I could not have been unconscious more than a few seconds,and yet I know that I was unconscious, for the next thingI realized was that a growing radiance was illuminatingthe corridor about me and the eyes were gone.

I was unharmed except for a slight bruise upon my foreheadwhere it had struck the stone flagging as I fell.

I sprang to my feet to ascertain the cause of the light. Itcame from a torch in the hand of one of a party of four greenwarriors, who were coming rapidly down the corridor toward me.They had not yet seen me, and so I lost no time in slippinginto the first intersecting corridor that I could find.This time, however, I did not advance so far away from themain corridor as on the other occasion that had resulted inmy losing Tars Tarkas and his guards.

The party came rapidly toward the opening of the passagewayin which I crouched against the wall. As they passed byI breathed a sigh of relief. I had not been discovered, and,best of all, the party was the same that I had followed intothe pits. It consisted of Tars Tarkas and his three guards.

I fell in behind them and soon we were at the cell in whichthe great Thark had been chained. Two of the warriors remainedwithout while the man with the keys entered with the Tharkto fasten his irons upon him once more. The two outsidestarted to stroll slowly in the direction of the spiralrunway which led to the floors above, and in a moment werelost to view beyond a turn in the corridor.

The torch had been stuck in a socket beside the door, sothat its rays illuminated both the corridor and the cell at thesame time. As I saw the two warriors disappear I approached theentrance to the cell, with a well-defined plan already formulated.

While I disliked the thought of carrying out the thing that Ihad decided upon, there seemed no alternative if Tars Tarkasand I were to go back together to my little camp in the hills.

Keeping near the wall, I came quite close to the door toTars Tarkas' cell, and there I stood with my longsword abovemy head, grasped with both hands, that I might bring it downin one quick cut upon the skull of the jailer as he emerged.

I dislike to dwell upon what followed after I heard thefootsteps of the man as he approached the doorway. It isenough that within another minute or two, Tars Tarkas,wearing the metal of a Warhoon chief, was hurrying downthe corridor toward the spiral runway, bearing the Warhoon'storch to light his way. A dozen paces behind him followedJohn Carter, Prince of Helium.

The two companions of the man who lay now beside thedoor of the cell that had been Tars Tarkas' had just startedto ascend the runway as the Thark came in view.

"Why so long, Tan Gama?" cried one of the men.

"I had trouble with a lock," replied Tars Tarkas."And now I find that I have left my short-sword inthe Thark's cell. Go you on, I'll return and fetch it."

"As you will, Tan Gama," replied he who had before spoken."We shall see you above directly."

"Yes," replied Tars Tarkas, and turned as though to retracehis steps to the cell, but he only waited until the twohad disappeared at the floor above. Then I joined him, weextinguished the torch, and together we crept toward thespiral incline that led to the upper floors of the building.

At the first floor we found that the hallway ran but halfwaythrough, necessitating the crossing of a rear room full ofgreen folk, ere we could reach the inner courtyard, so therewas but one thing left for us to do, and that was to gain thesecond floor and the hallway through which I had traversedthe length of the building.

Cautiously we ascended. We could hear the sounds ofconversation coming from the room above, but the hall stillwas unlighted, nor was any one in sight as we gained the topof the runway. Together we threaded the long hall and reachedthe balcony overlooking the courtyard, without being detected.

At our right was the window letting into the room in which Ihad seen Tan Gama and the other warriors as they started toTars Tarkas' cell earlier in the evening. His companions hadreturned here, and we now overheard a portion of their conversation.

"What can be detaining Tan Gama?" asked one.

"He certainly could not be all this time fetching his shortswordfrom the Thark's cell," spoke another.

"His short-sword?" asked a woman. "What mean you?"

"Tan Gama left his short-sword in the Thark's cell," explained thefirst speaker, "and left us at the runway, to return and get it."

"Tan Gama wore no short-sword this night," said thewoman. "It was broken in to-day's battle with the Thark,and Tan Gama gave it to me to repair. See, I have it here,"and as she spoke she drew Tan Gama's short-sword frombeneath her sleeping silks and furs.

The warriors sprang to their feet.

"There is something amiss here," cried one.

"'Tis even what I myself thought when Tan Gama leftus at the runway," said another. "Methought then that hisvoice sounded strangely."

"Come! let us hasten to the pits."

We waited to hear no more. Slinging my harness into along single strap, I lowered Tars Tarkas to the courtyardbeneath, and an instant later dropped to his side.

We had spoken scarcely a dozen words since I had felledTan Gama at the cell door and seen in the torch's light theexpression of utter bewilderment upon the great Thark's face.

"By this time," he had said, "I should have learned to wonderat nothing which John Carter accomplishes." That was all.He did not need to tell me that he appreciated the friendshipwhich had prompted me to risk my life to rescue him, nor didhe need to say that he was glad to see me.

This fierce green warrior had been the first to greet methat day, now twenty years gone, which had witnessed myfirst advent upon Mars. He had met me with levelled spearand cruel hatred in his heart as he charged down upon me,bending low at the side of his mighty thoat as I stood besidethe incubator of his horde upon the dead sea bottom beyond Korad.And now among the inhabitants of two worlds I counted none abetter friend than Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of the Tharks.

As we reached the courtyard we stood in the shadows beneaththe balcony for a moment to discuss our plans.

"There be five now in the party, Tars Tarkas," I said;"Thuvia, Xodar, Carthoris, and ourselves. We shall need fivethoats to bear us."

"Carthoris!" he cried. "Your son?"

"Yes. I found him in the prison of Shador, on the Sea ofOmean, in the land of the First Born."

"I know not any of these places, John Carter. Be theyupon Barsoom?"

"Upon and below, my friend; but wait until we shall have madegood our escape, and you shall hear the strangest narrativethat ever a Barsoomian of the outer world gave ear to.Now we must steal our thoats and be well away to the northbefore these fellows discover how we have tricked them."

In safety we reached the great gates at the far end of thecourtyard, through which it was necessary to take ourthoats to the avenue beyond. It is no easy matter to handlefive of these great, fierce beasts, which by nature are as wildand ferocious as their masters and held in subjection bycruelty and brute force alone.

As we approached them they sniffed our unfamiliar scentand with squeals of rage circled about us. Their long,massive necks upreared raised their great, gaping mouthshigh above our heads. They are fearsome appearing brutes atbest, but when they are aroused they are fully as dangerousas they look. The thoat stands a good ten feet at the shoulder. His hide is sleek and hairless, and of a dark slate colouron back and sides, shading down his eight legs to a vividyellow at the huge, padded, nailless feet; the belly is purewhite. A broad, flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root,completes the picture of this ferocious green Martian mount--a fit war steed for these warlike people.

As the thoats are guided by telepathic means alone, thereis no need for rein or bridle, and so our object now was tofind two that would obey our unspoken commands. As theycharged about us we succeeded in mastering them sufficientlyto prevent any concerted attack upon us, but the din oftheir squealing was certain to bring investigating warriorsinto the courtyard were it to continue much longer.

At length I was successful in reaching the side of onegreat brute, and ere he knew what I was about I was firmlyseated astride his glossy back. A moment later Tars Tarkashad caught and mounted another, and then between us weherded three or four more toward the great gates.

Tars Tarkas rode ahead and, leaning down to the latch,threw the barriers open, while I held the loose thoats frombreaking back to the herd. Then together we rode throughinto the avenue with our stolen mounts and, without waitingto close the gates, hurried off toward the southern boundaryof the city.

Thus far our escape had been little short of marvellous,nor did our good fortune desert us, for we passed the outerpurlieus of the dead city and came to our camp without hearingeven the faintest sound of pursuit.

Here a low whistle, the prearranged signal, apprised the balanceof our party that I was returning, and we were met by the threewith every manifestation of enthusiastic rejoicing.

But little time was wasted in narration of our adventure.Tars Tarkas and Carthoris exchanged the dignified andformal greetings common upon Barsoom, but I could tellintuitively that the Thark loved my boy and that Carthorisreciprocated his affection.

Xodar and the green Jeddak were formally presented toeach other. Then Thuvia was lifted to the least fractiousthoat, Xodar and Carthoris mounted two others, and we setout at a rapid pace toward the east. At the far extremityof the city we circled toward the north, and under theglorious rays of the two moons we sped noiselessly acrossthe dead sea bottom, away from the Warhoons and the FirstBorn, but to what new dangers and adventures we knew not.

Toward noon of the following day we halted to rest ourmounts and ourselves. The beasts we hobbled, that theymight move slowly about cropping the ochre moss-likevegetation which constitutes both food and drink for themon the march. Thuvia volunteered to remain on watch whilethe balance of the party slept for an hour.

It seemed to me that I had but closed my eyes when Ifelt her hand upon my shoulder and heard her soft voicewarning me of a new danger.

"Arise, O Prince," she whispered. "There be that behindus which has the appearance of a great body of pursuers."

The girl stood pointing in the direction from whence wehad come, and as I arose and looked, I, too, thought thatI could detect a thin dark line on the far horizon. I awokethe others. Tars Tarkas, whose giant stature towered highabove the rest of us, could see the farthest.

"It is a great body of mounted men," he said, "and theyare travelling at high speed."

There was no time to be lost. We sprang to our hobbledthoats, freed them, and mounted. Then we turned our facesonce more toward the north and took our flight again at thehighest speed of our slowest beast.

For the balance of the day and all the following night weraced across that ochre wilderness with the pursuers atour back ever gaining upon us. Slowly but surely they werelessening the distance between us. Just before dark they hadbeen close enough for us to plainly distinguish that they weregreen Martians, and all during the long night we distinctlyheard the clanking of their accoutrements behind us.

As the sun rose on the second day of our flight it disclosedthe pursuing horde not a half-mile in our rear. As they sawus a fiendish shout of triumph rose from their ranks.

Several miles in advance lay a range of hills--the farthershore of the dead sea we had been crossing. Could we butreach these hills our chances of escape would be greatlyenhanced, but Thuvia's mount, although carrying the lightestburden, already was showing signs of exhaustion. I wasriding beside her when suddenly her animal staggered andlurched against mine. I saw that he was going down, butere he fell I snatched the girl from his back and swung herto a place upon my own thoat, behind me, where she clungwith her arms about me.

This double burden soon proved too much for my alreadyovertaxed beast, and thus our speed was terribly diminished,for the others would proceed no faster than the slowest ofus could go. In that little party there was not one who woulddesert another; yet we were of different countries, differentcolours, different races, different religions--and one of uswas of a different world.

We were quite close to the hills, but the Warhoons weregaining so rapidly that we had given up all hope of reachingthem in time. Thuvia and I were in the rear, for our beastwas lagging more and more. Suddenly I felt the girl's warmlips press a kiss upon my shoulder. "For thy sake, O myPrince," she murmured. Then her arms slipped from aboutmy waist and she was gone.

I turned and saw that she had deliberately slipped to theground in the very path of the cruel demons who pursuedus, thinking that by lightening the burden of my mount itmight thus be enabled to bear me to the safety of the hills.Poor child! She should have known John Carter better than that.

Turning my thoat, I urged him after her, hoping to reachher side and bear her on again in our hopeless flight. Carthoris must have glanced behind him at about the same timeand taken in the situation, for by the time I had reachedThuvia's side he was there also, and, springing from hismount, he threw her upon its back and, turning the animal'shead toward the hills, gave the beast a sharp crack acrossthe rump with the flat of his sword. Then he attempted todo the same with mine.

The brave boy's act of chivalrous self-sacrifice filled mewith pride, nor did I care that it had wrested from us ourlast frail chance for escape. The Warhoons were now closeupon us. Tars Tarkas and Xodar had discovered our absenceand were charging rapidly to our support. Everything pointedtoward a splendid ending of my second journey to Barsoom.I hated to go out without having seen my divine Princess, andheld her in my arms once again; but if it were not writ uponthe book of Fate that such was to be, then would I take themost that was coming to me, and in these last few momentsthat were to be vouchsafed me before I passed over into thatunguessed future I could at least give such an account ofmyself in my chosen vocation as would leave the Warhoons ofthe South food for discourse for the next twenty generations.

As Carthoris was not mounted, I slipped from the back ofmy own mount and took my place at his side to meet thecharge of the howling devils bearing down upon us. Amoment later Tars Tarkas and Xodar ranged themselves oneither hand, turning their thoats loose that we might allbe on an equal footing.

The Warhoons were perhaps a hundred yards from us when aloud explosion sounded from above and behind us, and almostat the same instant a shell burst in their advancing ranks.At once all was confusion. A hundred warriors toppledto the ground. Riderless thoats plunged hither andthither among the dead and dying. Dismounted warriors weretrampled underfoot in the stampede which followed. Allsemblance of order had left the ranks of the green men, andas they looked far above our heads to trace the origin of thisunexpected attack, disorder turned to retreat and retreat to awild panic. In another moment they were racing as madlyaway from us as they had before been charging down upon us.

We turned to look in the direction from whence the firstreport had come, and there we saw, just clearing the tops ofthe nearer hills, a great battleship swinging majesticallythrough the air. Her bow gun spoke again even as we looked,and another shell burst among the fleeing Warhoons.

As she drew nearer I could not repress a wild cry of elation,for upon her bows I saw the device of Helium.