For an instant I stood there before they fell upon me, butthe first rush of them forced me back a step or two. Myfoot felt for the floor but found only empty space. I hadbacked into the pit which had received Issus. For a secondI toppled there upon the brink. Then I too with the boystill tightly clutched in my arms pitched backward into theblack abyss.

We struck a polished chute, the opening above us closedas magically as it had opened, and we shot down, unharmed,into a dimly lighted apartment far below the arena.

As I rose to my feet the first thing I saw was the malignantcountenance of Issus glaring at me through the heavy barsof a grated door at one side of the chamber.

"Rash mortal!" she shrilled. "You shall pay the awfulpenalty for your blasphemy in this secret cell. Here you shalllie alone and in darkness with the carcass of your accomplicefestering in its rottenness by your side, until crazed byloneliness and hunger you feed upon the crawling maggots thatwere once a man."

That was all. In another instant she was gone, and the dimlight which had filled the cell faded into Cimmerian blackness.

"Pleasant old lady," said a voice at my side.

"Who speaks?" I asked.

"'Tis I, your companion, who has had the honour this day offighting shoulder to shoulder with the greatest warrior thatever wore metal upon Barsoom."

"I thank God that you are not dead," I said. "I feared forthat nasty cut upon your head."

"It but stunned me," he replied. "A mere scratch."

"Maybe it were as well had it been final," I said. "Weseem to be in a pretty fix here with a splendid chance ofdying of starvation and thirst."

"Where are we?"

"Beneath the arena," I replied. "We tumbled down theshaft that swallowed Issus as she was almost at our mercy."

He laughed a low laugh of pleasure and relief, and thenreaching out through the inky blackness he sought myshoulder and pulled my ear close to his mouth.

"Nothing could be better," he whispered. "There are secretswithin the secrets of Issus of which Issus herself does not dream."

"What do you mean?"

"I laboured with the other slaves a year since in theremodelling of these subterranean galleries, and at thattime we found below these an ancient system of corridorsand chambers that had been sealed up for ages. The blacksin charge of the work explored them, taking several of usalong to do whatever work there might be occasion for.I know the entire system perfectly.

"There are miles of corridors honeycombing the ground beneaththe gardens and the temple itself, and there is one passagethat leads down to and connects with the lower regions thatopen on the water shaft that gives passage to Omean.

"If we can reach the submarine undetected we may yetmake the sea in which there are many islands where theblacks never go. There we may live for a time, and whoknows what may transpire to aid us to escape?"

He had spoken all in a low whisper, evidently fearing spyingears even here, and so I answered him in the samesubdued tone.

"Lead back to Shador, my friend," I whispered. "Xodar, theblack, is there. We were to attempt our escape together,so I cannot desert him."

"No," said the boy, "one cannot desert a friend.It were better to be recaptured ourselves than that."

Then he commenced groping his way about the floor ofthe dark chamber searching for the trap that led to thecorridors beneath. At length he summoned me by a low,"S-s-t," and I crept toward the sound of his voice tofind him kneeling on the brink of an opening in the floor.

"There is a drop here of about ten feet," he whispered."Hang by your hands and you will alight safely on a levelfloor of soft sand."

Very quietly I lowered myself from the inky cell above into theinky pit below. So utterly dark was it that we could not seeour hands at an inch from our noses. Never, I think, have I knownsuch complete absence of light as existed in the pits of Issus.

For an instant I hung in mid air. There is a strange sensationconnected with an experience of that nature which is quitedifficult to describe. When the feet tread empty airand the distance below is shrouded in darkness there is afeeling akin to panic at the thought of releasing the hold andtaking the plunge into unknown depths.

Although the boy had told me that it was but ten feet tothe floor below I experienced the same thrills as though Iwere hanging above a bottomless pit. Then I released myhold and dropped--four feet to a soft cushion of sand.

The boy followed me.

"Raise me to your shoulders," he said, "and I will replace the trap."

This done he took me by the hand, leading me veryslowly, with much feeling about and frequent halts to assurehimself that he did not stray into wrong passageways.

Presently we commenced the descent of a very steep incline.

"It will not be long," he said, "before we shall have light.At the lower levels we meet the same strata of phosphorescentrock that illuminates Omean."

Never shall I forget that trip through the pits of Issus.While it was devoid of important incidents yet it wasfilled for me with a strange charm of excitement andadventure which I think I must have hinged principally onthe unguessable antiquity of these long-forgotten corridors.The things which the Stygian darkness hid from my objectiveeye could not have been half so wonderful as the pictureswhich my imagination wrought as it conjured to life again theancient peoples of this dying world and set them once more tothe labours, the intrigues, the mysteries and the crueltieswhich they had practised to make their last stand against theswarming hordes of the dead sea bottoms that had driventhem step by step to the uttermost pinnacle of the worldwhere they were now intrenched behind an impenetrablebarrier of superstition.

In addition to the green men there had been three principalraces upon Barsoom. The blacks, the whites, and a raceof yellow men. As the waters of the planet dried and theseas receded, all other resources dwindled until life upon theplanet became a constant battle for survival.

The various races had made war upon one another forages, and the three higher types had easily bested the greensavages of the water places of the world, but now that thereceding seas necessitated constant abandonment of theirfortified cities and forced upon them a more or less nomadiclife in which they became separated into smaller communitiesthey soon fell prey to the fierce hordes of green men.The result was a partial amalgamation of the blacks, whitesand yellows, the result of which is shown in the presentsplendid race of red men.

I had always supposed that all traces of the original raceshad disappeared from the face of Mars, yet within the pastfour days I had found both whites and blacks in great multitudes.Could it be possible that in some far-off corner of the planetthere still existed a remnant of the ancient race of yellow men?

My reveries were broken in upon by a low exclamation from the boy.

"At last, the lighted way," he cried, and looking up I beheldat a long distance before us a dim radiance.

As we advanced the light increased until presently weemerged into well-lighted passageways. From then on ourprogress was rapid until we came suddenly to the end of acorridor that let directly upon the ledge surrounding the poolof the submarine.

The craft lay at her moorings with uncovered hatch.Raising his finger to his lips and then tapping his sword in asignificant manner, the youth crept noiselessly toward the vessel.I was close at his heels.

Silently we dropped to the deserted deck, and on handsand knees crawled toward the hatchway. A stealthy glancebelow revealed no guard in sight, and so with the quicknessand the soundlessness of cats we dropped together into themain cabin of the submarine. Even here was no sign of life.Quickly we covered and secured the hatch.

Then the boy stepped into the pilot house, touched a buttonand the boat sank amid swirling waters toward the bottomof the shaft. Even then there was no scurrying of feet aswe had expected, and while the boy remained to direct theboat I slid from cabin to cabin in futile search for somemember of the crew. The craft was entirely deserted.Such good fortune seemed almost unbelievable.

When I returned to the pilot house to report the goodnews to my companion he handed me a paper.

"This may explain the absence of the crew," he said.

It was a radio-aerial message to the commander of the submarine:

"The slaves have risen. Come with what men you have andthose that you can gather on the way. Too late to get aidfrom Omean. They are massacring all within the amphitheatre. Issus is threatened. Haste.

"ZITHAD"

"Zithad is Dator of the guards of Issus," explained the youth."We gave them a bad scare--one that they will not soon forget."

"Let us hope that it is but the beginning of the end of Issus," I said.

"Only our first ancestor knows," he replied.

We reached the submarine pool in Omean without incident. Here we debated the wisdom of sinking the craft beforeleaving her, but finally decided that it would add nothingto our chances for escape. There were plenty of blacks onOmean to thwart us were we apprehended; however manymore might come from the temples and gardens of Issuswould not in any decrease our chances.

We were now in a quandary as to how to pass the guards whopatrolled the island about the pool. At last I hit upon a plan.

"What is the name or title of the officer in charge of these guards?"I asked the boy.

"A fellow named Torith was on duty when we entered this morning,"he replied.

"Good. And what is the name of the commander of the submarine?"

"Yersted."

I found a dispatch blank in the cabin and wrote the following order:

"Dator Torith: Return these two slaves at once to Shador.

"YERSTED"

That will be the simpler way to return," I said, smiling, as Ihanded the forged order to the boy. "Come, we shall see nowhow well it works."

"But our swords!" he exclaimed. "What shall we say to explain them?"

"Since we cannot explain them we shall have to leave them behind us,"I replied.

"Is it not the extreme of rashness to thus put ourselves again,unarmed, in the power of the First Born?"

"It is the only way," I answered. "You may trust me to finda way out of the prison of Shador, and I think, once out,that we shall find no great difficulty in arming ourselvesonce more in a country which abounds so plentifully in armed men."

"As you say," he replied with a smile and shrug. "I could notfollow another leader who inspired greater confidence than you.Come, let us put your ruse to the test."

Boldly we emerged from the hatchway of the craft, leavingour swords behind us, and strode to the main exit which ledto the sentry's post and the office of the Dator of the guard.

At sight of us the members of the guard sprang forward insurprise, and with levelled rifles halted us. I held out themessage to one of them. He took it and seeing to whomit was addressed turned and handed it to Torith who wasemerging from his office to learn the cause of the commotion.

The black read the order, and for a moment eyed us withevident suspicion.

"Where is Dator Yersted?" he asked, and my heart sankwithin me, as I cursed myself for a stupid fool in not havingsunk the submarine to make good the lie that I must tell.

"His orders were to return immediately to the temple landing,"I replied.

Torith took a half step toward the entrance to the poolas though to corroborate my story. For that instant everythinghung in the balance, for had he done so and found theempty submarine still lying at her wharf the whole weakfabric of my concoction would have tumbled about our heads;but evidently he decided the message must be genuine,nor indeed was there any good reason to doubt it since itwould scarce have seemed credible to him that two slaveswould voluntarily have given themselves into custody in anysuch manner as this. It was the very boldness of the planwhich rendered it successful.

"Were you connected with the rising of the slaves?" asked Torith."We have just had meagre reports of some such event."

"All were involved," I replied. "But it amounted to little.The guards quickly overcame and killed the majority of us."

He seemed satisfied with this reply. "Take them to Shador,"he ordered, turning to one of his subordinates. We entereda small boat lying beside the island, and in a few minuteswere disembarking upon Shador. Here we were returned to ourrespective cells; I with Xodar, the boy by himself; and behindlocked doors we were again prisoners of the First Born.