The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-10
and brought me face to face with the fellow whose cruel face I had before

fellow whose cruel face had before seen.
 He was about my own height and detail molded precisely as are earth men.
 At his side hung long sword, a short sword, dagger and one of tho destructive radium revolvers that are so common upon Mars.
 The fact that was armed only with a long sword and so according to the laws and ethics of battle everywhere upon BarsooIn should only have been met with q similar or lesser weapon seemed to have no effect upon the moral sense of my enemy, fer he whip ped out his revolver ere I had scarce touched the floor. by his side, but an uppercut from my long sword sent 1t flying from his grasp before he could discharge it.
 Instantly he drew his long sword, and, thus e enly ormed, we set to i'll earnest for one of the closest battles I have ever fought.
 The fellow was a marvellous swords man and evidently in practice, while I had not gripped the hilt of a sword for ten long years before that morning. { But it did not take me long to fall easily into my fighting stride, so that in few minutes the man began to realize that he had at last met his match.
 His face became livid with rage as he found my guard impregnable, while blood flowed from a dozen minor wounds upon his face and body.
 "Who are you, white manw he missed. "That you are no Barsoomian from the outer world is evident from your color. And you are not of us?"
 His last statement was almost a question.
 What if I were from the temple of Issus?' hazarded on a wild guess.
 Fate forefend!" he exclaimed, his face going white under the blood that now nearly covered it.
 did not know how to follow up my lead, but carefully laid the idea away for future use should circumstances re- Quire 1t.
 His answer indicated that for all he knew might be from the temple of Issus, and so evidently there was a temple of Issus, and in it were men like unto myself.
 Either this man feared the inmates of the temple or else he held their per sons or their power in such reverence that he trembled to think of the harm and indignities he had heaped upon one of them.
 But my present business with him was of 8 different nature than that which requires any considerable ab- stract reasoning. It was to get my sword between his ribs, and this sue ceeded in doing within the next few seconds, nor was I an instant too soon.
 The chained prisoners had been watching the combat in tense silence. Not sound had fallen in the room other than the clashing'of our contend ing blades, the soft shuff1ing of our naked feet and the few whispered words we had hissed at one another through clinched teeth the while we continued our duel.
 But as the body of my antagonist sunk an inert mass to the floor cry of warning broke from one of the female prisoners.
 'Turn! Turn! Behind your she shrieked, and as I wheeled at the first note of her shrill cry I found myself facing second man of the same race as he who lay at my feet.
 The fellow had crept stealthily from a dark corridor and was almost upon me with raised sword ere I saw him. Tars Tarkas was nowhere in sight, and the secret nar T in the wall, through which I had come, was closed.
 How I wished that he were by my side now! had fought almost contin- ously for many hours. l had passed through such experiences and adven- lures as most sap the vitality of man, and with all this had not eaten for nearly twenty-four hours nor slept.
 I was Jagged out and for tre first time in years felt question as to my ability to cope with an antagonist But there was naught else for it than to engage my man and that as quickly and ferociously as lay in me.
 My only salvation was to rush him off his feet by the 1mpetuosity of my attack. could not hope to win long drawn out battle.
 But the fellow was evidently of an other mind, for he backed and parried and parried and side stepped until I was almost completely Jagged from the exertion of attempting to finish him.
 He was a more adroit swordsman, if possible, than my previous foe, and I must admit that he led me pretty chase and in the end came near to making sorry fool of me and dead one into the bargain.
 I could feel myself growing weaker and weaker until at length objects con- menced to blur before my eyes, and I
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