Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-02-16

plant man-flesh from which the defl-
ing blood OF life has been drawn. And
to this cruel end 1 have been con-
demned. 1t was to be within a few
hours had your advent not caused an
interruption of their plans"
WAS it then holy therns who felt
the weight of John Carter's hand?" ]
asked.
"Oh, no: those whom you laid low
are lesser therns, but of the same cruel
and hateful race. The holy therns
abide upon the outer slopes of these
grim hills, facing the broad world,
from which they harvest their victims
and their spoils.
"Labyrinthine passages connect these
caves with the luxurious palaces of
the holy therns, and through them
pass upon their many duties the lesser
therns and hordes of slaves and pris-
oners and fierce beasts-the grim in
habitants of this sunless world.
"There are within this vast network
Of winding passages and countless
chambers men, women and beasts,
who, born within its dim and grew
some underworld, have never seen the
light of day-nor ever shall.
'"They are kept to do the bidding of
the race Of therns; to furnish at once
their sport and their sustenance.
Now and again some hapless pill
grim, drifting out upon the silent sea
from the cold Iss. escapes the plant
men and the great white apes that
guard the temple of Issus and falls
into the remorseless clutches of ths
therns, r, as was my misfortune, il
coveted hy the holy thern who chances
to be upon watch in the balcony above
the river where 1t issues from the
bowels of the mountains through the
cliffs Of gold to empty into the lost
sea of KoruS.
"All who reach the valley Dor are,
by custom, the rightful prey Of the
arms and ornaments become the por-
ton of the therns, but If one escapes
the terrible denizens of the valley for
even few hours the therns may claim
such a one as their own. &,
"And again the holy thern on watch,
should he see victim he covets, often
tramples upon the rights of the unrea-
soning brutes of the valley and takes
his prize by foul means If he cannot
gain 1t by fair.
'It is said that occasionally some de-
luded victim of Barsoomian supersti-
ton will so far escape the clutches of
the countless enemies that beset his
path from the moment thai he emerges
which the Iss flows for a thousand
miles before it enters the Valley Dor
as to reach the very walls of the tenn
pie of Issus. But what fate awaits one
there not even the holy therns may
guess, for who has passed within those
gilded walls never has returned to un-
fold the mysteries they have held since
the beginning of time.
"The temple of Issus is to the therns
what the valley Dor Is imagined by the
peoples OF tue OuteE NOTlu lO De 10
them. 1t is the ultimate haven of
peace, refuge and happiness to which
they pass after this life and wherein
an eternity of eternities is spent amid
the delights of the flesh which appeal
most strongly to this race Of mental
giants and moral pygmies."
"The temple of Issus is, take it, a
heaven within a heaven" 1 said. "Let
US hope that there 1t will be meted to
the therns as they have meted 1t here
unto Others"
"Who knows?" the girl murmured.
THE therns. I judge from what you
have said. are no less mortal than we.
and yet have always heard them
spoken of with the utmost awe and
reverence by the people of Barsoom
as one might speak of the gods them
selves"