In Durance

: Warlord Of Mars

The public houses of Barsoom, I have found, vary but little. There

is no privacy for other than married couples.



Men without their wives are escorted to a large chamber, the floor

of which is usually of white marble or heavy glass, kept scrupulously

clean. Here are many small, raised platforms for the guest's sleeping

silks and furs, and if he have none of his own clean, fresh ones

are furnished at a no
inal charge.



Once a man's belongings have been deposited upon one of these

platforms he is a guest of the house, and that platform his own

until he leaves. No one will disturb or molest his belongings, as

there are no thieves upon Mars.



As assassination is the one thing to be feared, the proprietors

of the hostelries furnish armed guards, who pace back and forth

through the sleeping-rooms day and night. The number of guards and

gorgeousness of their trappings quite usually denote the status of

the hotel.



No meals are served in these houses, but generally a public eating

place adjoins them. Baths are connected with the sleeping chambers,

and each guest is required to bathe daily or depart from the hotel.



Usually on a second or third floor there is a large sleeping-room

for single women guests, but its appointments do not vary materially

from the chamber occupied by men. The guards who watch the women

remain in the corridor outside the sleeping chamber, while female

slaves pace back and forth among the sleepers within, ready to

notify the warriors should their presence be required.



I was surprised to note that all the guards with the hotel at which

we stopped were red men, and on inquiring of one of them I learned

that they were slaves purchased by the proprietors of the hotels from

the government. The man whose post was past my sleeping platform

had been commander of the navy of a great Martian nation; but fate

had carried his flagship across the ice-barrier within the radius

of power of the magnetic shaft, and now for many tedious years he

had been a slave of the yellow men.



He told me that princes, jeds, and even jeddaks of the outer

world, were among the menials who served the yellow race; but when

I asked him if he had heard of the fate of Mors Kajak or Tardos Mors

he shook his head, saying that he never had heard of their being

prisoners here, though he was very familiar with the reputations

and fame they bore in the outer world.



Neither had he heard any rumor of the coming of the Father of Therns

and the black dator of the First Born, but he hastened to explain

that he knew little of what took place within the palace. I could

see that he wondered not a little that a yellow man should be so

inquisitive about certain red prisoners from beyond the ice-barrier,

and that I should be so ignorant of customs and conditions among

my own race.



In fact, I had forgotten my disguise upon discovering a red man

pacing before my sleeping platform; but his growing expression of

surprise warned me in time, for I had no mind to reveal my identity

to any unless some good could come of it, and I did not see how

this poor fellow could serve me yet, though I had it in my mind

that later I might be the means of serving him and all the other

thousands of prisoners who do the bidding of their stern masters

in Kadabra.



Thuvan Dihn and I discussed our plans as we sat together among our

sleeping silks and furs that night in the midst of the hundreds

of yellow men who occupied the apartment with us. We spoke in low

whispers, but, as that is only what courtesy demands in a public

sleeping place, we roused no suspicion.



At last, determining that all must be but idle speculation until

after we had had a chance to explore the city and attempt to put

into execution the plan Talu had suggested, we bade each other good

night and turned to sleep.



After breakfasting the following morning we set out to see Kadabra,

and as, through the generosity of the prince of Marentina, we were

well supplied with the funds current in Okar we purchased a handsome

ground flier. Having learned to drive them while in Marentina, we

spent a delightful and profitable day exploring the city, and late

in the afternoon at the hour Talu told us we would find government

officials in their offices, we stopped before a magnificent building

on the plaza opposite the royal grounds and the palace.



Here we walked boldly in past the armed guard at the door, to be

met by a red slave within who asked our wishes.



"Tell Sorav, your master, that two warriors from Illall wish to

take service in the palace guard," I said.



Sorav, Talu had told us, was the commander of the forces of the

palace, and as men from the further cities of Okar--and especially

Illall--were less likely to be tainted with the germ of intrigue

which had for years infected the household of Salensus Oll, he was

sure that we would be welcomed and few questions asked us.



He had primed us with such general information as he thought would

be necessary for us to pass muster before Sorav, after which we would

have to undergo a further examination before Salensus Oll that he

might determine our physical fitness and our ability as warriors.



The little experience we had had with the strange hooked sword of

the yellow man and his cuplike shield made it seem rather unlikely

that either of us could pass this final test, but there was the

chance that we might be quartered in the palace of Salensus Oll

for several days after being accepted by Sorav before the Jeddak

of Jeddaks would find time to put us to the final test.



After a wait of several minutes in an ante-chamber we were summoned

into the private office of Sorav, where we were courteously greeted

by this ferocious-appearing, black-bearded officer. He asked us

our names and stations in our own city, and having received replies

that were evidently satisfactory to him, he put certain questions

to us that Talu had foreseen and prepared us for.



The interview could not have lasted over ten minutes when Sorav

summoned an aid whom he instructed to record us properly, and then

escort us to the quarters in the palace which are set aside for

aspirants to membership in the palace guard.



The aid took us to his own office first, where he measured and

weighed and photographed us simultaneously with a machine ingeniously

devised for that purpose, five copies being instantly reproduced in

five different offices of the government, two of which are located

in other cities miles distant. Then he led us through the palace

grounds to the main guardroom of the palace, there turning us over

to the officer in charge.



This individual again questioned us briefly, and finally despatched

a soldier to guide us to our quarters. These we found located upon

the second floor of the palace in a semi-detached tower at the rear

of the edifice.



When we asked our guide why we were quartered so far from the

guardroom he replied that the custom of the older members of the

guard of picking quarrels with aspirants to try their metal had

resulted in so many deaths that it was found difficult to maintain

the guard at its full strength while this custom prevailed. Salensus

Oll had, therefore, set apart these quarters for aspirants, and here

they were securely locked against the danger of attack by members

of the guard.



This unwelcome information put a sudden check to all our well-laid

plans, for it meant that we should virtually be prisoners in the

palace of Salensus Oll until the time that he should see fit to

give us the final examination for efficiency.



As it was this interval upon which we had banked to accomplish

so much in our search for Dejah Thoris and Thuvia of Ptarth, our

chagrin was unbounded when we heard the great lock click behind our

guide as he had quitted us after ushering us into the chambers we

were to occupy.



With a wry face I turned to Thuvan Dihn. My companion but shook

his head disconsolately and walked to one of the windows upon the

far side of the apartment.



Scarcely had he gazed beyond them than he called to me in a tone

of suppressed excitement and surprise. In an instant I was by his

side.



"Look!" said Thuvan Dihn, pointing toward the courtyard below.



As my eyes followed the direction indicated I saw two women pacing

back and forth in an enclosed garden.



At the same moment I recognized them--they were Dejah Thoris and

Thuvia of Ptarth!



There were they whom I had trailed from one pole to another, the

length of a world. Only ten feet of space and a few metal bars

separated me from them.



With a cry I attracted their attention, and as Dejah Thoris looked

up full into my eyes I made the sign of love that the men of Barsoom

make to their women.



To my astonishment and horror her head went high, and as a look

of utter contempt touched her finely chiseled features she turned

her back full upon me. My body is covered with the scars of a

thousand conflicts, but never in all my long life have I suffered

such anguish from a wound, for this time the steel of a woman's

look had entered my heart.



With a groan I turned away and buried my face in my arms. I

heard Thuvan Dihn call aloud to Thuvia, but an instant later his

exclamation of surprise betokened that he, too, had been repulsed

by his own daughter.



"They will not even listen," he cried to me. "They have put their

hands over their ears and walked to the farther end of the garden.

Ever heard you of such mad work, John Carter? The two must be

bewitched."



Presently I mustered the courage to return to the window, for

even though she spurned me I loved her, and could not keep my eyes

from feasting upon her divine face and figure, but when she saw me

looking she again turned away.



I was at my wit's end to account for her strange actions, and that

Thuvia, too, had turned against her father seemed incredible. Could

it be that my incomparable princess still clung to the hideous faith

from which I had rescued her world? Could it be that she looked

upon me with loathing and contempt because I had returned from the

Valley Dor, or because I had desecrated the temples and persons of

the Holy Therns?



To naught else could I ascribe her strange deportment, yet it seemed

far from possible that such could be the case, for the love of

Dejah Thoris for John Carter had been a great and wondrous love--far

above racial distinctions, creed, or religion.



As I gazed ruefully at the back of her haughty, royal head a gate

at the opposite end of the garden opened and a man entered. As he

did so he turned and slipped something into the hand of the yellow

guardsman beyond the gate, nor was the distance too great that I

might not see that money had passed between them.



Instantly I knew that this newcomer had bribed his way within the

garden. Then he turned in the direction of the two women, and

I saw that he was none other than Thurid, the black dator of the

First Born.



He approached quite close to them before he spoke, and as they turned

at the sound of his voice I saw Dejah Thoris shrink from him.



There was a nasty leer upon his face as he stepped close to her

and spoke again. I could not hear his words, but her answer came

clearly.



"The granddaughter of Tardos Mors can always die," she said, "but

she could never live at the price you name."



Then I saw the black scoundrel go upon his knees beside her, fairly

groveling in the dirt, pleading with her. Only part of what he said

came to me, for though he was evidently laboring under the stress

of passion and excitement, it was equally apparent that he did not

dare raise his voice for fear of detection.



"I would save you from Matai Shang," I heard him say. "You know

the fate that awaits you at his hands. Would you not choose me

rather than the other?"



"I would choose neither," replied Dejah Thoris, "even were I free

to choose, as you know well I am not."



"You ARE free!" he cried. "John Carter, Prince of Helium, is dead."



"I know better than that; but even were he dead, and I must needs

choose another mate, it should be a plant man or a great white

ape in preference to either Matai Shang or you, black calot," she

answered with a sneer of contempt.



Of a sudden the vicious beast lost all control of himself, as with

a vile oath he leaped at the slender woman, gripping her tender

throat in his brute clutch. Thuvia screamed and sprang to aid her

fellow-prisoner, and at the same instant I, too, went mad, and

tearing at the bars that spanned my window I ripped them from their

sockets as they had been but copper wire.



Hurling myself through the aperture I reached the garden, but a

hundred feet from where the black was choking the life from my Dejah

Thoris, and with a single great bound I was upon him. I spoke no

word as I tore his defiling fingers from that beautiful throat,

nor did I utter a sound as I hurled him twenty feet from me.



Foaming with rage, Thurid regained his feet and charged me like a

mad bull.



"Yellow man," he shrieked, "you knew not upon whom you had laid

your vile hands, but ere I am done with you, you will know well

what it means to offend the person of a First Born."



Then he was upon me, reaching for my throat, and precisely as I had

done that day in the courtyard of the Temple of Issus I did here

in the garden of the palace of Salensus Oll. I ducked beneath his

outstretched arms, and as he lunged past me I planted a terrific

right upon the side of his jaw.



Just as he had done upon that other occasion he did now. Like a

top he spun round, his knees gave beneath him, and he crumpled to

the ground at my feet. Then I heard a voice behind me.



It was the deep voice of authority that marks the ruler of men,

and when I turned to face the resplendent figure of a giant yellow

man I did not need to ask to know that it was Salensus Oll. At

his right stood Matai Shang, and behind them a score of guardsmen.



"Who are you," he cried, "and what means this intrusion within the

precincts of the women's garden? I do not recall your face. How

came you here?"



But for his last words I should have forgotten my disguise entirely

and told him outright that I was John Carter, Prince of Helium;

but his question recalled me to myself. I pointed to the dislodged

bars of the window above.



"I am an aspirant to membership in the palace guard," I said, "and

from yonder window in the tower where I was confined awaiting the

final test for fitness I saw this brute attack the--this woman. I

could not stand idly by, O Jeddak, and see this thing done within

the very palace grounds, and yet feel that I was fit to serve and

guard your royal person."



I had evidently made an impression upon the ruler of Okar by my

fair words, and when he had turned to Dejah Thoris and Thuvia of

Ptarth, and both had corroborated my statements it began to look

pretty dark for Thurid.



I saw the ugly gleam in Matai Shang's evil eyes as Dejah Thoris

narrated all that had passed between Thurid and herself, and when

she came to that part which dealt with my interference with the

dator of the First Born her gratitude was quite apparent, though

I could see by her eyes that something puzzled her strangely.



I did not wonder at her attitude toward me while others were present;

but that she should have denied me while she and Thuvia were the

only occupants of the garden still cut me sorely.



As the examination proceeded I cast a glance at Thurid and startled

him looking wide-eyed and wonderingly at me, and then of a sudden

he laughed full in my face.



A moment later Salensus Oll turned toward the black.



"What have you to say in explanation of these charges?" he asked

in a deep and terrible voice. "Dare you aspire to one whom the

Father of Therns has chosen--one who might even be a fit mate for

the Jeddak of Jeddaks himself?"



And then the black-bearded tyrant turned and cast a sudden greedy

look upon Dejah Thoris, as though with the words a new thought and

a new desire had sprung up within his mind and breast.



Thurid had been about to reply and, with a malicious grin upon his

face, was pointing an accusing finger at me, when Salensus Oll's

words and the expression of his face cut him short.



A cunning look crept into his eyes, and I knew from the expression

of his face that his next words were not the ones he had intended

to speak.



"O Mightiest of Jeddaks," he said, "the man and the women do not

speak the truth. The fellow had come into the garden to assist

them to escape. I was beyond and overheard their conversation,

and when I entered, the woman screamed and the man sprang upon me

and would have killed me.



"What know you of this man? He is a stranger to you, and I dare

say that you will find him an enemy and a spy. Let him be put on

trial, Salensus Oll, rather than your friend and guest, Thurid,

Dator of the First Born."



Salensus Oll looked puzzled. He turned again and looked upon Dejah

Thoris, and then Thurid stepped quite close to him and whispered

something in his ear--what, I know not.



Presently the yellow ruler turned to one of his officers.



"See that this man be securely confined until we have time to go

deeper into this affair," he commanded, "and as bars alone seem

inadequate to restrain him, let chains be added."



Then he turned and left the garden, taking Dejah Thoris with him--his

hand upon her shoulder. Thurid and Matai Shang went also, and as

they reached the gateway the black turned and laughed again aloud

in my face.



What could be the meaning of his sudden change toward me? Could

he suspect my true identity? It must be that, and the thing that

had betrayed me was the trick and blow that had laid him low for

the second time.



As the guards dragged me away my heart was very sad and bitter

indeed, for now to the two relentless enemies that had hounded her

for so long another and a more powerful one had been added, for

I would have been but a fool had I not recognized the sudden love

for Dejah Thoris that had just been born in the terrible breast of

Salensus Oll, Jeddak of Jeddaks, ruler of Okar.



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