The Gods of Mars

rounded by the corpses of our grotesque assailants, for from all directions down the broad valley was streami

only hope of even temporary escape; there we may find a cave or a narrow

companion. We had, perhaps, three hundred yards to cover between our boulder and the cliffs, and th

uggestion was a good one, for thus many valuable minutes might be saved to us, and, throwing every ounce of my earthly muscles into the

ess rough ascent to them, as is the case with nearly all other cliffs I have ever seen. The scattered boulders that had fallen from above and lay

since nowhere could I discern, except where the weird herald stood still shrieking his s

he forest, which terminated at its very foot, rearing its gorgeous fol

oad valley, to be lost in the outlines of what appeared to be a range of

rom the base of the cliffs, and as there seemed not the remotest chance f

em and they loomed a dull yellow in their own shade. Here and there they were broken

hat I did not regard them with a particularly app

time and again, over their vast expanse in search of some cranny or crevice, I came suddenl

apidly, and still more rapidly c

passed the cliff's zenith, and as the bright rays touched the dull surface it burst out into a million scintillant lights of burnish

present the appearance of a solid wall of that precious metal except where it was broken by outcroppings of ruby, emerald, and diamo

e a-shimmer, was the several black spots which now appeared quite plainly in evidence high across

dark openings of caves entering the solid walls-possible av

but poor climbers. Upon the entire surface of that ancient planet I never before had seen a hill or mountain that exceeded four thousand feet in height above the dead sea bottoms, and as the ascent was usually gradual, nearly to their summits they presented but few opportunities for t

n an attempt to scale the trees contiguous to t

s of the plan at once, but there was no alternative, an

een one fleeing from death in whatsoever form it might have confronted him. But that Tars Tarkas was the bravest of the brave he had proven thousands of times; yes, tens of thousands in countless mortal combats with men and beasts. And so I knew that there was another reason than fear of death behind his flight, as he kn

ght behind us sprang the swiftest of our pursuers-a giant plant ma

a great tree that brushed the cliff's face while I dispatched the fellow, thus giving the less agile Thark an oppo

ing of my immediate antagonist or the swiftness with which his fe

the great tail of the thing swept with the power of a grizzly's arm across the sward and carried me bodily from my feet to the ground. In an in

me, I think, an eventual victory had we had time to discuss the merits of our relative prowess uninterrupted. But as we strained and struggled about the tree into which Tar

lant men in response to the weird calling of the man upon the cliff's face.

I may say that of all the fearsome and terrible, weird and grotesque inhabitants of that stran

due to their remarkable resemblance in form to our Earth men, which gives them

er and lower limbs. Their eyes are very close set, but do not protrude as do those of the green men of Mars; their ears are high set, but more laterally locat

then, in a mighty wave of snarling, snapping, screaming, purring rage, they swept over me-and of all the sounds

to free myself, and even though weighed down by these immense bodies, I succeeded in struggling to my feet, where, still grasping my long-sword

dropped from the lower branches, which he had reached with such infinite labour, and as I flung the last of my immediate ant

wer about us as they charged from various directions or sprang with the agility of greyhounds above our heads; but every attack met a gleaming blade in sword hands that had b

cold steel teaches their hearts no longer to beat, and so, step by step, we were forced back. At length we stood against the giant tree that we had chosen for our ascen

and suddenly I heard a litt

he said, and, glancing down, I saw an opening in

not go; saying that his bulk was too great for t

of us. Take it and you may live to avenge me, it is useless for me to attempt to wor

t go first. Let me defend the opening while you get in, then my small

ed in broken sentences, punctured with vici

might be saved from the ever-increasing numbers of our assailants, who

" he said; "but still more your way to command the lives and action

est Jeddak of them all, turned to obey the dictates of a creature

cruel and heartless Thark, to whom you taught the me

lied; "but quickly now, head fi

e in his whole life of continual strife had he turn

shall both go down to profitless defea

eft flew my shimmering blade, now green with the sticky juice of a plant man, now red with the crimson blood of a great white ape; but always

at I cannot realize even now that human muscles could have withstood that awfu

und about me was piled high with their dead and dying comrades, they succeeded at last in overwhelming me, and I w

ter of the tree's interior. For a moment it was a tug of war between Tars Tarkas and a great plant man, who clung tenacio

pon the ground within the hollow of the tree, while Tars

fined their efforts to terrorizing shrieks and screams, to horrid growling on the par

estined to result in a siege, the only outcome of which could be our death by starvation; for even should we be able to

ccustomed to the semi-darkness of the interior of our stra

floor I judged that it had often been used to domicile others before our occupancy. As I r

f the cliff caves. My eyes had now become quite used to the subdued light of the interior, and

l wooden bars that spanned the now narrow and shaft-like interior of the tree's stem. These bars were s

Tarkas, who suggested that I explore aloft as far as I could go i

r of horizontal bars mounted always as far above me as my eyes could re

It was of about the same diameter as the entrance at the foot of the tree, and opened directly upon a large flat limb, the w

t be discovered and our retreat in this direction cut of

we were both ascending the long

aloft, where he wedged it safely between one of the bars and the side of the shaft. In like manner I dislodged the lower bars as I passed them, so that we soon had the

on saved us from dire predicament, and w

ht pass out and investigate, as, owing to my lesser weight and greater agility

f, and as I followed it I found that it terminated a few feet above a narrow

beneath my weight until, as I balanced perilously upon its outer tip, it

et of the valley; nearly five thousand feet above tow

hich lay much higher, possibly a thousand feet. But so far as I might know it was

ed the end of the branch we found that our combined weight so depresse

rap with me, and that when the limb had risen to a height that would permit me to enter the cave I was to

gether upon the verge of a dizzy little balcony, with

Once we thought we discerned a gilded minaret gleaming in the sun amidst the waving tops of far-distant trees, but we soon abandoned the idea in th

f Tars Tarkas' former companions, while great herds of plant men grazed in ever-wideni

h we had every reason to believe was but a continuation of the path we had already traversed,

roof was arched. We had no means of making a light, and so groped our way slowly into the ever-increasing darkness, Tars Tarkas keeping in touch with one wall while I

hich blocked our further progress. It seemed more like a partition than a sudden ending of the cave, fo

sently was rewarded by the feel of the button which as co

ly give before me, and in another instant we were looking into a di

. As we stood for a moment in silence gazing about the room a slight noise behind caused me to turn q

of the thing and the tense and almost palpable silence of the chamber seemed to portend a

ortal, while my eyes sought in vain for a dupl

uel and mocking peal of laughter