The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-04-02
| A PRINCESS S
/ OF NJ A r s


Dor, wnere the river Iss empties into
the lost sea of KOrus, is there supposed
% be different language spoken. and
except in the legends of our ancestors
there Is no record of a BarsOOmian re,
turning up the river Iss, from the
shores of kOrus in the valley of Dor
DO not tell me that you have thus re-
turned! They would kill you horribly
anywhere upon the surface Of BarsOOm
If that were true: tell me it Is not :"
Her little hands, reached up upon
| my breast, were pressed against me
as though to wiring a denial from my
very heart.
Il do not know your customs, Dejah
! ThOris, but in my own Virginia gen.
| tleman does not lie to save himself
the mysterious Iss; the lost sea of
KOrus is still lost, so far as l am con-
cerned. Do you believe me"
And then it struck me that l was
very anxious that she should believe
me. l looked down ut her; her beauti-
full face upturned, and her wonderful
eyes opening up the very depth of her
soul and as my eyes met hers knew
why, and-I shuddered.
A similar wave of feeling seemed
to stir her; she drew away from me
with a sigh, and with her earnest,
beautiful face turned up to mine, she
whispered: Il believe you. John Car
ter; l do not know what a gentle
man is, nor have ever heard before
of Virginia; hut on BarsOOm no man
lies; If he does not wish to speak the
truth he Is silent. Where is this Vir-
ginia, your country, John Carter?"
she asked, and 1t seemed that this
fair name of my fair land had never
sounded more beautiful than as 1t
fell from those perfect lips on that
far gone day.
al am of another world" answered,
1.-The great planet Earth, which re-
wolves about our common sun and
next within the orbit of your Bar
SOON, which we know as Mars. How
l came here ! cannot tell you. for
do not know; but here am, and since
my presence has permitted me TO
serve Dejah ThOris 1 am glad that
l am here"
She gazed at nae with troubled eyes,
long and questioningly. l would much
rather not hare told her anything of
my antecedentS, but no man could
look into the depth of those eyes and
refuse her slightest behest.
Finally she smiled, and, rising, said:
81 shall have to believe even though
l cannot understand. But why should
l trouble my poor head with such
problem, when my heart tells me that
l believe because l wish to believer
1t was good logic, good, earthly,
feminine logic, and If it satisfied her
I certainly could pick no flaws in it.
We fell into a general conversation
then. asking and answering many
questions on each side. She was curl
people and displayed a remarkable
knowledge of events on earth. When
l questioned her closely on this seem
ing familiarity with earthly things
she laughed, and cried out:
"Why, every schoOlbOy on BarsoOm
knows the geography, and much con-
corning the fauna and flora, as well
as the history of your planet fully as
well as of his own. Can we not see
everything which takes place upon
Earth, as you call 1t; is it not hang
ing there in the heavens in plain
sight?"
This baffied me, 1 must confess,
fully as much as my statements had
COMPOUNDED her; and 1 told her so.
She then explained in general the in
struments her people had used and