A PRINCESS OF MARS
LOVE-MAKING ON MARS
Following the with the air ships, the the city for days, the until they reasonably that the ships would not return; for to be on the open with a of and children was from the of so a people as the green Martians.
During our period of inactivity, Tars Tarkas had me in many of the and of familiar to the Tharks, lessons in and the great which the warriors. These creatures, which are as thoats, are as and as their masters, but when once are for the purposes of the green Martians.
Two of these animals had to me from the metal I wore, and in a time I them as well as the native warriors. The method was not at all complicated. If the did not respond with to the of their they were a the ears with the of a pistol, and if they this was until the either were subdued, or had their riders.
In the case it a life and death the man and the beast. If the were quick with his pistol he might live to again, though upon some other beast; if not, his and was up by his and in with Tharkian custom.
My with Woola me to attempt the of in my of my thoats. First I them that they not me, and them the ears to upon them my authority and mastery. Then, by degrees, I their in much the same manner as I had times with my many mounts. I was a good hand with animals, and by inclination, as well as it more and satisfactory results, I was always and in my with the orders. I take a life, if necessary, with less than that of a poor, unreasoning, brute.
In the of a days my were the wonder of the entire community. They would me like dogs, their great against my in of affection, and respond to my every with an and which the Martian to to me the of some power unknown on Mars.
"How have you them?" asked Tars Tarkas one afternoon, when he had me my arm the great of one of my which had a piece of two of his teeth while upon the moss-like our yard.
"By kindness," I replied. "You see, Tars Tarkas, the have their value, to a warrior. In the of as well as upon the I know that my will my every command, and therefore my is enhanced, and I am a for the that I am a master. Your other would it to the of themselves as well as of the to my methods in this respect. Only a days since you, yourself, told me that these great brutes, by the of their tempers, often were the means of victory into defeat, since, at a moment, they might elect to and their riders."
"Show me how you these results," was Tars Tarkas' only rejoinder.
And so I as as I the entire method of I had with my beasts, and later he had me repeat it Lorquas Ptomel and the assembled warriors. That moment marked the of a new for the thoats, and I left the of Lorquas Ptomel I had the of a of as and as one might to see. The on the and of the movements was so that Lorquas Ptomel presented me with a of gold from his own leg, as a of his of my service to the horde.
On the seventh day the with the air we again took up the toward Thark, all of another attack being by Lorquas Ptomel.
During the days just our I had but little of Dejah Thoris, as I had been very by Tars Tarkas with my lessons in the art of Martian warfare, as well as in the of my thoats. The times I had visited her she had been absent, walking upon the with Sola, or the in the near of the plaza. I had them against from the for of the great white apes, I was only too well with. However, since Woola them on all their excursions, and as Sola was well armed, there was little for fear.
On the our I saw them along one of the great which lead into the from the east. I to meet them, and telling Sola that I would take the for Dejah Thoris' safekeeping, I her to return to her on some errand. I liked and Sola, but for some I to be alone with Dejah Thoris, who to me all that I had left upon Earth in and companionship. There of us as powerful as though we had been under the same than upon different planets, through space some forty-eight miles apart.
That she my in this respect I was positive, for on my approach the look of left her sweet to be replaced by a of welcome, as she her little right hand upon my left in true red Martian salute.
"Sarkoja told Sola that you had a true Thark," she said, "and that I would now see no more of you than of any of the other warriors."
"Sarkoja is a of the magnitude," I replied, "notwithstanding the proud of the Tharks to verity."
Dejah Thoris laughed.
"I that though you a of the you would not to be my friend; 'A may his metal, but not his heart,' as the saying is upon Barsoom."
"I think they have been trying to keep us apart," she continued, "for you have been off one of the older of Tars Tarkas' has always to up some to Sola and me out of sight. They have had me in the the helping them mix their radium powder, and make their terrible projectiles. You know that these have to be by light, as to always results in an explosion. You have noticed that their when they an object? Well, the opaque, is by the impact, a cylinder, almost solid, in the end of which is a minute particle of radium powder. The moment the sunlight, though diffused, this it with a which nothing can withstand. If you a night you will note the of these explosions, while the the will be at with the of the night. As a rule, however, non-exploding are used at night." [I have used the word radium in this in the light of on Earth I it to be a mixture of which radium is the base. In Captain Carter's it is mentioned always by the name used in the language of Helium and is in which it would be difficult and to reproduce.]
While I was much in Dejah Thoris' of this to Martian warfare, I was more by the problem of their of her. That they were her away from me was not a for surprise, but that they should her to and labor me with rage.
"Have they you to and ignominy, Dejah Thoris?" I asked, the blood of my in my as I her reply.
"Only in little ways, John Carter," she answered. "Nothing that can me my pride. They know that I am the of ten thousand jeddaks, that I my without a to the of the great waterway, and they, who do not know their own mothers, are of me. At they their fates, and so their on me who for they have not, and for all they most and can attain. Let us them, my chieftain, for though we die at their hands we can them pity, since we are than they and they know it."
Had I the of those "my chieftain," as by a red Martian woman to a man, I should have had the of my life, but I did not know at that time, for many months thereafter. Yes, I still had much to learn upon Barsoom.
"I it is the part of that we to our with as good as possible, Dejah Thoris; but I hope, nevertheless, that I may be present the next time that any Martian, green, red, pink, or violet, has the to so much as on you, my princess."
Dejah Thoris her at my last words, and upon me with and breath, and then, with an odd little laugh, which roguish to the of her mouth, she her and cried:
"What a child! A great and yet a little child."
"What have I done now?" I asked, in perplexity.
"Some day you shall know, John Carter, if we live; but I may not tell you. And I, the of Mors Kajak, son of Tardos Mors, have without anger," she in conclusion.
Then she out again into one of her gay, happy, laughing moods; joking with me on my as a Thark as with my soft and natural kindliness.
"I that should you an enemy you would take him home and nurse him to health," she laughed.
"That is what we do on Earth," I answered. "At least among men."
This her laugh again. She not it, for, with all her and sweetness, she was still a Martian, and to a Martian the only good enemy is a enemy; for every means so much more to those who live.
I was very to know what I had said or done to her so much a moment and so I to her to me.
"No," she exclaimed, "it is that you have said it and that I have listened. And when you learn, John Carter, and if I be dead, as likely I shall be the moon has Barsoom another twelve times, that I and that I—smiled."
It was all Greek to me, but the more I her to the more positive her of my request, and, so, in very hopelessness, I desisted.
Day had now away to night and as we along the great by the two of Barsoom, and with Earth looking upon us out of her green eye, it that we were alone in the universe, and I, at least, was that it should be so.
The of the Martian night was upon us, and my I them across the of Dejah Thoris. As my arm rested for an upon her I a pass through every of my being such as with no other had produced; and it to me that she had toward me, but of that I was not sure. Only I that as my arm rested there across her longer than the act of the she did not away, did she speak. And so, in silence, we walked the surface of a world, but in the of one of us at least had been that which is oldest, yet new.
I loved Dejah Thoris. The touch of my arm upon her had spoken to me in I would not mistake, and I that I had loved her since the moment that my had met hers that time in the of the city of Korad.
