CHAPTER XVII
THE DEATH SENTENCE
A few moments before the appointed time on the following morning
a strong guard of Zat Arras' officers appeared at our quarters to
conduct us to the great hall of the temple.
In twos we entered the chamber and marched down the broad Aisle of
Hope, as it is called, to the platform in the centre of the hall.
Before and behind us marched armed guards, while three solid ranks
of Zodangan soldiery lined either side of the aisle from the entrance
to the rostrum.
As we reached the raised enclosure I saw our judges. As is the
custom upon Barsoom there were thirty-one, supposedly selected by
lot from men of the noble class, for nobles were on trial. But to
my amazement I saw no single friendly face among them. Practically
all were Zodangans, and it was I to whom Zodanga owed her defeat
at the hands of the green hordes and her subsequent vassalage to
Helium. There could be little justice here for John Carter, or his
son, or for the great Thark who had commanded the savage tribesmen
who overran Zodanga's broad avenues, looting, burning, and murdering.
About us the vast circular coliseum was packed to its full capacity.
All classes were represented--all ages, and both sexes. As we
entered the hall the hum of subdued conversation ceased until as we
halted upon the platform, or Throne of Righteousness, the silence
of death enveloped the ten thousand spectators.
The judges were seated in a great circle about the periphery of the
circular platform. We were assigned seats with our backs toward a
small platform in the exact centre of the larger one. This placed
us facing the judges and the audience. Upon the smaller platform
each would take his place while his case was being heard.
Zat Arras himself sat in the golden chair of the presiding
magistrate. As we were seated and our guards retired to the foot
of the stairway leading to the platform, he arose and called my
name.
"John Carter," he cried, "take your place upon the Pedestal of
Truth to be judged impartially according to your acts and here to
know the reward you have earned thereby." Then turning to and fro
toward the audience he narrated the acts upon the value of which
my reward was to be determined.
"Know you, O judges and people of Helium," he said, "that John Carter,
one time Prince of Helium, has returned by his own statement from
the Valley Dor and even from the Temple of Issus itself. That, in
the presence of many men of Helium he has blasphemed against the
Sacred Iss, and against the Valley Dor, and the Lost Sea of Korus,
and the Holy Therns themselves, and even against Issus, Goddess
of Death, and of Life Eternal. And know you further by witness
of thine own eyes that see him here now upon the Pedestal of Truth
that he has indeed returned from these sacred precincts in the
face of our ancient customs, and in violation of the sanctity of
our ancient religion.
"He who be once dead may not live again. He who attempts it must
be made dead for ever. Judges, your duty lies plain before you--here
can be no testimony in contravention of truth. What reward shall
be meted to John Carter in accordance with the acts he has committed?"
"Death!" shouted one of the judges.
And then a man sprang to his feet in the audience, and raising his
hand on high, cried: "Justice! Justice! Justice!" It was Kantos
Kan, and as all eyes turned toward him he leaped past the Zodangan
soldiery and sprang upon the platform.
"What manner of justice be this?" he cried to Zat Arras. "The
defendant has not been heard, nor has he had an opportunity to
call others in his behalf. In the name of the people of Helium I
demand fair and impartial treatment for the Prince of Helium."
A great cry arose from the audience then: "Justice! Justice!
Justice!" and Zat Arras dared not deny them.
"Speak, then," he snarled, turning to me; "but blaspheme not against
the things that are sacred upon Barsoom."
"Men of Helium," I cried, turning to the spectators, and speaking
over the heads of my judges, "how can John Carter expect justice
from the men of Zodanga? He cannot nor does he ask it. It is to
the men of Helium that he states his case; nor does he appeal for
mercy to any. It is not in his own cause that he speaks now--it is
in thine. In the cause of your wives and daughters, and of wives
and daughters yet unborn. It is to save them from the unthinkably
atrocious indignities that I have seen heaped upon the fair women
of Barsoom in the place men call the Temple of Issus. It is to save
them from the sucking embrace of the plant men, from the fangs of
the great white apes of Dor, from the cruel lust of the Holy Therns,
from all that the cold, dead Iss carries them to from homes of love
and life and happiness.
"Sits there no man here who does not know the history of John
Carter. How he came among you from another world and rose from a
prisoner among the green men, through torture and persecution, to
a place high among the highest of Barsoom. Nor ever did you know
John Carter to lie in his own behalf, or to say aught that might
harm the people of Barsoom, or to speak lightly of the strange
religion which he respected without understanding.
"There be no man here, or elsewhere upon Barsoom to-day who does
not owe his life directly to a single act of mine, in which I
sacrificed myself and the happiness of my Princess that you might
live. And so, men of Helium, I think that I have the right to
demand that I be heard, that I be believed, and that you let me
serve you and save you from the false hereafter of Dor and Issus
as I saved you from the real death that other day.
"It is to you of Helium that I speak now. When I am done let the
men of Zodanga have their will with me. Zat Arras has taken my
sword from me, so the men of Zodanga no longer fear me. Will you
listen?"
"Speak, John Carter, Prince of Helium," cried a great noble from
the audience, and the multitude echoed his permission, until the
building rocked with the noise of their demonstration.
Zat Arras knew better than to interfere with such a sentiment
as was expressed that day in the Temple of Reward, and so for two
hours I talked with the people of Helium.
But when I had finished, Zat Arras arose and, turning to the judges,
said in a low tone: "My nobles, you have heard John Carter's plea;
every opportunity has been given him to prove his innocence if he
be not guilty; but instead he has but utilized the time in further
blasphemy. What, gentlemen, is your verdict?"
"Death to the blasphemer!" cried one, springing to his feet, and
in an instant the entire thirty-one judges were on their feet with
upraised swords in token of the unanimity of their verdict.
If the people did not hear Zat Arras' charge, they certainly did
hear the verdict of the tribunal. A sullen murmur rose louder
and louder about the packed coliseum, and then Kantos Kan, who had
not left the platform since first he had taken his place near me,
raised his hand for silence. When he could be heard he spoke to
the people in a cool and level voice.
"You have heard the fate that the men of Zodanga would mete to
Helium's noblest hero. It may be the duty of the men of Helium
to accept the verdict as final. Let each man act according to his
own heart. Here is the answer of Kantos Kan, head of the navy of
Helium, to Zat Arras and his judges," and with that he unbuckled
his scabbard and threw his sword at my feet.
In an instant soldiers and citizens, officers and nobles were
crowding past the soldiers of Zodanga and forcing their way to the
Throne of Righteousness. A hundred men surged upon the platform,
and a hundred blades rattled and clanked to the floor at my feet.
Zat Arras and his officers were furious, but they were helpless.
One by one I raised the swords to my lips and buckled them again
upon their owners.
"Come," sand Kantos Kan, "we will escort John Carter and his party
to his own palace," and they formed about us and started toward
the stairs leading to the Aisle of Hope.
"Stop!" cried Zat Arras. "Soldiers of Helium, let no prisoner
leave the Throne of Righteousness."
The soldiery from Zodanga were the only organized body of Heliumetic
troops within the temple, so Zat Arras was confident that his
orders would be obeyed, but I do not think that he looked for the
opposition that was raised the moment the soldiers advanced toward
the throne.
From every quarter of the coliseum swords flashed and men rushed
threateningly upon the Zodangans. Some one raised a cry: "Tardos
Mors is dead--a thousand years to John Carter, Jeddak of Helium."
As I heard that and saw the ugly attitude of the men of Helium
toward the soldiers of Zat Arras, I knew that only a miracle could
avert a clash that would end in civil war.
"Hold!" I cried, leaping to the Pedestal of Truth once more. "Let
no man move till I am done. A single sword thrust here to-day may
plunge Helium into a bitter and bloody war the results of which
none can foresee. It will turn brother against brother and father
against son. No man's life is worth that sacrifice. Rather would
I submit to the biased judgment of Zat Arras than be the cause of
civil strife in Helium.
"Let us each give in a point to the other, and let this entire
matter rest until Tardos Mors returns, or Mors Kajak, his son. If
neither be back at the end of a year a second trial may be held--the
thing has a precedent." And then turning to Zat Arras, I said in
a low voice: "Unless you be a bigger fool than I take you to be,
you will grasp the chance I am offering you ere it is too late.
Once that multitude of swords below is drawn against your soldiery
no man upon Barsoom--not even Tardos Mors himself--can avert the
consequences. What say you? Speak quickly."
The Jed of Zodangan Helium raised his voice to the angry sea beneath
us.
"Stay your hands, men of Helium," he shouted, his voice trembling
with rage. "The sentence of the court is passed, but the day
of retribution has not been set. I, Zat Arras, Jed of Zodanga,
appreciating the royal connections of the prisoner and his past
services to Helium and Barsoom, grant a respite of one year, or
until the return of Mors Kajak, or Tardos Mors to Helium. Disperse
quietly to your houses. Go."
No one moved. Instead, they stood in tense silence with their eyes
fastened upon me, as though waiting for a signal to attack.
"Clear the temple," commanded Zat Arras, in a low tone to one of
his officers.
Fearing the result of an attempt to carry out this order by force,
I stepped to the edge of the platform and, pointing toward the main
entrance, bid them pass out. As one man they turned at my request
and filed, silent and threatening, past the soldiers of Zat Arras,
Jed of Zodanga, who stood scowling in impotent rage.
Kantos Kan with the others who had sworn allegiance to me still
stood upon the Throne of Righteousness with me.
"Come," said Kantos Kan to me, "we will escort you to your palace,
my Prince. Come, Carthoris and Xodar. Come, Tars Tarkas." And
with a haughty sneer for Zat Arras upon his handsome lips, he turned
and strode to the throne steps and up the Aisle of Hope. We four
and the hundred loyal ones followed behind him, nor was a hand
raised to stay us, though glowering eyes followed our triumphal
march through the temple.
In the avenues we found a press of people, but they opened a pathway
for us, and many were the swords that were flung at my feet as I
passed through the city of Helium toward my palace upon the outskirts.
Here my old slaves fell upon their knees and kissed my hands as I
greeted them. They cared not where I had been. It was enough that
I had returned to them.
"Ah, master," cried one, "if our divine Princess were but here this
would be a day indeed."
Tears came to my eyes, so that I was forced to turn away that I
might hide my emotions. Carthoris wept openly as the slaves pressed
about him with expressions of affection, and words of sorrow for
our common loss. It was now that Tars Tarkas for the first time
learned that his daughter, Sola, had accompanied Dejah Thoris upon
the last long pilgrimage. I had not had the heart to tell him what
Kantos Kan had told me. With the stoicism of the green Martian
he showed no sign of suffering, yet I knew that his grief was
as poignant as my own. In marked contrast to his kind, he had in
well-developed form the kindlier human characteristics of love,
friendship, and charity.
It was a sad and sombre party that sat at the feast of welcome in
the great dining hall of the palace of the Prince of Helium that
day. We were over a hundred strong, not counting the members of
my little court, for Dejah Thoris and I had maintained a household
consistent with our royal rank.
The board, according to red Martian custom, was triangular, for
there were three in our family. Carthoris and I presided in the
centre of our sides of the table--midway of the third side Dejah
Thoris' high-backed, carven chair stood vacant except for her
gorgeous wedding trappings and jewels which were draped upon it.
Behind stood a slave as in the days when his mistress had occupied
her place at the board, ready to do her bidding. It was the way
upon Barsoom, so I endured the anguish of it, though it wrung my
heart to see that silent chair where should have been my laughing
and vivacious Princess keeping the great hall ringing with her
merry gaiety.
At my right sat Kantos Kan, while to the right of Dejah Thoris'
empty place Tars Tarkas sat in a huge chair before a raised section
of the board which years ago I had had constructed to meet the
requirements of his mighty bulk. The place of honour at a Martian
hoard is always at the hostess's right, and this place was ever
reserved by Dejah Thoris for the great Thark upon the occasions
that he was in Helium.
Hor Vastus sat in the seat of honour upon Carthoris' side of the
table. There was little general conversation. It was a quiet and
saddened party. The loss of Dejah Thoris was still fresh in the
minds of all, and to this was added fear for the safety of Tardos
Mors and Mors Kajak, as well as doubt and uncertainty as to the fate
of Helium, should it prove true that she was permanently deprived
of her great Jeddak.
Suddenly our attention was attracted by the sound of distant shouting,
as of many people raising their voices at once, but whether in
anger or rejoicing, we could not tell. Nearer and nearer came the
tumult. A slave rushed into the dining hall to cry that a great
concourse of people was swarming through the palace gates. A
second burst upon the heels of the first alternately laughing and
shrieking as a madman.
"Dejah Thoris is found!" he cried. "A messenger from Dejah Thoris!"
I waited to hear no more. The great windows of the dining hall
overlooked the avenue leading to the main gates--they were upon
the opposite side of the hall from me with the table intervening.
I did not waste time in circling the great board--with a single
leap I cleared table and diners and sprang upon the balcony beyond.
Thirty feet below lay the scarlet sward of the lawn and beyond were
many people crowding about a great thoat which bore a rider headed
toward the palace. I vaulted to the ground below and ran swiftly
toward the advancing party.
As I came near to them I saw that the figure on the thoat was Sola.
"Where is the Princess of Helium?" I cried.
The green girl slid from her mighty mount and ran toward me.
"O my Prince! My Prince!" she cried. "She is gone for ever. Even
now she may be a captive upon the lesser moon. The black pirates
of Barsoom have stolen her."
