AS THURIA, swift racer of the night, shot again into the sky thescene changed. As by magic a new aspect fell athwart the face ofNature. It was as though in the instant one had been transportedfrom one planet to another. It was the age-old miracle of theMartian nights that is always new, even to Martians--two moonsresplendent in the heavens, where one had been but now;conflicting, fast-changing shadows that altered the very hillsthemselves; far Cluros, stately, majestic, almost stationary,shedding his steady light upon the world below; Thuria, a greatand glorious orb, swinging swift across the vaulted dome of theblue-black night, so low that she seemed to graze the hills, agorgeous spectacle that held the girl now beneath the spell ofits enchantment as it always had and always would.

"Ah, Thuria, mad queen of heaven!" murmured Tara of Helium. "Thehills pass in stately procession, their bosoms rising andfalling; the trees move in restless circles; the little grassesdescribe their little arcs; and all is movement, restless,mysterious movement without sound, while Thuria passes." The girlsighed and let her gaze fall again to the stern realitiesbeneath. There was no mystery in the huge banths. He who haddiscovered her squatted there looking hungrily up at her. Most ofthe others had wandered away in search of other prey, but a fewremained hoping yet to bury their fangs in that soft body.

The night wore on. Again Thuria left the heavens to her lord andmaster, hurrying on to keep her tryst with the Sun in otherskies. But a single banth waited impatiently beneath the treewhich harbored Tara of Helium. The others had left, but theirroars, and growls, and moans thundered or rumbled, or floatedback to her from near and far. What prey found they in thislittle valley? There must be something that they were accustomedto find here that they should be drawn in so great numbers. Thegirl wondered what it could be.

How long the night! Numb, cold, and exhausted, Tara of Heliumclung to the tree in growing desperation, for once she had dozedand almost fallen. Hope was low in her brave little heart. Howmuch more could she endure? She asked herself the question andthen, with a brave shake of her head, she squared her shoulders."I still live!" she said aloud.

The banth looked up and growled.

Came Thuria again and after awhile the great Sun--a flaminglover, pursuing his heart's desire. And Cluros, the cold husband,continued his serene way, as placid as before his house had beenviolated by this hot Lothario. And now the Sun and both Moonsrode together in the sky, lending their far mysteries to makeweird the Martian dawn. Tara of Helium looked out across the fairvalley that spread upon all sides of her. It was rich andbeautiful, but even as she looked upon it she shuddered, for toher mind came a picture of the headless things that the towersand the walls hid. Those by day and the banths by night! Ah, wasit any wonder that she shuddered?

With the coming of the Sun the great Barsoomian lion rose to hisfeet. He turned angry eyes upon the girl above him, voiced asingle ominous growl, and slunk away toward the hills. The girlwatched him, and she saw that he gave the towers as wide a berthas possible and that he never took his eyes from one of themwhile he was passing it. Evidently the inmates had taught thesesavage creatures to respect them. Presently he passed from sightin a narrow defile, nor in any direction that she could see wasthere another. Momentarily at least the landscape was deserted.The girl wondered if she dared to attempt to regain the hills andher flier. She dreaded the coming of the workmen to the fields asshe was sure they would come. She shrank from again seeing theheadless bodies, and found herself wondering if these thingswould come out into the fields and work. She looked toward thenearest tower. There was no sign of life there. The valley layquiet now and deserted. She lowered herself stiffly to theground. Her muscles were cramped and every move brought a twingeof pain. Pausing a moment to drink again at the stream she feltrefreshed and then turned without more delay toward the hills. Tocover the distance as quickly as possible seemed the only plan topursue. The trees no longer offered concealment and so she didnot go out of her way to be near them. The hills seemed very faraway. She had not thought, the night before, that she hadtraveled so far. Really it had not been far, but now, with thethree towers to pass in broad daylight, the distance seemed greatindeed.

The second tower lay almost directly in her path. To make adetour would not lessen the chance of detection, it would onlylengthen the period of her danger, and so she laid her coursestraight for the hill where her flier was, regardless of thetower. As she passed the first enclosure she thought that sheheard the sound of movement within, but the gate did not open andshe breathed more easily when it lay behind her. She came then tothe second enclosure, the outer wall of which she must circle, asit lay across her route. As she passed close along it shedistinctly heard not only movement within, but voices. In theworld-language of Barsoom she heard a man issuinginstructions--so many were to pick usa, so many were to irrigatethis field, so many to cultivate that, and so on, as a foremanlay out the day's work for his crew.

Tara of Helium had just reached the gate in the outer wall.Without warning it swung open toward her. She saw that for amoment it would hide her from those within and in that moment sheturned and ran, keeping close to the wall, until, passing out ofsight beyond the curve of the structure, she came to the oppositeside of the enclosure. Here, panting from her exertion and fromthe excitement of her narrow escape, she threw herself among sometall weeds that grew close to the foot of the wall. There she laytrembling for some time, not even daring to raise her head andlook about. Never before had Tara of Helium felt the paralyzingeffects of terror. She was shocked and angry at herself, thatshe, daughter of John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, should exhibitfear. Not even the fact that there had been none there to witnessit lessened her shame and anger, and the worst of it was she knewthat under similar circumstances she would again be equally ascraven. It was not the fear of death--she knew that. No, it wasthe thought of those headless bodies and that she might see themand that they might even touch her--lay hands upon her--seizeher. She shuddered and trembled at the thought.

After a while she gained sufficient command of herself to raiseher head and look about. To her horror she discovered thateverywhere she looked she saw people working in the fields orpreparing to do so. Workmen were coming from other towers. Littlebands were passing to this field and that. They were even somealready at work within thirty ads of her--about a hundred yards.There were ten, perhaps, in the party nearest her, both men andwomen, and all were beautiful of form and grotesque of face. Someager were their trappings that they were practically naked; afact that was in no way remarkable among the tillers of thefields of Mars. Each wore the peculiar, high leather collar thatcompletely hid the neck, and each wore sufficient other leatherto support a single sword and a pocket-pouch. The leather wasvery old and worn, showing long, hard service, and was absolutelyplain with the exception of a single device upon the leftshoulder. The heads, however, were covered with ornaments ofprecious metals and jewels, so that little more than eyes, nose,and mouth were discernible. These were hideously inhuman and yetgrotesquely human at the same time. The eyes were far apart andprotruding, the nose scarce more than two small, parallel slitsset vertically above a round hole that was the mouth. The headswere peculiarly repulsive--so much so that it seemed unbelievableto the girl that they formed an integral part of the beautifulbodies below them.

So fascinated was Tara of Helium that she could scarce take hereyes from the strange creatures--a fact that was to prove herundoing, for in order that she might see them she was forced toexpose a part of her own head and presently, to herconsternation, she saw that one of the creatures had stopped hiswork and was staring directly at her. She did not dare move, forit was still possible that the thing had not seen her, or atleast was only suspicious that some creature lay hid among theweeds. If she could allay this suspicion by remaining motionlessthe creature might believe that he had been mistaken and returnto his work; but, alas, such was not to be the case. She saw thething call the attention of others to her and almost immediatelyfour or five of them started to move in her direction.

It was impossible now to escape discovery. Her only hope lay inflight. If she could elude them and reach the hills and the flierahead of them she might escape, and that could be accomplished inbut one way--flight, immediate and swift. Leaping to her feet shedarted along the base of the wall which she must skirt to theopposite side, beyond which lay the hill that was her goal. Heract was greeted by strange whistling sounds from the thingsbehind her, and casting a glance over her shoulder she saw themall in rapid pursuit.

There were also shrill commands that she halt, but to these shepaid no attention. Before she had half circled the enclosure shediscovered that her chances for successful escape were great,since it was evident to her that her pursuers were not so fleetas she. High indeed then were her hopes as she came in sight ofthe hill, but they were soon dashed by what lay before her, forthere, in the fields that lay between, were fully a hundredcreatures similar to those behind her and all were on the alert,evidently warned by the whistling of their fellows. Instructionsand commands were shouted to and fro, with the result that thosebefore her spread roughly into a great half circle to intercepther, and when she turned to the right, hoping to elude the net,she saw others coming from fields beyond, and to the left thesame was true. But Tara of Helium would not admit defeat. Withoutonce pausing she turned directly toward the center of theadvancing semi-circle, beyond which lay her single chance ofescape, and as she ran she drew her long, slim dagger. Like hervaliant sire, if die she must, she would die fighting. There weregaps in the thin line confronting her and toward the widest ofone of these she directed her course. The things on either sideof the opening guessed her intent for they closed in to placethemselves in her path. This widened the openings on either sideof them and as the girl appeared almost to rush into their armsshe turned suddenly at right angles, ran swiftly in the newdirection for a few yards, and then dashed quickly toward thehill again. Now only a single warrior, with a wide gap on eitherside of him, barred her clear way to freedom, though all theothers were speeding as rapidly as they could to intercept her.If she could pass this one without too much delay she couldescape, of that she was certain. Her every hope hinged on this.The creature before her realized it, too, for he movedcautiously, though swiftly, to intercept her, as a Rugby fullbackmight maneuver in the realization that he alone stood between theopposing team and a touchdown.

At first Tara of Helium had hoped that she might dodge him, forshe could not but guess that she was not only more fleet butinfinitely more agile than these strange creatures; but soonthere came to her the realization that in the time consumed in anattempt to elude his grasp his nearer fellows would be upon herand escape then impossible, so she chose instead to chargestraight for him, and when he guessed her decision he stood, halfcrouching and with outstretched arms, awaiting her. In one handwas his sword, but a voice arose, crying in tones of authority."Take her alive! Do not harm her!" Instantly the fellow returnedhis sword to its scabbard and then Tara of Helium was upon him.Straight for that beautiful body she sprang and in the instantthat the arms closed to seize her her sharp blade drove deep intothe naked chest. The impact hurled them both to the ground and asTara of Helium sprang to her feet again she saw, to her horror,that the loathsome head had rolled from the body and was nowcrawling away from her on six short, spider-]ike legs. The bodystruggled spasmodically and lay still. As brief as had been thedelay caused by the encounter, it still had been of sufficientduration to undo her, for even as she rose two more of the thingsfell upon her and instantly thereafter she was surrounded. Herblade sank once more into naked flesh and once more a head rolledfree and crawled away. Then they overpowered her and in anothermoment she was surrounded by fully a hundred of the creatures,all seeking to lay hands upon her. At first she thought that theywished to tear her to pieces in revenge for her having slain twoof their fellows, but presently she realized that they wereprompted more by curiosity than by any sinister motive.

"Come!" said one of her captors, both of whom had retained a holdupon her. As he spoke he tried to lead her away with him towardthe nearest tower.

"She belongs to me," cried the other. "Did not I capture her? Shewill come with me to the tower of Moak."

"Never!" insisted the first. "She is Luud's. To Luud I will takeher, and whosoever interferes may feel the keenness of mysword--in the head!" He almost shouted the last three words.

"Come! Enough of this," cried one who spoke with some show ofauthority. "She was captured in Luud's fields--she will go toLuud."

"She was discovered in Moak's fields, at the very foot of thetower of Moak," insisted he who had claimed her for Moak.

"You have heard the Nolach speak," cried the Luud. "It shall beas he says."

"Not while this Moak holds a sword," replied the other. "Ratherwill I cut her in twain and take my half to Moak than torelinquish her all to Luud," and he drew his sword, or rather helaid his hand upon its hilt in a threatening gesture; but beforeever he could draw it the Luud had whipped his out and with afearful blow cut deep into the head of his adversary. Instantlythe big, round head collapsed, almost as a punctured ballooncollapses, as a grayish, semi-fluid matter spurted from it. Theprotruding eyes, apparently lidless, merely stared, thesphincter-like muscle of the mouth opened and closed, and thenthe head toppled from the body to the ground. The body stooddully for a moment and then slowly started to wander aimlesslyabout until one of the others seized it by the arm.

One of the two heads crawling about on the ground now approached."This rykor belongs to Moak," it said. "I am a Moak. I will takeit," and without further discussion it commenced to crawl up thefront of the headless body, using its six short, spiderlike legsand two stout chelae which grew just in front of its legs andstrongly resembled those of an Earthly lobster, except that theywere both of the same size. The body in the meantime stood inpassive indifference, its arms hanging idly at its sides. Thehead climbed to the shoulders and settled itself inside theleather collar that now hid its chelae and legs. Almostimmediately the body gave evidence of intelligent animation. Itraised its hands and adjusted the collar more comfortably, ittook the head between its palms and settled it in place and whenit moved around it did not wander aimlessly, but instead itssteps were firm and to some purpose.

The girl watched all these things in growing wonder, andpresently, no other of the Moaks seeming inclined to dispute theright of the Luud to her, she was led off by her captor towardthe nearest tower. Several accompanied them, including one whocarried the loose head under his arm. The head that was beingcarried conversed with the head upon the shoulders of the thingthat carried it. Tara of Helium shivered. It was horrible! Allthat she had seen of these frightful creatures was horrible. Andto be a prisoner, wholly in their power. Shadow of her firstancestor! What had she done to deserve so cruel a fate?

At the wall enclosing the tower they paused while one opened thegate and then they passed within the enclosure, which, to thegirl's horror, she found filled with headless bodies. Thecreature who carried the bodiless head now set its burden uponthe ground and the latter immediately crawled toward one of thebodies that was lying near by. Some wandered stupidly to and fro,but this one lay still. It was a female. The head crawled to itand made its way to the shoulders where it settled itself. Atonce the body sprang lightly erect. Another of those who hadaccompanied them from the fields approached with the harness andcollar that had been taken from the dead body that the head hadformerly topped. The new body now appropriated these and thehands deftly adjusted them. The creature was now as good asbefore Tara of Helium had struck down its former body with herslim blade. But there was a difference. Before it had beenmale--now it was female. That, however, seemed to make nodifference to the head. In fact, Tara of Helium had noticedduring the scramble and the fight about her that sex differencesseemed of little moment to her captors. Males and females hadtaken equal part in her pursuit, both were identically harnessedand both carried swords, and she had seen as many females asmales draw their weapons at the moment that a quarrel between thetwo factions seemed imminent.

The girl was given but brief opportunity for further observationof the pitiful creatures in the enclosure as her captor, afterhaving directed the others to return to the fields, led hertoward the tower, which they entered, passing into an apartmentabout ten feet wide and twenty long, in one end of which was astairway leading to an upper level and in the other an opening toa similar stairway leading downward. The chamber, though on alevel with the ground, was brilliantly lighted by windows in itsinner wall, the light coming from a circular court in the centerof the tower. The walls of this court appeared to be faced withwhat resembled glazed, white tile and the whole interior of itwas flooded with dazzling light, a fact which immediatelyexplained to the girl the purpose of the glass prisms of whichthe domes were constructed. The stairways themselves weresufficient to cause remark, since in nearly all Barsoomianarchitecture inclined runways are utilized for purposes ofcommunication between different levels, and especially is thistrue of the more ancient forms and of those of remote districtswhere fewer changes have come to alter the customs of antiquity.

Down the stairway her captor led Tara of Helium. Down and downthrough chambers still lighted from the brilliant well.Occasionally they passed others going in the opposite directionand these always stopped to examine the girl and ask questions ofher captor.

"I know nothing but that she was found in the fields and that Icaught her after a fight in which she slew two rykors and inwhich I slew a Moak, and that I take her to Luud, to whom, ofcourse, she belongs. If Luud wishes to question her that is forLuud to do--not for me." Thus always he answered the curious.

Presently they reached a room from which a circular tunnel ledaway from the tower, and into this the creature conducted her.The tunnel was some seven feet in diameter and flattened on thebottom to form a walk. For a hundred feet from the tower it waslined with the same tile-like material of the light well andamply illuminated by reflected light from that source. Beyond itwas faced with stone of various shapes and sizes, neatly cut andfitted together--a very fine mosaic without a pattern. There werebranches, too, and other tunnels which crossed this, andoccasionally openings not more than a foot in diameter; theselatter being usually close to the floor. Above each of thesesmaller openings was painted a different device, while upon thewalls of the larger tunnels at all intersections and points ofconvergence hieroglyphics appeared. These the girl could not readthough she guessed that they were the names of the tunnels, ornotices indicating the points to which they led. She tried tostudy some of them out, but there was not a character that wasfamiliar to her, which seemed strange, since, while the writtenlanguages of the various nations of Barsoom differ, it still istrue that they have many characters and words in common.

She had tried to converse with her guard but he had not seemedinclined to talk with her and she had finally desisted. She couldnot but note that he had offered her no indignities, nor had hebeen either unnecessarily rough or in any way cruel. The factthat she had slain two of the bodies with her dagger hadapparently aroused no animosity or desire for revenge in theminds of the strange heads that surmounted the bodies--even thosewhose bodies had been killed. She did not try to understand it,since she could not approach the peculiar relationship betweenthe heads and the bodies of these creatures from the basis of anypast knowledge or experience of her own. So far their treatmentof her seemed to augur naught that might arouse her fears.Perhaps, after all, she had been fortunate to fall into the handsof these strange people, who might not only protect her fromharm, but even aid her in returning to Helium. That they wererepulsive and uncanny she could not forget, but if they meant herno harm she could, at least, overlook their repulsiveness.Renewed hope aroused within her a spirit of greater cheerfulness,and it was almost blithely now that she moved at the side of herweird companion. She even caught herself humming a gay littletune that was then popular in Helium. The creature at her sideturned its expressionless eyes upon her.

"What is that noise that you are making?" it asked.

"I was but humming an air," she replied.

"'Humming an air,'" he repeated. "I do not know what you mean;but do it again, I like it."

This time she sang the words, while her companion listenedintently. His face gave no indication of what was passing in thatstrange head. It was as devoid of expression as that of a spider.It reminded her of a spider. When she had finished he turnedtoward her again.

"That was different," he said. "I liked that better, even, thanthe other. How do you do it?"

"Why," she said, "it is singing. Do you not know what song is?"

"No," he replied. "Tell me how you do it."

"It is difficult to explain," she told him. "since anyexplanation of it presupposes some knowledge of melody and ofmusic, while your very question indicates that you have noknowledge of either."

"No," he said, "I do not know what you are talking about; buttell me how you do it."

"It is merely the melodious modulations of my voice," sheexplained. "Listen!" and again she sang.

"I do not understand," he insisted; "but I like it. Could youteach me to do it?"

"I do not know, but I shall be glad to try."

"We will see what Luud does with you," he said. "If he does notwant you I will keep you and you shall teach me to make soundslike that."

At his request she sang again as they continued their way alongthe winding tunnel, which was now lighted by occasional bulbswhich appeared to be similar to the radium bulbs with which shewas familiar and which were common to all the nations of Barsoom,insofar as she knew, having been perfected at so remote a periodthat their very origin was lost in antiquity. They consist,usually, of a hemispherical bowl of heavy glass in which ispacked a compound containing what, according to John Carter, mustbe radium. The bowl is then cemented into a metal plate with aheavily insulated back and the whole affair set in the masonry ofwall or ceiling as desired, where it gives off light of greateror less intensity, according to the composition of the fillingmaterial, for an almost incalculable period of time.

As they proceeded they met a greater number of the inhabitants ofthis underground world, and the girl noted that among many ofthese the metal and harness were more ornate than had been thoseof the workers in the fields above. The heads and bodies,however, were similar, even identical, she thought. No oneoffered her harm and she was now experiencing a feeling of reliefalmost akin to happiness, when her guide turned suddenly into anopening on the right side of the tunnel and she found herself ina large, well lighted chamber.