A GREEN MAN’S CAPTIVE
When the light of day upon the little to the Princess of Ptarth had been from her father’s garden, Thuvia saw that the night had a in her abductors.
No longer did their with the metal of Dusar, but there was there the of the Prince of Helium.
The girl hope, for she not that in the of Carthoris to her.
She spoke to the the board.
“Last night you the of a Dusarian,” she said. “Now your metal is that of Helium. What means it?”
The man looked at her with a grin.
“The Prince of Helium is no fool,” he said.
Just then an officer from the cabin. He the for with the prisoner, would he himself reply to any of her inquiries.
No was offered her the journey, and so they came at last to their with the girl no as to her or their purpose than at first.
Here the settled slowly into the of one of those mute of Mars’ and past—the that the sad sea-bottoms where once rolled the upon moved the of the that are gone for ever.
Thuvia of Ptarth was no to such places. During her in search of the River Iss, that time she had set out upon what, for ages, had been the last, long of Martians, toward the Valley Dor, where the Lost Sea of Korus, she had of these sad of the and the of Barsoom.
And again, her from the temples of the Holy Therns with Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, she had them, with their and inmates, the great white of Barsoom.
She knew, too, that many of them were used now by the of green men, but that among them all was no city that the red men did not shun, for without they vast, tracts, for the of the of Martians.
Why, then, should they be her to such a place? There was but a single answer. Such was the nature of their work that they must needs the that a city afforded. The girl at of her plight.
For two days her her a that in the of the age which its had known.
Just on the third day she had been by the voices of two of her abductors.
“He should be here by dawn,” one was saying. “Have her in upon the plaza—else he will land. The moment he that he is in a country he will turn about—methinks the prince’s plan is weak in this one spot.”
“There was no other way,” the other. “It is work to them here at all, and if we do not succeed in him to the ground, we shall have much.”
Just then the the of Thuvia upon him, by the quick-moving of light by Thuria in her through the heavens.
With a quick to the other, he speaking, and toward the girl, her to rise. Then he her out into the night toward the centre of the great plaza.
“Stand here,” he commanded, “until we come for you. We shall be watching, and should you attempt to it will go with you—much than death. Such are the prince’s orders.”
Then he and his steps toward the palace, her alone in the of the terrors of the city, for in truth these places are in the of many Martians who still to an which teaches that the of Holy Therns who die their one thousand years, pass, on occasions, into the of the great white apes.
To Thuvia, however, the of attack by one of these ferocious, was sufficient. She no longer in the that the had her she was from their by John Carter; but she well the that her should one of the terrible to her its prowlings.
What was that?
Surely she not be mistaken. Something had moved, stealthily, in the of one of the great that line the where it entered the opposite her!
Thar Ban, among the of Torquas, across the of the sea-bottom toward the of Aaanthor.
He had that night, and fast, for he had but come from the of the of a green with which the of Torquas were warring.
His was from jaded, yet it would be well, Thar Ban, to permit him to upon the which to the protected of cities, where the is than on the sea-bottoms, and the plants from the sun the Martian day.
Within the of this dry-seeming plant is for the needs of the of the thoats, which can for months without water, and for days without the which the contains.
As Thar Ban up the which leads from the of Aaanthor to the great plaza, he and his might have been for from a world of dreams, so the man and beast, so the great thoat’s padded, upon the moss-grown of the pavement.
The man was a of his race. Fully fifteen his great from to pate. The moonlight against his green hide, the of his and the that his four arms, while the that from his white and terrible.
At the of his were his long and his great, forty-foot, metal-shod spear, while from his own his long-sword and his short-sword, as well as his weapons.
His and antennae-like ears were and thither, for Thar Ban was yet in the country of the enemy, and, too, there was always the of the great white apes, which, John Carter was to say, are the only that can in the of these of the sea-bottoms the of fear.
As the the plaza, he in. His slender, ears pointed forward. An had them. Voices! And where there were voices, of Torquas, there, too, were enemies. All the world of wide Barsoom but for the Torquasians.
Thar Ban dismounted. Keeping in the of the great that line the Avenue of Quays of sleeping Aaanthor, he approached the plaza. Directly him, as a at heel, came the slate-grey thoat, his white by his barrel, his yellow into the yellow of the them.
In the centre of the Thar Ban saw the of a red woman. A red was with her. Now the man and his steps toward the at the opposite of the plaza.
Thar Ban until he had the portal. Here was a having! Seldom did a female of their to the of a green man. Thar Ban his thin lips.
Thuvia of Ptarth the the at the opening to the opposite her. She that it might be but the of an imagination.
But no! Now, and distinctly, she saw it move. It came from the of the shaft.
The light of the sun upon it. The girl trembled. The thing was a green warrior!
Swiftly it toward her. She and to flee; but she had toward the when a hand upon her arm, she was about, and dragged, toward a that was slowly out of the avenue’s mouth onto the of the plaza.
At the same she her toward the of something above her, and there she saw a toward her, the and of a man over the side; but the man’s were shadowed, so that she did not them.
Now from her came the of her red abductors. They were after him who to what they already had stolen.
As Thar Ban the of his he his long from its boot, and, wheeling, three into the red men.
Such is the of these Martian that three red in their as three in their vitals.
The others halted, did they return the fire for of the girl.
Then Thar Ban to the of his thoat, Thuvia of Ptarth still in his arms, and with a of the black of the Avenue of Quays the of Aaanthor.
Carthoris’ had not touched the ground he had from its to after the thoat, eight long were sending it the at the of an train; but the men of Dusar who still alive had no mind to permit so valuable a to them.
They had the girl. That would be a difficult thing to to Astok; but some might be they the Prince of Helium to their master instead.
So the three who set upon Carthoris with their long-swords, to him to surrender; but they might as have to Thuria to her through the Barsoomian sky, for Carthoris of Helium was a true son of the Warlord of Mars and his Dejah Thoris.
Carthoris’ long-sword had been already in his hand as he from the of the flier, so the that he the of the three red warriors, he to them, meeting their as only John Carter himself might have done.
So his sword, so and his half-earthly muscles, that one of his was down, the with his life-blood, when he had a single pass at Carthoris.
Now the two Dusarians upon the Heliumite. Three long-swords and in the moonlight, until the great white apes, from their slumbers, to the of the city to view the them.
Thrice was Carthoris touched, so that the red blood ran his face, him and his chest. With his free hand he the from his eyes, and with the of his father his lips, upon his with fury.
A single cut of his the of one of them, and then the other, away clear of that point of death, and toward the at his back.
Carthoris no step to pursue. He had other than the of well-deserved to men who in the metal of his own house, for he had that these men were out in the that marked his personal followers.
Turning toward his flier, he was soon from the in of Thar Ban.
The red he had put to in the entrance to the palace, and, Carthoris’ intent, a from those that he and his had left against the as they had out with to prevent the of their prisoner.
Few red men are good shots, for the is their weapon; so now as the Dusarian upon the flier, and touched the upon his rifle’s stock, it was more to than that he the success of his aim.
The the flier’s side, the to permit to in upon the the bullet’s nose. There was a explosion. Carthoris his him, and the engine stopped.
The the air had her on over the city toward the sea-bottom beyond.
The red in the more shots, none of which scored. Then a the from his view.
In the him Carthoris see the green Thuvia of Ptarth away upon his thoat. The direction of his was toward the north-west of Aaanthor, where a country little to red men.
The Heliumite now gave his attention to his craft. A close the that one of the had been punctured, but the engine itself was uninjured.
A from the had one of the the possibility of repair a machine shop; but after tinkering, Carthoris was able to his at low speed, a which not approach the of the thoat, eight long, powerful it over the of the sea-bottom at speed.
The Prince of Helium and at the slowness of his pursuit, yet he was that the was no worse, for now he at least move more than on foot.
But this was soon to be him, for presently the to toward the port and by the bow. The to the had been more than he had at believed.
All the of that long day Carthoris through the still air, the of the and lower, and the list to port more and more alarming, until at last, near dark, he was almost bow-down, his to a ring to keep him from being to the ground below.
His movement was now to a slow with the that out of the south-east, and when this died with the setting of the sun, he let the to the beneath.
Far him the toward which the green man had been when last he had him, and with the son of John Carter, with the will of his sire, took up the on foot.
All that night he ahead until, with the of a new day, he entered the low that the approach to the of the of Torquas.
Rugged, him. Nowhere he an opening through the barrier; yet into this world of the green had the woman of the red man’s heart’s desire.
Across the of the sea-bottom there had been no to follow, for the soft of the but pressed in his passage the which up again his feet, no sign.
But here in the hills, where occasionally the way; where black and wild flowers replaced the of the waste places of the lowlands, Carthoris to some that would lead him in the right direction.
Yet, search as he would, the of the likely to for unsolved.
It was toward the day’s close once more when the of the Heliumite the yellow of a moving among the hundred yards to his left.
Crouching a large rock, Carthoris the thing him. It was a banth, one of those Barsoomian lions that the of the planet.
The creature’s nose was close to the ground. It was that he was the of meat by scent.
As Carthoris him, a great into the man’s heart. Here, possibly, might the to the he had been to solve. This carnivore, always for the of man, might now be the two Carthoris sought.
Cautiously the out upon the of the man-eater. Along the of the the moved, at the spoor, and now and then the low of the banth.
Carthoris had the for but a minutes when it as and as though into thin air.
The man to his feet. Not again was he to be as the man had him. He at a to the spot at which he last had the great, brute.
Before him the cliff, its by any into which the might have its great carcass. Beside him was a small, boulder, not larger than the of a ten-man flier, to a than twice his own stature.
Perhaps the was in this? The might have the man upon his trail, and now be in wait for his easy prey.
Cautiously, with long-sword, Carthoris around the of the rock. There was no there, but something which him more than would the presence of twenty banths.
Before him the mouth of a dark leading into the ground. Through this the must have disappeared. Was it his lair? Within its dark and might there not not one but many of the creatures?
Carthoris did not know, nor, with the that had been him upon the of the in his mind, did he much care; for into this he was sure the had the green man and his captive, and into it he, too, would follow, to give his life in the service of the woman he loved.
Not an did he hesitate, yet did he rashly; but with and steps, for the way was dark, he on. As he advanced, the blackness.
