Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter nineteen of A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Chapter nineteen. Battling in the arena, slowly I regained my
composure and finally essayed again to attempt to remove the
keys from the dead body of my former jailer. But
as I reached out into the darkness to locate it,
I found to my horror that it was gone. Then
(00:23):
the truth flashed on me. The owners of those gleaming
eyes had dragged my prize away from me to be
devoured in their neighboring lair, as they had been waiting
for days, for weeks, for months, through all this awful
eternity of my imprisonment, to drag my dead carcass to
their feast. For two days, no food was brought me.
(00:46):
But then a new messenger appeared, and my incarceration went
on as before. But not again did I allow my
reason to be submerged by the horror of my position.
Shortly after this episode, another prisoner was brought in an
chained near me. By the dim torchlight, I saw that
he was a red Martian, and I could scarcely await
(01:06):
the departure of his guards to address him as their
retreating footsteps died away in the distance. I called out
softly the Martian word of greeting cow. Who are you
who speaks out of the darkness, he answered, John Carter,
a friend of the Red men of Helium. I am
of Helium, he said, but I do not recall your name.
(01:29):
And then I told him my story as I have
written it here, omitting only any reference to my love
for dejah Thoris. He was much excited by the news
of Helium's princess, and seemed quite positive that she and
Sola could easily have reached a point of safety from
where they left me. He said that he knew the
place well, because the defile through which the Warhoon warriors
(01:51):
had passed when they discovered us was the only one
ever used by them. When marching to the south, dejah
Thoris and Sola entered the hills not five miles from
a great waterway, and are now probably quite safe, he
assured me. My fellow prisoner was Kantos Khan, a pad
lieutenant in the navy of Helium. He had been a
(02:14):
member of the ill fated expedition which had fallen into
the hands of the Tharks at the time of dejah
thoris capture, and he briefly related the events which followed
the defeat of the battleships. Badly injured and only partially manned,
they had limped slowly toward Helium, but while passing near
the city of Zodanga, the capital of Helium's hereditary enemies,
(02:35):
among the Red Men of Barsoom, they had been attacked
by a great body of war vessels, and all but
the craft to which Kantos Khan belonged were either destroyed
or captured. His vessel was chased for days by three
of the Zuduncan warships, but finally escaped during the darkness
of a moonless night. Thirty days after the capture of
(02:57):
dejah Thoris, or about the time of our coming bark.
His vessel had reached Helium with about ten survivors of
the original crew of seven hundred officers and men. Immediately,
seven great fleets, each of one hundred mighty warships had
been dispatched to search for dejah Thoris, and from these vessels,
(03:18):
two thousand smaller craft had been kept out continuously in
futile search for the missing princess. Two Green Martian communities
had been wiped off the face of Barsoom by the
Avenging fleets, but no trace of dejah Thoris had been found.
They had been searching among the northern hordes, and only
(03:38):
within the past few days had they extended their quest
to the south. Kantos Kan had been detailed to one
of the small one man flyers, and had had the
misfortune to be discovered by the Warhoons while exploring their city.
The bravery and daring of the man won my greatest
respect and admiration alone. He had landed at the city's boundary,
(04:02):
and on foot had penetrated to the buildings surrounding the plaza.
For two days and nights, he had explored their quarters
and their dungeons in search of his beloved princess, only
to fall into the hands of a party of warhoons
as he was about to leave after assuring himself that
dejah Thoris was not a captive. There. During the period
(04:24):
of our incarceration, kantos Kan and I became well acquainted
and formed a warm personal friendship. A few days only elapsed, however,
before we were dragged forth from our dungeon for the
Great Games. We were conducted early one morning to an
enormous amphitheater, which, instead of having been built upon the
surface of the ground, was excavated below the surface. It
(04:48):
had partially filled with debris, so that how large it
had originally been was difficult to say. In its present condition,
it held the entire twenty thousand war whoo wounds of
the assembled hordes. The arena was immense, but extremely uneven
and unkempt. Around it, the warhoons had piled building stone
(05:10):
from some of the ruined edifices of the ancient city
to prevent the animals and the captives from escaping into
the audience, and at each end had been constructed cages
to hold them until their turns came to meet some
horrible death. Upon the arena, Kantos Khan and I were
confined together in one of the cages. In the others
(05:32):
were wild calots, thoats, mad zitidars, green warriors and women
of other hordes, and many strange and ferocious wild beasts
of Barsoom, which I had never before seen. The din
of their roaring, growling and squealing was deafening, and the
formidable appearance of any one of them was enough to
(05:54):
make the stoutest heart, feel grave forebodings. Kantos Khan explained
to me that at the end of the day, one
of these prisoners would gain freedom, and the others would
lie dead about the arena. The winners in the various
contests of the day would be pitted against each other
until only two remained alive, the victor in the last
(06:16):
encounter being set free, whether animal or man. The following morning,
the cages would be filled with a new consignment of victims,
and so on throughout the ten days of the games.
Shortly after we had been caged, the amphitheater began to fill,
and within an hour every available part of the seating
(06:36):
space was occupied. Dak Kova, with his jeds and chieftains,
sat at the center of one side of the arena
upon a large raised platform. At a signal from dak Kova,
the doors of two cages were thrown open and a
dozen green Martian females were driven to the center of
the arena. Each was given a dagger, and then at
(06:59):
the far and a pack of twelve calots or wild dogs,
were loosed upon them. As the brutes, growling and foaming,
rushed upon the almost defenseless women. I turned my head
that I might not see the horrid sight. The yells
and laughter of the Green Horde bore witness to the
excellent quality of the support. And when I turned back
(07:21):
to the arena, as kantos Kan told me it was over,
I saw three victorious callots snarling and growling over the
bodies of their prey. The women had given a good
account of themselves. Next, a mad zitidar was loosed among
the remaining dogs, and so it went throughout the long, hot,
(07:42):
horrible day. During the day I was pitted first against
men and then beasts. But as I was armed with
a long sword and always outclassed my adversary in agility
and generally in strength as well, it proved but child's
play to me. Time and again I won the applause
the bloodthirsty multitude, and toward the end there were cries
(08:03):
that I be taken from the arena and be made
a member of the hordes of Warhoon. Finally there were
but three of us left, a great green warrior of
some far northern hoard, kantos Kan and myself. The other
two were to battle, and then I to fight the
conqueror for the liberty which was accorded the final winner.
(08:24):
Kantos Kan had fought several times during the day, and,
like myself, had always proven victorious, but occasionally by the
smallest of margins, especially when pitted against the Green Warriors,
I had little hope that he could best his giant adversary,
who had mowed down all before him during the day.
(08:44):
The fellow towered nearly sixteen feet in height, while kantos
Kan was some inches under six feet. As they advanced
to meet one another, I saw for the first time
a trick of the Martian swordsmanship, which centered kantos Kan's
every hope of victory and life on one cast of
the dice. For as he came to within about twenty
(09:05):
feet of the huge fellow, he threw his sword arm
far behind him, over his shoulder, and with a mighty sweep,
hurled his weapon point foremost at the Green warrior. It
flew true as an arrow, and piercing the poor devil's heart,
laid him dead upon the arena. Kantos Kan and I
were now pitted against each other, but as we approached
(09:29):
to the encounter, I whispered to him to prolong the
battle until nearly dark, in the hope that we might
find some means of escape. The hoard evidently guessed that
we had no hearts to fight each other, and so
they howled in rage as neither of us placed a
fatal thrust. Just as I saw the sudden coming of dark,
(09:50):
I whispered to kantos Kan to thrust his sword between
my left arm and my body. As he did so,
I staggered back, clasping the sword tightly with my arm,
and thus fell to the ground, with his weapon apparently
protruding from my chest. Kantos Kan perceived my coup, and,
stepping quickly to my side, he placed his foot upon
(10:12):
my neck, and, withdrawing his sword from my body, gave
me the final death blow through the neck, which is
supposed to sever the jugular vein. But in this instance
the cold blade slipped harmlessly into the sand of the arena.
In the darkness which had now fallen, none could tell
but that he had really finished me. I whispered to
(10:34):
him to go and claim his freedom, and then looked
for me in the hills east of the city. And
so he left me. When the amphitheater had cleared I
crept stealthily to the top, and as the great excavation
lay far from the plaza and in an untenanted portion
of the great Dead City, I had little trouble in
(10:54):
reaching the hills beyond end of chapter nineteen, as
Chapter nineteen of A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs,
Chapter nineteen. Battling in the arena, slowly I regained my
composure and finally essayed again to attempt to remove the
keys from the dead body of my former jailer. But
as I reached out into the darkness to locate it,
I found to my horror that it was gone. Then
(00:23):
the truth flashed on me. The owners of those gleaming
eyes had dragged my prize away from me to be
devoured in their neighboring lair, as they had been waiting
for days, for weeks, for months, through all this awful
eternity of my imprisonment, to drag my dead carcass to
their feast. For two days, no food was brought me.
(00:46):
But then a new messenger appeared, and my incarceration went
on as before. But not again did I allow my
reason to be submerged by the horror of my position.
Shortly after this episode, another prisoner was brought in an
chained near me. By the dim torchlight, I saw that
he was a red Martian, and I could scarcely await
(01:06):
the departure of his guards to address him as their
retreating footsteps died away in the distance. I called out
softly the Martian word of greeting cow. Who are you
who speaks out of the darkness, he answered, John Carter,
a friend of the Red men of Helium. I am
of Helium, he said, but I do not recall your name.
(01:29):
And then I told him my story as I have
written it here, omitting only any reference to my love
for dejah Thoris. He was much excited by the news
of Helium's princess, and seemed quite positive that she and
Sola could easily have reached a point of safety from
where they left me. He said that he knew the
place well, because the defile through which the Warhoon warriors
(01:51):
had passed when they discovered us was the only one
ever used by them. When marching to the south, dejah
Thoris and Sola entered the hills not five miles from
a great waterway, and are now probably quite safe, he
assured me. My fellow prisoner was Kantos Khan, a pad
lieutenant in the navy of Helium. He had been a
(02:14):
member of the ill fated expedition which had fallen into
the hands of the Tharks at the time of dejah
thoris capture, and he briefly related the events which followed
the defeat of the battleships. Badly injured and only partially manned,
they had limped slowly toward Helium, but while passing near
the city of Zodanga, the capital of Helium's hereditary enemies,
(02:35):
among the Red Men of Barsoom, they had been attacked
by a great body of war vessels, and all but
the craft to which Kantos Khan belonged were either destroyed
or captured. His vessel was chased for days by three
of the Zuduncan warships, but finally escaped during the darkness
of a moonless night. Thirty days after the capture of
(02:57):
dejah Thoris, or about the time of our coming bark.
His vessel had reached Helium with about ten survivors of
the original crew of seven hundred officers and men. Immediately,
seven great fleets, each of one hundred mighty warships had
been dispatched to search for dejah Thoris, and from these vessels,
(03:18):
two thousand smaller craft had been kept out continuously in
futile search for the missing princess. Two Green Martian communities
had been wiped off the face of Barsoom by the
Avenging fleets, but no trace of dejah Thoris had been found.
They had been searching among the northern hordes, and only
(03:38):
within the past few days had they extended their quest
to the south. Kantos Kan had been detailed to one
of the small one man flyers, and had had the
misfortune to be discovered by the Warhoons while exploring their city.
The bravery and daring of the man won my greatest
respect and admiration alone. He had landed at the city's boundary,
(04:02):
and on foot had penetrated to the buildings surrounding the plaza.
For two days and nights, he had explored their quarters
and their dungeons in search of his beloved princess, only
to fall into the hands of a party of warhoons
as he was about to leave after assuring himself that
dejah Thoris was not a captive. There. During the period
(04:24):
of our incarceration, kantos Kan and I became well acquainted
and formed a warm personal friendship. A few days only elapsed, however,
before we were dragged forth from our dungeon for the
Great Games. We were conducted early one morning to an
enormous amphitheater, which, instead of having been built upon the
surface of the ground, was excavated below the surface. It
(04:48):
had partially filled with debris, so that how large it
had originally been was difficult to say. In its present condition,
it held the entire twenty thousand war whoo wounds of
the assembled hordes. The arena was immense, but extremely uneven
and unkempt. Around it, the warhoons had piled building stone
(05:10):
from some of the ruined edifices of the ancient city
to prevent the animals and the captives from escaping into
the audience, and at each end had been constructed cages
to hold them until their turns came to meet some
horrible death. Upon the arena, Kantos Khan and I were
confined together in one of the cages. In the others
(05:32):
were wild calots, thoats, mad zitidars, green warriors and women
of other hordes, and many strange and ferocious wild beasts
of Barsoom, which I had never before seen. The din
of their roaring, growling and squealing was deafening, and the
formidable appearance of any one of them was enough to
(05:54):
make the stoutest heart, feel grave forebodings. Kantos Khan explained
to me that at the end of the day, one
of these prisoners would gain freedom, and the others would
lie dead about the arena. The winners in the various
contests of the day would be pitted against each other
until only two remained alive, the victor in the last
(06:16):
encounter being set free, whether animal or man. The following morning,
the cages would be filled with a new consignment of victims,
and so on throughout the ten days of the games.
Shortly after we had been caged, the amphitheater began to fill,
and within an hour every available part of the seating
(06:36):
space was occupied. Dak Kova, with his jeds and chieftains,
sat at the center of one side of the arena
upon a large raised platform. At a signal from dak Kova,
the doors of two cages were thrown open and a
dozen green Martian females were driven to the center of
the arena. Each was given a dagger, and then at
(06:59):
the far and a pack of twelve calots or wild dogs,
were loosed upon them. As the brutes, growling and foaming,
rushed upon the almost defenseless women. I turned my head
that I might not see the horrid sight. The yells
and laughter of the Green Horde bore witness to the
excellent quality of the support. And when I turned back
(07:21):
to the arena, as kantos Kan told me it was over,
I saw three victorious callots snarling and growling over the
bodies of their prey. The women had given a good
account of themselves. Next, a mad zitidar was loosed among
the remaining dogs, and so it went throughout the long, hot,
(07:42):
horrible day. During the day I was pitted first against
men and then beasts. But as I was armed with
a long sword and always outclassed my adversary in agility
and generally in strength as well, it proved but child's
play to me. Time and again I won the applause
the bloodthirsty multitude, and toward the end there were cries
(08:03):
that I be taken from the arena and be made
a member of the hordes of Warhoon. Finally there were
but three of us left, a great green warrior of
some far northern hoard, kantos Kan and myself. The other
two were to battle, and then I to fight the
conqueror for the liberty which was accorded the final winner.
(08:24):
Kantos Kan had fought several times during the day, and,
like myself, had always proven victorious, but occasionally by the
smallest of margins, especially when pitted against the Green Warriors,
I had little hope that he could best his giant adversary,
who had mowed down all before him during the day.
(08:44):
The fellow towered nearly sixteen feet in height, while kantos
Kan was some inches under six feet. As they advanced
to meet one another, I saw for the first time
a trick of the Martian swordsmanship, which centered kantos Kan's
every hope of victory and life on one cast of
the dice. For as he came to within about twenty
(09:05):
feet of the huge fellow, he threw his sword arm
far behind him, over his shoulder, and with a mighty sweep,
hurled his weapon point foremost at the Green warrior. It
flew true as an arrow, and piercing the poor devil's heart,
laid him dead upon the arena. Kantos Kan and I
were now pitted against each other, but as we approached
(09:29):
to the encounter, I whispered to him to prolong the
battle until nearly dark, in the hope that we might
find some means of escape. The hoard evidently guessed that
we had no hearts to fight each other, and so
they howled in rage as neither of us placed a
fatal thrust. Just as I saw the sudden coming of dark,
(09:50):
I whispered to kantos Kan to thrust his sword between
my left arm and my body. As he did so,
I staggered back, clasping the sword tightly with my arm,
and thus fell to the ground, with his weapon apparently
protruding from my chest. Kantos Kan perceived my coup, and,
stepping quickly to my side, he placed his foot upon
(10:12):
my neck, and, withdrawing his sword from my body, gave
me the final death blow through the neck, which is
supposed to sever the jugular vein. But in this instance
the cold blade slipped harmlessly into the sand of the arena.
In the darkness which had now fallen, none could tell
but that he had really finished me. I whispered to
(10:34):
him to go and claim his freedom, and then looked
for me in the hills east of the city. And
so he left me. When the amphitheater had cleared I
crept stealthily to the top, and as the great excavation
lay far from the plaza and in an untenanted portion
of the great Dead City, I had little trouble in
(10:54):
reaching the hills beyond end of chapter nineteen, as
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