
CHAPTER XIX

BATTLING IN THE ARENA


Slowly I regained my composure and finally essayed again to attempt to
remove the keys from the dead body of my former jailer.  But as I
reached out into the darkness to locate it I found to my horror that it
was gone.  Then the truth flashed on me; the owners of those gleaming
eyes had dragged my prize away from me to be devoured in their
neighboring lair; as they had been waiting for days, for weeks, for
months, through all this awful eternity of my imprisonment to drag my
dead carcass to their feast.

For two days no food was brought me, but then a new messenger appeared
and my incarceration went on as before, but not again did I allow my
reason to be submerged by the horror of my position.

Shortly after this episode another prisoner was brought in and chained
near me.  By the dim torch light I saw that he was a red Martian and I
could scarcely await the departure of his guards to address him.  As
their retreating footsteps died away in the distance, I called out
softly the Martian word of greeting, kaor.

"Who are you who speaks out of the darkness?" he answered

"John Carter, a friend of the red men of Helium."

"I am of Helium," he said, "but I do not recall your name."

And then I told him my story as I have written it here, omitting only
any reference to my love for Dejah Thoris.  He was much excited by the
news of Helium's princess and seemed quite positive that she and Sola
could easily have reached a point of safety from where they left me.
He said that he knew the place well because the defile through which
the Warhoon warriors had passed when they discovered us was the only
one ever used by them when marching to the south.

"Dejah Thoris and Sola entered the hills not five miles from a great
waterway and are now probably quite safe," he assured me.

My fellow prisoner was Kantos Kan, a padwar (lieutenant) in the navy of
Helium.  He had been a member of the ill-fated expedition which had
fallen into the hands of the Tharks at the time of Dejah Thoris'
capture, and he briefly related the events which followed the defeat of
the battleships.

Badly injured and only partially manned they had limped slowly toward
Helium, but while passing near the city of Zodanga, the capital of
Helium's hereditary enemies among the red men of Barsoom, they had been
attacked by a great body of war vessels and all but the craft to which
Kantos Kan belonged were either destroyed or captured.  His vessel was
chased for days by three of the Zodangan war ships but finally escaped
during the darkness of a moonless night.

Thirty days after the capture of Dejah Thoris, or about the time of our
coming to Thark, his vessel had reached Helium with about ten survivors
of the original crew of seven hundred officers and men.  Immediately
seven great fleets, each of one hundred mighty war ships, had been
dispatched to search for Dejah Thoris, and from these vessels two
thousand smaller craft had been kept out continuously in futile search
for the missing princess.

Two green Martian communities had been wiped off the face of Barsoom by
the avenging fleets, but no trace of Dejah Thoris had been found.  They
had been searching among the northern hordes, and only within the past
few days had they extended their quest to the south.

Kantos Kan had been detailed to one of the small one-man fliers and had
had the misfortune to be discovered by the Warhoons while exploring
their city.  The bravery and daring of the man won my greatest respect
and admiration.  Alone he had landed at the city's boundary and on foot
had penetrated to the buildings surrounding the plaza.  For two days
and nights he had explored their quarters and their dungeons in search
of his beloved princess only to fall into the hands of a party of
Warhoons as he was about to leave, after assuring himself that Dejah
Thoris was not a captive there.

During the period of our incarceration Kantos Kan and I became well
acquainted, and formed a warm personal friendship.  A few days only
elapsed, however, before we were dragged forth from our dungeon for the
great games.  We were conducted early one morning to an enormous
amphitheater, which instead of having been built upon the surface of
the ground was excavated below the surface.  It had partially filled
with debris so that how large it had originally been was difficult to
say.  In its present condition it held the entire twenty thousand
Warhoons of the assembled hordes.

The arena was immense but extremely uneven and unkempt.  Around it the
Warhoons had piled building stone from some of the ruined edifices of
the ancient city to prevent the animals and the captives from escaping
into the audience, and at each end had been constructed cages to hold
them until their turns came to meet some horrible death upon the arena.

Kantos Kan and I were confined together in one of the cages.  In the
others were wild calots, thoats, mad zitidars, green warriors, and
women of other hordes, and many strange and ferocious wild beasts of
Barsoom which I had never before seen.  The din of their roaring,
growling and squealing was deafening and the formidable appearance of
any one of them was enough to make the stoutest heart feel grave
forebodings.

Kantos Kan explained to me that at the end of the day one of these
prisoners would gain freedom and the others would lie dead about the
arena.  The winners in the various contests of the day would be pitted
against each other until only two remained alive; the victor in the
last encounter being set free, whether animal or man.  The following
morning the cages would be filled with a new consignment of victims,
and so on throughout the ten days of the games.

Shortly after we had been caged the amphitheater began to fill and
within an hour every available part of the seating space was occupied.
Dak Kova, with his jeds and chieftains, sat at the center of one side
of the arena upon a large raised platform.

At a signal from Dak Kova the doors of two cages were thrown open and a
dozen green Martian females were driven to the center of the arena.
Each was given a dagger and then, at the far end, a pack of twelve
calots, or wild dogs were loosed upon them.

As the brutes, growling and foaming, rushed upon the almost defenseless
women I turned my head that I might not see the horrid sight.  The
yells and laughter of the green horde bore witness to the excellent
quality of the sport and when I turned back to the arena, as Kantos Kan
told me it was over, I saw three victorious calots, snarling and
growling over the bodies of their prey.  The women had given a good
account of themselves.

Next a mad zitidar was loosed among the remaining dogs, and so it went
throughout the long, hot, horrible day.

During the day I was pitted against first men and then beasts, but as I
was armed with a long-sword and always outclassed my adversary in
agility and generally in strength as well, it proved but child's play
to me.  Time and time again I won the applause of the bloodthirsty
multitude, and toward the end there were cries that I be taken from the
arena and be made a member of the hordes of Warhoon.

Finally there were but three of us left, a great green warrior of some
far northern horde, Kantos Kan, and myself.

The other two were to battle and then I to fight the conqueror for the
liberty which was accorded the final winner.

Kantos Kan had fought several times during the day and like myself had
always proven victorious, but occasionally by the smallest of margins,
especially when pitted against the green warriors.  I had little hope
that he could best his giant adversary who had mowed down all before
him during the day.  The fellow towered nearly sixteen feet in height,
while Kantos Kan was some inches under six feet.  As they advanced to
meet one another I saw for the first time a trick of Martian
swordsmanship which centered Kantos Kan's every hope of victory and
life on one cast of the dice, for, as he came to within about twenty
feet of the huge fellow he threw his sword arm far behind him over his
shoulder and with a mighty sweep hurled his weapon point foremost at
the green warrior.  It flew true as an arrow and piercing the poor
devil's heart laid him dead upon the arena.

Kantos Kan and I were now pitted against each other but as we
approached to the encounter I whispered to him to prolong the battle
until nearly dark in the hope that we might find some means of escape.
The horde evidently guessed that we had no hearts to fight each other
and so they howled in rage as neither of us placed a fatal thrust.
Just as I saw the sudden coming of dark I whispered to Kantos Kan to
thrust his sword between my left arm and my body.  As he did so I
staggered back clasping the sword tightly with my arm and thus fell to
the ground with his weapon apparently protruding from my chest.  Kantos
Kan perceived my coup and stepping quickly to my side he placed his
foot upon my neck and withdrawing his sword from my body gave me the
final death blow through the neck which is supposed to sever the
jugular vein, but in this instance the cold blade slipped harmlessly
into the sand of the arena.  In the darkness which had now fallen none
could tell but that he had really finished me.  I whispered to him to
go and claim his freedom and then look for me in the hills east of the
city, and so he left me.

When the amphitheater had cleared I crept stealthily to the top and as
the great excavation lay far from the plaza and in an untenanted
portion of the great dead city I had little trouble in reaching the
hills beyond.




CHAPTER XX

IN THE ATMOSPHERE FACTORY


For two days I waited there for Kantos Kan, but as he did not come I
started off on foot in a northwesterly direction toward a point where
he had told me lay the nearest waterway.  My only food consisted of
vegetable milk from the plants which gave so bounteously of this
priceless fluid.

Through two long weeks I wandered, stumbling through the nights guided
only by the stars and hiding during the days behind some protruding
rock or among the occasional hills I traversed.  Several times I was
attacked by wild beasts; strange, uncouth monstrosities that leaped
upon me in the dark, so that I had ever to grasp my long-sword in my
hand that I might be ready for them.  Usually my strange, newly
acquired telepathic power warned me in ample time, but once I was down
with vicious fangs at my jugular and a hairy face pressed close to mine
before I knew that I was even threatened.

What manner of thing was upon me I did not know, but that it was large
and heavy and many-legged I could feel.  My hands were at its throat
before the fangs had a chance to bury themselves in my neck, and slowly
I forced the hairy face from me and closed my fingers, vise-like, upon
its windpipe.

Without sound we lay there, the beast exerting every effort to reach me
with those awful fangs, and I straining to maintain my grip and choke
the life from it as I kept it from my throat.  Slowly my arms gave to
the unequal struggle, and inch by inch the burning eyes and gleaming
tusks of my antagonist crept toward me, until, as the hairy face
touched mine again, I realized that all was over.  And then a living
mass of destruction sprang from the surrounding darkness full upon the
creature that held me pinioned to the ground.  The two rolled growling
upon the moss, tearing and rending one another in a frightful manner,
but it was soon over and my preserver stood with lowered head above the
throat of the dead thing which would have killed me.

The nearer moon, hurtling suddenly above the horizon and lighting up
the Barsoomian scene, showed me that my preserver was Woola, but from
whence he had come, or how found me, I was at a loss to know.  That I
was glad of his companionship it is needless to say, but my pleasure at
seeing him was tempered by anxiety as to the reason of his leaving
Dejah Thoris.  Only her death I felt sure, could account for his
absence from her, so faithful I knew him to be to my commands.

By the light of the now brilliant moons I saw that he was but a shadow
of his former self, and as he turned from my caress and commenced
greedily to devour the dead carcass at my feet I realized that the poor
fellow was more than half starved.  I, myself, was in but little better
plight but I could not bring myself to eat the uncooked flesh and I had
no means of making a fire.  When Woola had finished his meal I again
took up my weary and seemingly endless wandering in quest of the
elusive waterway.

At daybreak of the fifteenth day of my search I was overjoyed to see
the high trees that denoted the object of my search.  About noon I
dragged myself wearily to the portals of a huge building which covered
perhaps four square miles and towered two hundred feet in the air.  It
showed no aperture in the mighty walls other than the tiny door at
which I sank exhausted, nor was there any sign of life about it.

I could find no bell or other method of making my presence known to the
inmates of the place, unless a small round hole in the wall near the
door was for that purpose.  It was of about the bigness of a lead
pencil and thinking that it might be in the nature of a speaking tube I
put my mouth to it and was about to call into it when a voice issued
from it asking me whom I might be, where from, and the nature of my
errand.

I explained that I had escaped from the Warhoons and was dying of
starvation and exhaustion.

"You wear the metal of a green warrior and are followed by a calot, yet
you are of the figure of a red man.  In color you are neither green nor
red.  In the name of the ninth ray, what manner of creature are you?"

"I am a friend of the red men of Barsoom and I am starving.  In the
name of humanity open to us," I replied.

Presently the door commenced to recede before me until it had sunk into
the wall fifty feet, then it stopped and slid easily to the left,
exposing a short, narrow corridor of concrete, at the further end of
which was another door, similar in every respect to the one I had just
passed.  No one was in sight, yet immediately we passed the first door
it slid gently into place behind us and receded rapidly to its original
position in the front wall of the building.  As the door had slipped
aside I had noted its great thickness, fully twenty feet, and as it
reached its place once more after closing behind us, great cylinders of
steel had dropped from the ceiling behind it and fitted their lower
ends into apertures countersunk in the floor.

A second and third door receded before me and slipped to one side as
the first, before I reached a large inner chamber where I found food
and drink set out upon a great stone table.  A voice directed me to
satisfy my hunger and to feed my calot, and while I was thus engaged my
invisible host put me through a severe and searching cross-examination.

"Your statements are most remarkable," said the voice, on concluding
its questioning, "but you are evidently speaking the truth, and it is
equally evident that you are not of Barsoom.  I can tell that by the
conformation of your brain and the strange location of your internal
organs and the shape and size of your heart."

"Can you see through me?" I exclaimed.

"Yes, I can see all but your thoughts, and were you a Barsoomian I
could read those."

Then a door opened at the far side of the chamber and a strange, dried
up, little mummy of a man came toward me.  He wore but a single article
of clothing or adornment, a small collar of gold from which depended
upon his chest a great ornament as large as a dinner plate set solid
with huge diamonds, except for the exact center which was occupied by a
strange stone, an inch in diameter, that scintillated nine different
and distinct rays; the seven colors of our earthly prism and two
beautiful rays which, to me, were new and nameless.  I cannot describe
them any more than you could describe red to a blind man.  I only know
that they were beautiful in the extreme.

The old man sat and talked with me for hours, and the strangest part of
our intercourse was that I could read his every thought while he could
not fathom an iota from my mind unless I spoke.

[Illustration: The old man sat and talked with me for hours.]

I did not apprise him of my ability to sense his mental operations, and
thus I learned a great deal which proved of immense value to me later
and which I would never have known had he suspected my strange power,
for the Martians have such perfect control of their mental machinery
that they are able to direct their thoughts with absolute precision.

The building in which I found myself contained the machinery which
produces that artificial atmosphere which sustains life on Mars.  The
secret of the entire process hinges on the use of the ninth ray, one of
the beautiful scintillations which I had noted emanating from the great
stone in my host's diadem.

This ray is separated from the other rays of the sun by means of finely
adjusted instruments placed upon the roof of the huge building,
three-quarters of which is used for reservoirs in which the ninth ray
is stored.  This product is then treated electrically, or rather
certain proportions of refined electric vibrations are incorporated
with it, and the result is then pumped to the five principal air
centers of the planet where, as it is released, contact with the ether
of space transforms it into atmosphere.

There is always sufficient reserve of the ninth ray stored in the great
building to maintain the present Martian atmosphere for a thousand
years, and the only fear, as my new friend told me, was that some
accident might befall the pumping apparatus.

He led me to an inner chamber where I beheld a battery of twenty radium
pumps any one of which was equal to the task of furnishing all Mars
with the atmosphere compound.  For eight hundred years, he told me, he
had watched these pumps which are used alternately a day each at a
stretch, or a little over twenty-four and one-half Earth hours.  He has
one assistant who divides the watch with him.  Half a Martian year,
about three hundred and forty-four of our days, each of these men spend
alone in this huge, isolated plant.

Every red Martian is taught during earliest childhood the principles of
the manufacture of atmosphere, but only two at one time ever hold the
secret of ingress to the great building, which, built as it is with
walls a hundred and fifty feet thick, is absolutely unassailable, even
the roof being guarded from assault by air craft by a glass covering
five feet thick.

The only fear they entertain of attack is from the green Martians or
some demented red man, as all Barsoomians realize that the very
existence of every form of life of Mars is dependent upon the
uninterrupted working of this plant.

One curious fact I discovered as I watched his thoughts was that the
outer doors are manipulated by telepathic means.  The locks are so
finely adjusted that the doors are released by the action of a certain
combination of thought waves.  To experiment with my new-found toy I
thought to surprise him into revealing this combination and so I asked
him in a casual manner how he had managed to unlock the massive doors
for me from the inner chambers of the building.  As quick as a flash
there leaped to his mind nine Martian sounds, but as quickly faded as
he answered that this was a secret he must not divulge.

From then on his manner toward me changed as though he feared that he
had been surprised into divulging his great secret, and I read
suspicion and fear in his looks and thoughts, though his words were
still fair.

Before I retired for the night he promised to give me a letter to a
nearby agricultural officer who would help me on my way to Zodanga,
which he said, was the nearest Martian city.

"But be sure that you do not let them know you are bound for Helium as
they are at war with that country.  My assistant and I are of no
country, we belong to all Barsoom and this talisman which we wear
protects us in all lands, even among the green men--though we do not
trust ourselves to their hands if we can avoid it," he added.

"And so good-night, my friend," he continued, "may you have a long and
restful sleep--yes, a long sleep."

And though he smiled pleasantly I saw in his thoughts the wish that he
had never admitted me, and then a picture of him standing over me in
the night, and the swift thrust of a long dagger and the half formed
words, "I am sorry, but it is for the best good of Barsoom."

As he closed the door of my chamber behind him his thoughts were cut
off from me as was the sight of him, which seemed strange to me in my
little knowledge of thought transference.

What was I to do?  How could I escape through these mighty walls?
Easily could I kill him now that I was warned, but once he was dead I
could no more escape, and with the stopping of the machinery of the
great plant I should die with all the other inhabitants of the
planet--all, even Dejah Thoris were she not already dead.  For the
others I did not give the snap of my finger, but the thought of Dejah
Thoris drove from my mind all desire to kill my mistaken host.

Cautiously I opened the door of my apartment and, followed by Woola,
sought the inner of the great doors.  A wild scheme had come to me; I
would attempt to force the great locks by the nine thought waves I had
read in my host's mind.

Creeping stealthily through corridor after corridor and down winding
runways which turned hither and thither I finally reached the great
hall in which I had broken my long fast that morning.  Nowhere had I
seen my host, nor did I know where he kept himself by night.

I was on the point of stepping boldly out into the room when a slight
noise behind me warned me back into the shadows of a recess in the
corridor.  Dragging Woola after me I crouched low in the darkness.

Presently the old man passed close by me, and as he entered the dimly
lighted chamber which I had been about to pass through I saw that he
held a long thin dagger in his hand and that he was sharpening it upon
a stone.  In his mind was the decision to inspect the radium pumps,
which would take about thirty minutes, and then return to my bed
chamber and finish me.

As he passed through the great hall and disappeared down the runway
which led to the pump-room, I stole stealthily from my hiding place and
crossed to the great door, the inner of the three which stood between
me and liberty.

Concentrating my mind upon the massive lock I hurled the nine thought
waves against it.  In breathless expectancy I waited, when finally the
great door moved softly toward me and slid quietly to one side.  One
after the other the remaining mighty portals opened at my command and
Woola and I stepped forth into the darkness, free, but little better
off than we had been before, other than that we had full stomachs.

Hastening away from the shadows of the formidable pile I made for the
first crossroad, intending to strike the central turnpike as quickly as
possible.  This I reached about morning and entering the first
enclosure I came to I searched for some evidences of a habitation.

There were low rambling buildings of concrete barred with heavy
impassable doors, and no amount of hammering and hallooing brought any
response.  Weary and exhausted from sleeplessness I threw myself upon
the ground commanding Woola to stand guard.

Some time later I was awakened by his frightful growlings and opened my
eyes to see three red Martians standing a short distance from us and
covering me with their rifles.

"I am unarmed and no enemy," I hastened to explain.  "I have been a
prisoner among the green men and am on my way to Zodanga.  All I ask is
food and rest for myself and my calot and the proper directions for
reaching my destination."

They lowered their rifles and advanced pleasantly toward me placing
their right hands upon my left shoulder, after the manner of their
custom of salute, and asking me many questions about myself and my
wanderings.  They then took me to the house of one of them which was
only a short distance away.

The buildings I had been hammering at in the early morning were
occupied only by stock and farm produce, the house proper standing
among a grove of enormous trees, and, like all red-Martian homes, had
been raised at night some forty or fifty feet from the ground on a
large round metal shaft which slid up or down within a sleeve sunk in
the ground, and was operated by a tiny radium engine in the entrance
hall of the building.  Instead of bothering with bolts and bars for
their dwellings, the red Martians simply run them up out of harm's way
during the night.  They also have private means for lowering or raising
them from the ground without if they wish to go away and leave them.

These brothers, with their wives and children, occupied three similar
houses on this farm.  They did no work themselves, being government
officers in charge.  The labor was performed by convicts, prisoners of
war, delinquent debtors and confirmed bachelors who were too poor to
pay the high celibate tax which all red-Martian governments impose.

They were the personification of cordiality and hospitality and I spent
several days with them, resting and recuperating from my long and
arduous experiences.

When they had heard my story--I omitted all reference to Dejah Thoris
and the old man of the atmosphere plant--they advised me to color my
body to more nearly resemble their own race and then attempt to find
employment in Zodanga, either in the army or the navy.

"The chances are small that your tale will be believed until after you
have proven your trustworthiness and won friends among the higher
nobles of the court.  This you can most easily do through military
service, as we are a warlike people on Barsoom," explained one of them,
"and save our richest favors for the fighting man."

When I was ready to depart they furnished me with a small domestic bull
thoat, such as is used for saddle purposes by all red Martians.  The
animal is about the size of a horse and quite gentle, but in color and
shape an exact replica of his huge and fierce cousin of the wilds.

The brothers had supplied me with a reddish oil with which I anointed
my entire body and one of them cut my hair, which had grown quite long,
in the prevailing fashion of the time, square at the back and banged in
front, so that I could have passed anywhere upon Barsoom as a
full-fledged red Martian.  My metal and ornaments were also renewed in
the style of a Zodangan gentleman, attached to the house of Ptor, which
was the family name of my benefactors.

They filled a little sack at my side with Zodangan money.  The medium
of exchange upon Mars is not dissimilar from our own except that the
coins are oval.  Paper money is issued by individuals as they require
it and redeemed twice yearly.  If a man issues more than he can redeem,
the government pays his creditors in full and the debtor works out the
amount upon the farms or in mines, which are all owned by the
government.  This suits everybody except the debtor as it has been a
difficult thing to obtain sufficient voluntary labor to work the great
isolated farm lands of Mars, stretching as they do like narrow ribbons
from pole to pole, through wild stretches peopled by wild animals and
wilder men.

When I mentioned my inability to repay them for their kindness to me
they assured me that I would have ample opportunity if I lived long
upon Barsoom, and bidding me farewell they watched me until I was out
of sight upon the broad white turnpike.




CHAPTER XXI

AN AIR SCOUT FOR ZODANGA


As I proceeded on my journey toward Zodanga many strange and
interesting sights arrested my attention, and at the several farm
houses where I stopped I learned a number of new and instructive things
concerning the methods and manners of Barsoom.

The water which supplies the farms of Mars is collected in immense
underground reservoirs at either pole from the melting ice caps, and
pumped through long conduits to the various populated centers.  Along
either side of these conduits, and extending their entire length, lie
the cultivated districts.  These are divided into tracts of about the
same size, each tract being under the supervision of one or more
government officers.

Instead of flooding the surface of the fields, and thus wasting immense
quantities of water by evaporation, the precious liquid is carried
underground through a vast network of small pipes directly to the roots
of the vegetation.  The crops upon Mars are always uniform, for there
are no droughts, no rains, no high winds, and no insects, or destroying
birds.

On this trip I tasted the first meat I had eaten since leaving
Earth--large, juicy steaks and chops from the well-fed domestic animals
of the farms.  Also I enjoyed luscious fruits and vegetables, but not a
single article of food which was exactly similar to anything on Earth.
Every plant and flower and vegetable and animal has been so refined by
ages of careful, scientific cultivation and breeding that the like of
them on Earth dwindled into pale, gray, characterless nothingness by
comparison.

At a second stop I met some highly cultivated people of the noble class
and while in conversation we chanced to speak of Helium.  One of the
older men had been there on a diplomatic mission several years before
and spoke with regret of the conditions which seemed destined ever to
keep these two countries at war.

"Helium," he said, "rightly boasts the most beautiful women of Barsoom,
and of all her treasures the wondrous daughter of Mors Kajak, Dejah
Thoris, is the most exquisite flower.

"Why," he added, "the people really worship the ground she walks upon
and since her loss on that ill-starred expedition all Helium has been
draped in mourning.

"That our ruler should have attacked the disabled fleet as it was
returning to Helium was but another of his awful blunders which I fear
will sooner or later compel Zodanga to elevate a wiser man to his
place."

"Even now, though our victorious armies are surrounding Helium, the
people of Zodanga are voicing their displeasure, for the war is not a
popular one, since it is not based on right or justice.  Our forces
took advantage of the absence of the principal fleet of Helium on their
search for the princess, and so we have been able easily to reduce the
city to a sorry plight.  It is said she will fall within the next few
passages of the further moon."

"And what, think you, may have been the fate of the princess, Dejah
Thoris?" I asked as casually as possible.

"She is dead," he answered.  "This much was learned from a green
warrior recently captured by our forces in the south.  She escaped from
the hordes of Thark with a strange creature of another world, only to
fall into the hands of the Warhoons.  Their thoats were found wandering
upon the sea bottom and evidences of a bloody conflict were discovered
nearby."

While this information was in no way reassuring, neither was it at all
conclusive proof of the death of Dejah Thoris, and so I determined to
make every effort possible to reach Helium as quickly as I could and
carry to Tardos Mors such news of his granddaughter's possible
whereabouts as lay in my power.

Ten days after leaving the three Ptor brothers I arrived at Zodanga.
From the moment that I had come in contact with the red inhabitants of
Mars I had noticed that Woola drew a great amount of unwelcome
attention to me, since the huge brute belonged to a species which is
never domesticated by the red men.  Were one to stroll down Broadway
with a Numidian lion at his heels the effect would be somewhat similar
to that which I should have produced had I entered Zodanga with Woola.

The very thought of parting with the faithful fellow caused me so great
regret and genuine sorrow that I put it off until just before we
arrived at the city's gates; but then, finally, it became imperative
that we separate.  Had nothing further than my own safety or pleasure
been at stake no argument could have prevailed upon me to turn away the
one creature upon Barsoom that had never failed in a demonstration of
affection and loyalty; but as I would willingly have offered my life in
the service of her in search of whom I was about to challenge the
unknown dangers of this, to me, mysterious city, I could not permit
even Woola's life to threaten the success of my venture, much less his
momentary happiness, for I doubted not he soon would forget me.  And so
I bade the poor beast an affectionate farewell, promising him, however,
that if I came through my adventure in safety that in some way I should
find the means to search him out.

He seemed to understand me fully, and when I pointed back in the
direction of Thark he turned sorrowfully away, nor could I bear to
watch him go; but resolutely set my face toward Zodanga and with a
touch of heartsickness approached her frowning walls.

The letter I bore from them gained me immediate entrance to the vast,
walled city.  It was still very early in the morning and the streets
were practically deserted.  The residences, raised high upon their
metal columns, resembled huge rookeries, while the uprights themselves
presented the appearance of steel tree trunks.  The shops as a rule
were not raised from the ground nor were their doors bolted or barred,
since thievery is practically unknown upon Barsoom.  Assassination is
the ever-present fear of all Barsoomians, and for this reason alone
their homes are raised high above the ground at night, or in times of
danger.

The Ptor brothers had given me explicit directions for reaching the
point of the city where I could find living accommodations and be near
the offices of the government agents to whom they had given me letters.
My way led to the central square or plaza, which is a characteristic of
all Martian cities.

The plaza of Zodanga covers a square mile and is bounded by the palaces
of the jeddak, the jeds, and other members of the royalty and nobility
of Zodanga, as well as by the principal public buildings, cafes, and
shops.

As I was crossing the great square lost in wonder and admiration of the
magnificent architecture and the gorgeous scarlet vegetation which
carpeted the broad lawns I discovered a red Martian walking briskly
toward me from one of the avenues.  He paid not the slightest attention
to me, but as he came abreast I recognized him, and turning I placed my
hand upon his shoulder, calling out:

"Kaor, Kantos Kan!"

Like lightning he wheeled and before I could so much as lower my hand
the point of his long-sword was at my breast.

"Who are you?" he growled, and then as a backward leap carried me fifty
feet from his sword he dropped the point to the ground and exclaimed,
laughing,

"I do not need a better reply, there is but one man upon all Barsoom
who can bounce about like a rubber ball.  By the mother of the further
moon, John Carter, how came you here, and have you become a Darseen
that you can change your color at will?"

"You gave me a bad half minute my friend," he continued, after I had
briefly outlined my adventures since parting with him in the arena at
Warhoon.  "Were my name and city known to the Zodangans I would shortly
be sitting on the banks of the lost sea of Korus with my revered and
departed ancestors.  I am here in the interest of Tardos Mors, Jeddak
of Helium, to discover the whereabouts of Dejah Thoris, our princess.
Sab Than, prince of Zodanga, has her hidden in the city and has fallen
madly in love with her.  His father, Than Kosis, Jeddak of Zodanga, has
made her voluntary marriage to his son the price of peace between our
countries, but Tardos Mors will not accede to the demands and has sent
word that he and his people would rather look upon the dead face of
their princess than see her wed to any than her own choice, and that
personally he would prefer being engulfed in the ashes of a lost and
burning Helium to joining the metal of his house with that of Than
Kosis.  His reply was the deadliest affront he could have put upon Than
Kosis and the Zodangans, but his people love him the more for it and
his strength in Helium is greater today than ever.

"I have been here three days," continued Kantos Kan, "but I have not
yet found where Dejah Thoris is imprisoned.  Today I join the Zodangan
navy as an air scout and I hope in this way to win the confidence of
Sab Than, the prince, who is commander of this division of the navy,
and thus learn the whereabouts of Dejah Thoris.  I am glad that you are
here, John Carter, for I know your loyalty to my princess and two of us
working together should be able to accomplish much."

The plaza was now commencing to fill with people going and coming upon
the daily activities of their duties.  The shops were opening and the
cafes filling with early morning patrons.  Kantos Kan led me to one of
these gorgeous eating places where we were served entirely by
mechanical apparatus.  No hand touched the food from the time it
entered the building in its raw state until it emerged hot and
delicious upon the tables before the guests, in response to the
touching of tiny buttons to indicate their desires.

After our meal, Kantos Kan took me with him to the headquarters of the
air-scout squadron and introducing me to his superior asked that I be
enrolled as a member of the corps.  In accordance with custom an
examination was necessary, but Kantos Kan had told me to have no fear
on this score as he would attend to that part of the matter.  He
accomplished this by taking my order for examination to the examining
officer and representing himself as John Carter.

"This ruse will be discovered later," he cheerfully explained, "when
they check up my weights, measurements, and other personal
identification data, but it will be several months before this is done
and our mission should be accomplished or have failed long before that
time."

The next few days were spent by Kantos Kan in teaching me the
intricacies of flying and of repairing the dainty little contrivances
which the Martians use for this purpose.  The body of the one-man air
craft is about sixteen feet long, two feet wide and three inches thick,
tapering to a point at each end.  The driver sits on top of this plane
upon a seat constructed over the small, noiseless radium engine which
propels it.  The medium of buoyancy is contained within the thin metal
walls of the body and consists of the eighth Barsoomian ray, or ray of
propulsion, as it may be termed in view of its properties.

This ray, like the ninth ray, is unknown on Earth, but the Martians
have discovered that it is an inherent property of all light no matter
from what source it emanates.  They have learned that it is the solar
eighth ray which propels the light of the sun to the various planets,
and that it is the individual eighth ray of each planet which
"reflects," or propels the light thus obtained out into space once
more.  The solar eighth ray would be absorbed by the surface of
Barsoom, but the Barsoomian eighth ray, which tends to propel light
from Mars into space, is constantly streaming out from the planet
constituting a force of repulsion of gravity which when confined is
able to lift enormous weights from the surface of the ground.

It is this ray which has enabled them to so perfect aviation that
battle ships far outweighing anything known upon Earth sail as
gracefully and lightly through the thin air of Barsoom as a toy balloon
in the heavy atmosphere of Earth.

During the early years of the discovery of this ray many strange
accidents occurred before the Martians learned to measure and control
the wonderful power they had found.  In one instance, some nine hundred
years before, the first great battle ship to be built with eighth ray
reservoirs was stored with too great a quantity of the rays and she had
sailed up from Helium with five hundred officers and men, never to
return.

Her power of repulsion for the planet was so great that it had carried
her far into space, where she can be seen today, by the aid of powerful
telescopes, hurtling through the heavens ten thousand miles from Mars;
a tiny satellite that will thus encircle Barsoom to the end of time.

The fourth day after my arrival at Zodanga I made my first flight, and
as a result of it I won a promotion which included quarters in the
palace of Than Kosis.

As I rose above the city I circled several times, as I had seen Kantos
Kan do, and then throwing my engine into top speed I raced at terrific
velocity toward the south, following one of the great waterways which
enter Zodanga from that direction.

I had traversed perhaps two hundred miles in a little less than an hour
when I descried far below me a party of three green warriors racing
madly toward a small figure on foot which seemed to be trying to reach
the confines of one of the walled fields.

Dropping my machine rapidly toward them, and circling to the rear of
the warriors, I soon saw that the object of their pursuit was a red
Martian wearing the metal of the scout squadron to which I was
attached.  A short distance away lay his tiny flier, surrounded by the
tools with which he had evidently been occupied in repairing some
damage when surprised by the green warriors.

They were now almost upon him; their flying mounts charging down on the
relatively puny figure at terrific speed, while the warriors leaned low
to the right, with their great metal-shod spears.  Each seemed striving
to be the first to impale the poor Zodangan and in another moment his
fate would have been sealed had it not been for my timely arrival.

Driving my fleet air craft at high speed directly behind the warriors I
soon overtook them and without diminishing my speed I rammed the prow
of my little flier between the shoulders of the nearest.  The impact
sufficient to have torn through inches of solid steel, hurled the
fellow's headless body into the air over the head of his thoat, where
it fell sprawling upon the moss.  The mounts of the other two warriors
turned squealing in terror, and bolted in opposite directions.

Reducing my speed I circled and came to the ground at the feet of the
astonished Zodangan.  He was warm in his thanks for my timely aid and
promised that my day's work would bring the reward it merited, for it
was none other than a cousin of the jeddak of Zodanga whose life I had
saved.

We wasted no time in talk as we knew that the warriors would surely
return as soon as they had gained control of their mounts.  Hastening
to his damaged machine we were bending every effort to finish the
needed repairs and had almost completed them when we saw the two green
monsters returning at top speed from opposite sides of us.  When they
had approached within a hundred yards their thoats again became
unmanageable and absolutely refused to advance further toward the air
craft which had frightened them.

The warriors finally dismounted and hobbling their animals advanced
toward us on foot with drawn long-swords.

I advanced to meet the larger, telling the Zodangan to do the best he
could with the other.  Finishing my man with almost no effort, as had
now from much practice become habitual with me, I hastened to return to
my new acquaintance whom I found indeed in desperate straits.

He was wounded and down with the huge foot of his antagonist upon his
throat and the great long-sword raised to deal the final thrust.  With
a bound I cleared the fifty feet intervening between us, and with
outstretched point drove my sword completely through the body of the
green warrior.  His sword fell, harmless, to the ground and he sank
limply upon the prostrate form of the Zodangan.

A cursory examination of the latter revealed no mortal injuries and
after a brief rest he asserted that he felt fit to attempt the return
voyage.  He would have to pilot his own craft, however, as these frail
vessels are not intended to convey but a single person.

Quickly completing the repairs we rose together into the still,
cloudless Martian sky, and at great speed and without further mishap
returned to Zodanga.

As we neared the city we discovered a mighty concourse of civilians and
troops assembled upon the plain before the city.  The sky was black
with naval vessels and private and public pleasure craft, flying long
streamers of gay-colored silks, and banners and flags of odd and
picturesque design.

My companion signaled that I slow down, and running his machine close
beside mine suggested that we approach and watch the ceremony, which,
he said, was for the purpose of conferring honors on individual
officers and men for bravery and other distinguished service.  He then
unfurled a little ensign which denoted that his craft bore a member of
the royal family of Zodanga, and together we made our way through the
maze of low-lying air vessels until we hung directly over the jeddak of
Zodanga and his staff.  All were mounted upon the small domestic bull
thoats of the red Martians, and their trappings and ornamentation bore
such a quantity of gorgeously colored feathers that I could not but be
struck with the startling resemblance the concourse bore to a band of
the red Indians of my own Earth.

One of the staff called the attention of Than Kosis to the presence of
my companion above them and the ruler motioned for him to descend.  As
they waited for the troops to move into position facing the jeddak the
two talked earnestly together, the jeddak and his staff occasionally
glancing up at me.  I could not hear their conversation and presently
it ceased and all dismounted, as the last body of troops had wheeled
into position before their emperor.  A member of the staff advanced
toward the troops, and calling the name of a soldier commanded him to
advance.  The officer then recited the nature of the heroic act which
had won the approval of the jeddak, and the latter advanced and placed
a metal ornament upon the left arm of the lucky man.

Ten men had been so decorated when the aide called out,

"John Carter, air scout!"

Never in my life had I been so surprised, but the habit of military
discipline is strong within me, and I dropped my little machine lightly
to the ground and advanced on foot as I had seen the others do.  As I
halted before the officer, he addressed me in a voice audible to the
entire assemblage of troops and spectators.

"In recognition, John Carter," he said, "of your remarkable courage and
skill in defending the person of the cousin of the jeddak Than Kosis
and, singlehanded, vanquishing three green warriors, it is the pleasure
of our jeddak to confer on you the mark of his esteem."

Than Kosis then advanced toward me and placing an ornament upon me,
said:

"My cousin has narrated the details of your wonderful achievement,
which seems little short of miraculous, and if you can so well defend a
cousin of the jeddak how much better could you defend the person of the
jeddak himself.  You are therefore appointed a padwar of The Guards and
will be quartered in my palace hereafter."

I thanked him, and at his direction joined the members of his staff.
After the ceremony I returned my machine to its quarters on the roof of
the barracks of the air-scout squadron, and with an orderly from the
palace to guide me I reported to the officer in charge of the palace.




CHAPTER XXII

I FIND DEJAH


The major-domo to whom I reported had been given instructions to
station me near the person of the jeddak, who, in time of war, is
always in great danger of assassination, as the rule that all is fair
in war seems to constitute the entire ethics of Martian conflict.

He therefore escorted me immediately to the apartment in which Than
Kosis then was.  The ruler was engaged in conversation with his son,
Sab Than, and several courtiers of his household, and did not perceive
my entrance.

The walls of the apartment were completely hung with splendid
tapestries which hid any windows or doors which may have pierced them.
The room was lighted by imprisoned rays of sunshine held between the
ceiling proper and what appeared to be a ground-glass false ceiling a
few inches below.

My guide drew aside one of the tapestries, disclosing a passage which
encircled the room, between the hangings and the walls of the chamber.
Within this passage I was to remain, he said, so long as Than Kosis was
in the apartment.  When he left I was to follow.  My only duty was to
guard the ruler and keep out of sight as much as possible.  I would be
relieved after a period of four hours.  The major-domo then left me.

The tapestries were of a strange weaving which gave the appearance of
heavy solidity from one side, but from my hiding place I could perceive
all that took place within the room as readily as though there had been
no curtain intervening.

Scarcely had I gained my post than the tapestry at the opposite end of
the chamber separated and four soldiers of The Guard entered,
surrounding a female figure.  As they approached Than Kosis the
soldiers fell to either side and there standing before the jeddak and
not ten feet from me, her beautiful face radiant with smiles, was Dejah
Thoris.

Sab Than, Prince of Zodanga, advanced to meet her, and hand in hand
they approached close to the jeddak.  Than Kosis looked up in surprise,
and, rising, saluted her.

"To what strange freak do I owe this visit from the Princess of Helium,
who, two days ago, with rare consideration for my pride, assured me
that she would prefer Tal Hajus, the green Thark, to my son?"

Dejah Thoris only smiled the more and with the roguish dimples playing
at the corners of her mouth she made answer:

"From the beginning of time upon Barsoom it has been the prerogative of
woman to change her mind as she listed and to dissemble in matters
concerning her heart.  That you will forgive, Than Kosis, as has your
son.  Two days ago I was not sure of his love for me, but now I am, and
I have come to beg of you to forget my rash words and to accept the
assurance of the Princess of Helium that when the time comes she will
wed Sab Than, Prince of Zodanga."

"I am glad that you have so decided," replied Than Kosis.  "It is far
from my desire to push war further against the people of Helium, and,
your promise shall be recorded and a proclamation to my people issued
forthwith."

"It were better, Than Kosis," interrupted Dejah Thoris, "that the
proclamation wait the ending of this war.  It would look strange indeed
to my people and to yours were the Princess of Helium to give herself
to her country's enemy in the midst of hostilities."

"Cannot the war be ended at once?" spoke Sab Than.  "It requires but
the word of Than Kosis to bring peace.  Say it, my father, say the word
that will hasten my happiness, and end this unpopular strife."

"We shall see," replied Than Kosis, "how the people of Helium take to
peace.  I shall at least offer it to them."

Dejah Thoris, after a few words, turned and left the apartment, still
followed by her guards.

Thus was the edifice of my brief dream of happiness dashed, broken, to
the ground of reality.  The woman for whom I had offered my life, and
from whose lips I had so recently heard a declaration of love for me,
had lightly forgotten my very existence and smilingly given herself to
the son of her people's most hated enemy.

Although I had heard it with my own ears I could not believe it.  I
must search out her apartments and force her to repeat the cruel truth
to me alone before I would be convinced, and so I deserted my post and
hastened through the passage behind the tapestries toward the door by
which she had left the chamber.  Slipping quietly through this opening
I discovered a maze of winding corridors, branching and turning in
every direction.

Running rapidly down first one and then another of them I soon became
hopelessly lost and was standing panting against a side wall when I
heard voices near me.  Apparently they were coming from the opposite
side of the partition against which I leaned and presently I made out
the tones of Dejah Thoris.  I could not hear the words but I knew that
I could not possibly be mistaken in the voice.

Moving on a few steps I discovered another passageway at the end of
which lay a door.  Walking boldly forward I pushed into the room only
to find myself in a small antechamber in which were the four guards who
had accompanied her.  One of them instantly arose and accosted me,
asking the nature of my business.

"I am from Than Kosis," I replied, "and wish to speak privately with
Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium."

"And your order?" asked the fellow.

I did not know what he meant, but replied that I was a member of The
Guard, and without waiting for a reply from him I strode toward the
opposite door of the antechamber, behind which I could hear Dejah
Thoris conversing.

But my entrance was not to be so easily accomplished.  The guardsman
stepped before me, saying,

"No one comes from Than Kosis without carrying an order or the
password.  You must give me one or the other before you may pass."

"The only order I require, my friend, to enter where I will, hangs at
my side," I answered, tapping my long-sword; "will you let me pass in
peace or no?"

For reply he whipped out his own sword, calling to the others to join
him, and thus the four stood, with drawn weapons, barring my further
progress.

"You are not here by the order of Than Kosis," cried the one who had
first addressed me, "and not only shall you not enter the apartments of
the Princess of Helium but you shall go back to Than Kosis under guard
to explain this unwarranted temerity.  Throw down your sword; you
cannot hope to overcome four of us," he added with a grim smile.

My reply was a quick thrust which left me but three antagonists and I
can assure you that they were worthy of my metal.  They had me backed
against the wall in no time, fighting for my life.  Slowly I worked my
way to a corner of the room where I could force them to come at me only
one at a time, and thus we fought upward of twenty minutes; the
clanging of steel on steel producing a veritable bedlam in the little
room.

The noise had brought Dejah Thoris to the door of her apartment, and
there she stood throughout the conflict with Sola at her back peering
over her shoulder.  Her face was set and emotionless and I knew that
she did not recognize me, nor did Sola.

Finally a lucky cut brought down a second guardsman and then, with only
two opposing me, I changed my tactics and rushed them down after the
fashion of my fighting that had won me many a victory.  The third fell
within ten seconds after the second, and the last lay dead upon the
bloody floor a few moments later.  They were brave men and noble
fighters, and it grieved me that I had been forced to kill them, but I
would have willingly depopulated all Barsoom could I have reached the
side of my Dejah Thoris in no other way.

Sheathing my bloody blade I advanced toward my Martian Princess, who
still stood mutely gazing at me without sign of recognition.

"Who are you, Zodangan?" she whispered.  "Another enemy to harass me in
my misery?"

"I am a friend," I answered, "a once cherished friend."

"No friend of Helium's princess wears that metal," she replied, "and
yet the voice!  I have heard it before; it is not--it cannot be--no,
for he is dead."

"It is, though, my Princess, none other than John Carter," I said.  "Do
you not recognize, even through paint and strange metal, the heart of
your chieftain?"

As I came close to her she swayed toward me with outstretched hands,
but as I reached to take her in my arms she drew back with a shudder
and a little moan of misery.

"Too late, too late," she grieved.  "O my chieftain that was, and whom
I thought dead, had you but returned one little hour before--but now it
is too late, too late."

"What do you mean, Dejah Thoris?" I cried.  "That you would not have
promised yourself to the Zodangan prince had you known that I lived?"

"Think you, John Carter, that I would give my heart to you yesterday
and today to another?  I thought that it lay buried with your ashes in
the pits of Warhoon, and so today I have promised my body to another to
save my people from the curse of a victorious Zodangan army."

"But I am not dead, my princess.  I have come to claim you, and all
Zodanga cannot prevent it."

"It is too late, John Carter, my promise is given, and on Barsoom that
is final.  The ceremonies which follow later are but meaningless
formalities.  They make the fact of marriage no more certain than does
the funeral cortege of a jeddak again place the seal of death upon him.
I am as good as married, John Carter.  No longer may you call me your
princess.  No longer are you my chieftain."

"I know but little of your customs here upon Barsoom, Dejah Thoris, but
I do know that I love you, and if you meant the last words you spoke to
me that day as the hordes of Warhoon were charging down upon us, no
other man shall ever claim you as his bride.  You meant them then, my
princess, and you mean them still!  Say that it is true."

"I meant them, John Carter," she whispered.  "I cannot repeat them now
for I have given myself to another.  Ah, if you had only known our
ways, my friend," she continued, half to herself, "the promise would
have been yours long months ago, and you could have claimed me before
all others.  It might have meant the fall of Helium, but I would have
given my empire for my Tharkian chief."

Then aloud she said: "Do you remember the night when you offended me?
You called me your princess without having asked my hand of me, and
then you boasted that you had fought for me.  You did not know, and I
should not have been offended; I see that now.  But there was no one to
tell you what I could not, that upon Barsoom there are two kinds of
women in the cities of the red men.  The one they fight for that they
may ask them in marriage; the other kind they fight for also, but never
ask their hands.  When a man has won a woman he may address her as his
princess, or in any of the several terms which signify possession.  You
had fought for me, but had never asked me in marriage, and so when you
called me your princess, you see," she faltered, "I was hurt, but even
then, John Carter, I did not repulse you, as I should have done, until
you made it doubly worse by taunting me with having won me through
combat."

"I do not need ask your forgiveness now, Dejah Thoris," I cried.  "You
must know that my fault was of ignorance of your Barsoomian customs.
What I failed to do, through implicit belief that my petition would be
presumptuous and unwelcome, I do now, Dejah Thoris; I ask you to be my
wife, and by all the Virginian fighting blood that flows in my veins
you shall be."

"No, John Carter, it is useless," she cried, hopelessly, "I may never
be yours while Sab Than lives."

"You have sealed his death warrant, my princess--Sab Than dies."

"Nor that either," she hastened to explain.  "I may not wed the man who
slays my husband, even in self-defense.  It is custom.  We are ruled by
custom upon Barsoom.  It is useless, my friend.  You must bear the
sorrow with me.  That at least we may share in common.  That, and the
memory of the brief days among the Tharks.  You must go now, nor ever
see me again.  Good-bye, my chieftain that was."

Disheartened and dejected, I withdrew from the room, but I was not
entirely discouraged, nor would I admit that Dejah Thoris was lost to
me until the ceremony had actually been performed.

As I wandered along the corridors, I was as absolutely lost in the
mazes of winding passageways as I had been before I discovered Dejah
Thoris' apartments.

I knew that my only hope lay in escape from the city of Zodanga, for
the matter of the four dead guardsmen would have to be explained, and
as I could never reach my original post without a guide, suspicion
would surely rest on me so soon as I was discovered wandering aimlessly
through the palace.

Presently I came upon a spiral runway leading to a lower floor, and
this I followed downward for several stories until I reached the
doorway of a large apartment in which were a number of guardsmen.  The
walls of this room were hung with transparent tapestries behind which I
secreted myself without being apprehended.

The conversation of the guardsmen was general, and awakened no interest
in me until an officer entered the room and ordered four of the men to
relieve the detail who were guarding the Princess of Helium.  Now, I
knew, my troubles would commence in earnest and indeed they were upon
me all too soon, for it seemed that the squad had scarcely left the
guardroom before one of their number burst in again breathlessly,
crying that they had found their four comrades butchered in the
antechamber.

In a moment the entire palace was alive with people.  Guardsmen,
officers, courtiers, servants, and slaves ran helter-skelter through
the corridors and apartments carrying messages and orders, and
searching for signs of the assassin.

This was my opportunity and slim as it appeared I grasped it, for as a
number of soldiers came hurrying past my hiding place I fell in behind
them and followed through the mazes of the palace until, in passing
through a great hall, I saw the blessed light of day coming in through
a series of larger windows.

Here I left my guides, and, slipping to the nearest window, sought for
an avenue of escape.  The windows opened upon a great balcony which
overlooked one of the broad avenues of Zodanga.  The ground was about
thirty feet below, and at a like distance from the building was a wall
fully twenty feet high, constructed of polished glass about a foot in
thickness.  To a red Martian escape by this path would have appeared
impossible, but to me, with my earthly strength and agility, it seemed
already accomplished.  My only fear was in being detected before
darkness fell, for I could not make the leap in broad daylight while
the court below and the avenue beyond were crowded with Zodangans.

Accordingly I searched for a hiding place and finally found one by
accident, inside a huge hanging ornament which swung from the ceiling
of the hall, and about ten feet from the floor.  Into the capacious
bowl-like vase I sprang with ease, and scarcely had I settled down
within it than I heard a number of people enter the apartment.  The
group stopped beneath my hiding place and I could plainly overhear
their every word.

"It is the work of Heliumites," said one of the men.

"Yes, O Jeddak, but how had they access to the palace?  I could believe
that even with the diligent care of your guardsmen a single enemy might
reach the inner chambers, but how a force of six or eight fighting men
could have done so unobserved is beyond me.  We shall soon know,
however, for here comes the royal psychologist."

Another man now joined the group, and, after making his formal
greetings to his ruler, said:

"O mighty Jeddak, it is a strange tale I read in the dead minds of your
faithful guardsmen.  They were felled not by a number of fighting men,
but by a single opponent."

He paused to let the full weight of this announcement impress his
hearers, and that his statement was scarcely credited was evidenced by
the impatient exclamation of incredulity which escaped the lips of Than
Kosis.

"What manner of weird tale are you bringing me, Notan?" he cried.

"It is the truth, my Jeddak," replied the psychologist.  "In fact the
impressions were strongly marked on the brain of each of the four
guardsmen.  Their antagonist was a very tall man, wearing the metal of
one of your own guardsmen, and his fighting ability was little short of
marvelous for he fought fair against the entire four and vanquished
them by his surpassing skill and superhuman strength and endurance.
Though he wore the metal of Zodanga, my Jeddak, such a man was never
seen before in this or any other country upon Barsoom.

"The mind of the Princess of Helium whom I have examined and questioned
was a blank to me, she has perfect control, and I could not read one
iota of it.  She said that she witnessed a portion of the encounter,
and that when she looked there was but one man engaged with the
guardsmen; a man whom she did not recognize as ever having seen."

"Where is my erstwhile savior?" spoke another of the party, and I
recognized the voice of the cousin of Than Kosis, whom I had rescued
from the green warriors.  "By the metal of my first ancestor," he went
on, "but the description fits him to perfection, especially as to his
fighting ability."

"Where is this man?" cried Than Kosis.  "Have him brought to me at
once.  What know you of him, cousin?  It seemed strange to me now that
I think upon it that there should have been such a fighting man in
Zodanga, of whose name, even, we were ignorant before today.  And his
name too, John Carter, who ever heard of such a name upon Barsoom!"

Word was soon brought that I was nowhere to be found, either in the
palace or at my former quarters in the barracks of the air-scout
squadron.  Kantos Kan, they had found and questioned, but he knew
nothing of my whereabouts, and as to my past, he had told them he knew
as little, since he had but recently met me during our captivity among
the Warhoons.

"Keep your eyes on this other one," commanded Than Kosis.  "He also is
a stranger and likely as not they both hail from Helium, and where one
is we shall sooner or later find the other.  Quadruple the air patrol,
and let every man who leaves the city by air or ground be subjected to
the closest scrutiny."

Another messenger now entered with word that I was still within the
palace walls.

"The likeness of every person who has entered or left the palace
grounds today has been carefully examined," concluded the fellow, "and
not one approaches the likeness of this new padwar of the guards, other
than that which was recorded of him at the time he entered."

"Then we will have him shortly," commented Than Kosis contentedly, "and
in the meanwhile we will repair to the apartments of the Princess of
Helium and question her in regard to the affair.  She may know more
than she cared to divulge to you, Notan.  Come."

They left the hall, and, as darkness had fallen without, I slipped
lightly from my hiding place and hastened to the balcony.  Few were in
sight, and choosing a moment when none seemed near I sprang quickly to
the top of the glass wall and from there to the avenue beyond the
palace grounds.
