CHAPTER XVII
A COSTLY RECAPTURE
As the speaker ceased he turned to leave the apartment by the door
where I was standing, but I needed to wait no longer; I had heard
enough to fill my soul with dread, and stealing quietly away I
returned to the courtyard by the way I had come. My plan of action
was formed upon the instant, and crossing the square and the
bordering avenue upon the opposite side I soon stood within the
courtyard of Tal Hajus.
The brilliantly lighted apartments of the first floor told me where
first to seek, and advancing to the windows I peered within. I
soon discovered that my approach was not to be the easy thing I
had hoped, for the rear rooms bordering the court were filled
with warriors and women. I then glanced up at the stories above,
discovering that the third was apparently unlighted, and so decided
to make my entrance to the building from that point. It was the
work of but a moment for me to reach the windows above, and soon
I had drawn myself within the sheltering shadows of the unlighted
third floor.
Fortunately the room I had selected was untenanted, and creeping
noiselessly to the corridor beyond I discovered a light in the
apartments ahead of me. Reaching what appeared to be a doorway I
discovered that it was but an opening upon an immense inner chamber
which towered from the first floor, two stories below me, to the
dome-like roof of the building, high above my head. The floor of
this great circular hall was thronged with chieftains, warriors
and women, and at one end was a great raised platform upon which
squatted the most hideous beast I had ever put my eyes upon. He had
all the cold, hard, cruel, terrible features of the green warriors,
but accentuated and debased by the animal passions to which he had
given himself over for many years. There was not a mark of dignity
or pride upon his bestial countenance, while his enormous bulk
spread itself out upon the platform where he squatted like some huge
devil fish, his six limbs accentuating the similarity in a horrible
and startling manner.
But the sight that froze me with apprehension was that of Dejah
Thoris and Sola standing there before him, and the fiendish leer of
him as he let his great protruding eyes gloat upon the lines of her
beautiful figure. She was speaking, but I could not hear what she
said, nor could I make out the low grumbling of his reply. She
stood there erect before him, her head high held, and even at the
distance I was from them I could read the scorn and disgust upon her
face as she let her haughty glance rest without sign of fear upon
him. She was indeed the proud daughter of a thousand jeddaks, every
inch of her dear, precious little body; so small, so frail beside
the towering warriors around her, but in her majesty dwarfing them
into insignificance; she was the mightiest figure among them and I
verily believe that they felt it.
Presently Tal Hajus made a sign that the chamber be cleared, and
that the prisoners be left alone before him. Slowly the chieftains,
the warriors and the women melted away into the shadows of the
surrounding chambers, and Dejah Thoris and Sola stood alone before
the jeddak of the Tharks.
One chieftain alone had hesitated before departing; I saw him
standing in the shadows of a mighty column, his fingers nervously
toying with the hilt of his great-sword and his cruel eyes bent in
implacable hatred upon Tal Hajus. It was Tars Tarkas, and I could
read his thoughts as they were an open book for the undisguised
loathing upon his face. He was thinking of that other woman who,
forty years ago, had stood before this beast, and could I have
spoken a word into his ear at that moment the reign of Tal Hajus
would have been over; but finally he also strode from the room,
not knowing that he left his own daughter at the mercy of the
creature he most loathed.
Tal Hajus arose, and I, half fearing, half anticipating his
intentions, hurried to the winding runway which led to the floors
below. No one was near to intercept me, and I reached the main
floor of the chamber unobserved, taking my station in the shadow
of the same column that Tars Tarkas had but just deserted. As I
reached the floor Tal Hajus was speaking.
"Princess of Helium, I might wring a mighty ransom from your people
would I but return you to them unharmed, but a thousand times rather
would I watch that beautiful face writhe in the agony of torture; it
shall be long drawn out, that I promise you; ten days of pleasure
were all too short to show the love I harbor for your race. The
terrors of your death shall haunt the slumbers of the red men
through all the ages to come; they will shudder in the shadows of
the night as their fathers tell them of the awful vengeance of the
green men; of the power and might and hate and cruelty of Tal Hajus.
But before the torture you shall be mine for one short hour, and
word of that too shall go forth to Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium,
your grandfather, that he may grovel upon the ground in the agony of
his sorrow. Tomorrow the torture will commence; tonight thou art Tal
Hajus'; come!"
He sprang down from the platform and grasped her roughly by the arm,
but scarcely had he touched her than I leaped between them. My
short-sword, sharp and gleaming was in my right hand; I could have
plunged it into his putrid heart before he realized that I was upon
him; but as I raised my arm to strike I thought of Tars Tarkas, and,
with all my rage, with all my hatred, I could not rob him of that
sweet moment for which he had lived and hoped all these long, weary
years, and so, instead, I swung my good right fist full upon the
point of his jaw. Without a sound he slipped to the floor as one
dead.
In the same deathly silence I grasped Dejah Thoris by the hand, and
motioning Sola to follow we sped noiselessly from the chamber and
to the floor above. Unseen we reached a rear window and with the
straps and leather of my trappings I lowered, first Sola and then
Dejah Thoris to the ground below. Dropping lightly after them I
drew them rapidly around the court in the shadows of the buildings,
and thus we returned over the same course I had so recently
followed from the distant boundary of the city.
We finally came upon my thoats in the courtyard where I had left
them, and placing the trappings upon them we hastened through the
building to the avenue beyond. Mounting, Sola upon one beast,
and Dejah Thoris behind me upon the other, we rode from the city
of Thark through the hills to the south.
Instead of circling back around the city to the northwest and toward
the nearest waterway which lay so short a distance from us, we
turned to the northeast and struck out upon the mossy waste across
which, for two hundred dangerous and weary miles, lay another main
artery leading to Helium.
No word was spoken until we had left the city far behind, but I
could hear the quiet sobbing of Dejah Thoris as she clung to me
with her dear head resting against my shoulder.
"If we make it, my chieftain, the debt of Helium will be a mighty
one; greater than she can ever pay you; and should we not make it,"
she continued, "the debt is no less, though Helium will never know,
for you have saved the last of our line from worse than death."
I did not answer, but instead reached to my side and pressed the
little fingers of her I loved where they clung to me for support,
and then, in unbroken silence, we sped over the yellow, moonlit
moss; each of us occupied with his own thoughts. For my part I
could not be other than joyful had I tried, with Dejah Thoris' warm
body pressed close to mine, and with all our unpassed danger my
heart was singing as gaily as though we were already entering the
gates of Helium.
Our earlier plans had been so sadly upset that we now found
ourselves without food or drink, and I alone was armed. We
therefore urged our beasts to a speed that must tell on them
sorely before we could hope to sight the ending of the first
stage of our journey.
We rode all night and all the following day with only a few short
rests. On the second night both we and our animals were completely
fagged, and so we lay down upon the moss and slept for some five or
six hours, taking up the journey once more before daylight. All
the following day we rode, and when, late in the afternoon we had
sighted no distant trees, the mark of the great waterways throughout
all Barsoom, the terrible truth flashed upon us--we were lost.
Evidently we had circled, but which way it was difficult to say,
nor did it seem possible with the sun to guide us by day and the
moons and stars by night. At any rate no waterway was in sight,
and the entire party was almost ready to drop from hunger, thirst
and fatigue. Far ahead of us and a trifle to the right we could
distinguish the outlines of low mountains. These we decided to
attempt to reach in the hope that from some ridge we might discern
the missing waterway. Night fell upon us before we reached our goal,
and, almost fainting from weariness and weakness, we lay down and
slept.
I was awakened early in the morning by some huge body pressing close
to mine, and opening my eyes with a start I beheld my blessed old
Woola snuggling close to me; the faithful brute had followed us
across that trackless waste to share our fate, whatever it might be.
Putting my arms about his neck I pressed my cheek close to his, nor
am I ashamed that I did it, nor of the tears that came to my eyes as
I thought of his love for me. Shortly after this Dejah Thoris and
Sola awakened, and it was decided that we push on at once in an
effort to gain the hills.
We had gone scarcely a mile when I noticed that my thoat was
commencing to stumble and stagger in a most pitiful manner, although
we had not attempted to force them out of a walk since about noon
of the preceding day. Suddenly he lurched wildly to one side and
pitched violently to the ground. Dejah Thoris and I were thrown
clear of him and fell upon the soft moss with scarcely a jar; but
the poor beast was in a pitiable condition, not even being able
to rise, although relieved of our weight. Sola told me that the
coolness of the night, when it fell, together with the rest would
doubtless revive him, and so I decided not to kill him, as was my
first intention, as I had thought it cruel to leave him alone there
to die of hunger and thirst. Relieving him of his trappings, which
I flung down beside him, we left the poor fellow to his fate, and
pushed on with the one thoat as best we could. Sola and I walked,
making Dejah Thoris ride, much against her will. In this way we had
progressed to within about a mile of the hills we were endeavoring
to reach when Dejah Thoris, from her point of vantage upon the
thoat, cried out that she saw a great party of mounted men filing
down from a pass in the hills several miles away. Sola and I
both looked in the direction she indicated, and there, plainly
discernible, were several hundred mounted warriors. They seemed to
be headed in a southwesterly direction, which would take them away
from us.
They doubtless were Thark warriors who had been sent out to capture
us, and we breathed a great sigh of relief that they were traveling
in the opposite direction. Quickly lifting Dejah Thoris from the
thoat, I commanded the animal to lie down and we three did the same,
presenting as small an object as possible for fear of attracting
the attention of the warriors toward us.
We could see them as they filed out of the pass, just for an
instant, before they were lost to view behind a friendly ridge; to
us a most providential ridge; since, had they been in view for any
great length of time, they scarcely could have failed to discover
us. As what proved to be the last warrior came into view from the
pass, he halted and, to our consternation, threw his small but
powerful fieldglass to his eye and scanned the sea bottom in all
directions. Evidently he was a chieftain, for in certain marching
formations among the green men a chieftain brings up the extreme
rear of the column. As his glass swung toward us our hearts stopped
in our breasts, and I could feel the cold sweat start from every
pore in my body.
Presently it swung full upon us and--stopped. The tension on
our nerves was near the breaking point, and I doubt if any of us
breathed for the few moments he held us covered by his glass; and
then he lowered it and we could see him shout a command to the
warriors who had passed from our sight behind the ridge. He did
not wait for them to join him, however, instead he wheeled his
thoat and came tearing madly in our direction.
There was but one slight chance and that we must take quickly.
Raising my strange Martian rifle to my shoulder I sighted and
touched the button which controlled the trigger; there was a
sharp explosion as the missile reached its goal, and the
charging chieftain pitched backward from his flying mount.
Springing to my feet I urged the thoat to rise, and directed Sola
to take Dejah Thoris with her upon him and make a mighty effort to
reach the hills before the green warriors were upon us. I knew that
in the ravines and gullies they might find a temporary hiding place,
and even though they died there of hunger and thirst it would be
better so than that they fell into the hands of the Tharks. Forcing
my two revolvers upon them as a slight means of protection, and, as
a last resort, as an escape for themselves from the horrid death
which recapture would surely mean, I lifted Dejah Thoris in my arms
and placed her upon the thoat behind Sola, who had already mounted
at my command.
"Good-bye, my princess," I whispered, "we may meet in Helium yet.
I have escaped from worse plights than this," and I tried to smile
as I lied.
"What," she cried, "are you not coming with us?"
"How may I, Dejah Thoris? Someone must hold these fellows off for a
while, and I can better escape them alone than could the three of us
together."
She sprang quickly from the thoat and, throwing her dear arms about
my neck, turned to Sola, saying with quiet dignity: "Fly, Sola!
Dejah Thoris remains to die with the man she loves."
Those words are engraved upon my heart. Ah, gladly would I give
up my life a thousand times could I only hear them once again; but
I could not then give even a second to the rapture of her sweet
embrace, and pressing my lips to hers for the first time, I picked
her up bodily and tossed her to her seat behind Sola again,
commanding the latter in peremptory tones to hold her there by
force, and then, slapping the thoat upon the flank, I saw them
borne away; Dejah Thoris struggling to the last to free herself
from Sola's grasp.
Turning, I beheld the green warriors mounting the ridge and looking
for their chieftain. In a moment they saw him, and then me; but
scarcely had they discovered me than I commenced firing, lying flat
upon my belly in the moss. I had an even hundred rounds in the
magazine of my rifle, and another hundred in the belt at my back,
and I kept up a continuous stream of fire until I saw all of the
warriors who had been first to return from behind the ridge either
dead or scurrying to cover.
My respite was short-lived however, for soon the entire party,
numbering some thousand men, came charging into view, racing madly
toward me. I fired until my rifle was empty and they were almost
upon me, and then a glance showing me that Dejah Thoris and Sola had
disappeared among the hills, I sprang up, throwing down my useless
gun, and started away in the direction opposite to that taken by
Sola and her charge.
If ever Martians had an exhibition of jumping, it was granted those
astonished warriors on that day long years ago, but while it led
them away from Dejah Thoris it did not distract their attention
from endeavoring to capture me.
They raced wildly after me until, finally, my foot struck a
projecting piece of quartz, and down I went sprawling upon the moss.
As I looked up they were upon me, and although I drew my long-sword
in an attempt to sell my life as dearly as possible, it was soon
over. I reeled beneath their blows which fell upon me in perfect
torrents; my head swam; all was black, and I went down beneath them
to oblivion.
