If there be a fate that is sometimes cruel to me, there surely is a
kind and merciful Providence which watches over me.
As I toppled from the tower into the horrid abyss below I counted
myself already dead; and Thurid must have done likewise, for he
evidently did not even trouble himself to look after me, but must have
turned and mounted the waiting flier at once.
Ten feet only I fell, and then a loop of my tough, leathern harness
caught upon one of the cylindrical stone projections in the tower’s
surface—and held. Even when I had ceased to fall I could not believe
the miracle that had preserved me from instant death, and for a moment
I hung there, cold sweat exuding from every pore of my body.
But when at last I had worked myself back to a firm position I
hesitated to ascend, since I could not know that Thurid was not still
awaiting me above.
Presently, however, there came to my ears the whirring of the
propellers of a flier, and as each moment the sound grew fainter I
realized that the party had proceeded toward the south without assuring
themselves as to my fate.
Cautiously I retraced my way to the roof, and I must admit that it was
with no pleasant sensation that I raised my eyes once more above its
edge; but, to my relief, there was no one in sight, and a moment later
I stood safely upon its broad surface.
To reach the hangar and drag forth the only other flier which it
contained was the work of but an instant; and just as the two thern
warriors whom Matai Shang had left to prevent this very contingency
emerged upon the roof from the tower’s interior, I rose above them with
a taunting laugh.
Then I dived rapidly to the inner court where I had last seen Woola,
and to my immense relief found the faithful beast still there.
The twelve great banths lay in the doorways of their lairs, eyeing him
and growling ominously, but they had not disobeyed Thuvia’s injunction;
and I thanked the fate that had made her their keeper within the Golden
Cliffs, and endowed her with the kind and sympathetic nature that had
won the loyalty and affection of these fierce beasts for her.
Woola leaped in frantic joy when he discovered me; and as the flier
touched the pavement of the court for a brief instant he bounded to the
deck beside me, and in the bearlike manifestation of his exuberant
happiness all but caused me to wreck the vessel against the courtyard’s
rocky wall.
Amid the angry shouting of thern guardsmen we rose high above the last
fortress of the Holy Therns, and then raced straight toward the
northeast and Kaol, the destination which I had heard from the lips of
Matai Shang.
Far ahead, a tiny speck in the distance, I made out another flier late
in the afternoon. It could be none other than that which bore my lost
love and my enemies.
I had gained considerably on the craft by night; and then, knowing that
they must have sighted me and would show no lights after dark, I set my
destination compass upon her—that wonderful little Martian mechanism
which, once attuned to the object of destination, points away toward
it, irrespective of every change in its location.
All that night we raced through the Barsoomian void, passing over low
hills and dead sea bottoms; above long-deserted cities and populous
centers of red Martian habitation upon the ribbon-like lines of
cultivated land which border the globe-encircling waterways, which
Earth men call the canals of Mars.
Dawn showed that I had gained appreciably upon the flier ahead of me.
It was a larger craft than mine, and not so swift; but even so, it had
covered an immense distance since the flight began.
The change in vegetation below showed me that we were rapidly nearing
the equator. I was now near enough to my quarry to have used my bow
gun; but, though I could see that Dejah Thoris was not on deck, I
feared to fire upon the craft which bore her.
Thurid was deterred by no such scruples; and though it must have been
difficult for him to believe that it was really I who followed them, he
could not very well doubt the witness of his own eyes; and so he
trained their stern gun upon me with his own hands, and an instant
later an explosive radium projectile whizzed perilously close above my
deck.
The black’s next shot was more accurate, striking my flier full upon
the prow and exploding with the instant of contact, ripping wide open
the bow buoyancy tanks and disabling the engine.
So quickly did my bow drop after the shot that I scarce had time to
lash Woola to the deck and buckle my own harness to a gunwale ring
before the craft was hanging stern up and making her last long drop to
ground.
Her stern buoyancy tanks prevented her dropping with great rapidity;
but Thurid was firing rapidly now in an attempt to burst these also,
that I might be dashed to death in the swift fall that would instantly
follow a successful shot.
Shot after shot tore past or into us, but by a miracle neither Woola
nor I was hit, nor were the after tanks punctured. This good fortune
could not last indefinitely, and, assured that Thurid would not again
leave me alive, I awaited the bursting of the next shell that hit; and
then, throwing my hands above my head, I let go my hold and crumpled,
limp and inert, dangling in my harness like a corpse.
The ruse worked, and Thurid fired no more at us. Presently I heard the
diminishing sound of whirring propellers and realized that again I was
safe.
Slowly the stricken flier sank to the ground, and when I had freed
myself and Woola from the entangling wreckage I found that we were upon
the verge of a natural forest—so rare a thing upon the bosom of dying
Mars that, outside of the forest in the Valley Dor beside the Lost Sea
of Korus, I never before had seen its like upon the planet.
From books and travelers I had learned something of the little-known
land of Kaol, which lies along the equator almost halfway round the
planet to the east of Helium.
It comprises a sunken area of extreme tropical heat, and is inhabited
by a nation of red men varying but little in manners, customs, and
appearance from the balance of the red men of Barsoom.
I knew that they were among those of the outer world who still clung
tenaciously to the discredited religion of the Holy Therns, and that
Matai Shang would find a ready welcome and safe refuge among them;
while John Carter could look for nothing better than an ignoble death
at their hands.
The isolation of the Kaolians is rendered almost complete by the fact
that no waterway connects their land with that of any other nation, nor
have they any need of a waterway since the low, swampy land which
comprises the entire area of their domain self-waters their abundant
tropical crops.
For great distances in all directions rugged hills and arid stretches
of dead sea bottom discourage intercourse with them, and since there is
practically no such thing as foreign commerce upon warlike Barsoom,
where each nation is sufficient to itself, really little has been known
relative to the court of the Jeddak of Kaol and the numerous strange,
but interesting, people over whom he rules.
Occasional hunting parties have traveled to this out-of-the-way corner
of the globe, but the hostility of the natives has usually brought
disaster upon them, so that even the sport of hunting the strange and
savage creatures which haunt the jungle fastnesses of Kaol has of later
years proved insufficient lure even to the most intrepid warriors.
It was upon the verge of the land of the Kaols that I now knew myself
to be, but in what direction to search for Dejah Thoris, or how far
into the heart of the great forest I might have to penetrate I had not
the faintest idea.
But not so Woola.
Scarcely had I disentangled him than he raised his head high in air and
commenced circling about at the edge of the forest. Presently he
halted, and, turning to see if I were following, set off straight into
the maze of trees in the direction we had been going before Thurid’s
shot had put an end to our flier.
As best I could, I stumbled after him down a steep declivity beginning
at the forest’s edge.
Immense trees reared their mighty heads far above us, their broad
fronds completely shutting off the slightest glimpse of the sky. It was
easy to see why the Kaolians needed no navy; their cities, hidden in
the midst of this towering forest, must be entirely invisible from
above, nor could a landing be made by any but the smallest fliers, and
then only with the greatest risk of accident.
How Thurid and Matai Shang were to land I could not imagine, though
later I was to learn that to the level of the forest top there rises in
each city of Kaol a slender watchtower which guards the Kaolians by day
and by night against the secret approach of a hostile fleet. To one of
these the hekkador of the Holy Therns had no difficulty in approaching,
and by its means the party was safely lowered to the ground.
As Woola and I approached the bottom of the declivity the ground became
soft and mushy, so that it was with the greatest difficulty that we
made any headway whatever.
Slender purple grasses topped with red and yellow fern-like fronds grew
rankly all about us to the height of several feet above my head.
Myriad creepers hung festooned in graceful loops from tree to tree, and
among them were several varieties of the Martian “man-flower,” whose
blooms have eyes and hands with which to see and seize the insects
which form their diet.
The repulsive calot tree was, too, much in evidence. It is a
carnivorous plant of about the bigness of a large sage-brush such as
dots our western plains. Each branch ends in a set of strong jaws,
which have been known to drag down and devour large and formidable
beasts of prey.
Both Woola and I had several narrow escapes from these greedy,
arboreous monsters.
Occasional areas of firm sod gave us intervals of rest from the arduous
labor of traversing this gorgeous, twilight swamp, and it was upon one
of these that I finally decided to make camp for the night which my
chronometer warned me would soon be upon us.
Many varieties of fruit grew in abundance about us; and as Martian
calots are omnivorous, Woola had no difficulty in making a square meal
after I had brought down the viands for him. Then, having eaten, too, I
lay down with my back to that of my faithful hound, and dropped into a
deep and dreamless sleep.
The forest was shrouded in impenetrable darkness when a low growl from
Woola awakened me. All about us I could hear the stealthy movement of
great, padded feet, and now and then the wicked gleam of green eyes
upon us. Arising, I drew my long-sword and waited.
Suddenly a deep-toned, horrid roar burst from some savage throat almost
at my side. What a fool I had been not to have found safer lodgings for
myself and Woola among the branches of one of the countless trees that
surrounded us!
By daylight it would have been comparatively easy to have hoisted Woola
aloft in one manner or another, but now it was too late. There was
nothing for it but to stand our ground and take our medicine, though,
from the hideous racket which now assailed our ears, and for which that
first roar had seemed to be the signal, I judged that we must be in the
midst of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the fierce, man-eating
denizens of the Kaolian jungle.
All the balance of the night they kept up their infernal din, but why
they did not attack us I could not guess, nor am I sure to this day,
unless it is that none of them ever venture upon the patches of scarlet
sward which dot the swamp.
When morning broke they were still there, walking about as in a circle,
but always just beyond the edge of the sward. A more terrifying
aggregation of fierce and blood-thirsty monsters it would be difficult
to imagine.
Singly and in pairs they commenced wandering off into the jungle
shortly after sunrise, and when the last of them had departed Woola and
I resumed our journey.
Occasionally we caught glimpses of horrid beasts all during the day;
but, fortunately, we were never far from a sward island, and when they
saw us their pursuit always ended at the verge of the solid sod.
Toward noon we stumbled upon a well-constructed road running in the
general direction we had been pursuing. Everything about this highway
marked it as the work of skilled engineers, and I was confident, from
the indications of antiquity which it bore, as well as from the very
evident signs of its being still in everyday use, that it must lead to
one of the principal cities of Kaol.
Just as we entered it from one side a huge monster emerged from the
jungle upon the other, and at sight of us charged madly in our
direction.
Imagine, if you can, a bald-faced hornet of your earthly experience
grown to the size of a prize Hereford bull, and you will have some
faint conception of the ferocious appearance and awesome formidability
of the winged monster that bore down upon me.
Frightful jaws in front and mighty, poisoned sting behind made my
relatively puny long-sword seem a pitiful weapon of defense indeed. Nor
could I hope to escape the lightning-like movements or hide from those
myriad facet eyes which covered three-fourths of the hideous head,
permitting the creature to see in all directions at one and the same
time.
Even my powerful and ferocious Woola was as helpless as a kitten before
that frightful thing. But to flee were useless, even had it ever been
to my liking to turn my back upon a danger; so I stood my ground, Woola
snarling at my side, my only hope to die as I had always
lived—fighting.
The creature was upon us now, and at the instant there seemed to me a
single slight chance for victory. If I could but remove the terrible
menace of certain death hidden in the poison sacs that fed the sting
the struggle would be less unequal.
At the thought I called to Woola to leap upon the creature’s head and
hang there, and as his mighty jaws closed upon that fiendish face, and
glistening fangs buried themselves in the bone and cartilage and lower
part of one of the huge eyes, I dived beneath the great body as the
creature rose, dragging Woola from the ground, that it might bring its
sting beneath and pierce the body of the thing hanging to its head.
To put myself in the path of that poison-laden lance was to court
instant death, but it was the only way; and as the thing shot
lightning-like toward me I swung my long-sword in a terrific cut that
severed the deadly member close to the gorgeously marked body.
Then, like a battering-ram, one of the powerful hind legs caught me
full in the chest and hurled me, half stunned and wholly winded, clear
across the broad highway and into the underbrush of the jungle that
fringes it.
Fortunately, I passed between the boles of trees; had I struck one of
them I should have been badly injured, if not killed, so swiftly had I
been catapulted by that enormous hind leg.
Dazed though I was, I stumbled to my feet and staggered back to Woola’s
assistance, to find his savage antagonist circling ten feet above the
ground, beating madly at the clinging calot with all six powerful legs.
Even during my sudden flight through the air I had not once released my
grip upon my long-sword, and now I ran beneath the two battling
monsters, jabbing the winged terror repeatedly with its sharp point.
The thing might easily have risen out of my reach, but evidently it
knew as little concerning retreat in the face of danger as either Woola
or I, for it dropped quickly toward me, and before I could escape had
grasped my shoulder between its powerful jaws.
Time and again the now useless stub of its giant sting struck futilely
against my body, but the blows alone were almost as effective as the
kick of a horse; so that when I say futilely, I refer only to the
natural function of the disabled member—eventually the thing would have
hammered me to a pulp. Nor was it far from accomplishing this when an
interruption occurred that put an end forever to its hostilities.
From where I hung a few feet above the road I could see along the
highway a few hundred yards to where it turned toward the east, and
just as I had about given up all hope of escaping the perilous position
in which I now was I saw a red warrior come into view from around the
bend.
He was mounted on a splendid thoat, one of the smaller species used by
red men, and in his hand was a wondrous long, light lance.
His mount was walking sedately when I first perceived them, but the
instant that the red man’s eyes fell upon us a word to the thoat
brought the animal at full charge down upon us. The long lance of the
warrior dipped toward us, and as thoat and rider hurtled beneath, the
point passed through the body of our antagonist.
With a convulsive shudder the thing stiffened, the jaws relaxed,
dropping me to the ground, and then, careening once in mid air, the
creature plunged headforemost to the road, full upon Woola, who still
clung tenaciously to its gory head.
By the time I had regained my feet the red man had turned and ridden
back to us. Woola, finding his enemy inert and lifeless, released his
hold at my command and wriggled from beneath the body that had covered
him, and together we faced the warrior looking down upon us.
I started to thank the stranger for his timely assistance, but he cut
me off peremptorily.
“Who are you,” he asked, “who dare enter the land of Kaol and hunt in
the royal forest of the jeddak?”
Then, as he noted my white skin through the coating of grime and blood
that covered me, his eyes went wide and in an altered tone he
whispered: “Can it be that you are a Holy Thern?”
I might have deceived the fellow for a time, as I had deceived others,
but I had cast away the yellow wig and the holy diadem in the presence
of Matai Shang, and I knew that it would not be long ere my new
acquaintance discovered that I was no thern at all.
“I am not a thern,” I replied, and then, flinging caution to the winds,
I said: “I am John Carter, Prince of Helium, whose name may not be
entirely unknown to you.”
If his eyes had gone wide when he thought that I was a Holy Thern, they
fairly popped now that he knew that I was John Carter. I grasped my
long-sword more firmly as I spoke the words which I was sure would
precipitate an attack, but to my surprise they precipitated nothing of
the kind.
“John Carter, Prince of Helium,” he repeated slowly, as though he could
not quite grasp the truth of the statement. “John Carter, the mightiest
warrior of Barsoom!”
And then he dismounted and placed his hand upon my shoulder after the
manner of most friendly greeting upon Mars.
“It is my duty, and it should be my pleasure, to kill you, John
Carter,” he said, “but always in my heart of hearts have I admired your
prowess and believed in your sincerity the while I have questioned and
disbelieved the therns and their religion.
“It would mean my instant death were my heresy to be suspected in the
court of Kulan Tith, but if I may serve you, Prince, you have but to
command Torkar Bar, Dwar of the Kaolian Road.”
Truth and honesty were writ large upon the warrior’s noble countenance,
so that I could not but have trusted him, enemy though he should have
been. His title of Captain of the Kaolian Road explained his timely
presence in the heart of the savage forest, for every highway upon
Barsoom is patrolled by doughty warriors of the noble class, nor is
there any service more honorable than this lonely and dangerous duty in
the less frequented sections of the domains of the red men of Barsoom.
“Torkar Bar has already placed a great debt of gratitude upon my
shoulders,” I replied, pointing to the carcass of the creature from
whose heart he was dragging his long spear.
The red man smiled.
“It was fortunate that I came when I did,” he said. “Only this poisoned
spear pricking the very heart of a sith can kill it quickly enough to
save its prey. In this section of Kaol we are all armed with a long
sith spear, whose point is smeared with the poison of the creature it
is intended to kill; no other virus acts so quickly upon the beast as
its own.
“Look,” he continued, drawing his dagger and making an incision in the
carcass a foot above the root of the sting, from which he presently
drew forth two sacs, each of which held fully a gallon of the deadly
liquid.
“Thus we maintain our supply, though were it not for certain commercial
uses to which the virus is put, it would scarcely be necessary to add
to our present store, since the sith is almost extinct.
“Only occasionally do we now run upon one. Of old, however, Kaol was
overrun with the frightful monsters that often came in herds of twenty
or thirty, darting down from above into our cities and carrying away
women, children, and even warriors.”
As he spoke I had been wondering just how much I might safely tell this
man of the mission which brought me to his land, but his next words
anticipated the broaching of the subject on my part, and rendered me
thankful that I had not spoken too soon.
“And now as to yourself, John Carter,” he said, “I shall not ask your
business here, nor do I wish to hear it. I have eyes and ears and
ordinary intelligence, and yesterday morning I saw the party that came
to the city of Kaol from the north in a small flier. But one thing I
ask of you, and that is: the word of John Carter that he contemplates
no overt act against either the nation of Kaol or its jeddak.”
“You may have my word as to that, Torkar Bar,” I replied.
“My way leads along the Kaolian road, away from the city of Kaol,” he
continued. “I have seen no one—John Carter least of all. Nor have you
seen Torkar Bar, nor ever heard of him. You understand?”
“Perfectly,” I replied.
He laid his hand upon my shoulder.
“This road leads directly into the city of Kaol,” he said. “I wish you
fortune,” and vaulting to the back of his thoat he trotted away without
even a backward glance.
It was after dark when Woola and I spied through the mighty forest the
great wall which surrounds the city of Kaol.
We had traversed the entire way without mishap or adventure, and though
the few we had met had eyed the great calot wonderingly, none had
pierced the red pigment with which I had smoothly smeared every square
inch of my body.
But to traverse the surrounding country, and to enter the guarded city
of Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol, were two very different things. No man
enters a Martian city without giving a very detailed and satisfactory
account of himself, nor did I delude myself with the belief that I
could for a moment impose upon the acumen of the officers of the guard
to whom I should be taken the moment I applied at any one of the gates.
My only hope seemed to lie in entering the city surreptitiously under
cover of the darkness, and once in, trust to my own wits to hide myself
in some crowded quarter where detection would be less liable to occur.
With this idea in view I circled the great wall, keeping within the
fringe of the forest, which is cut away for a short distance from the
wall all about the city, that no enemy may utilize the trees as a means
of ingress.
Several times I attempted to scale the barrier at different points, but
not even my earthly muscles could overcome that cleverly constructed
rampart. To a height of thirty feet the face of the wall slanted
outward, and then for almost an equal distance it was perpendicular,
above which it slanted in again for some fifteen feet to the crest.
And smooth! Polished glass could not be more so. Finally I had to admit
that at last I had discovered a Barsoomian fortification which I could
not negotiate.
Discouraged, I withdrew into the forest beside a broad highway which
entered the city from the east, and with Woola beside me lay down to
sleep.