The Snowflake herald., 1921-04-08


heart laid him dead upon the arena.
Kantos Kan and / were now pitted
against each other but as we ap
Droached to the encounter l whispered
70 him to prolong the battle until near
" dark in the hope that we might
find some means Of escape. Just as
saw the sudden coming Of dark whis.
pered to Kantos Kan to thrust his
sword between my left arm and my
body. AS he did so staggered back
clasping the sword tightly with my
arm and thus fell to the ground with
his weapon apparently protruding
from my chest. KantOs Kan perceived
my coup and stspping quickly to my
side he placed his foot upon my neck
and withdrawing his sword from my
body gave me the final death blow
through the neck which is supposed tc
sever the jugular vein, but In this In.
stance the cold blade slipped harm
lessly into the sand Of the arena In
the darkness which had now falleE
none could tell bat that he had really
finished me. / whispered to him tc
20 and eiaim his freedom and theE
look for me IN the hills east Of the
city, and so he left me.
When the amphitheater had cleared
I crept stealthily to the top and as
the great excavation lay far from the
plaza and in an untenanted portion OF
the great dead city had little trouble
in reaching the hills beyond.
For two days / waited there for
Kantos Kan, but as he did not come
started off on foot In a ncrthwesterly
direction toward a point where he had
told me lay the nearest waterway. My
only food consisted Of vegetable milk
Arom the plants which gave so boun-
teously OF this priceless fluid.
Through two long weeks / wan
dered, stumbling through the nights
guided only by the stars and hiding
during the days behind some protrud
ing rock or among the occasional
hills traversed. Several times was
attacked by wild beasts; strange, un-
couth monstPOsities that lsaped upon
me In the dark, so that ! had ever to
grasp my longsword in my hand that
l might be ready for them. Usually
my strange. newly acquired telepathic
power warned me In ample time, but
once was down with vicious fangs at
my jugular 4nd a hairy face pressed
close to mine before l knew that ]
was even threatened.
What manner Of thing was upon me
/ did not know. but that II was large
and heavy and many-legged could
feel Ny hands were at It's throat
before the fangs had a chance to bury
themselves In my neck. and slowly ]
forced the hairy face from me and
closed my fingers viselike. upon its
wlndpipe.
Without sound We lay there. the
beast exerting every effort to reach
me with those awful fangs. and
straining to maintain my grip and
choke the life from il as kept II
from my throat. Then a living mass
Of destruction sprang from the sur
rounding darkness full upon the crea-
ture that held me plnioned 10 the
ground. The two rolled growing upon
the moss. tearing and rendIng one an
other in frightful manner. hut II was
soon over and my pTeserver stood with
lowered head above the throat OF the
dead thing which would have killed
me.
The nearer moon. hurtling suddenly
above the horizon and lighting up the
Barsoomian scene, showed me that
my preserver was WoOla. but from
whence he had come. or how found
was glad Of his cOmpaniOnship II is
needless to say, but my pleasure at
seeing him was tempered by anxiety
as TO the reason Of his leaving Deiah
Thoris.
BY the light OF the now brilliant
moons I saw that he was but
shadow of his former self, and as he
turned from my caress and com
menced greedily to devOur the dead
carcass at nay feet realized that the
poor fellow was more than half
starved. When Woola had finished
his meal I again took up my weary
and seemingly endless wandering in
quest Of the elusive waterway.
At daybreak OF the fifteenth day
was Overjoyed to see the high trees
that denoted the object of my search
About noon | dragged myself wearily
to the portals Of huge building which
covered perhaps four square miles and
lowered two hundred feet in the air
It showed no aperture in the mighty !
walls other than the tiny door at
which | sank exhausted, nor was there
any sign Of life about 1t.
could find no bell or other method
Of making my presence known to the |
inmates of the place, unless a small
round hole in the wall near the door |
was for that purpose. 1t was Of about
the bigness OF lead pencil and think
Ing that 1t might be In the nature of
. speaking tube put my mouth to IT
and was about to call into 1t when a