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06 - The God's of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Classic Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter six, The Black Pirates of Barsoom, What is it?
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  Speaker 1: I asked of the girl. For answer, she pointed to
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  Speaker 1: the sky. I looked, and there above us I saw
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  Speaker 1: shadowy bodies flitting hither and thither, high over temple, court
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  Speaker 1: and garden. Almost immediately flashes of light broke from these
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  Speaker 1: strange objects. There was a roar of musketry. Then answering
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  Speaker 1: flashes and roars from temple and rampart the Black Pirates
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  Speaker 1: of Barsoom, O Prince said Thuvia. In great circles. The
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  Speaker 1: aircraft of the marauders swept lower and lower toward the
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  Speaker 1: defending forces of the Thurns. Volley after volley they vomited
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  Speaker 1: upon the temple guards. Volley on volley crashed through the
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  Speaker 1: thin air toward the fleeting and elusive fliers. As the
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  Speaker 1: pirates stooped closer toward the ground, thurn soldiery poured from
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  Speaker 1: the temples into the gardens and courts. The sight of
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  Speaker 1: them in the open brought a score of fliers darting
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  Speaker 1: toward us from all directions. The Thens fired upon them
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  Speaker 1: through shields affixed to their rifle, But on steadily on
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  Speaker 1: came the grim black craft. They were small fliers, for
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  Speaker 1: the most part, built for two to three men. A
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  Speaker 1: few larger ones there were, but these kept high aloft,
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  Speaker 1: dropping bombs upon the temples from their keel batteries at length.
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  Speaker 1: With a concerted rush, evidently in response to a signal
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  Speaker 1: of command, the pirates in our immediate vicinity dashed recklessly
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  Speaker 1: to the ground in the very midst of the thern soldiery,
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  Speaker 1: scarcely waiting for their craft to touch the creatures manning them,
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  Speaker 1: leaped among the theurns with the fury of demons. Such fighting
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  Speaker 1: never had I witnessed its like. Before. I had thought
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  Speaker 1: the Green Martians the most ferocious warriors in the universe.
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  Speaker 1: But the awful abandon with which the Black Pirates threw
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  Speaker 1: themselves upon their foes transcended everything I ever before had seen.
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  Speaker 1: Beneath the brilliant light of Mars's two glorious moons, the
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  Speaker 1: whole scene presented itself in vivid distinctness. The golden haired,
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  Speaker 1: white skinned throat turns battling with desperate courage in hand
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  Speaker 1: to hand conflict with their ebony skinned foemen. Here a
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  Speaker 1: little knot of struggling warriors trampled a bed of gorgeous Pomalia.
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  Speaker 1: There the curved sword of a black man found the
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  Speaker 1: heart of a thern and left its dead foemen at
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  Speaker 1: the foot of a wondrous statue carved from a living ruby. Yonder,
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  Speaker 1: a dozen thrns pressed a single pirate back upon a
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  Speaker 1: bench of emerald, upon whose iridescent surface a strangely beautiful
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  Speaker 1: barsomium design was traced out in inlaid diamonds. A little
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  Speaker 1: to one side stood Thuvia the thark and Eye. The
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  Speaker 1: tide of battle had not reached us, but the fighters,
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  Speaker 1: from time to time swung close enough that we might
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  Speaker 1: distinctly note them. The Black pirates interest me immensely. I
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  Speaker 1: had heard vague rumors, little more than legends they were
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  Speaker 1: during my former life on Mars, but never had I
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  Speaker 1: seen them, nor talked with one who had. They were
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  Speaker 1: popularly supposed to inhabit the Lesser Moon, from which they
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  Speaker 1: descended upon Barsoom at long intervals. Where they visited, they
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  Speaker 1: wrought the most horrible atrocities, and when they left, carried
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  Speaker 1: away with them firearms and ammunition and young girls as prisoners.
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  Speaker 1: These later, the rumor had it, they sacrificed to some
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  Speaker 1: terrible god in an orgy, which ended in the eating
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  Speaker 1: of their victims. I had an excellent opportunity to examine them,
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  Speaker 1: as the strife occasionally brought now one and now another
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  Speaker 1: close to where I stood. They were large men, possibly
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  Speaker 1: six feet and over in height. Their features were clear
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  Speaker 1: cut and handsome in the extreme. Their eyes were well
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  Speaker 1: set and large, though a slight narrowness lent them a
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  Speaker 1: crafty appearance. The iris, as well as I could determine
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  Speaker 1: by moonlight, was of extreme blackness, while the eyeball itself
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  Speaker 1: was quite white and clear. The physical structure of their
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  Speaker 1: bodies seemed identical with those of the Theurns, the red men,
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  Speaker 1: and my own. Only in the color of their skin
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  Speaker 1: did they differ materially from us. That is, of the
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  Speaker 1: appearance of polished ebony and odd. As it may seem
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  Speaker 1: for a Southerner to say, it adds to rather than
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  Speaker 1: detracts from, their marvelous beauty. But if their bodies are divine,
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  Speaker 1: their hearts apparently are quite the reverse. Never did I
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  Speaker 1: witness such maligned lust for blood as these demons of
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  Speaker 1: the outer air evind in their mad battle with the Therns.
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  Speaker 1: All about us in the garden lay their sinister craft,
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  Speaker 1: which the Therns, for some reason then unaccountable to me,
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  Speaker 1: made no effort to injure. Now and again, a Black
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  Speaker 1: warrior would rush from a nearby temple, bearing a young
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  Speaker 1: woman in his arms, straight for his flier, he would leap,
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  Speaker 1: while those of his comrades who fought near by would
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  Speaker 1: rush to cover his escape. The Therns on their side
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  Speaker 1: would hasten to rescue the girl, and in an instant
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  Speaker 1: the two would be swallowed in the vortex of a
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  Speaker 1: moustrom of yelling devils, hacking and hewing at one another,
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  Speaker 1: like fiends incarnate. But always, it seemed, were the Black
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  Speaker 1: Pirates of Barsoom victorious, and the girl brought miraculously unharmed
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  Speaker 1: through the conflict, borne away into the outer darkness upon
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  Speaker 1: the deck of a swift flier. Fighting similar to that
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  Speaker 1: which surrounded us could be heard in both directions as
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  Speaker 1: far as sound carried, and Thuvia told me that the
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  Speaker 1: attacks of the Black Pirates were usually made simultaneously along
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  Speaker 1: the entire ribbon like domain of the Thurns which circles
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  Speaker 1: the valley door on the outer slopes of the mountains
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  Speaker 1: of Ortz. As the fighting receded from our position, for
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  Speaker 1: a moment. Thuvia turned towards me with a question. Do
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  Speaker 1: you understand now, o prince? She said, why a million
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  Speaker 1: warriors guard the domains of the Holy Theurns by day
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  Speaker 1: and by night. The scene you are witnessing now is
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  Speaker 1: but a repetition of what I have seen enacted a
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  Speaker 1: score of times during the fifteen years I have been
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  Speaker 1: prisoner here. From time immemorial, the Black pirates of Barsoom
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  Speaker 1: have preyed upon the Holy Theurns. Yet they never carry
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  Speaker 1: their expeditions to a point, as one might readily believe
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  Speaker 1: it was in their power to do, where the extermination
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  Speaker 1: of the Race of Thorns is threatened. It is as
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  Speaker 1: though they but utilized the race as playthings with which
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  Speaker 1: they satisfy their ferocious lust for fighting, and from whom
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  Speaker 1: they collect toll in arms and ammunition and imprisoners. Why
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  Speaker 1: don't they jump in and destroy these fliers, I asked,
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  Speaker 1: that would soon put a stop to the attacks, or
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  Speaker 1: at least the Blacks would scarce be so bold. Why
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  Speaker 1: see how perfectly unguarded they leave their craft, as though
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  Speaker 1: they were lying safe in their own hangars at home.
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  Speaker 1: The Theurns do not dare they tried it once ages ago.
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  Speaker 1: But the next night, and for a whole moon thereafter,
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  Speaker 1: a thousand great black battleships circled the mountains of Ortz,
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  Speaker 1: pouring tons of projectiles upon the temples, the gardens, and
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  Speaker 1: the courts, until every Thurn who was not killed was
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  Speaker 1: driven for safety into the subterranean galleries. The Thens know
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  Speaker 1: that they live at all only by the sufferance of
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  Speaker 1: the black men. They were near to extermination that once,
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  Speaker 1: and they will not venture risking it again. As she
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  Speaker 1: ceased talking, a new element was instilled into the conflict.
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  Speaker 1: It came from a source equally unlooked for by either
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  Speaker 1: Thurn or Pirate. The great bans, which we had liberated
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  Speaker 1: in the garden had evidently been awed at first by
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  Speaker 1: the sound of the battle, the yelling of the warriors,
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  Speaker 1: and the loud report of rifle and bomb. But now
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  Speaker 1: they must have become angered by the continuous noise and
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  Speaker 1: excited by the smell of new blood. For all of
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  Speaker 1: a sudden, a great form shot from a clump of
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  Speaker 1: low shrubbery into the midst of a struggling mass of humanity.
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  Speaker 1: A horrid scream of bestial rage broke from the banth
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  Speaker 1: as he felt warm flesh beneath his powerful talons. As
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  Speaker 1: though his cry was but a signal to the others,
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  Speaker 1: the entire great pack hurled themselves among the fighters. Panic
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  Speaker 1: reigned in an instant. Thurn and black man turned alike
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  Speaker 1: against the common enemy, For the bans showed no partiality
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  Speaker 1: toward either. The awful beasts bore down a hundred men
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  Speaker 1: by the mere weight of their great bodies as they
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  Speaker 1: hurled themselves into the thick of the fight. Leaping and clawing,
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  Speaker 1: they mowed down the warriors with their powerful paws, turning
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  Speaker 1: for an instant to rend their victims with frightful fangs.
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  Speaker 1: The scene was fascinating in its terribleness. But suddenly it
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  Speaker 1: came to me that we were wasting valuable time watching
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  Speaker 1: this conflict, which in itself might prove a means of
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  Speaker 1: our escape. The Terns were so engaged with their terrible
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  Speaker 1: assailants that now, if ever, escape should be comparatively easy.
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  Speaker 1: I turned to search for an opening through the contending hordes.
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  Speaker 1: If we could but reach the ramparts, we might find
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  Speaker 1: that the pirates somewhere had thinned the guarding forces and
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  Speaker 1: left a way open to us. To the world without.
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  Speaker 1: As my eyes wandered about the garden, the sight of
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  Speaker 1: the hundreds of aircraft lying unguarded around us suggested the
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  Speaker 1: simplest avenue to freedom. Why it had not occurred to
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  Speaker 1: me before? I was thoroughly familiar with the mechanism of
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  Speaker 1: every known make of flier on Barsoom. For nine years,
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  Speaker 1: I had sailed and fought with the navy of Helium.
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  Speaker 1: I had raced through space on the tiny one man
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  Speaker 1: air scout, and I had commanded the greatest battleship that
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  Speaker 1: ever had floated in the thin air of dying Mars.
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  Speaker 1: To think with me is to act. Grasping Thuvia by
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  Speaker 1: the arm, I whispered to tars Tarkas to follow me.
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  Speaker 1: Quickly we glided toward a small flier which lay furthest
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  Speaker 1: from the battling warriors. Another instant found us huddled on
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  Speaker 1: the tiny deck. My hand was on the starting lever.
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  Speaker 1: I pressed my thumb upon the button which controls the
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  Speaker 1: ray of repulsion, that splendid discovery of the Martians, which
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  Speaker 1: permits them to navigate the thin atmosphere of their planet
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  Speaker 1: in huge ships that dwarfed the dreadnoughts of our earthly
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  Speaker 1: navies into pitiful significance. The craft swayed slightly, but she
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  Speaker 1: did not move. Then a new cry of warning broke
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  Speaker 1: upon our ears. Turning, I saw a dozen black pirates
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  Speaker 1: dashing toward us from the melee we had been discovered.
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  Speaker 1: With shrieks of rage. The demon sprang for us with
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  Speaker 1: friends zi to insistence. I continued to press the little button,
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  Speaker 1: which should have sent us racing out into space, But
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  Speaker 1: still the vessel refused to budge. Then it came to
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  Speaker 1: me the reason that she would not rise. We had
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  Speaker 1: stumbled upon a two man flier. Its ray tanks were
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  Speaker 1: charged only with sufficient repulsive energy to lift two ordinary men.
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  Speaker 1: The Thark's great weight was anchoring us to our doom.
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  Speaker 1: The Blacks were nearly upon us. There was not an
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  Speaker 1: instant to be lost in hesitation or doubt. I pressed
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  Speaker 1: the button far in and locked it. Then I set
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  Speaker 1: the lever at high speed, and as the Blacks came
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  Speaker 1: yelling upon us, I slipped from the craft's deck and
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  Speaker 1: with drawn long sword, met the attack. At the same moment,
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  Speaker 1: a girl's shriek rang out behind me, and an instant later,
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  Speaker 1: as the blacks fell upon me, I heard far above
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  Speaker 1: my head and faintly Enthuviau's voice, My prince O, my prince,
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  Speaker 1: I would rather remain and die with. But the rest
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  Speaker 1: was lost in the noise of my assailants. I knew, though,
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  Speaker 1: that my ruse had worked, and that temporarily at least
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  Speaker 1: Thuvia and Tars Tarkas were safe, and the means of
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  Speaker 1: escape was theirs. For a moment, it seemed that I
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  Speaker 1: could not withstand the weight of numbers that confronted me.
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  Speaker 1: But again, as on so many other occasions when I
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  Speaker 1: had been called upon to face fearful odds upon this
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  Speaker 1: planet of warriors and fierce beasts, I found that my
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  Speaker 1: earthly strength so far transcended that of my opponents, that
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  Speaker 1: the odds were not so greatly against me as they appeared.
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  Speaker 1: My seething blade wove a net of death about me.
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  Speaker 1: For an instant. The Blacks pressed close to reach me
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  Speaker 1: with their shorter swords, but presently they gave back, and
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  Speaker 1: the esteem in which they suddenly had learned to hold
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  Speaker 1: my sword arm was writ large upon each countenance. I knew, though,
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  Speaker 1: that it was but a question of minutes before their
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  Speaker 1: greater numbers would wear me down or get around my
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  Speaker 1: guard I must go down eventually to certain death before them.
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  Speaker 1: I shuddered at the thought of it. Dying thus in
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  Speaker 1: this terrible place, where no word of my end ever
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  Speaker 1: could reach, my dejah Thoris, dying at the hands of
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  Speaker 1: nameless black men in the gardens of the cruel thurns.
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  Speaker 1: Then my old time spirit reasserted itself. The fighting blood
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  Speaker 1: of my Virginian sires coursed hot through my veins. The
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  Speaker 1: fierce blood lust and the joy of battle surged over me.
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  Speaker 1: The fighting smile that has brought consternation to a thousand
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  Speaker 1: foemen touched my lips. I put the thought of death
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  Speaker 1: out of my mind and fell upon my antagonists with fury.
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  Speaker 1: That those who escaped were remember to their dying day,
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  Speaker 1: that others would press to the support of those who
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  Speaker 1: faced me. I knew so. Even as I fought, I
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  Speaker 1: kept my wits at work, searching for an avenue of escape.
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  Speaker 1: It came from an unexpected quarter, out of the black night.
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  Speaker 1: Behind me. I had just disarmed a huge fellow who
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  Speaker 1: had given me a desperate struggle, and for a moment
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  Speaker 1: the black stood back for a breathing spell. They eyed
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  Speaker 1: me with malignant fury, yet withal there was a touch
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  Speaker 1: of respect in their demeanor. Thurne said, one, you fight
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  Speaker 1: like a tor but for your detestable yellow hair and
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  Speaker 1: your white skin, you would be an honor to the
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  Speaker 1: first born of Barsoom. I am no thern, I said,
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  Speaker 1: and was about to explain that I was from another world,
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  Speaker 1: thinking that by patching a truce with these fellows and
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  Speaker 1: fighting with them against the Thurns, I might enlist their
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  Speaker 1: aid in regaining my liberty. But just at that moment,
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  Speaker 1: a heavy object smote me, a resounding whack between my
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  Speaker 1: shoulders that nearly felled me to the ground. As I
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  Speaker 1: turned to meet this new enemy, an object passed over
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  Speaker 1: my shoulder, striking one of my assailants squarely in the
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  Speaker 1: face and knocking him senseless to the sward. At the
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  Speaker 1: same instant, I saw that the thing that had struck
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  Speaker 1: us was the trailing anchor of a rather fair sized
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  Speaker 1: air vessel, possibly a ten man cruiser. The ship was
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  Speaker 1: floating slowly above us, not more than fifty feet over
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  Speaker 1: our heads. Instantly, the one chance for escape that it
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  Speaker 1: offered presented itself to me. The vessel was slowly rising,
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  Speaker 1: and now the anchor was beyond the block who faced me,
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  Speaker 1: and several feet above their heads. With a bound that
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  Speaker 1: left them gaping in wide eyed astonishment, I sprang completely
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  Speaker 1: over them. A second leap carried me just high enough
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  Speaker 1: to grasp the now rapidly receding anchor. But I was successful,
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  Speaker 1: and there I hung by one hand, dragging through the
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  Speaker 1: branches of the higher vegetation of the gardens, while my
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  Speaker 1: late Foemen shrieked and howled beneath me. Presently the vessel
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  Speaker 1: veered toward the west, and then swung gracefully to the south.
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  Speaker 1: In another instant, I was carried beyond the crest of
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  Speaker 1: the golden cliffs, out over the valley door, where six
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  Speaker 1: thousand feet below me the lossy, of course, lay shimmering
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  Speaker 1: in the moonlight. Carefully, I climbed to a sitting posture
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  Speaker 1: across the anchor's arms. I wondered if, by chance the
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  Speaker 1: vessel might be deserted, I hoped so, or possibly it
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  Speaker 1: might belong to a friendly people and have wandered by
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  Speaker 1: accident almost within the clutches of the pirates and the theerns.
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  Speaker 1: The fact that it was retreating from the scene of
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  Speaker 1: battle lent color to the hypothesis. But I decided to
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  Speaker 1: know positively and at once, so with the greatest caution,
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  Speaker 1: I commenced to climb slowly up the anchor chain towards
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  Speaker 1: the deck above me. One hand had just reached for
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  Speaker 1: the vessel's rail and found it when a fierce black
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  Speaker 1: face was thrust over the side, and eyes filled with
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  Speaker 1: triumphant hate looked into mine. End of Chapter six