Latest / Classic Sci Fi Books - Daily / 04 - The God's of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs

Transcript

04 - The God's of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Classic Sci Fi Books - Daily

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter four Thuvia. It was the sound of conflict that
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: aroused me once more to the realities of life. For
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: a moment I could neither place my surroundings nor locate
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: the sounds which had aroused me. And then from beyond
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the blank wall beside which I lay, I heard the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: shuffling of feet, the snarling of grim beasts, the clank
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: of metal accouterment, and the heavy breathing of a man.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: As I rose to my feet, I glanced hurriedly about
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the chamber in which I had just encountered such a
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: warm reception. The prisoners and the savage brutes rested in
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: their chains by the opposite wall, eyeing me with varying
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: expressions of curiosity, sullen, rage, surprise, and hope. The latter
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: emotion seemed plainly evident upon the handsome and intelligent face
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: of the young red Martian woman whose cry of warning
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: had been instrumental in saving my life. She was the
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: perfect type of that remarkably beautiful race whose outward appearance
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: is identical with the more godlike races of earthmen, except
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: that this higher race of Martians is of a light,
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: reddish copper color. As she was entirely unadorned. I could
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: not even guess her station in life, though it was
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: evident that she was either a prisoner or slave in
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: her present environment. It was several seconds before the sounds
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: upon the opposite side of the partition jolted my slowly
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: returning faculties into a realization of their probable import And
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: then of a sudden I grasped the fact that they
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: were caused by tars tarkas in what was evidently a
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: desperate struggle with wild beasts or savage men. With a
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: cry of encouragement, I threw my weight against the secret door,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: but as well have essayed the down hurling of the
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: cliffs themselves. Then I sought furviously for the secret of
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: the revolving panel. But my search was fruitless, and I
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: was about to raise my long sword against the sullen gold,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: when the young woman prisoner called out to me, save
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: thy sword, o mighty warrior, for thou shalt need it
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: more where it will avail to some purpose. Shatter it,
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: not against the senseless metal, which yields better to the
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: lightest finger touch of one who knows its secret. Know
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: you the secret of it? Then I asked, yes, release me,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: and I will give you entrance to the other horror
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: chamber if you wish. The keys to my fetters are
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: upon the first dead of thy foemen. But why would
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: you return to face again the fierce banth, or whatever
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: other form of destruction they have loosed within that awful trap,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: Because my friend fights there alone, I answered, as I
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: hastily sought and found the keys upon the carcass of
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: the dead custodian of this grim chamber of horrors. There
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: were many keys upon the oval ring, but the fair
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: martian maid quickly selected that which sprung the great lock
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: at her waist and freed. She hurried toward the secret panel. Again,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: she sought out a key upon the ring, this time
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: a slender needlelike affair, which he inserted in an almost
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: invisible hole in the wall. Instantly, the door swung upon
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: its pivot, and the contiguous section of the floor upon
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: which I was standing carried me with it into the
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: chamber where tars Tarkas fought. The great Thark stood with
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: his back against an angle of the walls. While facing
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: him in a semicircle, a half dozen huge monsters crouched
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: waiting for an opening. Their blood streaked heads and shoulders
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: testified to the cause of their wariness, as well as
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: to the swordmanship of the green warrior, whose glossy hide
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: bore the same mute but eloquent witness to the ferocity
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: of the attacks. That he had so far withstood, sharp
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: talons and cruel fangs had torn leg, arm, and breast
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: literally to ribbons. So weak was he from continued exertion
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: and loss of blood, that but for the supporting wall,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: I doubt that he even could have stood erect. But
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: with the tenacity and indomitable courage of his kind, he
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: still faced his cruel and relentless foes, the personification of
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: that ancient proverb of his tribe. Leave to a thark
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: his head and one hand, and he may yet conquer.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: As he saw me enter, a grim smile touched those
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: grim lips of his. But whether the smile signified relief
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: or merely amusement at the sight of my own bloody
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: and deceevled condition, I do not know. As I was
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: about to spring into the conflict with my sharp long sword,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: I felt a gentle hand upon my shoulder, and turning,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: found to my surprise that the young woman had followed
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: me into the chamber. Wait, she whispered, leave them to me,
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: and pushing me, advanced, all defenseless and unarmed, upon the
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: snarling bands. When quite close to them, she spoke a
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: single Martian word in low but peremptory tones, like lightning.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: The great beast wheeled upon her, and I looked to
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: see her torn to pieces before I could reach her side,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: but instead the creatures slunk to her feet like puppies
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: that expect the merited whipping. Again, she spoke to them,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: but in tones so low I could not catch the words,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: And then she started toward the opposite side of the chamber,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: with the six mighty monsters trailing at heel. One by one,
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: she sent them through the secret panel into the room beyond,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: And when the last had passed from the chamber where
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: we stood in wide eyed amazement, she turned and smiled
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: at us, and then herself passed through, leaving us alone
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: for a moment. Neither of us spoke. Then tars Tarkas said,
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: I heard the fighting beyond the partition through which you passed,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: but I did not fear for you, John Carter, until
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: I heard the report of a revolver shot. I knew
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: that there lived no man upon all barsoom who could
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: face you with naked steel and live. But the shot
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: stripped that last vestige of hope from me. Since you,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: I knew, to be without firearms, tell me of it.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: I did as he bayed, And then together we sought
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: the secret panel through which I had just entered the apartment,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: the one at the opposite end of the room from
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: that through which the girl had led her savage companions.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: To our disappointment, the panel eluded our every effort to
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: negotiate its secret lock. We felt that once beyond it
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: we might look with some little hope of success for
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: a passage to the outside world. The fact that the
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: prisoners within were securely chained led us to believe that
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: surely there must be an avenue of escape from the
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: terrible creatures which inhabited this unspeakable place. Again and again
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: we turned from one door to another, from the baffling
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: golden panel at one end of the chamber to its
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: mate at the other, equally baffling. When we had about
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: given up all hope, one of the panels turned silently
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: toward us, and the young woman who had led away
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: the band stood once more beside us. Who are you,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: she asked, And what your mission? That you have the
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: temerity to attempt to escape from the valley door and
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the death you have chosen. I have chosen no death, maiden,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: I replied. I am not of Barsoom, nor have I
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: taken yet the voluntary pilgrimage upon the river? Ishe my friend?
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Here is Jeddak of all the Tharks, And though he
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: has not yet expressed a desire to return to the
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: living world, I am taking him with me from the
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: living lie that hath lured him in this frightful place.
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: I am of another world. I am John Carter, Prince
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: of the House of Tardos Mors Jeddak of Helium. Perchance
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: some faint rumor of me may have leaked within the
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: confines of your hellish abode. She smiled. Yes, she replied,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: not that passes in the world we have left is unknown.
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: Here I have heard of you many years ago. The
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Thurns have ofttimes wondered whether you had flown, since you
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: had neither taken the pilgrimage nor could be found upon
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: the face of Barsoom. Tell me, I said, and who
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: be you? And why a prisoner yet with power over
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: the ferocious beasts of the place that denotes familiarity and
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: authority far beyond that which might be expected of a
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: prisoner or a slave. Slave. I am, she answered, for
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: fifteen years a slave in this terrible place, And now
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: that they have tired of me and become fearful of
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: the power which my knowledge of their ways has given me,
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: I am, but recently condemned to die the death. She shuddered.
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: What death, I asked. The Holy Thorns eat human flesh,
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: she answered me, but only that which has died beneath
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: the sucking lips of a plant man, flesh from which
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: the defiling blood of life has been drawn. And to
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: this cruel end I have been condemned. It was to
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: be within a few hours, had your advent not caused
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: an interruption of their plans. Was it then, the Holy
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: Therns who felt the weight of John Carter's hand, I asked, Oh, no,
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: those whom you laid low are lesser Therns, but of
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: the same cruel and hateful race. The Holy Therns abide
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: upon the outer slopes of these grim hills, facing the
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: broad world, from which they harvest their victims and their spoils.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: Labyrinthine passages connect these caves with the xurious palaces of
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: the holy Therns, and through them pass upon their many
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: duties the lesser Therns, and hordes of slaves and prisoners
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: and fierce beasts, the grim inhabitants of this sunless world.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: There be within this vast network of winding passages and
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: countless chambers, men, women and beasts who born within its
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: dim and gruesome underworld have never seen the light of day,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: Nor ever shall they are kept to do the bidding
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: of the race of Therns, to furnish at once their
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: sport and their sustenance. Now and again, some hapless pilgrim
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: drifting out upon the silent seas from the cold ish
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: escapes the plant men and the great white apes that
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: guard the Temple of Issus, and falls into the remorseless
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: clutches of the Therns. Where as was my misfortune, is
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: coveted by the holy Thorns, who chances to be upon
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: watch in the balcony above the river, where it issues
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: from the bowels of the mountains through the cliffs of Gold,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: to empty into the lost Sea. Of course, all who
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: reach the valley door are by custom the rightful prey
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: of the plant man and the Apes, while their arms
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: and ornaments become the portions of the Thens. But if
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: one escapes the terrible denizens of the valley for even
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: a few hours, the Thens may claim such a one
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: as their own, and again the holy Therns on watch.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Should he see a victim he covets, often tramples upon
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: the rights of the unreasoning brutes of the valley, and
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: takes his prize by foul means if he cannot gain
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: it by fare. It is said that occasionally some deluded
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: victim of Barsomiums superstition will so far escape the clutches
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: of the countless enemies that beset his path from the
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: moment that he emerges from the subterranean passage through which
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: the Ish flows for a thousand miles before it enters
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the valley door, as to reach the very walls of
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: the Temple Issus. But what fate awaits one there, not
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: even the holy Theurns may guess, for who has passed
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: within those gilded walls never has returned to unfold the
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: mysteries they have held since the beginning of time. The
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: Temple of Issus is to the Thurns what the valley
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: door is imagined by the peoples of the outer world
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: to be to them. It is the ultimate haven of peace, refuge,
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: and happiness to which they pass after this life, and
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: wherein an eternity of eternities is spent amidst the delights
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: of the flesh, which appeal most strongly to this race
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: of mental giants and moral pigmies. The temple of Issus is.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: I take it a heaven within a heaven, I said,
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Let us hope that there it will be meted to
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: the Theurns as they have meeted it here unto others.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Who knows? The girl murmured, The theurns, I judge from
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: what you have said, are no less mortal than we.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: And yet have I always heard them spoken of with
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: the utmost awe and reverence by the people of Barsoom,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: as one might speak of the gods themselves. The Theurns
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: are mortal, she replied. They die from the same causes
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: as you or I might those who do not live
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: their allotted span of life one thousand years, when by
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: the authority of custom, they may take their way in
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: happiness through the long tunnel that leads to Issus. Those
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: who die before are supposed to spend the balance of
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: their allotted time in the image of a plant man.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: And it is for this reason that the plant men
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: are held sacred by the theurns, since they believe that
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: each of these hideous creatures was formerly a thurn. And
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: should a plant man die, I asked, should he die
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: before the expiration of the thousand years from the birth
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: of the thurn, whose immortality abides within him, then the
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: soul passes into a great white eight. But should the
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: ape die short of the exact hour that terminates the
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: thousand years, the soul is forever lost, and passes for
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: all eternity into the carcass of the slimy, fearsome Scilian,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: whose wriggling thousands seeth the silent sea beneath the hurtling moons,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: when the sun has gone, and strange shapes walk through
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: the valley door. We sent several holy therns to the
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Scillian's to day, then, said tars Tarkas, laughing. And so
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: will your death be the more terrible when it comes,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: said the maiden, And come it will. You cannot escape.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: One has escaped centuries ago, I reminded her. And what
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: has been done may be done again. It is useless
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: even to try, she answered hopelessly. But try we shall,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: I cried, and you shall go with us if you
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: wish to be put to death by my own people
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: and render my memory a disgrace to my family and
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: my nation. A prince of the house of Tardos Mors
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: should no better than to suggest such a thing. Tars
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Tarkas listened in silence, but I could feel his eyes
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: riveted upon me, and I knew that he awaited my
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: answer as one might listen to the reading of a
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: sentence by the foremant of a jury. What I advised
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: the girl to do would seal our fate as well,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: since if I bowed to the inevitable decree of age
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: old superstition, we must all remain and meet our fate
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: in some horrible form within this awful abode of horror
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: and cruelty. We have the right to escape if we can,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: I answered. Our own moral senses will not be offended
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: if we succeed, for we know that the fabled life
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: of love and peace in the blessed Valley of Dor
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: is a rank and wicked deception. We know that the
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: valley is not sacred. We know that the holy Therns
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: are not holy, that they are a race of cruel
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and heartless mortals, knowing no more of the real life
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: to come than we do. Not only is it our
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: right to bend every effort to escape, it is the
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: solemn duty from which we should not shrink, even though
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: we know that we should be reviled and tortured by
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: own peoples when we return to them. Only thus may
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: we carry the truth to those without. And though the
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: likelihood of our narrative being given credence is I grant
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: you remote so wedd at our mortals to their stupid
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: infatuation for impossible superstitions, we should be craven cowards. Indeed,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: were we to shirk the plain duty which confronts us again,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: there is a chance that, with the weight of the
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: testimony of the several of us, the truth of our
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: statements may be accepted, and at least a compromise effected,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: which will result in the despatching of an expedition of
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: investigation to this hideous mockery of heaven. Both the girl
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: and the Green Warrior stood silent in thought for some moments.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: The former it was who eventually broke the silence. Never
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: had I considered the matter in that light before she said, indeed,
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: would I give my life a thousand times if I
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: could but save a single soul from the awful life
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: that I have led in this cruel place. Yes, you
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: are right, and I will go with you as far
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: as we can go, But I doubt that we ever
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: shall escape. I turned an inquiring glance toward the thark
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: to the gates of Issus, or to the bottom of chorus,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: spoke the Green Warrior, to the snows to the north,
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: or to the snows to the south tars tarkas follows
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: where John Carter leads. I have spoken. Come, then, I
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: we must make the start, for we could not be
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: further from escape than we now are in the heart
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: of this mountain and within the four walls of this
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: chamber of death. Come, then, said the girl, But do
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: not flatter yourselves that you can find no worse place
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: than this within the territory of the Thurns. So saying,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: she swung the secret panel that separated us from the
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: apartment in which I found her, and we stepped through
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: once more into the presence of other prisoners. There were
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: in all ten red martians, men and women, And when
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: we had briefly explained our plan. They decided to join
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: forces with us, though it was evident that it was
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: with some considerable misgivings that they thus tempted fate by
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: opposing an ancient superstition, even though each knew through cruel
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: experience the fallacy of its entire fabric. Thuvia, the girl
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: whom I had first freed, soon had the others at liberty.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: Tars Tarkas and I stripped the bodies of the two
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Thorns of their weapons, which included swords, daggards, and two
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: revolt of the curious and deadly type manufactured by the
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: Red Martians. We distributed the weapons as far as they
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: would go among our followers, giving the firearms to two
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: of the women, Thuvia being one so armed with the latter.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: As our guide, we set off rapidly but cautiously through
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: a maze of passages, crossing great chambers hewn from the
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: solid metal of the cliff, following the winding corridors, ascending
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: steep inclines, and now and again concealing ourselves in dark
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: recesses at the sound of approaching footsteps. Our destination, Thuvia said,
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: was a distant store room where arms and ammunition in
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: plenty might be found. From there she was to lead
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: us to the summit of the cliffs, from where it
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: would require both wondrous wit and mighty fighting to win
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: our way through the very heart of the stronghold of
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: the Holy Therns to the world without. And even then,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: O Prince, she cried, the arm of the Holy Thern
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: is long. It reaches to every nation of barsoom his seat.
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: Secret temples are hidden in the heart of every community
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: wherever we go. Should we escape, we shall find that
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: word of our coming has preceded us, and death awaits
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: us before we may pollute the air with our blasphemies.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: We have proceeded for possibly an hour without serious interruption,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: and Thuvia had just whispered to me that we were
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: approaching our first destination, when on entering a great chamber,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: we came upon a man, evidently a thurn. He wore,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: in addition to his leathern trappings and jeweled ornaments, a
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: great circlet of gold about his brow, in the exact
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: center of which was set an immense stone, the exact
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: counterpart of that which I had seen upon the breast
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: of the little old man at the atmosphere plant nearly
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: twenty years before. It is the one priceless jewel of Barsoom.
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: Only two are known to exist, and these were worn
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: as the insignia of their rank and position by the
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: two old men in whose charge was placed the operation
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: of the great engines which pumped the artificial appas atmosphere
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: to all parts of Mars from the huge atmosphere plant,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: the secret to whose mighty portals placed in my possession
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: the ability to save from immediate extinction the life of
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: a whole world. The stone worn by the thorns who
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: confronted us was of about the same size as that
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: which I had seen before, an inch in diameter, I
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: should say, it scintillated nine different and distinct rays, the
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: seven primary colors of our earthly prism, and the two
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: rays which are unknown upon Earth, but whose wondrous beauty
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: is indescribable. As the thorn saw us, his eyes narrowed
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: to two nasty slits. Stop. He cried, what means this?
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Stuvia For answer, the girl raised her revolver and fired
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: point blank at him. Without a sound. He sank to
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: the earth, dead beast. She hissed, After all these years,
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: I am at last revenged. Then, as she turned towards me,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: evidently with a word of explanation on her lips, her
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: eyes suddenly widened as they rest upon me, and with
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: a little exclamation she started toward me, O prince, she cried,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: fate is indeed kind to us. The way is still difficult,
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: but through this vile thing upon the floor we may
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: yet win to the outer world. Notice thou not the
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: remarkable resemblance between the Holy Thorn and thyself. The man
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: was indeed of my precise stature, nor were his eyes
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: and features unlike mine. But his hair was a mass
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: of flowing yellow locks, like those of the two I
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: had killed, while mine is black and close cropped. What
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: of the resemblance? I asked the girl, Thuvia, do you
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: wish me, with my black short hair, to pose as
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: a yellow haired priest of this infernal colt? She smiled,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: and for answer, approached the body of the man she
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: had slain, and, kneeling beside it, removed the circlet of
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: gold from the forehead, and then, to my utter amazement,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: lifted the entire scalp bodily from the corpse's head. Rising,
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: she advanced to my side, and placing the yellow wig
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: over my black hair, crowned me with the golden circlets
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: set with the magnificent gem. Now don his harness, prince,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: she said, and you may pass where you will in
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: the realms of the therns. For Sotre Throg was a
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: holy thern of the tenth cycle, and mighty among his kind.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: As I stooped to the dead men to do her bidding,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: I noted that not a hare grew upon his head,
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: which was quite as bald as an egg. They are
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: all thus from birth, explained Thuvia, noting my surprise. The
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: race from which they sprang were crowned with a luxuriant
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: growth of golden hair. But for many years the present
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: race has been entirely bald. The wig, however, has come
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: to be a part of their apparel, and so important
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: a part do they consider it that it is cause
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: for the deepest disgrace were a thern to appear in
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: public without it. In another moment, I stood garbed in
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: the habiliments of a holy thern. At Thuvia's suggestion, two
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: of the released prisoners bore the body of the dead
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: thern upon their shoulders with us as we continued our
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: journey towards the storeroom, which we reached without further mishap here.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: The keys which Thuvia bore from the dead thurn of
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: the prison vault were the means of giving us immediate
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: entrance to the chamber, and very quickly we were thoroughly
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: outfitted with arms and ammunition. By this time I was
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: so thoroughly fagged out that I could go no further.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: So I threw myself upon the floor, bidding Tars Tarkas
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: to do likewise, and cautioning two of the released prisoners
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: to keep careful watch. In an instant I was asleep.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter four