Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-26
TIE COPS =! :. !, OF MARS
Sequel to Under the Moons of Mar"

words. ! did not then understand why he
| smiled. Later I was to learn, and she, too,
In most horrible manner.
IF the other thing you have just learned"
| sne continued has led TO as erroneous
deductions as the first, you are little richer
In knowledge than you were before"
| me other replied lis that our dusky
| friend here does not hall from the nearer
moon--he was near death at few thou
sand feet above Barsoom. Had we con-
| tlnued the 5000 miles that lie between
Thuria and the planet he would have been
put the frozen memory Of n man"
Phaidor looked at the black in evident
| astonlshment.
IF you are not of Thuria, then where ?"
she asked
He shrugged his shoulders and turned
| his eyes elsewhere but did not reply
The girl stamped her little foot in per-
| emptory manner
The daughter of Natal shang is not
accustomed to having her queries remain
| unanswered" she said zone of the lesser
breed should feel honored that member
OF the holy race that was born to inherit
iite eternal should deign even to notice
| him"
Again the black smiled that wicked. know
| ing smile.
'Xodar Dotar of the first born of Bar
SOON, Is accustomed to give commands,
not to receive them" replied the black
pirate. Then, turning TO me; what are
intend taking you both back to He'll
um,' L said. mo harm will come TO you.
You will hnd the red men Of Hellum a
kindly and magnanmous race; but II they
listen to me there will be no more voluntary
pngrimages down the River Tss, and the
Impossible belief that they have cherished
for ages will be shattered into thousand
pieces"
Are you of Helium7" he asked.
II am prince of the House Of Tardos
nf \ IoI i1n,tt I
am not of Barsoom. am OF another
world"
Xodar looked at me intently for a few
moments.
81 can we'll believe that you are not of
Bareoom," he said at length None of this
world could have bested eight OF the first
born single-handed. But how is II that you
wear the golden hair and the jeweled cir
cet of holy thern2" He emphasized the
word holy with touch OF irony.
II had forgotten them" l said. "They
are the spoils of conquest" and with
sweep of my hand l removed the disguise
from my head.
When the blacks eyes fell on my close
cropped black hair they opened In aston
!shment. Evidently he had looked for the
bald pate of a thern.
You are indCsl of another world" he
said, a touch of awe in his voice. with the
skin of thern, the black hair of n first
born, and the muscles of dozen Dotars
acknowledge your supremacy. A thing he
could never do, were you Barsoomian,"
no added,
You are travelling several laps ahead of
me, my friend" l interrupted. II CLEAN
that your name is Xodar; but whom, pray,
are the first born, and what Dotar. and
why. If you were conquered by a Bar.
soomian. could you not acknowledge it?"
The first born of Barsoom" he explained,
ARE the race of black men of which l am
Dotar, or as the lesser Barsoomlans
would say. prince. My race Is the oldest
on the planet.
I'VE trace our lineage, unbroken. direct
to tho tree Of life which flourished in the
centre of the Valley Dor twenty-three mil
lion years ago.
For countless ages the fruit of this
tree underwent the gradual changes of
evolution. passing by degrees from true
plant life to combination of plant and
animal
I'm the first stages the fruit of the tree