14 - The Gods of Mars - The Eyes in the Dark

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
The Gods of Mars, Chapter fourteen. The eyes in the dark,
my son, I could not believe my ears. Slowly I
rose and faced the handsome youth. Now that I looked
at him closely, I commenced to see why his face
and personality had attracted me so strongly. There was much

(00:23):
of his mother's incomparable beauty in his clear cut features,
but it was strongly masculine beauty, and his gray eyes
and the expression of them were mine. The boy stood
facing me, half hope and half uncertainty in his look.
Tell me of your mother, I said, Tell me all
you can, of the years that I had been robbed

(00:44):
by a relentless fate, of her dear companionship. With a
cry of pleasure, he sprang toward me and threw his
arms about my neck. And for a brief moment, as
I held my boy close to me, the tears welled
to my eyes, and I was like to have choked
after the manner of some maudlin fool. But I do

(01:04):
not regret it, nor am I ashamed. A long life
has taught me that a man may seem weak where
women and children are concerned, and yet be anything but
a weakling. In the sterner avenues of life, your stature,
your manner, the terrible ferocity of your swordsmanship, said the boy,
are as my mother has described them to me a

(01:27):
thousand times. But even with such evidence, I could scarce
credit the truth of what seemed so improbable to me,
however much I desired it to be true. Do you
know what thing it was that convinced me more than
all the others? What, my boy? I asked your first
words to me? They were of my mother. None else

(01:49):
but the man who loved her, as she has told
me my father did, would have thought first of her
for long years. My son, I can scarce recall a
moment that the race in vision of your mother's face
has not been ever before me. Tell me of her.
Those who have known her longest say that she has
not changed, unless it be to grow more beautiful. Were

(02:13):
that possible? Only when she thinks I Am not about
to see her, her face grows very sad and oh
so wistful. She thinks ever of you, my father, and
all Helium mourns with her and for her. Her grandfather's
people love her. They loved you also, and fairly worship
your memory as the Savior of Barsoom. Each year that

(02:36):
brings its anniversary of the day that saw you racing
across a near dead world to unlock the secret of
that awful portal behind which lay the mighty power of life.
For countless millions, a great festival is held in your honor.
But there are tears mingled with the thanksgiving, tears of
real regret that the author of the happiness is not

(02:56):
with them to share the joy of living. He died
to give them upon all Barsoom, there is no greater
name than John Carter. And by what name has your
mother called you? My boy? I asked the people of Helium,
asked that I be named with my father's name, But
my mother said no, that you and she had chosen

(03:18):
a name for me together, and that your wish must
be honored before all others. So the name that she
called me is the one that you desired, a combination
of hers and yours. Carthoris Sodar had been at the
wheel as I talked with my son, and now he
called me. She is dropping badly by the head, John Kotta,

(03:40):
he said, So long as we are rising at a
stiff angle, it was not noticeable. But now that I
am trying to keep a horizontal course. It is different.
The wound in her bow has opened one of her
forward rate tanks. It was true, and after I had
examined the damage, I found it a much graver matter
than I had anticipated. Not only was the forced angle

(04:02):
at which we were compelled to maintain the bow in
order to keep a horizontal course greatly impeding our speed,
but at the rate that we were losing our repulsive
rays from the forward tanks, it was but a question
of an hour or more when we would be floating,
stern up and helpless. We had slightly reduced our speed
with the dawning of a sense of security. But now

(04:24):
I took the helm once more and pulled the noble
little engine wide open, so that again we raced north
that terrific velocity. In the meantime, Carthoris and Zodar, with
tools in hand, were puttering with the great rent in
the bow in a hopeless endeavor to stem the tide
of escaping rays. It was still dark when we passed

(04:45):
the northern boundary of the ice cap, and the area
of clouds below us lay a typical Martian landscape, rolling
ochre sea. Bottom of long dead seas, low surrounding hills,
with here and there the grim and silent cities of
the dead past, great piles of mighty architecture, tended only

(05:06):
by age, old memories of a once powerful race, and
by the great white apes of Barsoom. It was becoming
more and more difficult to maintain a little vessel in
a horizontal position. Lower and lower sagged the bow, until
it became necessary to stop the engine to prevent our flight,
terminating in a swift dive to the ground. As the

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sun rose and the light of a new day swept
away the darkness of night, our craft gave a final
spasmodic plunge, turned half upon her side, and then, with
deck tilting at a sickening angle, swung in a slow circle,
her bow dropping further below her stern each moment to
hand rail and stanchion we clung, and finally, as we

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saw the end approaching, snapped the buckles of our harness
to the rings at her sides. In another moment, the
day reared at an angle of ninety degrees, and we
hung in our leather, with feet dangling a thousand yards
above the ground. I was swinging quite close to the
controlling devices, so I reached out to the lever that

(06:13):
directed the rays of repulsion. The boat responded to the touch,
and very gently we began to sink toward the ground.
It was fully half an hour before we touched. Directly
north of us rose a rather lofty range of hills,
toward which we decided to make our way, since they
afforded greater opportunity for concealment from the pursuers we were

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confident might stumble in this direction. An hour later found
us in the time rounded gullies of the hills, amid
the beautiful flowering plants that abound in the arid waste
places of Barsoom. There we found numbers of huge milk
giving shrubs, that strange plant which serves in great part

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as food and drink for the wild hordes of green men.
It was indeed a boon to us, for we all
were nearly famished. Beneath the cluster of these, which afforded
a perfect concealment from wandering air scouts, we lay down
to sleep, for me the first time in many hours.
This was the beginning of my fifth day upon Barsoom.

(07:20):
Since I had found myself suddenly translated from my cottage
on the Hudson to door. The valley beautiful, the valley hideous.
In all this time I had slept but twice, though
once the clock around. Within the storehouse of the Thorns.
It was mid afternoon when I was awakened by some

(07:40):
one seizing my hand and covering it with kisses. With
a start, I opened my eyes to look into the
beautiful face of Thuvia, my prince, My prince, she cried
in an ecstasy of happiness. Tis you whom I had
mourned as dead. My ancestors have been good to me.
I have not lived in vain. The girl's voice awoke

(08:03):
Zodar and Carthoris. The boy gazed upon the woman in surprise,
But she did not seem to realize the presence of
another than I. She would have thrown her arms about
my neck and smothered me with caresses, had I not
gently but firmly disengaged myself. Come, Come, Thuvia, I said soothingly.

(08:24):
You are overwrought by the danger and hardships you have
passed through. You forget yourself as you forget that I
am the husband of the Princess of Helium. I forget nothing,
my prince, she replied, you have spoken no word of
love to me, nor do I expect that you ever shall.
But nothing can prevent me loving you. I would not

(08:47):
take the place of dejah Thoris. My greatest ambition is
to serve you, my prince, forever, as your slave. No
greater boon could I ask, no greater honor could I crave,
No greater happiness could I hope, As I have before said,
I am no lady's man, and I must admit that

(09:09):
I seldom have felt so uncomfortable and embarrassed as I
did that moment. While I was quite familiar with the
Martian custom, which allows female slaves to Martian men, whose
high and chivalrous honor is always ample protection for every
woman in his household, yet I had never myself chosen
other than men as my body servants, and I ever

(09:33):
returned to Heliumhuvia, I said, you shall go with me,
but as an honored equal, and not as a slave.
There you shall find plenty of handsome young nobles who
would face Issus herself to win a smile from you,
and we shall have you married in short order to
one of the best of them. Forget your foolish gratitude

(09:54):
begotten infatuation which your innocence has mistaken for love. I
like your friendship better, Thuvia, You are my master. It
shall be as you say, she replied simply, but there
was a note of sadness in her voice. How came
you here, Thuvia, I asked? And where is tars Targets?

(10:16):
The great dark I fear is dead, she replied sadly.
He was a mighty fighter, but a multitude of green
warriors of another horde than his overwhelmed him. The last
that I saw of him, they were bearing him wounded
and bleeding, to the deserted city from which they had
sallied to attack us. You are not sure that he

(10:39):
is dead, then I asked, And where is this city
of which you speak? It is just beyond this range
of hills. The vessel in which you so nobly resigned
a place that we might find escape defied our small
skill in navigation, with the result that we drifted aimlessly
about for two days. Then we decided to abandon the

(11:01):
craft and attempt to make our way on foot to
the nearest waterway. Yesterday we crossed these hills and came
upon the Dead city beyond. We had passed within its
streets and were walking toward the central portion, when at
an intersecting avenue we saw a body of green warriors
approaching Tars. Tarkas was in advance, and they saw him,

(11:23):
but me They did not see. The Tharks sprang back
to my side and forced me into an adjacent doorway,
where he told me to remain in hiding until I
could escape, making my way to Helium if possible. There
will be no escape for me now, he said, for
these be the Warhoon of the South. When they have

(11:44):
seen my metal, it will be to the death. Then
he stepped out to meet them, Ah, my prince. Such
fighting for an hour, they swarmed about him until the
Warhoon dead formed a hill where he had stood. But
at last they overwhelmed him, those behind, pushing the foremost

(12:04):
upon him until there remained no space to swing his
great sword. Then he stumbled and went down, and they
rolled over him like a huge wave. When they carried
him away toward the heart of the city, he was dead,
I think, for I did not see him move. Before
we go farther, we must be sure, I said, I

(12:26):
cannot leave Tars Tarkas alive among the warhoons. Tonight, I
shall enter the city and make sure, and I shall
go with you, spoke Carthoris, and I said Zodar. Neither
one of you shall go. I replied. It is work
that requires stealth and strategy, not force. One man alone

(12:48):
may succeed, or more would invite disaster. I shall go alone.
If I need your help, I will return for you.
They did not like it, but both were good soldiers,
and it had been agreed that I should command. The
sun already was low, so that I did not have
long to wait before the sudden darkness of Barsoom and Gulfdas.

(13:11):
With a parting word of instructions to Carthoris and Zodar
in case I should not return, I bade them all farewell,
and set forth at a rapid dog trot toward the city.
As I emerged from the hills, the nearer moon was
winging its wild flight through the heavens, its bright beams
turning to burnished silver, the barbaric splendor of the ancient metropolis.

(13:36):
The city had been built upon the gently rolling foothills
that in the dim and distant past had sloped down
to meet the sea. It was due to this fact
that I had no difficulty in entering the streets unobserved.
The green hordes that used these deserted cities seldom occupy
more than a few squares about the central plaza, and

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as they come and go always across the dead sea
bottoms that the cities face, it is usually a matter
of comparative ease to enter from the hillside. Once within
the streets, I kept close in the dense shadows of
the walls. At intersections, I halted a moment to make
sure that none was in sight before I sprang quickly

(14:18):
to the shadows of the opposite side. Thus I made
the journey to the vicinity of the plaza without detection.
As I approached the purlieus of the inhabited portion of
the city, I was made aware of the proximity of
the warriors quarters by the squealing and grunting of the
thoats and zitatars corralled within the hollow courtyards formed by

(14:40):
the buildings surrounding each square. These old, familiar sounds that
are so distinctive of Green Martian life, sent a thrill
of pleasure surging through me. It was as one might
feel on coming home after a long absence. It was
amid such sounds that I had first courted the encomper
dejah Thoris in the age old marble halls of the

(15:03):
dead city of Korad. As I stood in the shadows
at the far corner of the first square, which housed
members of the Horde, I saw warriors emerging from several
of the buildings. They all went in the same direction
toward a great building which stood in the center of
the plaza. My knowledge of Green Martian customs convinced me

(15:24):
that this was either the quarters of the principal chieftain
or contain the audience chamber, wherein the Jeddak met his
Jeds and lesser chieftains. In either event, it was evident
that something was afoot, which might have a bearing on
the recent capture of Tars Tarkas. To reach this building,
which I now felt it imperative that I do, I

(15:45):
must needs traverse the entire length of one square and
cross a broad avenue and a portion of the plaza.
From the noises of the animals which came from every
courtyard about me, I knew that there were many people
in the surrounding buildings, probably several communities of the Great
Horde of the Warhoons of the South. To pass undetected

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among all these people was in itself a difficult task,
but if I was to find and rescue the Great Dark,
I must expect even more formidable obstacles before success could
be mine. I had entered the city from the south
and now stood on the corner of the avenue through
which I had passed, and the first intersecting avenue south

(16:30):
of the plaza. The buildings upon the south side of
this square did not appear to be inhabited, as I
could see no lights, and so I decided to gain
the Inner courtyard through one of them. Nothing occurred to
interrupt my progress through the deserted pile I chose, and
I came into the inner court close to the rear
walls of the east buildings without detection. Within the court,

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a great herd of thoats and zitidars moved restlessly about,
cropping the malls like ochre vegetation, which overgrows practically the
entire uncultivated area of Mars. What breeze there was came
from the northwest, so there was little danger that the
beasts would scent me. Had they their squealing and grunting

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would have grown to such a volume as to attract
the attention of the warriors. Within the buildings close to
the east wall, beneath the overhanging balconies of the second floors,
I crept in dense shadows the full length of the
courtyard until I came to the buildings at the north end.
These were lighted for about three floors up, but above

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the third floor all was dark. To pass through the
lighted rooms was, of course out of the question, since
they swarmed with green Martian men and women. My only
path lay through the upper floors, and to gain these
it was necessary to scale the face of the wall.
The reaching of the balcony of the second floor was

(17:59):
a matter of easy accomplishment. An agile leap gave my
hands a grasp upon the stone handrail above. In another
instant I had drawn myself upon the balcony. Here, through
the open windows, I saw the green folks squatting upon
their sleeping silks and furs, grunting an occasional monosyllable, which,

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in connection with their wondrous telepathic powers, is apple for
their conversational requirements. As I drew closer to listen to
their words. A warrior entered the room from the hall beyond,
Come Tangama. He cried, we ought to take the dock
before kab Kaja. Bring another with you, the warrior addressed,

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arose and beckoning to a fellow squatting near. The three
turned and left the apartment. If I could but follow them,
the chance might come to free tars Tarkas. At once.
At least I would learn the location of his prison.
At my right was a door leading from the balcony
into the building. It was at the end of an
unlighted hall, and on the impulse of the moment I

(19:06):
stepped within. The hall was broad and led straight through
to the front of the building. On either side were
the doorways of the various apartments which lined it. I
had no more than entered the corridor than I saw
the three warriors at the other end, those whom I
had just seen leaving the apartment. Then a turn to
the right took them from my side again. Quickly I

(19:29):
hastened along the hallway in pursuit. My gait was reckless,
but I felt that fate had been kind indeed, to
throw such an opportunity within my grasp, and I could
not afford to allow it to elude me. Now, at
the far end of the corridor, I found a spiral
stairway leading to the floors above and below. The three
had evidently left the floor by this avenue. That they

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had gone down and not up. I was sure, from
my knowledge of these ancient buildings and the methods of
the Warhoons. I myself had once been a prisoner of
the cruel hordes of the Northern Warhoon, and the memory
of the underground dungeon in which I lay still is
vivid in my memory. And so I felt certain that
tars Tarkas lay in the dark pits beneath some nearby building,

(20:16):
and that in that direction I should find the trail
of the three warriors leading to his cell. Nor was
I wrong. At the bottom of the runway, or rather
at the landing on the floor below, I saw that
the shaft ascended into the pits beneath, and as I
glanced down, the flickering light of a torch revealed the
presence of the three I was trailing down. They went

(20:38):
toward the pits beneath the structure, and at a safe
distance behind I followed the flicker of their torch. The
way led through a maze of tortuous corridors, unlighted save
for the wavering light they carried. We had gone perhaps
a hundred yards when the party turned abruptly through a
doorway at their right. I hastened on as rapidly as

(20:59):
I dared the darkness until I reached the point at
which they had left the corridor. There, through an open door,
I saw them removing the chains that secured the great
thark Tars Tarkas to the wall, hustling him roughly between them.
They came immediately from the chamber, so quickly, in fact,
that I was near to being apprehended. But I managed

(21:22):
to run along the corridor in the direction I had
been going in my pursuit of them, far enough to
be within the radius of their meager light. As they
emerged from the cell, I had naturally assumed that they
would return with Tars Tarkas the same way that they
had come, which would carry them away from me. But
to my chagrin, they wheeled directly in my direction as

(21:43):
they left the room. There was nothing for me but
to hasten on in advance and keep out of the
light of their torch. I dared not attempt to halt
in the darkness of any of the many intersecting corridors,
for I knew nothing of the direction they might take.
Chance was as likely as not to carry me into
the very corridor they might choose to enter. The sensation

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of moving rapidly through these dark passages was far from reassuring.
I knew not at what moment I might plunge headlong
into some terrible pit, or meet with some of the
ghoulish creatures that inhabit these lower worlds beneath the dead
cities of Dying Mars. There filtered to me a faint
radiance from the torch of the men behind, just enough

(22:28):
to permit me to trace the direction of the winding
passageways directly before me, and so keep me from dashing
myself against the walls at the turns. Presently, I came
to a place where five corridors diverged from a common point.
I had hastened along one of them for some little distance,
when suddenly the faint light of the torch disappeared from

(22:50):
behind me. I paused to listen for sounds of the
party behind me, but the silence was as utter as
the silence of a tomb. Quickly I realized that the
warriors had taken one of the other corridors with their prisoner,
and so I hastened back, with a feeling of considerable relief,
to take up a much safer and more desirable position

(23:10):
behind them. It was much slower work returning, however, than
it had been coming, for now the darkness was as
utter as the silence. It was necessary to feel every
foot of the way back with my hand against the
side wall, that I might not pass the spot where
the five roads radiated. After what seemed an eternity to me,

(23:32):
I reached the place and recognized it by groping across
the entrances to the several corridors, until I had counted
five of them in. Not one, however, showed the faintest
sign of light. I listened intently, but the naked feet
of the green men sent back no guiding echoes, though
presently I thought I detected the clank of side arms

(23:54):
in the far distance of the middle corridor. Up this
then I hastened, searching for the light, and stopping to
listen occasionally for a repetition of the sound But soon
I was forced to admit that I must have been
following a blind lead, as only darkness and silence rewarded
my efforts. Again, I retraced my steps toward the parting

(24:16):
of the ways, when to my surprise I came upon
the entrance to three diverging corridors, any one of which
I might have traversed in my hasty dash after the
false clue I had been following. Here was a pretty fix. Indeed,
once back at the point where the five passageways met,
I might wait with some assurance for the return of

(24:37):
the warriors with Tars Tarkas. My knowledge of their customs
lent color to the belief that he was but being
escorted to the audience chamber to have sentence passed upon him.
I had not the slightest doubt but that they would
preserve so doughty a warrior as the great dark for
the rare sport he would furnish at the Great Games.

(24:59):
But unless I could find my way back to that point,
the chances were most excellent that I would wander for
days through the awful blackness, until overcome by thirst and hunger,
I lay down to die. Or what was that a
faint shuffling sounded behind me, and as I cast a
hasty glance over my shoulder, my blood froze in my

(25:21):
veins for the thing I saw there. It was not
so much fear of the present danger as it was
the horrifying memories it recalled of that time I near
went mad over the corpse of the man I had
killed in the dungeons of the Warhoons, when blazing eyes
came out of the dark recesses and dragged the thing
that had been a man from my clutches, and I

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heard it scraping over the stone of my prison as
they bore it away to their terrible feast. And now
in these black pits of the other Warhoons, I looked
into those same fiery eyes blazing at me through the
terrible darkness, revealing no sign of the beast behind them.
I think that the most fearsome attribute of these awesome

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creatures is their silence, and the fact that one never
sees them nothing but those baleful eyes glaring unblinkingly out
of the dark void behind. Grasping my lung sword tightly
in my hand, I backed slowly along the corridor away
from the thing that watched me. But ever, as I retreated,

(26:24):
the eyes advanced. Nor was there any sound, not even
the sound of breathing, except the occasional shuffling sound, as
of the dragging of a dead limb that had first
attracted my attention. On and on I went, but I
could not escape my sinister pursuer. Suddenly I heard the

(26:44):
shuffling noise at my right, and looking saw another pair
of eyes, evidently approaching from an intersecting corridor. As I
started to renew my slow retreat, I heard the noise
repeated behind me, and then before I could turn, I
heard it again at my left. The things were all
about me. They had me surrounded at the intersection of

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two corridors. Retreat was cut off in all directions unless
I chose to charge one of the beasts. Even then,
I had no doubt but that the others would hurl
themselves upon my back. I could not even guess the
size or nature of the weird creatures. That they were
of goodly proportions, I guessed from the fact that the

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eyes were on a level with my own. Why is
it that darkness so magnifies our dangers? By day I
would have charged the great bath itself, had I thought
it necessary, But hemmed in by the darkness of these
silent pits, I hesitated before a pair of eyes. Soon

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I saw that the matter shortly would be taken entirely
from my hands, for the eyes at my right were
moving slowly nearer me, as were those at my left,
and those behind and before me. Gradually they were closing
in upon me, but still that awful, stealthy silence. For
what seemed hours, the eyes approached gradually closer and closer,

(28:13):
until I felt that I should go mad for the
horror of it. I had been constantly turning this way
and that to prevent any sudden rush from behind, until
I was fairly worn out at length, I could endure
it no longer, and taking a fresh grasp upon my
long sword, I turned suddenly and charged down upon one

(28:33):
of my tormentors. As I was almost upon it, the
thing retreated before me, but a sound from behind caused
me to wheel in time to see three pairs of
eyes rushing at me from the rear. With a cry
of rage, I turned to meet the cowardly beasts, but
as I advanced, they retreated, as had their fellow. Another

(28:55):
glance over my shoulder, discovered the first eye sneaking on me.
Again and again, I charged, only to see the eyes
retreat before me and hear the muffled rush of the
three at my back. Thus we continued, the eyes always
a little closer in the end than they had been before,
until I thought that I should go mad with the

(29:15):
terrible strain of the ordeal. That they were waiting to
spring upon my back seemed evident, and that it would
not be long before they succeeded was equally apparent, for
I could not endure the wear of this repeated charge
and counter charge indefinitely. In fact, I could feel myself
weakening from the mental and physical strain I had been undergoing.

(29:37):
At that moment, I caught another glimpse from the corner
of my eye of the single pair of eyes at
my back making a sudden rush upon me. I turned
to meet the charge. There was a quick rush of
the three from the other direction, but I determined to
pursue the single pair until I should have at least
settled my account with one of the beasts and thus

(29:58):
be relieved of the strain of meeting a tacks from
both directions. There was no sound in the corridor only
that of my own breathing. Yet I knew that those
three uncanny creatures were almost upon me. The eyes in
front were not retreating so rapidly. Now I was almost
within sword reach of them. I raised my sword arm

(30:20):
to deal the blow that should free me. And then
I felt a heavy body upon my back. A cold, moist,
slimy something fastened itself upon my throat. I stumbled and
went down. End of Chapter fourteen