CHAPTER XII

* ' rOLLOW THE EOPE ! ' '
WHAT could it mean? " Follow the rope." What rope?
Presently I recalled the cord that had been attached to the parcel when it fell at my side, and after a little groping my hand came in con- tact with it again. It depended from above, and when I pulled upon it I discovered that it was rigidly fastened, possibly at the pit's mouth.
Upon examination I found that the cord, though small, was amply able to sustain the weight of several men. Then I made another discovery — there was a second message knotted in the rope at about the height of my head. This I deciphered more easily, now that the key was mine.
" Bring the rope with you. Beyond the knots lies danger."
That was all there was to this message. It [212]
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was evidently hastily formed — an afterthought.
I did not pause longer than to learn the con- tents of the second message, and, though I was none too sure of the meaning of the final ad- monition, " Beyond the knots lies danger," yet I was sure that here before me lay an avenue of escape, and that the sooner I took advantage of it the more likely was I to win to liberty.
At least, I could be but little worse off than I had been in the Pit of Plenty.
I was to find, however, ere I was well out of that damnable hole that I might have been very much worse off had I been compelled to remain there another two minutes.
It had taken me about that length of time to ascend some fifty feet above the bottom when a noise above attracted my attention. To my chagrin I saw that the covering of the pit was being removed far above me, and in the light of the courtyard beyond I saw a number of yel- low warriors. '
Could it be that I was laboriously working my way into some new trap? Were the messages spurious, after all? And then, just as my hope and courage had ebbed to their lowest, I saw two things.
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One was the body of a huge, struggling, snarl- ing apt being lowered over the side of the pit toward me, and the other was an aperture in the side of the shaft — an aperture larger than a man's body, into which my rope led.
Just as I scrambled into the dark hole before me the apt passed me, reaching out with his mighty hands to clutch me, and snapping, growl- ing, and roaring in a most frightful manner.
Plainly now I saw the end for which Salensus Oil had destined me. After first torturing me with starvation he had caused this fierce beast to be lowered into my prison to finish the work that the jeddak's hellish imagination had con- ceived.
And then another truth flashed upon me — I had lived nine days of the allotted ten which must intervene before Salensus Oil could make Dejah Thoris his queen. The purpose of the apt was to insure my death before the tenth day.
I almost laughed aloud as I thought how Salensus Oil's measure of safety was to aid in defeating the very end he sought, for when they discovered that the apt was alone in the Pit of Plenty they could not know but that he had com- [214]
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pletely devoured me, and so no suspicion of my escape would cause a search to be made for me.
Coiling the rope that had carried me thus far upon my strange journey, I sought for the other end, but found that as I followed it forward it extended always before me. So this was the meaning of the words : " Follow the rope."
The tunnel through which I crawled was low and dark. I had followed it for several hun- dred yards when I felt a knot beneath my fingers. " Beyond the knots lies danger."
Now I went with the utmost caution, and a moment later a sharp turn in the tunnel brought me to an opening into a large, brilliantly lighted chamber.
The trend of the tunnel I had been traversing had been slightly upward, and from this I judged that the chamber into which I now found myself looking must be either on the first floor of the palace or directly beneath the first floor.
Upon the opposite wall were many strange instruments and devices, and in the center of the room stood a long table, at which two men were seated in earnest conversation.
He who faced me was a yellow man — a little, wizened-up, pasty-faced old fellow with great [215]
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eyes that showed the white round the entire circumference of the iris.
His companion was a black man, and I did not need to see his face to know that it was Thurid, for there was no other of the First Bom north of the ice-barrier.
Thurid was speaking as I came within hear- ing of the men's voices.
" Solan," he was saying, " there is no risk and the reward is great. You know that you hate Salensus Oil and that nothing would please you more than to thwart him in some cherished plan. There be nothing that he more cherishes today than the idea of wedding the beautiful Princess of Helium; but I, too, want her, and with your help I may win her.
"You need not more than step from this room for an instant when I give you the signal. I will do the rest, and then, when I am gone, you may come and throw the great switch back into its place, and all will be as before. I need but an hour's start to be safe beyond the devilish power that you control in this hidden chamber beneath the palace of your master. See how easy," and with the words the black dator rose from his seat and, crossing the room, [216]
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laid his hand upon a large, burnished lever that protruded from the opposite wall.
' ' No ! No I ' ' cried the little old man, spring- ing after him, with a wild shriek. ' ' Not that one ! Not that one ! That controls the sun-ray tanks, and should you pull it too far down, all Kadabra would be consumed by heat before I could replace it. Come away! Come away! You know not with what mighty powers you play. This is the lever that you seek. Note well the symbol inlaid ia white upon its ebon surface."
Thurid approached and examined the handle of the lever.
"Ah, a magnet," he said. "I will remem- ber. It is settled then I take it," he continued.
The old man hesitated. A look of combined greed and apprehension overspread his none too beautiful features.
" Double the figure," he said. " Even that were all too small an amount for the service you ask. Why, I risk my life by even entertaining you here within the forbidden precincts of my station. Should Salensus Oil learn of it he would have me thrown to the apts before the day was done."
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" He dare not do that, and you know it full well, Solan," contradicted tlie black. "Too great a power of life and death you hold over the people of Kadabra for Salensus Oil ever to risk threatening you with death. Before ever his minions could lay their hands upon you, you might seize this very lever from which you have just warned me and wipe out the entire city."
"And myself into the bargain," said Solan, with a shudder.
" But if you were to die, anyway, you would find the nerve to do it, ' ' replied Thurid.
"Yes," muttered Solan, "I have often thought upon that very thing. Well, First Born, is your red princess worth the price I ask for my services, or will you go without her and see her in the arms of Salensus Oil tomor- row night? "
" Take your price, yellow man," replied Thurid, with an oath. " Half now and the bal- ance when you have fulfilled your contract."
With that the dator threw a well-filled money- pouch upon the table.
Solan opened the pouch and with trembling fingers counted its contents. His weird eyes assumed a greedy expression, and his unkempt [218]
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beard and mustache twitched with the muscles of his mouth and chin. It was quite evident from his very mannerism that Thurid had keenly guessed the man's weakness — even the clawlike, clutching movement of the fingers he- tokened the avariciousness of the miser.
Having satisfied himself that the amount was correct, Solan replaced the money in the pouch and rose from the table.
"Now," he said, "are you quite sure that you know the way to your destination? You must travel quickly to cover the ground to the cave and from thence beyond the Great Power, all within a brief hour, for no more dare I spare you."
"Let me repeat it to you," said Thurid, ' ' that you may see if I be letter-perfect. ' '
" Proceed," replied Solan. -" Through yonder door," he commenced, pointing to a door at the far end of the apart- ment, " I follow a corridor, passing three di- verging corridors upon my right ; then into the fourth right-hand corridor straight to where three corridors meet ; here again I follow to the right, hugging the left wall closely to avoid the pit.
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"At the end of this corridor I shall come to a spiral runway, which I must follow down in- stead of up ; after that the way is along but a single branchless corridor. Am I right? "
" Quite right, Dator," answered Solan; " and now begone. Already have you tempted fate too long within this forbidden place."
" Tonight, or tomorrow, then, you may ex- pect the signal," said Thurid, rising to go.
"Tonight, or tomorrow," repeated Solan, and as the door closed behind his guest the old man continued to mutter as he turned back to the table, where he again dumped the contents of the money-pouch, running his fingers through the heap of shining metal ; piling the coins into little towers; counting, recounting, and fond- ling the wealth the while he muttered on and on in a crooning undertone.
Presently his fingers ceased their play; his eyes popped wider than ever as they fastened upon the door through which Thurid had disap- peared. The croon changed to a querulous muttering, and finally to an ugly growl.
Then the old man rose from the table, shak- ing his fist at the closed door. Now he raised his vdice, and his words came distinctly. [220]
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' ' Fool ! " he muttered. ' ' Think you that for your happiness Solan will give up his life? If you escaped, Salensus Oil would know that only through my connivance could you have suc- ceeded. Then would he send for me. What would you have me do? Eeduce the city and myself to ashes? No, fool, there is a better way — a better way for Solan to keep thy money and be revenged upon Salensus Oil."
He laughed in a nasty, cackling note.
' ' Poor fool ! You may throw the great switch that will give you the freedom of the air of Okar, and then, in fatuous security, go on with thy red princess to the freedom of — death. When you have passed beyond this chamber in your flight, what can prevent Solan replacing the switch as it was before your vile hand touched it? Nothing; and then the Guard- ian of the North will claim you and your woman, and Salensus Oil, when he sees your dead bod- ies, will never dream that the hand of Solan had aught to do with the thing."
Then his voice dropped once more into mut-
terings that I could not translate, but I had
heard enough to cause me to guess a great deal
more, and I thanked the kind Providence that
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had led me to this chamber at a time so filled with importance to Dejah Thoris and myself as this.
But how to pass the old man now I The cord, almost invisible upon the floor, stretched straight across the apartment to a door upon the far side.
There was no other way of which I knew, nor could I afford to ignore the advice to " follow the rope." I must cross this room, but how- ever I should accomplish it undetected with that old man in the very center of it baflSed me.
Of course I might have sprung in upon him and with my bare hands silenced him forever, but I had heard enough to convince me that with him alive the knowledge that I had gained might serve me at some future moment, while should I kill him and another be stationed in his place Thurid would not come hither with Dejah Thoris, as was quite evidently his intention.
As I stood in the dark shadow of the tunnel's end racking my brain for a feasible plan the while I watched, catlike, the old man's every move, he took up the money -pouch and crossed to one end of the apartment, where, bending to his knees, he fumbled with a panel in the wall. [222]
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Instantly I guessed that here was the hiding place in which he hoarded his wealth, and while he bent there, his back toward me, I entered the chamber upon tiptoe, and with the utmost stealth essayed to reach the opposite side be- fore he should complete his task and turn again toward the room's center.
Scarcely thirty steps, all told, must I take, and yet it seemed to my overwrought imagina- tion that that farther wall was miles away ; but at last I reached it, nor once had I taken my eyes from the back of the old miser's head.
He did not turn until my hand was upon the button that controlled the door through which my way led, and then he turned away from me as I passed through and gently closed the door.
For an instant I paused, my ear close to the panel, to learn if he had suspected aught, but as no sound of pursuit came from within I wheeled and made my way along the new corridor, fol- lowing the rope, which I coiled and brought with me as I advanced.
But a short distance farther on I came to the rope's end at a poiat where five corridors met. What was I to do? Which way should I turn? I was nonplused.
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A careful examination of the end of the rope revealed the fact that it had been cleanly cut with some sharp instrument. This fact and the words that had cautioned me that danger lay beyond the knots convinced me that the rope had been severed since my friend had placed it as my guide, for I had but passed a single knot, whereas there had evidently been two or more in the entire length of the cord.
Now, indeed, was I in a pretty fix, for neither did I know' which avenue to follow nor when danger lay directly in my path; but there was nothing else to be done than follow one of the corridors, for I could gain nothing by remain- ing where I was.
So I chose the central opening, and passed on into its gloomy depths with a prayer upon my lips.
The floor of the tunnel rose rapidly as I ad- vanced, and a moment later the way came to an abrupt end before a heavy door.
I could hear nothing beyond, and, with my accustomed rashness, pushed the portal wide to step into a room filled with yellow warriors.
The first to see me opened his eyes wide in astonishment, and at the same instant I felt [224]
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t "
the tingling sensation in my finger that denoted the presence of a friend of the ring.
Then others saw me, and there was a con- certed rush to lay hands upon me, for these were all members of the palace guard — men familiar with my face.
The first to reach me was the wearer of the mate to my strange ring, and as he came close he whispered: *' Surrender to me! " then in a loud voice shouted : ' ' You are my prisoner, white man," and menaced me with his two weapons.
And so John Carter, Prince of Helium, meekly surrendered to a single antagonist. The others now swarmed about us, asking many questions, but I would not talk to them, and finally my captor announced that he would lead me back to my cell.
An officer ordered several other warriors to accompany him, and a moment later we were retracing the way I had just come. My friend walked close beside me, asking many silly ques- tions about the country from which I had come, until finally his fellows paid no further atten- tion to him or his gabbling.
Gradually, as he spoke, he lowered his voice, [225]
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so that presently he was able to converse with me in a low tone without attracting attention. His ruse was a clever one, and showed that Talu had not misjudged the man's fitness for the dangerous duty upon which he was detailed.
When he had fully assured himself that the other guardsmen were not listening, he asked me why I had not followed the rope, and when I told him that it had ended at the five corridors he said that it must have been cut by someone in need of a piece of rope, for he was sure that " the stupid Kadabrans would never laaye guessed its purpose."
Before we had reached the spot from which the five corridors diverge my Marentinian friend had managed to drop to the rear of the little column with me, and when we came in sight of the branching ways he whispered:
' ' Run up the first upon the right. It leads to the watchtower upon the south wall. I will direct the pursuit up the next corridor," and with that he gave me a great shove into the dark mouth of the tunnel, at the same time cry- ing out in simulated pain and alarm as he threw himself upon the floor as though I had felled him with a blow.
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From behind the voices of the excited guards- men came reverberating along the corridor, suddenly growing fainter as Talu's spy led them up the wrong passageway in fancied pur- suit.
As I ran for my life through the dark galler- ies beneath the palace of Salensus Oil I must indeed have presented a remarkable appear- ance had there been any to note it, for though death loomed large about me, my face was split by a broad grin as I thought of the resourceful- ness of the nameless hero of Marentina to whom I owed my life.
Of such stuff are the men of my beloved He- lium, and when I meet another of their kind, of whatever race or color, my heart goes out to him as it did now to my new friend who had risked his life for me simply because I wore the mate to the ring his ruler had put upon his finger.
The corridor along which I ran led almost straight for a considerable distance, terminat- ing at the foot of a spiral runway, up which I proceeded to emerge presently into a circular chamber upon the first floor of a tower.
In this apartment a dozen red slaves were [227]
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employed polishing or repairing the weapons of the yellow men. The walls of the room were lined with racks in which were hundreds of straight and hooked swords, javelins, and daggers. It was evidently an armory. There were but three warriors guarding the workers.
My eyes took in the entire scene at a glance. Here were weapons in plenty! Here were sinewy red warriors to wield them!
And here now was John Carter, Prince of Helium, in need both of weapons and warriors !
As I stepped into, the apartment, guards and prisoners saw me simultaneously.
Close to the entrance where I stood was a rack of straight swords, and as my hand closed upon the hilt of one of them my eyes fell upon the faces of two of the prisoners who worked side by side.
One of the guards started toward me. " Who are you?" he demanded. "What do you here? "
* ' I come for Tardos Mors, Jeddak of He- lium, and his son. Mors Kajak," I cried, point- ing to the two red prisoners, who had now sprung to their feet, wide-eyed in astonished recognition.
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" Else, red men! Before we die let us leave a memorial in the palace of Okar's tyrant that will stand forever in the annals of Kadabra to the honor and glory of Helium," for I had seen that all the prisoners there were men of Tar- dos Mors's navy.
Then the first guardsman was upon me and the fight was on, but scarce did we engage ere, to my horror, I saw that the red slaves were shackled to the floor.
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THE MAGNET SWITCH
THE guardsmen paid not tlie slightest at- tention to their wards, for the red men could not move over two feet from the great rings to which they were padlocked, though each had seized a weapon upon which he had been engaged when I entered the room, and stood ready to join me could they have but done so.
The yellow men devoted all their attention to me, nor were they long in discovering that the three of them were none too many to defend the armory against John Carter. "Would that I had had my own good long-sword in my hand that day; but, as it was, I rendered a satisfac- tory account of myself with the unfamiliar weapon of the yellow man.
At first I had a time of it dodging their vil- lainous hook-swords, but after a minute or two I had succeeded in wresting a second straight sword from one of the racks along the wall, and [230]
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thereafter, using it to parry the hooks of my antagonists, I felt more evenly equipped.
The three of them were on me at once, and but for a lucky circumstance my end might have come quickly. The foremost guardsman made a vicious lunge for my side with his hook after the three of them had backed me against the wall, but as I side-stepped and raised my arm his weapon but grazed my side, passing into a rack of javelins, where it became entangled.
Before he could release it I had run him through, and then, falling back upon the tactics that have saved me a hundred times in tight pinches, I rushed the two remaining warriors, forcing them back with a perfect torrent of cuts and thrusts, weaving my sword in and out about their guards until I had the fear of death upon them.
Then one of them commenced calling for help, but it was too late to save them.
They were as putty in my hands now, and I backed them about the armory as I would until I had them where I wanted them — within reach of the swords of the shackled slaves. In an in- stant both lay dead upon the floor. But their cries had not been entirely fruitless, for now I [231]
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heard answering shouts and the footfalls of many men running and the clank of accouter- ments and the commands of officers.
"The door! Quick, John Carter, bar the door! " cried Tardos Mors.
Already the guard was in sight, charging across the open court that was visible through the doorway.
A dozen seconds would bring them into the tower. A single leap carried me to the heavy portal. With a resounding bang I slammed it shut.
" The bar! " shouted Tardos Mors.
I tried to slip the huge fastening into place, but it defied my every attempt.
" Eaise it a little to release the catch," cried one of the red men.
I could hear the yellow warriors leaping along the flagging just beyond the door. I raised the bar and shot it to the right just as the foremost of the guardsmen threw himself against the opposite side of the massive panels.
The barrier held — I had been in time, but by the fraction of a second only.
Now I turned my attention to the prisoners. To Tardos Mors I went first, asking where the [232]
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keys might be which would unfasten their fet- ters.
" The officer of the guard has them," replied the Jeddak of Helium, ' ' and he is among those without who seek entrance. You will have to force them."
Most of the prisoners were already hacking at their bonds with the swords in their hands. The yellow men were battering at the door with javelins and axes.
I turned my attention to the chains that held Tardos Mors. Again and again I cut deep into the metal with my sharp blade, but ever faster and faster fell the torrent of blows upon the portal.
At last a link parted beneath my efforts, and a moment later Tardos Mors was free, though a few inches of trailing chain still dangled from his ankle.
A splinter of wood falling inward from the door announced the headway that our enemies were making toward us.
The mighty panels trembled and bent beneath the furious onslaught of the enraged yellow men.
What with the battering upon the door and [233]
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the hacking of the red men at their chains the din within the armory was appalling. No sooner was Tardos Mors free than he turned his attention to another of the prisoners, while I set to work to liberate Mors Kajak.
We must work fast if we would have all those fetters cut before the door gave way. Now a panel crashed inward upon the floor, and Mors Kajak sprang to the opening to defend the way until we should have time to release the others.
With javelins snatched from the wall he wrought havoc among the foremost of the Okar- ians while we battled with the insensate metal that stood between our fellows and freedom.
At length all but one of the prisoners were freed, and then the door fell with a mighty crash before a hastily improvised battering-ram, and the yellow horde was upon us.
" To the upper chambers! " shouted the red man who was still fettered to the floor. * ' To the upper chambers! There you may defend the tower against all Kadabra. Do not delay because of me, who could pray for no better death than in the service ,of Tardos Mors and the Prince of Helium."
But I would have sacrificed the life of every [234]
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man of us rather than desert a single red man, much less the lion-hearted hero who begged us to leave him,
" Cut his chains," I cried to two of the red men, " while the balance of us hold off the foe."
There were ten of us now to do battle with the Okarian guard, and I warrant that that ancient watchtower never looked down upon a more hotly contested battle than took place that day within its own grim walls.
The first inrushing wave of yellow warriors recoiled from the slashing blades of ten of He- liums' veteran fighting men. A dozen Okarian corpses blocked the doorway, but over the grue- some barrier a score more of their fellows dashed, shouting their hoarse and hideous war- cry.
Upon the bloody mound we met them, hand to hand, stabbing where the quarters were too close to cuty thrusting when we could push a foeman to arm's length; and mingled with the wild cry of the Okarian there rose and fell the glorious words: " For Helium! For Helium! " that for countless ages have spurred on the bravest of the brave to those deeds of valor that have sent the fame of Helium's heroes broad- [235]
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cast tliroughout the length and breadth of a world.
Now were the fetters struck from the last of the red men, and thirteen strong we met each new charge of the soldiers of Salensus Oil. Scarce one of us but bled from a score of wounds, yet none had fallen.
From without we saw hundreds of guardsmen pouring into the courtyard, and along the lower corridor from which I had found my way to the armory we could hear the clank of metal and the shouting of men.
In a moment we should be attacked from two sides, and with all our prowess we could not hope to withstand the unecjual odds which would thus divide our attention and our small numbers.
"To the upper chambers!" cried Tardos Mors, and a moment later we fell back toward the runway that led to the floors above.
Here another bloody battle was waged with the force of yellow men who charged into the armory as we fell back from the doorway. Here we lost our first man, a noble fellow whom we could ill spare; but at length all had backed into the runway except myself, who remained [236]
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to hold back the Okarians until the others were safe above.
In the mouth of the narrow spiral but a single warrior could attack me at a time, so that I had little difficulty in holding them all back for the brief moment that was necessary. Then, back- ing slowly before them, I commenced the ascent of the spiral.
All the long way to the tower's top the guardsmen pressed me closely. When one went down before my sword another scrambled over the dead man to take his place ; and thus, taking an awful toll with each few feet gained, I came to the spacious glass-walled watchtower of Kadabra.
Here my companions clustered ready to take my place, and for a moment's respite I stepped to one side while they held the enemy off.
From the lofty perch a view could be had for miles in every direction. Toward the south stretched the rugged, ice-clad waste to the edge of the mighty barrier. Toward the east and west, and dimly toward the north I descried other Okarian cities, while in the immediate foreground, just beyond the walls of Kadabra, the grim guardian shaft reared its somber head. [237]
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Then I cast my ejp'es down into the streets of Kadabra, from which a sudden tumult had arisen, and there I saw a battle raging, and be- yond the city's walls I saw armed men march- ing in great columns toward a near-by gate.
Eagerly I pressed forward against the glasal wall of the observatory, scarce daring to credit the testimony of my own eyes. But at last I could doubt no longer, and with a shout of joy that rose strangely in the midst of the cursing and groaning of the battling men at the en- trance to the chamber, I called to Tardos Mors.
As he joined me I pointed down into the streets of Kadabra and to the advancing col- umns beyond, above which floated bravely in the arctic air the flags and banners of Helium.
An instant later every red man in the lofty chamber had seen the inspiring sight, and such a shout of thanksgiving arose as I warrant never before echoed through that age-old pile of stone.
But still we must fight on, for though our troops had entered Kadabra, the city was yet far from capitulation, nor had the palace been even assaulted. Turn and turn about we held the top of the runway while the others feasted [238]
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their eyes upon the sight of our valiant coun- trymen battling far beneath us.
Now they have rushed the palace gate ! Great battering-rams are dashed against its formid- able surface. Now they are repulsed by a deadly shower of javelins from the wall's top!
Once again they charge, but a sortie by a large force of Okarians from an intersecting avenue crumples the head of the column, and the men of Helium go down, fighting, beneath an overwhelming force.
The palace gate flies open and a force of the jeddak's own guard, picked men from the flower of the Okarian army, sallies forth to shatter the broken regiments. For a moment it looks as though nothing could avert defeat, and then I see a noble figure upon a mighty thoat — not the tiny thoat of the red man, but one of his huge cousins of the dead sea bottoms.
The warrior hews his way to the front, and behind him rally the disorganized soldiers of Helium. As he raises his head aloft to fling a challenge at the men upon the palace walls I see his face, and my heart swells in pride and happiness as the red warriors leap to the side of their leader and win back the ground that [239]
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they liad but just lost — tlie face of him upon the mighty thoat is the face of my son — Car- thoris of Helium.
At his side fights a huge Martian war-hound, nor did I need a second look to know that it was Woola — my faithful Woola who had thus well performed his arduous task and brought the succoring legions in the nick of time.
"In the nick of time?"
Who yet might say that they were not too late to save, but surely they could avenge ! And such retribution as that unconquered army would deal out to the hateful Okarians! I sighed to think that I might not be alive to wit- ness it.
Again I turned to the windows. The red men had not yet forced the outer palace wall, but they were fighting nobly against the best that Okar afforded — valiant warriors who con- tested every inch of the way.
Now my attention was caught by a new ele- ment without the city wall — a great body of mounted warriors looming large above the red men. They were the huge green allies of He- lium — the savage hordes from the dead sea bottoms of the far south. [240]
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In grim and terrible silence they sped on to- ward the gate, the padded hoofs of their fright- ful mounts giving forth no sound. Into the doomed city they charged, and as they wheeled across the wide plaza before the palace of the Jeddak of Jeddaks I saw, riding at their head, the mighty figure of their mighty leader — Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark.
My wish, then, was to he gratified, for I was to see my old friend battling once again, and though not shoulder to shoulder with him, I, too, would be fighting in the same cause here in the high tower of Okar.
Nor did it seem that our foes would ever cease their stubborn attacks, for still they came, though the way to our chamber was often clogged with the bodies of their dead. At times they would pause long enough to drag back the impeding corpses, and then fresh warriors would forge upward to taste the cup of death.
I had been taking my turn with the others in defending the approach to our lofty retreat when Mors Kajak, who had been watching the battle in the street below, called aloud in sud- den excitement. There was a note of apprehen- sion in his voice that brought me to his side the [241]
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instant that I could turn my place over to an- other, and as I reached him he pointed far out across the waste of snow and ice toward the southern horizon.
"Alas! " he cried, " that I should be forced to witness cruel fate betray them without power to warn or aid; but they be past either now."
As I looked in the direction he indicated I saw the cause of his perturbation. A mighty fleet of fliers was approaching majestically to- ward Kadabra from the direction of the ice- barrier. On and on they came with ever- increasing velocity.
" The grim shaft that they call the Guardian of the North is beckoning to them," said Mors Kajak sadly, " just as it beckoned to Tardos Mors and his great fleet; see where they lie, crumpled and broken, a grim and terrible mon- ument to the mighty force of destruction which naught can resist."
I, too, saw; but something else I saw that Mors Kajak did not; in my mind's eye I saw a buried chamber whose walls were lined with strange instruments and devices.
In the center of the chamber was a long table, and before it sat a little, pop-eyed old man [242]
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counting his money; but, plainest of all, I saw upon the wall a great switch with a small mag- net inlaid within the surface of its black handle.
Then I glanced out at the fast-approaehing fleet. In five minutes that mighty armada of the skies would be bent and worthless scrap, ly- ing at the base of the shaft beyond the city's wall, and yellow hordes would be loosed from another gate to rush out upon the few survivors stumbling blindly down through the mass of wreckage; then the apts would come. I shud- dered at the thought, for I could vividly picture the whole horrible scene.
Quick have I always been to decide and act. The impulse that moves me and the doing of the thing seem simultaneous ; for if my mind goes through the tedious formality of reasoning, it must be a subconscious act of which I am not objectively aware. Psychologists tell me that, as the subconscious does not reason, too close a scrutiny of my mental activities might prove anything but flattering; but be that as it may, I have often won success while the thinker would have been still at the endless task of com- paring various judgments.
And now celerity of action was the prime es- [243]
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sential to the success of tlie tMng that I had de- cided upon.
Grasping my sword more firmly in my hand, I called to the red man at the opening to the runway to stand aside.
* ' Way for the Prince of Helium ! " I shouted ; and before the astonished yellow man whose misfortune it was to be at the fighting end of the line at that particular moment could gather his wits together my sword had decapitated him, and I was rushing like a mad bull down upon those behind him,
" "Way for the Prince of Helium ! " I shouted as I cut a path through the astonished guards- men of Salensus Oil.
Hewing to right and left, I beat my way down that warrior-choked spiral until, near the bot- tom, those below, thinking that an army was . descending upon them, turned and fled.
The armory at the first floor was vacant when I entered it, the last of the Okarians having fled into the courtyard, so none saw me con- tinue down the spiral toward the corridor be- neath.
Here I ran as rapidly as my legs would carry me toward the five comers, and there plunged [244]
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into the passageway that led to the station of the old miser.
Without the formality of a knock, I burst into the room. There sat the old man at his table ; but as he saw me he sprang to his feet, draw- ing his sword.
With scarce more than a glance toward him I leaped for the great switch ; but, quick as I was, that wiry old fellow was there before me.
How he did it I shall never know, nor does it seem credible that any Martian-born creature could approximate the marvelous speed of my earthly muscles.
Like a tiger he turned upon me, and I was quick to see why Solan had been chosen for this important duty.
Never in all my life have I seen such won- drous swordsmanship and such uncanny agility as that ancient bag of bones displayed. He was in forty places at the same time, and before I had half a chance to awaken to my danger he was like to have made a monkey of me, and a dead monkey at that.
It is strange how new and unexpected condi- tions bring out unguessed ability to meet them.
That day in the buried chamber beneath the [245]
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palace of Salensus Oil I learned what swords- manship meant, and to what heights of sword mastery I eonld achieve when pitted against such a wizard of the blade as Solan,
For a time he liked to have bested me; but" presently the latent possibilities tMat must have been lying dormant within me for a lifetime came to the fore, and I fought as I had never dreamed a human being could fight.
That that duel-royal should have taken place in the dark recesses of a cellar, without a single appreciative eye to witness it, has always seemed to me almost a world oa,lamity — at least from the viewpoint Barsoomian, where bloody strife is the first and greatest considera* tion of individuals, nations, and races.
I was fighting to reach the switch, Solan to prevent me ; and, though we stood not three feet from it, I could not win an inch toward it, nor he force me back an inch for the first five min- utes of our battle.
I knew that if I were to throw it in time to save the oncoming fleet it must be done in the next few seconds, and so I tried my old rushing tactics; but I might as well have rushed a brick wall for all that Solan gave way. [246]
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In fact, I came near to impaling myself upon his point for my pains; but right was on my side, and I think that that must give a man greater confidence than though he knew him- self to be battling in a wicked cause.
At least, I did not want in confidence; and when I next rushed Solan it was to one side with impHcit confidence that he must turn to meet my new line of attack, and turn he did, so that now we fought with our sides toward the coveted goal — the great switch stood within my reach upon my right hand.
To uncover my breast for an instant would have been to court sudden death, but I saw no other way than to chance it, if by so doing I might rescue that oncoming, succoring fleet; and so, in the face of a wicked sword-thrust, I reached out my point and caught the great switch a sudden blow that released it from its seating.
So surprised and horrified was Solan that he forgot to finish his thrust ; instead, he wheeled toward the switch with a loud shriek — a shriek which was his last, for before his hand could touch the lever it sought, my sword's point had passed through his heart. [247]
CHAPTEE XIV
THE TIDE OF BATTLE
BUT Solan's last loud cry had not been with- out effect, for a moment later a dozen guardsmen burst into the chamber, though not before I had so bent and demolished the great switch that it could not be again used to turn the powerful current into the mighty magnet of destruction it controlled.
The result of the sudden coming of the guardsmen had been to compel me to seek se- clusion in the first passageway that I could find, and that to my disappointment proved to be not the one with which I was familiar, but another upon its left.
They must have either heard or guessed which way I went, for I had proceeded but a short dis- tance when I heard the sound of pursuit. I had no mind to stop and fight these men here when there was fighting aplenty elsewhere in the city of Kadabra — fighting that could be [248]
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of mucli more avail to me and mine than use- less life-taking far below the palace.
But the fellows were pressing me; and as I did not know the way at all, I soon saw that they would overtake me unless I found a place to conceal myself until they had passed, which would then give me an opportunity to return the way I had come and regain the tower, or possibly find a way to reach the city streets.
The passageway had risen rapidly since leav- ing the apartment of the switch, and now ran level and well lighted straight into the distance as far as I could see. The moment that my pursuers reached this straight stretch I would be in plain sight of them, with no chance to es- cape from the corridor undetected.
Presently I saw a series of doors opening from either side of the corridor, and as they all looked alike to me I tried the first one that I reached. It opened into a small chamber, lux- uriously furnished, and was evidently an ante- chamber off some office or audience chamber of the palace.
On the far side was a heavily curtained door- way beyond which I heard the hum of Voices, Instantly I crossed the small chamber, and, [249]
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parting the curtains, looked within the larger apartment.
Before me were a party of perhaps fifty gor- geously clad nobles of the court, standing be- fore a throne upon which sat Salensus Oil. The Jeddak of Jeddaks was addressing them.
" The allotted hour has come," he was saying as I entered the apartment; "and though the enemies of Okar be within her gates, naught may stay the will of Salensus Oil. The great ceremony must be omitted that no single man may be kept from his place in the defenses other than the fifty that custom demands shall wit- ness the creation of a new queen in Okar.
" In a moment the thing shall have been done and we may return to the battle, while she who is now the Princess of Helium looks down from the queen's tower upon the annihilation of her former countrymen and witnesses the greatness which is her husband's."
Then, turning to a courtier, he issued some command in a low voice.
The addressed hastened to a small door at the far end of the chamber and, swinging it wide, cried: "Way for Dejah Tkoris, future Queen of Okar! "
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Immediately two guardsmen appeared drag- ging the unwilling bride toward the altar. Her hands were still manacled behind her, evidently to prevent suicide.
Her disheveled hair and panting bosom be- tokened that, chained though she was, still had she fought against the thing that they would do to her.
At sight of her Salensus Oil rose and drew his sword, and the sword of each of the fifty nobles was raised on high to form an arch, be- neath which the poor, beautiful creature was dragged toward her doom. ' A grim smile forced itself to my lips as I thought of the rude awakening that lay in store for the ruler of Okar, and my itching fingers fondled the hilt of my bloody sword.
As I watched the procession that moved slowly toward the throne — a procession which consisted of but a handful of priests, who fol- lowed Dejah Thoris and the two guardsmen — I caught a fleeting glimpse of a black face peer- ing from behind the draperies that covered the wall back of the dais upon which stood Salensus Oil awaiting his bride.
Now the, ^ar'dsmten vrete forcing the Prin- [251]
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cess of Helium up the few steps to the side of the tyrant of Okar, and I had no eyes and no thoughts for aught else. A priest opened a book and, raising his hand, commenced to drone out a sing-song ritual. Salensus Oil reached for the hand of his bride.
I had intended waiting until some circum- stance should give me a reasonable hope of suc- cess; for, even though the entire ceremony should be completed, there could be no valid marriage while I lived. What I was most con- cerned in, of course, was the rescuing of Dejah Thoris — I wished to take her from the palace of Salensus Oil, if such a thing were possible; but whether it were accomplished before or after the mock marriage was a matter of sec- ondary import- When, however, I saw the vile hand of Salen- sus on reach out for the hand of my beloved princess I could restrain myself no longer, and before the nobles of Okar knew that aught had happened I had leaped through their thin line and was upon the dais beside Dejah Thoris and Salensus Oil.
With the flat of my sword I struck down his polluting hand; and grasping Dejah Thoris [2521
The Tide of Battle
round the waist, I swung her behind me as, with my back against the draperies of the dais, I faced the tyrant of the north and his roomful of noble warriors.
The Jeddak of Jeddaks was a great mountain of a man — a coarse, brutal beast of a man — ■ and as he towered above me there, his fierce black whiskers and mustache bristling in rage, I can well imagine that a less seasoned warrior might have trembled before him.
With a snarl he sprang toward me with naked sword, but whether Salensus Oil was a good swordsman or a poor I never learned ; for with Dejah Thoris at my back I was no longer hu- man — I was a superman, and no man could have withstood me then.
With a single, low : ' ' For the Princess of He- lium! " I ran my blade straight through the rotten heart of Okar's rotten ruler, and before the white, drawn faces of his nobles Salensus OU rolled, grinning in horrible death, to the foot of the steps below his marriage throne.
For a moment tense silence reigned in the nuptial-room. Then the fifty nobles rushed upon nie. Furiously we fought, but the advan- tage was mine, for I stood upon a raised plat- [253]
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form above them, and I fought for the most glorious woman of a glorious race, and I fought for a great love and for the mother of my hoy.
And from behind my shoulder, in the silvery cadence of that dear voice, rose the brave battle anthem of Helium which the nation's women sing as their men march out to victory.
That alone was enough to inspire me to vic- tory over even greater odds, and I verily believe that I should have bested the entire roomful of yellow warriors that day in the nuptial cham- ber of the palace at Kadabra had not interrup- tion come to my aid.
Fast and furious was the fighting as the no- bles of Salensus Oil sprang, time and again, up the steps before the throne only to fall back before a sword hand that seemed to have gained a new wizardry from its experience with the cunning Solan.
Two were pressing me so closely that I could not turn when I heard a movement behind me, and noted that the sound of the battle anthem had ceased. Was Dejah Thoris preparing to take her place beside me ?
Heroic daughter of a heroic world ! It would not be unlike her to have seized a sword and [254]
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fought at my side, for, thougli tlie women of Mars are not trained in the arts of war, the spirit is theirs, and they have been known to do that very thing upon countless occasions.
But she did not come, and glad I was, for it would have doubled my burden in protecting her Before I should have been able to force her back again out of harm's way. She must be contemplating some cunning strategy, I thought, and so I fought on secure in the belief that my divine princess stood close behind me.
For half an hour at least I must have fought there against the nobles of Okar ere ever a one placed a foot upon the dais where I stood, and then of a sudden all that remained of them formed below me for a last, mad, desperate charge; but even as they advanced the door at the far end of the chamber swung wide and a wild-eyed messenger sprang into the room.
"The Jeddak of Jeddaks!" he cried. " Where is the Jeddak of Jeddaks? The city has fallen before the hordes from beyond the barrier, and but now the great gate of the pal- ace itself has been forced and the warriors of the south are pouring into its sacred precincts. " Where is Salensus Oil? He alone may re- [255]
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vive the flagging courage of our warriors. He alone may save the day for Okar. Where is Sa- lensus Oil? "
The nobles stepped back from about the dead body of their ruler, and one of them pointed to the grinning corpse.
The messenger staggered back in horror as though from a blow in the face.
" Then fly, nobles of Okar! " he cried, " for naught can save you. Hark ! They come ! ' '
As he spoke we heard the deep roar of angry men from the corridor without, and the clank of metal and the clang of swords.
Without another glance toward me, who had stood a spectator of the tragic scene, the nobles wheeled and fled from the apartment through another exit.
Almost immediately a force of yellow war- riors appeared in the doorway through which the messenger had come. They were backing toward the apartment, stubbornly resisting the advance of a handful of red men who faced them and forced them slowly buft\inevitably back.
Above the heads of the contestants I could see from my elevated station upon the dais the [256]
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face of my old friend Kantos Kan. He was leading the little party that had won its way into the very heart of the palace of Salensus Oil.
In an instant I saw that by attacking the Okarians from the rear I could so quickly dis- organize them that their further resistance would be short-lived, and with this idea in mind I sprang from the dais, casting a word of ex- planation, to Dejah Thoris over my shoulder, though I did not turn to look at her.
"With myself ever between her enemies and herself, and with Kantos Kan and his warriors winning to the apartment, there could be no danger to Dejah Thoris standing there alone beside the throne.
I wanted the men of Helium to see me and to know that their beloved princess was here, too, for I knew that this knowledge would inspire them to even greater deeds of valor than they had performed in the past, though great indeed must have been those which won for them a way into the almost impregnable palace of the tyrant of the north.
As I crossed the chamber to attack the Kada- brans from the rear a small doorway at my left opened, and, to my surprise, revealed the [257]
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figures of Matai Shang, Father of Therns, and Phaidor, his daughter, peering into the room.
A quick glance about they took.. Their eyes rested for a moment, wide in horror, upon the dead body of Salensus Oil, upon the blood that crimsoned the floor, upon the corpses of the no- bles who had fallen thick before the throne, upon me, and upon the battling warriors at the other door.
They did not essay to enter the apartment, but scanned its every corner from where they stood, and then, when their eyes had sought its entire area, a look of fierce rage overspread the features of Matai Shang, and a cold and cun- ning smile touched the lips of Phaidor.
Then they were gone, but not before a taunt- ing laugh was thrown directly in my face by the woman.
I did not understand then the meaning of Matai Shang 's rage or Phaidor 's pleasure, but I knew that neither boded good for me.
A moment later I was upon the backs of the yellow men, and as the red men of Helium saw me above the shoulders of their antagonists a great shout rang through the corridor, and for a moment drowned the noise of battle. [258]
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" For the Prince of Helium! " they cried. " For the Prince of Helium! " and, like hungry lions upon their prey, they fell once more upon the weakening warriors of the north.
The yellow men, cornered between two ene- mies, fought with the desperation that utter hopelessness often induces. Fought as I should have fought had I been in their stead, with the determination to take as many of my enemies with me when I died as lay within the power of my sword arm.
It was a glorious battle, but the end seemed inevitable, when presently from down the cor- ridor behind the red men came a great body of reenforcing yellow warriors.
Now were the tables turned, and it was the men of Helium who seemed doomed to be ground between two millstones. All were compelled to turn to meet this new assault by a greatly su- perior force, so that to me was left the rem- nants of the yellow men within the throneroom.
They kept me busy, too ; so busy that I began to wonder if indeed I should ever be done with them. Slowly they pressed me back into the room, and when they had all passed in after me, one of them closed and bolted the door, ef- [259]
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fectually barring the way against the men of Kantos Kan.
It was a clever move, for it put me at the mercy of a dozen men within a chamber from which assistance was locked out, and it gave the red men in the corridor beyond no avenue of escape should their new antagonists press them too closely.
But I have faced heavier odds myself than were pitted against me that day, and I knew that Kantos Kan had battled his way from a hundred more dangerous traps than that in which he now was. So it was with no feelings of despair that I turned my attention to the business of the moment.
Constantly my thoughts reverted to Dejah Thoris, and I longed for the moment when, the fighting done, I could fold her in my arms, and hear once more the words of love which had been denied me for so many years.
During the fighting in the chamber I had not even a single chance to so much as steal a glance at her where she stood behind me beside the throne of the dead ruler. I wondered why she no longer urged me on with the strains of the martial hymn of Helium; but I did not need [260]
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more than the knowledge that I was battling for her to bring out the best that is in me.
It would be wearisome to narrate the details of that bloody struggle ; of how we fought from the doorway, the full length of the room to the very foot of the throne before the last of my antagonists fell with my blade piercing his heart.
And then, with a glad cry, I turned with out- stretched arms to seize my princess, and as my lips smothered hers to reap the reward that would be thrice ample payment for the bloody encounters through which I had passed for her dear sake from the south pole to the north.
The glad cry died, frozen upon my lips ; my arms dropped limp and lifeless to my sides; as one who reels beneath the burden of a mor- tal wound I staggered up the steps before the throne.
Dejah Thoris was gone.
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