Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-07-13
THE GODS OF MARS
Sequel to Under the Moons Of Mars"

cause of my ten ships retreat from the
mouth of the shaft. It seemed that when
they had come upon the shaft the navy
of the First Born were already ISSUING
from its mouth.
Fully 30 vessels had emerged, and
though they gave battle Immediately In
an effort TO stem the tide that rolled from
the black pit the odds against them were
too great and they we're forced to fee
with great caution we approached the
shaft under cover of darkness AT dis
tance of several miles l caused the teet
to be halted and from there Carthoris
went ahead alone upon one-man flier to
reconnolter
In perhaps half an hour he returned to
report that there as no sign Of a patrol
boat or of the enemy in any form, and so
we moved swiftly and noiselessly forward
once more toward Omean.
At the mouth Of the shaft we stopped
again for a moment for all the vessels to
reach their previously appointed stations,
then with the flagship l dropped quickly
into the black depths, while one by one the
other vessels followed me in quick success
sion.
We had decided TO stake all on the
chance that we would be able to reach the
temple by the subterranean way, and so we
left no guard of vessels at the shafts mouth.
Nor would It have profited us any to have
done 30, for we did not have sufficient force
all told to have wthstood the vast navy of
the First Born had they returned to en-
gage us.
For the safety of our entrance upon
Omean we depended largely upon the very
boldness of IT, believing that II would bo
some little tirne before tho Firs. Born on
guard there would realize that 1t was an
enemy and not their cwn returning feet
that was entering the vault OF the buried
sea
And such proved to be the case. In fact,
400 of my fleet of 500 rested safely upon the
bosom of Omean before u shot was fired.
The battle was short and hot, but there
could have been but one outcome, for the
First Born In the carelessness of fnncied
security had left but Il handful Of ancient
and obsolete hulks to guard their mighty
harbor.
1t was at Carthorls suggestion that we
landed our prisoners under guard upon n
couple Of the larger islands, and thcn
towed the ships of the First Born to the
shaft, where we managed to wedge num-
ber of them securely in the interior OF the
great we'll
Then we turned on the buoyancy rays
in the balance of them and let them rise
by themselves further to block the passage
to Omean as they came into contact with
the vessels already lodged there.
We now felt that it would be some time,
at least, before the returning First Born
could reach the surface of Omean and that
we would have ample opportunity to make
for the subterranean passages which lead
to Issus.
one of the first steps took was to hasten
personally with a good-sized force to the
island of the submarine which took with
out resistance on the part of the small
guard there.
/ found the submarine in it's pool. and
at once placed strong guard upon II and
the island, where l remained to wait the
coming of Carthoris and the others
Among the prisoners was Yersted, COM
mander of the submarine. He recognized
me from the three trips that | had taken
with him during my captivity among the
First Born.
''IIow does II SEEM" I asked him, "to
have tho tables turned? To be the prisoner
of your erstwhile captve2"
He smiled very grim smile pregnant
with hidden meaning.
ut will not be for long. John Carter" he
replied. 1--WE have been expecting you and
we are prepared"
$50 1t would appear" answered. ''foI