September 24, 2025 • 15 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.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Chapter fifteen, Flight and Pursuit. I could not have been
unconscious more than a few seconds, and yet I know
that I was unconscious. For the next thing I realized
was that a growing radiance was illuminating the corridor about me,
and the eyes were gone. I was unharmed, except for
a slight bruise upon my forehead where it had struck
(00:41):
the stone flagging as I fell. I sprang to my
feet to ascertain the cause of the light. It came
from a torch in the hand of one of a
party of four Green Warriors who were coming rapidly down
the corridor toward me. They had not yet seen me,
and so I lost no time in slipping into the
first intersecting corridor that I I could find. This time, however,
(01:02):
I did not advance so far away from the main
corridor as on the other occasion that had resulted in
my losing tars Tarkas and his guards. The party came
rapidly toward the opening of the passageway in which I
crouched against the wall. As they passed by, I breathed
a sigh of relief. I had not been discovered, and
best of all, the party was the same that I
had followed into the pits. It consisted of Tars Tarkas
(01:25):
and his three guards. I fell in behind them, and
soon we were at the cell in which the great
Thark had been chained. Two of the warriors remained without
while the man with the keys entered with the Thark
to fasten his irons upon him once more. The two
outside started to stroll slowly in the direction of the
spiral runway which led to the floors above, and in
a moment were lost to view beyond a turn in
(01:47):
the corridor. The torch had been stuck in a socket
beside the door, so that its rays illuminated both the
corridor and the cell. At the same time as I
saw the two warriors disappear, I approached the entrance to
the cell with a well defined plan already formulated. While
I disliked the thought of carrying out the thing, that
I had decided upon. There seemed no alternative if Tars
(02:08):
Tarkas and I were to go back together to my
little camp in the hills. Keeping near the wall, I
came quite close to the door to Tars Tarkas's cell,
and there I stood with my longsword above my head,
grasped with both hands, that I might bring it down
in one quick cut upon the skull of the jailer,
as he had merged. I disliked to dwell upon what
followed after I heard the footsteps of the man as
(02:30):
he approached the doorway. It is enough that within another
minute or two, Tars Tarkas, wearing the metal of a
warhoon chief, was hurrying down the corridor toward the spiral runway,
bearing the warhoon's torch to light his way. A dozen
paces behind him followed John Carter, Prince of Helium. The
two companions of the man who lay now beside the
door of the cell that had been Tars Tarkas's had
(02:53):
just started to ascend the runway as the thark came
in view. Why so long, Tangama, cried, One of the
men I had trouble with a lock, replied Tars Tarkas,
and now I find that I have left my short
sword in the thark cell. Go you on, I'll return
and fetch it as you will. Tangama replied he who
had before spoken, We shall see you above directly. Yes,
(03:16):
replied tars Tarkas, and turned as though to retrace his
steps to the cell. But he only waited until the
two had disappeared at the floor above. Then I joined him.
We extinguished the torch, and together we crept toward the
spiral incline that led to the upper floors of the building.
At the first floor, we found that the hallway ran
but half way through, necessitating the crossing of a rear
(03:37):
room full of green folk. Ere we could reach the
inner courtyard. So there was but one thing left for
us to do, and that was to gain the second
floor and the hallway through which I had traversed the
length of the building. Cautiously we ascended. We could hear
the sounds of conversation coming from the room above, but
the hall still was unlited, nor was any one in sight.
(03:57):
As we gained the top of the runway, together we
threaded the long haul and reached the balcony overlooking the
courtyard without being detected. At our right was the window
letting into the room in which I had seen Tangama
and the other warriors as they started to tars Tarkas's
cell earlier in the evening. His companions had returned here,
and we now overheard a portion of their conversation. What
(04:20):
can be detaining? Tan Gama asked one. He certainly could
not be all this time, Fetching his short sword from
the Thark's cell, spoke another his short sword, asked a woman,
what mean you? Tangama left his short sword in the
thark cell, explained the first speaker, and left us at
the runway to return and get it. Tan Gama wore
(04:40):
no short sword this night, said the woman. It was
broken in to day's battle with the Thark, and tan
gam gave it to me to repair. See, I have
it here, And as she spoke, she drew tangama short
sword from beneath her sleeping silks and furs. The warriors
sprang to their feet. There's something amiss here, cried one.
(05:00):
Tis even what I myself thought when Tangama left us
at the runway, said another. Methought then that his voice
sounded strangely come, let us hasten to the pits. We
waited to hear no more. Slinging my harness into a
long single strap, I lowered tars Tarkas to the courtyard beneath,
and an instant later dropped to his side. We had
spoken scarcely a dozen words since I had felled Tangama
(05:23):
at the cell door and seen in the torch's light
the expression of utter bewilderment upon the great Thark's face.
By this time he had said, I should have learned
to wonder at nothing, which John Carter accomplishes.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
That was all.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
He did not need to tell me that he appreciated
the friendship which had prompted me to risk my life
to rescue him, Nor did he need to say that
he was glad to see me. This fierce green warrior
had been the first to greet me that day, now
twenty years gone, which had witnessed my first advent upon Mars.
He had met me with leveled spear and cruel hatred
in his heart as he charged down upon me, bending
(05:59):
low at the side of his mighty thort. As I
stood beside the incubator of his hoard upon the dead
sea bottom, beyond Korad, and now among the inhabitants of
two worlds, I counted none a better friend than tars Tarkas,
Jeddak of Tharks. As we reached the courtyard, we stood
in the shadows beneath the balcony for a moment to
discuss our plans. There be five now in the party,
(06:20):
tars Tarkas, I said, thuvia exodar Carthoris and ourselves. We
shall need five thwarts to bear us. Carthoris, he cried,
your son, Yes, I found him in the prison of Shador,
on the Sea of Omean, in the land of the Firstborn.
I know not any of these places, John Carter. Be
they upon barsoom upon and below, my friend, But wait
(06:43):
until we shall have made good our escape, and you
shall hear the strangest narrative that every Barsoomium of the
outer world gave ear to. Now we must steal our
thwarts and be well away to the north, before these
fellows discover how we have tricked them. In safety, we
reached the great gates at the far end of the courtyard,
through which it was necessary to take our thwarts to
the avenue beyond. It is no easy matter to handle
(07:06):
five of these great fierce beasts, which by nature are
as wild and ferocious as their masters, and held in
subjection by cruelty and brute force alone. As we approached them,
they sniffed our unfamiliar scent, and with squeals of rage,
circled about us, their long, massive necks upreared, raised their
great gaping mouse high above our heads. They are fearsome,
(07:27):
appearing brutes at best, but when they are aroused, they
are fully as dangerous as they look. The thoat stands
a good ten feet at the shoulder. His hide is
sleek and hairless, and of a dark slate color on
back and sides, shading down his eight legs to a
vivid yellow at the huge padded nailss feet. The belly
is pure white. A broad flat tail, larger at the
(07:49):
tip than at the root, completes the picture of this
ferocious green Martian mount, a fit war steed for these
warlike people. As the thwarts are guided by telepathic means alone,
there there no need for rein or bridle, and so
our object now was to find two that would obey
our unspoken commands. As they charged about us. We succeeded
in mastering them sufficiently to prevent any concerted attack upon us,
(08:13):
but the din of their squealing was certain to bring
investigating warriors into the courtyard were it to continue much longer.
At length, I was successful in reaching the side of
one great brute, and ere he knew what I was about.
I was firmly seated astride his glossy back. A moment later,
tars Tarkas had caught and mounted another than Between us,
we herded three or four more toward the great gates.
(08:35):
Tars Tarkas rode ahead, and leaning down to the latch
through the barriers open, while I held the loose thoats
from breaking back to the herd. Then together we rode
through the avenues with our stolen mounts, and without waiting
to close the gates, hurried off toward the southern boundary
of the city. Thus far our escape had been little
short of marvelous. Nor did our good fortune desert us,
(08:57):
for we passed the outer purlus of the dead City
and came to our camp without hearing even the faintest
sound of pursuit. Here a low whistle, the prearranged signal
appraised the balance of our party that I was returning,
and we were met by the three with every manifestation
of enthusiastic rejoicing. But little time was wasted in narration
of our adventure. Tars Tarkas and Carthoris exchanged the dignified
(09:20):
and formal greetings common upon barsoom, but I could tell
intuitively that thark loved my boy and that Carthoris reciprocated
his affection. Exodar and the green Jeddak were formally presented
to each other. Then Thuvia was lifted to the least
fracturous Thorpe. Exodar and Carthoris mounted two others, and we
set out at a rapid pace toward the east. At
(09:43):
the far extremity of the city, we circled toward the north,
and under the glorious rays of the two moons, we
sped noiselessly across the dead sea bottom, away from the
morehoons and the first born. But to what new dangers
and adventures we knew not Toward noon of the following
day we halted to rest our mounts and ourselves. The
beasts were hobbled that they might move slowly about cropping
(10:03):
the orchre mosslike vegetation which constitutes both food and drink
for them. On the march, Thuvia volunteered to remain on
watch while the balance of the party slept For an hour.
It seemed to me that I had but closed my
eyes when I felt her hand upon my shoulder and
heard her soft voice warning me of a new danger.
Horise o, Prince, she whispered, there be that behind us,
(10:25):
which has the appearance of a great body of pursuers.
The girl stood pointing in the direction from whence we
had come, And as I arose and looked, I too
thought that I could detect a thin dark line on
the far horizon. I awoke the others. Tars Tarkas, whose
giant stature towered high above the rest of us, could
see the farthest It is a great body of mounted men,
(10:46):
he said, and they are traveling at high speed. There
was no time to be lost. We sprang to our
hobbled thoats, freed them, and mounted. Then we turned our
faces once more toward the north and took our flight
again at the highest speed of our slowest beast. For
the balance of the day and all the following night,
we raced across the Ochreh Wilderness, with the pursuers at
(11:06):
our back, ever gaining upon us. Slowly but surely, they
were lessening the distance between us. Just before dark they
had been close enough for us to plainly distinguish that
they were Green Martians, and all during the long night
we distinctly heard the clanking of their accouterments behind us.
As the sun rose on the second day of our flight,
it disclosed the pursuing horde not a half mile in
(11:27):
our rear. As they saw us, a fiendish shout of
triumph rose from their ranks. Several miles in advance lay
a range of hills, the further shore of the Dead
Sea we had been crossing. Could we but reach these hills,
our chances of escape would be greatly enhanced. But Thuvia's mount,
although carrying the lightest burden, already was showing signs of exhaustion.
(11:48):
I was riding beside her when suddenly her animals staggered
and lurched against mine. I saw that it was going down,
but ere he fell. I snatched the girl from his
back and swung her to a place upon my own
thoat behind me, where she clung with her arms about me.
This double burden soon proved too much for my already
over taxed beasts, and thus our speed was terribly diminished,
(12:10):
for the others would proceed no faster than the slowest
of us could go. In that little party, there was
not one who would desert another. Yet we were of
different countries, different colors, different races, different religions, and one
of us was of a different world. We were quite
close to the hills, but the warhounds were gaining so
rapidly that we had given up all hope of reaching
(12:31):
them in time. Thuvia and I were in the rear,
for our beast was lagging more and more. Suddenly I
felt the girl's warm lips press a kiss upon my shoulder.
For thy sake, O, my prince, she murmured. Then her
arms slipped from about my waist, and she was gone.
I turned and saw that she had deliberately slipped to
the ground in the very path of the cruel demons
(12:51):
who pursued us, thinking that by lightning the burden of
my mount it might thus be enabled to bear me
to the safety of the hills. Poor child, she should
have known John Carter better than that. Turning my thoat,
I urged him after her, hoping to reach her side
and bear her on again in our hopeless flight. Carthoris
must have glanced behind him at about the same time
(13:13):
and taken in the situation, for by the time I
had reached Thuvia's side, he was there also, and springing
from his mount, he threw her upon its back, and,
turning the animal's head toward the hills, gave the beast
a sharp crack across the rump with the flat of
his sword. Then he attempted to do the same with mine.
The brave boy's act of chivalrous self sacrifice filled me
(13:33):
with pride, nor did I care that it had wrested
from us our last frail chance for escape. The warhounds
were now close upon us. Tars, Tarkas, and Exodar had
discovered our absence and were charging rapidly to our support.
Everything pointed toward a splendid ending of my second journey
to Barsoom. I hated to go out without having seen
(13:54):
my divine princess, and held her in my arms once again.
But if it were not writ upon the Book of
Fate that such was to be, then would I take
the most that was coming to me? And in these
last few moments that were to be vouchsaved me. Before
I passed over into that unguessed future, I could at
least give such an account of myself in my chosen
vocation as would leave the warhoons of the South food
(14:16):
for discourse for the next twenty generations. As Carthoris was
not mounted, I slipped from the back of my own
mount and took my place at his side to meet
the charge of the howling devils bearing down upon us.
A moment later, Tars, Tarkas, and Exodar ranged themselves on
either hand, turning their thoats loose, that we might all
be on equal footing. The warhoons were perhaps a hundred
(14:37):
yards from us when a loud explosion sounded from above
and behind us, and almost at the same instant a
shell burst in their advancing ranks. At once all was confusion.
A hundred warriors toppled to the ground, riderless thoats plunged
hither and thither among the dead and dying. Dismounted warriors
were trampled under foot in the stampede which followed. All
(14:58):
semblance of order had left the ranks of the green men,
and as they looked far above our heads to trace
the origin of this unexpected attack. Disorder turned to retreat,
and retreat to a wild panic. In another moment, they
were racing as madly away from us as they had
before been charging down upon us. We turned to look
in the direction from whence the first report had come,
(15:20):
and there we saw, just clearing the tops of the
nearer hills, a great battleship swinging majestically through the air.
Her bow gun spoke again even as we looked, and
another shell burst among the fleeing warhounds. As she drew nearer,
I could not repress a wild cry of elation, for
upon her bows I saw the device of helium. End
(15:40):
of Chapter fifteen.
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.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Chapter fifteen, Flight and Pursuit. I could not have been
unconscious more than a few seconds, and yet I know
that I was unconscious. For the next thing I realized
was that a growing radiance was illuminating the corridor about me,
and the eyes were gone. I was unharmed, except for
a slight bruise upon my forehead where it had struck
(00:41):
the stone flagging as I fell. I sprang to my
feet to ascertain the cause of the light. It came
from a torch in the hand of one of a
party of four Green Warriors who were coming rapidly down
the corridor toward me. They had not yet seen me,
and so I lost no time in slipping into the
first intersecting corridor that I I could find. This time, however,
(01:02):
I did not advance so far away from the main
corridor as on the other occasion that had resulted in
my losing tars Tarkas and his guards. The party came
rapidly toward the opening of the passageway in which I
crouched against the wall. As they passed by, I breathed
a sigh of relief. I had not been discovered, and
best of all, the party was the same that I
had followed into the pits. It consisted of Tars Tarkas
(01:25):
and his three guards. I fell in behind them, and
soon we were at the cell in which the great
Thark had been chained. Two of the warriors remained without
while the man with the keys entered with the Thark
to fasten his irons upon him once more. The two
outside started to stroll slowly in the direction of the
spiral runway which led to the floors above, and in
a moment were lost to view beyond a turn in
(01:47):
the corridor. The torch had been stuck in a socket
beside the door, so that its rays illuminated both the
corridor and the cell. At the same time as I
saw the two warriors disappear, I approached the entrance to
the cell with a well defined plan already formulated. While
I disliked the thought of carrying out the thing, that
I had decided upon. There seemed no alternative if Tars
(02:08):
Tarkas and I were to go back together to my
little camp in the hills. Keeping near the wall, I
came quite close to the door to Tars Tarkas's cell,
and there I stood with my longsword above my head,
grasped with both hands, that I might bring it down
in one quick cut upon the skull of the jailer,
as he had merged. I disliked to dwell upon what
followed after I heard the footsteps of the man as
(02:30):
he approached the doorway. It is enough that within another
minute or two, Tars Tarkas, wearing the metal of a
warhoon chief, was hurrying down the corridor toward the spiral runway,
bearing the warhoon's torch to light his way. A dozen
paces behind him followed John Carter, Prince of Helium. The
two companions of the man who lay now beside the
door of the cell that had been Tars Tarkas's had
(02:53):
just started to ascend the runway as the thark came
in view. Why so long, Tangama, cried, One of the
men I had trouble with a lock, replied Tars Tarkas,
and now I find that I have left my short
sword in the thark cell. Go you on, I'll return
and fetch it as you will. Tangama replied he who
had before spoken, We shall see you above directly. Yes,
(03:16):
replied tars Tarkas, and turned as though to retrace his
steps to the cell. But he only waited until the
two had disappeared at the floor above. Then I joined him.
We extinguished the torch, and together we crept toward the
spiral incline that led to the upper floors of the building.
At the first floor, we found that the hallway ran
but half way through, necessitating the crossing of a rear
(03:37):
room full of green folk. Ere we could reach the
inner courtyard. So there was but one thing left for
us to do, and that was to gain the second
floor and the hallway through which I had traversed the
length of the building. Cautiously we ascended. We could hear
the sounds of conversation coming from the room above, but
the hall still was unlited, nor was any one in sight.
(03:57):
As we gained the top of the runway, together we
threaded the long haul and reached the balcony overlooking the
courtyard without being detected. At our right was the window
letting into the room in which I had seen Tangama
and the other warriors as they started to tars Tarkas's
cell earlier in the evening. His companions had returned here,
and we now overheard a portion of their conversation. What
(04:20):
can be detaining? Tan Gama asked one. He certainly could
not be all this time, Fetching his short sword from
the Thark's cell, spoke another his short sword, asked a woman,
what mean you? Tangama left his short sword in the
thark cell, explained the first speaker, and left us at
the runway to return and get it. Tan Gama wore
(04:40):
no short sword this night, said the woman. It was
broken in to day's battle with the Thark, and tan
gam gave it to me to repair. See, I have
it here, And as she spoke, she drew tangama short
sword from beneath her sleeping silks and furs. The warriors
sprang to their feet. There's something amiss here, cried one.
(05:00):
Tis even what I myself thought when Tangama left us
at the runway, said another. Methought then that his voice
sounded strangely come, let us hasten to the pits. We
waited to hear no more. Slinging my harness into a
long single strap, I lowered tars Tarkas to the courtyard beneath,
and an instant later dropped to his side. We had
spoken scarcely a dozen words since I had felled Tangama
(05:23):
at the cell door and seen in the torch's light
the expression of utter bewilderment upon the great Thark's face.
By this time he had said, I should have learned
to wonder at nothing, which John Carter accomplishes.
Speaker 1 (05:35):
That was all.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
He did not need to tell me that he appreciated
the friendship which had prompted me to risk my life
to rescue him, Nor did he need to say that
he was glad to see me. This fierce green warrior
had been the first to greet me that day, now
twenty years gone, which had witnessed my first advent upon Mars.
He had met me with leveled spear and cruel hatred
in his heart as he charged down upon me, bending
(05:59):
low at the side of his mighty thort. As I
stood beside the incubator of his hoard upon the dead
sea bottom, beyond Korad, and now among the inhabitants of
two worlds, I counted none a better friend than tars Tarkas,
Jeddak of Tharks. As we reached the courtyard, we stood
in the shadows beneath the balcony for a moment to
discuss our plans. There be five now in the party,
(06:20):
tars Tarkas, I said, thuvia exodar Carthoris and ourselves. We
shall need five thwarts to bear us. Carthoris, he cried,
your son, Yes, I found him in the prison of Shador,
on the Sea of Omean, in the land of the Firstborn.
I know not any of these places, John Carter. Be
they upon barsoom upon and below, my friend, But wait
(06:43):
until we shall have made good our escape, and you
shall hear the strangest narrative that every Barsoomium of the
outer world gave ear to. Now we must steal our
thwarts and be well away to the north, before these
fellows discover how we have tricked them. In safety, we
reached the great gates at the far end of the courtyard,
through which it was necessary to take our thwarts to
the avenue beyond. It is no easy matter to handle
(07:06):
five of these great fierce beasts, which by nature are
as wild and ferocious as their masters, and held in
subjection by cruelty and brute force alone. As we approached them,
they sniffed our unfamiliar scent, and with squeals of rage,
circled about us, their long, massive necks upreared, raised their
great gaping mouse high above our heads. They are fearsome,
(07:27):
appearing brutes at best, but when they are aroused, they
are fully as dangerous as they look. The thoat stands
a good ten feet at the shoulder. His hide is
sleek and hairless, and of a dark slate color on
back and sides, shading down his eight legs to a
vivid yellow at the huge padded nailss feet. The belly
is pure white. A broad flat tail, larger at the
(07:49):
tip than at the root, completes the picture of this
ferocious green Martian mount, a fit war steed for these
warlike people. As the thwarts are guided by telepathic means alone,
there there no need for rein or bridle, and so
our object now was to find two that would obey
our unspoken commands. As they charged about us. We succeeded
in mastering them sufficiently to prevent any concerted attack upon us,
(08:13):
but the din of their squealing was certain to bring
investigating warriors into the courtyard were it to continue much longer.
At length, I was successful in reaching the side of
one great brute, and ere he knew what I was about.
I was firmly seated astride his glossy back. A moment later,
tars Tarkas had caught and mounted another than Between us,
we herded three or four more toward the great gates.
(08:35):
Tars Tarkas rode ahead, and leaning down to the latch
through the barriers open, while I held the loose thoats
from breaking back to the herd. Then together we rode
through the avenues with our stolen mounts, and without waiting
to close the gates, hurried off toward the southern boundary
of the city. Thus far our escape had been little
short of marvelous. Nor did our good fortune desert us,
(08:57):
for we passed the outer purlus of the dead City
and came to our camp without hearing even the faintest
sound of pursuit. Here a low whistle, the prearranged signal
appraised the balance of our party that I was returning,
and we were met by the three with every manifestation
of enthusiastic rejoicing. But little time was wasted in narration
of our adventure. Tars Tarkas and Carthoris exchanged the dignified
(09:20):
and formal greetings common upon barsoom, but I could tell
intuitively that thark loved my boy and that Carthoris reciprocated
his affection. Exodar and the green Jeddak were formally presented
to each other. Then Thuvia was lifted to the least
fracturous Thorpe. Exodar and Carthoris mounted two others, and we
set out at a rapid pace toward the east. At
(09:43):
the far extremity of the city, we circled toward the north,
and under the glorious rays of the two moons, we
sped noiselessly across the dead sea bottom, away from the
morehoons and the first born. But to what new dangers
and adventures we knew not Toward noon of the following
day we halted to rest our mounts and ourselves. The
beasts were hobbled that they might move slowly about cropping
(10:03):
the orchre mosslike vegetation which constitutes both food and drink
for them. On the march, Thuvia volunteered to remain on
watch while the balance of the party slept For an hour.
It seemed to me that I had but closed my
eyes when I felt her hand upon my shoulder and
heard her soft voice warning me of a new danger.
Horise o, Prince, she whispered, there be that behind us,
(10:25):
which has the appearance of a great body of pursuers.
The girl stood pointing in the direction from whence we
had come, And as I arose and looked, I too
thought that I could detect a thin dark line on
the far horizon. I awoke the others. Tars Tarkas, whose
giant stature towered high above the rest of us, could
see the farthest It is a great body of mounted men,
(10:46):
he said, and they are traveling at high speed. There
was no time to be lost. We sprang to our
hobbled thoats, freed them, and mounted. Then we turned our
faces once more toward the north and took our flight
again at the highest speed of our slowest beast. For
the balance of the day and all the following night,
we raced across the Ochreh Wilderness, with the pursuers at
(11:06):
our back, ever gaining upon us. Slowly but surely, they
were lessening the distance between us. Just before dark they
had been close enough for us to plainly distinguish that
they were Green Martians, and all during the long night
we distinctly heard the clanking of their accouterments behind us.
As the sun rose on the second day of our flight,
it disclosed the pursuing horde not a half mile in
(11:27):
our rear. As they saw us, a fiendish shout of
triumph rose from their ranks. Several miles in advance lay
a range of hills, the further shore of the Dead
Sea we had been crossing. Could we but reach these hills,
our chances of escape would be greatly enhanced. But Thuvia's mount,
although carrying the lightest burden, already was showing signs of exhaustion.
(11:48):
I was riding beside her when suddenly her animals staggered
and lurched against mine. I saw that it was going down,
but ere he fell. I snatched the girl from his
back and swung her to a place upon my own
thoat behind me, where she clung with her arms about me.
This double burden soon proved too much for my already
over taxed beasts, and thus our speed was terribly diminished,
(12:10):
for the others would proceed no faster than the slowest
of us could go. In that little party, there was
not one who would desert another. Yet we were of
different countries, different colors, different races, different religions, and one
of us was of a different world. We were quite
close to the hills, but the warhounds were gaining so
rapidly that we had given up all hope of reaching
(12:31):
them in time. Thuvia and I were in the rear,
for our beast was lagging more and more. Suddenly I
felt the girl's warm lips press a kiss upon my shoulder.
For thy sake, O, my prince, she murmured. Then her
arms slipped from about my waist, and she was gone.
I turned and saw that she had deliberately slipped to
the ground in the very path of the cruel demons
(12:51):
who pursued us, thinking that by lightning the burden of
my mount it might thus be enabled to bear me
to the safety of the hills. Poor child, she should
have known John Carter better than that. Turning my thoat,
I urged him after her, hoping to reach her side
and bear her on again in our hopeless flight. Carthoris
must have glanced behind him at about the same time
(13:13):
and taken in the situation, for by the time I
had reached Thuvia's side, he was there also, and springing
from his mount, he threw her upon its back, and,
turning the animal's head toward the hills, gave the beast
a sharp crack across the rump with the flat of
his sword. Then he attempted to do the same with mine.
The brave boy's act of chivalrous self sacrifice filled me
(13:33):
with pride, nor did I care that it had wrested
from us our last frail chance for escape. The warhounds
were now close upon us. Tars, Tarkas, and Exodar had
discovered our absence and were charging rapidly to our support.
Everything pointed toward a splendid ending of my second journey
to Barsoom. I hated to go out without having seen
(13:54):
my divine princess, and held her in my arms once again.
But if it were not writ upon the Book of
Fate that such was to be, then would I take
the most that was coming to me? And in these
last few moments that were to be vouchsaved me. Before
I passed over into that unguessed future, I could at
least give such an account of myself in my chosen
vocation as would leave the warhoons of the South food
(14:16):
for discourse for the next twenty generations. As Carthoris was
not mounted, I slipped from the back of my own
mount and took my place at his side to meet
the charge of the howling devils bearing down upon us.
A moment later, Tars, Tarkas, and Exodar ranged themselves on
either hand, turning their thoats loose, that we might all
be on equal footing. The warhoons were perhaps a hundred
(14:37):
yards from us when a loud explosion sounded from above
and behind us, and almost at the same instant a
shell burst in their advancing ranks. At once all was confusion.
A hundred warriors toppled to the ground, riderless thoats plunged
hither and thither among the dead and dying. Dismounted warriors
were trampled under foot in the stampede which followed. All
(14:58):
semblance of order had left the ranks of the green men,
and as they looked far above our heads to trace
the origin of this unexpected attack. Disorder turned to retreat,
and retreat to a wild panic. In another moment, they
were racing as madly away from us as they had
before been charging down upon us. We turned to look
in the direction from whence the first report had come,
(15:20):
and there we saw, just clearing the tops of the
nearer hills, a great battleship swinging majestically through the air.
Her bow gun spoke again even as we looked, and
another shell burst among the fleeing warhounds. As she drew nearer,
I could not repress a wild cry of elation, for
upon her bows I saw the device of helium. End
(15:40):
of Chapter fifteen.
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