The keeper for the key was a short, heavy-set ape with a bull neck and exceedingly close-set eyes.
This brute now came up to Carter and although the captive was being held by five other apes, he grabbed him cruelly by the hair and jerked Carter into the cage, at the same time kicking him viciously.
The cage door was slammed immediately, it's padlock bolted closed. Now Carter's cage was pulled up over the pit and the rope anchored to a davit at the edge.
It was not long before Joog returned with Dejah Thoris and Tars Tarkas. Their chains had been removed.
They were placed in the other two cages that hung over the pit next to John Carter.
"Oh, John Carter, my chieftain!" cried Dejah Thoris, when she saw him in the cage next to hers. "Thank Issus you are still alive!" The little princess was crying softly.
John Carter reached through the bars and took her hand in his. He tried to speak reassuring words to her but he knew, as did Tars Tarkas, who sat grim faced in the other cage beside his, that Pew Mogel had ordained their deaths-but in what manner they would die, Carter, as yet, was uncertain.
"John Carter," spoke Tars Tarkas softly, "do you notice that all those thousands of apes gathered here in the arena apparently are paying no attention to us?"
"Yes, I noticed," replied the earthman. "They are all looking into the sky toward the city."
"Look," whispered Dejah Thoris. "It's the same thing on which the ape rode when he captured me in the Helium Forest after shooting our thoat!"
There appeared in the sky, coming from the direction of the city, a great, lone bird upon whose back rode a single man.
The earthman's keen eyes squinted for an instant. "The bird is a malagor. Pew Mogel is riding it."
The bird and its rider circled directly overhead.
"Open the east gate," Pew Mogel commanded, his voice ringing out through a loudspeaker somewhere in the arena.
The gates were thrown open and there began pouring out into the arena wave after wave of malagors exactly like the bird Pew Mogel rode.
As the malagors came out, column after column of apes were waiting at the entrance to vault onto the birds' backs.
As each bird was mounted, it rose into the air by telepathic command to join a constantly growing formation circling high overhead.
The mounting of the birds must have taken nearly two hours, so great were the numbers of Pew Mogel's apes and birds. Carter noticed that upon each ape's back was strapped a rifle and each bird carried a varying assortment of military equipment, including ammunition supplies, small cannon and a sub-machine gun was carried by each flight platoon.
At last all was ready and Pew Mogel descended down over the cages of his three captives.
"You see now Pew Mogel's mighty army," he cried, "with which he will conquer Helium and then all Barsoom." The man seemed very confident, for his crooked, misshapen body sat very straight upon his feathered mount.
"Before you are chewed to bits by the reptiles in the water below you," he said "you will have a few moments to consider the fate that awaits Helium within the next forty-eight hours. I should have preferred to conquer peacefully but you interfered. For that, you die, slowly and horribly."
Pew Mogel turned to the only ape that was left in the arena, the keeper of the key to the cages.
"Open the flood-gate!" was his single command before he rose up to lead his troops off toward the north.
Accompanying the weird, flying army in a sling carried by a hundred malagors rode Joog, the synthetic giant. A hollow, mirthless laugh pealed like thunder from the giant's throat as he was born away into the sky.
EIGHT THE REPTILE PIT
As the last bird in Pew Mogel's fantastic army flapped out of sight behind the rim of the crater, John Carter turned to Tars Tarkas in the cage hanging beside him. He spoke softly so that Dejah Thoris would not hear.
"Those creatures will make Helium a formidable enemy," he said. "Kantos Kan's splendid airfleet and infantry will be hard pressed against those thousands of apes equipped with human brains and modern armament, mounted upon fast birds of prey!"
"Kantos Kan and his airfleet are not even in Helium to protect the city," announced Tars Tarkas grimly. "I heard Pew Mogel bragging that he had sent Kantos Kan a false message, supposedly from you, urging that all Helium's fleet, as well as all the ships of the searching party, be dispatched to your aid in the Great Toonolian Marshes."
"The Toonolian Marshes!" Carter gasped, "They're a thousand miles from Helium in the other direction."
A little scream from Dejah Thoris brought the men's attention to their own, immediate fate.
The ape beside the pit had pulled back a tall, metal lever.
There was a gurgle of bubbles as air blasted up from the water in the pit below the three captives and the water at the same time commenced to rise slowly.
The guard now unfastened the rope on each cage and lowered them so that the cage tops were a little below the surface of the ground inside the pit. Then he refastened the ropes and stood for some time on the brink looking down on the helpless captives.
"The water rises slowly," he sneered thickly, "and so I shall have time now for a little sleep."
It was uncanny to hear words issuing from the mouth of the beast. They were barely articulate, for although the human brain in the ape's skull directed the words, the muscles of the larynx in the creature's throat were normally unequipped for the specialized task of human speech.
The guard lay down on the brink and stretched his massive, squat body.
"Your death cries will awaken me," he mumbled pleasantly, "when the water begins to envelop your feet and the reptiles start clawing at you through the bars of your cages." Whereupon, the ape rolled over and began snoring.
It was then that the three captives saw the slanting, evil eyes, the rows of flashing teeth, in a dozen hideous, reptilian faces staring greedily up at them from the rising waters below.
"Quite ingenious," remarked Tars Tarkas, his stoic face giving no more evidence of fear than did that of the earthman. "When the water partly submerges us, the reptiles will reach in with their claws and begin tearing us to pieces-if there is any life left in us, the rising water will drown it out when finally it submerges the tops of our cages."
"How horrible!" gasped Dejah Thoris.
John Carter's eyes were fastened on the brink of the pit. From his cage he could just see one of the guard's feet as the fellow lay asleep at the edge of the pit.
Cautioning the others to silence, Carter began swinging his body back and forth while he held fast to the bars of the cage. If he could just get it swinging.
The water had risen to about ten feet below their cages.
It seemed an eternity before he could get the heavy cage to even moving slightly. Nine feet to the water surface and those hideous, staring eyes and those gleaming teeth!
The cage was swinging now a little more, in rhythm to the earthman's constantly swaying body.
Eight feet, seven feet, six feet came the water. There were about ten reptiles in the water below the captives-ten pairs of narrow, evil eyes fixed steadily to their prey.
The cage was swinging faster.
Five feet, four feet, Tars Tarkas and Dejah Thoris could feel the hot breath of the reptiles!
Three feet, two feet! Only two more feet to go before the steadily swinging cage would cut into the water and slow down to a standstill.
But the iron prison, swinging pendulum-like, would reach the brink on its next swing so this time as the cage moved toward the brink on which lay the sleeping guard, John Carter knew he must act quickly.
As the bars of the cage smacked against the cement wall of the pit, John Carter's arms shot out with the quickness of a striking snake.
His fingers closed in a grip of steel about the ankle of the sleeping guard.
An ear-piercing shriek rang out across the arena, echoing dismally in the hollow crater, as the ape felt himself jerked suddenly from his slumbers
.
Back swung the cage. Carter regrasped the shrieking ape with his other hand through the bars as they swung out over the water. The reptiles had to lower their heads as the cage moved over them so close had the water risen.
"Good work, John Carter," came Tars Tarkas's tense words as he reached out and grabbed hold of the ape with his four mighty hands. At the same time, Carter's cage splashed to a sudden stop. It had hit the water's surface.
"Hold him, Tars Tarkas. While I pull the key off the scoundrel's neck- there, I've got it!"
The water was flowing over the bottom of the cages. One of the reptiles had reached a horny arm in Dejah Thoris's cage and was attempting to snag her body with its sharp, hooked claws.
Tars Tarkas flung the ape's body with all the force of his giant thews straight at the reptile beside the girl's cage.
"Quickly, John Carter," cried Dejah Thoris. "Save yourself while they are fighting over the ape's body."
"Yes," echoed Tars Tarkas, "unlock your cage and get out while there is still time."
A half-smile lifted the corner of Carter's mouth as he swung open his prison door and leaped to the top of Dejah Thoris's cage.
"I'd sooner stay and die with you both," the earthman said, "than desert you now."
Carter soon had the princess' prison door unlocked but as he reached down to lift the girl up, a reptile darted forward into the cage with the princess.
In a quick second, Carter was inside the girl's cage, already knee-deep in water and he had hurled himself onto the back of the reptile. A steely arm was clamped tightly around the creature's neck. The head was jerked back just in time for the heavy jaws snapped closed only an inch from the girl's body.
"Climb out, Dejah Thoris-to the top of the cage!" ordered Carter. When she had obeyed, Carter dragged the flopping, helpless reptile to the cage door, as other slimy monsters started in. Using its body as a shield before him, the earthman forced his way to the door.
In an instant he had released his hold and vaulted up on top of the cage with the girl.
A moment later he had unlocked Tars Tarkas's cage door. After the green man had swung up beside them without mishap, the three climbed the ropes to the scaffolding above and then lowered themselves down to the ground beside the pit.
"Thank Issus," breathed the girl as they sat down to regain their breaths. Her beautiful head was cushioned upon Carter's shoulder, and he stroked her lovely black hair reassuringly.
Presently the earthman rose to his feet. Tars Tarkas had motioned him across the arena.
"There are some malagors left inside here," Tars Tarkas called from the entrance to the cavern inside the crater from where had come Pew Mogel's mounts.
"Good!" exclaimed Carter. "There may be a chance yet to reach and help Helium."
A moment later they had caught two of the birds and had risen over the ancient city of Korvas.
They spotted their planes on the outskirts of the city where they had left them the night they were tricked into being captured by Pew Mogel.
But to their disappointment, the controls had been destroyed irreparably, so they were forced to continue their journey on the backs of the malagors.
However, the malagors proved speedy mounts. By noon the next day the trio had reached the City of Thark, inhabited by a hundred thousand green warriors over whom Tars Tarkas ruled.
Gathering the warriors together in the marketplace, Tars Tarkas and John Carter explained the peril that confronted Helium and asked for their support in marching to their allies' aid.
As one man, the mighty warriors shouted their approval. The next day dawned upon a long caravan of thoat-mounted soldiers streaming out from the city gates towardsHelium.
A messenger was sent on a malagor to the Toonolian Marshes in an attempt to locate Kantos Kan and urge him to return home with his fleet to aid in the defense of Helium.
Tars Tarkas had abandoned his malagor to this messenger, in favour of a thoat upon which he rode at the head of his warriors. Directly above him, mounted on the other malagor rode Dejah Thoris and John Carter.
NINE ATTACK ON HELIUM
John Carter and Dejah Thoris, mounted upon their malagor, were scouting far ahead of the main column of advancing warriors when they first came in sight of the besieged City of Helium.
It was bright moonlight. The princess voiced a little, disappointed cry when she looked out across the spacious valley towards Helium. Her grandfather's city was completely surrounded by the besieging troops of Pew Mogel.
"My poor city!" The girl was crying softly, for in the bright moonlight below could be easily discerned the terrific gap in the ramparts and the many crushed and shattered buildings of the beautiful metropolis.
John Carter telepathically commanded the malagor to land upon a high peak in the mountains overlooking the Valley of Helium.
"Listen," cautioned John Carter. Pew Mogel's light entrenched cannon and small arms were commencing to open fire again by moonlight. "They are getting ready for an air attack."
Suddenly, from behind the two foothills between the valley and the towering peaks, there rose the vast, flying army of Pew Mogel.
"They are closing in from all sides," Dejah Thoris cried.
The great winged creatures and their formidable ape riders were swooping down relentlessly upon the city. Only a few of Helium's airships rose to give battle.
"Kantos Kan must have taken nearly all Helium's fleet with him," the earthman remarked. "I am surprised Helium has withstood the attack as long as this."
"You should know my people by now, John Carter," replied the princess.
"The infantry and anti-aircraft fire entrenched in Helium are doing well," Carter replied. "See those birds plummet to the ground."
"They can't hold out much longer, though," the girl replied. "Those apes are dropping bombs squarely into the city, as they swoop over, wave after wave of them-oh, John Carter, what can we do?"
John Carter's old fighting smile, usually present at times of personal danger, had given way to a stern, grave expression.
He saw below him the oldest and most powerful city on Mars being conquered by Pew Mogel's forces. Armed with Helium's vast resources, the synthetic man would go forth and conquer all the civilized nations on Mars.
Fifty thousand years of Martian learning and culture wrecked by a power-mad maniac, himself the synthetic product of civilized man!
"Is there nothing we can do to stop him, John Carter?" came the girl's repeated question.
"Very little, I'm afraid, my princess," he replied sadly, "All we can do is station Tars Tarkas's green warriors at an advantageous point in preparation for the counterattack and trust to fate that our messenger reached Kantos Kan in time that he may return and aid us."
"Without supporting aircraft, our green warriors, heroic fighters that they are, can do little against Pew Mogel's superior numbers in the air."
When John Carter and Dejah Thoris returned to Tars Tarkas, they reported what they had seen.
The great Thark agreed that his warriors could avail but little in a direct attack against Pew Mogel's air force. It was decided that half their troops be concentrated at one point and at dawn attempt to rush into the city.
The remaining half of the warriors would scatter into the mountains in smaller groups and engage the enemy in guerilla warfare.
Thus they hoped to forestall the fate of Helium until Kantos Kan returned with his fleet of speedy air fighters.
"Helium's fleet of trim, metal fighting craft will furnish Pew Mogel's feathered-bird brigade a worthy enemy," remarked Tars Tarkas.
"Provided, of course," added John Carter, "Kantos Kan's fleet reaches Helium before Pew Mogel has entrenched himself in the City and returned his own anti-aircraft guns upon them."
All that night in the mountains, under cover of semi-darkness, John Carter and Tars Tarkas reorganized and restationed their troops. By dawn, all was ready.
John Carter and Tars Tarkas would lead the advance
half of the Tharks in a wild rush toward the gates of Helium, the other half would remain behind, covering their comrades' assault with long-range rifles.
Much against the earthman's will, Dejah Thoris insisted she would ride into the City beside him upon their malagor.
It was just commencing to grow brighter.
"Prepare to charge," John Carter ordered. Tars Tarkas passed the word down and across by his orderly to his unit commanders.
"Prepare to charge! Prepare to charge!" echoed down and across the battalions of magnificent, four-armed green fighters astride their eight-legged, massive, restless thoats.
The minutes dragged by as the troop lines swung around. Steel swords were drawn from scabbards. Hammers, on short deadly ray-pistols, clicked back as they cocked over saddle pommels.
John Carter looked around at the girl sitting so straight and steady behind him.
"You are very brave, my princess," he said.
"It's easy to be brave," she replied, "when I'm so close to the greatest warrior on Mars."
"Charge!" came John Carter's terse, sudden order.
Down the mountain and across the plain toward Helium streaked the savage hoard of Tharks. Out ahead raced Tars Tarkas, his sword held high.
Far ahead and above, on speedy wings, streaked the malagor bearing John Carter and the Princess of Helium.
"John Carter, thank Issus!" Dejah Thoris cried in relief and pointed toward the far mountain skyline.
"The Helium fleet has returned," shouted John Carter. "Our messenger reached Kantos Kan in time!" Over the mountains, with flying banners streaming, sailed the mighty Helium fleet.
There was a moment's silence in the entrenched guns of the enemy. They had seen the charging Tharks and the Helium fleet simultaneously.
A great cry of triumph rose from the ranks of the charging warriors at the sight of the Helium fleet streaking to their aid.
"Listen," cried Dejah Thoris to Carter, "the bells of Helium are tolling our victory song!" then it seemed as though all of Pew Mogel's guns broke loose at once and from behind the protecting hills rose his flying legions of winged malagors. Upon their backs rode the white apes with men's brains.
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