A Princess of Mars

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

  CHAPTER XVII

  A COSTLY RECAPTURE

  As the speaker ceased he turned to leave the apartment by the doorwhere I was standing, but I needed to wait no longer; I had heardenough to fill my soul with dread, and stealing quietly away I returnedto the courtyard by the way I had come. My plan of action was formedupon the instant, and crossing the square and the bordering avenue uponthe opposite side I soon stood within the courtyard of Tal Hajus.

  The brilliantly lighted apartments of the first floor told me wherefirst to seek, and advancing to the windows I peered within. I soondiscovered that my approach was not to be the easy thing I had hoped,for the rear rooms bordering the court were filled with warriors andwomen. I then glanced up at the stories above, discovering that thethird was apparently unlighted, and so decided to make my entrance tothe building from that point. It was the work of but a moment for meto reach the windows above, and soon I had drawn myself within thesheltering shadows of the unlighted third floor.

  Fortunately the room I had selected was untenanted, and creepingnoiselessly to the corridor beyond I discovered a light in theapartments ahead of me. Reaching what appeared to be a doorway Idiscovered that it was but an opening upon an immense inner chamberwhich towered from the first floor, two stories below me, to thedome-like roof of the building, high above my head. The floor of thisgreat circular hall was thronged with chieftains, warriors and women,and at one end was a great raised platform upon which squatted the mosthideous beast I had ever put my eyes upon. He had all the cold, hard,cruel, terrible features of the green warriors, but accentuated anddebased by the animal passions to which he had given himself over formany years. There was not a mark of dignity or pride upon his bestialcountenance, while his enormous bulk spread itself out upon theplatform where he squatted like some huge devil fish, his six limbsaccentuating the similarity in a horrible and startling manner.

  But the sight that froze me with apprehension was that of Dejah Thorisand Sola standing there before him, and the fiendish leer of him as helet his great protruding eyes gloat upon the lines of her beautifulfigure. She was speaking, but I could not hear what she said, norcould I make out the low grumbling of his reply. She stood there erectbefore him, her head high held, and even at the distance I was fromthem I could read the scorn and disgust upon her face as she let herhaughty glance rest without sign of fear upon him. She was indeed theproud daughter of a thousand jeddaks, every inch of her dear, preciouslittle body; so small, so frail beside the towering warriors aroundher, but in her majesty dwarfing them into insignificance; she was themightiest figure among them and I verily believe that they felt it.

  Presently Tal Hajus made a sign that the chamber be cleared, and thatthe prisoners be left alone before him. Slowly the chieftains, thewarriors and the women melted away into the shadows of the surroundingchambers, and Dejah Thoris and Sola stood alone before the jeddak ofthe Tharks.

  One chieftain alone had hesitated before departing; I saw him standingin the shadows of a mighty column, his fingers nervously toying withthe hilt of his great-sword and his cruel eyes bent in implacablehatred upon Tal Hajus. It was Tars Tarkas, and I could read histhoughts as they were an open book for the undisguised loathing uponhis face. He was thinking of that other woman who, forty years ago,had stood before this beast, and could I have spoken a word into hisear at that moment the reign of Tal Hajus would have been over; butfinally he also strode from the room, not knowing that he left his owndaughter at the mercy of the creature he most loathed.

  Tal Hajus arose, and I, half fearing, half anticipating his intentions,hurried to the winding runway which led to the floors below. No onewas near to intercept me, and I reached the main floor of the chamberunobserved, taking my station in the shadow of the same column thatTars Tarkas had but just deserted. As I reached the floor Tal Hajuswas speaking.

  "Princess of Helium, I might wring a mighty ransom from your peoplewould I but return you to them unharmed, but a thousand times ratherwould I watch that beautiful face writhe in the agony of torture; itshall be long drawn out, that I promise you; ten days of pleasure wereall too short to show the love I harbor for your race. The terrors ofyour death shall haunt the slumbers of the red men through all the agesto come; they will shudder in the shadows of the night as their fatherstell them of the awful vengeance of the green men; of the power andmight and hate and cruelty of Tal Hajus. But before the torture youshall be mine for one short hour, and word of that too shall go forthto Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium, your grandfather, that he may grovelupon the ground in the agony of his sorrow. Tomorrow the torture willcommence; tonight thou art Tal Hajus'; come!"

  He sprang down from the platform and grasped her roughly by the arm,but scarcely had he touched her than I leaped between them. Myshort-sword, sharp and gleaming was in my right hand; I could haveplunged it into his putrid heart before he realized that I was uponhim; but as I raised my arm to strike I thought of Tars Tarkas, and,with all my rage, with all my hatred, I could not rob him of that sweetmoment for which he had lived and hoped all these long, weary years,and so, instead, I swung my good right fist full upon the point of hisjaw. Without a sound he slipped to the floor as one dead.

  In the same deathly silence I grasped Dejah Thoris by the hand, andmotioning Sola to follow we sped noiselessly from the chamber and tothe floor above. Unseen we reached a rear window and with the strapsand leather of my trappings I lowered, first Sola and then Dejah Thoristo the ground below. Dropping lightly after them I drew them rapidlyaround the court in the shadows of the buildings, and thus we returnedover the same course I had so recently followed from the distantboundary of the city.

  We finally came upon my thoats in the courtyard where I had left them,and placing the trappings upon them we hastened through the building tothe avenue beyond. Mounting, Sola upon one beast, and Dejah Thorisbehind me upon the other, we rode from the city of Thark through thehills to the south.

  Instead of circling back around the city to the northwest and towardthe nearest waterway which lay so short a distance from us, we turnedto the northeast and struck out upon the mossy waste across which, fortwo hundred dangerous and weary miles, lay another main artery leadingto Helium.

  No word was spoken until we had left the city far behind, but I couldhear the quiet sobbing of Dejah Thoris as she clung to me with her dearhead resting against my shoulder.

  "If we make it, my chieftain, the debt of Helium will be a mighty one;greater than she can ever pay you; and should we not make it," shecontinued, "the debt is no less, though Helium will never know, for youhave saved the last of our line from worse than death."

  I did not answer, but instead reached to my side and pressed the littlefingers of her I loved where they clung to me for support, and then, inunbroken silence, we sped over the yellow, moonlit moss; each of usoccupied with his own thoughts. For my part I could not be other thanjoyful had I tried, with Dejah Thoris' warm body pressed close to mine,and with all our unpassed danger my heart was singing as gaily asthough we were already entering the gates of Helium.

  Our earlier plans had been so sadly upset that we now found ourselveswithout food or drink, and I alone was armed. We therefore urged ourbeasts to a speed that must tell on them sorely before we could hope tosight the ending of the first stage of our journey.

  We rode all night and all the following day with only a few shortrests. On the second night both we and our animals were completelyfagged, and so we lay down upon the moss and slept for some five or sixhours, taking up the journey once more before daylight. All thefollowing day we rode, and when, late in the afternoon we had sightedno distant trees, the mark of the great waterways throughout allBarsoom, the terrible truth flashed upon us--we were lost.

  Evidently we had circled, but which way it was difficult to say, nordid it seem possible with the sun to guide us by day and the moons andstars by night. At any rate no waterway was in sight, and the entireparty was almost ready to drop from hunger, thirst and fatigue.
Farahead of us and a trifle to the right we could distinguish the outlinesof low mountains. These we decided to attempt to reach in the hopethat from some ridge we might discern the missing waterway. Night fellupon us before we reached our goal, and, almost fainting from wearinessand weakness, we lay down and slept.

  I was awakened early in the morning by some huge body pressing close tomine, and opening my eyes with a start I beheld my blessed old Woolasnuggling close to me; the faithful brute had followed us across thattrackless waste to share our fate, whatever it might be. Putting myarms about his neck I pressed my cheek close to his, nor am I ashamedthat I did it, nor of the tears that came to my eyes as I thought ofhis love for me. Shortly after this Dejah Thoris and Sola awakened,and it was decided that we push on at once in an effort to gain thehills.

  We had gone scarcely a mile when I noticed that my thoat was commencingto stumble and stagger in a most pitiful manner, although we had notattempted to force them out of a walk since about noon of the precedingday. Suddenly he lurched wildly to one side and pitched violently tothe ground. Dejah Thoris and I were thrown clear of him and fell uponthe soft moss with scarcely a jar; but the poor beast was in a pitiablecondition, not even being able to rise, although relieved of ourweight. Sola told me that the coolness of the night, when it fell,together with the rest would doubtless revive him, and so I decided notto kill him, as was my first intention, as I had thought it cruel toleave him alone there to die of hunger and thirst. Relieving him ofhis trappings, which I flung down beside him, we left the poor fellowto his fate, and pushed on with the one thoat as best we could. Solaand I walked, making Dejah Thoris ride, much against her will. In thisway we had progressed to within about a mile of the hills we wereendeavoring to reach when Dejah Thoris, from her point of vantage uponthe thoat, cried out that she saw a great party of mounted men filingdown from a pass in the hills several miles away. Sola and I bothlooked in the direction she indicated, and there, plainly discernible,were several hundred mounted warriors. They seemed to be headed in asouthwesterly direction, which would take them away from us.

  They doubtless were Thark warriors who had been sent out to capture us,and we breathed a great sigh of relief that they were traveling in theopposite direction. Quickly lifting Dejah Thoris from the thoat, Icommanded the animal to lie down and we three did the same, presentingas small an object as possible for fear of attracting the attention ofthe warriors toward us.

  We could see them as they filed out of the pass, just for an instant,before they were lost to view behind a friendly ridge; to us a mostprovidential ridge; since, had they been in view for any great lengthof time, they scarcely could have failed to discover us. As whatproved to be the last warrior came into view from the pass, he haltedand, to our consternation, threw his small but powerful fieldglass tohis eye and scanned the sea bottom in all directions. Evidently he wasa chieftain, for in certain marching formations among the green men achieftain brings up the extreme rear of the column. As his glass swungtoward us our hearts stopped in our breasts, and I could feel the coldsweat start from every pore in my body.

  Presently it swung full upon us and--stopped. The tension on ournerves was near the breaking point, and I doubt if any of us breathedfor the few moments he held us covered by his glass; and then helowered it and we could see him shout a command to the warriors who hadpassed from our sight behind the ridge. He did not wait for them tojoin him, however, instead he wheeled his thoat and came tearing madlyin our direction.

  There was but one slight chance and that we must take quickly. Raisingmy strange Martian rifle to my shoulder I sighted and touched thebutton which controlled the trigger; there was a sharp explosion as themissile reached its goal, and the charging chieftain pitched backwardfrom his flying mount.

  Springing to my feet I urged the thoat to rise, and directed Sola totake Dejah Thoris with her upon him and make a mighty effort to reachthe hills before the green warriors were upon us. I knew that in theravines and gullies they might find a temporary hiding place, and eventhough they died there of hunger and thirst it would be better so thanthat they fell into the hands of the Tharks. Forcing my two revolversupon them as a slight means of protection, and, as a last resort, as anescape for themselves from the horrid death which recapture wouldsurely mean, I lifted Dejah Thoris in my arms and placed her upon thethoat behind Sola, who had already mounted at my command.

  "Good-bye, my princess," I whispered, "we may meet in Helium yet. Ihave escaped from worse plights than this," and I tried to smile as Ilied.

  "What," she cried, "are you not coming with us?"

  "How may I, Dejah Thoris? Someone must hold these fellows off for awhile, and I can better escape them alone than could the three of ustogether."

  She sprang quickly from the thoat and, throwing her dear arms about myneck, turned to Sola, saying with quiet dignity: "Fly, Sola! DejahThoris remains to die with the man she loves."

  Those words are engraved upon my heart. Ah, gladly would I give up mylife a thousand times could I only hear them once again; but I couldnot then give even a second to the rapture of her sweet embrace, andpressing my lips to hers for the first time, I picked her up bodily andtossed her to her seat behind Sola again, commanding the latter inperemptory tones to hold her there by force, and then, slapping thethoat upon the flank, I saw them borne away; Dejah Thoris struggling tothe last to free herself from Sola's grasp.

  Turning, I beheld the green warriors mounting the ridge and looking fortheir chieftain. In a moment they saw him, and then me; but scarcelyhad they discovered me than I commenced firing, lying flat upon mybelly in the moss. I had an even hundred rounds in the magazine of myrifle, and another hundred in the belt at my back, and I kept up acontinuous stream of fire until I saw all of the warriors who had beenfirst to return from behind the ridge either dead or scurrying to cover.

  My respite was short-lived however, for soon the entire party,numbering some thousand men, came charging into view, racing madlytoward me. I fired until my rifle was empty and they were almost uponme, and then a glance showing me that Dejah Thoris and Sola haddisappeared among the hills, I sprang up, throwing down my useless gun,and started away in the direction opposite to that taken by Sola andher charge.

  If ever Martians had an exhibition of jumping, it was granted thoseastonished warriors on that day long years ago, but while it led themaway from Dejah Thoris it did not distract their attention fromendeavoring to capture me.

  They raced wildly after me until, finally, my foot struck a projectingpiece of quartz, and down I went sprawling upon the moss. As I lookedup they were upon me, and although I drew my long-sword in an attemptto sell my life as dearly as possible, it was soon over. I reeledbeneath their blows which fell upon me in perfect torrents; my headswam; all was black, and I went down beneath them to oblivion.