La Grande evening observer., May 12, 1917, Image 4

PAGE FOUR
Copyright by Frank A. Munsoy Co.
Prologue.
There toe a few venturesome
author gifted with vivid irrmsina
fa'oni who. Lice Alexander, sigh for
new worlds to conquer, and they
doit. H. C Wells is one of theie,
and Edgar Rice Burroughs is an
other. In his most recent and most fas
cinating work, "The Gods of
Mars," the author lifts his readers to
mat interesting planet with an earth
born hero who is mysteriously
translated there.
As Mr. Burroughs reveals the
condition of that planet. Mars is
well named, for there is continuous
warfare going on there of a most
extraordinary kind. Wonderful air
battles and wonderful war ma
chines are described, and wonderful
adventures are related.
Every page is full of color and
incident, and every page has -its
thrill With a touch of genius akin
to that of Jules Verne, an air of
reality is green to the marvelous,
for here indeed is a marvelous
story, and yet it might all have
happened in Mars.
Foreword.
mWBLVE years bad passed since
I bad In Id the body of Captain
John Carter of Virginia away
from the Bight of men in that
strange mausoleum In tbe old' ceme
tery at Richmond.
Often bad I pondered on tbe odd In
structions bo had left mo governing
the construction of his mighty tomb,
nd especially those parts wherein be
directed that he be laid In on open
casket and that the ponderous mech
anism which controlled tbe bolts of
tbe vault's huge door be accessible
only from tbe Inside.
Twelve years bad passed since I bad
Nad the remarkable manuscript of
this remarkable man, this man who
remembered no childhood and who
could not even offer a vaguo guess as
to bis age, who was always young and
yet who bad so he claimed dandled
my grandfather's great-grandfather
upon bis knee; this man who had spent
ten years upon the planet Mars, who
had fought for the green men of Bar
Boom mill fought against them, who
had rought for mid against the rod
mvu and who had won the ever beau
tiful Dpjah Thorls, princess of Ilcllmn,
for his wife and for nearly ten years
had been a prince of tlio house of
Tardos Mors, Joddak of Helium.
Twolvo years had passed since his
body had been found upon the bluff
before his cottage overlook lug the Hud
son. Ofttlmes during the long years
I had wondered If John Carter wero
really dead or If he again roamed the
dead sea bottoms of that dying planet.
Had ho returned to llninoom to mid
that ho had opened tho frowning por
tals of the mighty atmosphere plant
In time to save the countless millions
who wore dying of asphyxiation on
that fur gone day that had seen him
hurtled ruthlessly through 48,000,000
miles of space back to eurth onco
more?
I had wondered If ho had found his
black haired princess and the slender
on he had dreamed wus with her In
the royal gardens of Tardos Mors
awaiting his return.
Or had lie found that he had been
too la to and thus gone back to living
death upou a dead world, or was ho
really dead after all, never to return
either to his Mother Earth or his be
loved Mars?
Thus was I lost In useless simula
tion one sultry August evening when
old Ben, my body servant, handed me
m telegram. Tearing It open, I read:
Moet me tomorrow hotel Klt-ninond.
JOHN CARTER.
Early the next morning I took the
first train for Illchmond and within
two hours was being ushered Into the
room occupied by John Carter.
As I entered he rose to greet me, bis
old time smile of welcome lighting bis
handsome face. Apparently he had
not aged a minute, but was still the
straight, clean limbed fighting man of
thirty.
His keen gray eyes were undlmmed,
and the only lines upon bis face were
the lines of character and determina
tion that always had been there since
first I remembered him, nearly thirty
five years before.
"Well, nephew," he greeted me, "do
yon feel as though you were seeing a
gjM SF
1
IT j uMJr
Rsar HaSyssT
ghost or suffering from the effects of
too many of Undo Ben's Juleps?"
"Julons. I reckon." I repllod, "for I
certainly feel mighty good. But rnay.
be It's Just the sight of you again that
affects me. l'ou havo been back to
Mars? Tell me. And Dejah Thorls?
You found her well and awaiting you?"
"Yes, I have been to Barsoom again
and but It's a long story, too long to
tell In the limited time I have before
I must return. I have learned tho se
cret, nephew, and I may traverse the
trackless void at my will, coming ana
going between the countless planets as
I wish. But my heart Is always in
Barsoom, and 1 doubt that I shall. ever
aguin leave the dying world that holds
my dearest memories.
"I have come now because my af
fection for you prompted me to see
you once more before you pass over
forever Into that other life that I shall
never know and which, though I have
died thrice and shall die again tonight,
as you know death, I am as unable to
fathom as are you.
"Even the wlso and mysterious
therns of Barsoom, that ancient cult
which for countless ages has been
credited with holding the secret of life
and death in their impregnable fast
nesses upon the hither slopes of the
mountains of Ota, are as ignorant
as we.
"I have proved It, though I nearly
lost my life in the doing of It. But
you shall read it all in the notes I
have been making during tho last three
months that I have been back upon
earth."
He patted a swelling portfolio that
lay on the table at bis elbow.
"I know that you are Interested and
that you believe, and I know that the
world, too, is Interested, though they
will not believe for many years yes
for many ages since they cannot un
derstand. Earth mon havo not yet
progressed to a point where they can
comprehend the things that I have
written In these notes.
"Give them what you wish of It,
what you think will not harm them,
but do not feel aggrieved if they laugh
at you."
That night I walked down to the
cemetery with him. At the door of
"iioodby, nophaw," he said. "I may
nevor too you again."
bis vault ho turned and pressed my
band.
"Goodby, nephow," ho said. "I may
never see you again,"
Ho entered the vault. Tito great
door swung slowly to. Tho ponderous
bolts grated Into place. Tho lock
clicked.
I have never seen Captain John Car
ter of Virginia since.
But here Is the story of his return to
Mars on that other occasion as I have
gleaned It from tho great mass of
notes which he left for mo upon the
table of his room In tho hotel at Rich
mond. There Is much which I havo left out;
much which I have not dared to tell,
but you will find the story of his search
for DoJah Thorls, princess of Helium,
ouo of tho most remarkable stories of
adventure In Btrange lands and among
strange people ever written. This sto
ry, as told by Captain John Carter of
Virginia, Is us follows:
CHAPTER I.
Tho Plant Men.
Si:
stood upon the bluff before
my cottage on that clear, cold
Ight In the early part of March,
lSSf!, tho noble Hudson flowing
like the silent specter of a dead river
below me, 1 felt again the strange,
compelling influence of the mighty god
of war, my beloved Mars, which for
ten lonesome years I had Implored
with outstretched arms to carry me
back to my lost love.
Not since that other March night in
1800, when I had stood without that
Arizona cave In which my still and
lifeless body lay wrapped In the slmtit-
GRANDE EVENING OBSERVER.
tudo of earthly dentil, liad' 1 felt tho
Irresistible attraction of tho god of my
proiession.
With arms outstretched toward tho
m cy0 of "10 fireut stnr 1 Btoo(1 pray-
lug for a return of that strange power
which twice had druwn me through
the immensity of spuce, praying as 1
had prayed on a thousand nights be
fore during tho years that I had wait
ed and hoped.
Suddenly a qualm of nausea swept
over me, my senses swam, my knees
gave bcueath me, and I pitched head
long to the ground upon the very
verge of the dizzy bluff.
Instantly my brain cleared, and there
wept back across tho threshold of my
memory the vivid picture of the hor
rors of that ghostly Arizona cave;
again, as on that far gone night, my
muscles refused to respond to my will,
and again as though even hero upon
the banks of the placid Hudson I
could hear the awful moans and rus
tllng of the fearsome thing which bad
lurked and threatened me from the
dark recesses of the cave.
I made the same mighty and super
human effort to break the bonds of
tbe strange anaesthesia which held me,
and again came tho sharp click as of
the sudden parting of a taut wire, and
I stood naked and free beside the
staring, lifeless thing that had so re
cently pulsed with the warm llfeblood
of John Carter.
With scarcely a parting glance I
turned my eyes again toward Mars,
lifted my hands toward his lurid rays
and waited.
Nor did I have long to wait, for
scarce bad I turned ere I shot wltb
the rapidity of thought into tbe awful
void before me.
There was tbe same instant of un
thinkable cold and utter darkness that
I had experienced twenty years be
fore, and then I opened my eyes in an
other world, beneath tbe burning rays
of a hot sun, which bent through a
tiny opening in the dome of tbe
mighty forest in which I lay.
Tho scene that met my eyes was so
unmartlan that my heart sprang to
my throat as tho sudden fear swept
through me that I had been aimlessly
tossed upon some strange planet by a
cruel fate.
I ley upon a close cropped sward of
red grass-like vegetation, and about me
stretched a grove of strange and beau
tiful trees, covered with huge and gor
geous blossoms and filled with brilliant,
voiceless birds. I call them birds since
they were winged, but mortal eye nev
er rested on such unearthly shapes.
Tbe vegetation was similar to that
which covers the lawns of the red Mar
tlans of the great waterways, but the
trees and birds were unlike anything
that I had ever seen upon Mars, and
then through the farther trees I could
see that most unmartlan of all Bights
an open sea. Its blue waters shimmer
ing beneath tbe brazen sun.
As I rose to investigate further I ex.
perlenced the same ridiculous catas
trophe that bad met my first attempt
to walk under Martian conditions.
Tbe lesBer attraction of this smaller
planet and the reduced air pressure of
its greatly rarefied atmosphere afforded
so llttlo resistance to my earthly mus
cles that the ordinary exertion of the
mere act of rising sent me several feet
into the air aud precipitated me upon
my face In the soft and brilliant grass
of this strange world.
This experience, however, gavo me
some slightly Increased assurance that,
after all, I might Indeed be in some, to
me, unknown corner of Mars, and this
was very possible, since during my tea
years' residence upon the planet I had
explored but a comparatively tiny area
of Its vast expanse.
I rose again, laughing at my forget
fulncss, and soon had mastered once
more tho art of attuning my earthly
sinews to these chnnged conditions.
As I walked slowly down tbe Imper
ceptible slope toward the sea I could
not help but note the pnrkllke appear
ance of the sward and trees.
The grass was us close cropped and
carpet-like as some old English lawn,
and tho trees themselves showed evi
dence of careful pruning to n uniform
height of about fifteen feet, so that nB
one turned his glHiice In any direction
the forest hnd the appearance at a llt
tlo distance of a vast, high celled
chamber.
All these evidences of careful and
systematic cultivation convinced me
that. I had been fortunate enough to
make my entry Into Mars on this sec
ond occasion through the domain of
a civilized people and that whon I
should find them I would be accorded
the courtesy and protection that my
rank as a prince of the house of Tardos
Mors entitled me to.
Tho trees of the forest attracted my
decji admiration as I proceeded toward
the sea. Their great trunks, some of
them fully n hundred feet in diameter,
attested their prodigious height, which
I could only guess at, since at no point
could I penetrate their dense foliage
above me to more than sixty or eighty
feet.
As I neared tho confines of the forest
I bent-Id beforo me mid between the
grove and tho open soa a broad ex
panse of meadow land, nnd as I was
about to etnergo from the shadows of
tbe trees a sight met my eyes that ban
ished all romantic and poetic reflection.
It was the sight of a scoro of figures
moving slowly about the meadow near
the bank of a mighty river.
Odd, grotesque shapes they were, un
llko anything that 1 had -ever seen
upon Mars, and yet at a distance most
manlike In appearance. The larger
specimens appeared to be about ten or
twelve feet In height when they stood
erect and to be proportioned as to torso
and lower extremities precisely as Is
earthly man.
Their anus, however, were very
short and from where I stood seemed
as though fashioned much after the
manner of an elephant's trunk In that
tliey uiovpd In sinuous and snakelike
undulations, as though entirely with
out bony' structure, or if there were
bones they must be vertebral in na
ture. As I watched them from behind the
trunk of u hufje tree one of the crea
tures moved slowly in my direction,
engaged in tho occupation thnt seemed
to be tho principal business of each of
them and which consisted in running
their oddly shaped bunds over the sur
face of the swurd, for what purpose I
could not determine.
As he npproached quite close to me
I obtained an excellent view of him,
and, though I was luter to become bet
ter acquainted with bis kind, I may
say that that single cursory examina
tion of this awful travesty of nature
would have proved qulto sufficient to
my desires hnd I been a free agent
Its hairless body was of a strange
and ghoulish blue except for a broad
band of white which encircled its pro
tnwllnir slnirln eve. an eve that was
all dead white pupil, iris and ball.
Its nose. was a ragged, Inflamed, cir
cular holo In the center of its blank
face, a hole that resembled more close
ly nothing that I could think of other
than a fresh bullet wound which has
not yet commenced to bleed.
Below this repulsive orifice the face
was quite blank to the chin, for the
thing had no mouth that I could dis
cover. The head, with the exception of the
face, was covered by a tangled mass
Its Hairless Body Was of a 8trangand
Ghoulish Blue.
of Jet black hair some eight or ten
Inches in length. Each hair was about
the bigness of a large angleworm, and
as tbe thing moved the muscles of its
scalp this awful bead covering seemed
to writhe and wriggle and crawl about
the fearsome face as though Indeed
each separate hair was endowed with
Independent life.
Tbe body and the legs were as sym
metrically human as nature could have
fashioned them, and the feet, too, wero
human In shape, but of monstrous pro
portions. From beel to toe they were
fully three feet long and very fiat and
very broad.
As it came quite close to me I dis
covered that its strange movements,
running Its odd bandB over the surface
of the turf, were the result of its pe
culiar method of feeding, which con
sists In cropping off the tender vegeta
tlon with its razor-Uke talons and suck
ing it up from its two mouths, which
lie one In the palm of each band,
through Its armlike throats.
In addition to the features which I
havo already described, the beast was
equipped with a massive tall about six
feet In length, qulto round where it
Joined the body, but tapering to a flat,
thin blade toward the end, which trail
ed at right angles to the ground.
CHAPTER II.
A Strango Moating.
I i IS I hud been scrutinizing this
I A I weird monstrosity the balance
1 1 I of the herd had fed quite close
lM I to me.
Fearsome looking as they were, I did
not know whether to fear them or not,
for they did not seem to be particu
larly -well equipped for fighting.
I was, In fact, on the point of step
ping from my hiding place and reveal
ing myself to them to note the effect
upon them of the sight ot a mnn when
my rash resolve was, fortunately for
me, nipped in tho bud by a strange
shrieking wull which seemed to come
from the direction of tho bluffs ut my
right.
Nnked and unarmed as I was, my
end would have been both speedy and
horrible at the hands of these cruel
creatures, but at the moment of the
shriek each member of the herd turned
In tho direction of the sound, and at
tho snnio Instant every particular
snakeliko hair upon their heads rose
stlllly perpendicular ns If each had
been a sentient organism looking or
listening for the source or meaning of
tho wall.
And indeed the latter proved to be
the truth, for this strange growth upon
tho cranlums of tho plant men of Bar
soom represents the thousand ears of
these hideous creatures, tho last rem
nant of the strange race which sprung
from the original tree of life.
Instantly every eye turned toward
one member of the herd, a largo fellow
who evidently wns the leader. A
strango purring sound Issued from the
mouth In the palm of one of his bands,
md .it the same time he started rapid
'j toward tho bluff, followed by the
entire herd.
Their speed end method of locomo
tion Vere both remarkable, springing,
as they did. In great leaps of twenty
or thirty feet, much after the manner
of a kangnroo.
They were rapidly disappearing when
It occurred to me to follow them, and
so, hurling caution to the winds, I
sprang across the meadow in their
wake with lenps nnd bounds even more
prodigious than their own, for the mus
cles of an athletic earth man produce
rpniarknble results when pitted against
the lesser gravity nnd air pressure of
Mars.
Their way led directly toward the
apparent source of the river at the
base of the cliffs, nnd as I neared this
point I found the meadow dotted with
Tiugo bowlders dislodged from the tow
ering crags above.
For this reason I came quite close to
the cause of the disturbance before
the scene broke upon my horrified gaze.
As I topped n great bowlder I saw
the herd of plant men surrounding a
little group of perhaps five or six grees
men and women of Barsoom.
That I was indeed upon Mars I now
had no doubt, for here wero members
of the wild hordes that people tho, dead
sea bottoms and deserted cities of that
dying planet.
Here were tbe great males towering
in all the majesty of their imposing
height; hero were tho gleaming white
tusks protruding from their massive
lower Jaws to a point near tho center
of their foreheads; the laterally placed,
protruding eyes, with which they
could look forward or backward or to
either side without turning their heads;
here the strange antennaellko cars ris
ing from tho tops of their foreheads
and the additional pair of arms ex
tending from midway between the
shoulders and the hips.
Even without the glossy green hide
and the metal ornaments which de
noted the tribes to which they belong
ed I would have known them on the
Instant for what they were, for where
else in all the universe is their like
duplicated?
There were two men and four fe
males In the party, and their orna
ments denoted them as members of
different hordes.
The facts puzzled me, since the va
rious hordes of green men of Barsoom
are eternally at war with one another,
and never bad I seen green Martians
of different hordes associated in other
than mortal combat, save on that his
toric instance when the great Tars
Tarkas of Thark gathered 150,000
green warriors from several hordes to
march upon the doomed city of IJodan
ga nnd rescue Dojah Thorls, princess
of Helium, from the clutches of Than
Kosls.
But now they Btood back to back,
facing in wide eyed amazement the
very evidently hostile demonstrations
of a common enemy.
Both men and women were armed
with long swords and daggers, but no
firearms were in evidence, else it had
been short shift for the grewsome
plant men of Bnrsoom.
Presently the leader of the plant
men chnrged the little party, and bis
method of attack was as remarkable
as it was effective and by its very
strangeness was tho more potent, since
In the science of the green warriors
there was no defense for this singular
manner of attack.
The plant man charged to within a
dozen feet of the party and then, with
a bound, rose as though to pass direct
ly above their heads. His powerful
tall was raised high to one side, and
as he passed close above them he
brought it down in one terrific sweep
thnt crushed a green warrior's skull as
though it had been an eggshell.
The balance of the frightful herd
was now circling rapidly and with be
wildering speed about the little knot of
victims. Their prodigious bounds and
the shrill screeching pur of their un
canny mouths were well calculated to
confuse and terrorize their prey, so that
as two of them leaped simultaneously
from either side the mighty sweep of
those awful tails met with no resist
ance, and two more green Martians
went down to an Ignoble death.
. There were now but one warrior and
two females left, nnd It seemed that It
could be but a matter of seconds ere
these also lay dead upon the swnrd.
But, as two or more of the plant men
charged, the warrior, who was now pre
pared by the experiences of tbe past
few minutes, swung his mighty long
sword aloft nnd met the hurtling bulk
with a clean cut thnt clove ono of the
plant men from chin to groin.
The other, however, dealt a suigie
blow with his cruel tall thnt laid both
of the females crushed corpses upon
the ground.
As the green warrior sow the last ot
his companions go down nnd at the
same time perceived that tho entire
herd was charging him In a body he
rushed boldly to meet them, swinging
his long sword In the terrific manner
that I hnd so often seen the men of his
kind wield It In their ferocious nnd al
most continual warfare among their
own race.
Cutting and hewing to right nnd left,
he laid an open path straight through
the advancing plant men and then
commenced a mod race for the forest,
in the shelter of which he evidently
hoped he might find a haven of refuge.
He had turned for that portion of the
forest which abutted on the cliffs, and
thus the flight was taking the entire
party farther and farther from the
bowlder where I lay concealed.
As I had watched the flight which
the great warrior had made against
such odds my heart had swelled for
him. and acting as I am wont to do.
more upon Impulse than after mature
deliberation, I sprang from my shel
tering rock nnd bounded quickly to
ward the bodies of the dead green
Martians, a well defined plan of action
already formed.
Half a dozen great leaps brought me
to tbe spot and another Instant saw
me again in my stride in rapid pursuit
of the hideous monsters that were rap
idly gaintag on the fleeing warrior.
But this time I grasped a mighty
long sword In my hand, and in my
heart was the old blood lust of the
fighting man.
A red mist swam before my eyes,
and I felt my Hps respond to my heart
In the old smile that has marked me in
the midst of the Joy of battle.
Though swift I was none too soon,
for the green warrior had been over
taken before he had made half the dis
tance to the forest, and now he stood
with his back to the bowlder, while the
SATURDAY, MAY 12, 1917.
herd, temporarily balked, hissed Md
screeched about him.
With their single eyes In the center
of their heads aud every eye turned
upon their prey, they did not note my
soundless approach, so that I was upon
them with my great long sword and
four of them lay dead before they knew
that I was among them.
For an Instant they recoiled before
mv terrific onslaught, and In that In
stant tbe green warrior rose to the oc
casion and. springing to my side, lay
to the right and left of hlra as I bad
never seen but one other warrior do.
With circling strokes that formed a
figure 8 about him he did not stop
until nono stood living to oppose htm,
hlB keen blade passing through flesh
and bone as though each bad been,
alike, thin air.
As we bent to tho slaughter far
above us roso that shrill, weird cry
which I had heard once before and
which hnd called tbe herd to the at
tack upon their victims. Again and
again it rose, but we were too much
engaged with the fierce, powerful crea
tures about us to attempt to search
out even with our eyes the author of
the horrid notes. .
Great tails lashed in frenzied anger
about us, razor-like talons cut our
limbs and bodies, nnd a green and
,fi,ir. ctriiTv such br oozes from a
crushed caterpillar, smeared us. from
head to foot, for every cut and thrust
nf nni- Inner swords brought spurts of
this stuff upon us from the severed
.-.Un Ilia nlnnr. men. through
which it courses in its sluggish viscid
ity in lieu of blood.
Once I felt the great weight of one
of the monsters upon my back, and as
keen talons sank Into my flesh I ex
perienced the frightful sensation of
moist lips sucking the blood from the
wounds to which the claws still clung.
T urim verv much encaged with a fe
rocious fellow who was endeavoring to-
reach my throat from In front wnue
two more, one on either side, were
lushing viciously at me with their tails.
The green warrior was much put to
It to hold his own, and I felt that the
unequal struggle could last but a moment-,
lnncer when the huce fellow dis
covered my plight, and, tearing himself
from those thnt surrounded him, he
raked the assailant from my back with
a sweep of his blade, and, thus reliev
ed, I had little difficulty with the otn
ers.
Once together we stood almost back
to back against tbe great bowlder, and
thus the creatures were prevented
from soaring above us to deliver their
deadly blows. As we were easily their
match while they remained upon tne
c-ronnd wa were makine Exeat bead-
way in dispatching what remained of
them when our attention was again
attracted by the shrill wall of the call
er above our heads. ,
This time I glanced up, and far above
us upon a little natural balcony on tbe
fartk nf thA eltff Rtoorl a srranee flmire
of a man shrieking out bis shrill slg
iml. whflA hA waved n hnnrl In the di
rection of the river's mouth, as thought
DecKoning to some one mere, witn tne
other he pointed and gesticulated to
ward us.
A frlnnrA In thA rllroetlnn toward
which he was looking was sufficient to
The Green Warrior Was Muoh Put to
It to Hold His Own.
apprise me of his alms and at the
same time to fill me with the dread of
dire apprehension.
Streaming In from all directions
across the meadow, from out of the
forest and from the far distance of the
flat lnnd across the river I could see
converging upon us a hundred differ
ent lines of wildly leaping creatures
such as we were now engaged with,
and with them some strange new mon
Bters which ran with great swiftness,
now erect nnd now upon all fours.
"it will be a great death," I said to
my companion. "Look."
As he shot a quick glance in the di
rection I Indicated he smiled.
"We mny at least die fighting and
as great warriors should, John Carter,"
he replied.
We had Just finished the last of our
immediate ontagonlsts as he spoke,
and I turned In surprised wonderment
at the sound of my name.
And there before my astonished eyes
I beheld the greatest of the green men
of Barsoom their shrewdest states
man, their mightiest general my great
ana gooa rnena, Tars Tarkas, Jddak
of Thark.
(Continued next week.)
EC
2.1 !J
t 4