THE TEMPLE OF THE SUN
There was nothing for it now other than to fight; did I have any as I sprang, in hand, into the the two therns, for my had them of my presence and they were for me.
There were no words, for they would have been a waste of breath. The very presence of the two their treachery. That they were to upon me was all too plain, and they, of course, must have that I their plan.
In an I was with both, and though I the very name of thern, I must in all admit that they are swordsmen; and these two were no exception, unless it were that they were more and than the among their race.
While it it was as a as I had experienced. Twice at least I saved my from the of only by the with which my me under the of and air pressure upon Mars.
Yet so I came near to death that day in the Mars's southern pole, for Lakor played a upon me that in all my of upon two I had the like of.
The other was me at the time, and I was him back—touching him here and there with my point until he was from a dozen wounds, yet not being able to his to a spot for the that would have been to send him to his ancestors.
It was then that Lakor a from his harness, and as I to a he one end of it about my left so that it there for an instant, while he upon the other end, me upon my back.
Then, like panthers, they were upon me; but they had without Woola, and a touched me, a of a thousand above my and my Martian was upon them.
Imagine, if you can, a with ten with and an mouth his from ear to ear, three of long, white tusks. Then this of your with the and of a half-starved Bengal tiger and the of a of bulls, and you will have some of Woola in action.
Before I call him off he had Lakor into a jelly with a single of one paw, and had the other to ribbons; yet when I spoke to him he as though he had done a thing to and chastisement.
Never had I had the to Woola the long years that had passed since that day upon Mars when the green of the Tharks had him on over me, and I had his love and from the and masters of his life, yet I he would have submitted to any that I might have upon him, so was his for me.
The in the center of the of gold upon the of Lakor him a Holy Thern, while his companion, not thus adorned, was a thern, though from his I that he had the Ninth Cycle, which is but one that of the Holy Therns.
As I for a moment looking at the Woola had wrought, there to me the memory of that other occasion upon which I had in the wig, diadem, and of Sator Throg, the Holy Thern Thuvia of Ptarth had slain, and now it to me that it might prove of to Lakor's for the same purpose.
A moment later I had his yellow from his and transferred it and the circlet, as well as all his harness, to my own person.
Woola did not approve of the metamorphosis. He at me and ominously, but when I spoke to him and his he at length to the change, and at my off along the in the direction we had been going when our progress had been by the therns.
We moved now, by the of I had overheard. I of Woola that we might have the of all our for what might appear ahead to us, and well it was that we were forewarned.
At the of a of narrow steps the upon itself, making another turn in the original direction, so that at that point it a perfect S, the top leg of which into a large chamber, lighted, and the of which was by and reptiles.
To have to that would have been to death, and for a moment I was almost discouraged. Then it to me that Thurid and Matai Shang with their party must have it, and so there was a way.
Had it not been for the accident by which I so small a of the therns' we should have at least a step or two into that of destruction, and a single step would have been all-sufficient to have sealed our doom.
These were the only I had upon Barsoom, but I from their to the of I had in the of Helium that they many of the genera, as well as others undiscovered.
A more of had my vision. It would be to attempt to them to Earth men, since is the only thing which they in common with any of the past or present with which you are familiar—even their is of an that, by comparison, would make the de as as an angleworm.
As they me there was a by those nearest the entrance where we stood, but a line of along the of their them to a halt—evidently they not that line of light.
I had been sure that they would not the room in which I had them, though I had not at what them. The that we had no in the through which we had just come was that they did not there.
I Woola out of harm's way, and then a survey of as much of the Chamber of Reptiles as I see from where I stood. As my to the light of its I out a low at the end of the from which opened exits.
Coming as close to the as I dared, I this with my eyes, that it the room as as I see. Then I above me along the upper of the entrance to which we had come, and there, to my delight, I saw an end of the not a above my head. In an I had to it and called Woola after me.
Here there were no reptiles—the way was clear to the opposite of the chamber—and a moment later Woola and I to safety in the beyond.
Not ten minutes later we came into a of white marble, the of which were with gold in the of the First Born.
From the high of this a to the floor, and as I I saw that it slowly revolved.
I had the of the Temple of the Sun!
Somewhere above me Dejah Thoris, and with her were Phaidor, of Matai Shang, and Thuvia of Ptarth. But how to them, now that I had the only spot in their prison, was still a riddle.
Slowly I the great shaft, looking for a means of ingress. Part way around I a torch, and as I it in mild as to its presence there in this almost and unknown spot, I came upon the of the house of Thurid jewel-inset in its metal case.
I am upon the right trail, I thought, as I the into the pocket-pouch which from my harness. Then I my search for the entrance, which I must be about; had I long to search, for almost I came upon a small door so in the shaft's that it might have passed by a less or observer.
There was the door that would lead me the prison, but where was the means to open it? No or lock were visible. Again and again I over every square of its surface, but the most that I was a a little above and to the right of the door's center—a that only an accident of or an of material.
Into this minute I to peer, but it was but a of an or passed through the door I not tell—at least no light it. I put my ear to it next and listened, but again my results.
During these Woola had been at my at the door, and as my upon him it to me to test the of my hypothesis, that this portal had been the means of to the temple used by Thurid, the black dator, and Matai Shang, Father of Therns.
Turning away abruptly, I called to him to me. For a moment he hesitated, and then after me, and at my to me back. I walked on, however, some from the door I let him have his way, that I might see what he would do. Then I permitted him to lead me he would.
Straight to that portal he me, again taking up his position the blank stone, at its surface. For an hour I to solve the of the that would open the way me.
Carefully I every of my of Thurid, and my was with my original belief—that Thurid had come this way without other than his own knowledge and passed through the door that my progress, from within. But how had he it?
I the of the Chamber of Mystery in the Golden Cliffs that time I had Thuvia of Ptarth from the of the therns, and she had taken a slender, needle-like key from the of her to open the door leading into the Chamber of Mystery where Tars Tarkas for his life with the great banths. Such a as now me had opened the way to the lock in that other door.
Hastily I the of my pocket-pouch upon the ground me. Could I but a of I might yet fashion a key that would give me to the temple prison.
As I the of and ends that is always to be in the pocket-pouch of a Martian my hand upon the of the black dator.
As I was about to the thing as of no value in my present my upon a and upon the soft gold of the case.
Casual me to them, but what I read no meaning to my mind. There were three sets of characters, one another:
3 |—| 50 T
1 |—| 1 X
9 |—| 25 T
For only an my was piqued, and then I replaced the in my pocket-pouch, but my had not from it when there to my memory the of the Lakor and his when the had the of Thurid and at them: "And what think you of the of the light? Let the light with the of three for fifty tals"—ah, there was the line of upon the torch's metal case—3—50 T; "and for one let it with the of one unit"—there was the second line; "and then for twenty-five with nine units."
The was complete; but—what did it mean?
I I knew, and, a powerful from the of my pocket-pouch, I myself to a of the marble about the in the door. I have in when my the almost of of which are off by these Martian torches.
It was that for had been to this pinhole, and for what purpose there be but a single answer—the of the lock was by light rays; and I, John Carter, Prince of Helium, the in my hand—scratched by the hand of my enemy upon his own case.
In a of gold about my was my Barsoomian chronometer—a that records the and and of Martian time, them to view a much after the manner of an odometer.
Timing my operations carefully, I the to the small in the door, the of the light by means of the thumb-lever upon the of the case.
For fifty I let three of light full in the pinhole, then one unit for one xat, and for twenty-five nine units. Those last twenty-five were the twenty-five of my life. Would the lock at the end of those of time?
Twenty-three! Twenty-four! Twenty-five!
I off the light with a snap. For seven I waited—there had been no upon the lock's mechanism. Could it be that my was wrong?
Hold! Had the resulted in a hallucination, or did the door move? Slowly the solid into the wall—there was no here.
Back and it for ten until it had at its right a narrow leading into a dark and narrow that the wall. Scarcely was the entrance than Woola and I had through—then the door into place.
Down the at some I saw the of a light, and toward this we our way. At the point where the light was a turn, and a little this a chamber.
Here we a leading up from the center of the room.
Immediately I that we had the center of the of the Temple of the Sun—the past the of the prison cells. Somewhere above me was Dejah Thoris, unless Thurid and Matai Shang had already succeeded in her.
We had started up the when Woola the excitement. He and forth, at my and harness, until I that he was mad, and when I pushed him from me and started once more to he my arm his and me back.
No amount of or would to make him me, and I was at the of his unless I to use my upon him with my left hand; but, or no, I had not the to the into that body.
Down into the he me, and across it to the opposite that at which we had entered. Here was another leading into a which ran directly a incline. Without a moment's Woola me along this passage.
Presently he stopped and me, me and the way we had come, looking up into my as though to ask if I would now him or if he must still to force.
Looking at the marks of his great teeth upon my arm I to do as he to wish me to do. After all, his might be more than my judgment.
And well it was that I had been to him. But a from the we came into a of passages.
At I it was one vast, chamber, so clear and were the of the corridors, but after I had nearly myself a of times by attempting to pass through solid I more carefully.
We had but a yards along the that had us entrance to this when Woola gave mouth to a most roar, at the same time against the clear partition at our left.
The of that were still through the when I saw the thing that had it from the beast.
Far in the distance, through the many of crystal, as in a that them and ghostly, I the of eight people—three and five men.
At the same instant, by Woola's cry, they and looked about. Then, of a sudden, one of them, a woman, her arms out toward me, and at that great I see that her moved—it was Dejah Thoris, my and Princess of Helium.
With her were Thuvia of Ptarth, Phaidor, of Matai Shang, and Thurid, and the Father of Therns, and the three that had them.
Thurid his at me, and then two of the Dejah Thoris and Thuvia by their arms and them on. A moment later they had into a the of glass.
