CHAPTER XII

DOOMED TO DIE


For an instant I stood there before they fell upon me, but the first
rush of them forced me back a step or two.  My foot felt for the floor
but found only empty space.  I had backed into the pit which had
received Issus.  For a second I toppled there upon the brink.  Then I
too with the boy still tightly clutched in my arms pitched backward
into the black abyss.

We struck a polished chute, the opening above us closed as magically as
it had opened, and we shot down, unharmed, into a dimly lighted
apartment far below the arena.

As I rose to my feet the first thing I saw was the malignant
countenance of Issus glaring at me through the heavy bars of a grated
door at one side of the chamber.

"Rash mortal!" she shrilled.  "You shall pay the awful penalty for your
blasphemy in this secret cell.  Here you shall lie alone and in
darkness with the carcass of your accomplice festering in its
rottenness by your side, until crazed by loneliness and hunger you feed
upon the crawling maggots that were once a man."

That was all.  In another instant she was gone, and the dim light which
had filled the cell faded into Cimmerian blackness.

"Pleasant old lady," said a voice at my side.

"Who speaks?" I asked.

"'Tis I, your companion, who has had the honour this day of fighting
shoulder to shoulder with the greatest warrior that ever wore metal
upon Barsoom."

"I thank God that you are not dead," I said.  "I feared for that nasty
cut upon your head."

"It but stunned me," he replied.  "A mere scratch."

"Maybe it were as well had it been final," I said.  "We seem to be in a
pretty fix here with a splendid chance of dying of starvation and
thirst."

"Where are we?"

"Beneath the arena," I replied.  "We tumbled down the shaft that
swallowed Issus as she was almost at our mercy."

He laughed a low laugh of pleasure and relief, and then reaching out
through the inky blackness he sought my shoulder and pulled my ear
close to his mouth.

"Nothing could be better," he whispered.  "There are secrets within the
secrets of Issus of which Issus herself does not dream."

"What do you mean?"

"I laboured with the other slaves a year since in the remodelling of
these subterranean galleries, and at that time we found below these an
ancient system of corridors and chambers that had been sealed up for
ages.  The blacks in charge of the work explored them, taking several
of us along to do whatever work there might be occasion for.  I know
the entire system perfectly.

"There are miles of corridors honeycombing the ground beneath the
gardens and the temple itself, and there is one passage that leads down
to and connects with the lower regions that open on the water shaft
that gives passage to Omean.

"If we can reach the submarine undetected we may yet make the sea in
which there are many islands where the blacks never go.  There we may
live for a time, and who knows what may transpire to aid us to escape?"

He had spoken all in a low whisper, evidently fearing spying ears even
here, and so I answered him in the same subdued tone.

"Lead back to Shador, my friend," I whispered.  "Xodar, the black, is
there.  We were to attempt our escape together, so I cannot desert him."

"No," said the boy, "one cannot desert a friend.  It were better to be
recaptured ourselves than that."

Then he commenced groping his way about the floor of the dark chamber
searching for the trap that led to the corridors beneath.  At length he
summoned me by a low, "S-s-t," and I crept toward the sound of his
voice to find him kneeling on the brink of an opening in the floor.

"There is a drop here of about ten feet," he whispered.  "Hang by your
hands and you will alight safely on a level floor of soft sand."

Very quietly I lowered myself from the inky cell above into the inky
pit below.  So utterly dark was it that we could not see our hands at
an inch from our noses.  Never, I think, have I known such complete
absence of light as existed in the pits of Issus.

For an instant I hung in mid air.  There is a strange sensation
connected with an experience of that nature which is quite difficult to
describe.  When the feet tread empty air and the distance below is
shrouded in darkness there is a feeling akin to panic at the thought of
releasing the hold and taking the plunge into unknown depths.

Although the boy had told me that it was but ten feet to the floor
below I experienced the same thrills as though I were hanging above a
bottomless pit.  Then I released my hold and dropped--four feet to a
soft cushion of sand.

The boy followed me.

"Raise me to your shoulders," he said, "and I will replace the trap."

This done he took me by the hand, leading me very slowly, with much
feeling about and frequent halts to assure himself that he did not
stray into wrong passageways.

Presently we commenced the descent of a very steep incline.

"It will not be long," he said, "before we shall have light.  At the
lower levels we meet the same stratum of phosphorescent rock that
illuminates Omean."

Never shall I forget that trip through the pits of Issus.  While it was
devoid of important incidents yet it was filled for me with a strange
charm of excitement and adventure which I think must have hinged
principally on the unguessable antiquity of these long-forgotten
corridors.  The things which the Stygian darkness hid from my objective
eye could not have been half so wonderful as the pictures which my
imagination wrought as it conjured to life again the ancient peoples of
this dying world and set them once more to the labours, the intrigues,
the mysteries and the cruelties which they had practised to make their
last stand against the swarming hordes of the dead sea bottoms that had
driven them step by step to the uttermost pinnacle of the world where
they were now intrenched behind an impenetrable barrier of superstition.

In addition to the green men there had been three principal races upon
Barsoom.  The blacks, the whites, and a race of yellow men.  As the
waters of the planet dried and the seas receded, all other resources
dwindled until life upon the planet became a constant battle for
survival.

The various races had made war upon one another for ages, and the three
higher types had easily bested the green savages of the water places of
the world, but now that the receding seas necessitated constant
abandonment of their fortified cities and forced upon them a more or
less nomadic life in which they became separated into smaller
communities they soon fell prey to the fierce hordes of green men.  The
result was a partial amalgamation of the blacks, whites and yellows,
the result of which is shown in the present splendid race of red men.

I had always supposed that all traces of the original races had
disappeared from the face of Mars, yet within the past four days I had
found both whites and blacks in great multitudes.  Could it be possible
that in some far-off corner of the planet there still existed a remnant
of the ancient race of yellow men?

My reveries were broken in upon by a low exclamation from the boy.

"At last, the lighted way," he cried, and looking up I beheld at a long
distance before us a dim radiance.

As we advanced the light increased until presently we emerged into
well-lighted passageways.  From then on our progress was rapid until we
came suddenly to the end of a corridor that let directly upon the ledge
surrounding the pool of the submarine.

The craft lay at her moorings with uncovered hatch.  Raising his finger
to his lips and then tapping his sword in a significant manner, the
youth crept noiselessly toward the vessel.  I was close at his heels.

Silently we dropped to the deserted deck, and on hands and knees
crawled toward the hatchway.  A stealthy glance below revealed no guard
in sight, and so with the quickness and the soundlessness of cats we
dropped together into the main cabin of the submarine.  Even here was
no sign of life.  Quickly we covered and secured the hatch.

Then the boy stepped into the pilot house, touched a button and the
boat sank amid swirling waters toward the bottom of the shaft.  Even
then there was no scurrying of feet as we had expected, and while the
boy remained to direct the boat I slid from cabin to cabin in futile
search for some member of the crew.  The craft was entirely deserted.
Such good fortune seemed almost unbelievable.

When I returned to the pilot house to report the good news to my
companion he handed me a paper.

"This may explain the absence of the crew," he said.

It was a radio-aerial message to the commander of the submarine:


"The slaves have risen.  Come with what men you have and those that you
can gather on the way.  Too late to get aid from Omean.  They are
massacring all within the amphitheatre.  Issus is threatened.  Haste.

"ZITHAD"


"Zithad is Dator of the guards of Issus," explained the youth.  "We
gave them a bad scare--one that they will not soon forget."

"Let us hope that it is but the beginning of the end of Issus," I said.

"Only our first ancestor knows," he replied.

We reached the submarine pool in Omean without incident.  Here we
debated the wisdom of sinking the craft before leaving her, but finally
decided that it would add nothing to our chances for escape.  There
were plenty of blacks on Omean to thwart us were we apprehended;
however many more might come from the temples and gardens of Issus
would not in any way decrease our chances.

We were now in a quandary as to how to pass the guards who patrolled
the island about the pool.  At last I hit upon a plan.

"What is the name or title of the officer in charge of these guards?" I
asked the boy.

"A fellow named Torith was on duty when we entered this morning," he
replied.

"Good.  And what is the name of the commander of the submarine?"

"Yersted."

I found a dispatch blank in the cabin and wrote the following order:


"Dator Torith: Return these two slaves at once to Shador.

"YERSTED"


"That will be the simpler way to return," I said, smiling, as I handed
the forged order to the boy.  "Come, we shall see now how well it
works."

"But our swords!" he exclaimed.  "What shall we say to explain them?"

"Since we cannot explain them we shall have to leave them behind us," I
replied.

"Is it not the extreme of rashness to thus put ourselves again,
unarmed, in the power of the First Born?"

"It is the only way," I answered.  "You may trust me to find a way out
of the prison of Shador, and I think, once out, that we shall find no
great difficulty in arming ourselves once more in a country which
abounds so plentifully in armed men."

"As you say," he replied with a smile and shrug.  "I could not follow
another leader who inspired greater confidence than you.  Come, let us
put your ruse to the test."

Boldly we emerged from the hatchway of the craft, leaving our swords
behind us, and strode to the main exit which led to the sentry's post
and the office of the Dator of the guard.

At sight of us the members of the guard sprang forward in surprise, and
with levelled rifles halted us.  I held out the message to one of them.
He took it and seeing to whom it was addressed turned and handed it to
Torith who was emerging from his office to learn the cause of the
commotion.

The black read the order, and for a moment eyed us with evident
suspicion.

"Where is Dator Yersted?" he asked, and my heart sank within me, as I
cursed myself for a stupid fool in not having sunk the submarine to
make good the lie that I must tell.

"His orders were to return immediately to the temple landing," I
replied.

Torith took a half step toward the entrance to the pool as though to
corroborate my story.  For that instant everything hung in the balance,
for had he done so and found the empty submarine still lying at her
wharf the whole weak fabric of my concoction would have tumbled about
our heads; but evidently he decided the message must be genuine, nor
indeed was there any good reason to doubt it since it would scarce have
seemed credible to him that two slaves would voluntarily have given
themselves into custody in any such manner as this.  It was the very
boldness of the plan which rendered it successful.

"Were you connected with the rising of the slaves?" asked Torith.  "We
have just had meagre reports of some such event."

"All were involved," I replied.  "But it amounted to little.  The
guards quickly overcame and killed the majority of us."

He seemed satisfied with this reply.  "Take them to Shador," he
ordered, turning to one of his subordinates.  We entered a small boat
lying beside the island, and in a few minutes were disembarking upon
Shador.  Here we were returned to our respective cells; I with Xodar,
the boy by himself; and behind locked doors we were again prisoners of
the First Born.




CHAPTER XIII

A BREAK FOR LIBERTY


Xodar listened in incredulous astonishment to my narration of the
events which had transpired within the arena at the rites of Issus.  He
could scarce conceive, even though he had already professed his doubt
as to the deity of Issus, that one could threaten her with sword in
hand and not be blasted into a thousand fragments by the mere fury of
her divine wrath.

"It is the final proof," he said, at last.  "No more is needed to
completely shatter the last remnant of my superstitious belief in the
divinity of Issus.  She is only a wicked old woman, wielding a mighty
power for evil through machinations that have kept her own people and
all Barsoom in religious ignorance for ages."

"She is still all-powerful here, however," I replied.  "So it behooves
us to leave at the first moment that appears at all propitious."

"I hope that you may find a propitious moment," he said, with a laugh,
"for it is certain that in all my life I have never seen one in which a
prisoner of the First Born might escape."

"To-night will do as well as any," I replied.

"It will soon be night," said Xodar.  "How may I aid in the adventure?"

"Can you swim?" I asked him.

"No slimy silian that haunts the depths of Korus is more at home in
water than is Xodar," he replied.

"Good.  The red one in all probability cannot swim," I said, "since
there is scarce enough water in all their domains to float the tiniest
craft.  One of us therefore will have to support him through the sea to
the craft we select.  I had hoped that we might make the entire
distance below the surface, but I fear that the red youth could not
thus perform the trip.  Even the bravest of the brave among them are
terrorized at the mere thought of deep water, for it has been ages
since their forebears saw a lake, a river or a sea."

"The red one is to accompany us?" asked Xodar.

"Yes."

"It is well.  Three swords are better than two.  Especially when the
third is as mighty as this fellow's.  I have seen him battle in the
arena at the rites of Issus many times.  Never, until I saw you fight,
had I seen one who seemed unconquerable even in the face of great odds.
One might think you two master and pupil, or father and son.  Come to
recall his face there is a resemblance between you.  It is very marked
when you fight--there is the same grim smile, the same maddening
contempt for your adversary apparent in every movement of your bodies
and in every changing expression of your faces."

"Be that as it may, Xodar, he is a great fighter.  I think that we will
make a trio difficult to overcome, and if my friend Tars Tarkas, Jeddak
of Thark, were but one of us we could fight our way from one end of
Barsoom to the other even though the whole world were pitted against
us."

"It will be," said Xodar, "when they find from whence you have come.
That is but one of the superstitions which Issus has foisted upon a
credulous humanity.  She works through the Holy Therns who are as
ignorant of her real self as are the Barsoomians of the outer world.
Her decrees are borne to the therns written in blood upon a strange
parchment.  The poor deluded fools think that they are receiving the
revelations of a goddess through some supernatural agency, since they
find these messages upon their guarded altars to which none could have
access without detection.  I myself have borne these messages for Issus
for many years.  There is a long tunnel from the temple of Issus to the
principal temple of Matai Shang.  It was dug ages ago by the slaves of
the First Born in such utter secrecy that no thern ever guessed its
existence.

"The therns for their part have temples dotted about the entire
civilized world.  Here priests whom the people never see communicate
the doctrine of the Mysterious River Iss, the Valley Dor, and the Lost
Sea of Korus to persuade the poor deluded creatures to take the
voluntary pilgrimage that swells the wealth of the Holy Therns and adds
to the numbers of their slaves.

"Thus the therns are used as the principal means for collecting the
wealth and labour that the First Born wrest from them as they need it.
Occasionally the First Born themselves make raids upon the outer world.
It is then that they capture many females of the royal houses of the
red men, and take the newest in battleships and the trained artisans
who build them, that they may copy what they cannot create.

"We are a non-productive race, priding ourselves upon our
non-productiveness.  It is criminal for a First Born to labour or
invent.  That is the work of the lower orders, who live merely that the
First Born may enjoy long lives of luxury and idleness.  With us
fighting is all that counts; were it not for that there would be more
of the First Born than all the creatures of Barsoom could support, for
in so far as I know none of us ever dies a natural death.  Our females
would live for ever but for the fact that we tire of them and remove
them to make place for others.  Issus alone of all is protected against
death.  She has lived for countless ages."

"Would not the other Barsoomians live for ever but for the doctrine of
the voluntary pilgrimage which drags them to the bosom of Iss at or
before their thousandth year?" I asked him.

"I feel now that there is no doubt but that they are precisely the same
species of creature as the First Born, and I hope that I shall live to
fight for them in atonement of the sins I have committed against them
through the ignorance born of generations of false teaching."

As he ceased speaking a weird call rang out across the waters of Omean.
I had heard it at the same time the previous evening and knew that it
marked the ending of the day, when the men of Omean spread their silks
upon the deck of battleship and cruiser and fall into the dreamless
sleep of Mars.

Our guard entered to inspect us for the last time before the new day
broke upon the world above.  His duty was soon performed and the heavy
door of our prison closed behind him--we were alone for the night.

I gave him time to return to his quarters, as Xodar said he probably
would do, then I sprang to the grated window and surveyed the nearby
waters.  At a little distance from the island, a quarter of a mile
perhaps, lay a monster battleship, while between her and the shore were
a number of smaller cruisers and one-man scouts.  Upon the battleship
alone was there a watch.  I could see him plainly in the upper works of
the ship, and as I watched I saw him spread his sleeping silks upon the
tiny platform in which he was stationed.  Soon he threw himself at full
length upon his couch.  The discipline on Omean was lax indeed.  But it
is not to be wondered at since no enemy guessed the existence upon
Barsoom of such a fleet, or even of the First Born, or the Sea of
Omean.  Why indeed should they maintain a watch?

Presently I dropped to the floor again and talked with Xodar,
describing the various craft I had seen.

"There is one there," he said, "my personal property, built to carry
five men, that is the swiftest of the swift.  If we can board her we
can at least make a memorable run for liberty," and then he went on to
describe to me the equipment of the boat; her engines, and all that
went to make her the flier that she was.

In his explanation I recognized a trick of gearing that Kantos Kan had
taught me that time we sailed under false names in the navy of Zodanga
beneath Sab Than, the Prince.  And I knew then that the First Born had
stolen it from the ships of Helium, for only they are thus geared.  And
I knew too that Xodar spoke the truth when he lauded the speed of his
little craft, for nothing that cleaves the thin air of Mars can
approximate the speed of the ships of Helium.

We decided to wait for an hour at least until all the stragglers had
sought their silks.  In the meantime I was to fetch the red youth to
our cell so that we would be in readiness to make our rash break for
freedom together.

I sprang to the top of our partition wall and pulled myself up on to
it.  There I found a flat surface about a foot in width and along this
I walked until I came to the cell in which I saw the boy sitting upon
his bench.  He had been leaning back against the wall looking up at the
glowing dome above Omean, and when he spied me balancing upon the
partition wall above him his eyes opened wide in astonishment.  Then a
wide grin of appreciative understanding spread across his countenance.

As I stooped to drop to the floor beside him he motioned me to wait,
and coming close below me whispered: "Catch my hand; I can almost leap
to the top of that wall myself.  I have tried it many times, and each
day I come a little closer.  Some day I should have been able to make
it."

I lay upon my belly across the wall and reached my hand far down toward
him.  With a little run from the centre of the cell he sprang up until
I grasped his outstretched hand, and thus I pulled him to the wall's
top beside me.

"You are the first jumper I ever saw among the red men of Barsoom," I
said.

He smiled.  "It is not strange.  I will tell you why when we have more
time."

Together we returned to the cell in which Xodar sat; descending to talk
with him until the hour had passed.

There we made our plans for the immediate future, binding ourselves by
a solemn oath to fight to the death for one another against whatsoever
enemies should confront us, for we knew that even should we succeed in
escaping the First Born we might still have a whole world against
us--the power of religious superstition is mighty.

It was agreed that I should navigate the craft after we had reached
her, and that if we made the outer world in safety we should attempt to
reach Helium without a stop.

"Why Helium?" asked the red youth.

"I am a prince of Helium," I replied.

He gave me a peculiar look, but said nothing further on the subject.  I
wondered at the time what the significance of his expression might be,
but in the press of other matters it soon left my mind, nor did I have
occasion to think of it again until later.

"Come," I said at length, "now is as good a time as any.  Let us go."

Another moment found me at the top of the partition wall again with the
boy beside me.  Unbuckling my harness I snapped it together with a
single long strap which I lowered to the waiting Xodar below.  He
grasped the end and was soon sitting beside us.

"How simple," he laughed.

"The balance should be even simpler," I replied.  Then I raised myself
to the top of the outer wall of the prison, just so that I could peer
over and locate the passing sentry.  For a matter of five minutes I
waited and then he came in sight on his slow and snail-like beat about
the structure.

I watched him until he had made the turn at the end of the building
which carried him out of sight of the side of the prison that was to
witness our dash for freedom.  The moment his form disappeared I
grasped Xodar and drew him to the top of the wall.  Placing one end of
my harness strap in his hands I lowered him quickly to the ground
below.  Then the boy grasped the strap and slid down to Xodar's side.

In accordance with our arrangement they did not wait for me, but walked
slowly toward the water, a matter of a hundred yards, directly past the
guard-house filled with sleeping soldiers.

They had taken scarce a dozen steps when I too dropped to the ground
and followed them leisurely toward the shore.  As I passed the
guard-house the thought of all the good blades lying there gave me
pause, for if ever men were to have need of swords it was my companions
and I on the perilous trip upon which we were about to embark.

I glanced toward Xodar and the youth and saw that they had slipped over
the edge of the dock into the water.  In accordance with our plan they
were to remain there clinging to the metal rings which studded the
concrete-like substance of the dock at the water's level, with only
their mouths and noses above the surface of the sea, until I should
join them.

The lure of the swords within the guard-house was strong upon me, and I
hesitated a moment, half inclined to risk the attempt to take the few
we needed.  That he who hesitates is lost proved itself a true aphorism
in this instance, for another moment saw me creeping stealthily toward
the door of the guard-house.

Gently I pressed it open a crack; enough to discover a dozen blacks
stretched upon their silks in profound slumber.  At the far side of the
room a rack held the swords and firearms of the men.  Warily I pushed
the door a trifle wider to admit my body.  A hinge gave out a resentful
groan.  One of the men stirred, and my heart stood still.  I cursed
myself for a fool to have thus jeopardized our chances for escape; but
there was nothing for it now but to see the adventure through.

With a spring as swift and as noiseless as a tiger's I lit beside the
guardsman who had moved.  My hands hovered about his throat awaiting
the moment that his eyes should open.  For what seemed an eternity to
my overwrought nerves I remained poised thus.  Then the fellow turned
again upon his side and resumed the even respiration of deep slumber.

Carefully I picked my way between and over the soldiers until I had
gained the rack at the far side of the room.  Here I turned to survey
the sleeping men.  All were quiet.  Their regular breathing rose and
fell in a soothing rhythm that seemed to me the sweetest music I ever
had heard.

Gingerly I drew a long-sword from the rack.  The scraping of the
scabbard against its holder as I withdrew it sounded like the filing of
cast iron with a great rasp, and I looked to see the room immediately
filled with alarmed and attacking guardsmen.  But none stirred.

The second sword I withdrew noiselessly, but the third clanked in its
scabbard with a frightful din.  I knew that it must awaken some of the
men at least, and was on the point of forestalling their attack by a
rapid charge for the doorway, when again, to my intense surprise, not a
black moved.  Either they were wondrous heavy sleepers or else the
noises that I made were really much less than they seemed to me.

I was about to leave the rack when my attention was attracted by the
revolvers.  I knew that I could not carry more than one away with me,
for I was already too heavily laden to move quietly with any degree of
safety or speed.  As I took one of them from its pin my eye fell for
the first time on an open window beside the rack.  Ah, here was a
splendid means of escape, for it let directly upon the dock, not twenty
feet from the water's edge.

And as I congratulated myself, I heard the door opposite me open, and
there looking me full in the face stood the officer of the guard.  He
evidently took in the situation at a glance and appreciated the gravity
of it as quickly as I, for our revolvers came up simultaneously and the
sounds of the two reports were as one as we touched the buttons on the
grips that exploded the cartridges.

I felt the wind of his bullet as it whizzed past my ear, and at the
same instant I saw him crumple to the ground.  Where I hit him I do not
know, nor if I killed him, for scarce had he started to collapse when I
was through the window at my rear.  In another second the waters of
Omean closed above my head, and the three of us were making for the
little flier a hundred yards away.

Xodar was burdened with the boy, and I with the three long-swords.  The
revolver I had dropped, so that while we were both strong swimmers it
seemed to me that we moved at a snail's pace through the water.  I was
swimming entirely beneath the surface, but Xodar was compelled to rise
often to let the youth breathe, so it was a wonder that we were not
discovered long before we were.

In fact we reached the boat's side and were all aboard before the watch
upon the battleship, aroused by the shots, detected us.  Then an alarm
gun bellowed from a ship's bow, its deep boom reverberating in
deafening tones beneath the rocky dome of Omean.

Instantly the sleeping thousands were awake.  The decks of a thousand
monster craft teemed with fighting-men, for an alarm on Omean was a
thing of rare occurrence.

We cast away before the sound of the first gun had died, and another
second saw us rising swiftly from the surface of the sea.  I lay at
full length along the deck with the levers and buttons of control
before me.  Xodar and the boy were stretched directly behind me, prone
also that we might offer as little resistance to the air as possible.

"Rise high," whispered Xodar.  "They dare not fire their heavy guns
toward the dome--the fragments of the shells would drop back among
their own craft.  If we are high enough our keel plates will protect us
from rifle fire."

I did as he bade.  Below us we could see the men leaping into the water
by hundreds, and striking out for the small cruisers and one-man fliers
that lay moored about the big ships.  The larger craft were getting
under way, following us rapidly, but not rising from the water.

"A little to your right," cried Xodar, for there are no points of
compass upon Omean where every direction is due north.

The pandemonium that had broken out below us was deafening.  Rifles
cracked, officers shouted orders, men yelled directions to one another
from the water and from the decks of myriad boats, while through all
ran the purr of countless propellers cutting water and air.

I had not dared pull my speed lever to the highest for fear of
overrunning the mouth of the shaft that passed from Omean's dome to the
world above, but even so we were hitting a clip that I doubt has ever
been equalled on the windless sea.

The smaller fliers were commencing to rise toward us when Xodar
shouted: "The shaft!  The shaft!  Dead ahead," and I saw the opening,
black and yawning in the glowing dome of this underworld.

A ten-man cruiser was rising directly in front to cut off our escape.
It was the only vessel that stood in our way, but at the rate that it
was traveling it would come between us and the shaft in plenty of time
to thwart our plans.

It was rising at an angle of about forty-five degrees dead ahead of us,
with the evident intention of combing us with grappling hooks from
above as it skimmed low over our deck.

There was but one forlorn hope for us, and I took it.  It was useless
to try to pass over her, for that would have allowed her to force us
against the rocky dome above, and we were already too near that as it
was.  To have attempted to dive below her would have put us entirely at
her mercy, and precisely where she wanted us.  On either side a hundred
other menacing craft were hastening toward us.  The alternative was
filled with risk--in fact it was all risk, with but a slender chance of
success.

As we neared the cruiser I rose as though to pass above her, so that
she would do just what she did do, rise at a steeper angle to force me
still higher.  Then as we were almost upon her I yelled to my
companions to hold tight, and throwing the little vessel into her
highest speed I deflected her bows at the same instant until we were
running horizontally and at terrific velocity straight for the
cruiser's keel.

Her commander may have seen my intentions then, but it was too late.
Almost at the instant of impact I turned my bows upward, and then with
a shattering jolt we were in collision.  What I had hoped for happened.
The cruiser, already tilted at a perilous angle, was carried completely
over backward by the impact of my smaller vessel.  Her crew fell
twisting and screaming through the air to the water far below, while
the cruiser, her propellers still madly churning, dived swiftly
headforemost after them to the bottom of the Sea of Omean.

The collision crushed our steel bows, and notwithstanding every effort
on our part came near to hurling us from the deck.  As it was we landed
in a wildly clutching heap at the very extremity of the flier, where
Xodar and I succeeded in grasping the hand-rail, but the boy would have
plunged overboard had I not fortunately grasped his ankle as he was
already partially over.

Unguided, our vessel careened wildly in its mad flight, rising ever
nearer the rocks above.  It took but an instant, however, for me to
regain the levers, and with the roof barely fifty feet above I turned
her nose once more into the horizontal plane and headed her again for
the black mouth of the shaft.

The collision had retarded our progress and now a hundred swift scouts
were close upon us.  Xodar had told me that ascending the shaft by
virtue of our repulsive rays alone would give our enemies their best
chance to overtake us, since our propellers would be idle and in rising
we would be outclassed by many of our pursuers.  The swifter craft are
seldom equipped with large buoyancy tanks, since the added bulk of them
tends to reduce a vessel's speed.

As many boats were now quite close to us it was inevitable that we
would be quickly overhauled in the shaft, and captured or killed in
short order.

To me there always seems a way to gain the opposite side of an
obstacle.  If one cannot pass over it, or below it, or around it, why
then there is but a single alternative left, and that is to pass
through it.  I could not get around the fact that many of these other
boats could rise faster than ours by the fact of their greater
buoyancy, but I was none the less determined to reach the outer world
far in advance of them or die a death of my own choosing in event of
failure.

"Reverse?" screamed Xodar, behind me.  "For the love of your first
ancestor, reverse.  We are at the shaft."

"Hold tight!" I screamed in reply.  "Grasp the boy and hold tight--we
are going straight up the shaft."

The words were scarce out of my mouth as we swept beneath the
pitch-black opening.  I threw the bow hard up, dragged the speed lever
to its last notch, and clutching a stanchion with one hand and the
steering-wheel with the other hung on like grim death and consigned my
soul to its author.

I heard a little exclamation of surprise from Xodar, followed by a grim
laugh.  The boy laughed too and said something which I could not catch
for the whistling of the wind of our awful speed.

I looked above my head, hoping to catch the gleam of stars by which I
could direct our course and hold the hurtling thing that bore us true
to the centre of the shaft.  To have touched the side at the speed we
were making would doubtless have resulted in instant death for us all.
But not a star showed above--only utter and impenetrable darkness.

Then I glanced below me, and there I saw a rapidly diminishing circle
of light--the mouth of the opening above the phosphorescent radiance of
Omean.  By this I steered, endeavouring to keep the circle of light
below me ever perfect.  At best it was but a slender cord that held us
from destruction, and I think that I steered that night more by
intuition and blind faith than by skill or reason.

We were not long in the shaft, and possibly the very fact of our
enormous speed saved us, for evidently we started in the right
direction and so quickly were we out again that we had no time to alter
our course.  Omean lies perhaps two miles below the surface crust of
Mars.  Our speed must have approximated two hundred miles an hour, for
Martian fliers are swift, so that at most we were in the shaft not over
forty seconds.

We must have been out of it for some seconds before I realised that we
had accomplished the impossible.  Black darkness enshrouded all about
us.  There were neither moons nor stars.  Never before had I seen such
a thing upon Mars, and for the moment I was nonplussed.  Then the
explanation came to me.  It was summer at the south pole.  The ice cap
was melting and those meteoric phenomena, clouds, unknown upon the
greater part of Barsoom, were shutting out the light of heaven from
this portion of the planet.

Fortunate indeed it was for us, nor did it take me long to grasp the
opportunity for escape which this happy condition offered us.  Keeping
the boat's nose at a stiff angle I raced her for the impenetrable
curtain which Nature had hung above this dying world to shut us out
from the sight of our pursuing enemies.

We plunged through the cold damp fog without diminishing our speed, and
in a moment emerged into the glorious light of the two moons and the
million stars.  I dropped into a horizontal course and headed due
north.  Our enemies were a good half-hour behind us with no conception
of our direction.  We had performed the miraculous and come through a
thousand dangers unscathed--we had escaped from the land of the First
Born.  No other prisoners in all the ages of Barsoom had done this
thing, and now as I looked back upon it it did not seem to have been so
difficult after all.

I said as much to Xodar, over my shoulder.

"It is very wonderful, nevertheless," he replied.  "No one else could
have accomplished it but John Carter."

At the sound of that name the boy jumped to his feet.

"John Carter!" he cried.  "John Carter!  Why, man, John Carter, Prince
of Helium, has been dead for years.  I am his son."




CHAPTER XIV

THE EYES IN THE DARK


My son!  I could not believe my ears.  Slowly I rose and faced the
handsome youth.  Now that I looked at him closely I commenced to see
why his face and personality had attracted me so strongly.  There was
much of his mother's incomparable beauty in his clear-cut features, but
it was strongly masculine beauty, and his grey eyes and the expression
of them were mine.

The boy stood facing me, half hope and half uncertainty in his look.

"Tell me of your mother," I said.  "Tell me all you can of the years
that I have been robbed by a relentless fate of her dear companionship."

With a cry of pleasure he sprang toward me and threw his arms about my
neck, and for a brief moment as I held my boy close to me the tears
welled to my eyes and I was like to have choked after the manner of
some maudlin fool--but I do not regret it, nor am I ashamed.  A long
life has taught me that a man may seem weak where women and children
are concerned and yet be anything but a weakling in the sterner avenues
of life.

"Your stature, your manner, the terrible ferocity of your
swordsmanship," said the boy, "are as my mother has described them to
me a thousand times--but even with such evidence I could scarce credit
the truth of what seemed so improbable to me, however much I desired it
to be true.  Do you know what thing it was that convinced me more than
all the others?"

"What, my boy?" I asked.

"Your first words to me--they were of my mother.  None else but the man
who loved her as she has told me my father did would have thought first
of her."

"For long years, my son, I can scarce recall a moment that the radiant
vision of your mother's face has not been ever before me.  Tell me of
her."

"Those who have known her longest say that she has not changed, unless
it be to grow more beautiful--were that possible.  Only, when she
thinks I am not about to see her, her face grows very sad, and, oh, so
wistful.  She thinks ever of you, my father, and all Helium mourns with
her and for her.  Her grandfather's people love her.  They loved you
also, and fairly worship your memory as the saviour of Barsoom.

"Each year that brings its anniversary of the day that saw you racing
across a near dead world to unlock the secret of that awful portal
behind which lay the mighty power of life for countless millions a
great festival is held in your honour; but there are tears mingled with
the thanksgiving--tears of real regret that the author of the happiness
is not with them to share the joy of living he died to give them.  Upon
all Barsoom there is no greater name than John Carter."

"And by what name has your mother called you, my boy?" I asked.

"The people of Helium asked that I be named with my father's name, but
my mother said no, that you and she had chosen a name for me together,
and that your wish must be honoured before all others, so the name that
she called me is the one that you desired, a combination of hers and
yours--Carthoris."

Xodar had been at the wheel as I talked with my son, and now he called
me.

"She is dropping badly by the head, John Carter," he said.  "So long as
we were rising at a stiff angle it was not noticeable, but now that I
am trying to keep a horizontal course it is different.  The wound in
her bow has opened one of her forward ray tanks."

It was true, and after I had examined the damage I found it a much
graver matter than I had anticipated.  Not only was the forced angle at
which we were compelled to maintain the bow in order to keep a
horizontal course greatly impeding our speed, but at the rate that we
were losing our repulsive rays from the forward tanks it was but a
question of an hour or more when we would be floating stern up and
helpless.

We had slightly reduced our speed with the dawning of a sense of
security, but now I took the helm once more and pulled the noble little
engine wide open, so that again we raced north at terrific velocity.
In the meantime Carthoris and Xodar with tools in hand were puttering
with the great rent in the bow in a hopeless endeavour to stem the tide
of escaping rays.

It was still dark when we passed the northern boundary of the ice cap
and the area of clouds.  Below us lay a typical Martian landscape.
Rolling ochre sea bottom of long dead seas, low surrounding hills, with
here and there the grim and silent cities of the dead past; great piles
of mighty architecture tenanted only by age-old memories of a once
powerful race, and by the great white apes of Barsoom.

It was becoming more and more difficult to maintain our little vessel
in a horizontal position.  Lower and lower sagged the bow until it
became necessary to stop the engine to prevent our flight terminating
in a swift dive to the ground.

As the sun rose and the light of a new day swept away the darkness of
night our craft gave a final spasmodic plunge, turned half upon her
side, and then with deck tilting at a sickening angle swung in a slow
circle, her bow dropping further below her stern each moment.

To hand-rail and stanchion we clung, and finally as we saw the end
approaching, snapped the buckles of our harness to the rings at her
sides.  In another moment the deck reared at an angle of ninety degrees
and we hung in our leather with feet dangling a thousand yards above
the ground.

I was swinging quite close to the controlling devices, so I reached out
to the lever that directed the rays of repulsion.  The boat responded
to the touch, and very gently we began to sink toward the ground.

It was fully half an hour before we touched.  Directly north of us rose
a rather lofty range of hills, toward which we decided to make our way,
since they afforded greater opportunity for concealment from the
pursuers we were confident might stumble in this direction.

An hour later found us in the time-rounded gullies of the hills, amid
the beautiful flowering plants that abound in the arid waste places of
Barsoom.  There we found numbers of huge milk-giving shrubs--that
strange plant which serves in great part as food and drink for the wild
hordes of green men.  It was indeed a boon to us, for we all were
nearly famished.

Beneath a cluster of these which afforded perfect concealment from
wandering air scouts, we lay down to sleep--for me the first time in
many hours.  This was the beginning of my fifth day upon Barsoom since
I had found myself suddenly translated from my cottage on the Hudson to
Dor, the valley beautiful, the valley hideous.  In all this time I had
slept but twice, though once the clock around within the storehouse of
the therns.

It was mid-afternoon when I was awakened by some one seizing my hand
and covering it with kisses.  With a start I opened my eyes to look
into the beautiful face of Thuvia.

"My Prince!  My Prince!" she cried, in an ecstasy of happiness.  "'Tis
you whom I had mourned as dead.  My ancestors have been good to me; I
have not lived in vain."

The girl's voice awoke Xodar and Carthoris.  The boy gazed upon the
woman in surprise, but she did not seem to realize the presence of
another than I.  She would have thrown her arms about my neck and
smothered me with caresses, had I not gently but firmly disengaged
myself.

"Come, come, Thuvia," I said soothingly; "you are overwrought by the
danger and hardships you have passed through.  You forget yourself, as
you forget that I am the husband of the Princess of Helium."

"I forget nothing, my Prince," she replied.  "You have spoken no word
of love to me, nor do I expect that you ever shall; but nothing can
prevent me loving you.  I would not take the place of Dejah Thoris.  My
greatest ambition is to serve you, my Prince, for ever as your slave.
No greater boon could I ask, no greater honour could I crave, no
greater happiness could I hope."

As I have before said, I am no ladies' man, and I must admit that I
seldom have felt so uncomfortable and embarrassed as I did that moment.
While I was quite familiar with the Martian custom which allows female
slaves to Martian men, whose high and chivalrous honour is always ample
protection for every woman in his household, yet I had never myself
chosen other than men as my body servants.

"And I ever return to Helium, Thuvia," I said, "you shall go with me,
but as an honoured equal, and not as a slave.  There you shall find
plenty of handsome young nobles who would face Issus herself to win a
smile from you, and we shall have you married in short order to one of
the best of them.  Forget your foolish gratitude-begotten infatuation,
which your innocence has mistaken for love.  I like your friendship
better, Thuvia."

"You are my master; it shall be as you say," she replied simply, but
there was a note of sadness in her voice.

"How came you here, Thuvia?" I asked.  "And where is Tars Tarkas?"

"The great Thark, I fear, is dead," she replied sadly.  "He was a
mighty fighter, but a multitude of green warriors of another horde than
his overwhelmed him.  The last that I saw of him they were bearing him,
wounded and bleeding, to the deserted city from which they had sallied
to attack us."

"You are not sure that he is dead, then?" I asked.  "And where is this
city of which you speak?"

"It is just beyond this range of hills.  The vessel in which you so
nobly resigned a place that we might find escape defied our small skill
in navigation, with the result that we drifted aimlessly about for two
days.  Then we decided to abandon the craft and attempt to make our way
on foot to the nearest waterway.  Yesterday we crossed these hills and
came upon the dead city beyond.  We had passed within its streets and
were walking toward the central portion, when at an intersecting avenue
we saw a body of green warriors approaching.

"Tars Tarkas was in advance, and they saw him, but me they did not see.
The Thark sprang back to my side and forced me into an adjacent
doorway, where he told me to remain in hiding until I could escape,
making my way to Helium if possible.

"'There will be no escape for me now,' he said, 'for these be the
Warhoon of the South.  When they have seen my metal it will be to the
death.'

"Then he stepped out to meet them.  Ah, my Prince, such fighting!  For
an hour they swarmed about him, until the Warhoon dead formed a hill
where he had stood; but at last they overwhelmed him, those behind
pushing the foremost upon him until there remained no space to swing
his great sword.  Then he stumbled and went down and they rolled over
him like a huge wave.  When they carried him away toward the heart of
the city, he was dead, I think, for I did not see him move."

"Before we go farther we must be sure," I said.  "I cannot leave Tars
Tarkas alive among the Warhoons.  To-night I shall enter the city and
make sure."

"And I shall go with you," spoke Carthoris.

"And I," said Xodar.

"Neither one of you shall go," I replied.  "It is work that requires
stealth and strategy, not force.  One man alone may succeed where more
would invite disaster.  I shall go alone.  If I need your help, I will
return for you."

They did not like it, but both were good soldiers, and it had been
agreed that I should command.  The sun already was low, so that I did
not have long to wait before the sudden darkness of Barsoom engulfed us.

With a parting word of instructions to Carthoris and Xodar, in case I
should not return, I bade them all farewell and set forth at a rapid
dogtrot toward the city.

As I emerged from the hills the nearer moon was winging its wild flight
through the heavens, its bright beams turning to burnished silver the
barbaric splendour of the ancient metropolis.  The city had been built
upon the gently rolling foothills that in the dim and distant past had
sloped down to meet the sea.  It was due to this fact that I had no
difficulty in entering the streets unobserved.

The green hordes that use these deserted cities seldom occupy more than
a few squares about the central plaza, and as they come and go always
across the dead sea bottoms that the cities face, it is usually a
matter of comparative ease to enter from the hillside.

Once within the streets, I kept close in the dense shadows of the
walls.  At intersections I halted a moment to make sure that none was
in sight before I sprang quickly to the shadows of the opposite side.
Thus I made the journey to the vicinity of the plaza without detection.
As I approached the purlieus of the inhabited portion of the city I was
made aware of the proximity of the warriors' quarters by the squealing
and grunting of the thoats and zitidars corralled within the hollow
courtyards formed by the buildings surrounding each square.

These old familiar sounds that are so distinctive of green Martian life
sent a thrill of pleasure surging through me.  It was as one might feel
on coming home after a long absence.  It was amid such sounds that I
had first courted the incomparable Dejah Thoris in the age-old marble
halls of the dead city of Korad.

As I stood in the shadows at the far corner of the first square which
housed members of the horde, I saw warriors emerging from several of
the buildings.  They all went in the same direction, toward a great
building which stood in the centre of the plaza.  My knowledge of green
Martian customs convinced me that this was either the quarters of the
principal chieftain or contained the audience chamber wherein the
Jeddak met his jeds and lesser chieftains.  In either event, it was
evident that something was afoot which might have a bearing on the
recent capture of Tars Tarkas.

To reach this building, which I now felt it imperative that I do, I
must needs traverse the entire length of one square and cross a broad
avenue and a portion of the plaza.  From the noises of the animals
which came from every courtyard about me, I knew that there were many
people in the surrounding buildings--probably several communities of
the great horde of the Warhoons of the South.

To pass undetected among all these people was in itself a difficult
task, but if I was to find and rescue the great Thark I must expect
even more formidable obstacles before success could be mine.  I had
entered the city from the south and now stood on the corner of the
avenue through which I had passed and the first intersecting avenue
south of the plaza.  The buildings upon the south side of this square
did not appear to be inhabited, as I could see no lights, and so I
decided to gain the inner courtyard through one of them.

Nothing occurred to interrupt my progress through the deserted pile I
chose, and I came into the inner court close to the rear walls of the
east buildings without detection.  Within the court a great herd of
thoats and zitidars moved restlessly about, cropping the moss-like
ochre vegetation which overgrows practically the entire uncultivated
area of Mars.  What breeze there was came from the north-west, so there
was little danger that the beasts would scent me.  Had they, their
squealing and grunting would have grown to such a volume as to attract
the attention of the warriors within the buildings.

Close to the east wall, beneath the overhanging balconies of the second
floors, I crept in dense shadows the full length of the courtyard,
until I came to the buildings at the north end.  These were lighted for
about three floors up, but above the third floor all was dark.

To pass through the lighted rooms was, of course, out of the question,
since they swarmed with green Martian men and women.  My only path lay
through the upper floors, and to gain these it was necessary to scale
the face of the wall.  The reaching of the balcony of the second floor
was a matter of easy accomplishment--an agile leap gave my hands a
grasp upon the stone hand-rail above.  In another instant I had drawn
myself up on the balcony.

Here through the open windows I saw the green folk squatting upon their
sleeping silks and furs, grunting an occasional monosyllable, which, in
connection with their wondrous telepathic powers, is ample for their
conversational requirements.  As I drew closer to listen to their words
a warrior entered the room from the hall beyond.

"Come, Tan Gama," he cried, "we are to take the Thark before Kab Kadja.
Bring another with you."

The warrior addressed arose and, beckoning to a fellow squatting near,
the three turned and left the apartment.

If I could but follow them the chance might come to free Tars Tarkas at
once.  At least I would learn the location of his prison.

At my right was a door leading from the balcony into the building.  It
was at the end of an unlighted hall, and on the impulse of the moment I
stepped within.  The hall was broad and led straight through to the
front of the building.  On either side were the doorways of the various
apartments which lined it.

I had no more than entered the corridor than I saw the three warriors
at the other end--those whom I had just seen leaving the apartment.
Then a turn to the right took them from my sight again.  Quickly I
hastened along the hallway in pursuit.  My gait was reckless, but I
felt that Fate had been kind indeed to throw such an opportunity within
my grasp, and I could not afford to allow it to elude me now.

At the far end of the corridor I found a spiral stairway leading to the
floors above and below.  The three had evidently left the floor by this
avenue.  That they had gone down and not up I was sure from my
knowledge of these ancient buildings and the methods of the Warhoons.

I myself had once been a prisoner of the cruel hordes of northern
Warhoon, and the memory of the underground dungeon in which I lay still
is vivid in my memory.  And so I felt certain that Tars Tarkas lay in
the dark pits beneath some nearby building, and that in that direction
I should find the trail of the three warriors leading to his cell.

Nor was I wrong.  At the bottom of the runway, or rather at the landing
on the floor below, I saw that the shaft descended into the pits
beneath, and as I glanced down the flickering light of a torch revealed
the presence of the three I was trailing.

Down they went toward the pits beneath the structure, and at a safe
distance behind I followed the flicker of their torch.  The way led
through a maze of tortuous corridors, unlighted save for the wavering
light they carried.  We had gone perhaps a hundred yards when the party
turned abruptly through a doorway at their right.  I hastened on as
rapidly as I dared through the darkness until I reached the point at
which they had left the corridor.  There, through an open door, I saw
them removing the chains that secured the great Thark, Tars Tarkas, to
the wall.

Hustling him roughly between them, they came immediately from the
chamber, so quickly in fact that I was near to being apprehended.  But
I managed to run along the corridor in the direction I had been going
in my pursuit of them far enough to be without the radius of their
meagre light as they emerged from the cell.

I had naturally assumed that they would return with Tars Tarkas the
same way that they had come, which would have carried them away from
me; but, to my chagrin, they wheeled directly in my direction as they
left the room.  There was nothing for me but to hasten on in advance
and keep out of the light of their torch.  I dared not attempt to halt
in the darkness of any of the many intersecting corridors, for I knew
nothing of the direction they might take.  Chance was as likely as not
to carry me into the very corridor they might choose to enter.

The sensation of moving rapidly through these dark passages was far
from reassuring.  I knew not at what moment I might plunge headlong
into some terrible pit or meet with some of the ghoulish creatures that
inhabit these lower worlds beneath the dead cities of dying Mars.
There filtered to me a faint radiance from the torch of the men
behind--just enough to permit me to trace the direction of the winding
passageways directly before me, and so keep me from dashing myself
against the walls at the turns.

Presently I came to a place where five corridors diverged from a common
point.  I had hastened along one of them for some little distance when
suddenly the faint light of the torch disappeared from behind me.  I
paused to listen for sounds of the party behind me, but the silence was
as utter as the silence of the tomb.

Quickly I realized that the warriors had taken one of the other
corridors with their prisoner, and so I hastened back with a feeling of
considerable relief to take up a much safer and more desirable position
behind them.  It was much slower work returning, however, than it had
been coming, for now the darkness was as utter as the silence.

It was necessary to feel every foot of the way back with my hand
against the side wall, that I might not pass the spot where the five
roads radiated.  After what seemed an eternity to me, I reached the
place and recognized it by groping across the entrances to the several
corridors until I had counted five of them.  In not one, however,
showed the faintest sign of light.

I listened intently, but the naked feet of the green men sent back no
guiding echoes, though presently I thought I detected the clank of side
arms in the far distance of the middle corridor.  Up this, then, I
hastened, searching for the light, and stopping to listen occasionally
for a repetition of the sound; but soon I was forced to admit that I
must have been following a blind lead, as only darkness and silence
rewarded my efforts.

Again I retraced my steps toward the parting of the ways, when to my
surprise I came upon the entrance to three diverging corridors, any one
of which I might have traversed in my hasty dash after the false clue I
had been following.  Here was a pretty fix, indeed!  Once back at the
point where the five passageways met, I might wait with some assurance
for the return of the warriors with Tars Tarkas.  My knowledge of their
customs lent colour to the belief that he was but being escorted to the
audience chamber to have sentence passed upon him.  I had not the
slightest doubt but that they would preserve so doughty a warrior as
the great Thark for the rare sport he would furnish at the Great Games.

But unless I could find my way back to that point the chances were most
excellent that I would wander for days through the awful blackness,
until, overcome by thirst and hunger, I lay down to die, or--What was
that!

A faint shuffling sounded behind me, and as I cast a hasty glance over
my shoulder my blood froze in my veins for the thing I saw there.  It
was not so much fear of the present danger as it was the horrifying
memories it recalled of that time I near went mad over the corpse of
the man I had killed in the dungeons of the Warhoons, when blazing eyes
came out of the dark recesses and dragged the thing that had been a man
from my clutches and I heard it scraping over the stone of my prison as
they bore it away to their terrible feast.

And now in these black pits of the other Warhoons I looked into those
same fiery eyes, blazing at me through the terrible darkness, revealing
no sign of the beast behind them.  I think that the most fearsome
attribute of these awesome creatures is their silence and the fact that
one never sees them--nothing but those baleful eyes glaring
unblinkingly out of the dark void behind.

Grasping my long-sword tightly in my hand, I backed slowly along the
corridor away from the thing that watched me, but ever as I retreated
the eyes advanced, nor was there any sound, not even the sound of
breathing, except the occasional shuffling sound as of the dragging of
a dead limb, that had first attracted my attention.

On and on I went, but I could not escape my sinister pursuer.  Suddenly
I heard the shuffling noise at my right, and, looking, saw another pair
of eyes, evidently approaching from an intersecting corridor.  As I
started to renew my slow retreat I heard the noise repeated behind me,
and then before I could turn I heard it again at my left.

The things were all about me.  They had me surrounded at the
intersection of two corridors.  Retreat was cut off in all directions,
unless I chose to charge one of the beasts.  Even then I had no doubt
but that the others would hurl themselves upon my back.  I could not
even guess the size or nature of the weird creatures.  That they were
of goodly proportions I guessed from the fact that the eyes were on a
level with my own.

Why is it that darkness so magnifies our dangers?  By day I would have
charged the great banth itself, had I thought it necessary, but hemmed
in by the darkness of these silent pits I hesitated before a pair of
eyes.

Soon I saw that the matter shortly would be taken entirely from my
hands, for the eyes at my right were moving slowly nearer me, as were
those at my left and those behind and before me.  Gradually they were
closing in upon me--but still that awful stealthy silence!

For what seemed hours the eyes approached gradually closer and closer,
until I felt that I should go mad for the horror of it.  I had been
constantly turning this way and that to prevent any sudden rush from
behind, until I was fairly worn out.  At length I could endure it no
longer, and, taking a fresh grasp upon my long-sword, I turned suddenly
and charged down upon one of my tormentors.

As I was almost upon it the thing retreated before me, but a sound from
behind caused me to wheel in time to see three pairs of eyes rushing at
me from the rear.  With a cry of rage I turned to meet the cowardly
beasts, but as I advanced they retreated as had their fellow.  Another
glance over my shoulder discovered the first eyes sneaking on me again.
And again I charged, only to see the eyes retreat before me and hear
the muffled rush of the three at my back.

Thus we continued, the eyes always a little closer in the end than they
had been before, until I thought that I should go mad with the terrible
strain of the ordeal.  That they were waiting to spring upon my back
seemed evident, and that it would not be long before they succeeded was
equally apparent, for I could not endure the wear of this repeated
charge and countercharge indefinitely.  In fact, I could feel myself
weakening from the mental and physical strain I had been undergoing.

At that moment I caught another glimpse from the corner of my eye of
the single pair of eyes at my back making a sudden rush upon me.  I
turned to meet the charge; there was a quick rush of the three from the
other direction; but I determined to pursue the single pair until I
should have at least settled my account with one of the beasts and thus
be relieved of the strain of meeting attacks from both directions.

There was no sound in the corridor, only that of my own breathing, yet
I knew that those three uncanny creatures were almost upon me.  The
eyes in front were not retreating so rapidly now; I was almost within
sword reach of them.  I raised my sword arm to deal the blow that
should free me, and then I felt a heavy body upon my back.  A cold,
moist, slimy something fastened itself upon my throat.  I stumbled and
went down.




CHAPTER XV

FLIGHT AND PURSUIT


I could not have been unconscious more than a few seconds, and yet I
know that I was unconscious, for the next thing I realized was that a
growing radiance was illuminating the corridor about me and the eyes
were gone.

I was unharmed except for a slight bruise upon my forehead where it had
struck the stone flagging as I fell.

I sprang to my feet to ascertain the cause of the light.  It came from
a torch in the hand of one of a party of four green warriors, who were
coming rapidly down the corridor toward me.  They had not yet seen me,
and so I lost no time in slipping into the first intersecting corridor
that I could find.  This time, however, I did not advance so far away
from the main corridor as on the other occasion that had resulted in my
losing Tars Tarkas and his guards.

The party came rapidly toward the opening of the passageway in which I
crouched against the wall.  As they passed by I breathed a sigh of
relief.  I had not been discovered, and, best of all, the party was the
same that I had followed into the pits.  It consisted of Tars Tarkas
and his three guards.

I fell in behind them and soon we were at the cell in which the great
Thark had been chained.  Two of the warriors remained without while the
man with the keys entered with the Thark to fasten his irons upon him
once more.  The two outside started to stroll slowly in the direction
of the spiral runway which led to the floors above, and in a moment
were lost to view beyond a turn in the corridor.

The torch had been stuck in a socket beside the door, so that its rays
illuminated both the corridor and the cell at the same time.  As I saw
the two warriors disappear I approached the entrance to the cell, with
a well-defined plan already formulated.

While I disliked the thought of carrying out the thing that I had
decided upon, there seemed no alternative if Tars Tarkas and I were to
go back together to my little camp in the hills.

Keeping near the wall, I came quite close to the door to Tars Tarkas'
cell, and there I stood with my longsword above my head, grasped with
both hands, that I might bring it down in one quick cut upon the skull
of the jailer as he emerged.

I dislike to dwell upon what followed after I heard the footsteps of
the man as he approached the doorway.  It is enough that within another
minute or two, Tars Tarkas, wearing the metal of a Warhoon chief, was
hurrying down the corridor toward the spiral runway, bearing the
Warhoon's torch to light his way.  A dozen paces behind him followed
John Carter, Prince of Helium.

The two companions of the man who lay now beside the door of the cell
that had been Tars Tarkas' had just started to ascend the runway as the
Thark came in view.

"Why so long, Tan Gama?" cried one of the men.

"I had trouble with a lock," replied Tars Tarkas.  "And now I find that
I have left my short-sword in the Thark's cell.  Go you on, I'll return
and fetch it."

"As you will, Tan Gama," replied he who had before spoken.  "We shall
see you above directly."

"Yes," replied Tars Tarkas, and turned as though to retrace his steps
to the cell, but he only waited until the two had disappeared at the
floor above.  Then I joined him, we extinguished the torch, and
together we crept toward the spiral incline that led to the upper
floors of the building.

At the first floor we found that the hallway ran but halfway through,
necessitating the crossing of a rear room full of green folk, ere we
could reach the inner courtyard, so there was but one thing left for us
to do, and that was to gain the second floor and the hallway through
which I had traversed the length of the building.

Cautiously we ascended.  We could hear the sounds of conversation
coming from the room above, but the hall still was unlighted, nor was
any one in sight as we gained the top of the runway.  Together we
threaded the long hall and reached the balcony overlooking the
courtyard, without being detected.

At our right was the window letting into the room in which I had seen
Tan Gama and the other warriors as they started to Tars Tarkas' cell
earlier in the evening.  His companions had returned here, and we now
overheard a portion of their conversation.

"What can be detaining Tan Gama?" asked one.

"He certainly could not be all this time fetching his shortsword from
the Thark's cell," spoke another.

"His short-sword?" asked a woman.  "What mean you?"

"Tan Gama left his short-sword in the Thark's cell," explained the
first speaker, "and left us at the runway, to return and get it."

"Tan Gama wore no short-sword this night," said the woman.  "It was
broken in to-day's battle with the Thark, and Tan Gama gave it to me to
repair.  See, I have it here," and as she spoke she drew Tan Gama's
short-sword from beneath her sleeping silks and furs.

The warriors sprang to their feet.

"There is something amiss here," cried one.

"'Tis even what I myself thought when Tan Gama left us at the runway,"
said another.  "Methought then that his voice sounded strangely."

"Come! let us hasten to the pits."

We waited to hear no more.  Slinging my harness into a long single
strap, I lowered Tars Tarkas to the courtyard beneath, and an instant
later dropped to his side.

We had spoken scarcely a dozen words since I had felled Tan Gama at the
cell door and seen in the torch's light the expression of utter
bewilderment upon the great Thark's face.

"By this time," he had said, "I should have learned to wonder at
nothing which John Carter accomplishes."  That was all.  He did not
need to tell me that he appreciated the friendship which had prompted
me to risk my life to rescue him, nor did he need to say that he was
glad to see me.

This fierce green warrior had been the first to greet me that day, now
twenty years gone, which had witnessed my first advent upon Mars.  He
had met me with levelled spear and cruel hatred in his heart as he
charged down upon me, bending low at the side of his mighty thoat as I
stood beside the incubator of his horde upon the dead sea bottom beyond
Korad.  And now among the inhabitants of two worlds I counted none a
better friend than Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of the Tharks.

As we reached the courtyard we stood in the shadows beneath the balcony
for a moment to discuss our plans.

"There be five now in the party, Tars Tarkas," I said; "Thuvia, Xodar,
Carthoris, and ourselves.  We shall need five thoats to bear us."

"Carthoris!" he cried.  "Your son?"

"Yes.  I found him in the prison of Shador, on the Sea of Omean, in the
land of the First Born."

"I know not any of these places, John Carter.  Be they upon Barsoom?"

"Upon and below, my friend; but wait until we shall have made good our
escape, and you shall hear the strangest narrative that ever a
Barsoomian of the outer world gave ear to.  Now we must steal our
thoats and be well away to the north before these fellows discover how
we have tricked them."

In safety we reached the great gates at the far end of the courtyard,
through which it was necessary to take our thoats to the avenue beyond.
It is no easy matter to handle five of these great, fierce beasts,
which by nature are as wild and ferocious as their masters and held in
subjection by cruelty and brute force alone.

As we approached them they sniffed our unfamiliar scent and with
squeals of rage circled about us.  Their long, massive necks upreared
raised their great, gaping mouths high above our heads.  They are
fearsome appearing brutes at best, but when they are aroused they are
fully as dangerous as they look.  The thoat stands a good ten feet at
the shoulder.  His hide is sleek and hairless, and of a dark slate
colour on back and sides, shading down his eight legs to a vivid yellow
at the huge, padded, nailless feet; the belly is pure white.  A broad,
flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, completes the picture of
this ferocious green Martian mount--a fit war steed for these warlike
people.

As the thoats are guided by telepathic means alone, there is no need
for rein or bridle, and so our object now was to find two that would
obey our unspoken commands.  As they charged about us we succeeded in
mastering them sufficiently to prevent any concerted attack upon us,
but the din of their squealing was certain to bring investigating
warriors into the courtyard were it to continue much longer.

At length I was successful in reaching the side of one great brute, and
ere he knew what I was about I was firmly seated astride his glossy
back.  A moment later Tars Tarkas had caught and mounted another, and
then between us we herded three or four more toward the great gates.

Tars Tarkas rode ahead and, leaning down to the latch, threw the
barriers open, while I held the loose thoats from breaking back to the
herd.  Then together we rode through into the avenue with our stolen
mounts and, without waiting to close the gates, hurried off toward the
southern boundary of the city.

Thus far our escape had been little short of marvellous, nor did our
good fortune desert us, for we passed the outer purlieus of the dead
city and came to our camp without hearing even the faintest sound of
pursuit.

Here a low whistle, the prearranged signal, apprised the balance of our
party that I was returning, and we were met by the three with every
manifestation of enthusiastic rejoicing.

But little time was wasted in narration of our adventure.  Tars Tarkas
and Carthoris exchanged the dignified and formal greetings common upon
Barsoom, but I could tell intuitively that the Thark loved my boy and
that Carthoris reciprocated his affection.

Xodar and the green Jeddak were formally presented to each other.  Then
Thuvia was lifted to the least fractious thoat, Xodar and Carthoris
mounted two others, and we set out at a rapid pace toward the east.  At
the far extremity of the city we circled toward the north, and under
the glorious rays of the two moons we sped noiselessly across the dead
sea bottom, away from the Warhoons and the First Born, but to what new
dangers and adventures we knew not.

Toward noon of the following day we halted to rest our mounts and
ourselves.  The beasts we hobbled, that they might move slowly about
cropping the ochre moss-like vegetation which constitutes both food and
drink for them on the march.  Thuvia volunteered to remain on watch
while the balance of the party slept for an hour.

It seemed to me that I had but closed my eyes when I felt her hand upon
my shoulder and heard her soft voice warning me of a new danger.

"Arise, O Prince," she whispered.  "There be that behind us which has
the appearance of a great body of pursuers."

The girl stood pointing in the direction from whence we had come, and
as I arose and looked, I, too, thought that I could detect a thin dark
line on the far horizon.  I awoke the others.  Tars Tarkas, whose giant
stature towered high above the rest of us, could see the farthest.

"It is a great body of mounted men," he said, "and they are travelling
at high speed."

There was no time to be lost.  We sprang to our hobbled thoats, freed
them, and mounted.  Then we turned our faces once more toward the north
and took our flight again at the highest speed of our slowest beast.

For the balance of the day and all the following night we raced across
that ochre wilderness with the pursuers at our back ever gaining upon
us.  Slowly but surely they were lessening the distance between us.
Just before dark they had been close enough for us to plainly
distinguish that they were green Martians, and all during the long
night we distinctly heard the clanking of their accoutrements behind us.

As the sun rose on the second day of our flight it disclosed the
pursuing horde not a half-mile in our rear.  As they saw us a fiendish
shout of triumph rose from their ranks.

Several miles in advance lay a range of hills--the farther shore of the
dead sea we had been crossing.  Could we but reach these hills our
chances of escape would be greatly enhanced, but Thuvia's mount,
although carrying the lightest burden, already was showing signs of
exhaustion.  I was riding beside her when suddenly her animal staggered
and lurched against mine.  I saw that he was going down, but ere he
fell I snatched the girl from his back and swung her to a place upon my
own thoat, behind me, where she clung with her arms about me.

This double burden soon proved too much for my already overtaxed beast,
and thus our speed was terribly diminished, for the others would
proceed no faster than the slowest of us could go.  In that little
party there was not one who would desert another; yet we were of
different countries, different colours, different races, different
religions--and one of us was of a different world.

We were quite close to the hills, but the Warhoons were gaining so
rapidly that we had given up all hope of reaching them in time.  Thuvia
and I were in the rear, for our beast was lagging more and more.
Suddenly I felt the girl's warm lips press a kiss upon my shoulder.
"For thy sake, O my Prince," she murmured.  Then her arms slipped from
about my waist and she was gone.

I turned and saw that she had deliberately slipped to the ground in the
very path of the cruel demons who pursued us, thinking that by
lightening the burden of my mount it might thus be enabled to bear me
to the safety of the hills.  Poor child!  She should have known John
Carter better than that.

Turning my thoat, I urged him after her, hoping to reach her side and
bear her on again in our hopeless flight.  Carthoris must have glanced
behind him at about the same time and taken in the situation, for by
the time I had reached Thuvia's side he was there also, and, springing
from his mount, he threw her upon its back and, turning the animal's
head toward the hills, gave the beast a sharp crack across the rump
with the flat of his sword.  Then he attempted to do the same with mine.

The brave boy's act of chivalrous self-sacrifice filled me with pride,
nor did I care that it had wrested from us our last frail chance for
escape.  The Warhoons were now close upon us.  Tars Tarkas and Xodar
had discovered our absence and were charging rapidly to our support.
Everything pointed toward a splendid ending of my second journey to
Barsoom.  I hated to go out without having seen my divine Princess, and
held her in my arms once again; but if it were not writ upon the book
of Fate that such was to be, then would I take the most that was coming
to me, and in these last few moments that were to be vouchsafed me
before I passed over into that unguessed future I could at least give
such an account of myself in my chosen vocation as would leave the
Warhoons of the South food for discourse for the next twenty
generations.

As Carthoris was not mounted, I slipped from the back of my own mount
and took my place at his side to meet the charge of the howling devils
bearing down upon us.  A moment later Tars Tarkas and Xodar ranged
themselves on either hand, turning their thoats loose that we might all
be on an equal footing.

The Warhoons were perhaps a hundred yards from us when a loud explosion
sounded from above and behind us, and almost at the same instant a
shell burst in their advancing ranks.  At once all was confusion.  A
hundred warriors toppled to the ground.  Riderless thoats plunged
hither and thither among the dead and dying.  Dismounted warriors were
trampled underfoot in the stampede which followed.  All semblance of
order had left the ranks of the green men, and as they looked far above
our heads to trace the origin of this unexpected attack, disorder
turned to retreat and retreat to a wild panic.  In another moment they
were racing as madly away from us as they had before been charging down
upon us.

We turned to look in the direction from whence the first report had
come, and there we saw, just clearing the tops of the nearer hills, a
great battleship swinging majestically through the air.  Her bow gun
spoke again even as we looked, and another shell burst among the
fleeing Warhoons.

As she drew nearer I could not repress a wild cry of elation, for upon
her bows I saw the device of Helium.




CHAPTER XVI

UNDER ARREST


As Carthoris, Xodar, Tars Tarkas, and I stood gazing at the magnificent
vessel which meant so much to all of us, we saw a second and then a
third top the summit of the hills and glide gracefully after their
sister.

Now a score of one-man air scouts were launching from the upper decks
of the nearer vessel, and in a moment more were speeding in long, swift
dives to the ground about us.

In another instant we were surrounded by armed sailors, and an officer
had stepped forward to address us, when his eyes fell upon Carthoris.
With an exclamation of surprised pleasure he sprang forward, and,
placing his hands upon the boy's shoulder, called him by name.

"Carthoris, my Prince," he cried, "Kaor!  Kaor!  Hor Vastus greets the
son of Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, and of her husband, John
Carter.  Where have you been, O my Prince?  All Helium has been plunged
in sorrow.  Terrible have been the calamities that have befallen your
great-grandsire's mighty nation since the fatal day that saw you leave
our midst."

"Grieve not, my good Hor Vastus," cried Carthoris, "since I bring not
back myself alone to cheer my mother's heart and the hearts of my
beloved people, but also one whom all Barsoom loved best--her greatest
warrior and her saviour--John Carter, Prince of Helium!"

Hor Vastus turned in the direction indicated by Carthoris, and as his
eyes fell upon me he was like to have collapsed from sheer surprise.

"John Carter!" he exclaimed, and then a sudden troubled look came into
his eyes.  "My Prince," he started, "where hast thou--" and then he
stopped, but I knew the question that his lips dared not frame.  The
loyal fellow would not be the one to force from mine a confession of
the terrible truth that I had returned from the bosom of the Iss, the
River of Mystery, back from the shore of the Lost Sea of Korus, and the
Valley Dor.

"Ah, my Prince," he continued, as though no thought had interrupted his
greeting, "that you are back is sufficient, and let Hor Vastus' sword
have the high honour of being first at thy feet."  With these words the
noble fellow unbuckled his scabbard and flung his sword upon the ground
before me.

Could you know the customs and the character of red Martians you would
appreciate the depth of meaning that that simple act conveyed to me and
to all about us who witnessed it.  The thing was equivalent to saying,
"My sword, my body, my life, my soul are yours to do with as you wish.
Until death and after death I look to you alone for authority for my
every act.  Be you right or wrong, your word shall be my only truth.
Whoso raises his hand against you must answer to my sword."

It is the oath of fealty that men occasionally pay to a Jeddak whose
high character and chivalrous acts have inspired the enthusiastic love
of his followers.  Never had I known this high tribute paid to a lesser
mortal.  There was but one response possible.  I stooped and lifted the
sword from the ground, raised the hilt to my lips, and then, stepping
to Hor Vastus, I buckled the weapon upon him with my own hands.

"Hor Vastus," I said, placing my hand upon his shoulder, "you know best
the promptings of your own heart.  That I shall need your sword I have
little doubt, but accept from John Carter upon his sacred honour the
assurance that he will never call upon you to draw this sword other
than in the cause of truth, justice, and righteousness."

"That I knew, my Prince," he replied, "ere ever I threw my beloved
blade at thy feet."

As we spoke other fliers came and went between the ground and the
battleship, and presently a larger boat was launched from above, one
capable of carrying a dozen persons, perhaps, and dropped lightly near
us.  As she touched, an officer sprang from her deck to the ground,
and, advancing to Hor Vastus, saluted.

"Kantos Kan desires that this party whom we have rescued be brought
immediately to the deck of the Xavarian," he said.

As we approached the little craft I looked about for the members of my
party and for the first time noticed that Thuvia was not among them.
Questioning elicited the fact that none had seen her since Carthoris
had sent her thoat galloping madly toward the hills, in the hope of
carrying her out of harm's way.

Immediately Hor Vastus dispatched a dozen air scouts in as many
directions to search for her.  It could not be possible that she had
gone far since we had last seen her.  We others stepped to the deck of
the craft that had been sent to fetch us, and a moment later were upon
the Xavarian.

The first man to greet me was Kantos Kan himself.  My old friend had
won to the highest place in the navy of Helium, but he was still to me
the same brave comrade who had shared with me the privations of a
Warhoon dungeon, the terrible atrocities of the Great Games, and later
the dangers of our search for Dejah Thoris within the hostile city of
Zodanga.

Then I had been an unknown wanderer upon a strange planet, and he a
simple padwar in the navy of Helium.  To-day he commanded all Helium's
great terrors of the skies, and I was a Prince of the House of Tardos
Mors, Jeddak of Helium.

He did not ask me where I had been.  Like Hor Vastus, he too dreaded
the truth and would not be the one to wrest a statement from me.  That
it must come some time he well knew, but until it came he seemed
satisfied to but know that I was with him once more.  He greeted
Carthoris and Tars Tarkas with the keenest delight, but he asked
neither where he had been.  He could scarcely keep his hands off the
boy.

"You do not know, John Carter," he said to me, "how we of Helium love
this son of yours.  It is as though all the great love we bore his
noble father and his poor mother had been centred in him.  When it
became known that he was lost, ten million people wept."

"What mean you, Kantos Kan," I whispered, "by 'his poor mother'?" for
the words had seemed to carry a sinister meaning which I could not
fathom.

He drew me to one side.

"For a year," he said, "Ever since Carthoris disappeared, Dejah Thoris
has grieved and mourned for her lost boy.  The blow of years ago, when
you did not return from the atmosphere plant, was lessened to some
extent by the duties of motherhood, for your son broke his white shell
that very night."

"That she suffered terribly then, all Helium knew, for did not all
Helium suffer with her the loss of her lord!  But with the boy gone
there was nothing left, and after expedition upon expedition returned
with the same hopeless tale of no clue as to his whereabouts, our
beloved Princess drooped lower and lower, until all who saw her felt
that it could be but a matter of days ere she went to join her loved
ones within the precincts of the Valley Dor.

"As a last resort, Mors Kajak, her father, and Tardos Mors, her
grandfather, took command of two mighty expeditions, and a month ago
sailed away to explore every inch of ground in the northern hemisphere
of Barsoom.  For two weeks no word has come back from them, but rumours
were rife that they had met with a terrible disaster and that all were
dead.

"About this time Zat Arras renewed his importunities for her hand in
marriage.  He has been for ever after her since you disappeared.  She
hated him and feared him, but with both her father and grandfather
gone, Zat Arras was very powerful, for he is still Jed of Zodanga, to
which position, you will remember, Tardos Mors appointed him after you
had refused the honour.

"He had a secret audience with her six days ago.  What took place none
knows, but the next day Dejah Thoris had disappeared, and with her had
gone a dozen of her household guard and body servants, including Sola
the green woman--Tars Tarkas' daughter, you recall.  No word left they
of their intentions, but it is always thus with those who go upon the
voluntary pilgrimage from which none returns.  We cannot think aught
than that Dejah Thoris has sought the icy bosom of Iss, and that her
devoted servants have chosen to accompany her.

"Zat Arras was at Helium when she disappeared.  He commands this fleet
which has been searching for her since.  No trace of her have we found,
and I fear that it be a futile quest."

While we talked, Hor Vastus' fliers were returning to the Xavarian.
Not one, however, had discovered a trace of Thuvia.  I was much
depressed over the news of Dejah Thoris' disappearance, and now there
was added the further burden of apprehension concerning the fate of
this girl whom I believed to be the daughter of some proud Barsoomian
house, and it had been my intention to make every effort to return her
to her people.

I was about to ask Kantos Kan to prosecute a further search for her
when a flier from the flagship of the fleet arrived at the Xavarian
with an officer bearing a message to Kantos Kan from Arras.

My friend read the dispatch and then turned to me.

"Zat Arras commands me to bring our 'prisoners' before him.  There is
naught else to do.  He is supreme in Helium, yet it would be far more
in keeping with chivalry and good taste were he to come hither and
greet the saviour of Barsoom with the honours that are his due."

"You know full well, my friend," I said, smiling, "that Zat Arras has
good cause to hate me.  Nothing would please him better than to
humiliate me and then to kill me.  Now that he has so excellent an
excuse, let us go and see if he has the courage to take advantage of
it."

Summoning Carthoris, Tars Tarkas, and Xodar, we entered the small flier
with Kantos Kan and Zat Arras' officer, and in a moment were stepping
to the deck of Zat Arras' flagship.

As we approached the Jed of Zodanga no sign of greeting or recognition
crossed his face; not even to Carthoris did he vouchsafe a friendly
word.  His attitude was cold, haughty, and uncompromising.

"Kaor, Zat Arras," I said in greeting, but he did not respond.

"Why were these prisoners not disarmed?" he asked to Kantos Kan.

"They are not prisoners, Zat Arras," replied the officer.

"Two of them are of Helium's noblest family.  Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of
Thark, is Tardos Mors' best beloved ally.  The other is a friend and
companion of the Prince of Helium--that is enough for me to know."

"It is not enough for me, however," retorted Zat Arras.  "More must I
hear from those who have taken the pilgrimage than their names.  Where
have you been, John Carter?"

"I have just come from the Valley Dor and the Land of the First Born,
Zat Arras," I replied.

"Ah!" he exclaimed in evident pleasure, "you do not deny it, then?  You
have returned from the bosom of Iss?"

"I have come back from a land of false hope, from a valley of torture
and death; with my companions I have escaped from the hideous clutches
of lying fiends.  I have come back to the Barsoom that I saved from a
painless death to again save her, but this time from death in its most
frightful form."

"Cease, blasphemer!" cried Zat Arras.  "Hope not to save thy cowardly
carcass by inventing horrid lies to--" But he got no further.  One does
not call John Carter "coward" and "liar" thus lightly, and Zat Arras
should have known it.  Before a hand could be raised to stop me, I was
at his side and one hand grasped his throat.

"Come I from heaven or hell, Zat Arras, you will find me still the same
John Carter that I have always been; nor did ever man call me such
names and live--without apologizing." And with that I commenced to bend
him back across my knee and tighten my grip upon his throat.

"Seize him!" cried Zat Arras, and a dozen officers sprang forward to
assist him.

Kantos Kan came close and whispered to me.

"Desist, I beg of you.  It will but involve us all, for I cannot see
these men lay hands upon you without aiding you.  My officers and men
will join me and we shall have a mutiny then that may lead to the
revolution.  For the sake of Tardos Mors and Helium, desist."

At his words I released Zat Arras and, turning my back upon him, walked
toward the ship's rail.

"Come, Kantos Kan," I said, "the Prince of Helium would return to the
Xavarian."

None interfered.  Zat Arras stood white and trembling amidst his
officers.  Some there were who looked upon him with scorn and drew
toward me, while one, a man long in the service and confidence of
Tardos Mors, spoke to me in a low tone as I passed him.

"You may count my metal among your fighting-men, John Carter," he said.

I thanked him and passed on.  In silence we embarked, and shortly after
stepped once more upon the deck of the Xavarian.  Fifteen minutes later
we received orders from the flagship to proceed toward Helium.

Our journey thither was uneventful.  Carthoris and I were wrapped in
the gloomiest of thoughts.  Kantos Kan was sombre in contemplation of
the further calamity that might fall upon Helium should Zat Arras
attempt to follow the age-old precedent that allotted a terrible death
to fugitives from the Valley Dor.  Tars Tarkas grieved for the loss of
his daughter.  Xodar alone was care-free--a fugitive and outlaw, he
could be no worse off in Helium than elsewhere.

"Let us hope that we may at least go out with good red blood upon our
blades," he said.  It was a simple wish and one most likely to be
gratified.

Among the officers of the Xavarian I thought I could discern division
into factions ere we had reached Helium.  There were those who gathered
about Carthoris and myself whenever the opportunity presented, while
about an equal number held aloof from us.  They offered us only the
most courteous treatment, but were evidently bound by their
superstitious belief in the doctrine of Dor and Iss and Korus.  I could
not blame them, for I knew how strong a hold a creed, however
ridiculous it may be, may gain upon an otherwise intelligent people.

By returning from Dor we had committed a sacrilege; by recounting our
adventures there, and stating the facts as they existed we had outraged
the religion of their fathers.  We were blasphemers--lying heretics.
Even those who still clung to us from personal love and loyalty I think
did so in the face of the fact that at heart they questioned our
veracity--it is very hard to accept a new religion for an old, no
matter how alluring the promises of the new may be; but to reject the
old as a tissue of falsehoods without being offered anything in its
stead is indeed a most difficult thing to ask of any people.

Kantos Kan would not talk of our experiences among the therns and the
First Born.

"It is enough," he said, "that I jeopardize my life here and hereafter
by countenancing you at all--do not ask me to add still further to my
sins by listening to what I have always been taught was the rankest
heresy."

I knew that sooner or later the time must come when our friends and
enemies would be forced to declare themselves openly.  When we reached
Helium there must be an accounting, and if Tardos Mors had not returned
I feared that the enmity of Zat Arras might weigh heavily against us,
for he represented the government of Helium.  To take sides against him
were equivalent to treason.  The majority of the troops would doubtless
follow the lead of their officers, and I knew that many of the highest
and most powerful men of both land and air forces would cleave to John
Carter in the face of god, man, or devil.

On the other hand, the majority of the populace unquestionably would
demand that we pay the penalty of our sacrilege.  The outlook seemed
dark from whatever angle I viewed it, but my mind was so torn with
anguish at the thought of Dejah Thoris that I realize now that I gave
the terrible question of Helium's plight but scant attention at that
time.

There was always before me, day and night, a horrible nightmare of the
frightful scenes through which I knew my Princess might even then be
passing--the horrid plant men--the ferocious white apes.  At times I
would cover my face with my hands in a vain effort to shut out the
fearful thing from my mind.

It was in the forenoon that we arrived above the mile-high scarlet
tower which marks greater Helium from her twin city.  As we descended
in great circles toward the navy docks a mighty multitude could be seen
surging in the streets beneath.  Helium had been notified by
radio-aerogram of our approach.

From the deck of the Xavarian we four, Carthoris, Tars Tarkas, Xodar,
and I, were transferred to a lesser flier to be transported to quarters
within the Temple of Reward.  It is here that Martian justice is meted
to benefactor and malefactor.  Here the hero is decorated.  Here the
felon is condemned.  We were taken into the temple from the landing
stage upon the roof, so that we did not pass among the people at all,
as is customary.  Always before I had seen prisoners of note, or
returned wanderers of eminence, paraded from the Gate of Jeddaks to the
Temple of Reward up the broad Avenue of Ancestors through dense crowds
of jeering or cheering citizens.

I knew that Zat Arras dared not trust the people near to us, for he
feared that their love for Carthoris and myself might break into a
demonstration which would wipe out their superstitious horror of the
crime we were to be charged with.  What his plans were I could only
guess, but that they were sinister was evidenced by the fact that only
his most trusted servitors accompanied us upon the flier to the Temple
of Reward.

We were lodged in a room upon the south side of the temple, overlooking
the Avenue of Ancestors down which we could see the full length to the
Gate of Jeddaks, five miles away.  The people in the temple plaza and
in the streets for a distance of a full mile were standing as close
packed as it was possible for them to get.  They were very
orderly--there were neither scoffs nor plaudits, and when they saw us
at the window above them there were many who buried their faces in
their arms and wept.

Late in the afternoon a messenger arrived from Zat Arras to inform us
that we would be tried by an impartial body of nobles in the great hall
of the temple at the 1st zode* on the following day, or about 8:40 A.M.
Earth time.


*Wherever Captain Carter has used Martian measurements of time,
distance, weight, and the like I have translated them into as nearly
their equivalent in earthly values as is possible.  His notes contain
many Martian tables, and a great volume of scientific data, but since
the International Astronomic Society is at present engaged in
classifying, investigating, and verifying this vast fund of remarkable
and valuable information, I have felt that it will add nothing to the
interest of Captain Carter's story or to the sum total of human
knowledge to maintain a strict adherence to the original manuscript in
these matters, while it might readily confuse the reader and detract
from the interest of the history.  For those who may be interested,
however, I will explain that the Martian day is a trifle over 24 hours
37 minutes duration (Earth time).  This the Martians divide into ten
equal parts, commencing the day at about 6 A.M.  Earth time.  The zodes
are divided into fifty shorter periods, each of which in turn is
composed of 200 brief periods of time, about equivalent to the earthly
second.  The Barsoomian Table of Time as here given is but a part of
the full table appearing in Captain Carter's notes.

                 TABLE

   200 tals . . . . . . . . . 1 xat
    50 xats . . . . . . . . . 1 zode
    10 zodes  . . . . . . . . 1 revolution of Mars upon its axis.




CHAPTER XVII

THE DEATH SENTENCE


A few moments before the appointed time on the following morning a
strong guard of Zat Arras' officers appeared at our quarters to conduct
us to the great hall of the temple.

In twos we entered the chamber and marched down the broad Aisle of
Hope, as it is called, to the platform in the centre of the hall.
Before and behind us marched armed guards, while three solid ranks of
Zodangan soldiery lined either side of the aisle from the entrance to
the rostrum.

As we reached the raised enclosure I saw our judges.  As is the custom
upon Barsoom there were thirty-one, supposedly selected by lot from men
of the noble class, for nobles were on trial.  But to my amazement I
saw no single friendly face among them.  Practically all were
Zodangans, and it was I to whom Zodanga owed her defeat at the hands of
the green hordes and her subsequent vassalage to Helium.  There could
be little justice here for John Carter, or his son, or for the great
Thark who had commanded the savage tribesmen who overran Zodanga's
broad avenues, looting, burning, and murdering.

About us the vast circular coliseum was packed to its full capacity.
All classes were represented--all ages, and both sexes.  As we entered
the hall the hum of subdued conversation ceased until as we halted upon
the platform, or Throne of Righteousness, the silence of death
enveloped the ten thousand spectators.

The judges were seated in a great circle about the periphery of the
circular platform.  We were assigned seats with our backs toward a
small platform in the exact centre of the larger one.  This placed us
facing the judges and the audience.  Upon the smaller platform each
would take his place while his case was being heard.

Zat Arras himself sat in the golden chair of the presiding magistrate.
As we were seated and our guards retired to the foot of the stairway
leading to the platform, he arose and called my name.

"John Carter," he cried, "take your place upon the Pedestal of Truth to
be judged impartially according to your acts and here to know the
reward you have earned thereby." Then turning to and fro toward the
audience he narrated the acts upon the value of which my reward was to
be determined.

"Know you, O judges and people of Helium," he said, "that John Carter,
one time Prince of Helium, has returned by his own statement from the
Valley Dor and even from the Temple of Issus itself.  That, in the
presence of many men of Helium he has blasphemed against the Sacred
Iss, and against the Valley Dor, and the Lost Sea of Korus, and the
Holy Therns themselves, and even against Issus, Goddess of Death, and
of Life Eternal.  And know you further by witness of thine own eyes
that see him here now upon the Pedestal of Truth that he has indeed
returned from these sacred precincts in the face of our ancient
customs, and in violation of the sanctity of our ancient religion.

"He who be once dead may not live again.  He who attempts it must be
made dead for ever.  Judges, your duty lies plain before you--here can
be no testimony in contravention of truth.  What reward shall be meted
to John Carter in accordance with the acts he has committed?"

"Death!" shouted one of the judges.

And then a man sprang to his feet in the audience, and raising his hand
on high, cried: "Justice!  Justice!  Justice!" It was Kantos Kan, and
as all eyes turned toward him he leaped past the Zodangan soldiery and
sprang upon the platform.

"What manner of justice be this?" he cried to Zat Arras.  "The
defendant has not been heard, nor has he had an opportunity to call
others in his behalf.  In the name of the people of Helium I demand
fair and impartial treatment for the Prince of Helium."

A great cry arose from the audience then: "Justice!  Justice!
Justice!" and Zat Arras dared not deny them.

"Speak, then," he snarled, turning to me; "but blaspheme not against
the things that are sacred upon Barsoom."

"Men of Helium," I cried, turning to the spectators, and speaking over
the heads of my judges, "how can John Carter expect justice from the
men of Zodanga?  He cannot nor does he ask it.  It is to the men of
Helium that he states his case; nor does he appeal for mercy to any.
It is not in his own cause that he speaks now--it is in thine.  In the
cause of your wives and daughters, and of wives and daughters yet
unborn.  It is to save them from the unthinkably atrocious indignities
that I have seen heaped upon the fair women of Barsoom in the place men
call the Temple of Issus.  It is to save them from the sucking embrace
of the plant men, from the fangs of the great white apes of Dor, from
the cruel lust of the Holy Therns, from all that the cold, dead Iss
carries them to from homes of love and life and happiness.

"Sits there no man here who does not know the history of John Carter.
How he came among you from another world and rose from a prisoner among
the green men, through torture and persecution, to a place high among
the highest of Barsoom.  Nor ever did you know John Carter to lie in
his own behalf, or to say aught that might harm the people of Barsoom,
or to speak lightly of the strange religion which he respected without
understanding.

"There be no man here, or elsewhere upon Barsoom to-day who does not
owe his life directly to a single act of mine, in which I sacrificed
myself and the happiness of my Princess that you might live.  And so,
men of Helium, I think that I have the right to demand that I be heard,
that I be believed, and that you let me serve you and save you from the
false hereafter of Dor and Issus as I saved you from the real death
that other day.

"It is to you of Helium that I speak now.  When I am done let the men
of Zodanga have their will with me.  Zat Arras has taken my sword from
me, so the men of Zodanga no longer fear me.  Will you listen?"

"Speak, John Carter, Prince of Helium," cried a great noble from the
audience, and the multitude echoed his permission, until the building
rocked with the noise of their demonstration.

Zat Arras knew better than to interfere with such a sentiment as was
expressed that day in the Temple of Reward, and so for two hours I
talked with the people of Helium.

But when I had finished, Zat Arras arose and, turning to the judges,
said in a low tone: "My nobles, you have heard John Carter's plea;
every opportunity has been given him to prove his innocence if he be
not guilty; but instead he has but utilized the time in further
blasphemy.  What, gentlemen, is your verdict?"

"Death to the blasphemer!" cried one, springing to his feet, and in an
instant the entire thirty-one judges were on their feet with upraised
swords in token of the unanimity of their verdict.

If the people did not hear Zat Arras' charge, they certainly did hear
the verdict of the tribunal.  A sullen murmur rose louder and louder
about the packed coliseum, and then Kantos Kan, who had not left the
platform since first he had taken his place near me, raised his hand
for silence.  When he could be heard he spoke to the people in a cool
and level voice.

"You have heard the fate that the men of Zodanga would mete to Helium's
noblest hero.  It may be the duty of the men of Helium to accept the
verdict as final.  Let each man act according to his own heart.  Here
is the answer of Kantos Kan, head of the navy of Helium, to Zat Arras
and his judges," and with that he unbuckled his scabbard and threw his
sword at my feet.

In an instant soldiers and citizens, officers and nobles were crowding
past the soldiers of Zodanga and forcing their way to the Throne of
Righteousness.  A hundred men surged up on the platform, and a hundred
blades rattled and clanked to the floor at my feet.  Zat Arras and his
officers were furious, but they were helpless.  One by one I raised the
swords to my lips and buckled them again upon their owners.

"Come," said Kantos Kan, "we will escort John Carter and his party to
his own palace," and they formed about us and started toward the stairs
leading to the Aisle of Hope.

"Stop!" cried Zat Arras.  "Soldiers of Helium, let no prisoner leave
the Throne of Righteousness."

The soldiery from Zodanga were the only organized body of Heliumetic
troops within the temple, so Zat Arras was confident that his orders
would be obeyed, but I do not think that he looked for the opposition
that was raised the moment the soldiers advanced toward the throne.

From every quarter of the coliseum swords flashed and men rushed
threateningly upon the Zodangans.  Some one raised a cry: "Tardos Mors
is dead--a thousand years to John Carter, Jeddak of Helium." As I heard
that and saw the ugly attitude of the men of Helium toward the soldiers
of Zat Arras, I knew that only a miracle could avert a clash that would
end in civil war.

"Hold!" I cried, leaping to the Pedestal of Truth once more.  "Let no
man move till I am done.  A single sword thrust here to-day may plunge
Helium into a bitter and bloody war the results of which none can
foresee.  It will turn brother against brother and father against son.
No man's life is worth that sacrifice.  Rather would I submit to the
biased judgment of Zat Arras than be the cause of civil strife in
Helium.

"Let us each give in a point to the other, and let this entire matter
rest until Tardos Mors returns, or Mors Kajak, his son.  If neither be
back at the end of a year a second trial may be held--the thing has a
precedent."  And then turning to Zat Arras, I said in a low voice:
"Unless you be a bigger fool than I take you to be, you will grasp the
chance I am offering you ere it is too late.  Once that multitude of
swords below is drawn against your soldiery no man upon Barsoom--not
even Tardos Mors himself--can avert the consequences.  What say you?
Speak quickly."

The Jed of Zodangan Helium raised his voice to the angry sea beneath us.

"Stay your hands, men of Helium," he shouted, his voice trembling with
rage.  "The sentence of the court is passed, but the day of retribution
has not been set.  I, Zat Arras, Jed of Zodanga, appreciating the royal
connections of the prisoner and his past services to Helium and
Barsoom, grant a respite of one year, or until the return of Mors
Kajak, or Tardos Mors to Helium.  Disperse quietly to your houses.  Go."

No one moved.  Instead, they stood in tense silence with their eyes
fastened upon me, as though waiting for a signal to attack.

"Clear the temple," commanded Zat Arras, in a low tone to one of his
officers.

Fearing the result of an attempt to carry out this order by force, I
stepped to the edge of the platform and, pointing toward the main
entrance, bid them pass out.  As one man they turned at my request and
filed, silent and threatening, past the soldiers of Zat Arras, Jed of
Zodanga, who stood scowling in impotent rage.

Kantos Kan with the others who had sworn allegiance to me still stood
upon the Throne of Righteousness with me.

"Come," said Kantos Kan to me, "we will escort you to your palace, my
Prince.  Come, Carthoris and Xodar.  Come, Tars Tarkas."  And with a
haughty sneer for Zat Arras upon his handsome lips, he turned and
strode to the throne steps and up the Aisle of Hope.  We four and the
hundred loyal ones followed behind him, nor was a hand raised to stay
us, though glowering eyes followed our triumphal march through the
temple.

In the avenues we found a press of people, but they opened a pathway
for us, and many were the swords that were flung at my feet as I passed
through the city of Helium toward my palace upon the outskirts.  Here
my old slaves fell upon their knees and kissed my hands as I greeted
them.  They cared not where I had been.  It was enough that I had
returned to them.

"Ah, master," cried one, "if our divine Princess were but here this
would be a day indeed."

Tears came to my eyes, so that I was forced to turn away that I might
hide my emotions.  Carthoris wept openly as the slaves pressed about
him with expressions of affection, and words of sorrow for our common
loss.  It was now that Tars Tarkas for the first time learned that his
daughter, Sola, had accompanied Dejah Thoris upon the last long
pilgrimage.  I had not had the heart to tell him what Kantos Kan had
told me.  With the stoicism of the green Martian he showed no sign of
suffering, yet I knew that his grief was as poignant as my own.  In
marked contrast to his kind, he had in well-developed form the kindlier
human characteristics of love, friendship, and charity.

It was a sad and sombre party that sat at the feast of welcome in the
great dining hall of the palace of the Prince of Helium that day.  We
were over a hundred strong, not counting the members of my little
court, for Dejah Thoris and I had maintained a household consistent
with our royal rank.

The board, according to red Martian custom, was triangular, for there
were three in our family.  Carthoris and I presided in the centre of
our sides of the table--midway of the third side Dejah Thoris'
high-backed, carven chair stood vacant except for her gorgeous wedding
trappings and jewels which were draped upon it.  Behind stood a slave
as in the days when his mistress had occupied her place at the board,
ready to do her bidding.  It was the way upon Barsoom, so I endured the
anguish of it, though it wrung my heart to see that silent chair where
should have been my laughing and vivacious Princess keeping the great
hall ringing with her merry gaiety.

At my right sat Kantos Kan, while to the right of Dejah Thoris' empty
place Tars Tarkas sat in a huge chair before a raised section of the
board which years ago I had had constructed to meet the requirements of
his mighty bulk.  The place of honour at a Martian board is always at
the hostess's right, and this place was ever reserved by Dejah Thoris
for the great Thark upon the occasions that he was in Helium.

Hor Vastus sat in the seat of honour upon Carthoris' side of the table.
There was little general conversation.  It was a quiet and saddened
party.  The loss of Dejah Thoris was still fresh in the minds of all,
and to this was added fear for the safety of Tardos Mors and Mors
Kajak, as well as doubt and uncertainty as to the fate of Helium,
should it prove true that she was permanently deprived of her great
Jeddak.

Suddenly our attention was attracted by the sound of distant shouting,
as of many people raising their voices at once, but whether in anger or
rejoicing, we could not tell.  Nearer and nearer came the tumult.  A
slave rushed into the dining hall to cry that a great concourse of
people was swarming through the palace gates.  A second burst upon the
heels of the first alternately laughing and shrieking as a madman.

"Dejah Thoris is found!" he cried.  "A messenger from Dejah Thoris!"

I waited to hear no more.  The great windows of the dining hall
overlooked the avenue leading to the main gates--they were upon the
opposite side of the hall from me with the table intervening.  I did
not waste time in circling the great board--with a single leap I
cleared table and diners and sprang upon the balcony beyond.  Thirty
feet below lay the scarlet sward of the lawn and beyond were many
people crowding about a great thoat which bore a rider headed toward
the palace.  I vaulted to the ground below and ran swiftly toward the
advancing party.

As I came near to them I saw that the figure on the thoat was Sola.

"Where is the Princess of Helium?" I cried.

The green girl slid from her mighty mount and ran toward me.

"O my Prince!  My Prince!" she cried.  "She is gone for ever.  Even now
she may be a captive upon the lesser moon.  The black pirates of
Barsoom have stolen her."