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07 - Thuvia, Maid of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven, the Phantom Bowmen. As Jav leaped toward him,
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  Speaker 1: Carthoris laid his hand upon the hilt of his long sword.
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  Speaker 1: The Lotharian halted. The great apartment was empty save for
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  Speaker 1: the four at the dais. Yet as Jav stepped back
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  Speaker 1: from the menace of the Heliumite's threatening attitude, the latter
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  Speaker 1: found himself surrounded by a score of bowmen. From whence
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  Speaker 1: had they sprung. Both Carthoris and Thuvia looked their astonishment.
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  Speaker 1: Now the former's sword leaped from its scabbard, and at
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  Speaker 1: the same instant the bowmen drew back their slim shafts.
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  Speaker 1: Tario had half raised himself upon one elbow. For the
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  Speaker 1: first time he saw the full figure of Thuvia, who
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  Speaker 1: had been concealed behind the person of Carthoris. Enough cried
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  Speaker 1: the jk raising a protesting hand, but at that very instant,
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  Speaker 1: the sword of the Heliumite cut viciously at its nearest antagonist.
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  Speaker 1: As the keen edge reached its goal, Carthoris let the
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  Speaker 1: point fall to the floor as with wide eyes. He
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  Speaker 1: stepped backward in consternation, throwing the back of his left
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  Speaker 1: hand across his brow. His steel had cut but empty air.
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  Speaker 1: His antagonist had vanished. There were no bowmen in the room.
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  Speaker 1: It is evident that these are strangers, said Tario to
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  Speaker 1: jav let Us. First determine that they knowingly affronted us,
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  Speaker 1: before we take measures for punishment. Then he turned to Carthoris,
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  Speaker 1: But ever his gaze wandered to the perfect lines of
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  Speaker 1: Thuvia's glorious figure, which the harness of a Barsoomian princess
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  Speaker 1: accentuated rather than concealed. Who are you, he asked, who
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  Speaker 1: knows not the etiquette of the court of the last
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  Speaker 1: of Jeddaks. I am Carthoris, Prince of Helium, replied the Heliumite,
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  Speaker 1: And this is Thuvia, Princess of Ptarth. In the courts
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  Speaker 1: of our fathers, men do not prostrate themselves before royalty.
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  Speaker 1: Not since the first born tore their immortal goddess Limb
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  Speaker 1: from limb have men crawled upon their bellies to any
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  Speaker 1: throne upon Barsoom. Now think you, the daughter of one
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  Speaker 1: mighty Jeddak and the son of another, would so humiliate themselves.
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  Speaker 1: Tario looked at Carthoris for a long time. At last
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  Speaker 1: he spoke, there is no other Jeddak upon Barsoom Vnario,
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  Speaker 1: he said, there is no other race than that of Lothar,
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  Speaker 1: and the hordes of Torcas may be dignified by such
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  Speaker 1: an appellation. Lotharians are white, your skins are red. There
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  Speaker 1: are no women left upon Barsoom. Your companion is a woman.
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  Speaker 1: He half rose from the couch, leaning far forward and
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  Speaker 1: pointing an accusing finger at Carthoris. You are a lie,
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  Speaker 1: he shrieked. You are both lies, and you dare to
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  Speaker 1: come before Tario, last and mightiest of the Jeddaks of Barsoom,
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  Speaker 1: and assert your reality. Someone shall pay well for this, Jav.
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  Speaker 1: And unless I mistake, it is yourself who has dared
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  Speaker 1: thus flippantly to trifle with the good nature of your Jeddak.
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  Speaker 1: Remove the man, leave the woman. We shall see if
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  Speaker 1: both be lies, and later, Jav, you shall suffer for
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  Speaker 1: your temerity. There be few of us left, but comal
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  Speaker 1: must be fed. Go. Carthoris could see that Jav trembled
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  Speaker 1: as he prostrated himself once more before his ruler, and
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  Speaker 1: then rising turned toward the Prince of Helium. Come, he said,
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  Speaker 1: and leave the Princess of Ptarth here alone, cried Carthoris.
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  Speaker 1: Jav brushed closely past him, whispering, follow me. He cannot
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  Speaker 1: harm her except to kill, and that he can do
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  Speaker 1: whether you remain or not. We had best go now,
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  Speaker 1: trust me. Carthoris did not understand, but something in the
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  Speaker 1: urgency of the other's tone assured him, and so he
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  Speaker 1: turned away, but not without a glance toward Thuvia, in
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  Speaker 1: which he attempted to make her understand that it was
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  Speaker 1: in her own interest that he left her. For answer.
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  Speaker 1: She turned her back full upon him, but not without
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  Speaker 1: first throwing him such a look of contempt that brought
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  Speaker 1: the scarlet to his cheek. Then he hesitated, but Jav
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  Speaker 1: seized him by the rest. Come, he whispered, or he
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  Speaker 1: will have the bowman upon you, and this time there
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  Speaker 1: will be no escape. Did you not see how futile
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  Speaker 1: is your steel against thin air? Carthoris turned unwillingly to follow.
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  Speaker 1: As the two left the room, he turned to his companion.
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  Speaker 1: If I may not kill thin Air, he asked, how
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  Speaker 1: then shall I fear that thin Air may kill me?
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  Speaker 1: You saw the Torquasians fall before the bowman, asked Jav.
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  Speaker 1: Carthoris nodded, so would you fall before them? And without
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  Speaker 1: one single chance for self defense or revenge. As they talked,
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  Speaker 1: Jav led Carthoris to a small room in one of
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  Speaker 1: the numerous towers of the palace. Here were couches, and
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  Speaker 1: Jav bid the helium might be seated for several minutes.
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  Speaker 1: The Lotharian eyed his prisoner for such. Carthoris now realized
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  Speaker 1: himself to be I am half convinced that you are real,
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  Speaker 1: he said. At last, Carthoris laughed, Of course I am real,
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  Speaker 1: he said, what caused you to doubt it? Can you
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  Speaker 1: not see me? Feel me? So? May I see and
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  Speaker 1: feel the bowmen, replied Jav. And yet we all know
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  Speaker 1: that they at least are not real. Carthoris showed by
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  Speaker 1: the expression of his face his puzzlement at each new
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  Speaker 1: reference to the mysterious bowmen, the vanishing soulery of Lothar.
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  Speaker 1: What then, may they be, he asked, You really do
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  Speaker 1: not know, asked Jav. Carthoris shook his head negatively. I
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  Speaker 1: can almost believe that you have told us the truth,
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  Speaker 1: and that you are really from another part of Barsoom,
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  Speaker 1: or from another world. But tell me, in your own country,
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  Speaker 1: have you no bowmen to strike terror to the hearts
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  Speaker 1: of the Green hordesmen as they slay in company with
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  Speaker 1: the fierce banths of war. We have soldiers, replied Carthoris.
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  Speaker 1: We of the Red race are all soldiers, but we
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  Speaker 1: have no bowmen to defend us, such as yours. We
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  Speaker 1: defend ourselves. You go out and get killed by your enemies,
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  Speaker 1: cried Jav incredulously certainly, replied Carthoris. How do the oarians
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  Speaker 1: you have seen, replied the other. We send out our
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  Speaker 1: deathless archers, deathless because they are lifeless, existing only in
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  Speaker 1: the imaginations of our enemies. It is really our giant
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  Speaker 1: minds that defend us, sending out legions of imaginary warriors
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  Speaker 1: to materialize before the mind's eye of the foe. They
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  Speaker 1: see them, They see their bows drawn back, They see
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  Speaker 1: their slender arrows speed with unerring precision toward their hearts,
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  Speaker 1: and they die, killed by the power of suggestion. But
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  Speaker 1: the archers that are slain, exclaimed Carthoris. You call them deathless,
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  Speaker 1: and yet I saw their dead bodies piled high upon
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  Speaker 1: the battlefield. How may that be? It is but to
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  Speaker 1: lend reality to the scene, replied Jav. We picture many
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  Speaker 1: of our own defenders killed, that the Torquasians may not
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  Speaker 1: guess that there are really no flesh and blood creatures
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  Speaker 1: opposing them. Once that truth became implanted in their minds,
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  Speaker 1: it is the theory of many of us. No longer
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  Speaker 1: would they fall prey to the suggestion of the deadly arrows,
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  Speaker 1: For greater would be the suggestion of the truth, and
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  Speaker 1: the more powerful suggestion would prevail. It is law and
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  Speaker 1: the banths, questioned Carthoris, They too were but creatures of suggestion.
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  Speaker 1: Some of them were real, replied jav Those that accompanied
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  Speaker 1: the archers in pursuit of the Torquasians were unreal. Like
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  Speaker 1: the archers. They never returned, but, having served their purpose,
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  Speaker 1: vanished with the bowmen when the rout of the enemy
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  Speaker 1: was assured. Those that remain about the field, those we
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  Speaker 1: loosed as scavengers to devour the bodies of the dead
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  Speaker 1: of Torcas. This thing is demanded by the realists among us.
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  Speaker 1: I am a realist. Tario is an etherealist. The etherealists
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  Speaker 1: maintain that there is no such thing as matter, that
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  Speaker 1: all is mind. They say that none of us exists
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  Speaker 1: except in the imagination of his fellows, other than as
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  Speaker 1: an intangible, invisible mentality. According to Tario, it is but
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  Speaker 1: necessary that we all unite in imagining that there are
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  Speaker 1: no dead Torquasians beneath our walls, and there will be
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  Speaker 1: none nor any need of scavenging banths. You then, do
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  Speaker 1: not hold Tario's beliefs, asked Carthoris in part only replied
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  Speaker 1: the Lotharian. I believe. In fact, I know that there
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  Speaker 1: are some truly ethereal creatures. Taria is one. I am
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  Speaker 1: convinced he has no existence except in the imaginations of
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  Speaker 1: his people. Of course, it is the contention of all
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  Speaker 1: us realists that all etherialists are but figments of the imagination.
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  Speaker 1: They contend that no food is necessary, nor do they eat.
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  Speaker 1: But any one of the most rudimentary intelligence must realize
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  Speaker 1: that food is a necessity to creatures having actual existence. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: agreed Carthoris. Not having eaten to day, I can readily
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  Speaker 1: agree with you. Ah pardon me, exclaimed the jab pray
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  Speaker 1: be seated and satisfy your hunger. And with a wave
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  Speaker 1: of his hand he indicated a bountifully laden table that
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  Speaker 1: had not been there an instant before he spoke of that.
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  Speaker 1: Carthoris was positive, for he had searched the room diligently
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  Speaker 1: with his eyes several times. It is well, continued Jav,
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  Speaker 1: that you did not fall into the hands of an etherealist. Then, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: would you have gone hungry? But exclaimed Carthoris, this is
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  Speaker 1: not real food. It was not here an instant since,
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  Speaker 1: and real food does not materialize out of thin air.
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  Speaker 1: Jav looked hurt. There is no real food or water
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  Speaker 1: in Lothar, he said, nor has there been for countless
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  Speaker 1: ages upon such as you now see before you. Have
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  Speaker 1: we existed since the dawn of history? Upon such then
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  Speaker 1: may you exist? But I thought you were a realist,
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed Carthoris. Indeed, cried Jav, what more realistic than this
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  Speaker 1: bounteous feast. It is just here that we differ most
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  Speaker 1: from the etherealists. They claim that it is unnecessary to
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  Speaker 1: imagine food. But we have found that for the maintenance
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  Speaker 1: of life we must thrice daily sit down to hearty meals.
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  Speaker 1: The food that one eats is supposed to undergo certain
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  Speaker 1: chemical changes during the process of digestion and assimilation, the
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  Speaker 1: result of course being their rebuilding of wasted tissue. Now
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  Speaker 1: we all know that mind is all, though we may
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  Speaker 1: differ in the interpretation of its various manifestations. Tario maintains
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  Speaker 1: that there is no such thing as substance, all being
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  Speaker 1: created from the substanceless matter of the brain. We realists, however,
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  Speaker 1: know better. We know that as the power to maintain substance,
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  Speaker 1: even though it may not be able to create substance.
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  Speaker 1: The latter is still an open question, and so we
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  Speaker 1: know that in order to maintain our physical bodies, we
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  Speaker 1: must cause all our organs properly to function. This we
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  Speaker 1: accomplish by materializing food thoughts, and by partaking of the
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  Speaker 1: food thus created. We chew, we swallow, we digest. All
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  Speaker 1: our organs function precisely as if we had partaken of
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  Speaker 1: material food. And what is the result? What must be
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  Speaker 1: the result? The chemical changes take place through the both
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  Speaker 1: direct and indirect suggestion, and we live and thrive. Carthoris
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  Speaker 1: eyed the food before him. It seemed real enough. He
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  Speaker 1: lifted a morsel to his lips. There was substance, indeed,
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  Speaker 1: and flavor as well. Yes, even his palate was deceived.
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  Speaker 1: Jav watched him, smiling as he ate. Is it not
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  Speaker 1: entirely satisfying, he asked, I must admit that it is,
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  Speaker 1: replied Carthoris. But tell me how does Tario live and
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  Speaker 1: the other etherealists who maintain that food is unnecessary. Jav
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  Speaker 1: scratched his head. That is a question we often discuss,
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  Speaker 1: he replied. It is the strongest evidence we have of
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  Speaker 1: the non existence of the etherealists. But who may know
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  Speaker 1: other than Comal? Who is comal? Asked Carthoris, I heard
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  Speaker 1: your Jeddak speak of him. Jav bent low toward the
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  Speaker 1: ear of the heliumite, looking fearfully about before he spoke.
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  Speaker 1: Comal is the essence, he whispered. Even the etherealists admit
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  Speaker 1: that mind itself must have substance in order to transmit
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  Speaker 1: to imaginings the appearance of substance. For if there really
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  Speaker 1: was no such thing as substance, it could not be suggested.
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  Speaker 1: What never has been cannot be imagined. Do you follow me?
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  Speaker 1: I am groping, replied Carthoris, drily, So the essence must
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  Speaker 1: be substance, continued Jav. Comal is the essence of the all,
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  Speaker 1: as it were. He is maintained by substance. He eats.
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  Speaker 1: He eats the real to be explicit. He eats the realists.
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  Speaker 1: That is Tario's work. He says that inasmuch as we
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  Speaker 1: maintain that we alone are real. We should to be
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  Speaker 1: consistent admit that we alone are proper food for Comal. Sometimes,
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  Speaker 1: as to day, we find other food for him. He
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  Speaker 1: is very fond of Torquasians, and Comal is a man,
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  Speaker 1: asked Carthoris. He is all I told you, replied Jav,
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  Speaker 1: I know not how to explain him in words that
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  Speaker 1: you will understand. He is the beginning and the end.
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  Speaker 1: All life emanates from Comal, since the substance which feeds
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  Speaker 1: the brain with imaginings radiates from the body of Comal.
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  Speaker 1: Should Comal cease to eat, all life upon barsoom would
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  Speaker 1: cease to be. He cannot die, but he might cease
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  Speaker 1: to eat, and thus to radiate, and he feeds upon
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  Speaker 1: the man and women of your belief, cried Carthoris. Women
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed Jav. There are no women in Lothar, The last
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  Speaker 1: of the Lotharian females perished ages since upon that cruel
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  Speaker 1: and terrible journey across the muddy plains that fringed the
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  Speaker 1: half dried seas, when the green Hordes scourged us across
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  Speaker 1: the world to this, our last hiding place, our impregnable
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  Speaker 1: fortress of Lothar. Scarce twenty thousand men of all the
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  Speaker 1: countless millions of our race lived to reach Lothar. Among
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  Speaker 1: us were no women and no children. All these had
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  Speaker 1: perished by the way. As time went on, we too
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  Speaker 1: were dying, and the race fast approaching extinction when the
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  Speaker 1: great truth was revealed to us, that mind is all.
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  Speaker 1: Many more died before we perfected our powers, but at
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  Speaker 1: least we were able to defy death when we fully
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: understood that death was merely a state of mind. Then
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: came the creation of mind people, or rather the materialization
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: of imaginings. We first put these to practical use when
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: the Torquasians discovered our retreat, and fortunate for us, it
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  Speaker 1: was that they required ages of search upon their part
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  Speaker 1: before they found the single, tiny entrance to the valley
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: of Lothar. That day we threw our first bowmen against them.
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  Speaker 1: The intention was purely to frighten them away by the
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  Speaker 1: vast numbers of bowmen which we could muster upon our walls.
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  Speaker 1: All Lothar bristled with the bows and arrows of our
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  Speaker 1: ethereal host. But the Torkasians did not frighten. They are
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  Speaker 1: lower than the beasts. They know no fear. They rushed
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  Speaker 1: upon our walls, and standing upon the shoulders of others,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: they built human approaches to the wall tops, and were
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  Speaker 1: on the very point of surging in upon us and
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  Speaker 1: overwhelming us. Not an arrow had been discharged by our bowmen.
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  Speaker 1: We did but cause them to run to and fro
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  Speaker 1: along the wall top, screaming taunts and threats at the enemy.
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  Speaker 1: Presently I thought to attempt the thing, the great thing.
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  Speaker 1: I centered all my mighty intellect upon the bowmen of
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  Speaker 1: my creation. Each of us produces and directs as many
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  Speaker 1: bowmen as his mentality and imagination is capable of. I
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  Speaker 1: caused them to fit arrows to their bows. For the
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  Speaker 1: first time, I made them take aim at the hearts
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  Speaker 1: of the green men. I made the green men see
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  Speaker 1: all this, and then I made them see the arrows fly,
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  Speaker 1: and I made them think that the points pierced their hearts.
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  Speaker 1: It was all that was necessary. By hundreds they toppled
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  Speaker 1: from our walls. And when my fellows saw what I
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  Speaker 1: had done, they were quick to follow my example, so
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  Speaker 1: that presently the hordes of Torquas had retreated beyond the
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  Speaker 1: range of our arrows. We might have killed them at
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: any distance, But one rule of war. We have maintained
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  Speaker 1: from the first the rule of realism. We do nothing,
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  Speaker 1: or rather, we cause our bowmen to do nothing within
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: sight of the enemy, that is, beyond the understanding of
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: the foe. Otherwise they might guess the truth, and that
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: would be the end of us. But after the Torcasians
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  Speaker 1: had retreated beyond bowshot, they turned upon us with their
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  Speaker 1: terrible rifles, and by constant popping at us, made life
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  Speaker 1: miserable within our walls. So then I bethought the scheme
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: to hurl our bowmen through the gates upon them. And
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: you have seen this day how well it works. For ages.
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  Speaker 1: They have come down upon us at intervals, but always
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  Speaker 1: with the same results. And all this is due to
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: your intellect, Jav asked Carthoris. I should think that you
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: would be high in the councils of your people. I am,
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: replied Jav proudly. I am next to Tario. But why then,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: your cringing manner of approaching the throne? Tario demands it.
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  Speaker 1: He is jealous of me. He only awaits the slightest
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: excuse to feed me to comal. He fears that I
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: may someday usurp his power Carthoris suddenly sprang from the table. Jav.
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  Speaker 1: He exclaimed, I am a beast. Here I have been
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  Speaker 1: eating my fill, while the Princess of Ptarth may perchance
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  Speaker 1: be still without food. Let us return and find some
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: means of furnishing her with nourishment. The Lotharian shook his head.
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  Speaker 1: Tario would not permit it, he said, he will doubtless
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  Speaker 1: make an etherealist of her. But I must go to her,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: insisted Carthoris. You say that there are no women in Lothar,
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  Speaker 1: then she must be among men, and if this be so,
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  Speaker 1: I intend to be near where I may defend her.
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  Speaker 1: If the need arises, Tario will have his way, insisted Jav.
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  Speaker 1: He sent you away, and you may not return until
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: he sends for you. Then I shall go without waiting
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  Speaker 1: to be sent for. Do not forget the bowmen, cautioned Jav.
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  Speaker 1: I do not forget them, replied Carthoris. But he did
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  Speaker 1: not tell Jav that he remembered something else that the
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: Lotharian had let drop, Something that was but a conjecture,
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  Speaker 1: possibly and yet one well worth pinning a forlorn hope
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  Speaker 1: to should necessity arise. Carthoris started to leave the room,
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  Speaker 1: jav stepped before him, barring his way. I have learned
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  Speaker 1: to like you, red man, he said, But do not
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  Speaker 1: forget that Tario is still my Jeddak, and that Tario
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: has commanded that you remain here. Carthoris was about to
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: reply when there came, faintly to the ears of both
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: a woman's cry for help. With a sweep of his arm,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: the Prince of Helium brushed the Lotharian aside, and withdrawn sword,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: sprang into the corridor without end of chapter seven