THE SECRET TOWER
I have no to the events of the days that Woola and I our way across the of glass, through the dark and that the Valley Dor and Golden Cliffs to at last upon the of the Otz Mountains just above the Valley of Lost Souls—that by the who not continue their to Dor, or return to the lands of the world from they came.
Here the of Dejah Thoris' along the mountains' base, across and ravines, by the of precipices, and sometimes out into the valley, where we with the members of the that make up the population of this of hopelessness.
But through it all we came at last to where the way up a narrow that and more at every step until us a the of an cliff.
Here was the place of Matai Shang, Father of Therns. Here, by a of the faithful, the of the faith, who had once been by millions of and dependents, the among the dozen nations of Barsoom that still to their false and religion.
Darkness was just as we came in of the of this stronghold, and we be I with Woola a promontory, into a of the hardy, that upon the of Otz.
Here we until the quick from to had passed. Then I out to approach the in search of a way within.
Either through or over-confidence in the of their place, the triple-barred gate ajar. Beyond were a of guards, laughing and talking over one of their Barsoomian games.
I saw that none of the had been of the party that Thurid and Matai Shang; and so, upon my disguise, I walked through the and up to the guard.
The men stopped their game and looked up at me, but there was no of suspicion. Similarly they looked at Woola, at my heel.
"Kaor!" I said in true Martian greeting, and the and me. "I have but just my way from the Golden Cliffs," I continued, "and audience with the hekkador, Matai Shang, Father of Therns. Where may he be found?"
"Follow me," said one of the guard, and, turning, me across the toward a second wall.
Why the with which I them did not my I know not, unless it was that my mind was still so full of that of my that there was room in it for else. Be that as it may, the is that I my into the of death.
Afterward I learned that had been aware of my for hours I the fortress.
The gate had been left to me on. The had been well in their part of the conspiracy; and I, more like a than a warrior, ran into the trap.
At the of the a narrow door let into the by one of the with the wall. Here my produced a key and opened the way within; then, back, he me to enter.
"Matai Shang is in the temple beyond," he said; and as Woola and I passed through, the closed the door upon us.
The laugh that came to my ears through the of the door after the lock was my that all was not as it should be.
I myself in a small, the buttress. Before me a door opened, presumably, upon the beyond. For a moment I hesitated, all my now suddenly, though tardily, aroused; then, with a of my shoulders, I opened the door and out into the of that the court.
Directly opposite me a tower rose to a of three hundred feet. It was of the modern Barsoomian of architecture, its entire surface hand in with and designs. Thirty above the and it was a balcony, and there, indeed, was Matai Shang, and with him were Thurid and Phaidor, Thuvia, and Dejah Thoris—the last two ironed. A of just the little party.
As I entered the the of those in the were full upon me.
An the of Matai Shang. Thurid a at me and a familiar hand upon the of my princess. Like a she upon him, the a with the upon her wrist.
He would have had not Matai Shang interfered, and then I saw that the two men were not over-friendly; for the manner of the was and as he it plain to the First Born that the Princess of Helium was the personal property of the Father of Therns. And Thurid's toward the not at all of or respect.
When the in the had Matai Shang again to me.
"Earth man," he cried, "you have a more death than now our power to upon you; but that the death you die tonight may be bitter, know you that when you have passed, your the wife of Matai Shang, Hekkador of the Holy Therns, for a Martian year.
"At the end of that time, as you know, she shall be discarded, as is the law among us, but not, as is usual, to lead a and life as high of some shrine. Instead, Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, shall the of my lieutenants—perhaps of most enemy, Thurid, the black dator."
As he speaking he in for some of upon my part—something that would have added to the of his revenge. But I did not give him the that he craved.
Instead, I did the one thing of all others that might his anger and his of me; for I that if I died Dejah Thoris, too, would a way to die they or upon her.
Of all the of which the and none is more than the yellow which his pate, and next comes the of gold and the great diadem, mark the of the Tenth Cycle.
And, this, I the and from my head, them upon the of the court. Then I my upon the yellow tresses; and as a of from the I full upon the diadem.
Matai Shang with anger, but upon the of Thurid I see a of amusement, for to him these were not holy; so, he should too much from my act, I cried: "And thus did I with the of Issus, Goddess of Life Eternal, I Issus herself to the that once had her, to be to pieces in her own temple."
That put an end to Thurid's grinning, for he had been high in the of Issus.
"Let us have an end to this blaspheming!" he cried, to the Father of Therns.
Matai Shang rose and, over the of the balcony, gave voice to the call that I had from the of the upon the upon the of the Golden Cliffs the Valley Dor, when, in times past, they called the white and the plant men to the of the of the Iss toward the silian-infested of the Lost Sea of Korus. "Let the death!" he cried, and a dozen doors in the of the tower open, and a dozen and terrible into the arena.
This was not the time that I had the Barsoomian lion, but had I been pitted, single-handed, against a full dozen of them. Even with the of the Woola, there be but a single outcome to so a struggle.
For a moment the the of the torches; but presently their eyes, to the light, upon Woola and me, and with and deep-throated they advanced, their with their powerful tails.
In the of life that was left me I a last, toward my Dejah Thoris. Her was set in an of horror; and as my met hers she arms toward me as, with the who now her, she to herself from the into the beneath, that she might my death with me. Then, as the were about to close upon me, she and her dear in her arms.
Suddenly my attention was toward Thuvia of Ptarth. The girl was over the of the balcony, her with excitement.
In another the would be upon me, but I not my from the of the red girl, for I that her meant anything but the of the that would so soon be her; there was some deeper, meaning which I to solve.
For an I of on my and to the and the balcony, which I easily have done, but I not myself to the Woola and him to die alone the of the banths; that is not the way upon Barsoom, was it the way of John Carter.
Then the of Thuvia's as from her there the I had once before; that time that, the Golden Cliffs, she called the about her and them as a might lead her of and sheep.
At the note of that the in their tracks, and every high as the the of the familiar call. Presently they the red girl in the above them, and, turning, out their and their greeting.
Guards to Thuvia away, but they had succeeded she had a of at the brutes, and as one they and into their dens.
"You need not them now, John Carter!" Thuvia, they her. "Those will you now, Woola, either."
It was all I to know. There was to keep me from that now, and with a long, I until my hands its sill.
In an all was wild confusion. Matai Shang back. Thurid with to cut me down.
Again Dejah Thoris her and him back. Then Matai Shang her about the and her away through a door leading the tower.
For an Thurid hesitated, and then, as though that the Father of Therns would him with the Princess of Helium, he, too, from the in their wake.
Phaidor alone her presence of mind. Two of the she ordered to away Thuvia of Ptarth; the others she to and prevent me from following. Then she toward me.
"John Carter," she cried, "for the last time I offer you the love of Phaidor, of the Holy Hekkador. Accept and your shall be returned to the of her grandfather, and you shall live in peace and happiness. Refuse and the that my father has shall upon Dejah Thoris.
"You cannot save her now, for by this time they have a place where you may not follow. Refuse and can save you; for, though the way to the last of the Holy Therns was easy for you, the way hence been impossible. What say you?"
"You my answer, Phaidor," I replied, "before you spoke. Make way," I to the guards, "for John Carter, Prince of Helium, would pass!"
With that I over the low that the balcony, and with long-sword my enemies.
There were three of them; but Phaidor must have what the outcome of the would be, for she and from the the moment she saw that I would have none of her proposition.
The three did not wait for my attack. Instead, they me—the three of them simultaneously; and it was that which gave me an advantage, for they one another in the narrow of the balcony, so that the of them full upon my at the onslaught.
The red upon my point to its full the old blood-lust of the man that has been so my breast, so that my through the air with a and that the two into wild despair.
When at last the the of one of them the other to flee, and, that his steps would lead him along the way taken by those I sought, I let him keep ahead to think that he was safely my sword.
Through he until he came to a runway. Up this he dashed, I in close pursuit. At the upper end we came out into a small chamber, the of which were blank for a single window the of Otz and the Valley of Lost Souls beyond.
Here the at what appeared to be but a piece of the blank opposite the single window. In an I that it was a from the room, and so I paused that he might have an opportunity to it, for I nothing to take the life of this servitor—all I was a clear road in of Dejah Thoris, my long-lost princess.
But, try as he would, the would neither to force, so that he gave it up and to me.
"Go way, Thern," I said to him, pointing toward the entrance to the up which we had but just come. "I have no with you, do I your life. Go!"
For answer he upon me with his sword, and so suddenly, at that, that I was like to have gone his rush. So there was nothing for it but to give him what he sought, and that as as might be, that I might not be too long in this while Matai Shang and Thurid way with Dejah Thoris and Thuvia of Ptarth.
The was a swordsman—resourceful and tricky. In fact, he to have that there such a thing as a of honor, for he a dozen Barsoomian that an man would die than ignore.
He so as to his from his and it in my face, so as to me for a moment while he at my breast.
When he thrust, however, I was not there, for I had with before; and while none had to that same expedient, I them to be the least and most upon Mars, and so was on the for some new and when I was with one of their race.
But at length he the thing; for, his shortsword, he it, javelinwise, at my body, at the same upon me with his long-sword. A single circle of my own the and it against the wall, and then, as I my antagonist's rush, I let him have my point full in the as he by.
Clear to the my passed through his body, and with a he to the floor, dead.
Halting only for the that was to my from the of my late antagonist, I across the to the blank beyond, through which the had to pass. Here I for the of its lock, but all to no avail.
In I to the thing, but the cold, might well have laughed at my futile, endeavors. In fact, I have that I the of from the panel.
In I from my and to the chamber's single window.
The of Otz and the Valley of Lost Souls nothing to my then; but, above me, the tower's my attention.
Somewhere that was Dejah Thoris. Above me I see windows. There, possibly, the only way by which I her. The was great, but not too great when the of a world's most woman was at stake.
I below. A hundred at the of a upon which the tower abutted; and if not upon the boulders, then at the chasm's bottom, death, should a but once, or their for the of an instant.
But there was no other way and with a shrug, which I must admit was shudder, I to the window's and my ascent.
To my I that, the upon most Heliumetic structures, the of the were rounded, so that at best my every was most precarious.
Fifty above me a series of some six in diameter. These the tower at six-foot intervals, in six apart; and as each some four or five the surface of the other ornamentation, they presented a easy mode of I but them.
Laboriously I toward them by way of some which them, for I that I might to the tower through one of these, and an along which to my search.
At times so was my upon the of the carving's that a sneeze, a cough, or a of wind would have me and sent me to the below.
But I a point where my just the of the window, and I was on the point of a of when the of voices came to me from above through the open window.
"He can solve the of that lock." The voice was Matai Shang's. "Let us to the above that we may be to the south he another way—should that be possible."
"All possible to that calot," another voice, which I as Thurid's.
"Then let us haste," said Matai Shang. "But to be sure, I will two who shall this runway. Later they may us upon another flier—overtaking us at Kaol."
My the window's sill. At the of the voices I my hand and there to my perch, against the wall, to breathe.
What a position, indeed, in which to be by Thurid! He had but to from the window to push me with his sword's point into eternity.
Presently the of the voices fainter, and once again I took up my ascent, now more difficult, since more circuitous, for I must climb so as to avoid the windows.
Matai Shang's to the and the that my nothing of the of the tower, and toward this I set my face.
The most difficult and part of the was at last, and it was with that I my close about the of the cylinders.
It is true that these were too to make the of the anything of a sinecure, but I at least had always my a point of safety to which I might in case of accident.
Some ten the roof, the possibly a in the last ten feet, and here the was easier, so that my soon the eaves.
As I my above the level of the tower's top I saw a all but to rise.
Upon her were Matai Shang, Phaidor, Dejah Thoris, Thuvia of Ptarth, and a warriors, while near her was Thurid in the act of aboard.
He was not ten from me, in the opposite direction; and what of should have him to turn about just as my the roof's I may not guess.
But turn he did; and when his met mine his with a as he toward me, where I was to to the secure of the roof.
Dejah Thoris must have me at the same instant, for she a just as Thurid's foot, in a kick, full in my face.
