A PRINCESS OF MARS
TARS TARKAS FINDS A FRIEND
About I passed low over a great city of Mars, and as I out across the plain I came full upon thousand green in a battle. Scarcely had I them than a of was at me, and with the almost of their my little was a wreck, to the ground.
I almost directly in the center of the combat, among who had not my approach so were they in life and death struggles. The men were on with long-swords, while an occasional from a on the of the would a who might for an himself from the mass.
As my machine among them I that it was or die, with good of in any event, and so I the ground with long-sword to myself as I could.
I a who was with three antagonists, and as I at his face, with the light of battle, I Tars Tarkas the Thark. He did not see me, as I was a him, and just then the three him, and I as Warhoons, simultaneously. The quick work of one of them, but in for another he over a him and was and at the of his in an instant. Quick as they were upon him, and Tars Tarkas would have been to his fathers in order had I not his and his adversaries. I had for one of them when the Thark his and settled the other.
He gave me one look, and a touched his lip as, my shoulder, he said,
"I would you, John Carter, but there is no other upon Barsoom who would have done what you have for me. I think I have learned that there is such a thing as friendship, my friend."
He said no more, was there opportunity, for the Warhoons were in about us, and together we fought, to shoulder, all that long, afternoon, until the of and the of the Warhoon upon their thoats, and into the darkness.
Ten thousand men had been in that struggle, and upon the of three thousand dead. Neither asked or gave quarter, did they attempt to take prisoners.
On our return to the city after the we had gone directly to Tars Tarkas' quarters, where I was left alone while the the which an engagement.
As I sat the return of the green I something move in an apartment, and as I up there upon me a and which me upon the of and upon which I had been reclining. It was Woola—faithful, Woola. He had his way to Thark and, as Tars Tarkas later told me, had gone to my where he had taken up his and watch for my return.
"Tal Hajus that you are here, John Carter," said Tars Tarkas, on his return from the jeddak's quarters; "Sarkoja saw and you as we were returning. Tal Hajus has ordered me to you him tonight. I have ten thoats, John Carter; you may take your choice from among them, and I will you to the nearest that leads to Helium. Tars Tarkas may be a green warrior, but he can be a friend as well. Come, we must start."
"And when you return, Tars Tarkas?" I asked.
"The wild calots, possibly, or worse," he replied. "Unless I should to have the opportunity I have so long waited of with Tal Hajus."
"We will stay, Tars Tarkas, and see Tal Hajus tonight. You shall not yourself, and it may be that tonight you can have the you wait."
He strenuously, saying that Tal Hajus often into wild of at the of the I had him, and that if he his hands upon me I would be to the most tortures.
While we were I to Tars Tarkas the which Sola had told me that night upon the sea the to Thark.
He said but little, but the great of his in and in at of the which had been upon the only thing he had loved in all his cold, cruel, terrible existence.
He no longer when I that we go Tal Hajus, only saying that he would like to speak to Sarkoja first. At his I him to her quarters, and the look of she upon me was almost for any this return to Thark might me.
"Sarkoja," said Tars Tarkas, "forty years ago you were in about the and death of a woman named Gozava. I have just that the who loved that woman has learned of your part in the transaction. He may not kill you, Sarkoja, it is not our custom, but there is nothing to prevent him one end of a about your and the other end to a wild thoat, to test your to and help our race. Having that he would do this on the morrow, I it only right to you, for I am a just man. The river Iss is but a pilgrimage, Sarkoja. Come, John Carter."
The next Sarkoja was gone, was she after.
In we to the jeddak's palace, where we were to his presence; in fact, he wait to see me and was upon his at the entrance as I came in.
"Strap him to that pillar," he shrieked. "We shall see who it is the Tal Hajus. Heat the irons; with my own hands I shall the from his that he may not my person with his gaze."
"Chieftains of Thark," I cried, to the assembled and Tal Hajus, "I have been a among you, and today I have for Thark to with her warrior. You me, at least, a hearing. I have that much today. You to be a just people—"
"Silence," Tal Hajus. "Gag the and him as I command."
"Justice, Tal Hajus," Lorquas Ptomel. "Who are you to set the of among the Tharks."
"Yes, justice!" a dozen voices, and so, while Tal Hajus and frothed, I continued.
"You are a people and you love bravery, but where was your the today? I did not see him in the thick of battle; he was not there. He rends and little children in his lair, but how has one of you him with men? Why, I, a him, him with a single of my fist. Is it of such that the Tharks fashion their jeddaks? There me now a great Thark, a and a man. Chieftains, how sounds, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark?"
A of deep-toned this suggestion.
"It but for this to command, and Tal Hajus must prove his to rule. Were he a man he would Tars Tarkas to combat, for he not love him, but Tal Hajus is afraid; Tal Hajus, your jeddak, is a coward. With my hands I kill him, and he it."
After I there was silence, as all were upon Tal Hajus. He did not speak or move, but the green of his livid, and the upon his lips.
"Tal Hajus," said Lorquas Ptomel in a cold, hard voice, "never in my long life have I a of the Tharks so humiliated. There be but one answer to this arraignment. We wait it." And still Tal Hajus as though petrified.
"Chieftains," Lorquas Ptomel, "shall the jeddak, Tal Hajus, prove his to over Tars Tarkas?"
There were twenty about the rostrum, and twenty high in assent.
There was no alternative. That was final, and so Tal Hajus his long-sword and to meet Tars Tarkas.
The was soon over, and, with his upon the of the monster, Tars Tarkas among the Tharks.
His act was to make me a full-fledged with the rank I had by my the of my among them.
Seeing the of the toward Tars Tarkas, as well as toward me, I the opportunity to them in my against Zodanga. I told Tars Tarkas the of my adventures, and in a had to him the I had in mind.
"John Carter has a proposal," he said, the council, "which meets with my sanction. I shall put it to you briefly. Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium, who was our prisoner, is now by the of Zodanga, son she must to save her country from at the hands of the Zodangan forces.
"John Carter that we her and return her to Helium. The of Zodanga would be magnificent, and I have often that had we an with the people of Helium we obtain of to permit us to the size and of our hatchings, and thus among the green men of all Barsoom. What say you?"
It was a to fight, an opportunity to loot, and they rose to the as a to a fly.
For Tharks they were enthusiastic, and another hour had passed twenty were across sea to call the together for the expedition.
In three days we were on the toward Zodanga, one hundred thousand strong, as Tars Tarkas had been able to the services of three smaller on the promise of the great of Zodanga.
At the of the I the great Thark while at the of my my Woola.
We by night, our so that we the day at where, to the beasts, we were all the hours. On the Tars Tarkas, through his ability and statesmanship, fifty thousand more from hordes, so that, ten days after we set out we at midnight the great city of Zodanga, one hundred and fifty thousand strong.
The and of this of green was to ten times their number of red men. Never in the history of Barsoom, Tars Tarkas told me, had such a of green to together. It was a to keep a of among them, and it was a to me that he got them to the city without a among themselves.
But as we Zodanga their personal were by their for the red men, and for the Zodangans, who had for years a ruthless of against the green men, special attention toward their incubators.
Now that we were Zodanga the of entry to the city upon me, and Tars Tarkas to his in two out of of the city, with each opposite a large gateway, I took twenty and approached one of the small gates that the at intervals. These gates have no regular guard, but are by sentries, who the that the city just the as our police their beats.
The of Zodanga are seventy-five in and fifty thick. They are of of carborundum, and the of entering the city seemed, to my of green warriors, an impossibility. The who had been to me were of one of the smaller hordes, and therefore did not know me.
Placing three of them with their to the and arms locked, I two more to to their shoulders, and a I ordered to climb upon the of the upper two. The of the over from the ground.
In this way, with ten warriors, I a series of three steps from the ground to the of the man. Then starting from a them I ran up from one to the next, and with a final from the of the I the top of the great and myself to its expanse. After me I six lengths of leather from an equal number of my warriors. These lengths we had together, and one end to the I the other end over the opposite of the toward the below. No one was in sight, so, myself to the end of my leather strap, I the thirty to the below.
I had learned from Kantos Kan the of opening these gates, and in another moment my twenty great men the city of Zodanga.
I to my that I had entered at the of the grounds. The itself in the a of light, and on the I to lead a of directly the itself, while the of the great was the of the soldiery.
Dispatching one of my men to Tars Tarkas for a detail of fifty Tharks, with word of my intentions, I ordered ten to and open one of the great gates while with the nine I took the other. We were to do our work quietly, no were to be and no until I had the with my fifty Tharks. Our plans to perfection. The two we met were to their fathers upon the banks of the sea of Korus, and the at gates them in silence.
