Title:      A Fighting Man Of Mars
Author:     Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950)
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Language:   English
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Title:      A Fighting Man Of Mars
Author:     Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950)





CONTENTS


Foreword
One.       SANOMA TORA
Two.       BROUGHT DOWN
Three.     CORNERED
Four.      TAVIA
Five.      TO THE PITS
Six.       SENTENCED TO DIE
Seven.     THE DEATH
Eight.     THE SPIDER OF GHASTA
Nine.      PHOR TAK OF JHAMA
Ten.       THE FLYING DEATH
Eleven.    "LET THE FIRE BE HOT!"
Twelve.    THE CLOAK OF INVISIBILITY
Thirteen.  TUL AXTAR'S WOMEN
Fourteen.  THE CANNIBALS OF U-GOR
Fifteen.   THE BATTLE OF JAHAR
Sixteen.   DESPAIR
Seventeen. I FIND A PRINCESS





FOREWORD



To Jason Gridley of Tarzana, discoverer of the Gridley Wave, belonged
the credit of establishing radio communication between Pellucidar and
the outer world.

It was my good fortune to be much in his laboratory while he was
carrying on his experiments and to be, also, the recipient of his
confidences, so that I was fully aware that while he hoped to establish
communication with Pellucidar he was also reaching out toward an even
more stupendous accomplishment--he was groping through space for
contact with another planet; nor did he attempt to deny that the
present goal of his ambition was radio communication with Mars.

Gridley had constructed a simple, automatic device for broadcasting
signals intermittently and for recording whatever might be received
during his absence.

For a period of five minutes the Gridley Wave carried a simple code
signal consisting of two letters, "J.G.," out into the ether, following
which there was a pause of ten minutes. Hour after hour, day after day,
week after week, these silent, invisible messengers sped out to the
uttermost reaches of infinite space, and after Jason Gridley left
Tarzana to embark upon his expedition to Pellucidar, I found myself
drawn to his laboratory by the lure of the tantalizing possibilities of
his dream, as well as by the promise I had made him that I would look
in occasionally to see that the device was functioning properly and to
examine the recording instruments for any indication that the signals
had been received and answered.

My considerable association with Gridley had given me a fair working
knowledge of his devices and sufficient knowledge of the Morse Code to
enable me to receive with moderate accuracy and speed.

Months passed; dust accumulated thickly upon everything except the
working parts of Gridley's device, and the white ribbon of ticker tape
that was to receive an answering signal retained its virgin purity;
then I went away for a short trip into Arizona.

I was absent for about ten days and upon my return one of the first
things with which I concerned myself was an inspection of Gridley's
laboratory and the instruments he had left in my care. As I entered the
familiar room and switched on the lights it was with the expectation of
meeting with the same blank unresponsiveness to which I was by now
quite accustomed.

As a matter of fact, hope of success had never been raised to any
considerable degree in my breast, nor had Gridley been over sanguine--
his was merely an experiment. He considered it well worth while to make
it, and I considered it equally worth while to lend him what small
assistance I might.

It was, therefore, with feelings of astonishment that assumed the
magnitude of a distinct shock that I saw upon the ticker tape the
familiar tracings which stand for the dots and dashes of code.

Of course I realized that some other researcher might have duplicated
Jason's discovery of the Gridley Wave and that the message might have
originated upon earth, or, again, it might be a message from Jason
himself in Pellucidar, but when I had deciphered it, all doubts were
quickly put to rest. It was from Ulysses Paxton, one time captain,--
the U.S. Infantry, who, miraculously transported from a battlefield in
France to the bosom of the great Red Planet, had become the right hand
man of Ras Thavas, the mastermind of Mars, and later the husband of
Valla Dia, daughter of Kor San, Jeddak of Duhor.

In brief, the message explained that for months mysterious signals had
been received at Helium, and while they were unable to interpret them,
they felt that they came from Jasoom, the name by which the planet
Earth is known upon Mars.

John Carter being absent from Helium, a fast flier had been dispatched
to Duhor bearing an urgent request to Paxton to come at once to the
twin cities and endeavor to determine if in truth the signals they were
receiving actually originated upon the planet of his birth.

Upon his arrival at Helium, Paxton immediately recognized the Morse
Code signals and no doubt was left in the minds of the Martian
scientists that at last something tangible had been accomplished toward
the solution of inter-communication between Jasoom and Barsoom.

Repeated attempts to transmit answering signals to Earth proved
fruitless and then the best minds of Helium settled down to the task of
analyzing and reproducing the Gridley Wave.

They felt that at last they had succeeded. Paxton had sent his message
and they were eagerly awaiting an acknowledgment.

I have since been in almost constant communication with Mars, but out
of loyalty to Jason Gridley, to whom all the credit and honor are due,
I have made no official announcement, nor shall I give out any
important information, leaving all that for his return to the outer
world; but I believe that I am betraying no confidence if I narrate to
you the interesting story of Hadron of Hastor, which Paxton told me one
evening not long since.

I hope that you will enjoy it as much as I did.

But before I go on with the story a brief description of the principal
races of Mars, their political and military organization and some of
their customs may prove of interest to many of my readers. The dominant
race in whose hands rest the progress and civilization--yes, the very
life of Mars--differ but little in physical appearance from ourselves.
The fact that their skins are a light reddish copper color and that
they are oviparous constitute the two most marked divergences from
Anglo-Saxon standards. No, there is another--their longevity. A
thousand years is the natural span of life of a Martian, although,
because of their war-like activities and the prevalence of
assassination among them, few live their allotted span.

Their general political organization has changed little in countless
ages, the unit still being the tribe, at the head of which is a chief
or jed, corresponding in modern times to our king. The princes are
known as lesser jeds, while the chief of chiefs, or the head of
consolidated tribes, is the jeddak, or emperor, whose consort is a
jeddara.

The majority of red Martians live in walled cities, though there are
many who reside in isolated, though well walled and defended, farm
homes along those rich irrigated ribbons of land that we of earth know
as the Canals of Mars.

In the far south, that is in the south polar region, dwells a race of
very handsome and highly intelligent black men. There, also, is the
remnant of a white race; while the north polar regions are dominated by
a race of yellow men.

In between the two poles and scattered over all the and waste lands of
the dead sea bottoms, often inhabiting the ruined cities of another
age, are the feared green hordes of Mars.

The terrible green warriors of Barsoom are the hereditary enemies of
all the other races of this martial planet. They are of heroic size and
in addition to being equipped with two legs and two arms apiece, they
have an intermediary pair of limbs, which may be used at will either as
arms or legs. Their eyes are set at the extreme sides of their heads, a
trifle above the center, and protrude in such a manner that they may be
directed either forward or back and also independently of each other,
thus permitting these remarkable creatures to look in any direction, or
in two directions at once without the necessity of turning their heads.

Their ears, which are slightly above the eyes and closer together are
small cupped-shape antennae, protruding several inches from the head,
while their noses are but longitudinal slits in the center of their
faces, midway between their mouths and ears.

They have no hair on their bodies, which are of a very light
yellowish-green color in infancy, deepening to an olive green toward
maturity, the adult males being darker in color than the females.

The iris of the eyes is blood red, as an Albino's, while the pupil is
dark. The eyeball itself is very white, as are the teeth and it is
these latter which add a most ferocious appearance to an otherwise
fearsome and terrible countenance, as the lower tusks curve upward to
sharp points which end about where the eyes of earthly human beings are
located. The whiteness of the teeth is not that of ivory, but of the
snowiest and most gleaming of china. Against the dark background of
their olive skins their tusks stand out in a most striking manner,
causing these weapons to present a singularly formidable appearance.

They are a cruel and taciturn race, entirely devoid of love, sympathy
or pity.

They are an equestrian race, never walking other than to move about
their camps.

Their mounts, called thoats, are great savage beasts whose proportions
harmonize with those of their giant masters. They have eight legs and
broad flat tails larger at the tips than at the roots. They hold these
tails straight out while running. Their mouths are enormous, splitting
their heads from their snouts to their long, massive necks. Like their
masters, they are entirely devoid of hair, their skins being a dark
slate color and exceedingly smooth and glossy, with the exception of
the belly, which is white, and the legs, which shade from the slate of
the shoulders and hips to a vivid yellow at the feet. The feet are
heavily padded and nailless.

Like the red men, the green hordes are ruled by jeds and jeddaks, but
their military organization is not carried to the same detail of
perfection as is that of the red men.

The military forces of the red men are highly organized, the principal
arm of the service being the navy, an enormous air force of
battleships, cruisers and an infinite variety of lesser craft down to
one-man scout fliers. Next in size and importance is the infantry
branch of the service, while the cavalry, mounted on a breed of small
thoats, similar to those used by the green Martian giants, is utilized
principally in patrolling the avenues of the cities and the rural
districts that border the irrigating systems.

The principal basic unit, although not the smallest one of the military
organization, is a utan, consisting of one hundred men, which is
commanded by a dwar with several padwars or lieutenants junior to him.
An odwar commands a umak of ten thousand men, while next above him is a
jedwar, who is junior only to the jed or king.

Science, literature, art and architecture are in some of their
departments further advanced upon Mars than upon Earth, a remarkable
thing when one considers the constant battle for survival which is the
most marked characteristic of life upon Barsoom.

Not only are they waging a continual battle against Nature, which is
slowly diminishing their already scant atmosphere, but from birth to
death they are constantly faced by the stern necessity of defending
themselves against enemy nations of their own race and the great hordes
of roving green warriors of the dead sea bottom; while within the walls
of their own cities are countless professional assassins, whose calling
is so well recognized that in some localities they are organized into
guilds.

But notwithstanding all the grim realities with which they have to
contend, the red Martians are a happy, social people. They have their
games, their dances and their songs, and the social life of a great
capital of Barsoom is as gay and magnificent as any that may be found
in the rich capitals of Earth.

That they are a brave, noble and generous people is indicated by the
fact that neither John Carter nor Ulysses Paxton would return to Earth
if they might.

And now to return to the tale that I had from Paxton across forty-three
million miles of space.




One. SANOMA TORA



This is the story of Hadron of Hastor, Fighting Man of Mars, as
narrated by him to Ulysses Paxton:

I am Tan Hadron of Hastor, my father is Had Urtur, Odwar of the 1st
Umak of the Troops of Hastor. He commands the largest ship of war that
Hastor has ever contributed to the navy of Helium, accommodating as it
does the entire ten thousand men of the 1st Umak, together with five
hundred lesser fighting ships and all the paraphernalia of war. My
mother is a princess of Gathol.

As a family we are not rich except in honor, and, valuing this above
all mundane possessions, I chose the profession of my father rather
than a more profitable career. The better to further my ambition I came
to the capital of the empire of Helium and took service in the troops
of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, that I might be nearer the great John
Carter, Warlord of Mars.

My life in Helium and my career in the army were similar to those of
hundreds of other young men. I passed through my training days without
notable accomplishment, neither heading nor trailing my fellows, and in
due course I was made a Padwar in the 91st Umak, being assigned to the
5th Utan of the 11th Dar.

What with being of noble lineage by my father and inheriting royal
blood from my mother, the palaces of the twin cities of Helium were
always open to me and I entered much into the gay life of the capital.
It was thus that I met Sanoma Tora, daughter of Tor Hatan, Odwar of the
91st Umak.

Tor Hatan is only of the lower nobility, but he is fabulously rich from
the loot of many cities well invested in farm land and mines, and
because here in the capital of Helium riches count for more than they
do in Hastor, Tor Hatan is a powerful man, whose influence reaches even
to the throne of the Jeddak.

Never shall I forget the occasion upon which I first laid eyes upon
Sanoma Tora. It was upon the occasion of a great feast at the marble
palace of The Warlord. There were gathered under one roof the most
beautiful women of Barsoom, where, notwithstanding the gorgeous and
radiant beauty of Dejah Thoris, Tara of Helium and Thuvid of Ptarth,
the pulchritude of Sanoma Tora was such as to arrest attention. I shall
not say that it was greater than that of those acknowledged queens of
Barsoomian loveliness, for I know that my adoration of Sanoma Tora
might easily influence my judgment, but there were others there who
remarked her gorgeous beauty which differs from that of Dejah Thoris as
the chaste beauty of a polar landscape differs from the beauty of the
tropics, as the beauty of a white palace in the moonlight differs from
the beauty of its garden at midday.

When at my solicitation I was presented to her, she glanced first at
the insignia upon my armor, and noting therefrom that I was but a
Padwar, she vouchsafed me but a condescending word and turned her
attention again to the Dwar with whom she had been conversing.

I must admit that I was piqued and yet it was, indeed, the contumelious
treatment she accorded me that fixed my determination to win her, for
the goal most difficult of attainment has always seemed to me the most
desirable.

And so it was that I fell in love with Sanoma Tora, the daughter of the
commander of the Umak to which I was attached.

For a long time I found it difficult to further my suit in the
slightest degree; in fact I did not even see Sanoma Tora for several
months after our first meeting, since when she found that I was poor as
well as low in rank I found it impossible to gain an invitation to her
home and it chanced that I did not meet her elsewhere for a long time,
but the more inaccessible she became the more I loved her until every
waking moment of my time that was not actually occupied by the
performance of my military duties was devoted to the devising of new
and ever increasingly rash plans to possess her. I even had the madness
to consider abducting her, and I believe that I should eventually have
gone this far had there been no other way in which I could see her, but
about this time a fellow officer of the 91st, in fact the Dwar of the
Utan to which I was attached, took pity on me and obtained for me an
invitation to a feast in the palace of Tor Hatan.

My host, who was also my commanding officer, had never noticed me
before this evening and I was surprised to note the warmth and
cordiality of his greetings.

"We must see more of you here, Hadron of Hastor," he had said. "I have
been watching you and I prophesy that you will go far in the military
service of the Jeddak."

Now I knew he was lying when he said that he had been watching me, for
Tor Hatan was notoriously lax in his duties as a commanding officer,
all of which were performed by the senior Teedwar of the Umak. While I
could not fathom the cause of this sudden interest in me, it was
nevertheless very pleasing since through it I might in some degree
further my pursuit of the heart and hand of Sanoma Tora.

Sanoma Tora herself was slightly more cordial than upon the occasion of
our first meeting, though she noticeably paid more attention to Sil
Vagis than she did to me.

Now if there is any man in Helium whom I particularly detest more than
another it is Sil Vagis, a nasty little snob who holds the title of
Teedwar, though so far as I was ever able to ascertain he commands no
troops, but is merely on the staff of Tor Hatan, principally, I
presume, because of the great wealth of his father.

Such creatures we have to put up with in times of peace, but when war
comes and the great Warlord takes command it is the fighting men who
rank and riches do not count.

But be that as it may, while Sil Vagis spoiled this evening for me as
he would spoil many others in the future, nevertheless I left the
palace of Tor Hatan that night with a feeling bordering upon elation,
for I had Sanoma Tora's permission to see her again in her father's
home when my duties would permit me to pay my respects to her.

Returning to my quarters I was accompanied by my friend, the Dwar, and
when I commented on the warmth of Tor Hatan's reception of me he
laughed.

"You find it amusing," I said. "Why?"

"Tor Hatan, as you know," he said, "is very rich and powerful, and yet
it is seldom, as you may have noticed, that he is invited to any one of
the four places of Helium in which ambitious men most crave to be
seen."

"You mean the palaces of the Warlord, the Jeddak, the Jed and
Carthoris?" I asked.

"Of course," he replied. "What other four in Helium count for so much
as these? Tor Hatan," he continued, "is supposed to come from the lower
nobility, but there is a question in my mind as to whether there is a
drop of noble blood in his veins, and one of the facts upon which I
base my conjecture is his cringing and fawning reverence for anything
pertaining to royalty--he would give his fat soul to be considered an
intimate of any one of the four."

"But what has that to do with me?" I demanded.

"A great deal," he replied; "in fact, because of it you were invited to
his palace tonight."

"I do not understand," I said.

"I chanced to be talking with Tor Hatan the morning of the day you
received your invitation and in the course of our conversation I
mentioned you. He had never heard of you, and as a Padwar in the 5th
Utan you aroused his interest not a particle, but when I told him that
your mother was a princess of Gathol, he pricked up his ears, and when
he learned that you were received as a friend and equal in the palaces
of the four demigods of Helium, he became almost enthusiastic about
you. Now do you understand?" he concluded with a short laugh.

"Perfectly," I replied, "but none the less, I thank you. All that I
wanted was the opportunity and inasmuch as I was prepared to achieve it
criminally if necessary, I cannot quibble over any means that were
employed to obtain it, however unflattering they may be to me."

For months I haunted the palace of Tor Hatan, and being naturally a
good conversationalist and well schooled in the stately dances and
joyous games of Barsoom, I was by no means an unwelcome visitor. Also I
made it a point often to take Sanoma Tora to one or another of the four
great palaces of Helium. I was always welcome because of the blood
relationship which existed between my mother and Gahan of Gathol, who
had married Tara of Helium.

Naturally I felt that I was progressing well with my suit, but my
progress was not fast enough to keep pace with the racing desires of my
passion. Never had I known love before and I felt that I should die if
I did not soon possess Sanoma Tora, and so it was that upon a certain
night I visited the palace of her father definitely determined to lay
my heart and sword at her feet before I left, and, although the natural
complexes of a lover convinced me that I was an unworthy worm, that she
would be wholly justified in spurning, I was yet determined to declare
myself so that I might openly be accounted a suitor, which, after all,
gives one greater freedom even though he be not entirely a favored
suitor.

It was one of those lovely nights that transform old Barsoom into a
world of enchantment. Thuria and Cluros were racing through the heavens
casting their soft light upon the garden of Tor Hatan, empurpling the
vivid, scarlet sward and lending strange hues to the gorgeous blooms of
pimalia and sorapus, while the winding walks, gravelled with
semi-precious stones, shot back a thousand scintillant rays that,
clothed in ever-changing colors, danced at the feet of the marble
statuary that lent an added artistic charm to the ensemble.

In one of the spacious halls that overlooked the garden of the palace,
a youth and a maiden sat upon a massive bench of rich sorapus wood,
such a bench as might have graced the halls of the great Jeddak
himself, so intricate its rich design, so perfect the carving of the
master craftsman who produced it.

Upon the leathern harness of the youth were the insignia of his rank
and service--a Padwar in the 91st Umak. The youth was I, Hadron of
Hastor, and with me was Sanoma Tora, daughter of Tor Hatan. I had come
filled with the determination boldly to plead my cause, but suddenly I
had become aware of my unworthiness. What had I to offer this beautiful
daughter of the rich Tor Hatan? I was only a Padwar, and a poor one at
that. Of course, there was the royal blood of Gathol in my veins, and
that, I knew, would have weight with Tor Hatan, but I am not given to
boasting and I could not have reminded Sanoma Tora of the advantages to
be derived because of it even had I known positively that it would
influence her. I had, therefore, nothing to offer but my great love,
which is, perhaps, after all, the greatest gift that man or woman can
bring to another, and I had thought of late that Sanoma Tora might love
me. Upon several occasions she had sent for me, and, although in each
instance she had suggested going to the palace of Tara of Helium, I had
been vain enough to hope that this was not her sole reason for wishing
to be with me.

"You are uninteresting tonight, Hadron of Hastor," she said after a
particularly long silence, during which I had been endeavoring to
formulate my proposal in some convincing and graceful phrases.

"Perhaps," I replied, "it is because I am trying to find the words in
which to clothe the most interesting thought I have ever entertained."

"And what is that?" she asked politely, though with no great show of
interest.

"I love you, Sanoma Tora," I blurted awkwardly.

She laughed. It was like the tinkling of silver upon crystal--
beautiful but cold. "That has been apparent for a long while," she
said, "but why speak of it?"

"And why not?" I asked.

"Because even if I returned your love, I am not for you, Hadron of
Hastor," she replied coldly.

"You cannot love me then, Sanoma Tora?" I asked.

"I did not say that," she replied.

"You could love me?"

"I could love you if I permitted myself the weakness," she said, "but
what is love?"

"Love is everything," I told her.

Sanoma Tora laughed. "If you think that I would link myself for life to
a threadbare Padwar even if I loved him, you are mistaken," she said
haughtily. "I am the daughter of Tor Hatan, whose wealth and power are
but little less than those of the royal families of Helium. I have
suitors whose wealth is so great that they could buy you a thousand
times over. Within the year an emissary of the Jeddak Tul Axtar of
Jahar waited upon my father; he had seen me and he said that he would
return, and, merely for love, you would ask me, who may some day be
Jeddara of Jahar to become the wife of a poor Padwar."

I arose. "Perhaps you are right," I said. "You are so beautiful that it
does not seem possible that you could be wrong, but deep in my heart I
cannot but feel that happiness is the greatest treasure that one may
possess, and love the greatest power. Without these, Sanoma Tora, even
a Jeddara is poor indeed."

"I shall take my chance," she said.

"I hope that the Jeddak of Jahar is not as greasy as his emissary," I
remarked rather peevishly, I am afraid.

"He may be an animated grease-pot for all I care if he will make me his
Jeddara," said Sanoma Tora.

"Then there is no hope for me?" I asked.

"Not while you have so little to offer, Padwar," she replied.

It was then that a slave announced Sil Vagis, and I took my leave. I
had never before plumbed such depths of despondency as that which
engulfed me as I made my unhappy way back to my quarters, but even
though hope seemed dead I had not relinquished my determination to win
her. If wealth and power were her price, then I would achieve wealth
and power. Just how I was going to accomplish it was not entirely
clear, but I was young and to youth all things are possible.

I had tossed in wakefulness upon my sleeping silks and furs for some
time when an officer of the guard burst suddenly into my quarters.

"Hadron!" he shouted, "are you here?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Praised be the ashes of my ancestors!" he exclaimed. "I feared that
you were not."

"Why should I not be?" I demanded. "What is this all about?"

"Tor Hatan, the fat old treasure bag, is gone mad," he exclaimed.

"Tor Hatan gone mad? What do you mean? What has that got to do with
me?"

"He swears that you have abducted his daughter."

In an instant I was upon my feet. "Abducted Sanoma Tora!" I cried. "Has
something happened to her? Tell me, quickly."

"Yes, she is gone, all right," said my informant, "and there is
something mighty mysterious about it."

But I did not wait to hear more. Seizing my harness, I adjusted it as I
ran up the spiral runway toward the hangars on the roof of the
barracks. I had no authority or permit to take out a flier, but what
did that mean to me if Sanoma Tora was in danger?

The hangar guards sought to detain and question me. I do not recall
what I told them; I know that I must have lied to them, for they let me
run out a swift one-man flier and an instant later I was racing through
the night toward the palace of Tor Hatan.

As it stands but little more than two haads from the barracks, I was
there in but a few moments, and, as I landed in the garden, which was
now brilliantly lighted, I saw a number of people congregated there,
among whom were Tor Hatan and Sil Vagis.

As I leaped from the deck of the flier, the former came angrily toward
me. "So it is you!" he cried. "What have you to say for yourself? Where
is my daughter?"

"That is what I have come to ask, Tor Hatan," I replied.

"You are at the bottom of this," he cried. "You abducted her. She told
Sil Vagis that this very night you had demanded her hand in marriage
and that she had refused you."

"I did ask for her hand," I said, "and she refused me. That part is
true; but if she has been abducted, in the name of your first ancestor,
do not waste time trying to connect me with the diabolical plot. I had
nothing to do with it. How did it happen? Who was with her?"

"Sil Vagis was with her. They were walking in the garden," replied Tor
Hatan.

"You saw her abducted," I asked, turning to Sil Vagis, "and you are
here unwounded and alive?"

He started to stammer. "There were many of them," he said. "They
overpowered me."

"You saw them?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Was I among them?" I demanded.

"It was dark. I could not recognize any of them, perhaps they were
disguised."

"They overpowered you?" I asked him.

"Yes," he said.

"You lie!" I exclaimed. "Had they laid hands upon you they would have
killed you. You ran away and hid, never drawing a weapon to defend the
girl."

"That is a lie," cried Sil Vagis. "I fought with them, but they
overpowered me."

I turned to Tor Hatan. "We are wasting time," I said. "Is there no one
who can give us a clue as to the identity of these men and the
direction they took in their flight? How and whence came they? How and
whence did they depart?"

"He is trying to throw you off the track, Tor Hatan," said Sil Vagis.
"Who else could it have been but a disgruntled suitor? What would you
say if I should tell you that the metal of the men who stole Sanoma
Tora was the metal of the warriors of Hastor?"

"I would say that you are a liar," I replied. "If it was so dark that
you could not recognize faces, how could you decipher the insignia upon
their harness?"

At this juncture another officer of the 91st Umak joined us. "We have
found one who may, perhaps, shed some light upon the subject," he said,
"if he lives long enough to speak."

Men had been searching the grounds of Tor Hatan and that portion of the
city adjacent to his palace, and now several approached bearing a man,
whom they laid upon the sward at our feet. His broken and mangled body
was entirely naked, and as he lay there gasping feebly for breath, he
was a pitiful spectacle.

A slave dispatched into the palace returned with stimulants, and when
some of these had been forced between his lips, the man revived
slightly.

"Who are you?" asked Tor Hatan.

"I am a warrior of the city guard," replied the man feebly.

An officer approached Tor Hatan excitedly. "My men have just found six
more bodies close to the point at which we discovered this man," he
said. "They are all naked and similarly broken and mangled."

"Perhaps we shall get to the bottom of this yet," said Tor Hatan, and,
turning again to the poor, broken thing upon the scarlet sward, he
directed him to proceed.

"We were on night patrol over the city when we saw a craft running
without lights. As we approached it and turned our searchlight upon it,
I caught a single, brief glimpse of it. It bore no colors or insignia
to denote its origin and its design was unlike that of any ship I have
ever seen. It had a long, low, enclosed cabin upon either side of which
were mounted two peculiar-looking guns. This was all I had time to
note, except that I saw a man directing one of the guns in our
direction. The Padwar in command of our ship immediately gave orders to
fire upon the stranger, and at the same time he hailed him. At that
instant our ship dissolved in mid-air; even my harness fell from me. I
remember falling, that is all," and with these words he gasped once and
died.

Tor Hatan called his people around him. "There must have been someone
about the palace or the grounds who saw something of this occurrence,"
he said. "I command that no matter who may be involved, whoever has any
knowledge whatsoever of this affair, shall speak."

A slave stepped forward, and as he approached Tor Hatan eyed him with
haughty arrogance.

"Well," demanded the odwar, "what have you to say? Speak!"

"You have commanded it, Tor Hatan," said the slave; "otherwise I should
not speak, for when I have told what I saw I shall have incurred the
enmity of a powerful noble," and he glanced quickly toward Sil Vagis.

"And if you speak the truth, man, you will have won the friendship of a
Padwar whose sword is not so mean but that it may protect you even from
a powerful noble," I said quickly, and I, too, glanced at Sil Vagis,
for it was in my mind that what the fellow had to tell might be none
too flattering to the soft fop who masqueraded beneath the title of a
warrior.

"Speak!" commanded Tor Hatan impatiently. "And see to it that thou dost
not lie."

"For fourteen years I have served faithfully in your palace, Tor
Hatan," replied the man, "ever since I was brought to Helium a prisoner
of war after the fall and sack of Kobol, where I served in the body
guard of the Jed of Kobol, and in all that time you have had no reason
to question my truthfulness. Sanoma Tora trusted me, and had I had a
sword this night she might still be with us."

"Come! Come!" cried Tor Hatan; "get to the point. What saw you?"

"The fellow saw nothing," snapped Sil Vagis. "Why waste time upon him?
He seeks but to glory in a little brief notoriety.

"Let him speak," I exclaimed.

"I had just ascended the first ramp to the second level of the palace,"
explained the slave, "on my way to the sleeping quarters of Tor Hatan
to arrange his sleeping silks and furs for the night as is my custom,
and, pausing for a moment to look out into the garden, I saw Sanoma
Tora and Sil Vagis walking in the moonlight. Conscious that I should
not thus observe them, I was about to continue on my way about my
duties when I saw a flier dropping silently out of the night toward the
garden. Its motors were noiseless, it showed no light. It seemed a
spectral ship and of such strange design that even if for no other
reason it would have arrested my attention, but there were other
reasons. Unlighted ships move through the night for no good purpose,
and so I paused to watch it.

"It landed silently and quickly behind Sanoma Tora and Sil Vagis; nor
did they seem aware of its presence until their attention was attracted
by the slight clanking of the accoutrements of one of the several
warriors who sprang from its low cabin as it grounded. Then Sil Vagis
wheeled about. For just an instant he stood as though petrified and
then as the strange warriors leaped toward him, he turned and fled into
the concealing shrubbery of the garden."

"It is a lie," cried Sil Vagis.

"Silence, coward!" I commanded.

"Continue, slave!" directed Tor Hatan.

"Sanoma Tora was not aware of the presence of the strange warriors
until she was seized roughly from behind. It all happened so quickly
that I scarce had time to realize the purpose of the sinister
visitation before they laid hands upon her. When I comprehended that my
mistress was the object of this night attack, I rushed hurriedly down
the ramp, but ere I reached the garden they had dragged her aboard the
flier. Even then, however, had I had a sword I might at least have died
in the service of Sanoma Tora, for I reached the ship of mystery as the
last warrior was clambering aboard. I seized him by the harness and
attempted to drag him to the ground, at the same time shouting loudly
to attract the palace guard, but ere I did so one of his fellows on the
deck above me drew his long sword and struck viciously at my head. The
blade caught me but a glancing blow which, however, sufficed to stun me
for a moment, so that I relaxed my hold upon the strange warrior and
fell to the sward. When I regained consciousness the ship had gone and
the tardy palace guard was pouring from the guard room. I have spoken--
and spoken truthfully."

Tor Hatan's cold gaze sought out the lowered eyes of Sil Vagis. "What
have you to say to this?" he demanded.

"The fellow is in the employ of Hadron of Hastor," shouted Sil Vagis.
"He speaks nothing but lies. I attacked them when they came, but there
were many and they overpowered me. This fellow was not present."

"Let me see thy head," I said to the slave, and when he had come and
knelt before me I saw a great red welt the length of one side of his
head above the ear, just such a welt as a glancing blow from the flat
side of a long sword might have made. "Here," I said to Tor Hatan,
pointing to the great welt, "is the proof of a slave's loyalty and
courage. Let us see the wounds received by a noble of Helium who by his
own testimony engaged in single-handed combat against great odds.
Surely in such an encounter he must have received at least a single
scratch."

"Unless he is as marvelous a swordsman as the great John Carter
himself," said the dwar of the palace guard with a thinly veiled sneer.

"It is all a plot," cried Sil Vagis. "Do you take the word of a slave,
Tor Hatan, against that of a noble of Helium?"

"I rely on the testimony of my eyes and my senses," replied the odwar,
and he turned his back upon Sil Vagis and again addressed the slave.
"Didst thou recognize any of those who abducted Sanoma Tora," he
demanded, "or note their harness or their metal?"

"I got no good look at the face of any of them, but I did see the
harness and the metal of him whom I tried to drag from the flier."

"Was it the metal of Hastor?" asked Tor Hatan.

"By my first ancestor, it was not," replied the slave emphatically;
"nor was it the metal of any other city of the Empire of Helium. The
design and the insignia were unknown to me, and yet there was a certain
familiarity about them that tantalizes me. I feel that I have seen them
before, but when and where I cannot recall. In the service of my jed I
fought invaders from many lands and it may be that upon some of these I
saw similar metal many years ago."

"Are you satisfied, Tor Hatan," I demanded, "that the aspersions cast
upon me by Sil Vagis are without foundation?"

"Yes, Hadron of Hastor," replied the odwar.

"Then with your leave, I shall depart," I said.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To find Sanoma Tora," I replied.

"And if you find her," he said, "and return her safely to me, she is
yours."

I made no other acknowledgment of his generous offer than to bow
deeply, for I had it in my mind that Sanoma Tora might have something
to say about that, and whether she had or not, I wished no mate who
came not to me willingly.

Leaping to the deck of the flier that brought me I rose into the night
and sped in the direction of the marble palace of the Warlord of
Barsoom, for, even though the hour was late, I was determined to see
him without an instant's unnecessary loss of time.




Two. BROUGHT DOWN



As I approached the Warlord's palace I saw signs of activity unusual
for that hour of the night. Fliers were arriving and departing, and
when I alighted upon that portion of the roof reserved for military
ships, I saw the fliers of a number of high officers of the Warlord's
staff.

Being a frequent visitor at the palace and being well known by all the
officers of the Warlord's body guard, I had no difficulty in gaining
admission to the palace, and presently I was waiting in the hall, just
off the small compartment in which the Warlord is accustomed to give
small, private audiences, while a slave announced me to his master.

I do not know how long I waited. It could not have been a long while,
yet it seemed to me a veritable eternity, because my mind was harassed
by the conviction that the woman I loved was in dire danger. I was
possessed by a conviction, ridiculous perhaps, but none the less real,
that I alone could save her and that every instant I was delayed
reduced her chances for succor before it was too late.

But at last I was invited to enter, and when I stood in the presence of
the great Warlord I found him surrounded by men high in the councils of
Helium.

"I assume," said John Carter, coming directly to the point, "that what
brings you here tonight, Hadron of Hastor, pertains to the matter of
the abduction of the daughter of Tor Hatan. Have you any knowledge or
any theory that might cast any light upon the subject?"

"No," I replied. "I have come merely to obtain your authority to depart
at once in an attempt to pick up the trail of the abductors of Sanoma
Tora."

"Where do you intend to search?" he demanded.

"I do not yet know, sir," I replied, "but I shall find her."

He smiled. "Such assurance is at least an asset," he said, "and knowing
as I do what prompts it, I shall grant you the permission you desire.
While the abduction of a daughter of Helium is in itself of sufficient
gravity to warrant the use of every resource to apprehend her abductors
and return her to her home, there is also involved in this occurrence
an element that may portend high danger to the empire. As you doubtless
know, the mysterious ship that bore her away mounted a gun from which
emanated some force that entirely disintegrated all the metal parts of
the patrol flier that sought to intercept and question it. Even the
weapons and the metal portions of the harness of the crew were
dissipated into nothing, a fact that was easily discernible from an
examination of the wreck of the patrol flier and the bodies of its
crew. Wood, leather, flesh, everything of the animal and vegetable
kingdom that was aboard the flier, has been found scattered about the
ground where it fell, but no trace of any metallic substance remains.

"I am impressing this upon you because it suggests to my mind a
possible clue to the general location of the city of these new enemies
of Helium. I am convinced that this is but the first blow, since any
navy armed with such guns could easily hold Helium at its mercy, and
few indeed are the cities of Barsoom outside the empire that would not
seize with avidity upon any instrument that would give them the sack of
the Twin Cities.

"For some time now we have been deeply concerned by the increasing
number of missing ships of the navy. In nearly all instances these were
ships engaged in charting air currents and recording atmospheric
pressures in different parts of Barsoom far from the empire, and
recently it has become apparent that the vast majority of these ships
which never return were those cruising in the southern part of the
western hemisphere, an unhospitable portion of our planet concerning
which we have unfortunately but little knowledge owing to the fact that
we have developed no trade with the unfriendly people inhabiting this
vast domain.

"This, Hadron of Hastor, is only a suggestion; only the vaguest of
clues, but I offer it to you for what it is worth. A thousand one-man
scout fliers will be dispatched between now and noon tomorrow in search
of the abductors of Sanoma Tora; nor will these be all. Cruisers and
battleships will take the air as well, for Helium must know what city
or what nation has developed a weapon of destruction such as that used
above Helium this night.

"It is my belief that the weapon is of very recent invention and that
whatever power possesses it, must be bending every effort to perfect it
and produce it in such quantities as to make them masters of the world.
I have spoken. Go, and may fortune be with you."

You may believe that I lost no time in setting out upon my mission now
that I had authority from John Carter. Going to my quarters I hastened
my preparation for departure, which consisted principally of making a
careful selection of weapons and of exchanging a rather ornate harness
I had been wearing for one of simpler design and of heavier and more
durable leather. My fighting harness is always the best and plainest
that I can procure and is made for me by a famous harnessmaker of
Lesser Helium. My equipment of weapons was standard, consisting of a
long sword, a short sword, a dagger and a pistol. I also provided
myself with extra ammunition and a supply of the concentrated ration
used by all Martian fighting men.

As I gathered together these simple necessities which, with a single
sleeping fur, would constitute my equipment, my mind was given over to
consideration of various explanations for the disappearance of Sanoma
Tora. I searched my brain for any slightest memory that might suggest
an explanation, or point toward the possible identity of her abductors.
It was while thus engaged that I recalled her reference to the jeddak,
Tul Axtar of Jahar nor was there within the scope of my recollection
any other incident that might point a clue. I distinctly recalled the
emissary of Tul Axtar who had visited the court of Helium not long
since. I had heard him boast of the riches and power of his jeddak and
the beauty of his women. Perhaps, then, it might be as well to search
in the direction of Jahar as elsewhere, but before departing I
determined once again to visit the palace of Tor Hatan and question the
slave who had been the last to see Sanoma Tora.

As I was about to set out, another thought occurred to me. I knew that
in the Temple of Knowledge might be found either illustrations or
replicas of the metal and harness of every nation of Barsoom,
concerning which aught was known in Helium. I therefore repaired
immediately to the temple and with the assistance of a clerk I
presently found a drawing of the harness and metal of a warrior of
Jahar. By an ingenious photostatic process a copy of this illustration
was made for me in a few seconds, and with this I hastened to the
palace of Tor Hatan.

The odwar was absent, having gone to the palace of the Warlord, but his
major-domo summoned the slave, Kal Tavan, who had witnessed the
abduction of Sanoma Tora and grappled with one of her abductors.

As the man approached I noticed him more particularly than I had
previously. He was well built, with clear cut features and that air
which definitely bespeaks the fighting man.

"You said, I believe, that you were from Kobol?" I asked.

"I was born in Tjanath," he replied. "I had a wife and daughter there.
My wife fell before the hand of an assassin and my daughter disappeared
when she was very young. I never knew what became of her. The familiar
scenes of Tjanath reminded me of happier days and so increased my grief
that I could not remain. I turned panthan then and sought service in
other cities; thus I served in Kobol."

"And there you became familiar with the harness and the metal of many
cities and nations?" I asked.

"Yes," he replied.

"What harness and metal are these?" I demanded, handing him the copy of
the illustration I had brought from the Temple of Knowledge.

He examined it briefly and then his eyes lighted with recognition. "It
is the same," he said. "It is identical."

"Identical with what?" I asked.

"With the harness worn by the warrior with whom I grappled at the time
that Sanoma Tora was stolen," he replied.

"The identity of the abductors of Sanoma Tora is established," I said,
and then I turned to the major-domo. "Send a messenger at once to the
Warlord informing him that the daughter of Tor Hatan was stolen by men
from Jahar and that it is my belief that they are the emissaries of Tul
Axtar, Jeddak of Jahar," and without more words I turned and left the
palace, going directly to my flier.

As I arose above the towers and domes and lofty landing stages of
Greater Helium, I turned the prow of my flier toward the west and
opening wide the throttle sped swiftly through the thin air of dying
Barsoom toward that great unknown expanse of her remote southwestern
hemisphere, somewhere within the vast reaches of which lay Jahar toward
which, I was now convinced, Sanoma Tora was being borne to become not
the Jeddara of Tul Axtar, but his slave, for jeddaks take not their
jeddaras by force upon Barsoom.

I believed that I understood the explanation of Sanoma Tora's
abduction, an explanation that would have caused her intensive chagrin
since it was far from flattery. I believed that Tul Axtar's emissary
had reported to his master the charm and beauty of the daughter of Tor
Hatan, but that she was not of sufficiently noble birth to become his
jeddara, and so he had adopted the only expedient by which he might
possess her. My blood boiled at the suggestion, but my judgment told me
that it was doubtless right.

During the past few years--I should say the last ten or twenty--
greater strides have been taken in the advancement of aeronautics than
had been previously achieved in the preceding five hundred years.

The perfection of the destination control compass by Carthoris of
Helium is considered by many authorities to have marked the beginning
of a new era of invention. For centuries we seemed to have stagnated in
a quiet pond of self-sufficiency, as though we had reached the acme of
perfection beyond which it was useless to seek for improvement upon
what we considered the highest possible achievements of science.

Carthoris of Helium, inheriting the restless, inquiring mind of his
earth-born sire, awoke us. Our best minds took up the challenge and the
result was rapid improvement in design and construction of air ships of
all classes, leading to a revolution in motor building.

We had thought that our light, compact, powerful radium motors never
could be improved upon and that man never would travel, either safely
or economically, at a speed greater than that attained by our swift
one-man scout fliers--about eleven hundred haads per zode (Note:
Approximately one hundred and sixty-six earth miles per hour), when a
virtually unknown padwar in the navy of Helium announced that he had
perfected a motor that, with one-half the weight of our present motors,
would develop twice the speed.

It was this type of motor with which my scout flier was equipped--a
seemingly fuelless motor, since it derived its invisible and
imponderable energy from the inexhaustible and illimitable magnetic
field of the planet.

There are certain basic features of the new motor that only the
inventor and the government of Helium are fully conversant with and
these are most jealously guarded. The propeller shaft, which extends
well within the hull of the flier, is constructed of numerous lateral
segments insulated from one another. Around this shaft and supporting
it is a series of armature-like bearings, through the center of which
it passes.

These are connected in series with a device called an accumulator
through which the planet's magnetic energy is directed to the peculiar
armatures which encircle the propeller shaft.

Speed is controlled by increasing or diminishing the number of armature
bearings in series with the accumulator--all of which is simply
accomplished by a lever which the pilot moves from his position on deck
where he ordinarily lies upon his stomach, his safety belt snapped to
heavy rings in the deck.

The limit of speed, the inventor claims, is dependent solely upon the
ratio of strength to weight in the construction of the hull. My one-man
scout flier easily attains a speed of two thousand haads per zode
(Note: Approximately three hundred miles per hour), nor could it have
withstood the tremendous strain of a more powerful motor, though it
would have been easy to have increased both the power of one and the
speed of the other by the simple expedient of a longer propeller shaft
carrying an additional number of armature bearings.

In experimenting with the new motor at Hastor last year, an attempt was
made to drive a scout flier at the exceptional speed of thirty-three
hundred haads per zode (Note: Approximately five hundred miles per
hour; a haad being 1949.0592 earth feet and a zode 2462 earth hours),
but before the ship had attained a speed of three thousand haads per
zode it was torn to pieces by its own motor. Now we are trying to
attain the greatest strength with the minimum of weight and as our
engineers succeed we shall see speed increased until, I am sure, we
shall easily attain to seven thousand haads per zode (Note: Over one
thousand miles per hour), for there seems to be no limit to the power
of these marvelous motors.

Little less marvelous is the destination control compass of Carthoris
of Helium. Set your pointer upon any spot on either hemisphere; open
your throttle and then lie down and go to sleep if you will. Your ship
will carry you to your destination, drop within a hundred yards or so
of the ground and stop, while an alarm awakens you. It is really a very
simple device, but I believe that John Carter has fully described it in
one of his numerous manuscripts.

In the adventure upon which I had embarked the destination control
compass was of little value to me, since I did not know the exact
location of Jahar. However, I set it roughly at a point about thirty
degrees south latitude, thirty-five degrees east longitude, as I
believed that Jahar lay somewhere to the southwest of that point.

Flying at high speed I had long since left behind the cultivated areas
near Helium and was crossing above a desolate and deserted waste of
ocher moss that clothed the dead sea bottoms where once rolled a mighty
ocean bearing upon its bosom the shipping of a happy and prosperous
people, now but a half-forgotten memory in the legends of Barsoom.

Upon the edges of plateaus that once had marked the shore line of a
noble continent I passed above the lonely monuments of that ancient
prosperity, the sad, deserted cities of old Barsoom. Even in their
ruins there is a grandeur and magnificence that still has power to awe
a modern man. Down toward the lowest sea bottoms other ruins mark the
tragic trail that that ancient civilization had followed in pursuit of
the receding waters of its ocean to where the last city finally
succumbed, bereft of commerce, shorn of power, to fall at last an easy
victim to the marauding hordes of fierce, green tribesmen, whose
descendants now are the sole rulers of many of these deserted sea
bottoms. Hating and hated, ignorant of love, laughter or happiness,
they lead their long, fierce lives quarreling among themselves and
their neighbors and preying upon any chance adventurers who happen
within the confines of their bitter and desolate domain.

Fierce and terrible as are all green men, there are few whose cruel
natures and bloody exploits have horrified the minds of red men to such
an extent as have the green hordes of Torquas.

The city of Torquas, from which they derive their name, was one of the
most magnificent and powerful of ancient Barsoom. Though it has been
deserted for ages by all but roaming tribes of green men, it is still
marked upon every map, and as it lay directly in the path of my search
for Jahar and as I had never seen it, I had purposely laid my course to
pass over it, and when, far ahead, I saw its lofty towers and
battlements I felt the thrill of excitement and the lure of adventure
which these dead cities of Barsoom proverbially exert upon us red men.

As I approached the city I reduced my speed and dropped lower that I
might obtain a better view of it. What a beautiful city it must have
been in its time! Even today, after all the ages that have passed since
its broad avenues surged with the life of happy, prosperous throngs,
its great palaces still stand in all their glorious splendor, that time
and the elements have softened and mellowed, but not yet destroyed.

As I circled low above the city I saw miles of avenues that have not
known the foot of man for countless ages. The stone flagging of their
pavement was overgrown with ocher moss, with here and there a stunted
tree or a grotesque shrub of one of those varieties that somehow find
sustenance in the desert and wasteland. Silent, deserted courtyards
looked up at me, gorgeous gardens of another happier day. Here and there
the roof of a building had fallen in, but for the most part they
remained intact, dreaming, doubtless, of the wealth and beauty that they
had known in days of yore, and in imagination I could see the gorgeous
sleeping silks and furs spread out in the sunlight, while the women
idled beneath gay canopies of silks, their jeweled harnesses
scintillating with each move of their bodies. I saw the pennons waving
from countless thousands of staffs and the great ships at anchor in the
harbor rose and fell to the undulations of the restless sea. There were
swaggering sailors upon the avenues, and burly, fighting men before the
doors of every palace. Ah, what a picture imagination conjured from the
deathlike silence of that deserted city, and then, as a long, swinging
circle brought me above the courtyard of a splendid palace that faced
upon the city's great central square, my eyes beheld that which
shattered my beautiful dream of the past. Directly below me I saw a
score of great thoats penned in what once may have been the royal garden
of a jeddak.

The presence of these huge beasts meant but one thing, and that was
that their green masters were to be found nearby.

As I passed above the courtyard one of the restless, vicious beasts
looked up and saw me and instantly he commenced to squeal angrily.
Immediately the other thoats, their short temper aroused by the
squealing of their fellow and their attention directed by his upward
gaze, discovered me and set up a perfect pandemonium of grunts and
squeals, which brought the result that I had immediately foreseen. A
green warrior leaped into the courtyard from the interior of the palace
and looked up just in time to see me before I passed from his line of
vision above the roof of the building.

Realizing immediately that this was no place for me to loiter, I opened
my throttle and at the same time rose swiftly toward a greater
altitude. As I passed over the building and out across the avenue in
front of it, I saw some twenty green warriors pour out of the building,
their upward gaze searching the skies. The warrior on guard had
apprised them of my presence.

I cursed myself for a stupid fool in having taken this unnecessary
chance merely to satisfy my idle curiosity. Instantly I took a zig-zag,
upward course, rising as swiftly as I could, while from below a savage
war cry rose plainly to my ears. I saw long, wicked-looking rifles
aimed at me. I heard the hiss of projectiles hurtling by me, but,
though the first volley passed close to us, not a bullet struck the
ship. In a moment more I would be out of range and safe and I prayed to
a thousand ancestors to protect me for the few brief minutes that would
be necessary to place me entirely out of harm's way. I thought that I
had made it and was just about to congratulate myself upon my good luck
when I heard the thud of a bullet against the metal of my ship and
almost simultaneously the explosion of the projectile, and then I was
out of range.

Angry cries of disappointment came faintly to my ears as I sped swiftly
toward the southwest, relieved that I had been so fortunate as to be
able to get away without suffering any damage.

I had already flown about seventy karads (Note: A karad is equivalent
to a degree of longitude) from Helium, but I was aware that Jahar might
still be fifty to seventy-five karads distant and I made up my mind
that I would take no more chances such as those from which I had just
so fortunately escaped.

I was now moving at great speed again and I had scarcely finished
congratulating myself upon my good fortune when it suddenly became
apparent to me that I was having difficulty in maintaining my altitude.
My flier was losing buoyancy and almost immediately I guessed, what
investigation later revealed, that one of my buoyancy tanks had been
punctured by the explosive bullet of the green warriors.

To reproach myself for my carelessness seemed a useless waste of mental
energy, though I can assure you that I was keenly aware of my fault and
of its possible bearing upon the fate of Sanoma Tora, from the active
prosecution of whose rescue I might now be entirely eliminated. The
results as they affected me did not appall me half so much as did the
contemplation of the unquestioned danger in which Sanoma Tora must be,
from which my determination to rescue her had so obsessed me that there
had not entered into my thoughts any slightest consideration of
failure.

The mishap was a severe blow to my hopes and yet it did not shatter
them entirely, for I am so constituted that I know I shall never give
up hope of success in any issue as long as life remains to me.

How much longer my ship would remain afloat it was difficult to say,
and, having no means of making such repairs as would be necessary to
conserve the remaining contents of the punctured buoyancy tank, the
best that I could do was to increase my speed so that I might cover as
much distance as possible before I was forced down. The construction of
my ship was such that at high speed it tended to maintain itself in the
air with a minimum of the eighth ray in its buoyancy tanks; yet I knew
that the time was not far distant when I should have to make a landing
in this dreary, desolate wasteland.

I had covered something in the neighborhood of two thousand haads since
I had been fired upon above Torquas, crossing what had been a large
gulf when the waters of the ocean rolled over the vast plains that now
lay moss covered and arid beneath me. Far ahead I could see the
outlines of low hills that must have marked the southwestern shore line
of the gulf. Toward the northwest the dead sea bottom extended as far
as the eye could reach, but this was not the direction I wished to
take, and so I sped on toward the hills hoping that I might maintain
sufficient altitude to cross them, but as they swiftly loomed closer
this hope died in my breast and I realized that the end of my flight
was now but a matter of moments. At the same time I discerned the ruins
of a deserted city nestling at the foot of the hills; nor was this an
unwelcome sight since water is almost always to be found in the wells
of these ancient cities, which have been kept in repair by the green
nomads of the wasteland.

By now I was skimming but a few ads above the surface of the ground.
(Note: An ad is about 9.75 earth feet.) I had greatly diminished my
speed to avoid a serious accident in landing and because of this the
end was hastened so that presently I came gently to rest upon the ocher
vegetation scarcely a haad from the water-front of the deserted city.




Three. CORNERED



My landing was most unfortunate in that it left me in plain sight of
the city without any place of concealment in the event that the ruins
happened to be occupied by one of the numerous tribes of green men who
infest the dead sea bottoms of Barsoom, often making their headquarters
in one or another of the deserted cities that line the ancient shore.

The fact that they usually choose to inhabit the largest and most
magnificent of the ancient palaces and that these ordinarily stand back
some little distance from the water-front rendered it quite possible
that even in the event that there were green men in the city I might
reach the concealing safety of one of the nearer buildings before I was
discovered by them.

My flier being now useless, there was nothing to do but abandon it, and
so, with only my weapons, ammunition and a little concentrated rations,
I walked quickly in the direction of the age old water-front. Whether
or not I reached the buildings unobserved, I was unable to determine,
but at any rate I did reach them without seeing any sign of a living
creature about.

Portions of many of these ancient, deserted cities are inhabited by the
great white apes of Barsoom, which are in many respects more to be
feared than the green warriors themselves, for not only are these
man-like creatures endowed with enormous strength and characterized by
intense ferocity, but they are also voracious man-eaters. So terrible
are they that it is said that they are the only living creatures that
can instill fear within the breasts of the green men of Barsoom.

Knowing the possible dangers that might lurk within the precincts of
this ruin, it may be wondered that I approached it at all, but as a
matter of fact there was no safe alternative. Out upon the dead
monotony of the ocher moss of the sea bottom, I should have been
discovered by the first white ape or green Martian that approached the
city from that direction, or that chanced to come from the interior of
the ruins to the water-front. It was, therefore, necessary for me to
seek concealment until night had fallen, since only by night might I
travel in safety across the sea bottom, and, as the city offered the
only concealment nearby, I had no choice but to enter it. I can assure
you that it was not without feelings of extreme concern that I
clambered to the surface of the broad avenue that once skirted the
shore of a busy harbor. Across its wide expanse rose the ruins of what
once had been shops and warehouses, but whose eyeless windows now
looked down upon a scene of and desolation. Gone were the great ships!
Gone the busy, hurrying throngs! Gone the ocean!

Crossing the avenue I entered one of the taller buildings, which I
noticed was surmounted by a high tower. The entire structure, including
the tower, seemed to be in an excellent state of preservation and it
occurred to me that if I could ascend into the latter, I should be able
to obtain an excellent view of the city and of the country that lay
beyond it to the southwest, which was the direction in which I intended
to pursue my search for Jahar. I reached the building apparently
unobserved, and, entering, found myself in a large chamber, the nature
and purpose of which it was no longer possible to determine, since such
decorations as may possibly have adorned its walls in the past were no
longer discernible and whatever furniture it may have contained to give
a clue to its identity had long since been removed. There was an
enormous fireplace in the far end of the room and at one side of this
fireplace a ramp led downward, and upon the other a similar ramp led
upward.

Listening intently for a moment I heard no sound, either within or
without the building, so that it was with considerable confidence that
I started to ascend the ramp.

Upward I continued from floor to floor, each of which consisted of a
single large chamber, a fact which finally convinced me that the
building had been a warehouse for the storing of goods passing through
this ancient port.

From the upper floor a wooden ladder extended upward through the center
of the tower above. It was of solid skeel, which is practically
indestructible, so that though I knew it might be anywhere from five
hundred thousand to a million years old, I did not hesitate to trust
myself to it.

The circular interior core of the tower, upward through which the
ladder extended, was rather dark. At each landing there was an opening
into the tower chamber at that point, but as many of these openings
were closed only a subdued light penetrated to the central core.

I had ascended to the second level of the tower when I thought that I
heard a strange noise beneath me.

Just the suggestion of a noise it was, but such utter silence had
reigned over the deserted city that the faintest sound must have been
appreciable to me.

Pausing in my ascent, I looked down, listening; but the sound which I
had been unable to translate was not repeated, and I continued my way
on upward.

Having it in my mind to climb as high up in the tower as possible, I
did not stop to examine any of the levels that I passed.

Continuing upward for a considerable distance my progress was finally
blocked by heavy planking that appeared to form the ceiling of the
shaft. Some eight or ten feet below me was a small door that probably
led to one of the upper levels of the tower and I could not but wonder
why the ladder had been continued on upward above this doorway, since
it could serve no practical purpose if it merely ended at the ceiling.
Feeling above me with my fingers I traced the outlines of what appeared
to be a trap door. Obtaining a firm footing upon the ladder as high up
as I could climb, I placed a shoulder against the barrier. In this
position I was able to exert considerable pressure upward with the
result that presently I felt the planking rise above me and a moment
later, to the accompaniment of subdued groans, the trap door swung
upward upon ancient wooden hinges long unused. Clambering into the
apartment above I found myself upon the top level of the tower, which
rose to a height of some two hundred feet above the avenue below.
Before me were the corroded remains of an ancient and long obsolete
beacon-light, such as were used by the ancients long before the
discovery of radium and its practical and scientific application to the
lighting requirements of modern civilization upon Barsoom. These
ancient lamps were operated by expensive machines which generated
electricity, and this one was doubtless used as a beacon for the safe
guidance of ancient mariners into the harbor, whose waters once rolled
almost to the foot of the tower.

This upper level of the tower afforded an excellent view in all
directions. To the north and northeast stretched a vast expanse. To the
south was a range of low hills that curved gently in a northeasterly
direction, forming in by-gone days the southern shore line of what is
still known as the Gulf of Torquas. Toward the west I looked out over
the ruins of a great city, which extended far back into low hills, the
flanks of which it had mounted as it expanded from the sea shore. There
in the distance I could still discern the ancient villas of the
wealthy, while in the nearer foreground were enormous public buildings,
the most pretentious of which were built upon the four sides of a large
quadrangle that I could easily discern a short distance from the
water-front. Here, doubtless, stood the official palace of the jeddak
who once ruled the rich country of which this city was the capital and
the principal port. There, now, only silence reigns. It was indeed a
depressing sight and one fraught with poignant prophecy for us of
present-day Barsoom.

Where they battled valiantly but futilely against the menace of a
constantly diminishing water supply, we are faced with a problem that
far transcends theirs in the importance of its bearing upon the
maintenance of life upon our planet. During the past several thousand
years only the courage, resourcefulness and wealth of the red men of
Barsoom have made it possible for life to exist upon our dying planet,
for were it not for the great atmosphere plants conceived and built and
maintained by the red race of Barsoom, all forms of air-breathing
creatures would have become extinct thousands of years ago.

As I gazed out over the city, my mind occupied with these dismal
thoughts, I again became aware of a sound coming from the interior of
the tower beneath me, and, stepping to the open trap, I looked down
into the shaft and there, directly below me, I saw that which might
well make the stoutest Barsoomian heart quail--the hideous, snarling
face of a great white ape of Barsoom.

As our eyes met the creature voiced an angry growl and, abandoning its
former stealthy approach, rushed swiftly up the ladder. Acting almost
mechanically I did the one and only thing that might even temporarily
stay its rush upon me--I slammed down the heavy trap door above its
head, and as I did so I saw for the first time that the door was
equipped with a heavy wooden bar, and you may well believe that I lost
no time in securing this, thus effectually barring the creature's
ascent by this route into the veritable cul de sac in which I had
placed myself.

Now, indeed, was I in a pretty predicament--two hundred feet above the
city with my only avenue of escape cut off by one of the most feared of
all the savage beasts of Barsoom.

I had hunted these creatures in Thark as a guest of the great green
jeddak, Tars Tarkas, and I knew something of their cunning and
resourcefulness as well as of their ferocity. Extremely man-like in
conformation, they also approach man more closely than any other of the
lower orders in the size and development of their brain. Occasionally
these creatures are captured when young and trained to perform, and so
intelligent are they that they can be taught to do almost anything that
man can do that lies within the range of their limited reasoning
capacity. Man has, however, never been able to subdue their ferocious
nature and they are always the most dangerous of animals to handle,
which probably accounts more even than their intelligence for the
interest displayed by the large audiences that they unfailingly
attract.

In Hastor I have paid a good price to see one of these creatures and
now I found myself in a position where I should very gladly pay a good
deal more not to see one, but from the noise he was making in the shaft
beneath me it appeared to me that he was determined that I should have
a free show and he a free meal. He was hurling himself as best he could
against the trap door, above which I stood with some misgivings which
were presently allayed when I realized that not even the vast strength
of a white ape could avail against the still staunch and sturdy skeel
of the ancient door.

Finally convinced that he could not come at me by this avenue, I set
about taking stock of my situation. Circling the tower I examined its
outward architecture by the simple expedient of leaning far outward
above each of the four sides. Three sides terminated at the roof of the
building a hundred and fifty feet below me, while the fourth extended
to the pavement of the courtyard two hundred feet below. Like much of
the architecture of ancient Barsoom, the surface of the tower was
elaborately carved from top to bottom and at each level there were
window embrasures, some of which were equipped with small stone
balconies. As a rule there was but a single window to a level, and as
the window for the level directly beneath never opened upon the same
side of the tower as the window for the level above, there was always a
distance of from thirty to forty feet between windows upon the same
side, and, as I was examining the outside of the tower with a view to
its offering me an avenue of escape, this point was of great importance
to me, since a series of window ledges, one below another, would have
proved a most welcome sight to a man in my position.

By the time I had completed my survey of the exterior of the tower, the
ape had evidently come to the conclusion that he could not demolish the
barrier that kept him from me and I hoped that he would abandon the
idea entirely and depart. But when I lay down on the floor and placed
an ear close to the door I could plainly hear him just below as he
occasionally changed from one uncomfortable position to another upon
the small ladder beneath me. I did not know to what extent these
creatures might have developed pertinacity of purpose, but I hoped that
he might soon tire of his vigil and his thoughts be diverted into some
other channel. However, as the day wore to a close this possibility
seemed to grow more and more remote until at last I became almost
convinced that the creature had determined to lay siege until hunger or
desperation forced me from my retreat.

How longingly I gazed at the beckoning hills beyond the city where lay
my route toward the southwest--toward fabled Jahar.

The sun was low in the west. Soon would come the sudden transition from
daylight to darkness, and then what? Perhaps the creature would abandon
its vigil; hunger or thirst might attract it elsewhere, but how was I
to know? How easily it might descend to the bottom of the tower and
await me there, confident that sooner or later I must come down.

One unfamiliar with the traits of these savage creatures might wonder
why, armed as I was with sword and pistol, I did not raise the trap
door and give battle to my jailer. Had I known positively that he was
the only white ape in the vicinity I should not have hesitated to do
so, but experience assured me that there was doubtless an entire herd
of them quartered in the ruined city. So scarce is the flesh they crave
that it is their ordinary custom to hunt alone, so that in the event
that they make a kill they may be more certain of retaining the prize
for themselves, but if I should attack him he would most certainly
raise such a row as to attract his fellows, in which event my chance
for escape would have been reduced to the ultimate zero.

A single shot from my pistol might have dispatched him, but it was
equally possible that it would not, for these great white apes of
Barsoom are tremendous creatures, endowed with almost unbelievable
vitality. Many of them stand fully fifteen feet in height and are
endowed by nature with tremendous strength. Their very appearance is
demoralizing to an enemy; their white, hairless bodies are in
themselves repulsive to the eye of a red man; the great shock of white
hair bristling erect upon their pates accentuates the brutality of
their countenances, while their intermediary set of limbs, which they
use either as arms or legs as necessity or whim suggests, render them
most formidable antagonists. Quite generally they carry a club, in the
use of which they are terribly proficient. One of them, therefore,
seemed sufficiently a menace in itself, so that I had no desire to
attract others of its kind, though I was fully aware that eventually I
might be forced to carry the battle to him.

Just as the sun was setting my attention was attracted toward the
water-front where the long shadows of the city were stretching far out
across the dead sea bottom. Riding up the gentle acclivity toward the
city was a party of green warriors, mounted upon their great savage
thoats. There were perhaps twenty of them, moving silently over the
soft moss that carpeted the bottom of the ancient harbor, the padded
feet of their mounts giving forth no sound. Like specters, they moved
in the shadows of the dying day, giving me further proof that Fate had
led me to a most unfriendly shore, and then, as though to complete the
trilogy of fearsome Barsoomian menaces, the roar of a banth rolled down
out of the hills behind the city.

Safe from observation in the high tower above them, I watched the party
as it emerged from the hollow of the harbor and rode out upon the
avenue below me, and then for the first time I noted a small figure
seated in front of one of the warriors. Darkness was coming swiftly
now, but before the little cavalcade passed out of sight momentarily
behind the corner of the building, as it entered another avenue leading
toward the heart of the city, I thought that I recognized the little
figure as that of a woman of my own race. That she was a captive was a
foregone conclusion and I could not but shudder as I contemplated the
fate that lay in store for her. Perhaps my own Sanoma Tora was in equal
jeopardy. Perhaps--but no, that could not be possible--how could
Sanoma Tora have fallen into the clutches of warriors of the fierce
horde of Torquas?

It could not be she. No, that was impossible. But the fact remained
that the captive was a red woman, and whether she were Sanoma Tora or
another, whether she were from Helium or Jahar, my heart went out in
sympathy to her and I forgot my own predicament as something within me
urged me to pursue her captors and seek to snatch her from them; but,
alas, how futile seemed my fancy. How might I, who might not even save
himself, aspire to the rescue of another?

The thought galled me, it hurt my pride, and forthwith I determined
that if I would not chance dying to save myself, I might at least
chance it for a woman of my own race, and always in the back of my head
was the thought that perhaps the object of my solicitude might, indeed,
be the woman I loved.

Darkness had fallen as I pressed my ear again to the trap door. All was
silent below so that presently I became assured that the creature had
departed. Perhaps he was lying in wait for me further down, but what of
that? I must face him eventually if he elected to remain. I loosened my
pistol in its holster and was upon the point of slipping the bar that
secured the door when I distinctly heard the beast directly beneath me.

For an instant I paused. What was the use? It meant certain death to
raise that door, and in what way might I be profiting either myself or
the poor captive if I gave my life thus uselessly? But there was an
alternative--one that I had been planning to adopt in case of
necessity from the moment that I had first examined the exterior
construction of the tower. It offered a slender chance of escape from
my predicament and even a very slender chance was better than what
would confront me should I raise the trap door.

I stepped to one of the windows of the tower and looked down upon the
city. Neither moon was in the sky; I could see nothing. Toward the
interior of the city I heard the squealing of thoats. There would the
camp of the green men be located. Thus by the squealing of their
vicious mounts would I be guided to it. Again a hunting banth roared in
the hills. I sat upon the sill and swung both legs across and then
turning on my belly slipped silently over the edge until I hung only by
my hands. Groping with my sandaled toes, I felt for a foothold upon the
deep-cut carvings of the tower's face. Above me was a blue-black void
shot with stars; below me a blank and empty void. It might have been a
thousand sofads to the roof below me, or it might have been one; but
though I could see nothing I knew that it was one hundred and fifty and
that at the bottom lay death if a foot or a hand slipped.

In daylight the sculpturing had seemed large and deep and bold, but by
night how different! My toes seemed to find but hollow scratches in a
smooth surface of polished stone. My arms and fingers were tiring. I
must find a foothold or fall, and then, when hope seemed gone, the toe
of my right sandal slipped into a horizontal groove and an instant
later my left found a hold.

Flattened against the sheer wall of the tower I lay there resting my
tired fingers and arms for a moment and when I felt that they would
bear my weight again I sought for hand holds. Thus painfully,
perilously, monotonously, I descended inch by inch. I avoided the
windows, which naturally greatly increased the difficulty and danger of
my descent; yet I did not care to pass directly in front of them for
fear that by chance the ape might have descended from the summit of the
ladder and would see me.

I cannot recall that ever in my life I felt more alone than I did that
night as I was descending the ancient beacon-tower of that deserted
city for not even hope was with me. So precarious were my holds upon
the rough stone that my fingers were soon numb and exhausted. How they
clung at all to those shallow cuts, I do not know. The only redeeming
feature of the descent was the darkness, and a hundred times I blessed
my first ancestors that I could not see the dizzy depths below me; but
on the other hand it was so dark that I could not tell how far I had
descended; nor did I dare to look up where the summit of the tower must
have been silhouetted against the starlit sky for fear that in doing so I
should lose my balance and be precipitated to the courtyard or the roof
below. The air of Barsoom is thin; it does not greatly diffuse the
starlight, and so, while the heavens above were shot with brilliant points
of light, the ground beneath was obliterated in darkness.

Yet I must have been nearer the roof than I thought when that happened
which I had been assiduously endeavoring to prevent the scabbard of my
long sword pattered noisily against the face of the tower. In the
darkness and the silence it seemed a veritable din, but, however
exaggerated it might appear to me, I knew that it was sufficient to
reach the ears of the great ape in the tower. Whether a suggestion of
its import would occur to him, I could not guess--I could only hope
that he would be too dull to connect it with me or my escape.

But I was not to be left long in doubt, for almost immediately
afterward a sound came from the interior of the tower that sounded to
my over-wrought nerves like a heavy body rapidly descending a ladder. I
realize now that imagination might easily have construed utter silence
into such a sound, since I had been listening so intensely for that
very thing that I might easily have worked myself into such a state of
nervous apprehension that almost any sort of an hallucination was
possible.

With redoubled speed and with a measure of recklessness that was almost
suicidal, I hastened my descent and an instant later I felt the solid
roof beneath my feet.

I breathed a sigh of relief, but it was destined to be but a short sigh
and but brief relief, for almost instantly I was made aware that the
sound from the interior of the tower had been no hallucination as the
huge bulk of a great white ape loomed suddenly from a doorway not a
dozen paces from me.

As he charged me he gave forth no sound. Evidently he had not held his
solitary vigil this long with any intention of sharing his feast with
another. He would dispatch me in silence, and, with similar intent I
drew my long sword, rather than my pistol, to meet his savage charge.

What a puny, futile thing I must have appeared confronting that
towering mountain of bestial ferocity.

Thanks be to a thousand fighting ancestors that I wielded a long sword
with swiftness and with strength; otherwise I must have been gathered
into that savage embrace in the brute's first charge. Four powerful
hands were reached out to seize me, but I swung my long sword in a
terrific cut that severed one of them cleanly at the wrist and at the
same instant I leaped quickly to one side, and as the beast rushed past
me, carried onward by its momentum, I ran my blade deep into its body.
With a savage scream of rage and pain it sought to turn upon me, but
its foot slipped upon its own dismembered hand and it stumbled
awkwardly on trying to regain its equilibrium, but that it never
accomplished, and still stumbling grotesquely it lunged over the edge
of the roof to the courtyard below.

Fearing that the beast's scream might attract others of its kind to the
roof, I ran swiftly to the north edge of the building where I had noted
from the tower earlier in the afternoon a series of lower buildings
adjoining, over the roofs of which I might possibly accomplish my
descent to the street level.

Cold Cluros was rising above the distant horizon, shedding his pale
light upon the city so that I could plainly see the roofs below me as I
came to the north edge of the building. It was a long drop, but there
was no safe alternative, since it was quite probable that should I
attempt to descend through the building, I would meet other members of
the ape's herd who had been attracted by the scream of their fellow.

Slipping over the edge of the roof I hung an instant by my hands and
then dropped. The distance was about two ads, but I alighted safely and
without injury. Upon your own planet, with its larger bulk and greater
gravity, I presume that a fall of that distance might be serious, but
not so, necessarily, upon Barsoom.

From this roof I had a short drop to the next, and from that I leaped
to a low wall and thence to the ground below.

Had it not been for the fleeting glimpse of the girl captive that I had
caught just at sunset, I should have set out directly for the hills
west of the town, banth or no banth, but now I felt strongly upon me a
certain moral obligation to make the best efforts that I could for
succoring the poor unfortunate that had fallen into the clutches of
these cruelest of creatures.

Keeping well within the shadows of the buildings I moved stealthily
toward the central plaza of the city, from which direction I had heard
the squealing of the thoats.

The plaza was a full haad from the water-front and I was compelled to
cross several intersecting avenues as I cautiously made my way toward
it, guided by an occasional squeal from the thoats quartered in some
deserted palace courtyard.

I reached the plaza in safety, confident that I had not been observed.

Upon the opposite side I saw light within one of the great buildings
that faced it, but I dared not cross the open space in the moonlight
and so still clinging to the shadows I moved to the far end of the
quadrangle where Cluros cast his densest shadows, and thus at last I
won to the building in which the green men were quartered. Directly
before me was a low window that must have opened into a room adjoining
the one in which the warriors were congregated. Listening intently I
heard nothing within the chamber and slipping a leg over the sill I
entered the dark interior with the utmost stealth.

Tiptoeing across the room to find a door through which I might look
into the adjoining chamber, I was suddenly arrested as my foot touched
a soft body and I froze into rigidity, my hand upon my long sword, as
the body moved.




Four. TAVIA



There are occasions in the life of every man when he becomes impressed
by the evidence of the existence of an extraneous power which guides
his acts, which is sometimes described as the hand of providence, or is
again explained on the hypothesis of a sixth sense which transports to
the part of our brain that controls our actions, perceptions of which
we are not objectively aware; but, account for it as one may, the fact
remains that as I stood there that night in the dark chamber of the
ancient palace of the deserted city I hesitated to thrust my sword into
the soft body moving at my feet. This might after all have been the
most reasonable and logical course for me to pursue. Instead I pressed
my sword point firmly against yielding flesh and whispered a single
word: "Silence!"

A thousand times since then have I given thanks to my first ancestors
that I did not follow my natural impulse, for, in response to my
admonition a voice whispered: "Do not thrust, red man; I am of your own
race and a prisoner," and the voice was that of a girl.

Instantly I withdrew my blade and kneeled beside her. "If you have come
to help me, cut my bonds," she said, "and be quick for they will soon
return for me."

Feeling rapidly over her body I found that her wrists and ankles were
secured with leather thongs and drawing my dagger I quickly severed
these. "Are you alone?" I asked as I helped her to her feet.

"Yes," she replied. "In the next room they are playing for me to decide
to which one I shall belong." At that moment there came the clank of
side arms from the adjoining room. "They are coming," she said. "They
must not find us here."

Taking her by the hand I moved to the window through which I had
entered the apartment, but fortunately I reconnoitered before stepping
out into the avenue and it was well for us that I did so, for as I
looked to the right along the face of the building, I saw a green
Martian warrior emerging from the main entrance. Evidently it had been
the rattling of his side arms that we had heard as he moved across the
adjoining apartment to the doorway.

"Is there another exit from this room?" I asked in a low whisper.

"Yes," she replied. "Opposite this window there is a doorway leading
into a corridor. It was open when they brought me in, but they closed
it."

"We shall be better off inside the building than out for a while at
least," I said. "Come!" And together we crossed the apartment, groping
along the wall for the door which I soon located. With the utmost care
I drew it ajar, fearing that its ancient hinges might betray us by
their complaining. Beyond the doorway lay a corridor dark as the depths
of Omean and into this I drew the girl, closing the door silently
behind us. Groping our way to the right away from the apartment
occupied by the green warriors, we moved slowly through a black void
until presently we saw just ahead a faint light, which investigation
revealed as coming through the open doorway of an apartment that faced
upon the central courtyard of the edifice. I was about to pass this
doorway and seek a hiding place further within the remote interior of
the building when my attention was attracted by the squealing of a
thoat in the courtyard beyond the apartment we were passing.

From earliest boyhood I have had a great deal of experience with the
small breed of thoats used as saddle animals by the men of my race and
while I was visiting Tars Tarkas of Thark I became quite familiar with
the methods employed by the green men in controlling their own huge
vicious beasts.

For travel over the surface of the ground the thoat compares to other
methods of land transportation as the one-man scout flier does to all
other ships of the air in aerial navigation. He is at once the swiftest
and the most dangerous, so that, faced as I was with a problem of land
transportation, it was only natural that the squeal of the thoats,
should suggest a plan to my mind.

"Why do you hesitate?" asked the girl. "We cannot escape in that
direction since we cannot cross the courtyard."

"On the contrary," I replied, "I believe that in this direction may lie
our surest avenue of escape."

"But their thoats are penned in the courtyard," she remonstrated, "and
green warriors are never far from their thoats."

"It is because the thoats are there that I wish to investigate the
courtyard," I replied.

"The moment they catch our scent," she said, "they will raise a
disturbance that will attract the attention of their masters and we
shall immediately be discovered and captured."

"Perhaps," I said; "but if my plan succeeds it will be well worth the
risk, but if you are very much afraid I will abandon it."

"No," she said, "it is not for me to choose or direct. You have been
generous enough to help me and I may only follow where you lead, but if
I knew your plan perhaps I might follow more intelligently."

"Certainly," I said; "it is very simple. There are thoats. We shall
take one of them and ride away. It will be much easier than walking and
our chances for escape will be considerably greater, at the same time
we shall leave the courtyard gates open, hoping that the other thoats
will follow us out, leaving their masters unable to pursue us."

"It is a mad plan," said the girl, "but is a brave one. If we are
discovered, there will be fighting and I am unarmed. Give me your short
sword, warrior, that we may at least make the best account of ourselves
that is possible."

I unsnapped the scabbard of my short sword from my harness and attached
it to hers at her left hip, and, as I touched her body in doing so, I
could not but note that there was no sign of trembling such as there
would have been had she been affected by fright or excitement. She
seemed perfectly cool and collected and her tone of voice was almost
reassuring to me. That she was not Sanoma Tora I had known when she had
first spoken in the darkness of the room in which I had stumbled upon
her, and while I had been keenly disappointed I was still determined to
do the best that I could to assist in the escape of the stranger,
although I was confident that her presence might greatly delay and
embarrass me while it subjected me to far greater danger than would
have fallen to the lot of a warrior traveling alone. It was, therefore
reassuring to find that my unwelcome companion would not prove entirely
helpless.

"I trust you will not have to use it," I said as I finished hooking my
short sword to her harness.

"You will find," she said, "that if necessity arises I can use it."

"Good," I said. "Now follow me and keep close to me."

A careful survey of the courtyard from the window of the chamber
overlooking it revealed about twenty huge thoats, but no green
warriors, evidence that they felt perfectly secure against enemies.

The thoats were congregated in the far end of the courtyard; a few of
them had lain down for the night, but the balance were moving
restlessly about as is their habit. Across the courtyard from us and at
the same end stood a pair of massive gates. As far as I could determine
they barred the only opening into the courtyard large enough to admit a
thoat and I assumed that beyond them lay an alley leading to one of the
avenues nearby.

To reach the gates unobserved by the thoats, was the first step in my
plan and the better to do this I decided to seek an apartment near the
gate, on either side of which I saw windows similar to that from which
we were looking. Therefore, motioning my companion to follow me, I
returned to the corridor and again groping through the darkness we made
our way along it. In the third apartment which I explored I found a
window letting into the courtyard close beside the gate. And in the
wall which ran at right angles to that in which the window was set I
found a doorway that opened into a large vaulted corridor upon the
opposite side of the gate. This discovery greatly encouraged me since
it harmonized perfectly with the plan I had in mind, at the same time
reducing the risk which my companion must run in the attempted
adventure of escape.

"Remain here," I said to her, placing her just behind the gate. "If my
plan is successful I shall ride into this corridor upon one of the
thoats and as I do so you must be ready to seize my hand and mount
behind me. If I am discovered and fail I shall cry out 'For Helium!'
and that must be your signal to escape as best you may."

She laid her hand upon my arm. "Let me go into the courtyard with you,"
she begged. "Two swords are better than one."

"No," I said. "Alone I have a better chance of handling the thoats than
if their attention is distracted by another."

"Very well," she said, and with that I left her, and re-entering the
chamber, went directly to the window. For a moment I reconnoitered the
interior of the courtyard and finding conditions unchanged, I slipped
stealthily through the window and edged slowly toward the gate.
Cautiously I examined the latch and discovering it easy to manipulate,
I was soon silently pushing one of the gates back upon its hinges. When
it was opened sufficiently wide to permit the passage of a thoat, I
turned my attention to the beasts within the enclosure. Practically
untamed, these savage creatures are as wild as their uncaptured fellows
of the remote sea bottoms, and, being controlled solely by telepathic
means, they are amenable only to the suggestion of the more powerful
minds of their masters and even so it requires considerable skill to
dominate them.

I had learned the method from Tar Tarkas himself and had come to feel
considerable proficiency so that I approached this crucial test of my
power with the confidence that was absolutely requisite to success.

Placing myself close beside the gate, I concentrated every faculty of
my mind to the direction of my will, telepathically, upon the brain of
the thoat I had selected for my purpose, the selection being determined
solely by the fact that he stood nearest to me. The effect of my effort
was immediately apparent. The creature, which had been searching for
the occasional tufts of moss that grew between the stone flags of the
courtyard, raised his head and looked about him. At once he became
restless, but he gave forth no sound since I was willing him to
silence. Presently his eyes moved in my direction and halted upon me.
Then, slowly, I drew him toward me. It was slow work, for he evidently
sensed that I was not his master, but on he came. Once, when he was
quite near me, he stopped and snorted angrily. He must have caught my
scent then and realized that I was not even of the same race as that to
which he was accustomed. Then it was that I exerted to their fullest
extent every power of my mind. He stood there shaking his ugly head to
and fro, his snarling lips baring his great fangs. Beyond him I could
see that the other thoats, had been attracted by his actions. They were
looking toward us and moving about restlessly, always drawing closer.
Should they discover me and start to squeal, which is the first and
always ready sign of their easily aroused anger, I knew that I should
have their riders upon me in no time, since because of his nervous and
irritable nature the thoat is the watchdog as well as the beast of
burden of the green Barsoomians.

For a moment the beast I had selected hesitated before me as though
undecided whether to retreat or to charge, but he did neither; instead
he came slowly up to me and as I backed through the gate into the
vaulted corridor beyond, he followed me. This was better than I had
expected for it permitted me to compel him to lie down, so that the
girl and I were able to mount with ease.

Before us lay a long vaulted corridor at the far end of which I could
discern a moonlit archway, through which we presently passed onto a
broad avenue.

To the left lay the hills, and, turning this way, I urged the fleet
animal along the ancient deserted thoroughfare between rows of stately
ruins toward the west and--what?

Where the avenue turned to wind upward into the hills, I glanced back;
nor could I refrain a feeling of exultation as I saw strung out behind
us in the moonlight a file of great thoats, which I was confident would
well know what to do with their new found liberty.

"Your captors will not pursue us far," I said to the girl, indicating
the thoats with a nod of my head.

"Our ancestors are with us tonight," she said. "Let us pray that they
may never desert us."

Now, for the first time, I had a fairly good look at my companion, for
both Cluros and Thuria were in the heavens and it was quite light. If I
revealed my surprise it is not to be wondered at for, in the darkness,
having only my companion's voice for a guide, I had been perfectly
confident that I had given aid to a female, but now as I looked at that
short hair and boyish face I did not know what to think; nor did the
harness that my companion wore aid me in justifying my first
conclusion, since it was quite evidently the harness of a man.

"I thought you were a girl," I blurted out.

A fine mouth spread into a smile that revealed strong, white teeth. "I
am," she said.

"But your hair--your harness--even your figure belies your claim."

She laughed gayly. That, I was to find later, was one of her chiefest
charms--that she could laugh so easily, yet never to wound.

"My voice betrayed me," she said. "It is too bad."

"Why is it too bad?" I asked.

"Because you would have felt better with a fighting man as a companion,
whereas now you feel that you have only a burden."

"A light one," I replied, recalling how easily I had lifted her to the
thoat's back. "But tell me who you are and why you are masquerading as
a boy."

"I am a slave girl," she said; "just a slave girl who has run away from
her master. Perhaps that will make a difference," she added a little
sadly. "Perhaps you will be sorry that you have defended just a slave
girl."

"No," I said, "that makes no difference. I myself, am only a poor
padwar, not rich enough to afford a slave. Perhaps you are the one to
be sorry that you were not rescued by a rich man."

She laughed. "I ran away from the richest man in the world," she said.
"At least I guess he must have been the richest man in the world, for
who could be richer than Tul Axtar, Jeddak of Jahar?"

"You belong to Tul Axtar, Jeddak of Jahar?" I exclaimed.

"Yes," she said. "I was stolen when I was very young from a city called
Tjanath and ever since I have lived in the palace of Tul Axtar. He has
many women--thousands of them. Sometimes they live all their lives in
his palace and never see him. I have seen him," she shuddered; "he is
terrible. I was not unhappy there for I had never known my mother; she
died when I was young, and my father was only a memory. You see I was
very, very young, indeed, when the emissaries of Tul Axtar stole me
from my home in Tjanath. I made friends with everyone about the palace
of Tul Axtar. They all liked me, the slaves and the warriors and the
chiefs, and because I was always boyish it amused them to train me in
the use of arms and even to navigate the smaller fliers; but then came
a day when my happiness was ended forever--Tul Axtar saw me. He saw me
and he sent for me. I pretended that I was ill and did not go, and when
night came I went to the quarters of a soldier whom I knew to be on
guard and stole harness and I cut off my long hair and painted my face
that I might look more like a man, and then I went to the hangars on
the palace roof and by a ruse deceived the guards there and stole a
one-man flier.

"I thought," she continued, "that if they searched for me at all they
would search in the direction of Tjanath and so I flew in the opposite
direction, toward the northeast, intending to make a great circle to
the north, turning back toward Tjanath. After I passed over Xanator I
discovered a large grove of mantalia growing out upon the dead sea
bottom and I immediately descended to obtain some of the milk from
these plants, as I had left the palace so hurriedly that I had no
opportunity to supply myself with provisions. The mantalia grove was an
unusually large one and as the plants grew to a height of from eight to
twelve sofads, the grove offered excellent protection from observation.
I had no difficulty in finding a landing place well within its
confines. In order to prevent detection from above, I ran my plane in
among the concealing foliage of two over-arching mantalias and then set
about obtaining a supply of milk.

"As near objects never appear as attractive as those more distant, I
wandered some little distance from my flier before I found the plants
that seemed to offer a sufficiently copious supply of rich milk.

"A band of green warriors had also entered the grove to procure milk,
and, as I was tapping the tree I had selected, one of them discovered
me and a moment later I was captured. From their questions I became
assured that they had not seen me enter the grove and that they knew
nothing of the presence of my flier. They must have been in a portion
of the grove very thickly overhung by foliage while I was approaching
from above by making my landing; but be that as it may, they were
ignorant of the presence of my flier and I determined to keep them in
ignorance of it.

"When they had obtained as much milk as they required they returned to
Xanator, bringing me with them. The rest you know."

"This is Xanator?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied.

"And what is your name?" I asked.

"Tavia," she replied. "And what is yours?"

"Tan Hadron of Hastor," I replied.

"It is a nice name," she said. There was a certain boyish frankness
about the way she said it that convinced me that she would have been
just as quick to tell me had she not liked my name. There was no
suggestion of brainless flattery in her tone and I was to learn, as I
became better acquainted with her, that honesty and candor were two of
her marked characteristics, but at the moment I was giving such matters
little thought since my mind was occupied with a portion of her
narrative that had suggested to me an easy and swift method of escape
from our predicament.

"Do you believe," I asked, "that you can find the mantalia grove where
you hid your flier?"

"I am positive of it," she replied.

"Will the craft carry two?" I asked.

"It is a one-man flier," she replied, "but it will carry both of us,
though both its speed and altitude will be reduced."

She told me that the grove lay to the southeast of Xanator and
accordingly I turned the thoat's head toward the east. After we had
passed well beyond the limits of the city we moved in a southerly
direction down out of the hills onto the dead sea bottom.

Thuria was winging her swift flight through the heavens, casting
strange and ever moving shadows upon the ocher moss that covered the
ground, while far above cold Cluros took his slow and stately way. The
light of the two moons clearly illuminated the landscape and I was sure
that keen eyes could easily have detected us from the ruins of Xanator,
although the swiftly moving shadows cast by Thuria were helpful to us
since the shadows of every shrub and stunted tree produced a riot of
movement upon the surface of the sea bottom in which our own moving
shadow was less conspicuous, but the hope that I entertained most
fondly was that all of the thoats, had followed our beast from the
courtyard and that the green Martian warriors were left dismounted, in
which event no pursuit could overtake us.

The great beast that was carrying us moved swiftly and silently so that
it was not long before we saw in the distance the shadowy foliage of
the mantalia grove and shortly afterward we entered its gloomy
confines. It was not without considerable difficulty, however, that we
located Tavia's flier, and mighty glad was I, too, when we found it in
good condition for we had seen more than a single shadowy form slinking
through the forest and I knew that the fierce animals of the barren
hills and the great white apes of the ruined cities were equally fond
of the milk of the mantalia and that we should be fortunate, indeed, if
we escaped an encounter.

I rode as close to the flier as possible, and, leaving Tavia on the
thoat, slipped quickly to the ground and dragged the small craft out
into the open. An examination of the controls showed that they had not
been tampered with, which was a great relief to me as I had feared that
the flier might have been damaged by the great apes, which are inclined
to be both inquisitive and destructive.

Assured that all was well I assisted Tavia to the ground, and a moment
later we were upon the deck of the flier. The craft responded
satisfactorily, though a little sluggishly, to the controls, and
immediately we were floating gently upward into the temporary safety of
a Barsoomian night.

The flier, which was of a design now almost obsolete in Helium, was not
equipped with a destination control compass, which rendered it
necessary for the pilot to be constantly at the controls. Our quarters
on the narrow deck were exceedingly cramped and I foresaw a most
uncomfortable journey ahead of us. Our safety belts were snapped to the
same deck ring as we lay almost touching one another upon the hard
skeel. The cowl which protected our faces from the rush of the wind
that was generated even by our relatively slow speed was not
sufficiently high to permit us to change our positions to any
considerable degree, though occasionally we found it a relief to sit up
with our backs toward the bow and thus relieve the tedium of remaining
constantly prone in one position. When I thus rested my cramped
muscles, Tavia guided the flier, but the cold wind of the Barsoomian
night always brought me down behind the cowl in a very few moments.

By mutual consent, we were heading in a south-westerly direction while
we discussed our eventual destination.

I had told Tavia that I wished to go to Jahar and why. She appeared
much interested in the story of the abduction of Sanoma Tora, and, from
her knowledge of Tul Axtar and the customs of Jahar, she thought it
most probable that the missing girl might be found there, but as to the
possibility of rescuing her, that was another matter over which she
shook her head dubiously.

It was obvious to me that Tavia did not desire to return to Jahar, yet
she put no obstacles in the path of my search for this my great
objective; in fact, she gave me Jahar's position and herself set the
nose of the flier upon the right course.

"Will there be any great danger to you in returning to Jahar?" I asked
her.

"The danger will be very great," she said, "but where the master goes,
the slave must follow."

"I am not your master," I said, "and you are not my slave. Let us
consider ourselves rather as comrades in arms."

"That will be nice," she said simply, and then after a pause, "and if we
are to be comrades then let me warn you against going directly to
Jahar. This flier would be recognized immediately. Your harness would
mark you as an alien and you would accomplish nothing more toward
rescuing your Sanoma Tora than to achieve the pits of Tul Axtar and
sooner or later the games in the great arena, where eventually you must
be slain."

"What would you suggest then?" I asked.

"Beyond Jahar, to the southwest, lies Tjanath, the city of my birth. Of
all the cities upon Barsoom that is the only one where I may hope to be
received in a friendly manner and as they receive me, so will they
receive you. There you may better prepare to enter Jahar, which you may
only accomplish by disguising yourself as a Jaharian, for Tul Axtar
permits no alien within the confines of his empire other than those who
are brought as prisoners of war and as slaves. In Tjanath you can
obtain the harness and metal of Jahar and there I can coach you in the
customs and manners of the empire of Tul Axtar so that in a short time
you may enter it with some reasonably slight assurance that you may
deceive them as to your identity. To enter without proper preparation
would be fatal."

I saw the wisdom of her counsel and accordingly we altered our course
so as to pass south of Jahar, as we headed straight toward Tjanath, six
thousand haads away.

All the balance of the night we traveled steadily at the rate of about
six hundred haads per zode--a slow speed when compared with that of
the good one-man flier that I had brought out of Helium.

As the sun rose the first thing that attracted my particular attention
was the ghastly blue of the flier.

"What a color for a flier!" I exclaimed.

Tavia looked up at me. "There is an excellent reason for it, though,"
she said; "a reason that you must fully understand before you enter
Jahar."




Five. TO THE PITS



Below us, in the ever changing light of the two moons, stretched the
weird landscape of Barsoomian night as our little craft sorely
overloaded, winged slowly away from Xanator above the low hills that
mark the southwestern boundary of the fierce, green hordes of Torquas.
With the coming of the new day we discussed the advisability of making
a landing and waiting until night before proceeding upon our journey,
since we realized that should we be sighted by an enemy craft we could
not possibly hope to escape.

"Few fliers pass this way," said Tavia, "and if we keep a sharp lookout
I believe that we shall be as safe in the air as on the ground for
although we have passed beyond the limits of Torquas, there would still
be danger from their raiding parties, which often go far afield."

And so we proceeded slowly in the direction of Tjanath, our eyes
constantly scanning the heavens in all directions.

The monotony of the landscape, combined with our slow rate of progress,
would ordinarily have rendered such a journey unendurable to me, but to
my surprise the time passed quickly, a fact which I attributed solely
to the wit and intelligence of my companion for there was no gainsaying
the fact that Tavia was excellent company. I think that we must have
talked about everything upon Barsoom and naturally a great deal of the
conversation revolved about our own experiences and personalities, so
that long before we reached Tjanath I felt that I knew Tavia better
than I had ever known any other woman and I was quite sure that I had
never confided so completely in any other person.

Tavia had a way with her that seemed to compel confidences so that, to
my own surprise, I found myself discussing the most intimate details of
my past life, my hopes, ambitions and aspirations, as well as the fears
and doubts which, I presume, assail the minds of all young men.

When I realized how fully I had unbosomed myself to this little slave
girl, I experienced a distinct shock of embarrassment, but the
sincerity of Tavia's interest dispelled this feeling as did the
realization that she had been almost as equally free with her
confidences as had I.

We were two nights and a day covering the distance between Xanator and
Tjanath and as the towers and landing stages of our destination
appeared upon the distant horizon toward the end of the first zode of
the second day, I realized that the hours that stretched away behind us
to Xanator were, for some unaccountable reason, as happy a period as I
had ever experienced.

Now it was over. Tjanath lay before us, and, with the realization, I
experienced a distinct regret that Tjanath did not lie upon the
opposite side of Barsoom.

With the exception of Sanoma Tora, I had never been particularly keen
to be much in the company of women. I do not mean to convey the
impression that I did not like them, for that would not be true. Their
occasional company offered a diversion, which I enjoyed and of which I
took advantage, but that I could be for so many hours in the exclusive
company of a woman I did not love and thoroughly enjoy every minute of
it would have seemed to me quite impossible; yet such had been the fact
and I found myself wondering if Tavia had shared my enjoyment of the
adventure.

"That must be Tjanath," I said nodding in the direction of the distant
city.

"Yes," she replied.

"You must be glad that the journey is over," I ventured.

She looked up at me quickly, her brows contracting suddenly in
conjecture. "Perhaps I should be," she replied enigmatically.

"It is your home," I reminded her.

"I have no home," she replied.

"But your friends are here," I insisted.

"I have no friends," she said.

"You forget Hadron of Hastor," I reminded her.

"No," she said, "I do not forget that you have been kind to me, but I
remember that I am only an incident in your search for Sanoma Tora.
Tomorrow, perhaps, you will be gone and we shall never see each other
again."

I had not thought of that and I found that I did not like to think
about it, and yet I knew that it was true. "You will soon make friends
here," I said.

"I hope so," she replied; "but I have been gone a very long time and I
was so young when I was taken away that I have but the faintest of
memories of my life in Tjanath. Tjanath really means nothing to me. I
could be as happy anywhere else in Barsoom with--with a friend."

We were now close above the outer wall of the city and our conversation
was interrupted by the appearance of a flier, evidently a patrol,
bearing down upon us. She was sounding an alarm--the shrill screaming
of her horn shattering the silence of the early morning. Almost
immediately the warning was taken up by gongs and shrieking sirens
throughout the city. The patrol boat changed her course and rose
swiftly above us, while from landing stages all about rose scores of
fighting planes until we were entirely surrounded.

I tried to hail the nearer of them, but the infernal din of the warning
signals drowned my voice. Hundreds of guns covered us, their crews
standing ready to hurl destruction upon us.

"Does Tjanath always receive visitors in this hostile manner?" I
inquired of Tavia.

She shook her head. "I do not know," she replied. "Had we approached in
a strange ship of war, I might understand it; but why this little scout
flier should attract half the navy of Tjanath is--Wait!" she exclaimed
suddenly. "The design and color of our flier mark its origin as Jahar.
The people of Tjanath have seen this color before and they fear it; yet
if that is true, why is it that they have not fired upon us?"

"I do not know why they did not fire upon us at first," I replied, "but
it is obvious why they do not now. Their ships are so thick about us
that they could not fire without endangering their own craft and men."

"Can't you make them understand that we are friends?" she asked.

Immediately I made the signs of friendship and of surrender, but the
ships seemed afraid to approach. The alarms had ceased and the ships
were circling silently about us.

Again I hailed a nearby ship. "Do not fire," I shouted; "we are
friends."

"Friends do not come to Tjanath in the blue death ships of Jahar,"
replied an officer upon the deck of the ship I had hailed.

"Let us come alongside," I insisted, "and at least I can prove to you
that we are harmless."

"You will not come alongside my ship," he replied. "If you are friends
you can prove it by doing as I instruct you."

"What are your wishes?" I asked.

"Come about and take your flier beyond the city walls. Ground her at
least a haad beyond the east gate and then, with your companion, walk
toward the city."

"Can you promise that we will be well received?" I asked.

"You will be questioned," he replied, "and if you are all right, you
have nothing to fear."

"Very well," I replied, "we will do as you say. Signal your other ships
to make way for us," and then, through the lane that they opened, we
passed slowly back above the walls of Tjanath and came to the ground
about a haad beyond the east gate.

As we approached the city the gates swung open and a detachment of
warriors marched out to meet us. It was evident that they were very
suspicious and fearful of us. The padwar in charge of them ordered us
to halt while there were yet fully a hundred sofads between us.

"Throw down your weapons," he commanded, "and then come forward."

"But we are not enemies," I replied. "Do not the people of Tjanath know
how to receive friends?"

"Do as you are told or we will destroy you both," was his only reply.

I could not refrain a shrug of disgust as I divested myself of my
weapons, while Tavia threw down the short sword that I had loaned her.
Unarmed we advanced toward the warriors, but even then the padwar was
not entirely satisfied, for he searched our harness carefully before he
finally conducted us into the city, keeping us well surrounded by
warriors.

As the east gate of Tjanath closed behind us I realized that we were
prisoners rather than the guests that we had hoped to be, but Tavia
tried to reassure me by insisting that when they had heard our story we
would be set at liberty and accorded the hospitality that she insisted
was our due.

Our guards conducted us to a building that stood upon the opposite side
of the avenue, facing the east gate, and presently we found ourselves
upon a broad landing stage upon the roof of the building. Here a patrol
flier awaited us and our padwar turned us over to the officer in
charge, whose attitude toward us was marked by ill-concealed hatred and
distrust.

As soon as we had been received on board, the patrol flier rose and
proceeded toward the center of the city.

Below us lay Tjanath, giving the impression of a city that had not kept
abreast of modern improvements. It was marked by signs of antiquity; the
buildings reflected the architecture of the ancients and many of them
were in a state of disrepair, though much of the city's ugliness was
hidden or softened by the foliage of great trees and climbing vines, so
that on the whole the aspect was more pleasing than otherwise. Toward
the center of the city was a large plaza, entirely surrounded by
imposing public buildings, including the palace of the Jed. It was upon
the roof of one of these buildings that the flier landed.

Under a strong guard we were conducted into the interior of the
building and after a brief wait were ushered into the presence of some
high official. Evidently he had already been advised of the
circumstances surrounding our arrival at Tjanath, for he seemed to be
expecting us and was familiar with all that had transpired up to the
present moment.

"What do you at Tjanath, Jaharian?" he demanded.

"I am not from Jahar," I replied. "Look at my metal."

"A warrior may change his metal," he replied, gruffly.

"This man has not changed his metal," said Tavia. "He is not from
Jahar; he is from Hastor, one of the cities of Helium. I am from
Jahar."

The official looked at her in surprise. "So you admit it!" he cried.

"But first I was from Tjanath," said the girl.

"What do you mean?" he demanded.

"As a little child I was stolen from Tjanath," replied Tavia. "All my
life since I have been a slave in the palace of Tul Axtar, Jeddak of
Jahar. Only recently I escaped in the same flier upon which we arrived
at Tjanath. Near the dead city of Xanator I landed and was captured by
the green men of Torquas. This warrior, who is Hadron of Hastor,
rescued me from them. Together we came to Tjanath, expecting a friendly
reception."

"Who are your people in Tjanath?" demanded the official.

"I do not know," replied Tavia; "I was very young. I remember
practically nothing about my life in Tjanath."

"What is your name?"

"Tavia."

The man's interest in her story, which had seemed wholly perfunctory,
seemed suddenly altered and galvanized.

"You know nothing about your parents or your family?" he demanded.

"Nothing," replied Tavia.

He turned to the padwar who was in charge of our escort. "Hold them
here until I return," he said, and, rising from his desk, he left the
apartment.

"He seemed to recognize your name," I said to Tavia.

"How could he?" she asked.

"Possibly he knew your family," I suggested; "at least his manner
suggested that we are going to be given some consideration."

"I hope so," she said.

"I feel that our troubles are about over, Tavia," I assured her; "and
for your sake I shall be very happy."

"And you, I suppose," she said, "will endeavor to enlist aid in
continuing your search for Sanoma Tora?"

"Naturally," I replied. "Could anything less be expected of me?"

"No," she admitted in a very low voice.

Notwithstanding the fact that something in the demeanor of the official
who had interrogated us had raised my hope for our future, I was still
conscious of a feeling of depression as our conversation emphasized the
near approach of our separation. It seemed as though I had always known
Tavia, for the few days that we had been thrown together had brought us
very close indeed. I knew that I should miss her sparkling wit, her
ready sympathy and the quiet companionship of her silences, and then
the beautiful features of Sanoma Tora were projected upon memory's
screen and, knowing where my duty lay, I cast vain regrets aside, for
love, I knew, was greater than friendship and I loved Sanoma Tora.

After a considerable lapse of time the official re-entered the
apartment. I searched his face to read the first tidings of good news
there, but his expression was inscrutable; however, his first words,
addressed to the padwar, were entirely understandable.

"Confine the woman in the East Tower," he said, "and send the man to
the pits."

That was all. It was like a blow in the face. I looked at Tavia and saw
her wide eyes upon the official. "You mean that we are to be held as
prisoners?" she demanded; "I, a daughter of Tjanath, and this warrior
who came here from a friendly nation seeking your aid and protection?"

"You will each have a hearing later befor