Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-19

to obey the dictates Of a creature of an
| other world--of a man whose stature was
less than half his own.
IF you fall. John Carter" he said, know
that the cruel and heartless Thark TO whom
you taught the meaning of friendship will
come out to die beside you"
"As you will, my friend" replied But
quickly now, head first while cover your
| retreat"
He hesItated a little at that word, for
| never In his whole life of continual STRIFE
had he before turned his back upon aught
| than dead or defeated enemy.
Haste, Tars Tar{as" 1 urged "or we
shall both go down to profltless defeat.
| l cannot hold them forever alone"
| AS he dropped to the ground to force
| his way into the tree. the whole bowling
| pack Of hldeous devils hurled themselves
upon me. To right and left flew my shim-
| merlng blade now green with the sticky
| Juice of plant man. now red with the
crimson blood of a great white ape.
| And thus l fought as I never had Fought
| before. against frightful odds that / can
| not realize even now.
with the fear that we would escape
| them the creatures redoubled their efforts
| to pull me down. and though the ground
about me was piled high with their dead
| and dying comrades, they succeeded at last
| In overwhelming me; and ! went down be-
meath them for the second time that day,
and once again felt those awful sucking
| lips against my flesh.
But scarce had l fallen ere felt power
| tul hands grip my ankles, and IN another
second / was being drawn within the
shelter of the trees interior.
For a moment 1t was a tug of war be-
| tween Tars Tarkas and n great plant man
| who clung tenaciously to my breast, but
presently / got the point of my long sword
beneath him. and with a mighty thrust
| pierced his vtals.
/ md I If
| ing upon the ground within the hollow OF
| the tree, while Tars Tarkas defended the
opening from the furious mob without
| For an hour they howled about the OPEN
| ing, but after few attempts to reach us
| they confined their efforts to terrorizing
shrleks and screams to horrid growing on
| the part of the great white apes and the
fearsome and indescribable purring by the
plant men.
AT length all but q score, who had appar-
| emily been left to prevent our escape nag
| departed and our adventure seemed destined
| to result in siege. the only outcome OF
which could be our death by starvation. alton
| For even should we be able to slip out atter
| DARK, where. in that unknown and hostile
valley, could we hope to turn our steps
toward possible escape?
| Az the attacks of our enemies ceased ana
our eyes became accustomed to the senll-
| darkness of the interior of our strange re-
| treat. took the opportunity to explore our
| shelter
The tree was hollow to an extent OF apout
hfty feet in diameter, and from its nat
hard floor I judged that it had often peeh
| used to house others. AS l raised my eyes
toward its roof to note the height. saw
| far above me a faint glow of light.
| There was an opening above. IL we could
but reach IT, we might still hope TO make
| the shelter OF the cliff caves. MY eyes
had now become quite used TO the supoueu
| tight of the interior. and as l pursued my
| Investigation 1 presently came upon
rough ladder at the far side of the tree.
Quickly 1 mounted 1t, to find that 1t
connected at the top with the lower OF
series of horizontal wooden bars that SPAN
| of the trees stem. These bars were set
| one above another about three feet apart
| and formed n perfect ladder as FAR above
me as / could see.
Dropping to the floor once more, de-
tailed my discovery TO Tars Tarkas, who
suggested that explore aloft as far as
1 could go in safety, while he guarded the
entrance against a possible attack
As 1 hastened above to explore the
arrange shaft, l found that the ladder of
| horizontal bars reached always far above
me as my eyes could reach, and as as
| cended the light from above grew brighter
| and brighter.
| For fully five hundred feet continued to
climb, until at length 1 reached the open
ing In the stem which admitted the light
| 1t was of about the same diameter as the
entrance at the foot of the tree and opened
directly upon a large. fiat limb, the we'll
| worn surface of which testified to Its long
| continued use as an avenue for some crea-
| ture to and from this remarkable shaft.
| I did not venture out upon the limb for
| fear that / might be discovered and our
| retreat In this direction cut off; instead I
| hurried to retrace my steps to Tars Tarkas.
| 1 soon reached him. and presently we
were both ascending the long ladder to-
| ward the opening above.
| Tars Tarkas went in advance. and as
| reached the first of the horizontal bars
1 drew the ladder up after me, and. hand
| ing 1t TO him. he carried II a hundred feet
| farther aloft where he wedged 1t safely
between one Of the bars and the side of
| the shaft.
In like manner dislodged the lower bars
| as passed them, SO that we soon had the
| interior OF the tree denuded OF all possible
means of ascent for distance of hundred
| feet from the base, thus precluding pos
sible pursuit and attack from the rear.
AS we were to learn later, this precau-
| ton saved us from dire predicament. and
| was eventually the means of our salvation
When we reached the opening at the top
Tars Tarkas drew to one side that might
pass out and investigate, as, owing TO my
| lesser weight and greater agility, l was
better fitted for the perilous threading Of
| this dizzy, hanging pathway.
The limb upon which / found myself
| assembled at slight angle toward the Gill;
| and as I followed IL / found that 1t ter
minated a few feet above narrow ledge
which protruded from the cliffs face at
| the entrance to a narrow cave
AS 1 approached the slightly more slen-
| der extremity OF the branch 1t bent be-
| meath my weight until. as balanced peril
ously upon It's outer tip, 1t swayed gently
on a level with the ledge at distance OF
| a couple of feet
Five hundred feet below me lay the
vivid scarlet carpet OF the valley; nearly
| Ave thousand feet above lowered the
mighty. cleaning face OF the gorgeous
clifs.
The cave that I faced was not one of
| those that I had seen from the ground,
| and which lay much higher, possibly a
| thousand feet. But so far as might know.
IL was as good for our purpose as another
| and SO / returned to the tree for Tars
| Tarkas.
Together, we wormed our way along the
waving pathway but when we reached the
end OF the branch we found that our COM
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