A PRINCESS OF MARS

FROM JOY TO DEATH

For ten days the of Thark and their wild were and entertained, and, then, with presents and by ten thousand soldiers of Helium by Mors Kajak, they started on the return to their own lands. The of Helium with a small party of them all the way to Thark to more closely the new of peace and friendship.

Sola also Tars Tarkas, her father, who all his had her as his daughter.

Three later, Mors Kajak and his officers, by Tars Tarkas and Sola, returned upon a that had been to Thark to them in time for the which Dejah Thoris and John Carter one.

For nine years I in the and in the of Helium as a of the house of Tardos Mors. The people to of upon me, and no day passed that did not some new proof of their love for my princess, the Dejah Thoris.

In a upon the of our a snow-white egg. For nearly five years ten soldiers of the jeddak's Guard had over it, and not a day passed when I was in the city that Dejah Thoris and I did not hand in hand our little for the future, when the should break.

Vivid in my memory is the picture of the last night as we sat there talking in low of the which had our together and of this wonder which was to our and our hopes.

In the we saw the bright-white light of an airship, but we no special to so common a sight. Like a of it raced toward Helium until its very speed the unusual.

Flashing the which it a for the jeddak, it the which must it to the docks.

Ten minutes after it touched at the a message called me to the chamber, which I with the members of that body.

On the of the was Tardos Mors, and with tense-drawn face. When all were in their seats he toward us.

"This morning," he said, "word the governments of Barsoom that the of the plant had no report for two days, had almost calls upon him from a score of a of response.

"The of the other nations asked us to take the in hand and the to the plant. All day a thousand have been for him until just now one of them returns his body, which was in the his house by some assassin.

"I do not need to tell you what this means to Barsoom. It would take months to those walls, in the work has already commenced, and there would be little to were the engine of the plant to as it should and as they all have for hundreds of years; but the worst, we fear, has happened. The a air pressure on all parts of Barsoom—the engine has stopped."

"My gentlemen," he concluded, "we have at best three days to live."

There was for minutes, and then a arose, and with his high above his Tardos Mors.

"The men of Helium have themselves that they have Barsoom how a nation of red men should live, now is our opportunity to them how they should die. Let us go about our as though a thousand useful years still us."

The with and as there was nothing to do than to the of the people by our example we our with upon our and at our hearts.

When I returned to my I that the already had Dejah Thoris, so I told her all that I had heard.

"We have been very happy, John Carter," she said, "and I thank overtakes us that it us to die together."

The next two days no in the supply of air, but on the of the third day difficult at the higher of the rooftops. The and of Helium were with people. All had ceased. For the most part the people looked into the of their doom. Here and there, however, men and gave way to grief.

Toward the middle of the day many of the to and an hour the people of Barsoom were by thousands into the which death by asphyxiation.

Dejah Thoris and I with the other members of the family had in a garden an of the palace. We in low tones, when we at all, as the of the of death over us. Even Woola to the weight of the calamity, for he pressed close to Dejah Thoris and to me, pitifully.

The little had been from the of our at of Dejah Thoris and she sat upon the unknown little life that now she would know.

As it was difficult to breathe Tardos Mors arose, saying,

"Let us each other farewell. The days of the of Barsoom are over. Tomorrow's sun will look upon a world which through all must go through the not by memories. It is the end."

He and the of his family, and his hand upon the of the men.

As I sadly from him my upon Dejah Thoris. Her was upon her breast, to all she was lifeless. With a I to her and her in my arms.

Her opened and looked into mine.

"Kiss me, John Carter," she murmured. "I love you! I love you! It is that we must be who were just starting upon a life of love and happiness."

As I pressed her dear to mine the old of power and authority rose in me. The blood of Virginia to life in my veins.

"It shall not be, my princess," I cried. "There is, there must be some way, and John Carter, who has his way through a world for love of you, will it."

And with my there above the of my mind a series of nine long sounds. Like a of in the their full upon me—the key to the three great doors of the plant!

Turning toward Tardos Mors as I still my love to my I cried.

"A flier, Jeddak! Quick! Order your to the top. I can save Barsoom yet."

He did not wait to question, but in an a was to the nearest and though the air was thin and almost gone at the rooftop they managed to the one-man, air-scout machine that the skill of Barsoom had produced.

Kissing Dejah Thoris a dozen times and Woola, who would have me, to and her, I with my old and to the high ramparts of the palace, and in another moment I was toward the of the of all Barsoom.

I had to low to air to breathe, but I took a across an old sea and so had to only a above the ground.

I with for my was a against time with death. The of Dejah Thoris always me. As I for a last look as I left the garden I had her and upon the ground the little incubator. That she had into the last which would end in death, if the air supply unreplenished, I well knew, and so, to the winds, I but the engine and compass, to my ornaments, and on my along the with one hand on the wheel and the other pushing the speed to its last I the thin air of Mars with the speed of a meteor.

An hour dark the great of the plant me, and with a I to the ground the small door which was the of life from the of an entire planet.

Beside the door a great of men had been to the wall, but they had the flint-like surface, and now most of them in the last sleep from which not air would them.

Conditions much here than at Helium, and it was with that I at all. There were a men still conscious, and to one of these I spoke.

"If I can open these doors is there a man who can start the engines?" I asked.

"I can," he replied, "if you open quickly. I can last but a moments more. But it is useless, they are and no one else upon Barsoom the of these locks. For three days men with have about this portal in to solve its mystery."