Chapter 20 - The God's of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs - The Gods of Mars

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(00:00):
Chapter twenty one. Through flood andflame. Rstead's information convinced me that there
was no time to be lost.I must reach the Temple of Issus secretly
before the forces under Tars Tarkas assaultedat dawn. Once within its hated walls,
I was positive that I could overcomethe guards of Issus and bear away
my princess, for at my backI would have a force ample for the

(00:22):
occasion. No sooner had Carthoris andthe others joined me than we commenced the
transportation of our men through the submergedpassage to the mouth of the gangways which
lead from the submarine pool at thetemple end of the watery tunnel to the
pits of Issus. Many trips wererequired, but at last all stood safely
together again at the beginning of theend of our quest, five thousand strong.

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We were all seasoned fighting men ofthe most warlike race of the red
men of Barsoom. As Carthoris aloneknew the hidden ways of the tunnels,
we could not divide the party andattack the temple at several points at once,
as would have been most desirable,and so was decided that he would
lead us all as quickly as possibleto a point near the temples center.
As we were about to leave thepool and enter the corridor, an officer

(01:07):
called my attention to the waters uponwhich the submarine floated. At first,
they seemed to be merely agitated,as from the movement of some great body
beneath the surface, and I atonce conjectured that another submarine was rising to
the surface in pursuit of us.But presently it became apparent that the level
of the waters was rising, notwith extreme rapidity, but very surely,

(01:30):
and that soon they would overflow thesides of the pool and submerge the floor
of the chamber. For a momentI did not fully grasp the terrible import
of the slowly rising water. Itwas Carthoris who realized the full meaning of
the thing, its cause, andthe reason for it haste. He cried,
If we delay, we all arelost. The pumps of Omean have
been stopped. They would drown uslike rats in a trap. We must

(01:53):
reach the upper levels of the pitsin advance of the flood, or we
shall never reach them. Come leadaway, Carthoris, I cried, we
will follow at my command. Theyouth leaped into one of the corridors,
and in column of twos, thesoldiers followed him in good order, each
company entering the corridor only at thecommand of its door or captain. Before

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the last company filed from the chamber, the water was ankle deep, and
that the men were nervous was quiteevident. Entirely unaccustomed to water, except
in quantities sufficient for drinking and bathingpurposes, the Red Martians instinctively shrank from
him. In such formidable depths andmenacing activity that they were undaunted while it
swirled and nettied about their ankles spokewell for their bravery and their discipline.

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I was the last to leave thechamber of the submarine, and as I
followed the rear of the column towardthe corridor, I moved through water to
my knees. The corridor two wasflooded to the same depth, for its
floor was on a level with thefloor of the chamber from which it led,
Nor was there any perceptible rise formany yards. The march of the
troops through the corridor was as rapidas was consistent with the number of men

(02:59):
that through so narrow a passage,but it was not ample to permit us
to gain appreciably on the pursuing tide. As the level of the passage rose,
so too did the waters rise,until it soon became apparent to me,
who brought up the rear, thatthey were gaining rapidly upon us.
I could understand the reason for this, as with the narrowing expanse of Omean.

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As the waters rode towards the apexof its dome, the rapidity of
its rise would increase in inverse ratioto the ever lessening space to be filled.
Long Ere the last of the columncould hope to reach the upper pits
which lie above the danger point.I was convinced that the waters would surge
after us in overwhelming volume, andthat fully half the expedition would be snuffed
out. As I cast about forsome means of saving as many as possible

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of the doomed men, I sawa diverging corridor which seemed to rise at
a steep angle at my right.The waters were now swirling about my waist.
The men directly before me were quicklybecoming panic stricken. Something must be
done at once, or they wouldrush forward on their fellows in a mad
stampede that would result in trampling downhundreds beneath the flood and eventually clogging the

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passage beyond any hope of retreat forthose in advance. Raising my voice to
its utmost, I shouted my commandto the dwarfs ahead of me. Call
back the last twenty five utans.I shouted, here seems a way of
escape, turned back and follow me. My orders were obeyed by nearer thirty
utans, so that some three thousandmen came about and hastened into the teeth

(04:28):
of the flood to reach the corridorup which I directed them. As the
first dwarf passed in with his utan, I cautioned him to listen closely from
my commands, and under no circumstancesto venture into the open or leave the
pits for the temple proper until Ishould have come up with him, or
you know that I died before Icould reach you. The officers saluted and
left me. The men filed rapidlypast me and entered the diverging corridor,

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which I hoped would lead to safety. The water rose breast high. Men
stumbled, floundered, and went down. Many I grasped and set upon their
feet again, but alone, thework was greater than I could cope with.
Soldiers were being swept beneath the boilingtorrent, never to rise. At
length, the dwarf of the tenthUtan took a stand beside me. He
was a valorous soldier, Gurtus byname, and together we kept the now

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thoroughly frightened troops in the semblance oforder, and rescued many that would have
drowned otherwise. Djor Kantos, sonof Kantos Kan, and a padwar of
the fifth Utan, joined us whenhis utand reached the opening through which the
men were fleeing. Thereafter, nota man was lost of all the hundreds
that remained to pass from the maincorridor to the branch. As the last

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Utan was filing past us, thewaters had risen until they surged about our
necks. But we clasped hands andstood our ground until the last men had
passed to the comparative safety of thenew passageway. Here we found an immediate
and steep ascent, so that withina hundred yards we had reached a point
above the waters. For a fewminutes we continued rapidly up the steep grade,

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which I hoped would soon bring usquickly to the upper pits that led
into the temple of Issus, butI was to meet with a cruel disappointment.
Suddenly I heard a cry of firefar ahead, followed almost at once
by cries of terror, and theloud commands of dwarfs and padwars, who
were evidently attempting to direct their menaway from some grave danger. At last
the report came back to us.They have fired the pits ahead. We

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are hemmed in by flames in frontand flood behind. Helped John Carter,
we are suffocating. And then thereswept back upon us at the rear,
a wave of dense smoke that sentus stumbling and blinded into a choking retreat.
There was naught to do other thanseek a new avenue of escape.
The fire and smoke were to befeared a thousand times over the water,

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and so I seized upon the firstgallery, which led out of and up
from the suffocating smoke that was engulfingus. Again. I stood to one
side while the soldiers hastened through onthe new way. Some two thousand must
have passed at a rapid run whenthe stream ceased, But I was not
sure that had been rescued who hadnot passed the point of origin of the
flames, and so to assure myselfthat no poor devil was left behind to

(07:06):
die a horrible death. Unsucred,I ran quickly up the gallery in the
direction of the flames, which Icould now see burning with a dull glow
far ahead. It was hot andstifling work, but at last I reached
a point where the fire lit upthe corridor sufficiently for me to see that
no soldier of helium lay between meand the conflagration. What was in it

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or upon the far side, Icould not know, nor could any man
have passed through that seething hell ofchemicals and lived to learn. Having satisfied
my sense of duty, I turnedand ran rapidly back to the corridor through
which my men had passed. Tomy horror, however, I found that
my retreat in this direction had beenblocked. Across the mouth of the corridor
stood a massive steel grating that hadevidently been lowered from its resting place above

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for the purpose of effectually cutting offmy escape. That our principal movements were
known to the first born, Icould not have doubted, in view of
the attack the fleet upon us theday before. Nor could the stopping of
the pumps of Omean at the psychologicalmoment have been due to chance, nor
the starting of a chemical combustion withinthe one corridor through which we were advancing

(08:11):
upon the Temple of Issus been dueto aught than well calculated design. And
now the dropping of the steel gateto pen me effectually between fire and flood
seemed to indicate that invisible eyes wereupon us at every moment. What chance
had I then to rescue dejah Thoris? Were I to be compelled to fight
foes who never showed themselves A thousandtimes I berated myself for being drawn into

(08:33):
such a trap, as I mighthave known these pits easily could be.
Now I saw that it would havebeen much better to have kept our force
in tack and made a concerted attackupon the temple from the valley side,
trusting to chance in our great fightingability to have overwhelmed the first Born and
compelled the safe delivery of dejah Thoristo me. The smoke from the fire

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was forcing me further and further backdown the corridor toward the waters, which
I could hear surging through the darkwith my men had gone the last torch.
Nor was this corridor lighted by theradiance of phosphorescent rock, as were
those of the lower levels. Itwas this fact that assured me that I
was not far from the upper pitch, which lied directly beneath the temple.

(09:15):
Finally I felt the lapping waters aboutmy feet. The smoke was thick behind
me. My suffering was intense.There seemed but one thing to do,
and that to choose the easier deathwhich confronted me, And so I moved
on down the corridor until the coldwaters of Omean closed about me, and
I swam on through utter blackness towardwhat The instinct of self preservation is strong,
even when one unafraid and in thepossession of his highest reasoning faculties,

(09:39):
knows that death, positive and unalterable, lies just ahead. And so I
swam slowly on, waiting for myhead to touch the top of the corridor,
which would mean that I had reachedthe limit of my flight and the
point where I must sink forever toan unmarked grave. But to my surprise,
I ran against a blank wall beforeI reached a point where the waters

(10:00):
came to the roof of the corridor. Could I be mistaken? I felt
around. No, I had cometo the main corridor, and still there
was breathing space between the surface ofthe water and the rocky ceiling above.
And then I turned up the maincorridor in the direction that Carthoris and the
head of the column had passed ahalf hour before. On and on I
swam, my heart growing lighter atevery stroke, for I knew that I

(10:22):
was approaching closer and closer to thepoint where there would be no chance that
the waters ahead could be deeper thanthey were about me. I was positive
that I must soon feel the solidfloor beneath my feet again, and that
once more my chance would come toreach the temple of Issus and the side
of the fair prisoner who languished there. But even as hope was at its
highest, I felt a sudden shockof contact as my head struck the rocks

(10:46):
above. The worst then had cometo me. I had reached one of
those rare places where a Martian tunneldipped suddenly to a lower level somewhere beyond.
I knew that it rose again,But of what value was that to
me? Since I did not knowhow great the distance that it maintained a
level entirely beneath the surface of thewater. There was but a single,
forlorn hope, and I took it. Filling my lungs with air, I

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dived beneath the surface and swam throughthe inky, icy blackness, on and
on along the submerged gallery. Timeand time again, I rose with upstretched
hand, only to feel the disappointingrocks close above me. Not for much
longer would my lungs withstand the strainupon them. I felt that I must
soon succumb. Nor was there anyretreating now that I had gone this far.

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I knew positively that I could neverendure to retrace my path now to
the point from which I had feltthe waters close above my head. Death
stared me in the face. Norever can I recall a time that I
so distinctly felt the icy breath fromhis dead lips upon my brow. One
more frantic effort I made, withmy fast ebbing strength. Weakly I rose

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for the last time. My torturedlungs gasped for the breath that would fill
them with a strange and numbing element. But in head I felt the revivifying
breath of life, giving air surgedthrough my starving nostrils into my dying lungs.
I was saved. A few morestrokes brought me to a point where
my feet touched the floor, andsoon thereafter I was above the water level

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entirely, and racing like mad alongthe corridor, searching for the first doorway
that would lead me to Issus.If I could not have dejah thoris again,
I was at least determined to aventure death, Nor would any life
satisfy me other than that of thefiend incarnate, who was the cause of
such immeasurable suffering upon barsoom. Soonerthan I had expected, I came to

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what appeared to me to be asudden exit into the temple above. It
was at the right side of thecorridor, which ran on, probably to
other entrances to the pile above.To me, one point was as good
as another. What knew I whereany of them led, And so,
without waiting to be again discovered andthwarted, I ran quickly up the short
steep incline and pushed open the doorwayat its end. The portal swung slowly

(12:58):
in, and before it could beslammed against me, I sprang into the
chamber beyond. Although not yet dawned, the room was brilliantly lighted. Its
sole occupant lay prone upon a lowcouch at the further side, apparently in
sleep. From the hangings and sumptuousfurniture of the room, I judged it
to be a living room of somepriestess, possibly a vicious herself. At

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the thought, the blood tingled throughmy veins. What indeed, if fortune
had been kind enough to place thehideous creature alone and unguarded in my hands,
with her as hostage, I couldforce the acquiescence to my every demand.
Cautiously I approached the recumbent figure onnoiseless feet. Closer and closer I
came to it. But I hadcrossed but little more than half the chamber

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when the figure stirred, and asI sprang, rose and faced me.
At first, an expression of terroroverspread the features of the woman who confronted
me, then startled incredubly. Hopethanksgiving my heart pounded within my breast.
As I advanced toward her. Tearscame to my eyes eyes, and the
words that would have poured forth ina perfect torrent choked in my throat.

(14:03):
As I opened my arms and tookinto them once more of the woman I
loved. Dejah Thoris, Princess ofHelium. End of Chapter twenty one

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Chapter 20 - The God's of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs

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