Part 9 (1/2)
I did not languish long within the prison of Salensus Oll During the short tiold, I often wondered as to the fate of Thuvan Dihn, Jeddak of Ptarth
My brave coarden as I attacked Thurid, and when Salensus Oll had left with Dejah Thoris and the others, leaving Thuvia of Ptarth behind, he, too, had rehter, apparently unnoticed, for he was appareled siuards
The last I had seen of hi for the warriors who escorted ht be alone with Thuvia Could it be possible that they had escaped? I doubted it, and yet with all ht be true
The third day of ht a dozen warriors to escort me to the audience chareat nu the was not there
Dejah Thoris, as radiantly beautiful as ever, sat upon a small throne beside Salensus Oll The expression of sad hopelessness upon her dear face cut deep into my heart
Her position beside the Jeddak of Jeddaks boded ill for her andto my mind the firm intention never to leave that chamber alive if I must leave her in the clutches of this powerful tyrant
I had killed better men than Salensus Oll, and killed them with my bare hands, and noore to myself that I should kill him if I found that the only way to save the Princess of Helium That it would mean almost instant death for me I cared not, except that it would remove me from further efforts in behalf of Dejah Thoris, and for this reason alone I would have chosen another way, for even though I should kill Salensus Oll that act would not restore my beloved wife to her own people I deterht learn all that I could of the Okarian ruler's intentions, and then act accordingly
Scarcely had I come before him than Salensus Oll summoned Thurid also
”Dator Thurid,” he said, ”you have e request of me; but, in accordance with your wishes and your promise that it will result only to my interests, I have decided to accede
”You tellthis prisoner and, at the saratification of my dearest wish”
Thurid nodded
”Then shall I make the announcement here before all my nobles,” continued Salensus Oll ”For a year no queen has sat upon the throne beside me, and now it suits me to take to wife one who is reputed the most beautiful woman upon Barsoom A statement which none may truthfully deny
”nobles of Okar, unsheathe your swords and do hoe to Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium and future Queen of Okar, for at the end of the allotted ten days she shall become the wife of Salensus Oll”
As the nobles drew their blades and lifted theh, in accordance with the ancient custom of Okar when a jeddak announces his intention to wed, Dejah Thoris sprang to her feet and, raising her hand aloft, cried in a loud voice that they desist
”I may not be the wife of Salensus Oll,” she pleaded, ”for already I be a wife and mother John Carter, Prince of Helium, still lives I know it to be true, for I overheard Matai Shang tell his daughter Phaidor that he had seen him in Kaor, at the court of Kulan tith, Jeddak A jeddak does not wed a married woman, nor will Salensus Oll thus violate the bonds of ly look
”Is this the surprise you held in store for ht not be easily overcome stood between me and this woman, and now I find that the one insuperable obstacle intervenes What mean you, man? What have you to say?”
”And should I deliver John Carter into your hands, Salensus Oll, would you not feel that I had more than satisfied the promise that I made you?” answered Thurid
”Talk not like a fool,” cried the enraged jeddak ”I a only as a man who knows,” replied Thurid ”Knows that he can do all that he claims”
”Then turn John Carter over to me within ten days or yourself suffer the end that I should mete out to him were he in ly scowl
”You need not wait ten days, Salensus Oll,” replied Thurid; and then, turning suddenly upon er, he cried: ”There stands John Carter, Prince of Helium!”
”Fool!” shrieked Salensus Oll ”Fool! John Carter is a white man This fellow be as yellow ashas described hie and black as any in Okar Quick, guardsmen, to the pits with the black maniac ishes to throw his life away for a poor joke upon your ruler!”
”Hold!” cried Thurid, and springing forward before I could guess his intention, he had grasped my beard and ripped the whole false fabric fro my smooth, tanned skin beneath and ned in the audience chamber of Salensus Oll Warriors pressed forith drawn blades, thinking that Ithe assassination of the Jeddak of Jeddaks; while others, out of curiosity to see one whose name was familiar from pole to pole, crowded behind their fellows
Asto her feet--ah that jam of armed men she forced her way before any could prevent A moment only and she was before ht of her great love
”John Carter! John Carter!” she cried as I folded her to my breast, and then of a sudden I knehy she had denied arden beneath the tower
What a fool I had been! Expecting that she would penetrate the ht for me by the barber of Marentina! She had not known n of love fronant Indeed, but I had been a fool
”And it was you,” she cried, ”who spoke to inian lay behind that fierce beard and that yellow skin?”
She had been wont to call inian as a term of endearment, for she knew that I loved the sound of that beautiful name, made a thousand times more beautiful and hallowed by her dear lips, and as I heard it again after all those long years my eyes became dimmed with tears and my voice choked with emotion
But an instant did I crush that dear fore and jealousy, shouldered his way to us
”Seize the man,” he cried to his warriors, and a hundred ruthless hands tore us apart
Well it was for the nobles of the court of Okar that John Carter had been disarht of ht my way half up the steps before the throne to which Salensus Oll had carried Dejah Thoris ere ever they could stop , beneath a half-hundred warriors; but before they had battered me into unconsciousness I heard that fro orth while
Standing there beside the great tyrant, who clutched her by the arainst such awful odds
”Think you, Salensus Oll, that the wife of such as he is,” she cried, ”would ever dishonor hiswith a lesser mortal? Lives there upon any world such another as John Carter, Prince of Heliuht his way back and forth across a warlike planet, facing savage beasts and hordes of savage men, for the love of a woman?
”I, Dejah Thoris, Princess of Heliuht for me and won me If you be a brave man you will honor the bravery that is his, and you will not kill him Make him a slave if you will, Salensus Oll; but spare his life I would rather be a slave with such as he than be Queen of Okar”
”Neither slave nor queen dictates to Salensus Oll,” replied the Jeddak of Jeddaks ”John Carter shall die a natural death in the Pit of Plenty, and the day he dies Dejah Thoris shall become my queen”
I did not hear her reply, for it was then that a blow upon ht unconsciousness, and when I recovered uardsmen remained in the audience chaoaded me with the points of their swords and badecorridors to a court far toward the center of the palace
In the center of the court was a deep pit, near the edge of which stood half a dozen other guards rope in his hands, which he commenced to make ready as we approached
We had come to within fifty feet of thesesensation in one of ers
For a , and then there came to me recollection of that which in the stress ofof Prince Talu of Marentina
Instantly I looked toward the group ere nearing, at the saht be visible to one who sought it Si warriors raised his left hand, ostensibly to brush back his hair, and upon one of his fingers I saw the duplicate of ence passed between us, after which I kept my eyes turned away froain, for fear that I ht arouse the suspicion of the Okarians When we reached the edge of the pit I saw that it was very deep, and presently I realized I was soon to judge just how far it extended below the surface of the court, for he who held the rope passed it about my body in such a way that it could be released frorasped it, he pushedabyss
After the first jerk as I reached the end of the rope that had been paid out to let e they lowered e, while two or three of thethe rope about ht his mouth close to my cheek, and in the brief interval before I was cast into the forbidding hole he breathed a single word into ination had pictured as bottomless, proved to be not more than a hundred feet in depth; but as its walls were sht as well have been a thousand feet, for I could never hope to escape without outside assistance