The Chessmen of Mars.......................................................................................................................................1

Edgar Rice Burroughs ..............................................................................................................................1

SHEA had just beaten me at chess, as usual, and, also as usual, I had gleaned what questionable satisfaction I

might by twitting him with this indication of failing mentality by calling his attention to the nth time to that

theory, propounded by certain scientists, which is based upon the assertion that phenomenal chess players are

always found to be from the ranks of children under twelve, adults over seventytwo or the mentally

defectivea theory that is lightly ignored upon those rare occasions that I win. Shea had gone to bed and I

should have followed suit, for we are always in the saddle here before sunrise; but instead I sat there before

the chess table in the library, idly blowing smoke at the dishonored head of my defeated king.

While thus profitably employed I heard the east door of the livingroom open and someone enter. I thought it

was Shea returning to speak with me on some matter of tomorrow's work; but when I raised my eyes to the

doorway that connects the two rooms I saw framed there the figure of a bronzed giant, his otherwise naked

body trapped with a jewelencrusted harness from which there hung at one side an ornate shortsword and at

the other a pistol of strange pattern. The black hair, the steelgray eyes, brave and smiling, the noble

featuresI recognized them at once, and leaping to my feet I advanced with outstretched hand.

"None other, my son," he replied, taking my hand in one of his and placing the other upon my shoulder.

"And what are you doing here?" I asked. "It has been long years since you revisited Earth, and never before

in the trappings of Mars. Lord! but it is good to see youand not a day older in appearance than when you

trotted me on your knee in my babyhood. How do you explain it, John Carter, Warlord of Mars, or do you try

"Why attempt to explain the inexplicable?" he replied. "As I have told you before, I am a very old man. I do

not know how old I am. I recall no childhood; but recollect only having been always as you see me now and

as you saw me first when you were five years old. You, yourself, have aged, though not as much as most men

in a corresponding number of years, which may be accounted for by the fact that the same blood runs in our

veins; but I have not aged at all. I have discussed the question with a noted Martian scientist, a friend of mine;

but his theories are still only theories. However, I am content with the factI never age, and I love life and

"And now as to your natural question as to what brings me to Earth again and in this, to earthly eyes, strange

habiliment. We may thank Kar Komak, the bowman of Lothar. It was he who gave me the idea upon which I

have been experimenting until at last I have achieved success. As you know I have long possessed the power

to cross the void in spirit, but never before have I been able to impart to inanimate things a similar power.

Now, however, you see me for the first time precisely as my Martian fellows see meyou see the very

shortsword that has tasted the blood of many a savage foeman; the harness with the devices of Helium and

the insignia of my rank; the pistol that was presented to me by Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark.

"Aside from seeing you, which is my principal reason for being here, and satisfying myself that I can

transport inanimate things from Mars to Earth, and therefore animate things if I so desire, I have no purpose.

Earth is not for me. My every interest is upon Barsoommy wife, my children, my work; all are there. I will

spend a quiet evening with you and then back to the world I love even better than I love life."

As he spoke he dropped into the chair upon the opposite side of the chess table.

"A daughter," he replied, "only a little younger than Carthoris, and, barring one, the fairest thing that ever

breathed the thin air of dying Mars. Only Dejah Thoris, her mother, could be more beautiful than Tara of

For a moment he fingered the chessmen idly. "We have a game on Mars similar to chess," he said, "very

And there is a race there that plays it grimly with men and naked swords. We call the game jetan. It is played

on a board like yours, except that there are a hundred squares and we use twenty pieces on each side. I never

see it played without thinking of Tara of Helium and what befell her among the chessmen of Barsoom.

I said that I would and so he told it to me, and now I shall try to retell it for you as nearly in the words of

The Warlord of Mars as I can recall them, but in the third person. If there be inconsistencies and errors, let

the blame fall not upon John Carter, but rather upon my faulty memory, where it belongs. It is a strange tale

TARA of Helium rose from the pile of silks and soft furs upon which she had been reclining, stretched her

lithe body languidly, and crossed toward the center of the room, where, above a large table, a bronze disc

depended from the low ceiling. Her carriage was that of health and physical perfectionthe effortless

harmony of faultless coordination. A scarf of silken gossamer crossing over one shoulder was wrapped about

her body; her black hair was piled high upon her head. With a wooden stick she tapped upon the bronze disc,

lightly, and presently the summons was answered by a slave girl, who entered, smiling, to be greeted

"Yes, Tara of Helium, they come," replied the slave. "I have seen Kantos Kan, Overlord of the Navy, and

Prince Soran of Ptarth, and Djor Kantos, son of Kantos Kan," she shot a roguish glance at her mistress as she

"The bath, then, Uthia," said her mistress. "And why, Uthia," she added, "do you look thus and smile when

"It is not plain to me," said Tara of Helium. "He is the friend of my brother, Carthoris, and so he is here

much; but not to see me. It is his friendship for Carthoris that brings him thus often to the palace of my

"But Carthoris is hunting in the north with Talu, Jeddak of Okar," Uthia reminded her.

"My bath, Uthia!" cried Tara of Helium. "That tongue of yours will bring you to some misadventure yet."

"The bath is ready, Tara of Helium," the girl responded, her eyes still twinkling with merriment, for she well

knew that in the heart of her mistress was no anger that could displace the love of the princess for her slave.

Preceding the daughter of The Warlord she opened the door of an adjoining room where lay the batha

gleaming pool of scented water in a marble basin. Golden stanchions supported a chain of gold encircling it

and leading down into the water on either side of marble steps. A glass dome let in the sunlight, which

flooded the interior, glancing from the polished white of the marble walls and the procession of bathers and

fishes, which, in conventional design, were inlaid with gold in a broad band that circled the room.

Tara of Helium removed the scarf from about her and handed it to the slave. Slowly she descended the steps

to the water, the temperature of which she tested with a symmetrical foot, undeformed by tight shoes and

high heelsa lovely foot, as God intended that feet should be and seldom are. Finding the water to her

liking, the girl swam leisurely to and fro about the pool. With the silken ease of the seal she swam, now at the

surface, now below, her smooth muscles rolling softly beneath her clear skina wordless song of health and

happiness and grace. Presently she emerged and gave herself into the hands of the slave girl, who rubbed the

body of her mistress with a sweet smelling semiliquid substance contained in a golden urn, until the glowing

skin was covered with a foamy lather, then a quick plunge into the pool, a drying with soft towels, and the

bath was over. Typical of the life of the princess was the simple elegance of her bathno retinue of useless

slaves, no pomp, no idle waste of precious moments. In another half hour her hair was dried and built into the

strange, but becoming, coiffure of her station; her leathern trappings, encrusted with gold and jewels, had

been adjusted to her figure and she was ready to mingle with the guests that had been bidden to the midday

As she left her apartments to make her way to the gardens where the guests were congregating, two warriors,

the insignia of the House of the Prince of Helium upon their harness, followed a few paces behind her, grim

reminders that the assassin's blade may never be ignored upon Barsoom, where, in a measure, it

counterbalances the great natural span of human life, which is estimated at not less than a thousand years.

As they neared the entrance to the garden another woman, similarly guarded, approached them from another

quarter of the great palace. As she neared them Tara of Helium turned toward her with a smile and a happy

greeting, while her guards knelt with bowed heads in willing and voluntary adoration of the beloved of

Helium. Thus always, solely at the command of their own hearts, did the warriors of Helium greet Dejah

Thoris, whose deathless beauty had more than once brought them to bloody warfare with other nations of

Barsoom. So great was the love of the people of Helium for the mate of John Carter it amounted practically to

The mother and daughter exhanged the gentle, Barsoomian, "kaor" of greeting and kissed. Then together they

entered the gardens where the guests were. A huge warrior drew his shortsword and struck his metal shield

with the flat of it, the brazen sound ringing out above the laughter and the speech.

"The Princess comes!" he cried. "Dejah Thoris! The Princess comes! Tara of Helium!" Thus always is royalty

announced. The guests arose; the two women inclined their heads; the guards fell back upon either side of the

entranceway; a number of nobles advanced to pay their respects; the laughing and the talking were resumed

and Dejah Thoris and her daughter moved simply and naturally among their guests, no suggestion of differing

rank apparent in the bearing of any who were there, though there was more than a single Jeddak and many

common warriors whose only title lay in brave deeds, or noble patriotism. Thus it is upon Mars where men

are judged upon their own merits rather than upon those of their grandsires, even though pride of lineage be

Tara of Helium let her slow gaze wander among the throng of guests until presently it halted upon one she

sought. Was the faint shadow of a frown that crossed her brow an indication of displeasure at the sight that

met her eyes, or did the brilliant rays of the noonday sun distress her? Who may say! She had been reared to

believe that one day she should wed Djor Kantos, son of her father's best friend. It had been the dearest wish

of Kantos Kan and The Warlord that this should be, and Tara of Helium had accepted it as a matter of all but

accomplished fact. Djor Kantos had seemed to accept the matter in the same way. They had spoken of it

casually as something that would, as a matter of course, take place in the indefinite future, as, for instance, his

promotion in the navy, in which he was now a padwar; or the set functions of the court of her grandfather,

Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium; or Death. They had never spoken of love and that had puzzled Tara of

Helium upon the rare occasions she gave it thought, for she knew that people who were to wed were usually

much occupied with the matter of love and she had all of a woman's curiosityshe wondered what love was

like. She was very fond of Djor Kantos and she knew that he was very fond of her. They liked to be together,

for they liked the same things and the same people and the same books and their dancing was a joy, not only

to themselves but to those who watched them. She could not imagine wanting to marry anyone other than

So perhaps it was only the sun that made her brows contract just the tiniest bit at the same instant that she

discovered Djor Kantos sitting in earnest conversation with Olvia Marthis, daughter of the Jed of Hastor. It

was Djor Kantos' duty immediately to pay his respects to Dejah Thoris and Tara of Helium; but he did not do

so and presently the daughter of The Warlord frowned indeed. She looked long at Olvia Marthis, and though

she had seen her many times before and knew her well, she looked at her today through new eyes that saw,

apparently for the first time, that the girl from Hastor was noticeably beautiful even among those other

beautiful women of Helium. Tara of Helium was disturbed. She attempted to analyze her emotions; but found

it difficult. Olvia Marthis was her friendshe was very fond of her and she felt no anger toward her. Was

she angry with Djor Kantos? No, she finally decided that she was not. It was merely surprise, then, that she

feltsurprise that Djor Kantos could be more interested in another than in herself. She was about to cross the

"Tara of Helium!" he called, and she turned to see him approaching with a strange warrior whose harness and

metal bore devices with which she was unfamiliar. Even among the gorgeous trappings of the men of Helium

and the visitors from distant empires those of the stranger were remarkable for their barbaric splendor. The

leather of his harness was completely hidden beneath ornaments of platinum thickly set with brilliant

diamonds, as were the scabbards of his swords and the ornate holster that held his long, Martian pistol.

Moving through the sunlit garden at the side of the great Warlord, the scintillant rays of his countless gems

enveloping him as in an aureole of light imparted to his noble figure a suggestion of godliness.

"Tara of Helium, I bring you Gahan, Jed of Gathol," said John Carter, after the simple Barsoomian custom of

The Warlord left them and the two seated themselves upon an ersite bench beneath a spreading sorapus tree.

"Far Gathol," mused the girl. "Ever in my mind has it been connected with mystery and romance and the

halfforgotten lore of the ancients. I cannot think of Gathol as existing today, possibly because I have never

"And perhaps too because of the great distance that separates Helium and Gathol, as well as the comparative

insignificance of my little free city, which might easily be lost in one corner of mighty Helium," added

Gahan. "But what we lack in power we make up in pride," he continued, laughing. "We believe ours the

oldest inhabited city upon Barsoom. It is one of the few that has retained its freedom, and this despite the fact

that its ancient diamond mines are the richest known and, unlike practically all the other fields, are today

"Tell me of Gathol," urged the girl. "The very thought fills me with interest," nor was it likely that the

handsome face of the young jed detracted anything from the glamour of far Gathol.

Nor did Gahan seem displeased with the excuse for further monopolizing the society of his fair companion.

His eyes seemed chained to her exquisite features, from which they moved no further than to a rounded

breast, part hid beneath its jeweled covering, a naked shoulder or the symmetry of a perfect arm, resplendent

"Your ancient history has doubtless told you that Gathol was built upon an island in Throxeus, mightiest of

the five oceans of old Barsoom. As the ocean receded Gathol crept down the sides of the mountain, the

summit of which was the island upon which she had been built, until today she covers the slopes from

summit to base, while the bowels of the great hill are honeycombed with the galleries of her mines. Entirely

surrounding us is a great salt marsh, which protects us from invasion by land, while the rugged and ofttimes

vertical topography of our mountain renders the landing of hostile airships a precarious undertaking."

Gahan smiled. "We do not speak of that except to enemies," he said, "and then with tongues of steel rather

"But what practice in the art of war has a people which nature has thus protected from attack?" asked Tara of

Helium, who had liked the young jed's answer to her previous question, but yet in whose mind persisted a

vague conviction of the possible effeminacy of her companion, induced, doubtless, by the magnificence of

his trappings and weapons which carried a suggestion of splendid show rather than grim utility.

"Our natural barriers, while they have doubtless saved us from defeat on countless occasions, have not by any

means rendered us immune from attack," he explained, "for so great is the wealth of Gathol's diamond

treasury that there yet may be found those who will risk almost certain defeat in an effort to loot our

unconquered city; so thus we find occasional practice in the exercise of arms; but there is more to Gathol than

the mountain city. My country extends from Polodona (Equator) north ten karads and from the tenth karad

west of Horz to the twentieth west, including thus a million square haads, the greater proportion of which is

"Surrounded as we are by predatory enemies our herdsmen must indeed be warriors or we should have no

herds, and you may be assured they get plenty of fighting. Then there is our constant need of workers in the

mines. The Gatholians consider themselves a race of warriors and as such prefer not to labor in the mines.

The law is, however, that each male Gatholian shall give an hour a day in labor to the government. That is

practically the only tax that is levied upon them. They prefer however, to furnish a substitute to perform this

labor, and as our own people will not hire out for labor in the mines it has been necessary to obtain slaves,

and I do not need to tell you that slaves are not won without fighting. We sell these slaves in the public

market, the proceeds going, half and half, to the government and the warriors who bring them in. The

purchasers are credited with the amount of labor performed by their particular slaves. At the end of a year a

good slave will have performed the labor tax of his master for six years, and if slaves are plentiful he is freed

"You fight in platinum and diamonds?" asked Tara, indicating his gorgeous trappings with a quizzical smile.

Gahan laughed. "We are a vain people," he admitted, goodnaturedly, "and it is possible that we place too

much value on personal appearances. We vie with one another in the splendor of our accoutrements when

trapped for the observance of the lighter duties of life, though when we take the field our leather is the

plainest I ever have seen worn by fighting men of Barsoom. We pride ourselves, too, upon our physical

beauty, and especially upon the beauty of our women. May I dare to say, Tara of Helium, that I am hoping for

the day when you will visit Gathol that my people may see one who is really beautiful?"

"The women of Helium are taught to frown with displeasure upon the tongue of the flatterer," rejoined the

A bugle sounded, clear and sweet, above the laughter and the talk. "The Dance of Barsoom!" exclaimed the

The girl glanced in the direction of the bench where she had last seen Djor Kantos. He was not in sight. She

inclined her head in assent to the claim of the Gatholian. Slaves were passing among the guests, distributing

small musical instruments of a single string. Upon each instrument were characters which indicated the pitch

and length of its tone. The instruments were of skeel, the string of gut, and were shaped to fit the left forearm

of the dancer, to which it was strapped. There was also a ring wound with gut which was worn between the

first and second joints of the index finger of the right hand and which, when passed over the string of the

The guests had risen and were slowly making their way toward the expanse of scarlet sward at the south end

of the gardens where the dance was to be held, when Djor Kantos came hurriedly toward Tara of Helium. "I

"You are too late, Djor Kantos," she cried in mock anger. "No laggard may claim Tara of Helium; but haste

now lest thou lose also Olvia Marthis, whom I have never seen wait long to be claimed for this or any other

"And you mean to say that you came for Tara of Helium only after having lost Olvia Marthis?" demanded the

"Oh, Tara of Helium, you know better than that," insisted the young man. "Was it not natural that I should

assume that you would expect me, who alone has claimed you for the Dance of Barsoom for at least twelve

"And sit and play with my thumbs until you saw fit to come for me?" she questioned. "Ah, no, Djor Kantos;

Tara of Helium is for no laggard," and she threw him a sweet smile and passed on toward the assembling

The Dance of Barsoom bears a relation similar to the more formal dancing functions of Mars that The Grand

March does to ours, though it is infinitely more intricate and more beautiful. Before a Martian youth of either

sex may attend an important social function where there is dancing, he must have become proficient in at

least three dancesThe Dance of Barsoom, his national dance, and the dance of his city. In these three

dances the dancers furnish their own music, which never varies; nor do the steps or figures vary, having been

handed down from time immemorial. All Barsoomian dances are stately and beautiful, but The Dance of

Barsoom is a wondrous epic of motion and harmonythere is no grotesque posturing, no vulgar or

suggestive movements. It has been described as the interpretation of the highest ideals of a world that aspired

to grace and beauty and chastity in woman, and strength and dignity and loyalty in man.

Today, John Carter, Warlord of Mars, with Dejah Thoris, his mate, led in the dancing, and if there was

another couple that vied with them in possession of the silent admiration of the guests it was the resplendent

Jed of Gathol and his beautiful partner. In the everchanging figures of the dance the man found himself now

with the girl's hand in his and again with an arm about the lithe body that the jeweled harness but

inadequately covered, and the girl, though she had danced a thousand dances in the past, realized for the first

time the personal contact of a man's arm against her naked flesh. It troubled her that she should notice it, and

she looked up questioningly and almost with displeasure at the man as though it was his fault. Their eyes met

and she saw in his that which she had never seen in the eyes of Djor Kantos. It was at the very end of the

dance and they both stopped suddenly with the music and stood there looking straight into each other's eyes.

The girl drew herself to her full height. "The Jed of Gathol forgets himself," she exclaimed haughtily.

"The Jed of Gathol would forget everything but you, Tara of Helium," he replied. Fiercely he pressed the soft

hand that he still retained from the last position of the dance. "I love you, Tara of Helium," he repeated. "Why

should your ears refuse to hear what your eyes but just now did not refuse to seeand answer?"

"They are neither boors nor fools," he replied, quietly. "They know when they love a womanand when she

Tara of Helium stamped her little foot in anger. "Go!" she said, "before it is necessary to acquaint my father

him standing there. She was strangely unstrung and shortly thereafter returned to her own quarter of the

palace, where she stood for a long time by a window looking out beyond the scarlet tower of Greater Helium

Tara of Helium stamped her foot. "That illmannered boor, the Jed of Gathol," she replied.

At the stamping of the little foot, a great beast rose from the corner of the room and crossed to Tara of

Helium where it stood looking up into her face. She placed her hand upon the ugly head. "Dear old Woola,"

she said; "no love could be deeper than yours, yet it never offends. Would that men might pattern themselves

TARA of Helium did not return to her father's guests, but awaited in her own apartments the word from Djor

Kantos which she knew must come, begging her to return to the gardens. She would then refuse, haughtily.

But no appeal came from Djor Kantos. At first Tara of Helium was angry, then she was hurt, and always she

was puzzled. She could not understand. Occasionally she thought of the Jed of Gathol and then she would

stamp her foot, for she was very angry indeed with Gahan. The presumption of the man! He had insinuated

that he read love for him in her eyes. Never had she been so insulted and humiliated. Never had she so

"But the guests!" exclaimed the slave girl. "Your father, The Warlord, will expect you to return."

The slave hesitated. "He does not approve of your flying alone," she reminded her mistress.

The young princess sprang to her feet and seized the unhappy slave by the shoulders, shaking her. "You are

becoming unbearable, Uthia," she cried. "Soon there will be no alternative than to send you to the public

Tears came to the soft eyes of the slave girl. "It is because I love you, my princess," she said softly. Tara of

"I have the disposition of a thoat, Uthia," she said. "Forgive me! I love you and there is nothing that I would

not do for you and nothing would I do to harm you. Again, as I have so often in the past, I offer you your

"I do not wish my freedom if it will separate me from you, Tara of Helium," replied Uthia. "I am happy here

Again the girls kissed. "And you will not fly alone, then?" questioned the slave.

Tara of Helium laughed and pinched her companion. "You persistent little pest," she cried. "Of course I shall

Uthia shook her head sorrowfully. "Alas! she does," she admitted. "Iron is the Warlord of Barsoom to the

influences of all but two. In the hands of Dejah Thoris and Tara of Helium he is as potters' clay."

"Then run and fetch my flying leather like the sweet slave you are," directed the mistress.

Far out across the ochre seabottoms beyond the twin cities of Helium raced the swift flier of Tara of

Helium. Thrilling to the speed and the buoyancy and the obedience of the little craft the girl drove toward the

northwest. Why she should choose that direction she did not pause to consider. Perhaps because in that

direction lay the least known areas of Barsoom, and, ergo, Romance, Mystery, and Adventure. In that

She did, however, think occasionally of the jed of that distant kingdom, but the reaction to these thoughts was

scarcely pleasurable. They still brought a flush of shame to her cheeks and a surge of angry blood to her

heart. She was very angry with the Jed of Gathol, and though she should never see him again she was quite

sure that hate of him would remain fresh in her memory forever. Mostly her thoughts revolved about

anotherDjor Kantos. And when she thought of him she thought also of Olvia Marthis of Hastor. Tara of

Helium thought that she was jealous of the fair Olvia and it made her very angry to think that. She was angry

with Djor Kantos and herself, but she was not angry at all with Olvia Marthis, whom she loved, and so of

course she was not jealous really. The trouble was, that Tara of Helium had failed for once to have her own

way. Djor Kantos had not come running like a willing slave when she had expected him, and, ah, here was

the nub of the whole thing! Gahan, Jed of Gathol, a stranger, had been a witness to her humiliation. He had

seen her unclaimed at the beginning of a great function and he had had to come to her rescue to save her, as

he doubtless thought, from the inglorious fate of a wallflower. At the recurring thought, Tara of Helium

could feel her whole body burning with scarlet shame and then she went suddenly white and cold with rage;

whereupon she turned her flier about so abruptly that she was all but torn from her lashings upon the flat,

narrow deck. She reached home just before dark. The guests had departed. Quiet had descended upon the

"You deserted us, Tara of Helium," said John Carter. "It is not what the guests of John Carter should expect."

"In Virginia you would be turned over your father's knee and spanked," said the man, smiling.

She crept into his lap and kissed him. "You do not love me any more," she announced. "No one loves me,"

but she could not compose her features into a pout because bubbling laughter insisted upon breaking through.

"The trouble is there are too many who love you," he said. "And now there is another."

The girl sat up very straight and tilted her chin in the air. "I would not wed with a walking diamondmine,"

"I told him as much," replied her father, "and that you were as good as betrothed to another. He was very

courteous about it; but at the same time he gave me to understand that he was accustomed to getting what he

wanted and that he wanted you very much. I suppose it will mean another war. Your mother's beauty kept

Helium at war for many years, andwell, Tara of Helium, if I were a young man I should doubtless be

willing to set all Barsoom afire to win you, as I still would to keep your divine mother," and he smiled across

the sorapus table and its golden service at the undimmed beauty of Mars' most beautiful woman.

"Our little girl should not yet be troubled with such matters," said Dejah Thoris. "Remember, John Carter,

that you are not dealing with an Earth child, whose span of life would be more than half completed before a

"But do not the daughters of Barsoom sometimes marry as early as twenty?" he insisted.

"Yes, but they will still be desirable in the eyes of men after forty generations of Earth folk have returned to

dustthere is no hurry, at least, upon Barsoom. We do not fade and decay here as you tell me those of your

planet do, though you, yourself, belie your own words. When the time seems proper Tara of Helium shall

wed with Djor Kantos, and until then let us give the matter no further thought."

"No," said the girl, "the subject irks me, and I shall not marry Djor Kantos, or anotherI do not intend to

Her father and mother looked at her and smiled. "When Gahan of Gathol returns he may carry you off," said

"I have seen the last of him then," remarked Tara of Helium with a sigh of relief.

The girl dismissed the subject with a shrug and the conversation passed to other topics. A letter had arrived

from Thuvia of Ptarth, who was visiting at her father's court while Carthoris, her mate, hunted in Okar. Word

had been received that the Tharks and Warhoons were again at war, or rather that there had been an

engagement, for war was their habitual state. In the memory of man there had been no peace between these

two savage green hordesonly a single temporary truce. Two new battleships had been launched at Hastor.

A little band of holy therns was attempting to revive the ancient and discredited religion of Issus, who they

claimed still lived in spirit and had communicated with them. There were rumors of war from Dusar. A

scientist claimed to have discovered human life on the further moon. A madman had attempted to destroy the

atmosphere plant. Seven people had been assassinated in Greater Helium during the last ten zodes, (the

Following the meal Dejah Thoris and The Warlord played at jetan, the Barsoomian game of chess, which is

played upon a board of a hundred alternate black and orange squares. One player has twenty black pieces, the

other, twenty orange pieces. A brief description of the game may interest those Earth readers who care for

chess, and will not be lost upon those who pursue this narrative to its conclusion, since before they are done

they will find that a knowledge of jetan will add to the interest and the thrills that are in store for them.

The men are placed upon the board as in chess upon the first two rows next the players. In order from left to

right on the line of squares nearest the players, the jetan pieces are Warrior, Padwar, Dwar, Flier, Chief,

Princess, Flier, Dwar, Padwar, Warrior. In the next line all are Panthans except the end pieces, which are

The Panthans, which are represented as warriors with one feather, may move one space in any direction

except backward; the Thoats, mounted warriors with three feathers, may move one straight and one diagonal,

and may jump intervening pieces; Warriors, foot soldiers with two feathers, straight in any direction, or

diagonally, two spaces; Padwars, lieutenants wearing two feathers, two diagonal in any direction, or

combination; Dwars, captains wearing three feathers, three spaces straight in any direction, or combination;

Fliers, represented by a propellor with three blades, three spaces in any direction, or combination, diagonally,

and may jump intervening pieces; the Chief, indicated by a diadem with ten jewels, three spaces in any

direction, straight, or diagonal; Princess, diadem with a single jewel, same as Chief, and can jump intervening

The game is won when a player places any of his pieces on the same square with his opponent's Princess, or

when a Chief takes a Chief. It is drawn when a Chief is taken by any opposing piece other than the opposing

Chief; or when both sides have been reduced to three pieces, or less, of equal value, and the game is not

terminated in the following ten moves, five apiece. This is but a general outline of the game, briefly stated.

It was this game that Dejah Thoris and John Carter were playing when Tara of Helium bid them good night,

retiring to her own quarters and her sleeping silks and furs. "Until morning, my beloved," she called back to

them as she passed from the apartment, nor little did she guess, nor her parents, that this might indeed be the

The morning broke dull and gray. Ominous clouds billowed restlessly and low. Beneath them torn fragments

scudded toward the northwest. From her window Tara of Helium looked out upon this unusual scene. Dense

clouds seldom overcast the Barsoomian sky. At this hour of the day it was her custom to ride one of those

small thoats that are the saddle animals of the red Martians, but the sight of the billowing clouds lured her to

a new adventure. Uthia still slept and the girl did not disturb her. Instead, she dressed quietly and went to the

hangar upon the roof of the palace directly above her quarters where her own swift flier was housed. She had

never driven through the clouds. It was an adventure that always she had longed to experience. The wind was

strong and it was with difficulty that she maneuvered the craft from the hangar without accident, but once

away it raced swiftly out above the twin cities. The buffeting winds caught and tossed it, and the girl laughed

aloud in sheer joy of the resultant thrills. She handled the little ship like a veteran, though few veterans would

have faced the menace of such a storm in so light a craft. Swiftly she rose toward the clouds, racing with the

scudding streamers of the stormswept fragments, and a moment later she was swallowed by the dense

masses billowing above. Here was a new world, a world of chaos unpeopled except for herself; but it was a

cold, damp, lonely world and she found it depressing after the novelty of it had been dissipated, by an

overpowering sense of the magnitude of the forces surging about her. Suddenly she felt very lonely and very

cold and very little. Hurriedly, therefore, she rose until presently her craft broke through into the glorious

sunlight that transformed the upper surface of the somber element into rolling masses of burnished silver.

Here it was still cold, but without the dampness of the clouds, and in the eye of the brilliant sun her spirits

rose with the mounting needle of her altimeter. Gazing at the clouds, now far beneath, the girl experienced

the sensation of hanging stationary in midheaven; but the whirring of her propellor, the wind beating upon

her, the high figures that rose and fell beneath the glass of her speedometer, these told her that her speed was

The first attempt she made above the clouds, but it was unsuccessful. To her surprise she discovered that she

could not even turn against the high wind, which rocked and buffeted the frail craft. Then she dropped swiftly

to the dark and windswept zone between the hurtling clouds and the gloomy surface of the shadowed

ground. Here she tried again to force the nose of the flier back toward Helium, but the tempest seized the frail

thing and hurled it remorselessly about, rolling it over and over and tossing it as it were a cork in a cataract.

At last the girl succeeded in righting the flier, perilously close to the ground. Never before had she been so

close to death, yet she was not terrified. Her coolness had saved her, that and the strength of the deck lashings

that held her. Traveling with the storm she was safe, but where was it bearing her? She pictured the

apprehension of her father and mother when she failed to appear at the morning meal. They would find her

flier missing and they would guess that somewhere in the path of the storm it lay a wrecked and tangled mass

upon her dead body, and then brave men would go out in search of her, risking their lives; and that lives

would be lost in the search, she knew, for she realized now that never in her lifetime had such a tempest

She must turn back! She must reach Helium before her mad lust for thrills had cost the sacrifice of a single

courageous life! She determined that greater safety and likelihood of success lay above the clouds, and once

again she rose through the chilling, windtossed vapor. Her speed again was terrific, for the wind seemed to

have increased rather than to have lessened. She sought gradually to check the swift flight of her craft, but

though she finally succeeded in reversing her motor the wind but carried her on as it would. Then it was that

Tara of Helium lost her temper. Had her world not always bowed in acquiescence to her every wish? What

were these elements that they dared to thwart her? She would demonstrate to them that the daughter of The

Warlord was not to be denied! They would learn that Tara of Helium might not be ruled even by the forces of

And so she drove her motor forward again and then with her firm, white teeth set in grim determination she

drove the steering lever far down to port with the intention of forcing the nose of her craft straight into the

teeth of the wind, and the wind seized the frail thing and toppled it over upon its back, and twisted and turned

it and hurled it over and over; the propellor raced for an instant in an air pocket and then the tempest seized it

again and twisted it from its shaft, leaving the girl helpless upon an unmanageable atom that rose and fell, and

rolled and tumbledthe sport of the elements she had defied. Tara of Helium's first sensation was one of

surprisethat she had failed to have her own way. Then she commenced to feel concernnot for her own

safety but for the anxiety of her parents and the dangers that the inevitable searchers must face. She

reproached herself for the thoughtless selfishness that had jeopardized the peace and safety of others. She

realized her own grave danger, too; but she was still unterrified, as befitted the daughter of Dejah Thoris and

John Carter. She knew that her buoyancy tanks might keep her afloat indefinitely, but she had neither food

nor water, and she was being borne toward the leastknown area of Barsoom. Perhaps it would be better to

land immediately and await the coming of the searchers, rather than to allow herself to be carried still further

from Helium, thus greatly reducing the chances of early discovery; but when she dropped toward the ground

she discovered that the violence of the wind rendered an attempt to land tantamount to destruction and she

Carried along a few hundred feet above the ground she was better able to appreciate the Titanic proportions

of the storm than when she had flown in the comparative serenity of the zone above the clouds, for now she

could distinctly see the effect of the wind upon the surface of Barsoom. The air was filled with dust and

flying bits of vegetation and when the storm carried her across an irrigated area of farm land she saw great

trees and stone walls and buildings lifted high in air and scattered broadcast over the devastated country; and

then she was carried swiftly on to other sights that forced in upon her consciousness a rapidly growing

conviction that after all Tara of Helium was a very small and insignificant and helpless person. It was quite a

shock to her selfpride while it lasted, and toward evening she was ready to believe that it was going to last

forever. There had been no abatement in the ferocity of the tempest, nor was there indication of any. She

could only guess at the distance she had been carried for she could not believe in the correctness of the high

figures that had been piled upon the record of her odometer. They seemed unbelievable and yet, had she

known it, they were quite truein twelve hours she had flown and been carried by the storm full seven

thousand haads. Just before dark she was carried over one of the deserted cities of ancient Mars. It was

Torquas, but she did not know it. Had she, she might readily have been forgiven for abandoning the last

vestige of hope, for to the people of Helium Torquas seems as remote as do the South Sea Islands to us. And

All that night she hurtled through the dark beneath the clouds, or rose to race through the moonlit void

beneath the glory of Barsoom's two satellites. She was cold and hungry and altogether miserable, but her

brave little spirit refused to admit that her plight was hopeless even though reason proclaimed the truth. Her

reply to reason, sometime spoken aloud in sudden defiance, recalled the Spartan stubbornness of her sire in

That morning there had been an early visitor at the palace of The Warlord. It was Gahan, Jed of Gathol. He

had arrived shortly after the absence of Tara of Helium had been noted, and in the excitement he had

remained unannounced until John Carter had happened upon him in the great reception corridor of the palace

as The Warlord was hurrying out to arrange for the dispatch of ships in search of his daughter.

Gahan read the concern upon the face of The Warlord. "Forgive me if I intrude, John Carter," he said. "I but

came to ask the indulgence of another day since it would be foolhardy to attempt to navigate a ship in such a

"Remain, Gahan, a welcome guest until you choose to leave us," replied The Warlord; "but you must forgive

any seeming inattention upon the part of Helium until my daughter is restored to us."

"You daughter! Restored! What do you mean?" exclaimed the Gatholian. "I do not understand."

"She is gone, together with her light flier. That is all we know. We can only assume that she decided to fly

before the morning meal and was caught in the clutches of the tempest. You will pardon me, Gahan, if I leave

you abruptlyI am arranging to send ships in search of her;" but Gahan, Jed of Gathol, was already speeding

in the direction of the palace gate. There he leaped upon a waiting thoat and followed by two warriors in the

metal of Gathol, he dashed through the avenues of Helium toward the palace that had been set aside for his

ABOVE the roof of the palace that housed the Jed of Gathol and his entourage, the cruiser Vanator tore at her

stout moorings. The groaning tackle bespoke the mad fury of the gale, while the worried faces of those

members of the crew whose duties demanded their presence on the straining craft gave corroborative

evidence of the gravity of the situation. Only stout lashings prevented these men from being swept from the

deck, while those upon the roof below were constantly compelled to cling to rails and stanchions to save

themselves from being carried away by each new burst of meteoric fury. Upon the prow of the Vanator was

painted the device of Gathol, but no pennants were displayed in the upper works since the storm had carried

away several in rapid succession, just as it seemed to the watching men that it must carry away the ship itself.

They could not believe that any tackle could withstand for long this Titanic force. To each of the twelve

lashings clung a brawny warrior with drawn shortsword. Had but a single mooring given to the power of the

tempest eleven shortswords would have cut the others; since, partially moored, the ship was doomed, while

"By the blood of Issus, I believe they will hold!" screamed one warrior to another.

"And if they do not hold may the spirits of our ancestors reward the brave warriors upon the Vanator," replied

another of those upon the roof of the palace, "for it will not be long from the moment her cables part before

her crew dons the leather of the dead; but yet, Tanus, I believe they will hold. Give thanks at least that we did

"Yes," replied Tanus, "I should hate to be abroad today upon the stoutest ship that sails the Barsoomian sky."

It was then that Gahan the Jed appeared upon the roof. With him were the balance of his own party and a

"I sail at once upon the Vanator," he said, "in search of Tara of Helium who is thought to have been carried

away upon a oneman flier by the storm. I do not need to explain to you the slender chances the Vanator has

to withstand the fury of the tempest, nor will I order you to your deaths. Let those who wish remain behind

without dishonor. The others will follow me," and he leaped for the rope ladder that lashed wildly in the gale.

The first man to follow him was Tanus and when the last reached the deck of the cruiser there remained upon

the palace roof only the twelve warriors of Helium, who, with naked swords, had taken the posts of the

"I expected no less," said Gahan, as with the help of those already on the deck he and the others found secure

lashings. The commander of the Vanator shook his head. He loved his trim craft, the pride of her class in the

little navy of Gathol. It was of her he thoughtnot of himself. He saw her lying torn and twisted upon the

ochre vegetation of some distant seabottom, to be presently overrun and looted by some savage, green

Word was passed across the deck and over the side to the Heliumetic warriors below that at the third gun they

were to cut away. Twelve keen swords must strike simultaneously and with equal power, and each must sever

completely and instantly three strands of heavy cable that no loose end fouling a block bring immediate

Boom! The voice of the signal gun rolled down through the screaming wind to the twelve warriors upon the

roof. Boom! Twelve swords were raised above twelve brawny shoulders. Boom! Twelve keen edges severed

The Vanator, her propellors whirling, shot forward with the storm. The tempest struck her in the stern as with

a mailed fist and stood the great ship upon her nose, and then it caught her and spun her as a child's top spins;

and upon the palace roof the twelve men looked on in silent helplessness and prayed for the souls of the brave

warriors who were going to their death. And others saw, from Helium's lofty landing stages and from a

thousand hangars upon a thousand roofs; but only for an instant did the preparations stop that would send

other brave men into the frightful maelstrom of that apparently hopeless search, for such is the courage of the

But the Vanator did not fall to the ground, within sight of the city at least, though as long as the watchers

could see her never for an instant did she rest upon an even keel. Sometimes she lay upon one side or the

other, or again she hurtled along keel up, or rolled over and over, or stood upon her nose or her tail at the

caprice of the great force that carried her along. And the watchers saw that this great ship was merely being

blown away with the other bits of debris great and small that filled the sky. Never in the memory of man or

the annals of recorded history had such a storm raged across the face of Barsoom.

And in another instant was the Vanator forgotten as the lofty, scarlet tower that had marked Lesser Helium

for ages crashed to ground, carrying death and demolition upon the city beneath. Panic reigned. A fire broke

out in the ruins. The city's every force seemed crippled, and it was then that The Warlord ordered the men

that were about to set forth in search of Tara of Helium to devote their energies to the salvation of the city, for

he too had witnessed the start of the Vanator and realized the futility of wasting men who were needed sorely

Shortly after noon of the second day the storm commenced to abate, and before the sun went down, the little

craft upon which Tara of Helium had hovered between life and death these many hours drifted slowly before

a gentle breeze above a landscape of rolling hills that once had been lofty mountains upon a Martian

continent. The girl was exhausted from loss of sleep, from lack of food and drink, and from the nervous

reaction consequent to the terrifying experiences through which she had passed. In the near distance, just

topping an intervening hill, she caught a momentary glimpse of what appeared to be a domecapped tower.

Quickly she dropped the flier until the hill shut it off from the view of the possible occupants of the structure

she had seen. The tower meant to her the habitation of man, suggesting the presence of water and, perhaps, of

food. If the tower was the deserted relic of a bygone age she would scarcely find food there, but there was

still a chance that there might be water. If it was inhabited, then must her approach be cautious, for only

enemies might be expected to abide in so far distant a land. Tara of Helium knew that she must be far from

the twin cities of her grandfather's empire, but had she guessed within even a thousand haads of the reality,

Keeping the craft low, for the buoyancy tanks were still intact, the girl skimmed the ground until the

gentlymoving wind had carried her to the side of the last hill that intervened between her and the structure

she had thought a manbuilt tower. Here she brought the flier to the ground among some stunted trees, and

dragging it beneath one where it might be somewhat hidden from craft passing above, she made it fast and set

forth to reconnoiter. Like most women of her class she was armed only with a single slender blade, so that in

such an emergency as now confronted her she must depend almost solely upon her cleverness in remaining

undiscovered by enemies. With utmost caution she crept warily toward the crest of the hill, taking advantage

of every natural screen that the landscape afforded to conceal her approach from possible observers ahead,

while momentarily she cast quick glances rearward lest she be taken by surprise from that quarter.

She came at last to the summit, where, from the concealment of a low bush, she could see what lay beyond.

Beneath her spread a beautiful valley surrounded by low hills. Dotting it were numerous circular towers,

domecapped, and surrounding each tower was a stone wall enclosing several acres of ground. The valley

appeared to be in a high state of cultivation. Upon the opposite side of the hill and just beneath her was a

tower and enclosure. It was the roof of the former that had first attracted her attention. In all respects it

seemed identical in construction with those further out in the valleya high, plastered wall of massive

construction surrounding a similarly constructed tower, upon whose gray surface was painted in vivid colors

a strange device. The towers were about forty sofads in diameter, approximately forty earthfeet, and sixty in

height to the base of the dome. To an Earth man they would have immediately suggested the silos in which

dairy farmers store ensilage for their herds; but closer scrutiny, revealing an occasional embrasured opening

together with the strange construction of the domes, would have altered such a conclusion. Tara of Helium

saw that the domes seemed to be faced with innumerable prisms of glass, those that were exposed to the

declining sun scintillating so gorgeously as to remind her suddenly of the magnificent trappings of Gahan of

Gathol. As she thought of the man she shook her head angrily, and moved cautiously forward a foot or two

that she might get a less obstructed view of the nearer tower and its enclosure.

As Tara of Helium looked down into the enclosure surrounding the nearest tower, her brows contracted

momentarily in frowning surprise, and then her eyes went wide in an expression of incredulity tinged with

horror, for what she saw was a score or two of human bodiesnaked and headless. For a long moment she

watched, breathless; unable to believe the evidence of her own eyesthat these grewsome things moved and

had life! She saw them crawling about on hands and knees over and across one another, searching about with

their fingers. And she saw some of them at troughs, for which the others seemed to be searching, and those at

the troughs were taking something from these receptacles and apparently putting it in a hole where their

necks should have been. They were not far beneath hershe could see them distinctly and she saw that there

were the bodies of both men and women, and that they were beautifully proportioned, and that their skin was

similar to hers, but of a slightly lighter red. At first she had thought that she was looking upon a shambles and

that the bodies, but recently decapitated, were moving under the impulse of muscular reaction; but presently

she realized that this was their normal condition. The horror of them fascinated her, so that she could scarce

take her eyes from them. It was evident from their groping hands that they were eyeless, and their sluggish

movements suggested a rudimentary nervous system and a correspondingly minute brain. The girl wondered

how they subsisted for she could not, even by the wildest stretch of imagination, picture these imperfect

creatures as intelligent tillers of the soil. Yet that the soil of the valley was tilled was evident and that these

things had food was equally so. But who tilled the soil? Who kept and fed these unhappy things, and for what

The sight of food aroused again a consciousness of her own gnawing hunger and the thirst that parched her

throat. She could see both food and water within the enclosure; but would she dare enter even should she find

means of ingress? She doubted it, since the very thought of possible contact with these grewsome creatures

Then her eyes wandered again out across the valley until presently they picked out what appeared to be a tiny

stream winding its way through the center of the farm landsa strange sight upon Barsoom. Ah, if it were

but water! Then might she hope with a real hope, for the fields would give her sustenance which she could

gain by night, while by day she hid among the surrounding hills, and sometime, yes, sometime she knew, the

searchers would come, for John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, would never cease to search for his daughter

until every square haad of the planet had been combed again and again. She knew him and she knew the

warriors of Helium and so she knew that could she but manage to escape harm until they came, they would

She would have to wait until dark before she dare venture into the valley, and in the meantime she thought it

well to search out a place of safety nearby where she might be reasonably safe from savage beasts. It was

possible that the district was free from carnivora, but one might never be sure in a strange land. As she was

about to withdraw be hind the brow of the hill her attention was again attracted to the enclosure below. Two

figures had emerged from the tower. Their beautiful bodies seemed identical with those of the headless

creatures among which they moved, but the newcomers were not headless. Upon their shoulders were heads

that seemed human, yet which the girl intuitively sensed were not human. They were just a trifle too far away

for her to see them distinctly in the waning light of the dying day, but she knew that they were too large, they

were out of proportion to the perfectly proportioned bodies, and they were oblate in form. She could see that

the men wore some manner of harness to which were slung the customary longsword and shortsword of

the Barsoomian warrior, and that about their short necks were massive leather collars cut to fit closely over

the shoulders and snugly to the lower part of the head. Their features were scarce discernible, but there was a

suggestion of grotesqueness about them that carried to her a feeling of revulsion.

The two carried a long rope to which were fastened, at intervals of about two sofads, what she later guessed

were light manacles, for she saw the warriors passing among the poor creatures in the enclosure and about the

right wrist of each they fastened one of the manacles. When all had been thus fastened to the rope one of the

warriors commenced to pull and tug at the loose end as though attempting to drag the headless company

toward the tower, while the other went among them with a long, light whip with which he flicked them upon

the naked skin. Slowly, dully, the creatures rose to their feet and between the tugging of the warrior in front

and the lashing of him behind the hopeless band was finally herded within the tower. Tara of Helium

Suddenly it was night. The Barsoomian day had ended, and then the brief period of twilight that renders the

transition from daylight to darkness almost as abrupt as the switching off of an electric light, and Tara of

Helium had found no sanctuary. But perhaps there were no beasts to fear, or rather to avoidTara of Helium

liked not the word fear. She would have been glad, however, had there been a cabin, even a very tiny cabin,

upon her small flier; but there was no cabin. The interior of the hull was completely taken up by the buoyancy

tanks. Ah, she had it! How stupid of her not to have thought of it before! She could moor the craft to the tree

beneath which it rested and let it rise the length of the rope. Lashed to the deck rings she would then be safe

from any roaming beast of prey that chanced along. In the morning she could drop to the ground again before

As Tara of Helium crept over the brow of the hill down toward the valley, her presence was hidden by the

darkness of the night from the sight of any chance observer who might be loitering by a window in the nearby

tower. Cluros, the farther moon, was just rising above the horizon to commence his leisurely journey through

the heavens. Eight zodes later he would seta trifle over nineteen and a half Earth hoursand during that

time Thuria, his vivacious mate, would have circled the planet twice and be more than half way around on her

third trip. She had but just set. It would be more than three and a half hours before she shot above the

opposite horizon to hurtle, swift and low, across the face of the dying planet. During this temporary absence

of the mad moon Tara of Helium hoped to find both food and water, and gain again the safety of her flier's

She groped her way through the darkness, giving the tower and its enclosure as wide a berth as possible.

Sometimes she stumbled, for in the long shadows cast by the rising Cluros objects were grotesquely distorted

though the light from the moon was still not sufficient to be of much assistance to her. Nor, as a matter of

fact, did she want light. She could find the stream in the dark, by the simple expedient of going down hill

until she walked into it and she had seen that bearing trees and many crops grew throughout the valley, so

that she would pass food in plenty ere she reached the stream. If the moon showed her the way more clearly

and thus saved her from an occasional fall, he would, too, show her more clearly to the strange denizens of

the towers, and that, of course, must not be. Could she have waited until the following night conditions would

have been better, since Cluros would not appear in the heavens at all and so, during Thuria's absence, utter

darkness would reign; but the pangs of thirst and the gnawing of hunger could be endured no longer with

food and drink both in sight, and so she had decided to risk discovery rather than suffer longer.

Safely past the nearest tower, she moved as rapidly as she felt consistent with safety, choosing her way

wherever possible so that she might take advantage of the shadows of the trees that grew at intervals and at

the same time discover those which bore fruit. In this latter she met with almost immediate success, for the

very third tree beneath which she halted was heavy with ripe fruit. Never, thought Tara of Helium, had aught

so delicious impinged upon her palate, and yet it was naught else than the almost tasteless usa, which is

considered to be palatable only after having been cooked and highly spiced. It grows easily with little

irrigation and the trees bear abundantly. The fruit, which ranks high in food value, is one of the staple foods

of the less welltodo, and because of its cheapness and nutritive value forms one of the principal rations of

both armies and navies upon Barsoom, a use which has won for it a Martian sobriquet which, freely

translated into English, would be, The Fighting Potato. The girl was wise enough to eat but sparingly, but she

Two towers she passed before she came at last to the stream, and here again was she temperate, drinking but

little and that very slowly, contenting herself with rinsing her mouth frequently and bathing her face, her

hands, and her feet; and even though the night was cold, as Martian nights are, the sensation of refreshment

more than compensated for the physical discomfort of the low temperature. Replacing her sandals she sought

among the growing track near the stream for whatever edible berries or tubers might be planted there, and

found a couple of varieties that could be eaten raw. With these she replaced some of the usa in her

pocketpouch, not only to insure a variety but because she found them more palatable. Occasionally she

returned to the stream to drink, but each time moderately. Always were her eyes and ears alert for the first

signs of danger, but she had neither seen nor heard aught to disturb her. And presently the time approached

when she felt she must return to her flier lest she be caught in the revealing light of low swinging Thuria. She

dreaded leaving the water for she knew that she must become very thirsty before she could hope to come

again to the stream. If she only had some little receptacle in which to carry water, even a small amount would

tide her over until the following night; but she had nothing and so she must content herself as best she could

After a last drink at the stream, the longest and deepest she had allowed herself, she rose to retrace her steps

toward the hills; but even as she did so she became suddenly tense with apprehension. What was that? She

could have sworn that she saw something move in the shadows beneath a tree not far away. For a long minute

the girl did not moveshe scarce breathed. Her eyes remained fixed upon the dense shadows below the tree,

her ears strained through the silence of the night. A low moaning came down from the hills where her flier

was hidden. She knew it wellthe weird note of the hunting banth. And the great carnivore lay directly in

her path. But he was not so close as this other thing, hiding there in the shadows just a little way off. What

was it? It was the strain of uncertainty that weighed heaviest upon her. Had she known the nature of the

creature lurking there half its meanace would have vanished. She cast quickly about her in search of some

Again arose the moaning from the hills, but this time closer. Almost immediately it was answered from the

opposite side of the valley, behind her, and then from the distance to the right of her, and twice upon her left.

Her eyes had found a tree, quite near. Slowly, and without taking her eyes from the shadows of that other

tree, she moved toward the overhanging branches that might afford her sanctuary in the event of need, and at

her first move a low growl rose from the spot she had been watching and she heard the sudden moving of a

big body. Simultaneously the creature shot into the moonlight in full charge upon her, its tail erect, its tiny

ears laid flat, its great mouth with its multiple rows of sharp and powerful fangs already yawning for its prey,

its ten legs carrying it forward in great leaps, and now from the beast's throat issued the frightful roar with

which it seeks to paralyze its prey. It was a banththe great, maned lion of Barsoom. Tara of Helium saw it

coming and leaped for the tree toward which she had been moving, and the banth realized her intention and

redoubled his speed. As his hideous roar awakened the echoes in the hills, so too it awakened echoes in the

valley; but these echoes came from the living throats of others of his kind, until it seemed to the girl that Fate

Almost incredbily swift is the speed of a charging banth, and fortunate it was that the girl had not been caught

farther in the open. As it was, her margin of safety was next to negligible, for as she swung nimbly to the

lower branches the creature in pursuit of her crashed among the foliage almost upon her as it sprang upward

to seize her. It was only a combination of good fortune and agility that saved her. A stout branch deflected the

raking talons of the carnivore, but so close was the call that a giant forearm brushed her flesh in the instant

Baffled, the banth gave vent to his rage and disappointment in a series of frightful roars that caused the very

ground to tremble, and to these were added the roarings and the growlings and the moanings of his fellows as

they approached from every direction, in the hope of wresting from him whatever of his kill they could take

by craft or prowess. And now he turned snarling upon them as they circled the tree, while the girl, huddled in

a crotch above them, looked down upon the gaunt, yellow monsters padding on noiseless feet in a restless

circle about her. She wondered now at the strange freak of fate that had permitted her to come down this far

into the valley by night unharmed, but even more she wondered how she was to return to the hills. She knew

that she would not dare venture it by night and she guessed, too, that by day she might be confronted by even

graver perils. To depend upon this valley for sustenance she now saw to be beyond the pale of possibility

because of the banths that would keep her from food and water by night, while the dwellers in the towers

would doubtless make it equally impossible for her to forage by day. There was but one solution of her

difficulty and that was to return to her flier and pray that the wind would waft her to some less terrorful land;

but when might she return to the flier? The banths gave little evidence of relinquishing hope of her, andeven

AS THURIA, swift racer of the night, shot again into the sky the scene changed. As by magic a new aspect

fell athwart the face of Nature. It was as though in the instant one had been transported from one planet to

another. It was the ageold miracle of the Martian nights that is always new, even to Martianstwo moons

resplendent in the heavens, where one had been but now; conflicting, fastchanging shadows that altered the

very hills themselves; far Cluros, stately, majestic, almost stationary, shedding his steady light upon the

world below; Thuria, a great and glorious orb, swinging swift across the vaulted dome of the blueblack

night, so low that she seemed to graze the hills, a gorgeous spectacle that held the girl now beneath the spell

"Ah, Thuria, mad queen of heaven!" murmured Tara of Helium. "The hills pass in stately procession, their

bosoms rising and falling; the trees move in restless circles; the little grasses describe their little arcs; and all

is movement, restless, mysterious movement without sound, while Thuria passes." The girl sighed and let her

gaze fall again to the stern realities beneath. There was no mystery in the huge banths. He who had

discovered her squatted there looking hungrily up at her. Most of the others had wandered away in search of

other prey, but a few remained hoping yet to bury their fangs in that soft body.

The night wore on. Again Thuria left the heavens to her lord and master, hurrying on to keep her tryst with

the Sun in other skies. But a single banth waited impatiently beneath the tree which harbored Tara of Helium.

The others had left, but their roars, and growls, and moans thundered or rumbled, or floated back to her from

near and far. What prey found they in this little valley? There must be something that they were accustomed

to find here that they should be drawn in so great numbers. The girl wondered what it could be.

How long the night! Numb, cold, and exhausted, Tara of Helium clung to the tree in growing desperation, for

once she had dozed and almost fallen. Hope was low in her brave little heart. How much more could she

endure? She asked herself the question and then, with a brave shake of her head, she squared her shoulders. "I

Came Thuria again and after awhile the great Suna flaming lover, pursuing his heart's desire. And Cluros,

the cold husband, continued his serene way, as placid as before his house had been violated by this hot

Lothario. And now the Sun and both Moons rode together in the sky, lending their far mysteries to make

weird the Martian dawn. Tara of Helium looked out across the fair valley that spread upon all sides of her. It

was rich and beautiful, but even as she looked upon it she shuddered, for to her mind came a picture of the

headless things that the towers and the walls hid. Those by day and the banths by night! Ah, was it any

With the coming of the Sun the great Barsoomian lion rose to his feet. He turned angry eyes upon the girl

above him, voiced a single ominous growl, and slunk away toward the hills. The girl watched him, and she

saw that he gave the towers as wide a berth as possible and that he never took his eyes from one of them

while he was passing it. Evidently the inmates had taught these savage creatures to respect them. Presently he

passed from sight in a narrow defile, nor in any direction that she could see was there another. Momentarily

at least the landscape was deserted. The girl wondered if she dared to attempt to regain the hills and her flier.

She dreaded the coming of the workmen to the fields as she was sure they would come. She shrank from

again seeing the headless bodies, and found herself wondering if these things would come out into the fields

and work. She looked toward the nearest tower. There was no sign of life there. The valley lay quiet now and

deserted. She lowered herself stiffly to the ground. Her muscles were cramped and every move brought a

twinge of pain. Pausing a moment to drink again at the stream she felt refreshed and then turned without

more delay toward the hills. To cover the distance as quickly as possible seemed the only plan to pursue. The

trees no longer offered concealment and so she did not go out of her way to be near them. The hills seemed

very far away. She had not thought, the night before, that she had traveled so far. Really it had not been far,

but now, with the three towers to pass in broad daylight, the distance seemed great indeed.

The second tower lay almost directly in her path. To make a detour would not lessen the chance of detection,

it would only lengthen the period of her danger, and so she laid her course straight for the hill where her flier

was, regardless of the tower. As she passed the first enclosure she thought that she heard the sound of

movement within, but the gate did not open and she breathed more easily when it lay behind her. She came

then to the second enclosure, the outer wall of which she must circle, as it lay across her route. As she passed

close along it she distinctly heard not only movement within, but voices. In the worldlanguage of Barsoom

she heard a man issuing instructionsso many were to pick usa, so many were to irrigate this field, so many

Tara of Helium had just reached the gate in the outer wall. Without warning it swung open toward her. She

saw that for a moment it would hide her from those within and in that moment she turned and ran, keeping

close to the wall, until, passing out of sight beyond the curve of the structure, she came to the opposite side of

the enclosure. Here, panting from her exertion and from the excitement of her narrow escape, she threw

herself among some tall weeds that grew close to the foot of the wall. There she lay trembling for some time,

not even daring to raise her head and look about. Never before had Tara of Helium felt the paralyzing effects

of terror. She was shocked and angry at herself, that she, daughter of John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom,

should exhibit fear. Not even the fact that there had been none there to witness it lessened her shame and

anger, and the worst of it was she knew that under similar circumstances she would again be equally as

craven. It was not the fear of deathshe knew that. No, it was the thought of those headless bodies and that

she might see them and that they might even touch herlay hands upon herseize her. She shuddered and

After a while she gained sufficient command of herself to raise her head and look about. To her horror she

discovered that everywhere she looked she saw people working in the fields or preparing to do so. Workmen

were coming from other towers. Little bands were passing to this field and that. They were even some already

at work within thirty ads of herabout a hundred yards. There were ten, perhaps, in the party nearest her,

both men and women, and all were beautiful of form and grotesque of face. So meager were their trappings

that they were practically naked; a fact that was in no way remarkable among the tillers of the fields of Mars.

Each wore the peculiar, high leather collar that completely hid the neck, and each wore sufficient other

leather to support a single sword and a pocketpouch. The leather was very old and worn, showing long, hard

service, and was absolutely plain with the exception of a single device upon the left shoulder. The heads,

however, were covered with ornaments of precious metals and jewels, so that little more than eyes, nose, and

mouth were discernible. These were hideously inhuman and yet grotesquely human at the same time. The

eyes were far apart and protruding, the nose scarce more than two small, parallel slits set vertically above a

round hole that was the mouth. The heads were peculiarly repulsiveso much so that it seemed unbelievable

to the girl that they formed an integral part of the beautiful bodies below them.

So fascinated was Tara of Helium that she could scarce take her eyes from the strange creaturesa fact that

was to prove her undoing, for in order that she might see them she was forced to expose a part of her own

head and presently, to her consternation, she saw that one of the creatures had stopped his work and was

staring directly at her. She did not dare move, for it was still possible that the thing had not seen her, or at

least was only suspicious that some creature lay hid among the weeds. If she could allay this suspicion by

remaining motionless the creature might believe that he had been mistaken and return to his work; but, alas,

such was not to be the case. She saw the thing call the attention of others to her and almost immediately four

It was impossible now to escape discovery. Her only hope lay in flight. If she could elude them and reach the

hills and the flier ahead of them she might escape, and that could be accomplished in but one wayflight,

immediate and swift. Leaping to her feet she darted along the base of the wall which she must skirt to the

opposite side, beyond which lay the hill that was her goal. Her act was greeted by strange whistling sounds

from the things behind her, and casting a glance over her shoulder she saw them all in rapid pursuit.

There were also shrill commands that she halt, but to these she paid no attention. Before she had half circled

the enclosure she discovered that her chances for successful escape were great, since it was evident to her that

her pursuers were not so fleet as she. High indeed then were her hopes as she came in sight of the hill, but

they were soon dashed by what lay before her, for there, in the fields that lay between, were fully a hundred

creatures similar to those behind her and all were on the alert, evidently warned by the whistling of their

fellows. Instructions and commands were shouted to and fro, with the result that those before her spread

roughly into a great half circle to intercept her, and when she turned to the right, hoping to elude the net, she

saw others coming from fields beyond, and to the left the same was true. But Tara of Helium would not admit

defeat. Without once pausing she turned directly toward the center of the advancing semicircle, beyond

which lay her single chance of escape, and as she ran she drew her long, slim dagger. Like her valiant sire, if

die she must, she would die fighting. There were gaps in the thin line confronting her and toward the widest

of one of these she directed her course. The things on either side of the opening guessed her intent for they

closed in to place themselves in her path. This widened the openings on either side of them and as the girl

appeared almost to rush into their arms she turned suddenly at right angles, ran swiftly in the new direction

for a few yards, and then dashed quickly toward the hill again. Now only a single warrior, with a wide gap on

either side of him, barred her clear way to freedom, though all the others were speeding as rapidly as they

could to intercept her. If she could pass this one without too much delay she could escape, of that she was

certain. Her every hope hinged on this. The creature before her realized it, too, for he moved cautiously,

though swiftly, to intercept her, as a Rugby fullback might maneuver in the realization that he alone stood

At first Tara of Helium had hoped that she might dodge him, for she could not but guess that she was not

only more fleet but infinitely more agile than these strange creatures; but soon there came to her the

realization that in the time consumed in an attempt to elude his grasp his nearer fellows would be upon her

and escape then impossible, so she chose instead to charge straight for him, and when he guessed her decision

he stood, half crouching and with outstretched arms, awaiting her. In one hand was his sword, but a voice

arose, crying in tones of authority. "Take her alive! Do not harm her!" Instantly the fellow returned his sword

to its scabbard and then Tara of Helium was upon him. Straight for that beautiful body she sprang and in the

instant that the arms closed to seize her her sharp blade drove deep into the naked chest. The impact hurled

them both to the ground and as Tara of Helium sprang to her feet again she saw, to her horror, that the

loathsome head had rolled from the body and was now crawling away from her on six short, spider]ike legs.

The body struggled spasmodically and lay still. As brief as had been the delay caused by the encounter, it still

had been of sufficient duration to undo her, for even as she rose two more of the things fell upon her and

instantly thereafter she was surrounded. Her blade sank once more into naked flesh and once more a head

rolled free and crawled away. Then they overpowered her and in another moment she was surrounded by

fully a hundred of the creatures, all seeking to lay hands upon her. At first she thought that they wished to tear

her to pieces in revenge for her having slain two of their fellows, but presently she realized that they were

"Come!" said one of her captors, both of whom had retained a hold upon her. As he spoke he tried to lead her

"She belongs to me," cried the other. "Did not I capture her? She will come with me to the tower of Moak."

"Never!" insisted the first. "She is Luud's. To Luud I will take her, and whosoever interferes may feel the

"Come! Enough of this," cried one who spoke with some show of authority. "She was captured in Luud's

"She was discovered in Moak's fields, at the very foot of the tower of Moak," insisted he who had claimed

"Not while this Moak holds a sword," replied the other. "Rather will I cut her in twain and take my half to

Moak than to relinquish her all to Luud," and he drew his sword, or rather he laid his hand upon its hilt in a

threatening gesture; but before ever he could draw it the Luud had whipped his out and with a fearful blow

cut deep into the head of his adversary. Instantly the big, round head collapsed, almost as a punctured balloon

collapses, as a grayish, semifluid matter spurted from it. The protruding eyes, apparently lidless, merely

stared, the sphincterlike muscle of the mouth opened and closed, and then the head toppled from the body to

the ground. The body stood dully for a moment and then slowly started to wander aimlessly about until one

One of the two heads crawling about on the ground now approached. "This rykor belongs to Moak," it said. "I

am a Moak. I will take it," and without further discussion it commenced to crawl up the front of the headless

body, using its six short, spiderlike legs and two stout chelae which grew just in front of its legs and strongly

resembled those of an Earthly lobster, except that they were both of the same size. The body in the meantime

stood in passive indifference, its arms hanging idly at its sides. The head climbed to the shoulders and settled

itself inside the leather collar that now hid its chelae and legs. Almost immediately the body gave evidence of

intelligent animation. It raised its hands and adjusted the collar more comfortably, it took the head between

its palms and settled it in place and when it moved around it did not wander aimlessly, but instead its steps

The girl watched all these things in growing wonder, and presently, no other of the Moaks seeming inclined

to dispute the right of the Luud to her, she was led off by her captor toward the nearest tower. Several

accompanied them, including one who carried the loose head under his arm. The head that was being carried

conversed with the head upon the shoulders of the thing that carried it. Tara of Helium shivered. It was

horrible! All that she had seen of these frightful creatures was horrible. And to be a prisoner, wholly in their

power. Shadow of her first ancestor! What had she done to deserve so cruel a fate?

At the wall enclosing the tower they paused while one opened the gate and then they passed within the

enclosure, which, to the girl's horror, she found filled with headless bodies. The creature who carried the

bodiless head now set its burden upon the ground and the latter immediately crawled toward one of the

bodies that was lying near by. Some wandered stupidly to and fro, but this one lay still. It was a female. The

head crawled to it and made its way to the shoulders where it settled itself. At once the body sprang lightly

erect. Another of those who had accompanied them from the fields approached with the harness and collar

that had been taken from the dead body that the head had formerly topped. The new body now appropriated

these and the hands deftly adjusted them. The creature was now as good as before Tara of Helium had struck

down its former body with her slim blade. But there was a difference. Before it had been malenow it was

female. That, however, seemed to make no difference to the head. In fact, Tara of Helium had noticed during

the scramble and the fight about her that sex differences seemed of little moment to her captors. Males and

females had taken equal part in her pursuit, both were identically harnessed and both carried swords, and she

had seen as many females as males draw their weapons at the moment that a quarrel between the two factions

The girl was given but brief opportunity for further observation of the pitiful creatures in the enclosure as her

captor, after having directed the others to return to the fields, led her toward the tower, which they entered,

passing into an apartment about ten feet wide and twenty long, in one end of which was a stairway leading to

an upper level and in the other an opening to a similar stairway leading downward. The chamber, though on a

level with the ground, was brilliantly lighted by windows in its inner wall, the light coming from a circular

court in the center of the tower. The walls of this court appeared to be faced with what resembled glazed,

white tile and the whole interior of it was flooded with dazzling light, a fact which immediately explained to

the girl the purpose of the glass prisms of which the domes were constructed. The stairways themselves were

sufficient to cause remark, since in nearly all Barsoomian architecture inclined runways are utilized for

purposes of communication between different levels, and especially is this true of the more ancient forms and

of those of remote districts where fewer changes have come to alter the customs of antiquity.

Down the stairway her captor led Tara of Helium. Down and down through chambers still lighted from the

brilliant well. Occasionally they passed others going in the opposite direction and these always stopped to

"I know nothing but that she was found in the fields and that I caught her after a fight in which she slew two

rykors and in which I slew a Moak, and that I take her to Luud, to whom, of course, she belongs. If Luud

wishes to question her that is for Luud to donot for me." Thus always he answered the curious.

Presently they reached a room from which a circular tunnel led away from the tower, and into this the

creature conducted her. The tunnel was some seven feet in diameter and flattened on the bottom to form a

walk. For a hundred feet from the tower it was lined with the same tilelike material of the light well and

amply illuminated by reflected light from that source. Beyond it was faced with stone of various shapes and

sizes, neatly cut and fitted togethera very fine mosaic without a pattern. There were branches, too, and

other tunnels which crossed this, and occasionally openings not more than a foot in diameter; these latter

being usually close to the floor. Above each of these smaller openings was painted a different device, while

upon the walls of the larger tunnels at all intersections and points of convergence hieroglyphics appeared.

These the girl could not read though she guessed that they were the names of the tunnels, or notices

indicating the points to which they led. She tried to study some of them out, but there was not a character that

was familiar to her, which seemed strange, since, while the written languages of the various nations of

Barsoom differ, it still is true that they have many characters and words in common.

She had tried to converse with her guard but he had not seemed inclined to talk with her and she had finally

desisted. She could not but note that he had offered her no indignities, nor had he been either unnecessarily

rough or in any way cruel. The fact that she had slain two of the bodies with her dagger had apparently

aroused no animosity or desire for revenge in the minds of the strange heads that surmounted the

bodieseven those whose bodies had been killed. She did not try to understand it, since she could not

approach the peculiar relationship between the heads and the bodies of these creatures from the basis of any

past knowledge or experience of her own. So far their treatment of her seemed to augur naught that might

arouse her fears. Perhaps, after all, she had been fortunate to fall into the hands of these strange people, who

might not only protect her from harm, but even aid her in returning to Helium. That they were repulsive and

uncanny she could not forget, but if they meant her no harm she could, at least, overlook their repulsiveness.

Renewed hope aroused within her a spirit of greater cheerfulness, and it was almost blithely now that she

moved at the side of her weird companion. She even caught herself humming a gay little tune that was then

popular in Helium. The creature at her side turned its expressionless eyes upon her.

"'Humming an air,'" he repeated. "I do not know what you mean; but do it again, I like it."

This time she sang the words, while her companion listened intently. His face gave no indication of what was

passing in that strange head. It was as devoid of expression as that of a spider. It reminded her of a spider.

"That was different," he said. "I liked that better, even, than the other. How do you do it?"

"It is difficult to explain," she told him. "since any explanation of it presupposes some knowledge of melody

and of music, while your very question indicates that you have no knowledge of either."

"No," he said, "I do not know what you are talking about; but tell me how you do it."

"It is merely the melodious modulations of my voice," she explained. "Listen!" and again she sang.

"I do not understand," he insisted; "but I like it. Could you teach me to do it?"

"We will see what Luud does with you," he said. "If he does not want you I will keep you and you shall teach

At his request she sang again as they continued their way along the winding tunnel, which was now lighted

by occasional bulbs which appeared to be similar to the radium bulbs with which she was familiar and which

were common to all the nations of Barsoom, insofar as she knew, having been perfected at so remote a period

that their very origin was lost in antiquity. They consist, usually, of a hemispherical bowl of heavy glass in

which is packed a compound containing what, according to John Carter, must be radium. The bowl is then

cemented into a metal plate with a heavily insulated back and the whole affair set in the masonry of wall or

ceiling as desired, where it gives off light of greater or less intensity, according to the composition of the

As they proceeded they met a greater number of the inhabitants of this underground world, and the girl noted

that among many of these the metal and harness were more ornate than had been those of the workers in the

fields above. The heads and bodies, however, were similar, even identical, she thought. No one offered her

harm and she was now experiencing a feeling of relief almost akin to happiness, when her guide turned

suddenly into an opening on the right side of the tunnel and she found herself in a large, well lighted

THE song that had been upon her lips as she entered died therefrozen by the sight of horror that met her

eyes. In the center of the chamber a headless body lay upon the floora body that had been partially

devouredwhile over and upon it crawled a half a dozen heads upon their short, spider legs, and they tore at

the flesh of the woman with their chelae and carried the bits to their awful mouths. They were eating human

Tara of Helium gasped in horror and turning away covered her eyes with her palms.

"Why not?" he inquired. "Did you suppose that we kept the rykor for labor alone? Ah, no. They are delicious

when kept and fattened. Fortunate, too, are those that are bred for food, since they are never called upon to do

He looked at her steadily for a moment, but whether in surprise, in anger, or in pity his expressionless face

did not reveal. Then he led her on across the room past the frightful thing, from which she turned away her

eyes. Lying about the floor near the walls were half a dozen headless bodies in harness. These she guessed

had been abandoned temporarily by the feasting heads until they again required their services. In the walls of

this room there were many of the small, round openings she had noticed in various parts of the tunnels, the

They passed through another corridor and then into a second chamber, larger than the first and more

brilliantly illuminated. Within were several of the creatures with heads and bodies assembled, while many

headless bodies lay about near the walls. Here her captor halted and spoke to one of the occupants of the

"I seek Luud," he said. "I bring to Luud a creature that I captured in the fields above."

The others crowded about to examine Tara of Helium. One of them whistled, whereupon the girl learned

something of the smaller openings in the walls, for almost immediately there crawled from them, like giant

spiders, a score or more of the hideous heads. Each sought one of the recumbent bodies and fastened itself in

place. Immediately the bodies reacted to the intelligent direction of the heads. They arose, the hands adjusted

the leather collars and put the balance of the harness in order, then the creatures crossed the room to where

Tara of Helium stood. She noted that their leather was more highly ornamented than that worn by any of the

others she had previously seen, and so she guessed that these must be higher in authority than the others. Nor

was she mistaken. The demeanor of her captor indicated it. He addressed them as one who holds intercourse

Several of those who examined her felt her flesh, pinching it gently between thumb and forefinger, a

familiarity that the girl resented. She struck down their hands. "Do not touch me!" she cried, imperiously, for

was she not a princess of Helium? The expression on those terrible faces did not change. She could not tell

whether they were angry or amused, whether her action had filled them with respect for her, or contempt.

The girl's eyes went wide with horror. She turned upon her captor. "Do these frightful creatures intend to

"That is for Luud to say," he replied, and then he leaned closer so that his mouth was near her ear. "That noise

you made which you called song pleased me," he whispered, "and I will repay you by warning you not to

antagonize these kaldanes. They are very powerful. Luud listens to them. Do not call them frightful. They are

"No, not this," he explained, touching his body; "this is a rykor; but this," and he touched his head, "is a

kaldane. It is the brain, the intellect, the power that directs all things. The rykor," he indicated his body, "is

nothing. It is not so much even as the jewels upon our harness; no, not so much as the harness itself. It carries

us about. It is true that we would find difficulty getting along without it; but it has less value than harness or

jewels because it is less difficult to reproduce." He turned again to the other kaldanes. "Will you notify Luud

"Sept has already gone to Luud. He will tell him," replied one. "Where did you find this rykor with the

The girl's captor narrated once more the story of her capture. He stated facts just as they had occurred,

without embellishment, his voice as expressionless as his face, and his story was received in the same manner

that it was delivered. The creatures seemed totally lacking in emotion, or, at least, the capacity to express it. It

was impossible to judge what impression the story made upon them, or even if they heard it. Their protruding

eyes simply stared and occasionally the muscles of their mouths opened and closed. Familiarity did not lessen

the horror the girl felt for them. The more she saw of them the more repulsive they seemed. Often her body

was shaken by convulsive shudders as she looked at the kaldanes, but when her eyes wandered to the

beautiful bodies and she could for a moment expunge the heads from her consciousness the effect was

soothing and refreshing, though when the bodies lay, headless, upon the floor they were quite as shocking as

the heads mounted on bodies. But by far the most grewsome and uncanny sight of all was that of the heads

crawling about upon their spider legs. If one of these should approach and touch her Tara of Helium was

positive that she should scream, while should one attempt to crawl up her personugh! the very idea

Sept returned to the chamber. "Luud will see you and the captive. Come!" he said, and turned toward a door

opposite that through which Tara of Helium had entered the chamber. "What is your name?" His question

The patrician brows of Tara of Helium went high. It made no difference, indeed! She, a princess of Helium;

"Wait!" she cried. "It makes much difference who I am. If you are conducting me into the presence of your

jed you may announce The Princess Tara of Helium, daughter of John Carter, The Warlord of Barsoom."

"Hold your peace!" commanded Sept. "Speak when you are spoken to. Come with me!"

The anger of Tara of Helium all but choked her. "Come," admonished Ghek, and took her by the arm, and

Tara of Helium came. She was naught but a prisoner. Her rank and titles meant nothing to these inhuman

monsters. They led her through a short, Sshaped passageway into a chamber entirely lined with the white,

tilelike material with which the interior of the light wall was faced. Close to the base of the walls were

numerous smaller apertures, circular in shape, but larger than those of similar aspect that she had noted

elsewhere. The majority of these apertures were sealed. Directly opposite the entrance was one framed in

Sept and Ghek halted just within the room, the girl between them, and all three stood silently facing the

opening in the opposite wall. On the floor beside the aperture lay a headless male body of almost heroic

proportions, and on either side of this stood a heavily armed warrior, with drawn sword. For perhaps five

minutes the three waited and then something appeared in the opening. It was a pair of large chelae and

immediately thereafter there crawled forth a hideous kaldane of enormous proportions. He was half again as

large as any that Tara of Helium had yet seen and his whole aspect infinitely more terrible. The skin of the

others was a bluish graythis one was of a little bluer tinge and the eyes were ringed with bands of white

From each nostril a band of white and one of scarlet extended outward horizontally the width of the face.

No one spoke or moved. The creature crawled to the prostrate body and affixed itself to the neck. Then the

two rose as one and approached the girl. He looked at her and then he spoke to her captor.

"I was blown hither in a great storm that injured my flier and carried me I knew not where. I came down into

the valley at night for food and drink. The banths came and drove me to the safety of a tree, and then your

people caught me as I was trying to leave the valley. I do not know why they took me. I was doing no harm.

"But my people are not at war with yours. I am a princess of Helium; my greatgrandfather is a jeddak; my

grandfather a jed; and my father is Warlord of all Barsoom. You have no right to keep me and I demand that

"None who enters Bantoom ever leaves," repeated the creature without expression. "I know nothing of the

lesser creatures of Barsoom, of whom you speak. There is but one high racethe race of Bantoomians. All

Nature exists to serve them. You shall do your share, but not yetyou are too skinny. We shall have to put

some fat upon it, Sept. I tire of rykor. Perhaps this will have a different flavor. The banths are too rank and it

is seldom that any other creature enters the valley. And you, Ghek; you shall be rewarded. I shall promote

you from the fields to the burrows. Hereafter you shall remain underground as every Bantoomian longs to.

No more shall you be forced to endure the hated sun, or look upon the hideous sky, or the hateful growing

things that defile the surface. For the present you shall look after this thing that you have brought me, seeing

that it sleeps and eatsand does nothing else. You understand me, Ghek; nothing else!"

Ghek turned and led Tara of Helium from the apartment. The girl was horrified by contemplation of the fate

that awaited hera fate from which it seemed, there was no escape. It was only too evident that these

creatures possessed no gentle or chivalric sentiments to which she could appeal, and that she might escape

Outside the audience chamber Sept overtook them and conversed with Ghek for a brief period, then her

keeper led her through a confusing web of winding tunnels until they came to a small apartment.

"We are to remain here for a while. It may be that Luud will send for you again. If he does you will probably

not be fattenedhe will use you for another purpose." It was fortunate for the girl's peace of mind that she

Tara of Helium did not feel at all like singing, but she sang, nevertheless, for there was always the hope that

she might escape if given the opportuntiy and if she could win the friendship of one of the creatures, her

chances would be increased proportionately. All during the ordeal, for such it was to the overwrought girl,

"It is wonderful," he said, when she had finished; "but I did not tell Luudyou noticed that I did not tell

Luud about it. Had he known, he would have had you sing to him and that would have resulted in your being

kept with him that he might hear you sing whenever he wished; but now I can have you all the time."

"He would have to," replied Ghek. "If I like a thing he has to like it, for are we not identicalall of us?"

"How strange!" commented Ghek. "All kaldanes like the same things and dislike the same things. If I

discover something new and like it I know that all kaldanes will like it. That is how I know that Luud would

"Luud is king. He is larger and more gorgeously marked; but otherwise he and I are identical, and why not?

"Yes," explained Ghek, "all of us are from Luud's eggs, just as all the swarm of Moak are from Moak's eggs."

"Oh!" exclaimed Tara of Helium understandingly; "you mean that Luud has many wives and that you are the

"No, not that at all," replied Ghek. "Luud has no wife. He lays the eggs himself. You do not understand."

"I will try to explain, then," said Ghek, "if you will promise to sing to me later."

"We are not like the rykors," he began. "They are creatures of a low order, like yourself and the banths and

such things. We have no sexnot one of us except our king, who is bisexual. He produces many eggs from

which we, the workers and the warriors, are hatched; and one in every thousand eggs is another king egg,

from which a king is hatched. Did you notice the sealed openings in the room where you saw Luud? Sealed in

each of those is another king. If one of them escaped he would fall upon Luud and try to kill him and if he

succeeded we should have a new king; but there would be no difference. His name would be Luud and all

would go on as before, for are we not all alike? Luud has lived a long time and has produced many kings, so

he lets only a few live that there may be a successor to him when he dies. The others he kills."

"Sometimes accidents occur," replied Ghek, "and all the kings that a swarm has saved are killed. When this

"All but a few, who are from the eggs of the preceding king, as was Luud; but Luud has lived a long time and

"No; the rykors live for ten years, perhaps," he said, "if they remain strong and useful. When they can no

longer be of service to us, either through age or sickness, we leave them in the fields and the banths come at

The rykors are but brainless flesh. They neither see, nor feel, nor hear. They can scarce move but for us. If we

did not bring them food they would starve to death. They are less deserving of thought than our leather. All

that they can do for themselves is to take food from a trough and put it in their mouths, but with uslook at

them!" and he proudly exhibited the noble figure that he surmounted, palpitant with life and energy and

"I will show you," he said, and lay down upon the floor. Then he detached himself from the body, which lay

as a thing dead. On his spider legs he walked toward the girl. "Now look," he admonished her. "Do you see

this thing?" and he extended what appeared to be a bundle of tentacles from the posterior part of his head.

"There is an aperture just back of the rykor's mouth and directly over the upper end of his spinal column. Into

this aperture I insert my tentacles and seize the spinal cord. Immediately I control every muscle of the rykor's

bodyit becomes my own, just as you direct the movement of the muscles of your body. I feel what the

rykor would feel if he had a head and brain. If he is hurt, I would suffer if I remained connected with him; but

the instant one of them is injured or becomes sick we desert it for another. As we would suffer the pains of

their physical injuries, similarly do we enjoy the physical pleasures of the rykors. When your body becomes

fatigued you are comparatively useless; it is sick, you are sick; if it is killed, you die. You are the slave of a

mass of stupid flesh and bone and blood. There is nothing more wonderful about your carcass than there is

about the carcass of a banth. It is only your brain that makes you superior to the banth, but your brain is

bound by the limitations of your body. Not so, ours. With us brain is everything. Ninety per centum of our

volume is brain. We have only the simplest of vital organs and they are very small for they do not have to

assist in the support of a complicated system of nerves, muscles, flesh and bone. We have no lungs, for we do

not require air. Far below the levels to which we can take the rykors is a vast network of burrows where the

real life of the kaldane is lived. There the airbreathing rykor would perish as you would perish. There we

have stored vast quantities of food in hermetically sealed chambers. It will last forever. Far beneath the

surface is water that will flow for countless ages after the surface water is exhausted. We are preparing for the

time we know must comethe time when the last vestige of the Barsoomian atmosphere is spentwhen the

waters and the food are gone. For this purpose were we created, that there might not perish from the planet

"You do not understand," he said. "It is too big for you to grasp, but I will try to explain it. Barsoom, the

moons, the sun, the stars, were created for a single purpose. From the beginning of time Nature has labored

arduously toward the consummation of this purpose. At the very beginning things existed with life, but with

no brain. Gradually rudimentary nervous systems and minute brains evolved. Evolution proceeded. The

brains became larger and more powerful. In us you see the highest development; but there are those of us

who believe that there is yet another stepthat some time in the far future our race shall develop into the

superthingjust brain. The incubus of legs and chelae and vital organs will be removed. The future kaldane

will be nothing but a great brain. Deaf, dumb, and blind it will lie sealed in its buried vault far beneath the

surface of Barsoomjust a great, wonderful, beautiful brain with nothing to distract it from eternal thought."

"Yes," replied the girl, "I can think of a number of things that would be infinitely more wonderful."

WHAT the creature had told her gave Tara of Helium food for thought. She had been taught that every

created thing fulfilled some useful purpose, and she tried conscientiously to discover just what was the

rightful place of the kaldane in the universal scheme of things. She knew that it must have its place but what

that place was it was beyond her to conceive. She had to give it up. They recalled to her mind a little group of

people in Helium who had forsworn the pleasures of life in the pursuit of knowledge. They were rather

patronizing in their relations with those whom they thought not so intellectual. They considered themselves

quite superior. She smiled at recollection of a remark her father had once made concerning them, to the effect

that if one of them ever dropped his egotism and broke it it would take a week to fumigate Helium. Her father

liked normal peoplepeople who knew too little and people who knew too much were equally a bore. Tara

of Helium was like her father in this respect and like him, too, she was both sane and normal.

Outside of her personal danger there was much in this strange world that interested her. The rykors aroused

her keenest pity, and vast conjecture. How and from what form had they evolved? She asked Ghek.

"Sing to me again and I will tell you," he said. "If Luud would let me have you, you should never die. I

The girl marvelled at the effect her voice had upon the creature. Somewhere in that enormous brain there was

a chord that was touched by melody. It was the sole link between herself and the brain when detatched from

the rykor. When it dominated the rykor it might have other human instincts; but these she dreaded even to

think of. After she had sung she waited for Ghek to speak. For a long time he was silent, just looking at her

"I wonder," he said presently, "if it might not be pleasant to be of your race. Do you all sing?"

"Nearly all, a little," she said; "but we do many other interesting and enjoyable things. We dance and play and

"Love!" said the kaldane. "I think I know what you mean; but we, fortunately, are above sentimentwhen

we are detached. But when we dominate the rykorah, that is different, and when I hear you sing and look

The girl shrank from him. "You promised to tell me the origin of the rykor," she reminded him.

"Ages ago," he commenced, "our bodies were larger and our heads smaller. Our legs were very weak and we

could not travel fast or far. There was a stupid creature that went upon four legs. It lived in a hole in the

ground, to which it brought its food, so we ran our burrows into this hole and ate the food it brought; but it

did not bring enough for allfor itself and all the kaldanes that lived upon it, so we had also to go abroad

and get food. This was hard work for our weak legs. Then it was that we commenced to ride upon the backs

of these primitive rykors. It took many ages, undoubtedly, but at last came the time when the kaldane had

found means to guide the rykor, until presently the latter depended entirely upon the superior brain of his

master to guide him to food. The brain of the rykor grew smaller as time went on. His ears went and his eyes,

for he no longer had use for themthe kaldane saw and heard for him. By similar steps the rykor came to go

upon its hind feet that the kaldane might be able to see farther. As the brain shrank, so did the head. The

mouth was the only feature of the head that was used and so the mouth alone remains. Members of the red

race fell into the hands of our ancestors from time to time. They saw the beauties and the advantages of the

form that nature had given the red race over that which the rykor was developing into. By intelligent crossing

the present rykor was achieved. He is really solely the product of the superintelligence of the kaldanehe is

our body, to do with as we see fit, just as you do what you see fit with your body, only we have the advantage

of possessing an unlimited supply of bodies. Do you not wish that you were a kaldane?"

For how long they kept her in the subterranean chamber Tara of Helium did not know. It seemed a very long

time. She ate and slept and watched the interminable lines of creatures that passed the entrance to her prison.

There was a laden line passing from above carrying food, food, food. In the other line they returned empty

handed. When she saw them she knew that it was daylight above. When they did not pass she knew it was

night, and that the banths were about devouring the rykors that had been abandoned in the fields the previous

day. She commenced to grow pale and thin. She did not like the food they gave herit was not suited to her

kindnor would she have eaten overmuch palatable food, for the fear of becoming fat. The idea of

Ghek noted that she was growing thin and white. He spoke to her about it and she told him that she could not

thrive thus beneath the groundthat she must have fresh air and sunshine, or she would wither and die.

Evidently he carried her words to Luud, since it was not long after that he told her that the king had ordered

that she be confined in the tower and to the tower she was taken. She had hoped against hope that this very

thing might result from her conversation with Ghek. Even to see the sun again was something, but now there

sprang to her breast a hope that she had not dared to nurse before, while she lay in the terrible labyrinth from

which she knew she could never have found her way to the outer world; but now there was some slight

reason to hope. At least she could see the hills and if she could see them might there not come also the

opportunity to reach them? If she could have but ten minutesjust ten little minutes! The flier was still

thereshe knew that it must be. Just ten minutes and she would be freefree forever from this frightful

place; but the days wore on and she was never alone, not even for half of ten minutes. Many times she

planned her escape. Had it not been for the banths it had been easy of accomplishment by night. Ghek always

detached his body then and sank into what seemed a semicomatose condition. It could not be said that he

slept, or at least it did not appear like sleep, since his lidless eyes were unchanged; but he lay quietly in a

corner. Tara of Helium enacted a thousand times in her mind the scene of her escape. She would rush to the

side of the rykor and seize the sword that hung in its harness. Before Ghek knew what she purposed, she

would have this and then before he could give an alarm she would drive the blade through his hideous head.

It would take but a moment to reach the enclosure. The rykors could not stop her, for they had no brains to

tell them that she was escaping. She had watched from her window the opening and closing of the gate that

led from the enclosure out into the fields and she knew how the great latch operated. She would pass through

and make a quick dash for the hill. It was so near that they could not overtake her. It was so easy! Or it would

have been but for the banths! The banths at night and the workers in the fields by day.

Confined to the tower and without proper exercise or food, the girl failed to show the improvement that her

captors desired. Ghek questioned her in an effort to learn why it was that she did not grow round and plump;

that she did not even look as well as when they had captured her. His concern was prompted by repeated

inquiries on the part of Luud and finally resulted in suggesting to Tara of Helium a plan whereby she might

"I am accustomed to walking in the fresh air and the sunlight," she told Ghek. "I cannot become as I was

before if I am to be always shut away in this one chamber, breathing poor air and getting no proper exercise.

Permit me to go out in the fields every day and walk about while the sun is shining. Then, I am sure, I shall

"But how could I if you were always with me?" she asked. "And even if I wished to run away where could I

go? I do not know even the direction of Helium. It must be very far. The very first night the banths would get

The following day he told her that Luud had said that she was to be taken into the fields. He would try that

"If you do not grow fatter he will send for you anyway," said Ghek; "but he will not use you for food."

That day and for many days thereafter she was taken from the tower, through the enclosure and out into the

fields. Always was she alert for an opportunity to escape; but Ghek was always close by her side. It was not

so much his presence that deterred her from making the attempt as the number of workers that were always

between her and the hills where the flier lay. She could easily have eluded Ghek, but there were too many of

the others. And then, one day, Ghek told her as he accompanied her into the open that this would be the last

"Tonight you go to Luud," he said. "I am sorry as I shall not hear you sing again."

She glanced quickly toward the hills. They were so dose! Yet between were the inevitable workersperhaps

"Let us walk over there?" she said, indicating them. "I should like to see what they are doing."

"It is too far," said Ghek. "I hate the sun. It is much pleasanter here where I can stand beneath the shade of

"All right," she agreed; "then you stay here and I will walk over. It will take me but a minute."

"No," he answered. "I will go with you. You want to escape; but you are not going to."

"I know it," agreed Ghek; "but you might try. I do not wish you to try. Possibly it will be better if we return to

Tara of Helium saw her last chance fading into oblivion. There would never be another after today. She cast

"It is very little that I ask," she said. "Tonight you will want me to sing to you. It will be the last time, if you

do not let me go and see what those kaldanes are doing I shall never sing to you again."

The two moved toward the workers and the hills. The little party was digging tubers from the ground. She

had noted this and that nearly always they were stooped low over their work, the hideous eyes bent upon the

upturned soil. She led Ghek quite close to them, pretending that she wished to see exactly how they did the

"It is very interesting," she said, with a sigh, and then, suddenly; "Look, Ghek!" and pointed quickly back in

the direction of the tower. The kaldane, still holding her turned half away from her to look in the direction she

had indicated and simultaneously, with the quickness of a banth, she struck him with her right fist, backed by

every ounce of strength she possessedstruck the back of the pulpy head just above the collar. The blow

was sufficient to accomplish her design, dislodging the kaldane from its rykor and tumbling it to the ground.

Instantly the grasp upon her wrist relaxed as the body, no longer controlled by the brain of Ghek, stumbled

aimlessly about for an instant before it sank to its knees and then rolled over on its back; but Tara of Helium

waited not to note the full results of her act. The instant the fingers loosened upon her wrist she broke away

and dashed toward the hills. Simultaneously a warning whistle broke from Ghek's lips and in instant response

the workers leaped to their feet, one almost in the girl's path. She dodged the outstretched arms and was away

again toward the hills and freedom, when her foot caught in one of the hoelike instruments with which the

soil had been upturned and which had been left, half imbedded in the ground. For an instant she ran on,

stumbling, in a mad effort to regain her equilibrium, but the upturned furrows caught her feetagain she

stumbled and this time went down, and as she scrambled to rise again a heavy body fell upon her and seized

her arms. A moment later she was surrounded and dragged to her feet and as she looked around she saw Ghek

The hideous face, incapable of registering emotion, gave no clue to what was passing in the enormous brain.

Was he nursing thoughts of anger, of hate, of revenge? Tara of Helium could not guess, nor did she care. The

worst had happened. She had tried to escape and she had failed. There would never be another opportunity.

"Come!" said Ghek. "We will return to the tower." The deadly monotone of his voice was unbroken. It was

worse than anger, for it revealed nothing of his intentions. It but increased her horror of these great brains that

And so she was dragged back to her prison in the tower and Ghek took up his vigil again, squatting by the

doorway, but now he carried a naked sword in his hand and did not quit his rykor, only to change to another

that be had brought to him when the first gave indications of weariness. The girl sat looking at him. He had

not been unkind to her, but she felt no sense of gratitude, nor, on the other hand, any sense of hatred. The

brains, incapable themselves of any of the finer sentiments, awoke none in her. She could not feel gratitude,

or affection, or hatred of them. There was only the same unceasing sense of horror in their presence. She had

heard great scientists discuss the future of the red race and she recalled that some had maintained that

eventually the brain would entirely dominate the man. There would be no more instinctive acts or emotions,

nothing would be done on impulse; but on the contrary reason would direct our every act. The propounder of

the theory regretted that he might never enjoy the blessings of such a state, which, he argued, would result in

Tara of Helium wished with all her heart that this learned scientist might be here to experience to the full the

practical results of the fulfillment of his prophecy. Between the purely physical rykor and the purely mental

kaldane there was little choice; but in the happy medium of normal, and imperfect man, as she knew him, lay

the most desirable state of existence. It would have been a splendid object lesson, she thought, to all those

idealists who seek mass perfection in any phase of human endeavor, since here they might discover the truth

Gloomy were the thoughts that filled the mind of Tara of Helium as she awaited the summons from

Luudthe summons that could mean for her but one thing; death. She guessed why he had sent for her and

she knew that she must find the means for selfdestruction before the night was over; but still she clung to

hope and to life. She would not give up until there was no other way. She startled Ghek once by exclaiming

"I mean just what I say," she replied. "I still live and while I live I may still find a way. Dead, there is no

It was while she was singing that four warriors came to take her to Luud. They told Ghek that he was to

"You have demonstrated a lack of uncontaminated reasoning power. You have permitted sentiment to

influence you, thus demonstrating that you are a defective. You know the fate of defectives."

"You permitted the strange noises which issue from her throat to please and soothe you, knowing well that

their origin and purpose had nothing whatever to do with logic or the powers of reason. This in itself

constitutes an unimpeachable indictment of weakness, Then, influenced doubtless by an illogical feeling of

sentiment, you permitted her to walk abroad in the fields to a place where she was able to make an almost

successful attmept to escape. Your own reasoning power, were it not defective, would convince you that you

are unfit. The natural, and reasonable, consequence is destruction. Therefore you will be destroyed in such a

way that the example will be beneficial to all other kaldanes of the swarm of Luud. In the meantime you will

"You are right," said Ghek. "I will remain here until Luud sees fit to destroy me in the most reasonable

Tara of Helium shot a look of amazement at him as they led her from the chamber. Over her shoulder she

called back to him: "Remember, Ghek, you still live!" Then they led her along the interminable tunnels to

When she was conducted into his presence he was squatting in a corner of the chamber upon his six spidery

legs. Near the opposite wall lay his rykor, its beautiful form trapped in gorgeous harnessa dead thing

without a guiding kaldane. Luud dismissed the warriors who had accompanied the prisoner. Then he sat with

his terrible eyes fixed upon her and without speaking for some time. Tara of Helium could but wait. What

was to come she could only guess. When it came would be sufficiently the time to meet it. There was no

"You think to escape," he said, in the deadly, expressionless monotone of his kindthe only possible result

of orally expressing reason uninfluenced by sentiment. "You will not escape. You are merely the embodiment

of two imperfect thingsan imperfect brain and an imperfect body. The two cannot exist together in

perfection. There you see a perfect body." He pointed toward the rykor. "It has no brain. Here," and he raised

one of his chelae to his head, "is the perfect brain. It needs no body to function perfectly and properly as a

brain. You would pit your feeble intellect against mine! Even now you are planning to slay me. If you are

thwarted in that you expect to slay yourself. You will learn the power of mind over matter. I am the mind.

You are the matter. What brain you have is too weak and illdeveloped to deserve the name of brain. You

have permitted it to be weakened by impulsive acts dictated by sentiment. It has no value. It has practically

no control over your existence. You will not kill me. You will not kill yourself. When I am through with you

you shall be killed if it seems the logical thing to do. You have no conception of the possibilities for power

which lie in a perfectly developed brain. Look at that rykor. He has no brain. He can move but slightly of his

own volition. An inherent mechanical instinct that we have permitted to remain in him allows him to carry

food to his mouth; but he could not find food for himself. We have to place it within his reach and always in

the same place. Should we put food at his feet and leave him alone he would starve to death. But now watch

He turned his eyes upon the rykor and squatted there glaring at the insensate thing. Presently, to the girl's

horror, the headless body moved. It rose slowly to its feet and crossed the room to Luud; it stooped and took

"What chance have you against such power?" asked Luud. "As I did with the rykor so can I do with you."

"You doubt my ability!" stated Luud, which was precisely the fact, though the girl had only thought itshe

Luud crossed the room and lay down. Then he detached himself from the body and crawled across the floor

until he stood directly in front of the circular opening through which she had seen him emerge the day that

she had first been brought to his presence. He stopped there and fastened his terrible eyes upon her. He did

not speak, but his eyes seemed to be boring straight to the center of her brain. She felt an almost irresistible

force urging her toward the kaldane. She fought to resist it; she tried to turn away her eyes, but she could not.

They were held as in horrid fascination upon the glittering, lidless orbs of the great brain that faced her.

Slowly, every step a painful struggle of resistance, she moved toward the horrific monster. She tried to cry

aloud in an effort to awaken her numbing faculties, but no sound passed her lips. If those eyes would but turn

away, just for an instant, she felt that she might regain the power to control her steps; but the eyes never left

hers. They seemed but to burn deeper and deeper, gathering up every vestige of control of her entire nervous

As she approached the thing it backed slowly away upon its spider legs. She noticed that its chelae waved

slowly to and fro before it as it backed, backed, backed, through the round aperture in the wall. Must she

follow it there, too? What new and nameless horror lay concealed in that hidden chamber? No! she would not

do it. Yet before she reached the wall she found herself down and crawling upon her hands and knees straight

toward the hole from which the two eyes still clung to hers. At the very threshold of the opening she made a

last, heroic stand, battling against the force that drew her on; but in the end she succumbed. With a gasp that

ended in a sob Tara of Helium passed through the aperture into the chamber beyond.

The opening was but barely large enough to admit her. Upon the opposite side she found herself in a small

chamber. Before her squatted Luud. Against the opposite wall lay a large and beautiful male rykor. He was

The words seemed to release her momentarily from the spell. Quickly she turned away her eyes.

Tara of Helium kept her eyes averted. She felt a new strength, or at least a diminution of the creature's power

over her. Had she stumbled upon the secret of its uncanny domination over her will? She dared not hope.

With eyes averted she turned toward the aperture through which those baleful eyes had drawn her. Again

Luud commanded her to stop, but the voice alone lacked all authority to influence her. It was not like the

eyes. She heard the creature whistle and knew that it was summoning assistance, but because she did not dare

look toward it she did not see it turn and concentrate its gaze upon the great, headless body lying by the

The girl was still slightly under the spell of the creature's influenceshe had not regained full and

independent domination of her powers. She moved as one in the throes of some hideous nightmareslowly,

painfully, as though each limb was hampered by a great weight, or as she were dragging her body through a

viscous fluid. The aperture was close, ah, so close, yet, struggle as she would, she seemed to be making no

Behind her, urged on by the malevolent power of the great brain, the headless body crawled upon allfours

toward her. At last she had reached the aperture. Something seemed to tell her that once beyond it the

domination of the kaldane would be broken. She was almost through into the adjoining chamber when she

felt a heavy hand close upon her ankle. The rykor had reached forth and seized her, and though she struggled

the thing dragged her back into the room with Luud. It held her tight and drew her close, and then, to her

"You see now," she heard Luud's dull voice, "the futility of revoltand its punishment."

Tara of Helium fought to defend herself, but pitifully weak were her muscles against this brainless

incarnation of brute power. Yet she fought, fought on in the face of hopeless odds for the honor of the proud

name she borefought alone, she whom the fighting men of a mighty empire, the flower of Martian

THE cruiser Vanator careened through the tempest That she had not been dashed to the ground, or twisted by

the force of the elements into tangled wreckage, was due entirely to the caprice of Nature. For all the duration

of the storm she rode, a helpless derelict, upon those stormtossed waves of wind. But for all the dangers and

vicissitudes they underwent, she and her crew might have borne charmed lives up to within an hour of the

abating of the hurricane. It was then that the catastrophe occurreda catastrophe indeed to the crew of the

The men had been without food or drink since leaving Helium, and they had been hurled about and buffeted

in their lashings until all were worn to exhaustion. There was a brief lull in the storm during which one of the

crew attempted to reach his quarters, after releasing the lashings which had held him to the precarious safety

of the deck. The act in itself was a direct violation of orders and, in the eyes of the other members of the

crew, the effect, which came with startling suddenness, took the form of a swift and terrible retribution.

Scarce had the man released the safety snaps ere a swift arm of the stormmonster encircled the ship, rolling

it over and over, with the result that the foolhardy warrior went overboard at the first turn.

Unloosed from their lashing by the constant turning and twisting of the ship and the force of the wind, the

boarding and landing tackle had been trailing beneath the keel, a tangled mass of cordage and leather. Upon

the occasions that the Vanator rolled completely over, these things would be wrapped around her until

another revolution in the opposite direction, or the wind itself, carried them once again clear of the deck to

Into this fell the body of the warrior, and as a drowning man clutches at a straw so the fellow clutched at the

tangled cordage that caught him and arrested his fall. With the strength of desperation he clung to the

cordage, seeking frantically to entangle his legs and body in it. With each jerk of the ship his hand holds were

all but torn loose, and though he knew that eventually they would be and that he must be dashed to the

ground beneath, yet he fought with the madness that is born of hopelessness for the pitiful second which but

It was upon this sight then that Gahan of Gathol looked, over the edge of the careening deck of the Vanator,

as he sought to learn the fate of his warrior. Lashed to the gunwale close at hand a single landing leather that

had not fouled the tangled mass beneath whipped free from the ship's side, the hook snapping at its outer end.

The Jed of Gathol grasped the situation in a single glance. Below him one of his people looked into the eyes

There was no instant's hesitation. Casting off his deck lashings, he seized the landing leather and slipped over

the ship's side. Swinging like a bob upon a mad pendulum he swung far out and back again, turning and

twisting three thousand feet above the surface of Barsoom, and then, at last, the thing he had hoped for

occurred. He was carried within reach of the cordage where the warrior still clung, though with rapidly

diminishing strength. Catching one leg on a loop of the tangled strands Gahan pulled himself close enough to

seize another quite near to the fellow. Clinging precariously to this new hold the jed slowly drew in the

landing leather, down which he had clambered until he could grasp the hook at its end. This he fastened to a

ring in the warrior's harness, just before the man's weakened fingers slipped from their hold upon the cordage.

and now he turned his attention toward insuring his own safety. Inextricably entangled in the mess to which

he was clinging were numerous other landing hooks such as he had attached to the warrior's harness, and with

one of these he sought to secure himself until the storm should abate sufficiently to permit him to climb to the

deck, but even as he reached for one that swung near him the ship was caught in a renewed burst of the

storm's fury, the thrashing cordage whipped and snapped to the lunging of the great craft and one of the

heavy metal hooks, lashing through the air, struck the Jed of Gathol fair between the eyes.

Momentarily stunned, Gahan's fingers slipped from their hold upon the cordage and the man shot downward

through the thin air of dying Mars toward the ground three thousand feet beneath, while upon the deck of the

rolling Vanator his faithful warriors clung to their lashings all unconscious of the fate of their beloved leader;

nor was it until more than an hour later, after the storm had materially subsided, that they realized he was lost,

or knew the selfsacrificing heroism of the act that had sealed his doom. The Vanator now rested upon an

even keel as she was carried along by a strong, though steady, wind. The warriors had cast off their deck

lashings and the officers were taking account of losses and damage when a weak cry was heard from

oversides, attracting their attention to the man hanging in the cordage beneath the keel. Strongs arms hoisted

him to the deck and then it was that the crew of the Vanator learned of the heroism of their jed and his end.

How far they had traveled since his loss they could only vaguely guess, nor could they return in search of him

in the disabled condition of the ship. It was a saddened company that drifted onward through the air toward

And Gahan, Jed of Gatholwhat of him? Plummetlike he fell for a thousand feet and then the storm seized

him in its giant clutch and bore him far aloft again. As a bit of paper borne upon a gale he was tossed about in

midair, the sport and plaything of the wind. Over and over it turned him and upward and downward it

carried him, but after each new sally of the element he was brought nearer to the ground. The freaks of

cyclonic storms are the rule of cyclonic storms, demolish giant trees, and in the same gust they transport frail

And so it was with Gahan of Gathol. Expecting momentarily to be dashed to destruction he presently found

himself deposited gently upon the soft, ochre moss of a dead seabottom, bodily no worse off for his

harrowing adventure than in the possession of a slight swelling upon his forehead where the metal hook had

struck him. Scarcely able to believe that Fate had dealt thus gently with him, the jed arose slowly, as though

more than half convinced that he should discover crushed and splintered bones that would not support his

weight. But he was intact. He looked about him in a vain effort at orientation. The air was filled with flying

dust and debris. The Sun was obliterated. His vision was confined to a radius of a few hundred yards of ochre

moss and dustfilled air. Five hundred yards away in any direction there might have arisen the walls of a

great city and he not known it. It was useless to move from where he was until the air cleared, since he could

not know in what direction he was moving, and so he stretched himself upon the moss and waited, pondering

the fate of his warriors and his ship, but giving little thought to his own precarious situation.

Lashed to his harness were his swords, his pistols, and a dagger, and in his pocketpouch a small quantity of

the concentrated rations that form a part of the equipment of the fighting men of Barsoom. These things

together with trained muscles, high courage, and an undaunted spirit sufficed him for whatever misadventures

might lie between him and Gathol, which lay in what direction he knew not, nor at what distance.

The wind was falling rapidly and with it the dust that obscured the landscape. That the storm was over he was

convinced, but he chafed at the inactivity the low visibility put upon him, nor did conditions better materially

before night fell, so that he was forced to await the new day at the very spot at which the tempest had

deposited him. Without his sleeping silks and furs he spent a far from comfortable night, and it was with

feelings of unmixed relief that he saw the sudden dawn burst upon him. The air was now clear and in the light

of the new day he saw an undulating plain stretching in all directions about him, while to the northwest there

were barely discernible the outlines of low hills. Toward the southeast of Gathol was such a country, and as

Gahan surmised the direction and the velocity of the storm to have carried him somewhere in the vicinity of

the country he thought he recognized, he assumed that Gathol lay behind the hills he now saw, whereas, in

It was two days before Gahan had crossed the plain and reached the summit of the hills from which he hoped

to see his own country, only to meet at last with disappointment. Before him stretched another plain, of even

greater proportions than that he had but just crossed, and beyond this other hills. In one material respect this

plain differed from that behind him in that it was dotted with occasional isolated hills. Convinced, however,

that Gathol lay somewhere in the direction of his search he descended into the valley and bent his steps

For weeks Gahan of Gathol crossed valleys and hills in search of some familiar landmark that might point his

way toward his native land, but the summit of each succeeding ridge revealed but another unfamiliar view.

He saw few animals and no men, until he finally came to the belief that he had fallen upon that fabled area of

ancient Barsoom which lay under the curse of her olden godsthe once rich and fertile country whose

people in their pride and arrogance had denied the deities, and whose punishment had been extermination.

And then, one day, he scaled low hills and looked into an inhabited valleya valley of trees and cultivated

fields and plots of ground enclosed by stone walls surrounding strange towers. He saw people working in the

fields, but he did not rush down to greet them. First he must know more of them and whether they might be

assumed to be friends or enemies. Hidden by concealing shrubbery he crawled to a vantage point upon a hill

and here he lay upon his belly watching the workers closest to him. They were still quite a distance from him

and he could not be quite sure of them, but there was something verging upon the unnatural about them. Their

For a long time he lay watching them and ever more forcibly it was borne in upon his consciousness that they

were not as he, and that it would be rash to trust himself among them. Presently he saw a couple appear from

the nearest enclosure and slowly approach those who were working nearest to the hill where he lay in hiding.

Immediately he was aware that one of these differed from all the others. Even at the greater distance he noted

that the head was smaller and as they approached, he was confident that the harness of one of them was not as

The two stopped often, apparently in argument, as though one would proceed in the direction that they were

going while the other demurred. But each time the smaller won reluctant consent from the other, and so they

came closer and closer to the last line of workers toiling between the enclosure from which they had come

and the hill where Gahan of Gathol lay watching, and then suddenly the smaller figure struck its companion

full in the face. Gahan, horrified, saw the latter's head topple from its body, saw the body stagger and fall to

the ground. The man half rose from his concealment the better to view the happening in the valley below. The

creature that had felled its companion was dashing madly in the direction of the hill upon which he was

hidden, it dodged one of the workers that sought to seize it. Gahan hoped that it would gain its liberty, why he

did not know other than at closer range it had every appearance of being a creature of his own race. Then he

saw it stumble and go down and instantly its pursuers were upon it. Then it was that Gahan's eyes chanced to

What horror was this that he was witnessing? Or were his eyes playing some ghastly joke upon him? No,

impossible though it wasit was truethe head was moving slowly to the fallen body. It placed itself upon

the shoulders, the body rose, and the creature, seemingly as good as new, ran quickly to where its fellows

The watcher saw the creature take its prisoner by the arm and lead it back to the enclosure, and even across

the distance that separated them from him he could note dejection and utter hopelessness in the bearing of the

prisoner, and, too, he was half convinced that it was a woman, perhaps a red Martian of his own race. Could

he be sure that this was true he must make some effort to rescue her even though the customs of his strange

world required it only in case she was of his own country; but he was not sure; she might not be a red Martian

at all, or, if she were, it was as possible that she sprang from an enemy people as not. His first duty was to

return to his own people with as little personal risk as possible, and though the thought of adventure stirred

his blood he put the temptation aside with a sigh and turned away from the peaceful and beautiful valley that

he longed to enter, for it was his intention to skirt its eastern edge and continue his search for Gathol beyond.

As Gahan of Gathol turned his steps along the southern slopes of the hills that bound Bantoom upon the south

and east, his attention was attracted toward a small cluster of trees a short distance to his right. The low sun

was casting long shadows. It would soon be night. The trees were off the path that he had chosen and he had

little mind to be diverted from his way; but as he looked again he hesitated. There was something there

besides boles of trees, and underbrush. There were suggestions of familiar lines of the handicraft of man.

Gahan stopped and strained his eyes in the direction of the thing that had arrested his attention. No, he must

be mistakenthe branches of the trees and a low bush had taken on an unnatural semblance in the horizontal

rays of the setting sun. He turned and continued upon his way; but as he cast another side glance in the

direction of the object of his interest, the sun's rays were shot back into his eyes from a glistening point of

Gahan shook his head and walked quickly toward the mystery, determined now to solve it. The shining object

still lured him on and when he had come closer to it his eyes went wide in surprise, for the thing they saw

was naught else than the jewelencrusted emblem upon the prow of a small flier. Gahan, his hand upon his

shortsword, moved silently forward, but as he neared the craft he saw that he had naught to fear, for it was

deserted. Then he turned his attention toward the emblem. As its significance was flashed to his

understanding his face paled and his heart went cold it was the insignia of the house of The Warlord of

Barsoom. Instantly he saw the dejected figure of the captive being led back to her prison in the valley just

beyond the hills. Tara of Helium! And he had been so near to deserting her to her fate. The cold sweat stood

A hasty examination of the deserted craft unfolded to the young jed the whole tragic story. The same tempest

that had proved his undoing had borne Tara of Helium to this distant country. Here, doubtless, she had landed

in hope of obtaining food and water since, without a propellor, she could not hope to reach her native city, or

any other friendly port, other than by the merest caprice of Fate. The flier seemed intact except for the

missing propellor and the fact that it had been carefully moored in the shelter of the clump of trees indicated

that the girl had expected to return to it, while the dust and leaves upon its deck spoke of the long days, and

even weeks, since she had landed. Mute yet eloquent proofs, these things, that Tara of Helium was a prisoner,

and that she was the very prisoner whose bold dash for liberty he had so recently witnessed he now had not

The question now revolved solely about her rescue. He knew to which tower she had been takenthat much

and no more. Of the number, the kind, or the disposition of her captors he renew nothing; nor did he

carefor Tara of Helium he would face a hostile world alone. Rapidly he considered several plans for

succoring her; but the one that appealed most strongly to him was that which offered the greatest chance of

escape for the girl should he be successful in reaching her. His decision reached he turned his attention

quickly toward the flier. Casting off its lashings he dragged it out from beneath the trees, and, mounting to

the deck tested out the various controls. The motor started at a touch and purred sweetly, the buoyancy tanks

were well stocked, and the ship answered perfectly to the controls which regulated her altitude. There was

nothing needed but a propellor to make her fit for the long voyage to Helium. Gahan shrugged

impatientlythere must not be a propellor within a thousand haads. But what mattered it? The craft even

without a propellor would still answer the purpose his plan required of itprovided the captors of Tara of

Helium were a people without ships, and he had seen nothing to suggest that they had ships. The architecture

The sudden Barsoomian night had fallen. Cluros rode majestically the high heavens. The rumbling roar of a

banth reverberated among the hills. Gahan of Gathol let the ship rise a few feet from the ground, then, seizing

a bow rope, he dropped over the side. To tow the little craft was now a thing of ease, and as Gahan moved

rapidly toward the brow of the hill above Bantoom the flier floated behind him as lightly as a swan upon a

quiet lake. Now down the hill toward the tower dimly visible in the moonlight the Gatholian turned his steps.

Closer behind him sounded the roar of the hunting banth. He wondered if the beast sought him or was

following some other spoor. He could not be delayed now by any hungry beast of prey, for what might that

very instant be befalling Tara of Helium he could not guess; and so he hastened his steps. But closer and

closer came the horrid screams of the great carnivore, and now he heard the swift fall of padded feet upon the

hillside behind him. He glanced back just in time to see the beast break into a rapid charge. His hand leaped

to the hilt of his longsword, but he did not draw, for in the same instant he saw the futility of armed

resistance, since behind the first banth came a herd of at least a dozen others. There was but a single

alternative to a futile stand and that he grasped in the instant that he saw the overwhelming numbers of his

Springing lightly from the ground he swarmed up the rope toward the bow of the flier. His weight drew the

craft slightly lower and at the very instant that the man drew himself to the deck at the bow of the vessel, the

leading banth sprang for the stern. Gahan leaped to his feet and rushed toward the great beast in the hope of

dislodging it before it had succeeded in clambering aboard. At the same instant he saw that others of the

banths were racing toward them with the quite evident intention of following their leader to the ship's deck.

Should they reach it in any numbers he would be lost. There was but a single hope. Leaping for the altitude

control Gahan pulled it wide. Simultaneously three banths leaped for the deck. The craft rose swiftly. Gahan

felt the impact of a body against the keel, followed by the soft thuds of the great bodies as they struck the

ground beneath. His act had not been an instant too soon. And now the leader had gained the deck and stood

at the stern with glaring eyes and snarling jaws. Gahan drew his sword. The beast, possibly disconcerted by

the novelty of its position, did not charge. Instead it crept slowly toward its intended prey. The craft was

rising and Gahan placed a foot upon the control and stopped the ascent. He did not wish to chance rising to

some higher air current that would bear him away. Already the craft was moving slowly toward the tower,

carried thither by the impetus of the banth's heavy body leaping upon it from astern.

The man watched the slow approach of the monster, the slavering jowls, the malignant expression of the

devilish face. The creature, finding the deck stable, appeared to be gaining confidence, and then the man

leaped suddenly to one side of the deck and the tiny flier heeled as suddenly in response. The banth slipped

and clutched frantically at the deck. Gahan leaped in with his naked sword; the great beast caught itself and

reared upon its hind legs to reach forth and seize this presumptuous mortal that dared question its right to the

flesh it craved; and then the man sprang to the opposite side of the deck. The banth toppled sideways at the

same instant that it attempted to spring; a raking talon passed close to Gahan's head at the moment that his

sword lunged through the savage heart, and as the warrior wrenched his blade from the carcass it slipped

A glance below showed that the vessel was drifting in the direction of the tower to which Gahan had seen the

prisoner led. In another moment or two it would be directly over it. The man sprang to the control and let the

craft drop quickly toward the ground where followed the banths, still hot for their prey. To land outside the

enclosure spelled certain death, while inside he could see many forms huddled upon the ground as in sleep.

The ship floated now but a few feet above the wall of the enclosure. There was nothing for it but to risk all on

a bold bid for fortune, or drift helplessly past without hope of returning through the banthinfested valley,

from many points of which he could now hear the roars and growls of these fierce Barsoomian lions.

Slipping over the side Gahan descended by the trailing anchorrope until his feet touched the top of the wall,

where he had no difficulty in arresting the slow drifting of the ship. Then he drew up the anchor and lowered

it inside the enclosure. Still there was no movement upon the part of the sleepers beneaththey lay as dead

men. Dull lights shone from openings in the tower; but there was no sign of guard or waking inmate.

Clinging to the rope Gahan lowered himself within the enclosure, where he had his first close view of the

creatures lying there in what he had thought sleep. With a half smothered exclamation of horror the man drew

back from the headless bodies of the rykors. At first he thought them the corpses of decapitated humans like

himself, which was quite bad enough; but when he saw them move and realized that they were endowed with

Here then was the explanation of the thing he had witnessed that afternoon, when Tara of Helium had struck

the back to its body. And to think that the pearl of Helium was in the power of such hideous things as these.

Again the man shuddered, but he hastened to make fast the flier, clamber again to its deck and lower it to the

floor of the enclosure. Then he strode toward a door in the base of the tower, stepping lightly over the

recumbent forms of the unconscious rykors, and crossing the threshold disappeared within.

GHEK, in his happier days third foreman of the fields of Luud, sat nursing his anger and his humiliation.

Recently something had awakened within him the existence of which he had never before even dreamed. Had

the influence of the strange captive woman aught to do with this unrest and dissatisfaction? He did not know.

He missed the soothing influence of the noise she called singing. Could it be that there were other things

more desirable than cold logic and undefiled brain power? Was well balanced imperfection more to be sought

after then, than the high development of a single characteristic? He thought of the great, ultimate brain toward

which all kaldanes were striving. It would be deaf, and dumb, and blind. A thousand beautiful strangers might

sing and dance about it, but it could derive no pleasure from the singing or the dancing since it would possess

no perceptive faculties. Already had the kaldanes shut themselves off from most of the gratifications of the

senses. Ghek wondered if much was to be gained by denying themselves still further, and with the thought

came a question as to the whole fabric of their theory. After all perhaps the girl was right; what purpose could

And he, Ghek, was to die for this theory. Luud had decreed it. The injustice of it overwhelmed him with rage.

But he was helpless. There was no escape. Beyond the enclosure the banths awaited him; within, his own

kind, equally as merciless and ferocious. Among them there was no such thing as love, or loyalty, or

friendshipthey were just brains. He might kill Luud; but what would that profit him? Another king would

be loosed from his sealed chamber and Ghek would be killed. He did not know it but he would not even have

the poor satisfaction of satisfied revenge, since he was not capable of feeling so abstruse a sentiment.

Ghek, mounted upon his rykor, paced the floor of the tower chamber in which he had been ordered to remain.

Ordinarily he would have accepted the sentence of Luud with perfect equanimity, since it was but the logical

result of reason; but now it seemed different. The stranger woman had bewitched him. Life appeared a

pleasant thingthere were great possibilities in it. The dream of the ultimate brain had receded into a

At that moment there appeared in the doorway of the chamber a red warrior with naked sword. He was a male

counterpart of the prisoner whose sweet voice had undermined the cold, calculating reason of the kaldane.

"Silence!" admonished the newcomer, his straight brows gathered in an ominous frown and the point of his

longsword playing menacingly before the eyes of the kaldane. "I seek the woman, Tara of Helium. Where is

If he valued his life! It was a truth that Ghek had but just learned. He thought quickly. After all, a great brain

"Listen, then. I have befriended her, and because of this I am to die. If I help you to liberate her, will you take

Gahan of Gathol eyed the weird creature from crown to footthe perfect body, the grotesque head, the

expressionless face. Among such as these had the beautiful daughter of Helium been held captive for days

"When they took her from me she was alive and unharmed," replied Ghek. "I cannot say what has befallen

"Who is Luud? Where is he? Lead me to him." Gahan spoke quickly in tones vibrant with authority.

"Come, then," said Ghek, leading the way from the apartment and down a stairway toward the underground

"Sheathe your sword," warned Ghek, "so that should we pass others of my kind I may say to them that you

Gahan did as he was bid, but warning the kaldane that his hand was ever ready at his dagger's hilt.

"You need have no fear of treachery," said Ghek "My only hope of life lies in you."

"And if you fail me," Gahan admonished him, "I can promise you as sure a death as even your king might

Ghek made no reply, but moved rapidly through the winding subterranean corridors until Gahan began to

realize how truly was he in the hands of this strange monster. If the fellow should prove false it would profit

Gahan nothing to slay him, since without his guidance the red man might never hope to retrace his way to the

Twice they met and were accosted by other kaldanes; but in both instances Ghek's simple statement that he

was taking a new prisoner to Luud appeared to allay all suspicion, and then at last they came to the

"Here, now, red man, thou must fight, if ever," whispered Ghek. "Enter there!" and he pointed to a doorway

"My rykor is powerful," replied the kaldane. "I shall accompany you and fight at your side. As well die thus

But Gahan had already crossed the room and entered the chamber beyond. Upon the opposite side of the

room was a circular opening guarded by two warriors. Beyond this opening he could see two figures

struggling upon the floor, and the fleeting glimpse he had of one of the faces suddenly endowed him with the

strength of ten warriors and the ferocity of a wounded banth. It was Tara of Helium, fighting for her honor or

The warriors, startled by the unexpected appearance of a red man, stood for a moment in dumb amazement,

and in that moment Gahan of Gathol was upon them, and one was down, a swordthrust through its heart.

"Strike at the heads," whispered the voice of Ghek in Gahan's ear. The latter saw the head of the fallen

warrior crawl quickly within the aperture leading to the chamber where he had seen Tara of Helium in the

clutches of a headless body. Then the sword of Ghek struck the kaldane of the remaining warrior from its

Instantly the red warrior leaped for the aperture, while close behind him came Ghek.

Within the chamber Gahan saw Tara of Helium in the clutches of a mighty body, while close to the wall upon

the opposite side of the apartment crouched the hideous, spiderlike Luud. Instantly the king realized the

menace to himself and sought to fasten his eyes upon the eyes of Gahan, and in doing so he was forced to

relax his concentration upon the rykor in whose embraces Tara struggled, so that almost immediately the girl

As she rose quickly to her feet she saw for the first time the cause of the interruption of Luud's plans. A red

warrior! Her heart leaped in rejoicing and thanksgiving. What miracle of fate had sent him to her? She did not

recognize him, though, this travelworn warrior in the plain harness which showed no single jewel. How

could she have guessed him the same as the scintillant creature of platinum and diamonds that she had seen

for a brief hour under such different circumstances at the court of her august sire?

Luud saw Ghek following the strange warrior into the chamber. "Strike him down, Ghek!" commanded the

"Seek not his eyes," screamed Tara in warning; but it was too late. Already the horrid hypnotic gaze of the

king kaldane had seized upon the eyes of Gahan. The red warrior hesitated in his stride. His sword point

drooped slowly toward the floor. Tara glanced toward Ghek. She saw the creature glaring with his

expressionless eyes upon the broad back of the stranger. She saw the hand of the creature's rykor creeping

And then Tara of Helium raised her eyes aloft and poured forth the notes of Mars' most beautiful melody, The

Ghek drew his dagger from its sheath. His eyes turned toward the singing girl. Luud's glance wavered from

the eyes of the man to the face of Tara, and the instant that the latter's song distracted his attention from his

victim, Gahan of Gathol shook himself and as with a supreme effort of will forced his eyes to the wall above

Luud's hideous head. Ghek raised his dagger above his right shoulder, took a single quick step forward, and

struck. The girl's song ended in a stifled scream as she leaped forward with the evident intention of frustrating

the kaldane's purpose; but she was too late, and well it was, for an instant later she realized the purpose of

Ghek's act as she saw the dagger fly from his hand, pass Gahan's shoulder, and sink full to the guard in the

"Come!" cried the assassin, "we have no time to lose," and started for the aperture through which they had

entered the chamber; but in his stride he paused as his glance was arrested by the form of the mighty rykor

Iying prone upon the floora king's rykor; the most beautiful, the most powerful, that the breeders of

Bantoom could produce. Ghek realized that in his escape he could take with him but a single rykor, and there

was none in Bantoom that could give him better service than this giant Iying here. Quickly he transferred

himself to the shoulders of the great, inert hulk. Instantly the latter was transformed to a sentient creature,

"Now," said the kaldane, "we are ready. Let whoso would revert to nothingness impede me." Even as he

spoke he stooped and crawled into the chamber beyond, while Gahan, taking Tara by the arm, motioned her

to follow. The girl looked him full in the eyes for the first time. "The Gods of my people have been kind," she

said; "you came just in time. To the thanks of Tara of Helium shall be added those of The Warlord of

Gahan of Gathol saw that she did not recognize him, and quickly he checked the warm greeting that had been

"Be thou Tara of Helium or another," he replied, "is immaterial, to serve thus a red woman of Barsoom is in

As they spoke the girl was making her way through the aperture after Ghek, and presently all three had

quitted the apartments of Luud and were moving rapidly along the winding corridors toward the tower. Ghek

repeatedly urged them to greater speed, but the red men of Barsoom were never keen for retreat, and so the

"There are none to impede our progress," urged Gahan, "so why tax the strength of the Princess by needless

"I fear not so much opposition ahead, for there are none there who know the thing that has been done in

Luud's chambers this night; but the kaldane of one of the warriors who stood guard before Luud's apartment

escaped, and you may count it a truth that he lost no time in seeking aid. That it did not come before we left is

due solely to the rapidity with which events transpired in the king's* room. Long before we reach the tower

they will be upon us from behind, and that they will come in numbers far superior to ours and with great and

* I have used the word king in describing the rulers or chiefs of the Bantoomian swarms, since the word itself

is unpronounceable in English, nor does jed or jeddak of the red Martian tongue have quite the same meaning

as the Bantoomian word, which has practically the same significance as the English word queen as applied to

Nor was Ghek's prophecy long in fulfilment. Presently the sounds of pursuit became audible in the distant

"The tower is but a short distance now," cried Ghek. "Make haste while yet you may, and if we can barricade

"We shall need no barricades for we shall not linger in the tower," replied Gahan, moving more rapidly as he

realized from the volume of sound behind them the great number of their pursuers.

"But we may not go further than the tower tonight," insisted Ghek. "Beyond the tower await the banths and

Gahan smiled. "Fear not the banths," he assured them. "Can we but reach the enclosure a little ahead of our

pursuers we have naught to fear from any evil power within this accursed valley."

Ghek made no reply, nor did his expressionless face denote either belief or skepticism. The girl looked into

Her face lighted with pleasure and relief. "You found it!" she exclaimed. "What fortune!"

"It was fortune indeed," he replied. "Since it not only told that you were a prisoner here; but it saved me from

the banths as I was crossing the valley from the hills to this tower into which I saw them take you this

"How did you know it was I?" she asked, her puzzled brows scanning his face as though she sought to recall

"Who is there but knows of the loss of the Princess Tara of Helium?" he replied. "And when I saw the device

upon your flier I knew at once, though I had not known when I saw you among them in the fields a short time

earlier. Too great was the distance for me to make certain whether the captive was man or woman. Had

chance not divulged the hiding place of your flier I had gone my way, Tara of Helium. I shudder to think how

close was the chance at that. But for the momentary shining of the sun upon the emblazoned device on the

"But I do not recognize you," she said. "I have tried to recall you, but I have failed. Your name, what may it

"It is not strange that so great a princess should not recall the face of every roving panthan of Barsoom," he

"Call me Turan," replied the man, for it had come to him that if Tara of Helium recognized him as the man

whose impetuous avowal of love had angered her that day in the gardens of The Warlord, her situation might

be rendered infinitely less bearable than were she to believe him a total stranger. Then, too, as a simple

panthan* he might win a greater degree of her confidence by his loyalty and faithfulness and a place in her

They had reached the tower now, and as they entered it from the subterranean corridor a backward glance

revealed the van of their pursuershideous kaldanes mounted upon swift and powerful rykors. As rapidly as

might be the three ascended the stairways leading to the ground level, but after them, even more rapidly,

came the minions of Luud. Ghek led the way, grasping one of Tara's hands the more easily to guide and assist

her, while Gahan of Gathol followed a few paces in their rear, his bared sword ready for the assault that all

realized must come upon them now before ever they reached the enclosure and the flier.

"There is but room for a single blade in these narrow corridors," replied the Gatholian. "Hasten on with Ghek

and win to the deck of the flier. Have your hand upon the control, and if I come far enough ahead of these to

reach the dangling cable you can rise at my word and I can clamber to the deck at my leisure; but if one of

them emerges first into the enclosure you will know that I shall never come, and you will rise quickly and

trust to the Gods of our ancestors to give you a fair breeze in the direction of a more hospitable people."

Gahan, ignoring her reply, spoke above her head to Ghek. "Take her to the craft moored within the

enclosure," he commanded. "It is our only hope. Alone, I may win to its deck; but have I to wait upon you

two at the last moment the chances are that none of us will escape. Do as I bid." His tone was haughty and

arrogantthe tone of a man who has commanded other men from birth, and whose will has been law. Tara

of Helium was both angered and vexed. She was not accustomed to being either commanded or ignored, but

with all her royal pride she was no fool, and she knew the man was right, that he was risking his life to save

hers, so she hastened on with Ghek as she was bid, and after the first flush of anger she smiled, for the

realization came to her that this fellow was but a rough untutored warrior, skilled not in the finer usages of

cultured courts. His heart was right, though; a brave and loyal heart, and gladly she forgave him the offense

of his tone and manner. But what a tone! Recollection of it gave her sudden pause. Panthans were rough and

ready men. Often they rose to positions of high command, so it was not the note of authority in the fellow's

voice that seemed remarkable; but something elsea quality that was indefinable, yet as distinct as it was

familiar. She had heard it before when the voice of her greatgrandsire, Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, had

risen in command; and in the voice of her grandfather, Mors Kajak, the jed; and in the ringing tones of her

illustrious sire, John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, when he addressed his warriors.

But now she had no time to speculate upon so trivial a thing, for behind her came the sudden clash of arms

and she knew that Turan, the panthan, had crossed swords with the first of their pursuers. As she glanced

beyond a turn in the stairway, so that she could see the quick swordplay that ensued. Daughter of a world's

greatest swordsman, she knew well the finest points of the art. She saw the clumsy attack of the kaldane and

the quick, sure return of the panthan. As she looked down from above upon his almost naked body, trapped

only in the simplest of unadorned harness, and saw the play of the lithe muscles beneath the redbronze skin,

and witnessed the quick and delicate play of his sword point, to her sense of obligation was added a

spontaneous admission of admiration that was but the natural tribute of a woman to skill and bravery and,

Three times the panthan's blade changed its positiononce to fend a savage cut; once to feint; and once to

thrust. And as he withdrew it from the last position the kaldane rolled lifeless from its stumbling rykor and

Turan sprang quickly down the steps to engage the next behind, and then Ghek had drawn Tara upward and a

turn in the stairway shut the battling panthan from her view; but still she heard the ring of steel on steel, the

clank of accouterments and the shrill whistling of the kaldanes. Her heart moved her to turn back to the side

of her brave defender; but her judgment told her that she could serve him best by being ready at the control of

PRESENTLY Ghek pushed aside a door that opened from the stairway, and before them Tara saw the

moonlight flooding the walled court where the headless rykors lay beside their feedingtroughs. She saw the

perfect bodies, muscled as the best of her father's fighting men, and the females whose figures would have

been the envy of many of Helium's most beautiful women. Ah, if she could but endow these with the power

to act! Then indeed might the safety of the panthan be assured; but they were only poor lumps of clay, nor

had she the power to quicken them to life. Ever must they lie thus until dominated by the cold, heartless brain

of the kaldane. The girl sighed in pity even as she shuddered in disgust as she picked her way over and

Quickly she and Ghek mounted to the deck after the latter had cast off the moorings. Tara tested the control,

raising and lowering the ship a few feet within the walled space. It responded perfectly. Then she lowered it

to the ground again and waited. From the open doorway came the sounds of conflict, now nearing them, now

receding. The girl, having witnessed her champion's skill, had little fear of the outcome. Only a single

antagonist could face him at a time upon the narrow stairway, he had the advantage of position and of the

defensive, and he was a master of the sword while they were clumsy bunglers by comparison. Their sole

advantage was in their numbers, unless they might find a way to come upon him from behind.

She paled at the thought. Could she have seen him she might have been further perturbed, for he took no

advantage of many opportunities to win nearer the enclosure. He fought coolly, but with a savage persistence

that bore little semblance to purely defensive action. Often he clambered over the body of a fallen foe to leap

against the next behind, and once there lay five dead kaldanes behind him, so far had he pushed back his

antagonists. They did not know it; these kaldanes that he fought, nor did the girl awaiting him upon the flier,

but Gahan of Gathol was engaged in a more alluring sport than winning to freedom, for he was avenging the

indignities that had been put upon the woman he loved; but presently he realized that he might be

jeopardizing her safety uselessly, and so he struck down another before him and turning leaped quickly up the

stairway, while the leading kaldanes slipped upon the braincovered floor and stumbled in pursuit.

Gahan reached the enclosure twenty paces ahead of them and raced toward the flier. "Rise!" he shouted to the

Slowly the small craft rose from the ground as Gahan leaped the inert bodies of the rykors lying in his path.

The first of the pursuers sprang from the tower just as Gahan seized the trailing rope.

"Faster!" he shouted to the girl above, "or they will drag us down!" But the ship seemed scarcely to move,

though in reality she was rising as rapidly as might have been expected of a oneman flier carrying a load of

three. Gahan swung free above the top of the wall, but the end of the rope still dragged the ground as the

kaldanes reached it. They were pouring in a steady stream from the tower into the enclosure. The leader

It needed but the weight of a few to accomplish his design. The ship was stopped in its flight and then, to the

horror of the girl, she felt it being dragged steadily downward. Gahan, too, realized the danger and the

necessity for instant action. Clinging to the rope with his left hand, he had wound a leg about it, leaving his

right hand free for his longsword which he had not sheathed. A downward cut clove the soft head of a

kaldane, and another severed the taut rope beneath the panthan's feet. The girl heard a sudden renewal of the

shrill whistling of her foes, and at the same time she realized that the craft was rising again. Slowly it drifted

upward, out of reach of the enemy, and a moment later she saw the figure of Turan clamber over the side. For

the first time in many weeks her heart was filled with the joy of thanksgiving; but her first thought was of

'No, Tara of Helium," he replied. "They were scarce worth the effort of my blade, and never were they a

"They should have slain you easily," said Ghek. "So great and highly developed is the power of reason

among us that they should have known before you struck just where, logically, you must seek to strike, and

so they should have been able to parry your every thrust and easily find an opening to your heart."

"But they did not, Ghek," Gahan reminded him. "Their theory of development is wrong, for it does not tend

toward a perfectly balanced whole. You have developed the brain and neglected the body and you can never

do with the hands of another what you can do with your own hands. Mine are trained to the swordevery

muscle responds instantly and accurately, and almost mechanically, to the need of the instant. I am scarcely

objectively aware that I think when I fight, so quickly does my point take advantage of every opening, or

spring to my defense if I am threatened that it is almost as though the cold steel had eyes and brains. You,

with your kaldane brain and your rykor body, never could hope to achieve in the same degree of perfection

those things that I can achieve. Development of the brain should not be the sum total of human endeavor. The

richest and happiest peoples will be those who attain closest to wellbalanced perfection of both mind and

body, and even these must always be short of perfection. In absolute and general perfection lies stifling

monotony and death. Nature must have contrasts; she must have shadows as well as high lights; sorrow with

"Always have I been taught differently," replied Ghek; "but since I have known this woman and you, of

another race, I have come to believe that there may be other standards fully as high and desirable as those of

the kaldanes. At least I have had a glimpse of the thing you call happiness and I realize that it may be good

even though I have no means of expressing it. I cannot laugh nor smile, and yet within me is a sense of

contentment when this woman singsa sense that seems to open before me wondrous vistas of beauty and

unguessed pleasure that far transcend the cold joys of a perfectly functioning brain. I would that I had been

Caught by a gentle current of air the flier was drifting slowly toward the northeast across the valley of

Bantoom. Below them lay the cultivated fields, and one after another they passed over the strange towers of

Moak and Nolach and the other kings of the swarms that inhabited this weird and terrible land. Within each

enclosure surrounding the towers grovelled the rykors, repellent, headless things, beautiful yet hideous.

"A lesson, those," remarked Gahan, indicating the rykors in an enclosure above which they were drifting at

the time, "to that fortunately small minority of our race which worships the flesh and makes a god of appetite.

You know them, Tara of Helium; they can tell you exactly what they had at the midday meal two weeks ago,

and how the loin of the thoat should be prepared, and what drink should be served with the rump of the

Tara of Helium laughed. "But not one of them could tell you the name of the man whose painting took the

Jeddak's Award in The Temple of Beauty this year," she said. "Like the rykors, their development has not

"Fortunate indeed are those in which there is combined a little good and a little bad, a little knowledge of

many things outside their own callings, a capacity for love and a capacity for hate, for such as these can look

with tolerance upon all, unbiased by the egotism of him whose head is so heavy on one side that all his brains

As Gahan ceased speaking Ghek made a little noise in his throat as one does who would attract attention.

"You speak as one who has thought much upon many subjects. Is it, then, possible that you of the red race

have pleasure in thought? Do you know aught of the joys of introspection? Do reason and logic form any part

"Most assuredly," replied Gahan, "but not to the extent of occupying all our timeat least not objectively.

You, Ghek, are an example of the egotism of which I spoke. Because you and your kind devote your lives to

the worship of mind, you believe that no other created beings think. And possibly we do not in the sense that

you do, who think only of yourselves and your great brains. We think of many things that concern the welfare

of a world. Had it not been for the red men of Barsoom even the kaldanes had perished from the planet, for

while you may live without air the things upon which you depend for existence cannot, and there had been no

air in sufficient quantities upon Barsoom these many ages had not a red man planned and built the great

Ghek was stumped. Being a kaldane he knew that brains spelled the sum total of universal achievement, but it

had never occurred to him that they should be put to use in practical and profitable ways. He turned away and

looked down upon the valley of his ancestors across which he was slowly drifting, into what unknown world?

He should be a veritable god among the underlings, he knew; but somehow a doubt assailed him. It was

evident that these two from that other world were ready to question his preeminence. Even through his great

egotism was filtering a suspicion that they patronized him; perhaps even pitied him. Then he began to wonder

what was to become of him. No longer would he have many rykors to do his bidding. Only this single one

and when it died there could not be another. When it tired, Ghek must lie almost helpless while it rested. He

wished that he had never seen this red woman. She had brought him only discontent and dishonor and now

exile. Presently Tara of Helium commenced to hum a tune and Ghek, the kaldane, was content.

Gently they drifted beneath the hurtling moons above the mad shadows of a Martian night. The roaring of the

banths came in diminishing volume to their ears as their craft passed on beyond the boundaries of Bantoom,

leaving behind the terrors of that unhappy land. But to what were they being borne? The girl looked at the

man sitting crosslegged upon the deck of the tiny flier, gazing off into the night ahead, apparently absorbed

Turan shrugged his broad shoulders. "The stars tell me that we are drifting toward the northeast," he replied,

"but where we are, or what lies in our path I cannot even guess. A week since I could have sworn that I knew

what lay behind each succeeding ridge that I approached; but now I admit in all humility that I have no

conception of what lies a mile in any direction. Tara of Helium, I am lost, and that is all that I can tell you."

He was smiling and the girl smiled back at him. There was a slightly puzzled expression on her facethere

was something tantalizingly familiar about that smile of his. She had met many a panthanthey came and

"Know you not, Tara of Helium," he countered, "that a panthan has no country? Today he fights beneath the

"But you must own allegiance to some country when you are not fighting," she insisted. "What banner, then,

He rose and stood before her, then, bowing low. "And I am acceptable," he said, "I serve beneath the banner

She reached forth and touched his arm with a slim brown hand. "Your services are accepted," she said; "and

if ever we reach Helium I promise that your reward shall be all that your heart could desire."

but Tara of Helium did not guess what was in his mind, thinking rather that he was mercenary. For how could

the proud daughter of The Warlord guess that a simple panthan aspired to her hand and heart?

The dawn found them moving rapidly over an unfamiliar landscape. The wind had increased during the night

and had borne them far from Bantoom. The country below them was rough and inhospitable. No water was

visible and the surface of the ground was cut by deep gorges, while nowhere was any but the most meager

vegetation discernible. They saw no life of any nature, nor was there any indication that the country could

support life. For two days they drifted over this horrid wasteland. They were without food or water and

suffered accordingly. Ghek had temporarily abandoned his rykor after enlisting Turan's assistance in lashing

it safely to the deck. The less he used it the less would its vitality be spent. Already it was showing the effects

of privation. Ghek crawled about the vessel like a great spiderover the side, down beneath the keel, and up

over the opposite rail. He seemed equally at home one place as another. For his companions, however, the

quarters were cramped, for the deck of a oneman flier is not intended for three.

Turan sought always ahead for signs of water. Water they must have, or that watergiving plant which makes

life possible upon many of the seemingly arid areas of Mars; but there was neither the one nor the other for

these two days and now the third night was upon them. The girl did not complain, but Turan knew that she

must be suffering and his heart was heavy within him. Ghek suffered least of all, and he explained to them

that his kind could exist for long periods without food or water. Turan almost cursed him as he saw the form

of Tara of Helium slowly wasting away before his eyes, while the hideous kaldane seemed as full of vitality

"There are circumstances," remarked Ghek, "under which a gross and material body is less desirable than a

Turan looked at him, but said nothing. Tara of Helium smiled faintly. "One cannot blame him," she said,

"were we not a bit boastful in the pride of our superiority? When our stomachs were filled," she added.

"Perhaps there is something to be said for their system," Turan admitted. "If we could but lay aside our

stomachs when they cried for food and water I have no doubt but that we should do so."

A new day had dawned, revealing a less desolate country and renewing again the hope that had been low

"Look, Tara of Helium!" he cried. "A city! As I am Gaas I am Turan the panthan, a city."

Far in the distance the domes and walls and slender towers of a city shone in the rising sun. Quickly the man

seized the control and the ship dropped rapidly behind a low range of intervening hills, for well Turan knew

that they must not be seen until they could discover whether friend or foe inhabited the strange city. Chances

were that they were far from the abode of friends and so must the panthan move with the utmost caution; but

there was a city and where a city was, was water, even though it were a deserted city, and food if it were

To the red man food and water, even in the citadel of an enemy, meant food and drink for Tara of Helium. He

would accept it from friends or he would take it from enemies. Just so long as it was there he would have

itand there was shown the egotism of the fighting man, though Turan did not see it, nor Tara who came

Turan permitted the flier to drift closer behind the screening hills, and then when he could advance no farther

without fear of discovery, he dropped the craft gently to ground in a little ravine, and leaping over the side

made her fast to a stout tree. For several moments they discussed their planswhether it would be best to

wait where they were until darkness hid their movements and then approach the city in search of food and

water, or approach it now, taking advantage of what cover they could, until they could glean something of the

It was Turan's plan which finally prevailed. They would approach as close as safety dictated in the hope of

finding water outside the city; food, too, perhaps. If they did not they could at least reconnoiter the ground by

daylight, and then when night came Turan could quickly come close to the city and in comparative safety

Following the ravine upward they finally topped the summit of the ridge, from which they had an excellent

view of that part of the city which lay nearest them, though themselves hidden by the brush behind which

they crouched. Ghek had resumed his rykor, which had suffered less than either Tara or Turan through their

The first glance at the city, now much closer than when they had first discovered it, revealed the fact that it

was inhabited. Banners and pennons broke from many a staff. People were moving about the gate before

them. The high white walls were paced by sentinels at far intervals. Upon the roofs of higher buildings the

women could be seen airing the sleeping silks and furs. Turan watched it all in silence for some time.

"I do not know them," he said at last. "I cannot guess what city this may be. But it is an ancient city. Its

"There are no landingstages upon the roofsnot one that can be seen from here; while were we looking

similarly at Helium we would see hundreds. And they have no firearms because their defenses are all built to

withstand the attack of spear and arrow, with spear and arrow. They are an ancient people."

"If they are ancient perhaps they are friendly," suggested the girl. "Did we not learn as children in the history

"We all like peace," he rejoined; "peace with honor; but our neighbors will not let us have it, and so we must

"And to like to fight they must know how to fight," he said, "for no man likes to do the thing that he does not

"And so always there will be wars and men will fight," he concluded, "for always the men with hot blood in

"We have settled a great question," said the girl, smiling; "but our stomachs are still empty."

"Your panthan is neglecting his duty," replied Turan; "and how can he with the great reward always before

"No," she cried, laying a hand upon his arm, "not yet. They would slay you or make you prisoner. You are a

She smiled up into his face and her hand still lay upon his arm. He felt the thrill of hot blood coursing

through his veins. He could have seized her in his arms and crushed her to him. There was only Ghek the

kaldane there, but there was something stronger within him that restrained his hand. Who may define itthat

From their vantage point they saw a body of armed warriors ride forth from the gate, and winding along a

wellbeaten road pass from sight about the foot of the hill from which they watched. The men were red, like

themselves, and they rode the small saddle thoats of the red race. Their trappings were barbaric and

magnificent, and in their headdress were many feathers as had been the custom of ancients. They were

armed with swords and long spears and they rode almost naked, their bodies being painted in ochre and blue

and white. There were, perhaps, a score of them in the party and as they galloped away on their tireless

"They have the appearance of splendid warriors," said Turan. "I have a great mind to walk boldly into their

Tara shook her head. "Wait," she admonished. "What would I do without you, and if you were captured how

"I should escape," he said. "At any rate I shall try it," and he started to rise.

Turan sank down beside her again with a half smile upon his lips. "It is yours to command, Princess," he said.

The day passed. Ghek, tiring of the sunlight, had deserted his rykor and crawled down a hole he had

discovered close by. Tara and Turan reclined beneath the scant shade of a small tree. They watched the

people coming and going through the gate. The party of horsemen did not return. A small herd of zitidars was

driven into the city during the day, and once a caravan of broadwheeled carts drawn by these huge animals

wound out of the distant horizon and came down to the city. It, too, passed from their sight within the

gateway. Then darkness came and Tara of Helium bid her panthan search for food and drink; but she

cautioned him against attempting to enter the city. Before he left her he bent and kissed her hand as a warrior

TURAN the panthan approached the strange city under cover of the darkness. He entertained little hope of

finding either food or water outside the wall, but he would try and then, if he failed, he would attempt to

make his way into the city, for Tara of Helium must have sustenance and have it soon. He saw that the walls

were poorly sentineled, but they were sufficiently high to render an attempt to scale them foredoomed to

failure. Taking advantage of underbrush and trees, Turan managed to reach the base of the wall without

detection. Silently he moved north past the gateway which was closed by a massive gate which effectively

barred even the slightest glimpse within the city beyond. It was Turan's hope to find upon the north side of

the city away from the hills a level plain where grew the crops of the inhabitants, and here too water from

their irrigating system, but though he traveled far along that seemingly interminable wall he found no fields

nor any water. He searched also for some means of ingress to the city, yet here, too, failure was his only

reward, and now as he went keen eyes watched him from above and a silent stalker kept pace with him for a

time upon the summit of the wall; but presently the shadower descended to the pavement within and hurrying

He came presently to a small gate beside which was a low building and before the doorway of the building a

warrior standing guard. He spoke a few quick words to the warrior and then entered the building only to

return almost immediately to the street, followed by fully forty warriors. Cautiously opening the gate the

fellow peered carefully along the wall upon the outside in the direction from which he had come. Evidently

satisfied, he issued a few words of instruction to those behind him, whereupon half the warriors returned to

the interior of the building, while the other half followed the man stealthily through the gateway where they

crouched low among the shrubbery in a half circle just north of the gateway which they had left open. Here

they waited in utter silence, nor had they long to wait before Turan the panthan came cautiously along the

base of the wall. To the very gate he came and when he found it and that it was open he paused for a moment,

listening; then he approached and looked within. Assured that there was none within sight to apprehend him

He found himself in a narrow street that paralleled the wall. Upon the opposite side rose buildings of an

architecture unknown to him, yet strangely beautiful. While the buildings were packed closely together there

seemed to be no two alike and their fronts were of all shapes and heights and of many hues. The skyline was

broken by spire and dome and minaret and tall, slender towers, while the walls supported many a balcony and

in the soft light of Cluros, the farther moon, now low in the west, he saw, to his surprise and consternation,

the figures of people upon the balconies. Directly opposite him were two women and a man. They sat leaning

upon the rail of the balcony looking, apparently, directly at him; but if they saw him they gave no sign.

Turan hesitated a moment in the face of almost certain discovery and then, assured that they must take him

for one of their own people, he moved boldly into the avenue. Having no idea of the direction in which he

might best hope to find what he sought, and not wishing to arouse suspicion by further hesitation, he turned

to the left and stepped briskly along the pavement with the intention of placing himself as quickly as possible

beyond the observation of those nocturnal watchers. He knew that the night must be far spent; and so he

could not but wonder why people should sit upon their balconies when they should have been asleep among

their silks and furs. At first he had thought them the late guests of some convivial host; but the windows

behind them were shrouded in darkness and utter quiet prevailed, quite upsetting such a theory. And as he

proceeded he passed many another group sitting silently upon other balconies. They paid no attention to him,

seeming not even to note his passing. Some leaned with a single elbow upon the rail, their chins resting in

their palms; others leaned upon both arms across the balcony, looking down into the street, while several that

he saw held musical instruments in their hands, but their fingers moved not upon the strings.

And then Turan came to a point where the avenue turned to the right, to skirt a building that jutted from the

inside of the city wall, and as he rounded the corner he came full upon two warriors standing upon either side

of the entrance to a building upon his right. It was impossible for them not to be aware of his presence, yet

neither moved, nor gave other evidence that they had seen him. He stood there waiting, his hand upon the hilt

of his longsword, but they neither challenged nor halted him. Could it be that these also thought him one of

As Turan had passed through the gateway into the city and taken his unhindered way along the avenue,

twenty warriors had entered the city and closed the gate behind them, and then one had taken to the wall and

followed along its summit in the rear of Turan, and another had followed him along the avenue, while a third

The balance of them, with the exception of a single sentinel beside the gate, had reentered the building from

which they had been summoned. They were well built, strapping, painted fellows, their naked figures covered

now by gorgeous robes against the chill of night. As they spoke of the stranger they laughed at the ease with

which they had tricked him, and were still laughing as they threw themselves upon their sleeping silks and

furs to resume their broken slumber. It was evident that they constituted a guard detailed for the gate beside

which they slept, and it was equally evident that the gates were guarded and the city watched much more

carefully than Turan had believed. Chagrined indeed had been the Jed of Gathol had he dreamed that he was

As Turan proceeded along the avenue he passed other sentries beside other doors but now he gave them small

heed, since they neither challenged nor otherwise outwardly noted his passing; but while at nearly every turn

of the erratic avenue he passed one or more of these silent sentinels he could not guess that he had passed one

of them many times and that his every move was watched by silent, clever stalkers. Scarce had he passed a

certain one of these rigid guardsmen before the fellow awoke to sudden life, bounded across the avenue,

entered a narrow opening in the outer wall where he swiftly followed a corridor built within the wall itself

until presently he emerged a little distance ahead of Turan, where he assumed the stiff and silent attitude of a

soldier upon guard. Nor did Turan know that a second followed in the shadows of the buildings behind him,

And so the panthan moved through the silent streets of the strange city in search of food and drink for the

woman he loved. Men and women looked down upon him from shadowy balconies, but spoke not; and

sentinels saw him pass and did not challenge. Presently from along the avenue before him came the familiar

sound of clanking accouterments, the herald of marching warriors, and almost simultaneously he saw upon

his right an open doorway dimly lighted from within. It was the only available place where he might seek to

hide from the approaching company, and while he had passed several sentries unquestioned he could scarce

hope to escape scrutiny and questioning from a patrol, as he naturally assumed this body of men to be.

Inside the doorway he discovered a passage turning abruptly to the right and almost immediately thereafter to

the left. There was none in sight within and so he stepped cautiously around the second turn the more

effectually to be hidden from the street. Before him stretched a long corridor, dimly lighted like the entrance.

Waiting there he heard the party approach the building, he heard someone at the entrance to his hiding place,

and then he heard the door past which he had come slam to. He laid his hand upon his sword, expecting

momentarily to hear footsteps approaching along the corridor; but none came. He approached the turn and

looked around it; the corridor was empty to the closed door. Whoever had closed it had remained upon the

Turan waited, listening. He heard no sound. Then he advanced to the door and placed an ear against it. All

was silence in the street beyond. A sudden draft must have closed the door, or perhaps it was the duty of the

patrol to see to such things. It was immaterial. They had evidently passed on and now he would return to the

street and continue upon his way. Somewhere there would be a public fountain where he could obtain water,

and the chance of food lay in the strings of dried vegetables and meat which hung before the doorways of

nearly every Barsoomian home of the poorer classes that he had ever seen. It was this district he was seeking,

and it was for this reason his search had led him away from the main gate of the city which he knew would

He attempted to open the door only to find that it resisted his every effortit was locked upon the outside.

Here indeed was a sorry contretemps. Turan the panthan scratched his head. "Fortune frowns upon me," he

murmured; but beyond the door, Fate, in the form of a painted warrior, stood smiling. Neatly had he tricked

the unwary stranger. The lighted doorway, the marching patrolthese had been planned and timed to a

nicety by the third warrior who had sped ahead of Turan along another avenue, and the stranger had done

precisely what the fellow had thought he would dono wonder, then, that he smiled.

This exit barred to him Turan turned back into the corridor. He followed it cautiously and silently.

Occasionally there was a door on one side or the other. These he tried only to find each securely locked. The

corridor wound more erratically the farther he advanced. A locked door barred his way at its end, but a door

upon his right opened and he stepped into a dimlylighted chamber, about the walls of which were three

other doors, each of which he tried in turn. Two were locked; the other opened upon a runway leading

downward. It was spiral and he could see no farther than the first turn. A door in the corridor he had quitted

opened after he had passed, and the third warrior stepped out and followed after him. A faint smile still

Turan drew his shortsword and cautiously descended. At the bottom was a short corridor with a closed door

at the end. He approached the single heavy panel and listened. No sound came to him from beyond the

mysterious portal. Gently he tried the door, which swung easily toward him at his touch. Before him was a

lowceiled chamber with a dirt floor. Set in its walls were several other doors and all were closed. As Turan

stepped cautiously within, the third warrior descended the spiral runway behind him. The panthan crossed the

room quickly and tried a door. It was locked. He heard a muffled click behind him and turned about with

ready sword. He was alone; but the door through which he had entered was closedit was the click of its

With a bound he crossed the room and attempted to open it; but to no avail. No longer did he seek silence, for

he knew now that the thing had gone beyond the sphere of chance. He threw his weight against the wooden

panel; but the thick skeel of which it was constructed would have withstood a battering ram. From beyond

Rapidly Turan examined each of the other doors. They were all locked. A glance about the chamber revealed

a wooden table and a bench. Set in the walls were several heavy rings to which rusty chains were

attachedall too significant of the purpose to which the room was dedicated. In the dirt floor near the wall

were two or three holes resembling the mouths of burrowsdoubtless the habitat of the giant Martian rat. He

had observed this much when suddenly the dim light was extinguished, leaving him in darkness utter and

complete. Turan, groping about, sought the table and the bench. Placing the latter against the wall he drew the

table in front of him and sat down upon the bench, his longsword gripped in readiness before him. At least

For some time he sat there waiting for he knew not what. No sound penetrated to his subterranean dungeon.

He slowly revolved in his mind the incidents of the eveningthe open, unguarded gate; the lighted

doorwaythe only one he had seen thus open and lighted along the avenue he had followed; the advance of

the warriors at precisely the moment that he could find no other avenue of escape or concealment; the

corridors and chambers that led past many locked doors to this underground prison leaving no other path for

"By my first ancestor!" he swore; "but it was simple and I a simpleton. They tricked me neatly and have

He wished that he might answer that question and then his thoughts turned to the girl waiting there on the hill

beyond the city for himand he would never come. He knew the ways of the more savage peoples of

Barsoom. No, he would never come, now. He had disobeyed her. He smiled at the sweet recollection of those

words of command that had fallen from her dear lips. He had disobeyed her and now he had lost the reward.

But what of her? What now would be her fatestarving before a hostile city with only an inhuman kaldane

for company? Another thoughta horrid thoughtobtruded itself upon him. She had told him of the

hideous sights she had witnessed in the burrows of the kaldanes and he knew that they ate human flesh. Ghek

was starving. Should he eat his rykor he would be helpless; butthere was sustenance there for them both,

for the rykor and the kaldane. Turan cursed himself for a fool. Why had he left her? Far better to have

remained and died with her, ready always to protect her, than to have left her at the mercy of the hideous

Now Turan detected a heavy odor in the air. It oppressed him with a feeling of drowsiness. He would have

risen to fight off the creeping lethargy, but his legs seemed weak, so that he sank again to the bench.

Presently his sword slipped from his fingers and he sprawled forward upon the table his head resting upon his

Tara of Helium, as the night wore on and Turan did not return, became more and more uneasy, and when

dawn broke with no sign of him she guessed that he had failed. Something more than her own unhappy

predicament brought a feeling of sorrow to her heartof sorrow and loneliness. She realized now how she

had come to depend upon this panthan not only for protection but for companionship as well. She missed

him, and in missing him realized suddenly that he had meant more to her than a mere hired warrior. It was as

though a friend had been taken from heran old and valued friend. She rose from her place of concealment

UDor, dwar of the 8th Utan of OTar, Jeddak of Manator, rode back in the early dawn toward Manator

from a brief excursion to a neighboring village. As he was rounding the hills south of the city, his keen eyes

were attracted by a slight movement among the shrubbery close to the summit of the nearest hill. He halted

his vicious mount and watched more closely. He saw a figure rise facing away from him and peer down

"Come!" he signalled to his followers, and with a word to this thoat turned the beast at a rapid gallop up the

hillside. In his wake swept his twenty savage warriors, the padded feet of their mounts soundless upon the

soft turf. It was the rattle of sidearms and harness that brought Tara of Helium suddenly about, facing them.

She glanced at Ghek. What would the spiderman do in this emergency? She saw him crawl to his rykor and

attach himself. Then he arose, the beautiful body once again animated and alert. She thought that the creature

was preparing for flight. Well, it made little difference to her. Against such as were streaming up the hill

toward them a single mediocre swordsman such as Ghek was worse than no defense at all.

"Hurry, Ghek!" she admonished him. "Back into the hills! You may find there a hidingplace;" but the

creature only stepped between her and the oncoming riders, drawing his longsword.

"It is useless, Ghek," she said, when she saw that he intended to defend her. "What can a single sword

"I can die but once," replied the kaldane. "You and your panthan saved me from Luud and I but do what your

"It is brave, but it is useless," she replied. "Sheathe your sword. They may not intend us harm."

Ghek let the point of his weapon drop to the ground, but he did not sheathe it, and thus the two stood waiting

as UDor the dwar stopped his thoat before them while his twenty warriors formed a rough circle about. For

a long minute UDor sat his mount in silence, looking searchingly first at Tara of Helium and then at her

"What manner of creature are you?" he asked presently. "And what do you before the gates of Manator?"

"We are from far countries," replied the girl, "and we are lost and starving. We ask only food and rest and the

UDor smiled a grim smile. "Manator and the hills which guard it alone know the age of Manator," he said;

"yet in all the ages that have rolled by since Manator first was, there be no record in the annals of Manator of

"But I am a princess," cried the girl haughtily, "and my country is not at war with yours. You must give me

and my companions aid and assist us to return to our own land. It is the law of Barsoom."

"Manator knows only the laws of Manator," replied UDor; "but come. You shall go with us to the city,

where you, being beautiful, need have no fear. I, myself, will protect you if OTar so decrees. And as for

your companionbut hold! You said 'companions'there are others of your party then?"

"Be that as it may," said UDor. "If there be more they shall not escape Manator; but as I was saying, if your

companion fights well he too may live, for OTar is just, and just are the laws of Manator. Come!"

"It is useless," said the girl, seeing that he would have stood his ground and fought them. "Let us go with

them. Why pit your puny blade against their mighty ones when there should lie in your great brain the means

And so they moved down the hillside toward the gates of ManatorTara, Princess of Helium, and Ghek, the

kaldane of Bantoomand surrounding them rode the savage, painted warriors of UDor, dwar of the 8th

THE dazzling sunlight of Barsoom clothed Manator in an aureole of splendor as the girl and her captors rode

into the city through The Gate of Enemies. Here the wall was some fifty feet thick, and the sides of the

passageway within the gate were covered with parallel shelves of masonry from bottom to top. Within these

shelves, or long, horizontal niches, stood row upon row of small figures, appearing like tiny, grotesque

statuettes of men, their long, black hair falling below their feet and sometimes trailing to the shelf beneath.

The figures were scarce a foot in height and but for their diminutive proportions might have been the

mummified bodies of once living men. The girl noticed that as they passed, the warriors saluted the figures

with their spears after the manner of Barsoomian fighting men in extending a military courtesy, and then they

rode on into the avenue beyond, which ran, wide and stately, through the city toward the east.

On either side were great buildings wondrously wrought. Paintings of great beauty and antiquity covered

many of the walls, their colors softened and blended by the suns of ages. Upon the pavement the life of the

newlyawakened city was already afoot. Women in brilliant trappings, befeathered warriors, their bodies

daubed with paint; artisans, armed but less gaily caparisoned, took their various ways upon the duties of the

day. A giant zitidar, magnificent in rich harness, rumbled its broadwheeled cart along the stone pavement

toward The Gate of Enemies. Life and color and beauty wrought together a picture that filled the eyes of Tara

of Helium with wonder and with admiration, for here was a scene out of the dead past of dying Mars. Such

had been the cities of the founders of her race before Throxeus, mightiest of oceans, had disappeared from the

face of a world. And from balconies on either side men and women looked down in silence upon the scene

The people in the street looked at the two prisoners, especially at the hideous Ghek, and called out in question

or comment to their guard; but the watchers upon the balconies spoke not, nor did one so much as turn a head

to note their passing. There were many balconies on each building and not a one that did not hold its silent

party of richly trapped men and women, with here and there a child or two, but even the children maintained

the uniform silence and immobility of their elders. As they approached the center of the city the girl saw that

even the roofs bore companies of these idle watchers, harnessed and bejeweled as for some galaday of

laughter and music, but no laughter broke from those silent lips, nor any music from the strings of the

And now the avenue widened into an immense square, at the far end of which rose a stately edifice gleaming

white in virgin marble among the gaily painted buildings surrounding it and its scarlet sward and

gailyflowering, greenfoliaged shrubbery. Toward this UDor led his prisoners and their guard to the great

arched entrance before which a line of fifty mounted warriors barred the way. When the commander of the

guard recognized UDor the guardsmen fell back to either side leaving a broad avenue through which the

party passed. Directly inside the entrance were inclined runways leading upward on either side. UDor

turned to the left and led them upward to the second floor and down a long corridor. Here they passed other

mounted men and in chambers upon either side they saw more. Occasionally there was another runway

leading either up or down. A warrior, his steed at full gallop, dashed into sight from one of these and raced

Nowhere as yet had Tara of Helium seen a man afoot in this great building; but when at a turn, UDor led

them to the third floor she caught glimpses of chambers in which many riderless thoats were penned and

others adjoining where dismounted warriors lolled at ease or played games of skill or chance and many there

were who played at jetan, and then the party passed into a long, wide hall of state, as magnificent an

apartment as even a princess of mighty Helium ever had seen. The length of the room ran an arched ceiling

ablaze with countless radium bulbs. The mighty spans extended from wall to wall leaving the vast floor

unbroken by a single column. The arches were of white marble, apparently quarried in single, huge blocks

from which each arch was cut complete. Between the arches, the ceiling was set solid about the radium bulbs

with precious stones whose scintillant fire and color and beauty filled the whole apartment. The stones were

carried down the walls in an irregular fringe for a few feet, where they appeared to hang like a beautiful and

gorgeous drapery against the white marble of the wall. The marble ended some six or seven feet from the

floor, the walls from that point down being wainscoted in solid gold. The floor itself was of marble richly

inlaid with gold. In that single room was a vast treasure equal to the wealth of many a large city.

But what riveted the girl's attention even more than the fabulous treasure of decorations were the files of

gorgeously harnessed warriors who sat their thoats in grim silence and immobility on either side of the central

aisle, rank after rank of them to the farther walls, and as the party passed between them she could not note so

"The Hall of Chiefs," whispered one of her guard, evidently noting her interest. There was a note of pride in

the fellow's voice and something of hushed awe. Then they passed through a great doorway into the chamber

beyond, a large, square room in which a dozen mounted warriors lolled in their saddles.

As UDor and his party entered the room, the warriors came quickly erect in their saddles and formed a line

before another door upon the opposite side of the wall. The padwar commanding them saluted UDor who,

"Send one to OTar announcing that UDor brings two prisoners worthy of the observation of the great

jeddak," said UDor; "one because of her extreme beauty, the other because of his extreme ugliness."

"OTar sits in council with the lesser chiefs," replied the lieutenant; "but the words of UDor the dwar shall

be carried to him," and he turned and gave instructions to one who sat his thoat behind him.

"What manner of creature is the male?" he asked of UDor. "It cannot be that both are of one race."

"They were together in the hills south of the city," explained UDor, "and they say that they are lost and

"The woman is beautiful," said the padwar. "She will not long go begging in the city of Manator," and then

they spoke of other mattersof the doings of the palace, of the expedition of UDor, until the messenger

They passed then through a massive doorway, which, when opened, revealed the great council chamber of

OTar, Jeddak of Manator, beyond. A central aisle led from the doorway the full length of the great hall,

terminating at the steps of a marble dais upon which a man sat in a great thronechair. Upon either side of the

aisle were ranged rows of highly carved desks and chairs of skeel a hard wood of great beauty. Only a few of

At the entrance UDor dismounted with four of his followers who formed a guard about the two prisoners

who were then conducted toward the foot of the throne, following a few paces behind UDor. As they halted

at the foot of the marble steps, the proud gaze of Tara of Helium rested upon the enthroned figure of the man

above her. He sat erect without stiffnessa commanding presence trapped in the barbaric splendor that the

Barsoomian chieftain loves. He was a large man, the perfection of whose handsome face was marred only by

the hauteur of his cold eyes and the suggestion of cruelty imparted by too thin lips. It needed no second

glance to assure the least observing that here indeed was a ruler of. mena fighting jeddak whose people

might worship but not love, and for whose slightest favor warriors would vie with one another to go forth and

die. This was OTar, Jeddak of Manator, and as Tara of Helium saw him for the first time she could not but

acknowledge a certain admiration for this savage chieftain who so virilely personified the ancient virtues of

UDor and the jeddak interchanged the simple greetings of Barsoom, and then the former recounted the

details of the discovery and capture of the prisoners. OTar scrutinized them both intently during UDor's

narration of events, his expression revealing naught of what passed in the brain behind those inscrutable eyes.

"And you," he asked, "what manner of thing are you? From what country? Why are you in Manator?"

"I am a kaldane," replied Ghek; "the highest type of created creature upon the face of Barsoom; I am mind,

you are matter. I come from Bantoom. I am here because we were lost and starving."

"I am a princess of Helium," replied the girl. "I was a prisoner in Bantoom. This kaldane and a warrior of my

own race rescued me. The warrior left us to search for food and water. He has doubtless fallen into the hands

of your people. I ask you to free him and give us food and drink and let us go upon our way. I am a

granddaughter of a jeddak, the daughter of a jeddak of jeddaks, The Warlord of Barsoom. I ask only the

"Helium," repeated OTar. "I know naught of Helium, nor does the Jeddak of Helium rule Manator. I,

OTar, am Jeddak of Manator. I alone rule. I protect my own. You have never seen a woman or a warrior of

Manator captive in Helium! Why should I protect the people of another jeddak? It is his duty to protect them.

If he cannot, he is weak, and his people must fall into the hands of the strong. I, OTar, am strong. I will keep

"It is brave," replied Tara of Helium, "but it has not the skill at arms which my people possess."

"There is none then to fight for you?" asked OTar. "We are a just people," he continued without waiting for

a reply, "and had you one to fight for you he might win to freedom for himself and you as well."

"But UDor assured me that no stranger ever had departed from Manator," she answered.

OTar shrugged. "That does not disprove the justice of the laws of Manator," replied OTar, "but rather that

the warriors of Manator are invincible. Had there come one who could defeat our warriors that one had won

"And you fetch my warrior," cried Tara haughtily, "you shall see such swordplay as doubtless the crumbling

walls of your decaying city never have witnessed, and if there be no trick in your offer we are already as good

OTar smiled more broadly than before and UDor smiled, too, and the chiefs and warriors who looked on

nudged one another and whispered, laughing. And Tara of Helium knew then that there was trickery in their

justice; but though her situation seemed hopeless she did not cease to hope, for was she not the daughter of

John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, whose famous challenge to Fate, "I still live!" remained the one irreducible

defense against despair? At thought of her noble sire the patrician chin of Tara of Helium rose a shade higher.

Ah! if he but knew where she was there were little to fear then. The hosts of Helium would batter at the gates

of Manator, the great green warriors of John Carter's savage allies would swarm up from the dead sea

bottoms lusting for pillage and for loot, the stately ships of her beloved navy would soar above the

unprotected towers and minarets of the doomed city which only capitulation and heavy tribute could then

But John Carter did not know! There was only one other to whom she might hope to lookTuran the

panthan; but where was he? She had seen his sword in play and she knew that it had been wielded by a

master hand, and who should know swordplay better than Tara of Helium, who had learned it well under the

constant tutorage of John Carter himself. Tricks she knew that discounted even far greater physical prowess

than her own, and a method of attack that might have been at once the envy and despair of the cleverest of

warriors. And so it was that her thoughts turned to Turan the panthan, though not alone because of the

protection he might afford her. She had realized, since he had left her in search of food, that there had grown

between them a certain comradeship that she now missed. There had been that about him which seemed to

have bridged the gulf between their stations in life. With him she had failed to consider that he was a panthan

or that she was a princessthey had been comrades. Suddenly she realized that she missed him for himself

"You shall not lack for warriors," replied the jeddak. "One of your beauty will find plenty ready to fight for

her. Possibly it shall not be necessary to look farther than the jeddak of Manator. You please me, woman.

Through narrowed lids the Princess of Helium scrutinized the Jeddak of Manator, from feathered headdress

"'Honor'!" she mimicked in tones of scorn. "I please thee, do I? Then know, swine, that thou pleaseth me

A sudden, tense silence fell upon the assembled chiefs. Slowly the blood receded from the sinister face of

OTar, Jeddak of Manator, leaving him a sickly purple in his wrath. His eyes narrowed to two thin slits, his

lips were compressed to a bloodless line of malevolence. For a long moment there was no sound in the throne

"Take her away," he said in a level voice that belied his appearance of rage. "Take her away, and at the next

"So this is your vaunted justice!" cried Tara of Helium; "that two strangers who have not wronged you shall

be sentenced without trial? And one of them is a woman. The swine of Manator are as just as they are brave."

"Away with her!" shouted OTar, and at a sign from UDor the guards formed about the two prisoners and

Outside the palace, Ghek and Tara of Helium were separated. The girl was led through long avenues toward

the center of the city and finally into a low building, topped by lofty towers of massive construction. Here she

"It is OTar's wish," explained UDor to this one, "that she be kept until the next games, when the prisoners

and the common warriors shall play for her. Had she not the tongue of a thoat she had been a worthy stake for

our noblest steel," and UDor sighed. "Perhaps even yet I may win a pardon for her. It were too bad to see

such beauty fall to the lot of some common fellow. I would have honored her myself."

"If I am to be imprisoned, imprison me," said the girl. "I do not recall that I was sentenced to listen to the

"You see, AKor," cried UDor, "the tongue that she has. Even so and worse spoke she to OTar the

"I see," replied AKor, whom Tara saw was with difficulty restraining a smile. "Come, then, with me,

woman," he said, "and we shall find a safe place within The Towers of Jetanbut stay! what ails thee?"

The girl had staggered and would have fallen had not the man caught her in his arms. She seemed to gather

herself then and bravely sought to stand erect without support. AKor glanced at UDor. "Knew you the

"Possibly it is lack of food," replied the other. "She mentioned, I believe, that she and her companions had

"Brave are the warriors of OTar," sneered AKor; "lavish their hospitality. UDor, whose riches are

uncounted, and the brave OTar, whose squealing thoats are stabled within marble halls and fed from troughs

The black haired UDor. scowled. "Thy tongue will yet pierce thy heart, son of a slave!" he cried. "Once too

often mayst thus try the patience of the just OTar. Hereafter guard thy speech as well as thy towers."

"Think not to taunt me with my mother's state," said AKor. "'Tis the blood of the slave woman that fills my

He turned upon his heel, a supporting arm still around the waist of Tara of Helium and thus he half led, half

carried her into The Towers of Jetan, while UDor wheeled his thoat and galloped back in the direction of the

Within the main entrance to The Tower of Jetan lolled a halfdozen warriors. To one of these spoke AKor,

keeper of the towers. "Fetch LanO, the slave girl, and bid her bring food and drink to the upper level of the

Thurian tower," then he lifted the halffainting girl in his arms and bore her along the spiral, inclined runway

Somewhere in the long ascent Tara lost consciousness. When it returned she found herself in a large, circular

chamber, the stone walls of which were pierced by windows at regular intervals about the entire

circumference of the room. She was lying upon a pile of sleeping silks and furs while there knelt above her a

young woman who was forcing drops of some cooling beverage between her parched lips. Tara of Helium

half rose upon an elbow and looked about. In the first moments of returning consciousness there were swept

from the screen of recollection the happenings of many weeks. She thought that she awoke in the palace of

The Warlord at Helium. Her brows knit as she scrutinized the strange face bending over her.

"I am LanO the slave girl," replied the other. "I know none by the name of Uthia."

Tara of Helium sat erect and looked about her. This rough stone was not the marble of her father's halls.

"In The Thurian Tower," replied the girl, and then seeing that the other still did not understand she guessed

the truth. "You are a prisoner in The Towers of Jetan in the city of Manator," she explained. "You were

brought to this chamber, weak and fainting, by AKor, Dwar of The Towers of Jetan, who sent me to you

"I remember, now," said Tara, slowly. "I remember; but where is Turan, my warrior? Did they speak of

"I heard naught of another," replied LanO; "you alone were brought to the towers. In that you are fortunate,

for there be no nobler man in Manator than AKor. It is his mother's blood that makes him so. She was a

"Not close, yet still the nearest country," replied LanO. "About twentytwo degrees* east, it lies."

"But you are not from Gathol," said the slave girl; "your harness is not of Gathol."

in our studies we learned much of the greatness of Helium, we of Gathol, so it seems not so far away."

"Many of us are from Gathol who are slaves in Manator," replied the girl. "It is to Gathol, nearest country,

that the Manatorians look for slaves most often. They go in great numbers at intervals of three or seven years

and haunt the roads that lead to Gathol, and thus they capture whole caravans leaving none to bear warning to

Gathol of their fate. Nor do any ever escape from Manator to carry word of us back to Gahan our jed."

Tara of Helium ate slowly and in silence. The girl's words aroused memories of the last hours she had spent

in her father's palace and the great midday function at which she had met Gahan of Gathol. Even now she

Upon her reveries the door opened and a burly warrior appeared in the openinga hulking fellow, with thick

"What does this mean, EMed?" she cried, "was it not the will of AKor that this woman be not disturbed?"

"The will of AKor, indeed!" and the man sneered. "The will of AKor is without power in The Towers of

Jetan, or elsewhere, for AKor lies now in the pits of OTar, and EMed is dwar of the Towers."

WHILE Tara of Helium was being led to The Towers of Jetan, Ghek was escorted to the pits beneath the

palace where he was imprisoned in a dimlylighted chamber. Here he found a bench and a table standing

upon the dirt floor near the wall, and set in the wall several rings from which depended short lengths of chain.

At the base of the walls were several holes in the dirt floor. These, alone, of the several things he saw,

interested him. Ghek sat down upon the bench and waited in silence, listening. Presently the lights were

extinguished. If Ghek could have smiled he would have then, for Ghek could see as well in the dark as in the

lightbetter, perhaps. He watched the dark openings of the holes in the floor and waited. Presently he

detected a change in the air about himit grew heavy with a strange odor, and once again might Ghek have

Let them replace all the air in the chamber with their most deadly fumes; it would be all the same to Ghek,

the kaldane, who, having no lungs, required no air. With the rykor it might be different. Deprived of air it

would die; but if only a sufficient amount of the gas was introduced to stupefy an ordinary creature it would

have no effect upon the rykor, who had no objective mind to overcome. So long as the excess of carbon

dioxide in the blood was not sufficient to prevent heart action, the rykor would suffer only a diminution of

vitality; but would still respond to the exciting agency of the kaldane's brain.

Ghek caused the rykor to assume a sitting position with its back against the wall where it might remain

without direction from his brain. Then he released his contact with its spinal cord; but remained in position

upon its shoulders, waiting and watching, for the kaldane's curiosity was aroused. He had not long to wait

before the lights were flashed on arid one of the locked doors opened to admit a halfdozen warriors. They

approached him rapidly and worked quickly. First they removed all his weapons and then, snapping a fetter

about one of the rykor's ankles, secured him to the end of one of the chains hanging from the walls. Next they

dragged the long table to a new position and there bolted it to the floor so that an end, instead of the middle,

was directly before the prisoner. On the table before him they set food and water and upon the opposite end

of the table they laid the key to the fetter. Then they unlocked and opened all the doors and departed.

When Turan the panthan regained consciousness it was to the realization of a sharp pain in one of his

forearms. The effects of the gas departed as rapidly as they had overcome him so that as he opened his eyes

he was in full possession of all his faculties. The lights were on again and in their glow there was revealed to

the man the figure of a giant Martian rat crouching upon the table and gnawing upon his arm. Snatching his

arm away he reached for his shortsword, while the rat, growling, sought to seize his arm again. It was then

that Turan discovered that his weapons had been removedshortsword, longsword, dagger, and pistol.

The rat charged him then and striking the creature away with his hand the man rose and backed off, searching

for something with which to strike a harder blow. Again the rat charged and as Turan stepped quickly back to

avoid the menacing jaws, something seemed to jerk suddenly upon his right ankle, and as he drew his left

foot back to regain his equilibrium his heel caught upon a taut chain and he fell heavily backward to the floor

The Martian rat is a fierce and unlovely thing. It is manylegged and hairless, its hide resembling that of a

newborn mouse in repulsiveness. In size and weight it is comparable to a large Airedale terrier. Its eyes are

small and closeset, and almost hidden in deep, fleshy apertures. But its most ferocious and repulsive feature

is its jaws, the entire bony structure of which protrudes several inches beyond the flesh, revealing five sharp,

spadelike teeth in the upper jaw and the same number of similar teeth in the lower, the whole suggesting the

It was such a thing that leaped upon the breast of the panthan to tear at his jugular. Twice Turan struck it

away as he sought to regain his feet, but both times it returned with increased ferocity to renew the attack. Its

only weapons are its jaws since its broad, splay feet are armed with blunt talons. With its protruding jaws it

excavates its winding burrows and with its broad feet it pushes the dirt behind it. To keep the jaws from his

flesh then was Turan's only concern and this he succeeded in doing until chance gave him a hold upon the

creature's throat. After that the end was but a matter of moments. Rising at last he flung the lifeless thing

Now he turned his attention to a hurried inventory of the new conditions which surrounded him since the

moment of his incarceration. He realized vaguely what had happened. He had been anaesthetized and stripped

of his weapons, and as he rose to his feet he saw that one ankle was fettered to a chain in the wall. He looked

about the room. All the doors swung wide open! His captors would render his imprisonment the more cruel

by leaving ever before him tempting glimpses of open aisles to the freedom he could not attain. Upon the end

of the table and within easy reach was food and drink. This at least was attainable and at sight of it his starved

stomach seemed almost to cry aloud for sustenance. It was with difficulty that he ate and drank in

As he devoured the food his eyes wandered about the confines of his prison until suddenly they seized upon a

thing that lay on the table at the end farthest from him. It was a key. He raised his fettered ankle and

examined the lock. There could be no doubt of it! The key that lay there on the table before him was the key

to that very lock. A careless warrior had laid it there and departed, forgetting.

Hope surged high in the breast of Gahan of Gathol, of Turan the panthan. Furtively his eyes sought the open

doorways. There was no one in sight. Ah, if he could but gain his freedom! He would find some way from

this odious city back to her side and never again would he leave her until he had won safety for her or death

He rose and moved cautiously toward the opposite end of the table where lay the coveted key. The fettered

ankle halted his first step, but he stretched at full length along the table, extending eager fingers toward the

prize. They almost laid hold upon ita little more and they would touch it. He strained and stretched, but

still the thing lay just beyond his reach. He hurled himself forward until the iron fetter bit deep into his flesh,

but all futilely. He sat back upon the bench then and glared at the open doors and the key, realizing now that

they were part of a welllaid scheme of refined torture, none the less demoralizing because it inflicted no

For just a moment the man gave way to useless regret and foreboding, then he gathered himself together, his

brows cleared, and he returned to his unfinished meal. At least they should not have the satisfaction of

knowing how sorely they had hit him. As he ate it occurred to him that by dragging the table along the floor

he could bring the key within his reach, but when he essayed to do so, he found that the table had been

securely bolted to the floor during the period of his unconsciousness, Again Gahan smiled and shrugged and

When the warriors had departed from the prison in which Ghek was confined, the kaldane crawled from the

shoulders of the rykor to the table. Here he drank a little water and then directed the hands of the rykor to the

balance of it and to the food, upon which the brainless thing fell with avidity. While it was thus engaged

Ghek took his spiderlike way along the table to the opposite end where lay the key to the fetter. Seizing it in

a chela he leaped to the floor and scurried rapidly toward the mouth of one of the burrows against the wall,

into which he disappeared. For long had the brain been contemplating these burrow entrances. They appealed

to his kaldanean tastes, and further, they pointed a hiding place for the key and a lair for the only kind of food

Ghek had never seen an ulsio, since these great Martian rats had long ago disappeared from Bantoom, their

flesh and blood having been greatly relished by the kaldanes; but Ghek had inherited, almost unimpaired,

every memory of every ancestor, and so he knew that ulsio inhabited these lairs and that ulsio was good to

eat, and he knew what ulsio looked like and what his habits were, though he had never seen him nor any

picture of him. As we breed animals for the transmission of physical attributes, so the Kaldanes breed

themselves for the transmission of attributes of the mind, including memory and the power of recollection,

and thus have they raised what we term instinct, above the level of the threshold of the objective mind where

it may be commanded and utilized by recollection. Doubtless in our own subjective minds lie many of the

impressions and experiences of our forebears. These may impinge upon our consciousness in dreams only, or

in vague, haunting suggestions that we have before experienced some transient phase of our present

existence. Ah, if we had but the power to recall them! Before us would unfold the forgotten story of the lost

eons that have preceded us. We might even walk with God in the garden of His stars while man was still but a

Ghek descended into the burrow at a steep incline for some ten feet, when he found himself in an elaborate

and delightful network of burrows! The kaldane was elated. This indeed was life! He moved rapidly and

fearlessly and he went as straight to his goal as you could to the kitchen of your own home. This goal lay at a

low level in a spheroidal cavity about the size of a large barrel. Here, in a nest of torn bits of silk and fur lay

When the mother returned there were but five babies and a great spiderlike creature, which she immediately

sprang to attack only to be met by powerful chelae which seized and held her so that she could not move.

Slowly they dragged her throat toward a hideous mouth and in a little moment she was dead.

Ghek might have remained in the nest for a long time, since there was ample food for many days; but he did

not do so. Instead he explored the burrows. He followed them into many subterranean chambers of the city of

Manator, and upward through walls to rooms above the ground. He found many ingeniously devised traps,

and he found poisoned food and other signs of the constant battle that the inhabitants of Manator waged

against these repulsive creatures that dwelt beneath their homes and public buildings.

His exploration revealed not only the vast proportions of the network of runways that apparently traversed

every portion of the city, but the great antiquity of the majority of them. Tons upon tons of dirt must have

been removed, and for a long time he wondered where it had been deposited, until in following downward a

tunnel of great size and length he sensed before him the thunderous rush of subterranean waters, and

presently came to the bank of a great, underground river, tumbling onward, no doubt, the length of a world to

the buried sea of Omean. Into this torrential sewer had unthinkable generations of ulsios pushed their few

For only a moment did Ghek tarry by the river, for his seemingly aimless wanderings were in reality

prompted by a definite purpose, and this he pursued with vigor and singleness of design. He followed such

runways as appeared to terminate in the pits or other chambers of the inhabitants of the city, and these he

explored, usually from the safety of a burrow's mouth, until satisfied that what he sought was not there. He

moved swiftly upon his spider legs and covered remarkable distances in short periods of time.

His search not being rewarded with immediate success, he decided to return to the pit where his rykor lay

chained and look to its wants. As he approached the end of the burrow that terminated in the pit he slackened

his pace, stopping just within the entrance of the runway that he might scan the interior of the chamber before

entering it. As he did so he saw the figure of a warrior appear suddenly in an opposite doorway. The rykor

sprawled upon the table, his hands groping blindly for more food. Ghek saw the warrior pause and gaze in

sudden astonishment at the rykor; he saw the fellow's eyes go wide and an ashen hue replace the copper

bronze of his cheek. He stepped back as though someone had struck him in the face. For an instant only he

stood thus as in a paralysis of fear, then he uttered a smothered shriek and turned and fled. Again was it a

Quickly entering the room he crawled to the table top and affixed himself to the shoulders of his rykor, and

there he waited; and who may say that Ghek, though he could not smile, possessed not a sense of humor? For

a halfhour he sat there, and then there came to him the sound of men approaching along corridors of stone.

He could hear their arms clank against the rocky walls and he knew that they came at a rapid pace; but just

before they reached the entrance to his prison they paused and advanced more slowly. In the lead was an

officer, and just behind him, wideeyed and perhaps still a little ashen, the warrior who had so recently

departed in haste. At the doorway they halted and the officer turned sternly upon the warrior. With upraised

"I swear," cried the warrior, "that I spoke the truth. But a moment since the thing groveled, headless, upon

this very table! And may my first ancestor strike me dead upon the spot if I speak other than a true word!"

The officer looked puzzled. The men of Mars seldom if ever lie. He scratched his head. Then he addressed

"Who knows better than those who placed me here and chained me to a wall?" he returned in reply.

"Look thou to my chain and tell me then where else might I sit!" cried Ghek. "Art the people of thy city all

Three other warriors pressed behind the two in front, craning their necks to view the prisoner while they

"Thy tongue is as venomous as that of the shebanth OTar sent to The Towers of Jetan," he said.

You speak of the young woman who was captured with me?" asked Ghek, his expressionless monotone and

"I speak of her," replied the dwar, and then turning to the warrior who had summoned him: "return to thy

quarters and remain there until the next games. Perhaps by that time thy eyes may have learned not to deceive

The fellow cast a venomous glance at Ghek and turned away. The officer shook his head. "I do not

understand it," he muttered. "Always has UVan been a true and dependable warrior. Could it be?" he

glanced piercingly at Ghek. "Thou hast a strange head that misfits thy body, fellow," he cried. "Our legends

tell us of those ancient creatures that placed hallucinations upon the mind of their fellows. If thou be such

then maybe UVan suffered from thy forbidden powers. If thou be such OTar will know well how to deal

"Am I to be fed but once a day?" asked Ghek. "I require food oftener than that. Send me food."

"You shall have food," replied the officer. "None may say that the prisoners of Manator are illfed. Just are

No sooner had the sounds of their passing died away in the distance than Ghek clambered from the shoulders

of his rykor, and scurried to the burrow where he had hidden the key. Fetching it he unlocked the fetter from

about the creature's ankle, locked it empty and carried the key farther down into the burrow. Then he returned

to his place upon his brainless servitor. After a while he heard footsteps approaching, whereupon he rose and

passed into another corridor from that down which he knew the warrior was coming. Here he waited out of

sight, listening. He heard the man enter the chamber and halt. He heard a muttered exclamation, followed by

the jangle of metal dishes as a salver was slammed upon a table; then rapidly retreating footsteps, which

Ghek lost no time in returning to the chamber, recovering the key, relocking the rykor to his chain. Then he

replaced the key in the burrow and squatting on the table beside his headless body, directed its hands toward

the food. While the rykor ate Ghek sat listening for the scraping sandals and clattering arms that he knew

soon would come. Nor had he long to wait. Ghek scrambled to the shoulders of his rykor as he heard them

coming. Again it was the officer who had been summoned by UVan and with him were three warriors. The

one directly behind him was evidently the same who had brought the food, for his eyes went wide when he

saw Ghek sitting at the table and he looked very foolish as the dwar turned his stern glance upon him.

"But he is here now," said the officer grimly, "and his fetter is locked about his ankle. Look! it has not been

openedbut where is the key? It should be upon the table at the end opposite him. Where is the key,

"How should I, a prisoner, know better than my jailer the whereabouts of the key to my fetters?" he retorted.

The fellow shook his head negatively. "And you? and you?" continued the kaldane addressing the others.

They both admitted that they never had seen the key. "And if it had been there how could I have reached it?"

"No, he could not have reached it," admitted the officer; "but there shall be no more of this! IZav, you will

IZav looked anything but happy as this intelligence was transmitted to him, and he eyed Ghek suspiciously

EMED crossed the tower chamber toward Tara of Helium and the slave girl, LanO. He seized the former

roughly by a shoulder. "Stand!" he commanded. Tara struck his hand from her and rising, backed away.

EMed laughed. "Think you that I play at jetan for you without first knowing something of the stake for

The girl drew herself to her full height, folding her arms across her breast, nor did EMed note that the slim

fingers of her right hand were inserted beneath the broad leather strap of her harness where it passed over her

"And OTar learns of this you shall rue it, EMed," cried the slave girl; "there be no law in Manator that

"What cares OTar for her fate?" replied EMed. "Have I not heard? Did she not flout the great jeddak,

heaping abuse upon him? By my first ancestor, I think OTar might make a jed of the man who subdued

"Wait!" said the girl in low, even tone. "Perhaps you know not what you do. Sacred to the people of Helium

are the persons of the women of Helium. For the honor of the humblest of them would the great jeddak

himself unsheathe his sword. The greatest nations of Barsoom have trembled to the thunders of war in

defense of the person of Dejah Thoris, my mother. We are but mortal and so may die; but we may not be

defiled. You may play at jetan for a princess of Helium, but though you may win the match, never may you

claim the reward. If thou wouldst possess a dead body press me too far, but know, man of Manator, that the

blood of The Warlord flows not in the veins of Tara of Helium for naught. I have spoken."

"I know naught of Helium and OTar is our warlord," replied EMed; "but I do know that I would examine

more closely the prize that I shall play for and win. I would test the lips of her who is to be my slave after the

next games; nor is it well, woman, to drive me too far to anger." His eyes narrowed as he spoke, his visage

taking on the semblance of that of a snarling beast. "If you doubt the truth of my words ask LanO, the slave

"He speaks truly, O woman of Helium," interjected LanO. "Try not the temper of EMed, if you value your

But Tara of Helium made no reply. Already had she spoken. She stood in silence now facing the burly

warrior who approached her. He came close and then quite suddenly he seized her and, bending, tried to draw

LanO saw the woman from Helium half turn, and with a quick movement jerk her right hand from where it

had lain upon her breast. She saw the hand shoot from beneath the arm of EMed and rise behind his

shoulder and she saw in the hand a long, slim blade. The lips of the warrior were drawing closer to those of

the woman, but they never touched them, for suddenly the man straightened, stiffly, a shriek upon his lips,

and then he crumpled like an empty fur and lay, a shrunken heap, upon the floor. Tara of Helium stooped and

LanO, wideeyed, looked with horror upon the corpse. "For this we shall both die," she cried.

"I am not so brave as thou," said the slave girl, "and life is sweet and there is always hope."

"Life is sweet," agreed Tara of Helium, "but honor is sacred. But do not fear. When they come I shall tell

For a moment the slave girl seemed to be thinking deeply. Suddenly her eyes lighted. "There is a way,

perhaps," she said, "to turn suspicion from us. He has the key to this chamber upon him. Let us open the door

"Good!" exclaimed Tara of Helium, and the two immediately set about the matter LanO had suggested.

Quickly they found the key and unlatched the door and then, between them, they half carried, half dragged,

the corpse of EMed from the room and down the stairway to the next level where LanO said there were

vacant chambers. The first door they tried was unlatched, and through this the two bore their grisly burden

into a small room lighted by a single window. The apartment bore evidence of having been utilized as a

livingroom rather than as a cell, being furnished with a degree of comfort and even luxury. The walls were

paneled to a height of about seven feet from the floor, while the plaster above and the ceiling were decorated

As Tara's eyes ran quickly over the interior her attention was drawn to a section of paneling that seemed to be

separated at one edge from the piece next adjoining it. Quickly she crossed to it, discovering that one vertical

edge of an entire panel projected a halfinch beyond the others. There was a possible explanation which

piqued her curiosity, and acting upon its suggestion she seized upon the projecting edge and pulled outward.

Slowly the panel swung toward her, revealing a dark aperture in the wall behind.

"Look, LanO!" she cried. "See what I have founda hole in which we may hide the thing upon the floor."

LanO joined her and together the two investigated the dark aperture, finding a small platform from which a

narrow runway led downward into Stygian darkness. Thick dust covered the floor within the doorway,

indicating that a great period of time had elapsed since human foot had trod ita secret way, doubtless,

unknown to living Manatorians. Here they dragged the corpse of EMed, leaving it upon the platform, and as

they left the dark and forbidden closet LanO would have slammed to the panel had not Tara prevented.

"It may serve us well to know how to open this place again," replied Tara of Helium, and then suddenly she

pressed a foot against a section of the carved base at the right of the open panel. "Ah!" she breathed, a note of

satisfaction in her tone, and closed the panel until it fitted snugly in its place. "Come!" she said and turned

They reached their own cell without detection, and closing the door Tara locked it from the inside and placed

"Let them come," she said. "Let them question us! What could two poor prisoners know of the whereabouts

"Tell me of these men of Manator," said Tara presently. "Are they all like EMed, or are some of them like

"They are not unlike the peoples of other countries," replied LanO. "There be among them both good and

bad. They are brave warriors and mighty. Among themselves they are not without chivalry and honor, but in

their dealings with strangers they know but one lawthe law of might. The weak and unfortunate of other

lands fill them with contempt and arouse all that is worst in their natures, which doubtless accounts for their

"But why should they feel contempt for those who have suffered the misfortune of falling into their hands?"

"I do not know," said LanO; "AKor says that he believes that it is because their country has never been

invaded by a victorious foe. In their stealthy raids never have they been defeated, because they have never

waited to face a powerful force; and so they have come to believe themselves invincible, and the other

"He is a son of OTar, the jeddak," replied LanO; "but his mother was a high born Gatholian, captured and

made slave by OTar, and AKor boasts that in his veins runs only the blood of his mother, and indeed is he

different from the others. His chivalry is of a gentler form, though not even his worst enemy has dared

question his courage, while his skill with the sword, and the spear, and the thoat is famous throughout the

"Sentence him to the games," replied LanO. "If OTar be not greatly angered he may be sentenced to but a

single game, in which case he may come out alive; but if OTar wishes really to dispose of him he will be

sentenced to the entire series, and no warrior has ever survived the full ten, or rather none who was under a

"What are the games? I do not understand," said Tara "I have heard them speak of playing at jetan, but surely

"But not as they play it in the arena at Manator," replied LanO. "Come to the window," and together the two

Below her Tara of Helium saw a great field entirely surrounded by the low building, and the lofty towers of

which that in which she was imprisoned was but a unit. About the arena were tiers of seats; but the a thing

that caught her attention was a gigantic jetan board laid out upon the floor of the arena in great squares of

"Here they play at jetan with living pieces. They play for great stakes and usually for a womansome slave

of exceptional beauty. OTar himself might have played for you had you not angered him, but now you will

be played for in an open game by slaves and criminals, and you will belong to the side that winsnot to a

"Those who direct the play do not necessarily take part in it," continued the slave girl, "but sit in those two

great thrones which you see at either end of the board and direct their pieces from square to square."

"But where lies the danger?" asked Tara of Helium. "If a piece be taken it is merely removed from the

"But here in Manator, when they play in the great arena with living men, that rule is altered," explained

LanO. "When a warrior is moved to a square occupied by an opposing piece, the two battle to the death for

possession of the square and the one that is successful advantages by the move. Each is caparisoned to

simulate the piece he represents and in addition he wears that which indicates whether he be slave, a warrior

serving a sentence, or a volunteer. If serving a sentence the number of games he must play is also indicated,

and thus the one directing the moves knows which pieces to risk and which to conserve, and further than this,

a man's chances are affected by the position that is assigned him for the game. Those whom they wish to die

are always Panthans in the game, for the Panthan has the least chance of surviving."

"Oh, yes," said LanO. "Often when two warriors, even of the highest class, hold a grievance against one

another OTar compels them to settle it upon the arena. Then it is that they take active part and with drawn

swords direct their own players from the position of Chief. They pick their own players, usually the best of

their own warriors and slaves, if they be powerful men who possess such, or their friends may volunteer, or

they may obtain prisoners from the pits. These are games indeedthe very best that are seen. Often the great

"It is within this amphitheater that the justice of Manator is meted, then?" asked Tara.

"How, then, through such justice, could a prisoner win his liberty?" continued the girl from Helium.

"No stranger within the gates of Manator ever has survived ten games," replied the slave girl. "They are

permitted to offer themselves into perpetual slavery if they prefer that to fighting at jetan. Of course they may

be called upon, as any warrior, to take part in a game, but their chances then of surviving are increased, since

LanO laughed. "Very simply," she cried. derisively. "She has but to find a warrior who will fight through

Then it was that they heard footsteps outside their cell and a moment later a key turned in the lock and the

The man glanced quickly about the bare chamber and then searchingly first at Tara of Helium and then at the

slave girl, LanO. The puzzled expression upon his face increased. He scratched his head. "It is strange," he

said. "A score of men saw him ascend into this tower; and though there is but a single exit, and that well

Tara of Helium hid a yawn with the back of a shapely hand. "The Princess of Helium is hungry, fellow," she

It was an hour later that food was brought, an officer and several warriors accompanying the bearer. The

former examined the room carefully, but there was no sign that aught amiss had occurred there. The wound

that had sent EMed the dwar to his ancestors had not bled, fortunately for Tara of Helium.

"Woman," cried the officer, turning upon Tara, "you were the last to see EMed the dwar. Answer me now

"How should I know? Think you that I can pass through a locked door of skeel?" the girl's tone was scornful.

"Of that we do not know," said the officer. "Strange things have happened in the cell of your companion in

the pits of Manator. Perhaps you could pass through a locked door of skeel as easily as he performs

"Whom do you mean," she cried; "Turan the panthan? He lives, then? Tell me, is he here in Manator

"But Turan! Tell me, padwar, have you heard aught of him?" Tara's tone was insistent and she leaned a little

Into the eyes of the slave girl, LanO, who was watching her, there crept a soft light of understanding; but the

officer ignored Tara's questionwhat was the fate of another slave to him? "Men do not disappear into thin

air," he growled, "and if EMed be not found soon OTar himself may take a hand in this. I warn you,

woman, if you be one of those horrid Corphals that by commanding the spirits of the wicked dead gains evil

mastery over the living, as many now believe the thing called Ghek to be, that lest you return EMed, OTar

of Helium, as I have told you all a score of times. Even if the fabled Corphals existed, as none but the most

ignorant now believes, the lore of the ancients tells us that they entered only into the bodies of wicked

criminals of the lowest class. Man of Manator, thou art a fool, and thy jeddak and all his people," and she

turned her royal back upon the padwar, and gazed through the window across the Field of Jetan and the roofs

"And you know so much of Corphals, then," he cried, "you know that while no common man dare harm them

The girl did not reply, nor would she speak again, for all his threats and rage, for she knew now that none in

all Manator dared harm her save OTar, the jeddak, and after a while the padwar left, taking his men with

him. And after they had gone Tara stood for long looking out upon the city of Manator, and wondering what

more of cruel wrongs Fate held in store for her. She was standing thus in silent meditation when there rose to

her the strains of martial music from the city belowthe deep, mellow tones of the long war trumpets of

mounted troops, the clear, ringing notes of footsoldiers' music. The girl raised her head and looked about,

listening, and LanO, standing at an opposite window, looking toward the west, motioned Tara to join her.

Now they could see across roofs and avenues to The Gate of Enemies, through which troops were marching

"The Great Jed is coming," said LanO, "none other dares enter thus, with blaring trumpets, the city of

Manator. It is UThor, Jed of Manatos, second city of Manator. They call him The Great Jed the length and

breadth of Manator, and because the people love him, OTar hates him. They say, who know, that it would

need but slight provocation to inflame the two to war. How such a war would end no one could guess; for the

people of Manator worship the great OTar, though they do not love him. UThor they love, but he is not the

jeddak," and Tara understood, as only a Martian may, how much that simple statement encompassed.

The loyalty of a Martian to his jeddak is almost an instinct, and second not even to the instinct of

selfpreservation at that. Nor is this strange in a race whose religion includes ancestor worship, and where

families trace their origin back into remote ages and a jeddak sits upon the same throne that his direct

progenitors have occupied for, perhaps, hundreds of thousands of years, and rules the descendants of the

same people that his forebears ruled. Wicked jeddaks have been dethroned, but seldom are they replaced by

other than members of the imperial house, even though the law gives to the jeds the right to select whom they

"There be none nobler," replied LanO. "In Manatos none but wicked criminals who deserve death are forced

to play at jetan, and even then the play is fair and they have their chance for freedom. Volunteers may play,

but the moves are not necessarily to the deatha wound, and even sometimes points in swordplay, deciding

the issue. There they look upon jetan as a martial sporthere it is but butchery. And UThor is opposed to

the ancient slave raids and to the policy that keeps Manator forever isolated from the other nations of

The two girls watched the column moving up the broad avenue from The Gate of Enemies toward the palace

of OTar. A gorgeous, barbaric procession of painted warriors in jewelstudded harness and waving feathers;

vicious, squealing thoats caparisoned in rich trappings; far above their heads the long lances of their riders

bore fluttering pennons; footsoldiers swinging easily along the stone pavement, their sandals of zitidar hide

giving forth no sound; and at the rear of each utan a train of painted chariots, drawn by mammoth zitidars,

carrying the equipment of the company to which they were attached. Utan after utan entered through the great

gate, and even when the head of the column reached the palace of OTar they were not all within the city.

"I have been here many years," said the girl, LanO; "but never have I seen even The Great Jed bring so

Through halfclosed eyes Tara of Helium watched the warriors marching up the broad avenue, trying to

imagine them the fighting men of her beloved Helium coming to the rescue of their princess. That splendid

figure upon the great thoat might be John Carter, himself, Warlord of Barsoom, and behind him utan after

utan of the veterans of the empire, and then the girl opened her eyes again and saw the host of painted,

befeathered barbarians, and sighed. But yet she watched, fascinated by the martial scene, and now she noted

again the groups of silent figures upon the balconies. No waving silks; no cries of welcome; no showers of

flowers and jewels such as would have marked the entry of such a splendid, friendly pageant into the twin

"The people do not seem friendly to the warriors of Manatos," she remarked to LanO; "I have not seen a

The slave girl looked at her in surprise. "It cannot be that you do not know!" she exclaimed. "Why, they

are" but she got no further. The door swung open and an officer stood before them.

"The slave girl, Tara, is summoned to the presence of OTar, the jeddak!" he announced.

TURAN the panthan chafed in his chains. Time dragged; silence and monotony prolonged minutes into

hours. Uncertainty of the fate of the woman he loved turned each hour into an eternity of hell. He listened

impatiently for the sound of approaching footsteps that he might see and speak to some living creature and

learn, perchance, some word of Tara of Helium. After torturing hours his ears were rewarded by the rattle of

harness and arms. Men were coming! He waited breathlessly. Perhaps they were his executioners; but he

would welcome them notwithstanding. He would question them. But if they knew naught of Tara he would

Now they camea halfdozen warriors and an officer, escorting an unarmed man; a prisoner, doubtless. Of

this Turan was not left long in doubt, since they brought the newcomer and chained him to an adjoining ring.

Immediately the panthan commenced to question the officer in charge of the guard.

"Tell me," he demanded, "why I have been made prisoner, and if other strangers were captured since I

"The woman was Tara, Princess of Helium, and the man was Ghek, a kaldane, of Bantoom."

"It is what I would know," said the officer, and with a curt command to his men to follow him he turned and

"Tell me of them!" cried Turan after him. "Tell me of Tara of Helium! Is she safe?" but the man did not

"Tara of Helium was safe, but a short time since," said the prisoner chained at Turan's side.

The panthan turned toward the speaker, seeing a large man, handsome of face and with a manner both stately

and dignified. "You have seen her?" he asked. "They captured her then? She is in danger?"

"She is being held in The Towers of Jetan as a prize for the next games," replied the stranger.

"I am AKor the dwar, keeper of The Towers of Jetan," replied the other. "I am here because I dared speak

"I do not know. OTar has not yet spoken. Doubtless the gamesperhaps the full ten, for OTar does not

"I am the son of OTar and of a slave, Haja of Gathol, who was a princess in her own land."

Turan looked searchingly at the speaker. A son of Haja of Gathol! A son of his mother's sister, this man, then,

was his own cousin. Well did Gahan remember the mysterious disappearance of the Princess Haja and an

entire utan of her personal troops. She had been upon a visit far from the city of Gathol and returning home

had vanished with her whole escort from the sight of man. So this was the secret of the seeming mystery?

Doubtless it explained many other similar disappearances that extended nearly as far back as the history of

Gathol. Turan scrutinized his companion, discovering many evidences of resemblance to his mother's people.

AKor might have been ten years younger than he, but such differences in age are scarce accounted among a

people who seldom or never age outwardly after maturity and whose span of life may be a thousand years.

"Some twentyone degrees it is from the city of Manator to the city of Gathol," replied AKor; "but little

more than ten degrees between the boundaries of the two countries. Between them, though, there lies a

Well did Gahan know this country that bordered his upon the westeven the ships of the air avoided it

because of the treacherous currents that rose from the deep chasms, and the almost total absence of safe

landings. He knew now where Manator lay and for the first time in long weeks the way to his own Gathol,

and here was a man, a fellow prisoner, in whose veins flowed the blood of his own ancestorsa man who

knew Manator; its people, its customs and the country surrounding itone who could aid him, with advice at

least, to find a plan for the rescue of Tara of Helium and for escape. But would AKorcould he dare

"He would like to," replied AKor, "for the people chafe beneath his iron hand and their loyalty is but the

loyalty of a people to the long line of illustrious jeddaks from which he has sprung. He is a jealous man and

has found the means of disposing of most of those whose blood might entitle them to a claim upon the throne,

and whose place in the affections of the people endowed them with any political significance. The fact that I

was the son of a slave relegated me to a position of minor importance in the consideration of OTar, yet I am

still the son of a jeddak and might sit upon the throne of Manator with as perfect congruity as OTar himself.

Combined with this is the fact that of recent years the people, and especially many of the younger warriors,

have evinced a growing affection for me, which I attribute to certain virtues of character and training derived

from my mother, but which OTar assumes to be the result of an ambition upon my part to occupy the throne

"And now, I am firmly convinced, he has seized upon my criticism of his treatment of the slave girl Tara as a

"I have thought of that," mused AKor; "but how much better off would I be? In the eyes of the Gatholians I

would be, not a Gatholian; but a stranger and doubtless they would accord me the same treatment that we of

"Could you convince them that you are the son of the Princess Haja your welcome would be assured," said

Turan; "while on the other hand you could purchase your freedom and citizenship with a brief period of labor

"I am a panthan," replied Turan, "and I have served many countries, among them Gathol."

"It is what the slaves from Gathol have told me," said AKor, thoughtfully, "and my mother, before OTar

sent her to live at Manatos. I think he must have feared her power and influence among the slaves from

Gathol and their descendants, who number perhaps a million people throughout the land of Manator."

AKor looked straight into the eyes of the panthan for a long moment before he replied. "You are a man of

honor," he said; "I read it in your face, and I am seldom mistaken in my estimate of a man; but" and he

leaned closer to the other"even the walls have ears," he whispered, and Turan's question was answered.

It was later in the evening that warriors came and unlocked the fetter from Turan's ankle and led him away to

appear before OTar, the jeddak. They conducted him toward the palace along narrow, winding streets and

broad avenues; but always from the balconies there looked down upon them in endless ranks the silent people

of the city. The palace itself was filled with life and activity. Mounted warriors galloped through the corridors

and up and down the runways connecting adjacent floors. It seemed that no one walked within the palace

other than a few slaves. Squealing, fighting thoats were stabled in magnificent halls while their riders, if not

upon some duty of the palace, played at jetan with small figures carved from wood.

Turan noted the magnificence of the interior architecture of the palace, the lavish expenditure of precious

jewels and metals, the gorgeous mural decorations which depicted almost exclusively martial scenes, and

principally duels which seemed to be fought upon jetan boards of heroic size. The capitals of many of the

columns supporting the ceilings of the corridors and chambers through which they passed were wrought into

formal likenesses of jetan pieceseverywhere there seemed a suggestion of the game. Along the same path

that Tara of Helium had been led Turan was conducted toward the throne room of OTar the jeddak, and

when he entered the Hall of Chiefs his interest turned to wonder and admiration as he viewed the ranks of

statuesque thoatmen decked in their gorgeous, martial panoply. Never, he thought, had he seen upon Barsoom

more soldierly figures or thoats so perfectly trained to perfection of immobility as these. Not a muscle

quivered, not a tail lashed, and the riders were as motionless as their mountseach warlike eye straight to

the front, the great spears inclined at the same angle. It was a picture to fill the breast of a fighting man with

awe and reverence. Nor did it fail in its effect upon Turan as they conducted him the length of the chamber,

where he waited before great doors until he should be summoned into the presence of the ruler of Manator.

When Tara of Helium was ushered into the throne room of OTar she found the great hall filled with the

chiefs and officers of OTar and UThor, the latter occupying the place of honor at the foot of the throne, as

was his due. The girl was conducted to the foot of the aisle and halted before the jeddak, who looked down

"The laws of Manator are just," said OTar, addressing her; "thus is it that you have been summoned here

again to be judged by the highest authority of Manator. Word has reached me that you are suspected of being

Tara of Helium could scarce restrain a sneer as she answered the ridiculous accusation of witchcraft. "So

ancient is the culture of my people," she said, "that authentic history reveals no defense for that which we

know existed only in the ignorant and superstitious minds of the most primitive peoples of the past. To those

who are yet so untutored as to believe in the existence of Corphals, there can be no argument that will

convince them of their erroronly long ages of refinement and culture can accomplish their release from the

"And I were you, woman," said a deep voice at her side, "I should, nevertheless, deny it."

Tara of Helium turned to see the eyes of UThor, the great jed of Manatos, upon her. Brave eyes they were,

but neither cold nor cruel. OTar rapped impatiently upon the arm of his throne. "UThor forgets," he cried,

"UThor remembers," replied the jed of Manatos, "that the laws of Manator permit any who may be accused

Tara of Helium saw that for some reason this man would have assisted her, and so she acted upon his advice.

"Of that we shall learn," snapped OTar. "UDor, where are those who have knowledge of the powers of this

And UDor brought several who recounted the little that was known of the disappearance of EMed, and

others who told of the capture of Ghek and Tara, suggesting by deduction that having been found together

they had sufficient in common to make it reasonably certain that one was as bad as the other, and that,

therefore, it remained but to convict one of them of Corphalism to make certain the guilt of both. And then

OTar called for Ghek, and immediately the hideous kaldane was dragged before him by warriors who could

"And you!" said OTar in cold accusing tones. "Already have I been told enough of you to warrant me in

passing through your heart the jeddak's steelof how you stole the brains from the warrior UVan so that he

thought he saw your headless body still endowed with life; of how you caused another to believe that you had

escaped, making him to see naught but an empty bench and a blank wall where you had been."

"Ah, OTar, but that is as nothing!" cried a young padwar who had come in command of the escort that

brought Ghek. "The thing which he did to IZav, here, would prove his guilt alone."

The warrior IZav, a great fellow of bulging muscles and thick neck, advanced to the foot of the throne. He

"Let my first ancestor be my witness, OTar, that I speak the truth," he began. "I was left to guard this

creature, who sat upon a bench, shackled to the wall. I stood by the open doorway at the opposite side of the

chamber. He could not reach me, yet, OTar, may Iss engulf me if he did not drag me to him helpless as an

unhatched egg. He dragged me to him, greatest of jeddaks, with his eyes! With his eyes he seized upon my

eyes and dragged me to him and he made me lay my swords and dagger upon the table and back off into a

corner, and still keeping his eyes upon my eyes his head quitted his body and crawling upon six short legs it

descended to the floor and backed part way into the hole of an ulsio, but not so far that the eyes were not still

upon me and then it returned with the key to its fetter and after resuming its place upon its own shoulders it

unlocked the fetter and again dragged me across the room and made me to sit upon the bench where it had

been and there it fastened the fetter about my ankle, and I could do naught for the power of its eyes and the

fact that it wore my two swords and my dagger. And then the head disappeared down the hole of the ulsio

with the key, and when it returned, it resumed its body and stood guard over me at the doorway until the

jeddak's steel," and rising from his throne he drew his long sword and descended the marble steps toward

them, while two brawny warriors seized Tara by either arm and two seized Ghek, holding them facing the

"Hold, just OTar!" cried UDor. "There be yet another to be judged. Let us confront him who calls himself

"Good!" exclaimed OTar, pausing half way down the steps. "Fetch Turan, the slave!"

When Turan had been brought into the chamber he was placed a little to Tara's left and a step nearer the

The panthan was about to reply when Tara of Helium spoke. "I know not this fellow," she said. "Who dares

Turan and Ghek looked at her in surprise, but at Turan she did not look, and to Ghek she passed a quick

The panthan tried not to fathom her purpose for the head is useless when the heart usurps its functions, and

Turan knew only that the woman he loved had denied him, and though he tried not even to think it his foolish

heart urged but a single explanationthat she refused to recognize him lest she be involved in his

"No," replied the dwar. "He who is called Turan was found seeking entrance to the city and was enticed to the

pits. The following morning I discovered the other two upon the hill beyond The Gate of Enemies."

"But they are friends and companions," said a young padwar, "for this Turan inquired of me concerning these

"It is enough," stated OTar, "all three shall die," and he took another step downward from the throne.

"For what shall we die?" asked Ghek. "Your people prate of the just laws of Manator, and yet you would slay

"He is right," said a deep voice. It was the voice of UThor, the great jed of Manatos. OTar looked at him

and scowled; but there came voices from other portions of the chamber seconding the demand for justice.

"Then know, though you shall die anyway," cried OTar, "that all three are convicted of Corphalism and that

as only a jeddak may slay such as you in safety you are about to be honored with the steel of OTar."

"Fool!" cried Turan. "Know you not that in the veins of this woman flows the blood of ten thousand

jeddaksthat greater than yours is her power in her own land? She is Tara, Princess of Helium,

greatgranddaughter of Tardos Mors, daughter of John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom. She cannot be a

Corphal. Nor is this creature Ghek, nor am I. And you would know more, I can prove my right to be heard

and to be believed if I may have word with the Princess Haja of Gathol, whose son is my fellow prisoner in

At this UThor rose to his feet and faced OTar. "What means this?" he asked. "Speaks the man the truth? Is

"And what is it to the jed of Manatos who be the prisoners in the pits of his jeddak?" demanded OTar,

"It is this to the jed of Manatos," replied UThor in a voice so low as to be scarce more than a whisper and

yet that was heard the whole length and breadth of the great throne room of OTar, Jeddak of Manator. "You

gave me a slave woman, Haja, who had been a princess in Gathol, because you feared her influence among

the slaves from Gathol. I have made of her a free woman, and I have married her and made her thus a

princess of Manatos. Her son is my son, OTar, and though thou be my jeddak, I say to you that for any harm

OTar looked long at UThor, but he made no reply. Then he turned again to Turan. "If one be a Corphal,"

he said, "then all of you be Corphals, and we know well from the things that this creature has done," he

pointed at Ghek, "that he is a Corphal, for no mortal has such powers as he. And as you are all Corphals you

"These two have no such powers as I," he said. "They are but ordinary, brainless things such as yourself. I

have done all the things that your poor, ignorant warriors have told you; but this only demonstrates that I am

of a higher order than yourselves, as is indeed the fact. I am a kaldane, not a Corphal. There is nothing

supernatural or mysterious about me, other than that to the ignorant all things which they cannot understand

are mysterious. Easily might I have eluded your warriors and escaped your pits; but I remained in the hope

that I might help these two foolish creatures who have not the brains to escape without help. They befriended

me and saved my life. I owe them this debt. Do not slay themthey are harmless. Slay me if you will. I offer

my life if it will appease your ignorant wrath. I cannot return to Bantoom and so I might as well die, for there

is no pleasure in intercourse with the feeble intellects that cumber the face of the world outside the valley of

"Hideous egotist," said OTar, "prepare to die and assume not to dictate to OTar the jeddak. He has passed

sentence and all three of you shall feel the jeddak's naked steel. I have spoken!"

He took another step downward and then a strange thing happened. He paused, his eyes fixed upon the eyes

of Ghek. His sword slipped from nerveless fingers, and still he stood there swaying forward and back. A jed

"Wait!" he cried. "The life of your jeddak is in my hands. You believe me a Corphal and so you believe, too,

that only the sword of a jeddak may slay me, therefore your blades are useless against me. Offer harm to any

one of us, or seek to approach your jeddak until I have spoken, and he shall sink lifeless to the marble.

Release the two prisoners and let them come to my sideI would speak to them, privately. Quick! do as I

say; I would as lief as not slay OTar. I but let him live that I may gain freedom for my friendsobstruct me

"Do as I tell you and do it quickly," whispered the kaldane. "I cannot hold this fellow long, nor could I kill

him thus. There are many minds working against mine and presently mine will tire and OTar will be himself

again. You must make the best of your opportunity while you may. Behind the arras that you see hanging in

the rear of the throne above you is a secret opening. Prom it a corridor leads to the pits of the palace, where

there are storerooms containing food and drink. Few people go there. From these pits lead others to all parts

of the city. Follow one that runs due west and it will bring you to The Gate of Enemies. The rest will then lie

with you. I can do no more; hurry before my waning powers fail meI am not as Luud, who was a king. He

"Go! Go!" whispered the kaldane. "You can do me no good. Go, or all I have done is for naught."

"They will slay her," said Ghek to Turan, and the panthan, torn between loyalty to this strange creature who

had offered its life for him, and love of the woman, hesitated but a moment, then he swept Tara from her feet

and lifting her in his arms leaped up the steps that led to the throne of Manator. Behind the throne he parted

the arras and found the secret opening. Into this he bore the girl and down a long, narrow corridor and

winding runways that led to lower levels until they came to the pits of the palace of OTar. Here was a

As Turan bore Tara up the steps toward the throne a score of warriors rose as though to rush forward to

intercept them. "Stay!" cried Ghek, "or your jeddak dies," and they halted in their tracks, waiting the will of

Presently Ghek took his eyes from the eyes of OTar and the jeddak shook himself as one who would be rid

nor have I harmed one of those whom I might easily have slain when they were in my power. No harm have I

or my friends done in the city of Manator. Why then should you persecute us? Give us our lives. Give us our

OTar, now in command of his faculties, stooped and regained his sword. In the room was silence as all

"Just are the laws of Manator," he said at last. "Perhaps, after all, there is truth in the words of the stranger.

Return him then to the pits and pursue the others and capture them. Through the mercy of OTar they shall

be permitted to win their freedom upon the Field of Jetan, in the coming games."

Still ashen was the face of the jeddak as Ghek was led away and his appearance was that of a man who had

been snatched from the brink of eternity into which he has gazed, not with the composure of great courage,

but with fear. There were those in the throne room who knew that the execution of the three prisoners had but

been delayed and the responsibility placed upon the shoulders of others, and one of those who knew was

UThor, the great jed of Manatos. His curling lip betokened his scorn of the jeddak who had chosen

humiliation rather than death. He knew that OTar had lost more of prestige in those few moments than he

could regain in a lifetime, for the Martians are jealous of the courage of their chiefsthere can be no

evasions of stern duty, no temporizing with honor. That there were others in the room who shared UThor's

OTar glanced quickly around. He must have sensed the hostility and guessed its cause, for he went suddenly

angry, and as one who seeks by the vehemence of his words to establish the courage of his heart he roared

"The will of OTar, the jeddak, is the law of Manator," he cried, "and the laws of Manator are justthey

cannot err. UDor, dispatch those who will search the palace, the pits, and the city, and return the fugitives to

"And now for you, UThor of Manatos! Think you with impunity to threaten your jeddakto question his

right to punish traitors and instigators of treason? What am I to think of your own loyalty, who takes to wife a

woman I have banished from my court because of her intrigues against the authority of her jeddak and her

master? But OTar is just. Make your explanations and your peace, then, before it is too late."

"UThor has nothing to explain," replied the jed of Manatos; "nor is he at war with his jeddak; but he has the

right that every jed and every warrior enjoys, of demanding justice at the hands of the jeddak for whomsoever

he believes to be persecuted. With increasing rigor has the jeddak of Manator persecuted the slaves from

Gathol since he took to himself the unwilling Princess Haja. If the slaves from Gathol have harbored thoughts

of vengeance and escape 'tis no more than might be expected from a proud and courageous people Ever have

I counselled greater fairness in our treatment of our slaves, many of whom, in their own lands, are people of

great distinction and power; but always has OTar, the jeddak, flouted with arrogance my every suggestion.

Though it has been through none of my seeking that the question has arisen now I am glad that it has, for the

time was bound to come when the jeds of Manator would demand from OTar the respect and consideration

that is their due from the man who holds his high office at their pleasure. Know, then, OTar, that you must

free AKor, the dwar, forthwith or bring him to fair trial before the assembled jeds of Manator. I have

"You have spoken well and to the point, UThor," cried OTar, "for you have revealed to your jeddak and

your fellow jeds the depth of the disloyalty that I have long suspected. AKor already has been tried and

sentenced by the supreme tribunal of ManatorOTar, the jeddak; and you too shall receive justice from the

same unfailing source. In the meantime you are under arrest. To the pits with him! To the pits with UThor

the false jed!" He clapped his hands to summon the surrounding warriors to do his bidding. A score leaped

forward to seize UThor. They were warriors of the palace, mostly; but two score leaped to defend UThor,

and with ringing steel they fought at the foot of the steps to the throne of Manator where stood OTar, the

At the clash of steel, palace guards rushed to the scene from other parts of the great building until those who

would have defended UThor were outnumbered two to one, and then the jed of Manatos slowly withdrew

with his forces, and fighting his way through the corridors and chambers of the palace came at last to the

avenue. Here he was reinforced by the little army that had marched with him into Manator. Slowly they

retreated toward The Gate of Enemies between the rows of silent people looking down upon them from the

In a dimlylighted chamber beneath the palace of OTar the jeddak, Turan the panthan lowered Tara of

Helium from his arms and faced her. "I am sorry, Princess," he said, "that I was forced to disobey your

commands, or to abandon Ghek; but there was no other way. Could he have saved you I would have stayed in

"How could I do less?" she replied graciously. "But it seemed cowardly to abandon a friend."

"Had we been three fighting men it had been different," he said. "We could only have remained and died

together, fighting; but you know, Tara of Helium, that we may not jeopardize a woman's safety even though

"I know that, Turan," she said; "but no one may say that you have risked honor, who knows the honor and

He heard her with surprise for these were the first words that she had spoken to him that did not savor of the

attitude of a princess to a panthanthough it was more in her tone than the actual words that he apprehended

the difference. How at variance were they to her recent repudiation of him! He could not fathom her, and so

he blurted out the question that had been in his mind since she had told OTar that she did not know him.

"Tara of Helium," he said, "your words are balm to the wound you gave me in the throne room of OTar.

"You did not guess," she asked, "that it was my lips alone and not my heart that denied you? OTar had

ordered that I die, more because I was a companion of Ghek than because of any evidence against me, and so

"Tara of Helium," said the warrior, dropping to one knee, "your words are as food to my hungry heart," and

Gently she raised him to his feet. "You need not tell me, kneeling," she said, softly.

Her hand was still in his as he rose and they were very close, and the man was still flushed with the contact of

her body since he had carried her from the throne room of OTar. He felt his heart pounding in his breast and

the hot blood surging through his veins as he looked at her beautiful face, with its downcast eyes and the

halfparted lips that he would have given a kingdom to possess, and then he swept her to him and as he

him, striking him, and thrusting him away. She stepped back, her head high and her eyes flashing fire. "You

"Yes, I would dare," he said. "I would dare love Tara of Helium; but I would not dare defile her or any

woman with kisses that were not prompted by love of her alone." He stepped closer to her and laid his hands

upon her shoulders. "Look into my eyes, daughter of The Warlord," he said, "and tell me that you do not wish

"I do not wish your love," she cried, pulling away. "I hate you!" and then turning away she bent her head into

The man took a step toward her as though to comfort her when he was arrested by the sound of a crackling

laugh behind him. Wheeling about, he discovered a strange figure of a man standing in a doorway. It was one

of those rarities occasionally to be seen upon Barsooman old man with the signs of age upon him. Bent

"Love in the pits of OTar!" he cried, and again his thin laughter jarred upon the silence of the subterranean

vaults. "A strange place to woo! A strange place to woo, indeed! When I was a young man we roamed in the

gardens beneath giant pimalias and stole our kisses in the brief shadows of hurtling Thuria. We came not to

the gloomy pits to speak of love; but times have changed and ways have changed, though I had never thought

to live to see the time when the way of a man with a maid, or a maid with a man would change. Ah, but we

kissed them then! And what if they objected, eh? What if they objected? Why, we kissed them more. Ey, ey,

those were the days!" and he cackled again. "Ey, well do I recall the first of them I ever kissed, and I've

kissed an army of them since; she was a fine girl, but she tried to slip a dagger into me while I was kissing

her. Ey, ey, those were the days! But I kissed her. She's been dead over a thousand years now, but she was

never kissed again like that while she lived, I'll swear, not since she's been dead, either. And then there was

that other " but Turan, seeing a thousand or more years of osculatory memoirs portending, interrupted.

"Tell me, ancient one," he said, "not of thy loves but of thyself. Who are you? What do you here in the pits of

"I might ask you the same, young man," replied the other. "Few there are who visit the pits other than the

dead, except my pupilsey! That is ityou are new pupils! Good! But never before have they sent a

woman to learn the great art from the greatest artist. But times have changed. Now, in my day the women did

no workthey were just for kissing and loving. Ey, those were the women. I mind the one we captured in

the southey! she was a devil, but how she could love. She had breasts of marble and a heart of fire. Why,

"Yes, yes," interrupted Turan; "we are pupils, and we are anxious to get to work. Lead on and we will

"Ey, yes! Ey, yes! Come! All is rush and hurry as though there were not another countless myriad of ages

ahead. Ey, yes! as many as lie behind. Two thousand years have passed since I broke my shell and always

rush, rush, rush, yet I cannot see that aught has been accomplished. Manator is the same today as it was

thenexcept the girls. We had the girls then. There was one that I gained upon The Fields of Jetan. Ey, but

"Why not?" replied Turan. "We know not where we are, or the way from these pits; for I know not east from

west; but he doubtless knows and if we are shrewd we may learn from him that which we would know. At

least we cannot afford to arouse his suspicions"; and so they followed himfollowed along winding

corridors and through many chambers, until they came at last to a room in which there were several marble

slabs raised upon pedestals some three feet above the floor and upon each slab lay a human corpse.

"Here we are," exclaimed the old man. "These are fresh and we shall have to get to work upon them soon. I

am working now on one for The Gate of Enemies. He slew many of our warriors. Truly is he entitled to a

He led them to an adjoining apartment. Upon the floor were many fresh, human bones and upon a marble slab

"You will learn this later," announced the old man; "but it will not harm you to watch me now, for there are

not many thus prepared, and it may be long before you will have the opportunity to see another prepared for

The Gate of Enemies. First, you see, I remove all the bones, carefully that the skin may be damaged as little

as possible. The skull is the most difficult, but it can be removed by a skilful artist. You see, I have made but

a single opening. This I now sew up, and that done, the body is hung so," and he fastened a piece of rope to

the hair of the corpse and swung the horrid thing to a ring in the ceiling. Directly below it was a circular

manhole in the floor from which he removed the cover revealing a well partially filled with a reddish liquid.

"Now we lower it into this, the formula for which you shall learn in due time. We fasten it thus to the bottom

of the cover, which we now replace. In a year it will be ready; but it must be examined often in the meantime

and the liquid kept above the level of its crown. It will be a very beautiful piece, this one, when it is ready.

"And you are fortunate again, for there is one to come out today." He crossed to the opposite side of the room

and raised another cover, reached in and dragged a grotesque looking figure from the hole. It was a human

body, shrunk by the action of the chemical in which it had been immersed, to a little figure scarce a foot high.

"Ey! is it not fine?" cried the little old man. "Tomorrow it will take its place in The Gate of Enemies." He

dried it off with cloths and packed it away carefully in a basket. "Perhaps you would like to see some of my

life work," he suggested, and without waiting for their assent led them to another apartment, a large chamber

in which were forty or fifty people. All were sitting or standing quietly about the walls, with the exception of

one huge warrior who bestrode a great thoat in the very center of the room, and all were motionless. Instantly

there sprang to the minds of Tara and Turan the rows of silent people upon the balconies that lined the

avenues of the city, and the noble array of mounted warriors in The Hall of Chiefs, and the same explanation

came to both but neither dared voice the question that was in his mind, for fear of revealing by his ignorance

the fact that they were strangers in Manator and therefore impostors in the guise of pupils.

"It is very wonderful," said Turan. "It must require great skill and patience and time."

"That it does," replied the old man, "though having done it so long I am quicker than most; but mine are the

most natural. Why, I would defy the wife of that warrior to say that insofar as appearances are concerned he

does not live," and he pointed at the man upon the thoat. "Many of them, of course, are brought here wasted

or badly wounded and these I have to repair. That is where great skill is required, for everyone wants his dead

to look as they did at their best in life; but you shall learnto mount them and paint them and repair them

and sometimes to make an ugly one look beautiful. And it will be a great comfort to be able to mount your

"I have many, my balconies are crowded with them; but I keep a great room for my wives. I have them all, as

far back as the first one, and many is the evening I spend with themquiet evenings and very pleasant. And

then the pleasure of preparing them and making them even more beautiful than in life partially recompenses

one for their loss. I take my time with them, looking for a new one while I am working on the old. When I am

not sure about a new one I bring her to the chamber where my wives are, and compare her charms with theirs,

and there is always a great satisfaction at such times in knowing that they will not object. I love harmony."

"Yes, I prepare them and repair them," replied the old man. "OTar will trust no other. Even now I have two

in another room who were damaged in some way and brought down to me. OTar does not like to have them

gone long, since it leaves two riderless thoats in the Hall; but I shall have them ready presently. He wants

them all there in the event any momentous question arises upon which the living jeds cannot agree, or do not

agree with OTar. Such questions he carries to the jeds in The Hall of Chiefs. There he shuts himself up

alone with the great chiefs who have attained wisdom through death. It is an excellent plan and there is never

any friction or misunderstandings. OTar has said that it is the finest deliberative body upon

Barsoommuch more intelligent than that composed of the living jeds. But come, we must get to work;

He led the way into the chamber in which lay the several corpses upon their marble slabs, and going to a

cabinet he donned a pair of huge spectacles and commenced to select various tools from little compartments.

"Now let me have a look at you," he said. "My eyes are not what they once were, and I need these powerful

He turned his eyes upon the two before him. Turan held his breath for he knew that now the man must

discover that they wore not the harness or insignia of Manator. He had wondered before why the old fellow

had not noticed it, for he had not known that he was half blind. The other examined their faces, his eyes

lingering long upon the beauty of Tara of Helium, and then they drifted to the harness of the two. Turan

thought that he noted an appreciable start of surprise on the part of the taxidermist, but if the old man noticed

"Come with IGos," he said to Turan, "I have materials in the next room that I would have you fetch hither.

He led the way to one of the numerous doors opening into the chamber and entered ahead of Turan. Just

inside the door he stopped, and pointing to a bundle of silks and furs upon the opposite side of the room

directed Turan to fetch them. The latter had crossed the room and was stooping to raise the bundle when he

heard the click of a lock behind him. Wheeling instantly he saw that he was alone in the room and that the

single door was closed. Running rapidly to it he strove to open it, only to find that he was a prisoner.

"Your leather betrayed you," he said, laughing his cackling laugh. "You sought to deceive old IGos, but you

found that though his eyes are weak his brain is not. But it shall not go ill with you. You are beautiful and

IGos loves beautiful women. I might not have you elsewhere in Manator, but here there is none to deny old

IGos. Few come to the pits of the deadonly those who bang the dead and they hasten away as fast as they

can. No one will know that IGos has a beautiful woman locked with his dead. I shall ask you no questions

and then I will not have to give you up, for I will not know to whom you belong, eh? And when you die I

shall mount you beautifully and place you in the chamber with my other women. Will not that be fine, eh?"

He had approached until he stood close beside the horrified girl. "Come!" he cried, seizing her by the wrist.

TURAN dashed himself against the door of his prison in a vain effort to break through the solid skeel to the

side of Tara whom he knew to be in grave danger, but the heavy panels held and he succeeded only in

bruising his shoulders and his arms. At last he desisted and set about searching his prison for some other

means of escape. He found no other opening in the stone walls, but his search revealed a heterogeneous

collection of odds and ends of arms and apparel, of harness and ornaments and insignia, and sleeping silks

and furs in great quantities. There were swords and spears and several large, twobladed battleaxes, the

heads of which bore a striking resemblance to the propellor of a small flier. Seizing one of these he attacked

the door once more with great fury. He expected to hear something from IGos at this ruthless destruction,

but no sound came to him from beyond the door, which was, he thought, too thick for the human voice to

penetrate; but he would have wagered much that IGos heard him. Bits of the hard wood splintered at each

impact of the heavy axe, but it was slow work and heavy. Presently he was compelled to rest, and so it went

for what seemed hoursworking almost to the verge of exhaustion and then resting for a few minutes; but

ever the hole grew larger though he could see nothing of the interior of the room beyond because of the

At last, however, the panthan had hewn an opening through which his body could pass, and seizing a

longsword that he had brought close to the door for the purpose he crawled through into the next room.

Flinging aside the arras he stood ready, sword in hand, to fight his way to the side of Tara of Heliumbut

she was not there. In the center of the room lay IGos, dead upon the floor; but Tara of Helium was nowhere

Turan was nonplussed. It must have been her hand that had struck down the old man, yet she had made no

effort to release Turan from his prison. And then he thought of those last words of hers: "I do not want your

love! I hate you," and the truth dawned upon himshe had seized upon this first opportunity to escape him.

With downcast heart Turan turned away. What should he do? There could be but one answer. While he lived

and she lived he must still leave no stone unturned to effect her escape and safe return to the land of her

people. But how? How was he even to find his way from this labyrinth? How was he to find her again? He

walked to the nearest doorway. It chanced to be that which led into the room containing the mounted dead,

awaiting transportation to balcony or grim room or whatever place was to receive them. His eyes travelled to

the great, painted warrior on the thoat and as they ran over the splendid trappings and the serviceable arms a

new light came into the paindulled eyes of the panthan. With a quick step he crossed to the side of the dead

warrior and dragged him from his mount. With equal celerity he stripped him of his harness and his arms, and

tearing off his own, donned the regalia of the dead man. Then he hastened back to the room in which he had

been trapped, for there he had seen that which he needed to make his disguise complete. In a cabinet he found

thempots of paint that the old taxidermist had used to place the warpaint in its wide bands across the cold

A few moments later Gahan of Gathol emerged from the room a warrior of Manator in every detail of

harness, equipment, and ornamentation. He had removed from the leather of the dead man the insignia of his

house and rank so that he might pass, with the least danger of arousing suspicion, as a common warrior.

To search for Tara of Helium in the vast, dim labyrinth of the pits of OTar seemed to the Gatholian a

hopeless quest, foredoomed to failure. It would be wiser to seek the streets of Manator where he might hope

to learn first if she had been recaptured and, if not, then he could return to the pits and pursue the hunt for her.

To find egress from the maze he must perforce travel a considerable distance through the winding corridors

and chambers, since he had no idea as to the location or direction of any exit. In fact, he could not have

retraced his steps a hundred yards toward the point at which he and Tara had entered the gloomy caverns, and

so he set out in the hope that he might find by accident either Tara of Helium or a way to the street level

For a time he passed room after room filled with the cunningly preserved dead of Manator, many of which

were piled in tiers after the manner that firewood is corded, and as he moved through corridor and chamber

he noticed hieroglyphics painted upon the walls above every opening and at each fork or crossing of

corridors, until by observation he reached the conclusion that these indicated the designations of

passageways, so that one who understood them might travel quickly and surely through the pits; but Turan

did not understand them. Even could he have read the language of Manator they might not materially have

aided one unfamiliar with the city; but he could not read them at all since, though there is but one spoken

language upon Barsoom, there are as many different written languages as there are nations. One thing,

however, soon became apparent to himthe hieroglyphic of a corridor remained the same until the corridor

It was not long before Turan realized from the distance that he had traveled that the pits were part of a vast

system undermining, possibly, the entire city. At least he was convinced that he had passed beyond the

precincts of the palace. The corridors and chambers varied in appearance and architecture from time to time.

All were lighted, though usually quite dimly, with radium bulbs. For a long time he saw no signs of life other

than an occasional ulsio, then quite suddenly he came face to face with a warrior at one of the numerous

crossings. The fellow looked at him, nodded, and passed on. Turan breathed a sigh of relief as he realized that

his disguise was effective, but he was caught in the middle of it by a hail from the warrior who had stopped

and turned toward him. The panthan was glad that a sword hung at his side, and glad too that they were

buried in the dim recesses of the pits and that there would be but a single antagonist, for time was precious.

"No," replied Turan, who had not the faintest idea to whom or what the fellow referred.

"He cannot escape," continued the warrior. "The woman ran directly into our arms, but she swore that she

"They took her back to OTar?" asked Turan, for now he knew whom the other meant, and he would know

"They took her back to The Towers of Jetan," replied the warrior. "Tomorrow the games commence and

doubtless she will be played for, though I doubt if any wants her, beautiful as she is. She fears not even

OTar. By Cluros! but she would make a hard slave to subduea regular shebanth she is. Not for me," and

Turan hurried on searching for an avenue that led to the level of the streets above when suddenly he came to

the open doorway of a small chamber in which sat a man who was chained to the wall. Turan voiced a low

exclamation of surprise and pleasure as he recognized that the man was AKor, and that he had stumbled by

accident upon the very cell in which he had been imprisoned. AKor looked at him questioningly. It was

evident that he did not recognize his fellow prisoner. Turan crossed to the table and leaning close to the other

AKor looked at him closely. "Your own mother would never know you!" he said; "but tell me, what has

Turan recounted his experiences in the throne room of OTar and in the pits beneath, "and now," he

continued, "I must find these Towers of Jetan and see what may be done toward liberating the Princess of

AKor shook his head. "Long was I dwar of the Towers," he said, "and I can say to you, stranger, that you

might as well attempt to reduce Manator, single handed, as to rescue a prisoner from The Towers of Jetan."

"Then there is a waysst!" he was suddenly silent and pointing toward the base of the wall at the end of the

Turan looked in the direction the other's forefinger indicated, to see projecting from the mouth of an ulsio's

"Ghek!" he cried and immediately the hideous kaldane crawled out upon the floor and approached the table.

AKor drew back with a halfstifled ejaculation of repulsion. "Do not fear," Turan reassured him. "It is my

Ghek climbed to the table top and squatted between the two warriors. "You are safe in assuming," he said

addressing AKor, "that Turan the panthan has no master in all Manator where the art of swordplay is

"You are his friend," continued AKor, "and so I may explain safely in your presence the only plan I know

whereby he may hope to rescue the Princess of Helium. She is to be the stake of one of the games and it is

OTar's desire that she be won by slaves and common warriors, since she repulsed him. Thus would he

punish her. Not a single man, but all who survive upon the winning side are to possess her. With money,

however, one may buy off the others before the game. That you could do, and if your side won and you

"No one will recognize you. You will go tomorrow to the keeper of the Towers and enlist in that game for

which the girl is to be the stake, telling the keeper that you are from Manataj, the farthest city of Manator. If

he questions you, you may say that you saw her when she was brought into the city after her capture. If you

win her, you will find thoats stabled at my palace and you will carry from me a token that will place all that is

"But how can I buy off the others in the game without money?" asked Turan. "I have nonenot even of my

"Here is sufficient to buy them off twice over," he said, handing a portion of it to Turan.

"My mother was a captive princess here," replied AKor. "I but do for the Princess of Helium what my

"Under the circumstances, then, Manatorian," replied Turan, "I cannot but accept your generosity on behalf of

Tara of Helium and live in hope that some day I may do for you something in return."

"Now you must be gone," advised AKor. "At any minute a guard may come and discover you here. Go

directly to the Avenue of Gates, which circles the city just within the outer wall. There you will find many

places devoted to the lodging of strangers. You will know them by the thoat's head carved above the doors.

Say that you are here from Manataj to witness the games. Take the name of UKalit will arouse no

suspicion, nor will you if you can avoid conversation. Early in the morning seek the keeper of The Towers of

Bidding goodbye to Ghek and AKor, the panthan, following directions given him by AKor, set out to

find his way to the Avenue of Gates, nor had he any great difficulty. On the way he met several warriors, but

beyond a nod they gave him no heed. With ease he found a lodging place where there were many strangers

from other cities of Manator. As he had had no sleep since the previous night he threw himself among the

silks and furs of his couch to gain the rest which he must have, was he to give the best possible account of

It was already morning when he awoke, and rising he paid for his lodgings, sought a place to eat, and a short

time later was on his way toward The Towers of Jetan, which he had no difficulty in finding owing to the

great crowds that were winding along the avenues toward the games. The new keeper of The Towers who had

succeeded EMed was too busy to scrutinize entries closely, for in addition to the many volunteer players

there were scores of slaves and prisoners being forced into the games by their owners or the government. The

name of each must be recorded as well as the position he was to play and the game or games in which he was

to be entered, and then there were the substitutes for each that was entered in more than a single gameone

for each additional game that an individual was entered for, that no succeeding game might be delayed by the

The keeper, who was standing beside the clerk, looked at Turan. "You have come a great way to play at

jetan," he said. "It is seldom that the men of Manataj attend other than the decennial games. Tell me of

OZar! Will he attend next year? Ah, but he was a noble fighter. If you be half the swordsman, UKal, the

"He is well," replied Turan, glibly, "and he sent greetings to his friends in Manator."

"But man, she is to be the stake of a game for slaves and criminals," cried the keeper. "You would not

"But I would," replied Turan. "I saw here when she was brought into the city and even then I vowed to

"But you will have to share her with the survivors even if your color wins," objected the other.

"And you will chance incurring the wrath of OTar, who has no love for this savage barbarian," explained

The keeper of The Towers of Jetan shook his head. "You are rash," he said. "I would that I might dissuade the

"Make me chief of the Black and give me for my pieces all slaves from Gathol, for I understand that those be

"It is a strange request," said the keeper, "but for my friend OZar I would do even more, though of course

" he hesitated"it is customary for one who would be chief to make some slight payment."

"Certainly," Turan hastened to assure him; "I had not forgotten that. I was about to ask you what the

"For the friend of my friend it shall be nominal," replied the keeper, naming a figure that Gahan, accustomed

"Tell me," he said, handing the money to the keeper, "when the game for the Heliumite is to be played."

"It is the second in order of the day's games; and now if you will come with me you may select your pieces."

Turan followed the keeper to a large court which lay between the towers and the jetan field, where hundreds

of warriors were assembled. Already chiefs for the games of the day were selecting their pieces and assigning

them to positions, though for the principal games these matters had been arranged for weeks before. The

keeper led Turan to a part of the courtyard where the majority of the slaves were assembled.

"Take your choice of those not assigned," said the keeper, "and when you have your quota conduct them to

the field. Your place will be assigned you by an officer there, and there you will remain with your pieces until

the second game is called. I wish you luck, UKal, though from what I have heard you will be more lucky to

After the fellow had departed Turan approached the slaves. "I seek the best swordsmen for the second game,"

he announced. "Men from Gathol I wish, for I have heard that these be noble fighters."

A slave rose and approached him. "It is all the same in which game we die," he said. "I would fight for you as

Another came. "I am not from Gathol," he said. "I am from Helium, and I would fight for the honor of a

"I was a dwar under the great Warlord, and I have fought at his side in a score of battles from The Golden

Cliffs to The Carrion Caves. My name is Val Dor. Who knows Helium, knows my prowess."

The name was well known to Gahan, who had heard the man spoken of on his last visit to Helium, and his

"How could I know aught of Helium?" asked Turan; "but if you be such a fighter as you say no position

The man's eyes denoted sudden surprise. He looked keenly at Turan, his eyes running quickly over the other's

"What mean you, fellow?" demanded Turan, seeking to cudgel his brains for the source of this man's

"I mean," replied Val Dor, "that you are not of Manator and that if you wish to hide the fact it is well that you

speak not to a Manatorian as you did just speak to me ofFliers! There be no Fliers in Manator and no piece

in their game of Jetan bearing that name. Instead they call him who stands next to the Chief or Princess,

Odwar. The piece has the same moves and power that the Flier has in the game as played outside Manator.

Remember this then and remember, too, that if you have a secret it be safe in the keeping of Val Dor of

Turan made no reply but turned to the task of selecting the remainder of his pieces. Val Dor, the Heliumite,

and Floran, the volunteer from Gathol, were of great assistance to him, since one or the other of them knew

most of the slaves from whom his selection was to be made. The pieces all chosen, Turan led them to the

place beside the playing field where they were to wait their turn, and here he passed the word around that

they were to fight for more than the stake he offered for the princess should they win. This stake they

accepted, so that Turan was sure of possessing Tara if his side was victorious, but he knew that these men

would fight even more valorously for chivalry than for money, nor was it difficult to enlist the interest even

of the Gatholians in the service of the princess. And now he held out the possibility of a still further reward.

"I cannot promise you," he explained, "but I may say I have heard that this day which makes it possible that

"It may not be spoken of aloud," he said; "but Floran and Val Dor know and they assure me that you may all

be trusted. Listen! What I would tell you places my life in your hands, but you must know that every man

will realize that he is fighting today the greatest battle of his lifefor the honor and the freedom of

Barsoom's most wondrous princess and for his own freedom as wellfor the chance to return each to his

"First, then, is my secret. I am not of Manator. Like yourselves I am a slave, though for the moment disguised

as a Manatorian from Manataj. My country and my identity must remain undisclosed for reasons that have no

bearing upon our game today. I, then, am one of you. I fight for the same things that you will fight for.

"And now for that which I have but just learned. UThor, the great jed of Manatos, quarreled with OTar in

the palace the day before yesterday and their warriors set upon one another. UThor was driven as far as The

Gate of Enemies, where he now lies encamped. At any moment the fight may be renewed; but it is thought

that UThor has sent to Manatos for reinforcements. Now, men of Gathol, here is the thing that interests you.

UThor has recently taken to wife the Princess Haja of Gathol, who was slave to OTar and whose son,

AKor, was dwar of The Towers of Jetan. Haja's heart is filled with loyalty for Gathol and compassion for

her sons who are here enslaved, and this latter sentiment she has to some extent transmitted to UThor. Aid

me, therefore, in freeing the Princess Tara of Helium and I believe that I can aid you and her and myself to

escape the city. Bend close your ears, slaves of OTar, that no cruel enemy may hear my words," and Gahan

of Gathol whispered in low tones the daring plan he had conceived. "And now," he demanded, when he had

"And it would not betray you should I cast my sword at thy feet, it had been done ere this," said one in low

CLEAR and sweet a trumpet spoke across The Fields of Jetan. From The High Tower its cool voice floated

across the city of Manator and above the babel of human discords rising from the crowded mass that filled the

seats of the stadium below. It called the players for the first game, and simultaneously there fluttered to the

peaks of a thousand staffs on tower and battlement and the great wall of the stadium the rich, gay pennons of

the fighting chiefs of Manator. Thus was marked the opening of The Jeddak's Games, the most important of

Gahan of Gathol watched every play with eagle eye. The match was an unimportant one, being but to settle

some petty dispute between two chiefs, and was played with professional jetan players for points only. No

one was killed and there was but little blood spilled. It lasted about an hour and was terminated by the chief

of the losing side deliberately permitting himself to be outpointed, that the game might be called a draw.

Again the trumpet sounded, this time announcing the second and last game of the afternoon. While this was

not considered an important match, those being reserved for the fourth and fifth days of the games, it

promised to afford sufficient excitement since it was a game to the death. The vital difference between the

game played with living men and that in which inanimate pieces are used, lies in the fact that while in the

latter the mere placing of a piece upon a square occupied by an opponent piece terminates the move, in the

former the two pieces thus brought together engage in a duel for possession of the square. Therefore there

enters into the former game not only the strategy of jetan but the personal prowess and bravery of each

individual piece, so that a knowledge not only of one's own men but of each player upon the opposing side is

In this respect was Gahan handicapped, though the loyalty of his players did much to offset his ignorance of

them, since they aided him in arranging the board to the best advantage and told him honestly the faults and

virtues of each. One fought best in a losing game; another was too slow; another too impetuous; this one had

fire and a heart of steel, but lacked endurance. Of the opponents, though, they knew little or nothing, and now

as the two sides took their places upon the black and orange squares of the great jetan board Gahan obtained,

for the first time, a close view of those who opposed him. The Orange Chief had not yet entered the field, but

his men were all in place. Val Dor turned to Gahan. "They are all criminals from the pits of Manator," he

said. "There is no slave among them. We shall not have to fight against a single fellowcountryman and

"It is well," replied Gahan; "but where is their Chief, and where the two Princesses?"

"They are coming now, see?" and he pointed across the field to where two women could be seen approaching

As they came nearer Gahan saw that one was indeed Tara of Helium, but the other he did not recognize, and

then they were brought to the center of the field midway between the two sides and there waited until the

Floran voiced an exclamation of surprise when he recognized him. "By my first ancestor if it is not one of

their great chiefs," he said, "and we were told that slaves and criminals were to play for the stake of this

His words were interrupted by the keeper of The Towers whose duty it was not only to announce the games

"Of this, the second game of the first day of the Jeddak's Games in the four hundred and thirtythird year of

OTar, Jeddak of Manator, the Princesses of each side shall be the sole stakes and to the survivors of the

winning side shall belong both the Princesses, to do with as they shall see fit. The Orange Princess is the

slave woman LanO of Gathol; the Black Princess is the slave woman Tara, a princess of Helium. The Black

Chief is UKal of Manataj, a volunteer player; the Orange Chief is the dwar UDor of the 8th Utan of the

jeddak of Manator, also a volunteer player. The squares shall be contested to the death. Just are the laws of

The initial move was won by UDor, following which the two Chiefs escorted their respective Princesses to

the square each was to occupy. It was the first time Gahan had been alone with Tara since she had been

brought upon the field. He saw her scrutinizing him closely as he approached to lead her to her place and

wondered if she recognized him: but if she did she gave no sign of it. He could not but remember her last

words"I hate you!" and her desertion of him when he had been locked in the room beneath the palace by

IGos, the taxidermist, and so he did not seek to enlighten her as to his identity. He meant to fight for

herto die for her, if necessaryand if he did not die to go on fighting to the end for her love. Gahan of

Gathol was not easily to be discouraged, but he was compelled to admit that his chances of winning the love

of Tara of Helium were remote. Already had she repulsed him twice. Once as jed of Gathol and again as

Turan the panthan. Before his love, however, came her safety and the former must be relegated to the

Passing among the players already at their stations the two took their places upon their respective squares. At

Tara's left was the Black Chief, Gahan of Gathol; directly in front of her the Princess' Panthan, Floran of

Gathol; and at her right the Princess' Odwar, Val Dor of Helium. And each of these knew the part that he was

to play, win or lose, as did each of the other Black players. As Tara took her place Val Dor bowed low. "My

She turned and looked at him, an expression of surprise and incredulity upon her face. "Val Dor, the dwar!"

she exclaimed. "Val Dor of Heliumone of my father's trusted captains! Can it be possible that my eyes

"It is Val Dor, Princess," the warrior replied, "and here to die for you if need be, as is every wearer of the

Black upon this field of jetan today. Know Princess," he whispered, "that upon this side is no man of

She cast a quick, meaning glance toward Gahan. "But what of him?" she whispered, and then she caught her

breath quickly in surprise. "Shade of the first jeddak!" she exclaimed. "I did but just recognize him through

"And you trust him?" asked Val Dor. "I know him not; but he spoke fairly, as an honorable warrior, and we

"You have made no mistake," replied Tara of Helium. "I would trust him with my lifewith my soul; and

Happy indeed would have been Gahan of Gathol could he have heard those words; but Fate, who is usually

unkind to the lover in such matters, ordained it otherwise, and then the game was on.

UDor moved his Princess' Odwar three squares diagonally to the right, which placed the piece upon the

Black Chief's Odwar's seventh. The move was indicative of the game that UDor intended playinga game

Gahan followed with his Odwar's Panthan one square straight forward, a more scientific move, which opened

up an avenue for himself through his line of Panthans, as well as announcing to the players and spectators

that he intended having a hand in the fighting himself even before the exigencies of the game forced it upon

him. The move elicited a ripple of applause from those sections of seats reserved for the common warriors

and their women, showing perhaps that UDor was none too popular with these, and, too, it had its effect

upon the morale of Gahan's pieces. A Chief may, and often does, play almost an entire game without leaving

his own square, where, mounted upon a thoat, he may overlook the entire field and direct each move, nor may

he be reproached for lack of courage should he elect thus to play the game since, by the rules, were he to be

slain or so badly wounded as to be compelled to withdraw, a game that might otherwise have been won by

the science of his play and the prowess of his men would be drawn. To invite personal combat, therefore,

denotes confidence in his own swordsmanship, and great courage, two attributes that were calculated to fill

the Black players with hope and valor when evinced by their Chief thus early in the game.

UDor's next move placed LanO's Odwar upon Tara's Odwar's fourthwithin striking distance of the

Another move and the game would be lost to Gahan unless the Orange Odwar was overthrown, or Tara

moved to a position of safety; but to move his Princess now would be to admit his belief in the superiority of

the Orange. In the three squares allowed him he could not place himself squarely upon the square occupied

by the Odwar of UDor's Princess. There was only one player upon the Black side that might dispute the

square with the enemy and that was the Chief's Odwar, who stood upon Gahan's left. Gahan turned upon his

thoat and looked at the man. He was a splendid looking fellow, resplendent in the gorgeous trappings of an

Odwar, the five brilliant feathers which denoted his position rising defiantly erect from his thick, black hair.

In common with every player upon the field and every spectator in the crowded stands he knew what was

passing in his Chief's mind. He dared not speak, the ethics of the game forbade it, but what his lips might not

voice his eyes expressed in martial fire, and eloquently: "The honor of the Black and the safety of our

Gahan hesitated no longer. "Chief's Odwar to Princess' Odwar's fourth!" he commanded. It was the

courageous move of a leader who had taken up the gauntlet thrown down by his opponent.

The warrior sprang forward and leaped into the square occupied by UDor's piece. It was the first disputed

square of the game. The eyes of the players were fastened upon the contestants, the spectators leaned forward

in their seats after the first applause that had greeted the move, and silence fell upon the vast assemblage. If

the Black went down to defeat, UDor could move his victorious piece on to the square occupied by Tara of

Helium and the game would be overover in four moves and lost to Gahan of Gathol. If the Orange lost

UDor would have sacrificed one of his most important pieces and more than lost what advantage the first

Physically the two men appeared perfectly matched and each was fighting for his life, but from the first it was

apparent that the Black Odwar was the better swordsman, and Gahan knew that he had another and perhaps a

greater advantage over his antagonist. The latter was fighting for his life only, without the spur of chivalry or

loyalty. The Black Odwar had these to strengthen his arm, and besides these the knowledge of the thing that

Gahan had whispered into the ears of his players before the game, and so he fought for what is more than life

It was a duel that held those who witnessed it in spellbound silence. The weaving blades gleamed in the

brilliant sunlight, ringing to the parries of cut and thrust. The barbaric harness of the duelists lent splendid

color to the savage, martial scene. The Orange Odwar, forced upon the defensive, was fighting madly for his

life. The Black, with cool and terrible efficiency, was forcing him steadily, step by step, into a corner of the

squarea position from which there could be no escape. To abandon the square was to lose it to his

opponent and win for himself ignoble and immediate death before the jeering populace. Spurred on by the

seeming hopelessness of his plight, the Orange Odwar burst into a sudden fury of offense that forced the

Black back a half dozen steps, and then the sword of UDor's piece leaped in and drew first blood, from the

shoulder of his merciless opponent. An illsmothered cry of encouragement went up from UDor's men; the

Orange Odwar, encouraged by his single success, sought to bear down the Black by the rapidity of his attack.

There was a moment in which the swords moved with a rapidity that no man's eye might follow, and then the

Black Odwar made a lightning parry of a vicious thrust, leaned quickly forward into the opening he had

effected, and drove his sword through the heart of the Orange Odwarto the hilt he drove it through the

A shout arose from the stands, for wherever may have been the favor of the spectators, none there was who

could say that it had not been a pretty fight, or that the better man had not won. And from the Black players

I shall not weary you with the details of the gameonly the high features of it are necessary to your

understanding of the outcome. The fourth move after the victory of the Black Odwar found Gahan upon

UDor's fourth; an Orange Panthan was on the adjoining square diagonally to his right and the only opposing

It had been apparent to both players and spectators for the past two moves, that Gahan was moving straight

across the field into the enemy's country to seek personal combat with the Orange Chiefthat he was staking

all upon his belief in the superiority of his own swordsmanship, since if the two Chiefs engage, the outcome

decides the game. UDor could move out and engage Gahan, or he could move his Princess' Panthan upon

the square occupied by Gahan in he hope that the former would defeat the Black Chief and thus draw the

game, which is the outcome if any other than a Chief slays the opposing Chief, or he could move away and

escape, temporarily, the necessity for personal combat, or at least that is evidently what he had in mind as

was obvious to all who saw him scanning the board about him; and his disappointment was apparent when he

finally discovered that Gahan had so placed himself that there was no square to which UDor could move

UDor had placed his own Princess four squares east of Gahan when her position had been threatened, and

he had hoped to lure the Black Chief after her and away from UDor; but in that he had failed. He now

discovered that he might play his own Odwar into personal combat with Gahan; but he had already lost one

Odwar and could ill spare the other. His position was a delicate one, since he did not wish to engage Gahan

personally, while it appeared that there was little likelihood of his being able to escape. There was just one

hope and that lay in his Princess' Panthan, so, without more deliberation he ordered the piece onto the square

The sympathies of the spectators were all with Gahan now. If he lost, the game would be declared a draw, nor

do they think better of drawn games upon Barsoom than do Earth men. If he won, it would doubtless mean a

duel between the two Chiefs, a development for which they all were hoping. The game already bade fair to be

a short one and it would be an angry crowd should it be decided a draw with only two men slain. There were

great, historic games on record where of the forty pieces on the field when the game opened only three

They blamed UDor, though in fact he was well within his rights in directing his play as he saw fit, nor was a

refusal on his part to engage the Black Chief necessarily an imputation of cowardice. He was a great chief

who had conceived a notion to possess the slave Tara. There was no honor that could accrue to him from

engaging in combat with slaves and criminals, or an unknown warrior from Manataj, nor was the stake of

But now the duel between Gahan and the Orange Panthan was on and the decision of the next move was no

longer in other hands than theirs. It was the first time that these ManaAtorians had seen Gahan of Gathol

fight, but Tara of Helium knew that he was master of his sword. Could he have seen the proud light in her

eyes as he crossed blades with the wearer of the Orange, he might easily have wondered if they were the

same eyes that had flashed fire and hatred at him that time he had covered her lips with mad kisses, in the pits

of the palace of OTar. As she watched him she could not but compare his swordplay with that of the

greatest swordsman of two worldsher father, John Carter, of Virginia, a, Prince of Helium, Warlord of

Barsoomand she knew that the skill of the Black Chief suffered little by the comparison.

Short and to the point was the duel that decided possession of the Orange Chief's fourth. The spectators had

settled themselves for an interesting engagement of at least average duration when they were brought almost

standing by a brilliant flash of rapid swordplay that was over ere one could catch his breath. They saw the

Black Chief step quickly back, his point upon the ground, while his opponent, his sword slipping from his

fingers, clutched his breast, sank to his knees and then lunged forward upon his face.

And then Gahan of Gathol turned his eyes directly upon UDor of Manator, three squares away. Three

squares is a Chief's movethree squares in any direction or combination of directions, only provided that he

does not cross the same square twice in a given move. The people saw and guessed Gahan's intention. They

rose and roared forth their approval as he moved deliberately across the intervening squares toward the

OTar, in the royal enclosure, sat frowning upon the scene. OTar was angry. He was angry with UDor for

having entered this game for possession of a slave, for whom it had been his wish only slaves and criminals

should strive. He was angry with the warrior from Manataj for having so far outgeneraled and outfought

the men from Manator. He was angry with the populace because of their open hostility toward one who had

basked in the sunshine of his favor for long years. OTar the jeddak had not enjoyed the afternoon. Those

who surrounded him were equally glumthey, too, scowled upon the field, the players, and the people.

Among them was a bent and wrinkled old man who gazed through weak and watery eyes upon the field and

As Gahan entered his square, UDor leaped toward him with drawn sword with such fury as might have

overborne a less skilled and powerful swordsman. For a minute the fighting was fast and furious and by

comparison reducing to insignificance all that had gone before. Here indeed were two magnificent

swordsmen, and here was to be a battle that bade fair to make up for whatever the people felt they had been

defrauded of by the shortness of the game. Nor had it continued long before many there were who would

have prophesied that they were witnessing a duel that was to become historic in the annals of jetan at

Manator. Every trick, every subterfuge, known to the art of fence these men employed. Time and again each

scored a point and brought blood to his opponent's copper hide until both were red with gore; but neither

From her position upon the opposite side of the field Tara of Helium watched the longdrawn battle. Always

it seemed to her that the Black Chief fought upon the defensive, or when he assumed to push his opponent, he

neglected a thousand openings that her practiced eye beheld. Never did he seem in real danger, nor never did

he appear to exert himself to quite the pitch needful for victory. The duel already had been long contested and

the day was drawing to a close. Presently the sudden transition from daylight to darkness which, owing to the

tenuity of the air upon Barsoom, occurs almost without the warning twilight of Earth, would occur. Would

the fight never end? Would the game be called a draw after all? What ailed the Black Chief?

Tara wished that she might answer at least the last of these questions for she was sure that Turan the panthan,

as she knew him, while fighting brilliantly, was not giving of himself all that he might. She could not believe

that fear was restraining his hand, but that there was something beside inability to push UDor more fiercely

Once she saw Gahan glance quickly up toward the sinking sun. In thirty minutes it would be dark. And then

she saw and all those others saw a strange transition steal over the swordplay of the Black Chief. It was as

though he had been playing with the great dwar, UDor, all these hours, and now he still played with him but

there was a difference. He played with him terribly as a carnivore plays with its victim in the instant before

the kill. The Orange Chief was helpless now in the hands of a swordsman so superior that there could be no

comparison, and the people sat in openmouthed wonder and awe as Gahan of Gathol cut his foe to ribbons

LONG and loud was the applause that rose above the Field of Jetan at Manator, as The Keeper of the Towers

summoned the two Princesses and the victorious Chief to the center of the field and presented to the latter the

fruits of his prowess, and then, as custom demanded, the victorious players, headed by Gahan and the two

Princesses, formed in procession behind The Keeper of the Towers and were conducted to the place of

victory before the royal enclosure that they might receive the commendation of the jeddak. Those who were

mounted gave up their thoats to slaves as all must be on foot for this ceremony. Directly beneath the royal

enclosure are the gates to one of the tunnels that, passing beneath the seats, give ingress or egress to or from

the Field. Before this gate the party halted while OTar looked down upon them from above. Val Dor and

Floran, passing quietly ahead of the others, went directly to the gates, where they were hidden from those

who occupied the enclosure with OTar. The Keeper of the Towers may have noticed them, but so occupied

was he with the formality of presenting the victorious Chief to the jeddak that he paid no attention to them.

"I bring you, OTar, Jeddak of Manator, UKal of Manataj," he cried in a loud voice that might be heard by

as many as possible, "victor over the Orange in the second of the Jeddak's Games of the four hundred and

thirtythird year of OTar, and the slave woman Tara and the slave woman LanO that you may bestow

As he spoke, a little, wrinkled, old man peered over the rail of the enclosure down upon the three who stood

directly behind The Keeper, and strained his weak and watery eyes in an effort to satisfy the curiosity of old

age in a matter of no particular import, for what were two slaves and a common warrior from Manataj to any

"UKal of Manataj," said OTar, "you have deserved the stakes. Seldom have we looked upon more noble

swordplay. And you tire of Manataj there be always here in the city of Manator a place for you in The

While the jeddak was speaking the little, old man, failing clearly to discern the features of the Black Chief,

reached into his pocketpouch and drew forth a pair of thicklensed spectacles, which he placed upon his

nose. For a moment he scrutinized Gahan closely, then he leaped to his feet and addressing OTar pointed a

shaking finger it Gahan. As he rose Tara of Helium clutched the Black Chief's arm.

"Turan!" she whispered. "It is IGos, whom I thought to have slain in the pits of OTar. It is IGos and he

But what IGos would do was already transpiring. In his falsetto voice he fairly screamed: "It is the slave

Turan who stole the woman Tara from your throne room, OTar. He desecrated the dead chief IMal and

Instantly all was pandemonium. Warriors drew their swords and leaped to their feet. Gahan's victorious

players rushed forward in a body, sweeping The Keeper of the Towers from his feet. Val Dor and Floran

threw open the gates beneath the royal enclosure, opening the tunnel that led to the avenue in the city beyond

the Towers. Gahan, surrounded by his men, drew Tara and LanO into the passageway, and at a rapid pace

the party sought to reach the opposite end of the tunnel before their escape could be cut off. They were

successful and when they emerged into the city the sun had set and darkness had come, relieved only by an

antiquated and ineffective lighting system, which cast but a pale glow over the shadowy streets.

Now it was that Tara of Helium guessed why the Black Chief had drawn out his duel with UDor and

realized that he might have slain his man at almost any moment he had elected. The whole plan that Gahan

had whispered to his players before the game was thoroughly understood. They were to make their way to

The Gate of Enemies and there offer their services to UThor, the great Jed of Manatos. The fact that most of

them were Gatholians and that Gahan could lead rescuers to the pit where AKor, the son of UThor's wife,

was confined, convinced the Jed of Gathol that they would meet with no rebuff at the hands of UThor. But

even should he refuse them, still were they bound together to go on toward freedom, if necessary cutting their

way through the forces of UThor at The Gate of Enemiestwenty men against a small army; but of such

They had covered a considerable distance along the almost deserted avenue before signs of pursuit developed

and then there came upon them suddenly from behind a dozen warriors mounted on thoatsa detachment,

evidently, from The Jeddak's Guard. Instantly the avenue was a pandemonium of clashing blades, cursing

warriors, and squealing thoats. In the first onslaught life blood was spilled upon both sides. Two of Gahan's

men went down, and upon the enemies' side three riderless thoats attested at least a portion of their casualties.

Gahan was engaged with a fellow who appeared to have been selected to account for him only, since he rode

straight for him and sought to cut him down without giving the slightest heed to several who slashed at him

as he passed them. The Gatholian, practiced in the art of combating a mounted warrior from the ground,

sought to reach the left side of the fellow's thoat a little to the rider's rear, the only position in which he would

have any advantage over his antagonist, or rather the position that would most greatly reduce the advantage

of the mounted man, and, similarly, the Manatorian strove to thwart his design. And so the guardsman

wheeled and turned his vicious, angry mount while Gahan leaped in and out in an effort to reach the coveted

And while they jockeyed for position a rider swept swiftly past them. As he passed behind Gahan the latter

A quick glance across his shoulder showed him the galloping thoatman in the act of dragging Tara to the

withers of the beast, and then, with the fury of a demon, Gahan of Gathol leaped for his own man, dragged

him from his mount and as he fell smote his head from his shoulders with a single cut of his keen sword.

Scarce had the body touched the pavement when the Gatholian was upon the back of the dead warrior's

mount, and galloping swiftly down the avenue after the diminishing figures of Tara and her abductor, the

sounds of the fight waning in the distance as he pursued his quarry along the avenue that passes the palace of

Gahan's mount, carrying but a single rider, gained upon that of the Manatorian, so that as they neared the

palace Gahan was scarce a hundred yards behind, and now, to his consternation, he saw the fellow turn into

the great entranceway. For a moment only was he halted by the guards and then he disappeared within.

Gahan was almost upon him then, but evidently he had warned the guards, for they leaped out to intercept the

Gatholian. But no! the fellow could not have known that he was pursued, since he had not seen Gahan seize a

mount, nor would he have thought that pursuit would come so soon. If he had passed then, so could Gahan

pass, for did he not wear the trappings of a Manatorian? The Gatholian thought quickly, and stopping his

thoat called to the guardsmen to let him pass, "In the name of OTar!" They hesitated a moment.

"Aside!" cried Gahan. "Must the jeddak's messenger parley for the right to deliver his message?"

"Saw you not him who just entered?" cried Gahan, and without waiting for a reply urged his thoat straight

past them into the palace, and while they were deliberating what was best to be done, it was too late to do

Along the marble corridors Gahan guided his thoat, and because he had gone that way before, rather than

because he knew which way Tara had been taken, he followed the runways and passed through the chambers

The slave pointed toward a nearby runway that led to the third level and Gahan dashed rapidly on in pursuit.

At the same moment a thoatman, riding at a furious pace, approached the palace and halted his mount at the

"Saw you aught of a warrior pursuing one who carried a woman before him on his thoat?" he shouted to the

"He but just passed in," replied the padwar, "saying that he was OTar's messenger."

"He lied," cried the newcomer. "He was Turan, the slave, who stole the woman from the throne room two

Arouse the palace! He must be seized, and alive if possible. It is OTar's command."

Instantly warriors were dispatched to search for the Gatholian and warn the inmates of the palace to do

likewise. Owing to the games there were comparatively few retainers in the great building, but those whom

they found were immediately enlisted in the search, so that presently at least fifty warriors were seeking

As Gahan's thoat bore him to the third Level the man glimpsed the hind quarters of another thoat

disappearing at the turn of a corridor far ahead. Urging his own animal forward he raced swiftly in pursuit

and making the turn discovered only an empty corridor ahead. Along this he hurried to discover near its

farther end a runway to the fourth level, which he followed upward. Here he saw that he had gained upon his

quarry who was just turning through a doorway fifty yards ahead. As Gahan reached the opening he saw that

the warrior had dismounted and was dragging Tara toward a small door on the opposite side of the chamber.

At the same instant the clank of harness to his rear caused him to cast a glance behind where, along the

corridor he had just traversed, he saw three warriors approaching on foot at a run. Leaping from his thoat

Gahan sprang into the chamber where Tara was struggling to free herself from the grasp of her captor,

slammed the door behind him, shot the great bolt into its seat, and drawing his sword crossed the room at a

run to engage the Manatorian. The fellow, thus menaced, called aloud to Gahan to halt, at the same time

thrusting Tara at arm's length and threatening her heart with the point of his shortsword.

"Stay!" he cried, "or the woman dies, for such is the command of OTar, rather than that she again fall into

Gahan stopped. But a few feet separated him from Tara and her captor, yet he was helpless to aid her. Slowly

the warrior backed toward the open doorway behind him, dragging Tara with him. The girl struggled and

fought, but the warrior was a powerful man and having seized her by the harness from behind was able to

"Save me, Turan!" she cried. "Let them not drag me to a fate worse than death. Better that I die now while my

eyes behold a brave friend than later, fighting alone among enemies in defense of my honor."

He took a step nearer. The warrior made a threatening gesture with his sword close to the soft, smooth skin of

"I cannot, Tara of Helium," he cried. "Think not ill of me that I am weakthat I cannot see you die. Too

The Manatorian warrior, a derisive grin upon his lips, backed steadily away. He had almost reached the

doorway when Gahan saw another warrior in the chamber toward which Tara was being bornea fellow

who moved silently, almost stealthily, across the marble floor as he approached Tara's captor from behind. In

"Two to one," thought Gahan, and a grim smile touched his lips, for he had no doubt that once they had Tara

safely in the adjoining chamber the two would set upon him. If he could not save her, he could at least die for

And then, suddenly, Gahan's eyes fastened with amazement upon the figure of the warrior behind the

grinning fellow who held Tara and was forcing her to the doorway. He saw the newcomer step almost within

arm's reach of the other. He saw him stop, an expression of malevolent hatred upon his features. He saw the

great sword swing through the arc of a great circle, gathering swift and terrific momentum from its own

weight backed by the brawn of the steel thews that guided it; he saw it pass through the feathered skull of the

Manatorian, splitting his sardonic grin in twain, and open him to the middle of his breast bone.

As the dead hand relaxed its grasp upon Tara's wrist the girl leaped forward, without a backward glance, to

Gahan's side. His left arm encircled her, nor did she draw away, as with ready sword the Gatholian awaited

Fate's next decree. Before them Tara's deliverer was wiping the blood from his sword upon the hair of his

victim. He was evidently a Manatorian, his trappings those of the Jeddak's Guard, and so his act was

inexplicable to Gahan and to Tara. Presently he sheathed his sword and approached them.

"When a man chooses to hide his identity behind an assumed name," he said, looking straight into Gahan's

eyes, "whatever friend pierces the deception were no friend if he divulged the other's secret."

"Your integrity has perceived and your lips voiced an unalterable truth," replied Gahan, whose mind was

filled with wonder if the implication could by any possibility be truethat this Manatorian had guessed his

"We are thus agreed," continued the other, "and I may tell you that though I am here known as ASor, my

real name is Tasor." He paused and watched Gahan's face intently for any sign of the effect of this knowledge

Tasor! Friend of his youth. The son of that great Gatholian noble who had given his life so gloriously,

however futilely, in an attempt to defend Gahan's sire from the daggers of the assassins. Tasor an

underpadwar in the guard of OTar, Jeddak of Manator! It was inconceivableand yet it was he; there

could be no doubt of it. "Tasor," Gahan repeated aloud. "But it is no Manatorian name." The statement was

half interrogatory, for Gahan's curiosity was aroused. He would know how his friend and loyal subject had

become a Manatorian. Long years had passed since Tasor had disappeared as mysteriously as the Princess

Haja and many other of Gahan's subjects. The Jed of Gathol had long supposed him dead.

"No," replied Tasor, "nor is it a Manatorian name. Come, while I search for a hiding place for you in some

forgotten chamber in one of the untenanted portions of the palace, and as we go I will tell you briefly how

"It befell that as I rode with a dozen of my warriors along the western border of Gathol searching for zitidars

that had strayed from my herds, we were set upon and surrounded by a great company of Manatorians. They

overpowered us, though not before half our number was slain and the balance helpless from wounds. And so

I was brought a prisoner to Manataj, a distant city of Manator, and there sold into slavery. A woman bought

mea princess of Manataj whose wealth and position were unequaled in the city of her birth. She loved me

and when her husband discovered her infatuation she beseeched me to slay him, and when I refused she hired

another to do it. Then she married me; but none would have aught to do with her in Manataj, for they

suspected her guilty knowledge of her husband's murder. And so we set out from Manataj for Manatos

accompanied by a great caravan bearing all her worldly goods and jewels and precious metals, and on the

way she caused the rumor to be spread that she and I had died. Then we came to Manator instead, she taking

a new name and I the name ASor, that we might not be traced through our names. With her great wealth she

bought me a post in The Jeddak's Guard and none knows that I am not a Manatorian, for she is dead. She was

"Never has the hope been absent from my heart, or my mind empty of a plan," replied Tasor. "I dream of it by

day and by night, but always must I return to the same conclusionthat there can be but a single means for

escape. I must wait until Fortune favors me with a place in a raiding party to Gathol. Then, once within the

"Perhaps your opportunity lies already within your grasp," said Gahan, "has not your fealty to your own Jed

been undermined by years of association with the men of Manator." The statement was half challenge.

"And my Jed stood before me now," cried Tasor, "and my avowal could be made without violating his

confidence, I should cast my sword at his feet and beg the high privilege of dying for him as my sire died for

There could be no doubt of his sincerity nor any that he was cognizant of Gahan's identity. The Jed of Gathol

smiled. "And if your Jed were here there is little doubt but that he would command you to devote your talents

and your prowess to the rescue of the Princess Tara of Helium," he said, meaningly. "And he possessed the

knowledge I have gained during my captivity he would say to you, 'Go, Tasor, to the pit where Akor, son of

Haja of Gathol, is confined and set him free and with him arouse the slaves from Gathol and march to The

Gate of Enemies and offer your services to UThor of Manataj, who is wed to Haja of Gathol, and ask of him

in return that he attack the palace of OTar and rescue Tara of Helium and when that thing is accomplished

that he free the slaves of Gathol and furnish them with the arms and the means to return to their own country.'

"And that, Turan the slave, is what I shall bend my every effort to accomplish after I have found a safe refuge

Gahan's glance carried to Tasor an intimation of his Jed's gratification and filled him with a chivalrous

determination to do the thing required of him, or die, for he considered that he had received from the lips of

his beloved ruler a commission that placed upon his shoulders a responsibility that encompassed not alone the

life of Gahan and Tara but the welfare, perhaps the whole future, of Gathol. And so he hastened them onward

through the musty corridors of the old palace where the dust of ages lay undisturbed upon the marble tiles.

Now and again he tried a door until he found one that was unlocked. Opening it he ushered them into a

chamber, heavy with dust. Crumbling silks and furs adorned the walls, with ancient weapons, and great

"This be as good as any place," he said. "No one comes here. Never have I been here before, so I know no

more of the other chambers than you; but this one, at least, I can find again when I bring you food and drink.

OMai the Cruel occupied this portion of the palace during his reign, five thousand years before OTar. In

one of these apartments he was found dead, his face contorted in an expression of fear so horrible that it

drove to madness those who looked upon it; yet there was no mark of violence upon him Since then the

quarters of OMai have been shunned for the legends have it that the ghosts of Corphals pursue the spirit of

the wicked Jeddak nightly through these chambers, shrieking and moaning as they go. But," he added, as

though to reassure himself as well as his companions, "such things may not be countenanced by the culture of

Gahan laughed. "And if all who looked upon him were driven mad, who then was there to perform the last

"There was none," replied Tasor. "Where they found him they left him and there to this very day his

Tasor left them then assuring them that he would seek the first opportunity to speak with AKor, and upon

* Those who have read John Carter's description of the Green Martians in A Princess of Mars will recall that

these strange people could exist for considerable periods of time without food or water, and to a lesser degree

After Tasor had gone Tara turned to Gahan and approaching laid a hand upon his arm. "So swiftly have

events transpired since I recognized you beneath your disguise," she said, "that I have had no opportunity to

assure you of my gratitude and the high esteem that your valor has won for you in my consideration. Let me

now acknowledge my indebtedness; and if promises be not vain from one whose life and liberty are in grave

jeopardy, accept my assurance of the great reward that awaits you at the hand of my father in Helium."

"I desire no reward," he replied, "other than the happiness of knowing that the woman I love is happy."

For an instant the eyes of Tara of Helium blazed as she drew herself haughtily to her full height, and then

"I have it not in my heart to reprimand you, Turan," she said, "however great your fault, for you have been an

honorable and a loyal friend to Tara of Helium; but you must not say what my ears must not hear."

"You mean," he asked, "that the ears of a Princess must not listen to words of love from a panthan?"

not in honor listen to words of love from another than him to whom I am betrotheda fellow countryman,

"Stop!" she commanded. "You have no right to assume aught else than my lips testify."

"The eyes are ofttimes more eloquent than the lips, Tara," he replied; "and in yours I have read that which is

neither hatred nor contempt for Turan the panthan, and my heart tells me that your lips bore false witness

"When I broke my way out from the chamber of IGos I was indeed upon the verge of believing that you did

hate me," he said, "for only hatred, it seemed to me, could account for the fact that you had gone without

making an effort to liberate me; but presently both my heart and my judgment told me that Tara of Helium

could not have deserted a companion in distress, and though I still am in ignorance of the facts I know that it

"It was indeed," said the girl. "Scarce had IGos fallen at the bite of my dagger than I heard the approach of

warriors. I ran then to hide until they had passed, thinking to return and liberate you; but in seeking to elude

the party I had heard I ran full into the arms of another. They questioned me as to your whereabouts, and I

told them that you had gone ahead and that I was following you and thus I led them from you."

"I knew," was Gahan's only comment, but his heart was glad with elation, as a lover's must be who has heard

from the lips of his divinity an avowal of interest and loyalty, however little tinged by a suggestion of warmer

regard it may be. To be abused, even, by the mistress of one's heart is better than to be ignored.

As the two conversed in the illlit chamber, the dim bulbs of which were encrusted with the accumulated

dust of centuries, a bent and withered figure traversed slowly the gloomy corridors without, his weak and

watery eyes peering through thick lenses at the signs of passage written upon the dusty floor.

THE night was still young when there came one to the entrance of the banquet hall where OTar of Manator

dined with his chiefs, and brushing past the guards entered the great room with the insolence of a privileged

character, as in truth he was. As he approached the head of the long board OTar took notice of him.

"Well, hoary one!" he cried. "What brings you out of your beloved and stinking burrow again this day. We

thought that the sight of the multitude of living men at the games would drive you back to your corpses as

The cackling laugh of IGos acknowledged the royal sally. "Ey, ey, OTar," squeaked the ancient one,

"IGos goes out not upon pleasure bound; but when one does ruthlessly desecrate the dead of IGos,

"Turan, yes, and the slave Tara, who slipped beneath my hide a murderous blade. Another fraction of an inch,

OTar, and IGos' ancient and wrinkled covering were even now in some apprentice tanner's hands, ey, ey!"

"But they have again eluded us," cried OTar. "Even in the palace of the great jeddak twice have they

escaped the stupid knaves I call The Jeddak's Guard." OTar had risen and was angrily emphasizing his

"I know where they are hid," said the ancient taxidermist. "In the dust of unused corridors their feet have

"I followed them and I heard them speaking beyond a closed door," replied IGos; "but I did not see them."

"Where is that door?" cried OTar. "We will send at once and fetch them," he looked about the table as

though to decide to whom he would entrust this duty. A dozen warrior chiefs arose and laid their hands upon

"To the chambers of OMai the Cruel I traced them," squeaked IGos. "There you will find them where the

moaning Corphals pursue the shrieking ghost of OMai; ey!" and he turned his eyes from OTar toward the

warriors who had arisen, only to discover that, to a man, they were hurriedly resuming their seats.

The cackling laughter of IGos broke derisively the hush that had fallen on the room. The warriors looked

sheepishly at the food upon their plates of gold. OTar snapped his fingers impatiently.

"Be there only cravens among the chiefs of Manator?" he cried. "Repeatedly have these presumptuous slaves

Slowly a chief arose and two others followed his example, though with illconcealed reluctance. "All, then,

are not cowards," commented OTar. "The duty is distasteful. Therefore all three of you shall go, taking as

The three chiefs turned and left the banquet hall, walking slowly like doomed men to their fate.

Gahan and Tara remained in the chamber to which Tasor had led them, the man brushing away the dust from

a deep and comfortable bench where they might rest in comparative comfort. He had found the ancient

sleeping silks and furs too far gone to be of any service, crumbling to powder at a touch, thus removing any

chance of making a comfortable bed for the girl, and so the two sat together, talking in low tones, of the

adventures through which they already had passed and speculating upon the future; planning means of escape

and hoping Tasor would not be long gone. They spoke of many thingsof Hastor, and Helium, and Ptarth,

"I met Gahan the Jed of Gathol at my father's palace," she said, "the very day before the storm snatched me

from Heliumhe was a presumptuous fellow, magnificently trapped in platinum and diamonds. Never in my

life saw I so gorgeous a harness as his, and you must well know, Turan, that the splendor of all Barsoom

passes through the court at Helium; but in my mind I could not see so resplendent a creature drawing that

jeweled sword in mortal combat. I fear me that the Jed of Gathol, though a pretty picture of a man, is little

In the dim light Tara did not perceive the wry expression upon the halfaverted face of her companion.

"Then or now," she replied, and with a little laugh; "how it would pique his vanity to know, if he might, that a

poor panthan had won a higher place in the regard of Tara of Helium," and she laid her fingers gently upon

He seized the fingers in his and carried them to his lips. "O, Tara of Helium," he cried. "Think you that I am a

man of stone?" One arm slipped about her shoulders and drew the yielding body toward him.

"May my first ancestor forgive me my weakness," she cried, as her arms stole about his neck and she raised

her panting lips to his. For long they clung there in love's first kiss and then she pushed him away, gently. "I

love you, Turan," she half sobbed; "I love you so! It is my only poor excuse for having done this wrong to

Djor Kantos, whom now I know I never loved, who knew not the meaning of love. And if you love me as you

say, Turan, your love must protect me from greater dishonor, for I am but as clay in your hands."

Again he crushed her to him and then as suddenly released her, and rising, strode rapidly to and fro across the

chamber as though he endeavored by violent exercise to master and subdue some evil spirit that had laid hold

upon him. Ringing through his brain and heart and soul like some joyous paean were those words that had so

altered the world for Gahan of Gathol: "I love you, Turan; I love you so!" And it had come so suddenly. He

had thought that she felt for him only gratitude for his loyalty and then, in an instant, her barriers were all

down, she was no longer a princess; but instead ahis reflections were interrupted by a sound from beyond

the closed door. His sandals of zitidar hide had given forth no sound upon the marble floor he strode, and as

his rapid pacing carried him past the entrance to the chamber there came faintly from the distance of the long

corridor the sound of metal on metalthe unmistakable herald of the approach of armed men.

For a moment Gahan listened intently, close to the door, until there could be no doubt but that a party of

warriors was approaching. From what Tasor had told him he guessed correctly that they would be coming to

this portion of the palace but for a single purposeto search for Tara and himselfand it behooved him

therefore to seek immediate means for eluding them. The chamber in which they were had other doorways

beside that at which they had entered, and to one of these he must look for some safer hiding place. Crossing

to Tara he acquainted her with his suspicion, leading her to one of the doors which they found unsecured.

Beyond it lay a dimlylighted chamber at the threshold of which they halted in consternation, drawing back

quickly into the chamber they had just quitted, for their first glance revealed four warriors seated around a

That their entrance had not been noted was attributed by Gahan to the absorption of the two players and their

friends in the game. Quietly closing the door the fugitives moved silently to the next, which they found

locked. There was now but another door which they had not tried, and this they approached quickly as they

knew that the searching party must be close to the chamber. To their chagrin they found this avenue of escape

Now indeed were they in a sorry plight, for should the searchers have information leading them to this room

they were lost. Again leading Tara to the door behind which were the jetan players Gahan drew his sword and

waited, listening. The sound of the party in the corridor came distinctly to their earsthey must be quite

close, and doubtless they were coming in force. Beyond the door were but four warriors who might be readily

surprised. There could, then, be but one choice and acting upon it Gahan quietly opened the door again,

stepped through into the adjoining chamber, Tara's hand in his, and closed the door behind them. The four at

the jetan board evidently failed to hear them. One player had either just made or was contemplating a move,

for his fingers grasped a piece that still rested upon the board. The other three were watching his move. For

an instant Gahan looked at them, playing jetan there in the dim light of this forgotten and forbidden chamber,

"Come!" he said to Tara. "We have nothing to fear from these. For more than five thousand years they have

As they approached more closely they saw that the lifelike figures were coated with dust, but that otherwise

the skin was in as fine a state of preservation as the most recent of IGos' groups, and then they heard the

door of the chamber they had quitted open and knew that the searchers were close upon them. Across the

room they saw the opening of what appeared to be a corridor and which investigation proved to be a short

passageway, terminating in a chamber in the center of which was an ornate sleeping dais. This room, like the

others, was but poorly lighted, time having dimmed the radiance of its bulbs and coated them with dust. A

glance showed that it was hung with heavy goods and contained considerable massive furniture in addition to

the sleeping platform, a second glance at which revealed what appeared to be the form of a man lying

partially on the floor and partially on the dais. No doorways were visible other than that at which they had

Gahan, his curiosity aroused by the legends surrounding this portion of the palace, crossed to the dais to

examine the figure that apparently had fallen from it, to find the dried and shrivelled corpse of a man lying

upon his back on the floor with arms outstretched and fingers stiffly outspread. One of his feet was doubled

partially beneath him, while the other was still entangled in the sleeping silks and furs upon the dais. After

five thousand years the expression of the withered face and the eyeless sockets retained the aspect of horrid

fear to such an extent, that Gahan knew that he was looking upon the body of OMai the Cruel.

Suddenly Tara, who stood close beside him, clutched his arm and pointed toward a far corner of the room.

Gahan looked and looking felt the hairs upon his neck rising. He threw his left arm about the girl and with

bared sword stood between her and the hangings that they watched, and then slowly Gahan of Gathol backed

away, for in this grim and somber chamber, which no human foot had trod for five thousand years and to

which no breath of wind might enter, the heavy hangings in the far corner had moved. Not gently had they

moved as a draught might have moved them had there been a draught, but suddenly they had bulged out as

though pushed against from behind. To the opposite corner backed Gahan until they stood with their backs

against the hangings there, and then hearing the approach of their pursuers across the chamber beyond Gahan

pushed Tara through the hangings and, following her, kept open with his left hand, which he had disengaged

from the girl's grasp, a tiny opening through which he could view the apartment and the doorway upon the

Behind the hangings there was a space of about three feet in width between them and the wall, making a

passageway entirely around the room, broken only by the single entrance opposite them; this being a common

arrangement especially in the sleeping apartments of the rich and powerful upon Barsoom. The purposes of

this arrangement were several. The passageway afforded a station for guards in the same room with their

master without intruding entirely upon his privacy; it concealed secret exits from the chamber; it permitted

the occupant of the room to hide eavesdroppers and assassins for use against enemies that he might lure to his

The three chiefs with a dozen warriors had had no difficulty in following the tracks of the fugitives through

the dust of the corridors and chambers they had traversed. To enter this portion of the palace at all had

required all the courage they possessed, and now that they were within the very chambers of OMai their

nerves were pitched to the highest keyanother turn and they would snap; for the people of Manator are

filled with weird superstitions. As they entered the outer chamber they moved slowly, with drawn swords, no

one seeming anxious to take the lead, and the twelve warriors hanging back in unconcealed and shameless

terror, while the three chiefs, spurred on by fear of OTar and by pride, pressed together for mutual

Following the tracks of Gahan and Tara they found that though each doorway had been approached only one

threshold had been crossed and this door they gingerly opened, revealing to their astonished gaze the four

warriors at the jetan table. For a moment they were on the verge of flight, for though they knew what they

were, coming as they did upon them in this mysterious and haunted suite, they were as startled as though they

had beheld the very ghosts of the departed. But they presently regained their courage sufficiently to cross this

chamber too and enter the short passageway that led to the ancient sleeping apartment of OMai the Cruel.

They did not know that this awful chamber lay just before them, or it were doubtful that they would have

proceeded farther; but they saw that those they sought had come this way and so they followed, but within the

gloomy interior of the chamber they halted, the three chiefs urging their followers, in low whispers, to close

in behind them, and there just within the entrance they stood until, their eyes becoming accustomed to the

dim light, one of them pointed suddenly to the thing lying upon the floor with one foot tangled in the

"Look!" he gasped. "It is the corpse of OMai! Ancestor of ancestors! we are in the forbidden chamber."

Simultaneously there came from behind the hangings beyond the grewsome dead a hollow moan followed by

With one accord, chieftains and warriors, they turned and bolted for the doorway; a narrow doorway, where

they jammed, fighting and screaming in an effort to escape. They threw away their swords and clawed at one

another to make a passage for escape; those behind climbed upon the shoulders of those in front; and some

fell and were trampled upon; but at last they all got through, and, the swiftest first, they bolted across the two

intervening chambers to the outer corridor beyond, nor did they halt their mad retreat before they stumbled,

weak and trembling, into the banquet hall of OTar. At sight of them the warriors who had remained with the

jeddak leaped to their feet with drawn swords, thinking that their fellows were pursued by many enemies; but

no one followed them into the room, and the three chieftains came and stood before OTar with bowed heads

"OTar," cried one of them when at last he could master his voice. "When have we three failed you in battle

or combat? Have our swords been not always among the foremost in defense of your safety and your honor?"

"Listen, then, O Jeddak, and judge us with leniency. We followed the two slaves to the apartments of OMai

the Cruel. We entered the accursed chambers and still we did not falter. We came at last to that horrid

chamber no human eye had scanned before in fifty centuries and we looked upon the dead face of OMai

lying as he has lain for all this time. To the very death chamber of OMai the Cruel we came and yet we were

ready to go farther; when suddenly there broke upon our horrified ears the moans and the shrieking that mark

these haunted chambers and the hangings moved and rustled in the dead air. OTar, it was more than human

nerves could endure. We turned and fled. We threw away our swords and fought with one another to escape.

With sorrow, but without shame, I tell it, for there be no man in all Manator that would not have done the

same. If these slaves be Corphals they are safe among their fellow ghosts. If they be not Corphals, then

already are they dead in the chambers of OMai, and there may they rot for all of me, for I would not return

to that accursed spot for the harness of a jeddak and the half of Barsoom for an empire. I have spoken."

OTar knitted his scowling brows. "Are all my chieftains cowards and cravens?" he demanded presently in

From among those who had not been of the searching party a chieftain arose and turned a scowling face upon

"The jeddak knows,'' he said, "that in the annals of Manator her jeddaks have ever been accounted the bravest

of her warriors. Where my jeddak leads I will follow, nor may any jeddak call me a coward or a craven unless

After he had resumed his seat there was a painful silence, for all knew that the speaker had challenged the

courage of OTar the Jeddak of Manator and all awaited the reply of their ruler. In every mind was the same

thoughtOTar must lead them at once to the chamber of OMai the Cruel, or accept forever the stigma of

cowardice, and there could be no coward upon the throne of Manator. That they all knew and that OTar

But OTar hesitated. He looked about upon the faces of those around him at the banquet board; but he saw

only the grim visages of relentless warriors. There was no trace of leniency in the face of any. And then his

eyes wandered to a small entrance at one side of the great chamber. An expression of relief expunged the

GAHAN, watching through the aperture between the hangings, saw the frantic flight of their pursuers. A grim

smile rested upon his lips as he viewed the mad scramble for safety and saw them throw away their swords

and fight with one another to be first from the chamber of fear, and when they were all gone he turned back

toward Tara, the smile still upon his lips; but the smile died the instant that he turned, for he saw that Tara

"Tara!" he called in a loud voice, for he knew that there was no danger that their pursuers would return; but

there was no response, unless it was a faint sound as of cackling laughter from afar. Hurriedly he searched the

passageway behind the hangings finding several doors, one of which was ajar. Through this he entered the

adjoining chamber which was lighted more brilliantly for the moment by the soft rays of hurtling Thuria

taking her mad way through the heavens. Here he found the dust upon the floor disturbed, and the imprint of

sandals. They had come this wayTara and whatever the creature was that had stolen her.

But what could it have been? Gahan, a man of culture and high intelligence, held few if any superstitions. In

common with nearly all races of Barsoom he clung, more or less inherently, to a certain exalted form of

ancestor worship, though it was rather the memory or legends of the virtues and heroic deeds of his forebears

that he deified rather than themselves. He never expected any tangible evidence of their existence after death;

he did not believe that they had the power either for good or for evil other than the effect that their example

while living might have had upon following generations; he did not believe therefore in the materialization of

dead spirits. If there was a life hereafter he knew nothing of it, for he knew that science had demonstrated the

existence of some material cause for every seemingly supernatural phenomenon of ancient religions and

superstitions. Yet he was at a loss to know what power might have removed Tara so suddenly and

mysteriously from his side in a chamber that had not known the presence of man for five thousand years.

In the darkness he could not see whether there were the imprints of other sandals than Tara'sonly that the

dust was disturbedand when it led him into gloomy corridors he lost the trail altogether. A perfect

labyrinth of passages and apartments were now revealed to him as he hurried on through the deserted quarters

of OMai. Here was an ancient bathdoubtless that of the jeddak himself, and again he passed through a

room in which a meal had been laid upon a table five thousand years beforethe untasted breakfast of

OMai, perhaps. There passed before his eyes in the brief moments that he traversed the chambers, a wealth

of ornaments and jewels and precious metals that surprised even the Jed of Gathol whose harness was of

diamonds and platinum and whose riches were the envy of a world. But at last his search of OMai's

chambers ended in a small closet in the floor of which was the opening to a spiral runway leading straight

down into Stygian darkness. The dust at the entrance of the closet had been freshly disturbed, and as this was

the only possible indication that Gahan had of the direction taken by the abductor of Tara it seemed as well to

follow on as to search elsewhere. So, without hesitation, he descended into the utter darkness below. Feeling

with a foot before taking a forward step his descent was necessarily slow, but Gahan was a Barsoomian and

so knew the pitfalls that might await the unwary in such dark, forbidden portions of a jeddak's palace.

He had descended for what he judged might be three full levels and was pausing, as he occasionally did, to

listen, when he distinctly heard a peculiar shuffling, scraping sound approaching him from below. Whatever

the thing was it was ascending the runway at a steady pace and would soon be near him. Gahan laid his hand

upon the hilt of his sword and drew it slowly from its scabbard that he might make no noise that would

apprise the creature of his presence. He wished that there might be even the slightest lessening of the

darkness. If he could see but the outline of the thing that approached him he would feel that he had a fairer

chance in the meeting; but he could see nothing, and then because he could see nothing the end of his

scabbard struck the stone side of the runway, giving off a sound that the stillness and the narrow confines of

Instantly the shuffling sound of approach ceased. For a moment Gahan stood in silent waiting, then casting

aside discretion he moved on again down the spiral. The thing, whatever it might be, gave forth no sound

now by which Gahan might locate it. At any moment it might be upon him and so he kept his sword in

readiness. Down, ever downward the steep spiral led. The darkness and the silence of the tomb surrounded

him, yet somewhere ahead was something. He was not alone in that horrid placeanother presence that he

could not hear or see hovered before himof that he was positive. Perhaps it was the thing that had stolen

Tara. Perhaps Tara herself, still in the clutches of some nameless horror, was just ahead of him. He quickened

his paceit became almost a run at the thought of the danger that threatened the woman he loved, and then

he collided with a wooden door that swung open to the impact. Before him was a lighted corridor. On either

side were chambers. He had advanced but a short distance from the bottom of the spiral when he recognized

that he was in the pits below the palace. A moment later he heard behind him the shuffling sound that had

attracted his attention in the spiral runway. Wheeling about he saw the author of the sound emerging from a

"Ghek!" exclaimed Gahan. "It was you in the runway? Have you seen Tara of Helium?"

"It was I in the spiral," replied the kaldane; "but I have not seen Tara of Helium. I have been searching for

"I do not know," replied the Gatholian; "but we must find her and take her from this place."

"We may find her," said Ghek; "but I doubt our ability to take her away. It is not so easy to leave Manator as

it is to enter it. I may come and go at will, through the ancient burrows of the ulsios; but you are too large for

that and your lungs need more air than may be found in some of the deeper runways."

"I have heard much," replied Ghek. "He camps at The Gate of Enemies. That spot he holds and his warriors

lie just beyond The Gate; but he has not sufficient force to enter the city and take the palace. An hour since

and you might have made your way to him; but now every avenue is strongly guarded since OTar learned

"But little more than an hour since. I was with him when a warrior camea man whose name is Tasorwho

brought a message from you. It was decided that Tasor should accompany AKor in an attempt to reach the

camp of UThor, the great jed of Manatos, and exact from him the assurances you required. Then UThor

was to return and take food to you and the Princess of Helium. I accompanied them. We won through easily

and found UThor more than willing to respect your every wish, but when Tasor would have returned to you

the way was blocked by the warriors of OTar. Then it was that I volunteered to come to you and report and

find food and drink and then go forth among the Gatholian slaves of Manator and prepare them for their part

"UThor has sent for reinforcements. To Manatos he has sent and to all the outlying districts that are his. It

a month to collect and bring them hither and in the meantime the slaves within the city are to organize

secretly, stealing and hiding arms against the day that the reinforcements arrive. When that day comes the

forces of UThor will enter the Gate of Enemies and as the warriors of OTar rush to repulse them the slaves

from Gathol will fall upon them from the rear with the majority of their numbers, while the balance will

assault the palace. They hope thus to divert so many from The Gate that UThor will have little difficulty in

"Perhaps they will succeed," commented Gahan; "but the warriors of OTar are many, and those who fight in

defense of their homes and their jeddak have always an advantage. Ah, Ghek, would that we had the great

warships of Gathol or of Helium to pour their merciless fire into the streets of Manator while UThor

marched to the palace over the corpses of the slain." He paused, deep in thought, and then turned his gaze

again upon the kaldane. "Heard you aught of the party that escaped with me from The Field of Jetanof

"Ten of these won through to UThor at The Gate of Enemies and were well received by him. Eight fell in

the fighting upon the way. Val Dor and Floran live, I believe, for I am sure that I heard UThor address two

"Good!" exclaimed Gahan. "Go then, through the burrows of the ulsios, to The Gate of Enemies and carry to

Floran the message that I shall write in his own language. Come, while I write the message."

In a nearby room they found a bench and table and there Gahan sat and wrote in the strange, stenographic

characters of Martian script a message to Floran of Gathol. "Why," he asked, when he had finished it, "did

"Tasor told me where you were to be found, and as I have explored the greater part of the palace by means of

the ulsio runways and the darker and less frequented passages I knew precisely where you were and how to

reach you. This secret spiral ascends from the pits to the roof of the loftiest of the palace towers. It has secret

openings at every level; but there is no living Manatorian, I believe, who knows of its existence. At least

never have I met one within it and I have used it many times. Thrice have I been in the chamber where

OMai lies, though I knew nothing of his identity or the story of his death until Tasor told it to us in the camp

"Good! And you would serve the Princess Tara, Ghek, you may serve her best by accompanying Floran and

following his instructions. I will write them here at the close of my message to him, for the walls have ears,

Ghek, while none but a Gatholian may read what I have written to Floran. He will transmit it to you. Can I

"I may never return to Bantoom," replied Ghek. "Therefore I have but two friends in all Barsoom. What

better may I do than serve them faithfully? You may trust me, Gatholian, who with a woman of your kind has

taught me that there be finer and nobler things than perfect mentality uninfluenced by the unreasoning

As OTar pointed to the little doorway all eyes turned in the direction he indicated and surprise was writ

large upon the faces of the warriors when they recognized the two who had entered the banquet hall. There

was IGos, and he dragged behind him one who was gagged and whose hands were fastened behind with a

ribbon of tough silk. It was the slave girl. IGos' cackling laughter rose above the silence of the room.

"Ey, ey!" he shrilled. "What the young warriors of OTar cannot do, old IGos does alone."

"Only a Corphal may capture a Corphal," growled one of the chiefs who had fled from the chambers of

IGos laughed. "Terror turned your heart to water," he replied; "and shame your tongue to libel. This be no

Corphal, but only a woman of Helium; her companion a warrior who can match blades with the best of you

and cut your putrid hearts. Not so in the days of IGos' youth. Ah, then were there men in Manator. Well do I

"Where I found the womanin the death chamber of OMai. Let your wise and brave chieftains go thither

"You have done well, IGos," OTar hastened to assure him, for when he learned that Gahan might still be in

the haunted chambers he wished to appease the wrath of IGos, knowing well the vitriolic tongue and temper

of the ancient one. "You think she is no Corphal, then, IGos?" he asked, wishing to carry the subject from

OTar looked long and searchingly at Tara of Helium. All the beauty that was hers seemed suddenly to be

carried to every fibre of his consciousness. She was still garbed in the rich harness of a Black Princess of

Jetan, and as OTar the Jeddak gazed upon her he realized that never before had his eyes rested upon a more

"She is no Corphal," he murmured to himself. "She is no Corphal and she is a princessa princess of

Helium, and, by the golden hair of the Holy Hekkador, she is beautiful. Take the gag from her mouth and

release her hands," he commanded aloud. "Make room for the Princess Tara of Helium at the side of OTar

Slaves did as OTar bid and Tara of Helium stood with flashing eyes behind the chair that was offered her.

The girl sank into the chair. "I sit as a prisoner," she said; "not as a guest at the board of my enemy, OTar of

OTar motioned his followers from the room. "I would speak alone with the Princess of Helium," he said.

The company and the slaves withdrew and once more the Jeddak of Manator turned toward the girl. "OTar

Tara of Helium sat with arms folded upon her small, firm breasts, her eyes flashing from behind narrowed

lids, nor did she deign to answer his overture. OTar leaned closer to her. He noted the hostility of her

bearing and he recalled his first encounter with her. She was a shebanth, but she was beautiful. She was by

far the most desirable woman that OTar had ever looked upon and he was determined to possess her. He

"I could take you as my slave," he said to her; "but it pleases me to make you my wife. You shall be Jeddara

of Manator. You shall have seven days in which to prepare for the great honor that OTar is conferring upon

you, and at this hour of the seventh day you shall become an empress and the wife of OTar in the throne

room of the jeddaks of Manator." He struck a gong that stood beside him upon the table and when a slave

appeared he bade him recall the company. Slowly the chiefs filed in and took their places at the table. Their

faces were grim and scowling, for there was still unanswered the question of their jeddak's courage. If OTar

OTar arose. "In seven days," he announced, "there will be a great feast in honor of the new Jeddara of

Manator," and he waved his hand toward Tara of Helium. "The ceremony will occur at the beginning of the

seventh zode* in the throne room. In the meantime the Princess of Helium will be cared for in the tower of

the women's quarters of the palace. Conduct her thither, EThas, with a suitable guard of honor and see to it

that slaves and eunuchs be placed at her disposal, who shall attend upon all her wants and guard her carefully

Now EThas knew that the real meaning concealed in these fine words was that he should conduct the

prisoner under a strong guard to the women's quarters and confine her there in the tower for seven days,

placing about her trustworthy guards who would prevent her escape or frustrate any attempted rescue.

As Tara was departing from the chamber with EThas and the guard, OTar leaned close to her ear and

whispered: "Consider well during these seven days the high honor I have offered you, andits sole

alternative." As though she had not heard him the girl passed out of the banquet hall, her head high and her

After Ghek had left him Gahan roamed the pits and the ancient corridors of the deserted portions of the

palace seeking some clue to the whereabouts or the fate of Tara of Helium. He utilized the spiral runway in

passing from level to level until he knew every foot of it from the pits to the summit of the high tower, and

into what apartments it opened at the various levels as well as the ingenious and hidden mechanism that

operated the locks of the cleverly concealed doors leading to it. For food he drew upon the stores he found in

the pits and when he slept he lay upon the royal couch of OMai in the forbidden chamber sharing the dais

In the palace about him seethed, all unknown to Gahan, a vast unrest. Warriors and chieftains pursued the

duties of their vocations with dour faces, and little knots of them were collecting here and there and with

frowns of anger discussing some subject that was uppermost in the minds of all. It was upon the fourth day

following Tara's incarceration in the tower that EThas, the majordomo of the palace and one of OTar's

creatures, came to his master upon some trivial errand. OTar was alone in one of the smaller chambers of

his personal suite when the majordomo was announced, and after the matter upon which EThas had come

"From the position of an obscure warrior I have elevated you, EThas, to the honors of a chief. Within the

confines of the palace your word is second only to mine. You are not loved for this, EThas, and should

another jeddak ascend the throne of Manator what would become of you, whose enemies are among the most

"Speak not of it, OTar," begged EThas. "These last few days I have thought upon it much and I would

forget it; but I have sought to appease the wrath of. my worst enemies. I have been very kind and indulgent

"Why did you not come to me with your apprehensions?" demanded OTar. "Be this loyalty?"

"I feared, O mighty jeddak!" replied EThas. "I feared that you would not understand and that you would be

"There is much unrest among the chieftains and the warriors," replied EThas. "Even those who were your

"They say that you are afraid to enter the apartments of OMai in search of the slave Turanoh, do not be

angry with me, Jeddak; it is but what they say that I repeat. I, your loyal EThas, believe no such foul

"No, no; why should I fear?" demanded OTar. "We do not know that he is there. Did not my chiefs go

"But they say that you did not go," pursued EThas, "and that they will have none of a coward upon the

"They said that and more, great jeddak," answered the majordomo. "They said that not only did you fear to

enter the chambers of OMai, but that you feared the slave Turan, and they blame you for your treatment of

AKor, whom they all believe to have been murdered at your command. They were fond of AKor and there

"They dare?" screamed OTar. "They dare suggest the name of a slave's bastard for the throne of OTar!"

"He is your son, OTar," EThas reminded him, "nor is there a more beloved man in ManatorI but speak

to you of facts which may not be ignored, and I dare do so because only when you realize the truth may you

OTar had slumped down upon his benchsuddenly he looked shrunken and tired and old. "Cursed be the

day," he cried, "that saw those three strangers enter the city of Manator. Would that UDor had been spared

to me. He was strongmy enemies feared him; but he is gonedead at the hands of that hateful slave,

"My jeddak, what shall we do?" begged EThas. "Cursing the slave will not solve your problems."

"But the great feast and the marriage is but three days off," plead OTar. "It shall be a great gala occasion.

The warriors and the chiefs all know thatit is the custom. Upon that day gifts and honors shall be

bestowed. Tell me, who are most bitter against me? I will send you among them and let it be known that I am

planning rewards for their past services to the throne. We will make jeds of chiefs and chiefs of warriors, and

The other shook his head. "It will not do, OTar. They will have nothing of your gifts or honors. I have heard

"They want a jeddak as brave as the bravest," replied EThas, though his knees shook as he said it.

For a long time OTar sat, his head sunk upon his breast, staring blankly at the floor.

"Tell them," he said at last in a hollow voice that sounded not at all like the voice of a great jeddak; "tell them

"EY, ey, he is a craven and he called me 'doddering fool'!" The speaker was IGos and he addressed a knot of

chieftains in one of the chambers of the palace of OTar, Jeddak of Manator: "If AKor was alive there were

"Where is he then?" asked IGos. "Have not others disappeared whom OTar thought too well beloved for

The chief shook his head. "And I thought that, or knew it, rather; I'd join UThor at The Gate of Enemies."

"Ssst," cautioned one; "here comes the licker of feet," and all eyes were turned upon the approaching

"Kaor, friends!" he exclaimed as he stopped among them, but his friendly greeting elicited naught but a few

surly nods. "Have you heard the news?" he continued, unabashed by treatment to which he was becoming

"I am safe," retorted IGos, "for I am not a brave and popular son of the jeddak of Manator."

This was indeed open treason, but EThas feigned not to hear it. He ignored IGos and turned to the others.

"OTar goes to the chamber of OMai this night in search of Turan the slave," he said. "He sorrows that his

warriors have not the courage for so mean a duty and that their jeddak is thus compelled to arrest a common

slave," with which taunt EThas passed on to spread the word in other parts of the palace. As a matter of fact

the latter part of his message was purely original with himself, and he took great delight in delivering it to the

discomfiture of his enemies. As he was leaving the little group of men IGos called after him. "At what hour

"I shall be there myself and if I see him I will know that he has been there. If I don't see him I will know that

"Is there anything there to fill an honest man with fear?" asked a chieftain. "What have you seen?"

"It was not so much what I saw, though that was bad enough, as what I heard," said IGos.

"I saw the dead OMai lying upon the floor of his sleeping chamber with one foot tangled in the sleeping

"The dead cannot harm me," said IGos. "He has lain thus for five thousand years. Nor can a sound harm me.

I heard it once and liveI can hear it again. It came from almost at my side where I hid behind the hangings

"OTar called me 'doddering fool' and I would face worse dangers than lie in the forbidden chambers of

OMai to know it if he does not visit the chamber of OMai. Then indeed shall OTar fall!"

The night came and the zodes dragged and the time approached when OTar, Jeddak of Manator, was to visit

the chamber of OMai in search of the slave Turan. To us, who may doubt the existence of malignant spirits,

his fear may seem unbelievable, for he was a strong man, an excellent swordsman, and a warrior of great

repute; but the fact remained that OTar of Manator was nervous with apprehension as he strode the

corridors of his palace toward the deserted halls of OMai and when he stood at last with his hand upon the

door that opened from the dusty corridor to the very apartments themselves he was almost paralyzed with

terror. He had come alone for two very excellent reasons, the first of which was that thus none might note his

terrorstricken state nor his defection should he fail at the last moment, and the other was that should he

accomplish the thing alone or be able to make his chiefs believe that he had, the credit would be far greater

But though he had started alone he had become aware that he was being followed, and he knew that it was

because his people had no faith in either his courage or his veracity. He did not believe that he would find the

slave Turan. He did not very much want to find him, for though OTar was an excellent swordsman and a

brave warrior in physical combat, he had seen how Turan had played with UDor and he had no stomach for

And so OTar stood with his hand upon the doorafraid to enter; afraid not to. But at last his fear of his

own warriors, watching behind him, grew greater than the fear of the unknown behind the ancient door and

Silence and gloom and the dust of centuries lay heavy upon the chamber. From his warriors he knew the

route that he must take to the horrid chamber of OMai and so he forced his unwilling feet across the room

before him, across the room where the jetan players sat at their eternal game, and came to the short corridor

that led into the room of OMai. His naked sword trembled in his grasp. He paused after each forward step to

listen and when he was almost at the door of the ghosthaunted chamber, his heart stood still within his

breast and the cold sweat broke from the clammy skin of his forehead, for from within there came to his

affrighted ears the sound of muffled breathing. Then it was that OTar of Manator came near to fleeing from

the nameless horror that he could not see, but that he knew lay waiting for him in that chamber just ahead.

But again came the fear of the wrath and contempt of his warriors and his chiefs. They would degrade him

and they would slay him into the bargain. There was no doubt of what his fate would be should he flee the

apartments of OMai in terror. His only hope, therefore, lay in daring the unknown in preference to the

He moved forward. A few steps took him to the doorway. The chamber before him was darker than the

corridor, so that he could just indistinctly make out the objects in the room. He saw a sleeping dais near the

center, with a darker blotch of something lying on the marble floor beside it. He moved a step farther into the

doorway and the scabbard of his sword scraped against the stone frame. To his horror he saw the sleeping

silks and furs upon the central dais move. He saw a figure slowly arising to a sitting posture from the death

bed of OMai the Cruel. His knees shook, but he gathered all his moral forces, and gripping his sword more

tightly in his trembling fingers prepared to leap across the chamber upon the horrid apparition. He hesitated

just a moment. He felt eyes upon himghoulish eyes that bored through the darkness into his withering

hearteyes that he could not see. He gathered himself for the rushand then there broke from the thing

Gahan rose from the couch of OMai, smiling, only to swing quickly about with drawn sword as the shadow

of a noise impinged upon his keen ears from the shadows behind him. Between the parted hangings he saw a

"Sheathe your sword, Turan," said the old man. "You have naught to fear from IGos."

"I came to make sure that the great coward did not cheat us. Ey, and he called me 'doddering fool;' but look at

him now! Stricken insensible by terror, but, ey, one might forgive him that who had heard your uncanny

scream. It all but blasted my own courage. And it was you, then, who moaned and screamed when the chiefs

"It was you, then, old scoundrel?" demanded Gahan, moving threateningly toward IGos.

"Come, come!" expostulated the old man; "it was I, but then I was your enemy. I would not do it now.

"Then I did not fully realize the cowardice of my jeddak, or the bravery of you and the girl. I am an old man

from another age and I love courage. At first I resented the girl's attack upon me, but later I came to see the

bravery of it and it won my admiration, as have all her acts. She feared not Otar, she feared not me, she

feared not all the warriors of Manator. And you! Blood of a million sires! how you fight! I am sorry that I

exposed you at The Fields of Jetan. I am sorry that I dragged the girl Tara back to OTar. I would make

amends. I would be your friend. Here is my sword at your feet," and drawing his weapon IGos cast it to the

The Gatholian knew that scarce the most abandoned of knaves would repudiate this solemn pledge, and so he

stooped, and picking up the old man's sword returned it to him, hilt first, in acceptance of his friendship.

"She is confined in the tower of the women's quarters awaiting the ceremony that is to make her Jeddara of

"This thing dared think that Tara of Helium would mate with him?" growled Gahan. "I will make short work

of him if he is not already dead from fright," and he stepped toward the fallen OTar to run his sword through

"No!" cried IGos. "Slay him not and pray that he be not dead if you would save your princess."

"If word of OTar's death reached the quarters of the women the Princess Tara would be lost. They know

OTar's intention of taking her to wife and making her Jeddara of Manator, so you may rest assured that they

all hate her with the hate of jealous women. Only OTar's power protects her now from harm. Should OTar

die they would turn her over to the warriors and the male slaves, for there would be none to avenge her."

Gahan sheathed his sword. "Your point is well taken; but what shall we do with him?"

"Leave him where he lies," counseled IGos. "He is not dead. When he revives he will return to his quarters

with a fine tale of his bravery and there will be none to impugn his boastsnone but IGos. Come! he may

IGos crossed to the body of his jeddak, knelt beside it for an instant, and then returned past the couch to

Gahan. The two quit the chamber of OMai and took their way toward the spiral runway. Here IGos led

Gahan to a higher level and out upon the roof of that portion of the palace from where he pointed to a high

tower quite close by. "There," he said, "lies the Princess of Helium, and quite safe she will be until the time

"Safe, possibly, from other hands, but not from her own," said Gahan. "She will never become Jeddara of

"She will, unless you can get word to her that I still live and that there is yet hope," replied Gahan.

"I cannot get word to her," said IGos. "The quarters of his women OTar guards with jealous hand. Here are

his most trusted slaves and warriors, yet even so, thick among them are countless spies, so that no man knows

which be which. No shadow falls within those chambers that is not marked by a hundred eyes."

Gahan stood gazing at the lighted windows of the high tower in the upper chambers of which Tara of Helium

For some time they stood upon the roof beneath the brilliant stars and hurtling moons of dying Mars, laying

their plans against the time that Tara of Helium should be brought from the high tower to the throne room of

OTar. It was then, and then alone, argued IGos, that any hope of rescuing her might be entertained. Just

how far he might trust the other Gahan did not know, and so he kept to himself the knowledge of the plan that

he had forwarded to Floran and Val Dor by Ghek, but he assured the ancient taxidermist that if he were

sincere in his oftrepeated declaration that OTar should be denounced and superseded he would have his

"Your time shall come then, IGos," Gahan assured the other, "and if you have any party that thinks as you

do, prepare them for the eventuality that will succeed OTar's presumptuous attempt to wed the daughter of

The Warlord. Where shall I see you again, and when? I go now to speak with Tara, Princess of Helium."

"I like your boldness," said IGos; "but it will avail you naught. You will not speak with Tara, Princess of

Helium, though doubtless the blood of many Manatorians will drench the floors of the women's quarters

Gahan smiled. "I shall not be slain. Where and when shall we meet? But you may find me in OMai's

chamber at night. That seems the safest retreat in all Manator for an enemy of the jeddak in whose palace it

After the old man had left him Gahan made his way across the roof to the high tower, which appeared to have

been constructed of concrete and afterward elaborately carved, its entire surface being covered with intricate

designs cut deep into the stonelike material of which it was composed. Though wrought ages since, it was

but little weatherworn owing to the aridity of the Martian atmosphere, the infrequency of rains, and the

rarity of dust storms. To scale it, though, presented difficulties and danger that might have deterred the

bravest of menthat would, doubtless, have deterred Gahan, had he not felt that the life of the woman he

Removing his sandals and laying aside all of his harness and weapons other than a single belt supporting a

dagger, the Gatholian essayed the dangerous ascent. Clinging to the carvings with hands and feet he worked

himself slowly aloft, avoiding the windows and keeping upon the shadowy side of the tower, away from the

light of Thuria and Cluros. The tower rose some fifty feet above the roof of the adjacent part of the palace,

comprising five levels or floors with windows looking in every direction. A few of the windows were

balconied, and these more than the others he sought to avoid, although, it being now near the close of the

His progress was noiseless and he came at last, undetected, to the windows of the upper level. These, like

several of the others he had passed at lower levels, were heavily barred, so that there was no possibility of his

gaining ingress to the apartment where Tara was confined. Darkness hid the interior behind the first window

that he approached. The second opened upon a lighted chamber where he could see a guard sleeping at his

post outside a door. Here also was the top of the runway leading to the next level below. Passing still farther

around the tower Gahan approached another window, but now he clung to that side of the tower which ended

in a courtyard a hundred feet below and in a short time the light of Thuria would reach him. He realized that

he must hasten and he prayed that behind the window he now approached he would find Tara of Helium.

Coming to the opening he looked in upon a small chamber dimly lighted. In the center was a sleeping dais

upon which a human form lay beneath silks and furs. A bare arm, protruding from the coverings, lay exposed

against a black and yellow striped orluk skinan arm of wondrous beauty about which was clasped an

armlet that Gahan knew. No other creature was visible within the chamber, all of which was exposed to

Gahan's view. Pressing his face to the bars the Gatholian whispered her dear name. The girl stirred, but did

not awaken. Again he called, but this time louder. Tara sat up and looked about and at the same instant a huge

eunuch leaped to his feet from where he had been lying on the floor close by that side of the dais farthest

from Gahan. Simultaneously the brilliant light of Thuria flashed full upon the window where Gahan clung

Both sprang to their feet. The eunuch drew his sword and leaped for the window where the helpless Gahan

would have fallen an easy victim to a single thrust of the murderous weapon the fellow bore, had not Tara of

Helium leaped upon her guard dragging him back. At the same time she drew the slim dagger from its hiding

place in her harness and even as the eunuch sought to hurl her aside its keen point found his heart. Without a

"Turan, my chief!" she cried. "What awful risk is this you take to seek me here, where even your brave heart

"Be not so sure of that, heart of my heart," he replied. "While I bring but words to my love, they be the

forerunner of deeds, I hope, that will give her back to me forever. I feared that you might destroy yourself,

Tara of Helium, to escape the dishonor that OTar would do you, and so I came to give you new hope and to

beg that you live for me through whatever may transpire, in the knowledge that there is yet a way and that if

all goes well we shall be freed at last. Look for me in the throne room of OTar the night that he would wed

you. And now, how may we dispose of this fellow?" He pointed to the dead eunuch upon the floor.

"We need not concern ourselves about that," she replied. "None dares harm me for fear of the wrath of

OTarotherwise I should have been dead so soon as ever I entered this portion of the palace, for the

women hate me. OTar alone may punish me, and what cares OTar for the life of a eunuch? No, fear not

"One kiss," he said, "before I go, my princess," and the proud daughter of Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium,

and The Warlord of Barsoom whispered: "My chieftain!" and pressed her lips to the lips of Turan, the

THE silence of the tomb lay heavy about him as OTar, Jeddak of Manator, opened his eyes in the chamber

of OMai. Recollection of the frightful apparition that had confronted him swept to his consciousness. He

listened, but heard naught. Within the range of his vision there was nothing apparent that might cause alarm.

Slowly he lifted his head and looked about. Upon the floor beside the couch lay the thing that had at first

attracted his attention and his eyes closed in terror as he recognized it for what it was; but it moved not, nor

spoke. OTar opened his eyes again and rose to his feet. He was trembling in every limb. There was nothing

OTar backed slowly from the room. At last he gained the outer corridor. It was empty. He did not know that

it had emptied rapidly as the loud scream with which his own had mingled had broken upon the startled ears

of the warriors who had been sent to spy upon him. He looked at the timepiece set in a massive bracelet upon

his left forearm. The ninth zode was nearly half gone. OTar had lain for an hour unconscious. He had spent

an hour in the chamber of OMai and he was not dead! He had looked upon the face of his predecessor and

was still sane! He shook himself and smiled. Rapidly he subdued his rebelliously shaking nerves, so that by

the time he reached the tenanted portion of the palace he had gained control of himself. He walked with chin

high and something of a swagger. To the banquet hall he went, knowing that his chiefs awaited him there and

as he entered they arose and upon the faces of many were incredulity and amaze, for they had not thought to

see OTar the jeddak again after what the spies had told them of the horrid sounds issuing from the chamber

of OMai. Thankful was OTar that he had gone alone to that chamber of fright, for now no one could deny

EThas rushed forward to greet him, for EThas had seen black looks directed toward him as the tals slipped

"O brave and glorious jeddak!" cried the majordomo. "We rejoice at your safe return and beg of you the

"It was naught," exclaimed OTar. "I searched the chambers carefully and waited in hiding for the return of

the slave, Turan, if he were temporarily away; but he came not. He is not there and I doubt if he ever goes

"I heard hideous noises and saw phantom figures; but they fled before me so that never could I lay hold of

one, and I looked upon the face of OMai and I am not mad. I even rested in the chamber beside his corpse."

In a far corner of the room a bent and wrinkled old man hid a smile behind a golden goblet of strong brew.

"Come! Let us drink!" cried OTar and reached for the dagger, the pommel of which he was accustomed to

use to strike the gong which summoned slaves, but the dagger was not in its scabbard. OTar was puzzled.

He knew that it had been there just before he entered the chamber of OMai, for he had carefully felt of all

his weapons to make sure that none was missing. He seized instead a table utensil and struck the gong, and

when the slaves came bade them bring the strongest brew for OTar and his chiefs. Before the dawn broke

many were the expressions of admiration bellowed from drunken lipsadmiration for the courage of their

Came at last the day that OTar would take the Princess Tara of Helium to wife. For hours slaves prepared

the unwilling bride. Seven perfumed baths occupied three long and weary hours, then her whole body was

anointed with the oil of pimalia blossoms and massaged by the deft fingers of a slave from distant Dusar. Her

harness, all new and wrought for the occasion was of the white hide of the great white apes of Barsoom, hung

heavily with platinum and diamondsfairly encrusted with them. The glossy mass of her jet hair had been

built into a coiffure of stately and becoming grandeur, into which diamondheaded pins were stuck until the

But it was a sullen and defiant bride that they led from the high tower toward the throne room of OTar. The

corridors were filled with slaves and warriors, and the women of the palace and the city who had been

commanded to attend the ceremony. All the power and pride, wealth and beauty of Manator were there.

Slowly Tara, surrounded by a heavy guard of honor, moved along the marble corridors filled with people. At

the entrance to The Hall of Chiefs EThas, the majordomo, received her. The Hall was empty except for its

ranks of dead chieftains upon their dead mounts. Through this long chamber EThas escorted her to the

throne room which also was empty, the marriage ceremony in Manator differing from that of other countries

of Barsoom. Here the bride would await the groom at the foot of the steps leading to the throne. The guests

followed her in and took their places, leaving the central aisle from The Hall of Chiefs to the throne clear, for

up this OTar would approach his bride alone after a short solitary communion with the dead behind closed

The guests had all filed through The Hall of Chiefs; the doors at both ends had been closed. Presently those at

the lower end of the hall opened and OTar entered. His black harness was ornamented with rubies and gold;

his face was covered by a grotesque mask of the precious metal in which two enormous rubies were set for

eyes, though below them were narrow slits through which the wearer could see. His crown was a fillet

supporting carved feathers of the same metal as the mask. To the least detail his regalia was that demanded of

a royal bridegroom by the customs of Manator, and now in accordance with that same custom he came alone

to The Hall of Chiefs to receive the blessings and the council of the great ones of Manator who had preceded

As the doors at the lower end of the Hall closed behind him OTar the Jeddak stood alone with the great

dead. By the dictates of ages no mortal eye might look upon the scene enacted within that sacred chamber. As

the mighty of Manator respected the traditions of Manator, let us, too, respect those traditions of a proud and

sensitive people. Of what concern to us the happenings in that solemn chamber of the dead?

Five minutes passed. The bride stood silently at the foot of the throne. The guests spoke together in low

whispers until the room was filled with the hum of many voices. At length the doors leading into The Hall of

Chiefs swung open, and the resplendent bridegroom stood framed for a moment in the massive opening. A

hush fell upon the wedding guests. With measured and impressive step the groom approached the bride. Tara

felt the muscles of her heart contract with the apprehension that had been growing upon her as the coils of

Fate settled more closely about her and no sign came from Turan. Where was he? What, indeed, could he

accomplish now to save her? Surrounded by the power of OTar with never a friend among them, her

"I still live!" she whispered inwardly in a last brave attempt to combat the terrible hopelessness that was

overwhelming her, but her fingers stole for reassurance to the slim blade that she had managed to transfer,

undetected, from her old harness to the new. And now the groom was at her side and taking her hand was

leading her up the steps to the throne, before which they halted and stood facing the gathering below. Came

then, from the back of the room a procession headed by the high dignitary whose office it was to make these

two man and wife, and directly behind him a richlyclad youth bearing a silken pillow on which lay the

golden handcuffs connected by a short length of chainofgold with which the ceremony would be

concluded when the dignitary clasped a handcuff about the wrist of each symbolizing their indissoluble union

Would Turan's promised succor come too late? Tara listened to the long, monotonous intonation of the

wedding service. She heard the virtues of OTar extolled and the beauties of the bride. The moment was

approaching and still no sign of Turan. But what could he accomplish should he succeed in reaching the

The dignitary lifted the golden handcuffs from the pillow upon which they reposed. He blessed them and

reached for Tara's wrist. The time had come! The thing could go no further, for alive or dead, by all the laws

of Barsoom she would be the wife of OTar of Manator the instant the two were locked together. Even

should rescue come then or later she could never dissolve those bonds and Turan would be lost to her as

Her hand stole toward the hidden blade, but instantly the hand of the groom shot out and seized her wrist. He

had guessed her intention. Through the slits in the grotesque mask she could see his eyes upon her and she

guessed the sardonic smile that the mask hid. For a tense moment the two stood thus. The people below them

kept breathless silence for the play before the throne had not passed unnoticed.

Dramatic as was the moment it was suddenly rendered trebly so by the noisy opening of the doors leading to

The Hall of Chiefs. All eyes turned in the direction of the interruption to see another figure framed in the

massive openinga halfclad figure buckling the halfadjusted harness hurriedly in placethe figure of

"Stop!" he screamed, springing forward along the aisle toward the throne. "Seize the impostor!"

All eyes shot to the figure of the groom before the throne. They saw him raise his hand and snatch off the

golden mask, and Tara of Helium in wideeyed incredulity looked up into the face of Turan the panthan.

"Wait!" screamed another voice, old and cracked, as IGos, the ancient taxidermist, sprang from among the

At sight of the old man the warriors paused, for age is held in great veneration among the peoples of

Barsoom, as is true, perhaps, of all peoples whose religion is based to any extent upon ancestor worship. But

OTar gave no heed to him, leaping instead swiftly toward the throne. "Stop, coward!" cried IGos.

The people looked at the little old man in amazement. "Men of Manator," he cackled in his thin, shrill voice,

"Not until I have spoken," retorted IGos. "It is my right. If I fail my life is forfeitthat you all know and I

"It is his right," echoed the voices of a score of warriors in various parts of the chamber.

"That OTar is a coward and a liar I can prove," continued IGos. "He said that he faced bravely the horrors

of the chamber of OMai and saw nothing of the slave Turan. I was there, hiding behind the hangings, and I

saw all that transpired. Turan had been hiding in the chamber and was even then lying upon the couch of

OMai when OTar, trembling with fear, entered the room. Turan, disturbed, arose to a sitting position at the

"It is not a lie and I can prove it," retorted IGos. "Didst notice the night that he returned from the chambers

of OMai and was boasting of his exploit, that when he would summon slaves to bring wine he reached for

his dagger to strike the gong with its pommel as is always his custom? Didst note that, any of you? And that

he had no dagger? OTar, where is the dagger that you carried into the chamber of OMai? You do not

know; but I know. While you lay in the swoon of terror I took it from your harness and hid it among the

sleeping silks upon the couch of OMai. There it is even now, and if any doubt it let them go thither and

"But what of this impostor?" demanded one. "Shall he stand with impunity upon the throne of Manator whilst

"It is through his bravery that you have learned the cowardice of OTar," replied IGos, "and through him

"We will choose our own jeddak. Seize and slay the slave!" There were cries of approval from all parts of the

room. Gahan was listening intently, as though for some hopedfor sound. He saw the warriors approaching

the dais, where he now stood with drawn sword and with one arm about Tara of Helium. He wondered if his

plans had miscarried after all. If they had it would mean death for him, and he knew that Tara would take her

Several warriors were urging the necessity for sending at once to the chamber of OMai to search for the

dagger that would prove, if found, the cowardice of OTar. At last three consented to go. "You need not

fear," IGos assured them. "There is naught there to harm you. I have been there often of late and Turan the

slave has slept there for these many nights. The screams and moans that frightened you and OTar were

voiced by Turan to drive you away from his hiding place." Shamefacedly the three left the apartment to

And now the others turned their attention once more to Gahan. They approached the throne with bared

swords, but they came slowly for they had seen this slave upon the Field of Jetan and they knew the prowess

of his arm. They had reached the foot of the steps when from far above there sounded a deep boom, and

another, and another, and Turan smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps, after all, it had not come too

late. The warriors stopped and listened as did the others in the chamber. Now there broke upon their ears a

loud rattle of musketry and it all came from above as though men were fighting upon the roofs of the palace.

"Mind not the storm until you have slain the creature who dares stand upon the throne of your jeddak,"

Even as he ceased speaking the arras behind the throne parted and a warrior stepped forth upon the dais. An

exclamation of surprise and dismay broke from the lips of the warriors of OTar. "UThor!" they cried.

"It is no treason," said UThor in his deep voice. "I bring you a new jeddak for all of Manator. No lying

He stepped aside then and another emerged from the corridor hidden by the arras. It was AKor, and at sight

of him there rose exclamations of surprise, of pleasure, and of anger, as the various factions recognized the

coup d'etat that had been arranged so cunningly. Behind AKor came other warriors until the dais was

OTar was exhorting his warriors to attack, when a bloody and disheveled padwar burst into the chamber

through a side entrance. "The city has fallen!" he cried aloud. "The hordes of Manatos pour through The Gate

of Enemies. The slaves from Gathol have arisen and destroyed the palace guards. Great ships are landing

warriors upon the palace roof and in the Fields of Jetan. The men of Helium and Gathol are marching through

Manator. They cry aloud for the Princess of Helium and swear to leave Manator a blazing funeral pyre

consuming the bodies of all our people. The skies are black with ships. They come in great processions from

And then once more the doors from The Hall of Chiefs swung wide and the men of Manator turned to see

another figure standing upon the thresholda mighty figure of a man with white skin, and black hair, and

gray eyes that glittered now like points of steel and behind him The Hall of Chiefs was filled with fighting

men wearing the harness of far countries. Tara of Helium saw him and her heart leaped in exultation, for it

was John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, come at the head of a victorious host to the rescue of his daughter, and

The Warlord eyed the assemblage for a moment before he spoke. "Lay down your arms, men of Manator," he

said. "I see my daughter and that she lives, and if no harm has befallen her no blood need be shed. Your city

is filled with the fighting men of UThor, and those from Gathol and from Helium. The palace is in the hands

of the slaves from Gathol, beside a thousand of my own warriors who fill the halls and chambers surrounding

this room. The fate of your jeddak lies in your own hands. I have no wish to interfere. I come only for my

daughter and to free the slaves from Gathol. I have spoken!" and without waiting for a reply and as though

the room had been filled with his own people rather than a hostile band he strode up the broad main aisle

The chiefs of Manator were stunned. They looked to OTar; but he could only gaze helplessly about him as

the enemy entered from The Hall of Chiefs and circled the throne room until they had surrounded the entire

"We have captured three chiefs," he reported to The Warlord, "who beg that they be permitted to enter the

throne room and report to their fellows some matter which they say will decide the fate of Manator."

They came, heavily guarded, to the foot of the steps leading to the throne and there they stopped and the

leader turned toward the others of Manator and raising high his right hand displayed a jeweled dagger. "We

found it," he said, "even where IGos said that we would find it," and he looked menacingly upon OTar.

"AKor, jeddak of Manator!" cried a voice, and the cry was taken up by a hundred hoarsethroated warriors.

"There can be but one jeddak in Manator," said the chief who held the dagger; his eyes still fixed upon the

hapless OTar he crossed to where the latter stood and holding the dagger upon an outstretched palm

proffered it to the discredited ruler. "There can be but one jeddak in Manator," he repeated meaningly.

OTar took the proffered blade and drawing himself to his full height plunged it to the guard into his breast,

in that single act redeeming himself in the esteem of his people and winning an eternal place in The Hall of

As he fell all was silence in the great room, to be broken presently by the voice of UThor. "OTar is dead!"

he cried. "Let AKor rule until the chiefs of all Manator may be summoned to choose a new jeddak. What is

"Let AKor rule! AKor, Jeddak of Manator!" The cries filled the room and there was no dissenting voice.

AKor raised his sword for silence. "It is the will of AKor," he said, "and that of the Great Jed of Manatos,

and the commander of the fleet from Gathol, and of the illustrious John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, that

peace lie upon the city of Manator and so I decree that the men of Manator go forth and welcome the fighting

men of these our allies as guests and friends and show them the wonders of our ancient city and the

hospitality of Manator. I have spoken." And UThor and John Carter dismissed their warriors and bade them

accept the hospitality of Manator. As the room emptied Djor Kantos reached the side of Tara of Helium. The

girl's happiness at rescue had been blighted by sight of this man whom her virtuous heart told her she had

wronged. She dreaded the ordeal that lay before her and the dishonor that she must admit before she could

hope to be freed from the understanding that had for long existed between them. And now Djor Kantos

"Beautiful daughter of Helium," he said, "how may I tell you the thing that I must tell youof the dishonor

that I have all unwittingly done you? I can but throw myself upon your generosity for forgiveness; but if you

"What do you mean?" asked Tara of Helium. "What are you talking aboutwhy speak thus in riddles to one

Her heart already breaking! The outlook was anything but promising, and the young padwar wished that he

"Tara of Helium," he continued, "we all thought you dead. For a long year have you been gone from Helium.

I mourned you truly and then, less than a moon since, I wed with Olvia Marthis." He stopped and looked at

"Oh, foolish man!" cried Tara. "Nothing you could have done could have pleased me more. Djor Kantos, I

"I do not think that Olvia Marthis would mind," he said, his face now wreathed with smiles. As they spoke a

body of men had entered the throne room and approached the dais. They were tall men trapped in plain

harness, absolutely without ornamentation. Just as their leader reached the dais Tara had turned to Gahan,

"Djor Kantos," she said, "I bring you Turan the panthan, whose loyalty and bravery have won my love."

John Carter and the leader of the new come warriors, who were standing near, looked quickly at the little

group. The former smiled an inscrutable smile, the latter addressed the Princess of Helium. "'Turan the

panthan!'" he cried. "Know you not, fair daughter of Helium, that this man you call panthan is Gahan, Jed of

For just a moment Tara of Helium looked her surprise; and then she shrugged her beautiful shoulders as she

"Jed or panthan," she said; "what difference does it make what one's slave has been?" and she laughed

His story finished, John Carter rose from the chair opposite me, stretching his giant frame like some great

"You must go?" I cried, for I hated to see him leave and it seemed that he had been with me but a moment.

"The sky is already red beyond those beautiful hills of yours," he replied, "and it will soon be day."

"How was Gahan able to enter the throne room garbed in OTar's trappings?" I asked.

"It was simplefor Gahan of Gathol," replied The Warlord. "With the assistance of IGos he crept into The

Hall of Chiefs before the ceremony, while the throne room and Hall of Chiefs were vacated to receive the

bride. He came from the pits through the corridor that opened behind the arras at the rear of the throne, and

passing into The Hall of Chiefs took his place upon the back of a riderless thoat, whose warrior was in IGos'

repair room. When OTar entered and came near him Gahan fell upon him and struck him with the butt of a

heavy spear. He thought that he had killed him and was surprised when OTar appeared to denounce him."

"After leading Val Dor and Floran to Tara's disabled flier which they repaired, he accompanied them to

Gathol from where a message was sent to me in Helium. He then led a large party including AKor and

UThor from the roof, where our ships landed them, down a spiral runway into the palace and guided them to

the throne room. We took him back to Helium with us, where he still lives, with his single rykor which we

found all but starved to death in the pits of Manator. But come! No more questions now."

I accompanied him to the east arcade where the red dawn was glowing beyond the arches.

"I can scarce believe that it is really you," I exclaimed. "Tomorrow I will be sure that I have dreamed all

He laughed and drawing his sword scratched a rude cross upon the concrete of one of the arches.

FOR those who care for such things, and would like to try the game, I give the rules of Jetan as they were

given me by John Carter. By writing the names and moves of the various pieces on bits of paper and pasting

them on ordinary checkermen the game may be played quite as well as with the ornate pieces used upon

THE BOARD: Square board consisting of one hundred alternate black and orange squares.

THE PIECES: In order, as they stand upon the board in the first row, from left to right of each player.

Flier: 3 bladed propellor; 3 spaces diagonal in any direction or combination; and may jump intervening

Chief: Diadem with ten jewels; 3 spaces in any direction; straight or diagonal or combination.

Princess: Diadem with one jewel; same as Chief, except may jump intervening pieces.

Thoat: Mounted warrior 2 feathers; 2 spaces, one straight and one diagonal in any direction.

Panthans: (8 of them): 1 feather; 1 space, forward, side, or diagonal, but not backward.

The game is played with twenty black pieces by one player and twenty orange by his opponent, and is

presumed to have originally represented a battle between the Black race of the south and the Yellow race of

the north. On Mars the board is usually arranged so that the Black pieces are played from the south and the

The game is won when any piece is placed on same square with opponent's Princess, or a Chief takes a Chief.

The game is drawn when either Chief is taken by a piece other than the opposing Chief, or when both sides

are reduced to three pieces, or less, of equal value and the game is not won in the ensuing ten moves, five

The Princess may not move onto a threatened square, nor may she take an opposing piece. She is entitled to

Two pieces may not occupy the same square except in the final move of a game where the Princess is taken.

When a player, moving properly and in order, places one of his pieces upon a square occupied by an

opponent piece, the opponent piece is considered to have been killed and is removed from the game.

The moves explained. Straight moves mean due north, south, east, or west; diagonal moves mean northeast,

southeast, southwest, or northwest. A Dwar might move straight north three spaces, or north one space and

east two spaces, or any similar combination of straight moves, so long as he did not cross the same square

The first move may be decided in any way that is agreeable to both players; after the first game the winner of

the preceding game moves first if he chooses, or may instruct his opponent to make the first move.

Gambling: The Martians gamble at Jetan in several ways. Of course the outcome of the game indicates to

whom the main stake belongs; but they also put a price upon the head of each piece, according to its value,