CHAPTER XV
FLIGHT AND PURSUIT
I could not have been unconscious more than a few seconds, and yet Iknow that I was unconscious, for the next thing I realized was that agrowing radiance was illuminating the corridor about me and the eyeswere gone.
I was unharmed except for a slight bruise upon my forehead where it hadstruck the stone flagging as I fell.
I sprang to my feet to ascertain the cause of the light. It came froma torch in the hand of one of a party of four green warriors, who werecoming rapidly down the corridor toward me. They had not yet seen me,and so I lost no time in slipping into the first intersecting corridorthat I could find. This time, however, I did not advance so far awayfrom the main corridor as on the other occasion that had resulted in mylosing Tars Tarkas and his guards.
The party came rapidly toward the opening of the passageway in which Icrouched against the wall. As they passed by I breathed a sigh ofrelief. I had not been discovered, and, best of all, the party was thesame that I had followed into the pits. It consisted of Tars Tarkasand his three guards.
I fell in behind them and soon we were at the cell in which the greatThark had been chained. Two of the warriors remained without while theman with the keys entered with the Thark to fasten his irons upon himonce more. The two outside started to stroll slowly in the directionof the spiral runway which led to the floors above, and in a momentwere lost to view beyond a turn in the corridor.
The torch had been stuck in a socket beside the door, so that its raysilluminated both the corridor and the cell at the same time. As I sawthe two warriors disappear I approached the entrance to the cell, witha well-defined plan already formulated.
While I disliked the thought of carrying out the thing that I haddecided upon, there seemed no alternative if Tars Tarkas and I were togo back together to my little camp in the hills.
Keeping near the wall, I came quite close to the door to Tars Tarkas'cell, and there I stood with my longsword above my head, grasped withboth hands, that I might bring it down in one quick cut upon the skullof the jailer as he emerged.
I dislike to dwell upon what followed after I heard the footsteps ofthe man as he approached the doorway. It is enough that within anotherminute or two, Tars Tarkas, wearing the metal of a Warhoon chief, washurrying down the corridor toward the spiral runway, bearing theWarhoon's torch to light his way. A dozen paces behind him followedJohn Carter, Prince of Helium.
The two companions of the man who lay now beside the door of the cellthat had been Tars Tarkas' had just started to ascend the runway as theThark came in view.
"Why so long, Tan Gama?" cried one of the men.
"I had trouble with a lock," replied Tars Tarkas. "And now I find thatI have left my short-sword in the Thark's cell. Go you on, I'll returnand fetch it."
"As you will, Tan Gama," replied he who had before spoken. "We shallsee you above directly."
"Yes," replied Tars Tarkas, and turned as though to retrace his stepsto the cell, but he only waited until the two had disappeared at thefloor above. Then I joined him, we extinguished the torch, andtogether we crept toward the spiral incline that led to the upperfloors of the building.
At the first floor we found that the hallway ran but halfway through,necessitating the crossing of a rear room full of green folk, ere wecould reach the inner courtyard, so there was but one thing left for usto do, and that was to gain the second floor and the hallway throughwhich I had traversed the length of the building.
Cautiously we ascended. We could hear the sounds of conversationcoming from the room above, but the hall still was unlighted, nor wasany one in sight as we gained the top of the runway. Together wethreaded the long hall and reached the balcony overlooking thecourtyard, without being detected.
At our right was the window letting into the room in which I had seenTan Gama and the other warriors as they started to Tars Tarkas' cellearlier in the evening. His companions had returned here, and we nowoverheard a portion of their conversation.
"What can be detaining Tan Gama?" asked one.
"He certainly could not be all this time fetching his shortsword fromthe Thark's cell," spoke another.
"His short-sword?" asked a woman. "What mean you?"
"Tan Gama left his short-sword in the Thark's cell," explained thefirst speaker, "and left us at the runway, to return and get it."
"Tan Gama wore no short-sword this night," said the woman. "It wasbroken in to-day's battle with the Thark, and Tan Gama gave it to me torepair. See, I have it here," and as she spoke she drew Tan Gama'sshort-sword from beneath her sleeping silks and furs.
The warriors sprang to their feet.
"There is something amiss here," cried one.
"'Tis even what I myself thought when Tan Gama left us at the runway,"said another. "Methought then that his voice sounded strangely."
"Come! let us hasten to the pits."
We waited to hear no more. Slinging my harness into a long singlestrap, I lowered Tars Tarkas to the courtyard beneath, and an instantlater dropped to his side.
We had spoken scarcely a dozen words since I had felled Tan Gama at thecell door and seen in the torch's light the expression of utterbewilderment upon the great Thark's face.
"By this time," he had said, "I should have learned to wonder atnothing which John Carter accomplishes." That was all. He did notneed to tell me that he appreciated the friendship which had promptedme to risk my life to rescue him, nor did he need to say that he wasglad to see me.
This fierce green warrior had been the first to greet me that day, nowtwenty years gone, which had witnessed my first advent upon Mars. Hehad met me with levelled spear and cruel hatred in his heart as hecharged down upon me, bending low at the side of his mighty thoat as Istood beside the incubator of his horde upon the dead sea bottom beyondKorad. And now among the inhabitants of two worlds I counted none abetter friend than Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of the Tharks.
As we reached the courtyard we stood in the shadows beneath the balconyfor a moment to discuss our plans.
"There be five now in the party, Tars Tarkas," I said; "Thuvia, Xodar,Carthoris, and ourselves. We shall need five thoats to bear us."
"Carthoris!" he cried. "Your son?"
"Yes. I found him in the prison of Shador, on the Sea of Omean, in theland of the First Born."
"I know not any of these places, John Carter. Be they upon Barsoom?"
"Upon and below, my friend; but wait until we shall have made good ourescape, and you shall hear the strangest narrative that ever aBarsoomian of the outer world gave ear to. Now we must steal ourthoats and be well away to the north before these fellows discover howwe have tricked them."
In safety we reached the great gates at the far end of the courtyard,through which it was necessary to take our thoats to the avenue beyond.It is no easy matter to handle five of these great, fierce beasts,which by nature are as wild and ferocious as their masters and held insubjection by cruelty and brute force alone.
As we approached them they sniffed our unfamiliar scent and withsqueals of rage circled about us. Their long, massive necks uprearedraised their great, gaping mouths high above our heads. They arefearsome appearing brutes at best, but when they are aroused they arefully as dangerous as they look. The thoat stands a good ten feet atthe shoulder. His hide is sleek and hairless, and of a dark slatecolour on back and sides, shading down his eight legs to a vivid yellowat the huge, padded, nailless feet; the belly is pure white. A broad,flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, completes the picture ofthis ferocious green Martian mount--a fit war steed for these warlikepeople.
As the thoats are guided by telepathic means alone, there is no needfor rein or bridle, and so our object now was to find two that wouldobey our unspoken commands. As they charged about us we succeeded inmastering them sufficiently to prevent any concerted attack upon us,but the din of their squealing was certain to bring investigatingwarriors into the courtyard were it to contin
ue much longer.
At length I was successful in reaching the side of one great brute, andere he knew what I was about I was firmly seated astride his glossyback. A moment later Tars Tarkas had caught and mounted another, andthen between us we herded three or four more toward the great gates.
Tars Tarkas rode ahead and, leaning down to the latch, threw thebarriers open, while I held the loose thoats from breaking back to theherd. Then together we rode through into the avenue with our stolenmounts and, without waiting to close the gates, hurried off toward thesouthern boundary of the city.
Thus far our escape had been little short of marvellous, nor did ourgood fortune desert us, for we passed the outer purlieus of the deadcity and came to our camp without hearing even the faintest sound ofpursuit.
Here a low whistle, the prearranged signal, apprised the balance of ourparty that I was returning, and we were met by the three with everymanifestation of enthusiastic rejoicing.
But little time was wasted in narration of our adventure. Tars Tarkasand Carthoris exchanged the dignified and formal greetings common uponBarsoom, but I could tell intuitively that the Thark loved my boy andthat Carthoris reciprocated his affection.
Xodar and the green Jeddak were formally presented to each other. ThenThuvia was lifted to the least fractious thoat, Xodar and Carthorismounted two others, and we set out at a rapid pace toward the east. Atthe far extremity of the city we circled toward the north, and underthe glorious rays of the two moons we sped noiselessly across the deadsea bottom, away from the Warhoons and the First Born, but to what newdangers and adventures we knew not.
Toward noon of the following day we halted to rest our mounts andourselves. The beasts we hobbled, that they might move slowly aboutcropping the ochre moss-like vegetation which constitutes both food anddrink for them on the march. Thuvia volunteered to remain on watchwhile the balance of the party slept for an hour.
It seemed to me that I had but closed my eyes when I felt her hand uponmy shoulder and heard her soft voice warning me of a new danger.
"Arise, O Prince," she whispered. "There be that behind us which hasthe appearance of a great body of pursuers."
The girl stood pointing in the direction from whence we had come, andas I arose and looked, I, too, thought that I could detect a thin darkline on the far horizon. I awoke the others. Tars Tarkas, whose giantstature towered high above the rest of us, could see the farthest.
"It is a great body of mounted men," he said, "and they are travellingat high speed."
There was no time to be lost. We sprang to our hobbled thoats, freedthem, and mounted. Then we turned our faces once more toward the northand took our flight again at the highest speed of our slowest beast.
For the balance of the day and all the following night we raced acrossthat ochre wilderness with the pursuers at our back ever gaining uponus. Slowly but surely they were lessening the distance between us.Just before dark they had been close enough for us to plainlydistinguish that they were green Martians, and all during the longnight we distinctly heard the clanking of their accoutrements behind us.
As the sun rose on the second day of our flight it disclosed thepursuing horde not a half-mile in our rear. As they saw us a fiendishshout of triumph rose from their ranks.
Several miles in advance lay a range of hills--the farther shore of thedead sea we had been crossing. Could we but reach these hills ourchances of escape would be greatly enhanced, but Thuvia's mount,although carrying the lightest burden, already was showing signs ofexhaustion. I was riding beside her when suddenly her animal staggeredand lurched against mine. I saw that he was going down, but ere hefell I snatched the girl from his back and swung her to a place upon myown thoat, behind me, where she clung with her arms about me.
This double burden soon proved too much for my already overtaxed beast,and thus our speed was terribly diminished, for the others wouldproceed no faster than the slowest of us could go. In that littleparty there was not one who would desert another; yet we were ofdifferent countries, different colours, different races, differentreligions--and one of us was of a different world.
We were quite close to the hills, but the Warhoons were gaining sorapidly that we had given up all hope of reaching them in time. Thuviaand I were in the rear, for our beast was lagging more and more.Suddenly I felt the girl's warm lips press a kiss upon my shoulder."For thy sake, O my Prince," she murmured. Then her arms slipped fromabout my waist and she was gone.
I turned and saw that she had deliberately slipped to the ground in thevery path of the cruel demons who pursued us, thinking that bylightening the burden of my mount it might thus be enabled to bear meto the safety of the hills. Poor child! She should have known JohnCarter better than that.
Turning my thoat, I urged him after her, hoping to reach her side andbear her on again in our hopeless flight. Carthoris must have glancedbehind him at about the same time and taken in the situation, for bythe time I had reached Thuvia's side he was there also, and, springingfrom his mount, he threw her upon its back and, turning the animal'shead toward the hills, gave the beast a sharp crack across the rumpwith the flat of his sword. Then he attempted to do the same with mine.
The brave boy's act of chivalrous self-sacrifice filled me with pride,nor did I care that it had wrested from us our last frail chance forescape. The Warhoons were now close upon us. Tars Tarkas and Xodarhad discovered our absence and were charging rapidly to our support.Everything pointed toward a splendid ending of my second journey toBarsoom. I hated to go out without having seen my divine Princess, andheld her in my arms once again; but if it were not writ upon the bookof Fate that such was to be, then would I take the most that was comingto me, and in these last few moments that were to be vouchsafed mebefore I passed over into that unguessed future I could at least givesuch an account of myself in my chosen vocation as would leave theWarhoons of the South food for discourse for the next twentygenerations.
As Carthoris was not mounted, I slipped from the back of my own mountand took my place at his side to meet the charge of the howling devilsbearing down upon us. A moment later Tars Tarkas and Xodar rangedthemselves on either hand, turning their thoats loose that we might allbe on an equal footing.
The Warhoons were perhaps a hundred yards from us when a loud explosionsounded from above and behind us, and almost at the same instant ashell burst in their advancing ranks. At once all was confusion. Ahundred warriors toppled to the ground. Riderless thoats plungedhither and thither among the dead and dying. Dismounted warriors weretrampled underfoot in the stampede which followed. All semblance oforder had left the ranks of the green men, and as they looked far aboveour heads to trace the origin of this unexpected attack, disorderturned to retreat and retreat to a wild panic. In another moment theywere racing as madly away from us as they had before been charging downupon us.
We turned to look in the direction from whence the first report hadcome, and there we saw, just clearing the tops of the nearer hills, agreat battleship swinging majestically through the air. Her bow gunspoke again even as we looked, and another shell burst among thefleeing Warhoons.
As she drew nearer I could not repress a wild cry of elation, for uponher bows I saw the device of Helium.