Thuvia, Maid of Mars

he Princess of Ptarth had been snatched from her father's garden,

metal of Dusar, but instead there was emblazo

uld not believe that in the heart of C

rior squatting befor

a Dusarian," she said. "Now your met

ked at her

Helium is no

eprimanded the warrior for conversing with the prisone

y came at last to their destination with the girl no w

orgotten past-the deserted cities that fringe the sad ochre sea-bottoms where once rolled the m

out upon what, for countless ages, had been the last, long pilgrimage of Martians, toward the Valley Dor, where lies th

s with Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, she had seen them, with th

ng them all was no city that the red men did not shun, for without exception they stood amidst

e answer. Such was the nature of their work that they must needs seek the sec

ge palace that even in decay reflected the sp

ay she had been aroused by the

plaza-else he will never land. The moment he finds that he is in a strange co

ork to get them both here at all, and even if we do not succee

n him, revealed by the quick-moving patch of light

ancing toward the girl, motioned her to rise. Then he led h

be watching, and should you attempt to escape it will go ill

r in truth these places are haunted in the belief of many Martians who still cling to an ancient superstition which teaches that the

ed in the weird soul transmigration that the therns had taught her before she was rescued from their clutches by John Carter; but

was

ealthily, in the shadow of one of the great monoliths tha

swiftly across the ochre vegetation of the dead

rom the despoiling of the incubator of a neighbouring green h

ochre moss which grows to greater height within the protected courtyards of deserted cities, where the soil

eds of the huge bodies of the mighty thoats, which can exist for months without w

aza, he and his mount might have been mistaken for spectres from a world of dreams, so grotesque the man and be

light glistened against his glossy green hide, sparkling the jewels of his heavy harness and the ornaments that weig

eat, forty-foot, metal-shod spear, while from his own harness depend

the enemy, and, too, there was always the menace of the great white apes, which, John Carter was wont to say, are the only c

. An unwonted sound had reached them. Voices! And where there were voices, outside of Torquas, there, t

g Aaanthor, he approached the plaza. Directly behind him, as a hound at heel, came the slate-grey thoat, hi

A red warrior was conversing with her. Now the man turned and ret

ere was a captive worth having! Seldom did a female of their hereditar

t the opening to the avenue opposite her. She hoped that

he saw it move. It came from behind th

fell upon it. The girl trembled.

alace when a giant hand fell upon her arm, she was whirled about, and half dragged, half carried tow

and there she saw a swift flier dropping toward her, the head and shoulders of a man leaning fa

abductors. They were racing madly after him w

hed his long radium rifle from its boot, and, whee

savages that three red warriors dropped in their t

they dare return the fire f

his arms, and with a savage cry of triumph disappeared down the black cany

ft thoat, whose eight long legs were sending it down the avenue at the rate of an express train; but

explain to Astok; but some leniency might be expected cou

they might as successfully have cried aloud to Thuria to cease her mad hurtling through the Barsoomia

flier, so the instant that he realized the menace of the three red warriors, he wheel

that one of his opponents was down, crimsoning the ochre moss with

s clashed and sparkled in the moonlight, until the great white apes, roused from their slu

eing his broad chest. With his free hand he wiped the gore from his eyes, and with the fig

them, and then the other, backing away clear of that poin

rved punishment to strange men who masqueraded in the metal of his own house, for he had

er, he was soon rising from th

Carthoris' intent, snatched a rifle from those that he and his fellows had left leaning agai

rian drew bead upon the rising flier, and touched the button upon his rifle's stock,

it daylight to strike in upon the powder phial within the bullet's nose. There was a sha

ained carried her on over the c

re shots, none of which scored. Then a lofty

of Ptarth away upon his mighty thoat. The direction of his flight was toward the

close examination revealed the fact that one of the buoyancy

after considerable tinkering, Carthoris was able to propel his wounded flier at low speed, a rate which could not approach the rap

his pursuit, yet he was thankful that the damage was no wor

he flier commenced to sag toward the port and by the bow. The damage to the

g lower and lower, and the list to port becoming more and more alarming, until at last, near dark, he was floatin

reeze that blew out of the south-east, and when this died down with the se

when last he had seen him, and with dogged resolution the son of John Carter, en

of a new day, he entered the low foothills that guard t

g through the formidable barrier; yet somewhere into this inhospitable world

for the soft pads of the thoat but pressed down in his swift passage the resil

m and wild flowers partially replaced the sombre monotony of the waste places of the

ling mystery of the trail seemed

eyes of the Heliumite discerned the tawny yellow of a sleek hi

hing before him. It was a huge banth, one of those savage Bars

ground. It was evident that he was

lie the solution to the mystery he had been endeavouring to solve. This hungry carnivore,

foot of the perpendicular cliff the creature moved, sniffing at the invi

ew minutes when it disappeared as suddenly and

the man had cheated him. He sprang forward at a reckless pace

nth might have wormed its great carcass. Beside him was a small, flat boulder, not larger t

brute might have discovered the man upon his trai

er of the rock. There was no banth there, but something which surp

ugh this the banth must have disappeared. Was it his lair? Within its dark and fo

ermost in his mind, did he much care; for into this gloomy cavern he was sure the banth had trailed the green man

with ready sword and cautious steps, for the way was dark, he sto