GREEN MEN AND WHITE APES
A Torquasian a across the of Carthoris. He had a of soft arms about his neck, and warm close to his he consciousness.
How long he there he not guess; but when he opened his again he was alone, for the of the green men and Dusarians, and the of a great that across his own.
Thuvia was gone, was the of Kar Komak among the dead.
Weak from of blood, Carthoris his way slowly toward Aaanthor, its at dark.
He wanted water more than any other thing, and so he on up a toward the great plaza, where he the was to be in a half-ruined opposite the great of the jeddak, who once had this city.
Disheartened and by the of events that fore-ordained to his every attempt to the Princess of Ptarth, he paid little or no attention to his surroundings, moving through the city as though no great white in the black of the mystery-haunted that the and the great plaza.
But if Carthoris was careless of his surroundings, not so other that his entrance into the plaza, and his slow toward the marble that the tiny, half-choked water one might only by a in the red that it.
And as the Heliumite entered the small a dozen mighty, from the of the to speed across the toward him.
For an hour Carthoris in the building, for water and the much-needed which were the fruits of his labour. Then he rose and slowly left the structure. Scarce had he the than twelve Torquasian upon him.
No time then to long-sword; but from his his long, dagger, and as he them more than a single green at the bite of that point.
Then they him and took his away; but only nine of the twelve who had the returned with their prize.
They their to the pits, where in they him with to the solid of the wall.
“To-morrow Thar Ban will speak with you,” they said. “Now he sleeps. But great will be his when he who has us—and great will be the of Hortan Gur when Thar Ban him the who the great with his sword.”
Then they left him to the and the darkness.
For what hours Carthoris upon the of his prison, his against the in which was the eye-bolt that the which him.
Then, from out of the him, there came to his ears the of moving upon stone—approaching nearer and nearer to where he lay, and defenceless.
Minutes passed—minutes that hours—during which time of would be by a of the of upon him.
At last he a of across the empty blackness, and at a little a sound, breathing, and once what he the of a man against great odds. Then the of a chain, and a noise as of the against of a link.
Again came silence. But for a moment only. Now he once more the soft him. He that he at him through the darkness. He that he the of powerful lungs.
Then came the of many toward him, and the were upon him.
Hands in at his and arms and legs. Hairy and against his own as he in against these in the of the of Aaanthor.
Thewed like some god was Carthoris of Helium, yet in the of these of the pit’s Stygian night he was as a woman.
Yet he on, against great, he not see; thick, his fingers; the of upon his cheek, and hot, in his nostrils.
Fangs, too, fangs, he were close, and why they did not into his he not guess.
At last he aware of the of a number of his and upon the great that him, and presently came the same that he had at a little from him a time he had been attacked—his had and the end against the wall.
Now he was upon either and at a through the dark corridors—toward what he not guess.
At he had his might be of the of Torquas, but their that belief. Now he was at last sure of their identity, though why they had not killed and him at once he not imagine.
After an hour or more of through the passages that are a of all Barsoomian cities, modern as well as ancient, his into the moonlight of a courtyard, from the plaza.
Immediately Carthoris saw that he was in the power of a of the great white of Barsoom. All that had him as to the identity of his was the of their breasts, for the white are for a great from their heads.
Now he saw the of that which had him—across the of each of them were of hide, of banth, in of the of the green who so often at their city.
Carthoris had read of the of of that to be slowly toward higher of intelligence. Into the hands of such, he realized, he had fallen; but—what were their toward him?
As he about the courtyard, he saw fifty of the beasts, on their haunches, and at a little from him another being, closely guarded.
As his met those of his fellow-captive a the other’s face, and: “Kaor, red man!” from his lips. It was Kar Komak, the bowman.
“Kaor!” Carthoris, in response. “How came you here, and what the princess?”
“Red men like in ships that the air, as the great ships of my day the five seas,” Kar Komak. “They with the green men of Torquas. They Komal, god of Lothar. I they were your friends, and I was when those of them who the the red girl to one of the ships and away with her into the safety of the high air.
“Then the green men me, and me to a great, empty city, where they me to a in a black pit. Afterward came these and me hither. And what of you, red man?”
Carthoris related all that had him, and as the two men talked the great about them them intently.
“What are we to do now?” asked the bowman.
“Our case looks hopeless,” Carthoris ruefully. “These are man-eaters. Why they have not already us I cannot imagine—there!” he whispered. “See? The end is coming.”
Kar Komak looked in the direction Carthoris to see a with a bludgeon.
“It is thus they like best to kill their prey,” said Carthoris.
“Must we die without a struggle?” asked Kar Komak.
“Not I,” Carthoris, “though I know how our best must be against these brutes! Oh, for a long-sword!”
“Or a good bow,” added Kar Komak, “and a of bowmen.”
At the Carthoris to his feet, only to be by his guard.
“Kar Komak!” he cried. “Why cannot you do what Tario and Jav did? They had no other than those of their own creation. You must know the of their power. Call your own utan, Kar Komak!”
The Lotharian looked at Carthoris in wide-eyed as the full of the in upon his understanding.
“Why not?” he murmured.
The the was toward Carthoris. The Heliumite’s were as he his upon his executioner. Kar Komak his upon the apes. The of his mind was in the upon his brows.
The that was to the red man was almost arm’s of his when Carthoris a from the opposite of the courtyard. In common with the and the with the he in the direction of the sound, to see a company of from the of a near-by building.
With of the to their to meet the charge. A of met them half-way, sending a dozen to the ground. Then the closed with their adversaries. All their attention was by the attackers—even the had the to join in the battle.
“Come!” Kar Komak. “Now may we while their attention is from us by my bowmen.”
“And those leaderless?” Carthoris, nature at the of such a thing.
Kar Komak laughed.
“You forget,” he said, “that they are but thin air—figments of my brain. They will vanish, unscathed, when we have no need for them. Praised be your ancestor, redman, that you of this in time! It would have to me to that I might the same power that me into existence.”
“You are right,” said Carthoris. “Still, I to them, though there is else to do,” and so the two from the courtyard, and making their way into one of the avenues, in the of the toward the great upon which were the by the green when they visited the city.
When they had come to the plaza’s Carthoris halted.
“Wait here,” he whispered. “I go to thoats, since on we may to the of these green fiends.”
To the where the were it was necessary for Carthoris to pass through one of the which the square. Which were and which not he not guess, so he was to take to the in which he the and among themselves.
Chance him through a dark into a large in which a score or more green in their sleeping and furs. Scarce had Carthoris passed through the that the door of the and the great room it than he aware of the presence of something or some one in the through which he had but just passed.
He a man yawn, and then, him, he saw the of a from where the had been dozing, and himself his watchfulness.
Carthoris that he must have passed a of the warrior, him from his slumber. To now would be impossible. Yet to through that of sleeping almost the of possibility.
Carthoris his and the evil. Warily he entered the room. At his right, against the wall, and and spears—extra which the had here to their hands should there be a night calling them from slumber. Beside each his weapon—these were from their owners from to death.
The of the the man’s itch. He to them, two short-swords—one for Kar Komak, the other for himself; also some for his comrade.
Then he started directly across the centre of the among the sleeping Torquasians.
Not a man of them moved until Carthoris had more than of the though journey. Then a directly in his path upon his sleeping and furs.
The Heliumite paused above him, one of the short-swords in should the awaken. For what an to the the green man to move upon his couch, then, as though by springs, he to his and the red man.
Instantly Carthoris struck, but not a the other’s lips. In an the room was in turmoil. Warriors to their feet, their as they rose, and to one another for an of the disturbance.
To Carthoris all the room was visible in the light from without, for the moon directly at zenith; but to the of the newly-awakened green men objects as yet had not taken on familiar forms—they but saw the of moving about their apartment.
Now one against the of him Carthoris had slain. The and his hand came in with the skull. He saw about him the of other green men, and so he jumped to the only that was open to him.
“The Thurds!” he cried. “The Thurds are upon us! Rise, of Torquas, and drive home your the of Torquas’ enemies!”
Instantly the green men to upon one another with swords. Their of was aroused. To fight, to kill, to die with cold in their vitals! Ah, that to them was Nirvana.
Carthoris was quick to their error and take of it. He that in the of killing they might on long after they had their mistake, unless their attention was by of the of the altercation, and so he no time in across the room to the upon the opposite side, which opened into the court, where the were and among themselves.
Once here he had no easy him. To catch and one of these and was no child’s play under the best of conditions; but now, when and time were such considerations, it might well have to a less and man than the son of the great warlord.
From his father he had learned much the of these beasts, and from Tars Tarkas, also, when he had visited that great green among his at Thark. So now he upon the work in hand all that he had learned about them from others and from his own experience, for he, too, had and them many times.
The of the of Torquas appeared than their among the Tharks and Warhoons, and for a time it that he should a on the part of a of old that circled, squealing, about him; but at last he managed to close to one of them to touch the beast. With the of his hand upon the the quieted, and in answer to the of the red man to its knees.
In a moment Carthoris was upon its back, it toward the great gate that leads from the through a large at one end into an beyond.
The other bull, still and enraged, after his fellow. There was no upon either, for these are by suggestion—when they are at all.
Even in the hands of the green men would be against the and of the thoat, and so they are by that power with which the men of Mars have learned to in a way with the orders of their planet.
With Carthoris the two to the gate, where, down, he the latch. Then the that he was his great to the skeel-wood planking, pushed through, and a moment later the man and the two were the to the of the plaza, where Kar Komak hid.
Here Carthoris in the second thoat, and as Kar Komak had one of the beasts, it a most job; but at last the managed to to the back, and again the two the moss-grown toward the open sea-bottom the city.
All that night and the day and the second night they toward the north-east. No of developed, and at of the second day Carthoris saw in the the of great trees that marked one of the long Barsoomian water-ways.
Immediately they their and approached the on foot. Carthoris also the metal from his harness, or such of it as might to identify him as a Heliumite, or of blood, for he did not know to what nation this waterway, and upon Mars it is always well to assume every man and nation your enemy until you have learned the contrary.
It was mid-forenoon when the two at last entered one of the that cut through the at regular intervals, joining the on either with the great, white, that through the centre from end to end of the far-reaching, farm lands.
The high the as a protection against by green hordes, as well as the and other from the animals and the beings upon the farms.
Carthoris stopped the gate he came to, for admission. The man who answered his the two hospitably, though he looked with wonder upon the white skin and of the bowman.
After he had for a moment to a of their from the Torquasians, he them within, took them to his house and the there prepare food for them.
As they waited in the low-ceiled, room of the until the should be ready, Carthoris his into that he might learn his nationality, and thus the nation under the where had him.
“I am Hal Vas,” said the man, “son of Vas Kor, of Dusar, a in the of Astok, Prince of Dusar. At present I am Dwar of the Road for this district.”
Carthoris was very that he had not his identity, for though he had no idea of anything that had since he had left Helium, or that Astok was at the of all his misfortunes, he well that the Dusarian had no love for him, and that he for no the of Dusar.
“And who are you?” asked Hal Vas. “By your I take you for a man, but I see no upon your harness. Can it be that you are a panthan?”
Now, these soldiers of are common upon Barsoom, where most men love to fight. They sell their services exists, and in the occasional when there is no the red nations, they join one of the that are being against the green men in protection of the that the of the globe.
When their service is over they the metal of the nation they have been until they shall have a new master. In the they wear no insignia, their war-worn and being to their calling.
The was a happy one, and Carthoris the it to account for himself. There was, however, a single drawback. In times of such as to be the of a nation were to the of that nation and with her warriors.
As as Carthoris Dusar was not at with any other nation, but there was any telling when one red nation would be at the of a neighbour, though the great and powerful at the of which was his father, John Carter, had managed to maintain a long peace upon the of Barsoom.
A Hal Vas’ as Carthoris his vocation.
“It is well,” the man, “that you to come hither, for here you will the means of service in order. My father, Vas Kor, is now with me, having come to a for the new against Helium.”
