The Meeker herald., 1921-12-10


Ptomel, ssAAll ths 1oddak, TAl aaSUa,
provo his lstnsss % Yals ovsr Tan Tss.
kasf
Thsrs were twsnty ehisftains about
he rostrum and twenty swords
flashed higA In assent.
Thsrs wss NO alternative. That %.
CREE was inal, and % Tai Hiatus drew
bis lonesword and sdvancsd b usst
TarS Tarkas.
The combat was soon oyer. and. With
his foot upoo the psck Of the dead
monster. Tsrs Tarkas became 1sddak
HIS first act was to make me- full.
aedeed chieftain with the rank 1 had
won By my combats de f,sy& few veeks
of my captivity among them.
Seeing the favorable disposit1ou Of
the warriors toward Tars TarkaA q
well a. toward me-. I grasped the op-
portunity to snliss' them In my cause
against Zodanea. I told Tars Tarkas
the story Of my adventures, and in .
few words had explained to him the
thought had In mind.
sJohn Carter has made q proposal"
h. said, addressing the council, (which
meets with my sanction. I shall put It
to you briefly. Dejah Thoeis. the
princess OF Hslium, who was our pris-
oner, II now held BY the Jeddak Of 70
danga. whose son abe must wed to
save her country from devastation at
the hands Of the Zodpngan forces.
"John Carter suggests that We res
cue her and return her to Helium. The
loot Of Z0danga would b magnificent,
and have often thought that had We
an alliance with the people Of Helium
we could obtain sufficient assurance Of
sustenancs to permit ~ 10 increase
the size and frequency Of our hatch
ings. and thus become unquestionably
supreme among the green men Of all
Barsoom. What say your
II was . chance to night, an oppor-
unity to loot, and they rose to the
bait a. speckled trout to hy.
In three days we were on the march
toward Zodanga. one hundred thou
sand strong, as Tars Tarkas had been
able to enlist tho services Of three
smaller hordes on the promise Of the
great loot Of Zodanga.
We travelled entirely BY night, timing
our marches 20 that We camped dur
ing the day at deserted cities where,
even to the beasts, we were all kept
indoors during the daylight hours. On
the march Tars Tarkas. through his
remarkable ability and statesmanship,
enlisted fifty thousand more warriors
from various hordes, 50 that. ten days
after we set out We halted at midnight
outside the great walled city Of 70
danga, one hundred and fifty thousand
strong.
The task Of obtaining entry to the
city devolved upon me. took twenty
dismounted warriors and approached
one Of the small gates that pierced
the walls at short intervals.
Placing three Of my warriors with
their faces to the wall and arms
locked, commanded two more to
mount to their shoulders, and q sixth
I ordered to climb upon the shoulders
Of the upper two. The head Of the top
most warrior lowered over forty fest
from the ground.
In this way. with ten warriors. I
built a series Of three steps from the
ground TO the shoulders of the topmost
man. Then starting from a short dis.
lance behind them l ran swiftly up
from one tier to the next, and with 4
final bound from the broad shoulders
Of the highest clutched the ton Of the
great wall and ouietlv drew mvself n
its broad expan.e. After me I draRred
six lengths of leather from an equal
number of INV warriors. These lengths
va Ind previously fastened together.
and nassinp one end IN the toomost
warrior lowered the other end can
tiouslv over the opposite aide Of the
wall toward the avenue below. No one
the he end Of my leather strap, / dropped