Tars Tarkas Finds A Friend

: A Princess Of Mars

About noon I passed low over a great dead city of ancient Mars, and as

I skimmed out across the plain beyond I came full upon several thousand

green warriors engaged in a terrific battle. Scarcely had I seen them

than a volley of shots was directed at me, and with the almost

unfailing accuracy of their aim my little craft was instantly a ruined

wreck, sinking erratically to the ground.



I fell almost dire tly in the center of the fierce combat, among

warriors who had not seen my approach so busily were they engaged in

life and death struggles. The men were fighting on foot with

long-swords, while an occasional shot from a sharpshooter on the

outskirts of the conflict would bring down a warrior who might for an

instant separate himself from the entangled mass.



As my machine sank among them I realized that it was fight or die, with

good chances of dying in any event, and so I struck the ground with

drawn long-sword ready to defend myself as I could.



I fell beside a huge monster who was engaged with three antagonists,

and as I glanced at his fierce face, filled with the light of battle, I

recognized Tars Tarkas the Thark. He did not see me, as I was a trifle

behind him, and just then the three warriors opposing him, and whom I

recognized as Warhoons, charged simultaneously. The mighty fellow made

quick work of one of them, but in stepping back for another thrust he

fell over a dead body behind him and was down and at the mercy of his

foes in an instant. Quick as lightning they were upon him, and Tars

Tarkas would have been gathered to his fathers in short order had I not

sprung before his prostrate form and engaged his adversaries. I had

accounted for one of them when the mighty Thark regained his feet and

quickly settled the other.



He gave me one look, and a slight smile touched his grim lip as,

touching my shoulder, he said,



"I would scarcely recognize you, John Carter, but there is no other

mortal upon Barsoom who would have done what you have for me. I think

I have learned that there is such a thing as friendship, my friend."



He said no more, nor was there opportunity, for the Warhoons were

closing in about us, and together we fought, shoulder to shoulder,

during all that long, hot afternoon, until the tide of battle turned

and the remnant of the fierce Warhoon horde fell back upon their

thoats, and fled into the gathering darkness.



Ten thousand men had been engaged in that titanic struggle, and upon

the field of battle lay three thousand dead. Neither side asked or

gave quarter, nor did they attempt to take prisoners.



On our return to the city after the battle we had gone directly to Tars

Tarkas' quarters, where I was left alone while the chieftain attended

the customary council which immediately follows an engagement.



As I sat awaiting the return of the green warrior I heard something

move in an adjoining apartment, and as I glanced up there rushed

suddenly upon me a huge and hideous creature which bore me backward

upon the pile of silks and furs upon which I had been reclining. It

was Woola--faithful, loving Woola. He had found his way back to Thark

and, as Tars Tarkas later told me, had gone immediately to my former

quarters where he had taken up his pathetic and seemingly hopeless

watch for my return.



"Tal Hajus knows that you are here, John Carter," said Tars Tarkas, on

his return from the jeddak's quarters; "Sarkoja saw and recognized you

as we were returning. Tal Hajus has ordered me to bring you before him

tonight. I have ten thoats, John Carter; you may take your choice from

among them, and I will accompany you to the nearest waterway that leads

to Helium. Tars Tarkas may be a cruel green warrior, but he can be a

friend as well. Come, we must start."



"And when you return, Tars Tarkas?" I asked.



"The wild calots, possibly, or worse," he replied. "Unless I should

chance to have the opportunity I have so long waited of battling with

Tal Hajus."



"We will stay, Tars Tarkas, and see Tal Hajus tonight. You shall not

sacrifice yourself, and it may be that tonight you can have the chance

you wait."



He objected strenuously, saying that Tal Hajus often flew into wild

fits of passion at the mere thought of the blow I had dealt him, and

that if ever he laid his hands upon me I would be subjected to the most

horrible tortures.



While we were eating I repeated to Tars Tarkas the story which Sola had

told me that night upon the sea bottom during the march to Thark.



He said but little, but the great muscles of his face worked in passion

and in agony at recollection of the horrors which had been heaped upon

the only thing he had ever loved in all his cold, cruel, terrible

existence.



He no longer demurred when I suggested that we go before Tal Hajus,

only saying that he would like to speak to Sarkoja first. At his

request I accompanied him to her quarters, and the look of venomous

hatred she cast upon me was almost adequate recompense for any future

misfortunes this accidental return to Thark might bring me.



"Sarkoja," said Tars Tarkas, "forty years ago you were instrumental in

bringing about the torture and death of a woman named Gozava. I have

just discovered that the warrior who loved that woman has learned of

your part in the transaction. He may not kill you, Sarkoja, it is not

our custom, but there is nothing to prevent him tying one end of a

strap about your neck and the other end to a wild thoat, merely to test

your fitness to survive and help perpetuate our race. Having heard

that he would do this on the morrow, I thought it only right to warn

you, for I am a just man. The river Iss is but a short pilgrimage,

Sarkoja. Come, John Carter."



The next morning Sarkoja was gone, nor was she ever seen after.



In silence we hastened to the jeddak's palace, where we were

immediately admitted to his presence; in fact, he could scarcely wait

to see me and was standing erect upon his platform glowering at the

entrance as I came in.



"Strap him to that pillar," he shrieked. "We shall see who it is dares

strike the mighty Tal Hajus. Heat the irons; with my own hands I shall

burn the eyes from his head that he may not pollute my person with his

vile gaze."



"Chieftains of Thark," I cried, turning to the assembled council and

ignoring Tal Hajus, "I have been a chief among you, and today I have

fought for Thark shoulder to shoulder with her greatest warrior. You

owe me, at least, a hearing. I have won that much today. You claim to

be just people--"



"Silence," roared Tal Hajus. "Gag the creature and bind him as I

command."



"Justice, Tal Hajus," exclaimed Lorquas Ptomel. "Who are you to set

aside the customs of ages among the Tharks."



"Yes, justice!" echoed a dozen voices, and so, while Tal Hajus fumed

and frothed, I continued.



"You are a brave people and you love bravery, but where was your mighty

jeddak during the fighting today? I did not see him in the thick of

battle; he was not there. He rends defenseless women and little

children in his lair, but how recently has one of you seen him fight

with men? Why, even I, a midget beside him, felled him with a single

blow of my fist. Is it of such that the Tharks fashion their jeddaks?

There stands beside me now a great Thark, a mighty warrior and a noble

man. Chieftains, how sounds, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark?"



A roar of deep-toned applause greeted this suggestion.



"It but remains for this council to command, and Tal Hajus must prove

his fitness to rule. Were he a brave man he would invite Tars Tarkas

to combat, for he does not love him, but Tal Hajus is afraid; Tal

Hajus, your jeddak, is a coward. With my bare hands I could kill him,

and he knows it."



After I ceased there was tense silence, as all eyes were riveted upon

Tal Hajus. He did not speak or move, but the blotchy green of his

countenance turned livid, and the froth froze upon his lips.



"Tal Hajus," said Lorquas Ptomel in a cold, hard voice, "never in my

long life have I seen a jeddak of the Tharks so humiliated. There

could be but one answer to this arraignment. We wait it." And still

Tal Hajus stood as though electrified.



"Chieftains," continued Lorquas Ptomel, "shall the jeddak, Tal Hajus,

prove his fitness to rule over Tars Tarkas?"



There were twenty chieftains about the rostrum, and twenty swords

flashed high in assent.



There was no alternative. That decree was final, and so Tal Hajus drew

his long-sword and advanced to meet Tars Tarkas.



The combat was soon over, and, with his foot upon the neck of the dead

monster, Tars Tarkas became jeddak among the Tharks.



His first act was to make me a full-fledged chieftain with the rank I

had won by my combats the first few weeks of my captivity among them.



Seeing the favorable disposition of the warriors toward Tars Tarkas, as

well as toward me, I grasped the opportunity to enlist them in my cause

against Zodanga. I told Tars Tarkas the story of my adventures, and in

a few words had explained to him the thought I had in mind.



"John Carter has made a proposal," he said, addressing the council,

"which meets with my sanction. I shall put it to you briefly. Dejah

Thoris, the Princess of Helium, who was our prisoner, is now held by

the jeddak of Zodanga, whose son she must wed to save her country from

devastation at the hands of the Zodangan forces.



"John Carter suggests that we rescue her and return her to Helium. The

loot of Zodanga would be magnificent, and I have often thought that had

we an alliance with the people of Helium we could obtain sufficient

assurance of sustenance to permit us to increase the size and frequency

of our hatchings, and thus become unquestionably supreme among the

green men of all Barsoom. What say you?"



It was a chance to fight, an opportunity to loot, and they rose to the

bait as a speckled trout to a fly.



For Tharks they were wildly enthusiastic, and before another half hour

had passed twenty mounted messengers were speeding across dead sea

bottoms to call the hordes together for the expedition.



In three days we were on the march toward Zodanga, one hundred thousand

strong, as Tars Tarkas had been able to enlist the services of three

smaller hordes on the promise of the great loot of Zodanga.



At the head of the column I rode beside the great Thark while at the

heels of my mount trotted my beloved Woola.



We traveled entirely by night, timing our marches so that we camped

during the day at deserted cities where, even to the beasts, we were

all kept indoors during the daylight hours. On the march Tars Tarkas,

through his remarkable ability and statesmanship, enlisted fifty

thousand more warriors from various hordes, so that, ten days after we

set out we halted at midnight outside the great walled city of Zodanga,

one hundred and fifty thousand strong.



The fighting strength and efficiency of this horde of ferocious green

monsters was equivalent to ten times their number of red men. Never in

the history of Barsoom, Tars Tarkas told me, had such a force of green

warriors marched to battle together. It was a monstrous task to keep

even a semblance of harmony among them, and it was a marvel to me that

he got them to the city without a mighty battle among themselves.



But as we neared Zodanga their personal quarrels were submerged by

their greater hatred for the red men, and especially for the Zodangans,

who had for years waged a ruthless campaign of extermination against

the green men, directing special attention toward despoiling their

incubators.



Now that we were before Zodanga the task of obtaining entry to the city

devolved upon me, and directing Tars Tarkas to hold his forces in two

divisions out of earshot of the city, with each division opposite a

large gateway, I took twenty dismounted warriors and approached one of

the small gates that pierced the walls at short intervals. These gates

have no regular guard, but are covered by sentries, who patrol the

avenue that encircles the city just within the walls as our

metropolitan police patrol their beats.



The walls of Zodanga are seventy-five feet in height and fifty feet

thick. They are built of enormous blocks of carborundum, and the task

of entering the city seemed, to my escort of green warriors, an

impossibility. The fellows who had been detailed to accompany me were

of one of the smaller hordes, and therefore did not know me.



Placing three of them with their faces to the wall and arms locked, I

commanded two more to mount to their shoulders, and a sixth I ordered

to climb upon the shoulders of the upper two. The head of the topmost

warrior towered over forty feet from the ground.



In this way, with ten warriors, I built a series of three steps from

the ground to the shoulders of the topmost man. Then starting from a

short distance behind them I ran swiftly up from one tier to the next,

and with a final bound from the broad shoulders of the highest I

clutched the top of the great wall and quietly drew myself to its broad

expanse. After me I dragged six lengths of leather from an equal

number of my warriors. These lengths we had previously fastened

together, and passing one end to the topmost warrior I lowered the

other end cautiously over the opposite side of the wall toward the

avenue below. No one was in sight, so, lowering myself to the end of

my leather strap, I dropped the remaining thirty feet to the pavement

below.



I had learned from Kantos Kan the secret of opening these gates, and in

another moment my twenty great fighting men stood within the doomed

city of Zodanga.



I found to my delight that I had entered at the lower boundary of the

enormous palace grounds. The building itself showed in the distance a

blaze of glorious light, and on the instant I determined to lead a

detachment of warriors directly within the palace itself, while the

balance of the great horde was attacking the barracks of the soldiery.



Dispatching one of my men to Tars Tarkas for a detail of fifty Tharks,

with word of my intentions, I ordered ten warriors to capture and open

one of the great gates while with the nine remaining I took the other.

We were to do our work quietly, no shots were to be fired and no

general advance made until I had reached the palace with my fifty

Tharks. Our plans worked to perfection. The two sentries we met were

dispatched to their fathers upon the banks of the lost sea of Korus,

and the guards at both gates followed them in silence.