A HERO IN KAOL
It was when I was by the of movement near by.
As I opened my Woola, too, moved and, up to his haunches, through the toward the road, each upon his erect.
At I see nothing, but presently I a of a of and green moving among the and and yellow of the vegetation.
Motioning Woola to where he was, I to investigate, and from the of a great tree I saw a long line of the green of the sea in the the road.
As as I see, the line of and death away from the city of Kaol. There be but one explanation. The green men were an of a of red from the nearest city gate, and they were there in to upon them.
I no to the Jeddak of Kaol, but he was of the same of red men as my own princess, and I would not by and see his by the and of the waste places of Barsoom.
Cautiously I my steps to where I had left Woola, and him to silence, him to me. Making a to avoid the of into the hands of the green men, I came at last to the great wall.
A hundred yards to my right was the gate from which the were to issue, but to it I must pass the of the green easy of them, and, that my plan to the Kaolians might thus be thwarted, I upon toward the left, where another gate a mile away would give me to the city.
I that the word I would prove a to Kaol, and I must admit that my was more to my to make my way into the city than to avoid a with the green men. As much as I a fight, I cannot always myself, and just now I had more to my time than the blood of warriors.
Could I but win the city's wall, there might be opportunity in the and which were sure to my of an of green to my way the of the jeddak, where I was sure Matai Shang and his party would be quartered.
But had I taken a hundred steps in the direction of the gate when the of troops, the of metal, and the of just the city me of the that the Kaolians were already moving toward the other gate.
There was no time to be lost. In another moment the gate would be opened and the of the pass out upon the death-bordered highway.
Turning toward the gate, I ran along the of the clearing, taking the ground in the that had me famous upon Barsoom. Thirty, fifty, a hundred at a are nothing for the of an Earth man upon Mars.
As I passed the of the waiting green men they saw my upon them, and in an instant, that all was at an end, those nearest me to their in an to cut me off I the gate.
At the same the portal wide and the of the Kaolian emerged. A dozen green had succeeded in a point me and the gate, but they had but little idea who it was they had elected to detain.
I did not my speed an as I among them, and as they my I not but the happy memory of those other when Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, of Martian green men, had to with me through long, Martian days, as together we our until the of about us rose higher than a tall man's head.
When pressed me too closely, there the of Kaol, I above their heads, and my after those of the plant men of Dor, upon my enemies' as I passed above them.
From the city the red were toward us, and from the the of green men were to meet them. In a moment I was in the very center of as and a as I had passed through.
These Kaolians are most fighters, are the green men of the one less than their cold, of the zone. There were many times when either might have without and thus ended hostilities, but from the with which each I soon came to that what need not have been more than a would end only with the complete of one or the other.
With the of once me, I took in the fray, and that my was noted by the Kaolians was often by the of at me.
If I sometimes to take too great in my ability, it must be that is my vocation. If your be horses, or painting pictures, and you can do one or the other than your fellows, then you are a if you are not proud of your ability. And so I am very proud that upon two no has than John Carter, Prince of Helium.
And I myself that day to the upon the of Kaol, for I to win a way into their hearts—and their city. Nor was I to be in my desire.
All day we fought, until the road was red with blood and with corpses. Back and along the the of surged, but once was the to Kaol in danger.
There were when I had a to with the red men I fought, and once the jeddak, Kulan Tith himself, his hand upon my and asked my name.
"I am Dotar Sojat," I replied, a name me by the Tharks many years before, from the of the two of their I had killed, which is the among them.
"You are a warrior, Dotar Sojat," he replied, "and when this day is done I shall speak with you again in the great audience chamber."
And then the upon us once more and we were separated, but my heart's was attained, and it was with and a that I about me with my long-sword until the last of the green men had had and had toward their sea bottom.
Not until the was over did I learn why the red had that day. It that Kulan Tith was a visit from a of the north—a powerful and the only of the Kaolians, and it had been his wish to meet his guest a full day's from Kaol.
But now the of the was until the morning, when the again set out from Kaol. I had not been to the presence of Kulan Tith after the battle, but he had sent an officer to me and me to in that part of the set for the officers of the guard.
There, with Woola, I had a night, and rose much after the labors of the past days. Woola had with me through the of the previous day, true to the and of a Martian dog, great numbers of which are often to be with the green of the sea bottoms.
Neither of us had come through the unscathed, but the marvelous, of Barsoom had sufficed, overnight, to make us as good as new.
I with a number of the Kaolian officers, I as and as the of Helium, who are for their of manners and of breeding. The was when a messenger from Kulan Tith me him.
As I entered the presence the rose, and from the which supported his throne, came to meet me—a mark of that is to other than a visiting ruler.
"Kaor, Dotar Sojat!" he me. "I have you to the thanks of the people of Kaol, for had it not been for your in to us of the we must surely have into the well-laid trap. Tell me more of yourself—from what country you come, and what you to the of Kulan Tith."
"I am from Hastor," I said, for in truth I had a small in that southern city which the far-flung of the Heliumetic nation.
"My presence in the land of Kaol is to accident, my being upon the southern of your great forest. It was while entrance to the city of Kaol that I the green in wait for your troops."
If Kulan Tith what me in a to the very of his he was good not to press me for an explanation, which I should have had in rendering.
During my audience with the another party entered the from me, so that I did not see their until Kulan Tith past me to them, me to and be presented.
As I toward them it was with that I my features, for there, to Kulan Tith's me, my arch-enemies, Matai Shang and Thurid.
"Holy Hekkador of the Holy Therns," the was saying, "shower upon Dotar Sojat, the from Hastor, and saved the day for Kaol yesterday."
Matai Shang and his hand upon my shoulder. No that he me upon his countenance—my was complete.
He spoke to me and then presented me to Thurid. The black, too, was deceived. Then Kulan Tith them, much to my amusement, with of my upon the of battle.
The thing that to have him most was my agility, and time and again he the way in which I had over an antagonist, his wide open with my long-sword as I passed above him.
I that I saw Thurid's a the narrative, and times I him into my through lids. Was he to suspect? And then Kulan Tith told of the that me, and after that I saw in the of Matai Shang—or did I but it?
At the close of the audience Kulan Tith that he would have me him upon the way to meet his guest, and as I with an officer who was to proper and a for me, Matai Shang and Thurid most in their at having had an opportunity to know me. It was with a of that I the chamber, that nothing more than a had my that either of my my true identity.
A half-hour later I out of the city gate with the that Kulan Tith upon the way to meet his friend and ally. Though my and ears had been wide open my audience with the and my passages through the palace, I had or nothing of Dejah Thoris or Thuvia of Ptarth. That they must be the great I was positive, and I should have much to have a way to Kulan Tith's absence, that I might search for them.
Toward we came in touch with the of the we had set out to meet.
It was a train that the visiting jeddak, and for miles it along the wide, white road to Kaol. Mounted troops, their of and metal-incrusted leather in the sunlight, the of the body, and then came a thousand by zitidars.
These low, moved two abreast, and on either of them solid ranks of warriors, for in the were the and children of the court. Upon the of each a Martian youth, and the whole me to my days upon Barsoom, now twenty-two years in the past, when I had the of a of the green of Tharks.
Never today had I in the service of red men. These are animals that tower to an the green men and their thoats; but when to the small red man and his of they assume Brobdingnagian that are appalling.
The were with and of silk, in designs with of diamonds, pearls, rubies, emeralds, and the of Mars, while from each rose a dozen from which streamers, flags, and in the breeze.
Just in of the the visiting alone upon a pure white thoat—another upon Barsoom—and after them came ranks of spearmen, riflemen, and swordsmen. It was a most sight.
Except for the of and the occasional of an angry or the low of a zitidar, the passage of the was almost noiseless, for neither is a animal, and the of the are of an composition, which no sound.
Now and then the of a woman or the of children be heard, for the red Martians are a social, pleasure-loving people—in direct to the cold and of green men.
The and with the meeting of the two an hour, and then we and our way toward the city of Kaol, which the of the just dark, though it must have been nearly the passed through the gateway.
Fortunately, I was well up toward the of the column, and after the great banquet, which I with the officers of the guard, I was free to repose. There was so much activity and about the all the night with the of the officers of the visiting jeddak's that I not attempt to a search for Dejah Thoris, and so, as soon as it was for me to do so, I returned to my quarters.
As I passed along the the and the that had been me, I had a that I was under surveillance, and, in my tracks, a of a which into an open the I about.
Though I ran to the spot where the had I no of him, yet in the that I had I have that I had a white by a of yellow hair.
The gave me food for speculation, since if I were right in the by the I had had of the spy, then Matai Shang and Thurid must my identity, and if that were true not the service I had Kulan Tith save me from his religious fanaticism.
But did or for the with weight upon my mind to keep me from my rest, and so tonight I myself upon my sleeping and and passed at once into slumber.
Calots are not permitted the of the proper, and so I had had to Woola to in the where the are kept. He had comfortable, apartments, but I would have much to have had him with me; and if he had been, the thing which that night would not have come to pass.
I not have slept over a of an hour when I was by the of some cold and thing across my forehead. Instantly I to my feet, in the direction I the presence lay. For an my hand touched against flesh, and then, as I through the to my visitor, my in my sleeping and I to the floor.
By the time I had my and the which the light my had disappeared. Careful search of the room nothing to either the identity or of the person who had thus me in the of night.
That the purpose might be I not believe, since are unknown upon Barsoom. Assassination, however, is rampant, but this not have been the of my friend, for he might easily have killed me had he desired.
I had about up and was on the point of returning to sleep when a dozen Kaolian entered my apartment. The officer in was one of my of the morning, but now upon his was no of friendship.
