They do occasionally find it necessary to come here after the sun has set. Because of this I have moved with such great caution. But we reached the upper galleries without detection and presently Thuvia halted us at the foot of a short, steep ascent. I have brought you thus far. From here on for four miles to the outer ramparts our way will be beset by countless dangers.
Guards patrol the courts, the temples, the gardens.
Every inch of the ramparts themselves is beneath the eye of a sentry. I could not understand the necessity for such an enormous force of armed men about a spot so surrounded by mystery and superstition that not a soul upon Barsoom would have dared to approach it even had they known its exact location. I questioned Thuvia, asking her what enemies the therns could fear in their impregnable fortress. We had reached the doorway now and Thuvia was opening it. The great banths sniffed the unfamiliar odours, and then with a rush they broke past us with low growls, swarming across the gardens beneath the lurid light of the nearer moon.