A PRINCESS OF MARS
WITH DEJAH THORIS
As we the open the two female who had been to watch over Dejah Thoris up and as though to assume of her once more. The child against me and I her two little hands over my arm. Waving the away, I them that Sola would the hereafter, and I Sarkoja that any more of her upon Dejah Thoris would result in Sarkoja's and painful demise.
My threat was and resulted in more than good to Dejah Thoris, for, as I learned later, men do not kill upon Mars, women, men. So Sarkoja gave us an look and to up against us.
I soon Sola and to her that I her to Dejah Thoris as she had me; that I her to other where they would not be by Sarkoja, and I her that I myself would take up my among the men.
Sola at the which were in my hand and across my shoulder.
"You are a great now, John Carter," she said, "and I must do your bidding, though I am to do it under any circumstances. The man metal you was young, but he was a great warrior, and had by his and kills his way close to the rank of Tars Tarkas, who, as you know, is second to Lorquas Ptomel only. You are eleventh, there are but ten in this who rank you in prowess."
"And if I should kill Lorquas Ptomel?" I asked.
"You would be first, John Carter; but you may only win that by the will of the entire that Lorquas Ptomel meet you in combat, or should he attack you, you may kill him in self-defense, and thus win place."
I laughed, and the subject. I had no particular to kill Lorquas Ptomel, and less to be a among the Tharks.
I Sola and Dejah Thoris in a search for new quarters, which we in a nearer the audience and of more than our habitation. We also in this sleeping with of metal from gold from the marble ceilings. The of the was most elaborate, and, the in the other I had examined, many in the compositions. These were of people like myself, and of a much color than Dejah Thoris. They were in graceful, robes, with metal and jewels, and their was of a and reddish bronze. The men were and only a arms. The for the most part, a fair-skinned, fair-haired people at play.
Dejah Thoris her hands with an of as she upon these of art, by a people long extinct; while Sola, on the other hand, did not see them.
We to use this room, on the second and the plaza, for Dejah Thoris and Sola, and another room and in the for the cooking and supplies. I then Sola to the and such food and as she might need, telling her that I would Dejah Thoris until her return.
As Sola Dejah Thoris to me with a smile.
"And whereto, then, would your should you her, unless it was to you and your protection, and ask your for the she has against you these past days?"
"You are right," I answered, "there is no for either of us unless we go together."
"I your challenge to the you call Tars Tarkas, and I think I your position among these people, but what I cannot is your that you are not of Barsoom."
"In the name of my ancestor, then," she continued, "where may you be from? You are like my people, and yet so unlike. You speak my language, and yet I you tell Tars Tarkas that you had but learned it recently. All Barsoomians speak the same from the ice-clad south to the ice-clad north, though their differ. Only in the Dor, where the river Iss into the sea of Korus, is there to be a different language spoken, and, in the of our ancestors, there is no record of a Barsoomian returning up the river Iss, from the of Korus in the of Dor. Do not tell me that you have thus returned! They would kill you upon the surface of Barsoom if that were true; tell me it is not!"
Her were with a strange, light; her voice was pleading, and her little hands, up upon my breast, were pressed against me as though to a from my very heart.
"I do not know your customs, Dejah Thoris, but in my own Virginia a not to save himself; I am not of Dor; I have the Iss; the sea of Korus is still lost, so as I am concerned. Do you me?"
And then it me that I was very that she should me. It was not that I the results which would a that I had returned from the Barsoomian or hell, or it was. Why was it, then! Why should I what she thought? I looked at her; her upturned, and her opening up the very of her soul; and as my met hers I why, and—I shuddered.
A of to her; she away from me with a sigh, and with her earnest, up to mine, she whispered: "I you, John Carter; I do not know what a 'gentleman' is, have I of Virginia; but on Barsoom no man lies; if he not wish to speak the truth he is silent. Where is this Virginia, your country, John Carter?" she asked, and it that this name of my land had more than as it from those perfect on that far-gone day.
"I am of another world," I answered, "the great Earth, which revolves about our common sun and next the of your Barsoom, which we know as Mars. How I came here I cannot tell you, for I do not know; but here I am, and since my presence has permitted me to Dejah Thoris I am that I am here."
She at me with eyes, long and questioningly. That it was difficult to my I well knew, I that she would do so much I her and respect. I would much not have told her anything of my antecedents, but no man look into the of those and her behest.
Finally she smiled, and, rising, said: "I shall have to though I cannot understand. I can that you are not of the Barsoom of today; you are like us, yet different—but why should I trouble my with such a problem, when my tells me that I I wish to believe!"
It was good logic, good, earthly, logic, and if it satisfied her I no in it. As a of it was about the only of logic that be to upon my problem. We into a then, and many questions on each side. She was to learn of the of my people and a knowledge of events on Earth. When I questioned her closely on this with she laughed, and out:
"Why, every boy on Barsoom the geography, and much the and flora, as well as the history of your as well as of his own. Can we not see which takes place upon Earth, as you call it; is it not there in the in plain sight?"
This me, I must confess, as much as my had her; and I told her so. She then in the her people had used and been for ages, which permit them to upon a screen a perfect image of what is upon any and upon many of the stars. These pictures are so perfect in detail that, when and enlarged, objects no than a of may be recognized. I afterward, in Helium, saw many of these pictures, as well as the which produced them.
"If, then, you are so familiar with things," I asked, "why is it that you do not me as with the of that planet?"
She again as one might in of a child.
"Because, John Carter," she replied, "nearly every and star having at all those of Barsoom, of animal life almost with you and me; and, further, Earth men, almost without exception, their with strange, pieces of cloth, and their with the purpose of which we have been unable to conceive; while you, when by the Tharkian warriors, were and unadorned.
"The that you no is a proof of your un-Barsoomian origin, while the of might a as to your earthliness."
I then the of my from the Earth, that my there in all the, to her, of dwellers. At this point Sola returned with our and her Martian protege, who, of course, would have to the with them.
Sola asked us if we had had a visitor her absence, and much when we answered in the negative. It that as she had the approach to the upper where our were located, she had met Sarkoja descending. We that she must have been eavesdropping, but as we nothing of that had passed us we the as of little consequence, promising ourselves to be to the in the future.
Dejah Thoris and I then to the and of the of the we were occupying. She told me that these people had over a hundred thousand years before. They were the early of her race, but had mixed with the other great of early Martians, who were very dark, almost black, and also with the reddish yellow which had at the same time.
These three great of the higher Martians had been into a as the up of the Martian had them to the and always areas, and to themselves, under new of life, against the wild of green men.
Ages of close relationship and had resulted in the of red men, of which Dejah Thoris was a and daughter. During the of and their own races, as well as with the green men, and they had themselves to the conditions, much of the high and many of the of the fair-haired Martians had lost; but the red of today has a point where it that it has up in new and in a more practical for all that with the Barsoomians, the ages.
These Martians had been a and race, but the of those trying centuries of readjustment to new conditions, not only did their and production entirely, but all their archives, records, and were lost.
Dejah Thoris related many and this of and people. She said that the city in which we were was to have been a center of and as Korad. It had been upon a beautiful, natural harbor, by hills. The little on the west of the city, she explained, was all that of the harbor, while the pass through the to the old sea had been the through which the passed up to the city's gates.
The of the were with just such cities, and ones, in numbers, were to be toward the center of the oceans, as the people had it necessary to the receding until had upon them their salvation, the so-called Martian canals.
We had been so in of the and in our that it was late in the we it. We were to a of our present by a messenger a from Lorquas Ptomel me to appear him forthwith. Bidding Dejah Thoris and Sola farewell, and Woola to on guard, I to the audience chamber, where I Lorquas Ptomel and Tars Tarkas seated upon the rostrum.
