"THE CHESSMEN OF MARS\n\nby Edgar Rice Burroughs\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n PRELUDE - John Carter Comes to Earth\n I Tara in a Tantrum\n II At the Gale's Mercy\n III The Headless Humans\n IV Captured\n V The Perfect Brain\n VI In the Toils of Horror\n VII A Repellent Sight\n VIII Close Work\n IX Adrift Over Strange Regions\n X Entrapped\n XI The Choice of Tara\n XII Ghek Plays Pranks\n XIII A Desperate Deed\n XIV At Ghek's Command\n XV The Old Man of the Pits\n XVI Another Change of Name\n XVII A Play to the Death\n XVIII A Task for Loyalty\n XIX The Menace of the Dead\n XX The Charge of Cowardice\n XXI A Risk for Love\n XXII At the Moment of Marriage\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHESSMEN OF MARS\n\n\nPRELUDE\n\nJOHN CARTER COMES TO EARTH\n\nShea had just beaten me at chess, as usual, and, also as usual, I had\ngleaned what questionable satisfaction I might by twitting him with\nthis indication of failing mentality by calling his attention for the\n_n_th time to that theory, propounded by certain scientists, which is\nbased upon the assertion that phenomenal chess players are always found\nto be from the ranks of children under twelve, adults over seventy-two\nor the mentally defective--a theory that is lightly ignored upon those\nrare occasions that I win. Shea had gone to bed and I should have\nfollowed suit, for we are always in the saddle here before sunrise; but\ninstead I sat there before the chess table in the library, idly blowing\nsmoke at the dishonored head of my defeated king.\n\nWhile thus profitably employed I heard the east door of the living-room\nopen and someone enter. I thought it was Shea returning to speak with\nme on some matter of tomorrow's work; but when I raised my eyes to the\ndoorway that connects the two rooms I saw framed there the figure of a\nbronzed giant, his otherwise naked body trapped with a jewel-encrusted\nharness from which there hung at one side an ornate short-sword and at\nthe other a pistol of strange pattern. The black hair, the steel-gray\neyes, brave and smiling, the noble features--I recognized them at once,\nand leaping to my feet I advanced with outstretched hand.\n\n\"John Carter!\" I cried. \"You?\"\n\n\"None other, my son,\" he replied, taking my hand in one of his and\nplacing the other upon my shoulder.\n\n\"And what are you doing here?\" I asked. \"It has been long years since\nyou revisited Earth, and never before in the trappings of Mars. Lord!\nbut it is good to see you--and not a day older in appearance than when\nyou trotted me on your knee in my babyhood. How do you explain it, John\nCarter, Warlord of Mars, or do you try to explain it?\"\n\n\"Why attempt to explain the inexplicable?\" he replied. \"As I have told\nyou before, I am a very old man. I do not know how old I am. I recall\nno childhood; but recollect only having been always as you see me now\nand as you saw me first when you were five years old. You, yourself,\nhave aged, though not as much as most men in a corresponding number of\nyears, which may be accounted for by the fact that the same blood runs\nin our veins; but I have not aged at all. I have discussed the question\nwith a noted Martian scientist, a friend of mine; but his theories are\nstill only theories. However, I am content with the fact--I never age,\nand I love life and the vigor of youth.\n\n\"And now as to your natural question as to what brings me to Earth\nagain and in this, to earthly eyes, strange habiliment. We may thank\nKar Komak, the bowman of Lothar. It was he who gave me the idea upon\nwhich I have been experimenting until at last I have achieved success.\nAs you know I have long possessed the power to cross the void in\nspirit, but never before have I been able to impart to inanimate things\na similar power. Now, however, you see me for the first time precisely\nas my Martian fellows see me--you see the very short-sword that has\ntasted the blood of many a savage foeman; the harness with the devices\nof Helium and the insignia of my rank; the pistol that was presented to\nme by Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark.\n\n\"Aside from seeing you, which is my principal reason for being here,\nand satisfying myself that I can transport inanimate things from Mars\nto Earth, and therefore animate things if I so desire, I have no\npurpose. Earth is not for me. My every interest is upon Barsoom--my\nwife, my children, my work; all are there. I will spend a quiet evening\nwith you and then back to the world I love even better than I love\nlife.\"\n\nAs he spoke he dropped into the chair upon the opposite side of the\nchess table.\n\n\"You spoke of children,\" I said. \"Have you more than Carthoris?\"\n\n\"A daughter,\" he replied, \"only a little younger than Carthoris, and,\nbarring one, the fairest thing that ever breathed the thin air of dying\nMars. Only Dejah Thoris, her mother, could be more beautiful than Tara\nof Helium.\"\n\nFor a moment he fingered the chessmen idly. \"We have a game on Mars\nsimilar to chess,\" he said, \"very similar. And there is a race there\nthat plays it grimly with men and naked swords. We call the game jetan.\nIt is played on a board like yours, except that there are a hundred\nsquares and we use twenty pieces on each side. I never see it played\nwithout thinking of Tara of Helium and what befell her among the\nchessmen of Barsoom. Would you like to hear her story?\"\n\nI said that I would and so he told it to me, and now I shall try to\nre-tell it for you as nearly in the words of The Warlord of Mars as I\ncan recall them, but in the third person. If there be inconsistencies\nand errors, let the blame fall not upon John Carter, but rather upon my\nfaulty memory, where it belongs. It is a strange tale and utterly\nBarsoomian.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTARA IN A TANTRUM\n\nTara of Helium rose from the pile of silks and soft furs upon which she\nhad been reclining, stretched her lithe body languidly, and crossed\ntoward the center of the room, where, above a large table, a bronze\ndisc depended from the low ceiling. Her carriage was that of health and\nphysical perfection--the effortless harmony of faultless coordination.\nA scarf of silken gossamer crossing over one shoulder was wrapped about\nher body; her black hair was piled high upon her head. With a wooden\nstick she tapped upon the bronze disc, lightly, and presently the\nsummons was answered by a slave girl, who entered, smiling, to be\ngreeted similarly by her mistress.\n\n\"Are my father's guests arriving?\" asked the princess.\n\n\"Yes, Tara of Helium, they come,\" replied the slave. \"I have seen\nKantos Kan, Overlord of the Navy, and Prince Soran of Ptarth, and Djor\nKantos, son of Kantos Kan,\" she shot a roguish glance at her mistress\nas she mentioned Djor Kantos' name, \"and--oh, there were others, many\nhave come.\"\n\n\"The bath, then, Uthia,\" said her mistress. \"And why, Uthia,\" she\nadded, \"do you look thus and smile when you mention the name of Djor\nKantos?\"\n\nThe slave girl laughed gaily. \"It is so plain to all that he worships\nyou,\" she replied.\n\n\"It is not plain to me,\" said Tara of Helium. \"He is the friend of my\nbrother, Carthoris, and so he is here much; but not to see me. It is\nhis friendship for Carthoris that brings him thus often to the palace\nof my father.\"\n\n\"But Carthoris is hunting in the north with Talu, Jeddak of Okar,\"\nUthia reminded her.\n\n\"My bath, Uthia!\" cried Tara of Helium. \"That tongue of yours will\nbring you to some misadventure yet.\"\n\n\"The bath is ready, Tara of Helium,\" the girl responded, her eyes still\ntwinkling with merriment, for she well knew that in the heart of her\nmistress was no anger that could displace the love of the princess for\nher slave. Preceding the daughter of The Warlord she opened the door of\nan adjoining room where lay the bath--a gleaming pool of scented water\nin a marble basin. Golden stanchions supported a chain of gold\nencircling it and leading down into the water on either side of marble\nsteps. A glass dome let in the sun-light, which flooded the interior,\nglancing from the polished white of the marble walls and the procession\nof bathers and fishes, which, in conventional design, were inlaid with\ngold in a broad band that circled the room.\n\nTara of Helium removed the scarf from about her and handed it to the\nslave. Slowly she descended the steps to the water, the temperature of\nwhich she tested with a symmetrical foot, undeformed by tight shoes and\nhigh heels--a lovely foot, as God intended that feet should be and\nseldom are. Finding the water to her liking, the girl swam leisurely to\nand fro about the pool. With the silken ease of the seal she swam, now\nat the surface, now below, her smooth muscles rolling softly beneath\nher clear skin--a wordless song of health and happiness and grace.\nPresently she emerged and gave herself into the hands of the slave\ngirl, who rubbed the body of her mistress with a sweet smelling\nsemi-liquid substance contained in a golden urn, until the glowing skin\nwas covered with a foamy lather, then a quick plunge into the pool, a\ndrying with soft towels, and the bath was over. Typical of the life of\nthe princess was the simple elegance of her bath--no retinue of useless\nslaves, no pomp, no idle waste of precious moments. In another half\nhour her hair was dried and built into the strange, but becoming,\ncoiffure of her station; her leathern trappings, encrusted with gold\nand jewels, had been adjusted to her figure and she was ready to mingle\nwith the guests that had been bidden to the midday function at the\npalace of The Warlord.\n\nAs she left her apartments to make her way to the gardens where the\nguests were congregating, two warriors, the insignia of the House of\nthe Prince of Helium upon their harness, followed a few paces behind\nher, grim reminders that the assassin's blade may never be ignored upon\nBarsoom, where, in a measure, it counterbalances the great natural span\nof human life, which is estimated at not less than a thousand years.\n\nAs they neared the entrance to the garden another woman, similarly\nguarded, approached them from another quarter of the great palace. As\nshe neared them Tara of Helium turned toward her with a smile and a\nhappy greeting, while her guards knelt with bowed heads in willing and\nvoluntary adoration of the beloved of Helium. Thus always, solely at\nthe command of their own hearts, did the warriors of Helium greet Dejah\nThoris, whose deathless beauty had more than once brought them to\nbloody warfare with other nations of Barsoom. So great was the love of\nthe people of Helium for the mate of John Carter it amounted\npractically to worship, as though she were indeed the goddess that she\nlooked.\n\nThe mother and daughter exchanged the gentle, Barsoomian, \"kaor\" of\ngreeting and kissed. Then together they entered the gardens where the\nguests were. A huge warrior drew his short-sword and struck his metal\nshield with the flat of it, the brazen sound ringing out above the\nlaughter and the speech.\n\n\"The Princess comes!\" he cried. \"Dejah Thoris! The Princess comes! Tara\nof Helium!\" Thus always is royalty announced. The guests arose; the two\nwomen inclined their heads; the guards fell back upon either side of\nthe entrance-way; a number of nobles advanced to pay their respects;\nthe laughing and the talking were resumed and Dejah Thoris and her\ndaughter moved simply and naturally among their guests, no suggestion\nof differing rank apparent in the bearing of any who were there, though\nthere was more than a single Jeddak and many common warriors whose only\ntitle lay in brave deeds, or noble patriotism. Thus it is upon Mars\nwhere men are judged upon their own merits rather than upon those of\ntheir grandsires, even though pride of lineage be great.\n\nTara of Helium let her slow gaze wander among the throng of guests\nuntil presently it halted upon one she sought. Was the faint shadow of\na frown that crossed her brow an indication of displeasure at the sight\nthat met her eyes, or did the brilliant rays of the noonday sun\ndistress her? Who may say! She had been reared to believe that one day\nshe should wed Djor Kantos, son of her father's best friend. It had\nbeen the dearest wish of Kantos Kan and The Warlord that this should\nbe, and Tara of Helium had accepted it as a matter of all but\naccomplished fact. Djor Kantos had seemed to accept the matter in the\nsame way. They had spoken of it casually as something that would, as a\nmatter of course, take place in the indefinite future, as, for\ninstance, his promotion in the navy, in which he was now a padwar; or\nthe set functions of the court of her grandfather, Tardos Mors, Jeddak\nof Helium; or Death. They had never spoken of love and that had puzzled\nTara of Helium upon the rare occasions she gave it thought, for she\nknew that people who were to wed were usually much occupied with the\nmatter of love and she had all of a woman's curiosity--she wondered\nwhat love was like. She was very fond of Djor Kantos and she knew that\nhe was very fond of her. They liked to be together, for they liked the\nsame things and the same people and the same books and their dancing\nwas a joy, not only to themselves but to those who watched them. She\ncould not imagine wanting to marry anyone other than Djor Kantos.\n\nSo perhaps it was only the sun that made her brows contract just the\ntiniest bit at the same instant that she discovered Djor Kantos sitting\nin earnest conversation with Olvia Marthis, daughter of the Jed of\nHastor. It was Djor Kantos' duty immediately to pay his respects to\nDejah Thoris and Tara of Helium; but he did not do so and presently the\ndaughter of The Warlord frowned indeed. She looked long at Olvia\nMarthis, and though she had seen her many times before and knew her\nwell, she looked at her today through new eyes that saw, apparently for\nthe first time, that the girl from Hastor was noticeably beautiful even\namong those other beautiful women of Helium. Tara of Helium was\ndisturbed. She attempted to analyze her emotions; but found it\ndifficult. Olvia Marthis was her friend--she was very fond of her and\nshe felt no anger toward her. Was she angry with Djor Kantos? No, she\nfinally decided that she was not. It was merely surprise, then, that\nshe felt--surprise that Djor Kantos could be more interested in another\nthan in herself. She was about to cross the garden and join them when\nshe heard her father's voice directly behind her.\n\n\"Tara of Helium!\" he called, and she turned to see him approaching with\na strange warrior whose harness and metal bore devices with which she\nwas unfamiliar. Even among the gorgeous trappings of the men of Helium\nand the visitors from distant empires those of the stranger were\nremarkable for their barbaric splendor. The leather of his harness was\ncompletely hidden beneath ornaments of platinum thickly set with\nbrilliant diamonds, as were the scabbards of his swords and the ornate\nholster that held his long, Martian pistol. Moving through the sunlit\ngarden at the side of the great Warlord, the scintillant rays of his\ncountless gems enveloping him as in an aureole of light imparted to his\nnoble figure a suggestion of godliness.\n\n\"Tara of Helium, I bring you Gahan, Jed of Gathol,\" said John Carter,\nafter the simple Barsoomian custom of presentation.\n\n\"Kaor! Gahan, Jed of Gathol,\" returned Tara of Helium.\n\n\"My sword is at your feet, Tara of Helium,\" said the young chieftain.\n\nThe Warlord left them and the two seated themselves upon an ersite\nbench beneath a spreading sorapus tree.\n\n\"Far Gathol,\" mused the girl. \"Ever in my mind has it been connected\nwith mystery and romance and the half-forgotten lore of the ancients. I\ncannot think of Gathol as existing today, possibly because I have never\nbefore seen a Gatholian.\"\n\n\"And perhaps too because of the great distance that separates Helium\nand Gathol, as well as the comparative insignificance of my little free\ncity, which might easily be lost in one corner of mighty Helium,\" added\nGahan. \"But what we lack in power we make up in pride,\" he continued,\nlaughing. \"We believe ours the oldest inhabited city upon Barsoom. It\nis one of the few that has retained its freedom, and this despite the\nfact that its ancient diamond mines are the richest known and, unlike\npractically all the other fields, are today apparently as inexhaustible\nas ever.\"\n\n\"Tell me of Gathol,\" urged the girl. \"The very thought fills me with\ninterest,\" nor was it likely that the handsome face of the young jed\ndetracted anything from the glamour of far Gathol.\n\nNor did Gahan seem displeased with the excuse for further monopolizing\nthe society of his fair companion. His eyes seemed chained to her\nexquisite features, from which they moved no further than to a rounded\nbreast, part hid beneath its jeweled covering, a naked shoulder or the\nsymmetry of a perfect arm, resplendent in bracelets of barbaric\nmagnificence.\n\n\"Your ancient history has doubtless told you that Gathol was built upon\nan island in Throxeus, mightiest of the five oceans of old Barsoom. As\nthe ocean receded Gathol crept down the sides of the mountain, the\nsummit of which was the island upon which she had been built, until\ntoday she covers the slopes from summit to base, while the bowels of\nthe great hill are honeycombed with the galleries of her mines.\nEntirely surrounding us is a great salt marsh, which protects us from\ninvasion by land, while the rugged and ofttimes vertical topography of\nour mountain renders the landing of hostile airships a precarious\nundertaking.\"\n\n\"That, and your brave warriors?\" suggested the girl.\n\nGahan smiled. \"We do not speak of that except to enemies,\" he said,\n\"and then with tongues of steel rather than of flesh.\"\n\n\"But what practice in the art of war has a people which nature has thus\nprotected from attack?\" asked Tara of Helium, who had liked the young\njed's answer to her previous question, but yet in whose mind persisted\na vague conviction of the possible effeminacy of her companion,\ninduced, doubtless, by the magnificence of his trappings and weapons\nwhich carried a suggestion of splendid show rather than grim utility.\n\n\"Our natural barriers, while they have doubtless saved us from defeat\non countless occasions, have not by any means rendered us immune from\nattack,\" he explained, \"for so great is the wealth of Gathol's diamond\ntreasury that there yet may be found those who will risk almost certain\ndefeat in an effort to loot our unconquered city; so thus we find\noccasional practice in the exercise of arms; but there is more to\nGathol than the mountain city. My country extends from Polodona\n(Equator) north ten karads and from the tenth karad west of Horz to the\ntwentieth west, including thus a million square haads, the greater\nproportion of which is fine grazing land where run our great herds of\nthoats and zitidars.\n\n\"Surrounded as we are by predatory enemies our herdsmen must indeed be\nwarriors or we should have no herds, and you may be assured they get\nplenty of fighting. Then there is our constant need of workers in the\nmines. The Gatholians consider themselves a race of warriors and as\nsuch prefer not to labor in the mines. The law is, however, that each\nmale Gatholian shall give an hour a day in labor to the government.\nThat is practically the only tax that is levied upon them. They prefer\nhowever, to furnish a substitute to perform this labor, and as our own\npeople will not hire out for labor in the mines it has been necessary\nto obtain slaves, and I do not need to tell you that slaves are not won\nwithout fighting. We sell these slaves in the public market, the\nproceeds going, half and half, to the government and the warriors who\nbring them in. The purchasers are credited with the amount of labor\nperformed by their particular slaves. At the end of a year a good slave\nwill have performed the labor tax of his master for six years, and if\nslaves are plentiful he is freed and permitted to return to his own\npeople.\"\n\n\"You fight in platinum and diamonds?\" asked Tara, indicating his\ngorgeous trappings with a quizzical smile.\n\nGahan laughed. \"We are a vain people,\" he admitted, good-naturedly,\n\"and it is possible that we place too much value on personal\nappearances. We vie with one another in the splendor of our\naccoutrements when trapped for the observance of the lighter duties of\nlife, though when we take the field our leather is the plainest I ever\nhave seen worn by fighting men of Barsoom. We pride ourselves, too,\nupon our physical beauty, and especially upon the beauty of our women.\nMay I dare to say, Tara of Helium, that I am hoping for the day when\nyou will visit Gathol that my people may see one who is really\nbeautiful?\"\n\n\"The women of Helium are taught to frown with displeasure upon the\ntongue of the flatterer,\" rejoined the girl, but Gahan, Jed of Gathol,\nobserved that she smiled as she said it.\n\nA bugle sounded, clear and sweet, above the laughter and the talk. \"The\nDance of Barsoom!\" exclaimed the young warrior. \"I claim you for it,\nTara of Helium.\"\n\nThe girl glanced in the direction of the bench where she had last seen\nDjor Kantos. He was not in sight. She inclined her head in assent to\nthe claim of the Gatholian. Slaves were passing among the guests,\ndistributing small musical instruments of a single string. Upon each\ninstrument were characters which indicated the pitch and length of its\ntone. The instruments were of skeel, the string of gut, and were shaped\nto fit the left forearm of the dancer, to which it was strapped. There\nwas also a ring wound with gut which was worn between the first and\nsecond joints of the index finger of the right hand and which, when\npassed over the string of the instrument, elicited the single note\nrequired of the dancer.\n\nThe guests had risen and were slowly making their way toward the\nexpanse of scarlet sward at the south end of the gardens where the\ndance was to be held, when Djor Kantos came hurriedly toward Tara of\nHelium. \"I claim--\" he exclaimed as he neared her; but she interrupted\nhim with a gesture.\n\n\"You are too late, Djor Kantos,\" she cried in mock anger. \"No laggard\nmay claim Tara of Helium; but haste now lest thou lose also Olvia\nMarthis, whom I have never seen wait long to be claimed for this or any\nother dance.\"\n\n\"I have already lost her,\" admitted Djor Kantos ruefully.\n\n\"And you mean to say that you came for Tara of Helium only after having\nlost Olvia Marthis?\" demanded the girl, still simulating displeasure.\n\n\"Oh, Tara of Helium, you know better than that,\" insisted the young\nman. \"Was it not natural that I should assume that you would expect me,\nwho alone has claimed you for the Dance of Barsoom for at least twelve\ntimes past?\"\n\n\"And sit and play with my thumbs until you saw fit to come for me?\" she\nquestioned. \"Ah, no, Djor Kantos; Tara of Helium is for no laggard,\"\nand she threw him a sweet smile and passed on toward the assembling\ndancers with Gahan, Jed of far Gathol.\n\nThe Dance of Barsoom bears a relation similar to the more formal\ndancing functions of Mars that The Grand March does to ours, though it\nis infinitely more intricate and more beautiful. Before a Martian youth\nof either sex may attend an important social function where there is\ndancing, he must have become proficient in at least three dances--The\nDance of Barsoom, his national dance, and the dance of his city. In\nthese three dances the dancers furnish their own music, which never\nvaries; nor do the steps or figures vary, having been handed down from\ntime immemorial. All Barsoomian dances are stately and beautiful, but\nThe Dance of Barsoom is a wondrous epic of motion and harmony--there is\nno grotesque posturing, no vulgar or suggestive movements. It has been\ndescribed as the interpretation of the highest ideals of a world that\naspired to grace and beauty and chastity in woman, and strength and\ndignity and loyalty in man.\n\nToday, John Carter, Warlord of Mars, with Dejah Thoris, his mate, led\nin the dancing, and if there was another couple that vied with them in\npossession of the silent admiration of the guests it was the\nresplendent Jed of Gathol and his beautiful partner. In the\never-changing figures of the dance the man found himself now with the\ngirl's hand in his and again with an arm about the lithe body that the\njeweled harness but inadequately covered, and the girl, though she had\ndanced a thousand dances in the past, realized for the first time the\npersonal contact of a man's arm against her naked flesh. It troubled\nher that she should notice it, and she looked up questioningly and\nalmost with displeasure at the man as though it was his fault. Their\neyes met and she saw in his that which she had never seen in the eyes\nof Djor Kantos. It was at the very end of the dance and they both\nstopped suddenly with the music and stood there looking straight into\neach other's eyes. It was Gahan of Gathol who spoke first.\n\n\"Tara of Helium, I love you!\" he said.\n\nThe girl drew herself to her full height. \"The Jed of Gathol forgets\nhimself,\" she exclaimed haughtily.\n\n\"The Jed of Gathol would forget everything but you, Tara of Helium,\" he\nreplied. Fiercely he pressed the soft hand that he still retained from\nthe last position of the dance. \"I love you, Tara of Helium,\" he\nrepeated. \"Why should your ears refuse to hear what your eyes but just\nnow did not refuse to see--and answer?\"\n\n\"What meanest thou?\" she cried. \"Are the men of Gathol such boors,\nthen?\"\n\n\"They are neither boors nor fools,\" he replied, quietly. \"They know\nwhen they love a woman--and when she loves them.\"\n\nTara of Helium stamped her little foot in anger. \"Go!\" she said,\n\"before it is necessary to acquaint my father with the dishonor of his\nguest.\"\n\nShe turned and walked away. \"Wait!\" cried the man. \"Just another word.\"\n\n\"Of apology?\" she asked.\n\n\"Of prophecy,\" he said.\n\n\"I do not care to hear it,\" replied Tara of Helium, and left him\nstanding there. She was strangely unstrung and shortly thereafter\nreturned to her own quarter of the palace, where she stood for a long\ntime by a window looking out beyond the scarlet tower of Greater Helium\ntoward the northwest.\n\nPresently she turned angrily away. \"I hate him!\" she exclaimed aloud.\n\n\"Whom?\" inquired the privileged Uthia.\n\nTara of Helium stamped her foot. \"That ill-mannered boor, the Jed of\nGathol,\" she replied.\n\nUthia raised her slim brows.\n\nAt the stamping of the little foot, a great beast rose from the corner\nof the room and crossed to Tara of Helium where it stood looking up\ninto her face. She placed her hand upon the ugly head. \"Dear old\nWoola,\" she said; \"no love could be deeper than yours, yet it never\noffends. Would that men might pattern themselves after you!\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nAT THE GALE'S MERCY\n\nTara of Helium did not return to her father's guests, but awaited in\nher own apartments the word from Djor Kantos which she knew must come,\nbegging her to return to the gardens. She would then refuse, haughtily.\nBut no appeal came from Djor Kantos. At first Tara of Helium was angry,\nthen she was hurt, and always she was puzzled. She could not\nunderstand. Occasionally she thought of the Jed of Gathol and then she\nwould stamp her foot, for she was very angry indeed with Gahan. The\npresumption of the man! He had insinuated that he read love for him in\nher eyes. Never had she been so insulted and humiliated. Never had she\nso thoroughly hated a man. Suddenly she turned toward Uthia.\n\n\"My flying leather!\" she commanded.\n\n\"But the guests!\" exclaimed the slave girl. \"Your father, The Warlord,\nwill expect you to return.\"\n\n\"He will be disappointed,\" snapped Tara of Helium.\n\nThe slave hesitated. \"He does not approve of your flying alone,\" she\nreminded her mistress.\n\nThe young princess sprang to her feet and seized the unhappy slave by\nthe shoulders, shaking her. \"You are becoming unbearable, Uthia,\" she\ncried. \"Soon there will be no alternative than to send you to the\npublic slave-market. Then possibly you will find a master to your\nliking.\"\n\nTears came to the soft eyes of the slave girl. \"It is because I love\nyou, my princess,\" she said softly. Tara of Helium melted. She took the\nslave in her arms and kissed her.\n\n\"I have the disposition of a thoat, Uthia,\" she said. \"Forgive me! I\nlove you and there is nothing that I would not do for you and nothing\nwould I do to harm you. Again, as I have so often in the past, I offer\nyou your freedom.\"\n\n\"I do not wish my freedom if it will separate me from you, Tara of\nHelium,\" replied Uthia. \"I am happy here with you--I think that I\nshould die without you.\"\n\nAgain the girls kissed. \"And you will not fly alone, then?\" questioned\nthe slave.\n\nTara of Helium laughed and pinched her companion. \"You persistent\nlittle pest,\" she cried. \"Of course I shall fly--does not Tara of\nHelium always do that which pleases her?\"\n\nUthia shook her head sorrowfully. \"Alas! she does,\" she admitted. \"Iron\nis the Warlord of Barsoom to the influences of all but two. In the\nhands of Dejah Thoris and Tara of Helium he is as potters' clay.\"\n\n\"Then run and fetch my flying leather like the sweet slave you are,\"\ndirected the mistress.\n\n * * * * *\n\nFar out across the ochre sea-bottoms beyond the twin cities of Helium\nraced the swift flier of Tara of Helium. Thrilling to the speed and the\nbuoyancy and the obedience of the little craft the girl drove toward\nthe northwest. Why she should choose that direction she did not pause\nto consider. Perhaps because in that direction lay the least known\nareas of Barsoom, and, ergo, Romance, Mystery, and Adventure. In that\ndirection also lay far Gathol; but to that fact she gave no conscious\nthought.\n\nShe did, however, think occasionally of the jed of that distant\nkingdom, but the reaction to these thoughts was scarcely pleasurable.\nThey still brought a flush of shame to her cheeks and a surge of angry\nblood to her heart. She was very angry with the Jed of Gathol, and\nthough she should never see him again she was quite sure that hate of\nhim would remain fresh in her memory forever. Mostly her thoughts\nrevolved about another--Djor Kantos. And when she thought of him she\nthought also of Olvia Marthis of Hastor. Tara of Helium thought that\nshe was jealous of the fair Olvia and it made her very angry to think\nthat. She was angry with Djor Kantos and herself, but she was not angry\nat all with Olvia Marthis, whom she loved, and so of course she was not\njealous really. The trouble was, that Tara of Helium had failed for\nonce to have her own way. Djor Kantos had not come running like a\nwilling slave when she had expected him, and, ah, here was the nub of\nthe whole thing! Gahan, Jed of Gathol, a stranger, had been a witness\nto her humiliation. He had seen her unclaimed at the beginning of a\ngreat function and he had had to come to her rescue to save her, as he\ndoubtless thought, from the inglorious fate of a wall-flower. At the\nrecurring thought, Tara of Helium could feel her whole body burning\nwith scarlet shame and then she went suddenly white and cold with rage;\nwhereupon she turned her flier about so abruptly that she was all but\ntorn from her lashings upon the flat, narrow deck. She reached home\njust before dark. The guests had departed. Quiet had descended upon the\npalace. An hour later she joined her father and mother at the evening\nmeal.\n\n\"You deserted us, Tara of Helium,\" said John Carter. \"It is not what\nthe guests of John Carter should expect.\"\n\n\"They did not come to see me,\" replied Tara of Helium. \"I did not ask\nthem.\"\n\n\"They were no less your guests,\" replied her father.\n\nThe girl rose, and came and stood beside him and put her arms about his\nneck.\n\n\"My proper old Virginian,\" she cried, rumpling his shock of black hair.\n\n\"In Virginia you would be turned over your father's knee and spanked,\"\nsaid the man, smiling.\n\nShe crept into his lap and kissed him. \"You do not love me any more,\"\nshe announced. \"No one loves me,\" but she could not compose her\nfeatures into a pout because bubbling laughter insisted upon breaking\nthrough.\n\n\"The trouble is there are too many who love you,\" he said. \"And now\nthere is another.\"\n\n\"Indeed!\" she cried. \"What do you mean?\"\n\n\"Gahan of Gathol has asked permission to woo you.\"\n\nThe girl sat up very straight and tilted her chin in the air. \"I would\nnot wed with a walking diamond-mine,\" she said. \"I will not have him.\"\n\n\"I told him as much,\" replied her father, \"and that you were as good as\nbetrothed to another. He was very courteous about it; but at the same\ntime he gave me to understand that he was accustomed to getting what he\nwanted and that he wanted you very much. I suppose it will mean another\nwar. Your mother's beauty kept Helium at war for many years, and--well,\nTara of Helium, if I were a young man I should doubtless be willing to\nset all Barsoom afire to win you, as I still would to keep your divine\nmother,\" and he smiled across the sorapus table and its golden service\nat the undimmed beauty of Mars' most beautiful woman.\n\n\"Our little girl should not yet be troubled with such matters,\" said\nDejah Thoris. \"Remember, John Carter, that you are not dealing with an\nEarth child, whose span of life would be more than half completed\nbefore a daughter of Barsoom reached actual maturity.\"\n\n\"But do not the daughters of Barsoom sometimes marry as early as\ntwenty?\" he insisted.\n\n\"Yes, but they will still be desirable in the eyes of men after forty\ngenerations of Earth folk have returned to dust--there is no hurry, at\nleast, upon Barsoom. We do not fade and decay here as you tell me those\nof your planet do, though you, yourself, belie your own words. When the\ntime seems proper Tara of Helium shall wed with Djor Kantos, and until\nthen let us give the matter no further thought.\"\n\n\"No,\" said the girl, \"the subject irks me, and I shall not marry Djor\nKantos, or another--I do not intend to wed.\"\n\nHer father and mother looked at her and smiled. \"When Gahan of Gathol\nreturns he may carry you off,\" said the former.\n\n\"He has gone?\" asked the girl.\n\n\"His flier departs for Gathol in the morning,\" John Carter replied.\n\n\"I have seen the last of him then,\" remarked Tara of Helium with a sigh\nof relief.\n\n\"He says not,\" returned John Carter.\n\nThe girl dismissed the subject with a shrug and the conversation passed\nto other topics. A letter had arrived from Thuvia of Ptarth, who was\nvisiting at her father's court while Carthoris, her mate, hunted in\nOkar. Word had been received that the Tharks and Warhoons were again at\nwar, or rather that there had been an engagement, for war was their\nhabitual state. In the memory of man there had been no peace between\nthese two savage green hordes--only a single temporary truce. Two new\nbattleships had been launched at Hastor. A little band of holy therns\nwas attempting to revive the ancient and discredited religion of Issus,\nwho they claimed still lived in spirit and had communicated with them.\nThere were rumors of war from Dusar. A scientist claimed to have\ndiscovered human life on the further moon. A madman had attempted to\ndestroy the atmosphere plant. Seven people had been assassinated in\nGreater Helium during the last ten zodes, (the equivalent of an Earth\nday).\n\nFollowing the meal Dejah Thoris and The Warlord played at jetan, the\nBarsoomian game of chess, which is played upon a board of a hundred\nalternate black and orange squares. One player has twenty black pieces,\nthe other, twenty orange pieces. A brief description of the game may\ninterest those Earth readers who care for chess, and will not be lost\nupon those who pursue this narrative to its conclusion, since before\nthey are done they will find that a knowledge of jetan will add to the\ninterest and the thrills that are in store for them.\n\nThe men are placed upon the board as in chess upon the first two rows\nnext the players. In order from left to right on the line of squares\nnearest the players, the jetan pieces are Warrior, Padwar, Dwar, Flier,\nChief, Princess, Flier, Dwar, Padwar, Warrior. In the next line all are\nPanthans except the end pieces, which are called Thoats, and represent\nmounted warriors.\n\nThe Panthans, which are represented as warriors with one feather, may\nmove one space in any direction except backward; the Thoats, mounted\nwarriors with three feathers, may move one straight and one diagonal,\nand may jump intervening pieces; Warriors, foot soldiers with two\nfeathers, straight in any direction, or diagonally, two spaces;\nPadwars, lieutenants wearing two feathers, two diagonal in any\ndirection, or combination; Dwars, captains wearing three feathers,\nthree spaces straight in any direction, or combination; Fliers,\nrepresented by a propellor with three blades, three spaces in any\ndirection, or combination, diagonally, and may jump intervening pieces;\nthe Chief, indicated by a diadem with ten jewels, three spaces in any\ndirection, straight, or diagonal; Princess, diadem with a single jewel,\nsame as Chief, and can jump intervening pieces.\n\nThe game is won when a player places any of his pieces on the same\nsquare with his opponent's Princess, or when a Chief takes a Chief. It\nis drawn when a Chief is taken by any opposing piece other than the\nopposing Chief; or when both sides have been reduced to three pieces,\nor less, of equal value, and the game is not terminated in the\nfollowing ten moves, five apiece. This is but a general outline of the\ngame, briefly stated.\n\nIt was this game that Dejah Thoris and John Carter were playing when\nTara of Helium bid them good night, retiring to her own quarters and\nher sleeping silks and furs. \"Until morning, my beloved,\" she called\nback to them as she passed from the apartment, nor little did she\nguess, nor her parents, that this might indeed be the last time that\nthey would ever set eyes upon her.\n\nThe morning broke dull and gray. Ominous clouds billowed restlessly and\nlow. Beneath them torn fragments scudded toward the northwest. From her\nwindow Tara of Helium looked out upon this unusual scene. Dense clouds\nseldom overcast the Barsoomian sky. At this hour of the day it was her\ncustom to ride one of those small thoats that are the saddle animals of\nthe red Martians, but the sight of the billowing clouds lured her to a\nnew adventure. Uthia still slept and the girl did not disturb her.\nInstead, she dressed quietly and went to the hangar upon the roof of\nthe palace directly above her quarters where her own swift flier was\nhoused. She had never driven through the clouds. It was an adventure\nthat always she had longed to experience. The wind was strong and it\nwas with difficulty that she maneuvered the craft from the hangar\nwithout accident, but once away it raced swiftly out above the twin\ncities. The buffeting winds caught and tossed it, and the girl laughed\naloud in sheer joy of the resultant thrills. She handled the little\nship like a veteran, though few veterans would have faced the menace of\nsuch a storm in so light a craft. Swiftly she rose toward the clouds,\nracing with the scudding streamers of the storm-swept fragments, and a\nmoment later she was swallowed by the dense masses billowing above.\nHere was a new world, a world of chaos unpeopled except for herself;\nbut it was a cold, damp, lonely world and she found it depressing after\nthe novelty of it had been dissipated, by an overpowering sense of the\nmagnitude of the forces surging about her. Suddenly she felt very\nlonely and very cold and very little. Hurriedly, therefore, she rose\nuntil presently her craft broke through into the glorious sunlight that\ntransformed the upper surface of the somber element into rolling masses\nof burnished silver. Here it was still cold, but without the dampness\nof the clouds, and in the eye of the brilliant sun her spirits rose\nwith the mounting needle of her altimeter. Gazing at the clouds, now\nfar beneath, the girl experienced the sensation of hanging stationary\nin mid-heaven; but the whirring of her propellor, the wind beating upon\nher, the high figures that rose and fell beneath the glass of her\nspeedometer, these told her that her speed was terrific. It was then\nthat she determined to turn back.\n\nThe first attempt she made above the clouds, but it was unsuccessful.\nTo her surprise she discovered that she could not even turn against the\nhigh wind, which rocked and buffeted the frail craft. Then she dropped\nswiftly to the dark and wind-swept zone between the hurtling clouds and\nthe gloomy surface of the shadowed ground. Here she tried again to\nforce the nose of the flier back toward Helium, but the tempest seized\nthe frail thing and hurled it remorselessly about, rolling it over and\nover and tossing it as it were a cork in a cataract. At last the girl\nsucceeded in righting the flier, perilously close to the ground. Never\nbefore had she been so close to death, yet she was not terrified. Her\ncoolness had saved her, that and the strength of the deck lashings that\nheld her. Traveling with the storm she was safe, but where was it\nbearing her? She pictured the apprehension of her father and mother\nwhen she failed to appear at the morning meal. They would find her\nflier missing and they would guess that somewhere in the path of the\nstorm it lay a wrecked and tangled mass upon her dead body, and then\nbrave men would go out in search of her, risking their lives; and that\nlives would be lost in the search, she knew, for she realized now that\nnever in her life-time had such a tempest raged upon Barsoom.\n\nShe must turn back! She must reach Helium before her mad lust for\nthrills had cost the sacrifice of a single courageous life! She\ndetermined that greater safety and likelihood of success lay above the\nclouds, and once again she rose through the chilling, wind-tossed\nvapor. Her speed again was terrific, for the wind seemed to have\nincreased rather than to have lessened. She sought gradually to check\nthe swift flight of her craft, but though she finally succeeded in\nreversing her motor the wind but carried her on as it would. Then it\nwas that Tara of Helium lost her temper. Had her world not always bowed\nin acquiescence to her every wish? What were these elements that they\ndared to thwart her? She would demonstrate to them that the daughter of\nThe Warlord was not to be denied! They would learn that Tara of Helium\nmight not be ruled even by the forces of nature!\n\nAnd so she drove her motor forward again and then with her firm, white\nteeth set in grim determination she drove the steering lever far down\nto port with the intention of forcing the nose of her craft straight\ninto the teeth of the wind, and the wind seized the frail thing and\ntoppled it over upon its back, and twisted and turned it and hurled it\nover and over; the propellor raced for an instant in an air pocket and\nthen the tempest seized it again and twisted it from its shaft, leaving\nthe girl helpless upon an unmanageable atom that rose and fell, and\nrolled and tumbled--the sport of the elements she had defied. Tara of\nHelium's first sensation was one of surprise--that she had failed to\nhave her own way. Then she commenced to feel concern--not for her own\nsafety but for the anxiety of her parents and the dangers that the\ninevitable searchers must face. She reproached herself for the\nthoughtless selfishness that had jeopardized the peace and safety of\nothers. She realized her own grave danger, too; but she was still\nunterrified, as befitted the daughter of Dejah Thoris and John Carter.\nShe knew that her buoyancy tanks might keep her afloat indefinitely,\nbut she had neither food nor water, and she was being borne toward the\nleast-known area of Barsoom. Perhaps it would be better to land\nimmediately and await the coming of the searchers, rather than to allow\nherself to be carried still further from Helium, thus greatly reducing\nthe chances of early discovery; but when she dropped toward the ground\nshe discovered that the violence of the wind rendered an attempt to\nland tantamount to destruction and she rose again, rapidly.\n\nCarried along a few hundred feet above the ground she was better able\nto appreciate the Titanic proportions of the storm than when she had\nflown in the comparative serenity of the zone above the clouds, for now\nshe could distinctly see the effect of the wind upon the surface of\nBarsoom. The air was filled with dust and flying bits of vegetation and\nwhen the storm carried her across an irrigated area of farm land she\nsaw great trees and stone walls and buildings lifted high in air and\nscattered broadcast over the devastated country; and then she was\ncarried swiftly on to other sights that forced in upon her\nconsciousness a rapidly growing conviction that after all Tara of\nHelium was a very small and insignificant and helpless person. It was\nquite a shock to her self-pride while it lasted, and toward evening she\nwas ready to believe that it was going to last forever. There had been\nno abatement in the ferocity of the tempest, nor was there indication\nof any. She could only guess at the distance she had been carried for\nshe could not believe in the correctness of the high figures that had\nbeen piled upon the record of her odometer. They seemed unbelievable\nand yet, had she known it, they were quite true--in twelve hours she\nhad flown and been carried by the storm full seven thousand haads. Just\nbefore dark she was carried over one of the deserted cities of ancient\nMars. It was Torquas, but she did not know it. Had she, she might\nreadily have been forgiven for abandoning the last vestige of hope, for\nto the people of Helium Torquas seems as remote as do the South Sea\nIslands to us. And still the tempest, its fury unabated, bore her on.\n\nAll that night she hurtled through the dark beneath the clouds, or rose\nto race through the moonlit void beneath the glory of Barsoom's two\nsatellites. She was cold and hungry and altogether miserable, but her\nbrave little spirit refused to admit that her plight was hopeless even\nthough reason proclaimed the truth. Her reply to reason, sometime\nspoken aloud in sudden defiance, recalled the Spartan stubbornness of\nher sire in the face of certain annihilation: \"I still live!\"\n\nThat morning there had been an early visitor at the palace of The\nWarlord. It was Gahan, Jed of Gathol. He had arrived shortly after the\nabsence of Tara of Helium had been noted, and in the excitement he had\nremained unannounced until John Carter had happened upon him in the\ngreat reception corridor of the palace as The Warlord was hurrying out\nto arrange for the dispatch of ships in search of his daughter.\n\nGahan read the concern upon the face of The Warlord. \"Forgive me if I\nintrude, John Carter,\" he said. \"I but came to ask the indulgence of\nanother day since it would be fool-hardy to attempt to navigate a ship\nin such a storm.\"\n\n\"Remain, Gahan, a welcome guest until you choose to leave us,\" replied\nThe Warlord; \"but you must forgive any seeming inattention upon the\npart of Helium until my daughter is restored to us.\"\n\n\"You daughter! Restored! What do you mean?\" exclaimed the Gatholian. \"I\ndo not understand.\"\n\n\"She is gone, together with her light flier. That is all we know. We\ncan only assume that she decided to fly before the morning meal and was\ncaught in the clutches of the tempest. You will pardon me, Gahan, if I\nleave you abruptly--I am arranging to send ships in search of her;\" but\nGahan, Jed of Gathol, was already speeding in the direction of the\npalace gate. There he leaped upon a waiting thoat and followed by two\nwarriors in the metal of Gathol, he dashed through the avenues of\nHelium toward the palace that had been set aside for his entertainment.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nTHE HEADLESS HUMANS\n\nAbove the roof of the palace that housed the Jed of Gathol and his\nentourage, the cruiser Vanator tore at her stout moorings. The groaning\ntackle bespoke the mad fury of the gale, while the worried faces of\nthose members of the crew whose duties demanded their presence on the\nstraining craft gave corroborative evidence of the gravity of the\nsituation. Only stout lashings prevented these men from being swept\nfrom the deck, while those upon the roof below were constantly\ncompelled to cling to rails and stanchions to save themselves from\nbeing carried away by each new burst of meteoric fury. Upon the prow of\nthe Vanator was painted the device of Gathol, but no pennants were\ndisplayed in the upper works since the storm had carried away several\nin rapid succession, just as it seemed to the watching men that it must\ncarry away the ship itself. They could not believe that any tackle\ncould withstand for long this Titanic force. To each of the twelve\nlashings clung a brawny warrior with drawn short-sword. Had but a\nsingle mooring given to the power of the tempest eleven short-swords\nwould have cut the others; since, partially moored, the ship was\ndoomed, while free in the tempest it stood at least some slight chance\nfor life.\n\n\"By the blood of Issus, I believe they will hold!\" screamed one warrior\nto another.\n\n\"And if they do not hold may the spirits of our ancestors reward the\nbrave warriors upon the Vanator,\" replied another of those upon the\nroof of the palace, \"for it will not be long from the moment her cables\npart before her crew dons the leather of the dead; but yet, Tanus, I\nbelieve they will hold. Give thanks at least that we did not sail\nbefore the tempest fell, since now each of us has a chance to live.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Tanus, \"I should hate to be abroad today upon the\nstoutest ship that sails the Barsoomian sky.\"\n\nIt was then that Gahan the Jed appeared upon the roof. With him were\nthe balance of his own party and a dozen warriors of Helium. The young\nchief turned to his followers.\n\n\"I sail at once upon the Vanator,\" he said, \"in search of Tara of\nHelium who is thought to have been carried away upon a one-man flier by\nthe storm. I do not need to explain to you the slender chances the\nVanator has to withstand the fury of the tempest, nor will I order you\nto your deaths. Let those who wish remain behind without dishonor. The\nothers will follow me,\" and he leaped for the rope ladder that lashed\nwildly in the gale.\n\nThe first man to follow him was Tanus and when the last reached the\ndeck of the cruiser there remained upon the palace roof only the twelve\nwarriors of Helium, who, with naked swords, had taken the posts of the\nGatholians at the moorings.\n\nNot a single warrior who had remained aboard the Vanator would leave\nher now.\n\n\"I expected no less,\" said Gahan, as with the help of those already on\nthe deck he and the others found secure lashings. The commander of the\nVanator shook his head. He loved his trim craft, the pride of her class\nin the little navy of Gathol. It was of her he thought--not of himself.\nHe saw her lying torn and twisted upon the ochre vegetation of some\ndistant sea-bottom, to be presently overrun and looted by some savage,\ngreen horde. He looked at Gahan.\n\n\"Are you ready, San Tothis?\" asked the jed.\n\n\"All is ready.\"\n\n\"Then cut away!\"\n\nWord was passed across the deck and over the side to the Heliumetic\nwarriors below that at the third gun they were to cut away. Twelve keen\nswords must strike simultaneously and with equal power, and each must\nsever completely and instantly three strands of heavy cable that no\nloose end fouling a block bring immediate disaster upon the Vanator.\n\nBoom! The voice of the signal gun rolled down through the screaming\nwind to the twelve warriors upon the roof. Boom! Twelve swords were\nraised above twelve brawny shoulders. Boom! Twelve keen edges severed\ntwelve complaining moorings, clean and as one.\n\nThe Vanator, her propellors whirling, shot forward with the storm. The\ntempest struck her in the stern as with a mailed fist and stood the\ngreat ship upon her nose, and then it caught her and spun her as a\nchild's top spins; and upon the palace roof the twelve men looked on in\nsilent helplessness and prayed for the souls of the brave warriors who\nwere going to their death. And others saw, from Helium's lofty landing\nstages and from a thousand hangars upon a thousand roofs; but only for\nan instant did the preparations stop that would send other brave men\ninto the frightful maelstrom of that apparently hopeless search, for\nsuch is the courage of the warriors of Barsoom.\n\nBut the Vanator did not fall to the ground, within sight of the city at\nleast, though as long as the watchers could see her never for an\ninstant did she rest upon an even keel. Sometimes she lay upon one side\nor the other, or again she hurtled along keel up, or rolled over and\nover, or stood upon her nose or her tail at the caprice of the great\nforce that carried her along. And the watchers saw that this great ship\nwas merely being blown away with the other bits of debris great and\nsmall that filled the sky. Never in the memory of man or the annals of\nrecorded history had such a storm raged across the face of Barsoom.\n\nAnd in another instant was the Vanator forgotten as the lofty, scarlet\ntower that had marked Lesser Helium for ages crashed to ground,\ncarrying death and demolition upon the city beneath. Panic reigned. A\nfire broke out in the ruins. The city's every force seemed crippled,\nand it was then that The Warlord ordered the men that were about to set\nforth in search of Tara of Helium to devote their energies to the\nsalvation of the city, for he too had witnessed the start of the\nVanator and realized the futility of wasting men who were needed sorely\nif Lesser Helium was to be saved from utter destruction.\n\nShortly after noon of the second day the storm commenced to abate, and\nbefore the sun went down, the little craft upon which Tara of Helium\nhad hovered between life and death these many hours drifted slowly\nbefore a gentle breeze above a landscape of rolling hills that once had\nbeen lofty mountains upon a Martian continent. The girl was exhausted\nfrom loss of sleep, from lack of food and drink, and from the nervous\nreaction consequent to the terrifying experiences through which she had\npassed. In the near distance, just topping an intervening hill, she\ncaught a momentary glimpse of what appeared to be a dome-capped tower.\nQuickly she dropped the flier until the hill shut it off from the view\nof the possible occupants of the structure she had seen. The tower\nmeant to her the habitation of man, suggesting the presence of water\nand, perhaps, of food. If the tower was the deserted relic of a bygone\nage she would scarcely find food there, but there was still a chance\nthat there might be water. If it was inhabited, then must her approach\nbe cautious, for only enemies might be expected to abide in so far\ndistant a land. Tara of Helium knew that she must be far from the twin\ncities of her grandfather's empire, but had she guessed within even a\nthousand haads of the reality, she had been stunned by realization of\nthe utter hopelessness of her state.\n\nKeeping the craft low, for the buoyancy tanks were still intact, the\ngirl skimmed the ground until the gently-moving wind had carried her to\nthe side of the last hill that intervened between her and the structure\nshe had thought a man-built tower. Here she brought the flier to the\nground among some stunted trees, and dragging it beneath one where it\nmight be somewhat hidden from craft passing above, she made it fast and\nset forth to reconnoiter. Like most women of her class she was armed\nonly with a single slender blade, so that in such an emergency as now\nconfronted her she must depend almost solely upon her cleverness in\nremaining undiscovered by enemies. With utmost caution she crept warily\ntoward the crest of the hill, taking advantage of every natural screen\nthat the landscape afforded to conceal her approach from possible\nobservers ahead, while momentarily she cast quick glances rearward lest\nshe be taken by surprise from that quarter.\n\nShe came at last to the summit, where, from the concealment of a low\nbush, she could see what lay beyond. Beneath her spread a beautiful\nvalley surrounded by low hills. Dotting it were numerous circular\ntowers, dome-capped, and surrounding each tower was a stone wall\nenclosing several acres of ground. The valley appeared to be in a high\nstate of cultivation. Upon the opposite side of the hill and just\nbeneath her was a tower and enclosure. It was the roof of the former\nthat had first attracted her attention. In all respects it seemed\nidentical in construction with those further out in the valley--a high,\nplastered wall of massive construction surrounding a similarly\nconstructed tower, upon whose gray surface was painted in vivid colors\na strange device. The towers were about forty sofads in diameter,\napproximately forty earth-feet, and sixty in height to the base of the\ndome. To an Earth man they would have immediately suggested the silos\nin which dairy farmers store ensilage for their herds; but closer\nscrutiny, revealing an occasional embrasured opening together with the\nstrange construction of the domes, would have altered such a\nconclusion. Tara of Helium saw that the domes seemed to be faced with\ninnumerable prisms of glass, those that were exposed to the declining\nsun scintillating so gorgeously as to remind her suddenly of the\nmagnificent trappings of Gahan of Gathol. As she thought of the man she\nshook her head angrily, and moved cautiously forward a foot or two that\nshe might get a less obstructed view of the nearer tower and its\nenclosure.\n\nAs Tara of Helium looked down into the enclosure surrounding the\nnearest tower, her brows contracted momentarily in frowning surprise,\nand then her eyes went wide in an expression of incredulity tinged with\nhorror, for what she saw was a score or two of human bodies--naked and\nheadless. For a long moment she watched, breathless; unable to believe\nthe evidence of her own eyes--that these grewsome things moved and had\nlife! She saw them crawling about on hands and knees over and across\none another, searching about with their fingers. And she saw some of\nthem at troughs, for which the others seemed to be searching, and those\nat the troughs were taking something from these receptacles and\napparently putting it in a hole where their necks should have been.\nThey were not far beneath her--she could see them distinctly and she\nsaw that there were the bodies of both men and women, and that they\nwere beautifully proportioned, and that their skin was similar to hers,\nbut of a slightly lighter red. At first she had thought that she was\nlooking upon a shambles and that the bodies, but recently decapitated,\nwere moving under the impulse of muscular reaction; but presently she\nrealized that this was their normal condition. The horror of them\nfascinated her, so that she could scarce take her eyes from them. It\nwas evident from their groping hands that they were eyeless, and their\nsluggish movements suggested a rudimentary nervous system and a\ncorrespondingly minute brain. The girl wondered how they subsisted for\nshe could not, even by the wildest stretch of imagination, picture\nthese imperfect creatures as intelligent tillers of the soil. Yet that\nthe soil of the valley was tilled was evident and that these things had\nfood was equally so. But who tilled the soil? Who kept and fed these\nunhappy things, and for what purpose? It was an enigma beyond her\npowers of deduction.\n\nThe sight of food aroused again a consciousness of her own gnawing\nhunger and the thirst that parched her throat. She could see both food\nand water within the enclosure; but would she dare enter even should\nshe find means of ingress? She doubted it, since the very thought of\npossible contact with these grewsome creatures sent a shudder through\nher frame.\n\nThen her eyes wandered again out across the valley until presently they\npicked out what appeared to be a tiny stream winding its way through\nthe center of the farm lands--a strange sight upon Barsoom. Ah, if it\nwere but water! Then might she hope with a real hope, for the fields\nwould give her sustenance which she could gain by night, while by day\nshe hid among the surrounding hills, and sometime, yes, sometime she\nknew, the searchers would come, for John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom,\nwould never cease to search for his daughter until every square haad of\nthe planet had been combed again and again. She knew him and she knew\nthe warriors of Helium and so she knew that could she but manage to\nescape harm until they came, they would indeed come at last.\n\nShe would have to wait until dark before she dare venture into the\nvalley, and in the meantime she thought it well to search out a place\nof safety nearby where she might be reasonably safe from savage beasts.\nIt was possible that the district was free from carnivora, but one\nmight never be sure in a strange land. As she was about to withdraw\nbehind the brow of the hill her attention was again attracted to the\nenclosure below. Two figures had emerged from the tower. Their\nbeautiful bodies seemed identical with those of the headless creatures\namong which they moved, but the newcomers were not headless. Upon their\nshoulders were heads that seemed human, yet which the girl intuitively\nsensed were not human. They were just a trifle too far away for her to\nsee them distinctly in the waning light of the dying day, but she knew\nthat they were too large, they were out of proportion to the perfectly\nproportioned bodies, and they were oblate in form. She could see that\nthe men wore some manner of harness to which were slung the customary\nlong-sword and short-sword of the Barsoomian warrior, and that about\ntheir short necks were massive leather collars cut to fit closely over\nthe shoulders and snugly to the lower part of the head. Their features\nwere scarce discernible, but there was a suggestion of grotesqueness\nabout them that carried to her a feeling of revulsion.\n\nThe two carried a long rope to which were fastened, at intervals of\nabout two sofads, what she later guessed were light manacles, for she\nsaw the warriors passing among the poor creatures in the enclosure and\nabout the right wrist of each they fastened one of the manacles. When\nall had been thus fastened to the rope one of the warriors commenced to\npull and tug at the loose end as though attempting to drag the headless\ncompany toward the tower, while the other went among them with a long,\nlight whip with which he flicked them upon the naked skin. Slowly,\ndully, the creatures rose to their feet and between the tugging of the\nwarrior in front and the lashing of him behind the hopeless band was\nfinally herded within the tower. Tara of Helium shuddered as she turned\naway. What manner of creatures were these?\n\nSuddenly it was night. The Barsoomian day had ended, and then the brief\nperiod of twilight that renders the transition from daylight to\ndarkness almost as abrupt as the switching off of an electric light,\nand Tara of Helium had found no sanctuary. But perhaps there were no\nbeasts to fear, or rather to avoid--Tara of Helium liked not the word\nfear. She would have been glad, however, had there been a cabin, even a\nvery tiny cabin, upon her small flier; but there was no cabin. The\ninterior of the hull was completely taken up by the buoyancy tanks. Ah,\nshe had it! How stupid of her not to have thought of it before! She\ncould moor the craft to the tree beneath which it rested and let it\nrise the length of the rope. Lashed to the deck rings she would then be\nsafe from any roaming beast of prey that chanced along. In the morning\nshe could drop to the ground again before the craft was discovered.\n\nAs Tara of Helium crept over the brow of the hill down toward the\nvalley, her presence was hidden by the darkness of the night from the\nsight of any chance observer who might be loitering by a window in the\nnearby tower. Cluros, the farther moon, was just rising above the\nhorizon to commence his leisurely journey through the heavens. Eight\nzodes later he would set--a trifle over nineteen and a half Earth\nhours--and during that time Thuria, his vivacious mate, would have\ncircled the planet twice and be more than half way around on her third\ntrip. She had but just set. It would be more than three and a half\nhours before she shot above the opposite horizon to hurtle, swift and\nlow, across the face of the dying planet. During this temporary absence\nof the mad moon Tara of Helium hoped to find both food and water, and\ngain again the safety of her flier's deck.\n\nShe groped her way through the darkness, giving the tower and its\nenclosure as wide a berth as possible. Sometimes she stumbled, for in\nthe long shadows cast by the rising Cluros objects were grotesquely\ndistorted though the light from the moon was still not sufficient to be\nof much assistance to her. Nor, as a matter of fact, did she want\nlight. She could find the stream in the dark, by the simple expedient\nof going down hill until she walked into it and she had seen that\nbearing trees and many crops grew throughout the valley, so that she\nwould pass food in plenty ere she reached the stream. If the moon\nshowed her the way more clearly and thus saved her from an occasional\nfall, he would, too, show her more clearly to the strange denizens of\nthe towers, and that, of course, must not be. Could she have waited\nuntil the following night conditions would have been better, since\nCluros would not appear in the heavens at all and so, during Thuria's\nabsence, utter darkness would reign; but the pangs of thirst and the\ngnawing of hunger could be endured no longer with food and drink both\nin sight, and so she had decided to risk discovery rather than suffer\nlonger.\n\nSafely past the nearest tower, she moved as rapidly as she felt\nconsistent with safety, choosing her way wherever possible so that she\nmight take advantage of the shadows of the trees that grew at intervals\nand at the same time discover those which bore fruit. In this latter\nshe met with almost immediate success, for the very third tree beneath\nwhich she halted was heavy with ripe fruit. Never, thought Tara of\nHelium, had aught so delicious impinged upon her palate, and yet it was\nnaught else than the almost tasteless usa, which is considered to be\npalatable only after having been cooked and highly spiced. It grows\neasily with little irrigation and the trees bear abundantly. The fruit,\nwhich ranks high in food value, is one of the staple foods of the less\nwell-to-do, and because of its cheapness and nutritive value forms one\nof the principal rations of both armies and navies upon Barsoom, a use\nwhich has won for it a Martian sobriquet which, freely translated into\nEnglish, would be, The Fighting Potato. The girl was wise enough to eat\nbut sparingly, but she filled her pocket-pouch with the fruit before\nshe continued upon her way.\n\nTwo towers she passed before she came at last to the stream, and here\nagain was she temperate, drinking but little and that very slowly,\ncontenting herself with rinsing her mouth frequently and bathing her\nface, her hands, and her feet; and even though the night was cold, as\nMartian nights are, the sensation of refreshment more than compensated\nfor the physical discomfort of the low temperature. Replacing her\nsandals she sought among the growing track near the stream for whatever\nedible berries or tubers might be planted there, and found a couple of\nvarieties that could be eaten raw. With these she replaced some of the\nusa in her pocket-pouch, not only to insure a variety but because she\nfound them more palatable. Occasionally she returned to the stream to\ndrink, but each time moderately. Always were her eyes and ears alert\nfor the first signs of danger, but she had neither seen nor heard aught\nto disturb her. And presently the time approached when she felt she\nmust return to her flier lest she be caught in the revealing light of\nlow swinging Thuria. She dreaded leaving the water for she knew that\nshe must become very thirsty before she could hope to come again to the\nstream. If she only had some little receptacle in which to carry water,\neven a small amount would tide her over until the following night; but\nshe had nothing and so she must content herself as best she could with\nthe juices of the fruit and tubers she had gathered.\n\nAfter a last drink at the stream, the longest and deepest she had\nallowed herself, she rose to retrace her steps toward the hills; but\neven as she did so she became suddenly tense with apprehension. What\nwas that? She could have sworn that she saw something move in the\nshadows beneath a tree not far away. For a long minute the girl did not\nmove--she scarce breathed. Her eyes remained fixed upon the dense\nshadows below the tree, her ears strained through the silence of the\nnight. A low moaning came down from the hills where her flier was\nhidden. She knew it well--the weird note of the hunting banth. And the\ngreat carnivore lay directly in her path. But he was not so close as\nthis other thing, hiding there in the shadows just a little way off.\nWhat was it? It was the strain of uncertainty that weighed heaviest\nupon her. Had she known the nature of the creature lurking there half\nits menace would have vanished. She cast quickly about her in search of\nsome haven of refuge should the thing prove dangerous.\n\nAgain arose the moaning from the hills, but this time closer. Almost\nimmediately it was answered from the opposite side of the valley,\nbehind her, and then from the distance to the right of her, and twice\nupon her left. Her eyes had found a tree, quite near. Slowly, and\nwithout taking her eyes from the shadows of that other tree, she moved\ntoward the overhanging branches that might afford her sanctuary in the\nevent of need, and at her first move a low growl rose from the spot she\nhad been watching and she heard the sudden moving of a big body.\nSimultaneously the creature shot into the moonlight in full charge upon\nher, its tail erect, its tiny ears laid flat, its great mouth with its\nmultiple rows of sharp and powerful fangs already yawning for its prey,\nits ten legs carrying it forward in great leaps, and now from the\nbeast's throat issued the frightful roar with which it seeks to\nparalyze its prey. It was a banth--the great, maned lion of Barsoom.\nTara of Helium saw it coming and leaped for the tree toward which she\nhad been moving, and the banth realized her intention and redoubled his\nspeed. As his hideous roar awakened the echoes in the hills, so too it\nawakened echoes in the valley; but these echoes came from the living\nthroats of others of his kind, until it seemed to the girl that Fate\nhad thrown her into the midst of a countless multitude of these savage\nbeasts.\n\nAlmost incredibly swift is the speed of a charging banth, and fortunate\nit was that the girl had not been caught farther in the open. As it\nwas, her margin of safety was next to negligible, for as she swung\nnimbly to the lower branches the creature in pursuit of her crashed\namong the foliage almost upon her as it sprang upward to seize her. It\nwas only a combination of good fortune and agility that saved her. A\nstout branch deflected the raking talons of the carnivore, but so close\nwas the call that a giant forearm brushed her flesh in the instant\nbefore she scrambled to the higher branches.\n\nBaffled, the banth gave vent to his rage and disappointment in a series\nof frightful roars that caused the very ground to tremble, and to these\nwere added the roarings and the growlings and the moanings of his\nfellows as they approached from every direction, in the hope of\nwresting from him whatever of his kill they could take by craft or\nprowess. And now he turned snarling upon them as they circled the tree,\nwhile the girl, huddled in a crotch above them, looked down upon the\ngaunt, yellow monsters padding on noiseless feet in a restless circle\nabout her. She wondered now at the strange freak of fate that had\npermitted her to come down this far into the valley by night unharmed,\nbut even more she wondered how she was to return to the hills. She knew\nthat she would not dare venture it by night and she guessed, too, that\nby day she might be confronted by even graver perils. To depend upon\nthis valley for sustenance she now saw to be beyond the pale of\npossibility because of the banths that would keep her from food and\nwater by night, while the dwellers in the towers would doubtless make\nit equally impossible for her to forage by day. There was but one\nsolution of her difficulty and that was to return to her flier and pray\nthat the wind would waft her to some less terrorful land; but when\nmight she return to the flier? The banths gave little evidence of\nrelinquishing hope of her, and even if they wandered out of sight would\nshe dare risk the attempt? She doubted it.\n\nHopeless indeed seemed her situation--hopeless it was.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nCAPTURED\n\nAs Thuria, swift racer of the night, shot again into the sky the scene\nchanged. As by magic a new aspect fell athwart the face of Nature. It\nwas as though in the instant one had been transported from one planet\nto another. It was the age-old miracle of the Martian nights that is\nalways new, even to Martians--two moons resplendent in the heavens,\nwhere one had been but now; conflicting, fast-changing shadows that\naltered the very hills themselves; far Cluros, stately, majestic,\nalmost stationary, shedding his steady light upon the world below;\nThuria, a great and glorious orb, swinging swift across the vaulted\ndome of the blue-black night, so low that she seemed to graze the\nhills, a gorgeous spectacle that held the girl now beneath the spell of\nits enchantment as it always had and always would.\n\n\"Ah, Thuria, mad queen of heaven!\" murmured Tara of Helium. \"The hills\npass in stately procession, their bosoms rising and falling; the trees\nmove in restless circles; the little grasses describe their little\narcs; and all is movement, restless, mysterious movement without sound,\nwhile Thuria passes.\" The girl sighed and let her gaze fall again to\nthe stern realities beneath. There was no mystery in the huge banths.\nHe who had discovered her squatted there looking hungrily up at her.\nMost of the others had wandered away in search of other prey, but a few\nremained hoping yet to bury their fangs in that soft body.\n\nThe night wore on. Again Thuria left the heavens to her lord and\nmaster, hurrying on to keep her tryst with the Sun in other skies. But\na single banth waited impatiently beneath the tree which harbored Tara\nof Helium. The others had left, but their roars, and growls, and moans\nthundered or rumbled, or floated back to her from near and far. What\nprey found they in this little valley? There must be something that\nthey were accustomed to find here that they should be drawn in so great\nnumbers. The girl wondered what it could be.\n\nHow long the night! Numb, cold, and exhausted, Tara of Helium clung to\nthe tree in growing desperation, for once she had dozed and almost\nfallen. Hope was low in her brave little heart. How much more could she\nendure? She asked herself the question and then, with a brave shake of\nher head, she squared her shoulders. \"I still live!\" she said aloud.\n\nThe banth looked up and growled.\n\nCame Thuria again and after awhile the great Sun--a flaming lover,\npursuing his heart's desire. And Cluros, the cold husband, continued\nhis serene way, as placid as before his house had been violated by this\nhot Lothario. And now the Sun and both Moons rode together in the sky,\nlending their far mysteries to make weird the Martian dawn. Tara of\nHelium looked out across the fair valley that spread upon all sides of\nher. It was rich and beautiful, but even as she looked upon it she\nshuddered, for to her mind came a picture of the headless things that\nthe towers and the walls hid. Those by day and the banths by night! Ah,\nwas it any wonder that she shuddered?\n\nWith the coming of the Sun the great Barsoomian lion rose to his feet.\nHe turned angry eyes upon the girl above him, voiced a single ominous\ngrowl, and slunk away toward the hills. The girl watched him, and she\nsaw that he gave the towers as wide a berth as possible and that he\nnever took his eyes from one of them while he was passing it. Evidently\nthe inmates had taught these savage creatures to respect them.\nPresently he passed from sight in a narrow defile, nor in any direction\nthat she could see was there another. Momentarily at least the\nlandscape was deserted. The girl wondered if she dared to attempt to\nregain the hills and her flier. She dreaded the coming of the workmen\nto the fields as she was sure they would come. She shrank from again\nseeing the headless bodies, and found herself wondering if these things\nwould come out into the fields and work. She looked toward the nearest\ntower. There was no sign of life there. The valley lay quiet now and\ndeserted. She lowered herself stiffly to the ground. Her muscles were\ncramped and every move brought a twinge of pain. Pausing a moment to\ndrink again at the stream she felt refreshed and then turned without\nmore delay toward the hills. To cover the distance as quickly as\npossible seemed the only plan to pursue. The trees no longer offered\nconcealment and so she did not go out of her way to be near them. The\nhills seemed very far away. She had not thought, the night before, that\nshe had traveled so far. Really it had not been far, but now, with the\nthree towers to pass in broad daylight, the distance seemed great\nindeed.\n\nThe second tower lay almost directly in her path. To make a detour\nwould not lessen the chance of detection, it would only lengthen the\nperiod of her danger, and so she laid her course straight for the hill\nwhere her flier was, regardless of the tower. As she passed the first\nenclosure she thought that she heard the sound of movement within, but\nthe gate did not open and she breathed more easily when it lay behind\nher. She came then to the second enclosure, the outer wall of which she\nmust circle, as it lay across her route. As she passed close along it\nshe distinctly heard not only movement within, but voices. In the\nworld-language of Barsoom she heard a man issuing instructions--so many\nwere to pick usa, so many were to irrigate this field, so many to\ncultivate that, and so on, as a foreman lays out the day's work for his\ncrew.\n\nTara of Helium had just reached the gate in the outer wall. Without\nwarning it swung open toward her. She saw that for a moment it would\nhide her from those within and in that moment she turned and ran,\nkeeping close to the wall, until, passing out of sight beyond the curve\nof the structure, she came to the opposite side of the enclosure. Here,\npanting from her exertion and from the excitement of her narrow escape,\nshe threw herself among some tall weeds that grew close to the foot of\nthe wall. There she lay trembling for some time, not even daring to\nraise her head and look about. Never before had Tara of Helium felt the\nparalyzing effects of terror. She was shocked and angry at herself,\nthat she, daughter of John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, should exhibit\nfear. Not even the fact that there had been none there to witness it\nlessened her shame and anger, and the worst of it was she knew that\nunder similar circumstances she would again be equally as craven. It\nwas not the fear of death--she knew that. No, it was the thought of\nthose headless bodies and that she might see them and that they might\neven touch her--lay hands upon her--seize her. She shuddered and\ntrembled at the thought.\n\nAfter a while she gained sufficient command of herself to raise her\nhead and look about. To her horror she discovered that everywhere she\nlooked she saw people working in the fields or preparing to do so.\nWorkmen were coming from other towers. Little bands were passing to\nthis field and that. There were even some already at work within thirty\nads of her--about a hundred yards. There were ten, perhaps, in the\nparty nearest her, both men and women, and all were beautiful of form\nand grotesque of face. So meager were their trappings that they were\npractically naked; a fact that was in no way remarkable among the\ntillers of the fields of Mars. Each wore the peculiar, high leather\ncollar that completely hid the neck, and each wore sufficient other\nleather to support a single sword and a pocket-pouch. The leather was\nvery old and worn, showing long, hard service, and was absolutely plain\nwith the exception of a single device upon the left shoulder. The\nheads, however, were covered with ornaments of precious metals and\njewels, so that little more than eyes, nose, and mouth were\ndiscernible. These were hideously inhuman and yet grotesquely human at\nthe same time. The eyes were far apart and protruding, the nose scarce\nmore than two small, parallel slits set vertically above a round hole\nthat was the mouth. The heads were peculiarly repulsive--so much so\nthat it seemed unbelievable to the girl that they formed an integral\npart of the beautiful bodies below them.\n\nSo fascinated was Tara of Helium that she could scarce take her eyes\nfrom the strange creatures--a fact that was to prove her undoing, for\nin order that she might see them she was forced to expose a part of her\nown head and presently, to her consternation, she saw that one of the\ncreatures had stopped his work and was staring directly at her. She did\nnot dare move, for it was still possible that the thing had not seen\nher, or at least was only suspicious that some creature lay hid among\nthe weeds. If she could allay this suspicion by remaining motionless\nthe creature might believe that he had been mistaken and return to his\nwork; but, alas, such was not to be the case. She saw the thing call\nthe attention of others to her and almost immediately four or five of\nthem started to move in her direction.\n\nIt was impossible now to escape discovery. Her only hope lay in flight.\nIf she could elude them and reach the hills and the flier ahead of them\nshe might escape, and that could be accomplished in but one\nway--flight, immediate and swift. Leaping to her feet she darted along\nthe base of the wall which she must skirt to the opposite side, beyond\nwhich lay the hill that was her goal. Her act was greeted by strange\nwhistling sounds from the things behind her, and casting a glance over\nher shoulder she saw them all in rapid pursuit.\n\nThere were also shrill commands that she halt, but to these she paid no\nattention. Before she had half circled the enclosure she discovered\nthat her chances for successful escape were great, since it was evident\nto her that her pursuers were not so fleet as she. High indeed then\nwere her hopes as she came in sight of the hill, but they were soon\ndashed by what lay before her, for there, in the fields that lay\nbetween, were fully a hundred creatures similar to those behind her and\nall were on the alert, evidently warned by the whistling of their\nfellows. Instructions and commands were shouted to and fro, with the\nresult that those before her spread roughly into a great half circle to\nintercept her, and when she turned to the right, hoping to elude the\nnet, she saw others coming from fields beyond, and to the left the same\nwas true. But Tara of Helium would not admit defeat. Without once\npausing she turned directly toward the center of the advancing\nsemi-circle, beyond which lay her single chance of escape, and as she\nran she drew her long, slim dagger. Like her valiant sire, if die she\nmust, she would die fighting. There were gaps in the thin line\nconfronting her and toward the widest of one of these she directed her\ncourse. The things on either side of the opening guessed her intent for\nthey closed in to place themselves in her path. This widened the\nopenings on either side of them and as the girl appeared almost to rush\ninto their arms she turned suddenly at right angles, ran swiftly in the\nnew direction for a few yards, and then dashed quickly toward the hill\nagain. Now only a single warrior, with a wide gap on either side of\nhim, barred her clear way to freedom, though all the others were\nspeeding as rapidly as they could to intercept her. If she could pass\nthis one without too much delay she could escape, of that she was\ncertain. Her every hope hinged on this. The creature before her\nrealized it, too, for he moved cautiously, though swiftly, to intercept\nher, as a Rugby fullback might maneuver in the realization that he\nalone stood between the opposing team and a touchdown.\n\nAt first Tara of Helium had hoped that she might dodge him, for she\ncould not but guess that she was not only more fleet but infinitely\nmore agile than these strange creatures; but soon there came to her the\nrealization that in the time consumed in an attempt to elude his grasp\nhis nearer fellows would be upon her and escape then impossible, so she\nchose instead to charge straight for him, and when he guessed her\ndecision he stood, half crouching and with outstretched arms, awaiting\nher. In one hand was his sword, but a voice arose, crying in tones of\nauthority. \"Take her alive! Do not harm her!\" Instantly the fellow\nreturned his sword to its scabbard and then Tara of Helium was upon\nhim. Straight for that beautiful body she sprang and in the instant\nthat the arms closed to seize her her sharp blade drove deep into the\nnaked chest. The impact hurled them both to the ground and as Tara of\nHelium sprang to her feet again she saw, to her horror, that the\nloathsome head had rolled from the body and was now crawling away from\nher on six short, spider-like legs. The body struggled spasmodically\nand lay still. As brief as had been the delay caused by the encounter,\nit still had been of sufficient duration to undo her, for even as she\nrose two more of the things fell upon her and instantly thereafter she\nwas surrounded. Her blade sank once more into naked flesh and once more\na head rolled free and crawled away. Then they overpowered her and in\nanother moment she was surrounded by fully a hundred of the creatures,\nall seeking to lay hands upon her. At first she thought that they\nwished to tear her to pieces in revenge for her having slain two of\ntheir fellows, but presently she realized that they were prompted more\nby curiosity than by any sinister motive.\n\n\"Come!\" said one of her captors, both of whom had retained a hold upon\nher. As he spoke he tried to lead her away with him toward the nearest\ntower.\n\n\"She belongs to me,\" cried the other. \"Did not I capture her? She will\ncome with me to the tower of Moak.\"\n\n\"Never!\" insisted the first. \"She is Luud's. To Luud I will take her,\nand whosoever interferes may feel the keenness of my sword--in the\nhead!\" He almost shouted the last three words.\n\n\"Come! Enough of this,\" cried one who spoke with some show of\nauthority. \"She was captured in Luud's fields--she will go to Luud.\"\n\n\"She was discovered in Moak's fields, at the very foot of the tower of\nMoak,\" insisted he who had claimed her for Moak.\n\n\"You have heard the Nolach speak,\" cried the Luud. \"It shall be as he\nsays.\"\n\n\"Not while this Moak holds a sword,\" replied the other. \"Rather will I\ncut her in twain and take my half to Moak than to relinquish her all to\nLuud,\" and he drew his sword, or rather he laid his hand upon its hilt\nin a threatening gesture; but before ever he could draw it the Luud had\nwhipped his out and with a fearful blow cut deep into the head of his\nadversary. Instantly the big, round head collapsed, almost as a\npunctured balloon collapses, as a grayish, semi-fluid matter spurted\nfrom it. The protruding eyes, apparently lidless, merely stared, the\nsphincter-like muscle of the mouth opened and closed, and then the head\ntoppled from the body to the ground. The body stood dully for a moment\nand then slowly started to wander aimlessly about until one of the\nothers seized it by the arm.\n\nOne of the two heads crawling about on the ground now approached. \"This\nrykor belongs to Moak,\" it said. \"I am a Moak. I will take it,\" and\nwithout further discussion it commenced to crawl up the front of the\nheadless body, using its six short, spiderlike legs and two stout\nchelae which grew just in front of its legs and strongly resembled\nthose of an Earthly lobster, except that they were both of the same\nsize. The body in the meantime stood in passive indifference, its arms\nhanging idly at its sides. The head climbed to the shoulders and\nsettled itself inside the leather collar that now hid its chelae and\nlegs. Almost immediately the body gave evidence of intelligent\nanimation. It raised its hands and adjusted the collar more\ncomfortably, it took the head between its palms and settled it in place\nand when it moved around it did not wander aimlessly, but instead its\nsteps were firm and to some purpose.\n\nThe girl watched all these things in growing wonder, and presently, no\nother of the Moaks seeming inclined to dispute the right of the Luud to\nher, she was led off by her captor toward the nearest tower. Several\naccompanied them, including one who carried the loose head under his\narm. The head that was being carried conversed with the head upon the\nshoulders of the thing that carried it. Tara of Helium shivered. It was\nhorrible! All that she had seen of these frightful creatures was\nhorrible. And to be a prisoner, wholly in their power. Shadow of her\nfirst ancestor! What had she done to deserve so cruel a fate?\n\nAt the wall enclosing the tower they paused while one opened the gate\nand then they passed within the enclosure, which, to the girl's horror,\nshe found filled with headless bodies. The creature who carried the\nbodiless head now set its burden upon the ground and the latter\nimmediately crawled toward one of the bodies that was lying near by.\nSome wandered stupidly to and fro, but this one lay still. It was a\nfemale. The head crawled to it and made its way to the shoulders where\nit settled itself. At once the body sprang lightly erect. Another of\nthose who had accompanied them from the fields approached with the\nharness and collar that had been taken from the dead body that the head\nhad formerly topped. The new body now appropriated these and the hands\ndeftly adjusted them. The creature was now as good as before Tara of\nHelium had struck down its former body with her slim blade. But there\nwas a difference. Before it had been male--now it was female. That,\nhowever, seemed to make no difference to the head. In fact, Tara of\nHelium had noticed during the scramble and the fight about her that sex\ndifferences seemed of little moment to her captors. Males and females\nhad taken equal part in her pursuit, both were identically harnessed\nand both carried swords, and she had seen as many females as males draw\ntheir weapons at the moment that a quarrel between the two factions\nseemed imminent.\n\nThe girl was given but brief opportunity for further observation of the\npitiful creatures in the enclosure as her captor, after having directed\nthe others to return to the fields, led her toward the tower, which\nthey entered, passing into an apartment about ten feet wide and twenty\nlong, in one end of which was a stairway leading to an upper level and\nin the other an opening to a similar stairway leading downward. The\nchamber, though on a level with the ground, was brilliantly lighted by\nwindows in its inner wall, the light coming from a circular court in\nthe center of the tower. The walls of this court appeared to be faced\nwith what resembled glazed, white tile and the whole interior of it was\nflooded with dazzling light, a fact which immediately explained to the\ngirl the purpose of the glass prisms of which the domes were\nconstructed. The stairways themselves were sufficient to cause remark,\nsince in nearly all Barsoomian architecture inclined runways are\nutilized for purposes of communication between different levels, and\nespecially is this true of the more ancient forms and of those of\nremote districts where fewer changes have come to alter the customs of\nantiquity.\n\nDown the stairway her captor led Tara of Helium. Down and down through\nchambers still lighted from the brilliant well. Occasionally they\npassed others going in the opposite direction and these always stopped\nto examine the girl and ask questions of her captor.\n\n\"I know nothing but that she was found in the fields and that I caught\nher after a fight in which she slew two rykors and in which I slew a\nMoak, and that I take her to Luud, to whom, of course, she belongs. If\nLuud wishes to question her that is for Luud to do--not for me.\" Thus\nalways he answered the curious.\n\nPresently they reached a room from which a circular tunnel led away\nfrom the tower, and into this the creature conducted her. The tunnel\nwas some seven feet in diameter and flattened on the bottom to form a\nwalk. For a hundred feet from the tower it was lined with the same\ntile-like material of the light well and amply illuminated by reflected\nlight from that source. Beyond it was faced with stone of various\nshapes and sizes, neatly cut and fitted together--a very fine mosaic\nwithout a pattern. There were branches, too, and other tunnels which\ncrossed this, and occasionally openings not more than a foot in\ndiameter; these latter being usually close to the floor. Above each of\nthese smaller openings was painted a different device, while upon the\nwalls of the larger tunnels at all intersections and points of\nconvergence hieroglyphics appeared. These the girl could not read\nthough she guessed that they were the names of the tunnels, or notices\nindicating the points to which they led. She tried to study some of\nthem out, but there was not a character that was familiar to her, which\nseemed strange, since, while the written languages of the various\nnations of Barsoom differ, it still is true that they have many\ncharacters and words in common.\n\nShe had tried to converse with her guard but he had not seemed inclined\nto talk with her and she had finally desisted. She could not but note\nthat he had offered her no indignities, nor had he been either\nunnecessarily rough or in any way cruel. The fact that she had slain\ntwo of the bodies with her dagger had apparently aroused no animosity\nor desire for revenge in the minds of the strange heads that surmounted\nthe bodies--even those whose bodies had been killed. She did not try to\nunderstand it, since she could not approach the peculiar relationship\nbetween the heads and the bodies of these creatures from the basis of\nany past knowledge or experience of her own. So far their treatment of\nher seemed to augur naught that might arouse her fears. Perhaps, after\nall, she had been fortunate to fall into the hands of these strange\npeople, who might not only protect her from harm, but even aid her in\nreturning to Helium. That they were repulsive and uncanny she could not\nforget, but if they meant her no harm she could, at least, overlook\ntheir repulsiveness. Renewed hope aroused within her a spirit of\ngreater cheerfulness, and it was almost blithely now that she moved at\nthe side of her weird companion. She even caught herself humming a gay\nlittle tune that was then popular in Helium. The creature at her side\nturned its expressionless eyes upon her.\n\n\"What is that noise that you are making?\" it asked.\n\n\"I was but humming an air,\" she replied.\n\n\"'Humming an air,'\" he repeated. \"I do not know what you mean; but do\nit again, I like it.\"\n\nThis time she sang the words, while her companion listened intently.\nHis face gave no indication of what was passing in that strange head.\nIt was as devoid of expression as that of a spider. It reminded her of\na spider. When she had finished he turned toward her again.\n\n\"That was different,\" he said. \"I liked that better, even, than the\nother. How do you do it?\"\n\n\"Why,\" she said, \"it is singing. Do you not know what song is?\"\n\n\"No,\" he replied. \"Tell me how you do it.\"\n\n\"It is difficult to explain,\" she told him, \"since any explanation of\nit presupposes some knowledge of melody and of music, while your very\nquestion indicates that you have no knowledge of either.\"\n\n\"No,\" he said, \"I do not know what you are talking about; but tell me\nhow you do it.\"\n\n\"It is merely the melodious modulations of my voice,\" she explained.\n\"Listen!\" and again she sang.\n\n\"I do not understand,\" he insisted; \"but I like it. Could you teach me\nto do it?\"\n\n\"I do not know, but I shall be glad to try.\"\n\n\"We will see what Luud does with you,\" he said. \"If he does not want\nyou I will keep you and you shall teach me to make sounds like that.\"\n\nAt his request she sang again as they continued their way along the\nwinding tunnel, which was now lighted by occasional bulbs which\nappeared to be similar to the radium bulbs with which she was familiar\nand which were common to all the nations of Barsoom, insofar as she\nknew, having been perfected at so remote a period that their very\norigin was lost in antiquity. They consist, usually, of a hemispherical\nbowl of heavy glass in which is packed a compound containing what,\naccording to John Carter, must be radium. The bowl is then cemented\ninto a metal plate with a heavily insulated back and the whole affair\nset in the masonry of wall or ceiling as desired, where it gives off\nlight of greater or less intensity, according to the composition of the\nfilling material, for an almost incalculable period of time.\n\nAs they proceeded they met a greater number of the inhabitants of this\nunderground world, and the girl noted that among many of these the\nmetal and harness were more ornate than had been those of the workers\nin the fields above. The heads and bodies, however, were similar, even\nidentical, she thought. No one offered her harm and she was now\nexperiencing a feeling of relief almost akin to happiness, when her\nguide turned suddenly into an opening on the right side of the tunnel\nand she found herself in a large, well lighted chamber.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE PERFECT BRAIN\n\nThe song that had been upon her lips as she entered died there--frozen\nby the sight of horror that met her eyes. In the center of the chamber\na headless body lay upon the floor--a body that had been partially\ndevoured--while over and upon it crawled a half a dozen heads upon\ntheir short, spider legs, and they tore at the flesh of the woman with\ntheir chelae and carried the bits to their awful mouths. They were\neating human flesh--eating it raw!\n\nTara of Helium gasped in horror and turning away covered her eyes with\nher palms.\n\n\"Come!\" said her captor. \"What is the matter?\"\n\n\"They are eating the flesh of the woman,\" she whispered in tones of\nhorror.\n\n\"Why not?\" he inquired. \"Did you suppose that we kept the rykor for\nlabor alone? Ah, no. They are delicious when kept and fattened.\nFortunate, too, are those that are bred for food, since they are never\ncalled upon to do aught but eat.\"\n\n\"It is hideous!\" she cried.\n\nHe looked at her steadily for a moment, but whether in surprise, in\nanger, or in pity his expressionless face did not reveal. Then he led\nher on across the room past the frightful thing, from which she turned\naway her eyes. Lying about the floor near the walls were half a dozen\nheadless bodies in harness. These she guessed had been abandoned\ntemporarily by the feasting heads until they again required their\nservices. In the walls of this room there were many of the small, round\nopenings she had noticed in various parts of the tunnels, the purpose\nof which she could not guess.\n\nThey passed through another corridor and then into a second chamber,\nlarger than the first and more brilliantly illuminated. Within were\nseveral of the creatures with heads and bodies assembled, while many\nheadless bodies lay about near the walls. Here her captor halted and\nspoke to one of the occupants of the chamber.\n\n\"I seek Luud,\" he said. \"I bring to Luud a creature that I captured in\nthe fields above.\"\n\nThe others crowded about to examine Tara of Helium. One of them\nwhistled, whereupon the girl learned something of the smaller openings\nin the walls, for almost immediately there crawled from them, like\ngiant spiders, a score or more of the hideous heads. Each sought one of\nthe recumbent bodies and fastened itself in place. Immediately the\nbodies reacted to the intelligent direction of the heads. They arose,\nthe hands adjusted the leather collars and put the balance of the\nharness in order, then the creatures crossed the room to where Tara of\nHelium stood. She noted that their leather was more highly ornamented\nthan that worn by any of the others she had previously seen, and so she\nguessed that these must be higher in authority than the others. Nor was\nshe mistaken. The demeanor of her captor indicated it. He addressed\nthem as one who holds intercourse with superiors.\n\nSeveral of those who examined her felt her flesh, pinching it gently\nbetween thumb and forefinger, a familiarity that the girl resented. She\nstruck down their hands. \"Do not touch me!\" she cried, imperiously, for\nwas she not a princess of Helium? The expression on those terrible\nfaces did not change. She could not tell whether they were angry or\namused, whether her action had filled them with respect for her, or\ncontempt. Only one of them spoke immediately.\n\n\"She will have to be fattened more,\" he said.\n\nThe girl's eyes went wide with horror. She turned upon her captor. \"Do\nthese frightful creatures intend to devour me?\" she cried.\n\n\"That is for Luud to say,\" he replied, and then he leaned closer so\nthat his mouth was near her ear. \"That noise you made which you called\nsong pleased me,\" he whispered, \"and I will repay you by warning you\nnot to antagonize these kaldanes. They are very powerful. Luud listens\nto them. Do not call them frightful. They are very handsome. Look at\ntheir wonderful trappings, their gold, their jewels.\"\n\n\"Thank you,\" she said. \"You called them kaldanes--what does that mean?\"\n\n\"We are all kaldanes,\" he replied.\n\n\"You, too?\" and she pointed at him, her slim finger directed toward his\nchest.\n\n\"No, not this,\" he explained, touching his body; \"this is a rykor; but\nthis,\" and he touched his head, \"is a kaldane. It is the brain, the\nintellect, the power that directs all things. The rykor,\" he indicated\nhis body, \"is nothing. It is not so much even as the jewels upon our\nharness; no, not so much as the harness itself. It carries us about. It\nis true that we would find difficulty getting along without it; but it\nhas less value than harness or jewels because it is less difficult to\nreproduce.\" He turned again to the other kaldanes. \"Will you notify\nLuud that I am here?\" he asked.\n\n\"Sept has already gone to Luud. He will tell him,\" replied one. \"Where\ndid you find this rykor with the strange kaldane that cannot detach\nitself?\"\n\nThe girl's captor narrated once more the story of her capture. He\nstated facts just as they had occurred, without embellishment, his\nvoice as expressionless as his face, and his story was received in the\nsame manner that it was delivered. The creatures seemed totally lacking\nin emotion, or, at least, the capacity to express it. It was impossible\nto judge what impression the story made upon them, or even if they\nheard it. Their protruding eyes simply stared and occasionally the\nmuscles of their mouths opened and closed. Familiarity did not lessen\nthe horror the girl felt for them. The more she saw of them the more\nrepulsive they seemed. Often her body was shaken by convulsive shudders\nas she looked at the kaldanes, but when her eyes wandered to the\nbeautiful bodies and she could for a moment expunge the heads from her\nconsciousness the effect was soothing and refreshing, though when the\nbodies lay, headless, upon the floor they were quite as shocking as the\nheads mounted on bodies. But by far the most grewsome and uncanny sight\nof all was that of the heads crawling about upon their spider legs. If\none of these should approach and touch her Tara of Helium was positive\nthat she should scream, while should one attempt to crawl up her\nperson--ugh! the very idea induced a feeling of faintness.\n\nSept returned to the chamber. \"Luud will see you and the captive.\nCome!\" he said, and turned toward a door opposite that through which\nTara of Helium had entered the chamber. \"What is your name?\" His\nquestion was directed to the girl's captor.\n\n\"I am Ghek, third foreman of the fields of Luud,\" he answered.\n\n\"And hers?\"\n\n\"I do not know.\"\n\n\"It makes no difference. Come!\"\n\nThe patrician brows of Tara of Helium went high. It made no difference,\nindeed! She, a princess of Helium; only daughter of The Warlord of\nBarsoom!\n\n\"Wait!\" she cried. \"It makes much difference who I am. If you are\nconducting me into the presence of your jed you may announce The\nPrincess Tara of Helium, daughter of John Carter, The Warlord of\nBarsoom.\"\n\n\"Hold your peace!\" commanded Sept. \"Speak when you are spoken to. Come\nwith me!\"\n\nThe anger of Tara of Helium all but choked her. \"Come,\" admonished\nGhek, and took her by the arm, and Tara of Helium came. She was naught\nbut a prisoner. Her rank and titles meant nothing to these inhuman\nmonsters. They led her through a short, S-shaped passageway into a\nchamber entirely lined with the white, tile-like material with which\nthe interior of the light wall was faced. Close to the base of the\nwalls were numerous smaller apertures, circular in shape, but larger\nthan those of similar aspect that she had noted elsewhere. The majority\nof these apertures were sealed. Directly opposite the entrance was one\nframed in gold, and above it a peculiar device was inlaid in the same\nprecious metal.\n\nSept and Ghek halted just within the room, the girl between them, and\nall three stood silently facing the opening in the opposite wall. On\nthe floor beside the aperture lay a headless male body of almost heroic\nproportions, and on either side of this stood a heavily armed warrior,\nwith drawn sword. For perhaps five minutes the three waited and then\nsomething appeared in the opening. It was a pair of large chelae and\nimmediately thereafter there crawled forth a hideous kaldane of\nenormous proportions. He was half again as large as any that Tara of\nHelium had yet seen and his whole aspect infinitely more terrible. The\nskin of the others was a bluish gray--this one was of a little bluer\ntinge and the eyes were ringed with bands of white and scarlet, as was\nits mouth.\n\nFrom each nostril a band of white and one of scarlet extended outward\nhorizontally the width of the face.\n\nNo one spoke or moved. The creature crawled to the prostrate body and\naffixed itself to the neck. Then the two rose as one and approached the\ngirl. He looked at her and then he spoke to her captor.\n\n\"You are the third foreman of the fields of Luud?\" he asked.\n\n\"Yes, Luud; I am called Ghek.\"\n\n\"Tell me what you know of this,\" and he nodded toward Tara of Helium.\n\nGhek did as he was bid and then Luud addressed the girl.\n\n\"What were you doing within the borders of Bantoom?\" he asked.\n\n\"I was blown hither in a great storm that injured my flier and carried\nme I knew not where. I came down into the valley at night for food and\ndrink. The banths came and drove me to the safety of a tree, and then\nyour people caught me as I was trying to leave the valley. I do not\nknow why they took me. I was doing no harm. All I ask is that you let\nme go my way in peace.\"\n\n\"None who enters Bantoom ever leaves,\" replied Luud.\n\n\"But my people are not at war with yours. I am a princess of Helium; my\ngreat-grandfather is a jeddak; my grandfather a jed; and my father is\nWarlord of all Barsoom. You have no right to keep me and I demand that\nyou liberate me at once.\"\n\n\"None who enters Bantoom ever leaves,\" repeated the creature without\nexpression. \"I know nothing of the lesser creatures of Barsoom, of whom\nyou speak. There is but one high race--the race of Bantoomians. All\nNature exists to serve them. You shall do your share, but not yet--you\nare too skinny. We shall have to put some fat upon it, Sept. I tire of\nrykor. Perhaps this will have a different flavor. The banths are too\nrank and it is seldom that any other creature enters the valley. And\nyou, Ghek; you shall be rewarded. I shall promote you from the fields\nto the burrows. Hereafter you shall remain underground as every\nBantoomian longs to. No more shall you be forced to endure the hated\nsun, or look upon the hideous sky, or the hateful growing things that\ndefile the surface. For the present you shall look after this thing\nthat you have brought me, seeing that it sleeps and eats--and does\nnothing else. You understand me, Ghek; nothing else!\"\n\n\"I understand, Luud,\" replied the other.\n\n\"Take it away!\" commanded the creature.\n\nGhek turned and led Tara of Helium from the apartment. The girl was\nhorrified by contemplation of the fate that awaited her--a fate from\nwhich it seemed, there was no escape. It was only too evident that\nthese creatures possessed no gentle or chivalric sentiments to which\nshe could appeal, and that she might escape from the labyrinthine mazes\nof their underground burrows appeared impossible.\n\nOutside the audience chamber Sept overtook them and conversed with Ghek\nfor a brief period, then her keeper led her through a confusing web of\nwinding tunnels until they came to a small apartment.\n\n\"We are to remain here for a while. It may be that Luud will send for\nyou again. If he does you will probably not be fattened--he will use\nyou for another purpose.\" It was fortunate for the girl's peace of mind\nthat she did not realize what he meant. \"Sing for me,\" said Ghek,\npresently.\n\nTara of Helium did not feel at all like singing, but she sang,\nnevertheless, for there was always the hope that she might escape if\ngiven the opportunity and if she could win the friendship of one of the\ncreatures, her chances would be increased proportionately. All during\nthe ordeal, for such it was to the overwrought girl, Ghek stood with\nhis eyes fixed upon her.\n\n\"It is wonderful,\" he said, when she had finished; \"but I did not tell\nLuud--you noticed that I did not tell Luud about it. Had he known, he\nwould have had you sing to him and that would have resulted in your\nbeing kept with him that he might hear you sing whenever he wished; but\nnow I can have you all the time.\"\n\n\"How do you know he would like my singing?\" she asked.\n\n\"He would have to,\" replied Ghek. \"If I like a thing he has to like it,\nfor are we not identical--all of us?\"\n\n\"The people of my race do not all like the same things,\" said the girl.\n\n\"How strange!\" commented Ghek. \"All kaldanes like the same things and\ndislike the same things. If I discover something new and like it I know\nthat all kaldanes will like it. That is how I know that Luud would like\nyour singing. You see we are all exactly alike.\"\n\n\"But you do not look like Luud,\" said the girl.\n\n\"Luud is king. He is larger and more gorgeously marked; but otherwise\nhe and I are identical, and why not? Did not Luud produce the egg from\nwhich I hatched?\"\n\n\"What?\" queried the girl; \"I do not understand you.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" explained Ghek, \"all of us are from Luud's eggs, just as all the\nswarm of Moak are from Moak's eggs.\"\n\n\"Oh!\" exclaimed Tara of Helium understandingly; \"you mean that Luud has\nmany wives and that you are the offspring of one of them.\"\n\n\"No, not that at all,\" replied Ghek. \"Luud has no wife. He lays the\neggs himself. You do not understand.\"\n\nTara of Helium admitted that she did not.\n\n\"I will try to explain, then,\" said Ghek, \"if you will promise to sing\nto me later.\"\n\n\"I promise,\" she said.\n\n\"We are not like the rykors,\" he began. \"They are creatures of a low\norder, like yourself and the banths and such things. We have no\nsex--not one of us except our king, who is bi-sexual. He produces many\neggs from which we, the workers and the warriors, are hatched; and one\nin every thousand eggs is another king egg, from which a king is\nhatched. Did you notice the sealed openings in the room where you saw\nLuud? Sealed in each of those is another king. If one of them escaped\nhe would fall upon Luud and try to kill him and if he succeeded we\nshould have a new king; but there would be no difference. His name\nwould be Luud and all would go on as before, for are we not all alike?\nLuud has lived a long time and has produced many kings, so he lets only\na few live that there may be a successor to him when he dies. The\nothers he kills.\"\n\n\"Why does he keep more than one?\" queried the girl.\n\n\"Sometimes accidents occur,\" replied Ghek, \"and all the kings that a\nswarm has saved are killed. When this happens the swarm comes and\nobtains another king from a neighboring swarm.\"\n\n\"Are all of you the children of Luud?\" she asked.\n\n\"All but a few, who are from the eggs of the preceding king, as was\nLuud; but Luud has lived a long time and not many of the others are\nleft.\"\n\n\"You live a long time, or short?\" Tara asked.\n\n\"A very long time.\"\n\n\"And the rykors, too; they live a long time?\"\n\n\"No; the rykors live for ten years, perhaps,\" he said, \"if they remain\nstrong and useful. When they can no longer be of service to us, either\nthrough age or sickness, we leave them in the fields and the banths\ncome at night and get them.\"\n\n\"How horrible!\" she exclaimed.\n\n\"Horrible?\" he repeated. \"I see nothing horrible about that. The rykors\nare but brainless flesh. They neither see, nor feel, nor hear. They can\nscarce move but for us. If we did not bring them food they would starve\nto death. They are less deserving of thought than our leather. All that\nthey can do for themselves is to take food from a trough and put it in\ntheir mouths, but with us--look at them!\" and he proudly exhibited the\nnoble figure that he surmounted, palpitant with life and energy and\nfeeling.\n\n\"How do you do it?\" asked Tara of Helium. \"I do not understand it at\nall.\"\n\n\"I will show you,\" he said, and lay down upon the floor. Then he\ndetached himself from the body, which lay as a thing dead. On his\nspider legs he walked toward the girl. \"Now look,\" he admonished her.\n\"Do you see this thing?\" and he extended what appeared to be a bundle\nof tentacles from the posterior part of his head. \"There is an aperture\njust back of the rykor's mouth and directly over the upper end of his\nspinal column. Into this aperture I insert my tentacles and seize the\nspinal cord. Immediately I control every muscle of the rykor's body--it\nbecomes my own, just as you direct the movement of the muscles of your\nbody. I feel what the rykor would feel if he had a head and brain. If\nhe is hurt, I would suffer if I remained connected with him; but the\ninstant one of them is injured or becomes sick we desert it for\nanother. As we would suffer the pains of their physical injuries,\nsimilarly do we enjoy the physical pleasures of the rykors. When your\nbody becomes fatigued you are comparatively useless; it is sick, you\nare sick; if it is killed, you die. You are the slave of a mass of\nstupid flesh and bone and blood. There is nothing more wonderful about\nyour carcass than there is about the carcass of a banth. It is only\nyour brain that makes you superior to the banth, but your brain is\nbound by the limitations of your body. Not so, ours. With us brain is\neverything. Ninety per centum of our volume is brain. We have only the\nsimplest of vital organs and they are very small for they do not have\nto assist in the support of a complicated system of nerves, muscles,\nflesh and bone. We have no lungs, for we do not require air. Far below\nthe levels to which we can take the rykors is a vast network of burrows\nwhere the real life of the kaldane is lived. There the air-breathing\nrykor would perish as you would perish. There we have stored vast\nquantities of food in hermetically sealed chambers. It will last\nforever. Far beneath the surface is water that will flow for countless\nages after the surface water is exhausted. We are preparing for the\ntime we know must come--the time when the last vestige of the\nBarsoomian atmosphere is spent--when the waters and the food are gone.\nFor this purpose were we created, that there might not perish from the\nplanet Nature's divinest creation--the perfect brain.\"\n\n\"But what purpose can you serve when that time comes?\" asked the girl.\n\n\"You do not understand,\" he said. \"It is too big for you to grasp, but\nI will try to explain it. Barsoom, the moons, the sun, the stars, were\ncreated for a single purpose. From the beginning of time Nature has\nlabored arduously toward the consummation of this purpose. At the very\nbeginning things existed with life, but with no brain. Gradually\nrudimentary nervous systems and minute brains evolved. Evolution\nproceeded. The brains became larger and more powerful. In us you see\nthe highest development; but there are those of us who believe that\nthere is yet another step--that some time in the far future our race\nshall develop into the super-thing--just brain. The incubus of legs and\nchelae and vital organs will be removed. The future kaldane will be\nnothing but a great brain. Deaf, dumb, and blind it will lie sealed in\nits buried vault far beneath the surface of Barsoom--just a great,\nwonderful, beautiful brain with nothing to distract it from eternal\nthought.\"\n\n\"You mean it will just lie there and think?\" cried Tara of Helium.\n\n\"Just that!\" he exclaimed. \"Could aught be more wonderful?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" replied the girl, \"I can think of a number of things that would\nbe infinitely more wonderful.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nIN THE TOILS OF HORROR\n\nWhat the creature had told her gave Tara of Helium food for thought.\nShe had been taught that every created thing fulfilled some useful\npurpose, and she tried conscientiously to discover just what was the\nrightful place of the kaldane in the universal scheme of things. She\nknew that it must have its place but what that place was it was beyond\nher to conceive. She had to give it up. They recalled to her mind a\nlittle group of people in Helium who had forsworn the pleasures of life\nin the pursuit of knowledge. They were rather patronizing in their\nrelations with those whom they thought not so intellectual. They\nconsidered themselves quite superior. She smiled at recollection of a\nremark her father had once made concerning them, to the effect that if\none of them ever dropped his egotism and broke it it would take a week\nto fumigate Helium. Her father liked normal people--people who knew too\nlittle and people who knew too much were equally a bore. Tara of Helium\nwas like her father in this respect and like him, too, she was both\nsane and normal.\n\nOutside of her personal danger there was much in this strange world\nthat interested her. The rykors aroused her keenest pity, and vast\nconjecture. How and from what form had they evolved? She asked Ghek.\n\n\"Sing to me again and I will tell you,\" he said. \"If Luud would let me\nhave you, you should never die. I should keep you always to sing to me.\"\n\nThe girl marvelled at the effect her voice had upon the creature.\nSomewhere in that enormous brain there was a chord that was touched by\nmelody. It was the sole link between herself and the brain when\ndetached from the rykor. When it dominated the rykor it might have\nother human instincts; but these she dreaded even to think of. After\nshe had sung she waited for Ghek to speak. For a long time he was\nsilent, just looking at her through those awful eyes.\n\n\"I wonder,\" he said presently, \"if it might not be pleasant to be of\nyour race. Do you all sing?\"\n\n\"Nearly all, a little,\" she said; \"but we do many other interesting and\nenjoyable things. We dance and play and work and love and sometimes we\nfight, for we are a race of warriors.\"\n\n\"Love!\" said the kaldane. \"I think I know what you mean; but we,\nfortunately, are above sentiment--when we are detached. But when we\ndominate the rykor--ah, that is different, and when I hear you sing and\nlook at your beautiful body I know what you mean by love. I could love\nyou.\"\n\nThe girl shrank from him. \"You promised to tell me the origin of the\nrykor,\" she reminded him.\n\n\"Ages ago,\" he commenced, \"our bodies were larger and our heads\nsmaller. Our legs were very weak and we could not travel fast or far.\nThere was a stupid creature that went upon four legs. It lived in a\nhole in the ground, to which it brought its food, so we ran our burrows\ninto this hole and ate the food it brought; but it did not bring enough\nfor all--for itself and all the kaldanes that lived upon it, so we had\nalso to go abroad and get food. This was hard work for our weak legs.\nThen it was that we commenced to ride upon the backs of these primitive\nrykors. It took many ages, undoubtedly, but at last came the time when\nthe kaldane had found means to guide the rykor, until presently the\nlatter depended entirely upon the superior brain of his master to guide\nhim to food. The brain of the rykor grew smaller as time went on. His\nears went and his eyes, for he no longer had use for them--the kaldane\nsaw and heard for him. By similar steps the rykor came to go upon its\nhind feet that the kaldane might be able to see farther. As the brain\nshrank, so did the head. The mouth was the only feature of the head\nthat was used and so the mouth alone remains. Members of the red race\nfell into the hands of our ancestors from time to time. They saw the\nbeauties and the advantages of the form that nature had given the red\nrace over that which the rykor was developing into. By intelligent\ncrossing the present rykor was achieved. He is really solely the\nproduct of the super-intelligence of the kaldane--he is our body, to do\nwith as we see fit, just as you do what you see fit with your body,\nonly we have the advantage of possessing an unlimited supply of bodies.\nDo you not wish that you were a kaldane?\"\n\nFor how long they kept her in the subterranean chamber Tara of Helium\ndid not know. It seemed a very long time. She ate and slept and watched\nthe interminable lines of creatures that passed the entrance to her\nprison. There was a laden line passing from above carrying food, food,\nfood. In the other line they returned empty handed. When she saw them\nshe knew that it was daylight above. When they did not pass she knew it\nwas night, and that the banths were about devouring the rykors that had\nbeen abandoned in the fields the previous day. She commenced to grow\npale and thin. She did not like the food they gave her--it was not\nsuited to her kind--nor would she have eaten overmuch palatable food,\nfor the fear of becoming fat. The idea of plumpness had a new\nsignificance here--a horrible significance.\n\nGhek noted that she was growing thin and white. He spoke to her about\nit and she told him that she could not thrive thus beneath the\nground--that she must have fresh air and sunshine, or she would wither\nand die. Evidently he carried her words to Luud, since it was not long\nafter that he told her that the king had ordered that she be confined\nin the tower and to the tower she was taken. She had hoped against hope\nthat this very thing might result from her conversation with Ghek. Even\nto see the sun again was something, but now there sprang to her breast\na hope that she had not dared to nurse before, while she lay in the\nterrible labyrinth from which she knew she could never have found her\nway to the outer world; but now there was some slight reason to hope.\nAt least she could see the hills and if she could see them might there\nnot come also the opportunity to reach them? If she could have but ten\nminutes--just ten little minutes! The flier was still there--she knew\nthat it must be. Just ten minutes and she would be free--free forever\nfrom this frightful place; but the days wore on and she was never\nalone, not even for half of ten minutes. Many times she planned her\nescape. Had it not been for the banths it had been easy of\naccomplishment by night. Ghek always detached his body then and sank\ninto what seemed a semi-comatose condition. It could not be said that\nhe slept, or at least it did not appear like sleep, since his lidless\neyes were unchanged; but he lay quietly in a corner. Tara of Helium\nenacted a thousand times in her mind the scene of her escape. She would\nrush to the side of the rykor and seize the sword that hung in its\nharness. Before Ghek knew what she purposed, she would have this and\nthen before he could give an alarm she would drive the blade through\nhis hideous head. It would take but a moment to reach the enclosure.\nThe rykors could not stop her, for they had no brains to tell them that\nshe was escaping. She had watched from her window the opening and\nclosing of the gate that led from the enclosure out into the fields and\nshe knew how the great latch operated. She would pass through and make\na quick dash for the hill. It was so near that they could not overtake\nher. It was so easy! Or it would have been but for the banths! The\nbanths at night and the workers in the fields by day.\n\nConfined to the tower and without proper exercise or food, the girl\nfailed to show the improvement that her captors desired. Ghek\nquestioned her in an effort to learn why it was that she did not grow\nround and plump; that she did not even look as well as when they had\ncaptured her. His concern was prompted by repeated inquiries on the\npart of Luud and finally resulted in suggesting to Tara of Helium a\nplan whereby she might find a new opportunity of escape.\n\n\"I am accustomed to walking in the fresh air and the sunlight,\" she\ntold Ghek. \"I cannot become as I was before if I am to be always shut\naway in this one chamber, breathing poor air and getting no proper\nexercise. Permit me to go out in the fields every day and walk about\nwhile the sun is shining. Then, I am sure, I shall become nice and fat.\"\n\n\"You would run away,\" he said.\n\n\"But how could I if you were always with me?\" she asked. \"And even if I\nwished to run away where could I go? I do not know even the direction\nof Helium. It must be very far. The very first night the banths would\nget me, would they not?\"\n\n\"They would,\" said Ghek. \"I will ask Luud about it.\"\n\nThe following day he told her that Luud had said that she was to be\ntaken into the fields. He would try that for a time and see if she\nimproved.\n\n\"If you do not grow fatter he will send for you anyway,\" said Ghek;\n\"but he will not use you for food.\"\n\nTara of Helium shuddered.\n\nThat day and for many days thereafter she was taken from the tower,\nthrough the enclosure and out into the fields. Always was she alert for\nan opportunity to escape; but Ghek was always close by her side. It was\nnot so much his presence that deterred her from making the attempt as\nthe number of workers that were always between her and the hills where\nthe flier lay. She could easily have eluded Ghek, but there were too\nmany of the others. And then, one day, Ghek told her as he accompanied\nher into the open that this would be the last time.\n\n\"Tonight you go to Luud,\" he said. \"I am sorry as I shall not hear you\nsing again.\"\n\n\"Tonight!\" She scarce breathed the word, yet it was vibrant with horror.\n\nShe glanced quickly toward the hills. They were so close! Yet between\nwere the inevitable workers--perhaps a score of them.\n\n\"Let us walk over there?\" she said, indicating them. \"I should like to\nsee what they are doing.\"\n\n\"It is too far,\" said Ghek. \"I hate the sun. It is much pleasanter here\nwhere I can stand beneath the shade of this tree.\"\n\n\"All right,\" she agreed; \"then you stay here and I will walk over. It\nwill take me but a minute.\"\n\n\"No,\" he answered. \"I will go with you. You want to escape; but you are\nnot going to.\"\n\n\"I cannot escape,\" she said.\n\n\"I know it,\" agreed Ghek; \"but you might try. I do not wish you to try.\nPossibly it will be better if we return to the tower at once. It would\ngo hard with me should you escape.\"\n\nTara of Helium saw her last chance fading into oblivion. There would\nnever be another after today. She cast about for some pretext to lure\nhim even a little nearer to the hills.\n\n\"It is very little that I ask,\" she said. \"Tonight you will want me to\nsing to you. It will be the last time, if you do not let me go and see\nwhat those kaldanes are doing I shall never sing to you again.\"\n\nGhek hesitated. \"I will hold you by the arm all the time, then,\" he\nsaid.\n\n\"Why, of course, if you wish,\" she assented. \"Come!\"\n\nThe two moved toward the workers and the hills. The little party was\ndigging tubers from the ground. She had noted this and that nearly\nalways they were stooped low over their work, the hideous eyes bent\nupon the upturned soil. She led Ghek quite close to them, pretending\nthat she wished to see exactly how they did the work, and all the time\nhe held her tightly by her left wrist.\n\n\"It is very interesting,\" she said, with a sigh, and then, suddenly;\n\"Look, Ghek!\" and pointed quickly back in the direction of the tower.\nThe kaldane, still holding her turned half away from her to look in the\ndirection she had indicated and simultaneously, with the quickness of a\nbanth, she struck him with her right fist, backed by every ounce of\nstrength she possessed--struck the back of the pulpy head just above\nthe collar. The blow was sufficient to accomplish her design,\ndislodging the kaldane from its rykor and tumbling it to the ground.\nInstantly the grasp upon her wrist relaxed as the body, no longer\ncontrolled by the brain of Ghek, stumbled aimlessly about for an\ninstant before it sank to its knees and then rolled over on its back;\nbut Tara of Helium waited not to note the full results of her act. The\ninstant the fingers loosened upon her wrist she broke away and dashed\ntoward the hills. Simultaneously a warning whistle broke from Ghek's\nlips and in instant response the workers leaped to their feet, one\nalmost in the girl's path. She dodged the outstretched arms and was\naway again toward the hills and freedom, when her foot caught in one of\nthe hoe-like instruments with which the soil had been upturned and\nwhich had been left, half imbedded in the ground. For an instant she\nran on, stumbling, in a mad effort to regain her equilibrium, but the\nupturned furrows caught her feet--again she stumbled and this time went\ndown, and as she scrambled to rise again a heavy body fell upon her and\nseized her arms. A moment later she was surrounded and dragged to her\nfeet and as she looked around she saw Ghek crawling to his prostrate\nrykor. A moment later he advanced to her side.\n\nThe hideous face, incapable of registering emotion, gave no clue to\nwhat was passing in the enormous brain. Was he nursing thoughts of\nanger, of hate, of revenge? Tara of Helium could not guess, nor did she\ncare. The worst had happened. She had tried to escape and she had\nfailed. There would never be another opportunity.\n\n\"Come!\" said Ghek. \"We will return to the tower.\" The deadly monotone\nof his voice was unbroken. It was worse than anger, for it revealed\nnothing of his intentions. It but increased her horror of these great\nbrains that were beyond the possibility of human emotions.\n\nAnd so she was dragged back to her prison in the tower and Ghek took up\nhis vigil again, squatting by the doorway, but now he carried a naked\nsword in his hand and did not quit his rykor, only to change to another\nthat he had brought to him when the first gave indications of\nweariness. The girl sat looking at him. He had not been unkind to her,\nbut she felt no sense of gratitude, nor, on the other hand, any sense\nof hatred. The brains, incapable themselves of any of the finer\nsentiments, awoke none in her. She could not feel gratitude, or\naffection, or hatred of them. There was only the same unceasing sense\nof horror in their presence. She had heard great scientists discuss the\nfuture of the red race and she recalled that some had maintained that\neventually the brain would entirely dominate the man. There would be no\nmore instinctive acts or emotions, nothing would be done on impulse;\nbut on the contrary reason would direct our every act. The propounder\nof the theory regretted that he might never enjoy the blessings of such\na state, which, he argued, would result in the ideal life for mankind.\n\nTara of Helium wished with all her heart that this learned scientist\nmight be here to experience to the full the practical results of the\nfulfillment of his prophecy. Between the purely physical rykor and the\npurely mental kaldane there was little choice; but in the happy medium\nof normal, and imperfect man, as she knew him, lay the most desirable\nstate of existence. It would have been a splendid object lesson, she\nthought, to all those idealists who seek mass perfection in any phase\nof human endeavor, since here they might discover the truth that\nabsolute perfection is as little to be desired as is its antithesis.\n\nGloomy were the thoughts that filled the mind of Tara of Helium as she\nawaited the summons from Luud--the summons that could mean for her but\none thing; death. She guessed why he had sent for her and she knew that\nshe must find the means for self-destruction before the night was over;\nbut still she clung to hope and to life. She would not give up until\nthere was no other way. She startled Ghek once by exclaiming aloud,\nalmost fiercely: \"I still live!\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\" asked the kaldane.\n\n\"I mean just what I say,\" she replied. \"I still live and while I live I\nmay still find a way. Dead, there is no hope.\"\n\n\"Find a way to what?\" he asked.\n\n\"To life and liberty and mine own people,\" she responded.\n\n\"None who enters Bantoom ever leaves,\" he droned.\n\nShe did not reply and after a time he spoke again. \"Sing to me,\" he\nsaid.\n\nIt was while she was singing that four warriors came to take her to\nLuud. They told Ghek that he was to remain where he was.\n\n\"Why?\" asked Ghek.\n\n\"You have displeased Luud,\" replied one of the warriors.\n\n\"How?\" demanded Ghek.\n\n\"You have demonstrated a lack of uncontaminated reasoning power. You\nhave permitted sentiment to influence you, thus demonstrating that you\nare a defective. You know the fate of defectives.\"\n\n\"I know the fate of defectives, but I am no defective,\" insisted Ghek.\n\n\"You permitted the strange noises which issue from her throat to please\nand soothe you, knowing well that their origin and purpose had nothing\nwhatever to do with logic or the powers of reason. This in itself\nconstitutes an unimpeachable indictment of weakness. Then, influenced\ndoubtless by an illogical feeling of sentiment, you permitted her to\nwalk abroad in the fields to a place where she was able to make an\nalmost successful attempt to escape. Your own reasoning power, were it\nnot defective, would convince you that you are unfit. The natural, and\nreasonable, consequence is destruction. Therefore you will be destroyed\nin such a way that the example will be beneficial to all other kaldanes\nof the swarm of Luud. In the meantime you will remain where you are.\"\n\n\"You are right,\" said Ghek. \"I will remain here until Luud sees fit to\ndestroy me in the most reasonable manner.\"\n\nTara of Helium shot a look of amazement at him as they led her from the\nchamber. Over her shoulder she called back to him: \"Remember, Ghek, you\nstill live!\" Then they led her along the interminable tunnels to where\nLuud awaited her.\n\nWhen she was conducted into his presence he was squatting in a corner\nof the chamber upon his six spidery legs. Near the opposite wall lay\nhis rykor, its beautiful form trapped in gorgeous harness--a dead thing\nwithout a guiding kaldane. Luud dismissed the warriors who had\naccompanied the prisoner. Then he sat with his terrible eyes fixed upon\nher and without speaking for some time. Tara of Helium could but wait.\nWhat was to come she could only guess. When it came would be\nsufficiently the time to meet it. There was no necessity for\nanticipating the end. Presently Luud spoke.\n\n\"You think to escape,\" he said, in the deadly, expressionless monotone\nof his kind--the only possible result of orally expressing reason\nuninfluenced by sentiment. \"You will not escape. You are merely the\nembodiment of two imperfect things--an imperfect brain and an imperfect\nbody. The two cannot exist together in perfection. There you see a\nperfect body.\" He pointed toward the rykor. \"It has no brain. Here,\"\nand he raised one of his chelae to his head, \"is the perfect brain. It\nneeds no body to function perfectly and properly as a brain. You would\npit your feeble intellect against mine! Even now you are planning to\nslay me. If you are thwarted in that you expect to slay yourself. You\nwill learn the power of mind over matter. I am the mind. You are the\nmatter. What brain you have is too weak and ill-developed to deserve\nthe name of brain. You have permitted it to be weakened by impulsive\nacts dictated by sentiment. It has no value. It has practically no\ncontrol over your existence. You will not kill me. You will not kill\nyourself. When I am through with you you shall be killed if it seems\nthe logical thing to do. You have no conception of the possibilities\nfor power which lie in a perfectly developed brain. Look at that rykor.\nHe has no brain. He can move but slightly of his own volition. An\ninherent mechanical instinct that we have permitted to remain in him\nallows him to carry food to his mouth; but he could not find food for\nhimself. We have to place it within his reach and always in the same\nplace. Should we put food at his feet and leave him alone he would\nstarve to death. But now watch what a real brain may accomplish.\"\n\nHe turned his eyes upon the rykor and squatted there glaring at the\ninsensate thing. Presently, to the girl's horror, the headless body\nmoved. It rose slowly to its feet and crossed the room to Luud; it\nstooped and took the hideous head in its hands; it raised the head and\nset it on its shoulders.\n\n\"What chance have you against such power?\" asked Luud. \"As I did with\nthe rykor so can I do with you.\"\n\nTara of Helium made no reply. Evidently no vocal reply was necessary.\n\n\"You doubt my ability!\" stated Luud, which was precisely the fact,\nthough the girl had only thought it--she had not said it.\n\nLuud crossed the room and lay down. Then he detached himself from the\nbody and crawled across the floor until he stood directly in front of\nthe circular opening through which she had seen him emerge the day that\nshe had first been brought to his presence. He stopped there and\nfastened his terrible eyes upon her. He did not speak, but his eyes\nseemed to be boring straight to the center of her brain. She felt an\nalmost irresistible force urging her toward the kaldane. She fought to\nresist it; she tried to turn away her eyes, but she could not. They\nwere held as in horrid fascination upon the glittering, lidless orbs of\nthe great brain that faced her. Slowly, every step a painful struggle\nof resistance, she moved toward the horrific monster. She tried to cry\naloud in an effort to awaken her numbing faculties, but no sound passed\nher lips. If those eyes would but turn away, just for an instant, she\nfelt that she might regain the power to control her steps; but the eyes\nnever left hers. They seemed but to burn deeper and deeper, gathering\nup every vestige of control of her entire nervous system.\n\nAs she approached the thing it backed slowly away upon its spider legs.\nShe noticed that its chelae waved slowly to and fro before it as it\nbacked, backed, backed, through the round aperture in the wall. Must\nshe follow it there, too? What new and nameless horror lay concealed in\nthat hidden chamber? No! she would not do it. Yet before she reached\nthe wall she found herself down and crawling upon her hands and knees\nstraight toward the hole from which the two eyes still clung to hers.\nAt the very threshold of the opening she made a last, heroic stand,\nbattling against the force that drew her on; but in the end she\nsuccumbed. With a gasp that ended in a sob Tara of Helium passed\nthrough the aperture into the chamber beyond.\n\nThe opening was but barely large enough to admit her. Upon the opposite\nside she found herself in a small chamber. Before her squatted Luud.\nAgainst the opposite wall lay a large and beautiful male rykor. He was\nwithout harness or other trappings.\n\n\"You see now,\" said Luud, \"the futility of revolt.\"\n\nThe words seemed to release her momentarily from the spell. Quickly she\nturned away her eyes.\n\n\"Look at me!\" commanded Luud.\n\nTara of Helium kept her eyes averted. She felt a new strength, or at\nleast a diminution of the creature's power over her. Had she stumbled\nupon the secret of its uncanny domination over her will? She dared not\nhope. With eyes averted she turned toward the aperture through which\nthose baleful eyes had drawn her. Again Luud commanded her to stop, but\nthe voice alone lacked all authority to influence her. It was not like\nthe eyes. She heard the creature whistle and knew that it was summoning\nassistance, but because she did not dare look toward it she did not see\nit turn and concentrate its gaze upon the great, headless body lying by\nthe further wall.\n\nThe girl was still slightly under the spell of the creature's\ninfluence--she had not regained full and independent domination of her\npowers. She moved as one in the throes of some hideous\nnightmare--slowly, painfully, as though each limb was hampered by a\ngreat weight, or as she were dragging her body through a viscous fluid.\nThe aperture was close, ah, so close, yet, struggle as she would, she\nseemed to be making no appreciable progress toward it.\n\nBehind her, urged on by the malevolent power of the great brain, the\nheadless body crawled upon all-fours toward her. At last she had\nreached the aperture. Something seemed to tell her that once beyond it\nthe domination of the kaldane would be broken. She was almost through\ninto the adjoining chamber when she felt a heavy hand close upon her\nankle. The rykor had reached forth and seized her, and though she\nstruggled the thing dragged her back into the room with Luud. It held\nher tight and drew her close, and then, to her horror, it commenced to\ncaress her.\n\n\"You see now,\" she heard Luud's dull voice, \"the futility of\nrevolt--and its punishment.\"\n\nTara of Helium fought to defend herself, but pitifully weak were her\nmuscles against this brainless incarnation of brute power. Yet she\nfought, fought on in the face of hopeless odds for the honor of the\nproud name she bore--fought alone, she whom the fighting men of a\nmighty empire, the flower of Martian chivalry, would gladly have lain\ndown their lives to save.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nA REPELLENT SIGHT\n\nThe cruiser Vanator careened through the tempest. That she had not been\ndashed to the ground, or twisted by the force of the elements into\ntangled wreckage, was due entirely to the caprice of Nature. For all\nthe duration of the storm she rode, a helpless derelict, upon those\nstorm-tossed waves of wind. But for all the dangers and vicissitudes\nthey underwent, she and her crew might have borne charmed lives up to\nwithin an hour of the abating of the hurricane. It was then that the\ncatastrophe occurred--a catastrophe indeed to the crew of the Vanator\nand the kingdom of Gathol.\n\nThe men had been without food or drink since leaving Helium, and they\nhad been hurled about and buffeted in their lashings until all were\nworn to exhaustion. There was a brief lull in the storm during which\none of the crew attempted to reach his quarters, after releasing the\nlashings which had held him to the precarious safety of the deck. The\nact in itself was a direct violation of orders and, in the eyes of the\nother members of the crew, the effect, which came with startling\nsuddenness, took the form of a swift and terrible retribution. Scarce\nhad the man released the safety snaps ere a swift arm of the\nstorm-monster encircled the ship, rolling it over and over, with the\nresult that the foolhardy warrior went overboard at the first turn.\n\nUnloosed from their lashing by the constant turning and twisting of the\nship and the force of the wind, the boarding and landing tackle had\nbeen trailing beneath the keel, a tangled mass of cordage and leather.\nUpon the occasions that the Vanator rolled completely over, these\nthings would be wrapped around her until another revolution in the\nopposite direction, or the wind itself, carried them once again clear\nof the deck to trail, whipping in the storm, beneath the hurtling ship.\n\nInto this fell the body of the warrior, and as a drowning man clutches\nat a straw so the fellow clutched at the tangled cordage that caught\nhim and arrested his fall. With the strength of desperation he clung to\nthe cordage, seeking frantically to entangle his legs and body in it.\nWith each jerk of the ship his hand holds were all but torn loose, and\nthough he knew that eventually they would be and that he must be dashed\nto the ground beneath, yet he fought with the madness that is born of\nhopelessness for the pitiful second which but prolonged his agony.\n\nIt was upon this sight then that Gahan of Gathol looked, over the edge\nof the careening deck of the Vanator, as he sought to learn the fate of\nhis warrior. Lashed to the gunwale close at hand a single landing\nleather that had not fouled the tangled mass beneath whipped free from\nthe ship's side, the hook snapping at its outer end. The Jed of Gathol\ngrasped the situation in a single glance. Below him one of his people\nlooked into the eyes of Death. To the jed's hand lay the means for\nsuccor.\n\nThere was no instant's hesitation. Casting off his deck lashings, he\nseized the landing leather and slipped over the ship's side. Swinging\nlike a bob upon a mad pendulum he swung far out and back again, turning\nand twisting three thousand feet above the surface of Barsoom, and\nthen, at last, the thing he had hoped for occurred. He was carried\nwithin reach of the cordage where the warrior still clung, though with\nrapidly diminishing strength. Catching one leg on a loop of the tangled\nstrands Gahan pulled himself close enough to seize another quite near\nto the fellow. Clinging precariously to this new hold the jed slowly\ndrew in the landing leather, down which he had clambered until he could\ngrasp the hook at its end. This he fastened to a ring in the warrior's\nharness, just before the man's weakened fingers slipped from their hold\nupon the cordage.\n\nTemporarily, at least, he had saved the life of his subject, and now he\nturned his attention toward insuring his own safety. Inextricably\nentangled in the mess to which he was clinging were numerous other\nlanding hooks such as he had attached to the warrior's harness, and\nwith one of these he sought to secure himself until the storm should\nabate sufficiently to permit him to climb to the deck, but even as he\nreached for one that swung near him the ship was caught in a renewed\nburst of the storm's fury, the thrashing cordage whipped and snapped to\nthe lunging of the great craft and one of the heavy metal hooks,\nlashing through the air, struck the Jed of Gathol fair between the eyes.\n\nMomentarily stunned, Gahan's fingers slipped from their hold upon the\ncordage and the man shot downward through the thin air of dying Mars\ntoward the ground three thousand feet beneath, while upon the deck of\nthe rolling Vanator his faithful warriors clung to their lashings all\nunconscious of the fate of their beloved leader; nor was it until more\nthan an hour later, after the storm had materially subsided, that they\nrealized he was lost, or knew the self-sacrificing heroism of the act\nthat had sealed his doom. The Vanator now rested upon an even keel as\nshe was carried along by a strong, though steady, wind. The warriors\nhad cast off their deck lashings and the officers were taking account\nof losses and damage when a weak cry was heard from oversides,\nattracting their attention to the man hanging in the cordage beneath\nthe keel. Strong arms hoisted him to the deck and then it was that the\ncrew of the Vanator learned of the heroism of their jed and his end.\nHow far they had traveled since his loss they could only vaguely guess,\nnor could they return in search of him in the disabled condition of the\nship. It was a saddened company that drifted onward through the air\ntoward whatever destination Fate was to choose for them.\n\nAnd Gahan, Jed of Gathol--what of him? Plummet-like he fell for a\nthousand feet and then the storm seized him in its giant clutch and\nbore him far aloft again. As a bit of paper borne upon a gale he was\ntossed about in mid-air, the sport and plaything of the wind. Over and\nover it turned him and upward and downward it carried him, but after\neach new sally of the element he was brought nearer to the ground. The\nfreaks of cyclonic storms are the rule of cyclonic storms, since\nsuch storms are in themselves freaks. They uproot and demolish\ngiant trees, and in the same gust they transport frail infants for\nmiles and deposit them unharmed in their wake.\n\nAnd so it was with Gahan of Gathol. Expecting momentarily to be dashed\nto destruction he presently found himself deposited gently upon the\nsoft, ochre moss of a dead sea-bottom, bodily no worse off for his\nharrowing adventure than in the possession of a slight swelling upon\nhis forehead where the metal hook had struck him. Scarcely able to\nbelieve that Fate had dealt thus gently with him, the jed arose slowly,\nas though more than half convinced that he should discover crushed and\nsplintered bones that would not support his weight. But he was intact.\nHe looked about him in a vain effort at orientation. The air was filled\nwith flying dust and debris. The Sun was obliterated. His vision was\nconfined to a radius of a few hundred yards of ochre moss and\ndust-filled air. Five hundred yards away in any direction there might\nhave arisen the walls of a great city and he not known it. It was\nuseless to move from where he was until the air cleared, since he could\nnot know in what direction he was moving, and so he stretched himself\nupon the moss and waited, pondering the fate of his warriors and his\nship, but giving little thought to his own precarious situation.\n\nLashed to his harness were his swords, his pistols, and a dagger, and\nin his pocket-pouch a small quantity of the concentrated rations that\nform a part of the equipment of the fighting men of Barsoom. These\nthings together with trained muscles, high courage, and an undaunted\nspirit sufficed him for whatever misadventures might lie between him\nand Gathol, which lay in what direction he knew not, nor at what\ndistance.\n\nThe wind was falling rapidly and with it the dust that obscured the\nlandscape. That the storm was over he was convinced, but he chafed at\nthe inactivity the low visibility put upon him, nor did conditions\nbetter materially before night fell, so that he was forced to await the\nnew day at the very spot at which the tempest had deposited him.\nWithout his sleeping silks and furs he spent a far from comfortable\nnight, and it was with feelings of unmixed relief that he saw the\nsudden dawn burst upon him. The air was now clear and in the light of\nthe new day he saw an undulating plain stretching in all directions\nabout him, while to the northwest there were barely discernible the\noutlines of low hills. Toward the southeast of Gathol was such a\ncountry, and as Gahan surmised the direction and the velocity of the\nstorm to have carried him somewhere in the vicinity of the country he\nthought he recognized, he assumed that Gathol lay behind the hills he\nnow saw, whereas, in reality, it lay far to the northeast.\n\nIt was two days before Gahan had crossed the plain and reached the\nsummit of the hills from which he hoped to see his own country, only to\nmeet at last with disappointment. Before him stretched another plain,\nof even greater proportions than that he had but just crossed, and\nbeyond this other hills. In one material respect this plain differed\nfrom that behind him in that it was dotted with occasional isolated\nhills. Convinced, however, that Gathol lay somewhere in the direction\nof his search he descended into the valley and bent his steps toward\nthe northwest.\n\nFor weeks Gahan of Gathol crossed valleys and hills in search of some\nfamiliar landmark that might point his way toward his native land, but\nthe summit of each succeeding ridge revealed but another unfamiliar\nview. He saw few animals and no men, until he finally came to the\nbelief that he had fallen upon that fabled area of ancient Barsoom\nwhich lay under the curse of her olden gods--the once rich and fertile\ncountry whose people in their pride and arrogance had denied the\ndeities, and whose punishment had been extermination.\n\nAnd then, one day, he scaled low hills and looked into an inhabited\nvalley--a valley of trees and cultivated fields and plots of ground\nenclosed by stone walls surrounding strange towers. He saw people\nworking in the fields, but he did not rush down to greet them. First he\nmust know more of them and whether they might be assumed to be friends\nor enemies. Hidden by concealing shrubbery he crawled to a vantage\npoint upon a hill that projected further into the valley, and here he\nlay upon his belly watching the workers closest to him. They were still\nquite a distance from him and he could not be quite sure of them, but\nthere was something verging upon the unnatural about them. Their heads\nseemed out of proportion to their bodies--too large.\n\nFor a long time he lay watching them and ever more forcibly it was\nborne in upon his consciousness that they were not as he, and that it\nwould be rash to trust himself among them. Presently he saw a couple\nappear from the nearest enclosure and slowly approach those who were\nworking nearest to the hill where he lay in hiding. Immediately he was\naware that one of these differed from all the others. Even at the\ngreater distance he noted that the head was smaller and as they\napproached, he was confident that the harness of one of them was not as\nthe harness of its companion or of that of any of those who tilled the\nfields.\n\nThe two stopped often, apparently in argument, as though one would\nproceed in the direction that they were going while the other demurred.\nBut each time the smaller won reluctant consent from the other, and so\nthey came closer and closer to the last line of workers toiling between\nthe enclosure from which they had come and the hill where Gahan of\nGathol lay watching, and then suddenly the smaller figure struck its\ncompanion full in the face. Gahan, horrified, saw the latter's head\ntopple from its body, saw the body stagger and fall to the ground. The\nman half rose from his concealment the better to view the happening in\nthe valley below. The creature that had felled its companion was\ndashing madly in the direction of the hill upon which he was hidden, it\ndodged one of the workers that sought to seize it. Gahan hoped that it\nwould gain its liberty, why he did not know other than at closer range\nit had every appearance of being a creature of his own race. Then he\nsaw it stumble and go down and instantly its pursuers were upon it.\nThen it was that Gahan's eyes chanced to return to the figure of the\ncreature the fugitive had felled.\n\nWhat horror was this that he was witnessing? Or were his eyes playing\nsome ghastly joke upon him? No, impossible though it was--it was\ntrue--the head was moving slowly to the fallen body. It placed itself\nupon the shoulders, the body rose, and the creature, seemingly as good\nas new, ran quickly to where its fellows were dragging the hapless\ncaptive to its feet.\n\nThe watcher saw the creature take its prisoner by the arm and lead it\nback to the enclosure, and even across the distance that separated them\nfrom him he could note dejection and utter hopelessness in the bearing\nof the prisoner, and, too, he was half convinced that it was a woman,\nperhaps a red Martian of his own race. Could he be sure that this was\ntrue he must make some effort to rescue her even though the customs of\nhis strange world required it only in case she was of his own country;\nbut he was not sure; she might not be a red Martian at all, or, if she\nwere, it was as possible that she sprang from an enemy people as not.\nHis first duty was to return to his own people with as little personal\nrisk as possible, and though the thought of adventure stirred his blood\nhe put the temptation aside with a sigh and turned away from the\npeaceful and beautiful valley that he longed to enter, for it was his\nintention to skirt its eastern edge and continue his search for Gathol\nbeyond.\n\nAs Gahan of Gathol turned his steps along the southern slopes of the\nhills that bound Bantoom upon the south and east, his attention was\nattracted toward a small cluster of trees a short distance to his\nright. The low sun was casting long shadows. It would soon be night.\nThe trees were off the path that he had chosen and he had little mind\nto be diverted from his way; but as he looked again he hesitated. There\nwas something there besides boles of trees, and underbrush. There were\nsuggestions of familiar lines of the handicraft of man. Gahan stopped\nand strained his eyes in the direction of the thing that had arrested\nhis attention. No, he must be mistaken--the branches of the trees and a\nlow bush had taken on an unnatural semblance in the horizontal rays of\nthe setting sun. He turned and continued upon his way; but as he cast\nanother side glance in the direction of the object of his interest, the\nsun's rays were shot back into his eyes from a glistening point of\nradiance among the trees.\n\nGahan shook his head and walked quickly toward the mystery, determined\nnow to solve it. The shining object still lured him on and when he had\ncome closer to it his eyes went wide in surprise, for the thing they\nsaw was naught else than the jewel-encrusted emblem upon the prow of a\nsmall flier. Gahan, his hand upon his short-sword, moved silently\nforward, but as he neared the craft he saw that he had naught to fear,\nfor it was deserted. Then he turned his attention toward the emblem. As\nits significance was flashed to his understanding his face paled and\nhis heart went cold--it was the insignia of the house of The Warlord of\nBarsoom. Instantly he saw the dejected figure of the captive being led\nback to her prison in the valley just beyond the hills. Tara of Helium!\nAnd he had been so near to deserting her to her fate. The cold sweat\nstood in beads upon his brow.\n\nA hasty examination of the deserted craft unfolded to the young jed the\nwhole tragic story. The same tempest that had proved his undoing had\nborne Tara of Helium to this distant country. Here, doubtless, she had\nlanded in hope of obtaining food and water since, without a propellor,\nshe could not hope to reach her native city, or any other friendly\nport, other than by the merest caprice of Fate. The flier seemed intact\nexcept for the missing propellor and the fact that it had been\ncarefully moored in the shelter of the clump of trees indicated that\nthe girl had expected to return to it, while the dust and leaves upon\nits deck spoke of the long days, and even weeks, since she had landed.\nMute yet eloquent proofs, these things, that Tara of Helium was a\nprisoner, and that she was the very prisoner whose bold dash for\nliberty he had so recently witnessed he now had not the slightest doubt.\n\nThe question now revolved solely about her rescue. He knew to which\ntower she had been taken--that much and no more. Of the number, the\nkind, or the disposition of her captors he knew nothing; nor did he\ncare--for Tara of Helium he would face a hostile world alone. Rapidly\nhe considered several plans for succoring her; but the one that\nappealed most strongly to him was that which offered the greatest\nchance of escape for the girl should he be successful in reaching her.\nHis decision reached he turned his attention quickly toward the flier.\nCasting off its lashings he dragged it out from beneath the trees, and,\nmounting to the deck tested out the various controls. The motor started\nat a touch and purred sweetly, the buoyancy tanks were well stocked,\nand the ship answered perfectly to the controls which regulated her\naltitude. There was nothing needed but a propellor to make her fit for\nthe long voyage to Helium. Gahan shrugged impatiently--there must not\nbe a propellor within a thousand haads. But what mattered it? The craft\neven without a propellor would still answer the purpose his plan\nrequired of it--provided the captors of Tara of Helium were a people\nwithout ships, and he had seen nothing to suggest that they had ships.\nThe architecture of their towers and enclosures assured him that they\nhad not.\n\nThe sudden Barsoomian night had fallen. Cluros rode majestically the\nhigh heavens. The rumbling roar of a banth reverberated among the\nhills. Gahan of Gathol let the ship rise a few feet from the ground,\nthen, seizing a bow rope, he dropped over the side. To tow the little\ncraft was now a thing of ease, and as Gahan moved rapidly toward the\nbrow of the hill above Bantoom the flier floated behind him as lightly\nas a swan upon a quiet lake. Now down the hill toward the tower dimly\nvisible in the moonlight the Gatholian turned his steps. Closer behind\nhim sounded the roar of the hunting banth. He wondered if the beast\nsought him or was following some other spoor. He could not be delayed\nnow by any hungry beast of prey, for what might that very instant be\nbefalling Tara of Helium he could not guess; and so he hastened his\nsteps. But closer and closer came the horrid screams of the great\ncarnivore, and now he heard the swift fall of padded feet upon the\nhillside behind him. He glanced back just in time to see the beast\nbreak into a rapid charge. His hand leaped to the hilt of his\nlong-sword, but he did not draw, for in the same instant he saw the\nfutility of armed resistance, since behind the first banth came a herd\nof at least a dozen others. There was but a single alternative to a\nfutile stand and that he grasped in the instant that he saw the\noverwhelming numbers of his antagonists.\n\nSpringing lightly from the ground he swarmed up the rope toward the bow\nof the flier. His weight drew the craft slightly lower and at the very\ninstant that the man drew himself to the deck at the bow of the vessel,\nthe leading banth sprang for the stern. Gahan leaped to his feet and\nrushed toward the great beast in the hope of dislodging it before it\nhad succeeded in clambering aboard. At the same instant he saw that\nothers of the banths were racing toward them with the quite evident\nintention of following their leader to the ship's deck. Should they\nreach it in any numbers he would be lost. There was but a single hope.\nLeaping for the altitude control Gahan pulled it wide. Simultaneously\nthree banths leaped for the deck. The craft rose swiftly. Gahan felt\nthe impact of a body against the keel, followed by the soft thuds of\nthe great bodies as they struck the ground beneath. His act had not\nbeen an instant too soon. And now the leader had gained the deck and\nstood at the stern with glaring eyes and snarling jaws. Gahan drew his\nsword. The beast, possibly disconcerted by the novelty of its position,\ndid not charge. Instead it crept slowly toward its intended prey. The\ncraft was rising and Gahan placed a foot upon the control and stopped\nthe ascent. He did not wish to chance rising to some higher air current\nthat would bear him away. Already the craft was moving slowly toward\nthe tower, carried thither by the impetus of the banth's heavy body\nleaping upon it from astern.\n\nThe man watched the slow approach of the monster, the slavering jowls,\nthe malignant expression of the devilish face. The creature, finding\nthe deck stable, appeared to be gaining confidence, and then the man\nleaped suddenly to one side of the deck and the tiny flier heeled as\nsuddenly in response. The banth slipped and clutched frantically at the\ndeck. Gahan leaped in with his naked sword; the great beast caught\nitself and reared upon its hind legs to reach forth and seize this\npresumptuous mortal that dared question its right to the flesh it\ncraved; and then the man sprang to the opposite side of the deck. The\nbanth toppled sideways at the same instant that it attempted to spring;\na raking talon passed close to Gahan's head at the moment that his\nsword lunged through the savage heart, and as the warrior wrenched his\nblade from the carcass it slipped silently over the side of the ship.\n\nA glance below showed that the vessel was drifting in the direction of\nthe tower to which Gahan had seen the prisoner led. In another moment\nor two it would be directly over it. The man sprang to the control and\nlet the craft drop quickly toward the ground where followed the banths,\nstill hot for their prey. To land outside the enclosure spelled certain\ndeath, while inside he could see many forms huddled upon the ground as\nin sleep. The ship floated now but a few feet above the wall of the\nenclosure. There was nothing for it but to risk all on a bold bid for\nfortune, or drift helplessly past without hope of returning through the\nbanth-infested valley, from many points of which he could now hear the\nroars and growls of these fierce Barsoomian lions.\n\nSlipping over the side Gahan descended by the trailing anchor-rope\nuntil his feet touched the top of the wall, where he had no difficulty\nin arresting the slow drifting of the ship. Then he drew up the anchor\nand lowered it inside the enclosure. Still there was no movement upon\nthe part of the sleepers beneath--they lay as dead men. Dull lights\nshone from openings in the tower; but there was no sign of guard or\nwaking inmate. Clinging to the rope Gahan lowered himself within the\nenclosure, where he had his first close view of the creatures lying\nthere in what he had thought sleep. With a half smothered exclamation\nof horror the man drew back from the headless bodies of the rykors. At\nfirst he thought them the corpses of decapitated humans like himself,\nwhich was quite bad enough; but when he saw them move and realized that\nthey were endowed with life, his horror and disgust became even greater.\n\nHere then was the explanation of the thing he had witnessed that\nafternoon, when Tara of Helium had struck the head from her captor and\nGahan had seen the head crawl back to its body. And to think that the\npearl of Helium was in the power of such hideous things as these. Again\nthe man shuddered, but he hastened to make fast the flier, clamber\nagain to its deck and lower it to the floor of the enclosure. Then\nhe strode toward a door in the base of the tower, stepping lightly\nover the recumbent forms of the unconscious rykors, and crossing\nthe threshold disappeared within.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nCLOSE WORK\n\nGhek, in his happier days third foreman of the fields of Luud, sat\nnursing his anger and his humiliation. Recently something had awakened\nwithin him the existence of which he had never before even dreamed. Had\nthe influence of the strange captive woman aught to do with this unrest\nand dissatisfaction? He did not know. He missed the soothing influence\nof the noise she called singing. Could it be that there were other\nthings more desirable than cold logic and undefiled brain power? Was\nwell balanced imperfection more to be sought after then, than the high\ndevelopment of a single characteristic? He thought of the great,\nultimate brain toward which all kaldanes were striving. It would be\ndeaf, and dumb, and blind. A thousand beautiful strangers might sing\nand dance about it, but it could derive no pleasure from the singing or\nthe dancing since it would possess no perceptive faculties. Already had\nthe kaldanes shut themselves off from most of the gratifications of the\nsenses. Ghek wondered if much was to be gained by denying themselves\nstill further, and with the thought came a question as to the whole\nfabric of their theory. After all perhaps the girl was right; what\npurpose could a great brain serve sealed in the bowels of the earth?\n\nAnd he, Ghek, was to die for this theory. Luud had decreed it. The\ninjustice of it overwhelmed him with rage. But he was helpless. There\nwas no escape. Beyond the enclosure the banths awaited him; within, his\nown kind, equally as merciless and ferocious. Among them there was no\nsuch thing as love, or loyalty, or friendship--they were just brains.\nHe might kill Luud; but what would that profit him? Another king would\nbe loosed from his sealed chamber and Ghek would be killed. He did not\nknow it but he would not even have the poor satisfaction of satisfied\nrevenge, since he was not capable of feeling so abstruse a sentiment.\n\nGhek, mounted upon his rykor, paced the floor of the tower chamber in\nwhich he had been ordered to remain. Ordinarily he would have accepted\nthe sentence of Luud with perfect equanimity, since it was but the\nlogical result of reason; but now it seemed different. The stranger\nwoman had bewitched him. Life appeared a pleasant thing--there were\ngreat possibilities in it. The dream of the ultimate brain had receded\ninto a tenuous haze far in the background of his thoughts.\n\nAt that moment there appeared in the doorway of the chamber a red\nwarrior with naked sword. He was a male counterpart of the prisoner\nwhose sweet voice had undermined the cold, calculating reason of the\nkaldane.\n\n\"Silence!\" admonished the newcomer, his straight brows gathered in an\nominous frown and the point of his longsword playing menacingly before\nthe eyes of the kaldane. \"I seek the woman, Tara of Helium. Where is\nshe? If you value your life speak quickly and speak the truth.\"\n\nIf he valued his life! It was a truth that Ghek had but just learned.\nHe thought quickly. After all, a great brain is not without its uses.\nPerhaps here lay escape from the sentence of Luud.\n\n\"You are of her kind?\" he asked. \"You come to rescue her?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Listen, then. I have befriended her, and because of this I am to die.\nIf I help you to liberate her, will you take me with you?\"\n\nGahan of Gathol eyed the weird creature from crown to foot--the perfect\nbody, the grotesque head, the expressionless face. Among such as these\nhad the beautiful daughter of Helium been held captive for days and\nweeks.\n\n\"If she lives and is unharmed,\" he said, \"I will take you with us.\"\n\n\"When they took her from me she was alive and unharmed,\" replied Ghek.\n\"I cannot say what has befallen her since. Luud sent for her.\"\n\n\"Who is Luud? Where is he? Lead me to him.\" Gahan spoke quickly in\ntones vibrant with authority.\n\n\"Come, then,\" said Ghek, leading the way from the apartment and down a\nstairway toward the underground burrows of the kaldanes. \"Luud is my\nking. I will take you to his chambers.\"\n\n\"Hasten!\" urged Gahan.\n\n\"Sheathe your sword,\" warned Ghek, \"so that should we pass others of my\nkind I may say to them that you are a new prisoner with some likelihood\nof winning their belief.\"\n\nGahan did as he was bid, but warning the kaldane that his hand was ever\nready at his dagger's hilt.\n\n\"You need have no fear of treachery,\" said Ghek. \"My only hope of life\nlies in you.\"\n\n\"And if you fail me,\" Gahan admonished him, \"I can promise you as sure\na death as even your king might guarantee you.\"\n\nGhek made no reply, but moved rapidly through the winding subterranean\ncorridors until Gahan began to realize how truly was he in the hands of\nthis strange monster. If the fellow should prove false it would profit\nGahan nothing to slay him, since without his guidance the red man might\nnever hope to retrace his way to the tower and freedom.\n\nTwice they met and were accosted by other kaldanes; but in both\ninstances Ghek's simple statement that he was taking a new prisoner to\nLuud appeared to allay all suspicion, and then at last they came to the\nante-chamber of the king.\n\n\"Here, now, red man, thou must fight, if ever,\" whispered Ghek. \"Enter\nthere!\" and he pointed to a doorway before them.\n\n\"And you?\" asked Gahan, still fearful of treachery.\n\n\"My rykor is powerful,\" replied the kaldane. \"I shall accompany you and\nfight at your side. As well die thus as in torture later at the will of\nLuud. Come!\"\n\nBut Gahan had already crossed the room and entered the chamber beyond.\nUpon the opposite side of the room was a circular opening guarded by\ntwo warriors. Beyond this opening he could see two figures struggling\nupon the floor, and the fleeting glimpse he had of one of the faces\nsuddenly endowed him with the strength of ten warriors and the ferocity\nof a wounded banth. It was Tara of Helium, fighting for her honor or\nher life.\n\nThe warriors, startled by the unexpected appearance of a red man, stood\nfor a moment in dumb amazement, and in that moment Gahan of Gathol was\nupon them, and one was down, a sword-thrust through its heart.\n\n\"Strike at the heads,\" whispered the voice of Ghek in Gahan's ear. The\nlatter saw the head of the fallen warrior crawl quickly within the\naperture leading to the chamber where he had seen Tara of Helium in the\nclutches of a headless body. Then the sword of Ghek struck the kaldane\nof the remaining warrior from its rykor and Gahan ran his sword through\nthe repulsive head.\n\nInstantly the red warrior leaped for the aperture, while close behind\nhim came Ghek.\n\n\"Look not upon the eyes of Luud,\" warned the kaldane, \"or you are lost.\"\n\nWithin the chamber Gahan saw Tara of Helium in the clutches of a mighty\nbody, while close to the wall upon the opposite side of the apartment\ncrouched the hideous, spider-like Luud. Instantly the king realized the\nmenace to himself and sought to fasten his eyes upon the eyes of Gahan,\nand in doing so he was forced to relax his concentration upon the rykor\nin whose embraces Tara struggled, so that almost immediately the girl\nfound herself able to tear away from the awful, headless thing.\n\nAs she rose quickly to her feet she saw for the first time the cause of\nthe interruption of Luud's plans. A red warrior! Her heart leaped in\nrejoicing and thanksgiving. What miracle of fate had sent him to her?\nShe did not recognize him, though, this travel-worn warrior in the\nplain harness which showed no single jewel. How could she have guessed\nhim the same as the scintillant creature of platinum and diamonds that\nshe had seen for a brief hour under such different circumstances at the\ncourt of her august sire?\n\nLuud saw Ghek following the strange warrior into the chamber. \"Strike\nhim down, Ghek!\" commanded the king. \"Strike down the stranger and your\nlife shall be yours.\"\n\nGahan glanced at the hideous face of the king.\n\n\"Seek not his eyes,\" screamed Tara in warning; but it was too late.\nAlready the horrid hypnotic gaze of the king kaldane had seized upon\nthe eyes of Gahan. The red warrior hesitated in his stride. His sword\npoint drooped slowly toward the floor. Tara glanced toward Ghek. She\nsaw the creature glaring with his expressionless eyes upon the broad\nback of the stranger. She saw the hand of the creature's rykor creeping\nstealthily toward the hilt of its dagger.\n\nAnd then Tara of Helium raised her eyes aloft and poured forth the\nnotes of Mars' most beautiful melody, The Song of Love.\n\nGhek drew his dagger from its sheath. His eyes turned toward the\nsinging girl. Luud's glance wavered from the eyes of the man to the\nface of Tara, and the instant that the latter's song distracted his\nattention from his victim, Gahan of Gathol shook himself and as with a\nsupreme effort of will forced his eyes to the wall above Luud's hideous\nhead. Ghek raised his dagger above his right shoulder, took a single\nquick step forward, and struck. The girl's song ended in a stifled\nscream as she leaped forward with the evident intention of frustrating\nthe kaldane's purpose; but she was too late, and well it was, for an\ninstant later she realized the purpose of Ghek's act as she saw the\ndagger fly from his hand, pass Gahan's shoulder, and sink full to the\nguard in the soft face of Luud.\n\n\"Come!\" cried the assassin, \"we have no time to lose,\" and started for\nthe aperture through which they had entered the chamber; but in his\nstride he paused as his glance was arrested by the form of the mighty\nrykor lying prone upon the floor--a king's rykor; the most beautiful,\nthe most powerful, that the breeders of Bantoom could produce. Ghek\nrealized that in his escape he could take with him but a single rykor,\nand there was none in Bantoom that could give him better service than\nthis giant lying here. Quickly he transferred himself to the shoulders\nof the great, inert hulk. Instantly the latter was transformed to a\nsentient creature, filled with pulsing life and alert energy.\n\n\"Now,\" said the kaldane, \"we are ready. Let whoso would revert to\nnothingness impede me.\" Even as he spoke he stooped and crawled into\nthe chamber beyond, while Gahan, taking Tara by the arm, motioned her\nto follow. The girl looked him full in the eyes for the first time.\n\"The Gods of my people have been kind,\" she said; \"you came just in\ntime. To the thanks of Tara of Helium shall be added those of The\nWarlord of Barsoom and his people. Thy reward shall surpass thy\ngreatest desires.\"\n\nGahan of Gathol saw that she did not recognize him, and quickly he\nchecked the warm greeting that had been upon his lips.\n\n\"Be thou Tara of Helium or another,\" he replied, \"is immaterial, to\nserve thus a red woman of Barsoom is in itself sufficient reward.\"\n\nAs they spoke the girl was making her way through the aperture after\nGhek, and presently all three had quitted the apartments of Luud and\nwere moving rapidly along the winding corridors toward the tower. Ghek\nrepeatedly urged them to greater speed, but the red men of Barsoom were\nnever keen for retreat, and so the two that followed him moved all too\nslowly for the kaldane.\n\n\"There are none to impede our progress,\" urged Gahan, \"so why tax the\nstrength of the Princess by needless haste?\"\n\n\"I fear not so much opposition ahead, for there are none there who know\nthe thing that has been done in Luud's chambers this night; but the\nkaldane of one of the warriors who stood guard before Luud's apartment\nescaped, and you may count it a truth that he lost no time in seeking\naid. That it did not come before we left is due solely to the rapidity\nwith which events transpired in the king's* room. Long before we reach\nthe tower they will be upon us from behind, and that they will come in\nnumbers far superior to ours and with great and powerful rykors I well\nknow.\"\n\n* I have used the word king in describing the rulers or chiefs of the\nBantoomian swarms, since the word itself is unpronounceable in English,\nnor does jed or jeddak of the red Martian tongue have quite the same\nmeaning as the Bantoomian word, which has practically the same\nsignificance as the English word queen as applied to the leader of a\nswarm of bees.--J. C.\n\n\nNor was Ghek's prophecy long in fulfilment. Presently the sounds of\npursuit became audible in the distant clanking of accouterments and the\nwhistling call to arms of the kaldanes.\n\n\"The tower is but a short distance now,\" cried Ghek. \"Make haste while\nyet you may, and if we can barricade it until the sun rises we may yet\nescape.\"\n\n\"We shall need no barricades for we shall not linger in the tower,\"\nreplied Gahan, moving more rapidly as he realized from the volume of\nsound behind them the great number of their pursuers.\n\n\"But we may not go further than the tower tonight,\" insisted Ghek.\n\"Beyond the tower await the banths and certain death.\"\n\nGahan smiled. \"Fear not the banths,\" he assured them. \"Can we but reach\nthe enclosure a little ahead of our pursuers we have naught to fear\nfrom any evil power within this accursed valley.\"\n\nGhek made no reply, nor did his expressionless face denote either\nbelief or skepticism. The girl looked into the face of the man\nquestioningly. She did not understand.\n\n\"Your flier,\" he said. \"It is moored before the tower.\"\n\nHer face lighted with pleasure and relief. \"You found it!\" she\nexclaimed. \"What fortune!\"\n\n\"It was fortune indeed,\" he replied. \"Since it not only told that you\nwere a prisoner here; but it saved me from the banths as I was crossing\nthe valley from the hills to this tower into which I saw them take you\nthis afternoon after your brave attempt at escape.\"\n\n\"How did you know it was I?\" she asked, her puzzled brows scanning his\nface as though she sought to recall from past memories some scene in\nwhich he figured.\n\n\"Who is there but knows of the loss of the Princess Tara of Helium?\" he\nreplied. \"And when I saw the device upon your flier I knew at once,\nthough I had not known when I saw you among them in the fields a short\ntime earlier. Too great was the distance for me to make certain whether\nthe captive was man or woman. Had chance not divulged the hiding place\nof your flier I had gone my way, Tara of Helium. I shudder to think how\nclose was the chance at that. But for the momentary shining of the sun\nupon the emblazoned device on the prow of your craft, I had passed on\nunknowing.\"\n\nThe girl shuddered. \"The Gods sent you,\" she whispered reverently.\n\n\"The Gods sent me, Tara of Helium,\" he replied.\n\n\"But I do not recognize you,\" she said. \"I have tried to recall you,\nbut I have failed. Your name, what may it be?\"\n\n\"It is not strange that so great a princess should not recall the face\nof every roving panthan of Barsoom,\" he replied with a smile.\n\n\"But your name?\" insisted the girl.\n\n\"Call me Turan,\" replied the man, for it had come to him that if Tara\nof Helium recognized him as the man whose impetuous avowal of love had\nangered her that day in the gardens of The Warlord, her situation might\nbe rendered infinitely less bearable than were she to believe him a\ntotal stranger. Then, too, as a simple panthan* he might win a greater\ndegree of her confidence by his loyalty and faithfulness and a place in\nher esteem that seemed to have been closed to the resplendent Jed of\nGathol.\n\n* Soldier of Fortune; free-lance warrior.\n\n\nThey had reached the tower now, and as they entered it from the\nsubterranean corridor a backward glance revealed the van of their\npursuers--hideous kaldanes mounted upon swift and powerful rykors. As\nrapidly as might be the three ascended the stairways leading to the\nground level, but after them, even more rapidly, came the minions of\nLuud. Ghek led the way, grasping one of Tara's hands the more easily to\nguide and assist her, while Gahan of Gathol followed a few paces in\ntheir rear, his bared sword ready for the assault that all realized\nmust come upon them now before ever they reached the enclosure and the\nflier.\n\n\"Let Ghek drop behind to your side,\" said Tara, \"and fight with you.\"\n\n\"There is but room for a single blade in these narrow corridors,\"\nreplied the Gatholian. \"Hasten on with Ghek and win to the deck of the\nflier. Have your hand upon the control, and if I come far enough ahead\nof these to reach the dangling cable you can rise at my word and I can\nclamber to the deck at my leisure; but if one of them emerges first\ninto the enclosure you will know that I shall never come, and you will\nrise quickly and trust to the Gods of our ancestors to give you a fair\nbreeze in the direction of a more hospitable people.\"\n\nTara of Helium shook her head. \"We will not desert you, panthan,\" she\nsaid.\n\nGahan, ignoring her reply, spoke above her head to Ghek. \"Take her to\nthe craft moored within the enclosure,\" he commanded. \"It is our only\nhope. Alone, I may win to its deck; but have I to wait upon you two at\nthe last moment the chances are that none of us will escape. Do as I\nbid.\" His tone was haughty and arrogant--the tone of a man who has\ncommanded other men from birth, and whose will has been law. Tara of\nHelium was both angered and vexed. She was not accustomed to being\neither commanded or ignored, but with all her royal pride she was no\nfool, and she knew the man was right, that he was risking his life to\nsave hers, so she hastened on with Ghek as she was bid, and after the\nfirst flush of anger she smiled, for the realization came to her that\nthis fellow was but a rough untutored warrior, skilled not in the finer\nusages of cultured courts. His heart was right, though; a brave and\nloyal heart, and gladly she forgave him the offense of his tone and\nmanner. But what a tone! Recollection of it gave her sudden pause.\nPanthans were rough and ready men. Often they rose to positions of high\ncommand, so it was not the note of authority in the fellow's voice that\nseemed remarkable; but something else--a quality that was indefinable,\nyet as distinct as it was familiar. She had heard it before when the\nvoice of her great-grandsire, Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, had risen\nin command; and in the voice of her grandfather, Mors Kajak, the jed;\nand in the ringing tones of her illustrious sire, John Carter, Warlord\nof Barsoom, when he addressed his warriors.\n\nBut now she had no time to speculate upon so trivial a thing, for\nbehind her came the sudden clash of arms and she knew that Turan, the\npanthan, had crossed swords with the first of their pursuers. As she\nglanced back he was still visible beyond a turn in the stairway, so\nthat she could see the quick swordplay that ensued. Daughter of a\nworld's greatest swordsman, she knew well the finest points of the art.\nShe saw the clumsy attack of the kaldane and the quick, sure return of\nthe panthan. As she looked down from above upon his almost naked body,\ntrapped only in the simplest of unadorned harness, and saw the play of\nthe lithe muscles beneath the red-bronze skin, and witnessed the quick\nand delicate play of his sword point, to her sense of obligation was\nadded a spontaneous admission of admiration that was but the natural\ntribute of a woman to skill and bravery and, perchance, some trifle to\nmanly symmetry and strength.\n\nThree times the panthan's blade changed its position--once to fend a\nsavage cut; once to feint; and once to thrust. And as he withdrew it\nfrom the last position the kaldane rolled lifeless from its stumbling\nrykor and Turan sprang quickly down the steps to engage the next\nbehind, and then Ghek had drawn Tara upward and a turn in the stairway\nshut the battling panthan from her view; but still she heard the ring\nof steel on steel, the clank of accouterments and the shrill whistling\nof the kaldanes. Her heart moved her to turn back to the side of her\nbrave defender; but her judgment told her that she could serve him best\nby being ready at the control of the flier at the moment he reached the\nenclosure.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nADRIFT OVER STRANGE REGIONS\n\nPresently Ghek pushed aside a door that opened from the stairway, and\nbefore them Tara saw the moonlight flooding the walled court where the\nheadless rykors lay beside their feeding-troughs. She saw the perfect\nbodies, muscled as the best of her father's fighting men, and the\nfemales whose figures would have been the envy of many of Helium's most\nbeautiful women. Ah, if she could but endow these with the power to\nact! Then indeed might the safety of the panthan be assured; but they\nwere only poor lumps of clay, nor had she the power to quicken them to\nlife. Ever must they lie thus until dominated by the cold, heartless\nbrain of the kaldane. The girl sighed in pity even as she shuddered in\ndisgust as she picked her way over and among the sprawled creatures\ntoward the flier.\n\nQuickly she and Ghek mounted to the deck after the latter had cast off\nthe moorings. Tara tested the control, raising and lowering the ship a\nfew feet within the walled space. It responded perfectly. Then she\nlowered it to the ground again and waited. From the open doorway came\nthe sounds of conflict, now nearing them, now receding. The girl,\nhaving witnessed her champion's skill, had little fear of the outcome.\nOnly a single antagonist could face him at a time upon the narrow\nstairway, he had the advantage of position and of the defensive, and he\nwas a master of the sword while they were clumsy bunglers by\ncomparison. Their sole advantage was in their numbers, unless they\nmight find a way to come upon him from behind.\n\nShe paled at the thought. Could she have seen him she might have been\nfurther perturbed, for he took no advantage of many opportunities to\nwin nearer the enclosure. He fought coolly, but with a savage\npersistence that bore little semblance to purely defensive action.\nOften he clambered over the body of a fallen foe to leap against the\nnext behind, and once there lay five dead kaldanes behind him, so far\nhad he pushed back his antagonists. They did not know it; these\nkaldanes that he fought, nor did the girl awaiting him upon the flier,\nbut Gahan of Gathol was engaged in a more alluring sport than winning\nto freedom, for he was avenging the indignities that had been put upon\nthe woman he loved; but presently he realized that he might be\njeopardizing her safety uselessly, and so he struck down another before\nhim and turning leaped quickly up the stairway, while the leading\nkaldanes slipped upon the brain-covered floor and stumbled in pursuit.\n\nGahan reached the enclosure twenty paces ahead of them and raced toward\nthe flier. \"Rise!\" he shouted to the girl. \"I will ascend the cable.\"\n\nSlowly the small craft rose from the ground as Gahan leaped the inert\nbodies of the rykors lying in his path. The first of the pursuers\nsprang from the tower just as Gahan seized the trailing rope.\n\n\"Faster!\" he shouted to the girl above, \"or they will drag us down!\"\nBut the ship seemed scarcely to move, though in reality she was rising\nas rapidly as might have been expected of a one-man flier carrying a\nload of three. Gahan swung free above the top of the wall, but the end\nof the rope still dragged the ground as the kaldanes reached it. They\nwere pouring in a steady stream from the tower into the enclosure. The\nleader seized the rope.\n\n\"Quick!\" he cried. \"Lay hold and we will drag them down.\"\n\nIt needed but the weight of a few to accomplish his design. The ship\nwas stopped in its flight and then, to the horror of the girl, she felt\nit being dragged steadily downward. Gahan, too, realized the danger and\nthe necessity for instant action. Clinging to the rope with his left\nhand, he had wound a leg about it, leaving his right hand free for his\nlong-sword which he had not sheathed. A downward cut clove the soft\nhead of a kaldane, and another severed the taut rope beneath the\npanthan's feet. The girl heard a sudden renewal of the shrill whistling\nof her foes, and at the same time she realized that the craft was\nrising again. Slowly it drifted upward, out of reach of the enemy, and\na moment later she saw the figure of Turan clamber over the side. For\nthe first time in many weeks her heart was filled with the joy of\nthanksgiving; but her first thought was of another.\n\n\"You are not wounded?\" she asked.\n\n\"No, Tara of Helium,\" he replied. \"They were scarce worth the effort of\nmy blade, and never were they a menace to me because of their swords.\"\n\n\"They should have slain you easily,\" said Ghek. \"So great and highly\ndeveloped is the power of reason among us that they should have known\nbefore you struck just where, logically, you must seek to strike, and\nso they should have been able to parry your every thrust and easily\nfind an opening to your heart.\"\n\n\"But they did not, Ghek,\" Gahan reminded him. \"Their theory of\ndevelopment is wrong, for it does not tend toward a perfectly balanced\nwhole. You have developed the brain and neglected the body and you can\nnever do with the hands of another what you can do with your own hands.\nMine are trained to the sword--every muscle responds instantly and\naccurately, and almost mechanically, to the need of the instant. I am\nscarcely objectively aware that I think when I fight, so quickly does\nmy point take advantage of every opening, or spring to my defense if I\nam threatened that it is almost as though the cold steel had eyes and\nbrains. You, with your kaldane brain and your rykor body, never could\nhope to achieve in the same degree of perfection those things that I\ncan achieve. Development of the brain should not be the sum total of\nhuman endeavor. The richest and happiest peoples will be those who\nattain closest to well-balanced perfection of both mind and body, and\neven these must always be short of perfection. In absolute and general\nperfection lies stifling monotony and death. Nature must have\ncontrasts; she must have shadows as well as highlights; sorrow with\nhappiness; both wrong and right; and sin as well as virtue.\"\n\n\"Always have I been taught differently,\" replied Ghek; \"but since I\nhave known this woman and you, of another race, I have come to believe\nthat there may be other standards fully as high and desirable as those\nof the kaldanes. At least I have had a glimpse of the thing you call\nhappiness and I realize that it may be good even though I have no means\nof expressing it. I cannot laugh nor smile, and yet within me is a\nsense of contentment when this woman sings--a sense that seems to open\nbefore me wondrous vistas of beauty and unguessed pleasure that far\ntranscend the cold joys of a perfectly functioning brain. I would that\nI had been born of thy race.\"\n\nCaught by a gentle current of air the flier was drifting slowly toward\nthe northeast across the valley of Bantoom. Below them lay the\ncultivated fields, and one after another they passed over the strange\ntowers of Moak and Nolach and the other kings of the swarms that\ninhabited this weird and terrible land. Within each enclosure\nsurrounding the towers grovelled the rykors, repellent, headless\nthings, beautiful yet hideous.\n\n\"A lesson, those,\" remarked Gahan, indicating the rykors in an\nenclosure above which they were drifting at the time, \"to that\nfortunately small minority of our race which worships the flesh and\nmakes a god of appetite. You know them, Tara of Helium; they can tell\nyou exactly what they had at the midday meal two weeks ago, and how the\nloin of the thoat should be prepared, and what drink should be served\nwith the rump of the zitidar.\"\n\nTara of Helium laughed. \"But not one of them could tell you the name of\nthe man whose painting took the Jeddak's Award in The Temple of Beauty\nthis year,\" she said. \"Like the rykors, their development has not been\nbalanced.\"\n\n\"Fortunate indeed are those in which there is combined a little good\nand a little bad, a little knowledge of many things outside their own\ncallings, a capacity for love and a capacity for hate, for such as\nthese can look with tolerance upon all, unbiased by the egotism of him\nwhose head is so heavy on one side that all his brains run to that\npoint.\"\n\nAs Gahan ceased speaking Ghek made a little noise in his throat as one\ndoes who would attract attention. \"You speak as one who has thought\nmuch upon many subjects. Is it, then, possible that you of the red race\nhave pleasure in thought? Do you know aught of the joys of\nintrospection? Do reason and logic form any part of your lives?\"\n\n\"Most assuredly,\" replied Gahan, \"but not to the extent of occupying\nall our time--at least not objectively. You, Ghek, are an example of\nthe egotism of which I spoke. Because you and your kind devote your\nlives to the worship of mind, you believe that no other created beings\nthink. And possibly we do not in the sense that you do, who think only\nof yourselves and your great brains. We think of many things that\nconcern the welfare of a world. Had it not been for the red men of\nBarsoom even the kaldanes had perished from the planet, for while you\nmay live without air the things upon which you depend for existence\ncannot, and there had been no air in sufficient quantities upon Barsoom\nthese many ages had not a red man planned and built the great\natmosphere plant which gave new life to a dying world.\n\n\"What have all the brains of all the kaldanes that have ever lived done\nto compare with that single idea of a single red man?\"\n\nGhek was stumped. Being a kaldane he knew that brains spelled the sum\ntotal of universal achievement, but it had never occurred to him that\nthey should be put to use in practical and profitable ways. He turned\naway and looked down upon the valley of his ancestors across which he\nwas slowly drifting, into what unknown world? He should be a veritable\ngod among the underlings, he knew; but somehow a doubt assailed him. It\nwas evident that these two from that other world were ready to question\nhis preeminence. Even through his great egotism was filtering a\nsuspicion that they patronized him; perhaps even pitied him. Then he\nbegan to wonder what was to become of him. No longer would he have many\nrykors to do his bidding. Only this single one and when it died there\ncould not be another. When it tired, Ghek must lie almost helpless\nwhile it rested. He wished that he had never seen this red woman. She\nhad brought him only discontent and dishonor and now exile. Presently\nTara of Helium commenced to hum a tune and Ghek, the kaldane, was\ncontent.\n\nGently they drifted beneath the hurtling moons above the mad shadows of\na Martian night. The roaring of the banths came in diminishing volume\nto their ears as their craft passed on beyond the boundaries of\nBantoom, leaving behind the terrors of that unhappy land. But to what\nwere they being borne? The girl looked at the man sitting cross-legged\nupon the deck of the tiny flier, gazing off into the night ahead,\napparently absorbed in thought.\n\n\"Where are we?\" she asked. \"Toward what are we drifting?\"\n\nTuran shrugged his broad shoulders. \"The stars tell me that we are\ndrifting toward the northeast,\" he replied, \"but where we are, or what\nlies in our path I cannot even guess. A week since I could have sworn\nthat I knew what lay behind each succeeding ridge that I approached;\nbut now I admit in all humility that I have no conception of what lies\na mile in any direction. Tara of Helium, I am lost, and that is all\nthat I can tell you.\"\n\nHe was smiling and the girl smiled back at him. There was a slightly\npuzzled expression on her face--there was something tantalizingly\nfamiliar about that smile of his. She had met many a panthan--they came\nand went, following the fighting of a world--but she could not place\nthis one.\n\n\"From what country are you, Turan?\" she asked suddenly.\n\n\"Know you not, Tara of Helium,\" he countered, \"that a panthan has no\ncountry? Today he fights beneath the banner of one master, tomorrow\nbeneath that of another.\"\n\n\"But you must own allegiance to some country when you are not\nfighting,\" she insisted. \"What banner, then, owns you now?\"\n\nHe rose and stood before her, then, bowing low. \"And I am acceptable,\"\nhe said, \"I serve beneath the banner of the daughter of The Warlord\nnow--and forever.\"\n\nShe reached forth and touched his arm with a slim brown hand. \"Your\nservices are accepted,\" she said; \"and if ever we reach Helium I\npromise that your reward shall be all that your heart could desire.\"\n\n\"I shall serve faithfully, hoping for that reward,\" he said; but Tara\nof Helium did not guess what was in his mind, thinking rather that he\nwas mercenary. For how could the proud daughter of The Warlord guess\nthat a simple panthan aspired to her hand and heart?\n\nThe dawn found them moving rapidly over an unfamiliar landscape. The\nwind had increased during the night and had borne them far from\nBantoom. The country below them was rough and inhospitable. No water\nwas visible and the surface of the ground was cut by deep gorges, while\nnowhere was any but the most meager vegetation discernible. They saw no\nlife of any nature, nor was there any indication that the country could\nsupport life. For two days they drifted over this horrid wasteland.\nThey were without food or water and suffered accordingly. Ghek had\ntemporarily abandoned his rykor after enlisting Turan's assistance in\nlashing it safely to the deck. The less he used it the less would its\nvitality be spent. Already it was showing the effects of privation.\nGhek crawled about the vessel like a great spider--over the side, down\nbeneath the keel, and up over the opposite rail. He seemed equally at\nhome one place as another. For his companions, however, the quarters\nwere cramped, for the deck of a one-man flier is not intended for three.\n\nTuran sought always ahead for signs of water. Water they must have, or\nthat water-giving plant which makes life possible upon many of the\nseemingly arid areas of Mars; but there was neither the one nor the\nother for these two days and now the third night was upon them. The\ngirl did not complain, but Turan knew that she must be suffering and\nhis heart was heavy within him. Ghek suffered least of all, and he\nexplained to them that his kind could exist for long periods without\nfood or water. Turan almost cursed him as he saw the form of Tara of\nHelium slowly wasting away before his eyes, while the hideous kaldane\nseemed as full of vitality as ever.\n\n\"There are circumstances,\" remarked Ghek, \"under which a gross and\nmaterial body is less desirable than a highly developed brain.\"\n\nTuran looked at him, but said nothing. Tara of Helium smiled faintly.\n\"One cannot blame him,\" she said, \"were we not a bit boastful in the\npride of our superiority? When our stomachs were filled,\" she added.\n\n\"Perhaps there is something to be said for their system,\" Turan\nadmitted. \"If we could but lay aside our stomachs when they cried for\nfood and water I have no doubt but that we should do so.\"\n\n\"I should never miss mine now,\" assented Tara; \"it is mighty poor\ncompany.\"\n\nA new day had dawned, revealing a less desolate country and renewing\nagain the hope that had been low within them. Suddenly Turan leaned\nforward, pointing ahead.\n\n\"Look, Tara of Helium!\" he cried. \"A city! As I am Ga--as I am Turan\nthe panthan, a city.\"\n\nFar in the distance the domes and walls and slender towers of a city\nshone in the rising sun. Quickly the man seized the control and the\nship dropped rapidly behind a low range of intervening hills, for well\nTuran knew that they must not be seen until they could discover whether\nfriend or foe inhabited the strange city. Chances were that they were\nfar from the abode of friends and so must the panthan move with the\nutmost caution; but there was a city and where a city was, was water,\neven though it were a deserted city, and food if it were inhabited.\n\nTo the red man food and water, even in the citadel of an enemy, meant\nfood and drink for Tara of Helium. He would accept it from friends or\nhe would take it from enemies. Just so long as it was there he would\nhave it--and there was shown the egotism of the fighting man, though\nTuran did not see it, nor Tara who came from a long line of fighting\nmen; but Ghek might have smiled had he known how.\n\nTuran permitted the flier to drift closer behind the screening hills,\nand then when he could advance no farther without fear of discovery, he\ndropped the craft gently to ground in a little ravine, and leaping over\nthe side made her fast to a stout tree. For several moments they\ndiscussed their plans--whether it would be best to wait where they were\nuntil darkness hid their movements and then approach the city in search\nof food and water, or approach it now, taking advantage of what cover\nthey could, until they could glean something of the nature of its\ninhabitants.\n\nIt was Turan's plan which finally prevailed. They would approach as\nclose as safety dictated in the hope of finding water outside the city;\nfood, too, perhaps. If they did not they could at least reconnoiter the\nground by daylight, and then when night came Turan could quickly come\nclose to the city and in comparative safety prosecute his search for\nfood and drink.\n\nFollowing the ravine upward they finally topped the summit of the\nridge, from which they had an excellent view of that part of the city\nwhich lay nearest them, though themselves hidden by the brush behind\nwhich they crouched. Ghek had resumed his rykor, which had suffered\nless than either Tara or Turan through their enforced fast.\n\nThe first glance at the city, now much closer than when they had first\ndiscovered it, revealed the fact that it was inhabited. Banners and\npennons broke from many a staff. People were moving about the gate\nbefore them. The high white walls were paced by sentinels at far\nintervals. Upon the roofs of higher buildings the women could be seen\nairing the sleeping silks and furs. Turan watched it all in silence for\nsome time.\n\n\"I do not know them,\" he said at last. \"I cannot guess what city this\nmay be. But it is an ancient city. Its people have no fliers and no\nfirearms. It must be old indeed.\"\n\n\"How do you know they have not these things?\" asked the girl.\n\n\"There are no landing-stages upon the roofs--not one that can be seen\nfrom here; while were we looking similarly at Helium we would see\nhundreds. And they have no firearms because their defenses are all\nbuilt to withstand the attack of spear and arrow, with spear and arrow.\nThey are an ancient people.\"\n\n\"If they are ancient perhaps they are friendly,\" suggested the girl.\n\"Did we not learn as children in the history of our planet that it was\nonce peopled by a friendly, peace-loving race?\"\n\n\"But I fear they are not as ancient as that,\" replied Turan, laughing.\n\"It has been long ages since the men of Barsoom loved peace.\"\n\n\"My father loves peace,\" returned the girl.\n\n\"And yet he is always at war,\" said the man.\n\nShe laughed. \"But he says he likes peace.\"\n\n\"We all like peace,\" he rejoined; \"peace with honor; but our neighbors\nwill not let us have it, and so we must fight.\"\n\n\"And to fight well men must like to fight,\" she added.\n\n\"And to like to fight they must know how to fight,\" he said, \"for no\nman likes to do the thing that he does not know how to do well.\"\n\n\"Or that some other man can do better than he.\"\n\n\"And so always there will be wars and men will fight,\" he concluded,\n\"for always the men with hot blood in their veins will practice the art\nof war.\"\n\n\"We have settled a great question,\" said the girl, smiling; \"but our\nstomachs are still empty.\"\n\n\"Your panthan is neglecting his duty,\" replied Turan; \"and how can he\nwith the great reward always before his eyes!\"\n\nShe did not guess in what literal a sense he spoke.\n\n\"I go forthwith,\" he continued, \"to wrest food and drink from the\nancients.\"\n\n\"No,\" she cried, laying a hand upon his arm, \"not yet. They would slay\nyou or make you prisoner. You are a brave panthan and a mighty one, but\nyou cannot overcome a city singlehanded.\"\n\nShe smiled up into his face and her hand still lay upon his arm. He\nfelt the thrill of hot blood coursing through his veins. He could have\nseized her in his arms and crushed her to him. There was only Ghek the\nkaldane there, but there was something stronger within him that\nrestrained his hand. Who may define it--that inherent chivalry that\nrenders certain men the natural protectors of women?\n\nFrom their vantage point they saw a body of armed warriors ride forth\nfrom the gate, and winding along a well-beaten road pass from sight\nabout the foot of the hill from which they watched. The men were red,\nlike themselves, and they rode the small saddle thoats of the red race.\nTheir trappings were barbaric and magnificent, and in their head-dress\nwere many feathers as had been the custom of ancients. They were armed\nwith swords and long spears and they rode almost naked, their bodies\nbeing painted in ochre and blue and white. There were, perhaps, a score\nof them in the party and as they galloped away on their tireless mounts\nthey presented a picture at once savage and beautiful.\n\n\"They have the appearance of splendid warriors,\" said Turan. \"I have a\ngreat mind to walk boldly into their city and seek service.\"\n\nTara shook her head. \"Wait,\" she admonished. \"What would I do without\nyou, and if you were captured how could you collect your reward?\"\n\n\"I should escape,\" he said. \"At any rate I shall try it,\" and he\nstarted to rise.\n\n\"You shall not,\" said the girl, her tone all authority.\n\nThe man looked at her quickly--questioningly.\n\n\"You have entered my service,\" she said, a trifle haughtily.\n\n\"You have entered my service for hire and you shall do as I bid you.\"\n\nTuran sank down beside her again with a half smile upon his lips. \"It\nis yours to command, Princess,\" he said.\n\nThe day passed. Ghek, tiring of the sunlight, had deserted his rykor\nand crawled down a hole he had discovered close by. Tara and Turan\nreclined beneath the scant shade of a small tree. They watched the\npeople coming and going through the gate. The party of horsemen did not\nreturn. A small herd of zitidars was driven into the city during the\nday, and once a caravan of broad-wheeled carts drawn by these huge\nanimals wound out of the distant horizon and came down to the city. It,\ntoo, passed from their sight within the gateway. Then darkness came and\nTara of Helium bid her panthan search for food and drink; but she\ncautioned him against attempting to enter the city. Before he left her\nhe bent and kissed her hand as a warrior may kiss the hand of his queen.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nENTRAPPED\n\nTuran the panthan approached the strange city under cover of the\ndarkness. He entertained little hope of finding either food or water\noutside the wall, but he would try and then, if he failed, he would\nattempt to make his way into the city, for Tara of Helium must have\nsustenance and have it soon. He saw that the walls were poorly\nsentineled, but they were sufficiently high to render an attempt to\nscale them foredoomed to failure. Taking advantage of underbrush and\ntrees, Turan managed to reach the base of the wall without detection.\nSilently he moved north past the gateway which was closed by a massive\ngate which effectively barred even the slightest glimpse within the\ncity beyond. It was Turan's hope to find upon the north side of the\ncity away from the hills a level plain where grew the crops of the\ninhabitants, and here too water from their irrigating system, but\nthough he traveled far along that seemingly interminable wall he found\nno fields nor any water. He searched also for some means of ingress to\nthe city, yet here, too, failure was his only reward, and now as he\nwent keen eyes watched him from above and a silent stalker kept pace\nwith him for a time upon the summit of the wall; but presently the\nshadower descended to the pavement within and hurrying swiftly raced\nahead of the stranger without.\n\nHe came presently to a small gate beside which was a low building and\nbefore the doorway of the building a warrior standing guard. He spoke a\nfew quick words to the warrior and then entered the building only to\nreturn almost immediately to the street, followed by fully forty\nwarriors. Cautiously opening the gate the fellow peered carefully along\nthe wall upon the outside in the direction from which he had come.\nEvidently satisfied, he issued a few words of instruction to those\nbehind him, whereupon half the warriors returned to the interior of the\nbuilding, while the other half followed the man stealthily through the\ngateway where they crouched low among the shrubbery in a half circle\njust north of the gateway which they had left open. Here they waited in\nutter silence, nor had they long to wait before Turan the panthan came\ncautiously along the base of the wall. To the very gate he came and\nwhen he found it and that it was open he paused for a moment,\nlistening; then he approached and looked within. Assured that there was\nnone within sight to apprehend him he stepped through the gateway into\nthe city.\n\nHe found himself in a narrow street that paralleled the wall. Upon the\nopposite side rose buildings of an architecture unknown to him, yet\nstrangely beautiful. While the buildings were packed closely together\nthere seemed to be no two alike and their fronts were of all shapes and\nheights and of many hues. The skyline was broken by spire and dome and\nminaret and tall, slender towers, while the walls supported many a\nbalcony and in the soft light of Cluros, the farther moon, now low in\nthe west, he saw, to his surprise and consternation, the figures of\npeople upon the balconies. Directly opposite him were two women and a\nman. They sat leaning upon the rail of the balcony looking, apparently,\ndirectly at him; but if they saw him they gave no sign.\n\nTuran hesitated a moment in the face of almost certain discovery and\nthen, assured that they must take him for one of their own people, he\nmoved boldly into the avenue. Having no idea of the direction in which\nhe might best hope to find what he sought, and not wishing to arouse\nsuspicion by further hesitation, he turned to the left and stepped\nbriskly along the pavement with the intention of placing himself as\nquickly as possible beyond the observation of those nocturnal watchers.\nHe knew that the night must be far spent; and so he could not but\nwonder why people should sit upon their balconies when they should have\nbeen asleep among their silks and furs. At first he had thought them\nthe late guests of some convivial host; but the windows behind them\nwere shrouded in darkness and utter quiet prevailed, quite upsetting\nsuch a theory. And as he proceeded he passed many another group sitting\nsilently upon other balconies. They paid no attention to him, seeming\nnot even to note his passing. Some leaned with a single elbow upon the\nrail, their chins resting in their palms; others leaned upon both arms\nacross the balcony, looking down into the street, while several that he\nsaw held musical instruments in their hands, but their fingers moved\nnot upon the strings.\n\nAnd then Turan came to a point where the avenue turned to the right, to\nskirt a building that jutted from the inside of the city wall, and as\nhe rounded the corner he came full upon two warriors standing upon\neither side of the entrance to a building upon his right. It was\nimpossible for them not to be aware of his presence, yet neither moved,\nnor gave other evidence that they had seen him. He stood there waiting,\nhis hand upon the hilt of his long-sword, but they neither challenged\nnor halted him. Could it be that these also thought him one of their\nown kind? Indeed upon no other grounds could he explain their inaction.\n\nAs Turan had passed through the gateway into the city and taken his\nunhindered way along the avenue, twenty warriors had entered the city\nand closed the gate behind them, and then one had taken to the wall and\nfollowed along its summit in the rear of Turan, and another had\nfollowed him along the avenue, while a third had crossed the street and\nentered one of the buildings upon the opposite side.\n\nThe balance of them, with the exception of a single sentinel beside the\ngate, had re-entered the building from which they had been summoned.\nThey were well built, strapping, painted fellows, their naked figures\ncovered now by gorgeous robes against the chill of night. As they spoke\nof the stranger they laughed at the ease with which they had tricked\nhim, and were still laughing as they threw themselves upon their\nsleeping silks and furs to resume their broken slumber. It was evident\nthat they constituted a guard detailed for the gate beside which they\nslept, and it was equally evident that the gates were guarded and the\ncity watched much more carefully than Turan had believed. Chagrined\nindeed had been the Jed of Gathol had he dreamed that he was being so\nneatly tricked.\n\nAs Turan proceeded along the avenue he passed other sentries beside\nother doors but now he gave them small heed, since they neither\nchallenged nor otherwise outwardly noted his passing; but while at\nnearly every turn of the erratic avenue he passed one or more of these\nsilent sentinels he could not guess that he had passed one of them many\ntimes and that his every move was watched by silent, clever stalkers.\nScarce had he passed a certain one of these rigid guardsmen before the\nfellow awoke to sudden life, bounded across the avenue, entered a\nnarrow opening in the outer wall where he swiftly followed a corridor\nbuilt within the wall itself until presently he emerged a little\ndistance ahead of Turan, where he assumed the stiff and silent attitude\nof a soldier upon guard. Nor did Turan know that a second followed in\nthe shadows of the buildings behind him, nor of the third who hastened\nahead of him upon some urgent mission.\n\nAnd so the panthan moved through the silent streets of the strange city\nin search of food and drink for the woman he loved. Men and women\nlooked down upon him from shadowy balconies, but spoke not; and\nsentinels saw him pass and did not challenge. Presently from along the\navenue before him came the familiar sound of clanking accouterments,\nthe herald of marching warriors, and almost simultaneously he saw upon\nhis right an open doorway dimly lighted from within. It was the only\navailable place where he might seek to hide from the approaching\ncompany, and while he had passed several sentries unquestioned he could\nscarce hope to escape scrutiny and questioning from a patrol, as he\nnaturally assumed this body of men to be.\n\nInside the doorway he discovered a passage turning abruptly to the\nright and almost immediately thereafter to the left. There was none in\nsight within and so he stepped cautiously around the second turn the\nmore effectually to be hidden from the street. Before him stretched a\nlong corridor, dimly lighted like the entrance. Waiting there he heard\nthe party approach the building, he heard someone at the entrance to\nhis hiding place, and then he heard the door past which he had come\nslam to. He laid his hand upon his sword, expecting momentarily to hear\nfootsteps approaching along the corridor; but none came. He approached\nthe turn and looked around it; the corridor was empty to the closed\ndoor. Whoever had closed it had remained upon the outside.\n\nTuran waited, listening. He heard no sound. Then he advanced to the\ndoor and placed an ear against it. All was silence in the street\nbeyond. A sudden draft must have closed the door, or perhaps it was the\nduty of the patrol to see to such things. It was immaterial. They had\nevidently passed on and now he would return to the street and continue\nupon his way. Somewhere there would be a public fountain where he could\nobtain water, and the chance of food lay in the strings of dried\nvegetables and meat which hung before the doorways of nearly every\nBarsoomian home of the poorer classes that he had ever seen. It was\nthis district he was seeking, and it was for this reason his search had\nled him away from the main gate of the city which he knew would not be\nlocated in a poor district.\n\nHe attempted to open the door only to find that it resisted his every\neffort--it was locked upon the outside. Here indeed was a sorry\ncontretemps. Turan the panthan scratched his head. \"Fortune frowns upon\nme,\" he murmured; but beyond the door, Fate, in the form of a painted\nwarrior, stood smiling. Neatly had he tricked the unwary stranger. The\nlighted doorway, the marching patrol--these had been planned and timed\nto a nicety by the third warrior who had sped ahead of Turan along\nanother avenue, and the stranger had done precisely what the fellow had\nthought he would do--no wonder, then, that he smiled.\n\nThis exit barred to him Turan turned back into the corridor. He\nfollowed it cautiously and silently. Occasionally there was a door on\none side or the other. These he tried only to find each securely\nlocked. The corridor wound more erratically the farther he advanced. A\nlocked door barred his way at its end, but a door upon his right opened\nand he stepped into a dimly-lighted chamber, about the walls of which\nwere three other doors, each of which he tried in turn. Two were\nlocked; the other opened upon a runway leading downward. It was spiral\nand he could see no farther than the first turn. A door in the corridor\nhe had quitted opened after he had passed, and the third warrior\nstepped out and followed after him. A faint smile still lingered upon\nthe fellow's grim lips.\n\nTuran drew his short-sword and cautiously descended. At the bottom was\na short corridor with a closed door at the end. He approached the\nsingle heavy panel and listened. No sound came to him from beyond the\nmysterious portal. Gently he tried the door, which swung easily toward\nhim at his touch. Before him was a low-ceiled chamber with a dirt\nfloor. Set in its walls were several other doors and all were closed.\nAs Turan stepped cautiously within, the third warrior descended the\nspiral runway behind him. The panthan crossed the room quickly and\ntried a door. It was locked. He heard a muffled click behind him and\nturned about with ready sword. He was alone; but the door through which\nhe had entered was closed--it was the click of its lock that he had\nheard.\n\nWith a bound he crossed the room and attempted to open it; but to no\navail. No longer did he seek silence, for he knew now that the thing\nhad gone beyond the sphere of chance. He threw his weight against the\nwooden panel; but the thick skeel of which it was constructed would\nhave withstood a battering ram. From beyond came a low laugh.\n\nRapidly Turan examined each of the other doors. They were all locked. A\nglance about the chamber revealed a wooden table and a bench. Set in\nthe walls were several heavy rings to which rusty chains were\nattached--all too significant of the purpose to which the room was\ndedicated. In the dirt floor near the wall were two or three holes\nresembling the mouths of burrows--doubtless the habitat of the giant\nMartian rat. He had observed this much when suddenly the dim light was\nextinguished, leaving him in darkness utter and complete. Turan,\ngroping about, sought the table and the bench. Placing the latter\nagainst the wall he drew the table in front of him and sat down upon\nthe bench, his long-sword gripped in readiness before him. At least\nthey should fight before they took him.\n\nFor some time he sat there waiting for he knew not what. No sound\npenetrated to his subterranean dungeon. He slowly revolved in his mind\nthe incidents of the evening--the open, unguarded gate; the lighted\ndoorway--the only one he had seen thus open and lighted along the\navenue he had followed; the advance of the warriors at precisely the\nmoment that he could find no other avenue of escape or concealment; the\ncorridors and chambers that led past many locked doors to this\nunderground prison leaving no other path for him to pursue.\n\n\"By my first ancestor!\" he swore; \"but it was simple and I a simpleton.\nThey tricked me neatly and have taken me without exposing themselves to\na scratch; but for what purpose?\"\n\nHe wished that he might answer that question and then his thoughts\nturned to the girl waiting there on the hill beyond the city for\nhim--and he would never come. He knew the ways of the more savage\npeoples of Barsoom. No, he would never come, now. He had disobeyed her.\nHe smiled at the sweet recollection of those words of command that had\nfallen from her dear lips. He had disobeyed her and now he had lost the\nreward.\n\nBut what of her? What now would be her fate--starving before a hostile\ncity with only an inhuman kaldane for company? Another thought--a\nhorrid thought--obtruded itself upon him. She had told him of the\nhideous sights she had witnessed in the burrows of the kaldanes and he\nknew that they ate human flesh. Ghek was starving. Should he eat his\nrykor he would be helpless; but--there was sustenance there for them\nboth, for the rykor and the kaldane. Turan cursed himself for a fool.\nWhy had he left her? Far better to have remained and died with her,\nready always to protect her, than to have left her at the mercy of the\nhideous Bantoomian.\n\nNow Turan detected a heavy odor in the air. It oppressed him with a\nfeeling of drowsiness. He would have risen to fight off the creeping\nlethargy, but his legs seemed weak, so that he sank again to the bench.\nPresently his sword slipped from his fingers and he sprawled forward\nupon the table his head resting upon his arms.\n\n * * * * *\n\nTara of Helium, as the night wore on and Turan did not return, became\nmore and more uneasy, and when dawn broke with no sign of him she\nguessed that he had failed. Something more than her own unhappy\npredicament brought a feeling of sorrow to her heart--of sorrow and\nloneliness. She realized now how she had come to depend upon this\npanthan not only for protection but for companionship as well. She\nmissed him, and in missing him realized suddenly that he had meant more\nto her than a mere hired warrior. It was as though a friend had been\ntaken from her--an old and valued friend. She rose from her place of\nconcealment that she might have a better view of the city.\n\nU-Dor, dwar of the 8th Utan of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, rode back in\nthe early dawn toward Manator from a brief excursion to a neighboring\nvillage. As he was rounding the hills south of the city, his keen eyes\nwere attracted by a slight movement among the shrubbery close to the\nsummit of the nearest hill. He halted his vicious mount and watched\nmore closely. He saw a figure rise facing away from him and peer down\ntoward Manator beyond the hill.\n\n\"Come!\" he signalled to his followers, and with a word to his thoat\nturned the beast at a rapid gallop up the hillside. In his wake swept\nhis twenty savage warriors, the padded feet of their mounts soundless\nupon the soft turf. It was the rattle of sidearms and harness that\nbrought Tara of Helium suddenly about, facing them. She saw a score of\nwarriors with couched lances bearing down upon her.\n\nShe glanced at Ghek. What would the spiderman do in this emergency? She\nsaw him crawl to his rykor and attach himself. Then he arose, the\nbeautiful body once again animated and alert. She thought that the\ncreature was preparing for flight. Well, it made little difference to\nher. Against such as were streaming up the hill toward them a single\nmediocre swordsman such as Ghek was worse than no defense at all.\n\n\"Hurry, Ghek!\" she admonished him. \"Back into the hills! You may find\nthere a hiding-place;\" but the creature only stepped between her and\nthe oncoming riders, drawing his long-sword.\n\n\"It is useless, Ghek,\" she said, when she saw that he intended to\ndefend her. \"What can a single sword accomplish against such odds?\"\n\n\"I can die but once,\" replied the kaldane. \"You and your panthan saved\nme from Luud and I but do what your panthan would do were he here to\nprotect you.\"\n\n\"It is brave, but it is useless,\" she replied. \"Sheathe your sword.\nThey may not intend us harm.\"\n\nGhek let the point of his weapon drop to the ground, but he did not\nsheathe it, and thus the two stood waiting as U-Dor the dwar stopped\nhis thoat before them while his twenty warriors formed a rough circle\nabout. For a long minute U-Dor sat his mount in silence, looking\nsearchingly first at Tara of Helium and then at her hideous companion.\n\n\"What manner of creature are you?\" he asked presently. \"And what do you\nbefore the gates of Manator?\"\n\n\"We are from far countries,\" replied the girl, \"and we are lost and\nstarving. We ask only food and rest and the privilege to go our way\nseeking our own homes.\"\n\nU-Dor smiled a grim smile. \"Manator and the hills which guard it alone\nknow the age of Manator,\" he said; \"yet in all the ages that have\nrolled by since Manator first was, there be no record in the annals of\nManator of a stranger departing from Manator.\"\n\n\"But I am a princess,\" cried the girl haughtily, \"and my country is not\nat war with yours. You must give me and my companions aid and assist us\nto return to our own land. It is the law of Barsoom.\"\n\n\"Manator knows only the laws of Manator,\" replied U-Dor; \"but come. You\nshall go with us to the city, where you, being beautiful, need have no\nfear. I, myself, will protect you if O-Tar so decrees. And as for your\ncompanion--but hold! You said 'companions'--there are others of your\nparty then?\"\n\n\"You see what you see,\" replied Tara haughtily.\n\n\"Be that as it may,\" said U-Dor. \"If there be more they shall not\nescape Manator; but as I was saying, if your companion fights well he\ntoo may live, for O-Tar is just, and just are the laws of Manator.\nCome!\"\n\nGhek demurred.\n\n\"It is useless,\" said the girl, seeing that he would have stood his\nground and fought them. \"Let us go with them. Why pit your puny blade\nagainst their mighty ones when there should lie in your great brain the\nmeans to outwit them?\" She spoke in a low whisper, rapidly.\n\n\"You are right, Tara of Helium,\" he replied and sheathed his sword.\n\nAnd so they moved down the hillside toward the gates of Manator--Tara,\nPrincess of Helium, and Ghek, the kaldane of Bantoom--and surrounding\nthem rode the savage, painted warriors of U-Dor, dwar of the 8th Utan\nof O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTHE CHOICE OF TARA\n\nThe dazzling sunlight of Barsoom clothed Manator in an aureole of\nsplendor as the girl and her captors rode into the city through The\nGate of Enemies. Here the wall was some fifty feet thick, and the sides\nof the passageway within the gate were covered with parallel shelves of\nmasonry from bottom to top. Within these shelves, or long, horizontal\nniches, stood row upon row of small figures, appearing like tiny,\ngrotesque statuettes of men, their long, black hair falling below their\nfeet and sometimes trailing to the shelf beneath. The figures were\nscarce a foot in height and but for their diminutive proportions might\nhave been the mummified bodies of once living men. The girl noticed\nthat as they passed, the warriors saluted the figures with their spears\nafter the manner of Barsoomian fighting men in extending a military\ncourtesy, and then they rode on into the avenue beyond, which ran, wide\nand stately, through the city toward the east.\n\nOn either side were great buildings wondrously wrought. Paintings of\ngreat beauty and antiquity covered many of the walls, their colors\nsoftened and blended by the suns of ages. Upon the pavement the life of\nthe newly-awakened city was already afoot. Women in brilliant\ntrappings, befeathered warriors, their bodies daubed with paint;\nartisans, armed but less gaily caparisoned, took their various ways\nupon the duties of the day. A giant zitidar, magnificent in rich\nharness, rumbled its broad-wheeled cart along the stone pavement toward\nThe Gate of Enemies. Life and color and beauty wrought together a\npicture that filled the eyes of Tara of Helium with wonder and with\nadmiration, for here was a scene out of the dead past of dying Mars.\nSuch had been the cities of the founders of her race before Throxeus,\nmightiest of oceans, had disappeared from the face of a world. And from\nbalconies on either side men and women looked down in silence upon the\nscene below.\n\nThe people in the street looked at the two prisoners, especially at the\nhideous Ghek, and called out in question or comment to their guard; but\nthe watchers upon the balconies spoke not, nor did one so much as turn\na head to note their passing. There were many balconies on each\nbuilding and not a one that did not hold its silent party of richly\ntrapped men and women, with here and there a child or two, but even the\nchildren maintained the uniform silence and immobility of their elders.\nAs they approached the center of the city the girl saw that even the\nroofs bore companies of these idle watchers, harnessed and bejeweled as\nfor some gala-day of laughter and music, but no laughter broke from\nthose silent lips, nor any music from the strings of the instruments\nthat many of them held in jeweled fingers.\n\nAnd now the avenue widened into an immense square, at the far end of\nwhich rose a stately edifice gleaming white in virgin marble among the\ngaily painted buildings surrounding it and its scarlet sward and\ngaily-flowering, green-foliaged shrubbery. Toward this U-Dor led his\nprisoners and their guard to the great arched entrance before which a\nline of fifty mounted warriors barred the way. When the commander of\nthe guard recognized U-Dor the guardsmen fell back to either side\nleaving a broad avenue through which the party passed. Directly inside\nthe entrance were inclined runways leading upward on either side. U-Dor\nturned to the left and led them upward to the second floor and down a\nlong corridor. Here they passed other mounted men and in chambers upon\neither side they saw more. Occasionally there was another runway\nleading either up or down. A warrior, his steed at full gallop, dashed\ninto sight from one of these and raced swiftly past them upon some\nerrand.\n\nNowhere as yet had Tara of Helium seen a man afoot in this great\nbuilding; but when at a turn, U-Dor led them to the third floor she\ncaught glimpses of chambers in which many riderless thoats were penned\nand others adjoining where dismounted warriors lolled at ease or played\ngames of skill or chance and many there were who played at jetan, and\nthen the party passed into a long, wide hall of state, as magnificent\nan apartment as even a princess of mighty Helium ever had seen. The\nlength of the room ran an arched ceiling ablaze with countless radium\nbulbs. The mighty spans extended from wall to wall leaving the vast\nfloor unbroken by a single column. The arches were of white marble,\napparently quarried in single, huge blocks from which each arch was cut\ncomplete. Between the arches, the ceiling was set solid about the\nradium bulbs with precious stones whose scintillant fire and color and\nbeauty filled the whole apartment. The stones were carried down the\nwalls in an irregular fringe for a few feet, where they appeared to\nhang like a beautiful and gorgeous drapery against the white marble of\nthe wall. The marble ended some six or seven feet from the floor, the\nwalls from that point down being wainscoted in solid gold. The floor\nitself was of marble richly inlaid with gold. In that single room was a\nvast treasure equal to the wealth of many a large city.\n\nBut what riveted the girl's attention even more than the fabulous\ntreasure of decorations were the files of gorgeously harnessed warriors\nwho sat their thoats in grim silence and immobility on either side of\nthe central aisle, rank after rank of them to the farther walls, and as\nthe party passed between them she could not note so much as the flicker\nof an eyelid, or the twitching of a thoat's ear.\n\n\"The Hall of Chiefs,\" whispered one of her guard, evidently noting her\ninterest. There was a note of pride in the fellow's voice and something\nof hushed awe. Then they passed through a great doorway into the\nchamber beyond, a large, square room in which a dozen mounted warriors\nlolled in their saddles.\n\nAs U-Dor and his party entered the room, the warriors came quickly\nerect in their saddles and formed a line before another door upon the\nopposite side of the wall. The padwar commanding them saluted U-Dor\nwho, with his party, had halted facing the guard.\n\n\"Send one to O-Tar announcing that U-Dor brings two prisoners worthy of\nthe observation of the great jeddak,\" said U-Dor; \"one because of her\nextreme beauty, the other because of his extreme ugliness.\"\n\n\"O-Tar sits in council with the lesser chiefs,\" replied the lieutenant;\n\"but the words of U-Dor the dwar shall be carried to him,\" and he\nturned and gave instructions to one who sat his thoat behind him.\n\n\"What manner of creature is the male?\" he asked of U-Dor. \"It cannot be\nthat both are of one race.\"\n\n\"They were together in the hills south of the city,\" explained U-Dor,\n\"and they say that they are lost and starving.\"\n\n\"The woman is beautiful,\" said the padwar. \"She will not long go\nbegging in the city of Manator,\" and then they spoke of other\nmatters--of the doings of the palace, of the expedition of U-Dor, until\nthe messenger returned to say that O-Tar bade them bring the prisoners\nto him.\n\nThey passed then through a massive doorway, which, when opened,\nrevealed the great council chamber of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, beyond.\nA central aisle led from the doorway the full length of the great hall,\nterminating at the steps of a marble dais upon which a man sat in a\ngreat throne-chair. Upon either side of the aisle were ranged rows of\nhighly carved desks and chairs of skeel, a hard wood of great beauty.\nOnly a few of the desks were occupied--those in the front row, just\nbelow the rostrum.\n\nAt the entrance U-Dor dismounted with four of his followers who formed\na guard about the two prisoners who were then conducted toward the foot\nof the throne, following a few paces behind U-Dor. As they halted at\nthe foot of the marble steps, the proud gaze of Tara of Helium rested\nupon the enthroned figure of the man above her. He sat erect without\nstiffness--a commanding presence trapped in the barbaric splendor that\nthe Barsoomian chieftain loves. He was a large man, the perfection of\nwhose handsome face was marred only by the hauteur of his cold eyes and\nthe suggestion of cruelty imparted by too thin lips. It needed no\nsecond glance to assure the least observing that here indeed was a\nruler of men--a fighting jeddak whose people might worship but not\nlove, and for whose slightest favor warriors would vie with one another\nto go forth and die. This was O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, and as Tara of\nHelium saw him for the first time she could not but acknowledge a\ncertain admiration for this savage chieftain who so virilely\npersonified the ancient virtues of the God of War.\n\nU-Dor and the jeddak interchanged the simple greetings of Barsoom, and\nthen the former recounted the details of the discovery and capture of\nthe prisoners. O-Tar scrutinized them both intently during U-Dor's\nnarration of events, his expression revealing naught of what passed in\nthe brain behind those inscrutable eyes. When the officer had finished\nthe jeddak fastened his gaze upon Ghek.\n\n\"And you,\" he asked, \"what manner of thing are you? From what country?\nWhy are you in Manator?\"\n\n\"I am a kaldane,\" replied Ghek; \"the highest type of created creature\nupon the face of Barsoom; I am mind, you are matter. I come from\nBantoom. I am here because we were lost and starving.\"\n\n\"And you!\" O-Tar turned suddenly on Tara. \"You, too, are a kaldane?\"\n\n\"I am a princess of Helium,\" replied the girl. \"I was a prisoner in\nBantoom. This kaldane and a warrior of my own race rescued me. The\nwarrior left us to search for food and water. He has doubtless fallen\ninto the hands of your people. I ask you to free him and give us food\nand drink and let us go upon our way. I am a granddaughter of a jeddak,\nthe daughter of a jeddak of jeddaks, The Warlord of Barsoom. I ask only\nthe treatment that my people would accord you or yours.\"\n\n\"Helium,\" repeated O-Tar. \"I know naught of Helium, nor does the Jeddak\nof Helium rule Manator. I, O-Tar, am Jeddak of Manator. I alone rule. I\nprotect my own. You have never seen a woman or a warrior of Manator\ncaptive in Helium! Why should I protect the people of another jeddak?\nIt is his duty to protect them. If he cannot, he is weak, and his\npeople must fall into the hands of the strong. I, O-Tar, am strong. I\nwill keep you. That--\" he pointed at Ghek--\"can it fight?\"\n\n\"It is brave,\" replied Tara of Helium, \"but it has not the skill at\narms which my people possess.\"\n\n\"There is none then to fight for you?\" asked O-Tar. \"We are a just\npeople,\" he continued without waiting for a reply, \"and had you one to\nfight for you he might win to freedom for himself and you as well.\"\n\n\"But U-Dor assured me that no stranger ever had departed from Manator,\"\nshe answered.\n\nO-Tar shrugged. \"That does not disprove the justice of the laws of\nManator,\" replied O-Tar, \"but rather that the warriors of Manator are\ninvincible. Had there come one who could defeat our warriors that one\nhad won to liberty.\"\n\n\"And you fetch my warrior,\" cried Tara haughtily, \"you shall see such\nswordplay as doubtless the crumbling walls of your decaying city never\nhave witnessed, and if there be no trick in your offer we are already\nas good as free.\"\n\nO-Tar smiled more broadly than before and U-Dor smiled, too, and the\nchiefs and warriors who looked on nudged one another and whispered,\nlaughing. And Tara of Helium knew then that there was trickery in their\njustice; but though her situation seemed hopeless she did not cease to\nhope, for was she not the daughter of John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom,\nwhose famous challenge to Fate, \"I still live!\" remained the one\nirreducible defense against despair? At thought of her noble sire the\npatrician chin of Tara of Helium rose a shade higher. Ah! if he but\nknew where she was there were little to fear then. The hosts of Helium\nwould batter at the gates of Manator, the great green warriors of John\nCarter's savage allies would swarm up from the dead sea bottoms lusting\nfor pillage and for loot, the stately ships of her beloved navy would\nsoar above the unprotected towers and minarets of the doomed city which\nonly capitulation and heavy tribute could then save.\n\nBut John Carter did not know! There was only one other to whom she\nmight hope to look--Turan the panthan; but where was he? She had seen\nhis sword in play and she knew that it had been wielded by a master\nhand, and who should know swordplay better than Tara of Helium, who had\nlearned it well under the constant tutorage of John Carter himself.\nTricks she knew that discounted even far greater physical prowess than\nher own, and a method of attack that might have been at once the envy\nand despair of the cleverest of warriors. And so it was that her\nthoughts turned to Turan the panthan, though not alone because of the\nprotection he might afford her. She had realized, since he had left her\nin search of food, that there had grown between them a certain\ncomradeship that she now missed. There had been that about him which\nseemed to have bridged the gulf between their stations in life. With\nhim she had failed to consider that he was a panthan or that she was a\nprincess--they had been comrades. Suddenly she realized that she missed\nhim for himself more than for his sword. She turned toward O-Tar.\n\n\"Where is Turan, my warrior?\" she demanded.\n\n\"You shall not lack for warriors,\" replied the jeddak. \"One of your\nbeauty will find plenty ready to fight for her. Possibly it shall not\nbe necessary to look farther than the jeddak of Manator. You please me,\nwoman. What say you to such an honor?\"\n\nThrough narrowed lids the Princess of Helium scrutinized the Jeddak of\nManator, from feathered headdress to sandaled foot and back to\nfeathered headdress.\n\n\"'Honor'!\" she mimicked in tones of scorn. \"I please thee, do I? Then\nknow, swine, that thou pleaseth me not--that the daughter of John\nCarter is not for such as thou!\"\n\nA sudden, tense silence fell upon the assembled chiefs. Slowly the\nblood receded from the sinister face of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator,\nleaving him a sickly purple in his wrath. His eyes narrowed to two thin\nslits, his lips were compressed to a bloodless line of malevolence. For\na long moment there was no sound in the throne room of the palace at\nManator. Then the jeddak turned toward U-Dor.\n\n\"Take her away,\" he said in a level voice that belied his appearance of\nrage. \"Take her away, and at the next games let the prisoners and the\ncommon warriors play at Jetan for her.\"\n\n\"And this?\" asked U-Dor, pointing at Ghek.\n\n\"To the pits until the next games,\" replied O-Tar.\n\n\"So this is your vaunted justice!\" cried Tara of Helium; \"that two\nstrangers who have not wronged you shall be sentenced without trial?\nAnd one of them is a woman. The swine of Manator are as just as they\nare brave.\"\n\n\"Away with her!\" shouted O-Tar, and at a sign from U-Dor the guards\nformed about the two prisoners and conducted them from the chamber.\n\nOutside the palace, Ghek and Tara of Helium were separated. The girl\nwas led through long avenues toward the center of the city and finally\ninto a low building, topped by lofty towers of massive construction.\nHere she was turned over to a warrior who wore the insignia of a dwar,\nor captain.\n\n\"It is O-Tar's wish,\" explained U-Dor to this one, \"that she be kept\nuntil the next games, when the prisoners and the common warriors shall\nplay for her. Had she not the tongue of a thoat she had been a worthy\nstake for our noblest steel,\" and U-Dor sighed. \"Perhaps even yet I may\nwin a pardon for her. It were too bad to see such beauty fall to the\nlot of some common fellow. I would have honored her myself.\"\n\n\"If I am to be imprisoned, imprison me,\" said the girl. \"I do not\nrecall that I was sentenced to listen to the insults of every low-born\nboor who chanced to admire me.\"\n\n\"You see, A-Kor,\" cried U-Dor, \"the tongue that she has. Even so and\nworse spoke she to O-Tar the jeddak.\"\n\n\"I see,\" replied A-Kor, whom Tara saw was with difficulty restraining a\nsmile. \"Come, then, with me, woman,\" he said, \"and we shall find a safe\nplace within The Towers of Jetan--but stay! what ails thee?\"\n\nThe girl had staggered and would have fallen had not the man caught her\nin his arms. She seemed to gather herself then and bravely sought to\nstand erect without support. A-Kor glanced at U-Dor. \"Knew you the\nwoman was ill?\" he asked.\n\n\"Possibly it is lack of food,\" replied the other. \"She mentioned, I\nbelieve, that she and her companions had not eaten for several days.\"\n\n\"Brave are the warriors of O-Tar,\" sneered A-Kor; \"lavish their\nhospitality. U-Dor, whose riches are uncounted, and the brave O-Tar,\nwhose squealing thoats are stabled within marble halls and fed from\ntroughs of gold, can spare no crust to feed a starving girl.\"\n\nThe black haired U-Dor scowled. \"Thy tongue will yet pierce thy heart,\nson of a slave!\" he cried. \"Once too often mayst thou try the patience\nof the just O-Tar. Hereafter guard thy speech as well as thy towers.\"\n\n\"Think not to taunt me with my mother's state,\" said A-Kor. \"'Tis the\nblood of the slave woman that fills my veins with pride, and my only\nshame is that I am also the son of thy jeddak.\"\n\n\"And O-Tar heard this?\" queried U-Dor.\n\n\"O-Tar has already heard it from my own lips,\" replied A-Kor; \"this,\nand more.\"\n\nHe turned upon his heel, a supporting arm still around the waist of\nTara of Helium and thus he half led, half carried her into The Towers\nof Jetan, while U-Dor wheeled his thoat and galloped back in the\ndirection of the palace.\n\nWithin the main entrance to The Tower of Jetan lolled a half-dozen\nwarriors. To one of these spoke A-Kor, keeper of the towers. \"Fetch\nLan-O, the slave girl, and bid her bring food and drink to the upper\nlevel of the Thurian tower,\" then he lifted the half-fainting girl in\nhis arms and bore her along the spiral, inclined runway that led upward\nwithin the tower.\n\nSomewhere in the long ascent Tara lost consciousness. When it returned\nshe found herself in a large, circular chamber, the stone walls of\nwhich were pierced by windows at regular intervals about the entire\ncircumference of the room. She was lying upon a pile of sleeping silks\nand furs while there knelt above her a young woman who was forcing\ndrops of some cooling beverage between her parched lips. Tara of Helium\nhalf rose upon an elbow and looked about. In the first moments of\nreturning consciousness there were swept from the screen of\nrecollection the happenings of many weeks. She thought that she awoke\nin the palace of The Warlord at Helium. Her brows knit as she\nscrutinized the strange face bending over her.\n\n\"Who are you?\" she asked, and, \"Where is Uthia?\"\n\n\"I am Lan-O the slave girl,\" replied the other. \"I know none by the\nname of Uthia.\"\n\nTara of Helium sat erect and looked about her. This rough stone was not\nthe marble of her father's halls. \"Where am I?\" she asked.\n\n\"In The Thurian Tower,\" replied the girl, and then seeing that the\nother still did not understand she guessed the truth. \"You are a\nprisoner in The Towers of Jetan in the city of Manator,\" she explained.\n\"You were brought to this chamber, weak and fainting, by A-Kor, Dwar of\nThe Towers of Jetan, who sent me to you with food and drink, for kind\nis the heart of A-Kor.\"\n\n\"I remember, now,\" said Tara, slowly. \"I remember; but where is Turan,\nmy warrior? Did they speak of him?\"\n\n\"I heard naught of another,\" replied Lan-O; \"you alone were brought to\nthe towers. In that you are fortunate, for there be no nobler man in\nManator than A-Kor. It is his mother's blood that makes him so. She was\na slave girl from Gathol.\"\n\n\"Gathol!\" exclaimed Tara of Helium. \"Lies Gathol close by Manator?\"\n\n\"Not close, yet still the nearest country,\" replied Lan-O. \"About\ntwenty-two degrees* east, it lies.\"\n\n* Approximately 814 Earth Miles.\n\n\n\"Gathol!\" murmured Tara, \"Far Gathol!\"\n\n\"But you are not from Gathol,\" said the slave girl; \"your harness is\nnot of Gathol.\"\n\n\"I am from Helium,\" said Tara.\n\n\"It is far from Helium to Gathol,\" said the slave girl, \"but in our\nstudies we learned much of the greatness of Helium, we of Gathol, so it\nseems not so far away.\"\n\n\"You, too, are from Gathol?\" asked Tara.\n\n\"Many of us are from Gathol who are slaves in Manator,\" replied the\ngirl. \"It is to Gathol, nearest country, that the Manatorians look for\nslaves most often. They go in great numbers at intervals of three or\nseven years and haunt the roads that lead to Gathol, and thus they\ncapture whole caravans leaving none to bear warning to Gathol of their\nfate. Nor do any ever escape from Manator to carry word of us back to\nGahan our jed.\"\n\nTara of Helium ate slowly and in silence. The girl's words aroused\nmemories of the last hours she had spent in her father's palace and the\ngreat midday function at which she had met Gahan of Gathol. Even now\nshe flushed as she recalled his daring words.\n\nUpon her reveries the door opened and a burly warrior appeared in the\nopening--a hulking fellow, with thick lips and an evil, leering face.\nThe slave girl sprang to her feet, facing him.\n\n\"What does this mean, E-Med?\" she cried, \"was it not the will of A-Kor\nthat this woman be not disturbed?\"\n\n\"The will of A-Kor, indeed!\" and the man sneered. \"The will of A-Kor is\nwithout power in The Towers of Jetan, or elsewhere, for A-Kor lies now\nin the pits of O-Tar, and E-Med is dwar of the Towers.\"\n\nTara of Helium saw the face of the slave girl pale and the terror in\nher eyes.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nGHEK PLAYS PRANKS\n\nWhile Tara of Helium was being led to The Towers of Jetan, Ghek was\nescorted to the pits beneath the palace where he was imprisoned in a\ndimly-lighted chamber. Here he found a bench and a table standing upon\nthe dirt floor near the wall, and set in the wall several rings from\nwhich depended short lengths of chain. At the base of the walls were\nseveral holes in the dirt floor. These, alone, of the several things he\nsaw, interested him. Ghek sat down upon the bench and waited in\nsilence, listening. Presently the lights were extinguished. If Ghek\ncould have smiled he would have then, for Ghek could see as well in the\ndark as in the light--better, perhaps. He watched the dark openings of\nthe holes in the floor and waited. Presently he detected a change in\nthe air about him--it grew heavy with a strange odor, and once again\nmight Ghek have smiled, could he have smiled.\n\nLet them replace all the air in the chamber with their most deadly\nfumes; it would be all the same to Ghek, the kaldane, who, having no\nlungs, required no air. With the rykor it might be different. Deprived\nof air it would die; but if only a sufficient amount of the gas was\nintroduced to stupefy an ordinary creature it would have no effect upon\nthe rykor, who had no objective mind to overcome. So long as the excess\nof carbon dioxide in the blood was not sufficient to prevent heart\naction, the rykor would suffer only a diminution of vitality; but would\nstill respond to the exciting agency of the kaldane's brain.\n\nGhek caused the rykor to assume a sitting position with its back\nagainst the wall where it might remain without direction from his\nbrain. Then he released his contact with its spinal cord; but remained\nin position upon its shoulders, waiting and watching, for the kaldane's\ncuriosity was aroused. He had not long to wait before the lights were\nflashed on and one of the locked doors opened to admit a half-dozen\nwarriors. They approached him rapidly and worked quickly. First they\nremoved all his weapons and then, snapping a fetter about one of the\nrykor's ankles, secured him to the end of one of the chains hanging\nfrom the walls. Next they dragged the long table to a new position and\nthere bolted it to the floor so that an end, instead of the middle, was\ndirectly before the prisoner. On the table before him they set food and\nwater and upon the opposite end of the table they laid the key to the\nfetter. Then they unlocked and opened all the doors and departed.\n\n * * * * *\n\nWhen Turan the panthan regained consciousness it was to the realization\nof a sharp pain in one of his forearms. The effects of the gas departed\nas rapidly as they had overcome him so that as he opened his eyes he\nwas in full possession of all his faculties. The lights were on again\nand in their glow there was revealed to the man the figure of a giant\nMartian rat crouching upon the table and gnawing upon his arm.\nSnatching his arm away he reached for his short-sword, while the rat,\ngrowling, sought to seize his arm again. It was then that Turan\ndiscovered that his weapons had been removed--short-sword, long-sword,\ndagger, and pistol. The rat charged him then and striking the creature\naway with his hand the man rose and backed off, searching for something\nwith which to strike a harder blow. Again the rat charged and as Turan\nstepped quickly back to avoid the menacing jaws, something seemed to\njerk suddenly upon his right ankle, and as he drew his left foot back\nto regain his equilibrium his heel caught upon a taut chain and he fell\nheavily backward to the floor just as the rat leaped upon his breast\nand sought his throat.\n\nThe Martian rat is a fierce and unlovely thing. It is many-legged and\nhairless, its hide resembling that of a newborn mouse in repulsiveness.\nIn size and weight it is comparable to a large Airedale terrier. Its\neyes are small and close-set, and almost hidden in deep, fleshy\napertures. But its most ferocious and repulsive feature is its jaws,\nthe entire bony structure of which protrudes several inches beyond the\nflesh, revealing five sharp, spadelike teeth in the upper jaw and the\nsame number of similar teeth in the lower, the whole suggesting the\nappearance of a rotting face from which much of the flesh has sloughed\naway.\n\nIt was such a thing that leaped upon the breast of the panthan to tear\nat his jugular. Twice Turan struck it away as he sought to regain his\nfeet, but both times it returned with increased ferocity to renew the\nattack. Its only weapons are its jaws since its broad, splay feet are\narmed with blunt talons. With its protruding jaws it excavates its\nwinding burrows and with its broad feet it pushes the dirt behind it.\nTo keep the jaws from his flesh then was Turan's only concern and this\nhe succeeded in doing until chance gave him a hold upon the creature's\nthroat. After that the end was but a matter of moments. Rising at last\nhe flung the lifeless thing from him with a shudder of disgust.\n\nNow he turned his attention to a hurried inventory of the new\nconditions which surrounded him since the moment of his incarceration.\nHe realized vaguely what had happened. He had been anaesthetized and\nstripped of his weapons, and as he rose to his feet he saw that one\nankle was fettered to a chain in the wall. He looked about the room.\nAll the doors swung wide open! His captors would render his\nimprisonment the more cruel by leaving ever before him tempting\nglimpses of open aisles to the freedom he could not attain. Upon the\nend of the table and within easy reach was food and drink. This at\nleast was attainable and at sight of it his starved stomach seemed\nalmost to cry aloud for sustenance. It was with difficulty that he ate\nand drank in moderation.\n\nAs he devoured the food his eyes wandered about the confines of his\nprison until suddenly they seized upon a thing that lay on the table at\nthe end farthest from him. It was a key. He raised his fettered ankle\nand examined the lock. There could be no doubt of it! The key that lay\nthere on the table before him was the key to that very lock. A careless\nwarrior had laid it there and departed, forgetting.\n\nHope surged high in the breast of Gahan of Gathol, of Turan the\npanthan. Furtively his eyes sought the open doorways. There was no one\nin sight. Ah, if he could but gain his freedom! He would find some way\nfrom this odious city back to her side and never again would he leave\nher until he had won safety for her or death for himself.\n\nHe rose and moved cautiously toward the opposite end of the table where\nlay the coveted key. The fettered ankle halted his first step, but he\nstretched at full length along the table, extending eager fingers\ntoward the prize. They almost laid hold upon it--a little more and they\nwould touch it. He strained and stretched, but still the thing lay just\nbeyond his reach. He hurled himself forward until the iron fetter bit\ndeep into his flesh, but all futilely. He sat back upon the bench then\nand glared at the open doors and the key, realizing now that they were\npart of a well-laid scheme of refined torture, none the less\ndemoralizing because it inflicted no physical suffering.\n\nFor just a moment the man gave way to useless regret and foreboding,\nthen he gathered himself together, his brows cleared, and he returned\nto his unfinished meal. At least they should not have the satisfaction\nof knowing how sorely they had hit him. As he ate it occurred to him\nthat by dragging the table along the floor he could bring the key\nwithin his reach, but when he essayed to do so, he found that the table\nhad been securely bolted to the floor during the period of his\nunconsciousness. Again Gahan smiled and shrugged and resumed his eating.\n\n * * * * *\n\nWhen the warriors had departed from the prison in which Ghek was\nconfined, the kaldane crawled from the shoulders of the rykor to the\ntable. Here he drank a little water and then directed the hands of the\nrykor to the balance of it and to the food, upon which the brainless\nthing fell with avidity. While it was thus engaged Ghek took his\nspider-like way along the table to the opposite end where lay the key\nto the fetter. Seizing it in a chela he leaped to the floor and\nscurried rapidly toward the mouth of one of the burrows against the\nwall, into which he disappeared. For long had the brain been\ncontemplating these burrow entrances. They appealed to his kaldanean\ntastes, and further, they pointed a hiding place for the key and a lair\nfor the only kind of food that the kaldane relished--flesh and blood.\n\nGhek had never seen an ulsio, since these great Martian rats had long\nago disappeared from Bantoom, their flesh and blood having been greatly\nrelished by the kaldanes; but Ghek had inherited, almost unimpaired,\nevery memory of every ancestor, and so he knew that ulsio inhabited\nthese lairs and that ulsio was good to eat, and he knew what ulsio\nlooked like and what his habits were, though he had never seen him nor\nany picture of him. As we breed animals for the transmission of\nphysical attributes, so the Kaldanes breed themselves for the\ntransmission of attributes of the mind, including memory and the power\nof recollection, and thus have they raised what we term instinct, above\nthe level of the threshold of the objective mind where it may be\ncommanded and utilized by recollection. Doubtless in our own subjective\nminds lie many of the impressions and experiences of our forebears.\nThese may impinge upon our consciousness in dreams only, or in vague,\nhaunting suggestions that we have before experienced some transient\nphase of our present existence. Ah, if we had but the power to recall\nthem! Before us would unfold the forgotten story of the lost eons that\nhave preceded us. We might even walk with God in the garden of His\nstars while man was still but a budding idea within His mind.\n\nGhek descended into the burrow at a steep incline for some ten feet,\nwhen he found himself in an elaborate and delightful network of\nburrows! The kaldane was elated. This indeed was life! He moved rapidly\nand fearlessly and he went as straight to his goal as you could to the\nkitchen of your own home. This goal lay at a low level in a spheroidal\ncavity about the size of a large barrel. Here, in a nest of torn bits\nof silk and fur lay six baby ulsios.\n\nWhen the mother returned there were but five babies and a great\nspider-like creature, which she immediately sprang to attack only to be\nmet by powerful chelae which seized and held her so that she could not\nmove. Slowly they dragged her throat toward a hideous mouth and in a\nlittle moment she was dead.\n\nGhek might have remained in the nest for a long time, since there was\nample food for many days; but he did not do so. Instead he explored the\nburrows. He followed them into many subterranean chambers of the city\nof Manator, and upward through walls to rooms above the ground. He\nfound many ingeniously devised traps, and he found poisoned food and\nother signs of the constant battle that the inhabitants of Manator\nwaged against these repulsive creatures that dwelt beneath their homes\nand public buildings.\n\nHis exploration revealed not only the vast proportions of the network\nof runways that apparently traversed every portion of the city, but the\ngreat antiquity of the majority of them. Tons upon tons of dirt must\nhave been removed, and for a long time he wondered where it had been\ndeposited, until in following downward a tunnel of great size and\nlength he sensed before him the thunderous rush of subterranean waters,\nand presently came to the bank of a great, underground river, tumbling\nonward, no doubt, the length of a world to the buried sea of Omean.\nInto this torrential sewer had unthinkable generations of ulsios pushed\ntheir few handsful of dirt in the excavating of their vast labyrinth.\n\nFor only a moment did Ghek tarry by the river, for his seemingly\naimless wanderings were in reality prompted by a definite purpose, and\nthis he pursued with vigor and singleness of design. He followed such\nrunways as appeared to terminate in the pits or other chambers of the\ninhabitants of the city, and these he explored, usually from the safety\nof a burrow's mouth, until satisfied that what he sought was not there.\nHe moved swiftly upon his spider legs and covered remarkable distances\nin short periods of time.\n\nHis search not being rewarded with immediate success, he decided to\nreturn to the pit where his rykor lay chained and look to its wants. As\nhe approached the end of the burrow that terminated in the pit he\nslackened his pace, stopping just within the entrance of the runway\nthat he might scan the interior of the chamber before entering it. As\nhe did so he saw the figure of a warrior appear suddenly in an opposite\ndoorway. The rykor sprawled upon the table, his hands groping blindly\nfor more food. Ghek saw the warrior pause and gaze in sudden\nastonishment at the rykor; he saw the fellow's eyes go wide and an\nashen hue replace the copper bronze of his cheek. He stepped back as\nthough someone had struck him in the face. For an instant only he stood\nthus as in a paralysis of fear, then he uttered a smothered shriek and\nturned and fled. Again was it a catastrophe that Ghek, the kaldane,\ncould not smile.\n\nQuickly entering the room he crawled to the table top and affixed\nhimself to the shoulders of his rykor, and there he waited; and who may\nsay that Ghek, though he could not smile, possessed not a sense of\nhumor? For a half-hour he sat there, and then there came to him the\nsound of men approaching along corridors of stone. He could hear their\narms clank against the rocky walls and he knew that they came at a\nrapid pace; but just before they reached the entrance to his prison\nthey paused and advanced more slowly. In the lead was an officer, and\njust behind him, wide-eyed and perhaps still a little ashen, the\nwarrior who had so recently departed in haste. At the doorway they\nhalted and the officer turned sternly upon the warrior. With upraised\nfinger he pointed at Ghek.\n\n\"There sits the creature! Didst thou dare lie, then, to thy dwar?\"\n\n\"I swear,\" cried the warrior, \"that I spoke the truth. But a moment\nsince the thing groveled, headless, upon this very table! And may my\nfirst ancestor strike me dead upon the spot if I speak other than a\ntrue word!\"\n\nThe officer looked puzzled. The men of Mars seldom if ever lie. He\nscratched his head. Then he addressed Ghek. \"How long have you been\nhere?\" he asked.\n\n\"Who knows better than those who placed me here and chained me to a\nwall?\" he returned in reply.\n\n\"Saw you this warrior enter here a few minutes since?\"\n\n\"I saw him,\" replied Ghek.\n\n\"And you sat there where you sit now?\" continued the officer.\n\n\"Look thou to my chain and tell me then where else might I sit!\" cried\nGhek. \"Art the people of thy city all fools?\"\n\nThree other warriors pressed behind the two in front, craning their\nnecks to view the prisoner while they grinned at the discomfiture of\ntheir fellow. The officer scowled at Ghek.\n\n\"Thy tongue is as venomous as that of the she-banth O-Tar sent to The\nTowers of Jetan,\" he said.\n\n\"You speak of the young woman who was captured with me?\" asked Ghek,\nhis expressionless monotone and face revealing naught of the interest\nhe felt.\n\n\"I speak of her,\" replied the dwar, and then turning to the warrior who\nhad summoned him: \"return to thy quarters and remain there until the\nnext games. Perhaps by that time thy eyes may have learned not to\ndeceive thee.\"\n\nThe fellow cast a venomous glance at Ghek and turned away. The officer\nshook his head. \"I do not understand it,\" he muttered. \"Always has\nU-Van been a true and dependable warrior. Could it be--?\" he glanced\npiercingly at Ghek. \"Thou hast a strange head that misfits thy body,\nfellow,\" he cried. \"Our legends tell us of those ancient creatures that\nplaced hallucinations upon the mind of their fellows. If thou be such\nthen maybe U-Van suffered from thy forbidden powers. If thou be such\nO-Tar will know well how to deal with thee.\" He wheeled about and\nmotioned his warriors to follow him.\n\n\"Wait!\" cried Ghek. \"Unless I am to be starved, send me food.\"\n\n\"You have had food,\" replied the warrior.\n\n\"Am I to be fed but once a day?\" asked Ghek. \"I require food oftener\nthan that. Send me food.\"\n\n\"You shall have food,\" replied the officer. \"None may say that the\nprisoners of Manator are ill-fed. Just are the laws of Manator,\" and he\ndeparted.\n\nNo sooner had the sounds of their passing died away in the distance\nthan Ghek clambered from the shoulders of his rykor, and scurried to\nthe burrow where he had hidden the key. Fetching it he unlocked the\nfetter from about the creature's ankle, locked it empty and carried the\nkey farther down into the burrow. Then he returned to his place upon\nhis brainless servitor. After a while he heard footsteps approaching,\nwhereupon he rose and passed into another corridor from that down which\nhe knew the warrior was coming. Here he waited out of sight, listening.\nHe heard the man enter the chamber and halt. He heard a muttered\nexclamation, followed by the jangle of metal dishes as a salver was\nslammed upon a table; then rapidly retreating footsteps, which quickly\ndied away in the distance.\n\nGhek lost no time in returning to the chamber, recovering the key,\nrelocking the rykor to his chain. Then he replaced the key in the\nburrow and squatting on the table beside his headless body, directed\nits hands toward the food. While the rykor ate Ghek sat listening for\nthe scraping sandals and clattering arms that he knew soon would come.\nNor had he long to wait. Ghek scrambled to the shoulders of his rykor\nas he heard them coming. Again it was the officer who had been summoned\nby U-Van and with him were three warriors. The one directly behind him\nwas evidently the same who had brought the food, for his eyes went wide\nwhen he saw Ghek sitting at the table and he looked very foolish as the\ndwar turned his stern glance upon him.\n\n\"It is even as I said,\" he cried. \"He was not here when I brought his\nfood.\"\n\n\"But he is here now,\" said the officer grimly, \"and his fetter is\nlocked about his ankle. Look! it has not been opened--but where is the\nkey? It should be upon the table at the end opposite him. Where is the\nkey, creature?\" he shouted at Ghek.\n\n\"How should I, a prisoner, know better than my jailer the whereabouts\nof the key to my fetters?\" he retorted.\n\n\"But it lay here,\" cried the officer, pointing to the other end of the\ntable.\n\n\"Did you see it?\" asked Ghek.\n\nThe officer hesitated. \"No but it must have been there,\" he parried.\n\n\"Did you see the key lying there?\" asked Ghek, pointing to another\nwarrior.\n\nThe fellow shook his head negatively. \"And you? and you?\" continued the\nkaldane addressing the others.\n\nThey both admitted that they never had seen the key. \"And if it had\nbeen there how could I have reached it?\" he continued.\n\n\"No, he could not have reached it,\" admitted the officer; \"but there\nshall be no more of this! I-Zav, you will remain here on guard with\nthis prisoner until you are relieved.\"\n\nI-Zav looked anything but happy as this intelligence was transmitted to\nhim, and he eyed Ghek suspiciously as the dwar and the other warriors\nturned and left him to his unhappy lot.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nA DESPERATE DEED\n\nE-Med crossed the tower chamber toward Tara of Helium and the slave\ngirl, Lan-O. He seized the former roughly by a shoulder. \"Stand!\" he\ncommanded. Tara struck his hand from her and rising, backed away.\n\n\"Lay not your hand upon the person of a princess of Helium, beast!\" she\nwarned.\n\nE-Med laughed. \"Think you that I play at jetan for you without first\nknowing something of the stake for which I play?\" he demanded. \"Come\nhere!\"\n\nThe girl drew herself to her full height, folding her arms across her\nbreast, nor did E-Med note that the slim fingers of her right hand were\ninserted beneath the broad leather strap of her harness where it passed\nover her left shoulder.\n\n\"And O-Tar learns of this you shall rue it, E-Med,\" cried the slave\ngirl; \"there be no law in Manator that gives you this girl before you\nshall have won her fairly.\"\n\n\"What cares O-Tar for her fate?\" replied E-Med. \"Have I not heard? Did\nshe not flout the great jeddak, heaping abuse upon him? By my first\nancestor, I think O-Tar might make a jed of the man who subdued her,\"\nand again he advanced toward Tara.\n\n\"Wait!\" said the girl in low, even tone. \"Perhaps you know not what you\ndo. Sacred to the people of Helium are the persons of the women of\nHelium. For the honor of the humblest of them would the great jeddak\nhimself unsheathe his sword. The greatest nations of Barsoom have\ntrembled to the thunders of war in defense of the person of Dejah\nThoris, my mother. We are but mortal and so may die; but we may not be\ndefiled. You may play at jetan for a princess of Helium, but though you\nmay win the match, never may you claim the reward. If thou wouldst\npossess a dead body press me too far, but know, man of Manator, that\nthe blood of The Warlord flows not in the veins of Tara of Helium for\nnaught. I have spoken.\"\n\n\"I know naught of Helium and O-Tar is our warlord,\" replied E-Med; \"but\nI do know that I would examine more closely the prize that I shall play\nfor and win. I would test the lips of her who is to be my slave after\nthe next games; nor is it well, woman, to drive me too far to anger.\"\nHis eyes narrowed as he spoke, his visage taking on the semblance of\nthat of a snarling beast. \"If you doubt the truth of my words ask\nLan-O, the slave girl.\"\n\n\"He speaks truly, O woman of Helium,\" interjected Lan-O. \"Try not the\ntemper of E-Med, if you value your life.\"\n\nBut Tara of Helium made no reply. Already had she spoken. She stood in\nsilence now facing the burly warrior who approached her. He came close\nand then quite suddenly he seized her and, bending, tried to draw her\nlips to his.\n\nLan-O saw the woman from Helium half turn, and with a quick movement\njerk her right hand from where it had lain upon her breast. She saw the\nhand shoot from beneath the arm of E-Med and rise behind his shoulder\nand she saw in the hand a long, slim blade. The lips of the warrior\nwere drawing closer to those of the woman, but they never touched them,\nfor suddenly the man straightened, stiffly, a shriek upon his lips, and\nthen he crumpled like an empty fur and lay, a shrunken heap, upon the\nfloor. Tara of Helium stooped and wiped her blade upon his harness.\n\nLan-O, wide-eyed, looked with horror upon the corpse. \"For this we\nshall both die,\" she cried.\n\n\"And who would live a slave in Manator?\" asked Tara of Helium.\n\n\"I am not so brave as thou,\" said the slave girl, \"and life is sweet\nand there is always hope.\"\n\n\"Life is sweet,\" agreed Tara of Helium, \"but honor is sacred. But do\nnot fear. When they come I shall tell them the truth--that you had no\nhand in this and no opportunity to prevent it.\"\n\nFor a moment the slave girl seemed to be thinking deeply. Suddenly her\neyes lighted. \"There is a way, perhaps,\" she said, \"to turn suspicion\nfrom us. He has the key to this chamber upon him. Let us open the door\nand drag him out--maybe we shall find a place to hide him.\"\n\n\"Good!\" exclaimed Tara of Helium, and the two immediately set about the\nmatter Lan-O had suggested. Quickly they found the key and unlatched\nthe door and then, between them, they half carried, half dragged, the\ncorpse of E-Med from the room and down the stairway to the next level\nwhere Lan-O said there were vacant chambers. The first door they tried\nwas unlatched, and through this the two bore their grisly burden into a\nsmall room lighted by a single window. The apartment bore evidence of\nhaving been utilized as a living-room rather than as a cell, being\nfurnished with a degree of comfort and even luxury. The walls were\npaneled to a height of about seven feet from the floor, while the\nplaster above and the ceiling were decorated with faded paintings of\nanother day.\n\nAs Tara's eyes ran quickly over the interior her attention was drawn to\na section of paneling that seemed to be separated at one edge from the\npiece next adjoining it. Quickly she crossed to it, discovering that\none vertical edge of an entire panel projected a half-inch beyond the\nothers. There was a possible explanation which piqued her curiosity,\nand acting upon its suggestion she seized upon the projecting edge and\npulled outward. Slowly the panel swung toward her, revealing a dark\naperture in the wall behind.\n\n\"Look, Lan-O!\" she cried. \"See what I have found--a hole in which we\nmay hide the thing upon the floor.\"\n\nLan-O joined her and together the two investigated the dark aperture,\nfinding a small platform from which a narrow runway led downward into\nStygian darkness. Thick dust covered the floor within the doorway,\nindicating that a great period of time had elapsed since human foot had\ntrod it--a secret way, doubtless, unknown to living Manatorians. Here\nthey dragged the corpse of E-Med, leaving it upon the platform, and as\nthey left the dark and forbidden closet Lan-O would have slammed to the\npanel had not Tara prevented.\n\n\"Wait!\" she said, and fell to examining the door frame and the stile.\n\n\"Hurry!\" whispered the slave girl. \"If they come we are lost.\"\n\n\"It may serve us well to know how to open this place again,\" replied\nTara of Helium, and then suddenly she pressed a foot against a section\nof the carved base at the right of the open panel. \"Ah!\" she breathed,\na note of satisfaction in her tone, and closed the panel until it\nfitted snugly in its place. \"Come!\" she said and turned toward the\nouter doorway of the chamber.\n\nThey reached their own cell without detection, and closing the door\nTara locked it from the inside and placed the key in a secret pocket in\nher harness.\n\n\"Let them come,\" she said. \"Let them question us! What could two poor\nprisoners know of the whereabouts of their noble jailer? I ask you,\nLan-O, what could they?\"\n\n\"Nothing,\" admitted Lan-O, smiling with her companion.\n\n\"Tell me of these men of Manator,\" said Tara presently. \"Are they all\nlike E-Med, or are some of them like A-Kor, who seemed a brave and\nchivalrous character?\"\n\n\"They are not unlike the peoples of other countries,\" replied Lan-O.\n\"There be among them both good and bad. They are brave warriors and\nmighty. Among themselves they are not without chivalry and honor, but\nin their dealings with strangers they know but one law--the law of\nmight. The weak and unfortunate of other lands fill them with contempt\nand arouse all that is worst in their natures, which doubtless accounts\nfor their treatment of us, their slaves.\"\n\n\"But why should they feel contempt for those who have suffered the\nmisfortune of falling into their hands?\" queried Tara.\n\n\"I do not know,\" said Lan-O; \"A-Kor says that he believes that it is\nbecause their country has never been invaded by a victorious foe. In\ntheir stealthy raids never have they been defeated, because they have\nnever waited to face a powerful force; and so they have come to believe\nthemselves invincible, and the other peoples are held in contempt as\ninferior in valor and the practice of arms.\"\n\n\"Yet A-Kor is one of them,\" said Tara.\n\n\"He is a son of O-Tar, the jeddak,\" replied Lan-O; \"but his mother was\na high born Gatholian, captured and made slave by O-Tar, and A-Kor\nboasts that in his veins runs only the blood of his mother, and indeed\nis he different from the others. His chivalry is of a gentler form,\nthough not even his worst enemy has dared question his courage, while\nhis skill with the sword, and the spear, and the thoat is famous\nthroughout the length and breadth of Manator.\"\n\n\"What think you they will do with him?\" asked Tara of Helium.\n\n\"Sentence him to the games,\" replied Lan-O. \"If O-Tar be not greatly\nangered he may be sentenced to but a single game, in which case he may\ncome out alive; but if O-Tar wishes really to dispose of him he will be\nsentenced to the entire series, and no warrior has ever survived the\nfull ten, or rather none who was under a sentence from O-Tar.\"\n\n\"What are the games? I do not understand,\" said Tara \"I have heard them\nspeak of playing at jetan, but surely no one can be killed at jetan. We\nplay it often at home.\"\n\n\"But not as they play it in the arena at Manator,\" replied Lan-O. \"Come\nto the window,\" and together the two approached an aperture facing\ntoward the east.\n\nBelow her Tara of Helium saw a great field entirely surrounded by the\nlow building, and the lofty towers of which that in which she was\nimprisoned was but a unit. About the arena were tiers of seats; but the\nthing that caught her attention was a gigantic jetan board laid out\nupon the floor of the arena in great squares of alternate orange and\nblack.\n\n\"Here they play at jetan with living pieces. They play for great stakes\nand usually for a woman--some slave of exceptional beauty. O-Tar\nhimself might have played for you had you not angered him, but now you\nwill be played for in an open game by slaves and criminals, and you\nwill belong to the side that wins--not to a single warrior, but to all\nwho survive the game.\"\n\nThe eyes of Tara of Helium flashed, but she made no comment.\n\n\"Those who direct the play do not necessarily take part in it,\"\ncontinued the slave girl, \"but sit in those two great thrones which you\nsee at either end of the board and direct their pieces from square to\nsquare.\"\n\n\"But where lies the danger?\" asked Tara of Helium. \"If a piece be taken\nit is merely removed from the board--this is a rule of jetan as old\nalmost as the civilization of Barsoom.\"\n\n\"But here in Manator, when they play in the great arena with living\nmen, that rule is altered,\" explained Lan-O. \"When a warrior is moved\nto a square occupied by an opposing piece, the two battle to the death\nfor possession of the square and the one that is successful advantages\nby the move. Each is caparisoned to simulate the piece he represents\nand in addition he wears that which indicates whether he be slave, a\nwarrior serving a sentence, or a volunteer. If serving a sentence the\nnumber of games he must play is also indicated, and thus the one\ndirecting the moves knows which pieces to risk and which to conserve,\nand further than this, a man's chances are affected by the position\nthat is assigned him for the game. Those whom they wish to die are\nalways Panthans in the game, for the Panthan has the least chance of\nsurviving.\"\n\n\"Do those who direct the play ever actually take part in it?\" asked\nTara.\n\n\"Oh, yes,\" said Lan-O. \"Often when two warriors, even of the highest\nclass, hold a grievance against one another O-Tar compels them to\nsettle it upon the arena. Then it is that they take active part and\nwith drawn swords direct their own players from the position of Chief.\nThey pick their own players, usually the best of their own warriors and\nslaves, if they be powerful men who possess such, or their friends may\nvolunteer, or they may obtain prisoners from the pits. These are games\nindeed--the very best that are seen. Often the great chiefs themselves\nare slain.\"\n\n\"It is within this amphitheater that the justice of Manator is meted,\nthen?\" asked Tara.\n\n\"Very largely,\" replied Lan-O.\n\n\"How, then, through such justice, could a prisoner win his liberty?\"\ncontinued the girl from Helium.\n\n\"If a man, and he survived ten games his liberty would be his,\" replied\nLan-O.\n\n\"But none ever survives?\" queried Tara. \"And if a woman?\"\n\n\"No stranger within the gates of Manator ever has survived ten games,\"\nreplied the slave girl. \"They are permitted to offer themselves into\nperpetual slavery if they prefer that to fighting at jetan. Of course\nthey may be called upon, as any warrior, to take part in a game, but\ntheir chances then of surviving are increased, since they may never\nagain have the chance of winning to liberty.\"\n\n\"But a woman,\" insisted Tara; \"how may a woman win her freedom?\"\n\nLan-O laughed. \"Very simply,\" she cried, derisively. \"She has but to\nfind a warrior who will fight through ten consecutive games for her and\nsurvive.\"\n\n\"'Just are the laws of Manator,'\" quoted Tara, scornfully.\n\nThen it was that they heard footsteps outside their cell and a moment\nlater a key turned in the lock and the door opened. A warrior faced\nthem.\n\n\"Hast seen E-Med the dwar?\" he asked.\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Tara, \"he was here some time ago.\"\n\nThe man glanced quickly about the bare chamber and then searchingly\nfirst at Tara of Helium and then at the slave girl, Lan-O. The puzzled\nexpression upon his face increased. He scratched his head. \"It is\nstrange,\" he said. \"A score of men saw him ascend into this tower; and\nthough there is but a single exit, and that well guarded, no man has\nseen him pass out.\"\n\nTara of Helium hid a yawn with the back of a shapely hand. \"The\nPrincess of Helium is hungry, fellow,\" she drawled; \"tell your master\nthat she would eat.\"\n\nIt was an hour later that food was brought, an officer and several\nwarriors accompanying the bearer. The former examined the room\ncarefully, but there was no sign that aught amiss had occurred there.\nThe wound that had sent E-Med the dwar to his ancestors had not bled,\nfortunately for Tara of Helium.\n\n\"Woman,\" cried the officer, turning upon Tara, \"you were the last to\nsee E-Med the dwar. Answer me now and answer me truthfully. Did you see\nhim leave this room?\"\n\n\"I did,\" answered Tara of Helium.\n\n\"Where did he go from here?\"\n\n\"How should I know? Think you that I can pass through a locked door of\nskeel?\" the girl's tone was scornful.\n\n\"Of that we do not know,\" said the officer. \"Strange things have\nhappened in the cell of your companion in the pits of Manator. Perhaps\nyou could pass through a locked door of skeel as easily as he performs\nseemingly more impossible feats.\"\n\n\"Whom do you mean,\" she cried; \"Turan the panthan? He lives, then? Tell\nme, is he here in Manator unharmed?\"\n\n\"I speak of that thing which calls itself Ghek the kaldane,\" replied\nthe officer.\n\n\"But Turan! Tell me, padwar, have you heard aught of him?\" Tara's tone\nwas insistent and she leaned a little forward toward the officer, her\nlips slightly parted in expectancy.\n\nInto the eyes of the slave girl, Lan-O, who was watching her, there\ncrept a soft light of understanding; but the officer ignored Tara's\nquestion--what was the fate of another slave to him? \"Men do not\ndisappear into thin air,\" he growled, \"and if E-Med be not found soon\nO-Tar himself may take a hand in this. I warn you, woman, if you be one\nof those horrid Corphals that by commanding the spirits of the wicked\ndead gains evil mastery over the living, as many now believe the thing\ncalled Ghek to be, that lest you return E-Med, O-Tar will have no mercy\non you.\"\n\n\"What foolishness is this?\" cried the girl. \"I am a princess of Helium,\nas I have told you all a score of times. Even if the fabled Corphals\nexisted, as none but the most ignorant now believes, the lore of the\nancients tells us that they entered only into the bodies of wicked\ncriminals of the lowest class. Man of Manator, thou art a fool, and thy\njeddak and all his people,\" and she turned her royal back upon the\npadwar, and gazed through the window across the Field of Jetan and the\nroofs of Manator through the low hills and the rolling country and\nfreedom.\n\n\"And you know so much of Corphals, then,\" he cried, \"you know that\nwhile no common man dare harm them they may be slain by the hand of a\njeddak with impunity!\"\n\nThe girl did not reply, nor would she speak again, for all his threats\nand rage, for she knew now that none in all Manator dared harm her save\nO-Tar, the jeddak, and after a while the padwar left, taking his men\nwith him. And after they had gone Tara stood for long looking out upon\nthe city of Manator, and wondering what more of cruel wrongs Fate held\nin store for her. She was standing thus in silent meditation when there\nrose to her the strains of martial music from the city below--the deep,\nmellow tones of the long war trumpets of mounted troops, the clear,\nringing notes of foot-soldiers' music. The girl raised her head and\nlooked about, listening, and Lan-O, standing at an opposite window,\nlooking toward the west, motioned Tara to join her. Now they could see\nacross roofs and avenues to The Gate of Enemies, through which troops\nwere marching into the city.\n\n\"The Great Jed is coming,\" said Lan-O, \"none other dares enter thus,\nwith blaring trumpets, the city of Manator. It is U-Thor, Jed of\nManatos, second city of Manator. They call him The Great Jed the length\nand breadth of Manator, and because the people love him, O-Tar hates\nhim. They say, who know, that it would need but slight provocation to\ninflame the two to war. How such a war would end no one could guess;\nfor the people of Manator worship the great O-Tar, though they do not\nlove him. U-Thor they love, but he is not the jeddak,\" and Tara\nunderstood, as only a Martian may, how much that simple statement\nencompassed.\n\nThe loyalty of a Martian to his jeddak is almost an instinct, and\nsecond not even to the instinct of self-preservation at that. Nor is\nthis strange in a race whose religion includes ancestor worship, and\nwhere families trace their origin back into remote ages and a jeddak\nsits upon the same throne that his direct progenitors have occupied\nfor, perhaps, hundreds of thousands of years, and rules the descendants\nof the same people that his forebears ruled. Wicked jeddaks have been\ndethroned, but seldom are they replaced by other than members of the\nimperial house, even though the law gives to the jeds the right to\nselect whom they please.\n\n\"U-Thor is a just man and good, then?\" asked Tara of Helium.\n\n\"There be none nobler,\" replied Lan-O. \"In Manatos none but wicked\ncriminals who deserve death are forced to play at jetan, and even then\nthe play is fair and they have their chance for freedom. Volunteers may\nplay, but the moves are not necessarily to the death--a wound, and even\nsometimes points in swordplay, deciding the issue. There they look upon\njetan as a martial sport--here it is but butchery. And U-Thor is\nopposed to the ancient slave raids and to the policy that keeps Manator\nforever isolated from the other nations of Barsoom; but U-Thor is not\njeddak and so there is no change.\"\n\nThe two girls watched the column moving up the broad avenue from The\nGate of Enemies toward the palace of O-Tar. A gorgeous, barbaric\nprocession of painted warriors in jewel-studded harness and waving\nfeathers; vicious, squealing thoats caparisoned in rich trappings; far\nabove their heads the long lances of their riders bore fluttering\npennons; foot-soldiers swinging easily along the stone pavement, their\nsandals of zitidar hide giving forth no sound; and at the rear of each\nutan a train of painted chariots, drawn by mammoth zitidars, carrying\nthe equipment of the company to which they were attached. Utan after\nutan entered through the great gate, and even when the head of the\ncolumn reached the palace of O-Tar they were not all within the city.\n\n\"I have been here many years,\" said the girl, Lan-O; \"but never have I\nseen even The Great Jed bring so many fighting men into the city of\nManator.\"\n\nThrough half-closed eyes Tara of Helium watched the warriors marching\nup the broad avenue, trying to imagine them the fighting men of her\nbeloved Helium coming to the rescue of their princess. That splendid\nfigure upon the great thoat might be John Carter, himself, Warlord of\nBarsoom, and behind him utan after utan of the veterans of the empire,\nand then the girl opened her eyes again and saw the host of painted,\nbefeathered barbarians, and sighed. But yet she watched, fascinated by\nthe martial scene, and now she noted again the groups of silent figures\nupon the balconies. No waving silks; no cries of welcome; no showers of\nflowers and jewels such as would have marked the entry of such a\nsplendid, friendly pageant into the twin cities of her birth.\n\n\"The people do not seem friendly to the warriors of Manatos,\" she\nremarked to Lan-O; \"I have not seen a single welcoming sign from the\npeople on the balconies.\"\n\nThe slave girl looked at her in surprise. \"It cannot be that you do not\nknow!\" she exclaimed. \"Why, they are--\" but she got no further. The\ndoor swung open and an officer stood before them.\n\n\"The slave girl, Tara, is summoned to the presence of O-Tar, the\njeddak!\" he announced.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nAT GHEK'S COMMAND\n\nTuran the panthan chafed in his chains. Time dragged; silence and\nmonotony prolonged minutes into hours. Uncertainty of the fate of the\nwoman he loved turned each hour into an eternity of hell. He listened\nimpatiently for the sound of approaching footsteps that he might see\nand speak to some living creature and learn, perchance, some word of\nTara of Helium. After torturing hours his ears were rewarded by the\nrattle of harness and arms. Men were coming! He waited breathlessly.\nPerhaps they were his executioners; but he would welcome them\nnotwithstanding. He would question them. But if they knew naught of\nTara he would not divulge the location of the hiding place in which he\nhad left her.\n\nNow they came--a half-dozen warriors and an officer, escorting an\nunarmed man; a prisoner, doubtless. Of this Turan was not left long in\ndoubt, since they brought the newcomer and chained him to an adjoining\nring. Immediately the panthan commenced to question the officer in\ncharge of the guard.\n\n\"Tell me,\" he demanded, \"why I have been made prisoner, and if other\nstrangers were captured since I entered your city.\"\n\n\"What other prisoners?\" asked the officer.\n\n\"A woman, and a man with a strange head,\" replied Turan.\n\n\"It is possible,\" said the officer; \"but what were their names?\"\n\n\"The woman was Tara, Princess of Helium, and the man was Ghek, a\nkaldane, of Bantoom.\"\n\n\"These were your friends?\" asked the officer.\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Turan.\n\n\"It is what I would know,\" said the officer, and with a curt command to\nhis men to follow him he turned and left the cell.\n\n\"Tell me of them!\" cried Turan after him. \"Tell me of Tara of Helium!\nIs she safe?\" but the man did not answer and soon the sound of their\ndeparture died in the distance.\n\n\"Tara of Helium was safe, but a short time since,\" said the prisoner\nchained at Turan's side.\n\nThe panthan turned toward the speaker, seeing a large man, handsome of\nface and with a manner both stately and dignified. \"You have seen her?\"\nhe asked. \"They captured her then? She is in danger?\"\n\n\"She is being held in The Towers of Jetan as a prize for the next\ngames,\" replied the stranger.\n\n\"And who are you?\" asked Turan. \"And why are you here, a prisoner?\"\n\n\"I am A-Kor the dwar, keeper of The Towers of Jetan,\" replied the\nother. \"I am here because I dared speak the truth of O-Tar the jeddak,\nto one of his officers.\"\n\n\"And your punishment?\" asked Turan.\n\n\"I do not know. O-Tar has not yet spoken. Doubtless the games--perhaps\nthe full ten, for O-Tar does not love A-Kor, his son.\"\n\n\"You are the jeddak's son?\" asked Turan.\n\n\"I am the son of O-Tar and of a slave, Haja of Gathol, who was a\nprincess in her own land.\"\n\nTuran looked searchingly at the speaker. A son of Haja of Gathol! A son\nof his mother's sister, this man, then, was his own cousin. Well did\nGahan remember the mysterious disappearance of the Princess Haja and an\nentire utan of her personal troops. She had been upon a visit far from\nthe city of Gathol and returning home had vanished with her whole\nescort from the sight of man. So this was the secret of the seeming\nmystery? Doubtless it explained many other similar disappearances that\nextended nearly as far back as the history of Gathol. Turan scrutinized\nhis companion, discovering many evidences of resemblance to his\nmother's people. A-Kor might have been ten years younger than he, but\nsuch differences in age are scarce accounted among a people who seldom\nor never age outwardly after maturity and whose span of life may be a\nthousand years.\n\n\"And where lies Gathol?\" asked Turan.\n\n\"Almost due east of Manator,\" replied A-Kor.\n\n\"And how far?\"\n\n\"Some twenty-one degrees it is from the city of Manator to the city of\nGathol,\" replied A-Kor; \"but little more than ten degrees between the\nboundaries of the two countries. Between them, though, there lies a\ncountry of torn rocks and yawning chasms.\"\n\nWell did Gahan know this country that bordered his upon the west--even\nthe ships of the air avoided it because of the treacherous currents\nthat rose from the deep chasms, and the almost total absence of safe\nlandings. He knew now where Manator lay and for the first time in long\nweeks the way to his own Gathol, and here was a man, a fellow prisoner,\nin whose veins flowed the blood of his own ancestors--a man who knew\nManator; its people, its customs and the country surrounding it--one\nwho could aid him, with advice at least, to find a plan for the rescue\nof Tara of Helium and for escape. But would A-Kor--could he dare broach\nthe subject? He could do no less than try.\n\n\"And O-Tar you think will sentence you to death?\" he asked; \"and why?\"\n\n\"He would like to,\" replied A-Kor, \"for the people chafe beneath his\niron hand and their loyalty is but the loyalty of a people to the long\nline of illustrious jeddaks from which he has sprung. He is a jealous\nman and has found the means of disposing of most of those whose blood\nmight entitle them to a claim upon the throne, and whose place in the\naffections of the people endowed them with any political significance.\nThe fact that I was the son of a slave relegated me to a position of\nminor importance in the consideration of O-Tar, yet I am still the son\nof a jeddak and might sit upon the throne of Manator with as perfect\ncongruity as O-Tar himself. Combined with this is the fact that of\nrecent years the people, and especially many of the younger warriors,\nhave evinced a growing affection for me, which I attribute to certain\nvirtues of character and training derived from my mother, but which\nO-Tar assumes to be the result of an ambition upon my part to occupy\nthe throne of Manator.\n\n\"And now, I am firmly convinced, he has seized upon my criticism of his\ntreatment of the slave girl Tara as a pretext for ridding himself of\nme.\"\n\n\"But if you could escape and reach Gathol,\" suggested Turan.\n\n\"I have thought of that,\" mused A-Kor; \"but how much better off would I\nbe? In the eyes of the Gatholians I would be, not a Gatholian; but a\nstranger and doubtless they would accord me the same treatment that we\nof Manator accord strangers.\"\n\n\"Could you convince them that you are the son of the Princess Haja your\nwelcome would be assured,\" said Turan; \"while on the other hand you\ncould purchase your freedom and citizenship with a brief period of\nlabor in the diamond mines.\"\n\n\"How know you all these things?\" asked A-Kor. \"I thought you were from\nHelium.\"\n\n\"I am a panthan,\" replied Turan, \"and I have served many countries,\namong them Gathol.\"\n\n\"It is what the slaves from Gathol have told me,\" said A-Kor,\nthoughtfully, \"and my mother, before O-Tar sent her to live at Manatos.\nI think he must have feared her power and influence among the slaves\nfrom Gathol and their descendants, who number perhaps a million people\nthroughout the land of Manator.\"\n\n\"Are these slaves organized?\" asked Turan.\n\nA-Kor looked straight into the eyes of the panthan for a long moment\nbefore he replied. \"You are a man of honor,\" he said; \"I read it in\nyour face, and I am seldom mistaken in my estimate of a man; but--\" and\nhe leaned closer to the other--\"even the walls have ears,\" he\nwhispered, and Turan's question was answered.\n\nIt was later in the evening that warriors came and unlocked the fetter\nfrom Turan's ankle and led him away to appear before O-Tar, the jeddak.\nThey conducted him toward the palace along narrow, winding streets and\nbroad avenues; but always from the balconies there looked down upon\nthem in endless ranks the silent people of the city. The palace itself\nwas filled with life and activity. Mounted warriors galloped through\nthe corridors and up and down the runways connecting adjacent floors.\nIt seemed that no one walked within the palace other than a few slaves.\nSquealing, fighting thoats were stabled in magnificent halls while\ntheir riders, if not upon some duty of the palace, played at jetan with\nsmall figures carved from wood.\n\nTuran noted the magnificence of the interior architecture of the\npalace, the lavish expenditure of precious jewels and metals, the\ngorgeous mural decorations which depicted almost exclusively martial\nscenes, and principally duels which seemed to be fought upon jetan\nboards of heroic size. The capitals of many of the columns supporting\nthe ceilings of the corridors and chambers through which they passed\nwere wrought into formal likenesses of jetan pieces--everywhere there\nseemed a suggestion of the game. Along the same path that Tara of\nHelium had been led Turan was conducted toward the throne room of O-Tar\nthe jeddak, and when he entered the Hall of Chiefs his interest turned\nto wonder and admiration as he viewed the ranks of statuesque thoatmen\ndecked in their gorgeous, martial panoply. Never, he thought, had he\nseen upon Barsoom more soldierly figures or thoats so perfectly trained\nto perfection of immobility as these. Not a muscle quivered, not a tail\nlashed, and the riders were as motionless as their mounts--each warlike\neye straight to the front, the great spears inclined at the same angle.\nIt was a picture to fill the breast of a fighting man with awe and\nreverence. Nor did it fail in its effect upon Turan as they conducted\nhim the length of the chamber, where he waited before great doors until\nhe should be summoned into the presence of the ruler of Manator.\n\n * * * * *\n\nWhen Tara of Helium was ushered into the throne room of O-Tar she found\nthe great hall filled with the chiefs and officers of O-Tar and U-Thor,\nthe latter occupying the place of honor at the foot of the throne, as\nwas his due. The girl was conducted to the foot of the aisle and halted\nbefore the jeddak, who looked down upon her from his high throne with\nscowling brows and fierce, cruel eyes.\n\n\"The laws of Manator are just,\" said O-Tar, addressing her; \"thus is it\nthat you have been summoned here again to be judged by the highest\nauthority of Manator. Word has reached me that you are suspected of\nbeing a Corphal. What word have you to say in refutation of the charge?\"\n\nTara of Helium could scarce restrain a sneer as she answered the\nridiculous accusation of witchcraft. \"So ancient is the culture of my\npeople,\" she said, \"that authentic history reveals no defense for that\nwhich we know existed only in the ignorant and superstitious minds of\nthe most primitive peoples of the past. To those who are yet so\nuntutored as to believe in the existence of Corphals, there can be no\nargument that will convince them of their error--only long ages of\nrefinement and culture can accomplish their release from the bondage of\nignorance. I have spoken.\"\n\n\"Yet you do not deny the accusation,\" said O-Tar.\n\n\"It is not worthy the dignity of a denial,\" she responded haughtily.\n\n\"And I were you, woman,\" said a deep voice at her side, \"I should,\nnevertheless, deny it.\"\n\nTara of Helium turned to see the eyes of U-Thor, the great jed of\nManatos, upon her. Brave eyes they were, but neither cold nor cruel.\nO-Tar rapped impatiently upon the arm of his throne. \"U-Thor forgets,\"\nhe cried, \"that O-Tar is the jeddak.\"\n\n\"U-Thor remembers,\" replied the jed of Manatos, \"that the laws of\nManator permit any who may be accused to have advice and counsel before\ntheir judge.\"\n\nTara of Helium saw that for some reason this man would have assisted\nher, and so she acted upon his advice.\n\n\"I deny the charge,\" she said, \"I am no Corphal.\"\n\n\"Of that we shall learn,\" snapped O-Tar. \"U-Dor, where are those who\nhave knowledge of the powers of this woman?\"\n\nAnd U-Dor brought several who recounted the little that was known of\nthe disappearance of E-Med, and others who told of the capture of Ghek\nand Tara, suggesting by deduction that having been found together they\nhad sufficient in common to make it reasonably certain that one was as\nbad as the other, and that, therefore, it remained but to convict one\nof them of Corphalism to make certain the guilt of both. And then O-Tar\ncalled for Ghek, and immediately the hideous kaldane was dragged before\nhim by warriors who could not conceal the fear in which they held this\ncreature.\n\n\"And you!\" said O-Tar in cold accusing tones. \"Already have I been told\nenough of you to warrant me in passing through your heart the jeddak's\nsteel--of how you stole the brains from the warrior U-Van so that he\nthought he saw your headless body still endowed with life; of how you\ncaused another to believe that you had escaped, making him to see\nnaught but an empty bench and a blank wall where you had been.\"\n\n\"Ah, O-Tar, but that is as nothing!\" cried a young padwar who had come\nin command of the escort that brought Ghek. \"The thing which he did to\nI-Zav, here, would prove his guilt alone.\"\n\n\"What did he to the warrior I-Zav?\" demanded O-Tar. \"Let I-Zav speak!\"\n\nThe warrior I-Zav, a great fellow of bulging muscles and thick neck,\nadvanced to the foot of the throne. He was pale and still trembling\nvisibly as from a nervous shock.\n\n\"Let my first ancestor be my witness, O-Tar, that I speak the truth,\"\nhe began. \"I was left to guard this creature, who sat upon a bench,\nshackled to the wall. I stood by the open doorway at the opposite side\nof the chamber. He could not reach me, yet, O-Tar, may Iss engulf me if\nhe did not drag me to him helpless as an unhatched egg. He dragged me\nto him, greatest of jeddaks, with his eyes! With his eyes he seized\nupon my eyes and dragged me to him and he made me lay my swords and\ndagger upon the table and back off into a corner, and still keeping his\neyes upon my eyes his head quitted his body and crawling upon six short\nlegs it descended to the floor and backed part way into the hole of an\nulsio, but not so far that the eyes were not still upon me and then it\nreturned with the key to its fetter and after resuming its place upon\nits own shoulders it unlocked the fetter and again dragged me across\nthe room and made me to sit upon the bench where it had been and there\nit fastened the fetter about my ankle, and I could do naught for the\npower of its eyes and the fact that it wore my two swords and my\ndagger. And then the head disappeared down the hole of the ulsio with\nthe key, and when it returned, it resumed its body and stood guard over\nme at the doorway until the padwar came to fetch it hither.\"\n\n\"It is enough!\" said O-Tar, sternly. \"Both shall receive the jeddak's\nsteel,\" and rising from his throne he drew his long sword and descended\nthe marble steps toward them, while two brawny warriors seized Tara by\neither arm and two seized Ghek, holding them facing the naked blade of\nthe jeddak.\n\n\"Hold, just O-Tar!\" cried U-Dor. \"There be yet another to be judged.\nLet us confront him who calls himself Turan with these his fellows\nbefore they die.\"\n\n\"Good!\" exclaimed O-Tar, pausing half way down the steps. \"Fetch Turan,\nthe slave!\"\n\nWhen Turan had been brought into the chamber he was placed a little to\nTara's left and a step nearer the throne. O-Tar eyed him menacingly.\n\n\"You are Turan,\" he asked, \"friend and companion of these?\"\n\nThe panthan was about to reply when Tara of Helium spoke. \"I know not\nthis fellow,\" she said. \"Who dares say that he be a friend and\ncompanion of the Princess Tara of Helium?\"\n\nTuran and Ghek looked at her in surprise, but at Turan she did not\nlook, and to Ghek she passed a quick glance of warning, as to say:\n\"Hold thy peace.\"\n\nThe panthan tried not to fathom her purpose for the head is useless\nwhen the heart usurps its functions, and Turan knew only that the woman\nhe loved had denied him, and though he tried not even to think it his\nfoolish heart urged but a single explanation--that she refused to\nrecognize him lest she be involved in his difficulties.\n\nO-Tar looked first at one and then at another of them; but none of them\nspoke.\n\n\"Were they not captured together?\" he asked of U-Dor.\n\n\"No,\" replied the dwar. \"He who is called Turan was found seeking\nentrance to the city and was enticed to the pits. The following morning\nI discovered the other two upon the hill beyond The Gate of Enemies.\"\n\n\"But they are friends and companions,\" said a young padwar, \"for this\nTuran inquired of me concerning these two, calling them by name and\nsaying that they were his friends.\"\n\n\"It is enough,\" stated O-Tar, \"all three shall die,\" and he took\nanother step downward from the throne.\n\n\"For what shall we die?\" asked Ghek. \"Your people prate of the just\nlaws of Manator, and yet you would slay three strangers without telling\nthem of what crime they are accused.\"\n\n\"He is right,\" said a deep voice. It was the voice of U-Thor, the great\njed of Manatos. O-Tar looked at him and scowled; but there came voices\nfrom other portions of the chamber seconding the demand for justice.\n\n\"Then know, though you shall die anyway,\" cried O-Tar, \"that all three\nare convicted of Corphalism and that as only a jeddak may slay such as\nyou in safety you are about to be honored with the steel of O-Tar.\"\n\n\"Fool!\" cried Turan. \"Know you not that in the veins of this woman\nflows the blood of ten thousand jeddaks--that greater than yours is her\npower in her own land? She is Tara, Princess of Helium,\ngreat-granddaughter of Tardos Mors, daughter of John Carter, Warlord of\nBarsoom. She cannot be a Corphal. Nor is this creature Ghek, nor am I.\nAnd you would know more, I can prove my right to be heard and to be\nbelieved if I may have word with the Princess Haja of Gathol, whose son\nis my fellow prisoner in the pits of O-Tar, his father.\"\n\nAt this U-Thor rose to his feet and faced O-Tar. \"What means this?\" he\nasked. \"Speaks the man the truth? Is the son of Haja a prisoner in thy\npits, O-Tar?\"\n\n\"And what is it to the jed of Manatos who be the prisoners in the pits\nof his jeddak?\" demanded O-Tar, angrily.\n\n\"It is this to the jed of Manatos,\" replied U-Thor in a voice so low as\nto be scarce more than a whisper and yet that was heard the whole\nlength and breadth of the great throne room of O-Tar, Jeddak of\nManator. \"You gave me a slave woman, Haja, who had been a princess in\nGathol, because you feared her influence among the slaves from Gathol.\nI have made of her a free woman, and I have married her and made her\nthus a princess of Manatos. Her son is my son, O-Tar, and though thou\nbe my jeddak, I say to you that for any harm that befalls A-Kor you\nshall answer to U-Thor of Manatos.\"\n\nO-Tar looked long at U-Thor, but he made no reply. Then he turned again\nto Turan. \"If one be a Corphal,\" he said, \"then all of you be Corphals,\nand we know well from the things that this creature has done,\" he\npointed at Ghek, \"that he is a Corphal, for no mortal has such powers\nas he. And as you are all Corphals you must all die.\" He took another\nstep downward, when Ghek spoke.\n\n\"These two have no such powers as I,\" he said. \"They are but ordinary,\nbrainless things such as yourself. I have done all the things that your\npoor, ignorant warriors have told you; but this only demonstrates that\nI am of a higher order than yourselves, as is indeed the fact. I am a\nkaldane, not a Corphal. There is nothing supernatural or mysterious\nabout me, other than that to the ignorant all things which they cannot\nunderstand are mysterious. Easily might I have eluded your warriors and\nescaped your pits; but I remained in the hope that I might help these\ntwo foolish creatures who have not the brains to escape without help.\nThey befriended me and saved my life. I owe them this debt. Do not slay\nthem--they are harmless. Slay me if you will. I offer my life if it\nwill appease your ignorant wrath. I cannot return to Bantoom and so I\nmight as well die, for there is no pleasure in intercourse with the\nfeeble intellects that cumber the face of the world outside the valley\nof Bantoom.\"\n\n\"Hideous egotist,\" said O-Tar, \"prepare to die and assume not to\ndictate to O-Tar the jeddak. He has passed sentence and all three of\nyou shall feel the jeddak's naked steel. I have spoken!\"\n\nHe took another step downward and then a strange thing happened. He\npaused, his eyes fixed upon the eyes of Ghek. His sword slipped from\nnerveless fingers, and still he stood there swaying forward and back. A\njed rose to rush to his side; but Ghek stopped him with a word.\n\n\"Wait!\" he cried. \"The life of your jeddak is in my hands. You believe\nme a Corphal and so you believe, too, that only the sword of a jeddak\nmay slay me, therefore your blades are useless against me. Offer harm\nto any one of us, or seek to approach your jeddak until I have spoken,\nand he shall sink lifeless to the marble. Release the two prisoners and\nlet them come to my side--I would speak to them, privately. Quick! do\nas I say; I would as lief as not slay O-Tar. I but let him live that I\nmay gain freedom for my friends--obstruct me and he dies.\"\n\nThe guards fell back, releasing Tara and Turan, who came close to\nGhek's side.\n\n\"Do as I tell you and do it quickly,\" whispered the kaldane. \"I cannot\nhold this fellow long, nor could I kill him thus. There are many minds\nworking against mine and presently mine will tire and O-Tar will be\nhimself again. You must make the best of your opportunity while you\nmay. Behind the arras that you see hanging in the rear of the throne\nabove you is a secret opening. From it a corridor leads to the pits of\nthe palace, where there are storerooms containing food and drink. Few\npeople go there. From these pits lead others to all parts of the city.\nFollow one that runs due west and it will bring you to The Gate of\nEnemies. The rest will then lie with you. I can do no more; hurry\nbefore my waning powers fail me--I am not as Luud, who was a king. He\ncould have held this creature forever. Make haste! Go!\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nTHE OLD MAN OF THE PITS\n\n\"I shall not desert you, Ghek,\" said Tara of Helium, simply.\n\n\"Go! Go!\" whispered the kaldane. \"You can do me no good. Go, or all I\nhave done is for naught.\"\n\nTara shook her head. \"I cannot,\" she said.\n\n\"They will slay her,\" said Ghek to Turan, and the panthan, torn between\nloyalty to this strange creature who had offered its life for him, and\nlove of the woman, hesitated but a moment, then he swept Tara from her\nfeet and lifting her in his arms leaped up the steps that led to the\nthrone of Manator. Behind the throne he parted the arras and found the\nsecret opening. Into this he bore the girl and down a long, narrow\ncorridor and winding runways that led to lower levels until they came\nto the pits of the palace of O-Tar. Here was a labyrinth of passages\nand chambers presenting a thousand hiding-places.\n\nAs Turan bore Tara up the steps toward the throne a score of warriors\nrose as though to rush forward to intercept them. \"Stay!\" cried Ghek,\n\"or your jeddak dies,\" and they halted in their tracks, waiting the\nwill of this strange, uncanny creature.\n\nPresently Ghek took his eyes from the eyes of O-Tar and the jeddak\nshook himself as one who would be rid of a bad dream and straightened\nup, half dazed still.\n\n\"Look,\" said Ghek, then, \"I have given your jeddak his life, nor have I\nharmed one of those whom I might easily have slain when they were in my\npower. No harm have I or my friends done in the city of Manator. Why\nthen should you persecute us? Give us our lives. Give us our liberty.\"\n\nO-Tar, now in command of his faculties, stooped and regained his sword.\nIn the room was silence as all waited to hear the jeddak's answer.\n\n\"Just are the laws of Manator,\" he said at last. \"Perhaps, after all,\nthere is truth in the words of the stranger. Return him then to the\npits and pursue the others and capture them. Through the mercy of O-Tar\nthey shall be permitted to win their freedom upon the Field of Jetan,\nin the coming games.\"\n\nStill ashen was the face of the jeddak as Ghek was led away and his\nappearance was that of a man who had been snatched from the brink of\neternity into which he has gazed, not with the composure of great\ncourage, but with fear. There were those in the throne room who knew\nthat the execution of the three prisoners had but been delayed and the\nresponsibility placed upon the shoulders of others, and one of those\nwho knew was U-Thor, the great jed of Manatos. His curling lip\nbetokened his scorn of the jeddak who had chosen humiliation rather\nthan death. He knew that O-Tar had lost more of prestige in those few\nmoments than he could regain in a lifetime, for the Martians are\njealous of the courage of their chiefs--there can be no evasions of\nstern duty, no temporizing with honor. That there were others in the\nroom who shared U-Thor's belief was evidenced by the silence and the\ngrim scowls.\n\nO-Tar glanced quickly around. He must have sensed the hostility and\nguessed its cause, for he went suddenly angry, and as one who seeks by\nthe vehemence of his words to establish the courage of his heart he\nroared forth what could be considered as naught other than a challenge.\n\n\"The will of O-Tar, the jeddak, is the law of Manator,\" he cried, \"and\nthe laws of Manator are just--they cannot err. U-Dor, dispatch those\nwho will search the palace, the pits, and the city, and return the\nfugitives to their cells.\n\n\"And now for you, U-Thor of Manatos! Think you with impunity to\nthreaten your jeddak--to question his right to punish traitors and\ninstigators of treason? What am I to think of your own loyalty, who\ntakes to wife a woman I have banished from my court because of her\nintrigues against the authority of her jeddak and her master? But O-Tar\nis just. Make your explanations and your peace, then, before it is too\nlate.\"\n\n\"U-Thor has nothing to explain,\" replied the jed of Manatos; \"nor is he\nat war with his jeddak; but he has the right that every jed and every\nwarrior enjoys, of demanding justice at the hands of the jeddak for\nwhomsoever he believes to be persecuted. With increasing rigor has the\njeddak of Manator persecuted the slaves from Gathol since he took to\nhimself the unwilling Princess Haja. If the slaves from Gathol have\nharbored thoughts of vengeance and escape 'tis no more than might be\nexpected from a proud and courageous people. Ever have I counselled\ngreater fairness in our treatment of our slaves, many of whom, in their\nown lands, are people of great distinction and power; but always has\nO-Tar, the jeddak, flouted with arrogance my every suggestion. Though\nit has been through none of my seeking that the question has arisen now\nI am glad that it has, for the time was bound to come when the jeds of\nManator would demand from O-Tar the respect and consideration that is\ntheir due from the man who holds his high office at their pleasure.\nKnow, then, O-Tar, that you must free A-Kor, the dwar, forthwith or\nbring him to fair trial before the assembled jeds of Manator. I have\nspoken.\"\n\n\"You have spoken well and to the point, U-Thor,\" cried O-Tar, \"for you\nhave revealed to your jeddak and your fellow jeds the depth of the\ndisloyalty that I have long suspected. A-Kor already has been tried and\nsentenced by the supreme tribunal of Manator--O-Tar, the jeddak; and\nyou too shall receive justice from the same unfailing source. In the\nmeantime you are under arrest. To the pits with him! To the pits with\nU-Thor the false jed!\" He clapped his hands to summon the surrounding\nwarriors to do his bidding. A score leaped forward to seize U-Thor.\nThey were warriors of the palace, mostly; but two score leaped to\ndefend U-Thor, and with ringing steel they fought at the foot of the\nsteps to the throne of Manator where stood O-Tar, the jeddak, with\ndrawn sword ready to take his part in the melee.\n\nAt the clash of steel, palace guards rushed to the scene from other\nparts of the great building until those who would have defended U-Thor\nwere outnumbered two to one, and then the jed of Manatos slowly\nwithdrew with his forces, and fighting his way through the corridors\nand chambers of the palace came at last to the avenue. Here he was\nreinforced by the little army that had marched with him into Manator.\nSlowly they retreated toward The Gate of Enemies between the rows of\nsilent people looking down upon them from the balconies and there,\nwithin the city walls, they made their stand.\n\nIn a dimly-lighted chamber beneath the palace of O-Tar the jeddak,\nTuran the panthan lowered Tara of Helium from his arms and faced her.\n\"I am sorry, Princess,\" he said, \"that I was forced to disobey your\ncommands, or to abandon Ghek; but there was no other way. Could he have\nsaved you I would have stayed in his place. Tell me that you forgive\nme.\"\n\n\"How could I do less?\" she replied graciously. \"But it seemed cowardly\nto abandon a friend.\"\n\n\"Had we been three fighting men it had been different,\" he said. \"We\ncould only have remained and died together, fighting; but you know,\nTara of Helium, that we may not jeopardize a woman's safety even though\nwe risk the loss of honor.\"\n\n\"I know that, Turan,\" she said; \"but no one may say that you have\nrisked honor, who knows the honor and bravery that are yours.\"\n\nHe heard her with surprise for these were the first words that she had\nspoken to him that did not savor of the attitude of a princess to a\npanthan--though it was more in her tone than the actual words that he\napprehended the difference. How at variance were they to her recent\nrepudiation of him! He could not fathom her, and so he blurted out the\nquestion that had been in his mind since she had told O-Tar that she\ndid not know him.\n\n\"Tara of Helium,\" he said, \"your words are balm to the wound you gave\nme in the throne room of O-Tar. Tell me, Princess, why you denied me.\"\n\nShe turned her great, deep eyes up to his and in them was a little of\nreproach.\n\n\"You did not guess,\" she asked, \"that it was my lips alone and not my\nheart that denied you? O-Tar had ordered that I die, more because I was\na companion of Ghek than because of any evidence against me, and so I\nknew that if I acknowledged you as one of us, you would be slain, too.\"\n\n\"It was to save me, then?\" he cried, his face suddenly lighting.\n\n\"It was to save my brave panthan,\" she said in a low voice.\n\n\"Tara of Helium,\" said the warrior, dropping to one knee, \"your words\nare as food to my hungry heart,\" and he took her fingers in his and\npressed them to his lips.\n\nGently she raised him to his feet. \"You need not tell me, kneeling,\"\nshe said, softly.\n\nHer hand was still in his as he rose and they were very close, and the\nman was still flushed with the contact of her body since he had carried\nher from the throne room of O-Tar. He felt his heart pounding in his\nbreast and the hot blood surging through his veins as he looked at her\nbeautiful face, with its downcast eyes and the half-parted lips that he\nwould have given a kingdom to possess, and then he swept her to him and\nas he crushed her against his breast his lips smothered hers with\nkisses.\n\nBut only for an instant. Like a tigress the girl turned upon him,\nstriking him, and thrusting him away. She stepped back, her head high\nand her eyes flashing fire. \"You would dare?\" she cried. \"You would\ndare thus defile a princess of Helium?\"\n\nHis eyes met hers squarely and there was no shame and no remorse in\nthem.\n\n\"Yes, I would dare,\" he said. \"I would dare love Tara of Helium; but I\nwould not dare defile her or any woman with kisses that were not\nprompted by love of her alone.\" He stepped closer to her and laid his\nhands upon her shoulders. \"Look into my eyes, daughter of The Warlord,\"\nhe said, \"and tell me that you do not wish the love of Turan, the\npanthan.\"\n\n\"I do not wish your love,\" she cried, pulling away. \"I hate you!\" and\nthen turning away she bent her head into the hollow of her arm, and\nwept.\n\nThe man took a step toward her as though to comfort her when he was\narrested by the sound of a crackling laugh behind him. Wheeling about,\nhe discovered a strange figure of a man standing in a doorway. It was\none of those rarities occasionally to be seen upon Barsoom--an old man\nwith the signs of age upon him. Bent and wrinkled, he had more the\nappearance of a mummy than a man.\n\n\"Love in the pits of O-Tar!\" he cried, and again his thin laughter\njarred upon the silence of the subterranean vaults. \"A strange place to\nwoo! A strange place to woo, indeed! When I was a young man we roamed\nin the gardens beneath giant pimalias and stole our kisses in the brief\nshadows of hurtling Thuria. We came not to the gloomy pits to speak of\nlove; but times have changed and ways have changed, though I had never\nthought to live to see the time when the way of a man with a maid, or a\nmaid with a man would change. Ah, but we kissed them then! And what if\nthey objected, eh? What if they objected? Why, we kissed them more. Ey,\ney, those were the days!\" and he cackled again. \"Ey, well do I recall\nthe first of them I ever kissed, and I've kissed an army of them since;\nshe was a fine girl, but she tried to slip a dagger into me while I was\nkissing her. Ey, ey, those were the days! But I kissed her. She's been\ndead over a thousand years now, but she was never kissed again like\nthat while she lived, I'll swear, not since she's been dead, either.\nAnd then there was that other--\" but Turan, seeing a thousand or more\nyears of osculatory memoirs portending, interrupted.\n\n\"Tell me, ancient one,\" he said, \"not of thy loves but of thyself. Who\nare you? What do you here in the pits of O-Tar?\"\n\n\"I might ask you the same, young man,\" replied the other. \"Few there\nare who visit the pits other than the dead, except my pupils--ey! That\nis it--you are new pupils! Good! But never before have they sent a\nwoman to learn the great art from the greatest artist. But times have\nchanged. Now, in my day the women did no work--they were just for\nkissing and loving. Ey, those were the women. I mind the one we\ncaptured in the south--ey! she was a devil, but how she could love. She\nhad breasts of marble and a heart of fire. Why, she--\"\n\n\"Yes, yes,\" interrupted Turan; \"we are pupils, and we are anxious to\nget to work. Lead on and we will follow.\"\n\n\"Ey, yes! Ey, yes! Come! All is rush and hurry as though there were not\nanother countless myriad of ages ahead. Ey, yes! as many as lie behind.\nTwo thousand years have passed since I broke my shell and always rush,\nrush, rush, yet I cannot see that aught has been accomplished. Manator\nis the same today as it was then--except the girls. We had the girls\nthen. There was one that I gained upon The Fields of Jetan. Ey, but you\nshould have seen--\"\n\n\"Lead on!\" cried Turan. \"After we are at work you shall tell us of her.\"\n\n\"Ey, yes,\" said the old fellow and shuffled off down a dimly lighted\npassage. \"Follow me!\"\n\n\"You are going with him?\" asked Tara.\n\n\"Why not?\" replied Turan. \"We know not where we are, or the way from\nthese pits; for I know not east from west; but he doubtless knows and\nif we are shrewd we may learn from him that which we would know. At\nleast we cannot afford to arouse his suspicions\"; and so they followed\nhim--followed along winding corridors and through many chambers, until\nthey came at last to a room in which there were several marble slabs\nraised upon pedestals some three feet above the floor and upon each\nslab lay a human corpse.\n\n\"Here we are,\" exclaimed the old man. \"These are fresh and we shall\nhave to get to work upon them soon. I am working now on one for The\nGate of Enemies. He slew many of our warriors. Truly is he entitled to\na place in The Gate. Come, you shall see him.\"\n\nHe led them to an adjoining apartment. Upon the floor were many fresh,\nhuman bones and upon a marble slab a mass of shapeless flesh.\n\n\"You will learn this later,\" announced the old man; \"but it will not\nharm you to watch me now, for there are not many thus prepared, and it\nmay be long before you will have the opportunity to see another\nprepared for The Gate of Enemies. First, you see, I remove all the\nbones, carefully that the skin may be damaged as little as possible.\nThe skull is the most difficult, but it can be removed by a skilful\nartist. You see, I have made but a single opening. This I now sew up,\nand that done, the body is hung so,\" and he fastened a piece of rope to\nthe hair of the corpse and swung the horrid thing to a ring in the\nceiling. Directly below it was a circular manhole in the floor from\nwhich he removed the cover revealing a well partially filled with a\nreddish liquid. \"Now we lower it into this, the formula for which you\nshall learn in due time. We fasten it thus to the bottom of the cover,\nwhich we now replace. In a year it will be ready; but it must be\nexamined often in the meantime and the liquid kept above the level of\nits crown. It will be a very beautiful piece, this one, when it is\nready.\n\n\"And you are fortunate again, for there is one to come out today.\" He\ncrossed to the opposite side of the room and raised another cover,\nreached in and dragged a grotesque looking figure from the hole. It was\na human body, shrunk by the action of the chemical in which it had been\nimmersed, to a little figure scarce a foot high.\n\n\"Ey! is it not fine?\" cried the little old man. \"Tomorrow it will take\nits place in The Gate of Enemies.\" He dried it off with cloths and\npacked it away carefully in a basket. \"Perhaps you would like to see\nsome of my life work,\" he suggested, and without waiting for their\nassent led them to another apartment, a large chamber in which were\nforty or fifty people. All were sitting or standing quietly about the\nwalls, with the exception of one huge warrior who bestrode a great\nthoat in the very center of the room, and all were motionless.\nInstantly there sprang to the minds of Tara and Turan the rows of\nsilent people upon the balconies that lined the avenues of the city,\nand the noble array of mounted warriors in The Hall of Chiefs, and the\nsame explanation came to both but neither dared voice the question that\nwas in his mind, for fear of revealing by his ignorance the fact that\nthey were strangers in Manator and therefore impostors in the guise of\npupils.\n\n\"It is very wonderful,\" said Turan. \"It must require great skill and\npatience and time.\"\n\n\"That it does,\" replied the old man, \"though having done it so long I\nam quicker than most; but mine are the most natural. Why, I would defy\nthe wife of that warrior to say that insofar as appearances are\nconcerned he does not live,\" and he pointed at the man upon the thoat.\n\"Many of them, of course, are brought here wasted or badly wounded and\nthese I have to repair. That is where great skill is required, for\neveryone wants his dead to look as they did at their best in life; but\nyou shall learn--to mount them and paint them and repair them and\nsometimes to make an ugly one look beautiful. And it will be a great\ncomfort to be able to mount your own. Why, for fifteen hundred years no\none has mounted my own dead but myself.\n\n\"I have many, my balconies are crowded with them; but I keep a great\nroom for my wives. I have them all, as far back as the first one, and\nmany is the evening I spend with them--quiet evenings and very\npleasant. And then the pleasure of preparing them and making them even\nmore beautiful than in life partially recompenses one for their loss. I\ntake my time with them, looking for a new one while I am working on the\nold. When I am not sure about a new one I bring her to the chamber\nwhere my wives are, and compare her charms with theirs, and there is\nalways a great satisfaction at such times in knowing that they will not\nobject. I love harmony.\"\n\n\"Did you prepare all the warriors in The Hall of Chiefs?\" asked Turan.\n\n\"Yes, I prepare them and repair them,\" replied the old man. \"O-Tar will\ntrust no other. Even now I have two in another room who were damaged in\nsome way and brought down to me. O-Tar does not like to have them gone\nlong, since it leaves two riderless thoats in the Hall; but I shall\nhave them ready presently. He wants them all there in the event any\nmomentous question arises upon which the living jeds cannot agree, or\ndo not agree with O-Tar. Such questions he carries to the jeds in The\nHall of Chiefs. There he shuts himself up alone with the great chiefs\nwho have attained wisdom through death. It is an excellent plan and\nthere is never any friction or misunderstandings. O-Tar has said that\nit is the finest deliberative body upon Barsoom--much more intelligent\nthan that composed of the living jeds. But come, we must get to work;\ncome into the next chamber and I will begin your instruction.\"\n\nHe led the way into the chamber in which lay the several corpses upon\ntheir marble slabs, and going to a cabinet he donned a pair of huge\nspectacles and commenced to select various tools from little\ncompartments. This done he turned again toward his two pupils.\n\n\"Now let me have a look at you,\" he said. \"My eyes are not what they\nonce were, and I need these powerful lenses for my work, or to see\ndistinctly the features of those around me.\"\n\nHe turned his eyes upon the two before him. Turan held his breath for\nhe knew that now the man must discover that they wore not the harness\nor insignia of Manator. He had wondered before why the old fellow had\nnot noticed it, for he had not known that he was half blind. The other\nexamined their faces, his eyes lingering long upon the beauty of Tara\nof Helium, and then they drifted to the harness of the two. Turan\nthought that he noted an appreciable start of surprise on the part of\nthe taxidermist, but if the old man noticed anything his next words did\nnot reveal it.\n\n\"Come with I-Gos,\" he said to Turan. \"I have materials in the next room\nthat I would have you fetch hither. Remain here, woman, we shall be\ngone but a moment.\"\n\nHe led the way to one of the numerous doors opening into the chamber\nand entered ahead of Turan. Just inside the door he stopped, and\npointing to a bundle of silks and furs upon the opposite side of the\nroom directed Turan to fetch them. The latter had crossed the room and\nwas stooping to raise the bundle when he heard the click of a lock\nbehind him. Wheeling instantly he saw that he was alone in the room and\nthat the single door was closed. Running rapidly to it he strove to\nopen it, only to find that he was a prisoner.\n\nI-Gos, stepping out and locking the door behind him, turned toward Tara.\n\n\"Your leather betrayed you,\" he said, laughing his cackling laugh. \"You\nsought to deceive old I-Gos, but you found that though his eyes are\nweak his brain is not. But it shall not go ill with you. You are\nbeautiful and I-Gos loves beautiful women. I might not have you\nelsewhere in Manator, but here there is none to deny old I-Gos. Few\ncome to the pits of the dead--only those who bring the dead and they\nhasten away as fast as they can. No one will know that I-Gos has a\nbeautiful woman locked with his dead. I shall ask you no questions and\nthen I will not have to give you up, for I will not know to whom you\nbelong, eh? And when you die I shall mount you beautifully and place\nyou in the chamber with my other women. Will not that be fine, eh?\" He\nhad approached until he stood close beside the horrified girl. \"Come!\"\nhe cried, seizing her by the wrist. \"Come to I-Gos!\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nANOTHER CHANGE OF NAME\n\nTuran dashed himself against the door of his prison in a vain effort to\nbreak through the solid skeel to the side of Tara whom he knew to be in\ngrave danger, but the heavy panels held and he succeeded only in\nbruising his shoulders and his arms. At last he desisted and set about\nsearching his prison for some other means of escape. He found no other\nopening in the stone walls, but his search revealed a heterogeneous\ncollection of odds and ends of arms and apparel, of harness and\nornaments and insignia, and sleeping silks and furs in great\nquantities. There were swords and spears and several large, two-bladed\nbattle-axes, the heads of which bore a striking resemblance to the\npropellor of a small flier. Seizing one of these he attacked the door\nonce more with great fury. He expected to hear something from I-Gos at\nthis ruthless destruction, but no sound came to him from beyond the\ndoor, which was, he thought, too thick for the human voice to\npenetrate; but he would have wagered much that I-Gos heard him. Bits of\nthe hard wood splintered at each impact of the heavy axe, but it was\nslow work and heavy. Presently he was compelled to rest, and so it went\nfor what seemed hours--working almost to the verge of exhaustion and\nthen resting for a few minutes; but ever the hole grew larger though he\ncould see nothing of the interior of the room beyond because of the\nhanging that I-Gos had drawn across it after he had locked Turan within.\n\nAt last, however, the panthan had hewn an opening through which his\nbody could pass, and seizing a long-sword that he had brought close to\nthe door for the purpose he crawled through into the next room.\nFlinging aside the arras he stood ready, sword in hand, to fight his\nway to the side of Tara of Helium--but she was not there. In the center\nof the room lay I-Gos, dead upon the floor; but Tara of Helium was\nnowhere to be seen.\n\nTuran was nonplussed. It must have been her hand that had struck down\nthe old man, yet she had made no effort to release Turan from his\nprison. And then he thought of those last words of hers: \"I do not want\nyour love! I hate you,\" and the truth dawned upon him--she had seized\nupon this first opportunity to escape him. With downcast heart Turan\nturned away. What should he do? There could be but one answer. While he\nlived and she lived he must still leave no stone unturned to effect her\nescape and safe return to the land of her people. But how? How was he\neven to find his way from this labyrinth? How was he to find her again?\nHe walked to the nearest doorway. It chanced to be that which led into\nthe room containing the mounted dead, awaiting transportation to\nbalcony or grim room or whatever place was to receive them. His eyes\ntravelled to the great, painted warrior on the thoat and as they ran\nover the splendid trappings and the serviceable arms a new light came\ninto the pain-dulled eyes of the panthan. With a quick step he crossed\nto the side of the dead warrior and dragged him from his mount. With\nequal celerity he stripped him of his harness and his arms, and tearing\noff his own, donned the regalia of the dead man. Then he hastened back\nto the room in which he had been trapped, for there he had seen that\nwhich he needed to make his disguise complete. In a cabinet he found\nthem--pots of paint that the old taxidermist had used to place the\nwar-paint in its wide bands across the cold faces of dead warriors.\n\nA few moments later Gahan of Gathol emerged from the room a warrior of\nManator in every detail of harness, equipment, and ornamentation. He\nhad removed from the leather of the dead man the insignia of his house\nand rank so that he might pass, with the least danger of arousing\nsuspicion, as a common warrior.\n\nTo search for Tara of Helium in the vast, dim labyrinth of the pits of\nO-Tar seemed to the Gatholian a hopeless quest, foredoomed to failure.\nIt would be wiser to seek the streets of Manator where he might hope to\nlearn first if she had been recaptured and, if not, then he could\nreturn to the pits and pursue the hunt for her. To find egress from the\nmaze he must perforce travel a considerable distance through the\nwinding corridors and chambers, since he had no idea as to the location\nor direction of any exit. In fact, he could not have retraced his steps\na hundred yards toward the point at which he and Tara had entered the\ngloomy caverns, and so he set out in the hope that he might find by\naccident either Tara of Helium or a way to the street level above.\n\nFor a time he passed room after room filled with the cunningly\npreserved dead of Manator, many of which were piled in tiers after the\nmanner that firewood is corded, and as he moved through corridor and\nchamber he noticed hieroglyphics painted upon the walls above every\nopening and at each fork or crossing of corridors, until by observation\nhe reached the conclusion that these indicated the designations of\npassageways, so that one who understood them might travel quickly and\nsurely through the pits; but Turan did not understand them. Even could\nhe have read the language of Manator they might not materially have\naided one unfamiliar with the city; but he could not read them at all\nsince, though there is but one spoken language upon Barsoom, there are\nas many different written languages as there are nations. One thing,\nhowever, soon became apparent to him--the hieroglyphic of a corridor\nremained the same until the corridor ended.\n\nIt was not long before Turan realized from the distance that he had\ntraveled that the pits were part of a vast system undermining,\npossibly, the entire city. At least he was convinced that he had passed\nbeyond the precincts of the palace. The corridors and chambers varied\nin appearance and architecture from time to time. All were lighted,\nthough usually quite dimly, with radium bulbs. For a long time he saw\nno signs of life other than an occasional ulsio, then quite suddenly he\ncame face to face with a warrior at one of the numerous crossings. The\nfellow looked at him, nodded, and passed on. Turan breathed a sigh of\nrelief as he realized that his disguise was effective, but he was\ncaught in the middle of it by a hail from the warrior who had stopped\nand turned toward him. The panthan was glad that a sword hung at his\nside, and glad too that they were buried in the dim recesses of the\npits and that there would be but a single antagonist, for time was\nprecious.\n\n\"Heard you any word of the other?\" called the warrior to him.\n\n\"No,\" replied Turan, who had not the faintest idea to whom or what the\nfellow referred.\n\n\"He cannot escape,\" continued the warrior. \"The woman ran directly into\nour arms, but she swore that she knew not where her companion might be\nfound.\"\n\n\"They took her back to O-Tar?\" asked Turan, for now he knew whom the\nother meant, and he would know more.\n\n\"They took her back to The Towers of Jetan,\" replied the warrior.\n\"Tomorrow the games commence and doubtless she will be played for,\nthough I doubt if any wants her, beautiful as she is. She fears not\neven O-Tar. By Cluros! but she would make a hard slave to subdue--a\nregular she-banth she is. Not for me,\" and he continued on his way\nshaking his head.\n\nTuran hurried on searching for an avenue that led to the level of the\nstreets above when suddenly he came to the open doorway of a small\nchamber in which sat a man who was chained to the wall. Turan voiced a\nlow exclamation of surprise and pleasure as he recognized that the man\nwas A-Kor, and that he had stumbled by accident upon the very cell in\nwhich he had been imprisoned. A-Kor looked at him questioningly. It was\nevident that he did not recognize his fellow prisoner. Turan crossed to\nthe table and leaning close to the other whispered to him.\n\n\"I am Turan the panthan,\" he said, \"who was chained beside you.\"\n\nA-Kor looked at him closely. \"Your own mother would never know you!\" he\nsaid; \"but tell me, what has transpired since they took you away?\"\n\nTuran recounted his experiences in the throne room of O-Tar and in the\npits beneath, \"and now,\" he continued, \"I must find these Towers of\nJetan and see what may be done toward liberating the Princess of\nHelium.\"\n\nA-Kor shook his head. \"Long was I dwar of the Towers,\" he said, \"and I\ncan say to you, stranger, that you might as well attempt to reduce\nManator, single handed, as to rescue a prisoner from The Towers of\nJetan.\"\n\n\"But I must,\" replied Turan.\n\n\"Are you better than a good swordsman?\" asked A-Kor presently.\n\n\"I am accounted so,\" replied Turan.\n\n\"Then there is a way--sst!\" he was suddenly silent and pointing toward\nthe base of the wall at the end of the room.\n\nTuran looked in the direction the other's forefinger indicated, to see\nprojecting from the mouth of an ulsio's burrow two large chelae and a\npair of protruding eyes.\n\n\"Ghek!\" he cried and immediately the hideous kaldane crawled out upon\nthe floor and approached the table. A-Kor drew back with a half-stifled\nejaculation of repulsion. \"Do not fear,\" Turan reassured him. \"It is my\nfriend--he whom I told you held O-Tar while Tara and I escaped.\"\n\nGhek climbed to the table top and squatted between the two warriors.\n\"You are safe in assuming,\" he said addressing A-Kor, \"that Turan the\npanthan has no master in all Manator where the art of sword-play is\nconcerned. I overheard your conversation--go on.\"\n\n\"You are his friend,\" continued A-Kor, \"and so I may explain safely in\nyour presence the only plan I know whereby he may hope to rescue the\nPrincess of Helium. She is to be the stake of one of the games and it\nis O-Tar's desire that she be won by slaves and common warriors, since\nshe repulsed him. Thus would he punish her. Not a single man, but all\nwho survive upon the winning side are to possess her. With money,\nhowever, one may buy off the others before the game. That you could do,\nand if your side won and you survived she would become your slave.\"\n\n\"But how may a stranger and a hunted fugitive accomplish this?\" asked\nTuran.\n\n\"No one will recognize you. You will go tomorrow to the keeper of the\nTowers and enlist in that game for which the girl is to be the stake,\ntelling the keeper that you are from Manataj, the farthest city of\nManator. If he questions you, you may say that you saw her when she was\nbrought into the city after her capture. If you win her, you will find\nthoats stabled at my palace and you will carry from me a token that\nwill place all that is mine at your disposal.\"\n\n\"But how can I buy off the others in the game without money?\" asked\nTuran. \"I have none--not even of my own country.\"\n\nA-Kor opened his pocket-pouch and drew forth a packet of Manatorian\nmoney.\n\n\"Here is sufficient to buy them off twice over,\" he said, handing a\nportion of it to Turan.\n\n\"But why do you do this for a stranger?\" asked the panthan.\n\n\"My mother was a captive princess here,\" replied A-Kor. \"I but do for\nthe Princess of Helium what my mother would have me do.\"\n\n\"Under the circumstances, then, Manatorian,\" replied Turan, \"I cannot\nbut accept your generosity on behalf of Tara of Helium and live in hope\nthat some day I may do for you something in return.\"\n\n\"Now you must be gone,\" advised A-Kor. \"At any minute a guard may come\nand discover you here. Go directly to the Avenue of Gates, which\ncircles the city just within the outer wall. There you will find many\nplaces devoted to the lodging of strangers. You will know them by the\nthoat's head carved above the doors. Say that you are here from Manataj\nto witness the games. Take the name of U-Kal--it will arouse no\nsuspicion, nor will you if you can avoid conversation. Early in the\nmorning seek the keeper of The Towers of Jetan. May the strength and\nfortune of all your ancestors be with you!\"\n\nBidding good-bye to Ghek and A-Kor, the panthan, following directions\ngiven him by A-Kor, set out to find his way to the Avenue of Gates, nor\nhad he any great difficulty. On the way he met several warriors, but\nbeyond a nod they gave him no heed. With ease he found a lodging place\nwhere there were many strangers from other cities of Manator. As he had\nhad no sleep since the previous night he threw himself among the silks\nand furs of his couch to gain the rest which he must have, was he to\ngive the best possible account of himself in the service of Tara of\nHelium the following day.\n\nIt was already morning when he awoke, and rising he paid for his\nlodgings, sought a place to eat, and a short time later was on his way\ntoward The Towers of Jetan, which he had no difficulty in finding owing\nto the great crowds that were winding along the avenues toward the\ngames. The new keeper of The Towers who had succeeded E-Med was too\nbusy to scrutinize entries closely, for in addition to the many\nvolunteer players there were scores of slaves and prisoners being\nforced into the games by their owners or the government. The name of\neach must be recorded as well as the position he was to play and the\ngame or games in which he was to be entered, and then there were the\nsubstitutes for each that was entered in more than a single game--one\nfor each additional game that an individual was entered for, that no\nsucceeding game might be delayed by the death or disablement of a\nplayer.\n\n\"Your name?\" asked a clerk as Turan presented himself.\n\n\"U-Kal,\" replied the panthan.\n\n\"Your city?\"\n\n\"Manataj.\"\n\nThe keeper, who was standing beside the clerk, looked at Turan. \"You\nhave come a great way to play at jetan,\" he said. \"It is seldom that\nthe men of Manataj attend other than the decennial games. Tell me of\nO-Zar! Will he attend next year? Ah, but he was a noble fighter. If you\nbe half the swordsman, U-Kal, the fame of Manataj will increase this\nday. But tell me, what of O-Zar?\"\n\n\"He is well,\" replied Turan, glibly, \"and he sent greetings to his\nfriends in Manator.\"\n\n\"Good!\" exclaimed the keeper, \"and now in what game would you enter?\"\n\n\"I would play for the Heliumetic princess, Tara,\" replied Turan.\n\n\"But man, she is to be the stake of a game for slaves and criminals,\"\ncried the keeper. \"You would not volunteer for such a game!\"\n\n\"But I would,\" replied Turan. \"I saw her when she was brought into the\ncity and even then I vowed to possess her.\"\n\n\"But you will have to share her with the survivors even if your color\nwins,\" objected the other.\n\n\"They may be brought to reason,\" insisted Turan.\n\n\"And you will chance incurring the wrath of O-Tar, who has no love for\nthis savage barbarian,\" explained the keeper.\n\n\"And I win her O-Tar will be rid of her,\" said Turan.\n\nThe keeper of The Towers of Jetan shook his head. \"You are rash,\" he\nsaid. \"I would that I might dissuade the friend of my friend O-Zar from\nsuch madness.\"\n\n\"Would you favor the friend of O-Zar?\" asked Turan.\n\n\"Gladly!\" exclaimed the other. \"What may I do for him?\"\n\n\"Make me chief of the Black and give me for my pieces all slaves from\nGathol, for I understand that those be excellent warriors,\" replied the\npanthan.\n\n\"It is a strange request,\" said the keeper, \"but for my friend O-Zar I\nwould do even more, though of course--\" he hesitated--\"it is customary\nfor one who would be chief to make some slight payment.\"\n\n\"Certainly,\" Turan hastened to assure him; \"I had not forgotten that. I\nwas about to ask you what the customary amount is.\"\n\n\"For the friend of my friend it shall be nominal,\" replied the keeper,\nnaming a figure that Gahan, accustomed to the high price of wealthy\nGathol, thought ridiculously low.\n\n\"Tell me,\" he said, handing the money to the keeper, \"when the game for\nthe Heliumite is to be played.\"\n\n\"It is the second in order of the day's games; and now if you will come\nwith me you may select your pieces.\"\n\nTuran followed the keeper to a large court which lay between the towers\nand the jetan field, where hundreds of warriors were assembled. Already\nchiefs for the games of the day were selecting their pieces and\nassigning them to positions, though for the principal games these\nmatters had been arranged for weeks before. The keeper led Turan to a\npart of the courtyard where the majority of the slaves were assembled.\n\n\"Take your choice of those not assigned,\" said the keeper, \"and when\nyou have your quota conduct them to the field. Your place will be\nassigned you by an officer there, and there you will remain with your\npieces until the second game is called. I wish you luck, U-Kal, though\nfrom what I have heard you will be more lucky to lose than to win the\nslave from Helium.\"\n\nAfter the fellow had departed Turan approached the slaves. \"I seek the\nbest swordsmen for the second game,\" he announced. \"Men from Gathol I\nwish, for I have heard that these be noble fighters.\"\n\nA slave rose and approached him. \"It is all the same in which game we\ndie,\" he said. \"I would fight for you as a panthan in the second game.\"\n\nAnother came. \"I am not from Gathol,\" he said. \"I am from Helium, and I\nwould fight for the honor of a princess of Helium.\"\n\n\"Good!\" exclaimed Turan. \"Art a swordsman of repute in Helium?\"\n\n\"I was a dwar under the great Warlord, and I have fought at his side in\na score of battles from The Golden Cliffs to The Carrion Caves. My name\nis Val Dor. Who knows Helium, knows my prowess.\"\n\nThe name was well known to Gahan, who had heard the man spoken of on\nhis last visit to Helium, and his mysterious disappearance discussed as\nwell as his renown as a fighter.\n\n\"How could I know aught of Helium?\" asked Turan; \"but if you be such a\nfighter as you say no position could suit you better than that of\nFlier. What say you?\"\n\nThe man's eyes denoted sudden surprise. He looked keenly at Turan, his\neyes running quickly over the other's harness. Then he stepped quite\nclose so that his words might not be overheard.\n\n\"Methinks you may know more of Helium than of Manator,\" he whispered.\n\n\"What mean you, fellow?\" demanded Turan, seeking to cudgel his brains\nfor the source of this man's knowledge, guess, or inspiration.\n\n\"I mean,\" replied Val Dor, \"that you are not of Manator and that if you\nwish to hide the fact it is well that you speak not to a Manatorian as\nyou did just speak to me of--Fliers! There be no Fliers in Manator and\nno piece in their game of Jetan bearing that name. Instead they call\nhim who stands next to the Chief or Princess, Odwar. The piece has the\nsame moves and power that the Flier has in the game as played outside\nManator. Remember this then and remember, too, that if you have a\nsecret it be safe in the keeping of Val Dor of Helium.\"\n\nTuran made no reply but turned to the task of selecting the remainder\nof his pieces. Val Dor, the Heliumite, and Floran, the volunteer from\nGathol, were of great assistance to him, since one or the other of them\nknew most of the slaves from whom his selection was to be made. The\npieces all chosen, Turan led them to the place beside the playing field\nwhere they were to wait their turn, and here he passed the word around\nthat they were to fight for more than the stake he offered for the\nprincess should they win. This stake they accepted, so that Turan was\nsure of possessing Tara if his side was victorious, but he knew that\nthese men would fight even more valorously for chivalry than for money,\nnor was it difficult to enlist the interest even of the Gatholians in\nthe service of the princess. And now he held out the possibility of a\nstill further reward.\n\n\"I cannot promise you,\" he explained, \"but I may say I have heard that\nthis day which makes it possible that should we win this game we may\neven win your freedom!\"\n\nThey leaped to their feet and crowded around him with many questions.\n\n\"It may not be spoken of aloud,\" he said; \"but Floran and Val Dor know\nand they assure me that you may all be trusted. Listen! What I would\ntell you places my life in your hands, but you must know that every man\nwill realize that he is fighting today the greatest battle of his\nlife--for the honor and the freedom of Barsoom's most wondrous princess\nand for his own freedom as well--for the chance to return each to his\nown country and to the woman who awaits him there.\n\n\"First, then, is my secret. I am not of Manator. Like yourselves I am a\nslave, though for the moment disguised as a Manatorian from Manataj. My\ncountry and my identity must remain undisclosed for reasons that have\nno bearing upon our game today. I, then, am one of you. I fight for the\nsame things that you will fight for.\n\n\"And now for that which I have but just learned. U-Thor, the great jed\nof Manatos, quarreled with O-Tar in the palace the day before yesterday\nand their warriors set upon one another. U-Thor was driven as far as\nThe Gate of Enemies, where he now lies encamped. At any moment the\nfight may be renewed; but it is thought that U-Thor has sent to Manatos\nfor reinforcements. Now, men of Gathol, here is the thing that\ninterests you. U-Thor has recently taken to wife the Princess Haja of\nGathol, who was slave to O-Tar and whose son, A-Kor, was dwar of The\nTowers of Jetan. Haja's heart is filled with loyalty for Gathol and\ncompassion for her sons who are here enslaved, and this latter\nsentiment she has to some extent transmitted to U-Thor. Aid me,\ntherefore, in freeing the Princess Tara of Helium and I believe that I\ncan aid you and her and myself to escape the city. Bend close your\nears, slaves of O-Tar, that no cruel enemy may hear my words,\" and\nGahan of Gathol whispered in low tones the daring plan he had\nconceived. \"And now,\" he demanded, when he had finished, \"let him who\ndoes not dare speak now.\" None replied. \"Is there none?\"\n\n\"And it would not betray you should I cast my sword at thy feet, it had\nbeen done ere this,\" said one in low tones pregnant with suppressed\nfeeling.\n\n\"And I!\" \"And I!\" \"And I!\" chorused the others in vibrant whispers.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nA PLAY TO THE DEATH\n\nClear and sweet a trumpet spoke across The Fields of Jetan. From The\nHigh Tower its cool voice floated across the city of Manator and above\nthe babel of human discords rising from the crowded mass that filled\nthe seats of the stadium below. It called the players for the first\ngame, and simultaneously there fluttered to the peaks of a thousand\nstaffs on tower and battlement and the great wall of the stadium the\nrich, gay pennons of the fighting chiefs of Manator. Thus was marked\nthe opening of The Jeddak's Games, the most important of the year and\nsecond only to the Grand Decennial Games.\n\nGahan of Gathol watched every play with eagle eye. The match was an\nunimportant one, being but to settle some petty dispute between two\nchiefs, and was played with professional jetan players for points only.\nNo one was killed and there was but little blood spilled. It lasted\nabout an hour and was terminated by the chief of the losing side\ndeliberately permitting himself to be out-pointed, that the game might\nbe called a draw.\n\nAgain the trumpet sounded, this time announcing the second and last\ngame of the afternoon. While this was not considered an important\nmatch, those being reserved for the fourth and fifth days of the games,\nit promised to afford sufficient excitement since it was a game to the\ndeath. The vital difference between the game played with living men and\nthat in which inanimate pieces are used, lies in the fact that while in\nthe latter the mere placing of a piece upon a square occupied by an\nopponent piece terminates the move, in the former the two pieces thus\nbrought together engage in a duel for possession of the square.\nTherefore there enters into the former game not only the strategy of\njetan but the personal prowess and bravery of each individual piece, so\nthat a knowledge not only of one's own men but of each player upon the\nopposing side is of vast value to a chief.\n\nIn this respect was Gahan handicapped, though the loyalty of his\nplayers did much to offset his ignorance of them, since they aided him\nin arranging the board to the best advantage and told him honestly the\nfaults and virtues of each. One fought best in a losing game; another\nwas too slow; another too impetuous; this one had fire and a heart of\nsteel, but lacked endurance. Of the opponents, though, they knew little\nor nothing, and now as the two sides took their places upon the black\nand orange squares of the great jetan board Gahan obtained, for the\nfirst time, a close view of those who opposed him. The Orange Chief had\nnot yet entered the field, but his men were all in place. Val Dor\nturned to Gahan. \"They are all criminals from the pits of Manator,\" he\nsaid. \"There is no slave among them. We shall not have to fight against\na single fellow-countryman and every life we take will be the life of\nan enemy.\"\n\n\"It is well,\" replied Gahan; \"but where is their Chief, and where the\ntwo Princesses?\"\n\n\"They are coming now, see?\" and he pointed across the field to where\ntwo women could be seen approaching under guard.\n\nAs they came nearer Gahan saw that one was indeed Tara of Helium, but\nthe other he did not recognize, and then they were brought to the\ncenter of the field midway between the two sides and there waited until\nthe Orange Chief arrived.\n\nFloran voiced an exclamation of surprise when he recognized him. \"By my\nfirst ancestor if it is not one of their great chiefs,\" he said, \"and\nwe were told that slaves and criminals were to play for the stake of\nthis game.\"\n\nHis words were interrupted by the keeper of The Towers whose duty it\nwas not only to announce the games and the stakes, but to act as\nreferee as well.\n\n\"Of this, the second game of the first day of the Jeddak's Games in the\nfour hundred and thirty-third year of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, the\nPrincesses of each side shall be the sole stakes and to the survivors\nof the winning side shall belong both the Princesses, to do with as\nthey shall see fit. The Orange Princess is the slave woman Lan-O of\nGathol; the Black Princess is the slave woman Tara, a princess of\nHelium. The Black Chief is U-Kal of Manataj, a volunteer player; the\nOrange Chief is the dwar U-Dor of the 8th Utan of the jeddak of\nManator, also a volunteer player. The squares shall be contested to the\ndeath. Just are the laws of Manator! I have spoken.\"\n\nThe initial move was won by U-Dor, following which the two Chiefs\nescorted their respective Princesses to the square each was to occupy.\nIt was the first time Gahan had been alone with Tara since she had been\nbrought upon the field. He saw her scrutinizing him closely as he\napproached to lead her to her place and wondered if she recognized him:\nbut if she did she gave no sign of it. He could not but remember her\nlast words--\"I hate you!\" and her desertion of him when he had been\nlocked in the room beneath the palace by I-Gos, the taxidermist, and so\nhe did not seek to enlighten her as to his identity. He meant to fight\nfor her--to die for her, if necessary--and if he did not die to go on\nfighting to the end for her love. Gahan of Gathol was not easily to be\ndiscouraged, but he was compelled to admit that his chances of winning\nthe love of Tara of Helium were remote. Already had she repulsed him\ntwice. Once as jed of Gathol and again as Turan the panthan. Before his\nlove, however, came her safety and the former must be relegated to the\nbackground until the latter had been achieved.\n\nPassing among the players already at their stations the two took their\nplaces upon their respective squares. At Tara's left was the Black\nChief, Gahan of Gathol; directly in front of her the Princess' Panthan,\nFloran of Gathol; and at her right the Princess' Odwar, Val Dor of\nHelium. And each of these knew the part that he was to play, win or\nlose, as did each of the other Black players. As Tara took her place\nVal Dor bowed low. \"My sword is at your feet, Tara of Helium,\" he said.\n\nShe turned and looked at him, an expression of surprise and incredulity\nupon her face. \"Val Dor, the dwar!\" she exclaimed. \"Val Dor of\nHelium--one of my father's trusted captains! Can it be possible that my\neyes speak the truth?\"\n\n\"It is Val Dor, Princess,\" the warrior replied, \"and here to die for\nyou if need be, as is every wearer of the Black upon this field of\njetan today. Know Princess,\" he whispered, \"that upon this side is no\nman of Manator, but each and every is an enemy of Manator.\"\n\nShe cast a quick, meaning glance toward Gahan. \"But what of him?\" she\nwhispered, and then she caught her breath quickly in surprise. \"Shade\nof the first jeddak!\" she exclaimed. \"I did but just recognize him\nthrough his disguise.\"\n\n\"And you trust him?\" asked Val Dor. \"I know him not; but he spoke\nfairly, as an honorable warrior, and we have taken him at his word.\"\n\n\"You have made no mistake,\" replied Tara of Helium. \"I would trust him\nwith my life--with my soul; and you, too, may trust him.\"\n\nHappy indeed would have been Gahan of Gathol could he have heard those\nwords; but Fate, who is usually unkind to the lover in such matters,\nordained it otherwise, and then the game was on.\n\nU-Dor moved his Princess' Odwar three squares diagonally to the right,\nwhich placed the piece upon the Black Chief's Odwar's seventh. The move\nwas indicative of the game that U-Dor intended playing--a game of\nblood, rather than of science--and evidenced his contempt for his\nopponents.\n\nGahan followed with his Odwar's Panthan one square straight forward, a\nmore scientific move, which opened up an avenue for himself through his\nline of Panthans, as well as announcing to the players and spectators\nthat he intended having a hand in the fighting himself even before the\nexigencies of the game forced it upon him. The move elicited a ripple\nof applause from those sections of seats reserved for the common\nwarriors and their women, showing perhaps that U-Dor was none too\npopular with these, and, too, it had its effect upon the morale of\nGahan's pieces. A Chief may, and often does, play almost an entire game\nwithout leaving his own square, where, mounted upon a thoat, he may\noverlook the entire field and direct each move, nor may he be\nreproached for lack of courage should he elect thus to play the game\nsince, by the rules, were he to be slain or so badly wounded as to be\ncompelled to withdraw, a game that might otherwise have been won by the\nscience of his play and the prowess of his men would be drawn. To\ninvite personal combat, therefore, denotes confidence in his own\nswordsmanship, and great courage, two attributes that were calculated\nto fill the Black players with hope and valor when evinced by their\nChief thus early in the game.\n\nU-Dor's next move placed Lan-O's Odwar upon Tara's Odwar's\nfourth--within striking distance of the Black Princess.\n\nAnother move and the game would be lost to Gahan unless the Orange\nOdwar was overthrown, or Tara moved to a position of safety; but to\nmove his Princess now would be to admit his belief in the superiority\nof the Orange. In the three squares allowed him he could not place\nhimself squarely upon the square occupied by the Odwar of U-Dor's\nPrincess. There was only one player upon the Black side that might\ndispute the square with the enemy and that was the Chief's Odwar, who\nstood upon Gahan's left. Gahan turned upon his thoat and looked at the\nman. He was a splendid looking fellow, resplendent in the gorgeous\ntrappings of an Odwar, the five brilliant feathers which denoted his\nposition rising defiantly erect from his thick, black hair. In common\nwith every player upon the field and every spectator in the crowded\nstands he knew what was passing in his Chief's mind. He dared not\nspeak, the ethics of the game forbade it, but what his lips might not\nvoice his eyes expressed in martial fire, and eloquently: \"The honor of\nthe Black and the safety of our Princess are secure with me!\"\n\nGahan hesitated no longer. \"Chief's Odwar to Princess' Odwar's fourth!\"\nhe commanded. It was the courageous move of a leader who had taken up\nthe gauntlet thrown down by his opponent.\n\nThe warrior sprang forward and leaped into the square occupied by\nU-Dor's piece. It was the first disputed square of the game. The eyes\nof the players were fastened upon the contestants, the spectators\nleaned forward in their seats after the first applause that had greeted\nthe move, and silence fell upon the vast assemblage. If the Black went\ndown to defeat, U-Dor could move his victorious piece on to the square\noccupied by Tara of Helium and the game would be over--over in four\nmoves and lost to Gahan of Gathol. If the Orange lost U-Dor would have\nsacrificed one of his most important pieces and more than lost what\nadvantage the first move might have given him.\n\nPhysically the two men appeared perfectly matched and each was fighting\nfor his life, but from the first it was apparent that the Black Odwar\nwas the better swordsman, and Gahan knew that he had another and\nperhaps a greater advantage over his antagonist. The latter was\nfighting for his life only, without the spur of chivalry or loyalty.\nThe Black Odwar had these to strengthen his arm, and besides these the\nknowledge of the thing that Gahan had whispered into the ears of his\nplayers before the game, and so he fought for what is more than life to\nthe man of honor.\n\nIt was a duel that held those who witnessed it in spellbound silence.\nThe weaving blades gleamed in the brilliant sunlight, ringing to the\nparries of cut and thrust. The barbaric harness of the duelists lent\nsplendid color to the savage, martial scene. The Orange Odwar, forced\nupon the defensive, was fighting madly for his life. The Black, with\ncool and terrible efficiency, was forcing him steadily, step by step,\ninto a corner of the square--a position from which there could be no\nescape. To abandon the square was to lose it to his opponent and win\nfor himself ignoble and immediate death before the jeering populace.\nSpurred on by the seeming hopelessness of his plight, the Orange Odwar\nburst into a sudden fury of offense that forced the Black back a half\ndozen steps, and then the sword of U-Dor's piece leaped in and drew\nfirst blood, from the shoulder of his merciless opponent. An\nill-smothered cry of encouragement went up from U-Dor's men; the Orange\nOdwar, encouraged by his single success, sought to bear down the Black\nby the rapidity of his attack. There was a moment in which the swords\nmoved with a rapidity that no man's eye might follow, and then the\nBlack Odwar made a lightning parry of a vicious thrust, leaned quickly\nforward into the opening he had effected, and drove his sword through\nthe heart of the Orange Odwar--to the hilt he drove it through the body\nof the Orange Odwar.\n\nA shout arose from the stands, for wherever may have been the favor of\nthe spectators, none there was who could say that it had not been a\npretty fight, or that the better man had not won. And from the Black\nplayers came a sigh of relief as they relaxed from the tension of the\npast moments.\n\nI shall not weary you with the details of the game--only the high\nfeatures of it are necessary to your understanding of the outcome. The\nfourth move after the victory of the Black Odwar found Gahan upon\nU-Dor's fourth; an Orange Panthan was on the adjoining square\ndiagonally to his right and the only opposing piece that could engage\nhim other than U-Dor himself.\n\nIt had been apparent to both players and spectators for the past two\nmoves, that Gahan was moving straight across the field into the enemy's\ncountry to seek personal combat with the Orange Chief--that he was\nstaking all upon his belief in the superiority of his own\nswordsmanship, since if the two Chiefs engage, the outcome decides the\ngame. U-Dor could move out and engage Gahan, or he could move his\nPrincess' Panthan upon the square occupied by Gahan in the hope that the\nformer would defeat the Black Chief and thus draw the game, which is\nthe outcome if any other than a Chief slays the opposing Chief, or he\ncould move away and escape, temporarily, the necessity for personal\ncombat, or at least that is evidently what he had in mind as was\nobvious to all who saw him scanning the board about him; and his\ndisappointment was apparent when he finally discovered that Gahan had\nso placed himself that there was no square to which U-Dor could move\nthat it was not within Gahan's power to reach at his own next move.\n\nU-Dor had placed his own Princess four squares east of Gahan when her\nposition had been threatened, and he had hoped to lure the Black Chief\nafter her and away from U-Dor; but in that he had failed. He now\ndiscovered that he might play his own Odwar into personal combat with\nGahan; but he had already lost one Odwar and could ill spare the other.\nHis position was a delicate one, since he did not wish to engage Gahan\npersonally, while it appeared that there was little likelihood of his\nbeing able to escape. There was just one hope and that lay in his\nPrincess' Panthan, so, without more deliberation he ordered the piece\nonto the square occupied by the Black Chief.\n\nThe sympathies of the spectators were all with Gahan now. If he lost,\nthe game would be declared a draw, nor do they think better of drawn\ngames upon Barsoom than do Earth men. If he won, it would doubtless\nmean a duel between the two Chiefs, a development for which they all\nwere hoping. The game already bade fair to be a short one and it would\nbe an angry crowd should it be decided a draw with only two men slain.\nThere were great, historic games on record where of the forty pieces on\nthe field when the game opened only three survived--the two Princesses\nand the victorious Chief.\n\nThey blamed U-Dor, though in fact he was well within his rights in\ndirecting his play as he saw fit, nor was a refusal on his part to\nengage the Black Chief necessarily an imputation of cowardice. He was a\ngreat chief who had conceived a notion to possess the slave Tara. There\nwas no honor that could accrue to him from engaging in combat with\nslaves and criminals, or an unknown warrior from Manataj, nor was the\nstake of sufficient import to warrant the risk.\n\nBut now the duel between Gahan and the Orange Panthan was on and the\ndecision of the next move was no longer in other hands than theirs. It\nwas the first time that these Manatorians had seen Gahan of Gathol\nfight, but Tara of Helium knew that he was master of his sword. Could\nhe have seen the proud light in her eyes as he crossed blades with the\nwearer of the Orange, he might easily have wondered if they were the\nsame eyes that had flashed fire and hatred at him that time he had\ncovered her lips with mad kisses, in the pits of the palace of O-Tar.\nAs she watched him she could not but compare his swordplay with that of\nthe greatest swordsman of two worlds--her father, John Carter, of\nVirginia, a Prince of Helium, Warlord of Barsoom--and she knew that the\nskill of the Black Chief suffered little by the comparison.\n\nShort and to the point was the duel that decided possession of the\nOrange Chief's fourth. The spectators had settled themselves for an\ninteresting engagement of at least average duration when they were\nbrought almost standing by a brilliant flash of rapid swordplay that\nwas over ere one could catch his breath. They saw the Black Chief step\nquickly back, his point upon the ground, while his opponent, his sword\nslipping from his fingers, clutched his breast, sank to his knees and\nthen lunged forward upon his face.\n\nAnd then Gahan of Gathol turned his eyes directly upon U-Dor of\nManator, three squares away. Three squares is a Chief's move--three\nsquares in any direction or combination of directions, only provided\nthat he does not cross the same square twice in a given move. The\npeople saw and guessed Gahan's intention. They rose and roared forth\ntheir approval as he moved deliberately across the intervening squares\ntoward the Orange Chief.\n\nO-Tar, in the royal enclosure, sat frowning upon the scene. O-Tar was\nangry. He was angry with U-Dor for having entered this game for\npossession of a slave, for whom it had been his wish only slaves and\ncriminals should strive. He was angry with the warrior from Manataj for\nhaving so far out-generaled and out-fought the men from Manator. He was\nangry with the populace because of their open hostility toward one who\nhad basked in the sunshine of his favor for long years. O-Tar the\njeddak had not enjoyed the afternoon. Those who surrounded him were\nequally glum--they, too, scowled upon the field, the players, and the\npeople. Among them was a bent and wrinkled old man who gazed through\nweak and watery eyes upon the field and the players.\n\nAs Gahan entered his square, U-Dor leaped toward him with drawn sword\nwith such fury as might have overborne a less skilled and powerful\nswordsman. For a minute the fighting was fast and furious and by\ncomparison reducing to insignificance all that had gone before. Here\nindeed were two magnificent swordsmen, and here was to be a battle that\nbade fair to make up for whatever the people felt they had been\ndefrauded of by the shortness of the game. Nor had it continued long\nbefore many there were who would have prophesied that they were\nwitnessing a duel that was to become historic in the annals of jetan at\nManator. Every trick, every subterfuge, known to the art of fence these\nmen employed. Time and again each scored a point and brought blood to\nhis opponent's copper hide until both were red with gore; but neither\nseemed able to administer the coup de grace.\n\nFrom her position upon the opposite side of the field Tara of Helium\nwatched the long-drawn battle. Always it seemed to her that the Black\nChief fought upon the defensive, or when he assumed to push his\nopponent, he neglected a thousand openings that her practiced eye\nbeheld. Never did he seem in real danger, nor never did he appear to\nexert himself to quite the pitch needful for victory. The duel already\nhad been long contested and the day was drawing to a close. Presently\nthe sudden transition from daylight to darkness which, owing to the\ntenuity of the air upon Barsoom, occurs almost without the warning\ntwilight of Earth, would occur. Would the fight never end? Would the\ngame be called a draw after all? What ailed the Black Chief?\n\nTara wished that she might answer at least the last of these questions\nfor she was sure that Turan the panthan, as she knew him, while\nfighting brilliantly, was not giving of himself all that he might. She\ncould not believe that fear was restraining his hand, but that there\nwas something beside inability to push U-Dor more fiercely she was\nconfident. What it was, however, she could not guess.\n\nOnce she saw Gahan glance quickly up toward the sinking sun. In thirty\nminutes it would be dark. And then she saw and all those others saw a\nstrange transition steal over the swordplay of the Black Chief. It was\nas though he had been playing with the great dwar, U-Dor, all these\nhours, and now he still played with him but there was a difference. He\nplayed with him terribly as a carnivore plays with its victim in the\ninstant before the kill. The Orange Chief was helpless now in the hands\nof a swordsman so superior that there could be no comparison, and the\npeople sat in open-mouthed wonder and awe as Gahan of Gathol cut his\nfoe to ribbons and then struck him down with a blow that cleft him to\nthe chin.\n\nIn twenty minutes the sun would set. But what of that?\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nA TASK FOR LOYALTY\n\nLong and loud was the applause that rose above the Field of Jetan at\nManator, as The Keeper of the Towers summoned the two Princesses and\nthe victorious Chief to the center of the field and presented to the\nlatter the fruits of his prowess, and then, as custom demanded, the\nvictorious players, headed by Gahan and the two Princesses, formed in\nprocession behind The Keeper of the Towers and were conducted to the\nplace of victory before the royal enclosure that they might receive the\ncommendation of the jeddak. Those who were mounted gave up their thoats\nto slaves as all must be on foot for this ceremony. Directly beneath\nthe royal enclosure are the gates to one of the tunnels that, passing\nbeneath the seats, give ingress or egress to or from the Field. Before\nthis gate the party halted while O-Tar looked down upon them from\nabove. Val Dor and Floran, passing quietly ahead of the others, went\ndirectly to the gates, where they were hidden from those who occupied\nthe enclosure with O-Tar. The Keeper of the Towers may have noticed\nthem, but so occupied was he with the formality of presenting the\nvictorious Chief to the jeddak that he paid no attention to them.\n\n\"I bring you, O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, U-Kal of Manataj,\" he cried in\na loud voice that might be heard by as many as possible, \"victor over\nthe Orange in the second of the Jeddak's Games of the four hundred and\nthirty-third year of O-Tar, and the slave woman Tara and the slave\nwoman Lan-O that you may bestow these, the stakes, upon U-Kal.\"\n\nAs he spoke, a little, wrinkled, old man peered over the rail of the\nenclosure down upon the three who stood directly behind The Keeper, and\nstrained his weak and watery eyes in an effort to satisfy the curiosity\nof old age in a matter of no particular import, for what were two\nslaves and a common warrior from Manataj to any who sat with O-Tar the\njeddak?\n\n\"U-Kal of Manataj,\" said O-Tar, \"you have deserved the stakes. Seldom\nhave we looked upon more noble swordplay. And you tire of Manataj there\nbe always here in the city of Manator a place for you in The Jeddak's\nGuard.\"\n\nWhile the jeddak was speaking the little, old man, failing clearly to\ndiscern the features of the Black Chief, reached into his pocket-pouch\nand drew forth a pair of thick-lensed spectacles, which he placed upon\nhis nose. For a moment he scrutinized Gahan closely, then he leaped to\nhis feet and addressing O-Tar pointed a shaking finger at Gahan. As he\nrose Tara of Helium clutched the Black Chief's arm.\n\n\"Turan!\" she whispered. \"It is I-Gos, whom I thought to have slain in\nthe pits of O-Tar. It is I-Gos and he recognizes you and will--\"\n\nBut what I-Gos would do was already transpiring. In his falsetto voice\nhe fairly screamed: \"It is the slave Turan who stole the woman Tara\nfrom your throne room, O-Tar. He desecrated the dead chief I-Mal and\nwears his harness now!\"\n\nInstantly all was pandemonium. Warriors drew their swords and leaped to\ntheir feet. Gahan's victorious players rushed forward in a body,\nsweeping The Keeper of the Towers from his feet. Val Dor and Floran\nthrew open the gates beneath the royal enclosure, opening the tunnel\nthat led to the avenue in the city beyond the Towers. Gahan, surrounded\nby his men, drew Tara and Lan-O into the passageway, and at a rapid\npace the party sought to reach the opposite end of the tunnel before\ntheir escape could be cut off. They were successful and when they\nemerged into the city the sun had set and darkness had come, relieved\nonly by an antiquated and ineffective lighting system, which cast but a\npale glow over the shadowy streets.\n\nNow it was that Tara of Helium guessed why the Black Chief had drawn\nout his duel with U-Dor and realized that he might have slain his man\nat almost any moment he had elected. The whole plan that Gahan had\nwhispered to his players before the game was thoroughly understood.\nThey were to make their way to The Gate of Enemies and there offer\ntheir services to U-Thor, the great Jed of Manatos. The fact that most\nof them were Gatholians and that Gahan could lead rescuers to the pit\nwhere A-Kor, the son of U-Thor's wife, was confined, convinced the Jed\nof Gathol that they would meet with no rebuff at the hands of U-Thor.\nBut even should he refuse them, still were they bound together to go on\ntoward freedom, if necessary cutting their way through the forces of\nU-Thor at The Gate of Enemies--twenty men against a small army; but of\nsuch stuff are the warriors of Barsoom.\n\nThey had covered a considerable distance along the almost deserted\navenue before signs of pursuit developed and then there came upon them\nsuddenly from behind a dozen warriors mounted on thoats--a detachment,\nevidently, from The Jeddak's Guard. Instantly the avenue was a\npandemonium of clashing blades, cursing warriors, and squealing thoats.\nIn the first onslaught life blood was spilled upon both sides. Two of\nGahan's men went down, and upon the enemies' side three riderless\nthoats attested at least a portion of their casualties.\n\nGahan was engaged with a fellow who appeared to have been selected to\naccount for him only, since he rode straight for him and sought to cut\nhim down without giving the slightest heed to several who slashed at\nhim as he passed them. The Gatholian, practiced in the art of combating\na mounted warrior from the ground, sought to reach the left side of the\nfellow's thoat a little to the rider's rear, the only position in which\nhe would have any advantage over his antagonist, or rather the position\nthat would most greatly reduce the advantage of the mounted man, and,\nsimilarly, the Manatorian strove to thwart his design. And so the\nguardsman wheeled and turned his vicious, angry mount while Gahan\nleaped in and out in an effort to reach the coveted vantage point, but\nalways seeking some other opening in his foe's defense.\n\nAnd while they jockeyed for position a rider swept swiftly past them.\nAs he passed behind Gahan the latter heard a cry of alarm.\n\n\"Turan, they have me!\" came to his ears in the voice of Tara of Helium.\n\nA quick glance across his shoulder showed him the galloping thoatman in\nthe act of dragging Tara to the withers of the beast, and then, with\nthe fury of a demon, Gahan of Gathol leaped for his own man, dragged\nhim from his mount and as he fell smote his head from his shoulders\nwith a single cut of his keen sword. Scarce had the body touched the\npavement when the Gatholian was upon the back of the dead warrior's\nmount, and galloping swiftly down the avenue after the diminishing\nfigures of Tara and her abductor, the sounds of the fight waning in the\ndistance as he pursued his quarry along the avenue that passes the\npalace of O-Tar and leads to The Gate of Enemies.\n\nGahan's mount, carrying but a single rider, gained upon that of the\nManatorian, so that as they neared the palace Gahan was scarce a\nhundred yards behind, and now, to his consternation, he saw the fellow\nturn into the great entrance-way. For a moment only was he halted by\nthe guards and then he disappeared within. Gahan was almost upon him\nthen, but evidently he had warned the guards, for they leaped out to\nintercept the Gatholian. But no! the fellow could not have known that\nhe was pursued, since he had not seen Gahan seize a mount, nor would he\nhave thought that pursuit would come so soon. If he had passed then, so\ncould Gahan pass, for did he not wear the trappings of a Manatorian?\nThe Gatholian thought quickly, and stopping his thoat called to the\nguardsmen to let him pass, \"In the name of O-Tar!\" They hesitated a\nmoment.\n\n\"Aside!\" cried Gahan. \"Must the jeddak's messenger parley for the right\nto deliver his message?\"\n\n\"To whom would you deliver it?\" asked the padwar of the guard.\n\n\"Saw you not him who just entered?\" cried Gahan, and without waiting\nfor a reply urged his thoat straight past them into the palace, and\nwhile they were deliberating what was best to be done, it was too late\nto do anything--which is not unusual.\n\nAlong the marble corridors Gahan guided his thoat, and because he had\ngone that way before, rather than because he knew which way Tara had\nbeen taken, he followed the runways and passed through the chambers\nthat led to the throne room of O-Tar. On the second level he met a\nslave.\n\n\"Which way went he who carried the woman before him?\" he asked.\n\nThe slave pointed toward a nearby runway that led to the third level\nand Gahan dashed rapidly on in pursuit. At the same moment a thoatman,\nriding at a furious pace, approached the palace and halted his mount at\nthe gate.\n\n\"Saw you aught of a warrior pursuing one who carried a woman before him\non his thoat?\" he shouted to the guard.\n\n\"He but just passed in,\" replied the padwar, \"saying that he was\nO-Tar's messenger.\"\n\n\"He lied,\" cried the newcomer. \"He was Turan, the slave, who stole the\nwoman from the throne room two days since. Arouse the palace! He must\nbe seized, and alive if possible. It is O-Tar's command.\"\n\nInstantly warriors were dispatched to search for the Gatholian and warn\nthe inmates of the palace to do likewise. Owing to the games there were\ncomparatively few retainers in the great building, but those whom they\nfound were immediately enlisted in the search, so that presently at\nleast fifty warriors were seeking through the countless chambers and\ncorridors of the palace of O-Tar.\n\nAs Gahan's thoat bore him to the third Level the man glimpsed the hind\nquarters of another thoat disappearing at the turn of a corridor far\nahead. Urging his own animal forward he raced swiftly in pursuit and\nmaking the turn discovered only an empty corridor ahead. Along this he\nhurried to discover near its farther end a runway to the fourth level,\nwhich he followed upward. Here he saw that he had gained upon his\nquarry who was just turning through a doorway fifty yards ahead. As\nGahan reached the opening he saw that the warrior had dismounted and\nwas dragging Tara toward a small door on the opposite side of the\nchamber. At the same instant the clank of harness to his rear caused\nhim to cast a glance behind where, along the corridor he had just\ntraversed, he saw three warriors approaching on foot at a run. Leaping\nfrom his thoat Gahan sprang into the chamber where Tara was struggling\nto free herself from the grasp of her captor, slammed the door behind\nhim, shot the great bolt into its seat, and drawing his sword crossed\nthe room at a run to engage the Manatorian. The fellow, thus menaced,\ncalled aloud to Gahan to halt, at the same time thrusting Tara at arm's\nlength and threatening her heart with the point of his short-sword.\n\n\"Stay!\" he cried, \"or the woman dies, for such is the command of O-Tar,\nrather than that she again fall into your hands.\"\n\nGahan stopped. But a few feet separated him from Tara and her captor,\nyet he was helpless to aid her. Slowly the warrior backed toward the\nopen doorway behind him, dragging Tara with him. The girl struggled and\nfought, but the warrior was a powerful man and having seized her by the\nharness from behind was able to hold her in a position of helplessness.\n\n\"Save me, Turan!\" she cried. \"Let them not drag me to a fate worse than\ndeath. Better that I die now while my eyes behold a brave friend than\nlater, fighting alone among enemies in defense of my honor.\"\n\nHe took a step nearer. The warrior made a threatening gesture with his\nsword close to the soft, smooth skin of the princess, and Gahan halted.\n\n\"I cannot, Tara of Helium,\" he cried. \"Think not ill of me that I am\nweak--that I cannot see you die. Too great is my love for you, daughter\nof Helium.\"\n\nThe Manatorian warrior, a derisive grin upon his lips, backed steadily\naway. He had almost reached the doorway when Gahan saw another warrior\nin the chamber toward which Tara was being borne--a fellow who moved\nsilently, almost stealthily, across the marble floor as he approached\nTara's captor from behind. In his right hand he grasped a long-sword.\n\n\"Two to one,\" thought Gahan, and a grim smile touched his lips, for he\nhad no doubt that once they had Tara safely in the adjoining chamber\nthe two would set upon him. If he could not save her, he could at least\ndie for her.\n\nAnd then, suddenly, Gahan's eyes fastened with amazement upon the\nfigure of the warrior behind the grinning fellow who held Tara and was\nforcing her to the doorway. He saw the newcomer step almost within\narm's reach of the other. He saw him stop, an expression of malevolent\nhatred upon his features. He saw the great sword swing through the arc\nof a great circle, gathering swift and terrific momentum from its own\nweight backed by the brawn of the steel thews that guided it; he saw it\npass through the feathered skull of the Manatorian, splitting his\nsardonic grin in twain, and open him to the middle of his breast bone.\n\nAs the dead hand relaxed its grasp upon Tara's wrist the girl leaped\nforward, without a backward glance, to Gahan's side. His left arm\nencircled her, nor did she draw away, as with ready sword the Gatholian\nawaited Fate's next decree. Before them Tara's deliverer was wiping the\nblood from his sword upon the hair of his victim. He was evidently a\nManatorian, his trappings those of the Jeddak's Guard, and so his act\nwas inexplicable to Gahan and to Tara. Presently he sheathed his sword\nand approached them.\n\n\"When a man chooses to hide his identity behind an assumed name,\" he\nsaid, looking straight into Gahan's eyes, \"whatever friend pierces the\ndeception were no friend if he divulged the other's secret.\"\n\nHe paused as though awaiting a reply.\n\n\"Your integrity has perceived and your lips voiced an unalterable\ntruth,\" replied Gahan, whose mind was filled with wonder if the\nimplication could by any possibility be true--that this Manatorian had\nguessed his identity.\n\n\"We are thus agreed,\" continued the other, \"and I may tell you that\nthough I am here known as A-Sor, my real name is Tasor.\" He paused and\nwatched Gahan's face intently for any sign of the effect of this\nknowledge and was rewarded with a quick, though guarded expression of\nrecognition.\n\nTasor! Friend of his youth. The son of that great Gatholian noble who\nhad given his life so gloriously, however futilely, in an attempt to\ndefend Gahan's sire from the daggers of the assassins. Tasor an\nunder-padwar in the guard of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator! It was\ninconceivable--and yet it was he; there could be no doubt of it.\n\"Tasor,\" Gahan repeated aloud. \"But it is no Manatorian name.\" The\nstatement was half interrogatory, for Gahan's curiosity was aroused. He\nwould know how his friend and loyal subject had become a Manatorian.\nLong years had passed since Tasor had disappeared as mysteriously as\nthe Princess Haja and many other of Gahan's subjects. The Jed of Gathol\nhad long supposed him dead.\n\n\"No,\" replied Tasor, \"nor is it a Manatorian name. Come, while I search\nfor a hiding place for you in some forgotten chamber in one of the\nuntenanted portions of the palace, and as we go I will tell you briefly\nhow Tasor the Gatholian became A-Sor the Manatorian.\n\n\"It befell that as I rode with a dozen of my warriors along the western\nborder of Gathol searching for zitidars that had strayed from my herds,\nwe were set upon and surrounded by a great company of Manatorians. They\noverpowered us, though not before half our number was slain and the\nbalance helpless from wounds. And so I was brought a prisoner to\nManataj, a distant city of Manator, and there sold into slavery. A\nwoman bought me--a princess of Manataj whose wealth and position were\nunequaled in the city of her birth. She loved me and when her husband\ndiscovered her infatuation she beseeched me to slay him, and when I\nrefused she hired another to do it. Then she married me; but none would\nhave aught to do with her in Manataj, for they suspected her guilty\nknowledge of her husband's murder. And so we set out from Manataj for\nManatos accompanied by a great caravan bearing all her worldly goods\nand jewels and precious metals, and on the way she caused the rumor to\nbe spread that she and I had died. Then we came to Manator instead, she\ntaking a new name and I the name A-Sor, that we might not be traced\nthrough our names. With her great wealth she bought me a post in The\nJeddak's Guard and none knows that I am not a Manatorian, for she is\ndead. She was beautiful, but she was a devil.\"\n\n\"And you never sought to return to your native city?\" asked Gahan.\n\n\"Never has the hope been absent from my heart, or my mind empty of a\nplan,\" replied Tasor. \"I dream of it by day and by night, but always\nmust I return to the same conclusion--that there can be but a single\nmeans for escape. I must wait until Fortune favors me with a place in a\nraiding party to Gathol. Then, once within the boundaries of my own\ncountry, they shall see me no more.\"\n\n\"Perhaps your opportunity lies already within your grasp,\" said Gahan,\n\"has not your fealty to your own Jed been undermined by years of\nassociation with the men of Manator.\" The statement was half challenge.\n\n\"And my Jed stood before me now,\" cried Tasor, \"and my avowal could be\nmade without violating his confidence, I should cast my sword at his\nfeet and beg the high privilege of dying for him as my sire died for\nhis sire.\"\n\nThere could be no doubt of his sincerity nor any that he was cognizant\nof Gahan's identity. The Jed of Gathol smiled. \"And if your Jed were\nhere there is little doubt but that he would command you to devote your\ntalents and your prowess to the rescue of the Princess Tara of Helium,\"\nhe said, meaningly. \"And he possessed the knowledge I have gained\nduring my captivity he would say to you, 'Go, Tasor, to the pit where\nA-kor, son of Haja of Gathol, is confined and set him free and with him\narouse the slaves from Gathol and march to The Gate of Enemies and\noffer your services to U-Thor of Manataj, who is wed to Haja of Gathol,\nand ask of him in return that he attack the palace of O-Tar and rescue\nTara of Helium and when that thing is accomplished that he free the\nslaves of Gathol and furnish them with the arms and the means to return\nto their own country.' That, Tasor of Gathol, is what Gahan your Jed\nwould demand of you.\"\n\n\"And that, Turan the slave, is what I shall bend my every effort to\naccomplish after I have found a safe refuge for Tara of Helium and her\npanthan,\" replied Tasor.\n\nGahan's glance carried to Tasor an intimation of his Jed's\ngratification and filled him with a chivalrous determination to do the\nthing required of him, or die, for he considered that he had received\nfrom the lips of his beloved ruler a commission that placed upon his\nshoulders a responsibility that encompassed not alone the life of Gahan\nand Tara but the welfare, perhaps the whole future, of Gathol. And so\nhe hastened them onward through the musty corridors of the old palace\nwhere the dust of ages lay undisturbed upon the marble tiles. Now and\nagain he tried a door until he found one that was unlocked. Opening it\nhe ushered them into a chamber, heavy with dust. Crumbling silks and\nfurs adorned the walls, with ancient weapons, and great paintings whose\ncolors were toned by age to wondrous softness.\n\n\"This be as good as any place,\" he said. \"No one comes here. Never have\nI been here before, so I know no more of the other chambers than you;\nbut this one, at least, I can find again when I bring you food and\ndrink. O-Mai the Cruel occupied this portion of the palace during his\nreign, five thousand years before O-Tar. In one of these apartments he\nwas found dead, his face contorted in an expression of fear so horrible\nthat it drove to madness those who looked upon it; yet there was no\nmark of violence upon him. Since then the quarters of O-Mai have been\nshunned for the legends have it that the ghosts of Corphals pursue the\nspirit of the wicked Jeddak nightly through these chambers, shrieking\nand moaning as they go. But,\" he added, as though to reassure himself\nas well as his companions, \"such things may not be countenanced by the\nculture of Gathol or Helium.\"\n\nGahan laughed. \"And if all who looked upon him were driven mad, who\nthen was there to perform the last rites or prepare the body of the\nJeddak for them?\"\n\n\"There was none,\" replied Tasor. \"Where they found him they left him\nand there to this very day his mouldering bones lie hid in some\nforgotten chamber of this forbidden suite.\"\n\nTasor left them then assuring them that he would seek the first\nopportunity to speak with A-Kor, and upon the following day he would\nbring them food and drink.*\n\n* Those who have read John Carter's description of the Green Martians\nin A Princess of Mars will recall that these strange people could exist\nfor considerable periods of time without food or water, and to a lesser\ndegree is the same true of all Martians.\n\n\nAfter Tasor had gone Tara turned to Gahan and approaching laid a hand\nupon his arm. \"So swiftly have events transpired since I recognized you\nbeneath your disguise,\" she said, \"that I have had no opportunity to\nassure you of my gratitude and the high esteem that your valor has won\nfor you in my consideration. Let me now acknowledge my indebtedness;\nand if promises be not vain from one whose life and liberty are in\ngrave jeopardy, accept my assurance of the great reward that awaits you\nat the hand of my father in Helium.\"\n\n\"I desire no reward,\" he replied, \"other than the happiness of knowing\nthat the woman I love is happy.\"\n\nFor an instant the eyes of Tara of Helium blazed as she drew herself\nhaughtily to her full height, and then they softened and her attitude\nrelaxed as she shook her head sadly.\n\n\"I have it not in my heart to reprimand you, Turan,\" she said, \"however\ngreat your fault, for you have been an honorable and a loyal friend to\nTara of Helium; but you must not say what my ears must not hear.\"\n\n\"You mean,\" he asked, \"that the ears of a Princess must not listen to\nwords of love from a panthan?\"\n\n\"It is not that, Turan,\" she replied; \"but rather that I may not in\nhonor listen to words of love from another than him to whom I am\nbetrothed--a fellow countryman, Djor Kantos.\"\n\n\"You mean, Tara of Helium,\" he cried, \"that were it not for that you\nwould--\"\n\n\"Stop!\" she commanded. \"You have no right to assume aught else than my\nlips testify.\"\n\n\"The eyes are ofttimes more eloquent than the lips, Tara,\" he replied;\n\"and in yours I have read that which is neither hatred nor contempt for\nTuran the panthan, and my heart tells me that your lips bore false\nwitness when they cried in anger: 'I hate you!'\"\n\n\"I do not hate you, Turan, nor yet may I love you,\" said the girl,\nsimply.\n\n\"When I broke my way out from the chamber of I-Gos I was indeed upon\nthe verge of believing that you did hate me,\" he said, \"for only\nhatred, it seemed to me, could account for the fact that you had gone\nwithout making an effort to liberate me; but presently both my heart\nand my judgment told me that Tara of Helium could not have deserted a\ncompanion in distress, and though I still am in ignorance of the facts\nI know that it was beyond your power to aid me.\"\n\n\"It was indeed,\" said the girl. \"Scarce had I-Gos fallen at the bite of\nmy dagger than I heard the approach of warriors. I ran then to hide\nuntil they had passed, thinking to return and liberate you; but in\nseeking to elude the party I had heard I ran full into the arms of\nanother. They questioned me as to your whereabouts, and I told them\nthat you had gone ahead and that I was following you and thus I led\nthem from you.\"\n\n\"I knew,\" was Gahan's only comment, but his heart was glad with\nelation, as a lover's must be who has heard from the lips of his\ndivinity an avowal of interest and loyalty, however little tinged by a\nsuggestion of warmer regard it may be. To be abused, even, by the\nmistress of one's heart is better than to be ignored.\n\nAs the two conversed in the ill-lit chamber, the dim bulbs of which\nwere encrusted with the accumulated dust of centuries, a bent and\nwithered figure traversed slowly the gloomy corridors without, his weak\nand watery eyes peering through thick lenses at the signs of passage\nwritten upon the dusty floor.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nTHE MENACE OF THE DEAD\n\nThe night was still young when there came one to the entrance of the\nbanquet hall where O-Tar of Manator dined with his chiefs, and brushing\npast the guards entered the great room with the insolence of a\nprivileged character, as in truth he was. As he approached the head of\nthe long board O-Tar took notice of him.\n\n\"Well, hoary one!\" he cried. \"What brings you out of your beloved and\nstinking burrow again this day. We thought that the sight of the\nmultitude of living men at the games would drive you back to your\ncorpses as quickly as you could go.\"\n\nThe cackling laugh of I-Gos acknowledged the royal sally. \"Ey, ey,\nO-Tar,\" squeaked the ancient one, \"I-Gos goes out not upon pleasure\nbound; but when one does ruthlessly desecrate the dead of I-Gos,\nvengeance must be had!\"\n\n\"You refer to the act of the slave Turan?\" demanded O-Tar.\n\n\"Turan, yes, and the slave Tara, who slipped beneath my hide a\nmurderous blade. Another fraction of an inch, O-Tar, and I-Gos' ancient\nand wrinkled covering were even now in some apprentice tanner's hands,\ney, ey!\"\n\n\"But they have again eluded us,\" cried O-Tar. \"Even in the palace of\nthe great jeddak twice have they escaped the stupid knaves I call The\nJeddak's Guard.\" O-Tar had risen and was angrily emphasizing his words\nwith heavy blows upon the table, dealt with a golden goblet.\n\n\"Ey, O-Tar, they elude thy guard but not the wise old calot, I-Gos.\"\n\n\"What mean you? Speak!\" commanded O-Tar.\n\n\"I know where they are hid,\" said the ancient taxidermist. \"In the dust\nof unused corridors their feet have betrayed them.\"\n\n\"You followed them? You have seen them?\" demanded the jeddak.\n\n\"I followed them and I heard them speaking beyond a closed door,\"\nreplied I-Gos; \"but I did not see them.\"\n\n\"Where is that door?\" cried O-Tar. \"We will send at once and fetch\nthem,\" he looked about the table as though to decide to whom he would\nentrust this duty. A dozen warrior chiefs arose and laid their hands\nupon their swords.\n\n\"To the chambers of O-Mai the Cruel I traced them,\" squeaked I-Gos.\n\"There you will find them where the moaning Corphals pursue the\nshrieking ghost of O-Mai; ey!\" and he turned his eyes from O-Tar toward\nthe warriors who had arisen, only to discover that, to a man, they were\nhurriedly resuming their seats.\n\nThe cackling laughter of I-Gos broke derisively the hush that had\nfallen on the room. The warriors looked sheepishly at the food upon\ntheir plates of gold. O-Tar snapped his fingers impatiently.\n\n\"Be there only cravens among the chiefs of Manator?\" he cried.\n\"Repeatedly have these presumptuous slaves flouted the majesty of your\njeddak. Must I command one to go and fetch them?\"\n\nSlowly a chief arose and two others followed his example, though with\nill-concealed reluctance. \"All, then, are not cowards,\" commented\nO-Tar. \"The duty is distasteful. Therefore all three of you shall go,\ntaking as many warriors as you wish.\"\n\n\"But do not ask for volunteers,\" interrupted I-Gos, \"or you will go\nalone.\"\n\nThe three chiefs turned and left the banquet hall, walking slowly like\ndoomed men to their fate.\n\nGahan and Tara remained in the chamber to which Tasor had led them, the\nman brushing away the dust from a deep and comfortable bench where they\nmight rest in comparative comfort. He had found the ancient sleeping\nsilks and furs too far gone to be of any service, crumbling to powder\nat a touch, thus removing any chance of making a comfortable bed for\nthe girl, and so the two sat together, talking in low tones, of the\nadventures through which they already had passed and speculating upon\nthe future; planning means of escape and hoping Tasor would not be long\ngone. They spoke of many things--of Hastor, and Helium, and Ptarth, and\nfinally the conversation reminded Tara of Gathol.\n\n\"You have served there?\" she asked.\n\n\"Yes,\" replied Turan.\n\n\"I met Gahan the Jed of Gathol at my father's palace,\" she said, \"the\nvery day before the storm snatched me from Helium--he was a\npresumptuous fellow, magnificently trapped in platinum and diamonds.\nNever in my life saw I so gorgeous a harness as his, and you must well\nknow, Turan, that the splendor of all Barsoom passes through the court\nat Helium; but in my mind I could not see so resplendent a creature\ndrawing that jeweled sword in mortal combat. I fear me that the Jed of\nGathol, though a pretty picture of a man, is little else.\"\n\nIn the dim light Tara did not perceive the wry expression upon the\nhalf-averted face of her companion.\n\n\"You thought little then of the Jed of Gathol?\" he asked.\n\n\"Then or now,\" she replied, and with a little laugh; \"how it would\npique his vanity to know, if he might, that a poor panthan had won a\nhigher place in the regard of Tara of Helium,\" and she laid her fingers\ngently upon his knee.\n\nHe seized the fingers in his and carried them to his lips. \"O, Tara of\nHelium,\" he cried. \"Think you that I am a man of stone?\" One arm\nslipped about her shoulders and drew the yielding body toward him.\n\n\"May my first ancestor forgive me my weakness,\" she cried, as her arms\nstole about his neck and she raised her panting lips to his. For long\nthey clung there in love's first kiss and then she pushed him away,\ngently. \"I love you, Turan,\" she half sobbed; \"I love you so! It is my\nonly poor excuse for having done this wrong to Djor Kantos, whom now I\nknow I never loved, who knew not the meaning of love. And if you love\nme as you say, Turan, your love must protect me from greater dishonor,\nfor I am but as clay in your hands.\"\n\nAgain he crushed her to him and then as suddenly released her, and\nrising, strode rapidly to and fro across the chamber as though he\nendeavored by violent exercise to master and subdue some evil spirit\nthat had laid hold upon him. Ringing through his brain and heart and\nsoul like some joyous paean were those words that had so altered the\nworld for Gahan of Gathol: \"I love you, Turan; I love you so!\" And it\nhad come so suddenly. He had thought that she felt for him only\ngratitude for his loyalty and then, in an instant, her barriers were\nall down, she was no longer a princess; but instead a--his reflections\nwere interrupted by a sound from beyond the closed door. His sandals of\nzitidar hide had given forth no sound upon the marble floor he strode,\nand as his rapid pacing carried him past the entrance to the chamber\nthere came faintly from the distance of the long corridor the sound of\nmetal on metal--the unmistakable herald of the approach of armed men.\n\nFor a moment Gahan listened intently, close to the door, until there\ncould be no doubt but that a party of warriors was approaching. From\nwhat Tasor had told him he guessed correctly that they would be coming\nto this portion of the palace but for a single purpose--to search for\nTara and himself--and it behooved him therefore to seek immediate means\nfor eluding them. The chamber in which they were had other doorways\nbeside that at which they had entered, and to one of these he must look\nfor some safer hiding place. Crossing to Tara he acquainted her with\nhis suspicion, leading her to one of the doors which they found\nunsecured. Beyond it lay a dimly-lighted chamber at the threshold of\nwhich they halted in consternation, drawing back quickly into the\nchamber they had just quitted, for their first glance revealed four\nwarriors seated around a jetan board.\n\nThat their entrance had not been noted was attributed by Gahan to the\nabsorption of the two players and their friends in the game. Quietly\nclosing the door the fugitives moved silently to the next, which they\nfound locked. There was now but another door which they had not tried,\nand this they approached quickly as they knew that the searching party\nmust be close to the chamber. To their chagrin they found this avenue\nof escape barred.\n\nNow indeed were they in a sorry plight, for should the searchers have\ninformation leading them to this room they were lost. Again leading\nTara to the door behind which were the jetan players Gahan drew his\nsword and waited, listening. The sound of the party in the corridor\ncame distinctly to their ears--they must be quite close, and doubtless\nthey were coming in force. Beyond the door were but four warriors who\nmight be readily surprised. There could, then, be but one choice and\nacting upon it Gahan quietly opened the door again, stepped through\ninto the adjoining chamber, Tara's hand in his, and closed the door\nbehind them. The four at the jetan board evidently failed to hear them.\nOne player had either just made or was contemplating a move, for his\nfingers grasped a piece that still rested upon the board. The other\nthree were watching his move. For an instant Gahan looked at them,\nplaying jetan there in the dim light of this forgotten and forbidden\nchamber, and then a slow smile of understanding lighted his face.\n\n\"Come!\" he said to Tara. \"We have nothing to fear from these. For more\nthan five thousand years they have sat thus, a monument to the\nhandiwork of some ancient taxidermist.\"\n\nAs they approached more closely they saw that the lifelike figures were\ncoated with dust, but that otherwise the skin was in as fine a state of\npreservation as the most recent of I-Gos' groups, and then they heard\nthe door of the chamber they had quitted open and knew that the\nsearchers were close upon them. Across the room they saw the opening of\nwhat appeared to be a corridor and which investigation proved to be a\nshort passageway, terminating in a chamber in the center of which was\nan ornate sleeping dais. This room, like the others, was but poorly\nlighted, time having dimmed the radiance of its bulbs and coated them\nwith dust. A glance showed that it was hung with heavy goods and\ncontained considerable massive furniture in addition to the sleeping\nplatform, a second glance at which revealed what appeared to be the\nform of a man lying partially on the floor and partially on the dais.\nNo doorways were visible other than that at which they had entered,\nthough both knew that others might be concealed by the hangings.\n\nGahan, his curiosity aroused by the legends surrounding this portion of\nthe palace, crossed to the dais to examine the figure that apparently\nhad fallen from it, to find the dried and shrivelled corpse of a man\nlying upon his back on the floor with arms outstretched and fingers\nstiffly outspread. One of his feet was doubled partially beneath him,\nwhile the other was still entangled in the sleeping silks and furs upon\nthe dais. After five thousand years the expression of the withered face\nand the eyeless sockets retained the aspect of horrid fear to such an\nextent, that Gahan knew that he was looking upon the body of O-Mai the\nCruel.\n\nSuddenly Tara, who stood close beside him, clutched his arm and pointed\ntoward a far corner of the room. Gahan looked and looking felt the\nhairs upon his neck rising. He threw his left arm about the girl and\nwith bared sword stood between her and the hangings that they watched,\nand then slowly Gahan of Gathol backed away, for in this grim and\nsomber chamber, which no human foot had trod for five thousand years\nand to which no breath of wind might enter, the heavy hangings in the\nfar corner had moved. Not gently had they moved as a draught might have\nmoved them had there been a draught, but suddenly they had bulged out\nas though pushed against from behind. To the opposite corner backed\nGahan until they stood with their backs against the hangings there, and\nthen hearing the approach of their pursuers across the chamber beyond\nGahan pushed Tara through the hangings and, following her, kept open\nwith his left hand, which he had disengaged from the girl's grasp, a\ntiny opening through which he could view the apartment and the doorway\nupon the opposite side through which the pursuers would enter, if they\ncame this far.\n\nBehind the hangings there was a space of about three feet in width\nbetween them and the wall, making a passageway entirely around the\nroom, broken only by the single entrance opposite them; this being a\ncommon arrangement especially in the sleeping apartments of the rich\nand powerful upon Barsoom. The purposes of this arrangement were\nseveral. The passageway afforded a station for guards in the same room\nwith their master without intruding entirely upon his privacy; it\nconcealed secret exits from the chamber; it permitted the occupant of\nthe room to hide eavesdroppers and assassins for use against enemies\nthat he might lure to his chamber.\n\nThe three chiefs with a dozen warriors had had no difficulty in\nfollowing the tracks of the fugitives through the dust of the corridors\nand chambers they had traversed. To enter this portion of the palace at\nall had required all the courage they possessed, and now that they were\nwithin the very chambers of O-Mai their nerves were pitched to the\nhighest key--another turn and they would snap; for the people of\nManator are filled with weird superstitions. As they entered the outer\nchamber they moved slowly, with drawn swords, no one seeming anxious to\ntake the lead, and the twelve warriors hanging back in unconcealed and\nshameless terror, while the three chiefs, spurred on by fear of O-Tar\nand by pride, pressed together for mutual encouragement as they slowly\ncrossed the dimly-lighted room.\n\nFollowing the tracks of Gahan and Tara they found that though each\ndoorway had been approached only one threshold had been crossed and\nthis door they gingerly opened, revealing to their astonished gaze the\nfour warriors at the jetan table. For a moment they were on the verge\nof flight, for though they knew what they were, coming as they did upon\nthem in this mysterious and haunted suite, they were as startled as\nthough they had beheld the very ghosts of the departed. But they\npresently regained their courage sufficiently to cross this chamber too\nand enter the short passageway that led to the ancient sleeping\napartment of O-Mai the Cruel. They did not know that this awful chamber\nlay just before them, or it were doubtful that they would have\nproceeded farther; but they saw that those they sought had come this\nway and so they followed, but within the gloomy interior of the chamber\nthey halted, the three chiefs urging their followers, in low whispers,\nto close in behind them, and there just within the entrance they stood\nuntil, their eyes becoming accustomed to the dim light, one of them\npointed suddenly to the thing lying upon the floor with one foot\ntangled in the coverings of the dais.\n\n\"Look!\" he gasped. \"It is the corpse of O-Mai! Ancestor of ancestors!\nwe are in the forbidden chamber.\" Simultaneously there came from behind\nthe hangings beyond the grewsome dead a hollow moan followed by a\npiercing scream, and the hangings shook and bellied before their eyes.\n\nWith one accord, chieftains and warriors, they turned and bolted for\nthe doorway; a narrow doorway, where they jammed, fighting and\nscreaming in an effort to escape. They threw away their swords and\nclawed at one another to make a passage for escape; those behind\nclimbed upon the shoulders of those in front; and some fell and were\ntrampled upon; but at last they all got through, and, the swiftest\nfirst, they bolted across the two intervening chambers to the outer\ncorridor beyond, nor did they halt their mad retreat before they\nstumbled, weak and trembling, into the banquet hall of O-Tar. At sight\nof them the warriors who had remained with the jeddak leaped to their\nfeet with drawn swords, thinking that their fellows were pursued by\nmany enemies; but no one followed them into the room, and the three\nchieftains came and stood before O-Tar with bowed heads and trembling\nknees.\n\n\"Well?\" demanded the jeddak. \"What ails you? Speak!\"\n\n\"O-Tar,\" cried one of them when at last he could master his voice.\n\"When have we three failed you in battle or combat? Have our swords\nbeen not always among the foremost in defense of your safety and your\nhonor?\"\n\n\"Have I denied this?\" demanded O-Tar.\n\n\"Listen, then, O Jeddak, and judge us with leniency. We followed the\ntwo slaves to the apartments of O-Mai the Cruel. We entered the\naccursed chambers and still we did not falter. We came at last to that\nhorrid chamber no human eye had scanned before in fifty centuries and\nwe looked upon the dead face of O-Mai lying as he has lain for all this\ntime. To the very death chamber of O-Mai the Cruel we came and yet we\nwere ready to go farther; when suddenly there broke upon our horrified\nears the moans and the shrieking that mark these haunted chambers and\nthe hangings moved and rustled in the dead air. O-Tar, it was more than\nhuman nerves could endure. We turned and fled. We threw away our swords\nand fought with one another to escape. With sorrow, but without shame,\nI tell it, for there be no man in all Manator that would not have done\nthe same. If these slaves be Corphals they are safe among their fellow\nghosts. If they be not Corphals, then already are they dead in the\nchambers of O-Mai, and there may they rot for all of me, for I would\nnot return to that accursed spot for the harness of a jeddak and the\nhalf of Barsoom for an empire. I have spoken.\"\n\nO-Tar knitted his scowling brows. \"Are all my chieftains cowards and\ncravens?\" he demanded presently in sneering tones.\n\nFrom among those who had not been of the searching party a chieftain\narose and turned a scowling face upon O-Tar.\n\n\"The jeddak knows,\" he said, \"that in the annals of Manator her jeddaks\nhave ever been accounted the bravest of her warriors. Where my jeddak\nleads I will follow, nor may any jeddak call me a coward or a craven\nunless I refuse to go where he dares to go. I have spoken.\"\n\nAfter he had resumed his seat there was a painful silence, for all knew\nthat the speaker had challenged the courage of O-Tar the Jeddak of\nManator and all awaited the reply of their ruler. In every mind was the\nsame thought--O-Tar must lead them at once to the chamber of O-Mai the\nCruel, or accept forever the stigma of cowardice, and there could be no\ncoward upon the throne of Manator. That they all knew and that O-Tar\nknew, as well.\n\nBut O-Tar hesitated. He looked about upon the faces of those around him\nat the banquet board; but he saw only the grim visages of relentless\nwarriors. There was no trace of leniency in the face of any. And then\nhis eyes wandered to a small entrance at one side of the great chamber.\nAn expression of relief expunged the scowl of anxiety from his features.\n\n\"Look!\" he exclaimed. \"See who has come!\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\nTHE CHARGE OF COWARDICE\n\nGahan, watching through the aperture between the hangings, saw the\nfrantic flight of their pursuers. A grim smile rested upon his lips as\nhe viewed the mad scramble for safety and saw them throw away their\nswords and fight with one another to be first from the chamber of fear,\nand when they were all gone he turned back toward Tara, the smile still\nupon his lips; but the smile died the instant that he turned, for he\nsaw that Tara had disappeared.\n\n\"Tara!\" he called in a loud voice, for he knew that there was no danger\nthat their pursuers would return; but there was no response, unless it\nwas a faint sound as of cackling laughter from afar. Hurriedly he\nsearched the passageway behind the hangings finding several doors, one\nof which was ajar. Through this he entered the adjoining chamber which\nwas lighted more brilliantly for the moment by the soft rays of\nhurtling Thuria taking her mad way through the heavens. Here he found\nthe dust upon the floor disturbed, and the imprint of sandals. They had\ncome this way--Tara and whatever the creature was that had stolen her.\n\nBut what could it have been? Gahan, a man of culture and high\nintelligence, held few if any superstitions. In common with nearly all\nraces of Barsoom he clung, more or less inherently, to a certain\nexalted form of ancestor worship, though it was rather the memory or\nlegends of the virtues and heroic deeds of his forebears that he\ndeified rather than themselves. He never expected any tangible evidence\nof their existence after death; he did not believe that they had the\npower either for good or for evil other than the effect that their\nexample while living might have had upon following generations; he did\nnot believe therefore in the materialization of dead spirits. If there\nwas a life hereafter he knew nothing of it, for he knew that science\nhad demonstrated the existence of some material cause for every\nseemingly supernatural phenomenon of ancient religions and\nsuperstitions. Yet he was at a loss to know what power might have\nremoved Tara so suddenly and mysteriously from his side in a chamber\nthat had not known the presence of man for five thousand years.\n\nIn the darkness he could not see whether there were the imprints of\nother sandals than Tara's--only that the dust was disturbed--and when\nit led him into gloomy corridors he lost the trail altogether. A\nperfect labyrinth of passages and apartments were now revealed to him\nas he hurried on through the deserted quarters of O-Mai. Here was an\nancient bath--doubtless that of the jeddak himself, and again he passed\nthrough a room in which a meal had been laid upon a table five thousand\nyears before--the untasted breakfast of O-Mai, perhaps. There passed\nbefore his eyes in the brief moments that he traversed the chambers, a\nwealth of ornaments and jewels and precious metals that surprised even\nthe Jed of Gathol whose harness was of diamonds and platinum and whose\nriches were the envy of a world. But at last his search of O-Mai's\nchambers ended in a small closet in the floor of which was the opening\nto a spiral runway leading straight down into Stygian darkness. The\ndust at the entrance of the closet had been freshly disturbed, and as\nthis was the only possible indication that Gahan had of the direction\ntaken by the abductor of Tara it seemed as well to follow on as to\nsearch elsewhere. So, without hesitation, he descended into the utter\ndarkness below. Feeling with a foot before taking a forward step his\ndescent was necessarily slow, but Gahan was a Barsoomian and so knew\nthe pitfalls that might await the unwary in such dark, forbidden\nportions of a jeddak's palace.\n\nHe had descended for what he judged might be three full levels and was\npausing, as he occasionally did, to listen, when he distinctly heard a\npeculiar shuffling, scraping sound approaching him from below. Whatever\nthe thing was it was ascending the runway at a steady pace and would\nsoon be near him. Gahan laid his hand upon the hilt of his sword and\ndrew it slowly from its scabbard that he might make no noise that would\napprise the creature of his presence. He wished that there might be\neven the slightest lessening of the darkness. If he could see but the\noutline of the thing that approached him he would feel that he had a\nfairer chance in the meeting; but he could see nothing, and then\nbecause he could see nothing the end of his scabbard struck the stone\nside of the runway, giving off a sound that the stillness and the\nnarrow confines of the passage and the darkness seemed to magnify to a\nterrific clatter.\n\nInstantly the shuffling sound of approach ceased. For a moment Gahan\nstood in silent waiting, then casting aside discretion he moved on\nagain down the spiral. The thing, whatever it might be, gave forth no\nsound now by which Gahan might locate it. At any moment it might be\nupon him and so he kept his sword in readiness. Down, ever downward the\nsteep spiral led. The darkness and the silence of the tomb surrounded\nhim, yet somewhere ahead was something. He was not alone in that horrid\nplace--another presence that he could not hear or see hovered before\nhim--of that he was positive. Perhaps it was the thing that had stolen\nTara. Perhaps Tara herself, still in the clutches of some nameless\nhorror, was just ahead of him. He quickened his pace--it became almost\na run at the thought of the danger that threatened the woman he loved,\nand then he collided with a wooden door that swung open to the impact.\nBefore him was a lighted corridor. On either side were chambers. He had\nadvanced but a short distance from the bottom of the spiral when he\nrecognized that he was in the pits below the palace. A moment later he\nheard behind him the shuffling sound that had attracted his attention\nin the spiral runway. Wheeling about he saw the author of the sound\nemerging from a doorway he had just passed. It was Ghek the kaldane.\n\n\"Ghek!\" exclaimed Gahan. \"It was you in the runway? Have you seen Tara\nof Helium?\"\n\n\"It was I in the spiral,\" replied the kaldane; \"but I have not seen\nTara of Helium. I have been searching for her. Where is she?\"\n\n\"I do not know,\" replied the Gatholian; \"but we must find her and take\nher from this place.\"\n\n\"We may find her,\" said Ghek; \"but I doubt our ability to take her\naway. It is not so easy to leave Manator as it is to enter it. I may\ncome and go at will, through the ancient burrows of the ulsios; but you\nare too large for that and your lungs need more air than may be found\nin some of the deeper runways.\"\n\n\"But U-Thor!\" exclaimed Gahan. \"Have you heard aught of him or his\nintentions?\"\n\n\"I have heard much,\" replied Ghek. \"He camps at The Gate of Enemies.\nThat spot he holds and his warriors lie just beyond The Gate; but he\nhas not sufficient force to enter the city and take the palace. An hour\nsince and you might have made your way to him; but now every avenue is\nstrongly guarded since O-Tar learned that A-Kor had escaped to U-Thor.\"\n\n\"A-Kor has escaped and joined U-Thor!\" exclaimed Gahan.\n\n\"But little more than an hour since. I was with him when a warrior\ncame--a man whose name is Tasor--who brought a message from you. It was\ndecided that Tasor should accompany A-Kor in an attempt to reach the\ncamp of U-Thor, the great jed of Manatos, and exact from him the\nassurances you required. Then U-Thor was to return and take food to you\nand the Princess of Helium. I accompanied them. We won through easily\nand found U-Thor more than willing to respect your every wish, but when\nTasor would have returned to you the way was blocked by the warriors of\nO-Tar. Then it was that I volunteered to come to you and report and\nfind food and drink and then go forth among the Gatholian slaves of\nManator and prepare them for their part in the plan that U-Thor and\nTasor conceived.\"\n\n\"And what was this plan?\"\n\n\"U-Thor has sent for reinforcements. To Manatos he has sent and to all\nthe outlying districts that are his. It will take a month to collect\nand bring them hither and in the meantime the slaves within the city\nare to organize secretly, stealing and hiding arms against the day that\nthe reinforcements arrive. When that day comes the forces of U-Thor\nwill enter the Gate of Enemies and as the warriors of O-Tar rush to\nrepulse them the slaves from Gathol will fall upon them from the rear\nwith the majority of their numbers, while the balance will assault the\npalace. They hope thus to divert so many from The Gate that U-Thor will\nhave little difficulty in forcing an entrance to the city.\"\n\n\"Perhaps they will succeed,\" commented Gahan; \"but the warriors of\nO-Tar are many, and those who fight in defense of their homes and their\njeddak have always an advantage. Ah, Ghek, would that we had the great\nwarships of Gathol or of Helium to pour their merciless fire into the\nstreets of Manator while U-Thor marched to the palace over the corpses\nof the slain.\" He paused, deep in thought, and then turned his gaze\nagain upon the kaldane. \"Heard you aught of the party that escaped with\nme from The Field of Jetan--of Floran, Val Dor, and the others? What of\nthem?\"\n\n\"Ten of these won through to U-Thor at The Gate of Enemies and were\nwell received by him. Eight fell in the fighting upon the way. Val Dor\nand Floran live, I believe, for I am sure that I heard U-Thor address\ntwo warriors by these names.\"\n\n\"Good!\" exclaimed Gahan. \"Go then, through the burrows of the ulsios,\nto The Gate of Enemies and carry to Floran the message that I shall\nwrite in his own language. Come, while I write the message.\"\n\nIn a nearby room they found a bench and table and there Gahan sat and\nwrote in the strange, stenographic characters of Martian script a\nmessage to Floran of Gathol. \"Why,\" he asked, when he had finished it,\n\"did you search for Tara through the spiral runway where we nearly met?\"\n\n\"Tasor told me where you were to be found, and as I have explored the\ngreater part of the palace by means of the ulsio runways and the darker\nand less frequented passages I knew precisely where you were and how to\nreach you. This secret spiral ascends from the pits to the roof of the\nloftiest of the palace towers. It has secret openings at every level;\nbut there is no living Manatorian, I believe, who knows of its\nexistence. At least never have I met one within it and I have used it\nmany times. Thrice have I been in the chamber where O-Mai lies, though\nI knew nothing of his identity or the story of his death until Tasor\ntold it to us in the camp of U-Thor.\"\n\n\"You know the palace thoroughly then?\" Gahan interrupted.\n\n\"Better than O-Tar himself or any of his servants.\"\n\n\"Good! And you would serve the Princess Tara, Ghek, you may serve her\nbest by accompanying Floran and following his instructions. I will\nwrite them here at the close of my message to him, for the walls have\nears, Ghek, while none but a Gatholian may read what I have written to\nFloran. He will transmit it to you. Can I trust you?\"\n\n\"I may never return to Bantoom,\" replied Ghek. \"Therefore I have but\ntwo friends in all Barsoom. What better may I do than serve them\nfaithfully? You may trust me, Gatholian, who with a woman of your kind\nhas taught me that there be finer and nobler things than perfect\nmentality uninfluenced by the unreasoning tuitions of the heart. I go.\"\n\n * * * * *\n\nAs O-Tar pointed to the little doorway all eyes turned in the direction\nhe indicated and surprise was writ large upon the faces of the warriors\nwhen they recognized the two who had entered the banquet hall. There\nwas I-Gos, and he dragged behind him one who was gagged and whose hands\nwere fastened behind with a ribbon of tough silk. It was the slave\ngirl. I-Gos' cackling laughter rose above the silence of the room.\n\n\"Ey, ey!\" he shrilled. \"What the young warriors of O-Tar cannot do, old\nI-Gos does alone.\"\n\n\"Only a Corphal may capture a Corphal,\" growled one of the chiefs who\nhad fled from the chambers of O-Mai.\n\nI-Gos laughed. \"Terror turned your heart to water,\" he replied; \"and\nshame your tongue to libel. This be no Corphal, but only a woman of\nHelium; her companion a warrior who can match blades with the best of\nyou and cut your putrid hearts. Not so in the days of I-Gos' youth. Ah,\nthen were there men in Manator. Well do I recall that day that I--\"\n\n\"Peace, doddering fool!\" commanded O-Tar. \"Where is the man?\"\n\n\"Where I found the woman--in the death chamber of O-Mai. Let your wise\nand brave chieftains go thither and fetch him. I am an old man, and\ncould bring but one.\"\n\n\"You have done well, I-Gos,\" O-Tar hastened to assure him, for when he\nlearned that Gahan might still be in the haunted chambers he wished to\nappease the wrath of I-Gos, knowing well the vitriolic tongue and\ntemper of the ancient one. \"You think she is no Corphal, then, I-Gos?\"\nhe asked, wishing to carry the subject from the man who was still at\nlarge.\n\n\"No more than you,\" replied the ancient taxidermist.\n\nO-Tar looked long and searchingly at Tara of Helium. All the beauty\nthat was hers seemed suddenly to be carried to every fibre of his\nconsciousness. She was still garbed in the rich harness of a Black\nPrincess of Jetan, and as O-Tar the Jeddak gazed upon her he realized\nthat never before had his eyes rested upon a more perfect figure--a\nmore beautiful face.\n\n\"She is no Corphal,\" he murmured to himself. \"She is no Corphal and she\nis a princess--a princess of Helium, and, by the golden hair of the\nHoly Hekkador, she is beautiful. Take the gag from her mouth and\nrelease her hands,\" he commanded aloud. \"Make room for the Princess\nTara of Helium at the side of O-Tar of Manator. She shall dine as\nbecomes a princess.\"\n\nSlaves did as O-Tar bid and Tara of Helium stood with flashing eyes\nbehind the chair that was offered her. \"Sit!\" commanded O-Tar.\n\nThe girl sank into the chair. \"I sit as a prisoner,\" she said; \"not as\na guest at the board of my enemy, O-Tar of Manator.\"\n\nO-Tar motioned his followers from the room. \"I would speak alone with\nthe Princess of Helium,\" he said. The company and the slaves withdrew\nand once more the Jeddak of Manator turned toward the girl. \"O-Tar of\nManator would be your friend,\" he said.\n\nTara of Helium sat with arms folded upon her small, firm breasts, her\neyes flashing from behind narrowed lids, nor did she deign to answer\nhis overture. O-Tar leaned closer to her. He noted the hostility of her\nbearing and he recalled his first encounter with her. She was a\nshe-banth, but she was beautiful. She was by far the most desirable\nwoman that O-Tar had ever looked upon and he was determined to possess\nher. He told her so.\n\n\"I could take you as my slave,\" he said to her; \"but it pleases me to\nmake you my wife. You shall be Jeddara of Manator. You shall have seven\ndays in which to prepare for the great honor that O-Tar is conferring\nupon you, and at this hour of the seventh day you shall become an\nempress and the wife of O-Tar in the throne room of the jeddaks of\nManator.\" He struck a gong that stood beside him upon the table and\nwhen a slave appeared he bade him recall the company. Slowly the chiefs\nfiled in and took their places at the table. Their faces were grim and\nscowling, for there was still unanswered the question of their jeddak's\ncourage. If O-Tar had hoped they would forget he had been mistaken in\nhis men.\n\nO-Tar arose. \"In seven days,\" he announced, \"there will be a great\nfeast in honor of the new Jeddara of Manator,\" and he waved his hand\ntoward Tara of Helium. \"The ceremony will occur at the beginning of the\nseventh zode* in the throne room. In the meantime the Princess of\nHelium will be cared for in the tower of the women's quarters of the\npalace. Conduct her thither, E-Thas, with a suitable guard of honor and\nsee to it that slaves and eunuchs be placed at her disposal, who shall\nattend upon all her wants and guard her carefully from harm.\"\n\n* About 8:30 P. M. Earth Time.\n\n\nNow E-Thas knew that the real meaning concealed in these fine words was\nthat he should conduct the prisoner under a strong guard to the women's\nquarters and confine her there in the tower for seven days, placing\nabout her trustworthy guards who would prevent her escape or frustrate\nany attempted rescue.\n\nAs Tara was departing from the chamber with E-Thas and the guard, O-Tar\nleaned close to her ear and whispered: \"Consider well during these\nseven days the high honor I have offered you, and--its sole\nalternative.\" As though she had not heard him the girl passed out of\nthe banquet hall, her head high and her eyes straight to the front.\n\nAfter Ghek had left him Gahan roamed the pits and the ancient corridors\nof the deserted portions of the palace seeking some clue to the\nwhereabouts or the fate of Tara of Helium. He utilized the spiral\nrunway in passing from level to level until he knew every foot of it\nfrom the pits to the summit of the high tower, and into what apartments\nit opened at the various levels as well as the ingenious and hidden\nmechanism that operated the locks of the cleverly concealed doors\nleading to it. For food he drew upon the stores he found in the pits\nand when he slept he lay upon the royal couch of O-Mai in the forbidden\nchamber sharing the dais with the dead foot of the ancient jeddak.\n\nIn the palace about him seethed, all unknown to Gahan, a vast unrest.\nWarriors and chieftains pursued the duties of their vocations with dour\nfaces, and little knots of them were collecting here and there and with\nfrowns of anger discussing some subject that was uppermost in the minds\nof all. It was upon the fourth day following Tara's incarceration in\nthe tower that E-Thas, the major-domo of the palace and one of O-Tar's\ncreatures, came to his master upon some trivial errand. O-Tar was alone\nin one of the smaller chambers of his personal suite when the\nmajor-domo was announced, and after the matter upon which E-Thas had\ncome was disposed of the jeddak signed him to remain.\n\n\"From the position of an obscure warrior I have elevated you, E-Thas,\nto the honors of a chief. Within the confines of the palace your word\nis second only to mine. You are not loved for this, E-Thas, and should\nanother jeddak ascend the throne of Manator what would become of you,\nwhose enemies are among the most powerful of Manator?\"\n\n\"Speak not of it, O-Tar,\" begged E-Thas. \"These last few days I have\nthought upon it much and I would forget it; but I have sought to\nappease the wrath of my worst enemies. I have been very kind and\nindulgent with them.\"\n\n\"You, too, read the voiceless message in the air?\" demanded the jeddak.\n\nE-Thas was palpably uneasy and he did not reply.\n\n\"Why did you not come to me with your apprehensions?\" demanded O-Tar.\n\"Be this loyalty?\"\n\n\"I feared, O mighty jeddak!\" replied E-Thas. \"I feared that you would\nnot understand and that you would be angry.\"\n\n\"What know you? Speak the whole truth!\" commanded O-Tar.\n\n\"There is much unrest among the chieftains and the warriors,\" replied\nE-Thas. \"Even those who were your friends fear the power of those who\nspeak against you.\"\n\n\"What say they?\" growled the jeddak.\n\n\"They say that you are afraid to enter the apartments of O-Mai in\nsearch of the slave Turan--oh, do not be angry with me, Jeddak; it is\nbut what they say that I repeat. I, your loyal E-Thas, believe no such\nfoul slander.\"\n\n\"No, no; why should I fear?\" demanded O-Tar. \"We do not know that he is\nthere. Did not my chiefs go thither and see nothing of him?\"\n\n\"But they say that you did not go,\" pursued E-Thas, \"and that they will\nhave none of a coward upon the throne of Manator.\"\n\n\"They said that treason?\" O-Tar almost shouted.\n\n\"They said that and more, great jeddak,\" answered the major-domo. \"They\nsaid that not only did you fear to enter the chambers of O-Mai, but\nthat you feared the slave Turan, and they blame you for your treatment\nof A-Kor, whom they all believe to have been murdered at your command.\nThey were fond of A-Kor and there are many now who say aloud that A-Kor\nwould have made a wondrous jeddak.\"\n\n\"They dare?\" screamed O-Tar. \"They dare suggest the name of a slave's\nbastard for the throne of O-Tar!\"\n\n\"He is your son, O-Tar,\" E-Thas reminded him, \"nor is there a more\nbeloved man in Manator--I but speak to you of facts which may not be\nignored, and I dare do so because only when you realize the truth may\nyou seek a cure for the ills that draw about your throne.\"\n\nO-Tar had slumped down upon his bench--suddenly he looked shrunken and\ntired and old. \"Cursed be the day,\" he cried, \"that saw those three\nstrangers enter the city of Manator. Would that U-Dor had been spared\nto me. He was strong--my enemies feared him; but he is gone--dead at\nthe hands of that hateful slave, Turan; may the curse of Issus be upon\nhim!\"\n\n\"My jeddak, what shall we do?\" begged E-Thas. \"Cursing the slave will\nnot solve your problems.\"\n\n\"But the great feast and the marriage is but three days off,\" pleaded\nO-Tar. \"It shall be a great gala occasion. The warriors and the chiefs\nall know that--it is the custom. Upon that day gifts and honors shall\nbe bestowed. Tell me, who are most bitter against me? I will send you\namong them and let it be known that I am planning rewards for their\npast services to the throne. We will make jeds of chiefs and chiefs of\nwarriors, and grant them palaces and slaves. Eh, E-Thas?\"\n\nThe other shook his head. \"It will not do, O-Tar. They will have\nnothing of your gifts or honors. I have heard them say as much.\"\n\n\"What do they want?\" demanded O-Tar.\n\n\"They want a jeddak as brave as the bravest,\" replied E-Thas, though\nhis knees shook as he said it.\n\n\"They think I am a coward?\" cried the jeddak.\n\n\"They say you are afraid to go to the apartments of O-mai the Cruel.\"\n\nFor a long time O-Tar sat, his head sunk upon his breast, staring\nblankly at the floor.\n\n\"Tell them,\" he said at last in a hollow voice that sounded not at all\nlike the voice of a great jeddak; \"tell them that I will go to the\nchambers of O-Mai and search for Turan the slave.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\nA RISK FOR LOVE\n\n\"Ey, ey, he is a craven and he called me 'doddering fool'!\" The speaker\nwas I-Gos and he addressed a knot of chieftains in one of the chambers\nof the palace of O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator: \"If A-Kor was alive there\nwere a jeddak for us!\"\n\n\"Who says that A-Kor is dead?\" demanded one of the chiefs.\n\n\"Where is he then?\" asked I-Gos. \"Have not others disappeared whom\nO-Tar thought too well beloved for men so near the throne as they?\"\n\nThe chief shook his head. \"And I thought that, or knew it, rather; I'd\njoin U-Thor at The Gate of Enemies.\"\n\n\"S-s-st,\" cautioned one; \"here comes the licker of feet,\" and all eyes\nwere turned upon the approaching E-Thas.\n\n\"Kaor, friends!\" he exclaimed as he stopped among them, but his\nfriendly greeting elicited naught but a few surly nods. \"Have you heard\nthe news?\" he continued, unabashed by treatment to which he was\nbecoming accustomed.\n\n\"What--has O-Tar seen an ulsio and fainted?\" demanded I-Gos with broad\nsarcasm.\n\n\"Men have died for less than that, ancient one,\" E-Thas reminded him.\n\n\"I am safe,\" retorted I-Gos, \"for I am not a brave and popular son of\nthe jeddak of Manator.\"\n\nThis was indeed open treason, but E-Thas feigned not to hear it. He\nignored I-Gos and turned to the others. \"O-Tar goes to the chamber of\nO-Mai this night in search of Turan the slave,\" he said. \"He sorrows\nthat his warriors have not the courage for so mean a duty and that\ntheir jeddak is thus compelled to arrest a common slave,\" with which\ntaunt E-Thas passed on to spread the word in other parts of the palace.\nAs a matter of fact the latter part of his message was purely original\nwith himself, and he took great delight in delivering it to the\ndiscomfiture of his enemies. As he was leaving the little group of men\nI-Gos called after him. \"At what hour does O-Tar intend visiting the\nchambers of O-Mai?\" he asked.\n\n\"Toward the end of the eighth zode*,\" replied the major-domo, and went\nhis way.\n\n* About 1:00 A. M. Earth Time.\n\n\n\"We shall see,\" stated I-Gos.\n\n\"What shall we see?\" asked a warrior.\n\n\"We shall see whether O-Tar visits the chamber of O-Mai.\"\n\n\"How?\"\n\n\"I shall be there myself and if I see him I will know that he has been\nthere. If I don't see him I will know that he has not,\" explained the\nold taxidermist.\n\n\"Is there anything there to fill an honest man with fear?\" asked a\nchieftain. \"What have you seen?\"\n\n\"It was not so much what I saw, though that was bad enough, as what I\nheard,\" said I-Gos.\n\n\"Tell us! What heard and saw you?\"\n\n\"I saw the dead O-Mai,\" said I-Gos. The others shuddered.\n\n\"And you went not mad?\" they asked.\n\n\"Am I mad?\" retorted I-Gos.\n\n\"And you will go again?\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Then indeed you are mad,\" cried one.\n\n\"You saw the dead O-Mai; but what heard you that was worse?\" whispered\nanother.\n\n\"I saw the dead O-Mai lying upon the floor of his sleeping chamber with\none foot tangled in the sleeping silks and furs upon his couch. I heard\nhorrid moans and frightful screams.\"\n\n\"And you are not afraid to go there again?\" demanded several.\n\n\"The dead cannot harm me,\" said I-Gos. \"He has lain thus for five\nthousand years. Nor can a sound harm me. I heard it once and live--I\ncan hear it again. It came from almost at my side where I hid behind\nthe hangings and watched the slave Turan before I snatched the woman\naway from him.\"\n\n\"I-Gos, you are a very brave man,\" said a chieftain.\n\n\"O-Tar called me 'doddering fool' and I would face worse dangers than\nlie in the forbidden chambers of O-Mai to know it if he does not visit\nthe chamber of O-Mai. Then indeed shall O-Tar fall!\"\n\nThe night came and the zodes dragged and the time approached when\nO-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, was to visit the chamber of O-Mai in search\nof the slave Turan. To us, who may doubt the existence of malignant\nspirits, his fear may seem unbelievable, for he was a strong man, an\nexcellent swordsman, and a warrior of great repute; but the fact\nremained that O-Tar of Manator was nervous with apprehension as he\nstrode the corridors of his palace toward the deserted halls of O-Mai\nand when he stood at last with his hand upon the door that opened from\nthe dusty corridor to the very apartments themselves he was almost\nparalyzed with terror. He had come alone for two very excellent\nreasons, the first of which was that thus none might note his\nterror-stricken state nor his defection should he fail at the last\nmoment, and the other was that should he accomplish the thing alone or\nbe able to make his chiefs believe that he had, the credit would be far\ngreater than were he to be accompanied by warriors.\n\nBut though he had started alone he had become aware that he was being\nfollowed, and he knew that it was because his people had no faith in\neither his courage or his veracity. He did not believe that he would\nfind the slave Turan. He did not very much want to find him, for though\nO-Tar was an excellent swordsman and a brave warrior in physical\ncombat, he had seen how Turan had played with U-Dor and he had no\nstomach for a passage at arms with one whom he knew outclassed him.\n\nAnd so O-Tar stood with his hand upon the door--afraid to enter; afraid\nnot to. But at last his fear of his own warriors, watching behind him,\ngrew greater than the fear of the unknown behind the ancient door and\nhe pushed the heavy skeel aside and entered.\n\nSilence and gloom and the dust of centuries lay heavy upon the chamber.\nFrom his warriors he knew the route that he must take to the horrid\nchamber of O-Mai and so he forced his unwilling feet across the room\nbefore him, across the room where the jetan players sat at their\neternal game, and came to the short corridor that led into the room of\nO-Mai. His naked sword trembled in his grasp. He paused after each\nforward step to listen and when he was almost at the door of the\nghost-haunted chamber, his heart stood still within his breast and the\ncold sweat broke from the clammy skin of his forehead, for from within\nthere came to his affrighted ears the sound of muffled breathing. Then\nit was that O-Tar of Manator came near to fleeing from the nameless\nhorror that he could not see, but that he knew lay waiting for him in\nthat chamber just ahead. But again came the fear of the wrath and\ncontempt of his warriors and his chiefs. They would degrade him and\nthey would slay him into the bargain. There was no doubt of what his\nfate would be should he flee the apartments of O-Mai in terror. His\nonly hope, therefore, lay in daring the unknown in preference to the\nknown.\n\nHe moved forward. A few steps took him to the doorway. The chamber\nbefore him was darker than the corridor, so that he could just\nindistinctly make out the objects in the room. He saw a sleeping dais\nnear the center, with a darker blotch of something lying on the marble\nfloor beside it. He moved a step farther into the doorway and the\nscabbard of his sword scraped against the stone frame. To his horror he\nsaw the sleeping silks and furs upon the central dais move. He saw a\nfigure slowly arising to a sitting posture from the death bed of O-Mai\nthe Cruel. His knees shook, but he gathered all his moral forces, and\ngripping his sword more tightly in his trembling fingers prepared to\nleap across the chamber upon the horrid apparition. He hesitated just a\nmoment. He felt eyes upon him--ghoulish eyes that bored through the\ndarkness into his withering heart--eyes that he could not see. He\ngathered himself for the rush--and then there broke from the thing upon\nthe couch an awful shriek, and O-Tar sank senseless to the floor.\n\nGahan rose from the couch of O-Mai, smiling, only to swing quickly\nabout with drawn sword as the shadow of a noise impinged upon his keen\nears from the shadows behind him. Between the parted hangings he saw a\nbent and wrinkled figure. It was I-Gos.\n\n\"Sheathe your sword, Turan,\" said the old man. \"You have naught to fear\nfrom I-Gos.\"\n\n\"What do you here?\" demanded Gahan.\n\n\"I came to make sure that the great coward did not cheat us. Ey, and he\ncalled me 'doddering fool;' but look at him now! Stricken insensible by\nterror, but, ey, one might forgive him that who had heard your uncanny\nscream. It all but blasted my own courage. And it was you, then, who\nmoaned and screamed when the chiefs came the day that I stole Tara from\nyou?\"\n\n\"It was you, then, old scoundrel?\" demanded Gahan, moving threateningly\ntoward I-Gos.\n\n\"Come, come!\" expostulated the old man; \"it was I, but then I was your\nenemy. I would not do it now. Conditions have changed.\"\n\n\"How have they changed? What has changed them?\" asked Gahan.\n\n\"Then I did not fully realize the cowardice of my jeddak, or the\nbravery of you and the girl. I am an old man from another age and I\nlove courage. At first I resented the girl's attack upon me, but later\nI came to see the bravery of it and it won my admiration, as have all\nher acts. She feared not O-Tar, she feared not me, she feared not all\nthe warriors of Manator. And you! Blood of a million sires! how you\nfight! I am sorry that I exposed you at The Fields of Jetan. I am sorry\nthat I dragged the girl Tara back to O-Tar. I would make amends. I\nwould be your friend. Here is my sword at your feet,\" and drawing his\nweapon I-Gos cast it to the floor in front of Gahan.\n\nThe Gatholian knew that scarce the most abandoned of knaves would\nrepudiate this solemn pledge, and so he stooped, and picking up the old\nman's sword returned it to him, hilt first, in acceptance of his\nfriendship.\n\n\"Where is the Princess Tara of Helium?\" asked Gahan. \"Is she safe?\"\n\n\"She is confined in the tower of the women's quarters awaiting the\nceremony that is to make her Jeddara of Manator,\" replied I-Gos.\n\n\"This thing dared think that Tara of Helium would mate with him?\"\ngrowled Gahan. \"I will make short work of him if he is not already dead\nfrom fright,\" and he stepped toward the fallen O-Tar to run his sword\nthrough the jeddak's heart.\n\n\"No!\" cried I-Gos. \"Slay him not and pray that he be not dead if you\nwould save your princess.\"\n\n\"How is that?\" asked Gahan.\n\n\"If word of O-Tar's death reached the quarters of the women the\nPrincess Tara would be lost. They know O-Tar's intention of taking her\nto wife and making her Jeddara of Manator, so you may rest assured that\nthey all hate her with the hate of jealous women. Only O-Tar's power\nprotects her now from harm. Should O-Tar die they would turn her over\nto the warriors and the male slaves, for there would be none to avenge\nher.\"\n\nGahan sheathed his sword. \"Your point is well taken; but what shall we\ndo with him?\"\n\n\"Leave him where he lies,\" counseled I-Gos. \"He is not dead. When he\nrevives he will return to his quarters with a fine tale of his bravery\nand there will be none to impugn his boasts--none but I-Gos. Come! he\nmay revive at any moment and he must not find us here.\"\n\nI-Gos crossed to the body of his jeddak, knelt beside it for an\ninstant, and then returned past the couch to Gahan. The two quit the\nchamber of O-Mai and took their way toward the spiral runway. Here\nI-Gos led Gahan to a higher level and out upon the roof of that portion\nof the palace from where he pointed to a high tower quite close by.\n\"There,\" he said, \"lies the Princess of Helium, and quite safe she will\nbe until the time of the ceremony.\"\n\n\"Safe, possibly, from other hands, but not from her own,\" said Gahan.\n\"She will never become Jeddara of Manator--first will she destroy\nherself.\"\n\n\"She would do that?\" asked I-Gos.\n\n\"She will, unless you can get word to her that I still live and that\nthere is yet hope,\" replied Gahan.\n\n\"I cannot get word to her,\" said I-Gos. \"The quarters of his women\nO-Tar guards with jealous hand. Here are his most trusted slaves and\nwarriors, yet even so, thick among them are countless spies, so that no\nman knows which be which. No shadow falls within those chambers that is\nnot marked by a hundred eyes.\"\n\nGahan stood gazing at the lighted windows of the high tower in the\nupper chambers of which Tara of Helium was confined. \"I will find a\nway, I-Gos,\" he said.\n\n\"There is no way,\" replied the old man.\n\nFor some time they stood upon the roof beneath the brilliant stars and\nhurtling moons of dying Mars, laying their plans against the time that\nTara of Helium should be brought from the high tower to the throne room\nof O-Tar. It was then, and then alone, argued I-Gos, that any hope of\nrescuing her might be entertained. Just how far he might trust the\nother Gahan did not know, and so he kept to himself the knowledge of\nthe plan that he had forwarded to Floran and Val Dor by Ghek, but he\nassured the ancient taxidermist that if he were sincere in his\noft-repeated declaration that O-Tar should be denounced and superseded\nhe would have his opportunity on the night that the jeddak sought to\nwed the Heliumetic princess.\n\n\"Your time shall come then, I-Gos,\" Gahan assured the other, \"and if\nyou have any party that thinks as you do, prepare them for the\neventuality that will succeed O-Tar's presumptuous attempt to wed the\ndaughter of The Warlord. Where shall I see you again, and when? I go\nnow to speak with Tara, Princess of Helium.\"\n\n\"I like your boldness,\" said I-Gos; \"but it will avail you naught. You\nwill not speak with Tara, Princess of Helium, though doubtless the\nblood of many Manatorians will drench the floors of the women's\nquarters before you are slain.\"\n\nGahan smiled. \"I shall not be slain. Where and when shall we meet? But\nyou may find me in O-Mai's chamber at night. That seems the safest\nretreat in all Manator for an enemy of the jeddak in whose palace it\nlies. I go!\"\n\n\"And may the spirits of your ancestors surround you,\" said I-Gos.\n\nAfter the old man had left him Gahan made his way across the roof to\nthe high tower, which appeared to have been constructed of concrete and\nafterward elaborately carved, its entire surface being covered with\nintricate designs cut deep into the stone-like material of which it was\ncomposed. Though wrought ages since, it was but little weather-worn\nowing to the aridity of the Martian atmosphere, the infrequency of\nrains, and the rarity of dust storms. To scale it, though, presented\ndifficulties and danger that might have deterred the bravest of\nmen--that would, doubtless, have deterred Gahan, had he not felt that\nthe life of the woman he loved depended upon his accomplishing the\nhazardous feat.\n\nRemoving his sandals and laying aside all of his harness and weapons\nother than a single belt supporting a dagger, the Gatholian essayed the\ndangerous ascent. Clinging to the carvings with hands and feet he\nworked himself slowly aloft, avoiding the windows and keeping upon the\nshadowy side of the tower, away from the light of Thuria and Cluros.\nThe tower rose some fifty feet above the roof of the adjacent part of\nthe palace, comprising five levels or floors with windows looking in\nevery direction. A few of the windows were balconied, and these more\nthan the others he sought to avoid, although, it being now near the\nclose of the ninth zode, there was little likelihood that many were\nawake within the tower.\n\nHis progress was noiseless and he came at last, undetected, to the\nwindows of the upper level. These, like several of the others he had\npassed at lower levels, were heavily barred, so that there was no\npossibility of his gaining ingress to the apartment where Tara was\nconfined. Darkness hid the interior behind the first window that he\napproached. The second opened upon a lighted chamber where he could see\na guard sleeping at his post outside a door. Here also was the top of\nthe runway leading to the next level below. Passing still farther\naround the tower Gahan approached another window, but now he clung to\nthat side of the tower which ended in a courtyard a hundred feet below\nand in a short time the light of Thuria would reach him. He realized\nthat he must hasten and he prayed that behind the window he now\napproached he would find Tara of Helium.\n\nComing to the opening he looked in upon a small chamber dimly lighted.\nIn the center was a sleeping dais upon which a human form lay beneath\nsilks and furs. A bare arm, protruding from the coverings, lay exposed\nagainst a black and yellow striped orluk skin--an arm of wondrous\nbeauty about which was clasped an armlet that Gahan knew. No other\ncreature was visible within the chamber, all of which was exposed to\nGahan's view. Pressing his face to the bars the Gatholian whispered her\ndear name. The girl stirred, but did not awaken. Again he called, but\nthis time louder. Tara sat up and looked about and at the same instant\na huge eunuch leaped to his feet from where he had been lying on the\nfloor close by that side of the dais farthest from Gahan.\nSimultaneously the brilliant light of Thuria flashed full upon the\nwindow where Gahan clung silhouetting him plainly to the two within.\n\nBoth sprang to their feet. The eunuch drew his sword and leaped for the\nwindow where the helpless Gahan would have fallen an easy victim to a\nsingle thrust of the murderous weapon the fellow bore, had not Tara of\nHelium leaped upon her guard dragging him back. At the same time she\ndrew the slim dagger from its hiding place in her harness and even as\nthe eunuch sought to hurl her aside its keen point found his heart.\nWithout a sound he died and lunged forward to the floor. Then Tara ran\nto the window.\n\n\"Turan, my chief!\" she cried. \"What awful risk is this you take to seek\nme here, where even your brave heart is powerless to aid me.\"\n\n\"Be not so sure of that, heart of my heart,\" he replied. \"While I bring\nbut words to my love, they be the forerunner of deeds, I hope, that\nwill give her back to me forever. I feared that you might destroy\nyourself, Tara of Helium, to escape the dishonor that O-Tar would do\nyou, and so I came to give you new hope and to beg that you live for me\nthrough whatever may transpire, in the knowledge that there is yet a\nway and that if all goes well we shall be freed at last. Look for me in\nthe throne room of O-Tar the night that he would wed you. And now, how\nmay we dispose of this fellow?\" He pointed to the dead eunuch upon the\nfloor.\n\n\"We need not concern ourselves about that,\" she replied. \"None dares\nharm me for fear of the wrath of O-Tar--otherwise I should have been\ndead so soon as ever I entered this portion of the palace, for the\nwomen hate me. O-Tar alone may punish me, and what cares O-Tar for the\nlife of a eunuch? No, fear not upon this score.\"\n\nTheir hands were clasped between the bars and now Gahan drew her nearer\nto him.\n\n\"One kiss,\" he said, \"before I go, my princess,\" and the proud daughter\nof Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, and The Warlord of Barsoom\nwhispered: \"My chieftain!\" and pressed her lips to the lips of Turan,\nthe common panthan.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII\n\nAT THE MOMENT OF MARRIAGE\n\nThe silence of the tomb lay heavy about him as O-Tar, Jeddak of\nManator, opened his eyes in the chamber of O-Mai. Recollection of the\nfrightful apparition that had confronted him swept to his\nconsciousness. He listened, but heard naught. Within the range of his\nvision there was nothing apparent that might cause alarm. Slowly he\nlifted his head and looked about. Upon the floor beside the couch lay\nthe thing that had at first attracted his attention and his eyes closed\nin terror as he recognized it for what it was; but it moved not, nor\nspoke. O-Tar opened his eyes again and rose to his feet. He was\ntrembling in every limb. There was nothing on the dais from which he\nhad seen the thing arise.\n\nO-Tar backed slowly from the room. At last he gained the outer\ncorridor. It was empty. He did not know that it had emptied rapidly as\nthe loud scream with which his own had mingled had broken upon the\nstartled ears of the warriors who had been sent to spy upon him. He\nlooked at the timepiece set in a massive bracelet upon his left\nforearm. The ninth zode was nearly half gone. O-Tar had lain for an\nhour unconscious. He had spent an hour in the chamber of O-Mai and he\nwas not dead! He had looked upon the face of his predecessor and was\nstill sane! He shook himself and smiled. Rapidly he subdued his\nrebelliously shaking nerves, so that by the time he reached the\ntenanted portion of the palace he had gained control of himself. He\nwalked with chin high and something of a swagger. To the banquet hall\nhe went, knowing that his chiefs awaited him there and as he entered\nthey arose and upon the faces of many were incredulity and amaze, for\nthey had not thought to see O-Tar the jeddak again after what the spies\nhad told them of the horrid sounds issuing from the chamber of O-Mai.\nThankful was O-Tar that he had gone alone to that chamber of fright,\nfor now no one could deny the tale that he should tell.\n\nE-Thas rushed forward to greet him, for E-Thas had seen black looks\ndirected toward him as the tals slipped by and his benefactor failed to\nreturn.\n\n\"O brave and glorious jeddak!\" cried the major-domo. \"We rejoice at\nyour safe return and beg of you the story of your adventure.\"\n\n\"It was naught,\" exclaimed O-Tar. \"I searched the chambers carefully\nand waited in hiding for the return of the slave, Turan, if he were\ntemporarily away; but he came not. He is not there and I doubt if he\never goes there. Few men would choose to remain long in such a dismal\nplace.\"\n\n\"You were not attacked?\" asked E-Thas. \"You heard no screams, nor\nmoans?\"\n\n\"I heard hideous noises and saw phantom figures; but they fled before\nme so that never could I lay hold of one, and I looked upon the face of\nO-Mai and I am not mad. I even rested in the chamber beside his corpse.\"\n\nIn a far corner of the room a bent and wrinkled old man hid a smile\nbehind a golden goblet of strong brew.\n\n\"Come! Let us drink!\" cried O-Tar and reached for the dagger, the\npommel of which he was accustomed to use to strike the gong which\nsummoned slaves, but the dagger was not in its scabbard. O-Tar was\npuzzled. He knew that it had been there just before he entered the\nchamber of O-Mai, for he had carefully felt of all his weapons to make\nsure that none was missing. He seized instead a table utensil and\nstruck the gong, and when the slaves came bade them bring the strongest\nbrew for O-Tar and his chiefs. Before the dawn broke many were the\nexpressions of admiration bellowed from drunken lips--admiration for\nthe courage of their jeddak; but some there were who still looked glum.\n\n * * * * *\n\nCame at last the day that O-Tar would take the Princess Tara of Helium\nto wife. For hours slaves prepared the unwilling bride. Seven perfumed\nbaths occupied three long and weary hours, then her whole body was\nanointed with the oil of pimalia blossoms and massaged by the deft\nfingers of a slave from distant Dusar. Her harness, all new and wrought\nfor the occasion was of the white hide of the great white apes of\nBarsoom, hung heavily with platinum and diamonds--fairly encrusted with\nthem. The glossy mass of her jet hair had been built into a coiffure of\nstately and becoming grandeur, into which diamond-headed pins were\nstuck until the whole scintillated as the stars in heaven upon a\nmoonless night.\n\nBut it was a sullen and defiant bride that they led from the high tower\ntoward the throne room of O-Tar. The corridors were filled with slaves\nand warriors, and the women of the palace and the city who had been\ncommanded to attend the ceremony. All the power and pride, wealth and\nbeauty of Manator were there.\n\nSlowly Tara, surrounded by a heavy guard of honor, moved along the\nmarble corridors filled with people. At the entrance to The Hall of\nChiefs E-Thas, the major-domo, received her. The Hall was empty except\nfor its ranks of dead chieftains upon their dead mounts. Through this\nlong chamber E-Thas escorted her to the throne room which also was\nempty, the marriage ceremony in Manator differing from that of other\ncountries of Barsoom. Here the bride would await the groom at the foot\nof the steps leading to the throne. The guests followed her in and took\ntheir places, leaving the central aisle from The Hall of Chiefs to the\nthrone clear, for up this O-Tar would approach his bride alone after a\nshort solitary communion with the dead behind closed doors in The Hall\nof Chiefs. It was the custom.\n\nThe guests had all filed through The Hall of Chiefs; the doors at both\nends had been closed. Presently those at the lower end of the hall\nopened and O-Tar entered. His black harness was ornamented with rubies\nand gold; his face was covered by a grotesque mask of the precious\nmetal in which two enormous rubies were set for eyes, though below them\nwere narrow slits through which the wearer could see. His crown was a\nfillet supporting carved feathers of the same metal as the mask. To the\nleast detail his regalia was that demanded of a royal bridegroom by the\ncustoms of Manator, and now in accordance with that same custom he came\nalone to The Hall of Chiefs to receive the blessings and the council of\nthe great ones of Manator who had preceded him.\n\nAs the doors at the lower end of the Hall closed behind him O-Tar the\nJeddak stood alone with the great dead. By the dictates of ages no\nmortal eye might look upon the scene enacted within that sacred\nchamber. As the mighty of Manator respected the traditions of Manator,\nlet us, too, respect those traditions of a proud and sensitive people.\nOf what concern to us the happenings in that solemn chamber of the dead?\n\nFive minutes passed. The bride stood silently at the foot of the\nthrone. The guests spoke together in low whispers until the room was\nfilled with the hum of many voices. At length the doors leading into\nThe Hall of Chiefs swung open, and the resplendent bridegroom stood\nframed for a moment in the massive opening. A hush fell upon the\nwedding guests. With measured and impressive step the groom approached\nthe bride. Tara felt the muscles of her heart contract with the\napprehension that had been growing upon her as the coils of Fate\nsettled more closely about her and no sign came from Turan. Where was\nhe? What, indeed, could he accomplish now to save her? Surrounded by\nthe power of O-Tar with never a friend among them, her position seemed\nat last without vestige of hope.\n\n\"I still live!\" she whispered inwardly in a last brave attempt to\ncombat the terrible hopelessness that was overwhelming her, but her\nfingers stole for reassurance to the slim blade that she had managed to\ntransfer, undetected, from her old harness to the new. And now the\ngroom was at her side and taking her hand was leading her up the steps\nto the throne, before which they halted and stood facing the gathering\nbelow. Came then, from the back of the room a procession headed by the\nhigh dignitary whose office it was to make these two man and wife, and\ndirectly behind him a richly-clad youth bearing a silken pillow on\nwhich lay the golden handcuffs connected by a short length of\nchain-of-gold with which the ceremony would be concluded when the\ndignitary clasped a handcuff about the wrist of each symbolizing their\nindissoluble union in the holy bonds of wedlock.\n\nWould Turan's promised succor come too late? Tara listened to the long,\nmonotonous intonation of the wedding service. She heard the virtues of\nO-Tar extolled and the beauties of the bride. The moment was\napproaching and still no sign of Turan. But what could he accomplish\nshould he succeed in reaching the throne room, other than to die with\nher? There could be no hope of rescue.\n\nThe dignitary lifted the golden handcuffs from the pillow upon which\nthey reposed. He blessed them and reached for Tara's wrist. The time\nhad come! The thing could go no further, for alive or dead, by all the\nlaws of Barsoom she would be the wife of O-Tar of Manator the instant\nthe two were locked together. Even should rescue come then or later she\ncould never dissolve those bonds and Turan would be lost to her as\nsurely as though death separated them.\n\nHer hand stole toward the hidden blade, but instantly the hand of the\ngroom shot out and seized her wrist. He had guessed her intention.\nThrough the slits in the grotesque mask she could see his eyes upon her\nand she guessed the sardonic smile that the mask hid. For a tense\nmoment the two stood thus. The people below them kept breathless\nsilence for the play before the throne had not passed unnoticed.\n\nDramatic as was the moment it was suddenly rendered trebly so by the\nnoisy opening of the doors leading to The Hall of Chiefs. All eyes\nturned in the direction of the interruption to see another figure\nframed in the massive opening--a half-clad figure buckling the\nhalf-adjusted harness hurriedly in place--the figure of O-Tar, Jeddak\nof Manator.\n\n\"Stop!\" he screamed, springing forward along the aisle toward the\nthrone. \"Seize the impostor!\"\n\nAll eyes shot to the figure of the groom before the throne. They saw\nhim raise his hand and snatch off the golden mask, and Tara of Helium\nin wide-eyed incredulity looked up into the face of Turan the panthan.\n\n\"Turan the slave,\" they cried then. \"Death to him! Death to him!\"\n\n\"Wait!\" shouted Turan, drawing his sword, as a dozen warriors leaped\nforward.\n\n\"Wait!\" screamed another voice, old and cracked, as I-Gos, the ancient\ntaxidermist, sprang from among the guests and reached the throne steps\nahead of the foremost warriors.\n\nAt sight of the old man the warriors paused, for age is held in great\nveneration among the peoples of Barsoom, as is true, perhaps, of all\npeoples whose religion is based to any extent upon ancestor worship.\nBut O-Tar gave no heed to him, leaping instead swiftly toward the\nthrone. \"Stop, coward!\" cried I-Gos.\n\nThe people looked at the little old man in amazement. \"Men of Manator,\"\nhe cackled in his thin, shrill voice, \"wouldst be ruled by a coward and\na liar?\"\n\n\"Down with him!\" shouted O-Tar.\n\n\"Not until I have spoken,\" retorted I-Gos. \"It is my right. If I fail\nmy life is forfeit--that you all know and I know. I demand therefore to\nbe heard. It is my right!\"\n\n\"It is his right,\" echoed the voices of a score of warriors in various\nparts of the chamber.\n\n\"That O-Tar is a coward and a liar I can prove,\" continued I-Gos. \"He\nsaid that he faced bravely the horrors of the chamber of O-Mai and saw\nnothing of the slave Turan. I was there, hiding behind the hangings,\nand I saw all that transpired. Turan had been hiding in the chamber and\nwas even then lying upon the couch of O-Mai when O-Tar, trembling with\nfear, entered the room. Turan, disturbed, arose to a sitting position\nat the same time voicing a piercing shriek. O-Tar screamed and swooned.\"\n\n\"It is a lie!\" cried O-Tar.\n\n\"It is not a lie and I can prove it,\" retorted I-Gos. \"Didst notice the\nnight that he returned from the chambers of O-Mai and was boasting of\nhis exploit, that when he would summon slaves to bring wine he reached\nfor his dagger to strike the gong with its pommel as is always his\ncustom? Didst note that, any of you? And that he had no dagger? O-Tar,\nwhere is the dagger that you carried into the chamber of O-Mai? You do\nnot know; but I know. While you lay in the swoon of terror I took it\nfrom your harness and hid it among the sleeping silks upon the couch of\nO-Mai. There it is even now, and if any doubt it let them go thither\nand there they will find it and know the cowardice of their jeddak.\"\n\n\"But what of this impostor?\" demanded one. \"Shall he stand with\nimpunity upon the throne of Manator whilst we squabble about our ruler?\"\n\n\"It is through his bravery that you have learned the cowardice of\nO-Tar,\" replied I-Gos, \"and through him you will be given a greater\njeddak.\"\n\n\"We will choose our own jeddak. Seize and slay the slave!\" There were\ncries of approval from all parts of the room. Gahan was listening\nintently, as though for some hoped-for sound. He saw the warriors\napproaching the dais, where he now stood with drawn sword and with one\narm about Tara of Helium. He wondered if his plans had miscarried after\nall. If they had it would mean death for him, and he knew that Tara\nwould take her life if he fell. Had he, then, served her so futilely\nafter all his efforts?\n\nSeveral warriors were urging the necessity for sending at once to the\nchamber of O-Mai to search for the dagger that would prove, if found,\nthe cowardice of O-Tar. At last three consented to go. \"You need not\nfear,\" I-Gos assured them. \"There is naught there to harm you. I have\nbeen there often of late and Turan the slave has slept there for these\nmany nights. The screams and moans that frightened you and O-Tar were\nvoiced by Turan to drive you away from his hiding place.\" Shamefacedly\nthe three left the apartment to search for O-Tar's dagger.\n\nAnd now the others turned their attention once more to Gahan. They\napproached the throne with bared swords, but they came slowly for they\nhad seen this slave upon the Field of Jetan and they knew the prowess\nof his arm. They had reached the foot of the steps when from far above\nthere sounded a deep boom, and another, and another, and Turan smiled\nand breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps, after all, it had not come too\nlate. The warriors stopped and listened as did the others in the\nchamber. Now there broke upon their ears a loud rattle of musketry and\nit all came from above as though men were fighting upon the roofs of\nthe palace.\n\n\"What is it?\" they demanded, one of the other.\n\n\"A great storm has broken over Manator,\" said one.\n\n\"Mind not the storm until you have slain the creature who dares stand\nupon the throne of your jeddak,\" demanded O-Tar. \"Seize him!\"\n\nEven as he ceased speaking the arras behind the throne parted and a\nwarrior stepped forth upon the dais. An exclamation of surprise and\ndismay broke from the lips of the warriors of O-Tar. \"U-Thor!\" they\ncried. \"What treason is this?\"\n\n\"It is no treason,\" said U-Thor in his deep voice. \"I bring you a new\njeddak for all of Manator. No lying poltroon, but a courageous man whom\nyou all love.\"\n\nHe stepped aside then and another emerged from the corridor hidden by\nthe arras. It was A-Kor, and at sight of him there rose exclamations of\nsurprise, of pleasure, and of anger, as the various factions recognized\nthe coup d'etat that had been arranged so cunningly. Behind A-Kor came\nother warriors until the dais was crowded with them--all men of Manator\nfrom the city of Manatos.\n\nO-Tar was exhorting his warriors to attack, when a bloody and\ndisheveled padwar burst into the chamber through a side entrance. \"The\ncity has fallen!\" he cried aloud. \"The hordes of Manatos pour through\nThe Gate of Enemies. The slaves from Gathol have arisen and destroyed\nthe palace guards. Great ships are landing warriors upon the palace\nroof and in the Fields of Jetan. The men of Helium and Gathol are\nmarching through Manator. They cry aloud for the Princess of Helium and\nswear to leave Manator a blazing funeral pyre consuming the bodies of\nall our people. The skies are black with ships. They come in great\nprocessions from the east and from the south.\"\n\nAnd then once more the doors from The Hall of Chiefs swung wide and the\nmen of Manator turned to see another figure standing upon the\nthreshold--a mighty figure of a man with white skin, and black hair,\nand gray eyes that glittered now like points of steel and behind him\nThe Hall of Chiefs was filled with fighting men wearing the harness of\nfar countries. Tara of Helium saw him and her heart leaped in\nexultation, for it was John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, come at the\nhead of a victorious host to the rescue of his daughter, and at his\nside was Djor Kantos to whom she had been betrothed.\n\nThe Warlord eyed the assemblage for a moment before he spoke. \"Lay down\nyour arms, men of Manator,\" he said. \"I see my daughter and that she\nlives, and if no harm has befallen her no blood need be shed. Your city\nis filled with the fighting men of U-Thor, and those from Gathol and\nfrom Helium. The palace is in the hands of the slaves from Gathol,\nbeside a thousand of my own warriors who fill the halls and chambers\nsurrounding this room. The fate of your jeddak lies in your own hands.\nI have no wish to interfere. I come only for my daughter and to free\nthe slaves from Gathol. I have spoken!\" and without waiting for a reply\nand as though the room had been filled with his own people rather than\na hostile band he strode up the broad main aisle toward Tara of Helium.\n\nThe chiefs of Manator were stunned. They looked to O-Tar; but he could\nonly gaze helplessly about him as the enemy entered from The Hall of\nChiefs and circled the throne room until they had surrounded the entire\ncompany. And then a dwar of the army of Helium entered.\n\n\"We have captured three chiefs,\" he reported to The Warlord, \"who beg\nthat they be permitted to enter the throne room and report to their\nfellows some matter which they say will decide the fate of Manator.\"\n\n\"Fetch them,\" ordered The Warlord.\n\nThey came, heavily guarded, to the foot of the steps leading to the\nthrone and there they stopped and the leader turned toward the others\nof Manator and raising high his right hand displayed a jeweled dagger.\n\"We found it,\" he said, \"even where I-Gos said that we would find it,\"\nand he looked menacingly upon O-Tar.\n\n\"A-Kor, jeddak of Manator!\" cried a voice, and the cry was taken up by\na hundred hoarse-throated warriors.\n\n\"There can be but one jeddak in Manator,\" said the chief who held the\ndagger; his eyes still fixed upon the hapless O-Tar he crossed to where\nthe latter stood and holding the dagger upon an outstretched palm\nproffered it to the discredited ruler. \"There can be but one jeddak in\nManator,\" he repeated meaningly.\n\nO-Tar took the proffered blade and drawing himself to his full height\nplunged it to the guard into his breast, in that single act redeeming\nhimself in the esteem of his people and winning an eternal place in The\nHall of Chiefs.\n\nAs he fell all was silence in the great room, to be broken presently by\nthe voice of U-Thor. \"O-Tar is dead!\" he cried. \"Let A-Kor rule until\nthe chiefs of all Manator may be summoned to choose a new jeddak. What\nis your answer?\"\n\n\"Let A-Kor rule! A-Kor, Jeddak of Manator!\" The cries filled the room\nand there was no dissenting voice.\n\nA-Kor raised his sword for silence. \"It is the will of A-Kor,\" he said,\n\"and that of the Great Jed of Manatos, and the commander of the fleet\nfrom Gathol, and of the illustrious John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom,\nthat peace lie upon the city of Manator and so I decree that the men of\nManator go forth and welcome the fighting men of these our allies as\nguests and friends and show them the wonders of our ancient city and\nthe hospitality of Manator. I have spoken.\" And U-Thor and John Carter\ndismissed their warriors and bade them accept the hospitality of\nManator. As the room emptied Djor Kantos reached the side of Tara of\nHelium. The girl's happiness at rescue had been blighted by sight of\nthis man whom her virtuous heart told her she had wronged. She dreaded\nthe ordeal that lay before her and the dishonor that she must admit\nbefore she could hope to be freed from the understanding that had for\nlong existed between them. And now Djor Kantos approached and kneeling\nraised her fingers to his lips.\n\n\"Beautiful daughter of Helium,\" he said, \"how may I tell you the thing\nthat I must tell you--of the dishonor that I have all unwittingly done\nyou? I can but throw myself upon your generosity for forgiveness; but\nif you demand it I can receive the dagger as honorably as did O-Tar.\"\n\n\"What do you mean?\" asked Tara of Helium. \"What are you talking\nabout--why speak thus in riddles to one whose heart is already\nbreaking?\"\n\nHer heart already breaking! The outlook was anything but promising, and\nthe young padwar wished that he had died before ever he had had to\nspeak the words he now must speak.\n\n\"Tara of Helium,\" he continued, \"we all thought you dead. For a long\nyear have you been gone from Helium. I mourned you truly and then, less\nthan a moon since, I wed with Olvia Marthis.\" He stopped and looked at\nher with eyes that might have said: \"Now, strike me dead!\"\n\n\"Oh, foolish man!\" cried Tara. \"Nothing you could have done could have\npleased me more. Djor Kantos, I could kiss you!\"\n\n\"I do not think that Olvia Marthis would mind,\" he said, his face now\nwreathed with smiles. As they spoke a body of men had entered the\nthrone room and approached the dais. They were tall men trapped in\nplain harness, absolutely without ornamentation. Just as their leader\nreached the dais Tara had turned to Gahan, motioning him to join them.\n\n\"Djor Kantos,\" she said, \"I bring you Turan the panthan, whose loyalty\nand bravery have won my love.\"\n\nJohn Carter and the leader of the new come warriors, who were standing\nnear, looked quickly at the little group. The former smiled an\ninscrutable smile, the latter addressed the Princess of Helium. \"'Turan\nthe panthan!'\" he cried. \"Know you not, fair daughter of Helium, that\nthis man you call panthan is Gahan, Jed of Gathol?\"\n\nFor just a moment Tara of Helium looked her surprise; and then she\nshrugged her beautiful shoulders as she turned her head to cast her\neyes over one of them at Gahan of Gathol.\n\n\"Jed or panthan,\" she said; \"what difference does it make what one's\nslave has been?\" and she laughed roguishly into the smiling face of her\nlover.\n\n * * * * *\n\nHis story finished, John Carter rose from the chair opposite me,\nstretching his giant frame like some great forest-bred lion.\n\n\"You must go?\" I cried, for I hated to see him leave and it seemed that\nhe had been with me but a moment.\n\n\"The sky is already red beyond those beautiful hills of yours,\" he\nreplied, \"and it will soon be day.\"\n\n\"Just one question before you go,\" I begged.\n\n\"Well?\" he assented, good-naturedly.\n\n\"How was Gahan able to enter the throne room garbed in O-Tar's\ntrappings?\" I asked.\n\n\"It was simple--for Gahan of Gathol,\" replied The Warlord. \"With the\nassistance of I-Gos he crept into The Hall of Chiefs before the\nceremony, while the throne room and Hall of Chiefs were vacated to\nreceive the bride. He came from the pits through the corridor that\nopened behind the arras at the rear of the throne, and passing into The\nHall of Chiefs took his place upon the back of a riderless thoat, whose\nwarrior was in I-Gos' repair room. When O-Tar entered and came near him\nGahan fell upon him and struck him with the butt of a heavy spear. He\nthought that he had killed him and was surprised when O-Tar appeared to\ndenounce him.\"\n\n\"And Ghek? What became of Ghek?\" I insisted.\n\n\"After leading Val Dor and Floran to Tara's disabled flier which they\nrepaired, he accompanied them to Gathol from where a message was sent\nto me in Helium. He then led a large party including A-Kor and U-Thor\nfrom the roof, where our ships landed them, down a spiral runway into\nthe palace and guided them to the throne room. We took him back to\nHelium with us, where he still lives, with his single rykor which we\nfound all but starved to death in the pits of Manator. But come! No\nmore questions now.\"\n\nI accompanied him to the east arcade where the red dawn was glowing\nbeyond the arches.\n\n\"Good-bye!\" he said.\n\n\"I can scarce believe that it is really you,\" I exclaimed. \"Tomorrow I\nwill be sure that I have dreamed all this.\"\n\nHe laughed and drawing his sword scratched a rude cross upon the\nconcrete of one of the arches.\n\n\"If you are in doubt tomorrow,\" he said, \"come and see if you dreamed\nthis.\"\n\nA moment later he was gone.\n\n\n\n\nJETAN, OR MARTIAN CHESS\n\nFor those who care for such things, and would like to try the game, I\ngive the rules of Jetan as they were given me by John Carter. By\nwriting the names and moves of the various pieces on bits of paper and\npasting them on ordinary checkermen the game may be played quite as\nwell as with the ornate pieces used upon Mars.\n\nTHE BOARD: Square board consisting of one hundred alternate black and\norange squares.\n\nTHE PIECES: In order, as they stand upon the board in the first row,\nfrom left to right of each player.\n\nWarrior: 2 feathers; 2 spaces straight in any direction or combination.\n\nPadwar: 2 feathers; 2 spaces diagonal in any direction or combination.\n\nDwar: 3 feathers; 3 spaces straight in any direction or combination.\n\nFlier: 3 bladed propellor; 3 spaces diagonal in any direction or\ncombination; and may jump intervening pieces.\n\nChief: Diadem with ten jewels; 3 spaces in any direction; straight or\ndiagonal or combination.\n\nPrincess: Diadem with one jewel; same as Chief, except may jump\nintervening pieces.\n\nFlier: See above.\n\nDwar: See above.\n\nPadwar: See above.\n\nWarrior: See above.\n\nAnd in the second row from left to right:\n\nThoat: Mounted warrior 2 feathers; 2 spaces, one straight and one\ndiagonal in any direction.\n\nPanthans: (8 of them): 1 feather; 1 space, forward, side, or diagonal,\nbut not backward.\n\nThoat: See above.\n\nThe game is played with twenty black pieces by one player and twenty\norange by his opponent, and is presumed to have originally represented\na battle between the Black race of the south and the Yellow race of the\nnorth. On Mars the board is usually arranged so that the Black pieces\nare played from the south and the Orange from the north.\n\nThe game is won when any piece is placed on same square with opponent's\nPrincess, or a Chief takes a Chief.\n\nThe game is drawn when either Chief is taken by a piece other than the\nopposing Chief, or when both sides are reduced to three pieces, or\nless, of equal value and the game is not won in the ensuing ten moves,\nfive apiece.\n\nThe Princess may not move onto a threatened square, nor may she take an\nopposing piece. She is entitled to one ten-space move at any time\nduring the game. This move is called the escape.\n\nTwo pieces may not occupy the same square except in the final move of a\ngame where the Princess is taken.\n\nWhen a player, moving properly and in order, places one of his pieces\nupon a square occupied by an opponent piece, the opponent piece is\nconsidered to have been killed and is removed from the game.\n\nThe moves explained. Straight moves mean due north, south, east, or\nwest; diagonal moves mean northeast, southeast, southwest, or\nnorthwest. A Dwar might move straight north three spaces, or north one\nspace and east two spaces, or any similar combination of straight\nmoves, so long as he did not cross the same square twice in a single\nmove. This example explains combination moves.\n\nThe first move may be decided in any way that is agreeable to both\nplayers; after the first game the winner of the preceding game moves\nfirst if he chooses, or may instruct his opponent to make the first\nmove.\n\nGambling: The Martians gamble at Jetan in several ways. Of course the\noutcome of the game indicates to whom the main stake belongs; but they\nalso put a price upon the head of each piece, according to its value,\nand for each piece that a player loses he pays its value to his\nopponent."