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-The Project Gutenberg eBook of A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
-of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
-will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
-using this eBook.
-
-Title: A Princess of Mars
-
-Author: Edgar Rice Burroughs
-
-Illustrator: Frank E. Schoonover
-
-Release Date: April 26, 1993 [eBook #62]
-[Most recently updated: May 14, 2022]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-
-*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PRINCESS OF MARS ***
-
-[Illustration]
-
-
-
-
-A Princess of Mars
-
-by Edgar Rice Burroughs
-
-
-
-
-To My Son Jack
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
- FOREWORD
- CHAPTER I On the Arizona Hills
- CHAPTER II The Escape of the Dead
- CHAPTER III My Advent on Mars
- CHAPTER IV A Prisoner
- CHAPTER V I Elude My Watch Dog
- CHAPTER VI A Fight That Won Friends
- CHAPTER VII Child-Raising on Mars
- CHAPTER VIII A Fair Captive from the Sky
- CHAPTER IX I Learn the Language
- CHAPTER X Champion and Chief
- CHAPTER XI With Dejah Thoris
- CHAPTER XII A Prisoner with Power
- CHAPTER XIII Love-Making on Mars
- CHAPTER XIV A Duel to the Death
- CHAPTER XV Sola Tells Me Her Story
- CHAPTER XVI We Plan Escape
- CHAPTER XVII A Costly Recapture
- CHAPTER XVIII Chained in Warhoon
- CHAPTER XIX Battling in the Arena
- CHAPTER XX In the Atmosphere Factory
- CHAPTER XXI An Air Scout for Zodanga
- CHAPTER XXII I Find Dejah
- CHAPTER XXIII Lost in the Sky
- CHAPTER XXIV Tars Tarkas Finds a Friend
- CHAPTER XXV The Looting of Zodanga
- CHAPTER XXVI Through Carnage to Joy
- CHAPTER XXVII From Joy to Death
- CHAPTER XXVIII At the Arizona Cave
-
-
-
-
-ILLUSTRATIONS
-
- I sought out Dejah Thoris in the throng of departing chariots.
- She drew upon the marble floor the first map of the Barsoomian territory I had ever seen.
- The old man sat and talked with me for hours.
- With my back against a golden throne, I fought once again for Dejah Thoris.
-
-
-
-
-FOREWORD
-
-
-To the Reader of this Work:
-
-
-In submitting Captain Carter’s strange manuscript to you in book form,
-I believe that a few words relative to this remarkable personality will
-be of interest.
-
-My first recollection of Captain Carter is of the few months he spent
-at my father’s home in Virginia, just prior to the opening of the civil
-war. I was then a child of but five years, yet I well remember the
-tall, dark, smooth-faced, athletic man whom I called Uncle Jack.
-
-He seemed always to be laughing; and he entered into the sports of the
-children with the same hearty good fellowship he displayed toward those
-pastimes in which the men and women of his own age indulged; or he
-would sit for an hour at a time entertaining my old grandmother with
-stories of his strange, wild life in all parts of the world. We all
-loved him, and our slaves fairly worshipped the ground he trod.
-
-He was a splendid specimen of manhood, standing a good two inches over
-six feet, broad of shoulder and narrow of hip, with the carriage of the
-trained fighting man. His features were regular and clear cut, his hair
-black and closely cropped, while his eyes were of a steel gray,
-reflecting a strong and loyal character, filled with fire and
-initiative. His manners were perfect, and his courtliness was that of a
-typical southern gentleman of the highest type.
-
-His horsemanship, especially after hounds, was a marvel and delight
-even in that country of magnificent horsemen. I have often heard my
-father caution him against his wild recklessness, but he would only
-laugh, and say that the tumble that killed him would be from the back
-of a horse yet unfoaled.
-
-When the war broke out he left us, nor did I see him again for some
-fifteen or sixteen years. When he returned it was without warning, and
-I was much surprised to note that he had not aged apparently a moment,
-nor had he changed in any other outward way. He was, when others were
-with him, the same genial, happy fellow we had known of old, but when
-he thought himself alone I have seen him sit for hours gazing off into
-space, his face set in a look of wistful longing and hopeless misery;
-and at night he would sit thus looking up into the heavens, at what I
-did not know until I read his manuscript years afterward.
-
-He told us that he had been prospecting and mining in Arizona part of
-the time since the war; and that he had been very successful was
-evidenced by the unlimited amount of money with which he was supplied.
-As to the details of his life during these years he was very reticent,
-in fact he would not talk of them at all.
-
-He remained with us for about a year and then went to New York, where
-he purchased a little place on the Hudson, where I visited him once a
-year on the occasions of my trips to the New York market—my father and
-I owning and operating a string of general stores throughout Virginia
-at that time. Captain Carter had a small but beautiful cottage,
-situated on a bluff overlooking the river, and during one of my last
-visits, in the winter of 1885, I observed he was much occupied in
-writing, I presume now, upon this manuscript.
-
-He told me at this time that if anything should happen to him he wished
-me to take charge of his estate, and he gave me a key to a compartment
-in the safe which stood in his study, telling me I would find his will
-there and some personal instructions which he had me pledge myself to
-carry out with absolute fidelity.
-
-After I had retired for the night I have seen him from my window
-standing in the moonlight on the brink of the bluff overlooking the
-Hudson with his arms stretched out to the heavens as though in appeal.
-I thought at the time that he was praying, although I never understood
-that he was in the strict sense of the term a religious man.
-
-Several months after I had returned home from my last visit, the first
-of March, 1886, I think, I received a telegram from him asking me to
-come to him at once. I had always been his favorite among the younger
-generation of Carters and so I hastened to comply with his demand.
-
-I arrived at the little station, about a mile from his grounds, on the
-morning of March 4, 1886, and when I asked the livery man to drive me
-out to Captain Carter’s he replied that if I was a friend of the
-Captain’s he had some very bad news for me; the Captain had been found
-dead shortly after daylight that very morning by the watchman attached
-to an adjoining property.
-
-For some reason this news did not surprise me, but I hurried out to his
-place as quickly as possible, so that I could take charge of the body
-and of his affairs.
-
-I found the watchman who had discovered him, together with the local
-police chief and several townspeople, assembled in his little study.
-The watchman related the few details connected with the finding of the
-body, which he said had been still warm when he came upon it. It lay,
-he said, stretched full length in the snow with the arms outstretched
-above the head toward the edge of the bluff, and when he showed me the
-spot it flashed upon me that it was the identical one where I had seen
-him on those other nights, with his arms raised in supplication to the
-skies.
-
-There were no marks of violence on the body, and with the aid of a
-local physician the coroner’s jury quickly reached a decision of death
-from heart failure. Left alone in the study, I opened the safe and
-withdrew the contents of the drawer in which he had told me I would
-find my instructions. They were in part peculiar indeed, but I have
-followed them to each last detail as faithfully as I was able.
-
-He directed that I remove his body to Virginia without embalming, and
-that he be laid in an open coffin within a tomb which he previously had
-had constructed and which, as I later learned, was well ventilated. The
-instructions impressed upon me that I must personally see that this was
-carried out just as he directed, even in secrecy if necessary.
-
-His property was left in such a way that I was to receive the entire
-income for twenty-five years, when the principal was to become mine.
-His further instructions related to this manuscript which I was to
-retain sealed and unread, just as I found it, for eleven years; nor was
-I to divulge its contents until twenty-one years after his death.
-
-A strange feature about the tomb, where his body still lies, is that
-the massive door is equipped with a single, huge gold-plated spring
-lock which can be opened _only from the inside_.
-
-Yours very sincerely,
-Edgar Rice Burroughs.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-ON THE ARIZONA HILLS
-
-
-I am a very old man; how old I do not know. Possibly I am a hundred,
-possibly more; but I cannot tell because I have never aged as other
-men, nor do I remember any childhood. So far as I can recollect I have
-always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today as I did forty
-years and more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever;
-that some day I shall die the real death from which there is no
-resurrection. I do not know why I should fear death, I who have died
-twice and am still alive; but yet I have the same horror of it as you
-who have never died, and it is because of this terror of death, I
-believe, that I am so convinced of my mortality.
-
-And because of this conviction I have determined to write down the
-story of the interesting periods of my life and of my death. I cannot
-explain the phenomena; I can only set down here in the words of an
-ordinary soldier of fortune a chronicle of the strange events that
-befell me during the ten years that my dead body lay undiscovered in an
-Arizona cave.
-
-I have never told this story, nor shall mortal man see this manuscript
-until after I have passed over for eternity. I know that the average
-human mind will not believe what it cannot grasp, and so I do not
-purpose being pilloried by the public, the pulpit, and the press, and
-held up as a colossal liar when I am but telling the simple truths
-which some day science will substantiate. Possibly the suggestions
-which I gained upon Mars, and the knowledge which I can set down in
-this chronicle, will aid in an earlier understanding of the mysteries
-of our sister planet; mysteries to you, but no longer mysteries to me.
-
-My name is John Carter; I am better known as Captain Jack Carter of
-Virginia. At the close of the Civil War I found myself possessed of
-several hundred thousand dollars (Confederate) and a captain’s
-commission in the cavalry arm of an army which no longer existed; the
-servant of a state which had vanished with the hopes of the South.
-Masterless, penniless, and with my only means of livelihood, fighting,
-gone, I determined to work my way to the southwest and attempt to
-retrieve my fallen fortunes in a search for gold.
-
-I spent nearly a year prospecting in company with another Confederate
-officer, Captain James K. Powell of Richmond. We were extremely
-fortunate, for late in the winter of 1865, after many hardships and
-privations, we located the most remarkable gold-bearing quartz vein
-that our wildest dreams had ever pictured. Powell, who was a mining
-engineer by education, stated that we had uncovered over a million
-dollars worth of ore in a trifle over three months.
-
-As our equipment was crude in the extreme we decided that one of us
-must return to civilization, purchase the necessary machinery and
-return with a sufficient force of men properly to work the mine.
-
-As Powell was familiar with the country, as well as with the mechanical
-requirements of mining we determined that it would be best for him to
-make the trip. It was agreed that I was to hold down our claim against
-the remote possibility of its being jumped by some wandering
-prospector.
-
-On March 3, 1866, Powell and I packed his provisions on two of our
-burros, and bidding me good-bye he mounted his horse, and started down
-the mountainside toward the valley, across which led the first stage of
-his journey.
-
-The morning of Powell’s departure was, like nearly all Arizona
-mornings, clear and beautiful; I could see him and his little pack
-animals picking their way down the mountainside toward the valley, and
-all during the morning I would catch occasional glimpses of them as
-they topped a hog back or came out upon a level plateau. My last sight
-of Powell was about three in the afternoon as he entered the shadows of
-the range on the opposite side of the valley.
-
-Some half hour later I happened to glance casually across the valley
-and was much surprised to note three little dots in about the same
-place I had last seen my friend and his two pack animals. I am not
-given to needless worrying, but the more I tried to convince myself
-that all was well with Powell, and that the dots I had seen on his
-trail were antelope or wild horses, the less I was able to assure
-myself.
-
-Since we had entered the territory we had not seen a hostile Indian,
-and we had, therefore, become careless in the extreme, and were wont to
-ridicule the stories we had heard of the great numbers of these vicious
-marauders that were supposed to haunt the trails, taking their toll in
-lives and torture of every white party which fell into their merciless
-clutches.
-
-Powell, I knew, was well armed and, further, an experienced Indian
-fighter; but I too had lived and fought for years among the Sioux in
-the North, and I knew that his chances were small against a party of
-cunning trailing Apaches. Finally I could endure the suspense no
-longer, and, arming myself with my two Colt revolvers and a carbine, I
-strapped two belts of cartridges about me and catching my saddle horse,
-started down the trail taken by Powell in the morning.
-
-As soon as I reached comparatively level ground I urged my mount into a
-canter and continued this, where the going permitted, until, close upon
-dusk, I discovered the point where other tracks joined those of Powell.
-They were the tracks of unshod ponies, three of them, and the ponies
-had been galloping.
-
-I followed rapidly until, darkness shutting down, I was forced to await
-the rising of the moon, and given an opportunity to speculate on the
-question of the wisdom of my chase. Possibly I had conjured up
-impossible dangers, like some nervous old housewife, and when I should
-catch up with Powell would get a good laugh for my pains. However, I am
-not prone to sensitiveness, and the following of a sense of duty,
-wherever it may lead, has always been a kind of fetich with me
-throughout my life; which may account for the honors bestowed upon me
-by three republics and the decorations and friendships of an old and
-powerful emperor and several lesser kings, in whose service my sword
-has been red many a time.
-
-About nine o’clock the moon was sufficiently bright for me to proceed
-on my way and I had no difficulty in following the trail at a fast
-walk, and in some places at a brisk trot until, about midnight, I
-reached the water hole where Powell had expected to camp. I came upon
-the spot unexpectedly, finding it entirely deserted, with no signs of
-having been recently occupied as a camp.
-
-I was interested to note that the tracks of the pursuing horsemen, for
-such I was now convinced they must be, continued after Powell with only
-a brief stop at the hole for water; and always at the same rate of
-speed as his.
-
-I was positive now that the trailers were Apaches and that they wished
-to capture Powell alive for the fiendish pleasure of the torture, so I
-urged my horse onward at a most dangerous pace, hoping against hope
-that I would catch up with the red rascals before they attacked him.
-
-Further speculation was suddenly cut short by the faint report of two
-shots far ahead of me. I knew that Powell would need me now if ever,
-and I instantly urged my horse to his topmost speed up the narrow and
-difficult mountain trail.
-
-I had forged ahead for perhaps a mile or more without hearing further
-sounds, when the trail suddenly debouched onto a small, open plateau
-near the summit of the pass. I had passed through a narrow, overhanging
-gorge just before entering suddenly upon this table land, and the sight
-which met my eyes filled me with consternation and dismay.
-
-The little stretch of level land was white with Indian tepees, and
-there were probably half a thousand red warriors clustered around some
-object near the center of the camp. Their attention was so wholly
-riveted to this point of interest that they did not notice me, and I
-easily could have turned back into the dark recesses of the gorge and
-made my escape with perfect safety. The fact, however, that this
-thought did not occur to me until the following day removes any
-possible right to a claim to heroism to which the narration of this
-episode might possibly otherwise entitle me.
-
-I do not believe that I am made of the stuff which constitutes heroes,
-because, in all of the hundreds of instances that my voluntary acts
-have placed me face to face with death, I cannot recall a single one
-where any alternative step to that I took occurred to me until many
-hours later. My mind is evidently so constituted that I am
-subconsciously forced into the path of duty without recourse to
-tiresome mental processes. However that may be, I have never regretted
-that cowardice is not optional with me.
-
-In this instance I was, of course, positive that Powell was the center
-of attraction, but whether I thought or acted first I do not know, but
-within an instant from the moment the scene broke upon my view I had
-whipped out my revolvers and was charging down upon the entire army of
-warriors, shooting rapidly, and whooping at the top of my lungs.
-Singlehanded, I could not have pursued better tactics, for the red men,
-convinced by sudden surprise that not less than a regiment of regulars
-was upon them, turned and fled in every direction for their bows,
-arrows, and rifles.
-
-The view which their hurried routing disclosed filled me with
-apprehension and with rage. Under the clear rays of the Arizona moon
-lay Powell, his body fairly bristling with the hostile arrows of the
-braves. That he was already dead I could not but be convinced, and yet
-I would have saved his body from mutilation at the hands of the Apaches
-as quickly as I would have saved the man himself from death.
-
-Riding close to him I reached down from the saddle, and grasping his
-cartridge belt drew him up across the withers of my mount. A backward
-glance convinced me that to return by the way I had come would be more
-hazardous than to continue across the plateau, so, putting spurs to my
-poor beast, I made a dash for the opening to the pass which I could
-distinguish on the far side of the table land.
-
-The Indians had by this time discovered that I was alone and I was
-pursued with imprecations, arrows, and rifle balls. The fact that it is
-difficult to aim anything but imprecations accurately by moonlight,
-that they were upset by the sudden and unexpected manner of my advent,
-and that I was a rather rapidly moving target saved me from the various
-deadly projectiles of the enemy and permitted me to reach the shadows
-of the surrounding peaks before an orderly pursuit could be organized.
-
-My horse was traveling practically unguided as I knew that I had
-probably less knowledge of the exact location of the trail to the pass
-than he, and thus it happened that he entered a defile which led to the
-summit of the range and not to the pass which I had hoped would carry
-me to the valley and to safety. It is probable, however, that to this
-fact I owe my life and the remarkable experiences and adventures which
-befell me during the following ten years.
-
-My first knowledge that I was on the wrong trail came when I heard the
-yells of the pursuing savages suddenly grow fainter and fainter far off
-to my left.
-
-I knew then that they had passed to the left of the jagged rock
-formation at the edge of the plateau, to the right of which my horse
-had borne me and the body of Powell.
-
-I drew rein on a little level promontory overlooking the trail below
-and to my left, and saw the party of pursuing savages disappearing
-around the point of a neighboring peak.
-
-I knew the Indians would soon discover that they were on the wrong
-trail and that the search for me would be renewed in the right
-direction as soon as they located my tracks.
-
-I had gone but a short distance further when what seemed to be an
-excellent trail opened up around the face of a high cliff. The trail
-was level and quite broad and led upward and in the general direction I
-wished to go. The cliff arose for several hundred feet on my right, and
-on my left was an equal and nearly perpendicular drop to the bottom of
-a rocky ravine.
-
-I had followed this trail for perhaps a hundred yards when a sharp turn
-to the right brought me to the mouth of a large cave. The opening was
-about four feet in height and three to four feet wide, and at this
-opening the trail ended.
-
-It was now morning, and, with the customary lack of dawn which is a
-startling characteristic of Arizona, it had become daylight almost
-without warning.
-
-Dismounting, I laid Powell upon the ground, but the most painstaking
-examination failed to reveal the faintest spark of life. I forced water
-from my canteen between his dead lips, bathed his face and rubbed his
-hands, working over him continuously for the better part of an hour in
-the face of the fact that I knew him to be dead.
-
-I was very fond of Powell; he was thoroughly a man in every respect; a
-polished southern gentleman; a staunch and true friend; and it was with
-a feeling of the deepest grief that I finally gave up my crude
-endeavors at resuscitation.
-
-Leaving Powell’s body where it lay on the ledge I crept into the cave
-to reconnoiter. I found a large chamber, possibly a hundred feet in
-diameter and thirty or forty feet in height; a smooth and well-worn
-floor, and many other evidences that the cave had, at some remote
-period, been inhabited. The back of the cave was so lost in dense
-shadow that I could not distinguish whether there were openings into
-other apartments or not.
-
-As I was continuing my examination I commenced to feel a pleasant
-drowsiness creeping over me which I attributed to the fatigue of my
-long and strenuous ride, and the reaction from the excitement of the
-fight and the pursuit. I felt comparatively safe in my present location
-as I knew that one man could defend the trail to the cave against an
-army.
-
-I soon became so drowsy that I could scarcely resist the strong desire
-to throw myself on the floor of the cave for a few moments’ rest, but I
-knew that this would never do, as it would mean certain death at the
-hands of my red friends, who might be upon me at any moment. With an
-effort I started toward the opening of the cave only to reel drunkenly
-against a side wall, and from there slip prone upon the floor.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-THE ESCAPE OF THE DEAD
-
-
-A sense of delicious dreaminess overcame me, my muscles relaxed, and I
-was on the point of giving way to my desire to sleep when the sound of
-approaching horses reached my ears. I attempted to spring to my feet
-but was horrified to discover that my muscles refused to respond to my
-will. I was now thoroughly awake, but as unable to move a muscle as
-though turned to stone. It was then, for the first time, that I noticed
-a slight vapor filling the cave. It was extremely tenuous and only
-noticeable against the opening which led to daylight. There also came
-to my nostrils a faintly pungent odor, and I could only assume that I
-had been overcome by some poisonous gas, but why I should retain my
-mental faculties and yet be unable to move I could not fathom.
-
-I lay facing the opening of the cave and where I could see the short
-stretch of trail which lay between the cave and the turn of the cliff
-around which the trail led. The noise of the approaching horses had
-ceased, and I judged the Indians were creeping stealthily upon me along
-the little ledge which led to my living tomb. I remember that I hoped
-they would make short work of me as I did not particularly relish the
-thought of the innumerable things they might do to me if the spirit
-prompted them.
-
-I had not long to wait before a stealthy sound apprised me of their
-nearness, and then a war-bonneted, paint-streaked face was thrust
-cautiously around the shoulder of the cliff, and savage eyes looked
-into mine. That he could see me in the dim light of the cave I was sure
-for the early morning sun was falling full upon me through the opening.
-
-The fellow, instead of approaching, merely stood and stared; his eyes
-bulging and his jaw dropped. And then another savage face appeared, and
-a third and fourth and fifth, craning their necks over the shoulders of
-their fellows whom they could not pass upon the narrow ledge. Each face
-was the picture of awe and fear, but for what reason I did not know,
-nor did I learn until ten years later. That there were still other
-braves behind those who regarded me was apparent from the fact that the
-leaders passed back whispered word to those behind them.
-
-Suddenly a low but distinct moaning sound issued from the recesses of
-the cave behind me, and, as it reached the ears of the Indians, they
-turned and fled in terror, panic-stricken. So frantic were their
-efforts to escape from the unseen thing behind me that one of the
-braves was hurled headlong from the cliff to the rocks below. Their
-wild cries echoed in the canyon for a short time, and then all was
-still once more.
-
-The sound which had frightened them was not repeated, but it had been
-sufficient as it was to start me speculating on the possible horror
-which lurked in the shadows at my back. Fear is a relative term and so
-I can only measure my feelings at that time by what I had experienced
-in previous positions of danger and by those that I have passed through
-since; but I can say without shame that if the sensations I endured
-during the next few minutes were fear, then may God help the coward,
-for cowardice is of a surety its own punishment.
-
-To be held paralyzed, with one’s back toward some horrible and unknown
-danger from the very sound of which the ferocious Apache warriors turn
-in wild stampede, as a flock of sheep would madly flee from a pack of
-wolves, seems to me the last word in fearsome predicaments for a man
-who had ever been used to fighting for his life with all the energy of
-a powerful physique.
-
-Several times I thought I heard faint sounds behind me as of somebody
-moving cautiously, but eventually even these ceased, and I was left to
-the contemplation of my position without interruption. I could but
-vaguely conjecture the cause of my paralysis, and my only hope lay in
-that it might pass off as suddenly as it had fallen upon me.
-
-Late in the afternoon my horse, which had been standing with dragging
-rein before the cave, started slowly down the trail, evidently in
-search of food and water, and I was left alone with my mysterious
-unknown companion and the dead body of my friend, which lay just within
-my range of vision upon the ledge where I had placed it in the early
-morning.
-
-From then until possibly midnight all was silence, the silence of the
-dead; then, suddenly, the awful moan of the morning broke upon my
-startled ears, and there came again from the black shadows the sound of
-a moving thing, and a faint rustling as of dead leaves. The shock to my
-already overstrained nervous system was terrible in the extreme, and
-with a superhuman effort I strove to break my awful bonds. It was an
-effort of the mind, of the will, of the nerves; not muscular, for I
-could not move even so much as my little finger, but none the less
-mighty for all that. And then something gave, there was a momentary
-feeling of nausea, a sharp click as of the snapping of a steel wire,
-and I stood with my back against the wall of the cave facing my unknown
-foe.
-
-And then the moonlight flooded the cave, and there before me lay my own
-body as it had been lying all these hours, with the eyes staring toward
-the open ledge and the hands resting limply upon the ground. I looked
-first at my lifeless clay there upon the floor of the cave and then
-down at myself in utter bewilderment; for there I lay clothed, and yet
-here I stood but naked as at the minute of my birth.
-
-The transition had been so sudden and so unexpected that it left me for
-a moment forgetful of aught else than my strange metamorphosis. My
-first thought was, is this then death! Have I indeed passed over
-forever into that other life! But I could not well believe this, as I
-could feel my heart pounding against my ribs from the exertion of my
-efforts to release myself from the anaesthesis which had held me. My
-breath was coming in quick, short gasps, cold sweat stood out from
-every pore of my body, and the ancient experiment of pinching revealed
-the fact that I was anything other than a wraith.
-
-Again was I suddenly recalled to my immediate surroundings by a
-repetition of the weird moan from the depths of the cave. Naked and
-unarmed as I was, I had no desire to face the unseen thing which
-menaced me.
-
-My revolvers were strapped to my lifeless body which, for some
-unfathomable reason, I could not bring myself to touch. My carbine was
-in its boot, strapped to my saddle, and as my horse had wandered off I
-was left without means of defense. My only alternative seemed to lie in
-flight and my decision was crystallized by a recurrence of the rustling
-sound from the thing which now seemed, in the darkness of the cave and
-to my distorted imagination, to be creeping stealthily upon me.
-
-Unable longer to resist the temptation to escape this horrible place I
-leaped quickly through the opening into the starlight of a clear
-Arizona night. The crisp, fresh mountain air outside the cave acted as
-an immediate tonic and I felt new life and new courage coursing through
-me. Pausing upon the brink of the ledge I upbraided myself for what now
-seemed to me wholly unwarranted apprehension. I reasoned with myself
-that I had lain helpless for many hours within the cave, yet nothing
-had molested me, and my better judgment, when permitted the direction
-of clear and logical reasoning, convinced me that the noises I had
-heard must have resulted from purely natural and harmless causes;
-probably the conformation of the cave was such that a slight breeze had
-caused the sounds I heard.
-
-I decided to investigate, but first I lifted my head to fill my lungs
-with the pure, invigorating night air of the mountains. As I did so I
-saw stretching far below me the beautiful vista of rocky gorge, and
-level, cacti-studded flat, wrought by the moonlight into a miracle of
-soft splendor and wondrous enchantment.
-
-Few western wonders are more inspiring than the beauties of an Arizona
-moonlit landscape; the silvered mountains in the distance, the strange
-lights and shadows upon hog back and arroyo, and the grotesque details
-of the stiff, yet beautiful cacti form a picture at once enchanting and
-inspiring; as though one were catching for the first time a glimpse of
-some dead and forgotten world, so different is it from the aspect of
-any other spot upon our earth.
-
-As I stood thus meditating, I turned my gaze from the landscape to the
-heavens where the myriad stars formed a gorgeous and fitting canopy for
-the wonders of the earthly scene. My attention was quickly riveted by a
-large red star close to the distant horizon. As I gazed upon it I felt
-a spell of overpowering fascination—it was Mars, the god of war, and
-for me, the fighting man, it had always held the power of irresistible
-enchantment. As I gazed at it on that far-gone night it seemed to call
-across the unthinkable void, to lure me to it, to draw me as the
-lodestone attracts a particle of iron.
-
-My longing was beyond the power of opposition; I closed my eyes,
-stretched out my arms toward the god of my vocation and felt myself
-drawn with the suddenness of thought through the trackless immensity of
-space. There was an instant of extreme cold and utter darkness.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-MY ADVENT ON MARS
-
-
-I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I knew that I was
-on Mars; not once did I question either my sanity or my wakefulness. I
-was not asleep, no need for pinching here; my inner consciousness told
-me as plainly that I was upon Mars as your conscious mind tells you
-that you are upon Earth. You do not question the fact; neither did I.
-
-I found myself lying prone upon a bed of yellowish, mosslike vegetation
-which stretched around me in all directions for interminable miles. I
-seemed to be lying in a deep, circular basin, along the outer verge of
-which I could distinguish the irregularities of low hills.
-
-It was midday, the sun was shining full upon me and the heat of it was
-rather intense upon my naked body, yet no greater than would have been
-true under similar conditions on an Arizona desert. Here and there were
-slight outcroppings of quartz-bearing rock which glistened in the
-sunlight; and a little to my left, perhaps a hundred yards, appeared a
-low, walled enclosure about four feet in height. No water, and no other
-vegetation than the moss was in evidence, and as I was somewhat thirsty
-I determined to do a little exploring.
-
-Springing to my feet I received my first Martian surprise, for the
-effort, which on Earth would have brought me standing upright, carried
-me into the Martian air to the height of about three yards. I alighted
-softly upon the ground, however, without appreciable shock or jar. Now
-commenced a series of evolutions which even then seemed ludicrous in
-the extreme. I found that I must learn to walk all over again, as the
-muscular exertion which carried me easily and safely upon Earth played
-strange antics with me upon Mars.
-
-Instead of progressing in a sane and dignified manner, my attempts to
-walk resulted in a variety of hops which took me clear of the ground a
-couple of feet at each step and landed me sprawling upon my face or
-back at the end of each second or third hop. My muscles, perfectly
-attuned and accustomed to the force of gravity on Earth, played the
-mischief with me in attempting for the first time to cope with the
-lesser gravitation and lower air pressure on Mars.
-
-I was determined, however, to explore the low structure which was the
-only evidence of habitation in sight, and so I hit upon the unique plan
-of reverting to first principles in locomotion, creeping. I did fairly
-well at this and in a few moments had reached the low, encircling wall
-of the enclosure.
-
-There appeared to be no doors or windows upon the side nearest me, but
-as the wall was but about four feet high I cautiously gained my feet
-and peered over the top upon the strangest sight it had ever been given
-me to see.
-
-The roof of the enclosure was of solid glass about four or five inches
-in thickness, and beneath this were several hundred large eggs,
-perfectly round and snowy white. The eggs were nearly uniform in size
-being about two and one-half feet in diameter.
-
-Five or six had already hatched and the grotesque caricatures which sat
-blinking in the sunlight were enough to cause me to doubt my sanity.
-They seemed mostly head, with little scrawny bodies, long necks and six
-legs, or, as I afterward learned, two legs and two arms, with an
-intermediary pair of limbs which could be used at will either as arms
-or legs. Their eyes were set at the extreme sides of their heads a
-trifle above the center and protruded in such a manner that they could
-be directed either forward or back and also independently of each
-other, thus permitting this queer animal to look in any direction, or
-in two directions at once, without the necessity of turning the head.
-
-The ears, which were slightly above the eyes and closer together, were
-small, cup-shaped antennae, protruding not more than an inch on these
-young specimens. Their noses were but longitudinal slits in the center
-of their faces, midway between their mouths and ears.
-
-There was no hair on their bodies, which were of a very light
-yellowish-green color. In the adults, as I was to learn quite soon,
-this color deepens to an olive green and is darker in the male than in
-the female. Further, the heads of the adults are not so out of
-proportion to their bodies as in the case of the young.
-
-The iris of the eyes is blood red, as in Albinos, while the pupil is
-dark. The eyeball itself is very white, as are the teeth. These latter
-add a most ferocious appearance to an otherwise fearsome and terrible
-countenance, as the lower tusks curve upward to sharp points which end
-about where the eyes of earthly human beings are located. The whiteness
-of the teeth is not that of ivory, but of the snowiest and most
-gleaming of china. Against the dark background of their olive skins
-their tusks stand out in a most striking manner, making these weapons
-present a singularly formidable appearance.
-
-Most of these details I noted later, for I was given but little time to
-speculate on the wonders of my new discovery. I had seen that the eggs
-were in the process of hatching, and as I stood watching the hideous
-little monsters break from their shells I failed to note the approach
-of a score of full-grown Martians from behind me.
-
-Coming, as they did, over the soft and soundless moss, which covers
-practically the entire surface of Mars with the exception of the frozen
-areas at the poles and the scattered cultivated districts, they might
-have captured me easily, but their intentions were far more sinister.
-It was the rattling of the accouterments of the foremost warrior which
-warned me.
-
-On such a little thing my life hung that I often marvel that I escaped
-so easily. Had not the rifle of the leader of the party swung from its
-fastenings beside his saddle in such a way as to strike against the
-butt of his great metal-shod spear I should have snuffed out without
-ever knowing that death was near me. But the little sound caused me to
-turn, and there upon me, not ten feet from my breast, was the point of
-that huge spear, a spear forty feet long, tipped with gleaming metal,
-and held low at the side of a mounted replica of the little devils I
-had been watching.
-
-But how puny and harmless they now looked beside this huge and terrific
-incarnation of hate, of vengeance and of death. The man himself, for
-such I may call him, was fully fifteen feet in height and, on Earth,
-would have weighed some four hundred pounds. He sat his mount as we sit
-a horse, grasping the animal’s barrel with his lower limbs, while the
-hands of his two right arms held his immense spear low at the side of
-his mount; his two left arms were outstretched laterally to help
-preserve his balance, the thing he rode having neither bridle or reins
-of any description for guidance.
-
-And his mount! How can earthly words describe it! It towered ten feet
-at the shoulder; had four legs on either side; a broad flat tail,
-larger at the tip than at the root, and which it held straight out
-behind while running; a gaping mouth which split its head from its
-snout to its long, massive neck.
-
-Like its master, it was entirely devoid of hair, but was of a dark
-slate color and exceeding smooth and glossy. Its belly was white, and
-its legs shaded from the slate of its shoulders and hips to a vivid
-yellow at the feet. The feet themselves were heavily padded and
-nailless, which fact had also contributed to the noiselessness of their
-approach, and, in common with a multiplicity of legs, is a
-characteristic feature of the fauna of Mars. The highest type of man
-and one other animal, the only mammal existing on Mars, alone have
-well-formed nails, and there are absolutely no hoofed animals in
-existence there.
-
-Behind this first charging demon trailed nineteen others, similar in
-all respects, but, as I learned later, bearing individual
-characteristics peculiar to themselves; precisely as no two of us are
-identical although we are all cast in a similar mold. This picture, or
-rather materialized nightmare, which I have described at length, made
-but one terrible and swift impression on me as I turned to meet it.
-
-Unarmed and naked as I was, the first law of nature manifested itself
-in the only possible solution of my immediate problem, and that was to
-get out of the vicinity of the point of the charging spear.
-Consequently I gave a very earthly and at the same time superhuman leap
-to reach the top of the Martian incubator, for such I had determined it
-must be.
-
-My effort was crowned with a success which appalled me no less than it
-seemed to surprise the Martian warriors, for it carried me fully thirty
-feet into the air and landed me a hundred feet from my pursuers and on
-the opposite side of the enclosure.
-
-I alighted upon the soft moss easily and without mishap, and turning
-saw my enemies lined up along the further wall. Some were surveying me
-with expressions which I afterward discovered marked extreme
-astonishment, and the others were evidently satisfying themselves that
-I had not molested their young.
-
-They were conversing together in low tones, and gesticulating and
-pointing toward me. Their discovery that I had not harmed the little
-Martians, and that I was unarmed, must have caused them to look upon me
-with less ferocity; but, as I was to learn later, the thing which
-weighed most in my favor was my exhibition of hurdling.
-
-While the Martians are immense, their bones are very large and they are
-muscled only in proportion to the gravitation which they must overcome.
-The result is that they are infinitely less agile and less powerful, in
-proportion to their weight, than an Earth man, and I doubt that were
-one of them suddenly to be transported to Earth he could lift his own
-weight from the ground; in fact, I am convinced that he could not do
-so.
-
-My feat then was as marvelous upon Mars as it would have been upon
-Earth, and from desiring to annihilate me they suddenly looked upon me
-as a wonderful discovery to be captured and exhibited among their
-fellows.
-
-The respite my unexpected agility had given me permitted me to
-formulate plans for the immediate future and to note more closely the
-appearance of the warriors, for I could not disassociate these people
-in my mind from those other warriors who, only the day before, had been
-pursuing me.
-
-I noted that each was armed with several other weapons in addition to
-the huge spear which I have described. The weapon which caused me to
-decide against an attempt at escape by flight was what was evidently a
-rifle of some description, and which I felt, for some reason, they were
-peculiarly efficient in handling.
-
-These rifles were of a white metal stocked with wood, which I learned
-later was a very light and intensely hard growth much prized on Mars,
-and entirely unknown to us denizens of Earth. The metal of the barrel
-is an alloy composed principally of aluminum and steel which they have
-learned to temper to a hardness far exceeding that of the steel with
-which we are familiar. The weight of these rifles is comparatively
-little, and with the small caliber, explosive, radium projectiles which
-they use, and the great length of the barrel, they are deadly in the
-extreme and at ranges which would be unthinkable on Earth. The
-theoretic effective radius of this rifle is three hundred miles, but
-the best they can do in actual service when equipped with their
-wireless finders and sighters is but a trifle over two hundred miles.
-
-This is quite far enough to imbue me with great respect for the Martian
-firearm, and some telepathic force must have warned me against an
-attempt to escape in broad daylight from under the muzzles of twenty of
-these death-dealing machines.
-
-The Martians, after conversing for a short time, turned and rode away
-in the direction from which they had come, leaving one of their number
-alone by the enclosure. When they had covered perhaps two hundred yards
-they halted, and turning their mounts toward us sat watching the
-warrior by the enclosure.
-
-He was the one whose spear had so nearly transfixed me, and was
-evidently the leader of the band, as I had noted that they seemed to
-have moved to their present position at his direction. When his force
-had come to a halt he dismounted, threw down his spear and small arms,
-and came around the end of the incubator toward me, entirely unarmed
-and as naked as I, except for the ornaments strapped upon his head,
-limbs, and breast.
-
-When he was within about fifty feet of me he unclasped an enormous
-metal armlet, and holding it toward me in the open palm of his hand,
-addressed me in a clear, resonant voice, but in a language, it is
-needless to say, I could not understand. He then stopped as though
-waiting for my reply, pricking up his antennae-like ears and cocking
-his strange-looking eyes still further toward me.
-
-As the silence became painful I concluded to hazard a little
-conversation on my own part, as I had guessed that he was making
-overtures of peace. The throwing down of his weapons and the
-withdrawing of his troop before his advance toward me would have
-signified a peaceful mission anywhere on Earth, so why not, then, on
-Mars!
-
-Placing my hand over my heart I bowed low to the Martian and explained
-to him that while I did not understand his language, his actions spoke
-for the peace and friendship that at the present moment were most dear
-to my heart. Of course I might have been a babbling brook for all the
-intelligence my speech carried to him, but he understood the action
-with which I immediately followed my words.
-
-Stretching my hand toward him, I advanced and took the armlet from his
-open palm, clasping it about my arm above the elbow; smiled at him and
-stood waiting. His wide mouth spread into an answering smile, and
-locking one of his intermediary arms in mine we turned and walked back
-toward his mount. At the same time he motioned his followers to
-advance. They started toward us on a wild run, but were checked by a
-signal from him. Evidently he feared that were I to be really
-frightened again I might jump entirely out of the landscape.
-
-He exchanged a few words with his men, motioned to me that I would ride
-behind one of them, and then mounted his own animal. The fellow
-designated reached down two or three hands and lifted me up behind him
-on the glossy back of his mount, where I hung on as best I could by the
-belts and straps which held the Martian’s weapons and ornaments.
-
-The entire cavalcade then turned and galloped away toward the range of
-hills in the distance.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-A PRISONER
-
-
-We had gone perhaps ten miles when the ground began to rise very
-rapidly. We were, as I was later to learn, nearing the edge of one of
-Mars’ long-dead seas, in the bottom of which my encounter with the
-Martians had taken place.
-
-In a short time we gained the foot of the mountains, and after
-traversing a narrow gorge came to an open valley, at the far extremity
-of which was a low table land upon which I beheld an enormous city.
-Toward this we galloped, entering it by what appeared to be a ruined
-roadway leading out from the city, but only to the edge of the table
-land, where it ended abruptly in a flight of broad steps.
-
-Upon closer observation I saw as we passed them that the buildings were
-deserted, and while not greatly decayed had the appearance of not
-having been tenanted for years, possibly for ages. Toward the center of
-the city was a large plaza, and upon this and in the buildings
-immediately surrounding it were camped some nine or ten hundred
-creatures of the same breed as my captors, for such I now considered
-them despite the suave manner in which I had been trapped.
-
-With the exception of their ornaments all were naked. The women varied
-in appearance but little from the men, except that their tusks were
-much larger in proportion to their height, in some instances curving
-nearly to their high-set ears. Their bodies were smaller and lighter in
-color, and their fingers and toes bore the rudiments of nails, which
-were entirely lacking among the males. The adult females ranged in
-height from ten to twelve feet.
-
-The children were light in color, even lighter than the women, and all
-looked precisely alike to me, except that some were taller than others;
-older, I presumed.
-
-I saw no signs of extreme age among them, nor is there any appreciable
-difference in their appearance from the age of maturity, about forty,
-until, at about the age of one thousand years, they go voluntarily upon
-their last strange pilgrimage down the river Iss, which leads no living
-Martian knows whither and from whose bosom no Martian has ever
-returned, or would be allowed to live did he return after once
-embarking upon its cold, dark waters.
-
-Only about one Martian in a thousand dies of sickness or disease, and
-possibly about twenty take the voluntary pilgrimage. The other nine
-hundred and seventy-nine die violent deaths in duels, in hunting, in
-aviation and in war; but perhaps by far the greatest death loss comes
-during the age of childhood, when vast numbers of the little Martians
-fall victims to the great white apes of Mars.
-
-The average life expectancy of a Martian after the age of maturity is
-about three hundred years, but would be nearer the one-thousand mark
-were it not for the various means leading to violent death. Owing to
-the waning resources of the planet it evidently became necessary to
-counteract the increasing longevity which their remarkable skill in
-therapeutics and surgery produced, and so human life has come to be
-considered but lightly on Mars, as is evidenced by their dangerous
-sports and the almost continual warfare between the various
-communities.
-
-There are other and natural causes tending toward a diminution of
-population, but nothing contributes so greatly to this end as the fact
-that no male or female Martian is ever voluntarily without a weapon of
-destruction.
-
-As we neared the plaza and my presence was discovered we were
-immediately surrounded by hundreds of the creatures who seemed anxious
-to pluck me from my seat behind my guard. A word from the leader of the
-party stilled their clamor, and we proceeded at a trot across the plaza
-to the entrance of as magnificent an edifice as mortal eye has rested
-upon.
-
-The building was low, but covered an enormous area. It was constructed
-of gleaming white marble inlaid with gold and brilliant stones which
-sparkled and scintillated in the sunlight. The main entrance was some
-hundred feet in width and projected from the building proper to form a
-huge canopy above the entrance hall. There was no stairway, but a
-gentle incline to the first floor of the building opened into an
-enormous chamber encircled by galleries.
-
-On the floor of this chamber, which was dotted with highly carved
-wooden desks and chairs, were assembled about forty or fifty male
-Martians around the steps of a rostrum. On the platform proper squatted
-an enormous warrior heavily loaded with metal ornaments, gay-colored
-feathers and beautifully wrought leather trappings ingeniously set with
-precious stones. From his shoulders depended a short cape of white fur
-lined with brilliant scarlet silk.
-
-What struck me as most remarkable about this assemblage and the hall in
-which they were congregated was the fact that the creatures were
-entirely out of proportion to the desks, chairs, and other furnishings;
-these being of a size adapted to human beings such as I, whereas the
-great bulks of the Martians could scarcely have squeezed into the
-chairs, nor was there room beneath the desks for their long legs.
-Evidently, then, there were other denizens on Mars than the wild and
-grotesque creatures into whose hands I had fallen, but the evidences of
-extreme antiquity which showed all around me indicated that these
-buildings might have belonged to some long-extinct and forgotten race
-in the dim antiquity of Mars.
-
-Our party had halted at the entrance to the building, and at a sign
-from the leader I had been lowered to the ground. Again locking his arm
-in mine, we had proceeded into the audience chamber. There were few
-formalities observed in approaching the Martian chieftain. My captor
-merely strode up to the rostrum, the others making way for him as he
-advanced. The chieftain rose to his feet and uttered the name of my
-escort who, in turn, halted and repeated the name of the ruler followed
-by his title.
-
-At the time, this ceremony and the words they uttered meant nothing to
-me, but later I came to know that this was the customary greeting
-between green Martians. Had the men been strangers, and therefore
-unable to exchange names, they would have silently exchanged ornaments,
-had their missions been peaceful—otherwise they would have exchanged
-shots, or have fought out their introduction with some other of their
-various weapons.
-
-My captor, whose name was Tars Tarkas, was virtually the vice-chieftain
-of the community, and a man of great ability as a statesman and
-warrior. He evidently explained briefly the incidents connected with
-his expedition, including my capture, and when he had concluded the
-chieftain addressed me at some length.
-
-I replied in our good old English tongue merely to convince him that
-neither of us could understand the other; but I noticed that when I
-smiled slightly on concluding, he did likewise. This fact, and the
-similar occurrence during my first talk with Tars Tarkas, convinced me
-that we had at least something in common; the ability to smile,
-therefore to laugh; denoting a sense of humor. But I was to learn that
-the Martian smile is merely perfunctory, and that the Martian laugh is
-a thing to cause strong men to blanch in horror.
-
-The ideas of humor among the green men of Mars are widely at variance
-with our conceptions of incitants to merriment. The death agonies of a
-fellow being are, to these strange creatures, provocative of the
-wildest hilarity, while their chief form of commonest amusement is to
-inflict death on their prisoners of war in various ingenious and
-horrible ways.
-
-The assembled warriors and chieftains examined me closely, feeling my
-muscles and the texture of my skin. The principal chieftain then
-evidently signified a desire to see me perform, and, motioning me to
-follow, he started with Tars Tarkas for the open plaza.
-
-Now, I had made no attempt to walk, since my first signal failure,
-except while tightly grasping Tars Tarkas’ arm, and so now I went
-skipping and flitting about among the desks and chairs like some
-monstrous grasshopper. After bruising myself severely, much to the
-amusement of the Martians, I again had recourse to creeping, but this
-did not suit them and I was roughly jerked to my feet by a towering
-fellow who had laughed most heartily at my misfortunes.
-
-As he banged me down upon my feet his face was bent close to mine and I
-did the only thing a gentleman might do under the circumstances of
-brutality, boorishness, and lack of consideration for a stranger’s
-rights; I swung my fist squarely to his jaw and he went down like a
-felled ox. As he sunk to the floor I wheeled around with my back toward
-the nearest desk, expecting to be overwhelmed by the vengeance of his
-fellows, but determined to give them as good a battle as the unequal
-odds would permit before I gave up my life.
-
-My fears were groundless, however, as the other Martians, at first
-struck dumb with wonderment, finally broke into wild peals of laughter
-and applause. I did not recognize the applause as such, but later, when
-I had become acquainted with their customs, I learned that I had won
-what they seldom accord, a manifestation of approbation.
-
-The fellow whom I had struck lay where he had fallen, nor did any of
-his mates approach him. Tars Tarkas advanced toward me, holding out one
-of his arms, and we thus proceeded to the plaza without further mishap.
-I did not, of course, know the reason for which we had come to the
-open, but I was not long in being enlightened. They first repeated the
-word “sak” a number of times, and then Tars Tarkas made several jumps,
-repeating the same word before each leap; then, turning to me, he said,
-“sak!” I saw what they were after, and gathering myself together I
-“sakked” with such marvelous success that I cleared a good hundred and
-fifty feet; nor did I, this time, lose my equilibrium, but landed
-squarely upon my feet without falling. I then returned by easy jumps of
-twenty-five or thirty feet to the little group of warriors.
-
-My exhibition had been witnessed by several hundred lesser Martians,
-and they immediately broke into demands for a repetition, which the
-chieftain then ordered me to make; but I was both hungry and thirsty,
-and determined on the spot that my only method of salvation was to
-demand the consideration from these creatures which they evidently
-would not voluntarily accord. I therefore ignored the repeated commands
-to “sak,” and each time they were made I motioned to my mouth and
-rubbed my stomach.
-
-Tars Tarkas and the chief exchanged a few words, and the former,
-calling to a young female among the throng, gave her some instructions
-and motioned me to accompany her. I grasped her proffered arm and
-together we crossed the plaza toward a large building on the far side.
-
-My fair companion was about eight feet tall, having just arrived at
-maturity, but not yet to her full height. She was of a light
-olive-green color, with a smooth, glossy hide. Her name, as I afterward
-learned, was Sola, and she belonged to the retinue of Tars Tarkas. She
-conducted me to a spacious chamber in one of the buildings fronting on
-the plaza, and which, from the litter of silks and furs upon the floor,
-I took to be the sleeping quarters of several of the natives.
-
-The room was well lighted by a number of large windows and was
-beautifully decorated with mural paintings and mosaics, but upon all
-there seemed to rest that indefinable touch of the finger of antiquity
-which convinced me that the architects and builders of these wondrous
-creations had nothing in common with the crude half-brutes which now
-occupied them.
-
-Sola motioned me to be seated upon a pile of silks near the center of
-the room, and, turning, made a peculiar hissing sound, as though
-signaling to someone in an adjoining room. In response to her call I
-obtained my first sight of a new Martian wonder. It waddled in on its
-ten short legs, and squatted down before the girl like an obedient
-puppy. The thing was about the size of a Shetland pony, but its head
-bore a slight resemblance to that of a frog, except that the jaws were
-equipped with three rows of long, sharp tusks.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-I ELUDE MY WATCH DOG
-
-
-Sola stared into the brute’s wicked-looking eyes, muttered a word or
-two of command, pointed to me, and left the chamber. I could not but
-wonder what this ferocious-looking monstrosity might do when left alone
-in such close proximity to such a relatively tender morsel of meat; but
-my fears were groundless, as the beast, after surveying me intently for
-a moment, crossed the room to the only exit which led to the street,
-and lay down full length across the threshold.
-
-This was my first experience with a Martian watch dog, but it was
-destined not to be my last, for this fellow guarded me carefully during
-the time I remained a captive among these green men; twice saving my
-life, and never voluntarily being away from me a moment.
-
-While Sola was away I took occasion to examine more minutely the room
-in which I found myself captive. The mural painting depicted scenes of
-rare and wonderful beauty; mountains, rivers, lake, ocean, meadow,
-trees and flowers, winding roadways, sun-kissed gardens—scenes which
-might have portrayed earthly views but for the different colorings of
-the vegetation. The work had evidently been wrought by a master hand,
-so subtle the atmosphere, so perfect the technique; yet nowhere was
-there a representation of a living animal, either human or brute, by
-which I could guess at the likeness of these other and perhaps extinct
-denizens of Mars.
-
-While I was allowing my fancy to run riot in wild conjecture on the
-possible explanation of the strange anomalies which I had so far met
-with on Mars, Sola returned bearing both food and drink. These she
-placed on the floor beside me, and seating herself a short ways off
-regarded me intently. The food consisted of about a pound of some solid
-substance of the consistency of cheese and almost tasteless, while the
-liquid was apparently milk from some animal. It was not unpleasant to
-the taste, though slightly acid, and I learned in a short time to prize
-it very highly. It came, as I later discovered, not from an animal, as
-there is only one mammal on Mars and that one very rare indeed, but
-from a large plant which grows practically without water, but seems to
-distill its plentiful supply of milk from the products of the soil, the
-moisture of the air, and the rays of the sun. A single plant of this
-species will give eight or ten quarts of milk per day.
-
-After I had eaten I was greatly invigorated, but feeling the need of
-rest I stretched out upon the silks and was soon asleep. I must have
-slept several hours, as it was dark when I awoke, and I was very cold.
-I noticed that someone had thrown a fur over me, but it had become
-partially dislodged and in the darkness I could not see to replace it.
-Suddenly a hand reached out and pulled the fur over me, shortly
-afterwards adding another to my covering.
-
-I presumed that my watchful guardian was Sola, nor was I wrong. This
-girl alone, among all the green Martians with whom I came in contact,
-disclosed characteristics of sympathy, kindliness, and affection; her
-ministrations to my bodily wants were unfailing, and her solicitous
-care saved me from much suffering and many hardships.
-
-As I was to learn, the Martian nights are extremely cold, and as there
-is practically no twilight or dawn, the changes in temperature are
-sudden and most uncomfortable, as are the transitions from brilliant
-daylight to darkness. The nights are either brilliantly illumined or
-very dark, for if neither of the two moons of Mars happen to be in the
-sky almost total darkness results, since the lack of atmosphere, or,
-rather, the very thin atmosphere, fails to diffuse the starlight to any
-great extent; on the other hand, if both of the moons are in the
-heavens at night the surface of the ground is brightly illuminated.
-
-Both of Mars’ moons are vastly nearer her than is our moon to Earth;
-the nearer moon being but about five thousand miles distant, while the
-further is but little more than fourteen thousand miles away, against
-the nearly one-quarter million miles which separate us from our moon.
-The nearer moon of Mars makes a complete revolution around the planet
-in a little over seven and one-half hours, so that she may be seen
-hurtling through the sky like some huge meteor two or three times each
-night, revealing all her phases during each transit of the heavens.
-
-The further moon revolves about Mars in something over thirty and
-one-quarter hours, and with her sister satellite makes a nocturnal
-Martian scene one of splendid and weird grandeur. And it is well that
-nature has so graciously and abundantly lighted the Martian night, for
-the green men of Mars, being a nomadic race without high intellectual
-development, have but crude means for artificial lighting; depending
-principally upon torches, a kind of candle, and a peculiar oil lamp
-which generates a gas and burns without a wick.
-
-This last device produces an intensely brilliant far-reaching white
-light, but as the natural oil which it requires can only be obtained by
-mining in one of several widely separated and remote localities it is
-seldom used by these creatures whose only thought is for today, and
-whose hatred for manual labor has kept them in a semi-barbaric state
-for countless ages.
-
-After Sola had replenished my coverings I again slept, nor did I awaken
-until daylight. The other occupants of the room, five in number, were
-all females, and they were still sleeping, piled high with a motley
-array of silks and furs. Across the threshold lay stretched the
-sleepless guardian brute, just as I had last seen him on the preceding
-day; apparently he had not moved a muscle; his eyes were fairly glued
-upon me, and I fell to wondering just what might befall me should I
-endeavor to escape.
-
-I have ever been prone to seek adventure and to investigate and
-experiment where wiser men would have left well enough alone. It
-therefore now occurred to me that the surest way of learning the exact
-attitude of this beast toward me would be to attempt to leave the room.
-I felt fairly secure in my belief that I could escape him should he
-pursue me once I was outside the building, for I had begun to take
-great pride in my ability as a jumper. Furthermore, I could see from
-the shortness of his legs that the brute himself was no jumper and
-probably no runner.
-
-Slowly and carefully, therefore, I gained my feet, only to see that my
-watcher did the same; cautiously I advanced toward him, finding that by
-moving with a shuffling gait I could retain my balance as well as make
-reasonably rapid progress. As I neared the brute he backed cautiously
-away from me, and when I had reached the open he moved to one side to
-let me pass. He then fell in behind me and followed about ten paces in
-my rear as I made my way along the deserted street.
-
-Evidently his mission was to protect me only, I thought, but when we
-reached the edge of the city he suddenly sprang before me, uttering
-strange sounds and baring his ugly and ferocious tusks. Thinking to
-have some amusement at his expense, I rushed toward him, and when
-almost upon him sprang into the air, alighting far beyond him and away
-from the city. He wheeled instantly and charged me with the most
-appalling speed I had ever beheld. I had thought his short legs a bar
-to swiftness, but had he been coursing with greyhounds the latter would
-have appeared as though asleep on a door mat. As I was to learn, this
-is the fleetest animal on Mars, and owing to its intelligence, loyalty,
-and ferocity is used in hunting, in war, and as the protector of the
-Martian man.
-
-I quickly saw that I would have difficulty in escaping the fangs of the
-beast on a straightaway course, and so I met his charge by doubling in
-my tracks and leaping over him as he was almost upon me. This maneuver
-gave me a considerable advantage, and I was able to reach the city
-quite a bit ahead of him, and as he came tearing after me I jumped for
-a window about thirty feet from the ground in the face of one of the
-buildings overlooking the valley.
-
-Grasping the sill I pulled myself up to a sitting posture without
-looking into the building, and gazed down at the baffled animal beneath
-me. My exultation was short-lived, however, for scarcely had I gained a
-secure seat upon the sill than a huge hand grasped me by the neck from
-behind and dragged me violently into the room. Here I was thrown upon
-my back, and beheld standing over me a colossal ape-like creature,
-white and hairless except for an enormous shock of bristly hair upon
-its head.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-A FIGHT THAT WON FRIENDS
-
-
-The thing, which more nearly resembled our earthly men than it did the
-Martians I had seen, held me pinioned to the ground with one huge foot,
-while it jabbered and gesticulated at some answering creature behind
-me. This other, which was evidently its mate, soon came toward us,
-bearing a mighty stone cudgel with which it evidently intended to brain
-me.
-
-The creatures were about ten or fifteen feet tall, standing erect, and
-had, like the green Martians, an intermediary set of arms or legs,
-midway between their upper and lower limbs. Their eyes were close
-together and non-protruding; their ears were high set, but more
-laterally located than those of the Martians, while their snouts and
-teeth were strikingly like those of our African gorilla. Altogether
-they were not unlovely when viewed in comparison with the green
-Martians.
-
-The cudgel was swinging in the arc which ended upon my upturned face
-when a bolt of myriad-legged horror hurled itself through the doorway
-full upon the breast of my executioner. With a shriek of fear the ape
-which held me leaped through the open window, but its mate closed in a
-terrific death struggle with my preserver, which was nothing less than
-my faithful watch-thing; I cannot bring myself to call so hideous a
-creature a dog.
-
-As quickly as possible I gained my feet and backing against the wall I
-witnessed such a battle as it is vouchsafed few beings to see. The
-strength, agility, and blind ferocity of these two creatures is
-approached by nothing known to earthly man. My beast had an advantage
-in his first hold, having sunk his mighty fangs far into the breast of
-his adversary; but the great arms and paws of the ape, backed by
-muscles far transcending those of the Martian men I had seen, had
-locked the throat of my guardian and slowly were choking out his life,
-and bending back his head and neck upon his body, where I momentarily
-expected the former to fall limp at the end of a broken neck.
-
-In accomplishing this the ape was tearing away the entire front of its
-breast, which was held in the vise-like grip of the powerful jaws. Back
-and forth upon the floor they rolled, neither one emitting a sound of
-fear or pain. Presently I saw the great eyes of my beast bulging
-completely from their sockets and blood flowing from its nostrils. That
-he was weakening perceptibly was evident, but so also was the ape,
-whose struggles were growing momentarily less.
-
-Suddenly I came to myself and, with that strange instinct which seems
-ever to prompt me to my duty, I seized the cudgel, which had fallen to
-the floor at the commencement of the battle, and swinging it with all
-the power of my earthly arms I crashed it full upon the head of the
-ape, crushing his skull as though it had been an eggshell.
-
-Scarcely had the blow descended when I was confronted with a new
-danger. The ape’s mate, recovered from its first shock of terror, had
-returned to the scene of the encounter by way of the interior of the
-building. I glimpsed him just before he reached the doorway and the
-sight of him, now roaring as he perceived his lifeless fellow stretched
-upon the floor, and frothing at the mouth, in the extremity of his
-rage, filled me, I must confess, with dire forebodings.
-
-I am ever willing to stand and fight when the odds are not too
-overwhelmingly against me, but in this instance I perceived neither
-glory nor profit in pitting my relatively puny strength against the
-iron muscles and brutal ferocity of this enraged denizen of an unknown
-world; in fact, the only outcome of such an encounter, so far as I
-might be concerned, seemed sudden death.
-
-I was standing near the window and I knew that once in the street I
-might gain the plaza and safety before the creature could overtake me;
-at least there was a chance for safety in flight, against almost
-certain death should I remain and fight however desperately.
-
-It is true I held the cudgel, but what could I do with it against his
-four great arms? Even should I break one of them with my first blow,
-for I figured that he would attempt to ward off the cudgel, he could
-reach out and annihilate me with the others before I could recover for
-a second attack.
-
-In the instant that these thoughts passed through my mind I had turned
-to make for the window, but my eyes alighting on the form of my
-erstwhile guardian threw all thoughts of flight to the four winds. He
-lay gasping upon the floor of the chamber, his great eyes fastened upon
-me in what seemed a pitiful appeal for protection. I could not
-withstand that look, nor could I, on second thought, have deserted my
-rescuer without giving as good an account of myself in his behalf as he
-had in mine.
-
-Without more ado, therefore, I turned to meet the charge of the
-infuriated bull ape. He was now too close upon me for the cudgel to
-prove of any effective assistance, so I merely threw it as heavily as I
-could at his advancing bulk. It struck him just below the knees,
-eliciting a howl of pain and rage, and so throwing him off his balance
-that he lunged full upon me with arms wide stretched to ease his fall.
-
-Again, as on the preceding day, I had recourse to earthly tactics, and
-swinging my right fist full upon the point of his chin I followed it
-with a smashing left to the pit of his stomach. The effect was
-marvelous, for, as I lightly sidestepped, after delivering the second
-blow, he reeled and fell upon the floor doubled up with pain and
-gasping for wind. Leaping over his prostrate body, I seized the cudgel
-and finished the monster before he could regain his feet.
-
-As I delivered the blow a low laugh rang out behind me, and, turning, I
-beheld Tars Tarkas, Sola, and three or four warriors standing in the
-doorway of the chamber. As my eyes met theirs I was, for the second
-time, the recipient of their zealously guarded applause.
-
-My absence had been noted by Sola on her awakening, and she had quickly
-informed Tars Tarkas, who had set out immediately with a handful of
-warriors to search for me. As they had approached the limits of the
-city they had witnessed the actions of the bull ape as he bolted into
-the building, frothing with rage.
-
-They had followed immediately behind him, thinking it barely possible
-that his actions might prove a clew to my whereabouts and had witnessed
-my short but decisive battle with him. This encounter, together with my
-set-to with the Martian warrior on the previous day and my feats of
-jumping placed me upon a high pinnacle in their regard. Evidently
-devoid of all the finer sentiments of friendship, love, or affection,
-these people fairly worship physical prowess and bravery, and nothing
-is too good for the object of their adoration as long as he maintains
-his position by repeated examples of his skill, strength, and courage.
-
-Sola, who had accompanied the searching party of her own volition, was
-the only one of the Martians whose face had not been twisted in
-laughter as I battled for my life. She, on the contrary, was sober with
-apparent solicitude and, as soon as I had finished the monster, rushed
-to me and carefully examined my body for possible wounds or injuries.
-Satisfying herself that I had come off unscathed she smiled quietly,
-and, taking my hand, started toward the door of the chamber.
-
-Tars Tarkas and the other warriors had entered and were standing over
-the now rapidly reviving brute which had saved my life, and whose life
-I, in turn, had rescued. They seemed to be deep in argument, and
-finally one of them addressed me, but remembering my ignorance of his
-language turned back to Tars Tarkas, who, with a word and gesture, gave
-some command to the fellow and turned to follow us from the room.
-
-There seemed something menacing in their attitude toward my beast, and
-I hesitated to leave until I had learned the outcome. It was well I did
-so, for the warrior drew an evil looking pistol from its holster and
-was on the point of putting an end to the creature when I sprang
-forward and struck up his arm. The bullet striking the wooden casing of
-the window exploded, blowing a hole completely through the wood and
-masonry.
-
-I then knelt down beside the fearsome-looking thing, and raising it to
-its feet motioned for it to follow me. The looks of surprise which my
-actions elicited from the Martians were ludicrous; they could not
-understand, except in a feeble and childish way, such attributes as
-gratitude and compassion. The warrior whose gun I had struck up looked
-enquiringly at Tars Tarkas, but the latter signed that I be left to my
-own devices, and so we returned to the plaza with my great beast
-following close at heel, and Sola grasping me tightly by the arm.
-
-I had at least two friends on Mars; a young woman who watched over me
-with motherly solicitude, and a dumb brute which, as I later came to
-know, held in its poor ugly carcass more love, more loyalty, more
-gratitude than could have been found in the entire five million green
-Martians who rove the deserted cities and dead sea bottoms of Mars.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-CHILD-RAISING ON MARS
-
-
-After a breakfast, which was an exact replica of the meal of the
-preceding day and an index of practically every meal which followed
-while I was with the green men of Mars, Sola escorted me to the plaza,
-where I found the entire community engaged in watching or helping at
-the harnessing of huge mastodonian animals to great three-wheeled
-chariots. There were about two hundred and fifty of these vehicles,
-each drawn by a single animal, any one of which, from their appearance,
-might easily have drawn the entire wagon train when fully loaded.
-
-The chariots themselves were large, commodious, and gorgeously
-decorated. In each was seated a female Martian loaded with ornaments of
-metal, with jewels and silks and furs, and upon the back of each of the
-beasts which drew the chariots was perched a young Martian driver. Like
-the animals upon which the warriors were mounted, the heavier draft
-animals wore neither bit nor bridle, but were guided entirely by
-telepathic means.
-
-This power is wonderfully developed in all Martians, and accounts
-largely for the simplicity of their language and the relatively few
-spoken words exchanged even in long conversations. It is the universal
-language of Mars, through the medium of which the higher and lower
-animals of this world of paradoxes are able to communicate to a greater
-or less extent, depending upon the intellectual sphere of the species
-and the development of the individual.
-
-As the cavalcade took up the line of march in single file, Sola dragged
-me into an empty chariot and we proceeded with the procession toward
-the point by which I had entered the city the day before. At the head
-of the caravan rode some two hundred warriors, five abreast, and a like
-number brought up the rear, while twenty-five or thirty outriders
-flanked us on either side.
-
-Every one but myself—men, women, and children—were heavily armed, and
-at the tail of each chariot trotted a Martian hound, my own beast
-following closely behind ours; in fact, the faithful creature never
-left me voluntarily during the entire ten years I spent on Mars. Our
-way led out across the little valley before the city, through the
-hills, and down into the dead sea bottom which I had traversed on my
-journey from the incubator to the plaza. The incubator, as it proved,
-was the terminal point of our journey this day, and, as the entire
-cavalcade broke into a mad gallop as soon as we reached the level
-expanse of sea bottom, we were soon within sight of our goal.
-
-On reaching it the chariots were parked with military precision on the
-four sides of the enclosure, and half a score of warriors, headed by
-the enormous chieftain, and including Tars Tarkas and several other
-lesser chiefs, dismounted and advanced toward it. I could see Tars
-Tarkas explaining something to the principal chieftain, whose name, by
-the way, was, as nearly as I can translate it into English, Lorquas
-Ptomel, Jed; jed being his title.
-
-I was soon appraised of the subject of their conversation, as, calling
-to Sola, Tars Tarkas signed for her to send me to him. I had by this
-time mastered the intricacies of walking under Martian conditions, and
-quickly responding to his command I advanced to the side of the
-incubator where the warriors stood.
-
-As I reached their side a glance showed me that all but a very few eggs
-had hatched, the incubator being fairly alive with the hideous little
-devils. They ranged in height from three to four feet, and were moving
-restlessly about the enclosure as though searching for food.
-
-As I came to a halt before him, Tars Tarkas pointed over the incubator
-and said, “Sak.” I saw that he wanted me to repeat my performance of
-yesterday for the edification of Lorquas Ptomel, and, as I must confess
-that my prowess gave me no little satisfaction, I responded quickly,
-leaping entirely over the parked chariots on the far side of the
-incubator. As I returned, Lorquas Ptomel grunted something at me, and
-turning to his warriors gave a few words of command relative to the
-incubator. They paid no further attention to me and I was thus
-permitted to remain close and watch their operations, which consisted
-in breaking an opening in the wall of the incubator large enough to
-permit of the exit of the young Martians.
-
-On either side of this opening the women and the younger Martians, both
-male and female, formed two solid walls leading out through the
-chariots and quite away into the plain beyond. Between these walls the
-little Martians scampered, wild as deer; being permitted to run the
-full length of the aisle, where they were captured one at a time by the
-women and older children; the last in the line capturing the first
-little one to reach the end of the gauntlet, her opposite in the line
-capturing the second, and so on until all the little fellows had left
-the enclosure and been appropriated by some youth or female. As the
-women caught the young they fell out of line and returned to their
-respective chariots, while those who fell into the hands of the young
-men were later turned over to some of the women.
-
-I saw that the ceremony, if it could be dignified by such a name, was
-over, and seeking out Sola I found her in our chariot with a hideous
-little creature held tightly in her arms.
-
-The work of rearing young, green Martians consists solely in teaching
-them to talk, and to use the weapons of warfare with which they are
-loaded down from the very first year of their lives. Coming from eggs
-in which they have lain for five years, the period of incubation, they
-step forth into the world perfectly developed except in size. Entirely
-unknown to their mothers, who, in turn, would have difficulty in
-pointing out the fathers with any degree of accuracy, they are the
-common children of the community, and their education devolves upon the
-females who chance to capture them as they leave the incubator.
-
-Their foster mothers may not even have had an egg in the incubator, as
-was the case with Sola, who had not commenced to lay, until less than a
-year before she became the mother of another woman’s offspring. But
-this counts for little among the green Martians, as parental and filial
-love is as unknown to them as it is common among us. I believe this
-horrible system which has been carried on for ages is the direct cause
-of the loss of all the finer feelings and higher humanitarian instincts
-among these poor creatures. From birth they know no father or mother
-love, they know not the meaning of the word home; they are taught that
-they are only suffered to live until they can demonstrate by their
-physique and ferocity that they are fit to live. Should they prove
-deformed or defective in any way they are promptly shot; nor do they
-see a tear shed for a single one of the many cruel hardships they pass
-through from earliest infancy.
-
-I do not mean that the adult Martians are unnecessarily or
-intentionally cruel to the young, but theirs is a hard and pitiless
-struggle for existence upon a dying planet, the natural resources of
-which have dwindled to a point where the support of each additional
-life means an added tax upon the community into which it is thrown.
-
-By careful selection they rear only the hardiest specimens of each
-species, and with almost supernatural foresight they regulate the birth
-rate to merely offset the loss by death.
-
-Each adult Martian female brings forth about thirteen eggs each year,
-and those which meet the size, weight, and specific gravity tests are
-hidden in the recesses of some subterranean vault where the temperature
-is too low for incubation. Every year these eggs are carefully examined
-by a council of twenty chieftains, and all but about one hundred of the
-most perfect are destroyed out of each yearly supply. At the end of
-five years about five hundred almost perfect eggs have been chosen from
-the thousands brought forth. These are then placed in the almost
-air-tight incubators to be hatched by the sun’s rays after a period of
-another five years. The hatching which we had witnessed today was a
-fairly representative event of its kind, all but about one per cent of
-the eggs hatching in two days. If the remaining eggs ever hatched we
-knew nothing of the fate of the little Martians. They were not wanted,
-as their offspring might inherit and transmit the tendency to prolonged
-incubation, and thus upset the system which has maintained for ages and
-which permits the adult Martians to figure the proper time for return
-to the incubators, almost to an hour.
-
-The incubators are built in remote fastnesses, where there is little or
-no likelihood of their being discovered by other tribes. The result of
-such a catastrophe would mean no children in the community for another
-five years. I was later to witness the results of the discovery of an
-alien incubator.
-
-The community of which the green Martians with whom my lot was cast
-formed a part was composed of some thirty thousand souls. They roamed
-an enormous tract of arid and semi-arid land between forty and eighty
-degrees south latitude, and bounded on the east and west by two large
-fertile tracts. Their headquarters lay in the southwest corner of this
-district, near the crossing of two of the so-called Martian canals.
-
-As the incubator had been placed far north of their own territory in a
-supposedly uninhabited and unfrequented area, we had before us a
-tremendous journey, concerning which I, of course, knew nothing.
-
-After our return to the dead city I passed several days in comparative
-idleness. On the day following our return all the warriors had ridden
-forth early in the morning and had not returned until just before
-darkness fell. As I later learned, they had been to the subterranean
-vaults in which the eggs were kept and had transported them to the
-incubator, which they had then walled up for another five years, and
-which, in all probability, would not be visited again during that
-period.
-
-The vaults which hid the eggs until they were ready for the incubator
-were located many miles south of the incubator, and would be visited
-yearly by the council of twenty chieftains. Why they did not arrange to
-build their vaults and incubators nearer home has always been a mystery
-to me, and, like many other Martian mysteries, unsolved and unsolvable
-by earthly reasoning and customs.
-
-Sola’s duties were now doubled, as she was compelled to care for the
-young Martian as well as for me, but neither one of us required much
-attention, and as we were both about equally advanced in Martian
-education, Sola took it upon herself to train us together.
-
-Her prize consisted in a male about four feet tall, very strong and
-physically perfect; also, he learned quickly, and we had considerable
-amusement, at least I did, over the keen rivalry we displayed. The
-Martian language, as I have said, is extremely simple, and in a week I
-could make all my wants known and understand nearly everything that was
-said to me. Likewise, under Sola’s tutelage, I developed my telepathic
-powers so that I shortly could sense practically everything that went
-on around me.
-
-What surprised Sola most in me was that while I could catch telepathic
-messages easily from others, and often when they were not intended for
-me, no one could read a jot from my mind under any circumstances. At
-first this vexed me, but later I was very glad of it, as it gave me an
-undoubted advantage over the Martians.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-A FAIR CAPTIVE FROM THE SKY
-
-
-The third day after the incubator ceremony we set forth toward home,
-but scarcely had the head of the procession debouched into the open
-ground before the city than orders were given for an immediate and
-hasty return. As though trained for years in this particular evolution,
-the green Martians melted like mist into the spacious doorways of the
-nearby buildings, until, in less than three minutes, the entire
-cavalcade of chariots, mastodons and mounted warriors was nowhere to be
-seen.
-
-Sola and I had entered a building upon the front of the city, in fact,
-the same one in which I had had my encounter with the apes, and,
-wishing to see what had caused the sudden retreat, I mounted to an
-upper floor and peered from the window out over the valley and the
-hills beyond; and there I saw the cause of their sudden scurrying to
-cover. A huge craft, long, low, and gray-painted, swung slowly over the
-crest of the nearest hill. Following it came another, and another, and
-another, until twenty of them, swinging low above the ground, sailed
-slowly and majestically toward us.
-
-Each carried a strange banner swung from stem to stern above the upper
-works, and upon the prow of each was painted some odd device that
-gleamed in the sunlight and showed plainly even at the distance at
-which we were from the vessels. I could see figures crowding the
-forward decks and upper works of the air craft. Whether they had
-discovered us or simply were looking at the deserted city I could not
-say, but in any event they received a rude reception, for suddenly and
-without warning the green Martian warriors fired a terrific volley from
-the windows of the buildings facing the little valley across which the
-great ships were so peacefully advancing.
-
-Instantly the scene changed as by magic; the foremost vessel swung
-broadside toward us, and bringing her guns into play returned our fire,
-at the same time moving parallel to our front for a short distance and
-then turning back with the evident intention of completing a great
-circle which would bring her up to position once more opposite our
-firing line; the other vessels followed in her wake, each one opening
-upon us as she swung into position. Our own fire never diminished, and
-I doubt if twenty-five per cent of our shots went wild. It had never
-been given me to see such deadly accuracy of aim, and it seemed as
-though a little figure on one of the craft dropped at the explosion of
-each bullet, while the banners and upper works dissolved in spurts of
-flame as the irresistible projectiles of our warriors mowed through
-them.
-
-The fire from the vessels was most ineffectual, owing, as I afterward
-learned, to the unexpected suddenness of the first volley, which caught
-the ship’s crews entirely unprepared and the sighting apparatus of the
-guns unprotected from the deadly aim of our warriors.
-
-It seems that each green warrior has certain objective points for his
-fire under relatively identical circumstances of warfare. For example,
-a proportion of them, always the best marksmen, direct their fire
-entirely upon the wireless finding and sighting apparatus of the big
-guns of an attacking naval force; another detail attends to the smaller
-guns in the same way; others pick off the gunners; still others the
-officers; while certain other quotas concentrate their attention upon
-the other members of the crew, upon the upper works, and upon the
-steering gear and propellers.
-
-Twenty minutes after the first volley the great fleet swung trailing
-off in the direction from which it had first appeared. Several of the
-craft were limping perceptibly, and seemed but barely under the control
-of their depleted crews. Their fire had ceased entirely and all their
-energies seemed focused upon escape. Our warriors then rushed up to the
-roofs of the buildings which we occupied and followed the retreating
-armada with a continuous fusillade of deadly fire.
-
-One by one, however, the ships managed to dip below the crests of the
-outlying hills until only one barely moving craft was in sight. This
-had received the brunt of our fire and seemed to be entirely unmanned,
-as not a moving figure was visible upon her decks. Slowly she swung
-from her course, circling back toward us in an erratic and pitiful
-manner. Instantly the warriors ceased firing, for it was quite apparent
-that the vessel was entirely helpless, and, far from being in a
-position to inflict harm upon us, she could not even control herself
-sufficiently to escape.
-
-As she neared the city the warriors rushed out upon the plain to meet
-her, but it was evident that she still was too high for them to hope to
-reach her decks. From my vantage point in the window I could see the
-bodies of her crew strewn about, although I could not make out what
-manner of creatures they might be. Not a sign of life was manifest upon
-her as she drifted slowly with the light breeze in a southeasterly
-direction.
-
-She was drifting some fifty feet above the ground, followed by all but
-some hundred of the warriors who had been ordered back to the roofs to
-cover the possibility of a return of the fleet, or of reinforcements.
-It soon became evident that she would strike the face of the buildings
-about a mile south of our position, and as I watched the progress of
-the chase I saw a number of warriors gallop ahead, dismount and enter
-the building she seemed destined to touch.
-
-As the craft neared the building, and just before she struck, the
-Martian warriors swarmed upon her from the windows, and with their
-great spears eased the shock of the collision, and in a few moments
-they had thrown out grappling hooks and the big boat was being hauled
-to ground by their fellows below.
-
-After making her fast, they swarmed the sides and searched the vessel
-from stem to stern. I could see them examining the dead sailors,
-evidently for signs of life, and presently a party of them appeared
-from below dragging a little figure among them. The creature was
-considerably less than half as tall as the green Martian warriors, and
-from my balcony I could see that it walked erect upon two legs and
-surmised that it was some new and strange Martian monstrosity with
-which I had not as yet become acquainted.
-
-They removed their prisoner to the ground and then commenced a
-systematic rifling of the vessel. This operation required several
-hours, during which time a number of the chariots were requisitioned to
-transport the loot, which consisted in arms, ammunition, silks, furs,
-jewels, strangely carved stone vessels, and a quantity of solid foods
-and liquids, including many casks of water, the first I had seen since
-my advent upon Mars.
-
-After the last load had been removed the warriors made lines fast to
-the craft and towed her far out into the valley in a southwesterly
-direction. A few of them then boarded her and were busily engaged in
-what appeared, from my distant position, as the emptying of the
-contents of various carboys upon the dead bodies of the sailors and
-over the decks and works of the vessel.
-
-This operation concluded, they hastily clambered over her sides,
-sliding down the guy ropes to the ground. The last warrior to leave the
-deck turned and threw something back upon the vessel, waiting an
-instant to note the outcome of his act. As a faint spurt of flame rose
-from the point where the missile struck he swung over the side and was
-quickly upon the ground. Scarcely had he alighted than the guy ropes
-were simultaneously released, and the great warship, lightened by the
-removal of the loot, soared majestically into the air, her decks and
-upper works a mass of roaring flames.
-
-Slowly she drifted to the southeast, rising higher and higher as the
-flames ate away her wooden parts and diminished the weight upon her.
-Ascending to the roof of the building I watched her for hours, until
-finally she was lost in the dim vistas of the distance. The sight was
-awe-inspiring in the extreme as one contemplated this mighty floating
-funeral pyre, drifting unguided and unmanned through the lonely wastes
-of the Martian heavens; a derelict of death and destruction, typifying
-the life story of these strange and ferocious creatures into whose
-unfriendly hands fate had carried it.
-
-Much depressed, and, to me, unaccountably so, I slowly descended to the
-street. The scene I had witnessed seemed to mark the defeat and
-annihilation of the forces of a kindred people, rather than the routing
-by our green warriors of a horde of similar, though unfriendly,
-creatures. I could not fathom the seeming hallucination, nor could I
-free myself from it; but somewhere in the innermost recesses of my soul
-I felt a strange yearning toward these unknown foemen, and a mighty
-hope surged through me that the fleet would return and demand a
-reckoning from the green warriors who had so ruthlessly and wantonly
-attacked it.
-
-Close at my heel, in his now accustomed place, followed Woola, the
-hound, and as I emerged upon the street Sola rushed up to me as though
-I had been the object of some search on her part. The cavalcade was
-returning to the plaza, the homeward march having been given up for
-that day; nor, in fact, was it recommenced for more than a week, owing
-to the fear of a return attack by the air craft.
-
-Lorquas Ptomel was too astute an old warrior to be caught upon the open
-plains with a caravan of chariots and children, and so we remained at
-the deserted city until the danger seemed passed.
-
-As Sola and I entered the plaza a sight met my eyes which filled my
-whole being with a great surge of mingled hope, fear, exultation, and
-depression, and yet most dominant was a subtle sense of relief and
-happiness; for just as we neared the throng of Martians I caught a
-glimpse of the prisoner from the battle craft who was being roughly
-dragged into a nearby building by a couple of green Martian females.
-
-And the sight which met my eyes was that of a slender, girlish figure,
-similar in every detail to the earthly women of my past life. She did
-not see me at first, but just as she was disappearing through the
-portal of the building which was to be her prison she turned, and her
-eyes met mine. Her face was oval and beautiful in the extreme, her
-every feature was finely chiseled and exquisite, her eyes large and
-lustrous and her head surmounted by a mass of coal black, waving hair,
-caught loosely into a strange yet becoming coiffure. Her skin was of a
-light reddish copper color, against which the crimson glow of her
-cheeks and the ruby of her beautifully molded lips shone with a
-strangely enhancing effect.
-
-She was as destitute of clothes as the green Martians who accompanied
-her; indeed, save for her highly wrought ornaments she was entirely
-naked, nor could any apparel have enhanced the beauty of her perfect
-and symmetrical figure.
-
-As her gaze rested on me her eyes opened wide in astonishment, and she
-made a little sign with her free hand; a sign which I did not, of
-course, understand. Just a moment we gazed upon each other, and then
-the look of hope and renewed courage which had glorified her face as
-she discovered me, faded into one of utter dejection, mingled with
-loathing and contempt. I realized I had not answered her signal, and
-ignorant as I was of Martian customs, I intuitively felt that she had
-made an appeal for succor and protection which my unfortunate ignorance
-had prevented me from answering. And then she was dragged out of my
-sight into the depths of the deserted edifice.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-I LEARN THE LANGUAGE
-
-
-As I came back to myself I glanced at Sola, who had witnessed this
-encounter and I was surprised to note a strange expression upon her
-usually expressionless countenance. What her thoughts were I did not
-know, for as yet I had learned but little of the Martian tongue; enough
-only to suffice for my daily needs.
-
-As I reached the doorway of our building a strange surprise awaited me.
-A warrior approached bearing the arms, ornaments, and full
-accouterments of his kind. These he presented to me with a few
-unintelligible words, and a bearing at once respectful and menacing.
-
-Later, Sola, with the aid of several of the other women, remodeled the
-trappings to fit my lesser proportions, and after they completed the
-work I went about garbed in all the panoply of war.
-
-From then on Sola instructed me in the mysteries of the various
-weapons, and with the Martian young I spent several hours each day
-practicing upon the plaza. I was not yet proficient with all the
-weapons, but my great familiarity with similar earthly weapons made me
-an unusually apt pupil, and I progressed in a very satisfactory manner.
-
-The training of myself and the young Martians was conducted solely by
-the women, who not only attend to the education of the young in the
-arts of individual defense and offense, but are also the artisans who
-produce every manufactured article wrought by the green Martians. They
-make the powder, the cartridges, the firearms; in fact everything of
-value is produced by the females. In time of actual warfare they form a
-part of the reserves, and when the necessity arises fight with even
-greater intelligence and ferocity than the men.
-
-The men are trained in the higher branches of the art of war; in
-strategy and the maneuvering of large bodies of troops. They make the
-laws as they are needed; a new law for each emergency. They are
-unfettered by precedent in the administration of justice. Customs have
-been handed down by ages of repetition, but the punishment for ignoring
-a custom is a matter for individual treatment by a jury of the
-culprit’s peers, and I may say that justice seldom misses fire, but
-seems rather to rule in inverse ratio to the ascendency of law. In one
-respect at least the Martians are a happy people; they have no lawyers.
-
-I did not see the prisoner again for several days subsequent to our
-first encounter, and then only to catch a fleeting glimpse of her as
-she was being conducted to the great audience chamber where I had had
-my first meeting with Lorquas Ptomel. I could not but note the
-unnecessary harshness and brutality with which her guards treated her;
-so different from the almost maternal kindliness which Sola manifested
-toward me, and the respectful attitude of the few green Martians who
-took the trouble to notice me at all.
-
-I had observed on the two occasions when I had seen her that the
-prisoner exchanged words with her guards, and this convinced me that
-they spoke, or at least could make themselves understood by a common
-language. With this added incentive I nearly drove Sola distracted by
-my importunities to hasten on my education and within a few more days I
-had mastered the Martian tongue sufficiently well to enable me to carry
-on a passable conversation and to fully understand practically all that
-I heard.
-
-At this time our sleeping quarters were occupied by three or four
-females and a couple of the recently hatched young, beside Sola and her
-youthful ward, myself, and Woola the hound. After they had retired for
-the night it was customary for the adults to carry on a desultory
-conversation for a short time before lapsing into sleep, and now that I
-could understand their language I was always a keen listener, although
-I never proffered any remarks myself.
-
-On the night following the prisoner’s visit to the audience chamber the
-conversation finally fell upon this subject, and I was all ears on the
-instant. I had feared to question Sola relative to the beautiful
-captive, as I could not but recall the strange expression I had noted
-upon her face after my first encounter with the prisoner. That it
-denoted jealousy I could not say, and yet, judging all things by
-mundane standards as I still did, I felt it safer to affect
-indifference in the matter until I learned more surely Sola’s attitude
-toward the object of my solicitude.
-
-Sarkoja, one of the older women who shared our domicile, had been
-present at the audience as one of the captive’s guards, and it was
-toward her the question turned.
-
-“When,” asked one of the women, “will we enjoy the death throes of the
-red one? or does Lorquas Ptomel, Jed, intend holding her for ransom?”
-
-“They have decided to carry her with us back to Thark, and exhibit her
-last agonies at the great games before Tal Hajus,” replied Sarkoja.
-
-“What will be the manner of her going out?” inquired Sola. “She is very
-small and very beautiful; I had hoped that they would hold her for
-ransom.”
-
-Sarkoja and the other women grunted angrily at this evidence of
-weakness on the part of Sola.
-
-“It is sad, Sola, that you were not born a million years ago,” snapped
-Sarkoja, “when all the hollows of the land were filled with water, and
-the peoples were as soft as the stuff they sailed upon. In our day we
-have progressed to a point where such sentiments mark weakness and
-atavism. It will not be well for you to permit Tars Tarkas to learn
-that you hold such degenerate sentiments, as I doubt that he would care
-to entrust such as you with the grave responsibilities of maternity.”
-
-“I see nothing wrong with my expression of interest in this red woman,”
-retorted Sola. “She has never harmed us, nor would she should we have
-fallen into her hands. It is only the men of her kind who war upon us,
-and I have ever thought that their attitude toward us is but the
-reflection of ours toward them. They live at peace with all their
-fellows, except when duty calls upon them to make war, while we are at
-peace with none; forever warring among our own kind as well as upon the
-red men, and even in our own communities the individuals fight amongst
-themselves. Oh, it is one continual, awful period of bloodshed from the
-time we break the shell until we gladly embrace the bosom of the river
-of mystery, the dark and ancient Iss which carries us to an unknown,
-but at least no more frightful and terrible existence! Fortunate indeed
-is he who meets his end in an early death. Say what you please to Tars
-Tarkas, he can mete out no worse fate to me than a continuation of the
-horrible existence we are forced to lead in this life.”
-
-This wild outbreak on the part of Sola so greatly surprised and shocked
-the other women, that, after a few words of general reprimand, they all
-lapsed into silence and were soon asleep. One thing the episode had
-accomplished was to assure me of Sola’s friendliness toward the poor
-girl, and also to convince me that I had been extremely fortunate in
-falling into her hands rather than those of some of the other females.
-I knew that she was fond of me, and now that I had discovered that she
-hated cruelty and barbarity I was confident that I could depend upon
-her to aid me and the girl captive to escape, provided of course that
-such a thing was within the range of possibilities.
-
-I did not even know that there were any better conditions to escape to,
-but I was more than willing to take my chances among people fashioned
-after my own mold rather than to remain longer among the hideous and
-bloodthirsty green men of Mars. But where to go, and how, was as much
-of a puzzle to me as the age-old search for the spring of eternal life
-has been to earthly men since the beginning of time.
-
-I decided that at the first opportunity I would take Sola into my
-confidence and openly ask her to aid me, and with this resolution
-strong upon me I turned among my silks and furs and slept the dreamless
-and refreshing sleep of Mars.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-CHAMPION AND CHIEF
-
-
-Early the next morning I was astir. Considerable freedom was allowed
-me, as Sola had informed me that so long as I did not attempt to leave
-the city I was free to go and come as I pleased. She had warned me,
-however, against venturing forth unarmed, as this city, like all other
-deserted metropolises of an ancient Martian civilization, was peopled
-by the great white apes of my second day’s adventure.
-
-In advising me that I must not leave the boundaries of the city Sola
-had explained that Woola would prevent this anyway should I attempt it,
-and she warned me most urgently not to arouse his fierce nature by
-ignoring his warnings should I venture too close to the forbidden
-territory. His nature was such, she said, that he would bring me back
-into the city dead or alive should I persist in opposing him;
-“preferably dead,” she added.
-
-On this morning I had chosen a new street to explore when suddenly I
-found myself at the limits of the city. Before me were low hills
-pierced by narrow and inviting ravines. I longed to explore the country
-before me, and, like the pioneer stock from which I sprang, to view
-what the landscape beyond the encircling hills might disclose from the
-summits which shut out my view.
-
-It also occurred to me that this would prove an excellent opportunity
-to test the qualities of Woola. I was convinced that the brute loved
-me; I had seen more evidences of affection in him than in any other
-Martian animal, man or beast, and I was sure that gratitude for the
-acts that had twice saved his life would more than outweigh his loyalty
-to the duty imposed upon him by cruel and loveless masters.
-
-As I approached the boundary line Woola ran anxiously before me, and
-thrust his body against my legs. His expression was pleading rather
-than ferocious, nor did he bare his great tusks or utter his fearful
-guttural warnings. Denied the friendship and companionship of my kind,
-I had developed considerable affection for Woola and Sola, for the
-normal earthly man must have some outlet for his natural affections,
-and so I decided upon an appeal to a like instinct in this great brute,
-sure that I would not be disappointed.
-
-I had never petted nor fondled him, but now I sat upon the ground and
-putting my arms around his heavy neck I stroked and coaxed him, talking
-in my newly acquired Martian tongue as I would have to my hound at
-home, as I would have talked to any other friend among the lower
-animals. His response to my manifestation of affection was remarkable
-to a degree; he stretched his great mouth to its full width, baring the
-entire expanse of his upper rows of tusks and wrinkling his snout until
-his great eyes were almost hidden by the folds of flesh. If you have
-ever seen a collie smile you may have some idea of Woola’s facial
-distortion.
-
-He threw himself upon his back and fairly wallowed at my feet; jumped
-up and sprang upon me, rolling me upon the ground by his great weight;
-then wriggling and squirming around me like a playful puppy presenting
-its back for the petting it craves. I could not resist the
-ludicrousness of the spectacle, and holding my sides I rocked back and
-forth in the first laughter which had passed my lips in many days; the
-first, in fact, since the morning Powell had left camp when his horse,
-long unused, had precipitately and unexpectedly bucked him off
-headforemost into a pot of frijoles.
-
-My laughter frightened Woola, his antics ceased and he crawled
-pitifully toward me, poking his ugly head far into my lap; and then I
-remembered what laughter signified on Mars—torture, suffering, death.
-Quieting myself, I rubbed the poor old fellow’s head and back, talked
-to him for a few minutes, and then in an authoritative tone commanded
-him to follow me, and arising started for the hills.
-
-There was no further question of authority between us; Woola was my
-devoted slave from that moment hence, and I his only and undisputed
-master. My walk to the hills occupied but a few minutes, and I found
-nothing of particular interest to reward me. Numerous brilliantly
-colored and strangely formed wild flowers dotted the ravines and from
-the summit of the first hill I saw still other hills stretching off
-toward the north, and rising, one range above another, until lost in
-mountains of quite respectable dimensions; though I afterward found
-that only a few peaks on all Mars exceed four thousand feet in height;
-the suggestion of magnitude was merely relative.
-
-My morning’s walk had been large with importance to me for it had
-resulted in a perfect understanding with Woola, upon whom Tars Tarkas
-relied for my safe keeping. I now knew that while theoretically a
-prisoner I was virtually free, and I hastened to regain the city limits
-before the defection of Woola could be discovered by his erstwhile
-masters. The adventure decided me never again to leave the limits of my
-prescribed stamping grounds until I was ready to venture forth for good
-and all, as it would certainly result in a curtailment of my liberties,
-as well as the probable death of Woola, were we to be discovered.
-
-On regaining the plaza I had my third glimpse of the captive girl. She
-was standing with her guards before the entrance to the audience
-chamber, and as I approached she gave me one haughty glance and turned
-her back full upon me. The act was so womanly, so earthly womanly, that
-though it stung my pride it also warmed my heart with a feeling of
-companionship; it was good to know that someone else on Mars beside
-myself had human instincts of a civilized order, even though the
-manifestation of them was so painful and mortifying.
-
-Had a green Martian woman desired to show dislike or contempt she
-would, in all likelihood, have done it with a sword thrust or a
-movement of her trigger finger; but as their sentiments are mostly
-atrophied it would have required a serious injury to have aroused such
-passions in them. Sola, let me add, was an exception; I never saw her
-perform a cruel or uncouth act, or fail in uniform kindliness and good
-nature. She was indeed, as her fellow Martian had said of her, an
-atavism; a dear and precious reversion to a former type of loved and
-loving ancestor.
-
-Seeing that the prisoner seemed the center of attraction I halted to
-view the proceedings. I had not long to wait for presently Lorquas
-Ptomel and his retinue of chieftains approached the building and,
-signing the guards to follow with the prisoner entered the audience
-chamber. Realizing that I was a somewhat favored character, and also
-convinced that the warriors did not know of my proficiency in their
-language, as I had plead with Sola to keep this a secret on the grounds
-that I did not wish to be forced to talk with the men until I had
-perfectly mastered the Martian tongue, I chanced an attempt to enter
-the audience chamber and listen to the proceedings.
-
-The council squatted upon the steps of the rostrum, while below them
-stood the prisoner and her two guards. I saw that one of the women was
-Sarkoja, and thus understood how she had been present at the hearing of
-the preceding day, the results of which she had reported to the
-occupants of our dormitory last night. Her attitude toward the captive
-was most harsh and brutal. When she held her, she sunk her rudimentary
-nails into the poor girl’s flesh, or twisted her arm in a most painful
-manner. When it was necessary to move from one spot to another she
-either jerked her roughly, or pushed her headlong before her. She
-seemed to be venting upon this poor defenseless creature all the
-hatred, cruelty, ferocity, and spite of her nine hundred years, backed
-by unguessable ages of fierce and brutal ancestors.
-
-The other woman was less cruel because she was entirely indifferent; if
-the prisoner had been left to her alone, and fortunately she was at
-night, she would have received no harsh treatment, nor, by the same
-token would she have received any attention at all.
-
-As Lorquas Ptomel raised his eyes to address the prisoner they fell on
-me and he turned to Tars Tarkas with a word, and gesture of impatience.
-Tars Tarkas made some reply which I could not catch, but which caused
-Lorquas Ptomel to smile; after which they paid no further attention to
-me.
-
-“What is your name?” asked Lorquas Ptomel, addressing the prisoner.
-
-“Dejah Thoris, daughter of Mors Kajak of Helium.”
-
-“And the nature of your expedition?” he continued.
-
-“It was a purely scientific research party sent out by my father’s
-father, the Jeddak of Helium, to rechart the air currents, and to take
-atmospheric density tests,” replied the fair prisoner, in a low,
-well-modulated voice.
-
-“We were unprepared for battle,” she continued, “as we were on a
-peaceful mission, as our banners and the colors of our craft denoted.
-The work we were doing was as much in your interests as in ours, for
-you know full well that were it not for our labors and the fruits of
-our scientific operations there would not be enough air or water on
-Mars to support a single human life. For ages we have maintained the
-air and water supply at practically the same point without an
-appreciable loss, and we have done this in the face of the brutal and
-ignorant interference of you green men.
-
-“Why, oh, why will you not learn to live in amity with your fellows.
-Must you ever go on down the ages to your final extinction but little
-above the plane of the dumb brutes that serve you! A people without
-written language, without art, without homes, without love; the victims
-of eons of the horrible community idea. Owning everything in common,
-even to your women and children, has resulted in your owning nothing in
-common. You hate each other as you hate all else except yourselves.
-Come back to the ways of our common ancestors, come back to the light
-of kindliness and fellowship. The way is open to you, you will find the
-hands of the red men stretched out to aid you. Together we may do still
-more to regenerate our dying planet. The granddaughter of the greatest
-and mightiest of the red jeddaks has asked you. Will you come?”
-
-Lorquas Ptomel and the warriors sat looking silently and intently at
-the young woman for several moments after she had ceased speaking. What
-was passing in their minds no man may know, but that they were moved I
-truly believe, and if one man high among them had been strong enough to
-rise above custom, that moment would have marked a new and mighty era
-for Mars.
-
-I saw Tars Tarkas rise to speak, and on his face was such an expression
-as I had never seen upon the countenance of a green Martian warrior. It
-bespoke an inward and mighty battle with self, with heredity, with
-age-old custom, and as he opened his mouth to speak, a look almost of
-benignity, of kindliness, momentarily lighted up his fierce and
-terrible countenance.
-
-What words of moment were to have fallen from his lips were never
-spoken, as just then a young warrior, evidently sensing the trend of
-thought among the older men, leaped down from the steps of the rostrum,
-and striking the frail captive a powerful blow across the face, which
-felled her to the floor, placed his foot upon her prostrate form and
-turning toward the assembled council broke into peals of horrid,
-mirthless laughter.
-
-For an instant I thought Tars Tarkas would strike him dead, nor did the
-aspect of Lorquas Ptomel augur any too favorably for the brute, but the
-mood passed, their old selves reasserted their ascendency, and they
-smiled. It was portentous however that they did not laugh aloud, for
-the brute’s act constituted a side-splitting witticism according to the
-ethics which rule green Martian humor.
-
-That I have taken moments to write down a part of what occurred as that
-blow fell does not signify that I remained inactive for any such length
-of time. I think I must have sensed something of what was coming, for I
-realize now that I was crouched as for a spring as I saw the blow aimed
-at her beautiful, upturned, pleading face, and ere the hand descended I
-was halfway across the hall.
-
-Scarcely had his hideous laugh rang out but once, when I was upon him.
-The brute was twelve feet in height and armed to the teeth, but I
-believe that I could have accounted for the whole roomful in the
-terrific intensity of my rage. Springing upward, I struck him full in
-the face as he turned at my warning cry and then as he drew his
-short-sword I drew mine and sprang up again upon his breast, hooking
-one leg over the butt of his pistol and grasping one of his huge tusks
-with my left hand while I delivered blow after blow upon his enormous
-chest.
-
-He could not use his short-sword to advantage because I was too close
-to him, nor could he draw his pistol, which he attempted to do in
-direct opposition to Martian custom which says that you may not fight a
-fellow warrior in private combat with any other than the weapon with
-which you are attacked. In fact he could do nothing but make a wild and
-futile attempt to dislodge me. With all his immense bulk he was little
-if any stronger than I, and it was but the matter of a moment or two
-before he sank, bleeding and lifeless, to the floor.
-
-Dejah Thoris had raised herself upon one elbow and was watching the
-battle with wide, staring eyes. When I had regained my feet I raised
-her in my arms and bore her to one of the benches at the side of the
-room.
-
-Again no Martian interfered with me, and tearing a piece of silk from
-my cape I endeavored to staunch the flow of blood from her nostrils. I
-was soon successful as her injuries amounted to little more than an
-ordinary nosebleed, and when she could speak she placed her hand upon
-my arm and looking up into my eyes, said:
-
-“Why did you do it? You who refused me even friendly recognition in the
-first hour of my peril! And now you risk your life and kill one of your
-companions for my sake. I cannot understand. What strange manner of man
-are you, that you consort with the green men, though your form is that
-of my race, while your color is little darker than that of the white
-ape? Tell me, are you human, or are you more than human?”
-
-“It is a strange tale,” I replied, “too long to attempt to tell you
-now, and one which I so much doubt the credibility of myself that I
-fear to hope that others will believe it. Suffice it, for the present,
-that I am your friend, and, so far as our captors will permit, your
-protector and your servant.”
-
-“Then you too are a prisoner? But why, then, those arms and the regalia
-of a Tharkian chieftain? What is your name? Where your country?”
-
-“Yes, Dejah Thoris, I too am a prisoner; my name is John Carter, and I
-claim Virginia, one of the United States of America, Earth, as my home;
-but why I am permitted to wear arms I do not know, nor was I aware that
-my regalia was that of a chieftain.”
-
-We were interrupted at this juncture by the approach of one of the
-warriors, bearing arms, accoutrements and ornaments, and in a flash one
-of her questions was answered and a puzzle cleared up for me. I saw
-that the body of my dead antagonist had been stripped, and I read in
-the menacing yet respectful attitude of the warrior who had brought me
-these trophies of the kill the same demeanor as that evinced by the
-other who had brought me my original equipment, and now for the first
-time I realized that my blow, on the occasion of my first battle in the
-audience chamber had resulted in the death of my adversary.
-
-The reason for the whole attitude displayed toward me was now apparent;
-I had won my spurs, so to speak, and in the crude justice, which always
-marks Martian dealings, and which, among other things, has caused me to
-call her the planet of paradoxes, I was accorded the honors due a
-conqueror; the trappings and the position of the man I killed. In
-truth, I was a Martian chieftain, and this I learned later was the
-cause of my great freedom and my toleration in the audience chamber.
-
-As I had turned to receive the dead warrior’s chattels I had noticed
-that Tars Tarkas and several others had pushed forward toward us, and
-the eyes of the former rested upon me in a most quizzical manner.
-Finally he addressed me:
-
-“You speak the tongue of Barsoom quite readily for one who was deaf and
-dumb to us a few short days ago. Where did you learn it, John Carter?”
-
-“You, yourself, are responsible, Tars Tarkas,” I replied, “in that you
-furnished me with an instructress of remarkable ability; I have to
-thank Sola for my learning.”
-
-“She has done well,” he answered, “but your education in other respects
-needs considerable polish. Do you know what your unprecedented temerity
-would have cost you had you failed to kill either of the two chieftains
-whose metal you now wear?”
-
-“I presume that that one whom I had failed to kill, would have killed
-me,” I answered, smiling.
-
-“No, you are wrong. Only in the last extremity of self-defense would a
-Martian warrior kill a prisoner; we like to save them for other
-purposes,” and his face bespoke possibilities that were not pleasant to
-dwell upon.
-
-“But one thing can save you now,” he continued. “Should you, in
-recognition of your remarkable valor, ferocity, and prowess, be
-considered by Tal Hajus as worthy of his service you may be taken into
-the community and become a full-fledged Tharkian. Until we reach the
-headquarters of Tal Hajus it is the will of Lorquas Ptomel that you be
-accorded the respect your acts have earned you. You will be treated by
-us as a Tharkian chieftain, but you must not forget that every chief
-who ranks you is responsible for your safe delivery to our mighty and
-most ferocious ruler. I am done.”
-
-“I hear you, Tars Tarkas,” I answered. “As you know I am not of
-Barsoom; your ways are not my ways, and I can only act in the future as
-I have in the past, in accordance with the dictates of my conscience
-and guided by the standards of mine own people. If you will leave me
-alone I will go in peace, but if not, let the individual Barsoomians
-with whom I must deal either respect my rights as a stranger among you,
-or take whatever consequences may befall. Of one thing let us be sure,
-whatever may be your ultimate intentions toward this unfortunate young
-woman, whoever would offer her injury or insult in the future must
-figure on making a full accounting to me. I understand that you
-belittle all sentiments of generosity and kindliness, but I do not, and
-I can convince your most doughty warrior that these characteristics are
-not incompatible with an ability to fight.”
-
-Ordinarily I am not given to long speeches, nor ever before had I
-descended to bombast, but I had guessed at the keynote which would
-strike an answering chord in the breasts of the green Martians, nor was
-I wrong, for my harangue evidently deeply impressed them, and their
-attitude toward me thereafter was still further respectful.
-
-Tars Tarkas himself seemed pleased with my reply, but his only comment
-was more or less enigmatical—“And I think I know Tal Hajus, Jeddak of
-Thark.”
-
-I now turned my attention to Dejah Thoris, and assisting her to her
-feet I turned with her toward the exit, ignoring her hovering guardian
-harpies as well as the inquiring glances of the chieftains. Was I not
-now a chieftain also! Well, then, I would assume the responsibilities
-of one. They did not molest us, and so Dejah Thoris, Princess of
-Helium, and John Carter, gentleman of Virginia, followed by the
-faithful Woola, passed through utter silence from the audience chamber
-of Lorquas Ptomel, Jed among the Tharks of Barsoom.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-WITH DEJAH THORIS
-
-
-As we reached the open the two female guards who had been detailed to
-watch over Dejah Thoris hurried up and made as though to assume custody
-of her once more. The poor child shrank against me and I felt her two
-little hands fold tightly over my arm. Waving the women away, I
-informed them that Sola would attend the captive hereafter, and I
-further warned Sarkoja that any more of her cruel attentions bestowed
-upon Dejah Thoris would result in Sarkoja’s sudden and painful demise.
-
-My threat was unfortunate and resulted in more harm than good to Dejah
-Thoris, for, as I learned later, men do not kill women upon Mars, nor
-women, men. So Sarkoja merely gave us an ugly look and departed to
-hatch up deviltries against us.
-
-I soon found Sola and explained to her that I wished her to guard Dejah
-Thoris as she had guarded me; that I wished her to find other quarters
-where they would not be molested by Sarkoja, and I finally informed her
-that I myself would take up my quarters among the men.
-
-Sola glanced at the accouterments which were carried in my hand and
-slung across my shoulder.
-
-“You are a great chieftain now, John Carter,” she said, “and I must do
-your bidding, though indeed I am glad to do it under any circumstances.
-The man whose metal you carry was young, but he was a great warrior,
-and had by his promotions and kills won his way close to the rank of
-Tars Tarkas, who, as you know, is second to Lorquas Ptomel only. You
-are eleventh, there are but ten chieftains in this community who rank
-you in prowess.”
-
-“And if I should kill Lorquas Ptomel?” I asked.
-
-“You would be first, John Carter; but you may only win that honor by
-the will of the entire council that Lorquas Ptomel meet you in combat,
-or should he attack you, you may kill him in self-defense, and thus win
-first place.”
-
-I laughed, and changed the subject. I had no particular desire to kill
-Lorquas Ptomel, and less to be a jed among the Tharks.
-
-I accompanied Sola and Dejah Thoris in a search for new quarters, which
-we found in a building nearer the audience chamber and of far more
-pretentious architecture than our former habitation. We also found in
-this building real sleeping apartments with ancient beds of highly
-wrought metal swinging from enormous gold chains depending from the
-marble ceilings. The decoration of the walls was most elaborate, and,
-unlike the frescoes in the other buildings I had examined, portrayed
-many human figures in the compositions. These were of people like
-myself, and of a much lighter color than Dejah Thoris. They were clad
-in graceful, flowing robes, highly ornamented with metal and jewels,
-and their luxuriant hair was of a beautiful golden and reddish bronze.
-The men were beardless and only a few wore arms. The scenes depicted
-for the most part, a fair-skinned, fair-haired people at play.
-
-Dejah Thoris clasped her hands with an exclamation of rapture as she
-gazed upon these magnificent works of art, wrought by a people long
-extinct; while Sola, on the other hand, apparently did not see them.
-
-We decided to use this room, on the second floor and overlooking the
-plaza, for Dejah Thoris and Sola, and another room adjoining and in the
-rear for the cooking and supplies. I then dispatched Sola to bring the
-bedding and such food and utensils as she might need, telling her that
-I would guard Dejah Thoris until her return.
-
-As Sola departed Dejah Thoris turned to me with a faint smile.
-
-“And whereto, then, would your prisoner escape should you leave her,
-unless it was to follow you and crave your protection, and ask your
-pardon for the cruel thoughts she has harbored against you these past
-few days?”
-
-“You are right,” I answered, “there is no escape for either of us
-unless we go together.”
-
-“I heard your challenge to the creature you call Tars Tarkas, and I
-think I understand your position among these people, but what I cannot
-fathom is your statement that you are not of Barsoom.”
-
-“In the name of my first ancestor, then,” she continued, “where may you
-be from? You are like unto my people, and yet so unlike. You speak my
-language, and yet I heard you tell Tars Tarkas that you had but learned
-it recently. All Barsoomians speak the same tongue from the ice-clad
-south to the ice-clad north, though their written languages differ.
-Only in the valley Dor, where the river Iss empties into the lost sea
-of Korus, is there supposed to be a different language spoken, and,
-except in the legends of our ancestors, there is no record of a
-Barsoomian returning up the river Iss, from the shores of Korus in the
-valley of Dor. Do not tell me that you have thus returned! They would
-kill you horribly anywhere upon the surface of Barsoom if that were
-true; tell me it is not!”
-
-Her eyes were filled with a strange, weird light; her voice was
-pleading, and her little hands, reached up upon my breast, were pressed
-against me as though to wring a denial from my very heart.
-
-“I do not know your customs, Dejah Thoris, but in my own Virginia a
-gentleman does not lie to save himself; I am not of Dor; I have never
-seen the mysterious Iss; the lost sea of Korus is still lost, so far as
-I am concerned. Do you believe me?”
-
-And then it struck me suddenly that I was very anxious that she should
-believe me. It was not that I feared the results which would follow a
-general belief that I had returned from the Barsoomian heaven or hell,
-or whatever it was. Why was it, then! Why should I care what she
-thought? I looked down at her; her beautiful face upturned, and her
-wonderful eyes opening up the very depth of her soul; and as my eyes
-met hers I knew why, and—I shuddered.
-
-A similar wave of feeling seemed to stir her; she drew away from me
-with a sigh, and with her earnest, beautiful face turned up to mine,
-she whispered: “I believe you, John Carter; I do not know what a
-‘gentleman’ is, nor have I ever heard before of Virginia; but on
-Barsoom no man lies; if he does not wish to speak the truth he is
-silent. Where is this Virginia, your country, John Carter?” she asked,
-and it seemed that this fair name of my fair land had never sounded
-more beautiful than as it fell from those perfect lips on that far-gone
-day.
-
-“I am of another world,” I answered, “the great planet Earth, which
-revolves about our common sun and next within the orbit of your
-Barsoom, which we know as Mars. How I came here I cannot tell you, for
-I do not know; but here I am, and since my presence has permitted me to
-serve Dejah Thoris I am glad that I am here.”
-
-She gazed at me with troubled eyes, long and questioningly. That it was
-difficult to believe my statement I well knew, nor could I hope that
-she would do so however much I craved her confidence and respect. I
-would much rather not have told her anything of my antecedents, but no
-man could look into the depth of those eyes and refuse her slightest
-behest.
-
-Finally she smiled, and, rising, said: “I shall have to believe even
-though I cannot understand. I can readily perceive that you are not of
-the Barsoom of today; you are like us, yet different—but why should I
-trouble my poor head with such a problem, when my heart tells me that I
-believe because I wish to believe!”
-
-It was good logic, good, earthly, feminine logic, and if it satisfied
-her I certainly could pick no flaws in it. As a matter of fact it was
-about the only kind of logic that could be brought to bear upon my
-problem. We fell into a general conversation then, asking and answering
-many questions on each side. She was curious to learn of the customs of
-my people and displayed a remarkable knowledge of events on Earth. When
-I questioned her closely on this seeming familiarity with earthly
-things she laughed, and cried out:
-
-“Why, every school boy on Barsoom knows the geography, and much
-concerning the fauna and flora, as well as the history of your planet
-fully as well as of his own. Can we not see everything which takes
-place upon Earth, as you call it; is it not hanging there in the
-heavens in plain sight?”
-
-This baffled me, I must confess, fully as much as my statements had
-confounded her; and I told her so. She then explained in general the
-instruments her people had used and been perfecting for ages, which
-permit them to throw upon a screen a perfect image of what is
-transpiring upon any planet and upon many of the stars. These pictures
-are so perfect in detail that, when photographed and enlarged, objects
-no greater than a blade of grass may be distinctly recognized. I
-afterward, in Helium, saw many of these pictures, as well as the
-instruments which produced them.
-
-“If, then, you are so familiar with earthly things,” I asked, “why is
-it that you do not recognize me as identical with the inhabitants of
-that planet?”
-
-She smiled again as one might in bored indulgence of a questioning
-child.
-
-“Because, John Carter,” she replied, “nearly every planet and star
-having atmospheric conditions at all approaching those of Barsoom,
-shows forms of animal life almost identical with you and me; and,
-further, Earth men, almost without exception, cover their bodies with
-strange, unsightly pieces of cloth, and their heads with hideous
-contraptions the purpose of which we have been unable to conceive;
-while you, when found by the Tharkian warriors, were entirely
-undisfigured and unadorned.
-
-“The fact that you wore no ornaments is a strong proof of your
-un-Barsoomian origin, while the absence of grotesque coverings might
-cause a doubt as to your earthliness.”
-
-I then narrated the details of my departure from the Earth, explaining
-that my body there lay fully clothed in all the, to her, strange
-garments of mundane dwellers. At this point Sola returned with our
-meager belongings and her young Martian protege, who, of course, would
-have to share the quarters with them.
-
-Sola asked us if we had had a visitor during her absence, and seemed
-much surprised when we answered in the negative. It seemed that as she
-had mounted the approach to the upper floors where our quarters were
-located, she had met Sarkoja descending. We decided that she must have
-been eavesdropping, but as we could recall nothing of importance that
-had passed between us we dismissed the matter as of little consequence,
-merely promising ourselves to be warned to the utmost caution in the
-future.
-
-Dejah Thoris and I then fell to examining the architecture and
-decorations of the beautiful chambers of the building we were
-occupying. She told me that these people had presumably flourished over
-a hundred thousand years before. They were the early progenitors of her
-race, but had mixed with the other great race of early Martians, who
-were very dark, almost black, and also with the reddish yellow race
-which had flourished at the same time.
-
-These three great divisions of the higher Martians had been forced into
-a mighty alliance as the drying up of the Martian seas had compelled
-them to seek the comparatively few and always diminishing fertile
-areas, and to defend themselves, under new conditions of life, against
-the wild hordes of green men.
-
-Ages of close relationship and intermarrying had resulted in the race
-of red men, of which Dejah Thoris was a fair and beautiful daughter.
-During the ages of hardships and incessant warring between their own
-various races, as well as with the green men, and before they had
-fitted themselves to the changed conditions, much of the high
-civilization and many of the arts of the fair-haired Martians had
-become lost; but the red race of today has reached a point where it
-feels that it has made up in new discoveries and in a more practical
-civilization for all that lies irretrievably buried with the ancient
-Barsoomians, beneath the countless intervening ages.
-
-These ancient Martians had been a highly cultivated and literary race,
-but during the vicissitudes of those trying centuries of readjustment
-to new conditions, not only did their advancement and production cease
-entirely, but practically all their archives, records, and literature
-were lost.
-
-Dejah Thoris related many interesting facts and legends concerning this
-lost race of noble and kindly people. She said that the city in which
-we were camping was supposed to have been a center of commerce and
-culture known as Korad. It had been built upon a beautiful, natural
-harbor, landlocked by magnificent hills. The little valley on the west
-front of the city, she explained, was all that remained of the harbor,
-while the pass through the hills to the old sea bottom had been the
-channel through which the shipping passed up to the city’s gates.
-
-The shores of the ancient seas were dotted with just such cities, and
-lesser ones, in diminishing numbers, were to be found converging toward
-the center of the oceans, as the people had found it necessary to
-follow the receding waters until necessity had forced upon them their
-ultimate salvation, the so-called Martian canals.
-
-We had been so engrossed in exploration of the building and in our
-conversation that it was late in the afternoon before we realized it.
-We were brought back to a realization of our present conditions by a
-messenger bearing a summons from Lorquas Ptomel directing me to appear
-before him forthwith. Bidding Dejah Thoris and Sola farewell, and
-commanding Woola to remain on guard, I hastened to the audience
-chamber, where I found Lorquas Ptomel and Tars Tarkas seated upon the
-rostrum.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-A PRISONER WITH POWER
-
-
-As I entered and saluted, Lorquas Ptomel signaled me to advance, and,
-fixing his great, hideous eyes upon me, addressed me thus:
-
-“You have been with us a few days, yet during that time you have by
-your prowess won a high position among us. Be that as it may, you are
-not one of us; you owe us no allegiance.
-
-“Your position is a peculiar one,” he continued; “you are a prisoner
-and yet you give commands which must be obeyed; you are an alien and
-yet you are a Tharkian chieftain; you are a midget and yet you can kill
-a mighty warrior with one blow of your fist. And now you are reported
-to have been plotting to escape with another prisoner of another race;
-a prisoner who, from her own admission, half believes you are returned
-from the valley of Dor. Either one of these accusations, if proved,
-would be sufficient grounds for your execution, but we are a just
-people and you shall have a trial on our return to Thark, if Tal Hajus
-so commands.
-
-“But,” he continued, in his fierce guttural tones, “if you run off with
-the red girl it is I who shall have to account to Tal Hajus; it is I
-who shall have to face Tars Tarkas, and either demonstrate my right to
-command, or the metal from my dead carcass will go to a better man, for
-such is the custom of the Tharks.
-
-“I have no quarrel with Tars Tarkas; together we rule supreme the
-greatest of the lesser communities among the green men; we do not wish
-to fight between ourselves; and so if you were dead, John Carter, I
-should be glad. Under two conditions only, however, may you be killed
-by us without orders from Tal Hajus; in personal combat in
-self-defense, should you attack one of us, or were you apprehended in
-an attempt to escape.
-
-“As a matter of justice I must warn you that we only await one of these
-two excuses for ridding ourselves of so great a responsibility. The
-safe delivery of the red girl to Tal Hajus is of the greatest
-importance. Not in a thousand years have the Tharks made such a
-capture; she is the granddaughter of the greatest of the red jeddaks,
-who is also our bitterest enemy. I have spoken. The red girl told us
-that we were without the softer sentiments of humanity, but we are a
-just and truthful race. You may go.”
-
-Turning, I left the audience chamber. So this was the beginning of
-Sarkoja’s persecution! I knew that none other could be responsible for
-this report which had reached the ears of Lorquas Ptomel so quickly,
-and now I recalled those portions of our conversation which had touched
-upon escape and upon my origin.
-
-Sarkoja was at this time Tars Tarkas’ oldest and most trusted female.
-As such she was a mighty power behind the throne, for no warrior had
-the confidence of Lorquas Ptomel to such an extent as did his ablest
-lieutenant, Tars Tarkas.
-
-However, instead of putting thoughts of possible escape from my mind,
-my audience with Lorquas Ptomel only served to center my every faculty
-on this subject. Now, more than before, the absolute necessity for
-escape, in so far as Dejah Thoris was concerned, was impressed upon me,
-for I was convinced that some horrible fate awaited her at the
-headquarters of Tal Hajus.
-
-As described by Sola, this monster was the exaggerated personification
-of all the ages of cruelty, ferocity, and brutality from which he had
-descended. Cold, cunning, calculating; he was, also, in marked contrast
-to most of his fellows, a slave to that brute passion which the waning
-demands for procreation upon their dying planet has almost stilled in
-the Martian breast.
-
-The thought that the divine Dejah Thoris might fall into the clutches
-of such an abysmal atavism started the cold sweat upon me. Far better
-that we save friendly bullets for ourselves at the last moment, as did
-those brave frontier women of my lost land, who took their own lives
-rather than fall into the hands of the Indian braves.
-
-As I wandered about the plaza lost in my gloomy forebodings Tars Tarkas
-approached me on his way from the audience chamber. His demeanor toward
-me was unchanged, and he greeted me as though we had not just parted a
-few moments before.
-
-“Where are your quarters, John Carter?” he asked.
-
-“I have selected none,” I replied. “It seemed best that I quartered
-either by myself or among the other warriors, and I was awaiting an
-opportunity to ask your advice. As you know,” and I smiled, “I am not
-yet familiar with all the customs of the Tharks.”
-
-“Come with me,” he directed, and together we moved off across the plaza
-to a building which I was glad to see adjoined that occupied by Sola
-and her charges.
-
-“My quarters are on the first floor of this building,” he said, “and
-the second floor also is fully occupied by warriors, but the third
-floor and the floors above are vacant; you may take your choice of
-these.
-
-“I understand,” he continued, “that you have given up your woman to the
-red prisoner. Well, as you have said, your ways are not our ways, but
-you can fight well enough to do about as you please, and so, if you
-wish to give your woman to a captive, it is your own affair; but as a
-chieftain you should have those to serve you, and in accordance with
-our customs you may select any or all the females from the retinues of
-the chieftains whose metal you now wear.”
-
-I thanked him, but assured him that I could get along very nicely
-without assistance except in the matter of preparing food, and so he
-promised to send women to me for this purpose and also for the care of
-my arms and the manufacture of my ammunition, which he said would be
-necessary. I suggested that they might also bring some of the sleeping
-silks and furs which belonged to me as spoils of combat, for the nights
-were cold and I had none of my own.
-
-He promised to do so, and departed. Left alone, I ascended the winding
-corridor to the upper floors in search of suitable quarters. The
-beauties of the other buildings were repeated in this, and, as usual, I
-was soon lost in a tour of investigation and discovery.
-
-I finally chose a front room on the third floor, because this brought
-me nearer to Dejah Thoris, whose apartment was on the second floor of
-the adjoining building, and it flashed upon me that I could rig up some
-means of communication whereby she might signal me in case she needed
-either my services or my protection.
-
-Adjoining my sleeping apartment were baths, dressing rooms, and other
-sleeping and living apartments, in all some ten rooms on this floor.
-The windows of the back rooms overlooked an enormous court, which
-formed the center of the square made by the buildings which faced the
-four contiguous streets, and which was now given over to the quartering
-of the various animals belonging to the warriors occupying the
-adjoining buildings.
-
-While the court was entirely overgrown with the yellow, moss-like
-vegetation which blankets practically the entire surface of Mars, yet
-numerous fountains, statuary, benches, and pergola-like contraptions
-bore witness to the beauty which the court must have presented in
-bygone times, when graced by the fair-haired, laughing people whom
-stern and unalterable cosmic laws had driven not only from their homes,
-but from all except the vague legends of their descendants.
-
-One could easily picture the gorgeous foliage of the luxuriant Martian
-vegetation which once filled this scene with life and color; the
-graceful figures of the beautiful women, the straight and handsome men;
-the happy frolicking children—all sunlight, happiness and peace. It was
-difficult to realize that they had gone; down through ages of darkness,
-cruelty, and ignorance, until their hereditary instincts of culture and
-humanitarianism had risen ascendant once more in the final composite
-race which now is dominant upon Mars.
-
-My thoughts were cut short by the advent of several young females
-bearing loads of weapons, silks, furs, jewels, cooking utensils, and
-casks of food and drink, including considerable loot from the air
-craft. All this, it seemed, had been the property of the two chieftains
-I had slain, and now, by the customs of the Tharks, it had become mine.
-At my direction they placed the stuff in one of the back rooms, and
-then departed, only to return with a second load, which they advised me
-constituted the balance of my goods. On the second trip they were
-accompanied by ten or fifteen other women and youths, who, it seemed,
-formed the retinues of the two chieftains.
-
-They were not their families, nor their wives, nor their servants; the
-relationship was peculiar, and so unlike anything known to us that it
-is most difficult to describe. All property among the green Martians is
-owned in common by the community, except the personal weapons,
-ornaments and sleeping silks and furs of the individuals. These alone
-can one claim undisputed right to, nor may he accumulate more of these
-than are required for his actual needs. The surplus he holds merely as
-custodian, and it is passed on to the younger members of the community
-as necessity demands.
-
-The women and children of a man’s retinue may be likened to a military
-unit for which he is responsible in various ways, as in matters of
-instruction, discipline, sustenance, and the exigencies of their
-continual roamings and their unending strife with other communities and
-with the red Martians. His women are in no sense wives. The green
-Martians use no word corresponding in meaning with this earthly word.
-Their mating is a matter of community interest solely, and is directed
-without reference to natural selection. The council of chieftains of
-each community control the matter as surely as the owner of a Kentucky
-racing stud directs the scientific breeding of his stock for the
-improvement of the whole.
-
-In theory it may sound well, as is often the case with theories, but
-the results of ages of this unnatural practice, coupled with the
-community interest in the offspring being held paramount to that of the
-mother, is shown in the cold, cruel creatures, and their gloomy,
-loveless, mirthless existence.
-
-It is true that the green Martians are absolutely virtuous, both men
-and women, with the exception of such degenerates as Tal Hajus; but
-better far a finer balance of human characteristics even at the expense
-of a slight and occasional loss of chastity.
-
-Finding that I must assume responsibility for these creatures, whether
-I would or not, I made the best of it and directed them to find
-quarters on the upper floors, leaving the third floor to me. One of the
-girls I charged with the duties of my simple cuisine, and directed the
-others to take up the various activities which had formerly constituted
-their vocations. Thereafter I saw little of them, nor did I care to.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-LOVE-MAKING ON MARS
-
-
-Following the battle with the air ships, the community remained within
-the city for several days, abandoning the homeward march until they
-could feel reasonably assured that the ships would not return; for to
-be caught on the open plains with a cavalcade of chariots and children
-was far from the desire of even so warlike a people as the green
-Martians.
-
-During our period of inactivity, Tars Tarkas had instructed me in many
-of the customs and arts of war familiar to the Tharks, including
-lessons in riding and guiding the great beasts which bore the warriors.
-These creatures, which are known as thoats, are as dangerous and
-vicious as their masters, but when once subdued are sufficiently
-tractable for the purposes of the green Martians.
-
-Two of these animals had fallen to me from the warriors whose metal I
-wore, and in a short time I could handle them quite as well as the
-native warriors. The method was not at all complicated. If the thoats
-did not respond with sufficient celerity to the telepathic instructions
-of their riders they were dealt a terrific blow between the ears with
-the butt of a pistol, and if they showed fight this treatment was
-continued until the brutes either were subdued, or had unseated their
-riders.
-
-In the latter case it became a life and death struggle between the man
-and the beast. If the former were quick enough with his pistol he might
-live to ride again, though upon some other beast; if not, his torn and
-mangled body was gathered up by his women and burned in accordance with
-Tharkian custom.
-
-My experience with Woola determined me to attempt the experiment of
-kindness in my treatment of my thoats. First I taught them that they
-could not unseat me, and even rapped them sharply between the ears to
-impress upon them my authority and mastery. Then, by degrees, I won
-their confidence in much the same manner as I had adopted countless
-times with my many mundane mounts. I was ever a good hand with animals,
-and by inclination, as well as because it brought more lasting and
-satisfactory results, I was always kind and humane in my dealings with
-the lower orders. I could take a human life, if necessary, with far
-less compunction than that of a poor, unreasoning, irresponsible brute.
-
-In the course of a few days my thoats were the wonder of the entire
-community. They would follow me like dogs, rubbing their great snouts
-against my body in awkward evidence of affection, and respond to my
-every command with an alacrity and docility which caused the Martian
-warriors to ascribe to me the possession of some earthly power unknown
-on Mars.
-
-“How have you bewitched them?” asked Tars Tarkas one afternoon, when he
-had seen me run my arm far between the great jaws of one of my thoats
-which had wedged a piece of stone between two of his teeth while
-feeding upon the moss-like vegetation within our court yard.
-
-“By kindness,” I replied. “You see, Tars Tarkas, the softer sentiments
-have their value, even to a warrior. In the height of battle as well as
-upon the march I know that my thoats will obey my every command, and
-therefore my fighting efficiency is enhanced, and I am a better warrior
-for the reason that I am a kind master. Your other warriors would find
-it to the advantage of themselves as well as of the community to adopt
-my methods in this respect. Only a few days since you, yourself, told
-me that these great brutes, by the uncertainty of their tempers, often
-were the means of turning victory into defeat, since, at a crucial
-moment, they might elect to unseat and rend their riders.”
-
-“Show me how you accomplish these results,” was Tars Tarkas’ only
-rejoinder.
-
-And so I explained as carefully as I could the entire method of
-training I had adopted with my beasts, and later he had me repeat it
-before Lorquas Ptomel and the assembled warriors. That moment marked
-the beginning of a new existence for the poor thoats, and before I left
-the community of Lorquas Ptomel I had the satisfaction of observing a
-regiment of as tractable and docile mounts as one might care to see.
-The effect on the precision and celerity of the military movements was
-so remarkable that Lorquas Ptomel presented me with a massive anklet of
-gold from his own leg, as a sign of his appreciation of my service to
-the horde.
-
-On the seventh day following the battle with the air craft we again
-took up the march toward Thark, all probability of another attack being
-deemed remote by Lorquas Ptomel.
-
-During the days just preceding our departure I had seen but little of
-Dejah Thoris, as I had been kept very busy by Tars Tarkas with my
-lessons in the art of Martian warfare, as well as in the training of my
-thoats. The few times I had visited her quarters she had been absent,
-walking upon the streets with Sola, or investigating the buildings in
-the near vicinity of the plaza. I had warned them against venturing far
-from the plaza for fear of the great white apes, whose ferocity I was
-only too well acquainted with. However, since Woola accompanied them on
-all their excursions, and as Sola was well armed, there was
-comparatively little cause for fear.
-
-On the evening before our departure I saw them approaching along one of
-the great avenues which lead into the plaza from the east. I advanced
-to meet them, and telling Sola that I would take the responsibility for
-Dejah Thoris’ safekeeping, I directed her to return to her quarters on
-some trivial errand. I liked and trusted Sola, but for some reason I
-desired to be alone with Dejah Thoris, who represented to me all that I
-had left behind upon Earth in agreeable and congenial companionship.
-There seemed bonds of mutual interest between us as powerful as though
-we had been born under the same roof rather than upon different
-planets, hurtling through space some forty-eight million miles apart.
-
-That she shared my sentiments in this respect I was positive, for on my
-approach the look of pitiful hopelessness left her sweet countenance to
-be replaced by a smile of joyful welcome, as she placed her little
-right hand upon my left shoulder in true red Martian salute.
-
-“Sarkoja told Sola that you had become a true Thark,” she said, “and
-that I would now see no more of you than of any of the other warriors.”
-
-“Sarkoja is a liar of the first magnitude,” I replied, “notwithstanding
-the proud claim of the Tharks to absolute verity.”
-
-Dejah Thoris laughed.
-
-“I knew that even though you became a member of the community you would
-not cease to be my friend; ‘A warrior may change his metal, but not his
-heart,’ as the saying is upon Barsoom.”
-
-“I think they have been trying to keep us apart,” she continued, “for
-whenever you have been off duty one of the older women of Tars Tarkas’
-retinue has always arranged to trump up some excuse to get Sola and me
-out of sight. They have had me down in the pits below the buildings
-helping them mix their awful radium powder, and make their terrible
-projectiles. You know that these have to be manufactured by artificial
-light, as exposure to sunlight always results in an explosion. You have
-noticed that their bullets explode when they strike an object? Well,
-the opaque, outer coating is broken by the impact, exposing a glass
-cylinder, almost solid, in the forward end of which is a minute
-particle of radium powder. The moment the sunlight, even though
-diffused, strikes this powder it explodes with a violence which nothing
-can withstand. If you ever witness a night battle you will note the
-absence of these explosions, while the morning following the battle
-will be filled at sunrise with the sharp detonations of exploding
-missiles fired the preceding night. As a rule, however, non-exploding
-projectiles are used at night.”[1]
-
- [1] I have used the word radium in describing this powder because in
- the light of recent discoveries on Earth I believe it to be a mixture
- of which radium is the base. In Captain Carter’s manuscript it is
- mentioned always by the name used in the written language of Helium
- and is spelled in hieroglyphics which it would be difficult and
- useless to reproduce.
-
-
-While I was much interested in Dejah Thoris’ explanation of this
-wonderful adjunct to Martian warfare, I was more concerned by the
-immediate problem of their treatment of her. That they were keeping her
-away from me was not a matter for surprise, but that they should
-subject her to dangerous and arduous labor filled me with rage.
-
-“Have they ever subjected you to cruelty and ignominy, Dejah Thoris?” I
-asked, feeling the hot blood of my fighting ancestors leap in my veins
-as I awaited her reply.
-
-“Only in little ways, John Carter,” she answered. “Nothing that can
-harm me outside my pride. They know that I am the daughter of ten
-thousand jeddaks, that I trace my ancestry straight back without a
-break to the builder of the first great waterway, and they, who do not
-even know their own mothers, are jealous of me. At heart they hate
-their horrid fates, and so wreak their poor spite on me who stand for
-everything they have not, and for all they most crave and never can
-attain. Let us pity them, my chieftain, for even though we die at their
-hands we can afford them pity, since we are greater than they and they
-know it.”
-
-Had I known the significance of those words “my chieftain,” as applied
-by a red Martian woman to a man, I should have had the surprise of my
-life, but I did not know at that time, nor for many months thereafter.
-Yes, I still had much to learn upon Barsoom.
-
-“I presume it is the better part of wisdom that we bow to our fate with
-as good grace as possible, Dejah Thoris; but I hope, nevertheless, that
-I may be present the next time that any Martian, green, red, pink, or
-violet, has the temerity to even so much as frown on you, my princess.”
-
-Dejah Thoris caught her breath at my last words, and gazed upon me with
-dilated eyes and quickening breath, and then, with an odd little laugh,
-which brought roguish dimples to the corners of her mouth, she shook
-her head and cried:
-
-“What a child! A great warrior and yet a stumbling little child.”
-
-“What have I done now?” I asked, in sore perplexity.
-
-“Some day you shall know, John Carter, if we live; but I may not tell
-you. And I, the daughter of Mors Kajak, son of Tardos Mors, have
-listened without anger,” she soliloquized in conclusion.
-
-Then she broke out again into one of her gay, happy, laughing moods;
-joking with me on my prowess as a Thark warrior as contrasted with my
-soft heart and natural kindliness.
-
-“I presume that should you accidentally wound an enemy you would take
-him home and nurse him back to health,” she laughed.
-
-“That is precisely what we do on Earth,” I answered. “At least among
-civilized men.”
-
-This made her laugh again. She could not understand it, for, with all
-her tenderness and womanly sweetness, she was still a Martian, and to a
-Martian the only good enemy is a dead enemy; for every dead foeman
-means so much more to divide between those who live.
-
-I was very curious to know what I had said or done to cause her so much
-perturbation a moment before and so I continued to importune her to
-enlighten me.
-
-“No,” she exclaimed, “it is enough that you have said it and that I
-have listened. And when you learn, John Carter, and if I be dead, as
-likely I shall be ere the further moon has circled Barsoom another
-twelve times, remember that I listened and that I—smiled.”
-
-It was all Greek to me, but the more I begged her to explain the more
-positive became her denials of my request, and, so, in very
-hopelessness, I desisted.
-
-Day had now given away to night and as we wandered along the great
-avenue lighted by the two moons of Barsoom, and with Earth looking down
-upon us out of her luminous green eye, it seemed that we were alone in
-the universe, and I, at least, was content that it should be so.
-
-The chill of the Martian night was upon us, and removing my silks I
-threw them across the shoulders of Dejah Thoris. As my arm rested for
-an instant upon her I felt a thrill pass through every fiber of my
-being such as contact with no other mortal had even produced; and it
-seemed to me that she had leaned slightly toward me, but of that I was
-not sure. Only I knew that as my arm rested there across her shoulders
-longer than the act of adjusting the silk required she did not draw
-away, nor did she speak. And so, in silence, we walked the surface of a
-dying world, but in the breast of one of us at least had been born that
-which is ever oldest, yet ever new.
-
-I loved Dejah Thoris. The touch of my arm upon her naked shoulder had
-spoken to me in words I would not mistake, and I knew that I had loved
-her since the first moment that my eyes had met hers that first time in
-the plaza of the dead city of Korad.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-A DUEL TO THE DEATH
-
-
-My first impulse was to tell her of my love, and then I thought of the
-helplessness of her position wherein I alone could lighten the burdens
-of her captivity, and protect her in my poor way against the thousands
-of hereditary enemies she must face upon our arrival at Thark. I could
-not chance causing her additional pain or sorrow by declaring a love
-which, in all probability she did not return. Should I be so
-indiscreet, her position would be even more unbearable than now, and
-the thought that she might feel that I was taking advantage of her
-helplessness, to influence her decision was the final argument which
-sealed my lips.
-
-“Why are you so quiet, Dejah Thoris?” I asked. “Possibly you would
-rather return to Sola and your quarters.”
-
-“No,” she murmured, “I am happy here. I do not know why it is that I
-should always be happy and contented when you, John Carter, a stranger,
-are with me; yet at such times it seems that I am safe and that, with
-you, I shall soon return to my father’s court and feel his strong arms
-about me and my mother’s tears and kisses on my cheek.”
-
-“Do people kiss, then, upon Barsoom?” I asked, when she had explained
-the word she used, in answer to my inquiry as to its meaning.
-
-“Parents, brothers, and sisters, yes; and,” she added in a low,
-thoughtful tone, “lovers.”
-
-“And you, Dejah Thoris, have parents and brothers and sisters?”
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“And a—lover?”
-
-She was silent, nor could I venture to repeat the question.
-
-“The man of Barsoom,” she finally ventured, “does not ask personal
-questions of women, except his mother, and the woman he has fought for
-and won.”
-
-“But I have fought—” I started, and then I wished my tongue had been
-cut from my mouth; for she turned even as I caught myself and ceased,
-and drawing my silks from her shoulder she held them out to me, and
-without a word, and with head held high, she moved with the carriage of
-the queen she was toward the plaza and the doorway of her quarters.
-
-I did not attempt to follow her, other than to see that she reached the
-building in safety, but, directing Woola to accompany her, I turned
-disconsolately and entered my own house. I sat for hours cross-legged,
-and cross-tempered, upon my silks meditating upon the queer freaks
-chance plays upon us poor devils of mortals.
-
-So this was love! I had escaped it for all the years I had roamed the
-five continents and their encircling seas; in spite of beautiful women
-and urging opportunity; in spite of a half-desire for love and a
-constant search for my ideal, it had remained for me to fall furiously
-and hopelessly in love with a creature from another world, of a species
-similar possibly, yet not identical with mine. A woman who was hatched
-from an egg, and whose span of life might cover a thousand years; whose
-people had strange customs and ideas; a woman whose hopes, whose
-pleasures, whose standards of virtue and of right and wrong might vary
-as greatly from mine as did those of the green Martians.
-
-Yes, I was a fool, but I was in love, and though I was suffering the
-greatest misery I had ever known I would not have had it otherwise for
-all the riches of Barsoom. Such is love, and such are lovers wherever
-love is known.
-
-To me, Dejah Thoris was all that was perfect; all that was virtuous and
-beautiful and noble and good. I believed that from the bottom of my
-heart, from the depth of my soul on that night in Korad as I sat
-cross-legged upon my silks while the nearer moon of Barsoom raced
-through the western sky toward the horizon, and lighted up the gold and
-marble, and jeweled mosaics of my world-old chamber, and I believe it
-today as I sit at my desk in the little study overlooking the Hudson.
-Twenty years have intervened; for ten of them I lived and fought for
-Dejah Thoris and her people, and for ten I have lived upon her memory.
-
-The morning of our departure for Thark dawned clear and hot, as do all
-Martian mornings except for the six weeks when the snow melts at the
-poles.
-
-I sought out Dejah Thoris in the throng of departing chariots, but she
-turned her shoulder to me, and I could see the red blood mount to her
-cheek. With the foolish inconsistency of love I held my peace when I
-might have pled ignorance of the nature of my offense, or at least the
-gravity of it, and so have effected, at worst, a half conciliation.
-
-
-[Illustration: 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
-glanced into her chariot and rearranged her silks and furs. In doing so
-I noted with horror that she was heavily chained by one ankle to the
-side of the vehicle.
-
-“What does this mean?” I cried, turning to Sola.
-
-“Sarkoja thought it best,” she answered, her face betokening her
-disapproval of the procedure.
-
-Examining the manacles I saw that they fastened with a massive spring
-lock.
-
-“Where is the key, Sola? Let me have it.”
-
-“Sarkoja wears it, John Carter,” she answered.
-
-I turned without further word and sought out Tars Tarkas, to whom I
-vehemently objected to the unnecessary humiliations and cruelties, as
-they seemed to my lover’s eyes, that were being heaped upon Dejah
-Thoris.
-
-“John Carter,” he answered, “if ever you and Dejah Thoris escape the
-Tharks it will be upon this journey. We know that you will not go
-without her. You have shown yourself a mighty fighter, and we do not
-wish to manacle you, so we hold you both in the easiest way that will
-yet ensure security. I have spoken.”
-
-I saw the strength of his reasoning at a flash, and knew that it was
-futile to appeal from his decision, but I asked that the key be taken
-from Sarkoja and that she be directed to leave the prisoner alone in
-future.
-
-“This much, Tars Tarkas, you may do for me in return for the friendship
-that, I must confess, I feel for you.”
-
-“Friendship?” he replied. “There is no such thing, John Carter; but
-have your will. I shall direct that Sarkoja cease to annoy the girl,
-and I myself will take the custody of the key.”
-
-“Unless you wish me to assume the responsibility,” I said, smiling.
-
-He looked at me long and earnestly before he spoke.
-
-“Were you to give me your word that neither you nor Dejah Thoris would
-attempt to escape until after we have safely reached the court of Tal
-Hajus you might have the key and throw the chains into the river Iss.”
-
-“It were better that you held the key, Tars Tarkas,” I replied
-
-He smiled, and said no more, but that night as we were making camp I
-saw him unfasten Dejah Thoris’ fetters himself.
-
-With all his cruel ferocity and coldness there was an undercurrent of
-something in Tars Tarkas which he seemed ever battling to subdue. Could
-it be a vestige of some human instinct come back from an ancient
-forbear to haunt him with the horror of his people’s ways!
-
-As I was approaching Dejah Thoris’ chariot I passed Sarkoja, and the
-black, venomous look she accorded me was the sweetest balm I had felt
-for many hours. Lord, how she hated me! It bristled from her so
-palpably that one might almost have cut it with a sword.
-
-A few moments later I saw her deep in conversation with a warrior named
-Zad; a big, hulking, powerful brute, but one who had never made a kill
-among his own chieftains, and so was still an _o mad_, or man with one
-name; he could win a second name only with the metal of some chieftain.
-It was this custom which entitled me to the names of either of the
-chieftains I had killed; in fact, some of the warriors addressed me as
-Dotar Sojat, a combination of the surnames of the two warrior
-chieftains whose metal I had taken, or, in other words, whom I had
-slain in fair fight.
-
-As Sarkoja talked with Zad he cast occasional glances in my direction,
-while she seemed to be urging him very strongly to some action. I paid
-little attention to it at the time, but the next day I had good reason
-to recall the circumstances, and at the same time gain a slight insight
-into the depths of Sarkoja’s hatred and the lengths to which she was
-capable of going to wreak her horrid vengeance on me.
-
-Dejah Thoris would have none of me again on this evening, and though I
-spoke her name she neither replied, nor conceded by so much as the
-flutter of an eyelid that she realized my existence. In my extremity I
-did what most other lovers would have done; I sought word from her
-through an intimate. In this instance it was Sola whom I intercepted in
-another part of camp.
-
-“What is the matter with Dejah Thoris?” I blurted out at her. “Why will
-she not speak to me?”
-
-Sola seemed puzzled herself, as though such strange actions on the part
-of two humans were quite beyond her, as indeed they were, poor child.
-
-“She says you have angered her, and that is all she will say, except
-that she is the daughter of a jed and the granddaughter of a jeddak and
-she has been humiliated by a creature who could not polish the teeth of
-her grandmother’s sorak.”
-
-I pondered over this report for some time, finally asking, “What might
-a sorak be, Sola?”
-
-“A little animal about as big as my hand, which the red Martian women
-keep to play with,” explained Sola.
-
-Not fit to polish the teeth of her grandmother’s cat! I must rank
-pretty low in the consideration of Dejah Thoris, I thought; but I could
-not help laughing at the strange figure of speech, so homely and in
-this respect so earthly. It made me homesick, for it sounded very much
-like “not fit to polish her shoes.” And then commenced a train of
-thought quite new to me. I began to wonder what my people at home were
-doing. I had not seen them for years. There was a family of Carters in
-Virginia who claimed close relationship with me; I was supposed to be a
-great uncle, or something of the kind equally foolish. I could pass
-anywhere for twenty-five to thirty years of age, and to be a great
-uncle always seemed the height of incongruity, for my thoughts and
-feelings were those of a boy. There were two little kiddies in the
-Carter family whom I had loved and who had thought there was no one on
-Earth like Uncle Jack; I could see them just as plainly, as I stood
-there under the moonlit skies of Barsoom, and I longed for them as I
-had never longed for any mortals before. By nature a wanderer, I had
-never known the true meaning of the word home, but the great hall of
-the Carters had always stood for all that the word did mean to me, and
-now my heart turned toward it from the cold and unfriendly peoples I
-had been thrown amongst. For did not even Dejah Thoris despise me! I
-was a low creature, so low in fact that I was not even fit to polish
-the teeth of her grandmother’s cat; and then my saving sense of humor
-came to my rescue, and laughing I turned into my silks and furs and
-slept upon the moon-haunted ground the sleep of a tired and healthy
-fighting man.
-
-We broke camp the next day at an early hour and marched with only a
-single halt until just before dark. Two incidents broke the tediousness
-of the march. About noon we espied far to our right what was evidently
-an incubator, and Lorquas Ptomel directed Tars Tarkas to investigate
-it. The latter took a dozen warriors, including myself, and we raced
-across the velvety carpeting of moss to the little enclosure.
-
-It was indeed an incubator, but the eggs were very small in comparison
-with those I had seen hatching in ours at the time of my arrival on
-Mars.
-
-Tars Tarkas dismounted and examined the enclosure minutely, finally
-announcing that it belonged to the green men of Warhoon and that the
-cement was scarcely dry where it had been walled up.
-
-“They cannot be a day’s march ahead of us,” he exclaimed, the light of
-battle leaping to his fierce face.
-
-The work at the incubator was short indeed. The warriors tore open the
-entrance and a couple of them, crawling in, soon demolished all the
-eggs with their short-swords. Then remounting we dashed back to join
-the cavalcade. During the ride I took occasion to ask Tars Tarkas if
-these Warhoons whose eggs we had destroyed were a smaller people than
-his Tharks.
-
-“I noticed that their eggs were so much smaller than those I saw
-hatching in your incubator,” I added.
-
-He explained that the eggs had just been placed there; but, like all
-green Martian eggs, they would grow during the five-year period of
-incubation until they obtained the size of those I had seen hatching on
-the day of my arrival on Barsoom. This was indeed an interesting piece
-of information, for it had always seemed remarkable to me that the
-green Martian women, large as they were, could bring forth such
-enormous eggs as I had seen the four-foot infants emerging from. As a
-matter of fact, the new-laid egg is but little larger than an ordinary
-goose egg, and as it does not commence to grow until subjected to the
-light of the sun the chieftains have little difficulty in transporting
-several hundreds of them at one time from the storage vaults to the
-incubators.
-
-Shortly after the incident of the Warhoon eggs we halted to rest the
-animals, and it was during this halt that the second of the day’s
-interesting episodes occurred. I was engaged in changing my riding
-cloths from one of my thoats to the other, for I divided the day’s work
-between them, when Zad approached me, and without a word struck my
-animal a terrific blow with his long-sword.
-
-I did not need a manual of green Martian etiquette to know what reply
-to make, for, in fact, I was so wild with anger that I could scarcely
-refrain from drawing my pistol and shooting him down for the brute he
-was; but he stood waiting with drawn long-sword, and my only choice was
-to draw my own and meet him in fair fight with his choice of weapons or
-a lesser one.
-
-This latter alternative is always permissible, therefore I could have
-used my short-sword, my dagger, my hatchet, or my fists had I wished,
-and been entirely within my rights, but I could not use firearms or a
-spear while he held only his long-sword.
-
-I chose the same weapon he had drawn because I knew he prided himself
-upon his ability with it, and I wished, if I worsted him at all, to do
-it with his own weapon. The fight that followed was a long one and
-delayed the resumption of the march for an hour. The entire community
-surrounded us, leaving a clear space about one hundred feet in diameter
-for our battle.
-
-Zad first attempted to rush me down as a bull might a wolf, but I was
-much too quick for him, and each time I side-stepped his rushes he
-would go lunging past me, only to receive a nick from my sword upon his
-arm or back. He was soon streaming blood from a half dozen minor
-wounds, but I could not obtain an opening to deliver an effective
-thrust. Then he changed his tactics, and fighting warily and with
-extreme dexterity, he tried to do by science what he was unable to do
-by brute strength. I must admit that he was a magnificent swordsman,
-and had it not been for my greater endurance and the remarkable agility
-the lesser gravitation of Mars lent me I might not have been able to
-put up the creditable fight I did against him.
-
-We circled for some time without doing much damage on either side; the
-long, straight, needle-like swords flashing in the sunlight, and
-ringing out upon the stillness as they crashed together with each
-effective parry. Finally Zad, realizing that he was tiring more than I,
-evidently decided to close in and end the battle in a final blaze of
-glory for himself; just as he rushed me a blinding flash of light
-struck full in my eyes, so that I could not see his approach and could
-only leap blindly to one side in an effort to escape the mighty blade
-that it seemed I could already feel in my vitals. I was only partially
-successful, as a sharp pain in my left shoulder attested, but in the
-sweep of my glance as I sought to again locate my adversary, a sight
-met my astonished gaze which paid me well for the wound the temporary
-blindness had caused me. There, upon Dejah Thoris’ chariot stood three
-figures, for the purpose evidently of witnessing the encounter above
-the heads of the intervening Tharks. There were Dejah Thoris, Sola, and
-Sarkoja, and as my fleeting glance swept over them a little tableau was
-presented which will stand graven in my memory to the day of my death.
-
-As I looked, Dejah Thoris turned upon Sarkoja with the fury of a young
-tigress and struck something from her upraised hand; something which
-flashed in the sunlight as it spun to the ground. Then I knew what had
-blinded me at that crucial moment of the fight, and how Sarkoja had
-found a way to kill me without herself delivering the final thrust.
-Another thing I saw, too, which almost lost my life for me then and
-there, for it took my mind for the fraction of an instant entirely from
-my antagonist; for, as Dejah Thoris struck the tiny mirror from her
-hand, Sarkoja, her face livid with hatred and baffled rage, whipped out
-her dagger and aimed a terrific blow at Dejah Thoris; and then Sola,
-our dear and faithful Sola, sprang between them; the last I saw was the
-great knife descending upon her shielding breast.
-
-My enemy had recovered from his thrust and was making it extremely
-interesting for me, so I reluctantly gave my attention to the work in
-hand, but my mind was not upon the battle.
-
-We rushed each other furiously time after time, ’til suddenly, feeling
-the sharp point of his sword at my breast in a thrust I could neither
-parry nor escape, I threw myself upon him with outstretched sword and
-with all the weight of my body, determined that I would not die alone
-if I could prevent it. I felt the steel tear into my chest, all went
-black before me, my head whirled in dizziness, and I felt my knees
-giving beneath me.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-SOLA TELLS ME HER STORY
-
-
-When consciousness returned, and, as I soon learned, I was down but a
-moment, I sprang quickly to my feet searching for my sword, and there I
-found it, buried to the hilt in the green breast of Zad, who lay stone
-dead upon the ochre moss of the ancient sea bottom. As I regained my
-full senses I found his weapon piercing my left breast, but only
-through the flesh and muscles which cover my ribs, entering near the
-center of my chest and coming out below the shoulder. As I had lunged I
-had turned so that his sword merely passed beneath the muscles,
-inflicting a painful but not dangerous wound.
-
-Removing the blade from my body I also regained my own, and turning my
-back upon his ugly carcass, I moved, sick, sore, and disgusted, toward
-the chariots which bore my retinue and my belongings. A murmur of
-Martian applause greeted me, but I cared not for it.
-
-Bleeding and weak I reached my women, who, accustomed to such
-happenings, dressed my wounds, applying the wonderful healing and
-remedial agents which make only the most instantaneous of death blows
-fatal. Give a Martian woman a chance and death must take a back seat.
-They soon had me patched up so that, except for weakness from loss of
-blood and a little soreness around the wound, I suffered no great
-distress from this thrust which, under earthly treatment, undoubtedly
-would have put me flat on my back for days.
-
-As soon as they were through with me I hastened to the chariot of Dejah
-Thoris, where I found my poor Sola with her chest swathed in bandages,
-but apparently little the worse for her encounter with Sarkoja, whose
-dagger it seemed had struck the edge of one of Sola’s metal breast
-ornaments and, thus deflected, had inflicted but a slight flesh wound.
-
-As I approached I found Dejah Thoris lying prone upon her silks and
-furs, her lithe form wracked with sobs. She did not notice my presence,
-nor did she hear me speaking with Sola, who was standing a short
-distance from the vehicle.
-
-“Is she injured?” I asked of Sola, indicating Dejah Thoris by an
-inclination of my head.
-
-“No,” she answered, “she thinks that you are dead.”
-
-“And that her grandmother’s cat may now have no one to polish its
-teeth?” I queried, smiling.
-
-“I think you wrong her, John Carter,” said Sola. “I do not understand
-either her ways or yours, but I am sure the granddaughter of ten
-thousand jeddaks would never grieve like this over any who held but the
-highest claim upon her affections. They are a proud race, but they are
-just, as are all Barsoomians, and you must have hurt or wronged her
-grievously that she will not admit your existence living, though she
-mourns you dead.
-
-“Tears are a strange sight upon Barsoom,” she continued, “and so it is
-difficult for me to interpret them. I have seen but two people weep in
-all my life, other than Dejah Thoris; one wept from sorrow, the other
-from baffled rage. The first was my mother, years ago before they
-killed her; the other was Sarkoja, when they dragged her from me
-today.”
-
-“Your mother!” I exclaimed, “but, Sola, you could not have known your
-mother, child.”
-
-“But I did. And my father also,” she added. “If you would like to hear
-the strange and un-Barsoomian story come to the chariot tonight, John
-Carter, and I will tell you that of which I have never spoken in all my
-life before. And now the signal has been given to resume the march, you
-must go.”
-
-“I will come tonight, Sola,” I promised. “Be sure to tell Dejah Thoris
-I am alive and well. I shall not force myself upon her, and be sure
-that you do not let her know I saw her tears. If she would speak with
-me I but await her command.”
-
-Sola mounted the chariot, which was swinging into its place in line,
-and I hastened to my waiting thoat and galloped to my station beside
-Tars Tarkas at the rear of the column.
-
-We made a most imposing and awe-inspiring spectacle as we strung out
-across the yellow landscape; the two hundred and fifty ornate and
-brightly colored chariots, preceded by an advance guard of some two
-hundred mounted warriors and chieftains riding five abreast and one
-hundred yards apart, and followed by a like number in the same
-formation, with a score or more of flankers on either side; the fifty
-extra mastodons, or heavy draught animals, known as zitidars, and the
-five or six hundred extra thoats of the warriors running loose within
-the hollow square formed by the surrounding warriors. The gleaming
-metal and jewels of the gorgeous ornaments of the men and women,
-duplicated in the trappings of the zitidars and thoats, and
-interspersed with the flashing colors of magnificent silks and furs and
-feathers, lent a barbaric splendor to the caravan which would have
-turned an East Indian potentate green with envy.
-
-The enormous broad tires of the chariots and the padded feet of the
-animals brought forth no sound from the moss-covered sea bottom; and so
-we moved in utter silence, like some huge phantasmagoria, except when
-the stillness was broken by the guttural growling of a goaded zitidar,
-or the squealing of fighting thoats. The green Martians converse but
-little, and then usually in monosyllables, low and like the faint
-rumbling of distant thunder.
-
-We traversed a trackless waste of moss which, bending to the pressure
-of broad tire or padded foot, rose up again behind us, leaving no sign
-that we had passed. We might indeed have been the wraiths of the
-departed dead upon the dead sea of that dying planet for all the sound
-or sign we made in passing. It was the first march of a large body of
-men and animals I had ever witnessed which raised no dust and left no
-spoor; for there is no dust upon Mars except in the cultivated
-districts during the winter months, and even then the absence of high
-winds renders it almost unnoticeable.
-
-We camped that night at the foot of the hills we had been approaching
-for two days and which marked the southern boundary of this particular
-sea. Our animals had been two days without drink, nor had they had
-water for nearly two months, not since shortly after leaving Thark;
-but, as Tars Tarkas explained to me, they require but little and can
-live almost indefinitely upon the moss which covers Barsoom, and which,
-he told me, holds in its tiny stems sufficient moisture to meet the
-limited demands of the animals.
-
-After partaking of my evening meal of cheese-like food and vegetable
-milk I sought out Sola, whom I found working by the light of a torch
-upon some of Tars Tarkas’ trappings. She looked up at my approach, her
-face lighting with pleasure and with welcome.
-
-“I am glad you came,” she said; “Dejah Thoris sleeps and I am lonely.
-Mine own people do not care for me, John Carter; I am too unlike them.
-It is a sad fate, since I must live my life amongst them, and I often
-wish that I were a true green Martian woman, without love and without
-hope; but I have known love and so I am lost.
-
-“I promised to tell you my story, or rather the story of my parents.
-From what I have learned of you and the ways of your people I am sure
-that the tale will not seem strange to you, but among green Martians it
-has no parallel within the memory of the oldest living Thark, nor do
-our legends hold many similar tales.
-
-“My mother was rather small, in fact too small to be allowed the
-responsibilities of maternity, as our chieftains breed principally for
-size. She was also less cold and cruel than most green Martian women,
-and caring little for their society, she often roamed the deserted
-avenues of Thark alone, or went and sat among the wild flowers that
-deck the nearby hills, thinking thoughts and wishing wishes which I
-believe I alone among Tharkian women today may understand, for am I not
-the child of my mother?
-
-“And there among the hills she met a young warrior, whose duty it was
-to guard the feeding zitidars and thoats and see that they roamed not
-beyond the hills. They spoke at first only of such things as interest a
-community of Tharks, but gradually, as they came to meet more often,
-and, as was now quite evident to both, no longer by chance, they talked
-about themselves, their likes, their ambitions and their hopes. She
-trusted him and told him of the awful repugnance she felt for the
-cruelties of their kind, for the hideous, loveless lives they must ever
-lead, and then she waited for the storm of denunciation to break from
-his cold, hard lips; but instead he took her in his arms and kissed
-her.
-
-“They kept their love a secret for six long years. She, my mother, was
-of the retinue of the great Tal Hajus, while her lover was a simple
-warrior, wearing only his own metal. Had their defection from the
-traditions of the Tharks been discovered both would have paid the
-penalty in the great arena before Tal Hajus and the assembled hordes.
-
-“The egg from which I came was hidden beneath a great glass vessel upon
-the highest and most inaccessible of the partially ruined towers of
-ancient Thark. Once each year my mother visited it for the five long
-years it lay there in the process of incubation. She dared not come
-oftener, for in the mighty guilt of her conscience she feared that her
-every move was watched. During this period my father gained great
-distinction as a warrior and had taken the metal from several
-chieftains. His love for my mother had never diminished, and his own
-ambition in life was to reach a point where he might wrest the metal
-from Tal Hajus himself, and thus, as ruler of the Tharks, be free to
-claim her as his own, as well as, by the might of his power, protect
-the child which otherwise would be quickly dispatched should the truth
-become known.
-
-“It was a wild dream, that of wresting the metal from Tal Hajus in five
-short years, but his advance was rapid, and he soon stood high in the
-councils of Thark. But one day the chance was lost forever, in so far
-as it could come in time to save his loved ones, for he was ordered
-away upon a long expedition to the ice-clad south, to make war upon the
-natives there and despoil them of their furs, for such is the manner of
-the green Barsoomian; he does not labor for what he can wrest in battle
-from others.
-
-“He was gone for four years, and when he returned all had been over for
-three; for about a year after his departure, and shortly before the
-time for the return of an expedition which had gone forth to fetch the
-fruits of a community incubator, the egg had hatched. Thereafter my
-mother continued to keep me in the old tower, visiting me nightly and
-lavishing upon me the love the community life would have robbed us both
-of. She hoped, upon the return of the expedition from the incubator, to
-mix me with the other young assigned to the quarters of Tal Hajus, and
-thus escape the fate which would surely follow discovery of her sin
-against the ancient traditions of the green men.
-
-“She taught me rapidly the language and customs of my kind, and one
-night she told me the story I have told to you up to this point,
-impressing upon me the necessity for absolute secrecy and the great
-caution I must exercise after she had placed me with the other young
-Tharks to permit no one to guess that I was further advanced in
-education than they, nor by any sign to divulge in the presence of
-others my affection for her, or my knowledge of my parentage; and then
-drawing me close to her she whispered in my ear the name of my father.
-
-“And then a light flashed out upon the darkness of the tower chamber,
-and there stood Sarkoja, her gleaming, baleful eyes fixed in a frenzy
-of loathing and contempt upon my mother. The torrent of hatred and
-abuse she poured out upon her turned my young heart cold in terror.
-That she had heard the entire story was apparent, and that she had
-suspected something wrong from my mother’s long nightly absences from
-her quarters accounted for her presence there on that fateful night.
-
-“One thing she had not heard, nor did she know, the whispered name of
-my father. This was apparent from her repeated demands upon my mother
-to disclose the name of her partner in sin, but no amount of abuse or
-threats could wring this from her, and to save me from needless torture
-she lied, for she told Sarkoja that she alone knew nor would she ever
-tell her child.
-
-“With final imprecations, Sarkoja hastened away to Tal Hajus to report
-her discovery, and while she was gone my mother, wrapping me in the
-silks and furs of her night coverings, so that I was scarcely
-noticeable, descended to the streets and ran wildly away toward the
-outskirts of the city, in the direction which led to the far south, out
-toward the man whose protection she might not claim, but on whose face
-she wished to look once more before she died.
-
-“As we neared the city’s southern extremity a sound came to us from
-across the mossy flat, from the direction of the only pass through the
-hills which led to the gates, the pass by which caravans from either
-north or south or east or west would enter the city. The sounds we
-heard were the squealing of thoats and the grumbling of zitidars, with
-the occasional clank of arms which announced the approach of a body of
-warriors. The thought uppermost in her mind was that it was my father
-returned from his expedition, but the cunning of the Thark held her
-from headlong and precipitate flight to greet him.
-
-“Retreating into the shadows of a doorway she awaited the coming of the
-cavalcade which shortly entered the avenue, breaking its formation and
-thronging the thoroughfare from wall to wall. As the head of the
-procession passed us the lesser moon swung clear of the overhanging
-roofs and lit up the scene with all the brilliancy of her wondrous
-light. My mother shrank further back into the friendly shadows, and
-from her hiding place saw that the expedition was not that of my
-father, but the returning caravan bearing the young Tharks. Instantly
-her plan was formed, and as a great chariot swung close to our hiding
-place she slipped stealthily in upon the trailing tailboard, crouching
-low in the shadow of the high side, straining me to her bosom in a
-frenzy of love.
-
-“She knew, what I did not, that never again after that night would she
-hold me to her breast, nor was it likely we would ever look upon each
-other’s face again. In the confusion of the plaza she mixed me with the
-other children, whose guardians during the journey were now free to
-relinquish their responsibility. We were herded together into a great
-room, fed by women who had not accompanied the expedition, and the next
-day we were parceled out among the retinues of the chieftains.
-
-“I never saw my mother after that night. She was imprisoned by Tal
-Hajus, and every effort, including the most horrible and shameful
-torture, was brought to bear upon her to wring from her lips the name
-of my father; but she remained steadfast and loyal, dying at last
-amidst the laughter of Tal Hajus and his chieftains during some awful
-torture she was undergoing.
-
-“I learned afterwards that she told them that she had killed me to save
-me from a like fate at their hands, and that she had thrown my body to
-the white apes. Sarkoja alone disbelieved her, and I feel to this day
-that she suspects my true origin, but does not dare expose me, at the
-present, at all events, because she also guesses, I am sure, the
-identity of my father.
-
-“When he returned from his expedition and learned the story of my
-mother’s fate I was present as Tal Hajus told him; but never by the
-quiver of a muscle did he betray the slightest emotion; only he did not
-laugh as Tal Hajus gleefully described her death struggles. From that
-moment on he was the cruelest of the cruel, and I am awaiting the day
-when he shall win the goal of his ambition, and feel the carcass of Tal
-Hajus beneath his foot, for I am as sure that he but waits the
-opportunity to wreak a terrible vengeance, and that his great love is
-as strong in his breast as when it first transfigured him nearly forty
-years ago, as I am that we sit here upon the edge of a world-old ocean
-while sensible people sleep, John Carter.”
-
-“And your father, Sola, is he with us now?” I asked.
-
-“Yes,” she replied, “but he does not know me for what I am, nor does he
-know who betrayed my mother to Tal Hajus. I alone know my father’s
-name, and only I and Tal Hajus and Sarkoja know that it was she who
-carried the tale that brought death and torture upon her he loved.”
-
-We sat silent for a few moments, she wrapped in the gloomy thoughts of
-her terrible past, and I in pity for the poor creatures whom the
-heartless, senseless customs of their race had doomed to loveless lives
-of cruelty and of hate. Presently she spoke.
-
-“John Carter, if ever a real man walked the cold, dead bosom of Barsoom
-you are one. I know that I can trust you, and because the knowledge may
-someday help you or him or Dejah Thoris or myself, I am going to tell
-you the name of my father, nor place any restrictions or conditions
-upon your tongue. When the time comes, speak the truth if it seems best
-to you. I trust you because I know that you are not cursed with the
-terrible trait of absolute and unswerving truthfulness, that you could
-lie like one of your own Virginia gentlemen if a lie would save others
-from sorrow or suffering. My father’s name is Tars Tarkas.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-WE PLAN ESCAPE
-
-
-The remainder of our journey to Thark was uneventful. We were twenty
-days upon the road, crossing two sea bottoms and passing through or
-around a number of ruined cities, mostly smaller than Korad. Twice we
-crossed the famous Martian waterways, or canals, so-called by our
-earthly astronomers. When we approached these points a warrior would be
-sent far ahead with a powerful field glass, and if no great body of red
-Martian troops was in sight we would advance as close as possible
-without chance of being seen and then camp until dark, when we would
-slowly approach the cultivated tract, and, locating one of the
-numerous, broad highways which cross these areas at regular intervals,
-creep silently and stealthily across to the arid lands upon the other
-side. It required five hours to make one of these crossings without a
-single halt, and the other consumed the entire night, so that we were
-just leaving the confines of the high-walled fields when the sun broke
-out upon us.
-
-Crossing in the darkness, as we did, I was unable to see but little,
-except as the nearer moon, in her wild and ceaseless hurtling through
-the Barsoomian heavens, lit up little patches of the landscape from
-time to time, disclosing walled fields and low, rambling buildings,
-presenting much the appearance of earthly farms. There were many trees,
-methodically arranged, and some of them were of enormous height; there
-were animals in some of the enclosures, and they announced their
-presence by terrified squealings and snortings as they scented our
-queer, wild beasts and wilder human beings.
-
-Only once did I perceive a human being, and that was at the
-intersection of our crossroad with the wide, white turnpike which cuts
-each cultivated district longitudinally at its exact center. The fellow
-must have been sleeping beside the road, for, as I came abreast of him,
-he raised upon one elbow and after a single glance at the approaching
-caravan leaped shrieking to his feet and fled madly down the road,
-scaling a nearby wall with the agility of a scared cat. The Tharks paid
-him not the slightest attention; they were not out upon the warpath,
-and the only sign that I had that they had seen him was a quickening of
-the pace of the caravan as we hastened toward the bordering desert
-which marked our entrance into the realm of Tal Hajus.
-
-Not once did I have speech with Dejah Thoris, as she sent no word to me
-that I would be welcome at her chariot, and my foolish pride kept me
-from making any advances. I verily believe that a man’s way with women
-is in inverse ratio to his prowess among men. The weakling and the
-saphead have often great ability to charm the fair sex, while the
-fighting man who can face a thousand real dangers unafraid, sits hiding
-in the shadows like some frightened child.
-
-Just thirty days after my advent upon Barsoom we entered the ancient
-city of Thark, from whose long-forgotten people this horde of green men
-have stolen even their name. The hordes of Thark number some thirty
-thousand souls, and are divided into twenty-five communities. Each
-community has its own jed and lesser chieftains, but all are under the
-rule of Tal Hajus, Jeddak of Thark. Five communities make their
-headquarters at the city of Thark, and the balance are scattered among
-other deserted cities of ancient Mars throughout the district claimed
-by Tal Hajus.
-
-We made our entry into the great central plaza early in the afternoon.
-There were no enthusiastic friendly greetings for the returned
-expedition. Those who chanced to be in sight spoke the names of
-warriors or women with whom they came in direct contact, in the formal
-greeting of their kind, but when it was discovered that they brought
-two captives a greater interest was aroused, and Dejah Thoris and I
-were the centers of inquiring groups.
-
-We were soon assigned to new quarters, and the balance of the day was
-devoted to settling ourselves to the changed conditions. My home now
-was upon an avenue leading into the plaza from the south, the main
-artery down which we had marched from the gates of the city. I was at
-the far end of the square and had an entire building to myself. The
-same grandeur of architecture which was so noticeable a characteristic
-of Korad was in evidence here, only, if that were possible, on a larger
-and richer scale. My quarters would have been suitable for housing the
-greatest of earthly emperors, but to these queer creatures nothing
-about a building appealed to them but its size and the enormity of its
-chambers; the larger the building, the more desirable; and so Tal Hajus
-occupied what must have been an enormous public building, the largest
-in the city, but entirely unfitted for residence purposes; the next
-largest was reserved for Lorquas Ptomel, the next for the jed of a
-lesser rank, and so on to the bottom of the list of five jeds. The
-warriors occupied the buildings with the chieftains to whose retinues
-they belonged; or, if they preferred, sought shelter among any of the
-thousands of untenanted buildings in their own quarter of town; each
-community being assigned a certain section of the city. The selection
-of building had to be made in accordance with these divisions, except
-in so far as the jeds were concerned, they all occupying edifices which
-fronted upon the plaza.
-
-When I had finally put my house in order, or rather seen that it had
-been done, it was nearing sunset, and I hastened out with the intention
-of locating Sola and her charges, as I had determined upon having
-speech with Dejah Thoris and trying to impress on her the necessity of
-our at least patching up a truce until I could find some way of aiding
-her to escape. I searched in vain until the upper rim of the great red
-sun was just disappearing behind the horizon and then I spied the ugly
-head of Woola peering from a second-story window on the opposite side
-of the very street where I was quartered, but nearer the plaza.
-
-Without waiting for a further invitation I bolted up the winding runway
-which led to the second floor, and entering a great chamber at the
-front of the building was greeted by the frenzied Woola, who threw his
-great carcass upon me, nearly hurling me to the floor; the poor old
-fellow was so glad to see me that I thought he would devour me, his
-head split from ear to ear, showing his three rows of tusks in his
-hobgoblin smile.
-
-Quieting him with a word of command and a caress, I looked hurriedly
-through the approaching gloom for a sign of Dejah Thoris, and then, not
-seeing her, I called her name. There was an answering murmur from the
-far corner of the apartment, and with a couple of quick strides I was
-standing beside her where she crouched among the furs and silks upon an
-ancient carved wooden seat. As I waited she rose to her full height and
-looking me straight in the eye said:
-
-“What would Dotar Sojat, Thark, of Dejah Thoris his captive?”
-
-“Dejah Thoris, I do not know how I have angered you. It was furtherest
-from my desire to hurt or offend you, whom I had hoped to protect and
-comfort. Have none of me if it is your will, but that you must aid me
-in effecting your escape, if such a thing be possible, is not my
-request, but my command. When you are safe once more at your father’s
-court you may do with me as you please, but from now on until that day
-I am your master, and you must obey and aid me.”
-
-She looked at me long and earnestly and I thought that she was
-softening toward me.
-
-“I understand your words, Dotar Sojat,” she replied, “but you I do not
-understand. You are a queer mixture of child and man, of brute and
-noble. I only wish that I might read your heart.”
-
-“Look down at your feet, Dejah Thoris; it lies there now where it has
-lain since that other night at Korad, and where it will ever lie
-beating alone for you until death stills it forever.”
-
-She took a little step toward me, her beautiful hands outstretched in a
-strange, groping gesture.
-
-“What do you mean, John Carter?” she whispered. “What are you saying to
-me?”
-
-“I am saying what I had promised myself that I would not say to you, at
-least until you were no longer a captive among the green men; what from
-your attitude toward me for the past twenty days I had thought never to
-say to you; I am saying, Dejah Thoris, that I am yours, body and soul,
-to serve you, to fight for you, and to die for you. Only one thing I
-ask of you in return, and that is that you make no sign, either of
-condemnation or of approbation of my words until you are safe among
-your own people, and that whatever sentiments you harbor toward me they
-be not influenced or colored by gratitude; whatever I may do to serve
-you will be prompted solely from selfish motives, since it gives me
-more pleasure to serve you than not.”
-
-“I will respect your wishes, John Carter, because I understand the
-motives which prompt them, and I accept your service no more willingly
-than I bow to your authority; your word shall be my law. I have twice
-wronged you in my thoughts and again I ask your forgiveness.”
-
-Further conversation of a personal nature was prevented by the entrance
-of Sola, who was much agitated and wholly unlike her usual calm and
-possessed self.
-
-“That horrible Sarkoja has been before Tal Hajus,” she cried, “and from
-what I heard upon the plaza there is little hope for either of you.”
-
-“What do they say?” inquired Dejah Thoris.
-
-“That you will be thrown to the wild calots [dogs] in the great arena
-as soon as the hordes have assembled for the yearly games.”
-
-“Sola,” I said, “you are a Thark, but you hate and loathe the customs
-of your people as much as we do. Will you not accompany us in one
-supreme effort to escape? I am sure that Dejah Thoris can offer you a
-home and protection among her people, and your fate can be no worse
-among them than it must ever be here.”
-
-“Yes,” cried Dejah Thoris, “come with us, Sola, you will be better off
-among the red men of Helium than you are here, and I can promise you
-not only a home with us, but the love and affection your nature craves
-and which must always be denied you by the customs of your own race.
-Come with us, Sola; we might go without you, but your fate would be
-terrible if they thought you had connived to aid us. I know that even
-that fear would not tempt you to interfere in our escape, but we want
-you with us, we want you to come to a land of sunshine and happiness,
-amongst a people who know the meaning of love, of sympathy, and of
-gratitude. Say that you will, Sola; tell me that you will.”
-
-“The great waterway which leads to Helium is but fifty miles to the
-south,” murmured Sola, half to herself; “a swift thoat might make it in
-three hours; and then to Helium it is five hundred miles, most of the
-way through thinly settled districts. They would know and they would
-follow us. We might hide among the great trees for a time, but the
-chances are small indeed for escape. They would follow us to the very
-gates of Helium, and they would take toll of life at every step; you do
-not know them.”
-
-“Is there no other way we might reach Helium?” I asked. “Can you not
-draw me a rough map of the country we must traverse, Dejah Thoris?”
-
-“Yes,” she replied, and taking a great diamond from her hair she drew
-upon the marble floor the first map of Barsoomian territory I had ever
-seen. It was crisscrossed in every direction with long straight lines,
-sometimes running parallel and sometimes converging toward some great
-circle. The lines, she said, were waterways; the circles, cities; and
-one far to the northwest of us she pointed out as Helium. There were
-other cities closer, but she said she feared to enter many of them, as
-they were not all friendly toward Helium.
-
-
-[Illustration: 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
-flooded the room, I pointed out a waterway far to the north of us which
-also seemed to lead to Helium.
-
-“Does not this pierce your grandfather’s territory?” I asked.
-
-“Yes,” she answered, “but it is two hundred miles north of us; it is
-one of the waterways we crossed on the trip to Thark.”
-
-“They would never suspect that we would try for that distant waterway,”
-I answered, “and that is why I think that it is the best route for our
-escape.”
-
-Sola agreed with me, and it was decided that we should leave Thark this
-same night; just as quickly, in fact, as I could find and saddle my
-thoats. Sola was to ride one and Dejah Thoris and I the other; each of
-us carrying sufficient food and drink to last us for two days, since
-the animals could not be urged too rapidly for so long a distance.
-
-I directed Sola to proceed with Dejah Thoris along one of the less
-frequented avenues to the southern boundary of the city, where I would
-overtake them with the thoats as quickly as possible; then, leaving
-them to gather what food, silks, and furs we were to need, I slipped
-quietly to the rear of the first floor, and entered the courtyard,
-where our animals were moving restlessly about, as was their habit,
-before settling down for the night.
-
-In the shadows of the buildings and out beneath the radiance of the
-Martian moons moved the great herd of thoats and zitidars, the latter
-grunting their low gutturals and the former occasionally emitting the
-sharp squeal which denotes the almost habitual state of rage in which
-these creatures passed their existence. They were quieter now, owing to
-the absence of man, but as they scented me they became more restless
-and their hideous noise increased. It was risky business, this entering
-a paddock of thoats alone and at night; first, because their increasing
-noisiness might warn the nearby warriors that something was amiss, and
-also because for the slightest cause, or for no cause at all some great
-bull thoat might take it upon himself to lead a charge upon me.
-
-Having no desire to awaken their nasty tempers upon such a night as
-this, where so much depended upon secrecy and dispatch, I hugged the
-shadows of the buildings, ready at an instant’s warning to leap into
-the safety of a nearby door or window. Thus I moved silently to the
-great gates which opened upon the street at the back of the court, and
-as I neared the exit I called softly to my two animals. How I thanked
-the kind providence which had given me the foresight to win the love
-and confidence of these wild dumb brutes, for presently from the far
-side of the court I saw two huge bulks forcing their way toward me
-through the surging mountains of flesh.
-
-They came quite close to me, rubbing their muzzles against my body and
-nosing for the bits of food it was always my practice to reward them
-with. Opening the gates I ordered the two great beasts to pass out, and
-then slipping quietly after them I closed the portals behind me.
-
-I did not saddle or mount the animals there, but instead walked quietly
-in the shadows of the buildings toward an unfrequented avenue which led
-toward the point I had arranged to meet Dejah Thoris and Sola. With the
-noiselessness of disembodied spirits we moved stealthily along the
-deserted streets, but not until we were within sight of the plain
-beyond the city did I commence to breathe freely. I was sure that Sola
-and Dejah Thoris would find no difficulty in reaching our rendezvous
-undetected, but with my great thoats I was not so sure for myself, as
-it was quite unusual for warriors to leave the city after dark; in fact
-there was no place for them to go within any but a long ride.
-
-I reached the appointed meeting place safely, but as Dejah Thoris and
-Sola were not there I led my animals into the entrance hall of one of
-the large buildings. Presuming that one of the other women of the same
-household may have come in to speak to Sola, and so delayed their
-departure, I did not feel any undue apprehension until nearly an hour
-had passed without a sign of them, and by the time another half hour
-had crawled away I was becoming filled with grave anxiety. Then there
-broke upon the stillness of the night the sound of an approaching
-party, which, from the noise, I knew could be no fugitives creeping
-stealthily toward liberty. Soon the party was near me, and from the
-black shadows of my entranceway I perceived a score of mounted
-warriors, who, in passing, dropped a dozen words that fetched my heart
-clean into the top of my head.
-
-“He would likely have arranged to meet them just without the city, and
-so—” I heard no more, they had passed on; but it was enough. Our plan
-had been discovered, and the chances for escape from now on to the
-fearful end would be small indeed. My one hope now was to return
-undetected to the quarters of Dejah Thoris and learn what fate had
-overtaken her, but how to do it with these great monstrous thoats upon
-my hands, now that the city probably was aroused by the knowledge of my
-escape was a problem of no mean proportions.
-
-Suddenly an idea occurred to me, and acting on my knowledge of the
-construction of the buildings of these ancient Martian cities with a
-hollow court within the center of each square, I groped my way blindly
-through the dark chambers, calling the great thoats after me. They had
-difficulty in negotiating some of the doorways, but as the buildings
-fronting the city’s principal exposures were all designed upon a
-magnificent scale, they were able to wriggle through without sticking
-fast; and thus we finally made the inner court where I found, as I had
-expected, the usual carpet of moss-like vegetation which would provide
-their food and drink until I could return them to their own enclosure.
-That they would be as quiet and contented here as elsewhere I was
-confident, nor was there but the remotest possibility that they would
-be discovered, as the green men had no great desire to enter these
-outlying buildings, which were frequented by the only thing, I believe,
-which caused them the sensation of fear—the great white apes of
-Barsoom.
-
-Removing the saddle trappings, I hid them just within the rear doorway
-of the building through which we had entered the court, and, turning
-the beasts loose, quickly made my way across the court to the rear of
-the buildings upon the further side, and thence to the avenue beyond.
-Waiting in the doorway of the building until I was assured that no one
-was approaching, I hurried across to the opposite side and through the
-first doorway to the court beyond; thus, crossing through court after
-court with only the slight chance of detection which the necessary
-crossing of the avenues entailed, I made my way in safety to the
-courtyard in the rear of Dejah Thoris’ quarters.
-
-Here, of course, I found the beasts of the warriors who quartered in
-the adjacent buildings, and the warriors themselves I might expect to
-meet within if I entered; but, fortunately for me, I had another and
-safer method of reaching the upper story where Dejah Thoris should be
-found, and, after first determining as nearly as possible which of the
-buildings she occupied, for I had never observed them before from the
-court side, I took advantage of my relatively great strength and
-agility and sprang upward until I grasped the sill of a second-story
-window which I thought to be in the rear of her apartment. Drawing
-myself inside the room I moved stealthily toward the front of the
-building, and not until I had quite reached the doorway of her room was
-I made aware by voices that it was occupied.
-
-I did not rush headlong in, but listened without to assure myself that
-it was Dejah Thoris and that it was safe to venture within. It was well
-indeed that I took this precaution, for the conversation I heard was in
-the low gutturals of men, and the words which finally came to me proved
-a most timely warning. The speaker was a chieftain and he was giving
-orders to four of his warriors.
-
-“And when he returns to this chamber,” he was saying, “as he surely
-will when he finds she does not meet him at the city’s edge, you four
-are to spring upon him and disarm him. It will require the combined
-strength of all of you to do it if the reports they bring back from
-Korad are correct. When you have him fast bound bear him to the vaults
-beneath the jeddak’s quarters and chain him securely where he may be
-found when Tal Hajus wishes him. Allow him to speak with none, nor
-permit any other to enter this apartment before he comes. There will be
-no danger of the girl returning, for by this time she is safe in the
-arms of Tal Hajus, and may all her ancestors have pity upon her, for
-Tal Hajus will have none; the great Sarkoja has done a noble night’s
-work. I go, and if you fail to capture him when he comes, I commend
-your carcasses to the cold bosom of Iss.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-A COSTLY RECAPTURE
-
-
-As the speaker ceased he turned to leave the apartment by the door
-where I was standing, but I needed to wait no longer; I had heard
-enough to fill my soul with dread, and stealing quietly away I returned
-to the courtyard by the way I had come. My plan of action was formed
-upon the instant, and crossing the square and the bordering avenue upon
-the opposite side I soon stood within the courtyard of Tal Hajus.
-
-The brilliantly lighted apartments of the first floor told me where
-first to seek, and advancing to the windows I peered within. I soon
-discovered that my approach was not to be the easy thing I had hoped,
-for the rear rooms bordering the court were filled with warriors and
-women. I then glanced up at the stories above, discovering that the
-third was apparently unlighted, and so decided to make my entrance to
-the building from that point. It was the work of but a moment for me to
-reach the windows above, and soon I had drawn myself within the
-sheltering shadows of the unlighted third floor.
-
-Fortunately the room I had selected was untenanted, and creeping
-noiselessly to the corridor beyond I discovered a light in the
-apartments ahead of me. Reaching what appeared to be a doorway I
-discovered that it was but an opening upon an immense inner chamber
-which towered from the first floor, two stories below me, to the
-dome-like roof of the building, high above my head. The floor of this
-great circular hall was thronged with chieftains, warriors and women,
-and at one end was a great raised platform upon which squatted the most
-hideous beast I had ever put my eyes upon. He had all the cold, hard,
-cruel, terrible features of the green warriors, but accentuated and
-debased by the animal passions to which he had given himself over for
-many years. There was not a mark of dignity or pride upon his bestial
-countenance, while his enormous bulk spread itself out upon the
-platform where he squatted like some huge devil fish, his six limbs
-accentuating the similarity in a horrible and startling manner.
-
-But the sight that froze me with apprehension was that of Dejah Thoris
-and Sola standing there before him, and the fiendish leer of him as he
-let his great protruding eyes gloat upon the lines of her beautiful
-figure. She was speaking, but I could not hear what she said, nor could
-I make out the low grumbling of his reply. She stood there erect before
-him, her head high held, and even at the distance I was from them I
-could read the scorn and disgust upon her face as she let her haughty
-glance rest without sign of fear upon him. She was indeed the proud
-daughter of a thousand jeddaks, every inch of her dear, precious little
-body; so small, so frail beside the towering warriors around her, but
-in her majesty dwarfing them into insignificance; she was the mightiest
-figure among them and I verily believe that they felt it.
-
-Presently Tal Hajus made a sign that the chamber be cleared, and that
-the prisoners be left alone before him. Slowly the chieftains, the
-warriors and the women melted away into the shadows of the surrounding
-chambers, and Dejah Thoris and Sola stood alone before the jeddak of
-the Tharks.
-
-One chieftain alone had hesitated before departing; I saw him standing
-in the shadows of a mighty column, his fingers nervously toying with
-the hilt of his great-sword and his cruel eyes bent in implacable
-hatred upon Tal Hajus. It was Tars Tarkas, and I could read his
-thoughts as they were an open book for the undisguised loathing upon
-his face. He was thinking of that other woman who, forty years ago, had
-stood before this beast, and could I have spoken a word into his ear at
-that moment the reign of Tal Hajus would have been over; but finally he
-also strode from the room, not knowing that he left his own daughter at
-the mercy of the creature he most loathed.
-
-Tal Hajus arose, and I, half fearing, half anticipating his intentions,
-hurried to the winding runway which led to the floors below. No one was
-near to intercept me, and I reached the main floor of the chamber
-unobserved, taking my station in the shadow of the same column that
-Tars Tarkas had but just deserted. As I reached the floor Tal Hajus was
-speaking.
-
-“Princess of Helium, I might wring a mighty ransom from your people
-would I but return you to them unharmed, but a thousand times rather
-would I watch that beautiful face writhe in the agony of torture; it
-shall be long drawn out, that I promise you; ten days of pleasure were
-all too short to show the love I harbor for your race. The terrors of
-your death shall haunt the slumbers of the red men through all the ages
-to come; they will shudder in the shadows of the night as their fathers
-tell them of the awful vengeance of the green men; of the power and
-might and hate and cruelty of Tal Hajus. But before the torture you
-shall be mine for one short hour, and word of that too shall go forth
-to Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, your grandfather, that he may grovel
-upon the ground in the agony of his sorrow. Tomorrow the torture will
-commence; tonight thou art Tal Hajus’; come!”
-
-He sprang down from the platform and grasped her roughly by the arm,
-but scarcely had he touched her than I leaped between them. My
-short-sword, sharp and gleaming was in my right hand; I could have
-plunged it into his putrid heart before he realized that I was upon
-him; but as I raised my arm to strike I thought of Tars Tarkas, and,
-with all my rage, with all my hatred, I could not rob him of that sweet
-moment for which he had lived and hoped all these long, weary years,
-and so, instead, I swung my good right fist full upon the point of his
-jaw. Without a sound he slipped to the floor as one dead.
-
-In the same deathly silence I grasped Dejah Thoris by the hand, and
-motioning Sola to follow we sped noiselessly from the chamber and to
-the floor above. Unseen we reached a rear window and with the straps
-and leather of my trappings I lowered, first Sola and then Dejah Thoris
-to the ground below. Dropping lightly after them I drew them rapidly
-around the court in the shadows of the buildings, and thus we returned
-over the same course I had so recently followed from the distant
-boundary of the city.
-
-We finally came upon my thoats in the courtyard where I had left them,
-and placing the trappings upon them we hastened through the building to
-the avenue beyond. Mounting, Sola upon one beast, and Dejah Thoris
-behind me upon the other, we rode from the city of Thark through the
-hills to the south.
-
-Instead of circling back around the city to the northwest and toward
-the nearest waterway which lay so short a distance from us, we turned
-to the northeast and struck out upon the mossy waste across which, for
-two hundred dangerous and weary miles, lay another main artery leading
-to Helium.
-
-No word was spoken until we had left the city far behind, but I could
-hear the quiet sobbing of Dejah Thoris as she clung to me with her dear
-head resting against my shoulder.
-
-“If we make it, my chieftain, the debt of Helium will be a mighty one;
-greater than she can ever pay you; and should we not make it,” she
-continued, “the debt is no less, though Helium will never know, for you
-have saved the last of our line from worse than death.”
-
-I did not answer, but instead reached to my side and pressed the little
-fingers of her I loved where they clung to me for support, and then, in
-unbroken silence, we sped over the yellow, moonlit moss; each of us
-occupied with his own thoughts. For my part I could not be other than
-joyful had I tried, with Dejah Thoris’ warm body pressed close to mine,
-and with all our unpassed danger my heart was singing as gaily as
-though we were already entering the gates of Helium.
-
-Our earlier plans had been so sadly upset that we now found ourselves
-without food or drink, and I alone was armed. We therefore urged our
-beasts to a speed that must tell on them sorely before we could hope to
-sight the ending of the first stage of our journey.
-
-We rode all night and all the following day with only a few short
-rests. On the second night both we and our animals were completely
-fagged, and so we lay down upon the moss and slept for some five or six
-hours, taking up the journey once more before daylight. All the
-following day we rode, and when, late in the afternoon we had sighted
-no distant trees, the mark of the great waterways throughout all
-Barsoom, the terrible truth flashed upon us—we were lost.
-
-Evidently we had circled, but which way it was difficult to say, nor
-did it seem possible with the sun to guide us by day and the moons and
-stars by night. At any rate no waterway was in sight, and the entire
-party was almost ready to drop from hunger, thirst and fatigue. Far
-ahead of us and a trifle to the right we could distinguish the outlines
-of low mountains. These we decided to attempt to reach in the hope that
-from some ridge we might discern the missing waterway. Night fell upon
-us before we reached our goal, and, almost fainting from weariness and
-weakness, we lay down and slept.
-
-I was awakened early in the morning by some huge body pressing close to
-mine, and opening my eyes with a start I beheld my blessed old Woola
-snuggling close to me; the faithful brute had followed us across that
-trackless waste to share our fate, whatever it might be. Putting my
-arms about his neck I pressed my cheek close to his, nor am I ashamed
-that I did it, nor of the tears that came to my eyes as I thought of
-his love for me. Shortly after this Dejah Thoris and Sola awakened, and
-it was decided that we push on at once in an effort to gain the hills.
-
-We had gone scarcely a mile when I noticed that my thoat was commencing
-to stumble and stagger in a most pitiful manner, although we had not
-attempted to force them out of a walk since about noon of the preceding
-day. Suddenly he lurched wildly to one side and pitched violently to
-the ground. Dejah Thoris and I were thrown clear of him and fell upon
-the soft moss with scarcely a jar; but the poor beast was in a pitiable
-condition, not even being able to rise, although relieved of our
-weight. Sola told me that the coolness of the night, when it fell,
-together with the rest would doubtless revive him, and so I decided not
-to kill him, as was my first intention, as I had thought it cruel to
-leave him alone there to die of hunger and thirst. Relieving him of his
-trappings, which I flung down beside him, we left the poor fellow to
-his fate, and pushed on with the one thoat as best we could. Sola and I
-walked, making Dejah Thoris ride, much against her will. In this way we
-had progressed to within about a mile of the hills we were endeavoring
-to reach when Dejah Thoris, from her point of vantage upon the thoat,
-cried out that she saw a great party of mounted men filing down from a
-pass in the hills several miles away. Sola and I both looked in the
-direction she indicated, and there, plainly discernible, were several
-hundred mounted warriors. They seemed to be headed in a southwesterly
-direction, which would take them away from us.
-
-They doubtless were Thark warriors who had been sent out to capture us,
-and we breathed a great sigh of relief that they were traveling in the
-opposite direction. Quickly lifting Dejah Thoris from the thoat, I
-commanded the animal to lie down and we three did the same, presenting
-as small an object as possible for fear of attracting the attention of
-the warriors toward us.
-
-We could see them as they filed out of the pass, just for an instant,
-before they were lost to view behind a friendly ridge; to us a most
-providential ridge; since, had they been in view for any great length
-of time, they scarcely could have failed to discover us. As what proved
-to be the last warrior came into view from the pass, he halted and, to
-our consternation, threw his small but powerful fieldglass to his eye
-and scanned the sea bottom in all directions. Evidently he was a
-chieftain, for in certain marching formations among the green men a
-chieftain brings up the extreme rear of the column. As his glass swung
-toward us our hearts stopped in our breasts, and I could feel the cold
-sweat start from every pore in my body.
-
-Presently it swung full upon us and—stopped. The tension on our nerves
-was near the breaking point, and I doubt if any of us breathed for the
-few moments he held us covered by his glass; and then he lowered it and
-we could see him shout a command to the warriors who had passed from
-our sight behind the ridge. He did not wait for them to join him,
-however, instead he wheeled his thoat and came tearing madly in our
-direction.
-
-There was but one slight chance and that we must take quickly. Raising
-my strange Martian rifle to my shoulder I sighted and touched the
-button which controlled the trigger; there was a sharp explosion as the
-missile reached its goal, and the charging chieftain pitched backward
-from his flying mount.
-
-Springing to my feet I urged the thoat to rise, and directed Sola to
-take Dejah Thoris with her upon him and make a mighty effort to reach
-the hills before the green warriors were upon us. I knew that in the
-ravines and gullies they might find a temporary hiding place, and even
-though they died there of hunger and thirst it would be better so than
-that they fell into the hands of the Tharks. Forcing my two revolvers
-upon them as a slight means of protection, and, as a last resort, as an
-escape for themselves from the horrid death which recapture would
-surely mean, I lifted Dejah Thoris in my arms and placed her upon the
-thoat behind Sola, who had already mounted at my command.
-
-“Good-bye, my princess,” I whispered, “we may meet in Helium yet. I
-have escaped from worse plights than this,” and I tried to smile as I
-lied.
-
-“What,” she cried, “are you not coming with us?”
-
-“How may I, Dejah Thoris? Someone must hold these fellows off for a
-while, and I can better escape them alone than could the three of us
-together.”
-
-She sprang quickly from the thoat and, throwing her dear arms about my
-neck, turned to Sola, saying with quiet dignity: “Fly, Sola! Dejah
-Thoris remains to die with the man she loves.”
-
-Those words are engraved upon my heart. Ah, gladly would I give up my
-life a thousand times could I only hear them once again; but I could
-not then give even a second to the rapture of her sweet embrace, and
-pressing my lips to hers for the first time, I picked her up bodily and
-tossed her to her seat behind Sola again, commanding the latter in
-peremptory tones to hold her there by force, and then, slapping the
-thoat upon the flank, I saw them borne away; Dejah Thoris struggling to
-the last to free herself from Sola’s grasp.
-
-Turning, I beheld the green warriors mounting the ridge and looking for
-their chieftain. In a moment they saw him, and then me; but scarcely
-had they discovered me than I commenced firing, lying flat upon my
-belly in the moss. I had an even hundred rounds in the magazine of my
-rifle, and another hundred in the belt at my back, and I kept up a
-continuous stream of fire until I saw all of the warriors who had been
-first to return from behind the ridge either dead or scurrying to
-cover.
-
-My respite was short-lived however, for soon the entire party,
-numbering some thousand men, came charging into view, racing madly
-toward me. I fired until my rifle was empty and they were almost upon
-me, and then a glance showing me that Dejah Thoris and Sola had
-disappeared among the hills, I sprang up, throwing down my useless gun,
-and started away in the direction opposite to that taken by Sola and
-her charge.
-
-If ever Martians had an exhibition of jumping, it was granted those
-astonished warriors on that day long years ago, but while it led them
-away from Dejah Thoris it did not distract their attention from
-endeavoring to capture me.
-
-They raced wildly after me until, finally, my foot struck a projecting
-piece of quartz, and down I went sprawling upon the moss. As I looked
-up they were upon me, and although I drew my long-sword in an attempt
-to sell my life as dearly as possible, it was soon over. I reeled
-beneath their blows which fell upon me in perfect torrents; my head
-swam; all was black, and I went down beneath them to oblivion.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-CHAINED IN WARHOON
-
-
-It must have been several hours before I regained consciousness and I
-well remember the feeling of surprise which swept over me as I realized
-that I was not dead.
-
-I was lying among a pile of sleeping silks and furs in the corner of a
-small room in which were several green warriors, and bending over me
-was an ancient and ugly female.
-
-As I opened my eyes she turned to one of the warriors, saying,
-
-“He will live, O Jed.”
-
-“’Tis well,” replied the one so addressed, rising and approaching my
-couch, “he should render rare sport for the great games.”
-
-And now as my eyes fell upon him, I saw that he was no Thark, for his
-ornaments and metal were not of that horde. He was a huge fellow,
-terribly scarred about the face and chest, and with one broken tusk and
-a missing ear. Strapped on either breast were human skulls and
-depending from these a number of dried human hands.
-
-His reference to the great games of which I had heard so much while
-among the Tharks convinced me that I had but jumped from purgatory into
-gehenna.
-
-After a few more words with the female, during which she assured him
-that I was now fully fit to travel, the jed ordered that we mount and
-ride after the main column.
-
-I was strapped securely to as wild and unmanageable a thoat as I had
-ever seen, and, with a mounted warrior on either side to prevent the
-beast from bolting, we rode forth at a furious pace in pursuit of the
-column. My wounds gave me but little pain, so wonderfully and rapidly
-had the applications and injections of the female exercised their
-therapeutic powers, and so deftly had she bound and plastered the
-injuries.
-
-Just before dark we reached the main body of troops shortly after they
-had made camp for the night. I was immediately taken before the leader,
-who proved to be the jeddak of the hordes of Warhoon.
-
-Like the jed who had brought me, he was frightfully scarred, and also
-decorated with the breastplate of human skulls and dried dead hands
-which seemed to mark all the greater warriors among the Warhoons, as
-well as to indicate their awful ferocity, which greatly transcends even
-that of the Tharks.
-
-The jeddak, Bar Comas, who was comparatively young, was the object of
-the fierce and jealous hatred of his old lieutenant, Dak Kova, the jed
-who had captured me, and I could not but note the almost studied
-efforts which the latter made to affront his superior.
-
-He entirely omitted the usual formal salutation as we entered the
-presence of the jeddak, and as he pushed me roughly before the ruler he
-exclaimed in a loud and menacing voice.
-
-“I have brought a strange creature wearing the metal of a Thark whom it
-is my pleasure to have battle with a wild thoat at the great games.”
-
-“He will die as Bar Comas, your jeddak, sees fit, if at all,” replied
-the young ruler, with emphasis and dignity.
-
-“If at all?” roared Dak Kova. “By the dead hands at my throat but he
-shall die, Bar Comas. No maudlin weakness on your part shall save him.
-O, would that Warhoon were ruled by a real jeddak rather than by a
-water-hearted weakling from whom even old Dak Kova could tear the metal
-with his bare hands!”
-
-Bar Comas eyed the defiant and insubordinate chieftain for an instant,
-his expression one of haughty, fearless contempt and hate, and then
-without drawing a weapon and without uttering a word he hurled himself
-at the throat of his defamer.
-
-I never before had seen two green Martian warriors battle with nature’s
-weapons and the exhibition of animal ferocity which ensued was as
-fearful a thing as the most disordered imagination could picture. They
-tore at each others’ eyes and ears with their hands and with their
-gleaming tusks repeatedly slashed and gored until both were cut fairly
-to ribbons from head to foot.
-
-Bar Comas had much the better of the battle as he was stronger, quicker
-and more intelligent. It soon seemed that the encounter was done saving
-only the final death thrust when Bar Comas slipped in breaking away
-from a clinch. It was the one little opening that Dak Kova needed, and
-hurling himself at the body of his adversary he buried his single
-mighty tusk in Bar Comas’ groin and with a last powerful effort ripped
-the young jeddak wide open the full length of his body, the great tusk
-finally wedging in the bones of Bar Comas’ jaw. Victor and vanquished
-rolled limp and lifeless upon the moss, a huge mass of torn and bloody
-flesh.
-
-Bar Comas was stone dead, and only the most herculean efforts on the
-part of Dak Kova’s females saved him from the fate he deserved. Three
-days later he walked without assistance to the body of Bar Comas which,
-by custom, had not been moved from where it fell, and placing his foot
-upon the neck of his erstwhile ruler he assumed the title of Jeddak of
-Warhoon.
-
-The dead jeddak’s hands and head were removed to be added to the
-ornaments of his conqueror, and then his women cremated what remained,
-amid wild and terrible laughter.
-
-The injuries to Dak Kova had delayed the march so greatly that it was
-decided to give up the expedition, which was a raid upon a small Thark
-community in retaliation for the destruction of the incubator, until
-after the great games, and the entire body of warriors, ten thousand in
-number, turned back toward Warhoon.
-
-My introduction to these cruel and bloodthirsty people was but an index
-to the scenes I witnessed almost daily while with them. They are a
-smaller horde than the Tharks but much more ferocious. Not a day passed
-but that some members of the various Warhoon communities met in deadly
-combat. I have seen as high as eight mortal duels within a single day.
-
-We reached the city of Warhoon after some three days march and I was
-immediately cast into a dungeon and heavily chained to the floor and
-walls. Food was brought me at intervals but owing to the utter darkness
-of the place I do not know whether I lay there days, or weeks, or
-months. It was the most horrible experience of all my life and that my
-mind did not give way to the terrors of that inky blackness has been a
-wonder to me ever since. The place was filled with creeping, crawling
-things; cold, sinuous bodies passed over me when I lay down, and in the
-darkness I occasionally caught glimpses of gleaming, fiery eyes, fixed
-in horrible intentness upon me. No sound reached me from the world
-above and no word would my jailer vouchsafe when my food was brought to
-me, although I at first bombarded him with questions.
-
-Finally all the hatred and maniacal loathing for these awful creatures
-who had placed me in this horrible place was centered by my tottering
-reason upon this single emissary who represented to me the entire horde
-of Warhoons.
-
-I had noticed that he always advanced with his dim torch to where he
-could place the food within my reach and as he stooped to place it upon
-the floor his head was about on a level with my breast. So, with the
-cunning of a madman, I backed into the far corner of my cell when next
-I heard him approaching and gathering a little slack of the great chain
-which held me in my hand I waited his coming, crouching like some beast
-of prey. As he stooped to place my food upon the ground I swung the
-chain above my head and crashed the links with all my strength upon his
-skull. Without a sound he slipped to the floor, stone dead.
-
-Laughing and chattering like the idiot I was fast becoming I fell upon
-his prostrate form my fingers feeling for his dead throat. Presently
-they came in contact with a small chain at the end of which dangled a
-number of keys. The touch of my fingers on these keys brought back my
-reason with the suddenness of thought. No longer was I a jibbering
-idiot, but a sane, reasoning man with the means of escape within my
-very hands.
-
-As I was groping to remove the chain from about my victim’s neck I
-glanced up into the darkness to see six pairs of gleaming eyes fixed,
-unwinking, upon me. Slowly they approached and slowly I shrank back
-from the awful horror of them. Back into my corner I crouched holding
-my hands palms out, before me, and stealthily on came the awful eyes
-until they reached the dead body at my feet. Then slowly they retreated
-but this time with a strange grating sound and finally they disappeared
-in some black and distant recess of my dungeon.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-BATTLING IN THE ARENA
-
-
-Slowly I regained my composure and finally essayed again to attempt to
-remove the keys from the dead body of my former jailer. But as I
-reached out into the darkness to locate it I found to my horror that it
-was gone. Then the truth flashed on me; the owners of those gleaming
-eyes had dragged my prize away from me to be devoured in their
-neighboring lair; as they had been waiting for days, for weeks, for
-months, through all this awful eternity of my imprisonment to drag my
-dead carcass to their feast.
-
-For two days no food was brought me, but then a new messenger appeared
-and my incarceration went on as before, but not again did I allow my
-reason to be submerged by the horror of my position.
-
-Shortly after this episode another prisoner was brought in and chained
-near me. By the dim torch light I saw that he was a red Martian and I
-could scarcely await the departure of his guards to address him. As
-their retreating footsteps died away in the distance, I called out
-softly the Martian word of greeting, kaor.
-
-“Who are you who speaks out of the darkness?” he answered
-
-“John Carter, a friend of the red men of Helium.”
-
-“I am of Helium,” he said, “but I do not recall your name.”
-
-And then I told him my story as I have written it here, omitting only
-any reference to my love for Dejah Thoris. He was much excited by the
-news of Helium’s princess and seemed quite positive that she and Sola
-could easily have reached a point of safety from where they left me. He
-said that he knew the place well because the defile through which the
-Warhoon warriors had passed when they discovered us was the only one
-ever used by them when marching to the south.
-
-“Dejah Thoris and Sola entered the hills not five miles from a great
-waterway and are now probably quite safe,” he assured me.
-
-My fellow prisoner was Kantos Kan, a padwar (lieutenant) in the navy of
-Helium. He had been a member of the ill-fated expedition which had
-fallen into the hands of the Tharks at the time of Dejah Thoris’
-capture, and he briefly related the events which followed the defeat of
-the battleships.
-
-Badly injured and only partially manned they had limped slowly toward
-Helium, but while passing near the city of Zodanga, the capital of
-Helium’s hereditary enemies among the red men of Barsoom, they had been
-attacked by a great body of war vessels and all but the craft to which
-Kantos Kan belonged were either destroyed or captured. His vessel was
-chased for days by three of the Zodangan war ships but finally escaped
-during the darkness of a moonless night.
-
-Thirty days after the capture of Dejah Thoris, or about the time of our
-coming to Thark, his vessel had reached Helium with about ten survivors
-of the original crew of seven hundred officers and men. Immediately
-seven great fleets, each of one hundred mighty war ships, had been
-dispatched to search for Dejah Thoris, and from these vessels two
-thousand smaller craft had been kept out continuously in futile search
-for the missing princess.
-
-Two green Martian communities had been wiped off the face of Barsoom by
-the avenging fleets, but no trace of Dejah Thoris had been found. They
-had been searching among the northern hordes, and only within the past
-few days had they extended their quest to the south.
-
-Kantos Kan had been detailed to one of the small one-man fliers and had
-had the misfortune to be discovered by the Warhoons while exploring
-their city. The bravery and daring of the man won my greatest respect
-and admiration. Alone he had landed at the city’s boundary and on foot
-had penetrated to the buildings surrounding the plaza. For two days and
-nights he had explored their quarters and their dungeons in search of
-his beloved princess only to fall into the hands of a party of Warhoons
-as he was about to leave, after assuring himself that Dejah Thoris was
-not a captive there.
-
-During the period of our incarceration Kantos Kan and I became well
-acquainted, and formed a warm personal friendship. A few days only
-elapsed, however, before we were dragged forth from our dungeon for the
-great games. We were conducted early one morning to an enormous
-amphitheater, which instead of having been built upon the surface of
-the ground was excavated below the surface. It had partially filled
-with debris so that how large it had originally been was difficult to
-say. In its present condition it held the entire twenty thousand
-Warhoons of the assembled hordes.
-
-The arena was immense but extremely uneven and unkempt. Around it the
-Warhoons had piled building stone from some of the ruined edifices of
-the ancient city to prevent the animals and the captives from escaping
-into the audience, and at each end had been constructed cages to hold
-them until their turns came to meet some horrible death upon the arena.
-
-Kantos Kan and I were confined together in one of the cages. In the
-others were wild calots, thoats, mad zitidars, green warriors, and
-women of other hordes, and many strange and ferocious wild beasts of
-Barsoom which I had never before seen. The din of their roaring,
-growling and squealing was deafening and the formidable appearance of
-any one of them was enough to make the stoutest heart feel grave
-forebodings.
-
-Kantos Kan explained to me that at the end of the day one of these
-prisoners would gain freedom and the others would lie dead about the
-arena. The winners in the various contests of the day would be pitted
-against each other until only two remained alive; the victor in the
-last encounter being set free, whether animal or man. The following
-morning the cages would be filled with a new consignment of victims,
-and so on throughout the ten days of the games.
-
-Shortly after we had been caged the amphitheater began to fill and
-within an hour every available part of the seating space was occupied.
-Dak Kova, with his jeds and chieftains, sat at the center of one side
-of the arena upon a large raised platform.
-
-At a signal from Dak Kova the doors of two cages were thrown open and a
-dozen green Martian females were driven to the center of the arena.
-Each was given a dagger and then, at the far end, a pack of twelve
-calots, or wild dogs were loosed upon them.
-
-As the brutes, growling and foaming, rushed upon the almost defenseless
-women I turned my head that I might not see the horrid sight. The yells
-and laughter of the green horde bore witness to the excellent quality
-of the sport and when I turned back to the arena, as Kantos Kan told me
-it was over, I saw three victorious calots, snarling and growling over
-the bodies of their prey. The women had given a good account of
-themselves.
-
-Next a mad zitidar was loosed among the remaining dogs, and so it went
-throughout the long, hot, horrible day.
-
-During the day I was pitted against first men and then beasts, but as I
-was armed with a long-sword and always outclassed my adversary in
-agility and generally in strength as well, it proved but child’s play
-to me. Time and time again I won the applause of the bloodthirsty
-multitude, and toward the end there were cries that I be taken from the
-arena and be made a member of the hordes of Warhoon.
-
-Finally there were but three of us left, a great green warrior of some
-far northern horde, Kantos Kan, and myself.
-
-The other two were to battle and then I to fight the conqueror for the
-liberty which was accorded the final winner.
-
-Kantos Kan had fought several times during the day and like myself had
-always proven victorious, but occasionally by the smallest of margins,
-especially when pitted against the green warriors. I had little hope
-that he could best his giant adversary who had mowed down all before
-him during the day. The fellow towered nearly sixteen feet in height,
-while Kantos Kan was some inches under six feet. As they advanced to
-meet one another I saw for the first time a trick of Martian
-swordsmanship which centered Kantos Kan’s every hope of victory and
-life on one cast of the dice, for, as he came to within about twenty
-feet of the huge fellow he threw his sword arm far behind him over his
-shoulder and with a mighty sweep hurled his weapon point foremost at
-the green warrior. It flew true as an arrow and piercing the poor
-devil’s heart laid him dead upon the arena.
-
-Kantos Kan and I were now pitted against each other but as we
-approached to the encounter I whispered to him to prolong the battle
-until nearly dark in the hope that we might find some means of escape.
-The horde evidently guessed that we had no hearts to fight each other
-and so they howled in rage as neither of us placed a fatal thrust. Just
-as I saw the sudden coming of dark I whispered to Kantos Kan to thrust
-his sword between my left arm and my body. As he did so I staggered
-back clasping the sword tightly with my arm and thus fell to the ground
-with his weapon apparently protruding from my chest. Kantos Kan
-perceived my coup and stepping quickly to my side he placed his foot
-upon my neck and withdrawing his sword from my body gave me the final
-death blow through the neck which is supposed to sever the jugular
-vein, but in this instance the cold blade slipped harmlessly into the
-sand of the arena. In the darkness which had now fallen none could tell
-but that he had really finished me. I whispered to him to go and claim
-his freedom and then look for me in the hills east of the city, and so
-he left me.
-
-When the amphitheater had cleared I crept stealthily to the top and as
-the great excavation lay far from the plaza and in an untenanted
-portion of the great dead city I had little trouble in reaching the
-hills beyond.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-IN THE ATMOSPHERE FACTORY
-
-
-For two days I waited there for Kantos Kan, but as he did not come I
-started off on foot in a northwesterly direction toward a point where
-he had told me lay the nearest waterway. My only food consisted of
-vegetable milk from the plants which gave so bounteously of this
-priceless fluid.
-
-Through two long weeks I wandered, stumbling through the nights guided
-only by the stars and hiding during the days behind some protruding
-rock or among the occasional hills I traversed. Several times I was
-attacked by wild beasts; strange, uncouth monstrosities that leaped
-upon me in the dark, so that I had ever to grasp my long-sword in my
-hand that I might be ready for them. Usually my strange, newly acquired
-telepathic power warned me in ample time, but once I was down with
-vicious fangs at my jugular and a hairy face pressed close to mine
-before I knew that I was even threatened.
-
-What manner of thing was upon me I did not know, but that it was large
-and heavy and many-legged I could feel. My hands were at its throat
-before the fangs had a chance to bury themselves in my neck, and slowly
-I forced the hairy face from me and closed my fingers, vise-like, upon
-its windpipe.
-
-Without sound we lay there, the beast exerting every effort to reach me
-with those awful fangs, and I straining to maintain my grip and choke
-the life from it as I kept it from my throat. Slowly my arms gave to
-the unequal struggle, and inch by inch the burning eyes and gleaming
-tusks of my antagonist crept toward me, until, as the hairy face
-touched mine again, I realized that all was over. And then a living
-mass of destruction sprang from the surrounding darkness full upon the
-creature that held me pinioned to the ground. The two rolled growling
-upon the moss, tearing and rending one another in a frightful manner,
-but it was soon over and my preserver stood with lowered head above the
-throat of the dead thing which would have killed me.
-
-The nearer moon, hurtling suddenly above the horizon and lighting up
-the Barsoomian scene, showed me that my preserver was Woola, but from
-whence he had come, or how found me, I was at a loss to know. That I
-was glad of his companionship it is needless to say, but my pleasure at
-seeing him was tempered by anxiety as to the reason of his leaving
-Dejah Thoris. Only her death I felt sure, could account for his absence
-from her, so faithful I knew him to be to my commands.
-
-By the light of the now brilliant moons I saw that he was but a shadow
-of his former self, and as he turned from my caress and commenced
-greedily to devour the dead carcass at my feet I realized that the poor
-fellow was more than half starved. I, myself, was in but little better
-plight but I could not bring myself to eat the uncooked flesh and I had
-no means of making a fire. When Woola had finished his meal I again
-took up my weary and seemingly endless wandering in quest of the
-elusive waterway.
-
-At daybreak of the fifteenth day of my search I was overjoyed to see
-the high trees that denoted the object of my search. About noon I
-dragged myself wearily to the portals of a huge building which covered
-perhaps four square miles and towered two hundred feet in the air. It
-showed no aperture in the mighty walls other than the tiny door at
-which I sank exhausted, nor was there any sign of life about it.
-
-I could find no bell or other method of making my presence known to the
-inmates of the place, unless a small round hole in the wall near the
-door was for that purpose. It was of about the bigness of a lead pencil
-and thinking that it might be in the nature of a speaking tube I put my
-mouth to it and was about to call into it when a voice issued from it
-asking me whom I might be, where from, and the nature of my errand.
-
-I explained that I had escaped from the Warhoons and was dying of
-starvation and exhaustion.
-
-“You wear the metal of a green warrior and are followed by a calot, yet
-you are of the figure of a red man. In color you are neither green nor
-red. In the name of the ninth ray, what manner of creature are you?”
-
-“I am a friend of the red men of Barsoom and I am starving. In the name
-of humanity open to us,” I replied.
-
-Presently the door commenced to recede before me until it had sunk into
-the wall fifty feet, then it stopped and slid easily to the left,
-exposing a short, narrow corridor of concrete, at the further end of
-which was another door, similar in every respect to the one I had just
-passed. No one was in sight, yet immediately we passed the first door
-it slid gently into place behind us and receded rapidly to its original
-position in the front wall of the building. As the door had slipped
-aside I had noted its great thickness, fully twenty feet, and as it
-reached its place once more after closing behind us, great cylinders of
-steel had dropped from the ceiling behind it and fitted their lower
-ends into apertures countersunk in the floor.
-
-A second and third door receded before me and slipped to one side as
-the first, before I reached a large inner chamber where I found food
-and drink set out upon a great stone table. A voice directed me to
-satisfy my hunger and to feed my calot, and while I was thus engaged my
-invisible host put me through a severe and searching cross-examination.
-
-“Your statements are most remarkable,” said the voice, on concluding
-its questioning, “but you are evidently speaking the truth, and it is
-equally evident that you are not of Barsoom. I can tell that by the
-conformation of your brain and the strange location of your internal
-organs and the shape and size of your heart.”
-
-“Can you see through me?” I exclaimed.
-
-“Yes, I can see all but your thoughts, and were you a Barsoomian I
-could read those.”
-
-Then a door opened at the far side of the chamber and a strange, dried
-up, little mummy of a man came toward me. He wore but a single article
-of clothing or adornment, a small collar of gold from which depended
-upon his chest a great ornament as large as a dinner plate set solid
-with huge diamonds, except for the exact center which was occupied by a
-strange stone, an inch in diameter, that scintillated nine different
-and distinct rays; the seven colors of our earthly prism and two
-beautiful rays which, to me, were new and nameless. I cannot describe
-them any more than you could describe red to a blind man. I only know
-that they were beautiful in the extreme.
-
-The old man sat and talked with me for hours, and the strangest part of
-our intercourse was that I could read his every thought while he could
-not fathom an iota from my mind unless I spoke.
-
-
-[Illustration: 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 I learned a great deal which proved of immense value to me later
-and which I would never have known had he suspected my strange power,
-for the Martians have such perfect control of their mental machinery
-that they are able to direct their thoughts with absolute precision.
-
-The building in which I found myself contained the machinery which
-produces that artificial atmosphere which sustains life on Mars. The
-secret of the entire process hinges on the use of the ninth ray, one of
-the beautiful scintillations which I had noted emanating from the great
-stone in my host’s diadem.
-
-This ray is separated from the other rays of the sun by means of finely
-adjusted instruments placed upon the roof of the huge building,
-three-quarters of which is used for reservoirs in which the ninth ray
-is stored. This product is then treated electrically, or rather certain
-proportions of refined electric vibrations are incorporated with it,
-and the result is then pumped to the five principal air centers of the
-planet where, as it is released, contact with the ether of space
-transforms it into atmosphere.
-
-There is always sufficient reserve of the ninth ray stored in the great
-building to maintain the present Martian atmosphere for a thousand
-years, and the only fear, as my new friend told me, was that some
-accident might befall the pumping apparatus.
-
-He led me to an inner chamber where I beheld a battery of twenty radium
-pumps any one of which was equal to the task of furnishing all Mars
-with the atmosphere compound. For eight hundred years, he told me, he
-had watched these pumps which are used alternately a day each at a
-stretch, or a little over twenty-four and one-half Earth hours. He has
-one assistant who divides the watch with him. Half a Martian year,
-about three hundred and forty-four of our days, each of these men spend
-alone in this huge, isolated plant.
-
-Every red Martian is taught during earliest childhood the principles of
-the manufacture of atmosphere, but only two at one time ever hold the
-secret of ingress to the great building, which, built as it is with
-walls a hundred and fifty feet thick, is absolutely unassailable, even
-the roof being guarded from assault by air craft by a glass covering
-five feet thick.
-
-The only fear they entertain of attack is from the green Martians or
-some demented red man, as all Barsoomians realize that the very
-existence of every form of life of Mars is dependent upon the
-uninterrupted working of this plant.
-
-One curious fact I discovered as I watched his thoughts was that the
-outer doors are manipulated by telepathic means. The locks are so
-finely adjusted that the doors are released by the action of a certain
-combination of thought waves. To experiment with my new-found toy I
-thought to surprise him into revealing this combination and so I asked
-him in a casual manner how he had managed to unlock the massive doors
-for me from the inner chambers of the building. As quick as a flash
-there leaped to his mind nine Martian sounds, but as quickly faded as
-he answered that this was a secret he must not divulge.
-
-From then on his manner toward me changed as though he feared that he
-had been surprised into divulging his great secret, and I read
-suspicion and fear in his looks and thoughts, though his words were
-still fair.
-
-Before I retired for the night he promised to give me a letter to a
-nearby agricultural officer who would help me on my way to Zodanga,
-which he said, was the nearest Martian city.
-
-“But be sure that you do not let them know you are bound for Helium as
-they are at war with that country. My assistant and I are of no
-country, we belong to all Barsoom and this talisman which we wear
-protects us in all lands, even among the green men—though we do not
-trust ourselves to their hands if we can avoid it,” he added.
-
-“And so good-night, my friend,” he continued, “may you have a long and
-restful sleep—yes, a long sleep.”
-
-And though he smiled pleasantly I saw in his thoughts the wish that he
-had never admitted me, and then a picture of him standing over me in
-the night, and the swift thrust of a long dagger and the half formed
-words, “I am sorry, but it is for the best good of Barsoom.”
-
-As he closed the door of my chamber behind him his thoughts were cut
-off from me as was the sight of him, which seemed strange to me in my
-little knowledge of thought transference.
-
-What was I to do? How could I escape through these mighty walls? Easily
-could I kill him now that I was warned, but once he was dead I could no
-more escape, and with the stopping of the machinery of the great plant
-I should die with all the other inhabitants of the planet—all, even
-Dejah Thoris were she not already dead. For the others I did not give
-the snap of my finger, but the thought of Dejah Thoris drove from my
-mind all desire to kill my mistaken host.
-
-Cautiously I opened the door of my apartment and, followed by Woola,
-sought the inner of the great doors. A wild scheme had come to me; I
-would attempt to force the great locks by the nine thought waves I had
-read in my host’s mind.
-
-Creeping stealthily through corridor after corridor and down winding
-runways which turned hither and thither I finally reached the great
-hall in which I had broken my long fast that morning. Nowhere had I
-seen my host, nor did I know where he kept himself by night.
-
-I was on the point of stepping boldly out into the room when a slight
-noise behind me warned me back into the shadows of a recess in the
-corridor. Dragging Woola after me I crouched low in the darkness.
-
-Presently the old man passed close by me, and as he entered the dimly
-lighted chamber which I had been about to pass through I saw that he
-held a long thin dagger in his hand and that he was sharpening it upon
-a stone. In his mind was the decision to inspect the radium pumps,
-which would take about thirty minutes, and then return to my bed
-chamber and finish me.
-
-As he passed through the great hall and disappeared down the runway
-which led to the pump-room, I stole stealthily from my hiding place and
-crossed to the great door, the inner of the three which stood between
-me and liberty.
-
-Concentrating my mind upon the massive lock I hurled the nine thought
-waves against it. In breathless expectancy I waited, when finally the
-great door moved softly toward me and slid quietly to one side. One
-after the other the remaining mighty portals opened at my command and
-Woola and I stepped forth into the darkness, free, but little better
-off than we had been before, other than that we had full stomachs.
-
-Hastening away from the shadows of the formidable pile I made for the
-first crossroad, intending to strike the central turnpike as quickly as
-possible. This I reached about morning and entering the first enclosure
-I came to I searched for some evidences of a habitation.
-
-There were low rambling buildings of concrete barred with heavy
-impassable doors, and no amount of hammering and hallooing brought any
-response. Weary and exhausted from sleeplessness I threw myself upon
-the ground commanding Woola to stand guard.
-
-Some time later I was awakened by his frightful growlings and opened my
-eyes to see three red Martians standing a short distance from us and
-covering me with their rifles.
-
-“I am unarmed and no enemy,” I hastened to explain. “I have been a
-prisoner among the green men and am on my way to Zodanga. All I ask is
-food and rest for myself and my calot and the proper directions for
-reaching my destination.”
-
-They lowered their rifles and advanced pleasantly toward me placing
-their right hands upon my left shoulder, after the manner of their
-custom of salute, and asking me many questions about myself and my
-wanderings. They then took me to the house of one of them which was
-only a short distance away.
-
-The buildings I had been hammering at in the early morning were
-occupied only by stock and farm produce, the house proper standing
-among a grove of enormous trees, and, like all red-Martian homes, had
-been raised at night some forty or fifty feet from the ground on a
-large round metal shaft which slid up or down within a sleeve sunk in
-the ground, and was operated by a tiny radium engine in the entrance
-hall of the building. Instead of bothering with bolts and bars for
-their dwellings, the red Martians simply run them up out of harm’s way
-during the night. They also have private means for lowering or raising
-them from the ground without if they wish to go away and leave them.
-
-These brothers, with their wives and children, occupied three similar
-houses on this farm. They did no work themselves, being government
-officers in charge. The labor was performed by convicts, prisoners of
-war, delinquent debtors and confirmed bachelors who were too poor to
-pay the high celibate tax which all red-Martian governments impose.
-
-They were the personification of cordiality and hospitality and I spent
-several days with them, resting and recuperating from my long and
-arduous experiences.
-
-When they had heard my story—I omitted all reference to Dejah Thoris
-and the old man of the atmosphere plant—they advised me to color my
-body to more nearly resemble their own race and then attempt to find
-employment in Zodanga, either in the army or the navy.
-
-“The chances are small that your tale will be believed until after you
-have proven your trustworthiness and won friends among the higher
-nobles of the court. This you can most easily do through military
-service, as we are a warlike people on Barsoom,” explained one of them,
-“and save our richest favors for the fighting man.”
-
-When I was ready to depart they furnished me with a small domestic bull
-thoat, such as is used for saddle purposes by all red Martians. The
-animal is about the size of a horse and quite gentle, but in color and
-shape an exact replica of his huge and fierce cousin of the wilds.
-
-The brothers had supplied me with a reddish oil with which I anointed
-my entire body and one of them cut my hair, which had grown quite long,
-in the prevailing fashion of the time, square at the back and banged in
-front, so that I could have passed anywhere upon Barsoom as a
-full-fledged red Martian. My metal and ornaments were also renewed in
-the style of a Zodangan gentleman, attached to the house of Ptor, which
-was the family name of my benefactors.
-
-They filled a little sack at my side with Zodangan money. The medium of
-exchange upon Mars is not dissimilar from our own except that the coins
-are oval. Paper money is issued by individuals as they require it and
-redeemed twice yearly. If a man issues more than he can redeem, the
-government pays his creditors in full and the debtor works out the
-amount upon the farms or in mines, which are all owned by the
-government. This suits everybody except the debtor as it has been a
-difficult thing to obtain sufficient voluntary labor to work the great
-isolated farm lands of Mars, stretching as they do like narrow ribbons
-from pole to pole, through wild stretches peopled by wild animals and
-wilder men.
-
-When I mentioned my inability to repay them for their kindness to me
-they assured me that I would have ample opportunity if I lived long
-upon Barsoom, and bidding me farewell they watched me until I was out
-of sight upon the broad white turnpike.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-AN AIR SCOUT FOR ZODANGA
-
-
-As I proceeded on my journey toward Zodanga many strange and
-interesting sights arrested my attention, and at the several farm
-houses where I stopped I learned a number of new and instructive things
-concerning the methods and manners of Barsoom.
-
-The water which supplies the farms of Mars is collected in immense
-underground reservoirs at either pole from the melting ice caps, and
-pumped through long conduits to the various populated centers. Along
-either side of these conduits, and extending their entire length, lie
-the cultivated districts. These are divided into tracts of about the
-same size, each tract being under the supervision of one or more
-government officers.
-
-Instead of flooding the surface of the fields, and thus wasting immense
-quantities of water by evaporation, the precious liquid is carried
-underground through a vast network of small pipes directly to the roots
-of the vegetation. The crops upon Mars are always uniform, for there
-are no droughts, no rains, no high winds, and no insects, or destroying
-birds.
-
-On this trip I tasted the first meat I had eaten since leaving
-Earth—large, juicy steaks and chops from the well-fed domestic animals
-of the farms. Also I enjoyed luscious fruits and vegetables, but not a
-single article of food which was exactly similar to anything on Earth.
-Every plant and flower and vegetable and animal has been so refined by
-ages of careful, scientific cultivation and breeding that the like of
-them on Earth dwindled into pale, gray, characterless nothingness by
-comparison.
-
-At a second stop I met some highly cultivated people of the noble class
-and while in conversation we chanced to speak of Helium. One of the
-older men had been there on a diplomatic mission several years before
-and spoke with regret of the conditions which seemed destined ever to
-keep these two countries at war.
-
-“Helium,” he said, “rightly boasts the most beautiful women of Barsoom,
-and of all her treasures the wondrous daughter of Mors Kajak, Dejah
-Thoris, is the most exquisite flower.
-
-“Why,” he added, “the people really worship the ground she walks upon
-and since her loss on that ill-starred expedition all Helium has been
-draped in mourning.
-
-“That our ruler should have attacked the disabled fleet as it was
-returning to Helium was but another of his awful blunders which I fear
-will sooner or later compel Zodanga to elevate a wiser man to his
-place.”
-
-“Even now, though our victorious armies are surrounding Helium, the
-people of Zodanga are voicing their displeasure, for the war is not a
-popular one, since it is not based on right or justice. Our forces took
-advantage of the absence of the principal fleet of Helium on their
-search for the princess, and so we have been able easily to reduce the
-city to a sorry plight. It is said she will fall within the next few
-passages of the further moon.”
-
-“And what, think you, may have been the fate of the princess, Dejah
-Thoris?” I asked as casually as possible.
-
-“She is dead,” he answered. “This much was learned from a green warrior
-recently captured by our forces in the south. She escaped from the
-hordes of Thark with a strange creature of another world, only to fall
-into the hands of the Warhoons. Their thoats were found wandering upon
-the sea bottom and evidences of a bloody conflict were discovered
-nearby.”
-
-While this information was in no way reassuring, neither was it at all
-conclusive proof of the death of Dejah Thoris, and so I determined to
-make every effort possible to reach Helium as quickly as I could and
-carry to Tardos Mors such news of his granddaughter’s possible
-whereabouts as lay in my power.
-
-Ten days after leaving the three Ptor brothers I arrived at Zodanga.
-From the moment that I had come in contact with the red inhabitants of
-Mars I had noticed that Woola drew a great amount of unwelcome
-attention to me, since the huge brute belonged to a species which is
-never domesticated by the red men. Were one to stroll down Broadway
-with a Numidian lion at his heels the effect would be somewhat similar
-to that which I should have produced had I entered Zodanga with Woola.
-
-The very thought of parting with the faithful fellow caused me so great
-regret and genuine sorrow that I put it off until just before we
-arrived at the city’s gates; but then, finally, it became imperative
-that we separate. Had nothing further than my own safety or pleasure
-been at stake no argument could have prevailed upon me to turn away the
-one creature upon Barsoom that had never failed in a demonstration of
-affection and loyalty; but as I would willingly have offered my life in
-the service of her in search of whom I was about to challenge the
-unknown dangers of this, to me, mysterious city, I could not permit
-even Woola’s life to threaten the success of my venture, much less his
-momentary happiness, for I doubted not he soon would forget me. And so
-I bade the poor beast an affectionate farewell, promising him, however,
-that if I came through my adventure in safety that in some way I should
-find the means to search him out.
-
-He seemed to understand me fully, and when I pointed back in the
-direction of Thark he turned sorrowfully away, nor could I bear to
-watch him go; but resolutely set my face toward Zodanga and with a
-touch of heartsickness approached her frowning walls.
-
-The letter I bore from them gained me immediate entrance to the vast,
-walled city. It was still very early in the morning and the streets
-were practically deserted. The residences, raised high upon their metal
-columns, resembled huge rookeries, while the uprights themselves
-presented the appearance of steel tree trunks. The shops as a rule were
-not raised from the ground nor were their doors bolted or barred, since
-thievery is practically unknown upon Barsoom. Assassination is the
-ever-present fear of all Barsoomians, and for this reason alone their
-homes are raised high above the ground at night, or in times of danger.
-
-The Ptor brothers had given me explicit directions for reaching the
-point of the city where I could find living accommodations and be near
-the offices of the government agents to whom they had given me letters.
-My way led to the central square or plaza, which is a characteristic of
-all Martian cities.
-
-The plaza of Zodanga covers a square mile and is bounded by the palaces
-of the jeddak, the jeds, and other members of the royalty and nobility
-of Zodanga, as well as by the principal public buildings, cafes, and
-shops.
-
-As I was crossing the great square lost in wonder and admiration of the
-magnificent architecture and the gorgeous scarlet vegetation which
-carpeted the broad lawns I discovered a red Martian walking briskly
-toward me from one of the avenues. He paid not the slightest attention
-to me, but as he came abreast I recognized him, and turning I placed my
-hand upon his shoulder, calling out:
-
-“Kaor, Kantos Kan!”
-
-Like lightning he wheeled and before I could so much as lower my hand
-the point of his long-sword was at my breast.
-
-“Who are you?” he growled, and then as a backward leap carried me fifty
-feet from his sword he dropped the point to the ground and exclaimed,
-laughing,
-
-“I do not need a better reply, there is but one man upon all Barsoom
-who can bounce about like a rubber ball. By the mother of the further
-moon, John Carter, how came you here, and have you become a Darseen
-that you can change your color at will?”
-
-“You gave me a bad half minute my friend,” he continued, after I had
-briefly outlined my adventures since parting with him in the arena at
-Warhoon. “Were my name and city known to the Zodangans I would shortly
-be sitting on the banks of the lost sea of Korus with my revered and
-departed ancestors. I am here in the interest of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of
-Helium, to discover the whereabouts of Dejah Thoris, our princess. Sab
-Than, prince of Zodanga, has her hidden in the city and has fallen
-madly in love with her. His father, Than Kosis, Jeddak of Zodanga, has
-made her voluntary marriage to his son the price of peace between our
-countries, but Tardos Mors will not accede to the demands and has sent
-word that he and his people would rather look upon the dead face of
-their princess than see her wed to any than her own choice, and that
-personally he would prefer being engulfed in the ashes of a lost and
-burning Helium to joining the metal of his house with that of Than
-Kosis. His reply was the deadliest affront he could have put upon Than
-Kosis and the Zodangans, but his people love him the more for it and
-his strength in Helium is greater today than ever.
-
-“I have been here three days,” continued Kantos Kan, “but I have not
-yet found where Dejah Thoris is imprisoned. Today I join the Zodangan
-navy as an air scout and I hope in this way to win the confidence of
-Sab Than, the prince, who is commander of this division of the navy,
-and thus learn the whereabouts of Dejah Thoris. I am glad that you are
-here, John Carter, for I know your loyalty to my princess and two of us
-working together should be able to accomplish much.”
-
-The plaza was now commencing to fill with people going and coming upon
-the daily activities of their duties. The shops were opening and the
-cafes filling with early morning patrons. Kantos Kan led me to one of
-these gorgeous eating places where we were served entirely by
-mechanical apparatus. No hand touched the food from the time it entered
-the building in its raw state until it emerged hot and delicious upon
-the tables before the guests, in response to the touching of tiny
-buttons to indicate their desires.
-
-After our meal, Kantos Kan took me with him to the headquarters of the
-air-scout squadron and introducing me to his superior asked that I be
-enrolled as a member of the corps. In accordance with custom an
-examination was necessary, but Kantos Kan had told me to have no fear
-on this score as he would attend to that part of the matter. He
-accomplished this by taking my order for examination to the examining
-officer and representing himself as John Carter.
-
-“This ruse will be discovered later,” he cheerfully explained, “when
-they check up my weights, measurements, and other personal
-identification data, but it will be several months before this is done
-and our mission should be accomplished or have failed long before that
-time.”
-
-The next few days were spent by Kantos Kan in teaching me the
-intricacies of flying and of repairing the dainty little contrivances
-which the Martians use for this purpose. The body of the one-man air
-craft is about sixteen feet long, two feet wide and three inches thick,
-tapering to a point at each end. The driver sits on top of this plane
-upon a seat constructed over the small, noiseless radium engine which
-propels it. The medium of buoyancy is contained within the thin metal
-walls of the body and consists of the eighth Barsoomian ray, or ray of
-propulsion, as it may be termed in view of its properties.
-
-This ray, like the ninth ray, is unknown on Earth, but the Martians
-have discovered that it is an inherent property of all light no matter
-from what source it emanates. They have learned that it is the solar
-eighth ray which propels the light of the sun to the various planets,
-and that it is the individual eighth ray of each planet which
-“reflects,” or propels the light thus obtained out into space once
-more. The solar eighth ray would be absorbed by the surface of Barsoom,
-but the Barsoomian eighth ray, which tends to propel light from Mars
-into space, is constantly streaming out from the planet constituting a
-force of repulsion of gravity which when confined is able to lift
-enormous weights from the surface of the ground.
-
-It is this ray which has enabled them to so perfect aviation that
-battle ships far outweighing anything known upon Earth sail as
-gracefully and lightly through the thin air of Barsoom as a toy balloon
-in the heavy atmosphere of Earth.
-
-During the early years of the discovery of this ray many strange
-accidents occurred before the Martians learned to measure and control
-the wonderful power they had found. In one instance, some nine hundred
-years before, the first great battle ship to be built with eighth ray
-reservoirs was stored with too great a quantity of the rays and she had
-sailed up from Helium with five hundred officers and men, never to
-return.
-
-Her power of repulsion for the planet was so great that it had carried
-her far into space, where she can be seen today, by the aid of powerful
-telescopes, hurtling through the heavens ten thousand miles from Mars;
-a tiny satellite that will thus encircle Barsoom to the end of time.
-
-The fourth day after my arrival at Zodanga I made my first flight, and
-as a result of it I won a promotion which included quarters in the
-palace of Than Kosis.
-
-As I rose above the city I circled several times, as I had seen Kantos
-Kan do, and then throwing my engine into top speed I raced at terrific
-velocity toward the south, following one of the great waterways which
-enter Zodanga from that direction.
-
-I had traversed perhaps two hundred miles in a little less than an hour
-when I descried far below me a party of three green warriors racing
-madly toward a small figure on foot which seemed to be trying to reach
-the confines of one of the walled fields.
-
-Dropping my machine rapidly toward them, and circling to the rear of
-the warriors, I soon saw that the object of their pursuit was a red
-Martian wearing the metal of the scout squadron to which I was
-attached. A short distance away lay his tiny flier, surrounded by the
-tools with which he had evidently been occupied in repairing some
-damage when surprised by the green warriors.
-
-They were now almost upon him; their flying mounts charging down on the
-relatively puny figure at terrific speed, while the warriors leaned low
-to the right, with their great metal-shod spears. Each seemed striving
-to be the first to impale the poor Zodangan and in another moment his
-fate would have been sealed had it not been for my timely arrival.
-
-Driving my fleet air craft at high speed directly behind the warriors I
-soon overtook them and without diminishing my speed I rammed the prow
-of my little flier between the shoulders of the nearest. The impact
-sufficient to have torn through inches of solid steel, hurled the
-fellow’s headless body into the air over the head of his thoat, where
-it fell sprawling upon the moss. The mounts of the other two warriors
-turned squealing in terror, and bolted in opposite directions.
-
-Reducing my speed I circled and came to the ground at the feet of the
-astonished Zodangan. He was warm in his thanks for my timely aid and
-promised that my day’s work would bring the reward it merited, for it
-was none other than a cousin of the jeddak of Zodanga whose life I had
-saved.
-
-We wasted no time in talk as we knew that the warriors would surely
-return as soon as they had gained control of their mounts. Hastening to
-his damaged machine we were bending every effort to finish the needed
-repairs and had almost completed them when we saw the two green
-monsters returning at top speed from opposite sides of us. When they
-had approached within a hundred yards their thoats again became
-unmanageable and absolutely refused to advance further toward the air
-craft which had frightened them.
-
-The warriors finally dismounted and hobbling their animals advanced
-toward us on foot with drawn long-swords.
-
-I advanced to meet the larger, telling the Zodangan to do the best he
-could with the other. Finishing my man with almost no effort, as had
-now from much practice become habitual with me, I hastened to return to
-my new acquaintance whom I found indeed in desperate straits.
-
-He was wounded and down with the huge foot of his antagonist upon his
-throat and the great long-sword raised to deal the final thrust. With a
-bound I cleared the fifty feet intervening between us, and with
-outstretched point drove my sword completely through the body of the
-green warrior. His sword fell, harmless, to the ground and he sank
-limply upon the prostrate form of the Zodangan.
-
-A cursory examination of the latter revealed no mortal injuries and
-after a brief rest he asserted that he felt fit to attempt the return
-voyage. He would have to pilot his own craft, however, as these frail
-vessels are not intended to convey but a single person.
-
-Quickly completing the repairs we rose together into the still,
-cloudless Martian sky, and at great speed and without further mishap
-returned to Zodanga.
-
-As we neared the city we discovered a mighty concourse of civilians and
-troops assembled upon the plain before the city. The sky was black with
-naval vessels and private and public pleasure craft, flying long
-streamers of gay-colored silks, and banners and flags of odd and
-picturesque design.
-
-My companion signaled that I slow down, and running his machine close
-beside mine suggested that we approach and watch the ceremony, which,
-he said, was for the purpose of conferring honors on individual
-officers and men for bravery and other distinguished service. He then
-unfurled a little ensign which denoted that his craft bore a member of
-the royal family of Zodanga, and together we made our way through the
-maze of low-lying air vessels until we hung directly over the jeddak of
-Zodanga and his staff. All were mounted upon the small domestic bull
-thoats of the red Martians, and their trappings and ornamentation bore
-such a quantity of gorgeously colored feathers that I could not but be
-struck with the startling resemblance the concourse bore to a band of
-the red Indians of my own Earth.
-
-One of the staff called the attention of Than Kosis to the presence of
-my companion above them and the ruler motioned for him to descend. As
-they waited for the troops to move into position facing the jeddak the
-two talked earnestly together, the jeddak and his staff occasionally
-glancing up at me. I could not hear their conversation and presently it
-ceased and all dismounted, as the last body of troops had wheeled into
-position before their emperor. A member of the staff advanced toward
-the troops, and calling the name of a soldier commanded him to advance.
-The officer then recited the nature of the heroic act which had won the
-approval of the jeddak, and the latter advanced and placed a metal
-ornament upon the left arm of the lucky man.
-
-Ten men had been so decorated when the aide called out,
-
-“John Carter, air scout!”
-
-Never in my life had I been so surprised, but the habit of military
-discipline is strong within me, and I dropped my little machine lightly
-to the ground and advanced on foot as I had seen the others do. As I
-halted before the officer, he addressed me in a voice audible to the
-entire assemblage of troops and spectators.
-
-“In recognition, John Carter,” he said, “of your remarkable courage and
-skill in defending the person of the cousin of the jeddak Than Kosis
-and, singlehanded, vanquishing three green warriors, it is the pleasure
-of our jeddak to confer on you the mark of his esteem.”
-
-Than Kosis then advanced toward me and placing an ornament upon me,
-said:
-
-“My cousin has narrated the details of your wonderful achievement,
-which seems little short of miraculous, and if you can so well defend a
-cousin of the jeddak how much better could you defend the person of the
-jeddak himself. You are therefore appointed a padwar of The Guards and
-will be quartered in my palace hereafter.”
-
-I thanked him, and at his direction joined the members of his staff.
-After the ceremony I returned my machine to its quarters on the roof of
-the barracks of the air-scout squadron, and with an orderly from the
-palace to guide me I reported to the officer in charge of the palace.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-I FIND DEJAH
-
-
-The major-domo to whom I reported had been given instructions to
-station me near the person of the jeddak, who, in time of war, is
-always in great danger of assassination, as the rule that all is fair
-in war seems to constitute the entire ethics of Martian conflict.
-
-He therefore escorted me immediately to the apartment in which Than
-Kosis then was. The ruler was engaged in conversation with his son, Sab
-Than, and several courtiers of his household, and did not perceive my
-entrance.
-
-The walls of the apartment were completely hung with splendid
-tapestries which hid any windows or doors which may have pierced them.
-The room was lighted by imprisoned rays of sunshine held between the
-ceiling proper and what appeared to be a ground-glass false ceiling a
-few inches below.
-
-My guide drew aside one of the tapestries, disclosing a passage which
-encircled the room, between the hangings and the walls of the chamber.
-Within this passage I was to remain, he said, so long as Than Kosis was
-in the apartment. When he left I was to follow. My only duty was to
-guard the ruler and keep out of sight as much as possible. I would be
-relieved after a period of four hours. The major-domo then left me.
-
-The tapestries were of a strange weaving which gave the appearance of
-heavy solidity from one side, but from my hiding place I could perceive
-all that took place within the room as readily as though there had been
-no curtain intervening.
-
-Scarcely had I gained my post than the tapestry at the opposite end of
-the chamber separated and four soldiers of The Guard entered,
-surrounding a female figure. As they approached Than Kosis the soldiers
-fell to either side and there standing before the jeddak and not ten
-feet from me, her beautiful face radiant with smiles, was Dejah Thoris.
-
-Sab Than, Prince of Zodanga, advanced to meet her, and hand in hand
-they approached close to the jeddak. Than Kosis looked up in surprise,
-and, rising, saluted her.
-
-“To what strange freak do I owe this visit from the Princess of Helium,
-who, two days ago, with rare consideration for my pride, assured me
-that she would prefer Tal Hajus, the green Thark, to my son?”
-
-Dejah Thoris only smiled the more and with the roguish dimples playing
-at the corners of her mouth she made answer:
-
-“From the beginning of time upon Barsoom it has been the prerogative of
-woman to change her mind as she listed and to dissemble in matters
-concerning her heart. That you will forgive, Than Kosis, as has your
-son. Two days ago I was not sure of his love for me, but now I am, and
-I have come to beg of you to forget my rash words and to accept the
-assurance of the Princess of Helium that when the time comes she will
-wed Sab Than, Prince of Zodanga.”
-
-“I am glad that you have so decided,” replied Than Kosis. “It is far
-from my desire to push war further against the people of Helium, and,
-your promise shall be recorded and a proclamation to my people issued
-forthwith.”
-
-“It were better, Than Kosis,” interrupted Dejah Thoris, “that the
-proclamation wait the ending of this war. It would look strange indeed
-to my people and to yours were the Princess of Helium to give herself
-to her country’s enemy in the midst of hostilities.”
-
-“Cannot the war be ended at once?” spoke Sab Than. “It requires but the
-word of Than Kosis to bring peace. Say it, my father, say the word that
-will hasten my happiness, and end this unpopular strife.”
-
-“We shall see,” replied Than Kosis, “how the people of Helium take to
-peace. I shall at least offer it to them.”
-
-Dejah Thoris, after a few words, turned and left the apartment, still
-followed by her guards.
-
-Thus was the edifice of my brief dream of happiness dashed, broken, to
-the ground of reality. The woman for whom I had offered my life, and
-from whose lips I had so recently heard a declaration of love for me,
-had lightly forgotten my very existence and smilingly given herself to
-the son of her people’s most hated enemy.
-
-Although I had heard it with my own ears I could not believe it. I must
-search out her apartments and force her to repeat the cruel truth to me
-alone before I would be convinced, and so I deserted my post and
-hastened through the passage behind the tapestries toward the door by
-which she had left the chamber. Slipping quietly through this opening I
-discovered a maze of winding corridors, branching and turning in every
-direction.
-
-Running rapidly down first one and then another of them I soon became
-hopelessly lost and was standing panting against a side wall when I
-heard voices near me. Apparently they were coming from the opposite
-side of the partition against which I leaned and presently I made out
-the tones of Dejah Thoris. I could not hear the words but I knew that I
-could not possibly be mistaken in the voice.
-
-Moving on a few steps I discovered another passageway at the end of
-which lay a door. Walking boldly forward I pushed into the room only to
-find myself in a small antechamber in which were the four guards who
-had accompanied her. One of them instantly arose and accosted me,
-asking the nature of my business.
-
-“I am from Than Kosis,” I replied, “and wish to speak privately with
-Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium.”
-
-“And your order?” asked the fellow.
-
-I did not know what he meant, but replied that I was a member of The
-Guard, and without waiting for a reply from him I strode toward the
-opposite door of the antechamber, behind which I could hear Dejah
-Thoris conversing.
-
-But my entrance was not to be so easily accomplished. The guardsman
-stepped before me, saying,
-
-“No one comes from Than Kosis without carrying an order or the
-password. You must give me one or the other before you may pass.”
-
-“The only order I require, my friend, to enter where I will, hangs at
-my side,” I answered, tapping my long-sword; “will you let me pass in
-peace or no?”
-
-For reply he whipped out his own sword, calling to the others to join
-him, and thus the four stood, with drawn weapons, barring my further
-progress.
-
-“You are not here by the order of Than Kosis,” cried the one who had
-first addressed me, “and not only shall you not enter the apartments of
-the Princess of Helium but you shall go back to Than Kosis under guard
-to explain this unwarranted temerity. Throw down your sword; you cannot
-hope to overcome four of us,” he added with a grim smile.
-
-My reply was a quick thrust which left me but three antagonists and I
-can assure you that they were worthy of my metal. They had me backed
-against the wall in no time, fighting for my life. Slowly I worked my
-way to a corner of the room where I could force them to come at me only
-one at a time, and thus we fought upward of twenty minutes; the
-clanging of steel on steel producing a veritable bedlam in the little
-room.
-
-The noise had brought Dejah Thoris to the door of her apartment, and
-there she stood throughout the conflict with Sola at her back peering
-over her shoulder. Her face was set and emotionless and I knew that she
-did not recognize me, nor did Sola.
-
-Finally a lucky cut brought down a second guardsman and then, with only
-two opposing me, I changed my tactics and rushed them down after the
-fashion of my fighting that had won me many a victory. The third fell
-within ten seconds after the second, and the last lay dead upon the
-bloody floor a few moments later. They were brave men and noble
-fighters, and it grieved me that I had been forced to kill them, but I
-would have willingly depopulated all Barsoom could I have reached the
-side of my Dejah Thoris in no other way.
-
-Sheathing my bloody blade I advanced toward my Martian Princess, who
-still stood mutely gazing at me without sign of recognition.
-
-“Who are you, Zodangan?” she whispered. “Another enemy to harass me in
-my misery?”
-
-“I am a friend,” I answered, “a once cherished friend.”
-
-“No friend of Helium’s princess wears that metal,” she replied, “and
-yet the voice! I have heard it before; it is not—it cannot be—no, for
-he is dead.”
-
-“It is, though, my Princess, none other than John Carter,” I said. “Do
-you not recognize, even through paint and strange metal, the heart of
-your chieftain?”
-
-As I came close to her she swayed toward me with outstretched hands,
-but as I reached to take her in my arms she drew back with a shudder
-and a little moan of misery.
-
-“Too late, too late,” she grieved. “O my chieftain that was, and whom I
-thought dead, had you but returned one little hour before—but now it is
-too late, too late.”
-
-“What do you mean, Dejah Thoris?” I cried. “That you would not have
-promised yourself to the Zodangan prince had you known that I lived?”
-
-“Think you, John Carter, that I would give my heart to you yesterday
-and today to another? I thought that it lay buried with your ashes in
-the pits of Warhoon, and so today I have promised my body to another to
-save my people from the curse of a victorious Zodangan army.”
-
-“But I am not dead, my princess. I have come to claim you, and all
-Zodanga cannot prevent it.”
-
-“It is too late, John Carter, my promise is given, and on Barsoom that
-is final. The ceremonies which follow later are but meaningless
-formalities. They make the fact of marriage no more certain than does
-the funeral cortege of a jeddak again place the seal of death upon him.
-I am as good as married, John Carter. No longer may you call me your
-princess. No longer are you my chieftain.”
-
-“I know but little of your customs here upon Barsoom, Dejah Thoris, but
-I do know that I love you, and if you meant the last words you spoke to
-me that day as the hordes of Warhoon were charging down upon us, no
-other man shall ever claim you as his bride. You meant them then, my
-princess, and you mean them still! Say that it is true.”
-
-“I meant them, John Carter,” she whispered. “I cannot repeat them now
-for I have given myself to another. Ah, if you had only known our ways,
-my friend,” she continued, half to herself, “the promise would have
-been yours long months ago, and you could have claimed me before all
-others. It might have meant the fall of Helium, but I would have given
-my empire for my Tharkian chief.”
-
-Then aloud she said: “Do you remember the night when you offended me?
-You called me your princess without having asked my hand of me, and
-then you boasted that you had fought for me. You did not know, and I
-should not have been offended; I see that now. But there was no one to
-tell you what I could not, that upon Barsoom there are two kinds of
-women in the cities of the red men. The one they fight for that they
-may ask them in marriage; the other kind they fight for also, but never
-ask their hands. When a man has won a woman he may address her as his
-princess, or in any of the several terms which signify possession. You
-had fought for me, but had never asked me in marriage, and so when you
-called me your princess, you see,” she faltered, “I was hurt, but even
-then, John Carter, I did not repulse you, as I should have done, until
-you made it doubly worse by taunting me with having won me through
-combat.”
-
-“I do not need ask your forgiveness now, Dejah Thoris,” I cried. “You
-must know that my fault was of ignorance of your Barsoomian customs.
-What I failed to do, through implicit belief that my petition would be
-presumptuous and unwelcome, I do now, Dejah Thoris; I ask you to be my
-wife, and by all the Virginian fighting blood that flows in my veins
-you shall be.”
-
-“No, John Carter, it is useless,” she cried, hopelessly, “I may never
-be yours while Sab Than lives.”
-
-“You have sealed his death warrant, my princess—Sab Than dies.”
-
-“Nor that either,” she hastened to explain. “I may not wed the man who
-slays my husband, even in self-defense. It is custom. We are ruled by
-custom upon Barsoom. It is useless, my friend. You must bear the sorrow
-with me. That at least we may share in common. That, and the memory of
-the brief days among the Tharks. You must go now, nor ever see me
-again. Good-bye, my chieftain that was.”
-
-Disheartened and dejected, I withdrew from the room, but I was not
-entirely discouraged, nor would I admit that Dejah Thoris was lost to
-me until the ceremony had actually been performed.
-
-As I wandered along the corridors, I was as absolutely lost in the
-mazes of winding passageways as I had been before I discovered Dejah
-Thoris’ apartments.
-
-I knew that my only hope lay in escape from the city of Zodanga, for
-the matter of the four dead guardsmen would have to be explained, and
-as I could never reach my original post without a guide, suspicion
-would surely rest on me so soon as I was discovered wandering aimlessly
-through the palace.
-
-Presently I came upon a spiral runway leading to a lower floor, and
-this I followed downward for several stories until I reached the
-doorway of a large apartment in which were a number of guardsmen. The
-walls of this room were hung with transparent tapestries behind which I
-secreted myself without being apprehended.
-
-The conversation of the guardsmen was general, and awakened no interest
-in me until an officer entered the room and ordered four of the men to
-relieve the detail who were guarding the Princess of Helium. Now, I
-knew, my troubles would commence in earnest and indeed they were upon
-me all too soon, for it seemed that the squad had scarcely left the
-guardroom before one of their number burst in again breathlessly,
-crying that they had found their four comrades butchered in the
-antechamber.
-
-In a moment the entire palace was alive with people. Guardsmen,
-officers, courtiers, servants, and slaves ran helter-skelter through
-the corridors and apartments carrying messages and orders, and
-searching for signs of the assassin.
-
-This was my opportunity and slim as it appeared I grasped it, for as a
-number of soldiers came hurrying past my hiding place I fell in behind
-them and followed through the mazes of the palace until, in passing
-through a great hall, I saw the blessed light of day coming in through
-a series of larger windows.
-
-Here I left my guides, and, slipping to the nearest window, sought for
-an avenue of escape. The windows opened upon a great balcony which
-overlooked one of the broad avenues of Zodanga. The ground was about
-thirty feet below, and at a like distance from the building was a wall
-fully twenty feet high, constructed of polished glass about a foot in
-thickness. To a red Martian escape by this path would have appeared
-impossible, but to me, with my earthly strength and agility, it seemed
-already accomplished. My only fear was in being detected before
-darkness fell, for I could not make the leap in broad daylight while
-the court below and the avenue beyond were crowded with Zodangans.
-
-Accordingly I searched for a hiding place and finally found one by
-accident, inside a huge hanging ornament which swung from the ceiling
-of the hall, and about ten feet from the floor. Into the capacious
-bowl-like vase I sprang with ease, and scarcely had I settled down
-within it than I heard a number of people enter the apartment. The
-group stopped beneath my hiding place and I could plainly overhear
-their every word.
-
-“It is the work of Heliumites,” said one of the men.
-
-“Yes, O Jeddak, but how had they access to the palace? I could believe
-that even with the diligent care of your guardsmen a single enemy might
-reach the inner chambers, but how a force of six or eight fighting men
-could have done so unobserved is beyond me. We shall soon know,
-however, for here comes the royal psychologist.”
-
-Another man now joined the group, and, after making his formal
-greetings to his ruler, said:
-
-“O mighty Jeddak, it is a strange tale I read in the dead minds of your
-faithful guardsmen. They were felled not by a number of fighting men,
-but by a single opponent.”
-
-He paused to let the full weight of this announcement impress his
-hearers, and that his statement was scarcely credited was evidenced by
-the impatient exclamation of incredulity which escaped the lips of Than
-Kosis.
-
-“What manner of weird tale are you bringing me, Notan?” he cried.
-
-“It is the truth, my Jeddak,” replied the psychologist. “In fact the
-impressions were strongly marked on the brain of each of the four
-guardsmen. Their antagonist was a very tall man, wearing the metal of
-one of your own guardsmen, and his fighting ability was little short of
-marvelous for he fought fair against the entire four and vanquished
-them by his surpassing skill and superhuman strength and endurance.
-Though he wore the metal of Zodanga, my Jeddak, such a man was never
-seen before in this or any other country upon Barsoom.
-
-“The mind of the Princess of Helium whom I have examined and questioned
-was a blank to me, she has perfect control, and I could not read one
-iota of it. She said that she witnessed a portion of the encounter, and
-that when she looked there was but one man engaged with the guardsmen;
-a man whom she did not recognize as ever having seen.”
-
-“Where is my erstwhile savior?” spoke another of the party, and I
-recognized the voice of the cousin of Than Kosis, whom I had rescued
-from the green warriors. “By the metal of my first ancestor,” he went
-on, “but the description fits him to perfection, especially as to his
-fighting ability.”
-
-“Where is this man?” cried Than Kosis. “Have him brought to me at once.
-What know you of him, cousin? It seemed strange to me now that I think
-upon it that there should have been such a fighting man in Zodanga, of
-whose name, even, we were ignorant before today. And his name too, John
-Carter, who ever heard of such a name upon Barsoom!”
-
-Word was soon brought that I was nowhere to be found, either in the
-palace or at my former quarters in the barracks of the air-scout
-squadron. Kantos Kan, they had found and questioned, but he knew
-nothing of my whereabouts, and as to my past, he had told them he knew
-as little, since he had but recently met me during our captivity among
-the Warhoons.
-
-“Keep your eyes on this other one,” commanded Than Kosis. “He also is a
-stranger and likely as not they both hail from Helium, and where one is
-we shall sooner or later find the other. Quadruple the air patrol, and
-let every man who leaves the city by air or ground be subjected to the
-closest scrutiny.”
-
-Another messenger now entered with word that I was still within the
-palace walls.
-
-“The likeness of every person who has entered or left the palace
-grounds today has been carefully examined,” concluded the fellow, “and
-not one approaches the likeness of this new padwar of the guards, other
-than that which was recorded of him at the time he entered.”
-
-“Then we will have him shortly,” commented Than Kosis contentedly, “and
-in the meanwhile we will repair to the apartments of the Princess of
-Helium and question her in regard to the affair. She may know more than
-she cared to divulge to you, Notan. Come.”
-
-They left the hall, and, as darkness had fallen without, I slipped
-lightly from my hiding place and hastened to the balcony. Few were in
-sight, and choosing a moment when none seemed near I sprang quickly to
-the top of the glass wall and from there to the avenue beyond the
-palace grounds.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-LOST IN THE SKY
-
-
-Without effort at concealment I hastened to the vicinity of our
-quarters, where I felt sure I should find Kantos Kan. As I neared the
-building I became more careful, as I judged, and rightly, that the
-place would be guarded. Several men in civilian metal loitered near the
-front entrance and in the rear were others. My only means of reaching,
-unseen, the upper story where our apartments were situated was through
-an adjoining building, and after considerable maneuvering I managed to
-attain the roof of a shop several doors away.
-
-Leaping from roof to roof, I soon reached an open window in the
-building where I hoped to find the Heliumite, and in another moment I
-stood in the room before him. He was alone and showed no surprise at my
-coming, saying he had expected me much earlier, as my tour of duty must
-have ended some time since.
-
-I saw that he knew nothing of the events of the day at the palace, and
-when I had enlightened him he was all excitement. The news that Dejah
-Thoris had promised her hand to Sab Than filled him with dismay.
-
-“It cannot be,” he exclaimed. “It is impossible! Why no man in all
-Helium but would prefer death to the selling of our loved princess to
-the ruling house of Zodanga. She must have lost her mind to have
-assented to such an atrocious bargain. You, who do not know how we of
-Helium love the members of our ruling house, cannot appreciate the
-horror with which I contemplate such an unholy alliance.”
-
-“What can be done, John Carter?” he continued. “You are a resourceful
-man. Can you not think of some way to save Helium from this disgrace?”
-
-“If I can come within sword’s reach of Sab Than,” I answered, “I can
-solve the difficulty in so far as Helium is concerned, but for personal
-reasons I would prefer that another struck the blow that frees Dejah
-Thoris.”
-
-Kantos Kan eyed me narrowly before he spoke.
-
-“You love her!” he said. “Does she know it?”
-
-“She knows it, Kantos Kan, and repulses me only because she is promised
-to Sab Than.”
-
-The splendid fellow sprang to his feet, and grasping me by the shoulder
-raised his sword on high, exclaiming:
-
-“And had the choice been left to me I could not have chosen a more
-fitting mate for the first princess of Barsoom. Here is my hand upon
-your shoulder, John Carter, and my word that Sab Than shall go out at
-the point of my sword for the sake of my love for Helium, for Dejah
-Thoris, and for you. This very night I shall try to reach his quarters
-in the palace.”
-
-“How?” I asked. “You are strongly guarded and a quadruple force patrols
-the sky.”
-
-He bent his head in thought a moment, then raised it with an air of
-confidence.
-
-“I only need to pass these guards and I can do it,” he said at last. “I
-know a secret entrance to the palace through the pinnacle of the
-highest tower. I fell upon it by chance one day as I was passing above
-the palace on patrol duty. In this work it is required that we
-investigate any unusual occurrence we may witness, and a face peering
-from the pinnacle of the high tower of the palace was, to me, most
-unusual. I therefore drew near and discovered that the possessor of the
-peering face was none other than Sab Than. He was slightly put out at
-being detected and commanded me to keep the matter to myself,
-explaining that the passage from the tower led directly to his
-apartments, and was known only to him. If I can reach the roof of the
-barracks and get my machine I can be in Sab Than’s quarters in five
-minutes; but how am I to escape from this building, guarded as you say
-it is?”
-
-“How well are the machine sheds at the barracks guarded?” I asked.
-
-“There is usually but one man on duty there at night upon the roof.”
-
-“Go to the roof of this building, Kantos Kan, and wait me there.”
-
-Without stopping to explain my plans I retraced my way to the street
-and hastened to the barracks. I did not dare to enter the building,
-filled as it was with members of the air-scout squadron, who, in common
-with all Zodanga, were on the lookout for me.
-
-The building was an enormous one, rearing its lofty head fully a
-thousand feet into the air. But few buildings in Zodanga were higher
-than these barracks, though several topped it by a few hundred feet;
-the docks of the great battleships of the line standing some fifteen
-hundred feet from the ground, while the freight and passenger stations
-of the merchant squadrons rose nearly as high.
-
-It was a long climb up the face of the building, and one fraught with
-much danger, but there was no other way, and so I essayed the task. The
-fact that Barsoomian architecture is extremely ornate made the feat
-much simpler than I had anticipated, since I found ornamental ledges
-and projections which fairly formed a perfect ladder for me all the way
-to the eaves of the building. Here I met my first real obstacle. The
-eaves projected nearly twenty feet from the wall to which I clung, and
-though I encircled the great building I could find no opening through
-them.
-
-The top floor was alight, and filled with soldiers engaged in the
-pastimes of their kind; I could not, therefore, reach the roof through
-the building.
-
-There was one slight, desperate chance, and that I decided I must
-take—it was for Dejah Thoris, and no man has lived who would not risk a
-thousand deaths for such as she.
-
-Clinging to the wall with my feet and one hand, I unloosened one of the
-long leather straps of my trappings at the end of which dangled a great
-hook by which air sailors are hung to the sides and bottoms of their
-craft for various purposes of repair, and by means of which landing
-parties are lowered to the ground from the battleships.
-
-I swung this hook cautiously to the roof several times before it
-finally found lodgment; gently I pulled on it to strengthen its hold,
-but whether it would bear the weight of my body I did not know. It
-might be barely caught upon the very outer verge of the roof, so that
-as my body swung out at the end of the strap it would slip off and
-launch me to the pavement a thousand feet below.
-
-An instant I hesitated, and then, releasing my grasp upon the
-supporting ornament, I swung out into space at the end of the strap.
-Far below me lay the brilliantly lighted streets, the hard pavements,
-and death. There was a little jerk at the top of the supporting eaves,
-and a nasty slipping, grating sound which turned me cold with
-apprehension; then the hook caught and I was safe.
-
-Clambering quickly aloft I grasped the edge of the eaves and drew
-myself to the surface of the roof above. As I gained my feet I was
-confronted by the sentry on duty, into the muzzle of whose revolver I
-found myself looking.
-
-“Who are you and whence came you?” he cried.
-
-“I am an air scout, friend, and very near a dead one, for just by the
-merest chance I escaped falling to the avenue below,” I replied.
-
-“But how came you upon the roof, man? No one has landed or come up from
-the building for the past hour. Quick, explain yourself, or I call the
-guard.”
-
-“Look you here, sentry, and you shall see how I came and how close a
-shave I had to not coming at all,” I answered, turning toward the edge
-of the roof, where, twenty feet below, at the end of my strap, hung all
-my weapons.
-
-The fellow, acting on impulse of curiosity, stepped to my side and to
-his undoing, for as he leaned to peer over the eaves I grasped him by
-his throat and his pistol arm and threw him heavily to the roof. The
-weapon dropped from his grasp, and my fingers choked off his attempted
-cry for assistance. I gagged and bound him and then hung him over the
-edge of the roof as I myself had hung a few moments before. I knew it
-would be morning before he would be discovered, and I needed all the
-time that I could gain.
-
-Donning my trappings and weapons I hastened to the sheds, and soon had
-out both my machine and Kantos Kan’s. Making his fast behind mine I
-started my engine, and skimming over the edge of the roof I dove down
-into the streets of the city far below the plane usually occupied by
-the air patrol. In less than a minute I was settling safely upon the
-roof of our apartment beside the astonished Kantos Kan.
-
-I lost no time in explanation, but plunged immediately into a
-discussion of our plans for the immediate future. It was decided that I
-was to try to make Helium while Kantos Kan was to enter the palace and
-dispatch Sab Than. If successful he was then to follow me. He set my
-compass for me, a clever little device which will remain steadfastly
-fixed upon any given point on the surface of Barsoom, and bidding each
-other farewell we rose together and sped in the direction of the palace
-which lay in the route which I must take to reach Helium.
-
-As we neared the high tower a patrol shot down from above, throwing its
-piercing searchlight full upon my craft, and a voice roared out a
-command to halt, following with a shot as I paid no attention to his
-hail. Kantos Kan dropped quickly into the darkness, while I rose
-steadily and at terrific speed raced through the Martian sky followed
-by a dozen of the air-scout craft which had joined the pursuit, and
-later by a swift cruiser carrying a hundred men and a battery of
-rapid-fire guns. By twisting and turning my little machine, now rising
-and now falling, I managed to elude their search-lights most of the
-time, but I was also losing ground by these tactics, and so I decided
-to hazard everything on a straight-away course and leave the result to
-fate and the speed of my machine.
-
-Kantos Kan had shown me a trick of gearing, which is known only to the
-navy of Helium, that greatly increased the speed of our machines, so
-that I felt sure I could distance my pursuers if I could dodge their
-projectiles for a few moments.
-
-As I sped through the air the screeching of the bullets around me
-convinced me that only by a miracle could I escape, but the die was
-cast, and throwing on full speed I raced a straight course toward
-Helium. Gradually I left my pursuers further and further behind, and I
-was just congratulating myself on my lucky escape, when a well-directed
-shot from the cruiser exploded at the prow of my little craft. The
-concussion nearly capsized her, and with a sickening plunge she hurtled
-downward through the dark night.
-
-How far I fell before I regained control of the plane I do not know,
-but I must have been very close to the ground when I started to rise
-again, as I plainly heard the squealing of animals below me. Rising
-again I scanned the heavens for my pursuers, and finally making out
-their lights far behind me, saw that they were landing, evidently in
-search of me.
-
-Not until their lights were no longer discernible did I venture to
-flash my little lamp upon my compass, and then I found to my
-consternation that a fragment of the projectile had utterly destroyed
-my only guide, as well as my speedometer. It was true I could follow
-the stars in the general direction of Helium, but without knowing the
-exact location of the city or the speed at which I was traveling my
-chances for finding it were slim.
-
-Helium lies a thousand miles southwest of Zodanga, and with my compass
-intact I should have made the trip, barring accidents, in between four
-and five hours. As it turned out, however, morning found me speeding
-over a vast expanse of dead sea bottom after nearly six hours of
-continuous flight at high speed. Presently a great city showed below
-me, but it was not Helium, as that alone of all Barsoomian metropolises
-consists in two immense circular walled cities about seventy-five miles
-apart and would have been easily distinguishable from the altitude at
-which I was flying.
-
-Believing that I had come too far to the north and west, I turned back
-in a southeasterly direction, passing during the forenoon several other
-large cities, but none resembling the description which Kantos Kan had
-given me of Helium. In addition to the twin-city formation of Helium,
-another distinguishing feature is the two immense towers, one of vivid
-scarlet rising nearly a mile into the air from the center of one of the
-cities, while the other, of bright yellow and of the same height, marks
-her sister.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIV
-TARS TARKAS FINDS A FRIEND
-
-
-About noon I passed low over a great dead city of ancient Mars, and as
-I skimmed out across the plain beyond I came full upon several thousand
-green warriors engaged in a terrific battle. Scarcely had I seen them
-than a volley of shots was directed at me, and with the almost
-unfailing accuracy of their aim my little craft was instantly a ruined
-wreck, sinking erratically to the ground.
-
-I fell almost directly in the center of the fierce combat, among
-warriors who had not seen my approach so busily were they engaged in
-life and death struggles. The men were fighting on foot with
-long-swords, while an occasional shot from a sharpshooter on the
-outskirts of the conflict would bring down a warrior who might for an
-instant separate himself from the entangled mass.
-
-As my machine sank among them I realized that it was fight or die, with
-good chances of dying in any event, and so I struck the ground with
-drawn long-sword ready to defend myself as I could.
-
-I fell beside a huge monster who was engaged with three antagonists,
-and as I glanced at his fierce face, filled with the light of battle, I
-recognized Tars Tarkas the Thark. He did not see me, as I was a trifle
-behind him, and just then the three warriors opposing him, and whom I
-recognized as Warhoons, charged simultaneously. The mighty fellow made
-quick work of one of them, but in stepping back for another thrust he
-fell over a dead body behind him and was down and at the mercy of his
-foes in an instant. Quick as lightning they were upon him, and Tars
-Tarkas would have been gathered to his fathers in short order had I not
-sprung before his prostrate form and engaged his adversaries. I had
-accounted for one of them when the mighty Thark regained his feet and
-quickly settled the other.
-
-He gave me one look, and a slight smile touched his grim lip as,
-touching my shoulder, he said,
-
-“I would scarcely recognize you, John Carter, but there is no other
-mortal upon Barsoom who would have done what you have for me. I think I
-have learned that there is such a thing as friendship, my friend.”
-
-He said no more, nor was there opportunity, for the Warhoons were
-closing in about us, and together we fought, shoulder to shoulder,
-during all that long, hot afternoon, until the tide of battle turned
-and the remnant of the fierce Warhoon horde fell back upon their
-thoats, and fled into the gathering darkness.
-
-Ten thousand men had been engaged in that titanic struggle, and upon
-the field of battle lay three thousand dead. Neither side asked or gave
-quarter, nor did they attempt to take prisoners.
-
-On our return to the city after the battle we had gone directly to Tars
-Tarkas’ quarters, where I was left alone while the chieftain attended
-the customary council which immediately follows an engagement.
-
-As I sat awaiting the return of the green warrior I heard something
-move in an adjoining apartment, and as I glanced up there rushed
-suddenly upon me a huge and hideous creature which bore me backward
-upon the pile of silks and furs upon which I had been reclining. It was
-Woola—faithful, loving Woola. He had found his way back to Thark and,
-as Tars Tarkas later told me, had gone immediately to my former
-quarters where he had taken up his pathetic and seemingly hopeless
-watch for my return.
-
-“Tal Hajus knows that you are here, John Carter,” said Tars Tarkas, on
-his return from the jeddak’s quarters; “Sarkoja saw and recognized you
-as we were returning. Tal Hajus has ordered me to bring you before him
-tonight. I have ten thoats, John Carter; you may take your choice from
-among them, and I will accompany you to the nearest waterway that leads
-to Helium. Tars Tarkas may be a cruel green warrior, but he can be a
-friend as well. Come, we must start.”
-
-“And when you return, Tars Tarkas?” I asked.
-
-“The wild calots, possibly, or worse,” he replied. “Unless I should
-chance to have the opportunity I have so long waited of battling with
-Tal Hajus.”
-
-“We will stay, Tars Tarkas, and see Tal Hajus tonight. You shall not
-sacrifice yourself, and it may be that tonight you can have the chance
-you wait.”
-
-He objected strenuously, saying that Tal Hajus often flew into wild
-fits of passion at the mere thought of the blow I had dealt him, and
-that if ever he laid his hands upon me I would be subjected to the most
-horrible tortures.
-
-While we were eating I repeated to Tars Tarkas the story which Sola had
-told me that night upon the sea bottom during the march to Thark.
-
-He said but little, but the great muscles of his face worked in passion
-and in agony at recollection of the horrors which had been heaped upon
-the only thing he had ever loved in all his cold, cruel, terrible
-existence.
-
-He no longer demurred when I suggested that we go before Tal Hajus,
-only saying that he would like to speak to Sarkoja first. At his
-request I accompanied him to her quarters, and the look of venomous
-hatred she cast upon me was almost adequate recompense for any future
-misfortunes this accidental return to Thark might bring me.
-
-“Sarkoja,” said Tars Tarkas, “forty years ago you were instrumental in
-bringing about the torture and death of a woman named Gozava. I have
-just discovered that the warrior who loved that woman has learned of
-your part in the transaction. He may not kill you, Sarkoja, it is not
-our custom, but there is nothing to prevent him tying one end of a
-strap about your neck and the other end to a wild thoat, merely to test
-your fitness to survive and help perpetuate our race. Having heard that
-he would do this on the morrow, I thought it only right to warn you,
-for I am a just man. The river Iss is but a short pilgrimage, Sarkoja.
-Come, John Carter.”
-
-The next morning Sarkoja was gone, nor was she ever seen after.
-
-In silence we hastened to the jeddak’s palace, where we were
-immediately admitted to his presence; in fact, he could scarcely wait
-to see me and was standing erect upon his platform glowering at the
-entrance as I came in.
-
-“Strap him to that pillar,” he shrieked. “We shall see who it is dares
-strike the mighty Tal Hajus. Heat the irons; with my own hands I shall
-burn the eyes from his head that he may not pollute my person with his
-vile gaze.”
-
-“Chieftains of Thark,” I cried, turning to the assembled council and
-ignoring Tal Hajus, “I have been a chief among you, and today I have
-fought for Thark shoulder to shoulder with her greatest warrior. You
-owe me, at least, a hearing. I have won that much today. You claim to
-be a just people—”
-
-“Silence,” roared Tal Hajus. “Gag the creature and bind him as I
-command.”
-
-“Justice, Tal Hajus,” exclaimed Lorquas Ptomel. “Who are you to set
-aside the customs of ages among the Tharks.”
-
-“Yes, justice!” echoed a dozen voices, and so, while Tal Hajus fumed
-and frothed, I continued.
-
-“You are a brave people and you love bravery, but where was your mighty
-jeddak during the fighting today? I did not see him in the thick of
-battle; he was not there. He rends defenseless women and little
-children in his lair, but how recently has one of you seen him fight
-with men? Why, even I, a midget beside him, felled him with a single
-blow of my fist. Is it of such that the Tharks fashion their jeddaks?
-There stands beside me now a great Thark, a mighty warrior and a noble
-man. Chieftains, how sounds, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark?”
-
-A roar of deep-toned applause greeted this suggestion.
-
-“It but remains for this council to command, and Tal Hajus must prove
-his fitness to rule. Were he a brave man he would invite Tars Tarkas to
-combat, for he does not love him, but Tal Hajus is afraid; Tal Hajus,
-your jeddak, is a coward. With my bare hands I could kill him, and he
-knows it.”
-
-After I ceased there was tense silence, as all eyes were riveted upon
-Tal Hajus. He did not speak or move, but the blotchy green of his
-countenance turned livid, and the froth froze upon his lips.
-
-“Tal Hajus,” said Lorquas Ptomel in a cold, hard voice, “never in my
-long life have I seen a jeddak of the Tharks so humiliated. There could
-be but one answer to this arraignment. We wait it.” And still Tal Hajus
-stood as though 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 high in assent.
-
-There was no alternative. That decree was final, and so Tal Hajus drew
-his long-sword and advanced to meet Tars Tarkas.
-
-The combat was soon over, and, with his foot upon the neck of the dead
-monster, Tars Tarkas became jeddak among the Tharks.
-
-His first act was to make me a full-fledged chieftain with the rank I
-had won by my combats the first few weeks of my captivity among them.
-
-Seeing the favorable disposition of the warriors toward Tars Tarkas, as
-well as toward me, I grasped the opportunity to enlist them in my cause
-against Zodanga. I told Tars Tarkas the story of my adventures, and in
-a few words had explained to him the thought I had in mind.
-
-“John Carter has made a proposal,” he said, addressing the council,
-“which meets with my sanction. I shall put it to you briefly. Dejah
-Thoris, the Princess of Helium, who was our prisoner, is now held by
-the jeddak of Zodanga, whose son she must wed to save her country from
-devastation at the hands of the Zodangan forces.
-
-“John Carter suggests that we rescue her and return her to Helium. The
-loot of Zodanga would be magnificent, and I have often thought that had
-we an alliance with the people of Helium we could obtain sufficient
-assurance of sustenance to permit us to increase the size and frequency
-of our hatchings, and thus become unquestionably supreme among the
-green men of all Barsoom. What say you?”
-
-It was a chance to fight, an opportunity to loot, and they rose to the
-bait as a speckled trout to a fly.
-
-For Tharks they were wildly enthusiastic, and before another half hour
-had passed twenty mounted messengers were speeding across dead sea
-bottoms to call the hordes together for the expedition.
-
-In three days we were on the march toward Zodanga, one hundred thousand
-strong, as Tars Tarkas had been able to enlist the services of three
-smaller hordes on the promise of the great loot of Zodanga.
-
-At the head of the column I rode beside the great Thark while at the
-heels of my mount trotted my beloved Woola.
-
-We traveled entirely by night, timing our marches so that we camped
-during the day at deserted cities where, even to the beasts, we were
-all kept indoors during the daylight hours. On the march Tars Tarkas,
-through his remarkable ability and statesmanship, enlisted fifty
-thousand more warriors from various hordes, so that, ten days after we
-set out we halted at midnight outside the great walled city of Zodanga,
-one hundred and fifty thousand strong.
-
-The fighting strength and efficiency of this horde of ferocious green
-monsters was equivalent to ten times their number of red men. Never in
-the history of Barsoom, Tars Tarkas told me, had such a force of green
-warriors marched to battle together. It was a monstrous task to keep
-even a semblance of harmony among them, and it was a marvel to me that
-he got them to the city without a mighty battle among themselves.
-
-But as we neared Zodanga their personal quarrels were submerged by
-their greater hatred for the red men, and especially for the Zodangans,
-who had for years waged a ruthless campaign of extermination against
-the green men, directing special attention toward despoiling their
-incubators.
-
-Now that we were before Zodanga the task of obtaining entry to the city
-devolved upon me, and directing Tars Tarkas to hold his forces in two
-divisions out of earshot of the city, with each division opposite a
-large gateway, I took twenty dismounted warriors and approached one of
-the small gates that pierced the walls at short intervals. These gates
-have no regular guard, but are covered by sentries, who patrol the
-avenue that encircles the city just within the walls as our
-metropolitan police patrol their beats.
-
-The walls of Zodanga are seventy-five feet in height and fifty feet
-thick. They are built of enormous blocks of carborundum, and the task
-of entering the city seemed, to my escort of green warriors, an
-impossibility. The fellows who had been detailed to accompany me were
-of one of the smaller hordes, and therefore did not know me.
-
-Placing three of them with their faces to the wall and arms locked, I
-commanded two more to mount to their shoulders, and a sixth I ordered
-to climb upon the shoulders of the upper two. The head of the topmost
-warrior towered over forty feet from the ground.
-
-In this way, with ten warriors, I built a series of three steps from
-the ground to the shoulders of the topmost man. Then starting from a
-short distance behind them I ran swiftly up from one tier to the next,
-and with a final bound from the broad shoulders of the highest I
-clutched the top of the great wall and quietly drew myself to its broad
-expanse. After me I dragged six lengths of leather from an equal number
-of my warriors. These lengths we had previously fastened together, and
-passing one end to the topmost warrior I lowered the other end
-cautiously over the opposite side of the wall toward the avenue below.
-No one was in sight, so, lowering myself to the end of my leather
-strap, I dropped the remaining thirty feet to the pavement below.
-
-I had learned from Kantos Kan the secret of opening these gates, and in
-another moment my twenty great fighting men stood within the doomed
-city of Zodanga.
-
-I found to my delight that I had entered at the lower boundary of the
-enormous palace grounds. The building itself showed in the distance a
-blaze of glorious light, and on the instant I determined to lead a
-detachment of warriors directly within the palace itself, while the
-balance of the great horde was attacking the barracks of the soldiery.
-
-Dispatching one of my men to Tars Tarkas for a detail of fifty Tharks,
-with word of my intentions, I ordered ten warriors to capture and open
-one of the great gates while with the nine remaining I took the other.
-We were to do our work quietly, no shots were to be fired and no
-general advance made until I had reached the palace with my fifty
-Tharks. Our plans worked to perfection. The two sentries we met were
-dispatched to their fathers upon the banks of the lost sea of Korus,
-and the guards at both gates followed them in silence.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXV
-THE LOOTING OF ZODANGA
-
-
-As the great gate where I stood swung open my fifty Tharks, headed by
-Tars Tarkas himself, rode in upon their mighty thoats. I led them to
-the palace walls, which I negotiated easily without assistance. Once
-inside, however, the gate gave me considerable trouble, but I finally
-was rewarded by seeing it swing upon its huge hinges, and soon my
-fierce escort was riding across the gardens of the jeddak of Zodanga.
-
-As we approached the palace I could see through the great windows of
-the first floor into the brilliantly illuminated audience chamber of
-Than Kosis. The immense hall was crowded with nobles and their women,
-as though some important function was in progress. There was not a
-guard in sight without the palace, due, I presume, to the fact that the
-city and palace walls were considered impregnable, and so I came close
-and peered within.
-
-At one end of the chamber, upon massive golden thrones encrusted with
-diamonds, sat Than Kosis and his consort, surrounded by officers and
-dignitaries of state. Before them stretched a broad aisle lined on
-either side with soldiery, and as I looked there entered this aisle at
-the far end of the hall, the head of a procession which advanced to the
-foot of the throne.
-
-First there marched four officers of the jeddak’s Guard bearing a huge
-salver on which reposed, upon a cushion of scarlet silk, a great golden
-chain with a collar and padlock at each end. Directly behind these
-officers came four others carrying a similar salver which supported the
-magnificent ornaments of a prince and princess of the reigning house of
-Zodanga.
-
-At the foot of the throne these two parties separated and halted,
-facing each other at opposite sides of the aisle. Then came more
-dignitaries, and the officers of the palace and of the army, and
-finally two figures entirely muffled in scarlet silk, so that not a
-feature of either was discernible. These two stopped at the foot of the
-throne, facing Than Kosis. When the balance of the procession had
-entered and assumed their stations Than Kosis addressed the couple
-standing before him. I could not hear his words, but presently two
-officers advanced and removed the scarlet robe from one of the figures,
-and I saw that Kantos Kan had failed in his mission, for it was Sab
-Than, Prince of Zodanga, who stood revealed before me.
-
-Than Kosis now took a set of the ornaments from one of the salvers and
-placed one of the collars of gold about his son’s neck, springing the
-padlock fast. After a few more words addressed to Sab Than he turned to
-the other figure, from which the officers now removed the enshrouding
-silks, disclosing to my now comprehending view Dejah Thoris, Princess
-of Helium.
-
-The object of the ceremony was clear to me; in another moment Dejah
-Thoris would be joined forever to the Prince of Zodanga. It was an
-impressive and beautiful ceremony, I presume, but to me it seemed the
-most fiendish sight I had ever witnessed, and as the ornaments were
-adjusted upon her beautiful figure and her collar of gold swung open in
-the hands of Than Kosis I raised my long-sword above my head, and, with
-the heavy hilt, I shattered the glass of the great window and sprang
-into the midst of the astonished assemblage. With a bound I was on the
-steps of the platform beside Than Kosis, and as he stood riveted with
-surprise I brought my long-sword down upon the golden chain that would
-have bound Dejah Thoris to another.
-
-In an instant all was confusion; a thousand drawn swords menaced me
-from every quarter, and Sab Than sprang upon me with a jeweled dagger
-he had drawn from his nuptial ornaments. I could have killed him as
-easily as I might a fly, but the age-old custom of Barsoom stayed my
-hand, and grasping his wrist as the dagger flew toward my heart I held
-him as though in a vise and with my long-sword pointed to the far end
-of the hall.
-
-“Zodanga has fallen,” I cried. “Look!”
-
-All eyes turned in the direction I had indicated, and there, forging
-through the portals of the entranceway rode Tars Tarkas and his fifty
-warriors on their great thoats.
-
-A cry of alarm and amazement broke from the assemblage, but no word of
-fear, and in a moment the soldiers and nobles of Zodanga were hurling
-themselves upon the advancing Tharks.
-
-Thrusting Sab Than headlong from the platform, I drew Dejah Thoris to
-my side. Behind the throne was a narrow doorway and in this Than Kosis
-now stood facing me, with drawn long-sword. In an instant we were
-engaged, and I found no mean antagonist.
-
-As we circled upon the broad platform I saw Sab Than rushing up the
-steps to aid his father, but, as he raised his hand to strike, Dejah
-Thoris sprang before him and then my sword found the spot that made Sab
-Than jeddak of Zodanga. As his father rolled dead upon the floor the
-new jeddak tore himself free from Dejah Thoris’ grasp, and again we
-faced each other. He was soon joined by a quartet of officers, and,
-with my back against a golden throne, I fought once again for Dejah
-Thoris. I was hard pressed to defend myself and yet not strike down Sab
-Than and, with him, my last chance to win the woman I loved. My blade
-was swinging with the rapidity of lightning as I sought to parry the
-thrusts and cuts of my opponents. Two I had disarmed, and one was down,
-when several more rushed to the aid of their new ruler, and to avenge
-the death of the old.
-
-
-[Illustration: 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 her
-down; it is her plot. Kill her! Kill her!”
-
-Calling to Dejah Thoris to get behind me I worked my way toward the
-little doorway back of the throne, but the officers realized my
-intentions, and three of them sprang in behind me and blocked my
-chances for gaining a position where I could have defended Dejah Thoris
-against an army of swordsmen.
-
-The Tharks were having their hands full in the center of the room, and
-I began to realize that nothing short of a miracle could save Dejah
-Thoris and myself, when I saw Tars Tarkas surging through the crowd of
-pygmies that swarmed about him. With one swing of his mighty longsword
-he laid a dozen corpses at his feet, and so he hewed a pathway before
-him until in another moment he stood upon the platform beside me,
-dealing death and destruction right and left.
-
-The bravery of the Zodangans was awe-inspiring, not one attempted to
-escape, and when the fighting ceased it was because only Tharks
-remained alive in the great hall, other than Dejah Thoris and myself.
-
-Sab Than lay dead beside his father, and the corpses of the flower of
-Zodangan nobility and chivalry covered the floor of the bloody
-shambles.
-
-My first thought when the battle was over was for Kantos Kan, and
-leaving Dejah Thoris in charge of Tars Tarkas I took a dozen warriors
-and hastened to the dungeons beneath the palace. The jailers had all
-left to join the fighters in the throne room, so we searched the
-labyrinthine prison without opposition.
-
-I called Kantos Kan’s name aloud in each new corridor and compartment,
-and finally I was rewarded by hearing a faint response. Guided by the
-sound, we soon found him helpless in a dark recess.
-
-He was overjoyed at seeing me, and to know the meaning of the fight,
-faint echoes of which had reached his prison cell. He told me that the
-air patrol had captured him before he reached the high tower of the
-palace, so that he had not even seen Sab Than.
-
-We discovered that it would be futile to attempt to cut away the bars
-and chains which held him prisoner, so, at his suggestion I returned to
-search the bodies on the floor above for keys to open the padlocks of
-his cell and of his chains.
-
-Fortunately among the first I examined I found his jailer, and soon we
-had Kantos Kan with us in the throne room.
-
-The sounds of heavy firing, mingled with shouts and cries, came to us
-from the city’s streets, and Tars Tarkas hastened away to direct the
-fighting without. Kantos Kan accompanied him to act as guide, the green
-warriors commencing a thorough search of the palace for other Zodangans
-and for loot, and Dejah Thoris and I were left alone.
-
-She had sunk into one of the golden thrones, and as I turned to her she
-greeted me with a wan smile.
-
-“Was there ever such a man!” she exclaimed. “I know that Barsoom has
-never before seen your like. Can it be that all Earth men are as you?
-Alone, a stranger, hunted, threatened, persecuted, you have done in a
-few short months what in all the past ages of Barsoom no man has ever
-done: joined together the wild hordes of the sea bottoms and brought
-them to fight as allies of a red Martian people.”
-
-“The answer is easy, Dejah Thoris,” I replied smiling. “It was not I
-who did it, it was love, love for Dejah Thoris, a power that would work
-greater miracles than this you have seen.”
-
-A pretty flush overspread her face and she answered,
-
-“You may say that now, John Carter, and I may listen, for I am free.”
-
-“And more still I have to say, ere it is again too late,” I returned.
-“I have done many strange things in my life, many things that wiser men
-would not have dared, but never in my wildest fancies have I dreamed of
-winning a Dejah Thoris for myself—for never had I dreamed that in all
-the universe dwelt such a woman as the Princess of Helium. That you are
-a princess does not abash me, but that you are you is enough to make me
-doubt my sanity as I ask you, my princess, to be mine.”
-
-“He does not need to be abashed who so well knew the answer to his plea
-before the plea were made,” she replied, rising and placing her dear
-hands upon my shoulders, and so I took her in my arms and kissed her.
-
-And thus in the midst of a city of wild conflict, filled with the
-alarms of war; with death and destruction reaping their terrible
-harvest around her, did Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, true daughter
-of Mars, the God of War, promise herself in marriage to John Carter,
-Gentleman of Virginia.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVI
-THROUGH CARNAGE TO JOY
-
-
-Sometime later Tars Tarkas and Kantos Kan returned to report that
-Zodanga had been completely reduced. Her forces were entirely destroyed
-or captured, and no further resistance was to be expected from within.
-Several battleships had escaped, but there were thousands of war and
-merchant vessels under guard of Thark warriors.
-
-The lesser hordes had commenced looting and quarreling among
-themselves, so it was decided that we collect what warriors we could,
-man as many vessels as possible with Zodangan prisoners and make for
-Helium without further loss of time.
-
-Five hours later we sailed from the roofs of the dock buildings with a
-fleet of two hundred and fifty battleships, carrying nearly one hundred
-thousand green warriors, followed by a fleet of transports with our
-thoats.
-
-Behind us we left the stricken city in the fierce and brutal clutches
-of some forty thousand green warriors of the lesser hordes. They were
-looting, murdering, and fighting amongst themselves. In a hundred
-places they had applied the torch, and columns of dense smoke were
-rising above the city as though to blot out from the eye of heaven the
-horrid sights beneath.
-
-In the middle of the afternoon we sighted the scarlet and yellow towers
-of Helium, and a short time later a great fleet of Zodangan battleships
-rose from the camps of the besiegers without the city, and advanced to
-meet us.
-
-The banners of Helium had been strung from stem to stern of each of our
-mighty craft, but the Zodangans did not need this sign to realize that
-we were enemies, for our green Martian warriors had opened fire upon
-them almost as they left the ground. With their uncanny marksmanship
-they raked the on-coming fleet with volley after volley.
-
-The twin cities of Helium, perceiving that we were friends, sent out
-hundreds of vessels to aid us, and then began the first real air battle
-I had ever witnessed.
-
-The vessels carrying our green warriors were kept circling above the
-contending fleets of Helium and Zodanga, since their batteries were
-useless in the hands of the Tharks who, having no navy, have no skill
-in naval gunnery. Their small-arm fire, however, was most effective,
-and the final outcome of the engagement was strongly influenced, if not
-wholly determined, by their presence.
-
-At first the two forces circled at the same altitude, pouring broadside
-after broadside into each other. Presently a great hole was torn in the
-hull of one of the immense battle craft from the Zodangan camp; with a
-lurch she turned completely over, the little figures of her crew
-plunging, turning and twisting toward the ground a thousand feet below;
-then with sickening velocity she tore after them, almost completely
-burying herself in the soft loam of the ancient sea bottom.
-
-A wild cry of exultation arose from the Heliumite squadron, and with
-redoubled ferocity they fell upon the Zodangan fleet. By a pretty
-maneuver two of the vessels of Helium gained a position above their
-adversaries, from which they poured upon them from their keel bomb
-batteries a perfect torrent of exploding bombs.
-
-Then, one by one, the battleships of Helium succeeded in rising above
-the Zodangans, and in a short time a number of the beleaguering
-battleships were drifting hopeless wrecks toward the high scarlet tower
-of greater Helium. Several others attempted to escape, but they were
-soon surrounded by thousands of tiny individual fliers, and above each
-hung a monster battleship of Helium ready to drop boarding parties upon
-their decks.
-
-Within but little more than an hour from the moment the victorious
-Zodangan squadron had risen to meet us from the camp of the besiegers
-the battle was over, and the remaining vessels of the conquered
-Zodangans were headed toward the cities of Helium under prize crews.
-
-There was an extremely pathetic side to the surrender of these mighty
-fliers, the result of an age-old custom which demanded that surrender
-should be signalized by the voluntary plunging to earth of the
-commander of the vanquished vessel. One after another the brave
-fellows, holding their colors high above their heads, leaped from the
-towering bows of their mighty craft to an awful death.
-
-Not until the commander of the entire fleet took the fearful plunge,
-thus indicating the surrender of the remaining vessels, did the
-fighting cease, and the useless sacrifice of brave men come to an end.
-
-We now signaled the flagship of Helium’s navy to approach, and when she
-was within hailing distance I called out that we had the Princess Dejah
-Thoris on board, and that we wished to transfer her to the flagship
-that she might be taken immediately to the city.
-
-As the full import of my announcement bore in upon them a great cry
-arose from the decks of the flagship, and a moment later the colors of
-the Princess of Helium broke from a hundred points upon her upper
-works. When the other vessels of the squadron caught the meaning of the
-signals flashed them they took up the wild acclaim and unfurled her
-colors in the gleaming sunlight.
-
-The flagship bore down upon us, and as she swung gracefully to and
-touched our side a dozen officers sprang upon our decks. As their
-astonished gaze fell upon the hundreds of green warriors, who now came
-forth from the fighting shelters, they stopped aghast, but at sight of
-Kantos Kan, who advanced to meet them, they came forward, crowding
-about him.
-
-Dejah Thoris and I then advanced, and they had no eyes for other than
-her. She received them gracefully, calling each by name, for they were
-men high in the esteem and service of her grandfather, and she knew
-them well.
-
-“Lay your hands upon the shoulder of John Carter,” she said to them,
-turning toward me, “the man to whom Helium owes her princess as well as
-her victory today.”
-
-They were very courteous to me and said many kind and complimentary
-things, but what seemed to impress them most was that I had won the aid
-of the fierce Tharks in my campaign for the liberation of Dejah Thoris,
-and the relief of Helium.
-
-“You owe your thanks more to another man than to me,” I said, “and here
-he is; meet one of Barsoom’s greatest soldiers and statesmen, Tars
-Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark.”
-
-With the same polished courtesy that had marked their manner toward me
-they extended their greetings to the great Thark, nor, to my surprise,
-was he much behind them in ease of bearing or in courtly speech. Though
-not a garrulous race, the Tharks are extremely formal, and their ways
-lend themselves amazingly to dignified and courtly manners.
-
-Dejah Thoris went aboard the flagship, and was much put out that I
-would not follow, but, as I explained to her, the battle was but partly
-won; we still had the land forces of the besieging Zodangans to account
-for, and I would not leave Tars Tarkas until that had been
-accomplished.
-
-The commander of the naval forces of Helium promised to arrange to have
-the armies of Helium attack from the city in conjunction with our land
-attack, and so the vessels separated and Dejah Thoris was borne in
-triumph back to the court of her grandfather, Tardos Mors, Jeddak of
-Helium.
-
-In the distance lay our fleet of transports, with the thoats of the
-green warriors, where they had remained during the battle. Without
-landing stages it was to be a difficult matter to unload these beasts
-upon the open plain, but there was nothing else for it, and so we put
-out for a point about ten miles from the city and began the task.
-
-It was necessary to lower the animals to the ground in slings and this
-work occupied the remainder of the day and half the night. Twice we
-were attacked by parties of Zodangan cavalry, but with little loss,
-however, and after darkness shut down they withdrew.
-
-As soon as the last thoat was unloaded Tars Tarkas gave the command to
-advance, and in three parties we crept upon the Zodangan camp from the
-north, the south and the east.
-
-About a mile from the main camp we encountered their outposts and, as
-had been prearranged, accepted this as the signal to charge. With wild,
-ferocious cries and amidst the nasty squealing of battle-enraged thoats
-we bore down upon the Zodangans.
-
-We did not catch them napping, but found a well-entrenched battle line
-confronting us. Time after time we were repulsed until, toward noon, I
-began to fear for the result of the battle.
-
-The Zodangans numbered nearly a million fighting men, gathered from
-pole to pole, wherever stretched their ribbon-like waterways, while
-pitted against them were less than a hundred thousand green warriors.
-The forces from Helium had not arrived, nor could we receive any word
-from them.
-
-Just at noon we heard heavy firing all along the line between the
-Zodangans and the cities, and we knew then that our much-needed
-reinforcements had come.
-
-Again Tars Tarkas ordered the charge, and once more the mighty thoats
-bore their terrible riders against the ramparts of the enemy. At the
-same moment the battle line of Helium surged over the opposite
-breastworks of the Zodangans and in another moment they were being
-crushed as between two millstones. Nobly they fought, but in vain.
-
-The plain before the city became a veritable shambles ere the last
-Zodangan surrendered, but finally the carnage ceased, the prisoners
-were marched back to Helium, and we entered the greater city’s gates, a
-huge triumphal procession of conquering heroes.
-
-The broad avenues were lined with women and children, among which were
-the few men whose duties necessitated that they remain within the city
-during the battle. We were greeted with an endless round of applause
-and showered with ornaments of gold, platinum, silver, and precious
-jewels. The city had gone mad with joy.
-
-My fierce Tharks caused the wildest excitement and enthusiasm. Never
-before had an armed body of green warriors entered the gates of Helium,
-and that they came now as friends and allies filled the red men with
-rejoicing.
-
-That my poor services to Dejah Thoris had become known to the
-Heliumites was evidenced by the loud crying of my name, and by the
-loads of ornaments that were fastened upon me and my huge thoat as we
-passed up the avenues to the palace, for even in the face of the
-ferocious appearance of Woola the populace pressed close about me.
-
-As we approached this magnificent pile we were met by a party of
-officers who greeted us warmly and requested that Tars Tarkas and his
-jeds with the jeddaks and jeds of his wild allies, together with
-myself, dismount and accompany them to receive from Tardos Mors an
-expression of his gratitude for our services.
-
-At the top of the great steps leading up to the main portals of the
-palace stood the royal party, and as we reached the lower steps one of
-their number descended to meet us.
-
-He was an almost perfect specimen of manhood; tall, straight as an
-arrow, superbly muscled and with the carriage and bearing of a ruler of
-men. I did not need to be told that he was Tardos Mors, Jeddak of
-Helium.
-
-The first member of our party he met was Tars Tarkas and his first
-words sealed forever the new friendship between the races.
-
-“That Tardos Mors,” he said, earnestly, “may meet the greatest living
-warrior of Barsoom is a priceless honor, but that he may lay his hand
-on the shoulder of a friend and ally is a far greater boon.”
-
-“Jeddak of Helium,” returned Tars Tarkas, “it has remained for a man of
-another world to teach the green warriors of Barsoom the meaning of
-friendship; to him we owe the fact that the hordes of Thark can
-understand you; that they can appreciate and reciprocate the sentiments
-so graciously expressed.”
-
-Tardos Mors then greeted each of the green jeddaks and jeds, and to
-each spoke words of friendship and appreciation.
-
-As he approached me he laid both hands upon my shoulders.
-
-“Welcome, my son,” he said; “that you are granted, gladly, and without
-one word of opposition, the most precious jewel in all Helium, yes, on
-all Barsoom, is sufficient earnest of my esteem.”
-
-We were then presented to Mors Kajak, Jed of lesser Helium, and father
-of Dejah Thoris. He had followed close behind Tardos Mors and seemed
-even more affected by the meeting than had his father.
-
-He tried a dozen times to express his gratitude to me, but his voice
-choked with emotion and he could not speak, and yet he had, as I was to
-later learn, a reputation for ferocity and fearlessness as a fighter
-that was remarkable even upon warlike Barsoom. In common with all
-Helium he worshiped his daughter, nor could he think of what she had
-escaped without deep emotion.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVII
-FROM JOY TO DEATH
-
-
-For ten days the hordes of Thark and their wild allies were feasted and
-entertained, and, then, loaded with costly presents and escorted by ten
-thousand soldiers of Helium commanded by Mors Kajak, they started on
-the return journey to their own lands. The jed of lesser Helium with a
-small party of nobles accompanied them all the way to Thark to cement
-more closely the new bonds of peace and friendship.
-
-Sola also accompanied Tars Tarkas, her father, who before all his
-chieftains had acknowledged her as his daughter.
-
-Three weeks later, Mors Kajak and his officers, accompanied by Tars
-Tarkas and Sola, returned upon a battleship that had been dispatched to
-Thark to fetch them in time for the ceremony which made Dejah Thoris
-and John Carter one.
-
-For nine years I served in the councils and fought in the armies of
-Helium as a prince of the house of Tardos Mors. The people seemed never
-to tire of heaping honors upon me, and no day passed that did not bring
-some new proof of their love for my princess, the incomparable Dejah
-Thoris.
-
-In a golden incubator upon the roof of our palace lay a snow-white egg.
-For nearly five years ten soldiers of the jeddak’s Guard had constantly
-stood over it, and not a day passed when I was in the city that Dejah
-Thoris and I did not stand hand in hand before our little shrine
-planning for the future, when the delicate shell should break.
-
-Vivid in my memory is the picture of the last night as we sat there
-talking in low tones of the strange romance which had woven our lives
-together and of this wonder which was coming to augment our happiness
-and fulfill our hopes.
-
-In the distance we saw the bright-white light of an approaching
-airship, but we attached no special significance to so common a sight.
-Like a bolt of lightning it raced toward Helium until its very speed
-bespoke the unusual.
-
-Flashing the signals which proclaimed it a dispatch bearer for the
-jeddak, it circled impatiently awaiting the tardy patrol boat which
-must convoy it to the palace docks.
-
-Ten minutes after it touched at the palace a message called me to the
-council chamber, which I found filling with the members of that body.
-
-On the raised platform of the throne was Tardos Mors, pacing back and
-forth with tense-drawn face. When all were in their seats he turned
-toward us.
-
-“This morning,” he said, “word reached the several governments of
-Barsoom that the keeper of the atmosphere plant had made no wireless
-report for two days, nor had almost ceaseless calls upon him from a
-score of capitals elicited a sign of response.
-
-“The ambassadors of the other nations asked us to take the matter in
-hand and hasten the assistant keeper to the plant. All day a thousand
-cruisers have been searching for him until just now one of them returns
-bearing his dead body, which was found in the pits beneath his house
-horribly mutilated by some assassin.
-
-“I do not need to tell you what this means to Barsoom. It would take
-months to penetrate those mighty walls, in fact the work has already
-commenced, and there would be little to fear were the engine of the
-pumping plant to run as it should and as they all have for hundreds of
-years; but the worst, we fear, has happened. The instruments show a
-rapidly decreasing air pressure on all parts of Barsoom—the engine has
-stopped.”
-
-“My gentlemen,” he concluded, “we have at best three days to live.”
-
-There was absolute silence for several minutes, and then a young noble
-arose, and with his drawn sword held high above his head addressed
-Tardos Mors.
-
-“The men of Helium have prided themselves that they have ever shown
-Barsoom how a nation of red men should live, now is our opportunity to
-show them how they should die. Let us go about our duties as though a
-thousand useful years still lay before us.”
-
-The chamber rang with applause and as there was nothing better to do
-than to allay the fears of the people by our example we went our ways
-with smiles upon our faces and sorrow gnawing at our hearts.
-
-When I returned to my palace I found that the rumor already had reached
-Dejah Thoris, so I told her all that I had heard.
-
-“We have been very happy, John Carter,” she said, “and I thank whatever
-fate overtakes us that it permits us to die together.”
-
-The next two days brought no noticeable change in the supply of air,
-but on the morning of the third day breathing became difficult at the
-higher altitudes of the rooftops. The avenues and plazas of Helium were
-filled with people. All business had ceased. For the most part the
-people looked bravely into the face of their unalterable doom. Here and
-there, however, men and women gave way to quiet grief.
-
-Toward the middle of the day many of the weaker commenced to succumb
-and within an hour the people of Barsoom were sinking by thousands into
-the unconsciousness which precedes death by asphyxiation.
-
-Dejah Thoris and I with the other members of the royal family had
-collected in a sunken garden within an inner courtyard of the palace.
-We conversed in low tones, when we conversed at all, as the awe of the
-grim shadow of death crept over us. Even Woola seemed to feel the
-weight of the impending calamity, for he pressed close to Dejah Thoris
-and to me, whining pitifully.
-
-The little incubator had been brought from the roof of our palace at
-request of Dejah Thoris and she sat gazing longingly upon the unknown
-little life that now she would never know.
-
-As it was becoming perceptibly difficult to breathe Tardos Mors arose,
-saying,
-
-“Let us bid each other farewell. The days of the greatness of Barsoom
-are over. Tomorrow’s sun will look down upon a dead world which through
-all eternity must go swinging through the heavens peopled not even by
-memories. It is the end.”
-
-He stooped and kissed the women of his family, and laid his strong hand
-upon the shoulders of the men.
-
-As I turned sadly from him my eyes fell upon Dejah Thoris. Her head was
-drooping upon her breast, to all appearances she was lifeless. With a
-cry I sprang to her and raised her in my arms.
-
-Her eyes opened and looked into mine.
-
-“Kiss me, John Carter,” she murmured. “I love you! I love you! It is
-cruel that we must be torn apart who were just starting upon a life of
-love and happiness.”
-
-As I pressed her dear lips to mine the old feeling of unconquerable
-power and authority rose in me. The fighting blood of Virginia sprang
-to life in my veins.
-
-“It shall not be, my princess,” I cried. “There is, there must be some
-way, and John Carter, who has fought his way through a strange world
-for love of you, will find it.”
-
-And with my words there crept above the threshold of my conscious mind
-a series of nine long forgotten sounds. Like a flash of lightning in
-the darkness their full purport dawned upon me—the key to the three
-great doors of the atmosphere plant!
-
-Turning suddenly toward Tardos Mors as I still clasped my dying love to
-my breast I cried.
-
-“A flier, Jeddak! Quick! Order your swiftest flier to the palace top. I
-can save Barsoom yet.”
-
-He did not wait to question, but in an instant a guard was racing to
-the nearest dock and though the air was thin and almost gone at the
-rooftop they managed to launch the fastest one-man, air-scout machine
-that the skill of Barsoom had ever produced.
-
-Kissing Dejah Thoris a dozen times and commanding Woola, who would have
-followed me, to remain and guard her, I bounded with my old agility and
-strength to the high ramparts of the palace, and in another moment I
-was headed toward the goal of the hopes of all Barsoom.
-
-I had to fly low to get sufficient air to breathe, but I took a
-straight course across an old sea bottom and so had to rise only a few
-feet above the ground.
-
-I traveled with awful velocity for my errand was a race against time
-with death. The face of Dejah Thoris hung always before me. As I turned
-for a last look as I left the palace garden I had seen her stagger and
-sink upon the ground beside the little incubator. That she had dropped
-into the last coma which would end in death, if the air supply remained
-unreplenished, I well knew, and so, throwing caution to the winds, I
-flung overboard everything but the engine and compass, even to my
-ornaments, and lying on my belly along the deck with one hand on the
-steering wheel and the other pushing the speed lever to its last notch
-I split the thin air of dying Mars with the speed of a meteor.
-
-An hour before dark the great walls of the atmosphere plant loomed
-suddenly before me, and with a sickening thud I plunged to the ground
-before the small door which was withholding the spark of life from the
-inhabitants of an entire planet.
-
-Beside the door a great crew of men had been laboring to pierce the
-wall, but they had scarcely scratched the flint-like surface, and now
-most of them lay in the last sleep from which not even air would awaken
-them.
-
-Conditions seemed much worse here than at Helium, and it was with
-difficulty that I breathed at all. There were a few men still
-conscious, and to one of these I spoke.
-
-“If I can open these doors is there a man who can start the engines?” I
-asked.
-
-“I can,” he replied, “if you open quickly. I can last but a few moments
-more. But it is useless, they are both dead and no one else upon
-Barsoom knew the secret of these awful locks. For three days men crazed
-with fear have surged about this portal in vain attempts to solve its
-mystery.”
-
-I had no time to talk, I was becoming very weak and it was with
-difficulty that I controlled my mind at all.
-
-But, with a final effort, as I sank weakly to my knees I hurled the
-nine thought waves at that awful thing before me. The Martian had
-crawled to my side and with staring eyes fixed on the single panel
-before us we waited in the silence of death.
-
-Slowly the mighty door receded before us. I attempted to rise and
-follow it but I was too weak.
-
-“After it,” I cried to my companion, “and if you reach the pump room
-turn loose all the pumps. It is the only chance Barsoom has to exist
-tomorrow!”
-
-From where I lay I opened the second door, and then the third, and as I
-saw the hope of Barsoom crawling weakly on hands and knees through the
-last doorway I sank unconscious upon the ground.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXVIII
-AT THE ARIZONA CAVE
-
-
-It was dark when I opened my eyes again. Strange, stiff garments were
-upon my body; garments that cracked and powdered away from me as I rose
-to a sitting posture.
-
-I felt myself over from head to foot and from head to foot I was
-clothed, though when I fell unconscious at the little doorway I had
-been naked. Before me was a small patch of moonlit sky which showed
-through a ragged aperture.
-
-As my hands passed over my body they came in contact with pockets and
-in one of these a small parcel of matches wrapped in oiled paper. One
-of these matches I struck, and its dim flame lighted up what appeared
-to be a huge cave, toward the back of which I discovered a strange,
-still figure huddled over a tiny bench. As I approached it I saw that
-it was the dead and mummified remains of a little old woman with long
-black hair, and the thing it leaned over was a small charcoal burner
-upon which rested a round copper vessel containing a small quantity of
-greenish powder.
-
-Behind her, depending from the roof upon rawhide thongs, and stretching
-entirely across the cave, was a row of human skeletons. From the thong
-which held them stretched another to the dead hand of the little old
-woman; as I touched the cord the skeletons swung to the motion with a
-noise as of the rustling of dry leaves.
-
-It was a most grotesque and horrid tableau and I hastened out into the
-fresh air; glad to escape from so gruesome a place.
-
-The sight that met my eyes as I stepped out upon a small ledge which
-ran before the entrance of the cave filled me with consternation.
-
-A new heaven and a new landscape met my gaze. The silvered mountains in
-the distance, the almost stationary moon hanging in the sky, the
-cacti-studded valley below me were not of Mars. I could scarce believe
-my eyes, but the truth slowly forced itself upon me—I was looking upon
-Arizona from the same ledge from which ten years before I had gazed
-with longing upon Mars.
-
-Burying my head in my arms I turned, broken, and sorrowful, down the
-trail from the cave.
-
-Above me shone the red eye of Mars holding her awful secret,
-forty-eight million miles away.
-
-Did the Martian reach the pump room? Did the vitalizing air reach the
-people of that distant planet in time to save them? Was my Dejah Thoris
-alive, or did her beautiful body lie cold in death beside the tiny
-golden incubator in the sunken garden of the inner courtyard of the
-palace of Tardos Mors, the jeddak of Helium?
-
-For ten years I have waited and prayed for an answer to my questions.
-For ten years I have waited and prayed to be taken back to the world of
-my lost love. I would rather lie dead beside her there than live on
-Earth all those millions of terrible miles from her.
-
-The old mine, which I found untouched, has made me fabulously wealthy;
-but what care I for wealth!
-
-As I sit here tonight in my little study overlooking the Hudson, just
-twenty years have elapsed since I first opened my eyes upon Mars.
-
-I can see her shining in the sky through the little window by my desk,
-and tonight she seems calling to me again as she has not called before
-since that long dead night, and I think I can see, across that awful
-abyss of space, a beautiful black-haired woman standing in the garden
-of a palace, and at her side is a little boy who puts his arm around
-her as she points into the sky toward the planet Earth, while at their
-feet is a huge and hideous creature with a heart of gold.
-
-I believe that they are waiting there for me, and something tells me
-that I shall soon know.
-
-
-
-
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