September 24, 2025 • 24 mins
Dive into The Gods of Mars, the captivating 1918 science fiction novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the second installment of his iconic Barsoom series. This groundbreaking tale not only shaped the landscape of science fiction but also left an indelible mark on beloved franchises like Star Trek and Farscape. While Burroughs drew inspiration from the pulp fiction of his era, particularly westerns and swashbuckling adventures, his unique pacing and compelling themes paved the way for the soft science fiction genre. Join the fearless John Carter, a master of hand-to-hand combat and a charmer of enchanting alien women, whose character set a precedent for later icons such as Captain James T. Kirk and James Bond. Picking up after the events of A Princess of Mars, this sequel follows John Carters unexpected return to Barsoom (Mars) after a decade apart from his wife, Dejah Thoris, and their unborn child. However, his arrival is anything but ordinary, as he finds himself trapped in the Valley Dor‚Aîthe one place on Barsoom where no one is permitted to leave, believed to be the Barsoomian afterlife.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. The Gods of Mars written by
Edgar Rice Burroughs and read by J. D. Weber on
the south shores of Lake Superior, Chapter thirteen, a break
(00:24):
for liberty. Exodar listened in incredulous astonishment to my narration
of the events which had transpired within the arena at
the rights of Issus. He could scarce conceive, even though
he had already professed his doubt as to the deity
of Issus, that one could threaten her with a sword
in hand and not be blasted into a thousand fragments
by the mere fury of her divine wrath. It is
(00:47):
the final proof, he said, at last, no more is
needed to completely shatter the last remnant of my superstitious
belief in the divinity of Issus. She is only a
wicked old woman wielding a mighty power for Ea through
mechanation that have kept her own people in all barsoom,
in religious ignorance for ages. She is still all powerful here, however,
(01:08):
I replied, so it behooves us to leave at the
first moment that appears at all propitious. I hope that
you may find a propitious moment, he said, with a laugh,
for it is certain that in all my life I
have never seen one in which a prisoner of the
first born might escape to night. Will do as well
as any, I replied, It will soon be night, said Exodar,
(01:29):
How may I aid, in the adventure? Can you swim?
I asked him. No, slimy Sillion that haunts the depths
of Corus is moor at home in water than is Exodar.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
He replied. Good, the Red One, in all probability, cannot swim,
I said, since there is scarce enough water in all
their domains to float the tiniest craft. One of us
therefore will have to support him through the sea to
the craft we select. I had hoped that we might
make the entire distance below the surface, but I fear
that the Red Youth could not thus perform the trip.
(02:01):
Even the bravest of the brave among them are terrorized
at the mere thought of deep water, for it has
been ages since their forebears saw a lake, a river,
or a sea. The Red One is to accompany us
asked Exodar. Yes, it is well. Three swords are better
than two, especially when the third is as mighty as
this fellows. I have seen him battle in the arena
(02:22):
at the rights of Issus many times. Never until I
saw you fight, had I seen one who seemed unconquerable,
even in the face of great odds. One might think
you to master and pupil, or father and son. Come
to recall his face, there is a resemblance between you.
It is very marked. When you fight, there is the
same grim smile, the same maddening contempt for your adversary,
(02:45):
apparent in every movement of your bodies and in every
changing expression of your faces. Be that as it may, Exodar,
he is a great fighter. I think that we will
make a trio difficult to overcome. And if my friend
Tars Tarkas Jeddak of Thark were but one of us,
we could fight our way from one end of Barsoom
to the other, even though the whole world were pitted
(03:07):
against us. It will be said, Exodar, when they find
from whence you have come. That is but one of
the superstitions which Issus has foisted upon a credulous humanity.
She works through the Holy Thens, who are as ignorant
of her real self as are the Barsomians of the
outer world. Her decrees are born to the Thens, written
in blood upon a strange parchment. The poor, deluded fools
(03:29):
think that they are receiving the revelations of a goddess
through some supernatural agency, since they find these messages upon
their guarded altars, to which none could have access without detection.
I myself have borne these messages for Issus for many years.
There is a long tunnel from the temple of Issus
to the principal temple of Matai Shang. It was dug
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ages ago by the slaves of the first Born, in
such utter secrecy that no thern ever guessed its existence.
The Terns, for their part, have temples died at the
entire civilized world. Here, priests whom the people never see,
communicate the doctrine of the mysterious River iss the Valley Door,
and the Lost Sea, of course, to persuade the poor
deluded creatures to take the voluntary pilgrimage that swells the
(04:14):
wealth of the Holy Thens and adds to the number
of their slaves. Thus the urns are used as the
principal means for collecting the wealth and labor that the
first born wrest from them as they need it. Occasionally,
the first born themselves make raids upon the outer world.
It is then that they capture many females of the
royal houses of the red men, and take the newest
(04:35):
in battleships and the trained artisans who build them, that
they may copy what they cannot create. We are a
non productive race, priding ourselves upon our non productiveness. It
is criminal for a first born to labor or invent.
That is the work of the law orders, who live
merely that the first born may enjoy long lives of
luxury and idleness. With us, fighting is all that counts.
(04:56):
Were it not for that, there would be more of
the firstborn than and all the creatures of Barsoom could support.
For in so far as I know, none of us
ever dies in natural death. Our females would live forever
but for the fact that we tire of them and
remove them to make place for others. Issus alone of
all is protected against death. She has lived for countless ages.
(05:18):
Would not the other Barsoomians live forever but for the
doctrine of the voluntary pilgrimage which drags them to the
bosom of ish at Or before their thousandth year. I
asked him, I feel now that there is no doubt
but that they are precisely the same species of creature
as the first born, and I hope that I shall
live to fight for them in atonement of the sins
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I have committed against them through the ignorance born of
generations of false teaching. As he ceased speaking, a weird
call rang out across the waters of Omean. I had
heard it at the same time the previous evening, and
knew that it marked the ending of the day, when
the men of Omeans spread their silks upon the deck
of battleship and cruiser and fall into the dream sleep
(06:00):
of Mars. Our guard entered to inspect us for the
last time before the new day broke upon the world above.
His duty was soon performed, and the heavy door of
our prison clothes behind him, we were alone for the night.
I gave him time to return to his quarters, as
Exoter said he probably would do. Then I sprang to
the grated window and surveyed the nearby waters. At a
(06:21):
little distance from the island, a quarter of mile perhaps
lay a monster battleship, while between her and the shore
were a number of smaller cruisers and one man scouts.
Upon the battleship alone was there a watch. I could
see him plainly in the upper works of the ship,
and as I watched, I saw him spread his sleeping
silks upon the tiny platform in which he was stationed.
(06:42):
Soon he threw himself at full length upon his couch.
The discipline on Omean was lax, indeed, but it is
not to be wondered at. Since no enemy guessed the
existence upon Barsoom of such a fleet, or even of
the first Born, or the sea of Omean, why indeed
should they maintain a watch. Presently I dropped to the
floor again and talked with Exodar, describing the various craft
(07:04):
I had seen. There is one there, he said, my
personal property, built to carry five men. That is the
swiftest of the swift. If we can board her, we
can at least make a memorable run for liberty. And
then he went on to describe to me the equipment
of the boat, her engines, and all that went to
make her the flier that she was. In his explanation
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I recognized a trick of gearing that kantos Kan had
taught me that time we sailed under false names in
the navy of Zodanga, beneath sad than the Prince. And
I knew then that the first Born had stolen it
from the ships of Helium, for only they are thus geared.
And I knew too that Exodar spoke the truth when
he luted the speed of his little craft, for nothing
that cleaves the thin air of Mars can approximate the
(07:47):
speed of the ships of Helium. We decided to wait
for an hour at least until all the stragglers had
sought their silks. In the meantime, I was to fetch
the Red Youth to our cell, so that we would
be in readiness to make our rash break for freedom. Together.
I sprang to the top of our partition wall and
pulled myself up on to it. There I found a
flat surface about a foot in width, and along this
(08:10):
I walked until I came to the cell, in which
I saw the boy sitting upon his bench. He had
been leaning back against the wall, looking up at the
glowing dome above Omean, and when he spied me balancing
upon the partition wall above him. His eyes opened wide
in astonishment, then a wide grin of appreciative understanding spread
across his countenance. As I stooped to drop to the
(08:31):
floor beside him, he motioned me to wait, and, coming
close below me, whispered, catch my hand. I can almost
leap to the top of that wall myself. I have
tried it many times, and each day I come a
little closer. Some day I should have been able to
make it. I lay upon my belly across the wall
and reached my hand far down toward him. With a
little run from the center of the cell. He sprang
(08:53):
up until I grasped his outstretched hand, and thus I
pulled him to the wall's top beside me. You are
the first jumper among the red men of Barsoom, I said,
He smiled. It is not strange. I will tell you
why when we have more time together. We returned to
the cell in which exit Aar sat, descending to talk
with him until the hour had passed. There we made
(09:14):
our plans for the immediate future, binding ourselves by a
solemn oath to fight to the death for one another
against whatsoever enemies should confront us. For we knew that
even should we succeed in escaping the first born, we
might still have a whole world against us. The power
of religious superstition is mighty. It was agreed that I
should navigate the craft after we had reached her, and
(09:36):
that if we made the outer world in safety, we
should attempt to reach Helium without a stop. Why Helium,
asked the red youth. I am a prince of Helium,
I replied. He gave me a peculiar look, but said
nothing further on the subject. I wondered at the time
what the significance of his expression might be, But in
the press of other matters, it soon left my mind,
(09:57):
nor did I have occasion to think of it again
till later come, I said at length, Now is as
good a time as any. Let us go. Another moment
found me at the top of the partition wall again,
with the boy beside me. Unbuckling my harness, I snapped
it together with a single long strap, which I lowered
to the waiting exodar below. He grasped the end and
(10:18):
was soon sitting beside us. How simple, he laughed. The
balance should be even simpler, I replied. Then I raised
myself to the top of the outer wall of the prison,
just so that I could peer over and locate the
passing sentry. For a matter of five minutes I waited,
and then he came in sight on his slow and
snail like beat about the structure. I watched him until
(10:39):
he made the turn at the end of the building,
which carried him out of sight of the side of
the prison that was to witness our dash for freedom.
The moment his form disappeared, I grasped Exodar and drew
him to the top of the wall. Placing one end
of my harness strap in his hands, I lowered him
quickly to the ground below. Then the boy grasped the
strap and slid down to Exodar's side. In accordance with
(11:01):
our arrangement, they did not wait for me, but walked
slowly toward the water, a matter of a hundred yards,
directly past the guard house filled with sleeping soldiers. They
had taken scarce a dozen steps when I too, dropped
to the ground and followed them leisurely toward the shore.
As I passed the guard house, the thought of all
the good blades lying there gave me pause, For if
(11:21):
ever men were to have need of swords, it was
my companions and I on the perilous trip upon which
we were about to embark. I glanced towards Exodar and
the youth and saw that they had slipped over the
edge of the dock into the water. In accordance with
our plan, they were to remain there, clinging to the
metal rings which studded the concrete like substance of the
dock at the water's level, with only their mouths and
(11:44):
noses above the surface of the sea, until I should
join them. The lure of the swords within the guard
house was strong upon me, and I hesitated a moment,
half inclined to risk the attempt to take the few
we needed. That he who hesitates is lost, proved itself
a true aphorism. In the instant for another moment saw
me creeping stealthily toward the door of the guard house. Gently,
(12:06):
I pressed it open a crack enough to discover a
dozen blacks stretched upon their silks in profound slumber. At
the far side of the room, a rack held the
swords and firearms of the men. Wearily, I pushed the
door a trifle wider to admit my body. A hinge
gave out a resentful groan. One of the men stirred,
and my heart stood still. I cursed myself for a
(12:26):
fool to have thus jeopardized our chances for escape. But
there was nothing for it now but to see the
adventure through with the spring as swift and as noiseless
as the tiger's. I lit beside the guardsmen who had
moved My hands, hovered about his throat, awaiting the moment
that his eyes should open. For what seemed an eternity
to my overwrought nerves, I remained poised. Thus, Then the
(12:47):
fellow turned again upon his side and resumed the even
respiration of deep slumber. Carefully, I picked my way between
and over the soldiers until I had gained the rack
at the far side of the room. Here I turned
survey the sleeping men. All were quiet. Their regular breathing
rose and fell in a soothing rhythm that seemed to
me the sweetest music I ever had heard. Gingerly, I
(13:10):
drew a long sword from the rack. The scraping of
the scabbard against its holder as I withdrew it sounded
like the filing of a cast iron with a great rasp,
And I looked to see the room immediately filled with
alarmed and attacking guardsmen, but none stirred. The second sword
I withdrew noiselessly, but the third clanked in its scabbard
with a frightful din. I knew that it must awaken
(13:33):
some of the men at least, and was on the
point of forestalling their attack by a rapid charge for
the doorway, when again, to my intense surprise, not a
black moved. Either they were wondrous heavy sleepers, or else
the noises that I made were really much less than
they seemed to me. I was about to leave the
rack when my attention was attracted by the revolvers. I
(13:53):
knew that I could not carry more than one away
with me, for I was already too heavily laden to
move quietly with any three of safety or speed. As
I took one of them from its pin, my eye
fell for the first time on an open window beside
the rack. Ah, here was a splendid means of escape,
for it let directly upon the dock, not twenty feet
from the water's edge. And as I congratulated myself, I
(14:17):
heard the door opposite me open, and there, looking me
full in the face, stood the officer of the guard.
He evidently took in the situation at a glance and
appreciated the gravity of it as quickly as I. For
our revolvers came up simultaneously, and the sounds of the
two reports were as one. As we touched the buttons
on the grips that exploded the cartridges, I felt the
(14:38):
wind of his bullet as it whizzed passed my ear,
and at the same instant I saw him crumple to
the ground where I hit him. I do not know
nor if I killed him, for scarce had he started
to collapse when I was through the window at my rear.
In another second, the waters of Omean closed above my head,
and the three of us were making for the little
flier a hundred yards away. Exodar was burdened with the bull,
(15:00):
and I with the three long swords the revolver I
had dropped, so that while we were both strong swimmers,
it seemed to me that we moved at a snail's
pace through the water. I was swimming entirely beneath the surface,
but Exodar was compelled to rise often to let the
youth breathe. So it was a wonder that we were
not discovered long before we were. In fact, we reached
(15:20):
the boat's side and were all aboard before the watch
upon the battleship, aroused by the shots, detected us. Then
an alarm gun bellowed from a ship's bow, its deep
boom reverberating in deafening tones beneath the rocky dome of Omean.
Instantly the sleeping thousands were awake, the decks of a
thousand monster craft teemed with fighting men. For an alarm
(15:42):
on Omean was a thing of rare occurrence. We cast
away before the sound of the first gun had died,
and another second sauce rising swiftly from the surface of
the sea. I lay at full length along the deck
with the levers and the buttons of control before me.
Exodar and the boy were stretched directly behind me. Prone
also that we might offer as little resistance to the
(16:02):
air as possible. Rise high, whispered Exodar. They dare not
fire their heavy guns toward the dome. The fragments of
the shells would drop back among their own craft. If
we are high enough, our keel plates will protect us
from rifle fire. I did as he bade. Below us,
we could see the men leaping into the water by
hundreds and striking out for the small cruisers and the
(16:24):
one man fliers that lay moored about the big ships.
The larger craft were getting under way, following us rapidly,
but not rising from the water. A little to your right,
cried Exodar, for there are no points of compass upon Omean,
where every direction is due north. The pandemonium that had
broken out below us was deafening. Rifles cracked, Officers shouted orders,
(16:47):
men yelled directions to one another from the water and
from the decks of the myriad boats, while through all
ran the purr of countless propellers, cutting water and air.
I had not dared pull my speed lever to the
highest for fear of overrunning the mouth of the shaft
that passed from Omean's dome to the world above. But
even so we were hitting a clip that I doubt
(17:07):
has ever been equalled on the windless sea. The smaller
fliers were commencing to rise toward us when Exoitter shouted
the shaft. The shaft dead ahead, and I saw the
opening black and yawning in the glowing dome of this underworld.
A ten man cruiser was rising directly in front to
cut off our escape. It was the only vessel that
stood in our way, but at the rate that it
(17:29):
was traveling, it would come between us and the shaft
in plenty of time to thwart our plans. It was
rising at an angle of about forty five degrees dead
ahead of us, with the evident intention of combing us
with grappling hooks from above. As it skimmed low over
our deck, there was but one forlorn hope for us,
and I took it. It was useless to try to
(17:49):
pass over her, for that would have allowed her to
force us against the rocky dome above, and we were
already too near that as it was. To have attempted
to dive below her would have put us entirely at
her mercy, and precisely where she wanted us. On either side,
a hundred other menacing craft were hastening toward us. The
alternative was filled with risk. In fact, it was all risk,
(18:12):
with but a slender chance of success. As we neared
the cruiser, I rose as though to pass above her,
so that she would do just what she did do
rise at a steeper angle to force me still higher. Then,
as we were Almost upon her, I yelled to my
companions to hold tight, and throwing the little vessel into
her highest speed, I deflected her bows at the same instant,
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until we were running horizontally and at a terrific velocity,
straight for the cruiser's keel. Her commander may have seen
my intentions then, but it was too late. Almost at
the instant of impact, I turned my bows upward, and then,
with a shattering jolt, we were in collision. What I
had hoped for happened. The cruiser, already tilted at a
(18:54):
perilous angle, was carried completely over backward by the impact
of my smaller vessel. Her crew fell twisting and screaming
through the air to the water far below, while the cruiser,
her propellers, still madly churning, dived swiftly head foremost after
them to the bottom of the Sea of Omean. The
collision crushed our steel boughs, and, notwithstanding every effort on
(19:16):
our part, came near to hurtling us from the deck.
As it was, we landed in a wildly clutching heap
at the very extremity of the flier, where Exodar and
I succeeded in grasping the hand rail, but the boy
would have plunged overboard had I not fortunately grasped his ankle,
as he was already partially over unguided. Our vessel careened
(19:36):
wildly in its mad flight, rising ever nearer the rocks above.
It took but an instant, however, for me to regain
the levers, and with the roof barely fifty feet above,
I turned her nose once more into the horizontal plane
and headed her again for the black mouth of the shaft.
The collision had retarded our progress, and now a hundred
swift scouts were close upon us. Exodar had told me
(19:59):
that ascending the shaft by virtue of our repulsive rays
alone would give our enemies their best chance to overtake us,
since our propellers would be idle, and in rising we
would be outclassed by many of our pursuers. The swifter
craft are seldom equipped with large buoyancy tanks, since the
added bulk of them tends to reduce a vessel's speed.
(20:19):
As many boats were now quite close to us, it
was inevitable that we would be quickly overhauled in the
shaft and captured or killed in short order. To me,
there always seems a way to gain the opposite side
of an obstacle. If one cannot pass over it, or
below it, or around it, why then there is but
a single alternative left, and that is to pass through it.
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I could not get around the fact that many of
these other boats could rise faster than ours by the
fact of their greater buoyancy. But I was none the
less determined to reach the outer world far in advanced
of them, or die death of my own choosing in
event of failure, Reverse screamed, Exoter behind me, for the
love of your first ancestor Reverse, we are but the shaft.
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Hold tight, I screamed in reply. Grasp the boy and
hold tight. We are going straight up the shaft. The
words were scarce out of my mouth. As we swept
beneath the pitch black opening. I threw the bow hard up,
dragged the speed lever to its last notch, and, clutching
a stanchion with one hand and the steering wheel with
the other, hung on like grim death, and consigned my
(21:22):
soul to its author. I heard a little exclamation of
surprise from Exod, followed by a grim laugh. The boy
laughed too, and said something which I could not catch,
for the whistling of the wind of our awful speed.
I looked above my head, hoping to catch the gleam
of stars by which I could direct our course and
hold the hurtling thing that bore us true to the
(21:43):
center of the shaft. To have touched the side at
the speed we were making would doubtless have resulted in
instant death for us. All but not a star showed above,
only utter and impenetrable darkness. Then I glanced below me,
and there I saw a rapidly diminishing circle of light,
the mouth of the opening, above the phosphorescent radiance of Omean.
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By this I steered, endeavoring to keep the circle of
light below me. Ever perfect at best, it was but
a slender cord that held us from destruction. And I
think that I steered that night more by intuition and
blind faith than by skill or reason. We were not
long in the shaft, and possibly the very fact of
our enormous speed saved us, For evidently we started in
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the right direction, and so quickly were we out again
that we had no time to alter our course. Omean
lies perhaps two miles below the surface, crust of Mars.
Our speed must have approximated two hundred miles an hour,
for Martian flyers are swift, so that at most we
were in the shaft, not over forty seconds. We must
have been out of it for some seconds before I
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realized that we had accomplished the impossible. Black darkness enshrouded
all about us. There were neither moons nor stars. Never
before had I seen such a thing upon Mars, and
for the moment I was nonplussed. Then the explanation came
to me. It was summer at the south pole, the
ice cap was melting, and those meteoric phenomena clouds unknown
(23:07):
upon the greater part of Barsoom were shutting out the
light of Heaven from this portion of the planet. Fortunate,
indeed it was for us, Nor did it take me
long to grasp the opportunity for escape which this happy
condition offered us. Keeping the boat's nose at a stiff angle,
I raised her for the impenetrable curtain which nature had
hung above this dying world to shut us out from
(23:28):
the sight of our pursuing enemies. We plunged through the
cold camp fog without diminishing our speed, and in a moment,
emerged into the glorious light of the two moons and
the million stars. I dropped into a horizontal course and
headed due north. Our enemies were a good half hour
behind us, with no conception of our direction. We had
performed the miraculous and come through a thousand dangers unscathed.
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We had escaped from the land of the first Born.
No other prisoners in all the ages of Barsoom had
done this thing. And now, as I look back upon it,
it did not seem to have been so difficult. After all,
I said as much to Exod over my shoulder. It
is very wonderful. Nevertheless, he replied, no one else could
have accomplished it, but John Carter. At the sound of
(24:12):
that name, the boy jumped to his feet. John Carter,
he cried, John Carter, Why man, John Carter, Prince of Helium,
has been dead for years. I am his son.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
End of Chapter thirteen.
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. The Gods of Mars written by
Edgar Rice Burroughs and read by J. D. Weber on
the south shores of Lake Superior, Chapter thirteen, a break
(00:24):
for liberty. Exodar listened in incredulous astonishment to my narration
of the events which had transpired within the arena at
the rights of Issus. He could scarce conceive, even though
he had already professed his doubt as to the deity
of Issus, that one could threaten her with a sword
in hand and not be blasted into a thousand fragments
by the mere fury of her divine wrath. It is
(00:47):
the final proof, he said, at last, no more is
needed to completely shatter the last remnant of my superstitious
belief in the divinity of Issus. She is only a
wicked old woman wielding a mighty power for Ea through
mechanation that have kept her own people in all barsoom,
in religious ignorance for ages. She is still all powerful here, however,
(01:08):
I replied, so it behooves us to leave at the
first moment that appears at all propitious. I hope that
you may find a propitious moment, he said, with a laugh,
for it is certain that in all my life I
have never seen one in which a prisoner of the
first born might escape to night. Will do as well
as any, I replied, It will soon be night, said Exodar,
(01:29):
How may I aid, in the adventure? Can you swim?
I asked him. No, slimy Sillion that haunts the depths
of Corus is moor at home in water than is Exodar.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
He replied. Good, the Red One, in all probability, cannot swim,
I said, since there is scarce enough water in all
their domains to float the tiniest craft. One of us
therefore will have to support him through the sea to
the craft we select. I had hoped that we might
make the entire distance below the surface, but I fear
that the Red Youth could not thus perform the trip.
(02:01):
Even the bravest of the brave among them are terrorized
at the mere thought of deep water, for it has
been ages since their forebears saw a lake, a river,
or a sea. The Red One is to accompany us
asked Exodar. Yes, it is well. Three swords are better
than two, especially when the third is as mighty as
this fellows. I have seen him battle in the arena
(02:22):
at the rights of Issus many times. Never until I
saw you fight, had I seen one who seemed unconquerable,
even in the face of great odds. One might think
you to master and pupil, or father and son. Come
to recall his face, there is a resemblance between you.
It is very marked. When you fight, there is the
same grim smile, the same maddening contempt for your adversary,
(02:45):
apparent in every movement of your bodies and in every
changing expression of your faces. Be that as it may, Exodar,
he is a great fighter. I think that we will
make a trio difficult to overcome. And if my friend
Tars Tarkas Jeddak of Thark were but one of us,
we could fight our way from one end of Barsoom
to the other, even though the whole world were pitted
(03:07):
against us. It will be said, Exodar, when they find
from whence you have come. That is but one of
the superstitions which Issus has foisted upon a credulous humanity.
She works through the Holy Thens, who are as ignorant
of her real self as are the Barsomians of the
outer world. Her decrees are born to the Thens, written
in blood upon a strange parchment. The poor, deluded fools
(03:29):
think that they are receiving the revelations of a goddess
through some supernatural agency, since they find these messages upon
their guarded altars, to which none could have access without detection.
I myself have borne these messages for Issus for many years.
There is a long tunnel from the temple of Issus
to the principal temple of Matai Shang. It was dug
(03:51):
ages ago by the slaves of the first Born, in
such utter secrecy that no thern ever guessed its existence.
The Terns, for their part, have temples died at the
entire civilized world. Here, priests whom the people never see,
communicate the doctrine of the mysterious River iss the Valley Door,
and the Lost Sea, of course, to persuade the poor
deluded creatures to take the voluntary pilgrimage that swells the
(04:14):
wealth of the Holy Thens and adds to the number
of their slaves. Thus the urns are used as the
principal means for collecting the wealth and labor that the
first born wrest from them as they need it. Occasionally,
the first born themselves make raids upon the outer world.
It is then that they capture many females of the
royal houses of the red men, and take the newest
(04:35):
in battleships and the trained artisans who build them, that
they may copy what they cannot create. We are a
non productive race, priding ourselves upon our non productiveness. It
is criminal for a first born to labor or invent.
That is the work of the law orders, who live
merely that the first born may enjoy long lives of
luxury and idleness. With us, fighting is all that counts.
(04:56):
Were it not for that, there would be more of
the firstborn than and all the creatures of Barsoom could support.
For in so far as I know, none of us
ever dies in natural death. Our females would live forever
but for the fact that we tire of them and
remove them to make place for others. Issus alone of
all is protected against death. She has lived for countless ages.
(05:18):
Would not the other Barsoomians live forever but for the
doctrine of the voluntary pilgrimage which drags them to the
bosom of ish at Or before their thousandth year. I
asked him, I feel now that there is no doubt
but that they are precisely the same species of creature
as the first born, and I hope that I shall
live to fight for them in atonement of the sins
(05:39):
I have committed against them through the ignorance born of
generations of false teaching. As he ceased speaking, a weird
call rang out across the waters of Omean. I had
heard it at the same time the previous evening, and
knew that it marked the ending of the day, when
the men of Omeans spread their silks upon the deck
of battleship and cruiser and fall into the dream sleep
(06:00):
of Mars. Our guard entered to inspect us for the
last time before the new day broke upon the world above.
His duty was soon performed, and the heavy door of
our prison clothes behind him, we were alone for the night.
I gave him time to return to his quarters, as
Exoter said he probably would do. Then I sprang to
the grated window and surveyed the nearby waters. At a
(06:21):
little distance from the island, a quarter of mile perhaps
lay a monster battleship, while between her and the shore
were a number of smaller cruisers and one man scouts.
Upon the battleship alone was there a watch. I could
see him plainly in the upper works of the ship,
and as I watched, I saw him spread his sleeping
silks upon the tiny platform in which he was stationed.
(06:42):
Soon he threw himself at full length upon his couch.
The discipline on Omean was lax, indeed, but it is
not to be wondered at. Since no enemy guessed the
existence upon Barsoom of such a fleet, or even of
the first Born, or the sea of Omean, why indeed
should they maintain a watch. Presently I dropped to the
floor again and talked with Exodar, describing the various craft
(07:04):
I had seen. There is one there, he said, my
personal property, built to carry five men. That is the
swiftest of the swift. If we can board her, we
can at least make a memorable run for liberty. And
then he went on to describe to me the equipment
of the boat, her engines, and all that went to
make her the flier that she was. In his explanation
(07:25):
I recognized a trick of gearing that kantos Kan had
taught me that time we sailed under false names in
the navy of Zodanga, beneath sad than the Prince. And
I knew then that the first Born had stolen it
from the ships of Helium, for only they are thus geared.
And I knew too that Exodar spoke the truth when
he luted the speed of his little craft, for nothing
that cleaves the thin air of Mars can approximate the
(07:47):
speed of the ships of Helium. We decided to wait
for an hour at least until all the stragglers had
sought their silks. In the meantime, I was to fetch
the Red Youth to our cell, so that we would
be in readiness to make our rash break for freedom. Together.
I sprang to the top of our partition wall and
pulled myself up on to it. There I found a
flat surface about a foot in width, and along this
(08:10):
I walked until I came to the cell, in which
I saw the boy sitting upon his bench. He had
been leaning back against the wall, looking up at the
glowing dome above Omean, and when he spied me balancing
upon the partition wall above him. His eyes opened wide
in astonishment, then a wide grin of appreciative understanding spread
across his countenance. As I stooped to drop to the
(08:31):
floor beside him, he motioned me to wait, and, coming
close below me, whispered, catch my hand. I can almost
leap to the top of that wall myself. I have
tried it many times, and each day I come a
little closer. Some day I should have been able to
make it. I lay upon my belly across the wall
and reached my hand far down toward him. With a
little run from the center of the cell. He sprang
(08:53):
up until I grasped his outstretched hand, and thus I
pulled him to the wall's top beside me. You are
the first jumper among the red men of Barsoom, I said,
He smiled. It is not strange. I will tell you
why when we have more time together. We returned to
the cell in which exit Aar sat, descending to talk
with him until the hour had passed. There we made
(09:14):
our plans for the immediate future, binding ourselves by a
solemn oath to fight to the death for one another
against whatsoever enemies should confront us. For we knew that
even should we succeed in escaping the first born, we
might still have a whole world against us. The power
of religious superstition is mighty. It was agreed that I
should navigate the craft after we had reached her, and
(09:36):
that if we made the outer world in safety, we
should attempt to reach Helium without a stop. Why Helium,
asked the red youth. I am a prince of Helium,
I replied. He gave me a peculiar look, but said
nothing further on the subject. I wondered at the time
what the significance of his expression might be, But in
the press of other matters, it soon left my mind,
(09:57):
nor did I have occasion to think of it again
till later come, I said at length, Now is as
good a time as any. Let us go. Another moment
found me at the top of the partition wall again,
with the boy beside me. Unbuckling my harness, I snapped
it together with a single long strap, which I lowered
to the waiting exodar below. He grasped the end and
(10:18):
was soon sitting beside us. How simple, he laughed. The
balance should be even simpler, I replied. Then I raised
myself to the top of the outer wall of the prison,
just so that I could peer over and locate the
passing sentry. For a matter of five minutes I waited,
and then he came in sight on his slow and
snail like beat about the structure. I watched him until
(10:39):
he made the turn at the end of the building,
which carried him out of sight of the side of
the prison that was to witness our dash for freedom.
The moment his form disappeared, I grasped Exodar and drew
him to the top of the wall. Placing one end
of my harness strap in his hands, I lowered him
quickly to the ground below. Then the boy grasped the
strap and slid down to Exodar's side. In accordance with
(11:01):
our arrangement, they did not wait for me, but walked
slowly toward the water, a matter of a hundred yards,
directly past the guard house filled with sleeping soldiers. They
had taken scarce a dozen steps when I too, dropped
to the ground and followed them leisurely toward the shore.
As I passed the guard house, the thought of all
the good blades lying there gave me pause, For if
(11:21):
ever men were to have need of swords, it was
my companions and I on the perilous trip upon which
we were about to embark. I glanced towards Exodar and
the youth and saw that they had slipped over the
edge of the dock into the water. In accordance with
our plan, they were to remain there, clinging to the
metal rings which studded the concrete like substance of the
dock at the water's level, with only their mouths and
(11:44):
noses above the surface of the sea, until I should
join them. The lure of the swords within the guard
house was strong upon me, and I hesitated a moment,
half inclined to risk the attempt to take the few
we needed. That he who hesitates is lost, proved itself
a true aphorism. In the instant for another moment saw
me creeping stealthily toward the door of the guard house. Gently,
(12:06):
I pressed it open a crack enough to discover a
dozen blacks stretched upon their silks in profound slumber. At
the far side of the room, a rack held the
swords and firearms of the men. Wearily, I pushed the
door a trifle wider to admit my body. A hinge
gave out a resentful groan. One of the men stirred,
and my heart stood still. I cursed myself for a
(12:26):
fool to have thus jeopardized our chances for escape. But
there was nothing for it now but to see the
adventure through with the spring as swift and as noiseless
as the tiger's. I lit beside the guardsmen who had
moved My hands, hovered about his throat, awaiting the moment
that his eyes should open. For what seemed an eternity
to my overwrought nerves, I remained poised. Thus, Then the
(12:47):
fellow turned again upon his side and resumed the even
respiration of deep slumber. Carefully, I picked my way between
and over the soldiers until I had gained the rack
at the far side of the room. Here I turned
survey the sleeping men. All were quiet. Their regular breathing
rose and fell in a soothing rhythm that seemed to
me the sweetest music I ever had heard. Gingerly, I
(13:10):
drew a long sword from the rack. The scraping of
the scabbard against its holder as I withdrew it sounded
like the filing of a cast iron with a great rasp,
And I looked to see the room immediately filled with
alarmed and attacking guardsmen, but none stirred. The second sword
I withdrew noiselessly, but the third clanked in its scabbard
with a frightful din. I knew that it must awaken
(13:33):
some of the men at least, and was on the
point of forestalling their attack by a rapid charge for
the doorway, when again, to my intense surprise, not a
black moved. Either they were wondrous heavy sleepers, or else
the noises that I made were really much less than
they seemed to me. I was about to leave the
rack when my attention was attracted by the revolvers. I
(13:53):
knew that I could not carry more than one away
with me, for I was already too heavily laden to
move quietly with any three of safety or speed. As
I took one of them from its pin, my eye
fell for the first time on an open window beside
the rack. Ah, here was a splendid means of escape,
for it let directly upon the dock, not twenty feet
from the water's edge. And as I congratulated myself, I
(14:17):
heard the door opposite me open, and there, looking me
full in the face, stood the officer of the guard.
He evidently took in the situation at a glance and
appreciated the gravity of it as quickly as I. For
our revolvers came up simultaneously, and the sounds of the
two reports were as one. As we touched the buttons
on the grips that exploded the cartridges, I felt the
(14:38):
wind of his bullet as it whizzed passed my ear,
and at the same instant I saw him crumple to
the ground where I hit him. I do not know
nor if I killed him, for scarce had he started
to collapse when I was through the window at my rear.
In another second, the waters of Omean closed above my head,
and the three of us were making for the little
flier a hundred yards away. Exodar was burdened with the bull,
(15:00):
and I with the three long swords the revolver I
had dropped, so that while we were both strong swimmers,
it seemed to me that we moved at a snail's
pace through the water. I was swimming entirely beneath the surface,
but Exodar was compelled to rise often to let the
youth breathe. So it was a wonder that we were
not discovered long before we were. In fact, we reached
(15:20):
the boat's side and were all aboard before the watch
upon the battleship, aroused by the shots, detected us. Then
an alarm gun bellowed from a ship's bow, its deep
boom reverberating in deafening tones beneath the rocky dome of Omean.
Instantly the sleeping thousands were awake, the decks of a
thousand monster craft teemed with fighting men. For an alarm
(15:42):
on Omean was a thing of rare occurrence. We cast
away before the sound of the first gun had died,
and another second sauce rising swiftly from the surface of
the sea. I lay at full length along the deck
with the levers and the buttons of control before me.
Exodar and the boy were stretched directly behind me. Prone
also that we might offer as little resistance to the
(16:02):
air as possible. Rise high, whispered Exodar. They dare not
fire their heavy guns toward the dome. The fragments of
the shells would drop back among their own craft. If
we are high enough, our keel plates will protect us
from rifle fire. I did as he bade. Below us,
we could see the men leaping into the water by
hundreds and striking out for the small cruisers and the
(16:24):
one man fliers that lay moored about the big ships.
The larger craft were getting under way, following us rapidly,
but not rising from the water. A little to your right,
cried Exodar, for there are no points of compass upon Omean,
where every direction is due north. The pandemonium that had
broken out below us was deafening. Rifles cracked, Officers shouted orders,
(16:47):
men yelled directions to one another from the water and
from the decks of the myriad boats, while through all
ran the purr of countless propellers, cutting water and air.
I had not dared pull my speed lever to the
highest for fear of overrunning the mouth of the shaft
that passed from Omean's dome to the world above. But
even so we were hitting a clip that I doubt
(17:07):
has ever been equalled on the windless sea. The smaller
fliers were commencing to rise toward us when Exoitter shouted
the shaft. The shaft dead ahead, and I saw the
opening black and yawning in the glowing dome of this underworld.
A ten man cruiser was rising directly in front to
cut off our escape. It was the only vessel that
stood in our way, but at the rate that it
(17:29):
was traveling, it would come between us and the shaft
in plenty of time to thwart our plans. It was
rising at an angle of about forty five degrees dead
ahead of us, with the evident intention of combing us
with grappling hooks from above. As it skimmed low over
our deck, there was but one forlorn hope for us,
and I took it. It was useless to try to
(17:49):
pass over her, for that would have allowed her to
force us against the rocky dome above, and we were
already too near that as it was. To have attempted
to dive below her would have put us entirely at
her mercy, and precisely where she wanted us. On either side,
a hundred other menacing craft were hastening toward us. The
alternative was filled with risk. In fact, it was all risk,
(18:12):
with but a slender chance of success. As we neared
the cruiser, I rose as though to pass above her,
so that she would do just what she did do
rise at a steeper angle to force me still higher. Then,
as we were Almost upon her, I yelled to my
companions to hold tight, and throwing the little vessel into
her highest speed, I deflected her bows at the same instant,
(18:33):
until we were running horizontally and at a terrific velocity,
straight for the cruiser's keel. Her commander may have seen
my intentions then, but it was too late. Almost at
the instant of impact, I turned my bows upward, and then,
with a shattering jolt, we were in collision. What I
had hoped for happened. The cruiser, already tilted at a
(18:54):
perilous angle, was carried completely over backward by the impact
of my smaller vessel. Her crew fell twisting and screaming
through the air to the water far below, while the cruiser,
her propellers, still madly churning, dived swiftly head foremost after
them to the bottom of the Sea of Omean. The
collision crushed our steel boughs, and, notwithstanding every effort on
(19:16):
our part, came near to hurtling us from the deck.
As it was, we landed in a wildly clutching heap
at the very extremity of the flier, where Exodar and
I succeeded in grasping the hand rail, but the boy
would have plunged overboard had I not fortunately grasped his ankle,
as he was already partially over unguided. Our vessel careened
(19:36):
wildly in its mad flight, rising ever nearer the rocks above.
It took but an instant, however, for me to regain
the levers, and with the roof barely fifty feet above,
I turned her nose once more into the horizontal plane
and headed her again for the black mouth of the shaft.
The collision had retarded our progress, and now a hundred
swift scouts were close upon us. Exodar had told me
(19:59):
that ascending the shaft by virtue of our repulsive rays
alone would give our enemies their best chance to overtake us,
since our propellers would be idle, and in rising we
would be outclassed by many of our pursuers. The swifter
craft are seldom equipped with large buoyancy tanks, since the
added bulk of them tends to reduce a vessel's speed.
(20:19):
As many boats were now quite close to us, it
was inevitable that we would be quickly overhauled in the
shaft and captured or killed in short order. To me,
there always seems a way to gain the opposite side
of an obstacle. If one cannot pass over it, or
below it, or around it, why then there is but
a single alternative left, and that is to pass through it.
(20:40):
I could not get around the fact that many of
these other boats could rise faster than ours by the
fact of their greater buoyancy. But I was none the
less determined to reach the outer world far in advanced
of them, or die death of my own choosing in
event of failure, Reverse screamed, Exoter behind me, for the
love of your first ancestor Reverse, we are but the shaft.
(21:01):
Hold tight, I screamed in reply. Grasp the boy and
hold tight. We are going straight up the shaft. The
words were scarce out of my mouth. As we swept
beneath the pitch black opening. I threw the bow hard up,
dragged the speed lever to its last notch, and, clutching
a stanchion with one hand and the steering wheel with
the other, hung on like grim death, and consigned my
(21:22):
soul to its author. I heard a little exclamation of
surprise from Exod, followed by a grim laugh. The boy
laughed too, and said something which I could not catch,
for the whistling of the wind of our awful speed.
I looked above my head, hoping to catch the gleam
of stars by which I could direct our course and
hold the hurtling thing that bore us true to the
(21:43):
center of the shaft. To have touched the side at
the speed we were making would doubtless have resulted in
instant death for us. All but not a star showed above,
only utter and impenetrable darkness. Then I glanced below me,
and there I saw a rapidly diminishing circle of light,
the mouth of the opening, above the phosphorescent radiance of Omean.
(22:03):
By this I steered, endeavoring to keep the circle of
light below me. Ever perfect at best, it was but
a slender cord that held us from destruction. And I
think that I steered that night more by intuition and
blind faith than by skill or reason. We were not
long in the shaft, and possibly the very fact of
our enormous speed saved us, For evidently we started in
(22:24):
the right direction, and so quickly were we out again
that we had no time to alter our course. Omean
lies perhaps two miles below the surface, crust of Mars.
Our speed must have approximated two hundred miles an hour,
for Martian flyers are swift, so that at most we
were in the shaft, not over forty seconds. We must
have been out of it for some seconds before I
(22:46):
realized that we had accomplished the impossible. Black darkness enshrouded
all about us. There were neither moons nor stars. Never
before had I seen such a thing upon Mars, and
for the moment I was nonplussed. Then the explanation came
to me. It was summer at the south pole, the
ice cap was melting, and those meteoric phenomena clouds unknown
(23:07):
upon the greater part of Barsoom were shutting out the
light of Heaven from this portion of the planet. Fortunate,
indeed it was for us, Nor did it take me
long to grasp the opportunity for escape which this happy
condition offered us. Keeping the boat's nose at a stiff angle,
I raised her for the impenetrable curtain which nature had
hung above this dying world to shut us out from
(23:28):
the sight of our pursuing enemies. We plunged through the
cold camp fog without diminishing our speed, and in a moment,
emerged into the glorious light of the two moons and
the million stars. I dropped into a horizontal course and
headed due north. Our enemies were a good half hour
behind us, with no conception of our direction. We had
performed the miraculous and come through a thousand dangers unscathed.
(23:51):
We had escaped from the land of the first Born.
No other prisoners in all the ages of Barsoom had
done this thing. And now, as I look back upon it,
it did not seem to have been so difficult. After all,
I said as much to Exod over my shoulder. It
is very wonderful. Nevertheless, he replied, no one else could
have accomplished it, but John Carter. At the sound of
(24:12):
that name, the boy jumped to his feet. John Carter,
he cried, John Carter, Why man, John Carter, Prince of Helium,
has been dead for years. I am his son.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
End of Chapter thirteen.
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