A Prisoner With Power

: A Princess Of Mars

As I entered and saluted, Lorquas Ptomel signaled me to advance, and,

fixing his great, hideous eyes upon me, addressed me thus:



"You have been with us a few days, yet during that time you have by

your prowess won a high position among us. Be that as it may, you are

not one of us; you owe us no allegiance.



"Your position is a peculiar one," he continued; "you are a prisoner

and yet you give commands which must be obeyed; you are an alien and

yet you are a Tharkian chieftain; you are a midget and yet you can kill

a mighty warrior with one blow of your fist. And now you are reported

to have been plotting to escape with another prisoner of another race;

a prisoner who, from her own admission, half believes you are returned

from the valley of Dor. Either one of these accusations, if proved,

would be sufficient grounds for your execution, but we are a just

people and you shall have a trial on our return to Thark, if Tal Hajus

so commands.



"But," he continued, in his fierce guttural tones, "if you run off with

the red girl it is I who shall have to account to Tal Hajus; it is I

who shall have to face Tars Tarkas, and either demonstrate my right to

command, or the metal from my dead carcass will go to a better man, for

such is the custom of the Tharks.



"I have no quarrel with Tars Tarkas; together we rule supreme the

greatest of the lesser communities among the green men; we do not wish

to fight between ourselves; and so if you were dead, John Carter, I

should be glad. Under two conditions only, however, may you be killed

by us without orders from Tal Hajus; in personal combat in

self-defense, should you attack one of us, or were you apprehended in

an attempt to escape.



"As a matter of justice I must warn you that we only await one of these

two excuses for ridding ourselves of so great a responsibility. The

safe delivery of the red girl to Tal Hajus is of the greatest

importance. Not in a thousand years have the Tharks made such a

capture; she is the granddaughter of the greatest of the red jeddaks,

who is also our bitterest enemy. I have spoken. The red girl told us

that we were without the softer sentiments of humanity, but we are a

just and truthful race. You may go."



Turning, I left the audience chamber. So this was the beginning of

Sarkoja's persecution! I knew that none other could be responsible for

this report which had reached the ears of Lorquas Ptomel so quickly,

and now I recalled those portions of our conversation which had touched

upon escape and upon my origin.



Sarkoja was at this time Tars Tarkas' oldest and most trusted female.

As such she was a mighty power behind the throne, for no warrior had

the confidence of Lorquas Ptomel to such an extent as did his ablest

lieutenant, Tars Tarkas.



However, instead of putting thoughts of possible escape from my mind,

my audience with Lorquas Ptomel only served to center my every faculty

on this subject. Now, more than before, the absolute necessity for

escape, in so far as Dejah Thoris was concerned, was impressed upon me,

for I was convinced that some horrible fate awaited her at the

headquarters of Tal Hajus.



As described by Sola, this monster was the exaggerated personification

of all the ages of cruelty, ferocity, and brutality from which he had

descended. Cold, cunning, calculating; he was, also, in marked

contrast to most of his fellows, a slave to that brute passion which

the waning demands for procreation upon their dying planet has almost

stilled in the Martian breast.



The thought that the divine Dejah Thoris might fall into the clutches

of such an abysmal atavism started the cold sweat upon me. Far better

that we save friendly bullets for ourselves at the last moment, as did

those brave frontier women of my lost land, who took their own lives

rather than fall into the hands of the Indian braves.



As I wandered about the plaza lost in my gloomy forebodings Tars Tarkas

approached me on his way from the audience chamber. His demeanor

toward me was unchanged, and he greeted me as though we had not just

parted a few moments before.



"Where are your quarters, John Carter?" he asked.



"I have selected none," I replied. "It seemed best that I quartered

either by myself or among the other warriors, and I was awaiting an

opportunity to ask your advice. As you know," and I smiled, "I am not

yet familiar with all the customs of the Tharks."



"Come with me," he directed, and together we moved off across the plaza

to a building which I was glad to see adjoined that occupied by Sola

and her charges.



"My quarters are on the first floor of this building," he said, "and

the second floor also is fully occupied by warriors, but the third

floor and the floors above are vacant; you may take your choice of

these.



"I understand," he continued, "that you have given up your woman to the

red prisoner. Well, as you have said, your ways are not our ways, but

you can fight well enough to do about as you please, and so, if you

wish to give your woman to a captive, it is your own affair; but as a

chieftain you should have those to serve you, and in accordance with

our customs you may select any or all the females from the retinues of

the chieftains whose metal you now wear."



I thanked him, but assured him that I could get along very nicely

without assistance except in the matter of preparing food, and so he

promised to send women to me for this purpose and also for the care of

my arms and the manufacture of my ammunition, which he said would be

necessary. I suggested that they might also bring some of the sleeping

silks and furs which belonged to me as spoils of combat, for the nights

were cold and I had none of my own.



He promised to do so, and departed. Left alone, I ascended the winding

corridor to the upper floors in search of suitable quarters. The

beauties of the other buildings were repeated in this, and, as usual, I

was soon lost in a tour of investigation and discovery.



I finally chose a front room on the third floor, because this brought

me nearer to Dejah Thoris, whose apartment was on the second floor of

the adjoining building, and it flashed upon me that I could rig up some

means of communication whereby she might signal me in case she needed

either my services or my protection.



Adjoining my sleeping apartment were baths, dressing rooms, and other

sleeping and living apartments, in all some ten rooms on this floor.

The windows of the back rooms overlooked an enormous court, which

formed the center of the square made by the buildings which faced the

four contiguous streets, and which was now given over to the quartering

of the various animals belonging to the warriors occupying the

adjoining buildings.



While the court was entirely overgrown with the yellow, moss-like

vegetation which blankets practically the entire surface of Mars, yet

numerous fountains, statuary, benches, and pergola-like contraptions

bore witness to the beauty which the court must have presented in

bygone times, when graced by the fair-haired, laughing people whom

stern and unalterable cosmic laws had driven not only from their homes,

but from all except the vague legends of their descendants.



One could easily picture the gorgeous foliage of the luxuriant Martian

vegetation which once filled this scene with life and color; the

graceful figures of the beautiful women, the straight and handsome men;

the happy frolicking children--all sunlight, happiness and peace. It

was difficult to realize that they had gone; down through ages of

darkness, cruelty, and ignorance, until their hereditary instincts of

culture and humanitarianism had risen ascendant once more in the final

composite race which now is dominant upon Mars.



My thoughts were cut short by the advent of several young females

bearing loads of weapons, silks, furs, jewels, cooking utensils, and

casks of food and drink, including considerable loot from the air

craft. All this, it seemed, had been the property of the two

chieftains I had slain, and now, by the customs of the Tharks, it had

become mine. At my direction they placed the stuff in one of the back

rooms, and then departed, only to return with a second load, which they

advised me constituted the balance of my goods. On the second trip

they were accompanied by ten or fifteen other women and youths, who, it

seemed, formed the retinues of the two chieftains.



They were not their families, nor their wives, nor their servants; the

relationship was peculiar, and so unlike anything known to us that it

is most difficult to describe. All property among the green Martians

is owned in common by the community, except the personal weapons,

ornaments and sleeping silks and furs of the individuals. These alone

can one claim undisputed right to, nor may he accumulate more of these

than are required for his actual needs. The surplus he holds merely as

custodian, and it is passed on to the younger members of the community

as necessity demands.



The women and children of a man's retinue may be likened to a military

unit for which he is responsible in various ways, as in matters of

instruction, discipline, sustenance, and the exigencies of their

continual roamings and their unending strife with other communities and

with the red Martians. His women are in no sense wives. The green

Martians use no word corresponding in meaning with this earthly word.

Their mating is a matter of community interest solely, and is directed

without reference to natural selection. The council of chieftains of

each community control the matter as surely as the owner of a Kentucky

racing stud directs the scientific breeding of his stock for the

improvement of the whole.



In theory it may sound well, as is often the case with theories, but

the results of ages of this unnatural practice, coupled with the

community interest in the offspring being held paramount to that of the

mother, is shown in the cold, cruel creatures, and their gloomy,

loveless, mirthless existence.



It is true that the green Martians are absolutely virtuous, both men

and women, with the exception of such degenerates as Tal Hajus; but

better far a finer balance of human characteristics even at the expense

of a slight and occasional loss of chastity.



Finding that I must assume responsibility for these creatures, whether

I would or not, I made the best of it and directed them to find

quarters on the upper floors, leaving the third floor to me. One of

the girls I charged with the duties of my simple cuisine, and directed

the others to take up the various activities which had formerly

constituted their vocations. Thereafter I saw little of them, nor did

I care to.