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

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  Speaker 1: Thuvia made of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Chapter one,
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  Speaker 1: Carthoris and Thuvia. Upon a massive bench of polished air
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  Speaker 1: sit beneath the gorgeous blooms of a giant panalia, A
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  Speaker 1: woman sat, her shapely sandaled foot tapped impatiently upon the
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  Speaker 1: jewel strewn walk that wound beneath the stately serapus trees
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  Speaker 1: across the scarlet sward of the royal gardens of Thuvon
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  Speaker 1: din Jeddak Ptarth. As a dark haired, red skinned warrior
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  Speaker 1: bent low toward her, whispering heated words close to her ear.
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  Speaker 1: Ah Thuvia of Ptarth, he cried, you are cold even
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  Speaker 1: before the fiery blasts of my consuming love. No harder
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  Speaker 1: than your heart, nor colder is the hard, cold air
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  Speaker 1: sight of this thrice happy bench, which supports your divine
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  Speaker 1: and fateless form. Tell me, o Thuvia of Ptarth, that
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  Speaker 1: I may still hope that though you do not love
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  Speaker 1: me now, yet some day, some day, my princess I.
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  Speaker 1: The girl sprang to her feet with an exclamation of
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  Speaker 1: surprise and displeasure. Her queenly head was poised haughtily upon
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  Speaker 1: her smooth red shoulders. Her dark eyes looked angrily into
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  Speaker 1: those of the man. You forget yourself and the customs
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  Speaker 1: of barsoom Astoc, she said, I have given you no
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  Speaker 1: right thus to address the daughter of thuvon Din, nor
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  Speaker 1: have you won such a right. The man reached suddenly
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  Speaker 1: forth and grasped her by the arm. You shall be
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  Speaker 1: my princess, he cried, by the breast of isis thou shalt,
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  Speaker 1: Nor shall any other come between Astok, Prince of Dusar
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  Speaker 1: and his heart's desire. Tell me that there is another,
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  Speaker 1: and I shall cut out his foul heart and fling
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  Speaker 1: it to the wild calets of the dead sea bottoms.
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  Speaker 1: At touch of the man's hand upon her flesh, the
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  Speaker 1: girl went pallid beneath her coppery's skin. For the persons
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  Speaker 1: of the royal women of the courts of Mars are
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  Speaker 1: held but little less than sacred. The act of Astok,
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  Speaker 1: Prince of Dusar was profanation. There was no terror in
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  Speaker 1: the eyes of Thuvia of Ptarth, only horror for the
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  Speaker 1: thing the man had done, and for its possible consequences.
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  Speaker 1: Release me. Her voice was level, frigid. The man muttered
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  Speaker 1: incoherently and drew her roughly toward him. Release me, she repeated, sharply,
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  Speaker 1: or I call the guard, and the Prince of Dusar
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  Speaker 1: knows what that will mean. Quickly, he threw his right
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  Speaker 1: arm about her shoulders and strove to draw her face
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  Speaker 1: to his lips. With a little cry, she struck him
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  Speaker 1: full in the mouth with the massive bracelets that circled
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  Speaker 1: her arm. Callet, she exclaimed, And then the guard, the
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  Speaker 1: guard hasten in protection of the Princess of Ptarth. In
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  Speaker 1: answer to her call, a dozen guardsmen came racing across
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  Speaker 1: the scarlet sward, their gleaming long swords naked in the sun,
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  Speaker 1: the metal of their accouterments clanking against that of their
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  Speaker 1: leathern harness, and in their throats hoarse shouts of rage
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  Speaker 1: at the sight which met their eyes. But before they
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  Speaker 1: had passed half across the royal garden, to where Astok
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  Speaker 1: of Dusar still held the struggling girl in his grasp,
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  Speaker 1: another figure sprang from a cluster of dense foliage that
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  Speaker 1: half hid a golden fountain close at hand. A tall,
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  Speaker 1: straight youth, he was with black hair and keen gray eyes,
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  Speaker 1: broad of shoulder and narrow of hip, a clean limbed
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  Speaker 1: fighting man. His skin was but faintly tinged with the
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  Speaker 1: copper color that marks the red men of Mars from
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  Speaker 1: the other races of the dying planet. He was like them,
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  Speaker 1: and yet there was a subtle difference, greater even than
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  Speaker 1: that which lay in his lighter skin and his gray eyes.
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  Speaker 1: There was a difference too in his movements. He came
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  Speaker 1: on in great leaps that carried him so swiftly over
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  Speaker 1: the ground that the speed of the guardsman was as
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  Speaker 1: nothing by comparison. Astok still clutched Thuvia's wrist as the
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  Speaker 1: young warrior confronted him. The newcomer wasted no time, and
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  Speaker 1: he spoke but a single word, callot. He snapped, and
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  Speaker 1: then his clenched fist landed beneath the other's chin, lifting
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  Speaker 1: him high into the air and depositing him in a
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  Speaker 1: crumpled heap within the center of the pimalia bush beside
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  Speaker 1: the air sight bench. Her champion turned toward the girl,
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  Speaker 1: Kowor Thuvia of Ptarth. He cried, it seems that fate
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  Speaker 1: timed my visit well. Kowor Cathoris of Helium. The princess
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  Speaker 1: returned the young man's greeting, and what less could one
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  Speaker 1: expect of the son of such a sire. He bowed
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  Speaker 1: his acknowledgment of the compliment to his father, John Carter,
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  Speaker 1: war Lord of Mars, and then the guardsmen, panting from
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  Speaker 1: their charge, came up, just as the Prince of Dusar,
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  Speaker 1: bleeding at the mouth and with sword drawn, crawled from
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  Speaker 1: the entanglement of the Pamalia. Astoc would have leaped to
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  Speaker 1: mortal combat with the son of dejah Thoris, but the
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  Speaker 1: guardsmen pressed about him, preventing, though it was clearly evident
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  Speaker 1: that Naught would have better pleased Cathoris of Helium. But
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  Speaker 1: say the word, Thuvia of Ptarth, he begged, and Naught
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  Speaker 1: will give me greater pleasure than metting to this fellow
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  Speaker 1: the punishment he has earned. It cannot be Cathoris, she replied,
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  Speaker 1: even though he has forfeited all claim upon my consideration.
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  Speaker 1: Yet is he the guest of the Jeddak, my father,
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  Speaker 1: And to him alone may he account for the unpardonable
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  Speaker 1: act he has committed. As you say, Thuvia, replied the Heliumite.
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  Speaker 1: But afterward he shall account to Carthoris, Prince of Helium,
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  Speaker 1: for this affront to the daughter of my father's friend.
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  Speaker 1: As he spoke, though there burned in his eyes a
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  Speaker 1: fire that proclaimed a nearer, dearer cause for his championship
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  Speaker 1: of this glorious daughter of Barsoom. The maid's cheek darkened
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  Speaker 1: beneath the satin of her transparent skin, and the eyes
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  Speaker 1: of Astok, Prince of Dusar, darkened too, as he read
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  Speaker 1: that which passed unspoken between the two in the royal
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  Speaker 1: gardens of the Jeddak, And thou to me, he snapped
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  Speaker 1: at Cathoris, answering the young man's challenge. The guard still
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  Speaker 1: surrounded Astok. It was a difficult position for the young
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  Speaker 1: officer who commanded it. His prisoner was the son of
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  Speaker 1: a mighty Jeddak. He was the guest of Thu bon
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  Speaker 1: Din until but now an honored guest upon whom every
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  Speaker 1: royal dignity had been showered to arrest him, forcibly could
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  Speaker 1: mean nought else than war. And yet he had done
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  Speaker 1: that which, in the eyes of the Ptarth warrior, merited death.
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  Speaker 1: The young man hesitated. He looked toward his princess. She too,
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  Speaker 1: guessed all that hung upon the action of the coming moment.
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  Speaker 1: For many years Dusar and Ptarth had been at peace
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  Speaker 1: with each other. Their great merchant ships plied back and
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  Speaker 1: forth between the larger cities of the two nations. Even now,
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  Speaker 1: far above the gold shot scarlet dome of the Jeddak's Palace,
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  Speaker 1: she could see the huge bulk of a giant freighter
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  Speaker 1: taking its majestic way through the thin Barsoomian air toward
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  Speaker 1: the West and Dusar. By a word, she might plunge
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  Speaker 1: these two mighty nations into a bloody conflict that would
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  Speaker 1: drain them of their bravest blood and their incalculable riches,
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  Speaker 1: leaving them all helpless against the inroads of their envious
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  Speaker 1: and less powerful neighbors, and at last a prey to
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  Speaker 1: the savage, green hordes of the dead Sea bottoms. No
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  Speaker 1: sense of fear influenced her decision, for fear is seldom
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  Speaker 1: known to the children of Mars. It was rather a
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  Speaker 1: sense of the responsibility that she, the daughter of their Jeddak,
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  Speaker 1: felt for the welfare of her father's people. I called
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  Speaker 1: you Padwar, she said to the Lieutenant of the Guard,
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  Speaker 1: to protect the person of your princess and to keep
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  Speaker 1: the peace that must not be violated within the royal
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  Speaker 1: gardens of the Jeddak. That is all, you will escort
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  Speaker 1: me to the palace, and the Prince of Helium will
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  Speaker 1: accompany me. Without another glance in the direction of Astok,
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  Speaker 1: she turned, and, taking Carthoris's proferred hand, moved slowly toward
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  Speaker 1: the massive marble pile that housed the ruler of Ptarth
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  Speaker 1: and his glittering court. On either side marched file of guardsmen. Thus,
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  Speaker 1: Thuvia of Ptarth found away out of a dilemma, escaping
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  Speaker 1: the necessity of placing her father's royal guest under forcible restraint,
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  Speaker 1: and at the same time separating the two princes, who
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  Speaker 1: otherwise would have been at each other's throat. The moment
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  Speaker 1: she and the guard had departed beside the pomalia stood Astok,
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  Speaker 1: his dark eyes narrowed to mere slits of hate beneath
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  Speaker 1: his lowering brows, as he watched the retreating forms of
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  Speaker 1: the woman who had aroused the fiercest passions of his
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  Speaker 1: nature and the man whom he now believed to be
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  Speaker 1: the one who stood between his love and its consummation.
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  Speaker 1: As they disappeared within the structure, Astok shrugged his shoulders
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  Speaker 1: and with a murmured Oath crossed the gardens towards another
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  Speaker 1: wing of the building, where he and his retinue were housed.
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  Speaker 1: That night he took formal leave of Thuvan Din, and
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  Speaker 1: though no mention was made of the happening within the garden,
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  Speaker 1: it was plain to see through the cold mask of
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  Speaker 1: the Jeddak's courtesy that only the customs of royal hospitality
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  Speaker 1: restrained him from voicing the contempt he felt for the
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  Speaker 1: Prince of Dusar Carthoris was not present at the leave taking,
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  Speaker 1: nor was Thuvia. The ceremony was as stiff and formal
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  Speaker 1: as court etiquette could make it. And when the last
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  Speaker 1: of the Dusarians clambered over the rail of the battleship
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  Speaker 1: that had brought them upon this fateful visit to the
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  Speaker 1: court of Ptarth, and the mighty engine of destruction had
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  Speaker 1: risen slowly from the ways of the landing stage, a
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  Speaker 1: note of relief was apparent in the voice of thuvon
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  Speaker 1: Din as he turned to one of his officers with
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  Speaker 1: a word of comment upon a subject foreign to that
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  Speaker 1: which had been uppermost in the minds of all for hours.
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  Speaker 1: But after all, was it so foreign inform Prince Sauvon.
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  Speaker 1: He directed that it is our wish that the fleet
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  Speaker 1: which departed for Cowl this morning be recalled to cruise
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  Speaker 1: to the west of Ptarth. As the warship bearing Astok
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  Speaker 1: back to the court of his father turned toward the west,
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  Speaker 1: Thuvia of Ptarth, sitting upon the same bench where the
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  Speaker 1: Prince of Dusar had affronted her, watched the twinkling lights
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  Speaker 1: of the craft growing smaller in the distance. Beside her,
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  Speaker 1: in the brilliant light of the nearer moon, sat Carthoris.
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  Speaker 1: His eyes were not upon the dim bulk of the battleship,
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  Speaker 1: but on the profile of the girl's upturned face. Thuvia,
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  Speaker 1: he whispered. The girl turned her eyes toward his. His
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  Speaker 1: hand stole out to find hers, but she drew her
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  Speaker 1: own gently away. Thuvia of Ptarth, I love you, cried
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  Speaker 1: the young warrior. Tell me that it does not offend.
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  Speaker 1: She shook her head sadly. The love of Carthoris of Helium,
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  Speaker 1: she said, simply, could be not but an honor to
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  Speaker 1: any woman. But you must not speak, my friend, of
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  Speaker 1: bestowing upon me that which I may not reciprocate. The
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  Speaker 1: young man got slowly to his feet. His eyes were
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  Speaker 1: wide in astonishment. It had never occurred to the Prince
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  Speaker 1: of Helium that Thuvia of Ptarth might love another. But
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  Speaker 1: at Cadabra, he exclaimed, and later here at your father's court,
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  Speaker 1: What did you do, Thuvia of Ptarth, that might have
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  Speaker 1: warned me that you could not return my love? And
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  Speaker 1: what did I do, Carthoris of Helium, She returned, that
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  Speaker 1: might lead you to believe that I did return it.
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  Speaker 1: He paused in thought, and then shook his head. Nothing, Thuvia,
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  Speaker 1: that is true. Yet I could have sworn you loved me.
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  Speaker 1: Indeed you well knew how near a worship has been
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  Speaker 1: my love for you. And how might I know it? Carthoris?
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  Speaker 1: She asked innocently, did you ever tell me as much?
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  Speaker 1: Ever before have words of love for me fallen from
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  Speaker 1: your lips? But you must have known it, he exclaimed.
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  Speaker 1: I am like my father, witless in matters of the heart,
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  Speaker 1: and of a poor way with women. Yet the jewels
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  Speaker 1: that strewn these royal garden paths, the trees, the flowers,
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  Speaker 1: the sward, all must have read the love that has
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  Speaker 1: filled my heart since first my eyes were made new
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  Speaker 1: by imaging your perfect face. And form. So how could
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  Speaker 1: you alone have been blind to it? Do the maids
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  Speaker 1: of Helium pay court to their men? Asked theuvia, you
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  Speaker 1: are playing with me, exclaimed Carthoris, say that you are
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  Speaker 1: but playing, and that, after all you love me Theuvia,
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  Speaker 1: I cannot tell you that, Carthoris, for I am promised
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  Speaker 1: to another. Her tone was level, but was there not
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  Speaker 1: within it the hint of an infinite depth of sadness?
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  Speaker 1: Who may say, promised to another? Carthoris scarcely breathed the words.
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  Speaker 1: His face went almost white, and then his head came
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  Speaker 1: up as befitted him, in whose veins flowed the blood
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  Speaker 1: of the overlord of a world. Carthoris of Helium wishes
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  Speaker 1: you every happiness with the man of your choice, he said,
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  Speaker 1: with and then he hesitated, waiting for her to fill
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  Speaker 1: in the name. Kulan tith Jeddak of Caoul. She replied,
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  Speaker 1: my father's friend and Ptarth's most puissant. Ally, the young
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  Speaker 1: man looked at her intently for a moment before he
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  Speaker 1: spoke again, you love him, Thuvia of Ptarth, He asked,
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  Speaker 1: I am promised to him? She replied simply. He did
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  Speaker 1: not press her. He is of Barsoom's noblest blood and
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  Speaker 1: mightiest fighters, mused, Carthoris, my father's friend and mine would
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  Speaker 1: that it might have been another. He muttered, almost savagely.
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  Speaker 1: What the girl think thought was hidden by the mask
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  Speaker 1: of her expression, which was tinged only by a little
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  Speaker 1: shadow of sadness, that might have been for Carthoris or self,
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  Speaker 1: or for them both. Carthoris of Helium did not ask,
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  Speaker 1: though he noted it, for his loyalty to Culan Tith
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  Speaker 1: was the loyalty of the blood of John Carter of Virginia,
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  Speaker 1: for a friend greater than which could be no loyalty.
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  Speaker 1: He raised a jewel incrusted bit of the girl's magnificent
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  Speaker 1: trappings to his lips. To the honor and happiness of
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  Speaker 1: Culan Tith, and the priceless jewel that has bestowed upon him,
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  Speaker 1: he said, and though his voice was husky, there was
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  Speaker 1: the true ring of sincerity in it. I told you
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  Speaker 1: that I loved you Thuvia, before I knew that you
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  Speaker 1: were promised to another. I may not tell you it again,
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  Speaker 1: but I am glad that you know it, for there
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  Speaker 1: is no dishonor in it, either to you or to
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  Speaker 1: Culan Tith, or to myself. My love is such that
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  Speaker 1: it may embrace as well Kulan Tith, if you love him.
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  Speaker 1: There was almost a question in the statement I am
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  Speaker 1: promised to him, she replied. Carthoris backed slowly away. He
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  Speaker 1: laid one hand upon his heart, the other upon the
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  Speaker 1: pommel of his long sword. These are yours always, he said.
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  Speaker 1: A moment later he had entered the palace and was
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  Speaker 1: gone from the girl's sight. Had he returned at once,
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  Speaker 1: he would have found her prone upon the ersite bench,
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  Speaker 1: her face buried in her arms. Was she weeping? There
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  Speaker 1: was none to see. Carthoris of Helium had come all
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  Speaker 1: unannounced to the court of his father's friend that day.
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  Speaker 1: He had come alone in a small flier, sure of
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  Speaker 1: the same welcome that always awaited him at Ptarth. As
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  Speaker 1: there had been no formality in his coming, there is
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  Speaker 1: no need of forey in his going to thuvon Din.
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  Speaker 1: He explained that he had been but testing an invention
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  Speaker 1: of his own with which his flier was equipped, a
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  Speaker 1: clever improvement of the ordinary Martian air compass, which, when
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  Speaker 1: set for a certain destination, will remain constantly fixed thereon,
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  Speaker 1: making it only necessary to keep a vessel's prow always
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  Speaker 1: in the direction of the compass needle to reach any
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  Speaker 1: given point upon Barsoom by the shortest route. Carthoris's improvement
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  Speaker 1: upon this consisted of an auxiliary device which steered the
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  Speaker 1: craft mechanically in the direction of the compass, and upon
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  Speaker 1: arrival directly over the point for which the compass was set,
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  Speaker 1: brought the craft to a standstill and lowered it automatically
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  Speaker 1: to the ground. You readily discern the advantage of this invention,
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  Speaker 1: he was saying to thuvon Din, who had accompanied him
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  Speaker 1: to the landing stage upon the palace roof, to inspect
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  Speaker 1: the compass and bid his young friend farewell. A dozen
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  Speaker 1: officers of the court, with several body servants or grouped
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  Speaker 1: behind the jeddak and his guest eager listeners to the conversation,
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  Speaker 1: So eager on the part of one of the servants
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  Speaker 1: that he was twice rebuked by a noble for his
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  Speaker 1: forwardness in pushing himself ahead of his betters to view
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  Speaker 1: the intricate mechanism of the wonderful controlling destination compass as
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  Speaker 1: the thing was called. For example, continued Carthoris, I have
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  Speaker 1: an all night trip before me. As to night I
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  Speaker 1: set the pointer here upon the right hand dial, which
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  Speaker 1: represents the eastern hemisphere of Barsoom, so that the point
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  Speaker 1: rests upon the exact latitude and longitude of Helium. Then
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  Speaker 1: I start the engine, roll up in my sleeping silks
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  Speaker 1: and furs, and with lights burning, race through the air
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  Speaker 1: toward Helium, confident that at the appointed hour I shall
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  Speaker 1: drop gently toward the landing stage upon my own palace,
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  Speaker 1: whether I am still asleep or no, provided suggested thuvon Din,
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  Speaker 1: you do not chance to collide with some other night
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  Speaker 1: wanderer in the meanwhile, Carthoris smiled, No danger of that,
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  Speaker 1: he replied, see here, and he indicated a device at
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  Speaker 1: the right of the destination compass. This is my obstruction evader,
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  Speaker 1: as I call it. This visible device is the switch
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  Speaker 1: which throws the mechanism on or off. The instrument itself
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  Speaker 1: is below deck, geared both to the steering apparatus and
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  Speaker 1: the control levers. It is quite simple, being nothing more
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: than a radium generator, diffusing radioactivity in all directions to
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  Speaker 1: a distance of a hundred yards or so from the flier.
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  Speaker 1: Should this enveloping force be interrupted in any direction, a
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  Speaker 1: delicate instrument immediately apprehends the irregularity at the same time
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  Speaker 1: imparting an impulse to a magnetic device, which in turn
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  Speaker 1: actuates a steering mechanism, diverting the bow of the flier
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  Speaker 1: away from the obstacle until the craft's radioactivity sphere is
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  Speaker 1: no longer in contact with the obstruction. Then she falls
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  Speaker 1: once more to her normal course. Should the disturbance approach
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  Speaker 1: from the rear, as in the case of a faster
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: moving craft overhauling me, the mechanism actuates the speed control
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  Speaker 1: as well as the steering gear, and the flier shoots
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  Speaker 1: ahead and either up or down as the oncoming vessel
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  Speaker 1: is upon a lower or higher plane than myself. In
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  Speaker 1: aggravated cases, that is, when the obstructions are many or
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  Speaker 1: of such a nature as to deflect the bow more
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  Speaker 1: than forty five degrees in any direction, or when the
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  Speaker 1: craft has reached its destination and dropped to within a
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  Speaker 1: hundred yards of the ground, the mechanism brings her to
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  Speaker 1: a full stop, at the same time sounding a loud
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: alarm which will instantly awaken the pilot. You see, I
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: have anticipated almost every contingency. Fu bon Din smiled his
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: appreciation of the marvelous device. The forward servant pushed almost
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: to the flier's side. His eyes were narrowed to slits,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: all but one, he said. The nobles looked at him
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: in astonishment, and one of them grasped the fellow none
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: too gently by the shoulder to push him back to
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: his proper place. Carthoris raised his hand. Wait, he urged,
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: let us hear what the man has to say. No
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: creation of mortal mind is perfect. Perchance he has detected
• 21:19
  Speaker 1: a weakness that it will be well to know at once. Come,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: my good fellow, and what may be the one contingency
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: I have overlooked. As he spoke, Carthoris observed the servant closely.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: For the first time he saw a man of giant
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: stature and handsome, as are all those of the race
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: of Martian red men. But the fellow's lips were thin
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: and cruel, and across one cheek was the faint white
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: line of a sword cut from the right temple to
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: the corner of the mouth. Come, urged the Prince of
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Helium speak. The man hesitated. It was evident that he
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: regretted the temerity that had made him the center of
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: interested observation. But at the last, seeing no alternative, he spoke.
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: It may be tampered with, he said, by an enemy.
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: Carthoris drew a small key from his leathern pocket pouch.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: Look at this, he said, handing it to the man.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: If you know aught of locks, you will know that
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: the mechanism which this unlooses is beyond the cunning of
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: a picker of locks. It guards the vitals of the
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: instrument from crafty tampering. Without it, an enemy must half
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: wreck the device to reach its heart, leaving his handiwork
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: apparent to the most casual observer. The servant took the key,
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: glanced at it shrewdly, and then as he made to
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: return it to Carthoris dropped it upon the marble flagging.
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Turning to look for it, he planted the sole of
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: his sandal full upon the glittering object. For an instant
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: he bore all his weight upon the foot that covered
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: the key. Then he stepped back, and, with an exclamation
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: as of pleasure that he had found it, stooped, recovered
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: it and returned it to the heliumite. Then he dropped
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: back to his station behind the nobles, and was forgotten.
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: A moment later, Carthoris made his adieu to thuvon Din
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: and his nobles, and with lights twinkling, had risen to
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: the star shot void of the Martian night. End of
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: chapter one,