A Princess of Mars Rethroned
CHAPTER VI
A FIGHT THAT WON FRIENDS
The thing, which more nearly resembled our earthly women than it did the Martians I had seen, held me pinioned to the ground with one huge foot, while it jabbered and gesticulated at some answering creature behind me. This other, which was evidently its mate, soon came toward us, bearing a mighty stone cudgel with which it evidently intended to brain me.
The creatures were about ten or fifteen feet tall, standing erect, and had, like the green Martians, an intermediary set of arms or legs, midway between their upper and lower limbs. Their eyes were close together and non-protruding; their ears were high set, but more laterally located than those of the Martians, while their snouts and teeth were strikingly like those of our African gorilla. Altogether they were not unlovely when viewed in comparison with the green Martians.
The cudgel was swinging in the arc which ended upon my upturned face when a bolt of myriad-legged horror hurled itself through the doorway full upon the breast of my executioner. With a shriek of fear the ape which held me leaped through the open window, but its mate closed in a terrific death struggle with my preserver, which was nothing less than my faithful watch-thing; I cannot bring myself to call so hideous a creature a dog.
As quickly as possible I gained my feet and backing against the wall I witnessed such a battle as it is vouchsafed few beings to see. The strength, agility, and blind ferocity of these two creatures is approached by nothing known to earthly woman. My beast had an advantage in her first hold, having sunk her mighty fangs far into the breast of her adversary; but the great arms and paws of the ape, backed by muscles far transcending those of the Martian women I had seen, had locked the throat of my guardian and slowly were choking out her life, and bending back her head and neck upon her body, where I momentarily expected the former to fall limp at the end of a broken neck.
In accomplishing this the ape was tearing away the entire front of its breast, which was held in the vise-like grip of the powerful jaws. Back and forth upon the floor they rolled, neither one emitting a sound of fear or pain. Presently I saw the great eyes of my beast bulging completely from their sockets and blood flowing from its nostrils. That she was weakening perceptibly was evident, but so also was the ape, whose struggles were growing momentarily less.
Suddenly I came to myself and, with that strange instinct which seems ever to prompt me to my duty, I seized the cudgel, which had fallen to the floor at the commencement of the battle, and swinging it with all the power of my earthly arms I crashed it full upon the head of the ape, crushing her skull as though it had been an eggshell.
Scarcely had the blow descended when I was confronted with a new danger. The ape's mate, recovered from its first shock of terror, had returned to the scene of the encounter by way of the interior of the building. I glimpsed her just before she reached the doorway and the sight of her, now roaring as she perceived her lifeless fellow stretched upon the floor, and frothing at the mouth, in the extremity of her rage, filled me, I must confess, with dire forebodings.
I am ever willing to stand and fight when the odds are not too overwhelmingly against me, but in this instance I perceived neither glory nor profit in pitting my relatively puny strength against the iron muscles and brutal ferocity of this enraged denizen of an unknown world; in fact, the only outcome of such an encounter, so far as I might be concerned, seemed sudden death.
I was standing near the window and I knew that once in the street I might gain the plaza and safety before the creature could overtake me; at least there was a chance for safety in flight, against almost certain death should I remain and fight however desperately.
It is true I held the cudgel, but what could I do with it against her four great arms? Even should I break one of them with my first blow, for I figured that she would attempt to ward off the cudgel, she could reach out and annihilate me with the others before I could recover for a second attack.
In the instant that these thoughts passed through my mind I had turned to make for the window, but my eyes alighting on the form of my erstwhile guardian threw all thoughts of flight to the four winds. She lay gasping upon the floor of the chamber, her great eyes fastened upon me in what seemed a pitiful appeal for protection. I could not withstand that look, nor could I, on second thought, have deserted my rescuer without giving as good an account of myself in her behalf as she had in mine.
Without more ado, therefore, I turned to meet the charge of the infuriated bull ape. She was now too close upon me for the cudgel to prove of any effective assistance, so I merely threw it as heavily as I could at her advancing bulk. It struck her just below the knees, eliciting a howl of pain and rage, and so throwing her off her balance that she lunged full upon me with arms wide stretched to ease her fall.
Again, as on the preceding day, I had recourse to earthly tactics, and swinging my right fist full upon the point of her chin I followed it with a smashing left to the pit of her stomach. The effect was marvelous, for, as I lightly sidestepped, after delivering the second blow, she reeled and fell upon the floor doubled up with pain and gasping for wind. Leaping over her prostrate body, I seized the cudgel and finished the monster before she could regain her feet.
As I delivered the blow a low laugh rang out behind me, and, turning, I beheld Tara Tarkas, Solan, and three or four warriors standing in the doorway of the chamber. As my eyes met theirs I was, for the second time, the recipient of their zealously guarded applause.
My absence had been noted by Solan on his awakening, and he had quickly informed Tara Tarkas, who had set out immediately with a handful of warriors to search for me. As they had approached the limits of the city they had witnessed the actions of the bull ape as she bolted into the building, frothing with rage.
They had followed immediately behind her, thinking it barely possible that her actions might prove a clew to my whereabouts and had witnessed my short but decisive battle with her. This encounter, together with my set-to with the Martian warrior on the previous day and my feats of jumping placed me upon a high pinnacle in their regard. Evidently devoid of all the finer sentiments of friendship, love, or affection, these people fairly worship physical prowess and bravery, and nothing is too good for the object of their adoration as long as she maintains her position by repeated examples of her skill, strength, and courage.
Solan, who had accompanied the searching party of his own volition, was the only one of the Martians whose face had not been twisted in laughter as I battled for my life. He, on the contrary, was sober with apparent solicitude and, as soon as I had finished the monster, rushed to me and carefully examined my body for possible wounds or injuries. Satisfying himself that I had come off unscathed he smiled quietly, and, taking my hand, started toward the door of the chamber.
Tara Tarkas and the other warriors had entered and were standing over the now rapidly reviving brute which had saved my life, and whose life I, in turn, had rescued. They seemed to be deep in argument, and finally one of them addressed me, but remembering my ignorance of her language turned back to Tara Tarkas, who, with a word and gesture, gave some command to the fellow and turned to follow us from the room.
There seemed something menacing in their attitude toward my beast, and I hesitated to leave until I had learned the outcome. It was well I did so, for the warrior drew an evil looking pistol from its holster and was on the point of putting an end to the creature when I sprang forward and struck up her arm. The bullet striking the wooden casing of the window exploded, blowing a hole completely through the wood and masonry.
I then knelt down beside the fearsome-looking thing, and raising it to its feet motioned for it to follow me. The looks of surprise which my actions elicited from the Martians were ludicrous; they could not understand, except in a feeble and childish way, such attributes as gratitude and compassion. The warrior whose gun I had struck up looked enquiringly at Tara Tarkas, but the latter signed that I be left to my own devices, and so we returned to the plaza with my great beast following cl
ose at heel, and Solan grasping me tightly by the arm.
I had at least two friends on Mars; a young man who watched over me with motherly solicitude, and a dumb brute which, as I later came to know, held in its poor ugly carcass more love, more loyalty, more gratitude than could have been found in the entire five million green Martians who rove the deserted cities and dead sea bottoms of Mars.