Part 4 (1/2)
Occasional hunting parties have traveled to this out-of-the-way corner of the globe, but the hostility of the natives has usually brought disaster upon thee creatures which haunt the jungle fastnesses of Kaol has of later years proved insufficient lure even to the e of the land of the Kaols that I no myself to be, but in what direction to search for Dejah Thoris, or how far into the heart of the great forest I ht have to penetrate I had not the faintest idea
But not so Woola
Scarcely had I disentangled hi about at the edge of the forest Presently he halted, and, turning to see if I were following, set off straight into thebefore Thurid's shot had put an end to our flier
As best I could, I stu at the forest's edge
Ihty heads far above us, their broad fronds colimpse of the sky It was easy to see why the Kaolians needed no navy; their cities, hidden in theforest,be reatest risk of accident
How Thurid and Matai Shang were to land I could not ih later I was to learn that to the level of the forest top there rises in each city of Kaol a slender watchtohich guards the Kaolians by day and by night against the secret approach of a hostile fleet To one of these the hekkador of the Holy Therns had no difficulty in approaching, and by its round
As Woola and I approached the bottoround becareatest difficulty that we rasses topped with red and yellow fern-like fronds grew rankly all about us to the height of several feet above raceful loops fro them were several varieties of the Martian ”man-flower,” whose blooms have eyes and hands hich to see and seize the insects which form their diet
The repulsive calot tree was, too, ness of a large sage-brush such as dots our western plains Each branch ends in a set of strong jahich have been known to drag down and devour large and formidable beasts of prey
Both Woola and I had several narrow escapes froreedy, arboreous ave us intervals of rest froht swamp, and it was upon one of these that I finally decided to ht which my chronometer warned rew in abundance about us; and as Martian calots are o a squareeaten, too, I lay doith my back to that of my faithful hound, and dropped into a deep and dreamless sleep
The forest was shrouded in irowl from Woola awakened reat, padded feet, and now and then the wicked glea-sword and waited
Suddenly a deep-toned, horrid roar burst froe throat almost at ings forthe branches of one of the countless trees that surrounded us!
By daylight it would have been comparatively easy to have hoisted Woola aloft in onefor it but to stand our ground and take our h, from the hideous racket which now assailed our ears, and for which that first roar had seeed that we must be in the midst of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of the fierce, le
All the balance of the night they kept up their infernal din, but why they did not attack us I could not guess, nor am I sure to this day, unless it is that none of them ever venture upon the patches of scarlet shich dot the swa about as in a circle, but always just beyond the edge of the sward A ation of fierce and blood-thirsty ly and in pairs they cole shortly after sunrise, and when the last of them had departed Woola and I resuli the day; but, fortunately, ere never far from a sward island, and when they saw us their pursuit always ended at the verge of the solid sod
Toward noon we stueneral direction we had been pursuing Everything about this highway ineers, and I was confident, from the indications of antiquity which it bore, as well as fro still in everyday use, that it must lead to one of the principal cities of Kaol
Just as we entered it frole upon the other, and at sight of us charged ine, if you can, a bald-faced hornet of your earthly experience grown to the size of a prize Hereford bull, and you will have some faint conception of the ferocious appearance and awesoed htful jaws in front and -sword seem a pitiful weapon of defense indeed Nor could I hope to escape the lightning-like movements or hide from those myriad facet eyes which covered three-fourths of the hideous head, per the creature to see in all directions at one and the same time
Even my powerful and ferocious Woola was as helpless as a kitten before that frightful thing But to flee were useless, even had it ever been to round, Woola snarling at
The creature was upon us now, and at the instant there seeht chance for victory If I could but remove the terrible menace of certain death hidden in the poison sacs that fed the sting the struggle would be less unequal
At the thought I called to Woola to leap upon the creature's head and hang there, and as hisfangs buried thee and lower part of one of the huge eyes, I dived beneath the great body as the creature rose, dragging Woola fro beneath and pierce the body of the thing hanging to its head
To put myself in the path of that poison-laden lance was to court instant death, but it was the only way; and as the thing shot lightning-like toward -sword in a terrific cut that severed the deadly eously -raht me full in the chest and hurled hway and into the underbrush of the jungle that fringes it
Fortunately, I passed between the boles of trees; had I struck one of them I should have been badly injured, if not killed, so swiftly had I been catapulted by that enorh I was, I stuered back to Woola's assistance, to find his savage antagonist circling ten feet above the ground, beating s
Even during rip uponed terror repeatedly with its sharp point
The thing ht easily have risen out ofretreat in the face of danger as either Woola or I, for it dropped quickly toward rasped ain the now useless stub of its giant sting struck futilely against my body, but the blows alone were almost as effective as the kick of a horse; so that when I say futilely, I refer only to the natural function of the disabledwould have ha this when an interruption occurred that put an end forever to its hostilities
Fro the highway a few hundred yards to where it turned toward the east, and just as I had about given up all hope of escaping the perilous position in which I noas I saw a red warrior come into view from around the bend
He was mounted on a splendid thoat, one of the smaller species used by red ht lance
Hissedately when I first perceived them, but the instant that the red ht the ani lance of the warrior dipped toward us, and as thoat and rider hurtled beneath, the point passed through the body of our antagonist
With a convulsive shudder the thing stiffened, the jaws relaxed, droppingonce in ed headfore tenaciously to its gory head
By the tiained my feet the redhis enemy inert and lifeless, released his hold at led froether we faced the warrior looking down upon us
I started to thank the stranger for his timely assistance, but he cut me off peremptorily
”Who are you,” he asked, ”who dare enter the land of Kaol and hunt in the royal forest of the jeddak?”
Then, as he noted rime and blood that covered me, his eyes ide and in an altered tone he whispered: ”Can it be that you are a Holy Thern?”
I ht have deceived the fellow for a time, as I had deceived others, but I had cast away the yelloig and the holy diade, and I knew that it would not be long ere my new acquaintance discovered that I was no thern at all
”I a caution to the winds, I said: ”I am John Carter, Prince of Helium, whose name one hen he thought that I was a Holy Thern, they fairly popped now that he knew that I was John Carter I grasped -sword more firmly as I spoke the words which I was sure would precipitate an attack, but toof the kind
”John Carter, Prince of Heliurasp the truth of the statehtiest warrior of Barsoom!”
And then he dismounted and placed his hand uponupon Mars
”It is my duty, and it should be my pleasure, to kill you, John Carter,” he said, ”but always in my heart of hearts have I admired your prowess and believed in your sincerity the while I have questioned and disbelieved the therns and their religion
”It would mean my instant death were my heresy to be suspected in the court of Kulan tith, but if I may serve you, Prince, you have but to command Torkar Bar, Dwar of the Kaolian Road”
Truth and honesty rit large upon the warrior's noble countenance, so that I could not but have trusted hih he should have been His title of Captain of the Kaolian Road explained his tihway upon Barsoohty warriors of the noble class, nor is there any service erous duty in the less frequented sections of the domains of the red reat debt of gratitude uponto the carcass of the creature fro spear