The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-10

He had Lacked me round so that I stood in front of the corpse of his fel- | low, and then he rushed mo suddenly. so that I was forced back upon IT, ard as my heel struck it the impetus of my body flung me backward across the dead man.
 My head struck the hard pavement with a resounding whack, and to that alone I owe my life. for it clearad my brain and the pain reused my temper, so that I was equal for the moment to tearing my enemy to pieces with my bare hands. I verify believe that I should have attempted 1t had not my right hand, in the act of raising my body from the ground, come in contact with bit of cold metal. AS the eyes of the layman, so is the hand of the fighting man when it comes in contacE with an implement of his vocation, and thus I did not need to look or reason to know that in my grasp was the dead mans re- volver, lying where it had fallen when I struck it fJom Jim.
 The fellow who.e ruse had put me down was springing toward me, the point of his gleaming blade directed straight at my heart.
 As he came there rang from bis lips the cruel and mocling peal of laughter that I had heard within the chamber of mystery.
 And so he died, his thin lips curled in the snarl of his hateful laugh, and bullet from the revolver of his dead companion bursting in his heart.
 His body, borne by the impetus of his headlong rush, plunged upon me.
 The hilt of his sword must have struck my head, for with the impact of the corpse lost consciousness.
 It was the sound of conflict that reused me once more to the realities of life. For moment I could neither place my surroundings nor locate the sounds which had aroused me.
 Then from beyond the blank wall be- side which I lay heard the shuf1ing of feet, the snarling of grim beasts. the clank of metal accouterments. and the heavy breathing of man.
 As rose to my feet glanced hur- riedly about the chamber in which I had just encountered such a warm re- ception. The prisoners and the savage brutes rested in their chains by tho opposite wall eyeing me with varying expressions of curiosity, sullen rage, surprise and hope.
 The latter emotion seemed plainly evident upon the handsome and intel ngent face of the young red Martian woman whose cry of warning had been instrumental in saving my life. It was several seconds before the sounds upon the opposite side of the partition jolted my slowly returning faculties into a realization of their probable import, and then of a sudden grasped the fact that they were caused by Tars Tarkas in what was evidently desperate struggle with wild beasts or savage men. With cry of encouragement threw my weight against the secret door, but might as well have essayed the down hurling of the cliffs themselves. Then I sought feverishly for the secret of the revolving panel, but my search was fruitless, and I was about to raise my long sword against the. sullen gold when the young woman prisoner called out to me:
 Save your sword, oh, mighty war rior, for you will need it more where it will avail to some purpose. Shatter it not against senseless metal which yields better to the nghtest finger touch of one who knows it's secret"
 "Know you the secret of 1t then?" I asked.
 "Yes; release me and I will give you entrance to the other horror cham Der, if you wish. The keys to my fet- ters are upon the first dead of your foemen. But why would you return to face whatever other form of de struction they have loosed within that awful trap"
 Because my friend fights there alone" answered, as hastily sought and found the keys upon the carcass of the dead custodian of this grim chamber of horrors.
 There were many keys upon the oval ring, but the fair Martian maid quickly selected that which sprung the great lock at her waist, and freed, she hurried toward the secret panel.
 Again she sought out key upon the ring. This time slender, needle like affair which she inserted in an almost invisible hole in the wall. Instantly the door swung upon it's pivot and the contiguous section of the floor, upon which was standing, carried me with 1t into the chamber where Tars Tar kas fought.
 The great Thark stood with his back against an angle of the walls, while facing him in semicircle half dozen huge monsters crouched wait ing for an opening.
 Their blood streaked heads and shoulders testified to the cause of their wariness as well as to the swordsman-. ship of the green warrior whose glossy hide bore the same mute but eloquent witness to the ferocity of the attacks that he had so far withstood.
 As he saw me enter a smile touched those grim lips of his, but whether the smile signif1ed relief or merely amusement at the sight of my own bloody and disheveled condition I do not know.
 As I was about to spring into the conflict with my sharp long sword | felt a gentle hand upon my shoulder coI tnrDipr fo,,p1 fO n, v c,1rry.{ca fh a