THE PLANT MEN
As I upon the my on that clear cold night in the early part of March, 1886, the Hudson like the and of a river me, I again the strange, of the god of war, my Mars, which for ten long and years I had with arms to me to my love.
Not since that other March night in 1866, when I had without that Arizona in which my still and in the of death had I the of the god of my profession.
With arms toward the red of the great star I praying for a return of that power which twice had me through the of space, praying as I had prayed on a thousand nights the long ten years that I had waited and hoped.
Suddenly a of over me, my swam, my gave me and I to the ground upon the very of the bluff.
Instantly my brain and there across the of my memory the picture of the of that Arizona cave; again, as on that far-gone night, my to respond to my will and again, as though here upon the banks of the Hudson, I the and of the thing which had and me from the dark of the cave, I the same and to the of the which me, and again came the as of the of a wire, and I and free the staring, thing that had so with the warm, red life-blood of John Carter.
With a I my again toward Mars, my hands toward his rays, and waited.
Nor did I have long to wait; for had I I with the of into the me. There was the same of cold and that I had twenty years before, and then I opened my in another world, the of a sun, which through a opening in the of the in which I lay.
The that met my was so un-Martian that my to my as the through me that I had been upon some by a fate.
Why not? What had I through the waste of space? What that I might not as well be to some far-distant star of another system, as to Mars?
I upon a close-cropped of red vegetation, and about me a of and trees, with and and with brilliant, birds. I call them since they were winged, but ne'er rested on such odd, shapes.
The was to that which the of the red Martians of the great waterways, but the trees and were anything that I had upon Mars, and then through the trees I see that most un-Martian of all sights—an open sea, its the sun.
As I rose to I the same that had met my attempt to walk under Martian conditions. The of this smaller and the air pressure of its atmosphere, so little to my that the ordinary of the act of sent me into the air and me upon my in the soft and of this world.
This experience, however, gave me some that, after all, I might be in some, to me, unknown of Mars, and this was very possible since my ten years' upon the I had but a area of its expanse.
I again, laughing at my forgetfulness, and soon had once more the art of my to these conditions.
As I walked slowly the toward the sea I not help but note the park-like of the and trees. The was as close-cropped and carpet-like as some old English lawn and the trees themselves of to a of about fifteen from the ground, so that as one his in any direction the had the at a little of a vast, high-ceiled chamber.
All these of and me that I had been to make my entry into Mars on this second occasion through the of a people and that when I should them I would be the and protection that my rank as a Prince of the house of Tardos Mors me to.
The trees of the my as I toward the sea. Their great stems, some of them a hundred in diameter, their height, which I only at, since at no point I their above me to more than sixty or eighty feet.
As as I see the and and were as and as as the of American-made pianos. The of some of the trees was as black as ebony, while their nearest might in the light of the as clear and white as the china, or, again, they were azure, scarlet, yellow, or purple.
And in the same way was the as and as the stems, while the that thick upon them may not be in any tongue, and might challenge the language of the gods.
As I the of the I me and the and the open sea, a of land, and as I was about to from the of the trees a met my that all and upon the of the landscape.
To my left the sea as as the reach, me only a vague, line its shore, while at my right a river, broad, placid, and majestic, banks to empty into the sea me.
At a little up the river rose bluffs, from the very of which the great river to rise.
But it was not these and of Nature's that took my attention from the of the forest. It was the of a score of moving slowly about the near the bank of the river.
Odd, they were; anything that I had upon Mars, and yet, at a distance, most in appearance. The larger appeared to be about ten or twelve in when they erect, and to be as to and as is man.
Their arms, however, were very short, and from where I as though much after the manner of an elephant's trunk, in that they moved in and undulations, as though without structure, or if there were it that they must be in nature.
As I them from the of a tree, one of the moved slowly in my direction, in the that to be the of each of them, and which in their hands over the surface of the sward, for what purpose I not determine.
As he approached close to me I an excellent view of him, and though I was later to with his kind, I may say that that single of this on Nature would have proved to my had I been a free agent. The of the Heliumetic Navy not have me from this creature.
Its was a and blue, for a of white which its protruding, single eye: an that was all white—pupil, iris, and ball.
Its nose was a ragged, inflamed, in the centre of its blank face; a that more closely nothing that I think of other than a fresh which has not yet to bleed.
Below this the was blank to the chin, for the thing had no mouth that I discover.
The head, with the of the face, was by a of jet-black some eight or ten in length. Each was about the of a large angleworm, and as the thing moved the of its this head-covering to and and about the as though each was with life.
The and the were as as Nature have them, and the feet, too, were in shape, but of proportions. From to toe they were three long, and very and very broad.
As it came close to me I that its movements, its odd hands over the surface of the turf, were the result of its method of feeding, which in off the with its and it up from its two mouths, which one in the of each hand, through its arm-like throats.
In to the which I have already described, the was with a about six in length, where it joined the body, but to a flat, thin toward the end, which at right to the ground.
By the most of this most creature, however, were the two of it, each about six in length, which dangled, one on either side, from its armpits. They were by a small which to from the exact of their to where it them with the of the adult.
Whether they were the young, or of a creature, I did not know.
As I had been this the of the had close to me and I now saw that while many had the smaller from them, not all were thus equipped, and I noted that the little ones in size from what appeared to be but an in through of to the full-fledged and perfectly of ten to twelve in length.
Feeding with the were many of the little not much larger than those which to their parents, and from the of that size the up to the adults.
Fearsome-looking as they were, I did not know to them or not, for they did not to be particularly well for fighting, and I was on the point of from my hiding-place and myself to them to note the upon them of the of a man when my was, for me, in the by a wail, which to come from the direction of the at my right.
Naked and unarmed, as I was, my end would have been and at the hands of these had I had time to put my into execution, but at the moment of the each of the in the direction from which the to come, and at the same every particular snake-like upon their rose as if each had been a looking or for the or meaning of the wail. And the proved to be the truth, for this upon the of the plant men of Barsoom the thousand ears of these creatures, the last of the which from the original Tree of Life.
Instantly every toward one of the herd, a large who was the leader. A from the mouth in the of one of his hands, and at the same time he started toward the bluff, by the entire herd.
Their speed and method of were remarkable, as they did in great of twenty or thirty feet, much after the manner of a kangaroo.
They were when it to me to them, and so, to the winds, I across the in their wake with and more than their own, for the of an Earth man produce results when against the and air pressure of Mars.
Their way directly the of the river at the of the cliffs, and as I this point I the with that the of time had from the above.
For this I came close to the of the the upon my gaze. As I a great I saw the of plant men a little group of five or six green men and of Barsoom.
That I was upon Mars I now had no doubt, for here were members of the wild that people the sea and of that planet.
Here were the great males in all the of their height; here were the white from their to a point near the centre of their foreheads, the placed, with which they look or backward, or to either without their heads, here the antennae-like ears from the of their foreheads; and the additional pair of arms from the and the hips.
Even without the green and the metal which the to which they belonged, I would have them on the for what they were, for where else in all the is their like duplicated?
There were two men and four in the party and their them as members of different hordes, a which to puzzle me infinitely, since the of green men of Barsoom are at with one another, and never, on that single when the great Tars Tarkas of Thark a hundred and fifty thousand green from to upon the city of Zodanga to Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, from the of Than Kosis, had I green Martians of different in other than combat.
But now they to back, facing, in wide-eyed amazement, the very of a common enemy.
Both men and were with long-swords and daggers, but no were in evidence, else it had been for the plant men of Barsoom.
Presently the leader of the plant men the little party, and his method of attack was as as it was effective, and by its very was the more potent, since in the science of the green there was no for this manner of attack, the like of which it soon was to me they were as with as they were with the which them.
The plant man to a dozen of the party and then, with a bound, rose as though to pass directly above their heads. His powerful was high to one side, and as he passed close above them he it in one that a green warrior's as though it had been an eggshell.
The of the was now and with speed about the little of victims. Their and the shrill, of their mouths were well calculated to and their prey, so that as two of them from either side, the of those met with no and two more green Martians to an death.
There were now but one and two left, and it that it be but a of these, also, upon the sward.
But as two more of the plant men charged, the warrior, who was now prepared by the of the past minutes, his long-sword and met the with a clean cut that one of the plant men from to groin.
The other, however, a single with his that of the upon the ground.
As the green saw the last of his go and at the same time that the entire was him in a body, he to meet them, his long-sword in the manner that I had so often the men of his it in their and almost among their own race.
Cutting and to right and left, he an open path through the plant men, and then a for the forest, in the of which he that he might a of refuge.
He had for that of the which on the cliffs, and thus the was taking the entire party and from the where I concealed.
As I had the which the great had put up against such my had in for him, and acting as I am to do, more upon than after deliberation, I from my and toward the of the green Martians, a well-defined plan of action already formed.
Half a dozen great me to the spot, and another saw me again in my in quick of the that were on the warrior, but this time I a long-sword in my hand and in my was the old blood of the man, and a red my and I my respond to my in the old that has marked me in the of the of battle.
Swift as I was I was none too soon, for the green had been overtaken he had the to the forest, and now he with his to a boulder, while the herd, balked, and about him.
With their single in the centre of their and every upon their prey, they did not note my approach, so that I was upon them with my great long-sword and four of them they that I was among them.
For an they my onslaught, and in that the green rose to the occasion and, to my side, to the right and left of him as I had but one other do, with great that a eight about him and that stopped until none to oppose him, his through and and metal as though each had been thin air.
As we to the slaughter, above us rose that shrill, which I had once before, and which had called the to the attack upon their victims. Again and again it rose, but we were too much with the and powerful about us to attempt to search out with our the author of the notes.
Great in anger about us, razor-like cut our and bodies, and a green and syrup, such as from a caterpillar, us from to foot, for every cut and of our of this upon us from the of the plant men, through which it in its in of blood.
Once I the great weight of one of the upon my and as into my I the of the from the to which the still clung.
I was very much with a who was to my from in front, while two more, one on either side, were at me with their tails.
The green was much put to it to his own, and I that the last but a moment longer when the my plight, and himself from those that him, he the from my with a single of his blade, and thus I had little with the others.
Once together, we almost to against the great boulder, and thus the were from above us to deliver their blows, and as we were easily their match while they upon the ground, we were making great in what of them when our attention was again by the of the above our heads.
This time I up, and above us upon a little natural on the of the a of a man out his signal, the while he one hand in the direction of the river's mouth as though to some one there, and with the other pointed and toward us.
A in the direction toward which he was looking was to me of his and at the same time to me with the of apprehension, for, in from all across the meadow, from out of the forest, and from the of the land across the river, I see upon us a hundred different lines of such as we were now with, and with them some new which ran with great swiftness, now and now upon all fours.
"It will be a great death," I said to my companion. "Look!"
As he a quick in the direction I he smiled.
"We may at least die and as great should, John Carter," he replied.
We had just the last of our as he spoke, and I in at the of my name.
And there my I the of the green men of Barsoom; their statesman, their general, my great and good friend, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark.
