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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen, Flight and Pursuit. I could not have been
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  Speaker 1: unconscious more than a few seconds, and yet I know
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  Speaker 1: that I was unconscious. For the next thing I realized
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  Speaker 1: was that a growing radiance was illuminating the corridor about me,
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  Speaker 1: and the eyes were gone. I was unharmed, except for
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  Speaker 1: a slight bruise upon my forehead where it had struck
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  Speaker 1: the stone flagging as I fell. I sprang to my
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  Speaker 1: feet to ascertain the cause of the light. It came
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  Speaker 1: from a torch in the hand of one of a
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  Speaker 1: party of four Green warriors who were coming rapidly down
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  Speaker 1: the corridor toward me. They had not yet seen me,
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  Speaker 1: and so I lost no time in slipping into the
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  Speaker 1: first intersecting corridor that I could find. This time, however,
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  Speaker 1: I did not advance so far away from the main
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  Speaker 1: corridor as on the other occasion that had resulted in
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  Speaker 1: my losing tars Tarkas and his guards. The party came
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  Speaker 1: rapidly toward the opening of the passageway in which I
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  Speaker 1: crouched against the wall. As they passed by, I breathed
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  Speaker 1: a sigh of relief. I had not been discovered, and
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  Speaker 1: best of all, the party was the saying that I
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  Speaker 1: had followed into the pits. It consisted of Tars Tarkas
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  Speaker 1: and his three guards. I fell in behind them, and
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  Speaker 1: soon we were at the cell in which the great
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  Speaker 1: Thark had been chained. Two of the warriors remained without,
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  Speaker 1: while the man with the keys entered with the Thark
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  Speaker 1: to fasten his irons upon him once more. The two
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  Speaker 1: outside started to stroll slowly in the direction of the
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  Speaker 1: spiral runway which led to the floors above, and in
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  Speaker 1: a moment were lost to view beyond a turn in
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  Speaker 1: the corridor. The torch had been stuck in a socket
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  Speaker 1: beside the door, so that its rays illuminated both the
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  Speaker 1: corridor and the cell. At the same time as I
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  Speaker 1: saw the two warriors disappear, I approached the entrance to
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  Speaker 1: the cell with a well defined plan already formulated. While
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  Speaker 1: I disliked the thought of carrying out the thing that
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  Speaker 1: I had decided upon, there seemed no alternative if Tars
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  Speaker 1: Tarkas and I were to go back together to my
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  Speaker 1: little camp in the hills. Keeping near the wall, I
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  Speaker 1: came quite close to the door to Tars Tarkas's cell,
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  Speaker 1: and there I stood with my long sword above my head,
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  Speaker 1: grasped with both hands that I might bring it down
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  Speaker 1: in one quick cut upon the skull of the jailer,
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  Speaker 1: as he had merged, I dislike to dwell upon what followed.
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  Speaker 1: After I heard the footsteps of the man as he
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  Speaker 1: approached the doorway. It is enough that within another minute
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  Speaker 1: or two, Tars Tarkas, wearing the medal of a Warhoon chief,
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  Speaker 1: was hurrying down the corridor toward the spiral runway, bearing
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  Speaker 1: the warhoon's torch to light his way. A dozen paces
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  Speaker 1: behind him followed John Carter, Prince of Helium. The two
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  Speaker 1: companions of the man who lay now beside the door
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  Speaker 1: of the cell that had been Tars Tarkas's had just
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  Speaker 1: started to ascend the runway as the Thark came in view.
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  Speaker 1: Why so long, Tangama cried one of the men I
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  Speaker 1: had trouble with a lock, replied Tars Tarkas, And now
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  Speaker 1: I find that I have left my short sword in
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  Speaker 1: the Thark's cell. Go you on, I'll return and fetch
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  Speaker 1: it as you will, Tangama replied he who had before spoken,
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  Speaker 1: we shall see you above directly. Yes, replied Tars Tarkas,
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  Speaker 1: and turned as though to retrace his steps to the cell,
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  Speaker 1: but he only waited till the two had disappeared at
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  Speaker 1: the floor above. Then I joined him. We extinguished the torch,
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  Speaker 1: and together we crept toward the spiral incline that led
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  Speaker 1: to the upper floors of the building. At the first floor,
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  Speaker 1: we found that the hallway ran but half way through,
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  Speaker 1: necessitating the crossing of a rear room full of green folk.
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  Speaker 1: Ere we could reach the inner courtyard. So there was
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  Speaker 1: but one thing left for us to do, and that
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  Speaker 1: was to gain the second floor and the hallway through
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  Speaker 1: which I had traversed the length of the building. Cautiously
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  Speaker 1: we ascended. We could hear the sounds of conversation coming
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  Speaker 1: from the room above, but the hall still was unlited,
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  Speaker 1: nor was any one in sight. As we gained the
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  Speaker 1: top of the runway, together we threaded the long hall
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  Speaker 1: and reached the balcony overlooking the courtyard without being detected.
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  Speaker 1: At our right was the window leading into the room
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  Speaker 1: in which I had seen Tangama and the other warriors
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  Speaker 1: as they started to tars Tarkas's cell earlier in the evening.
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  Speaker 1: His companions had returned here, and we now overheard a
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  Speaker 1: portion of their conversation. What can be detaining? Tan Gama
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  Speaker 1: asked one, He certainly could not be all this time,
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  Speaker 1: Fetching his short sword from the Thark's cell, spoke another
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  Speaker 1: his short sword, asked a woman, what mean you? Tangama
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  Speaker 1: left his short sword in the thark cell, explained the
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  Speaker 1: first speaker, and left us at the runway to return
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  Speaker 1: and get it. Tan Gama wore no short sword this night,
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  Speaker 1: said the woman. It was broken in to day's battle
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  Speaker 1: with the Thark, and tan gam gave it to me
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  Speaker 1: to repair. See, I have it here, And as she spoke,
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  Speaker 1: she drew tangama short sword from beneath her sleeping silks
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  Speaker 1: and furs. The warriors sprang to their feet. There's something
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  Speaker 1: amiss here, cried one. Tis even what I myself thought
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  Speaker 1: when Tangama left us at the runway, said another. Methought
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  Speaker 1: then that his voice sounded strangely. Come let us hasten
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  Speaker 1: to the pits. We waited to hear no more. Slinging
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  Speaker 1: my harness into a long single strap, I lowered tars
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  Speaker 1: Tarkas to the courtyard beneath, and an instant later dropped
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  Speaker 1: to his side. We had spoken scarcely a dozen words.
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  Speaker 1: Since I had felled Tangama at the cell door and
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  Speaker 1: seen in the torch's light the expression of utter bewilderment
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  Speaker 1: upon the great Thark's face. By this time he had said,
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  Speaker 1: I should have learned to wonder at nothing, which John
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  Speaker 1: Carter accomplishes. That was all. He did not need to
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  Speaker 1: tell me that he appreciated the friendship which had prompted
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  Speaker 1: me to risk my life to rescue him, Nor did
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  Speaker 1: he need to say that he was glad to see me.
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  Speaker 1: This fierce green warrior had been the first to greet
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  Speaker 1: me that day, now twenty years gone, which had witnessed
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  Speaker 1: my first advent upon Mars. He had met me with
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  Speaker 1: leveled spear and cruel hatred in his heart as he
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  Speaker 1: charged down upon me, bending low at the side of
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  Speaker 1: his mighty thwart. As I stood beside the incubator of
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  Speaker 1: his hoard, upon the dead sea bottom beyond Korab, and
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  Speaker 1: now among the inhabitants of two worlds, I counted none
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  Speaker 1: a better friend than Tars Tarkas Jeddak of Tharks. As
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  Speaker 1: we reached the courtyard, we stood in the shadows beneath
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  Speaker 1: the balcony for a moment to discuss our plans. There
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  Speaker 1: be five now in the party tars Tarkas, I said,
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  Speaker 1: thuvia exodar Carthoris and ourselves. We shall need five thwarts
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  Speaker 1: to bear us. Carthoris, he cried, your son, Yes, I
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  Speaker 1: found him in the prison of Shador, on the sea
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  Speaker 1: of Omean, in the land of the first Born. I
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  Speaker 1: know not any of these places, John Carter. Be they
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  Speaker 1: upon barsoom upon and below, my friend, But wait until
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  Speaker 1: we shall have made good our escape, and you shall
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  Speaker 1: hear the strangest narrative that every Barsoomium of the outer
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  Speaker 1: world gave ear to. Now we must steal our thwarts
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  Speaker 1: and be well away to the north, before these fellows
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  Speaker 1: discover how we have tricked them. In safety, we reached
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  Speaker 1: the great gates at the far end of the courtyard,
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  Speaker 1: through which it was necessary to take our thwarts to
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  Speaker 1: the avenue beyond. It is no easy matter to handle
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  Speaker 1: five of these great, fierce beasts, which by nature are
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  Speaker 1: as wild and ferocious as their masters, and held in
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  Speaker 1: subjection by cruelty and brute force alone. As we approached them,
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  Speaker 1: they sniffed our unfamiliar scent, and with squeals of rage,
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  Speaker 1: circled about us. There long, massive necks upreared, raise their
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  Speaker 1: great gaping mouse high above our heads. They are fearsome
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  Speaker 1: appearing brutes at best, but when they are aroused they
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  Speaker 1: are fully as dangerous as they look. The thoat stands
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  Speaker 1: a good ten feet at the shoulder. His hide is
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  Speaker 1: sleek and hairless, and of a dark slate color on
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  Speaker 1: back and sides, shading down his eight legs to a
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  Speaker 1: vivid yellow at the huge padded nailss feet. The belly
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  Speaker 1: is pure white. A broad, flat tail, larger at the
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  Speaker 1: tip than at the root, completes the picture of this
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  Speaker 1: ferocious green Martian mount, A fit war steed for these
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  Speaker 1: warlike people. As the thwarts are guided by telepathic means alone,
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  Speaker 1: there is no need for rein or bridle, and so
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  Speaker 1: our object now was to find two that would obey
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  Speaker 1: our unspoken commands as they charged about us. We succeeded
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  Speaker 1: in mastering them sufficiently to prevent any concerted attack upon us,
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  Speaker 1: but the din of their squealing was certain to bring
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  Speaker 1: investigating warriors into the courtyard were it to continue much longer.
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  Speaker 1: At length, I was successful in reaching the side of
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  Speaker 1: one great brute, and ere he knew what I was about.
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  Speaker 1: I was firmly seated astride his glossy back. A moment
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  Speaker 1: later tars Tarkas had caught and mounted another. Then between
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  Speaker 1: us we herded three or four more toward the great gates.
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  Speaker 1: Tars Tarkas rode ahead, and leaning down to the latch
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  Speaker 1: through the barriers open, while I held the loose thoats
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  Speaker 1: from breaking back to the herd. Then together we rode
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  Speaker 1: through the avenues with our stolen mounts, and without waiting
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  Speaker 1: to close the gates, hurried off toward the southern boundary
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  Speaker 1: of the city. Thus far our escape had been little
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  Speaker 1: short of marvelous. Nor did our good fortune desert us,
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  Speaker 1: for we passed the outer purlus of the dead city
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  Speaker 1: and came to our camp without hearing even the faintest
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  Speaker 1: sound of pursuit. Here a low whistle the prearranged signal
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  Speaker 1: appraised the balance of our party that I was returning,
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  Speaker 1: and we were met by the three with every manifestation
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  Speaker 1: of enthusiastic rejoicing. But little time was wasted in narration
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  Speaker 1: of our adventure. Tars Tarkas and Carthoris exchanged the dignified
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  Speaker 1: and formal greenfadings common upon barsoom, but I could tell
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  Speaker 1: intuitively that Thark loved my boy, and that Carthoris reciprocated
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  Speaker 1: his affection. Exodar and the green Jeddak were formerly presented
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  Speaker 1: to each other. Then Thuvia was lifted to the least
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  Speaker 1: fracturous thorpe. Exodar and Carthoris mounted two others, and we
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  Speaker 1: set out at a rapid pace toward the east. At
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  Speaker 1: the far extremity of the city, we circled toward the north,
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  Speaker 1: and under the glorious rays of the two moons, we
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  Speaker 1: sped noiselessly across the dead sea bottom, away from the
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  Speaker 1: morehoons and the first Born. But to what new dangers
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  Speaker 1: and adventures we knew not Toward noon of the following day,
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  Speaker 1: we halted to rest our mounts and ourselves. The beasts
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  Speaker 1: were hobbled that they might move slowly about cropping the
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  Speaker 1: orchre mosslike vegetation, which constitutes both food and drink for them.
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  Speaker 1: On the march. Thuvia volunteered to remain on watch while
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  Speaker 1: the balance of the party slept. For an hour. It
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  Speaker 1: seemed to me that I had but closed my eyes
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  Speaker 1: when I felt her hand upon my shoulder and heard
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  Speaker 1: her soft voice warning me of a new danger. Horise,
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  Speaker 1: O Prince, she whispered, there be that behind us, which
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  Speaker 1: has the appearance of a great body of pursuers. The
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  Speaker 1: girl stood pointing in the direction from whence we had come.
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  Speaker 1: And as I arose and looked, I too thought that
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  Speaker 1: I could detect a thin dark line on the far horizon.
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  Speaker 1: I awoke the others. Tars Tarkas, whose giant stature towered
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  Speaker 1: high above the rest of us, could see the farthest
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  Speaker 1: It is a great body of mounted men, he said,
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  Speaker 1: and they are traveling at high speed. There was no
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  Speaker 1: time to be lost. We sprang to our hobbled thoats,
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  Speaker 1: freed them, and mounted. Then we turned our faces once
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  Speaker 1: more toward the north and took our flight again, at
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  Speaker 1: the highest speed of our slowest beast. For the balance
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  Speaker 1: of the day and all the following night, we raced
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  Speaker 1: across the Ochre wilderness, with the pursuers at our back,
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  Speaker 1: ever gaining upon us. Slowly, but surely, they were lessening
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  Speaker 1: the distance between us. Just before dark they had been
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  Speaker 1: close enough for us to plainly distinguish that they were
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  Speaker 1: green Martians, and all during the long night we distinctly
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  Speaker 1: heard the clanking of their accouterments behind us. As the
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  Speaker 1: sun rose on the second day of our flight, it
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  Speaker 1: disclosed the pursuing horde not a half mile in our rear.
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  Speaker 1: As they saw us, a fiendish shout of triumph rose
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  Speaker 1: from their ranks. Several miles in advance lay a range
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  Speaker 1: of hills, the further shore of the Dead Sea we
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  Speaker 1: had been crossing. Could we but reach these hills, our
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  Speaker 1: chances of escape would be greatly enhanced. But Thuvia's mount,
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  Speaker 1: although carrying the lightest burden, already was showing signs of exhaustion.
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  Speaker 1: I was riding beside her, when suddenly her animals staggered
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  Speaker 1: and lurched against mine. I saw that he was going down,
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  Speaker 1: but ere he fell. I snatched the girl from his
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  Speaker 1: back and swung her to a place upon my own
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  Speaker 1: thoat behind me, where she clung with her arms about me.
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  Speaker 1: This double burden soon proved too much for my already
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  Speaker 1: overtaxed beasts, and thus our speed was terribly diminished, for
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  Speaker 1: the others would proceed no faster than the slowest of
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  Speaker 1: us could go. In that little party, there was not
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  Speaker 1: one who would desert another. Yet we were of different countries,
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  Speaker 1: different colors, different races, different religions, and one of us
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  Speaker 1: was of a different world. We were quite close to
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  Speaker 1: the hills, but the warhounds were gaining so rapidly that
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  Speaker 1: we had given up all hope of reaching them in time.
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  Speaker 1: Thuvia and I were in the rear, for our beast
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  Speaker 1: was lagging more and more. Suddenly I felt the girl's
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  Speaker 1: warm lips press a kiss upon my shoulder. For thy sake, O,
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  Speaker 1: my prince, she murmured. Then her arms slipped from about
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  Speaker 1: my waist, and she was gone. I turned and saw
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  Speaker 1: that she had deliberately slipped to the ground in the
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  Speaker 1: very path of the cruel demons who pursued us, thinking
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  Speaker 1: that by lightning the burden of my mount, it might
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  Speaker 1: thus be enabled to bear me to the safety of
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  Speaker 1: the hills. Poor child, she should have known John Carter
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  Speaker 1: better than that. Turning my thoat, I urged him after her,
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  Speaker 1: hoping to reach her side and bear her on again
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  Speaker 1: in our hopeless flight. Carthoris must have glanced behind him
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  Speaker 1: at about the same time and taken in the situation,
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  Speaker 1: for by the time I had reached Thuvia's side, he
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  Speaker 1: was there also, and springing from his mount, he threw
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  Speaker 1: her upon its back, and turning the animal's head toward
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  Speaker 1: the hills, gave the beast a sharp crack across the
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  Speaker 1: rump with the flat of his sword. Then he attempted
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  Speaker 1: to do the same with mine. The brave boy's act
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  Speaker 1: of chivalrous self sacrifice filled me with pride, Nor did
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  Speaker 1: I care that it had wrested from us our last
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  Speaker 1: frail chance for escape. The warhoons were now close upon us. Tars, Tarkas,
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  Speaker 1: and Exodar had discovered our absence and were charging rapidly
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  Speaker 1: to our support. Everything pointed toward a splendid ending of
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  Speaker 1: my second journey to Barsoom. I hated to go out
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  Speaker 1: without having seen my divine princess and held her in
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  Speaker 1: my arms once again. But if it were not writ
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  Speaker 1: upon the Book of Fate that such was to be,
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  Speaker 1: then would I take the most that was coming to me?
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  Speaker 1: And in these last few moments that were to be
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  Speaker 1: vouchsaved me. Before I passed over into that unguessed future,
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  Speaker 1: I could at least give such an account of myself
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  Speaker 1: in my chosen vocation as would leave the warhoons of
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  Speaker 1: the South food for discourse for the next twenty generations.
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  Speaker 1: As Carthoris was not mounted. I from the back of
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  Speaker 1: my own mount and took my place at his side
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  Speaker 1: to meet the charge of the howling devils bearing down
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  Speaker 1: upon us. A moment later, Tars, Tarkas, and Exodar ranged
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  Speaker 1: themselves on either hand, turning their thoats loose, that we
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  Speaker 1: might all be on equal footing. The war wounds were
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  Speaker 1: perhaps a hundred yards from us when a loud explosion
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  Speaker 1: sounded from above and behind us, and almost at the
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  Speaker 1: same instant a shell burst in their advancing ranks. At
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  Speaker 1: once all was confusion. A hundred warriors toppled to the ground,
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  Speaker 1: riderless thoats plunged hither and thither among the dead and dying.
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  Speaker 1: Dismounted warriors were trampled under foot in the stampede which followed.
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  Speaker 1: All semblance of order had left the ranks of the
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  Speaker 1: green men, and as they looked far above our heads
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  Speaker 1: to trace the origin of this unexpected attack, disorder turned
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  Speaker 1: to retreat and retreat to a wild panic. In another moment,
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  Speaker 1: they were racing as madly away from us as they
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  Speaker 1: had before been, charging down upon us. We turned to
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  Speaker 1: look in the direction from whence the first report had come,
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  Speaker 1: and there we saw, thus, clearing the tops of the
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  Speaker 1: nearer hills, a great battleship swinging majestically through the air.
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  Speaker 1: Her bow gun spoke again even as we looked, and
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  Speaker 1: another shell burst among the fleeing warhoons. As she drew nearer,
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  Speaker 1: I could not repress a wild cry of elation, for
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  Speaker 1: upon her bows I saw the device of helium. End
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  Speaker 1: of Chapter fifteen,