The Gods of Mars

a grim smile curled the handsome lips above me, as an ebony hand came slowly in sight from abo

nger tightened on the trigger. The pirate's hissing, "Die, cursed thern," was half choked in h

over the edge of the deck that he was forced to d

utcry, and so we struggled in grim silence; he to te

loose from the steel fingers that were choking the life from him. With a final effort he threw himself further back upon the deck, at the

of the deck. His falling body came near to tearing me from the frail hold that my single f

ingle shriek from those lips as he hurtled to his death in the silen

hoking, while his frantic struggles dragged m

until they ceased entirely. Then I released my hold upon him an

raising my eyes to the level of the deck, where I could take

f the further satellite bathed the deck of the cruiser, bringing into sh

ely bound. Her eyes were widespread in an expression of horrified anticipat

el which sparkled in the centre of my stolen headpiece. She did not speak. I

nodded to me to approach her. As I ben

and you will need all the ai

awake in Korus,"

ot astonished by cruelty in a hideous face, but when it touches the features of a goddess whose f

I rele

ed. "I can use that upon those yo

before me. This was no time for fine compunctions, nor for a chival

on his journey to the bosom of Korus. His piercing shriek as consciousn

urling him from the cruiser's deck, his wild cry of alarm broug

oke in sharp staccato and one sank b

dared not fire for fear of wounding me, but I saw her sneak stealthily

small for foot work. It was stand your ground and give and take. At first I took considerably more than I gave

ight have been heard for miles through the silent night. Sparks flew as steel smote steel, and then the

t her to reduce the number by one at least. Then things happened with such amazing ra

and my sword arm made two moves. One man dropped with a bullet in his brain; a sword flew clattering across the deck and dropped over the edge beyond as I disarmed one of my

oeman, whose own sword lay somewhere thousa

h as he rushed at me bare-handed. The great muscles which rolled beneath his glossy black hide eviden

at the same time sidestepping to the right. Pivoting on my left toe, I swung

y laugh rang

lden locks or the harness of Sator Throg. Never lived there upon all Barso

ors, Jeddak of Helium," I replied. "And whom," I a

ment before speaki

. Are you an enem

constant danger. I have been harassed and persecuted. Armed men and fierce beasts have been set upon me. I had

s as though she were attempting to read my inmost soul, to judge my cha

e inventory s

the Holy Therns, Father of Therns, Master of Life and Dea

f returning consciousness. I sprang to his side. Stripping his harness from him I securely bound

simpler way?"

and. What 'simple

he made a gesture with her hands personating

I said. "I kill in

kered those divine brows of hers, and s

ngerous policy toward enemies. Upon Barsoom, quarter is neither asked nor given, and each dead man me

this girl contemplated the dispatching of an enemy and the tender-hear

ctacle would have afforded her rather than the fact th

ere he lay bound upon the deck. He was a handsome fellow, clean limbed and powerful, with an int

tion of the Valley Dor. That it was far south of the equator was evident from the constellations, but I was not sufficiently a Martian astronomer to come much closer than a rough

teer. Beneath my hand the cruiser swung gracefully about. Then the button which controlled the repulsive rays sent us soaring far out into spac

the ferocity of the battle that still raged along that cruel frontier. No sound of conflict reached our ears, for in the

. The girl, Phaidor, and the black pirate kept th

she said quietly. "Unless you are inviting death

s as one might say: "You had better c

a lower level. Nor was I a momen

ned my senses, I think, only by sheer will. The one on

ively warm and there was plenty of air for our starved lungs, so I was not

close call

e two things tho

ha

of the Master of Life and Dea

she replied. "And Issus is for the rac

k as he heard her words. I did not then understand why he smiled

ed, "has led to as erroneous deductions as the first yo

as like to have died at a few thousand feet above Barsoom. Had we continued the five thousand

the black in evi

of Thuria, then

and turned his eyes else

er little foot in

ered," she said. "One of the lesser breed should feel honoured that a member of th

smiled that wick

ive commands, not to receive them," replied the black pirate.

m a kindly and magnanimous race, but if they listen to me there will be no more voluntary pilgrimages down the r

f Helium?"

s, Jeddak of Helium," I replied, "but I a

me intently fo

have bested eight of the First Born single-handed. But how is it that you wear the golden hai

he spoils of conquest," and with a sweep of

black hair they opened in astonishment. Evide

rn, the black hair of a First Born and the muscles of a dozen Dators it was no disgrace even for

an that your name is Xodar, but whom, pray, are the First Born, and what a Dato

sser Barsoomians would say, Prince. My race is the oldest on the planet. We trace our lineage, unbroken, d

f plant and animal. In the first stages the fruit of the tree possessed only the power of independent muscular action, while the stem remained at

ison of them; judgments were reached and compared, and t

of varying lengths. At length the fruit tree consisted in tiny plant men, such as we now see reproduced in such huge dimensions

ouble partition walls into four sections. In one section grew the plant man, in another a sixteen-legged

but the three other sections fell to the ground, where the efforts of thei

they lived their long lives within their hard shells, hopping and skipping about the broad planet;

h his prison walls into the light of day. Prompted by curiosity,

ith other creatures in the race of which I am a member; but from the sixteen-legged worm, t

evolution from the pure white ape of antiquity. They are a lower order still. There

men learned to detach themselves from it and roam the fa

o any great extent by reason, since the brain of a plant man is but a trifle larger than the end of your smallest finger. They live upon vegetation and the blood of animals, and their brain is just large enough to direct their movements in the directi

arsoomian. It seemed a strangely inopportune moment for a proud member of a proud race to unbend in casual con

barest fraction of a second that explained his motive for

tern of the vessel as he addressed me. It was at the end of his description of

ift gleam of triumph that brighte

, for we had left the Valley Dor many mi

the sight that I saw froze the new-born hope

ent and unlighted through the d