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-CHAPTER XVII A COSTLY RECAPTURE
As the speaker ceased he turned to leave the apartment by the door where I was
standing, but I needed to wait no longer; I had heard enough to fill my soul with
dread, and stealing quietly away I returned to the courtyard by the way I had come.
My plan of action was formed upon the instant, and crossing the square and the
bordering avenue upon the opposite side I soon stood within the courtyard of Tal
The brilliantly lighted apartments of the first floor told me where first to seek,
and advancing to the windows I peered within.
I soon discovered that my approach was not to be the easy thing I had hoped, for the
rear rooms bordering the court were filled with warriors and women.
I then glanced up at the stories above, discovering that the third was apparently
unlighted, and so decided to make my entrance to the building from that point.
It was the work of but a moment for me to reach the windows above, and soon I had
drawn myself within the sheltering shadows of the unlighted third floor.
Fortunately the room I had selected was untenanted, and creeping noiselessly to the
corridor beyond I discovered a light in the apartments ahead of me.
Reaching what appeared to be a doorway I discovered that it was but an opening upon
an immense inner chamber which towered from the first floor, two stories below me, to
the dome-like roof of the building, high above my head.
The floor of this great circular hall was thronged with chieftains, warriors and
women, and at one end was a great raised platform upon which squatted the most
hideous beast I had ever put my eyes upon.
He had all the cold, hard, cruel, terrible features of the green warriors, but
accentuated and debased by the animal passions to which he had given himself over
for many years.
There was not a mark of dignity or pride upon his *** countenance, while his
enormous bulk spread itself out upon the platform where he squatted like some huge
devil fish, his six limbs accentuating the
similarity in a horrible and startling manner.
But the sight that froze me with apprehension was that of Dejah Thoris and
Sola standing there before him, and the fiendish leer of him as he let his great
protruding eyes gloat upon the lines of her beautiful figure.
She was speaking, but I could not hear what she said, nor could I make out the low
grumbling of his reply.
She stood there erect before him, her head high held, and even at the distance I was
from them I could read the scorn and disgust upon her face as she let her
haughty glance rest without sign of fear upon him.
She was indeed the proud daughter of a thousand jeddaks, every inch of her dear,
precious little body; so small, so frail beside the towering warriors around her,
but in her majesty dwarfing them into
insignificance; she was the mightiest figure among them and I verily believe that
they felt it.
Presently Tal Hajus made a sign that the chamber be cleared, and that the prisoners
be left alone before him.
Slowly the chieftains, the warriors and the women melted away into the shadows of the
surrounding chambers, and Dejah Thoris and Sola stood alone before the jeddak of the
Tharks.
One chieftain alone had hesitated before departing; I saw him standing in the
shadows of a mighty column, his fingers nervously toying with the hilt of his
great-sword and his cruel eyes bent in implacable hatred upon Tal Hajus.
It was Tars Tarkas, and I could read his thoughts as they were an open book for the
undisguised loathing upon his face.
He was thinking of that other woman who, forty years ago, had stood before this
beast, and could I have spoken a word into his ear at that moment the reign of Tal
Hajus would have been over; but finally he
also strode from the room, not knowing that he left his own daughter at the mercy of
the creature he most loathed.
Tal Hajus arose, and I, half fearing, half anticipating his intentions, hurried to the
winding runway which led to the floors below.
No one was near to intercept me, and I reached the main floor of the chamber
unobserved, taking my station in the shadow of the same column that Tars Tarkas had but
just deserted.
As I reached the floor Tal Hajus was speaking.
"Princess of Helium, I might wring a mighty ransom from your people would I but return
you to them unharmed, but a thousand times rather would I watch that beautiful face
writhe in the agony of torture; it shall be
long drawn out, that I promise you; ten days of pleasure were all too short to show
the love I harbor for your race.
The terrors of your death shall haunt the slumbers of the red men through all the
ages to come; they will shudder in the shadows of the night as their fathers tell
them of the awful vengeance of the green
men; of the power and might and hate and cruelty of Tal Hajus.
But before the torture you shall be mine for one short hour, and word of that too
shall go forth to Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, your grandfather, that he may
grovel upon the ground in the agony of his sorrow.
Tomorrow the torture will commence; tonight thou art Tal Hajus'; come!"
He sprang down from the platform and grasped her roughly by the arm, but
scarcely had he touched her than I leaped between them.
My short-sword, sharp and gleaming was in my right hand; I could have plunged it into
his putrid heart before he realized that I was upon him; but as I raised my arm to
strike I thought of Tars Tarkas, and, with
all my rage, with all my hatred, I could not rob him of that sweet moment for which
he had lived and hoped all these long, weary years, and so, instead, I swung my
good right fist full upon the point of his jaw.
Without a sound he slipped to the floor as one dead.
In the same deathly silence I grasped Dejah Thoris by the hand, and motioning Sola to
follow we sped noiselessly from the chamber and to the floor above.
Unseen we reached a rear window and with the straps and leather of my trappings I
lowered, first Sola and then Dejah Thoris to the ground below.
Dropping lightly after them I drew them rapidly around the court in the shadows of
the buildings, and thus we returned over the same course I had so recently followed
from the distant boundary of the city.
We finally came upon my thoats in the courtyard where I had left them, and
placing the trappings upon them we hastened through the building to the avenue beyond.
Mounting, Sola upon one beast, and Dejah Thoris behind me upon the other, we rode
from the city of Thark through the hills to the south.
Instead of circling back around the city to the northwest and toward the nearest
waterway which lay so short a distance from us, we turned to the northeast and struck
out upon the mossy waste across which, for
two hundred dangerous and weary miles, lay another main artery leading to Helium.
No word was spoken until we had left the city far behind, but I could hear the quiet
sobbing of Dejah Thoris as she clung to me with her dear head resting against my
shoulder.
"If we make it, my chieftain, the debt of Helium will be a mighty one; greater than
she can ever pay you; and should we not make it," she continued, "the debt is no
less, though Helium will never know, for
you have saved the last of our line from worse than death."
I did not answer, but instead reached to my side and pressed the little fingers of her
I loved where they clung to me for support, and then, in unbroken silence, we sped over
the yellow, moonlit moss; each of us occupied with his own thoughts.
For my part I could not be other than joyful had I tried, with Dejah Thoris' warm
body pressed close to mine, and with all our unpassed danger my heart was singing as
gaily as though we were already entering the gates of Helium.
Our earlier plans had been so sadly upset that we now found ourselves without food or
drink, and I alone was armed.
We therefore urged our beasts to a speed that must tell on them sorely before we
could hope to sight the ending of the first stage of our journey.
We rode all night and all the following day with only a few short rests.
On the second night both we and our animals were completely ***, and so we lay down
upon the moss and slept for some five or six hours, taking up the journey once more
before daylight.
All the following day we rode, and when, late in the afternoon we had sighted no
distant trees, the mark of the great waterways throughout all Barsoom, the
terrible truth flashed upon us--we were lost.
Evidently we had circled, but which way it was difficult to say, nor did it seem
possible with the sun to guide us by day and the moons and stars by night.
At any rate no waterway was in sight, and the entire party was almost ready to drop
from hunger, thirst and fatigue.
Far ahead of us and a trifle to the right we could distinguish the outlines of low
mountains.
These we decided to attempt to reach in the hope that from some ridge we might discern
the missing waterway.
Night fell upon us before we reached our goal, and, almost fainting from weariness
and weakness, we lay down and slept.
I was awakened early in the morning by some huge body pressing close to mine, and
opening my eyes with a start I beheld my blessed old Woola snuggling close to me;
the faithful brute had followed us across
that trackless waste to share our fate, whatever it might be.
Putting my arms about his neck I pressed my cheek close to his, nor am I ashamed that I
did it, nor of the tears that came to my eyes as I thought of his love for me.
Shortly after this Dejah Thoris and Sola awakened, and it was decided that we push
on at once in an effort to gain the hills.
We had gone scarcely a mile when I noticed that my thoat was commencing to stumble and
stagger in a most pitiful manner, although we had not attempted to force them out of a
walk since about noon of the preceding day.
Suddenly he lurched wildly to one side and pitched violently to the ground.
Dejah Thoris and I were thrown clear of him and fell upon the soft moss with scarcely a
jar; but the poor beast was in a pitiable condition, not even being able to rise,
although relieved of our weight.
Sola told me that the coolness of the night, when it fell, together with the rest
would doubtless revive him, and so I decided not to kill him, as was my first
intention, as I had thought it cruel to
leave him alone there to die of hunger and thirst.
Relieving him of his trappings, which I flung down beside him, we left the poor
fellow to his fate, and pushed on with the one thoat as best we could.
Sola and I walked, making Dejah Thoris ride, much against her will.
In this way we had progressed to within about a mile of the hills we were
endeavoring to reach when Dejah Thoris, from her point of vantage upon the thoat,
cried out that she saw a great party of
mounted men filing down from a pass in the hills several miles away.
Sola and I both looked in the direction she indicated, and there, plainly discernible,
were several hundred mounted warriors.
They seemed to be headed in a southwesterly direction, which would take them away from
us.
They doubtless were Thark warriors who had been sent out to capture us, and we
breathed a great sigh of relief that they were traveling in the opposite direction.
Quickly lifting Dejah Thoris from the thoat, I commanded the animal to lie down
and we three did the same, presenting as small an object as possible for fear of
attracting the attention of the warriors toward us.
We could see them as they filed out of the pass, just for an instant, before they were
lost to view behind a friendly ridge; to us a most providential ridge; since, had they
been in view for any great length of time,
they scarcely could have failed to discover us.
As what proved to be the last warrior came into view from the pass, he halted and, to
our consternation, threw his small but powerful fieldglass to his eye and scanned
the sea bottom in all directions.
Evidently he was a chieftain, for in certain marching formations among the green
men a chieftain brings up the extreme rear of the column.
As his glass swung toward us our hearts stopped in our ***, and I could feel
the cold sweat start from every pore in my body.
Presently it swung full upon us and-- stopped.
The tension on our nerves was near the breaking point, and I doubt if any of us
breathed for the few moments he held us covered by his glass; and then he lowered
it and we could see him shout a command to
the warriors who had passed from our sight behind the ridge.
He did not wait for them to join him, however, instead he wheeled his thoat and
came tearing madly in our direction.
There was but one slight chance and that we must take quickly.
Raising my strange Martian rifle to my shoulder I sighted and touched the button
which controlled the trigger; there was a sharp explosion as the missile reached its
goal, and the charging chieftain pitched backward from his flying mount.
Springing to my feet I urged the thoat to rise, and directed Sola to take Dejah
Thoris with her upon him and make a mighty effort to reach the hills before the green
warriors were upon us.
I knew that in the ravines and gullies they might find a temporary hiding place, and
even though they died there of hunger and thirst it would be better so than that they
fell into the hands of the Tharks.
Forcing my two revolvers upon them as a slight means of protection, and, as a last
resort, as an escape for themselves from the horrid death which recapture would
surely mean, I lifted Dejah Thoris in my
arms and placed her upon the thoat behind Sola, who had already mounted at my
command. "Good-bye, my princess," I whispered, "we
may meet in Helium yet.
I have escaped from worse plights than this," and I tried to smile as I lied.
"What," she cried, "are you not coming with us?"
"How may I, Dejah Thoris?
Someone must hold these fellows off for a while, and I can better escape them alone
than could the three of us together."
She sprang quickly from the thoat and, throwing her dear arms about my neck,
turned to Sola, saying with quiet dignity: "Fly, Sola!
Dejah Thoris remains to die with the man she loves."
Those words are engraved upon my heart.
Ah, gladly would I give up my life a thousand times could I only hear them once
again; but I could not then give even a second to the rapture of her sweet embrace,
and pressing my lips to hers for the first
time, I picked her up bodily and tossed her to her seat behind Sola again, commanding
the latter in peremptory tones to hold her there by force, and then, slapping the
thoat upon the flank, I saw them borne
away; Dejah Thoris struggling to the last to free herself from Sola's grasp.
Turning, I beheld the green warriors mounting the ridge and looking for their
chieftain.
In a moment they saw him, and then me; but scarcely had they discovered me than I
commenced firing, lying flat upon my belly in the moss.
I had an even hundred rounds in the magazine of my rifle, and another hundred
in the belt at my back, and I kept up a continuous stream of fire until I saw all
of the warriors who had been first to
return from behind the ridge either dead or scurrying to cover.
My respite was short-lived however, for soon the entire party, numbering some
thousand men, came charging into view, racing madly toward me.
I fired until my rifle was empty and they were almost upon me, and then a glance
showing me that Dejah Thoris and Sola had disappeared among the hills, I sprang up,
throwing down my useless gun, and started
away in the direction opposite to that taken by Sola and her charge.
If ever Martians had an exhibition of jumping, it was granted those astonished
warriors on that day long years ago, but while it led them away from Dejah Thoris it
did not distract their attention from endeavoring to capture me.
They raced wildly after me until, finally, my foot struck a projecting piece of
quartz, and down I went sprawling upon the moss.
As I looked up they were upon me, and although I drew my long-sword in an attempt
to sell my life as dearly as possible, it was soon over.
I reeled beneath their blows which fell upon me in perfect torrents; my head swam;
all was black, and I went down beneath them to oblivion.
CHAPTER XVIII CHAINED IN WARHOON
It must have been several hours before I regained consciousness and I well remember
the feeling of surprise which swept over me as I realized that I was not dead.
I was lying among a pile of sleeping silks and furs in the corner of a small room in
which were several green warriors, and bending over me was an ancient and ugly
female.
As I opened my eyes she turned to one of the warriors, saying,
"He will live, O Jed."
"'Tis well," replied the one so addressed, rising and approaching my couch, "he should
render rare sport for the great games."
And now as my eyes fell upon him, I saw that he was no Thark, for his ornaments and
metal were not of that horde.
He was a huge fellow, terribly scarred about the face and chest, and with one
broken tusk and a missing ear.
Strapped on either breast were human skulls and depending from these a number of dried
human hands.
His reference to the great games of which I had heard so much while among the Tharks
convinced me that I had but jumped from purgatory into gehenna.
After a few more words with the female, during which she assured him that I was now
fully fit to travel, the jed ordered that we mount and ride after the main column.
I was strapped securely to as wild and unmanageable a thoat as I had ever seen,
and, with a mounted warrior on either side to prevent the beast from bolting, we rode
forth at a furious pace in pursuit of the column.
My wounds gave me but little pain, so wonderfully and rapidly had the
applications and injections of the female exercised their therapeutic powers, and so
deftly had she bound and plastered the injuries.
Just before dark we reached the main body of troops shortly after they had made camp
for the night.
I was immediately taken before the leader, who proved to be the jeddak of the hordes
of Warhoon.
Like the jed who had brought me, he was frightfully scarred, and also decorated
with the breastplate of human skulls and dried dead hands which seemed to mark all
the greater warriors among the Warhoons, as
well as to indicate their awful ferocity, which greatly transcends even that of the
Tharks.
The jeddak, Bar Comas, who was comparatively young, was the object of the
fierce and jealous hatred of his old lieutenant, Dak Kova, the jed who had
captured me, and I could not but note the
almost studied efforts which the latter made to affront his superior.
He entirely omitted the usual formal salutation as we entered the presence of
the jeddak, and as he pushed me roughly before the ruler he exclaimed in a loud and
menacing voice.
"I have brought a strange creature wearing the metal of a Thark whom it is my pleasure
to have battle with a wild thoat at the great games."
"He will die as Bar Comas, your jeddak, sees fit, if at all," replied the young
ruler, with emphasis and dignity. "If at all?" roared Dak Kova.
"By the dead hands at my throat but he shall die, Bar Comas.
No maudlin weakness on your part shall save him.
O, would that Warhoon were ruled by a real jeddak rather than by a water-hearted
weakling from whom even old Dak Kova could tear the metal with his bare hands!"
Bar Comas eyed the defiant and insubordinate chieftain for an instant, his
expression one of haughty, fearless contempt and hate, and then without drawing
a weapon and without uttering a word he
hurled himself at the throat of his defamer.
I never before had seen two green Martian warriors battle with nature's weapons and
the exhibition of animal ferocity which ensued was as fearful a thing as the most
disordered imagination could picture.
They tore at each others' eyes and ears with their hands and with their gleaming
tusks repeatedly slashed and gored until both were cut fairly to ribbons from head
to foot.
Bar Comas had much the better of the battle as he was stronger, quicker and more
intelligent.
It soon seemed that the encounter was done saving only the final death thrust when Bar
Comas slipped in breaking away from a clinch.
It was the one little opening that Dak Kova needed, and hurling himself at the body of
his adversary he buried his single mighty tusk in Bar Comas' groin and with a last
powerful effort ripped the young jeddak
wide open the full length of his body, the great tusk finally wedging in the bones of
Bar Comas' jaw.
Victor and vanquished rolled limp and lifeless upon the moss, a huge mass of torn
and bloody flesh.
Bar Comas was stone dead, and only the most herculean efforts on the part of Dak Kova's
females saved him from the fate he deserved.
Three days later he walked without assistance to the body of Bar Comas which,
by custom, had not been moved from where it fell, and placing his foot upon the neck of
his erstwhile ruler he assumed the title of Jeddak of Warhoon.
The dead jeddak's hands and head were removed to be added to the ornaments of his
conqueror, and then his women cremated what remained, amid wild and terrible laughter.
The injuries to Dak Kova had delayed the march so greatly that it was decided to
give up the expedition, which was a raid upon a small Thark community in retaliation
for the destruction of the incubator, until
after the great games, and the entire body of warriors, ten thousand in number, turned
back toward Warhoon.
My introduction to these cruel and bloodthirsty people was but an index to the
scenes I witnessed almost daily while with them.
They are a smaller horde than the Tharks but much more ferocious.
Not a day passed but that some members of the various Warhoon communities met in
deadly combat.
I have seen as high as eight mortal duels within a single day.
We reached the city of Warhoon after some three days march and I was immediately cast
into a dungeon and heavily chained to the floor and walls.
Food was brought me at intervals but owing to the utter darkness of the place I do not
know whether I lay there days, or weeks, or months.
It was the most horrible experience of all my life and that my mind did not give way
to the terrors of that inky blackness has been a wonder to me ever since.
The place was filled with creeping, crawling things; cold, sinuous bodies
passed over me when I lay down, and in the darkness I occasionally caught glimpses of
gleaming, fiery eyes, fixed in horrible intentness upon me.
No sound reached me from the world above and no word would my jailer vouchsafe when
my food was brought to me, although I at first bombarded him with questions.
Finally all the hatred and maniacal loathing for these awful creatures who had
placed me in this horrible place was centered by my tottering reason upon this
single emissary who represented to me the entire horde of Warhoons.
I had noticed that he always advanced with his dim torch to where he could place the
food within my reach and as he stooped to place it upon the floor his head was about
on a level with my breast.
So, with the cunning of a madman, I backed into the far corner of my cell when next I
heard him approaching and gathering a little slack of the great chain which held
me in my hand I waited his coming, crouching like some beast of prey.
As he stooped to place my food upon the ground I swung the chain above my head and
crashed the links with all my strength upon his skull.
Without a sound he slipped to the floor, stone dead.
Laughing and chattering like the idiot I was fast becoming I fell upon his prostrate
form my fingers feeling for his dead throat.
Presently they came in contact with a small chain at the end of which dangled a number
of keys.
The touch of my fingers on these keys brought back my reason with the suddenness
of thought.
No longer was I a jibbering idiot, but a sane, reasoning man with the means of
escape within my very hands.
As I was groping to remove the chain from about my victim's neck I glanced up into
the darkness to see six pairs of gleaming eyes fixed, unwinking, upon me.
Slowly they approached and slowly I shrank back from the awful horror of them.
Back into my corner I crouched holding my hands palms out, before me, and stealthily
on came the awful eyes until they reached the dead body at my feet.
Then slowly they retreated but this time with a strange grating sound and finally
they disappeared in some black and distant recess of my dungeon.