Elbert County tribune and Elbert County banner. (Elizabeth, Colo.) 1920-1921, 1921-05-13

whose metal / had taken, or, in other
words. whom ! had slain In fair fight
AS Sarkoja talked with Fad he cast
occasional glances in my direction,
while she seemed to be urging him
very strongly to some action. ! paid
little attention to 1t at the time, but
the next day / had good reason TO re-
call the circumstances, and at the
same time gain a slight insight into
the depths of Sarkoja's hatred and the
lengths to which she was capable of
going to wreak her horrid vengeance
on me.
We broke camp the next day az an
early hour and marched with only a
single halt until just before dark. Two
Incidents broke the tediousness of the
march, About noon we espied far to
our right what was evidently an incu-
bator, and Lorquas Ptomel directed
Tars Tarkas to investigate It. The
latter took a dozen warriors. includ-
ing myself, and we raced across the
velvety carpeting of moss to the little
enclosures
Tars Tarkas dismounted and exam
ined the inclosure infinitely, finally an
nouncing that 1t belonged to the green
men of Warhoon and that the cement
was scarcely dry where 1t had been
walled up.
'"They cannot be a days march
ahead Of u.s." he exclaimed, the light
of battle leaping to his fierce face.
The work at the incubator was short
indeed. The warriors tore open the
mi fro NJ thap ,tyI.
ing In. soon demolished all the eggs
with their short-swords. Then re-
mounting we dashed back to join the
cavalcade. During the ride l took
occasion to asle,Tars Tarkas If these
Warhoons whose eggs we had de-
stroyed were a smaller people than
his Thanks.
Il noticed that their eggs were so
much smaller than those l saw hatch
| ing in your incubator" / added.
He explained that the eggs had just
been placed there; but. like all green
! Marian eggs, they would grow dur
Ing the five-year period of incubation
until they obtained the size of those
I had seen Matching on the day of my
arrival on Barsoom. This was indeed
| an interesting piece of Information,
| for 1t had always seemed remarkable
to me that the green Marian women,
large as they were, could bring forth
such enormous eggs as l had seen
| the four-foot infants emerging from.
| AS a matter of fact. the new-laid egg
| is but little larger than an ordinary
| goose egg, and as it does not com
mence to grow until subjected to the
| light of the sun the chieftains have
| little difficulty in transporting sew
| eral hundreds of them at one time
| from the storage vault to the incubat-
| ors.
Shortly after the incident of the
Warhoon eggs we halted to rest the
animals, and 1t was during this halt
| that the second of the days interest
ing episodes occurred. l was engaged
In changing my riding cloths from
| one of my thoats to the other. for l
divided the days work between them,
when Fad approached me, and with
out word struck the animal ter
| rife blow with his long-sword. 4
did not need a MAMMAL of green
Marian etiquette to know what reply
to make, for, in fact, | was so wild
with anger that / could scarcely re-
frain from drawing my pistol and
shooting down the brute he was; but
he stood waiting with drawn long
sword. and my only choice was to
draw my own and meet him in fair
fight with his choice of weapons or
lesser one.
| w ho
drawn because he prided himself upon
his ability with it, and I wished, If !
worsted him at all, to do it with his
own weapon. The, entire community
surrounded us, leaving clear space
about one hundred feet in diameter
for our battle.
Fad first attempted to rush me down
| as bull might wolf, but l was much
too quick for him, and each time I
side-stepped his rushes he would go
lunging past me, only TO receive n
nick from my sword upon his arm or
back. He was soon streaming blood
from a half dozen minor wounds, but
could not obtain an opening to de-
liver an effective thrust. Then he
changed his tactics. and fighting warily
and with extreme dexterity, he tried
TO do by science what he was unable
to do by brute strength.
We circled for some time without
doing much damage on either side; the
long, straight, needle-like swords fash
ing in the sunlight. and ringing out
upon the stiffness as they crashed to-
gether with each effective parry.
Finally Fad, realizing that he was tir-
ing more than l. evidently decided to
close in and end the battle In final
blaze of glory for himself; just as he
rushed me binding flash of light
struck full in my eyes, so that l could