Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-22

to lead us TO the summit Of the cliffs, from
where It would require both wondrous wit
and mighty fighting to win our way through
the very heart OF the stronghold Of the holy
therns to the world without
And even then, o prince" she cried,
THE arm of the holy thern Is long. It
reaches to every nation of Barsoom. HIS
secret temples are hidden in the heart of
every community.
wherever we 60, should we escnpe. we
shall find that word Of our coming has
preceded us. and death awaits us before
we may pollute the air with our blasphe-
mics"
we had proceeded for possibly an hour
without serious Interruption, and Thuvia
had just whispered to me that we were
approaching our first destination when on
entering great chamber we came upon a
man, evidently thern.
He wore in addition to his leathern trap
pings and jeweed ornaments great
Circet of gold about his brow, in the exact
centre of which was SGT an immense
stone. the exact counterpart of that which
l had seen upon the breast of the little
old man at the atmosphere plant nearly
twenty years before.
It is the one priceless jewel of Barsoom.
Only two are known to exist, and those
were worn as insignia, of rank and position
by the two old men in whose charge was
placed the operation of the great engines
which pump the artificial atmosphere to
all parts Of Mars from the huge atmos-
phero plant.
The stone worn by the thern who con-
fronted us was of about tho Same size
as that which I had before seen, an inch
in diameter 1 should say. II scntllated
nine different and distinct rays; the seven
primary colors of our earthly prism, and
the two rays which are unknown upon
earth. but whose wonderous beauty ls In
describable.
Au tba
TO two nasty slits.
stop" he cried. what means this,
Thuva?"
For answer the girl raised her revolver
and fired pointbanlt at him. without a
sound he sank to the earth. dead.
BEAST" she Missed After all these
years I am at last rcvenged."
Then as she turned toward me, evil
IDENTIFY with n word of explanation on
her lips, her eyes suddenly widcned az
they rested upon me. and with n little
exclamation she started toward me.
80 prncer' she cried. fate Is indeed kind
to us. The way is still difficult but through
this vile thing upon the floor we may yet
win to the outer world. hottest thou not the
resemblance between this holy thern and
thysef?"
The man was ind. ID of my precise stat
ure were his eyes and features unlike
mine: but his hair was n mass of flowing
yellow LOCKS ike InOSe OIL tne TWO | nau
killed while mine is black and close
cropped.
What of the resemblance" asked the
girl, 'Do you wish me, with my black.
short hair to pose as yellow-hared priest
of this Internal cult?"
She smiled. and for answer approached
the body Of the man she had slaln and
kneelinE beside II, removed the circlct of
gold from the forehead. and then. to my
utter amazemcnt, lifted the entire scalp
bodily from the corpse's head
Rising, she advanced to my side. and
placing the yellow wig over my black hair,
crowned me with the golden clrclot set with
the magnificent gem.
Now don this harness, prince" she said.
"and you may pass where you will In the
realms of the therns, for Sator Throg was
a holy thern of the tenth cycle, and mighty
among his kind"
AS stopped to the dead man to do her
bidding l noted that not IL hair grew upon