The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-16

/ .o...-A1
On, Steadily on, Came the Grim Black
Craft.
descended upon Barsoom at long inter-
walls. Where they visited they wrought
the most horrible atrocities and when
they left carried away with them fire.
arms and ammunition and young girls
as prisoners.
All about us in the garden lay their
sinister craft, which the therns for
some reason, then unaccountable to me,
made no effort to injure. Now and
again black warrior would rush from
4 nearby temple bearing young wom-
an in his arms. Straight for his lier
he would leap, while those of his COM
+rades who fought near by would rush
to cover his escape.
The therns, OH their side, would
hasten to rescue the girl, and in an in
slant the two would be swallowed in
4 maelstrom of yelling devils, hacking
; and hewing at one another.
But always, it seemed, were the
Black Pirates of Barsoom victorious
and the girl, brought miraculously un-
harmed through the conflict, borne
away into the outer darkness upon the
deck of swift fier.
/ Fighting like that near us could be
beard in all directions as far as sound
carried, and Thuvia told me that the
attacks of the Black Pirates were
usually made simultaneously along the
entire ribbon-like domain of the therns,
which circles the valley Dor on the
outer slopes of the mountains of Otz.
As the fighting receded from our po-
sition for moment Thuvia turned to-
ward me with question.
do you understand now, o prince"
she said, why a million warriors
guard the domains Of the holy therns
by day and by night?
1.-THE scene you are witnessing now
is but a repetition Of what have seen
enacted score Of times during the
fifteen years have been a prisoner
here. From time immemorial the
Black Pirates of Barsoom have preyed
upon the holy therns.
"Yet they never carry their expedi-
tons to point, as one might readily
believe it was in their power to do,
where the determination Of the race of
therns is threatened. It is as though
they but utilized the race as play
things, with which they satisfy their
ferocious lust for fighting, and from
whom they collect toll in arms and
ammunition and in prisoners"
"Why don't they jump in and de-
stroy these fiersF' I asked. ''That
would soon put stop to the attacks,
or at least the blacks would scarce be
SO bold. Why, see how perfectly I'M
guarded they leave their craft, as
though they were lying safe in their
own hangers at homer 4
"The therns do not dare. They
tried it once, ages ago, but the next
night and for whole moon thereafter
thousand great black battleships cir
cled the mountains Of Otz pouring tons
of projectiles upon the temples, gar
dens and courts until every thern who
was not killed was driven for safety
into the subterranean galleries.
''The therns know that they live at
all only by the sufferance Of the black
men. They were near to determination
that once, and they will not venture
rlsking it again.
AS she ceased talking new element
was instilled into the conflict. 1t came
from source equally unlocked for by
/ either thern or pirate The great
banths which we had liberated in the
garden had evidently been awed at
hrst by the sound Of the battle, the
report of rifle and bomb.
| But now they must have become an,
gered by the continuous noise and ex-
cited by the smell Of new blood, for all
of sudden a great form shot from a
clump Of low shrubbery into the midst
Of struggling mass Of humanity. A
scream Of bestial rage broke from the
his powerful talons.
AS though his cry was but q signal
to the others, the entire great pack
hurled themselves among the fighters
| Panic reigned in an instant. Them
and black man turned alike against
the common enemy, for the banths
| showed no Partially toward either.
The awful beasts bore down a hun
dred men by the mere weight of their
great bodies as they hurled themselves
into the thick of the fight. Leaping
and clawing, they moved down the
warriors with their powerful paws
turning for an instant to rend their
| victims with frightful fangs
The scene was fascinating in its ter
!! ribleness, but suddenly it Same to me
| that we were wasting valuable time
watching this conflict which in itself
might prove a means to our escape.
The therns were so engaged with
their terrible assailants that now, if
even escape should be comparatively
easy.
/ 1 turned to. search for an opening
through the contending hordes If we
could but reach the ramparts we might