THE PHANTOM BOWMEN
As Jav toward him Carthoris his hand upon the of his long-sword. The Lotharian halted. The great was empty save for the four at the dais, yet as Jav from the of the Heliumite’s the himself by a score of bowmen.
From had they sprung? Both Carthoris and Thuvia looked their astonishment.
Now the former’s from its scabbard, and at the same the their shafts.
Tario had himself upon one elbow. For the time he saw the full of Thuvia, who had been the person of Carthoris.
“Enough!” the jeddak, a hand, but at that very the of the Heliumite cut at its nearest antagonist.
As the its Carthoris let the point to the floor, as with wide he in consternation, the of his left hand across his brow. His had cut but empty air—his had vanished—there were no in the room!
“It is that these are strangers,” said Tario to Jav. “Let us that they us we take for punishment.”
Then he to Carthoris, but his to the perfect lines of Thuvia’s figure, which the of a Barsoomian than concealed.
“Who are you,” he asked, “who not the of the of the last of jeddaks?”
“I am Carthoris, Prince of Helium,” the Heliumite. “And this is Thuvia, Princess of Ptarth. In the of our fathers men do not themselves royalty. Not since the First Born their from have men upon their to any upon Barsoom. Now think you that the of one and the son of another would so themselves?”
Tario looked at Carthoris for a long time. At last he spoke.
“There is no other upon Barsoom than Tario,” he said. “There is no other than that of Lothar, unless the of Torquas may be by such an appellation. Lotharians are white; your skins are red. There are no left upon Barsoom. Your is a woman.”
He rose from the couch, and pointing an at Carthoris.
“You are a lie!” he shrieked. “You are lies, and you to come Tario, last and of the of Barsoom, and your reality. Some one shall pay well for this, Jav, and unless I mistake it is who has thus to with the good nature of your jeddak.
“Remove the man. Leave the woman. We shall see if be lies. And later, Jav, you shall for your temerity. There be of us left, but—Komal must be fed. Go!”
Carthoris see that Jav as he himself once more his ruler, and then, rising, toward the Prince of Helium.
“Come!” he said.
“And the Princess of Ptarth here alone?” Carthoris.
Jav closely past him, whispering:
“Follow me—he cannot her, to kill; and that he can do you or not. We had best go now—trust me.”
Carthoris did not understand, but something in the of the other’s him, and so he away, but not without a toward Thuvia in which he to make her that it was in her own that he left her.
For answer she her full upon him, but not without him such a look of that the to his cheek.
Then he hesitated, but Jav him by the wrist.
“Come!” he whispered. “Or he will have the upon you, and this time there will be no escape. Did you not see how is your against thin air!”
Carthoris to follow. As the two left the room he to his companion.
“If I may not kill thin air,” he asked, “how, then, shall I that thin air may kill me?”
“You saw the Torquasians the bowmen?” asked Jav.
Carthoris nodded.
“So would you them, and without one single for self-defence or revenge.”
As they talked Jav Carthoris to a small room in one of the towers of the palace. Here were couches, and Jav the Heliumite be seated.
For minutes the Lotharian his prisoner, for such Carthoris now himself to be.
“I am that you are real,” he said at last.
Carthoris laughed.
“Of I am real,” he said. “What you to it? Can you not see me, me?”
“So may I see and the bowmen,” Jav, “and yet we all know that they, at least, are not real.”
Carthoris by the of his his at each new to the bowmen—the of Lothar.
“What, then, may they be?” he asked.
“You do not know?” asked Jav.
Carthoris his negatively.
“I can almost that you have told us the truth and that you are from another part of Barsoom, or from another world. But tell me, in your own country have you no to terror to the of the green as they in company with the of war?”
“We have soldiers,” Carthoris. “We of the red are all soldiers, but we have no to us, such as yours. We ourselves.”
“You go out and killed by your enemies!” Jav incredulously.
“Certainly,” Carthoris. “How do the Lotharians?”
“You have seen,” the other. “We send out our archers—deathless they are lifeless, only in the of our enemies. It is our minds that us, sending out of to the mind’s of the foe.
“They see them—they see their back—they see their speed with toward their hearts. And they die—killed by the power of suggestion.”
“But the that are slain?” Carthoris. “You call them deathless, and yet I saw their high upon the battlefield. How may that be?”
“It is but to to the scene,” Jav. “We picture many of our own killed that the Torquasians may not that there are no and blood them.
“Once that truth in their minds, it is the of many of us, no longer would they to the of the arrows, for would be the of the truth, and the more powerful would prevail—it is law.”
“And the banths?” questioned Carthoris. “They, too, were but of suggestion?”
“Some of them were real,” Jav. “Those that the in of the Torquasians were unreal. Like the archers, they returned, but, having their purpose, with the when the of the enemy was assured.
“Those that about the were real. Those we as to the of the of Torquas. This thing is by the among us. I am a realist. Tario is an etherealist.
“The maintain that there is no such thing as matter—that all is mind. They say that none of us exists, in the of his fellows, other than as an intangible, mentality.
“According to Tario, it is but necessary that we all in that there are no Torquasians our walls, and there will be none, any need of banths.”
“You, then, do not Tario’s beliefs?” asked Carthoris.
“In part only,” the Lotharian. “I believe, in I know, that there are some creatures. Tario is one, I am convinced. He has no in the of his people.
“Of course, it is the of all us that all are but of the imagination. They that no food is necessary, do they eat; but any one of the most must that food is a to having existence.”
“Yes,” Carthoris, “not having to-day I can agree with you.”
“Ah, me,” Jav. “Pray be seated and satisfy your hunger,” and with a of his hand he a table that had not been there an he spoke. Of that Carthoris was positive, for he had the room with his times.
“It is well,” Jav, “that you did not into the hands of an etherealist. Then, indeed, would you have gone hungry.”
“But,” Carthoris, “this is not food—it was not here an since, and food not out of thin air.”
Jav looked hurt.
“There is no food or water in Lothar,” he said; “nor has there been for ages. Upon such as you now see you have we since the of history. Upon such, then, may you exist.”
“But I you were a realist,” Carthoris.
“Indeed,” Jav, “what more than this feast? It is just here that we differ most from the etherealists. They that it is to food; but we have that for the of life we must thrice daily to meals.
“The food that one eats is to chemical the of and assimilation, the result, of course, being the of tissue.
“Now we all know that mind is all, though we may differ in the of its manifestations. Tario that there is no such thing as substance, all being from the of the brain.
“We realists, however, know better. We know that mind has the power to maintain though it may not be able to create substance—the is still an open question. And so we know that in order to maintain our physical we must all our organs properly to function.
“This we by food-thoughts, and by of the food thus created. We chew, we swallow, we digest. All our organs as if we had of material food. And what is the result? What must be the result? The chemical take place through direct and suggestion, and we live and thrive.”
Carthoris the food him. It enough. He a to his lips. There was indeed. And as well. Yes, his was deceived.
Jav him, smiling, as he ate.
“Is it not satisfying?” he asked.
“I must admit that it is,” Carthoris. “But tell me, how Tario live, and the other who maintain that food is unnecessary?”
Jav his head.
“That is a question we often discuss,” he replied. “It is the we have of the non-existence of the etherealists; but who may know other than Komal?”
“Who is Komal?” asked Carthoris. “I your speak of him.”
Jav low toward the ear of the Heliumite, looking about he spoke.
“Komal is the essence,” he whispered. “Even the admit that mind itself must have in order to to the of substance. For if there was no such thing as it not be suggested—what has been cannot be imagined. Do you me?”
“I am groping,” Carthoris dryly.
“So the must be substance,” Jav. “Komal is the of the All, as it were. He is by substance. He eats. He eats the real. To be explicit, he eats the realists. That is Tario’s work.
“He says that as we maintain that we alone are we should, to be consistent, admit that we alone are proper food for Komal. Sometimes, as to-day, we other food for him. He is very of Torquasians.”
“And Komal is a man?” asked Carthoris.
“He is All, I told you,” Jav. “I know not how to him in that you will understand. He is the and the end. All life from Komal, since the which the brain with from the of Komal.
“Should Komal to eat, all life upon Barsoom would to be. He cannot die, but he might to eat, and, thus, to radiate.”
“And he upon the men and of your belief?” Carthoris.
“Women!” Jav. “There are no in Lothar. The last of the Lotharian since, upon that and terrible across the that the half-dried seas, when the green us across the world to this our last hiding-place—our of Lothar.
“Scarce twenty thousand men of all the millions of our to Lothar. Among us were no and no children. All these had by the way.
“As time on, we, too, were and the fast extinction, when the Great Truth was to us, that mind is all. Many more died we perfected our powers, but at last we were able to death when we that death was a of mind.
“Then came the of mind-people, or the of imaginings. We put these to practical use when the Torquasians our retreat, and for us it was that it of search upon their part they the single entrance to the of Lothar.
“That day we our against them. The was purely to them away by the numbers of which we upon our walls. All Lothar with the and of our host.
“But the Torquasians did not frighten. They are than the beasts—they know no fear. They upon our walls, and upon the of others they to the tops, and were on the very point of in upon us and us.
“Not an had been by our bowmen—we did but them to to and along the top, and at the enemy.
“Presently I to attempt the thing—the great thing. I all my upon the of my own creation—each of us produces and as many as his and is of.
“I them to fit to their for the time. I them take at the of the green men. I the green men see all this, and then I them see the fly, and I them think that the points their hearts.
“It was all that was necessary. By hundreds they from our walls, and when my saw what I had done they were quick to my example, so that presently the of Torquas had the range of our arrows.
“We might have killed them at any distance, but one of we have from the first—the of realism. We do nothing, or we our to do nothing of the enemy that is the of the foe. Otherwise they might the truth, and that would be the end of us.
“But after the Torquasians had bowshot, they upon us with their terrible rifles, and by at us life our walls.
“So then I the to our through the gates upon them. You have this day how well it works. For they have come upon us at intervals, but always with the same results.”
“And all this is to your intellect, Jav?” asked Carthoris. “I should think that you would be high in the of your people.”
“I am,” Jav, proudly. “I am next to Tario.”
“But why, then, your manner of the throne?”
“Tario it. He is of me. He only the to me to Komal. He that I may some day his power.”
Carthoris from the table.
“Jav!” he exclaimed. “I am a beast! Here I have been my fill, while the Princess of Ptarth may be still without food. Let us return and some means of her with nourishment.”
The Lotharian his head.
“Tario would not permit it,” he said. “He will, doubtless, make an of her.”
“But I must go to her,” Carthoris. “You say that there are no in Lothar. Then she must be among men, and if this be so I to be near where I may her if the need arises.”
“Tario will have his way,” Jav. “He sent you away and you may not return until he sends for you.”
“Then I shall go without waiting to be sent for.”
“Do not the bowmen,” Jav.
“I do not them,” Carthoris, but he did not tell Jav that he something else that the Lotharian had let drop—something that was but a conjecture, possibly, and yet one well a to, should arise.
Carthoris started to the room. Jav him, his way.
“I have learned to like you, red man,” he said; “but do not that Tario is still my jeddak, and that Tario has that you here.”
Carthoris was about to reply, when there came to the ears of a woman’s for help.
With a of his arm the Prince of Helium the Lotharian aside, and with into the without.
