supporting eaves, and a nasty slipping, grating soundwhich 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 thesurface of the roof above. As I gained my feet I was confronted by the sentryon 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 themerest 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 fromthe building for the past hour. Quick, explain yourself, or I call theguard.”

“Look you here, sentry, and you shall see how I came and how close ashave I had to not coming at all,” I answered, turning toward the edge ofthe roof, where, twenty feet below, at the end of my strap, hung all myweapons.

The fellow, acting on impulse of curiosity, stepped to my side and to hisundoing, for as he leaned to peer over the eaves I grasped him by his throatand his pistol arm and threw him heavily to the roof. The weapon dropped fromhis grasp, and my fingers choked off his attempted cry for assistance. I gaggedand bound him and then hung him over the edge of the roof as I myself had hunga 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 bothmy machine and Kantos Kan’s. Making his fast behind mine I started myengine, and skimming over the edge of the roof I dove down into the streets ofthe city far below the plane usually occupied by the air patrol. In less than aminute I was settling safely upon the roof of our apartment beside theastonished Kantos Kan.

I lost no time in explanation, but plunged immediately into a discussion of ourplans for the immediate future. It was decided that I was to try to make Heliumwhile Kantos Kan was to enter the palace and dispatch Sab Than. If successfulhe was then to follow me. He set my compass for me, a clever little devicewhich will remain steadfastly fixed upon any given point on the surface ofBarsoom, and bidding each other farewell we rose together and sped in thedirection of the palace which lay in the route which I must take to reachHelium.

As we neared the high tower a patrol shot down from above, throwing itspiercing searchlight full upon my craft, and a voice roared out a command tohalt, following with a shot as I paid no attention to his hail. Kantos Kandropped quickly into the darkness, while I rose steadily and at terrific speedraced through the Martian sky followed by a dozen of the air-scout craft whichhad joined the pursuit, and later by a swift cruiser carrying a hundred men anda battery of rapid-fire guns. By twisting and turning my little machine, nowrising and now falling, I managed to elude their search-lights most of thetime, but I was also losing ground by these tactics, and so I decided to hazardeverything on a straight-away course and leave the result to fate and the speedof my machine.

Kantos Kan had shown me a trick of gearing, which is known only to the navy ofHelium, that greatly increased the speed of our machines, so that I felt sure Icould distance my pursuers if I could dodge their projectiles for a fewmoments.

As I sped through the air the screeching of the bullets around me convinced methat only by a miracle could I escape, but the die was cast, and throwing onfull speed I raced a straight course toward Helium. Gradually I left mypursuers further and further behind, and I was just congratulating myself on mylucky escape, when a well-directed shot from the cruiser exploded at the prowof my little craft. The concussion nearly capsized her, and with a sickeningplunge she hurtled downward through the dark night.

How far I fell before I regained control of the plane I do not know, but I musthave been very close to the ground when I started to rise again, as I plainlyheard the squealing of animals below me. Rising again I scanned the heavens formy pursuers, and finally making out their lights far behind me, saw that theywere landing, evidently in search of me.

Not until their lights were no longer discernible did I venture to flash mylittle lamp upon my compass, and then I found to my consternation that afragment of the projectile had utterly destroyed my only guide, as well as myspeedometer. It was true I could follow the stars in the general direction ofHelium, but without knowing the exact location of the city or the speed atwhich I was traveling my chances for finding it were slim.

Helium lies a thousand miles southwest of Zodanga, and with my compass intact Ishould 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 ofdead 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 ofall Barsoomian metropolises consists in two immense circular walled citiesabout seventy-five miles apart and would have been easily distinguishable fromthe altitude at which I was flying.

Believing that I had come too far to the north and west, I turned back in asoutheasterly direction, passing during the forenoon several other largecities, but none resembling the description which Kantos Kan had given me ofHelium. In addition to the twin-city formation of Helium, anotherdistinguishing feature is the two immense towers, one of vivid scarlet risingnearly a mile into the air from the center of one of the cities, while theother, 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 Iskimmed out across the plain beyond I came full upon several thousand greenwarriors engaged in a terrific battle. Scarcely had I seen them than a volleyof shots was directed at me, and with the almost unfailing accuracy of theiraim my little craft was instantly a ruined wreck, sinking erratically to theground.

I fell almost directly in the center of the fierce combat, among warriors whohad not seen my approach so busily were they engaged in life and deathstruggles. The men were fighting on foot with long-swords, while an occasionalshot from a sharpshooter on the outskirts of the conflict would bring down awarrior 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 goodchances of dying in any event, and so I struck the ground with drawn long-swordready to defend myself as I could.

I fell beside a huge monster who was engaged with three antagonists, and as Iglanced at his fierce face, filled with the light of battle, I recognized TarsTarkas the Thark. He did not see me, as I was a trifle behind him, and justthen the three warriors opposing him, and whom I recognized as Warhoons,charged simultaneously. The mighty fellow made quick work of one of them, butin stepping back for another thrust he fell over a dead body behind him and wasdown and at the mercy of his foes in an instant. Quick as lightning they wereupon him, and Tars Tarkas would have been gathered to his fathers in shortorder had I not sprung before his prostrate form and engaged his adversaries. Ihad accounted for one of them when the mighty Thark regained his feet andquickly settled the other.

He gave me one look, and a slight smile touched his grim lip as, touching myshoulder, he said,

“I would scarcely recognize you, John Carter, but there is no othermortal upon Barsoom who would have done what you have for me. I think I havelearned that there is such a thing as friendship, my friend.”

He said no more, nor was there opportunity, for the Warhoons were closing inabout 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 fierceWarhoon horde fell back upon their thoats, and fled into the gatheringdarkness.

Ten thousand men had been engaged in that titanic struggle, and upon the fieldof battle lay three thousand dead. Neither side asked or gave quarter, nor didthey attempt to take prisoners.

On our return to the city after the battle we had gone directly to TarsTarkas’ quarters, where I was left alone while the chieftain attended thecustomary council which immediately follows an engagement.

As I sat awaiting the return of the green warrior I heard something move in anadjoining apartment, and as I glanced up there rushed suddenly upon me a hugeand hideous creature which bore me backward upon the pile of silks and fursupon which I had been reclining. It was Woola—faithful, loving Woola. Hehad found his way back to Thark and, as Tars Tarkas later told me, had goneimmediately to my former quarters where he had taken up his pathetic andseemingly 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 andrecognized you as we were returning. Tal Hajus has ordered me to bring youbefore him tonight. I have ten thoats, John Carter; you may take your choicefrom among them, and I will accompany you to the nearest waterway that leads toHelium. Tars Tarkas may be a cruel green warrior, but he can be a friend aswell. Come, we must start.”

“And when you return, Tars Tarkas?” I asked.

“The wild calots, possibly, or worse,” he replied. “Unless Ishould chance to have the opportunity I have so long waited of battling withTal Hajus.”

“We will stay, Tars Tarkas, and see Tal Hajus tonight. You shall notsacrifice yourself, and it may be that tonight you can have the chance youwait.”

He objected strenuously, saying that Tal Hajus often flew into wild fits ofpassion at the mere thought of the blow I had dealt him, and that if ever helaid 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 methat night upon the sea bottom during the march to Thark.

He said but little, but the great muscles of his face worked in passion and inagony at recollection of the horrors which had been heaped upon the only thinghe had ever loved in all his cold, cruel, terrible existence.

He no longer demurred when I suggested that we go before Tal Hajus, only sayingthat he would like to speak to Sarkoja first. At his request I accompanied himto her quarters, and the look of venomous hatred she cast upon me was almostadequate recompense for any future misfortunes this accidental return to Tharkmight bring me.

“Sarkoja,” said Tars Tarkas, “forty years ago you wereinstrumental in bringing about the torture and death of a woman named Gozava. Ihave just discovered that the warrior who loved that woman has learned of yourpart 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 neckand the other end to a wild thoat, merely to test your fitness to survive andhelp perpetuate our race. Having heard that he would do this on the morrow, Ithought it only right to warn you, for I am a just man. The river Iss is but ashort 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 immediatelyadmitted to his presence; in fact, he could scarcely wait to see me and wasstanding erect upon his platform glowering at the entrance as I came in.

“Strap him to that pillar,” he shrieked. “We shall see who itis dares strike the mighty Tal Hajus. Heat the irons; with my own hands I shallburn the eyes from his head that he may not pollute my person with his vilegaze.”

“Chieftains of Thark,” I cried, turning to the assembled counciland ignoring Tal Hajus, “I have been a chief among you, and today I havefought for Thark shoulder to shoulder with her greatest warrior. You owe me, atleast, a hearing. I have won that much today. You claim to be a justpeople—”

“Silence,” roared Tal Hajus. “Gag the creature and bind himas I command.”

“Justice, Tal Hajus,” exclaimed Lorquas Ptomel. “Who are youto set aside the customs of ages among the Tharks.”

“Yes, justice!” echoed a dozen voices, and so, while Tal Hajusfumed and frothed, I continued.

“You are a brave people and you love bravery, but where was your mightyjeddak during the fighting today? I did not see him in the thick of battle; hewas not there. He rends defenseless women and little children in his lair, buthow recently has one of you seen him fight with men? Why, even I, a midgetbeside him, felled him with a single blow of my fist. Is it of such that theTharks fashion their jeddaks? There stands beside me now a great Thark, amighty warrior and a noble man. Chieftains, how sounds, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak ofThark?”

A roar of deep-toned applause greeted this suggestion.

“It but remains for this council to command, and Tal Hajus must prove hisfitness to rule. Were he a brave man he would invite Tars Tarkas to combat, forhe does not love him, but Tal Hajus is afraid; Tal Hajus, your jeddak, is acoward. 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 TalHajus. He did not speak or move, but the blotchy green of his countenanceturned 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 stillTal Hajus stood as though petrified.

“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 highin assent.

There was no alternative. That decree was final, and so Tal Hajus drew hislong-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 wonby my combats the first few weeks of my captivity among them.

Seeing the favorable disposition of the warriors toward Tars Tarkas, as well astoward me, I grasped the opportunity to enlist them in my cause againstZodanga. I told Tars Tarkas the story of my adventures, and in a few words hadexplained 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. DejahThoris, the Princess of Helium, who was our prisoner, is now held by the jeddakof Zodanga, whose son she must wed to save her country from devastation at thehands of the Zodangan forces.

“John Carter suggests that we rescue her and return her to Helium. Theloot of Zodanga would be magnificent, and I have often thought that had we analliance with the people of Helium we could obtain sufficient assurance ofsustenance to permit us to increase the size and frequency of our hatchings,and thus become unquestionably supreme among the green men of all Barsoom. Whatsay you?”

It was a chance to fight, an opportunity to loot, and they rose to the bait asa speckled trout to a fly.

For Tharks they were wildly enthusiastic, and before another half hour hadpassed twenty mounted messengers were speeding across dead sea bottoms to callthe 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 onthe promise of the great loot of Zodanga.

At the head of the column I rode beside the great Thark while at the heels ofmy mount trotted my beloved Woola.

We traveled entirely by night, timing our marches so that we camped during theday at deserted cities where, even to the beasts, we were all kept indoorsduring the daylight hours. On the march Tars Tarkas, through his remarkableability and statesmanship, enlisted fifty thousand more warriors from varioushordes, so that, ten days after we set out we halted at midnight outside thegreat walled city of Zodanga, one hundred and fifty thousand strong.

The fighting strength and efficiency of this horde of ferocious green monsterswas equivalent to ten times their number of red men. Never in the history ofBarsoom, Tars Tarkas told me, had such a force of green warriors marched tobattle together. It was a monstrous task to keep even a semblance of harmonyamong them, and it was a marvel to me that he got them to the city without amighty battle among themselves.

But as we neared Zodanga their personal quarrels were submerged by theirgreater hatred for the red men, and especially for the Zodangans, who had foryears 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 citydevolved upon me, and directing Tars Tarkas to hold his forces in two divisionsout of earshot of the city, with each division opposite a large gateway, I tooktwenty dismounted warriors and approached one of the small gates that piercedthe walls at short intervals. These gates have no regular guard, but arecovered by sentries, who patrol the avenue that encircles the city just withinthe walls as our metropolitan police patrol their beats.

The walls of Zodanga are seventy-five feet in height and fifty feet thick. Theyare built of enormous blocks of carborundum, and the task of entering the cityseemed, to my escort of green warriors, an impossibility. The fellows who hadbeen detailed to accompany me were of one of the smaller hordes, and thereforedid not know me.

Placing three of them with their faces to the wall and arms locked, I commandedtwo more to mount to their shoulders, and a sixth I ordered to climb upon theshoulders of the upper two. The head of the topmost warrior towered over fortyfeet from the ground.

In this way, with ten warriors, I built a series of three steps from the groundto the shoulders of the topmost man. Then starting from a short distance behindthem I ran swiftly up from one tier to the next, and with a final bound fromthe broad shoulders of the highest I clutched the top of the great wall andquietly drew myself to its broad expanse. After me I dragged six lengths ofleather from an equal number of my warriors. These lengths we had previouslyfastened together, and passing one end to the topmost warrior I lowered theother end cautiously over the opposite side of the wall toward the avenuebelow. 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 anothermoment 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 enormouspalace grounds. The building itself showed in the distance a blaze of gloriouslight, and on the instant I determined to lead a detachment of warriorsdirectly within the palace itself, while the balance of the great horde wasattacking the barracks of the soldiery.

Dispatching one of my men to Tars Tarkas for a detail of fifty Tharks, withword of my intentions, I ordered ten warriors to capture and open one of thegreat gates while with the nine remaining I took the other. We were to do ourwork quietly, no shots were to be fired and no general advance made until I hadreached the palace with my fifty Tharks. Our plans worked to perfection. Thetwo sentries we met were dispatched to their fathers upon the banks of the lostsea 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 TarsTarkas himself, rode in upon their mighty thoats. I led them to the palacewalls, which I negotiated easily without assistance. Once inside, however, thegate gave me considerable trouble, but I finally was rewarded by seeing itswing upon its huge hinges, and soon my fierce escort was riding across thegardens of the jeddak of Zodanga.

As we approached the palace I could see through the great windows of the firstfloor into the brilliantly illuminated audience chamber of Than Kosis. Theimmense hall was crowded with nobles and their women, as though some importantfunction 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 consideredimpregnable, 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 ofstate. 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 headof a procession which advanced to the foot of the throne.

First there marched four officers of the jeddak’s Guard bearing a hugesalver on which reposed, upon a cushion of scarlet silk, a great golden chainwith a collar and padlock at each end. Directly behind these officers came fourothers carrying a similar salver which supported the magnificent ornaments of aprince and princess of the reigning house of Zodanga.

At the foot of the throne these two parties separated and halted, facing eachother at opposite sides of the aisle. Then came more dignitaries, and theofficers of the palace and of the army, and finally two figures entirelymuffled in scarlet silk, so that not a feature of either was discernible. Thesetwo stopped at the foot of the throne, facing Than Kosis. When the balance ofthe procession had entered and assumed their stations Than Kosis addressed thecouple standing before him. I could not hear his words, but presently twoofficers advanced and removed the scarlet robe from one of the figures, and Isaw that Kantos Kan had failed in his mission, for it was Sab Than, Prince ofZodanga, who stood revealed before me.

Than Kosis now took a set of the ornaments from one of the salvers and placedone of the collars of gold about his son’s neck, springing the padlockfast. After a few more words addressed to Sab Than he turned to the otherfigure, from which the officers now removed the enshrouding silks, disclosingto my now comprehending view Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium.

The object of the ceremony was clear to me; in another moment Dejah Thoriswould be joined forever to the Prince of Zodanga. It was an impressive andbeautiful ceremony, I presume, but to me it seemed the most fiendish sight Ihad ever witnessed, and as the ornaments were adjusted upon her beautifulfigure and her collar of gold swung open in the hands of Than Kosis I raised mylong-sword above my head, and, with the heavy hilt, I shattered the glass ofthe great window and sprang into the midst of the astonished assemblage. With abound I was on the steps of the platform beside Than Kosis, and as he stoodriveted with surprise I brought my long-sword down upon the golden chain thatwould have bound Dejah Thoris to another.

In an instant all was confusion; a thousand drawn swords menaced me from everyquarter, and Sab Than sprang upon me with a jeweled dagger he had drawn fromhis nuptial ornaments. I could have killed him as easily as I might a fly, butthe age-old custom of Barsoom stayed my hand, and grasping his wrist as thedagger flew toward my heart I held him as though in a vise and with mylong-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 throughthe portals of the entranceway rode Tars Tarkas and his fifty warriors on theirgreat 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 uponthe 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 facingme, with drawn long-sword. In an instant we were engaged, and I found no meanantagonist.

As we circled upon the broad platform I saw Sab Than rushing up the steps toaid his father, but, as he raised his hand to strike, Dejah Thoris sprangbefore him and then my sword found the spot that made Sab Than jeddak ofZodanga. As his father rolled dead upon the floor the new jeddak tore himselffree from Dejah Thoris’ grasp, and again we faced each other. He was soonjoined by a quartet of officers, and, with my back against a golden throne, Ifought once again for Dejah Thoris. I was hard pressed to defend myself and yetnot strike down Sab Than and, with him, my last chance to win the woman Iloved. My blade was swinging with the rapidity of lightning as I sought toparry the thrusts and cuts of my opponents. Two I had disarmed, and one wasdown, when several more rushed to the aid of their new ruler, and to avenge thedeath of the old.

With my back against a golden throne, I fought once again for Dejah Thoris.

As they advanced there were cries of “The woman! The woman! Strike herdown; it is her plot. Kill her! Kill her!”

Calling to Dejah Thoris to get behind me I worked my way toward the littledoorway back of the throne, but the officers realized my intentions, and threeof them sprang in behind me and blocked my chances for gaining a position whereI could have defended Dejah Thoris against an army of swordsmen.

The Tharks were having their hands full in the center of the room, and I beganto 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 abouthim. With one swing of his mighty longsword he laid a dozen corpses at hisfeet, and so he hewed a pathway before him until in another moment he stoodupon 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 thegreat hall, other than Dejah Thoris and myself.

Sab Than lay dead beside his father, and the corpses of the flower of Zodangannobility and chivalry covered the floor of the bloody shambles.

My first thought when the battle was over was for Kantos Kan, and leaving DejahThoris in charge of Tars Tarkas I took a dozen warriors and hastened to thedungeons beneath the palace. The jailers had all left to join the fighters inthe 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, wesoon found him helpless in a dark recess.

He was overjoyed at seeing me, and to know the meaning of the fight, faintechoes of which had reached his prison cell. He told me that the air patrol hadcaptured him before he reached the high tower of the palace, so that he had noteven seen Sab Than.

We discovered that it would be futile to attempt to cut away the bars andchains which held him prisoner, so, at his suggestion I returned to search thebodies on the floor above for keys to open the padlocks of his cell and of hischains.

Fortunately among the first I examined I found his jailer, and soon we hadKantos Kan with us in the throne room.

The sounds of heavy firing, mingled with shouts and cries, came to us from thecity’s streets, and Tars Tarkas hastened away to direct the fightingwithout. Kantos Kan accompanied him to act as guide, the green warriorscommencing 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 greetedme with a wan smile.

“Was there ever such a man!” she exclaimed. “I know thatBarsoom has never before seen your like. Can it be that all Earth men are asyou? Alone, a stranger, hunted, threatened, persecuted, you have done in a fewshort months what in all the past ages of Barsoom no man has ever done: joinedtogether the wild hordes of the sea bottoms and brought them to fight as alliesof a red Martian people.”

“The answer is easy, Dejah Thoris,” I replied smiling. “Itwas not I who did it, it was love, love for Dejah Thoris, a power that wouldwork 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 amfree.”

“And more still I have to say, ere it is again too late,” Ireturned. “I have done many strange things in my life, many things thatwiser men would not have dared, but never in my wildest fancies have I dreamedof winning a Dejah Thoris for myself—for never had I dreamed that in allthe universe dwelt such a woman as the Princess of Helium. That you are aprincess does not abash me, but that you are you is enough to make me doubt mysanity as I ask you, my princess, to be mine.”

“He does not need to be abashed who so well knew the answer to his pleabefore the plea were made,” she replied, rising and placing her dearhands 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 ofwar; with death and destruction reaping their terrible harvest around her, didDejah 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 hadbeen completely reduced. Her forces were entirely destroyed or captured, and nofurther resistance was to be expected from within. Several battleships hadescaped, but there were thousands of war and merchant vessels under guard ofThark warriors.

The lesser hordes had commenced looting and quarreling among themselves, so itwas decided that we collect what warriors we could, man as many vessels aspossible with Zodangan prisoners and make for Helium without further loss oftime.

Five hours later we sailed from the roofs of the dock buildings with a fleet oftwo hundred and fifty battleships, carrying nearly one hundred thousand greenwarriors, followed by a fleet of transports with our thoats.

Behind us we left the stricken city in the fierce and brutal clutches of someforty thousand green warriors of the lesser hordes. They were looting,murdering, and fighting amongst themselves. In a hundred places they hadapplied the torch, and columns of dense smoke were rising above the city asthough 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 ofHelium, and a short time later a great fleet of Zodangan battleships rose fromthe camps of the besiegers without the city, and advanced to meet us.

The banners of Helium had been strung from stem to stern of each of our mightycraft, but the Zodangans did not need this sign to realize that we wereenemies, for our green Martian warriors had opened fire upon them almost asthey left the ground. With their uncanny marksmanship they raked the on-comingfleet with volley after volley.

The twin cities of Helium, perceiving that we were friends, sent out hundredsof vessels to aid us, and then began the first real air battle I had everwitnessed.

The vessels carrying our green warriors were kept circling above the contendingfleets of Helium and Zodanga, since their batteries were useless in the handsof the Tharks who, having no navy, have no skill in naval gunnery. Theirsmall-arm fire, however, was most effective, and the final outcome of theengagement was strongly influenced, if not wholly determined, by theirpresence.

At first the two forces circled at the same altitude, pouring broadside afterbroadside into each other. Presently a great hole was torn in the hull of oneof the immense battle craft from the Zodangan camp; with a lurch she turnedcompletely over, the little figures of her crew plunging, turning and twistingtoward the ground a thousand feet below; then with sickening velocity she toreafter them, almost completely burying herself in the soft loam of the ancientsea bottom.

A wild cry of exultation arose from the Heliumite squadron, and with redoubledferocity they fell upon the Zodangan fleet. By a pretty maneuver two of thevessels of Helium gained a position above their adversaries, from which theypoured upon them from their keel bomb batteries a perfect torrent of explodingbombs.

Then, one by one, the battleships of Helium succeeded in rising above theZodangans, and in a short time a number of the beleaguering battleships weredrifting hopeless wrecks toward the high scarlet tower of greater Helium.Several others attempted to escape, but they were soon surrounded by thousandsof tiny individual fliers, and above each hung a monster battleship of Heliumready to drop boarding parties upon their decks.

Within but little more than an hour from the moment the victorious Zodangansquadron had risen to meet us from the camp of the besiegers the battle wasover, and the remaining vessels of the conquered Zodangans were headed towardthe 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 besignalized by the voluntary plunging to earth of the commander of thevanquished vessel. One after another the brave fellows, holding their colorshigh above their heads, leaped from the towering bows of their mighty craft toan awful death.

Not until the commander of the entire fleet took the fearful plunge, thusindicating the surrender of the remaining vessels, did the fighting cease, andthe useless sacrifice of brave men come to an end.

We now signaled the flagship of Helium’s navy to approach, and when shewas within hailing distance I called out that we had the Princess Dejah Thorison board, and that we wished to transfer her to the flagship that she might betaken immediately to the city.

As the full import of my announcement bore in upon them a great cry arose fromthe decks of the flagship, and a moment later the colors of the Princess ofHelium broke from a hundred points upon her upper works. When the other vesselsof the squadron caught the meaning of the signals flashed them they took up thewild acclaim and unfurled her colors in the gleaming sunlight.

The flagship bore down upon us, and as she swung gracefully to and touched ourside a dozen officers sprang upon our decks. As their astonished gaze fell uponthe 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. Shereceived them gracefully, calling each by name, for they were men high in theesteem and service of her grandfather, and she knew them well.

“Lay your hands upon the shoulder of John Carter,” she said tothem, turning toward me, “the man to whom Helium owes her princess aswell as her victory today.”

They were very courteous to me and said many kind and complimentary things, butwhat seemed to impress them most was that I had won the aid of the fierceTharks in my campaign for the liberation of Dejah Thoris, and the relief ofHelium.

“You owe your thanks more to another man than to me,” I said,“and here he is; meet one of Barsoom’s greatest soldiers andstatesmen, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark.”

With the same polished courtesy that had marked their manner toward me theyextended their greetings to the great Thark, nor, to my surprise, was he muchbehind them in ease of bearing or in courtly speech. Though not a garrulousrace, the Tharks are extremely formal, and their ways lend themselves amazinglyto dignified and courtly manners.

Dejah Thoris went aboard the flagship, and was much put out that I would notfollow, but, as I explained to her, the battle was but partly won; we still hadthe land forces of the besieging Zodangans to account for, and I would notleave Tars Tarkas until that had been accomplished.

The commander of the naval forces of Helium promised to arrange to have thearmies of Helium attack from the city in conjunction with our land attack, andso the vessels separated and Dejah Thoris was borne in triumph back to thecourt of her grandfather, Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium.

In the distance lay our fleet of transports, with the thoats of the greenwarriors, where they had remained during the battle. Without landing stages itwas to be a difficult matter to unload these beasts upon the open plain, butthere was nothing else for it, and so we put out for a point about ten milesfrom the city and began the task.

It was necessary to lower the animals to the ground in slings and this workoccupied the remainder of the day and half the night. Twice we were attacked byparties of Zodangan cavalry, but with little loss, however, and after darknessshut 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 southand the east.

About a mile from the main camp we encountered their outposts and, as had beenprearranged, accepted this as the signal to charge. With wild, ferocious criesand amidst the nasty squealing of battle-enraged thoats we bore down upon theZodangans.

We did not catch them napping, but found a well-entrenched battle lineconfronting us. Time after time we were repulsed until, toward noon, I began tofear for the result of the battle.

The Zodangans numbered nearly a million fighting men, gathered from pole topole, wherever stretched their ribbon-like waterways, while pitted against themwere less than a hundred thousand green warriors. The forces from Helium hadnot arrived, nor could we receive any word from them.

Just at noon we heard heavy firing all along the line between the Zodangans andthe cities, and we knew then that our much-needed reinforcements had come.

Again Tars Tarkas ordered the charge, and once more the mighty thoats boretheir terrible riders against the ramparts of the enemy. At the same moment thebattle line of Helium surged over the opposite breastworks of the Zodangans andin another moment they were being crushed as between two millstones. Nobly theyfought, but in vain.

The plain before the city became a veritable shambles ere the last Zodangansurrendered, but finally the carnage ceased, the prisoners were marched back toHelium, and we entered the greater city’s gates, a huge triumphalprocession of conquering heroes.

The broad avenues were lined with women and children, among which were the fewmen whose duties necessitated that they remain within the city during thebattle. We were greeted with an endless round of applause and showered withornaments of gold, platinum, silver, and precious jewels. The city had gone madwith joy.

My fierce Tharks caused the wildest excitement and enthusiasm. Never before hadan armed body of green warriors entered the gates of Helium, and that they camenow as friends and allies filled the red men with rejoicing.

That my poor services to Dejah Thoris had become known to the Heliumites wasevidenced by the loud crying of my name, and by the loads of ornaments thatwere fastened upon me and my huge thoat as we passed up the avenues to thepalace, for even in the face of the ferocious appearance of Woola the populacepressed close about me.

As we approached this magnificent pile we were met by a party of officers whogreeted us warmly and requested that Tars Tarkas and his jeds with the jeddaksand jeds of his wild allies, together with myself, dismount and accompany themto 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 palacestood the royal party, and as we reached the lower steps one of their numberdescended 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 notneed 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 sealedforever the new friendship between the races.

“That Tardos Mors,” he said, earnestly, “may meet thegreatest living warrior of Barsoom is a priceless honor, but that he may layhis hand on the shoulder of a friend and ally is a far greater boon.”

“Jeddak of Helium,” returned Tars Tarkas, “it has remainedfor a man of another world to teach the green warriors of Barsoom the meaningof friendship; to him we owe the fact that the hordes of Thark can understandyou; that they can appreciate and reciprocate the sentiments so graciouslyexpressed.”

Tardos Mors then greeted each of the green jeddaks and jeds, and to each spokewords of friendship and appreciation.

As he approached me he laid both hands upon my shoulders.

“Welcome, my son,” he said; “that you are granted, gladly,and without one word of opposition, the most precious jewel in all Helium, yes,on all Barsoom, is sufficient earnest of my esteem.”

We were then presented to Mors Kajak, Jed of lesser Helium, and father of DejahThoris. He had followed close behind Tardos Mors and seemed even more affectedby the meeting than had his father.

He tried a dozen times to express his gratitude to me, but his voice chokedwith emotion and he could not speak, and yet he had, as I was to later learn, areputation for ferocity and fearlessness as a fighter that was remarkable evenupon warlike Barsoom. In common with all Helium he worshiped his daughter, norcould 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 andentertained, and, then, loaded with costly presents and escorted by tenthousand soldiers of Helium commanded by Mors Kajak, they started on the returnjourney to their own lands. The jed of lesser Helium with a small party ofnobles accompanied them all the way to Thark to cement more closely the newbonds of peace and friendship.

Sola also accompanied Tars Tarkas, her father, who before all his chieftainshad acknowledged her as his daughter.

Three weeks later, Mors Kajak and his officers, accompanied by Tars Tarkas andSola, returned upon a battleship that had been dispatched to Thark to fetchthem 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 aprince of the house of Tardos Mors. The people seemed never to tire of heapinghonors upon me, and no day passed that did not bring some new proof of theirlove for my princess, the incomparable Dejah Thoris.

In a golden incubator upon the roof of our palace lay a snow-white egg. Fornearly five years ten soldiers of the jeddak’s Guard had constantly stoodover it, and not a day passed when I was in the city that Dejah Thoris and Idid 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 inlow tones of the strange romance which had woven our lives together and of thiswonder which was coming to augment our happiness and fulfill our hopes.

In the distance we saw the bright-white light of an approaching airship, but weattached no special significance to so common a sight. Like a bolt of lightningit raced toward Helium until its very speed bespoke the unusual.

Flashing the signals which proclaimed it a dispatch bearer for the jeddak, itcircled impatiently awaiting the tardy patrol boat which must convoy it to thepalace docks.

Ten minutes after it touched at the palace a message called me to the councilchamber, which I found filling with the members of that body.

On the raised platform of the throne was Tardos Mors, pacing back and forthwith tense-drawn face. When all were in their seats he turned toward us.

“This morning,” he said, “word reached the severalgovernments of Barsoom that the keeper of the atmosphere plant had made nowireless report for two days, nor had almost ceaseless calls upon him from ascore of capitals elicited a sign of response.

“The ambassadors of the other nations asked us to take the matter in handand hasten the assistant keeper to the plant. All day a thousand cruisers havebeen searching for him until just now one of them returns bearing his deadbody, which was found in the pits beneath his house horribly mutilated by someassassin.

“I do not need to tell you what this means to Barsoom. It would takemonths 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 runas it should and as they all have for hundreds of years; but the worst, wefear, has happened. The instruments show a rapidly decreasing air pressure onall parts of Barsoom—the engine has stopped.”

“My gentlemen,” he concluded, “we have at best three days tolive.”

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 shownBarsoom how a nation of red men should live, now is our opportunity to showthem how they should die. Let us go about our duties as though a thousanduseful years still lay before us.”

The chamber rang with applause and as there was nothing better to do than toallay the fears of the people by our example we went our ways with smiles uponour faces and sorrow gnawing at our hearts.

When I returned to my palace I found that the rumor already had reached DejahThoris, so I told her all that I had heard.

“We have been very happy, John Carter,” she said, “and Ithank 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 themorning of the third day breathing became difficult at the higher altitudes ofthe rooftops. The avenues and plazas of Helium were filled with people. Allbusiness had ceased. For the most part the people looked bravely into the faceof their unalterable doom. Here and there, however, men and women gave way toquiet grief.

Toward the middle of the day many of the weaker commenced to succumb and withinan hour the people of Barsoom were sinking by thousands into theunconsciousness which precedes death by asphyxiation.

Dejah Thoris and I with the other members of the royal family had collected ina sunken garden within an inner courtyard of the palace. We conversed in lowtones, when we conversed at all, as the awe of the grim shadow of death creptover us. Even Woola seemed to feel the weight of the impending calamity, for hepressed close to Dejah Thoris and to me, whining pitifully.

The little incubator had been brought from the roof of our palace at request ofDejah Thoris and she sat gazing longingly upon the unknown little life that nowshe 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 areover. Tomorrow’s sun will look down upon a dead world which through alleternity must go swinging through the heavens peopled not even by memories. Itis the end.”

He stooped and kissed the women of his family, and laid his strong hand uponthe shoulders of the men.

As I turned sadly from him my eyes fell upon Dejah Thoris. Her head wasdrooping upon her breast, to all appearances she was lifeless. With a cry Isprang 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 loveyou! It is cruel that we must be torn apart who were just starting upon a lifeof love and happiness.”

As I pressed her dear lips to mine the old feeling of unconquerable power andauthority rose in me. The fighting blood of Virginia sprang to life in myveins.

“It shall not be, my princess,” I cried. “There is, theremust be some way, and John Carter, who has fought his way through a strangeworld for love of you, will find it.”

And with my words there crept above the threshold of my conscious mind a seriesof nine long forgotten sounds. Like a flash of lightning in the darkness theirfull purport dawned upon me—the key to the three great doors of theatmosphere plant!

Turning suddenly toward Tardos Mors as I still clasped my dying love to mybreast I cried.

“A flier, Jeddak! Quick! Order your swiftest flier to the palace top. Ican save Barsoom yet.”

He did not wait to question, but in an instant a guard was racing to thenearest dock and though the air was thin and almost gone at the rooftop theymanaged to launch the fastest one-man, air-scout machine that the skill ofBarsoom had ever produced.

Kissing Dejah Thoris a dozen times and commanding Woola, who would havefollowed me, to remain and guard her, I bounded with my old agility andstrength to the high ramparts of the palace, and in another moment I was headedtoward the goal of the hopes of all Barsoom.

I had to fly low to get sufficient air to breathe, but I took a straight courseacross 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 withdeath. The face of Dejah Thoris hung always before me. As I turned for a lastlook as I left the palace garden I had seen her stagger and sink upon theground beside the little incubator. That she had dropped into the last comawhich would end in death, if the air supply remained unreplenished, I wellknew, and so, throwing caution to the winds, I flung overboard everything butthe engine and compass, even to my ornaments, and lying on my belly along thedeck with one hand on the steering wheel and the other pushing the speed leverto its last notch I split the thin air of dying Mars with the speed of ameteor.

An hour before dark the great walls of the atmosphere plant loomed suddenlybefore me, and with a sickening thud I plunged to the ground before the smalldoor which was withholding the spark of life from the inhabitants of an entireplanet.

Beside the door a great crew of men had been laboring to pierce the wall, butthey had scarcely scratched the flint-like surface, and now most of them lay inthe last sleep from which not even air would awaken them.

Conditions seemed much worse here than at Helium, and it was with difficultythat I breathed at all. There were a few men still conscious, and to one ofthese I spoke.

“If I can open these doors is there a man who can start theengines?” I asked.

“I can,” he replied, “if you open quickly. I can last but afew moments more. But it is useless, they are both dead and no one else uponBarsoom knew the secret of these awful locks. For three days men crazed withfear have surged about this portal in vain attempts to solve itsmystery.”

I had no time to talk, I was becoming very weak and it was with difficulty thatI controlled my mind at all.

But, with a final effort, as I sank weakly to my knees I hurled the ninethought waves at that awful thing before me. The Martian had crawled to my sideand with staring eyes fixed on the single panel before us we waited in thesilence of death.

Slowly the mighty door receded before us. I attempted to rise and follow it butI was too weak.

“After it,” I cried to my companion, “and if you reach thepump room turn loose all the pumps. It is the only chance Barsoom has to existtomorrow!”

From where I lay I opened the second door, and then the third, and as I saw thehope of Barsoom crawling weakly on hands and knees through the last doorway Isank unconscious upon the ground.

CHAPTER XXVIII
AT THE ARIZONA CAVE

It was dark when I opened my eyes again. Strange, stiff garments were upon mybody; garments that cracked and powdered away from me as I rose to a sittingposture.

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. Beforeme 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 ofthese a small parcel of matches wrapped in oiled paper. One of these matches Istruck, and its dim flame lighted up what appeared to be a huge cave, towardthe back of which I discovered a strange, still figure huddled over a tinybench. As I approached it I saw that it was the dead and mummified remains of alittle old woman with long black hair, and the thing it leaned over was a smallcharcoal burner upon which rested a round copper vessel containing a smallquantity of greenish powder.

Behind her, depending from the roof upon rawhide thongs, and stretchingentirely across the cave, was a row of human skeletons. From the thong whichheld them stretched another to the dead hand of the little old woman; as Itouched the cord the skeletons swung to the motion with a noise as of therustling of dry leaves.

It was a most grotesque and horrid tableau and I hastened out into the freshair; glad to escape from so gruesome a place.

The sight that met my eyes as I stepped out upon a small ledge which ran beforethe entrance of the cave filled me with consternation.

A new heaven and a new landscape met my gaze. The silvered mountains in thedistance, the almost stationary moon hanging in the sky, the cacti-studdedvalley below me were not of Mars. I could scarce believe my eyes, but the truthslowly forced itself upon me—I was looking upon Arizona from the sameledge 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 fromthe cave.

Above me shone the red eye of Mars holding her awful secret, forty-eightmillion miles away.

Did the Martian reach the pump room? Did the vitalizing air reach the people ofthat distant planet in time to save them? Was my Dejah Thoris alive, or did herbeautiful body lie cold in death beside the tiny golden incubator in the sunkengarden of the inner courtyard of the palace of Tardos Mors, the jeddak ofHelium?

For ten years I have waited and prayed for an answer to my questions. For tenyears I have waited and prayed to be taken back to the world of my lost love. Iwould rather lie dead beside her there than live on Earth all those millions ofterrible miles from her.

The old mine, which I found untouched, has made me fabulously wealthy; but whatcare I for wealth!

As I sit here tonight in my little study overlooking the Hudson, just twentyyears 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, andtonight she seems calling to me again as she has not called before since thatlong dead night, and I think I can see, across that awful abyss of space, abeautiful black-haired woman standing in the garden of a palace, and at herside is a little boy who puts his arm around her as she points into the skytoward the planet Earth, while at their feet is a huge and hideous creaturewith a heart of gold.

I believe that they are waiting there for me, and something tells me that Ishall soon know.

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