The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-04-02

HleH, almost WITHOUT eACeptlOu, CONel
their bodies with strange, unsightly
pieces of cloth, and their heads with
hideOus cOntraptiOns the purpose OF
which we have been unable to con-
ceive; while you, when found by the
Tharkian warriors, were entirely un-
disfgured and unadorned."
l then narrated the details of my
departure from the Earth, explain
ing that my body there lay fully
clothed in all the, to her, strange gar
ments of mundane jewellers. At this
point Sofa returned with our meager
belongings and her young Marian
prOtege, who, of course, would have
to share the quarters with them.
Sofa asked us if we had had a Wis
itOr during her absence, and seemed
much surprised when we answered
! in the negative. 1t seemed that as
she had mounted the approach to the
upper floors where our quarters were
! located, she had met SarkOja descend
ing. We decided that she must have
been eavesdrOpping, but as we could
recall nothing of Importance that had
passed between us we dismissed the
matter as of little consequence.
Dejah Thoris and l then fell to ex-
amining the architecture and decOra-
tiOns of the beautiful chambers of the
building we were occupying. She told
me that these people had presumably
| flOurished over a hundred thousand
years before. They were the early
with the other great races of early
Martians, who were very dark, almost
black, and also with the reddish yell
low race which had flOurished at the
same time.
These three great divisions of the
higher Martians had been forced in
to a mighty alliance as the drying up
of the Marian seas had compelled
them to seek the comparatively few
and always diminishing fertile areas,
and to defend themselves, under new
conditions of life, against the wild
hordes of green men.
The ancient Martians had been a
highly cultivated and literary race,
but during the vicissitudes of those
trying centuries of reimbursement TO
new conditions, not only did their ad-
vancement and production cease en-
tirely, but practically all their archives,
records. and literature were lost.
We had been so engrOssed in explOr-
alton of the building and in our con-
versation that it was late in the after
noon before we realized it. We were
brought back to a realization Of our
present conditions by a messenger
bearing a summons from LOrquas
PtOmel directing me to appear before
him forthwith. Bidding Dejah Thor
is and Sofa farewell, and command
ing WOOla to remain on guard, hast
ened to the audience chamber, where
l found Lorquas PtOmel and Tars Tar.
kas seated upon the rostrum.
AS / entered and saluted, LOrquas,
Ptomel signaled me to advance, and,
fixing his great, hideOus eyes upon
me, addressed me thus:
"YOu have been with us a few days.
vet during that time you have by
your prowess won a high position
among u.s. Be that as it may, you are
not one of us; you owe us no allegi-
ance.
Your position is a peculiar one"
he continued; you are a prisoner
and yet you give commands which
must be obeyed; you are an alien and
yet you are q Tharkian chieftain;
you are midget and yet you can kill
a mighty warrior with one blow of
your fist. And now you are reported
to have been plotting to escape with
another prisoner of another race: q
prisoner who, from her own admission,
half believes Sou are returned from
the valley Of Dor Either one of these
accusations, if proved, would be suffi-
cient grounds for your execution, but
we are just people and you shall
have a trial on our return to Thank,
if Tai Hajus so commands.
But" he continued, in his fierce
cultural tones, "if you run off with
the red girl 1t is l who shall have to
account to Tai Hajus; it is who shall
have to face Tars Tarkas, and either
demonstrate my right to command.
or the metal from my dead carcass
will go to a better man, for such is
the custom of the Thanks.
81 have no quarrel with Tars Tar
kas; together we rule supreme the
greatest of the lesser communities
among the green men we do not wish
to fight between ourselves; and so
II you were dead, John Carter. should
be glad. Under two conditions only,
however, may you be killed by us with
out orders from Tai Hajus; in person
al combat In self-defense, should you
attack one of us, or were you appre-
hended in an attempt to escape.
"As a matter of justice 1 must warn
you that we only await one of these
two excuses for Kidding ourselves of
so great a responsibility. The safe
delivery of the red girl to Tai Hajus
is of the greatest Importance. Not
in a thousand years have the TtRrks
made such capture; she is the grdN ID
daughter of the greatest of red jed
oaks, who is also our bitterest en-
envy. have spoken The red girl
told us that we were withd 1t the
softer sentiments of humanity, but we
are just and truthful race. You may
&C."
Turning, I left the audience chaIR-
ber So this was the beginning OF
Sarknia,s nersecntiOn I knew that