CHAPTER XXIV
TARS TARKAS FINDS A FRIEND
About noon I passed low over a great dead city of ancient Mars, and asI skimmed out across the plain beyond I came full upon several thousandgreen warriors engaged in a terrific battle. Scarcely had I seen themthan a volley of shots was directed at me, and with the almostunfailing accuracy of their aim my little craft was instantly a ruinedwreck, sinking erratically to the ground.
I fell almost directly in the center of the fierce combat, amongwarriors who had not seen my approach so busily were they engaged inlife and death struggles. The men were fighting on foot withlong-swords, while an occasional shot from a sharpshooter on theoutskirts of the conflict would bring down a warrior who might for aninstant separate himself from the entangled mass.
As my machine sank among them I realized that it was fight or die, withgood chances of dying in any event, and so I struck the ground withdrawn long-sword ready to defend myself as I could.
I fell beside a huge monster who was engaged with three antagonists,and as I glanced at his fierce face, filled with the light of battle, Irecognized Tars Tarkas the Thark. He did not see me, as I was a triflebehind him, and just then the three warriors opposing him, and whom Irecognized as Warhoons, charged simultaneously. The mighty fellow madequick work of one of them, but in stepping back for another thrust hefell over a dead body behind him and was down and at the mercy of hisfoes in an instant. Quick as lightning they were upon him, and TarsTarkas would have been gathered to his fathers in short order had I notsprung before his prostrate form and engaged his adversaries. I hadaccounted for one of them when the mighty Thark regained his feet andquickly settled the other.
He gave me one look, and a slight smile touched his grim lip as,touching my shoulder, he said,
"I would scarcely recognize you, John Carter, but there is no othermortal upon Barsoom who would have done what you have for me. I thinkI have learned that there is such a thing as friendship, my friend."
He said no more, nor was there opportunity, for the Warhoons wereclosing in about us, and together we fought, shoulder to shoulder,during all that long, hot afternoon, until the tide of battle turnedand the remnant of the fierce Warhoon horde fell back upon theirthoats, and fled into the gathering darkness.
Ten thousand men had been engaged in that titanic struggle, and uponthe field of battle lay three thousand dead. Neither side asked orgave quarter, nor did they attempt to take prisoners.
On our return to the city after the battle we had gone directly to TarsTarkas' quarters, where I was left alone while the chieftain attendedthe customary council which immediately follows an engagement.
As I sat awaiting the return of the green warrior I heard somethingmove in an adjoining apartment, and as I glanced up there rushedsuddenly upon me a huge and hideous creature which bore me backwardupon the pile of silks and furs upon which I had been reclining. Itwas Woola--faithful, loving Woola. He had found his way back to Tharkand, as Tars Tarkas later told me, had gone immediately to my formerquarters where he had taken up his pathetic and seemingly hopelesswatch for my return.
"Tal Hajus knows that you are here, John Carter," said Tars Tarkas, onhis return from the jeddak's quarters; "Sarkoja saw and recognized youas we were returning. Tal Hajus has ordered me to bring you before himtonight. I have ten thoats, John Carter; you may take your choice fromamong them, and I will accompany you to the nearest waterway that leadsto Helium. Tars Tarkas may be a cruel green warrior, but he can be afriend as well. Come, we must start."
"And when you return, Tars Tarkas?" I asked.
"The wild calots, possibly, or worse," he replied. "Unless I shouldchance to have the opportunity I have so long waited of battling withTal Hajus."
"We will stay, Tars Tarkas, and see Tal Hajus tonight. You shall notsacrifice yourself, and it may be that tonight you can have the chanceyou wait."
He objected strenuously, saying that Tal Hajus often flew into wildfits of passion at the mere thought of the blow I had dealt him, andthat if ever he laid his hands upon me I would be subjected to the mosthorrible tortures.
While we were eating I repeated to Tars Tarkas the story which Sola hadtold me that night upon the sea bottom during the march to Thark.
He said but little, but the great muscles of his face worked in passionand in agony at recollection of the horrors which had been heaped uponthe only thing he had ever loved in all his cold, cruel, terribleexistence.
He no longer demurred when I suggested that we go before Tal Hajus,only saying that he would like to speak to Sarkoja first. At hisrequest I accompanied him to her quarters, and the look of venomoushatred she cast upon me was almost adequate recompense for any futuremisfortunes this accidental return to Thark might bring me.
"Sarkoja," said Tars Tarkas, "forty years ago you were instrumental inbringing about the torture and death of a woman named Gozava. I havejust discovered that the warrior who loved that woman has learned ofyour part in the transaction. He may not kill you, Sarkoja, it is notour custom, but there is nothing to prevent him tying one end of astrap about your neck and the other end to a wild thoat, merely to testyour fitness to survive and help perpetuate our race. Having heardthat he would do this on the morrow, I thought it only right to warnyou, for I am a just man. The river Iss is but a short pilgrimage,Sarkoja. Come, John Carter."
The next morning Sarkoja was gone, nor was she ever seen after.
In silence we hastened to the jeddak's palace, where we wereimmediately admitted to his presence; in fact, he could scarcely waitto see me and was standing erect upon his platform glowering at theentrance as I came in.
"Strap him to that pillar," he shrieked. "We shall see who it is daresstrike the mighty Tal Hajus. Heat the irons; with my own hands I shallburn the eyes from his head that he may not pollute my person with hisvile gaze."
"Chieftains of Thark," I cried, turning to the assembled council andignoring Tal Hajus, "I have been a chief among you, and today I havefought for Thark shoulder to shoulder with her greatest warrior. Youowe me, at least, a hearing. I have won that much today. You claim tobe a just people--"
"Silence," roared Tal Hajus. "Gag the creature and bind him as Icommand."
"Justice, Tal Hajus," exclaimed Lorquas Ptomel. "Who are you to setaside the customs of ages among the Tharks."
"Yes, justice!" echoed a dozen voices, and so, while Tal Hajus fumedand frothed, I continued.
"You are a brave people and you love bravery, but where was your mightyjeddak during the fighting today? I did not see him in the thick ofbattle; he was not there. He rends defenseless women and littlechildren in his lair, but how recently has one of you seen him fightwith men? Why, even I, a midget beside him, felled him with a singleblow of my fist. Is it of such that the Tharks fashion their jeddaks?There stands beside me now a great Thark, a mighty warrior and a nobleman. Chieftains, how sounds, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark?"
A roar of deep-toned applause greeted this suggestion.
"It but remains for this council to command, and Tal Hajus must provehis fitness to rule. Were he a brave man he would invite Tars Tarkasto combat, for he does not love him, but Tal Hajus is afraid; TalHajus, your jeddak, is a coward. With my bare hands I could kill him,and he knows it."
After I ceased there was tense silence, as all eyes were riveted uponTal Hajus. He did not speak or move, but the blotchy green of hiscountenance turned livid, and the froth froze upon his lips.
"Tal Hajus," said Lorquas Ptomel in a cold, hard voice, "never in mylong life have I seen a jeddak of the Tharks so humiliated. Therecould be but one answer to this arraignment. We wait it." And stillTal Hajus stood as though petrified.
"Chieftains," continued Lorquas Ptomel, "shall the jeddak, Tal Hajus,prove his fitness to rule over Tars Tarkas?"
There were twenty chieftains about the rostrum, and twenty swordsflashed high in assent.
There was no alternative. That decree was final, and so Tal Hajus drew
his long-sword and advanced to meet Tars Tarkas.
The combat was soon over, and, with his foot upon the neck of the deadmonster, Tars Tarkas became jeddak among the Tharks.
His first act was to make me a full-fledged chieftain with the rank Ihad won by my combats the first few weeks of my captivity among them.
Seeing the favorable disposition of the warriors toward Tars Tarkas, aswell as toward me, I grasped the opportunity to enlist them in my causeagainst Zodanga. I told Tars Tarkas the story of my adventures, and ina few words had explained to him the thought I had in mind.
"John Carter has made a proposal," he said, addressing the council,"which meets with my sanction. I shall put it to you briefly. DejahThoris, the Princess of Helium, who was our prisoner, is now held bythe jeddak of Zodanga, whose son she must wed to save her country fromdevastation at the hands of the Zodangan forces.
"John Carter suggests that we rescue her and return her to Helium. Theloot of Zodanga would be magnificent, and I have often thought that hadwe an alliance with the people of Helium we could obtain sufficientassurance of sustenance to permit us to increase the size and frequencyof our hatchings, and thus become unquestionably supreme among thegreen men of all Barsoom. What say you?"
It was a chance to fight, an opportunity to loot, and they rose to thebait as a speckled trout to a fly.
For Tharks they were wildly enthusiastic, and before another half hourhad passed twenty mounted messengers were speeding across dead seabottoms to call the hordes together for the expedition.
In three days we were on the march toward Zodanga, one hundred thousandstrong, as Tars Tarkas had been able to enlist the services of threesmaller hordes on the promise of the great loot of Zodanga.
At the head of the column I rode beside the great Thark while at theheels of my mount trotted my beloved Woola.
We traveled entirely by night, timing our marches so that we campedduring the day at deserted cities where, even to the beasts, we wereall kept indoors during the daylight hours. On the march Tars Tarkas,through his remarkable ability and statesmanship, enlisted fiftythousand more warriors from various hordes, so that, ten days after weset out we halted at midnight outside the great walled city of Zodanga,one hundred and fifty thousand strong.
The fighting strength and efficiency of this horde of ferocious greenmonsters was equivalent to ten times their number of red men. Never inthe history of Barsoom, Tars Tarkas told me, had such a force of greenwarriors marched to battle together. It was a monstrous task to keepeven a semblance of harmony among them, and it was a marvel to me thathe got them to the city without a mighty battle among themselves.
But as we neared Zodanga their personal quarrels were submerged bytheir greater hatred for the red men, and especially for the Zodangans,who had for years waged a ruthless campaign of extermination againstthe green men, directing special attention toward despoiling theirincubators.
Now that we were before Zodanga the task of obtaining entry to the citydevolved upon me, and directing Tars Tarkas to hold his forces in twodivisions out of earshot of the city, with each division opposite alarge gateway, I took twenty dismounted warriors and approached one ofthe small gates that pierced the walls at short intervals. These gateshave no regular guard, but are covered by sentries, who patrol theavenue that encircles the city just within the walls as ourmetropolitan police patrol their beats.
The walls of Zodanga are seventy-five feet in height and fifty feetthick. They are built of enormous blocks of carborundum, and the taskof entering the city seemed, to my escort of green warriors, animpossibility. The fellows who had been detailed to accompany me wereof one of the smaller hordes, and therefore did not know me.
Placing three of them with their faces to the wall and arms locked, Icommanded two more to mount to their shoulders, and a sixth I orderedto climb upon the shoulders of the upper two. The head of the topmostwarrior towered over forty feet from the ground.
In this way, with ten warriors, I built a series of three steps fromthe ground to the shoulders of the topmost man. Then starting from ashort distance behind them I ran swiftly up from one tier to the next,and with a final bound from the broad shoulders of the highest Iclutched the top of the great wall and quietly drew myself to its broadexpanse. After me I dragged six lengths of leather from an equalnumber of my warriors. These lengths we had previously fastenedtogether, and passing one end to the topmost warrior I lowered theother end cautiously over the opposite side of the wall toward theavenue below. No one was in sight, so, lowering myself to the end ofmy leather strap, I dropped the remaining thirty feet to the pavementbelow.
I had learned from Kantos Kan the secret of opening these gates, and inanother moment my twenty great fighting men stood within the doomedcity of Zodanga.
I found to my delight that I had entered at the lower boundary of theenormous palace grounds. The building itself showed in the distance ablaze of glorious light, and on the instant I determined to lead adetachment of warriors directly within the palace itself, while thebalance of the great horde was attacking the barracks of the soldiery.
Dispatching one of my men to Tars Tarkas for a detail of fifty Tharks,with word of my intentions, I ordered ten warriors to capture and openone of the great gates while with the nine remaining I took the other.We were to do our work quietly, no shots were to be fired and nogeneral advance made until I had reached the palace with my fiftyTharks. Our plans worked to perfection. The two sentries we met weredispatched to their fathers upon the banks of the lost sea of Korus,and the guards at both gates followed them in silence.