The Phantom Bowmen

: Thuvia, Maid Of Mars

As Jav leaped toward him Carthoris laid his hand upon the hilt of

his long-sword. The Lotharian halted. The great apartment was

empty save for the four at the dais, yet as Jav stepped back from

the menace of the Heliumite's threatening attitude the latter found

himself surrounded by a score of bowmen.



From whence had they sprung? Both Carthoris and Thuvia looked

their astonishment.


br /> Now the former's sword leaped from its scabbard, and at the same

instant the bowmen drew back their slim shafts.



Tario had half raised himself upon one elbow. For the first time

he saw the full figure of Thuvia, who had been concealed behind

the person of Carthoris.



"Enough!" cried the jeddak, raising a protesting hand, but at

that very instant the sword of the Heliumite cut viciously at its

nearest antagonist.



As the keen edge reached its goal Carthoris let the point fall to

the floor, as with wide eyes he stepped backward in consternation,

throwing the back of his left hand across his brow. His steel

had cut but empty air--his antagonist had vanished--there were no

bowmen in the room!



"It is evident that these are strangers," said Tario to Jav. "Let

us first determine that they knowingly affronted us before we take

measures for punishment."



Then he turned to Carthoris, but ever his gaze wandered to the

perfect lines of Thuvia's glorious figure, which the harness of a

Barsoomian princess accentuated rather than concealed.



"Who are you," he asked, "who knows not the etiquette of the court

of the last of jeddaks?"



"I am Carthoris, Prince of Helium," replied the Heliumite. "And

this is Thuvia, Princess of Ptarth. In the courts of our fathers

men do not prostrate themselves before royalty. Not since the First

Born tore their immortal goddess limb from limb have men crawled

upon their bellies to any throne upon Barsoom. Now think you that

the daughter of one mighty jeddak and the son of another would so

humiliate themselves?"



Tario looked at Carthoris for a long time. At last he spoke.



"There is no other jeddak upon Barsoom than Tario," he said. "There

is no other race than that of Lothar, unless the hordes of Torquas

may be dignified by such an appellation. Lotharians are white;

your skins are red. There are no women left upon Barsoom. Your

companion is a woman."



He half rose from the couch, leaning far forward and pointing an

accusing finger at Carthoris.



"You are a lie!" he shrieked. "You are both lies, and you dare to

come before Tario, last and mightiest of the jeddaks of Barsoom,

and assert your reality. Some one shall pay well for this, Jav,

and unless I mistake it is yourself who has dared thus flippantly

to trifle with the good nature of your jeddak.



"Remove the man. Leave the woman. We shall see if both be lies.

And later, Jav, you shall suffer for your temerity. There be few

of us left, but--Komal must be fed. Go!"



Carthoris could see that Jav trembled as he prostrated himself once

more before his ruler, and then, rising, turned toward the Prince

of Helium.



"Come!" he said.



"And leave the Princess of Ptarth here alone?" cried Carthoris.



Jav brushed closely past him, whispering:



"Follow me--he cannot harm her, except to kill; and that he can do

whether you remain or not. We had best go now--trust me."



Carthoris did not understand, but something in the urgency of the

other's tone assured him, and so he turned away, but not without a

glance toward Thuvia in which he attempted to make her understand

that it was in her own interest that he left her.



For answer she turned her back full upon him, but not without first

throwing him such a look of contempt that brought the scarlet to

his cheek.



Then he hesitated, but Jav seized him by the wrist.



"Come!" he whispered. "Or he will have the bowmen upon you, and

this time there will be no escape. Did you not see how futile is

your steel against thin air!"



Carthoris turned unwillingly to follow. As the two left the room

he turned to his companion.



"If I may not kill thin air," he asked, "how, then, shall I fear

that thin air may kill me?"



"You saw the Torquasians fall before the bowmen?" asked Jav.



Carthoris nodded.



"So would you fall before them, and without one single chance for

self-defence or revenge."



As they talked Jav led Carthoris to a small room in one of the

numerous towers of the palace. Here were couches, and Jav bid the

Heliumite be seated.



For several minutes the Lotharian eyed his prisoner, for such

Carthoris now realized himself to be.



"I am half convinced that you are real," he said at last.



Carthoris laughed.



"Of course I am real," he said. "What caused you to doubt it? Can

you not see me, feel me?"



"So may I see and feel the bowmen," replied Jav, "and yet we all

know that they, at least, are not real."



Carthoris showed by the expression of his face his puzzlement at

each new reference to the mysterious bowmen--the vanishing soldiery

of Lothar.



"What, then, may they be?" he asked.



"You really do not know?" asked Jav.



Carthoris shook his head negatively.



"I can almost believe that you have told us the truth and that you

are really from another part of Barsoom, or from another world. But

tell me, in your own country have you no bowmen to strike terror

to the hearts of the green hordesmen as they slay in company with

the fierce banths of war?"



"We have soldiers," replied Carthoris. "We of the red race are

all soldiers, but we have no bowmen to defend us, such as yours.

We defend ourselves."



"You go out and get killed by your enemies!" cried Jav incredulously.



"Certainly," replied Carthoris. "How do the Lotharians?"



"You have seen," replied the other. "We send out our deathless

archers--deathless because they are lifeless, existing only in the

imaginations of our enemies. It is really our giant minds that

defend us, sending out legions of imaginary warriors to materialize

before the mind's eye of the foe.



"They see them--they see their bows drawn back--they see their

slender arrows speed with unerring precision toward their hearts.

And they die--killed by the power of suggestion."



"But the archers that are slain?" exclaimed Carthoris. "You call

them deathless, and yet I saw their dead bodies piled high upon

the battlefield. How may that be?"



"It is but to lend reality to the scene," replied Jav. "We picture

many of our own defenders killed that the Torquasians may not guess

that there are really no flesh and blood creatures opposing them.



"Once that truth became implanted in their minds, it is the theory

of many of us, no longer would they fall prey to the suggestion

of the deadly arrows, for greater would be the suggestion of the

truth, and the more powerful suggestion would prevail--it is law."



"And the banths?" questioned Carthoris. "They, too, were but

creatures of suggestion?"



"Some of them were real," replied Jav. "Those that accompanied

the archers in pursuit of the Torquasians were unreal. Like the

archers, they never returned, but, having served their purpose,

vanished with the bowmen when the rout of the enemy was assured.



"Those that remained about the field were real. Those we loosed

as scavengers to devour the bodies of the dead of Torquas. This

thing is demanded by the realists among us. I am a realist. Tario

is an etherealist.



"The etherealists maintain that there is no such thing as

matter--that all is mind. They say that none of us exists, except

in the imagination of his fellows, other than as an intangible,

invisible mentality.



"According to Tario, it is but necessary that we all unite in

imagining that there are no dead Torquasians beneath our walls,

and there will be none, nor any need of scavenging banths."



"You, then, do not hold Tario's beliefs?" asked Carthoris.



"In part only," replied the Lotharian. "I believe, in fact I know,

that there are some truly ethereal creatures. Tario is one, I am

convinced. He has no existence except in the imaginations of his

people.



"Of course, it is the contention of all us realists that all

etherealists are but figments of the imagination. They contend

that no food is necessary, nor do they eat; but any one of the most

rudimentary intelligence must realize that food is a necessity to

creatures having actual existence."



"Yes," agreed Carthoris, "not having eaten to-day I can readily

agree with you."



"Ah, pardon me," exclaimed Jav. "Pray be seated and satisfy your

hunger," and with a wave of his hand he indicated a bountifully

laden table that had not been there an instant before he spoke. Of

that Carthoris was positive, for he had searched the room diligently

with his eyes several times.



"It is well," continued Jav, "that you did not fall into the hands

of an etherealist. Then, indeed, would you have gone hungry."



"But," exclaimed Carthoris, "this is not real food--it was not here

an instant since, and real food does not materialize out of thin

air."



Jav looked hurt.



"There is no real food or water in Lothar," he said; "nor has there

been for countless ages. Upon such as you now see before you have

we existed since the dawn of history. Upon such, then, may you

exist."



"But I thought you were a realist," exclaimed Carthoris.



"Indeed," cried Jav, "what more realistic than this bounteous feast?

It is just here that we differ most from the etherealists. They

claim that it is unnecessary to imagine food; but we have found

that for the maintenance of life we must thrice daily sit down to

hearty meals.



"The food that one eats is supposed to undergo certain chemical

changes during the process of digestion and assimilation, the

result, of course, being the rebuilding of wasted tissue.



"Now we all know that mind is all, though we may differ in the

interpretation of its various manifestations. Tario maintains

that there is no such thing as substance, all being created from

the substanceless matter of the brain.



"We realists, however, know better. We know that mind has the

power to maintain substance even though it may not be able to create

substance--the latter is still an open question. And so we know

that in order to maintain our physical bodies we must cause all

our organs properly to function.



"This we accomplish by materializing food-thoughts, and by partaking

of the food thus created. We chew, we swallow, we digest. All our

organs function precisely as if we had partaken of material food.

And what is the result? What must be the result? The chemical

changes take place through both direct and indirect suggestion,

and we live and thrive."



Carthoris eyed the food before him. It seemed real enough. He

lifted a morsel to his lips. There was substance indeed. And

flavour as well. Yes, even his palate was deceived.



Jav watched him, smiling, as he ate.



"Is it not entirely satisfying?" he asked.



"I must admit that it is," replied Carthoris. "But tell me, how

does Tario live, and the other etherealists who maintain that food

is unnecessary?"



Jav scratched his head.



"That is a question we often discuss," he replied. "It is the

strongest evidence we have of the non-existence of the etherealists;

but who may know other than Komal?"



"Who is Komal?" asked Carthoris. "I heard your jeddak speak of

him."



Jav bent low toward the ear of the Heliumite, looking fearfully

about before he spoke.



"Komal is the essence," he whispered. "Even the etherealists

admit that mind itself must have substance in order to transmit to

imaginings the appearance of substance. For if there really was

no such thing as substance it could not be suggested--what never

has been cannot be imagined. Do you follow me?"



"I am groping," replied Carthoris dryly.



"So the essence must be substance," continued Jav. "Komal is the

essence of the All, as it were. He is maintained by substance.

He eats. He eats the real. To be explicit, he eats the realists.

That is Tario's work.



"He says that inasmuch as we maintain that we alone are real we

should, to be consistent, admit that we alone are proper food for

Komal. Sometimes, as to-day, we find other food for him. He is

very fond of Torquasians."



"And Komal is a man?" asked Carthoris.



"He is All, I told you," replied Jav. "I know not how to explain

him in words that you will understand. He is the beginning and

the end. All life emanates from Komal, since the substance which

feeds the brain with imaginings radiates from the body of Komal.



"Should Komal cease to eat, all life upon Barsoom would cease to be.

He cannot die, but he might cease to eat, and, thus, to radiate."



"And he feeds upon the men and women of your belief?" cried Carthoris.



"Women!" exclaimed Jav. "There are no women in Lothar. The last

of the Lotharian females perished ages since, upon that cruel and

terrible journey across the muddy plains that fringed the half-dried

seas, when the green hordes scourged us across the world to this

our last hiding-place--our impregnable fortress of Lothar.



"Scarce twenty thousand men of all the countless millions of our

race lived to reach Lothar. Among us were no women and no children.

All these had perished by the way.



"As time went on, we, too, were dying and the race fast approaching

extinction, when the Great Truth was revealed to us, that mind is

all. Many more died before we perfected our powers, but at last

we were able to defy death when we fully understood that death was

merely a state of mind.



"Then came the creation of mind-people, or rather the materialization

of imaginings. We first put these to practical use when the

Torquasians discovered our retreat, and fortunate for us it was

that it required ages of search upon their part before they found

the single tiny entrance to the valley of Lothar.



"That day we threw our first bowmen against them. The intention

was purely to frighten them away by the vast numbers of bowmen which

we could muster upon our walls. All Lothar bristled with the bows

and arrows of our ethereal host.



"But the Torquasians did not frighten. They are lower than the

beasts--they know no fear. They rushed upon our walls, and standing

upon the shoulders of others they built human approaches to the

wall tops, and were on the very point of surging in upon us and

overwhelming us.



"Not an arrow had been discharged by our bowmen--we did but cause

them to run to and fro along the wall top, screaming taunts and

threats at the enemy.



"Presently I thought to attempt the thing--THE GREAT THING. I centred

all my mighty intellect upon the bowmen of my own creation--each

of us produces and directs as many bowmen as his mentality and

imagination is capable of.



"I caused them to fit arrows to their bows for the first time. I

made them take aim at the hearts of the green men. I made the

green men see all this, and then I made them see the arrows fly,

and I made them think that the points pierced their hearts.



"It was all that was necessary. By hundreds they toppled from

our walls, and when my fellows saw what I had done they were quick

to follow my example, so that presently the hordes of Torquas had

retreated beyond the range of our arrows.



"We might have killed them at any distance, but one rule of war we

have maintained from the first--the rule of realism. We do nothing,

or rather we cause our bowmen to do nothing within sight of the

enemy that is beyond the understanding of the foe. Otherwise they

might guess the truth, and that would be the end of us.



"But after the Torquasians had retreated beyond bowshot, they turned

upon us with their terrible rifles, and by constant popping at us

made life miserable within our walls.



"So then I bethought the scheme to hurl our bowmen through the

gates upon them. You have seen this day how well it works. For

ages they have come down upon us at intervals, but always with the

same results."



"And all this is due to your intellect, Jav?" asked Carthoris. "I

should think that you would be high in the councils of your people."



"I am," replied Jav, proudly. "I am next to Tario."



"But why, then, your cringing manner of approaching the throne?"



"Tario demands it. He is jealous of me. He only awaits the

slightest excuse to feed me to Komal. He fears that I may some

day usurp his power."



Carthoris suddenly sprang from the table.



"Jav!" he exclaimed. "I am a beast! Here I have been eating my

fill, while the Princess of Ptarth may perchance be still without

food. Let us return and find some means of furnishing her with

nourishment."



The Lotharian shook his head.



"Tario would not permit it," he said. "He will, doubtless, make

an etherealist of her."



"But I must go to her," insisted Carthoris. "You say that there

are no women in Lothar. Then she must be among men, and if this

be so I intend to be near where I may defend her if the need arises."



"Tario will have his way," insisted Jav. "He sent you away and

you may not return until he sends for you."



"Then I shall go without waiting to be sent for."



"Do not forget the bowmen," cautioned Jav.



"I do not forget them," replied Carthoris, but he did not tell

Jav that he remembered something else that the Lotharian had let

drop--something that was but a conjecture, possibly, and yet one

well worth pinning a forlorn hope to, should necessity arise.



Carthoris started to leave the room. Jav stepped before him,

barring his way.



"I have learned to like you, red man," he said; "but do not forget

that Tario is still my jeddak, and that Tario has commanded that

you remain here."



Carthoris was about to reply, when there came faintly to the ears

of both a woman's cry for help.



With a sweep of his arm the Prince of Helium brushed the Lotharian

aside, and with drawn sword sprang into the corridor without.



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