A PRINCESS OF MARS
ON THE ARIZONA HILLS
I am a very old man; how old I do not know. Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more; but I cannot tell I have as other men, do I any childhood. So as I can I have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today as I did years and more ago, and yet I that I cannot go on forever; that some day I shall die the death from which there is no resurrection. I do not know why I should death, I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet I have the same of it as you who have died, and it is of this terror of death, I believe, that I am so of my mortality.
And of this I have to the of the of my life and of my death. I cannot the phenomena; I can only set here in the of an ordinary soldier of a of the events that me the ten years that my in an Arizona cave.
I have told this story, shall man see this until after I have passed over for eternity. I know that the mind will not what it cannot grasp, and so I do not purpose being by the public, the pulpit, and the press, and up as a when I am but telling the which some day science will substantiate. Possibly the which I upon Mars, and the knowledge which I can set in this chronicle, will in an of the of our sister planet; to you, but no longer to me.
My name is John Carter; I am as Captain Jack Carter of Virginia. At the close of the Civil War I myself of hundred thousand (Confederate) and a captain's in the arm of an army which no longer existed; the of a which had with the of the South. Masterless, penniless, and with my only means of livelihood, fighting, gone, I to work my way to the and attempt to my in a search for gold.
I nearly a year in company with another Confederate officer, Captain James K. Powell of Richmond. We were fortunate, for late in the winter of 1865, after many and privations, we the most gold-bearing that our had pictured. Powell, who was a by education, that we had over a of in a over three months.
As our was in the we that one of us must return to civilization, purchase the necessary and return with a of men properly to work the mine.
As Powell was familiar with the country, as well as with the of we that it would be best for him to make the trip. It was that I was to our against the possibility of its being jumped by some prospector.
On March 3, 1866, Powell and I packed his on two of our burros, and me good-bye he his horse, and started the toward the valley, across which the stage of his journey.
The of Powell's was, like nearly all Arizona mornings, clear and beautiful; I see him and his little pack animals their way the toward the valley, and all the I would catch occasional of them as they a or came out upon a level plateau. My last of Powell was about three in the as he entered the of the range on the opposite of the valley.
Some hour later I to across the and was much to note three little in about the same place I had last my friend and his two pack animals. I am not to needless worrying, but the more I to myself that all was well with Powell, and that the I had on his were or wild horses, the less I was able to myself.
Since we had entered the we had not a Indian, and we had, therefore, careless in the extreme, and were to the we had of the great numbers of these that were to the trails, taking their in and of every white party which into their clutches.
Powell, I knew, was well and, further, an Indian fighter; but I too had and for years among the Sioux in the North, and I that his were small against a party of Apaches. Finally I the no longer, and, myself with my two Colt revolvers and a carbine, I two belts of about me and my horse, started the taken by Powell in the morning.
As soon as I level ground I my into a and this, where the going permitted, until, close upon dusk, I the point where other joined those of Powell. They were the of ponies, three of them, and the had been galloping.
I until, down, I was to the of the moon, and an opportunity to on the question of the of my chase. Possibly I had up dangers, like some old housewife, and when I should catch up with Powell would a good laugh for my pains. However, I am not to sensitiveness, and the of a of duty, it may lead, has always been a of with me my life; which may account for the upon me by three republics and the and of an old and powerful and kings, in service my has been red many a time.
About nine o'clock the moon was for me to on my way and I had no in the at a fast walk, and in some places at a until, about midnight, I the water where Powell had to camp. I came upon the spot unexpectedly, it deserted, with no of having been as a camp.
I was to note that the of the horsemen, for such I was now they must be, after Powell with only a stop at the for water; and always at the same of speed as his.
I was positive now that the were Apaches and that they to Powell alive for the of the torture, so I my at a most pace, against that I would catch up with the red rascals they him.
Further was cut by the report of two ahead of me. I that Powell would need me now if ever, and I my to his speed up the narrow and difficult trail.
I had ahead for a mile or more without sounds, when the onto a small, open near the of the pass. I had passed through a narrow, just entering upon this table land, and the which met my me with and dismay.
The little of level land was white with Indian tepees, and there were a thousand red around some object near the center of the camp. Their attention was so to this point of that they did not notice me, and I easily have into the dark of the and my with perfect safety. The fact, however, that this did not to me until the day removes any possible right to a to to which the of this might possibly otherwise me.
I do not that I am of the which heroes, because, in all of the hundreds of that my have me to with death, I cannot a single one where any step to that I took to me until many hours later. My mind is so that I am into the path of without to processes. However that may be, I have that is not with me.
In this I was, of course, positive that Powell was the center of attraction, but I or I do not know, but an from the moment the upon my view I had out my revolvers and was upon the entire army of warriors, rapidly, and at the top of my lungs. Singlehanded, I not have tactics, for the red men, by that not less than a of regulars was upon them, and in every direction for their bows, arrows, and rifles.
The view which their routing me with and with rage. Under the clear rays of the Arizona moon Powell, his with the of the braves. That he was already I not but be convinced, and yet I would have saved his from at the hands of the Apaches as as I would have saved the man himself from death.
Riding close to him I from the saddle, and his him up across the of my mount. A me that to return by the way I had come would be more than to continue across the plateau, so, to my beast, I a for the opening to the pass which I on the of the table land.
The Indians had by this time that I was alone and I was with imprecations, arrows, and balls. The that it is difficult to anything but by moonlight, that they were by the and manner of my advent, and that I was a moving saved me from the of the enemy and permitted me to the of the an be organized.
My was traveling as I that I had less knowledge of the exact of the to the pass than he, and thus it that he entered a which to the of the range and not to the pass which I had would me to the and to safety. It is probable, however, that to this I my life and the and which me the ten years.
My knowledge that I was on the came when I the of the and off to my left.
I then that they had passed to the left of the at the of the plateau, to the right of which my had me and the of Powell.
I on a little level the and to my left, and saw the party of around the point of a peak.
I the Indians would soon that they were on the and that the search for me would be in the right direction as soon as they my tracks.
I had gone but a when what to be an excellent opened up around the of a high cliff. The was level and and and in the direction I to go. The for hundred on my right, and on my left was an equal and nearly to the of a ravine.
I had this for a hundred yards when a turn to the right me to the mouth of a large cave. The opening was about four in and three to four wide, and at this opening the ended.
It was now morning, and, with the of which is a of Arizona, it had almost without warning.
Dismounting, I Powell upon the ground, but the most failed to the of life. I water from my his lips, his and his hands, over him for the part of an hour in the of the that I him to be dead.
I was very of Powell; he was a man in every respect; a southern gentleman; a and true friend; and it was with a of the that I gave up my at resuscitation.
Leaving Powell's where it on the I into the to reconnoiter. I a large chamber, possibly a hundred in and thirty or in height; a and well-worn floor, and many other that the had, at some period, been inhabited. The of the was so in that I not there were openings into other or not.
As I was my I to a over me which I to the of my long and ride, and the from the of the and the pursuit. I safe in my present as I that one man the to the against an army.
I soon so that I the to myself on the of the for a moments' rest, but I that this would do, as it would death at the hands of my red friends, who might be upon me at any moment. With an I started toward the opening of the only to against a wall, and from there upon the floor.
