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11 - Thuvia, Maid of Mars - Edgar Rice Burroughs · Daily Classic Sci Fi Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eleven, Green Men and white Apes, a Torquasian sword
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  Speaker 1: smote a glancing blow across the forehead of Carthoris. He
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  Speaker 1: had a fleeting vision of soft arms about his neck
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  Speaker 1: and warm lips close to his before he lost consciousness.
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  Speaker 1: How long he lay there senseless, he could not guess.
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  Speaker 1: But when he opened his eyes again, he was alone,
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  Speaker 1: except for the bodies of the dead green men and Dusarians,
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  Speaker 1: and the carcass of a great banth that lay half
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  Speaker 1: across his own. Thuvia was gone, nor was the body
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  Speaker 1: of Carkomac among the dead. Weak from loss of blood,
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  Speaker 1: Carthoris made his way slowly toward Anthor, reaching its outskirts
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  Speaker 1: at dark. He wanted water more than any other thing,
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  Speaker 1: and so he kept on up a broad avenue toward
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  Speaker 1: the great central plaza, where he knew the precious fluid
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  Speaker 1: was to be found, and a half ruined building opposite
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  Speaker 1: the great palace of the ancient Jeddak who once had
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  Speaker 1: ruled this mighty city. Disheartened and discouraged by the strange
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  Speaker 1: sequence of events that seemed fore ordained to thwart his
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  Speaker 1: every attempt to serve the Princess of Ptarth, he paid
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  Speaker 1: little or no attention to his surroundings, moving through the
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  Speaker 1: deserted city, as though no great white apes lurked in
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  Speaker 1: the black shadows of the mystery haunted piles that flanked
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  Speaker 1: the broad avenues of the great plaza. But if Carthoris
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  Speaker 1: was careless of his surroundings, not so other eyes that
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  Speaker 1: watched his entrance into the plaza and followed his slow
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  Speaker 1: footsteps toward the marble pile that housed the tiny, half
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  Speaker 1: choked spring, whose water one might gain only by scratching
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  Speaker 1: a deep hole in the red sand that covered it.
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  Speaker 1: And as the heliumite entered the small building, a dozen
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  Speaker 1: mighty grotesque figures emerged from the doorway of the palace
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  Speaker 1: to speed noiselessly across the plaza toward him. For half
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  Speaker 1: an hour, Carthoris remained in the building, digging for water
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  Speaker 1: and gaining the few much needed drops which were the
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  Speaker 1: fruits of his labor. Then he rose and slowly left
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  Speaker 1: the structure. Scarce had he stepped beyond the threshold than
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  Speaker 1: twelve Torquesian warriors leaped upon him. No time then to
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  Speaker 1: draw long sword, but swift from his harness, flew his long,
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  Speaker 1: slim dagger, and as he went down beneath them, more
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  Speaker 1: than a single green heart ceased beating at the bite
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  Speaker 1: of that keen point. Then they overpowered him and took
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  Speaker 1: his weapons away, But only nine of the twelve warriors
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  Speaker 1: who had crossed the plaza returned with their prize. They
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  Speaker 1: dragged their prisoner roughly to the palace pits, where, in
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  Speaker 1: utter darkness they chained him with rusty lengths to the
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  Speaker 1: solid masonry of the wall. Tomorrow thar Ban will speak
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  Speaker 1: with you, they said. Now he sleeps, but great will
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  Speaker 1: be his pleasure when he learns who has wandered amongst us.
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  Speaker 1: And great will be the pleasure of hortan Gur when
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  Speaker 1: thar Ban drags him the mad fool who dared prick
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  Speaker 1: the great Jeddak with his sword. Then they left him
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  Speaker 1: to the silence and the darkness for what seemed hours.
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  Speaker 1: Carthoris squatted upon the stone floor of his prison, his
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  Speaker 1: back against the wall in which was sunk the heavy
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  Speaker 1: eye bolt that secured the chain which held him. Then,
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  Speaker 1: from out of the mysterious blackness before him, there came
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  Speaker 1: to his ears the sound of naked feet moving stealthily
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  Speaker 1: upon the stone, approaching nearer and nearer to where he lay,
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  Speaker 1: unarmed and defenseless. Minutes passed, minutes that seemed hours, during
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  Speaker 1: which time periods of sepulchral silence would be followed by
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  Speaker 1: a repetition of the uncanny scraping of naked feet slinking
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  Speaker 1: warily upon him. At last he heard a sudden rush
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  Speaker 1: of unshod souls across the empty blackness, and at a
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  Speaker 1: little distance a scuffling sound, heavy breathing, and once what
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  Speaker 1: he thought the muttered imprecation of a man battling against
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  Speaker 1: great odds. Then the clanging of a chain, and a
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  Speaker 1: noise as of the snapping back against the stone of
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  Speaker 1: a broken link. Again came silence, but for a moment
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  Speaker 1: only Now he heard once more the soft feet approaching him.
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  Speaker 1: He thought that he discerned wicked eyes gleaming fearfully at
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  Speaker 1: him through the darkness. He knew that he could hear
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  Speaker 1: the heavy breathing of powerful lungs. Then came the rush
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  Speaker 1: of many feet toward him, and the things were upon him,
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  Speaker 1: hands terminating in manlike fingers clutched at his throat, and
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  Speaker 1: arms and legs. Hairy body strained and struggled against his
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  Speaker 1: own smooth hide as he battled in grim silence against
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  Speaker 1: these horrid foemen, in the darkness of the pits of
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  Speaker 1: ancient anthor feud. Like some giant god was Carthoris of Helium.
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  Speaker 1: Yet in the clutches of these unseen creatures of the
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  Speaker 1: pits Stygian night, he was helpless as a frail woman.
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  Speaker 1: Yet he battled on, striking futile blows against great, hispid
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  Speaker 1: breasts he could not see, feeling thick squat throats beneath
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  Speaker 1: his fingers, the drool of saliva upon his cheek, and
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  Speaker 1: hot foul breath in his nostrils. Fangs too, mighty fangs
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  Speaker 1: he knew were close, and why they did not sink
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  Speaker 1: into his flesh he could not guess. At last, he
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  Speaker 1: became aware of the mighty surging of a number of
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  Speaker 1: his antagonists back and forth upon the great chain that
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  Speaker 1: held him, and presently came the same sound that he
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  Speaker 1: had heard a little distance from him a short time before.
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  Speaker 1: He had been attacked. His chain had parted, and the
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  Speaker 1: broken end snapped back against the stone wall. Now he
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  Speaker 1: was seized upon either side and dragged at a rapid
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  Speaker 1: pace through the dark corridors toward what fate He could
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  Speaker 1: not even guess. At first, he had thought his foes
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  Speaker 1: might be of the tribe of Torcass, but their hairy
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  Speaker 1: bodies belied to that belief. Now he was at last
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  Speaker 1: quite sure of their identity, though why they had not
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  Speaker 1: killed him and devoured him at once he could not imagine.
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  Speaker 1: After half an hour or more of rapid racing through
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  Speaker 1: the underground passages that are a distinguishing feature of all
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  Speaker 1: Barsoomian cities, modern as well as ancient, his captors suddenly
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  Speaker 1: emerged into the moonlight of a courtyard far from the
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  Speaker 1: central plaza. Immediately Carthoris saw that he was in the
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  Speaker 1: power of a tribe of the great white Apes of Barsoom.
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  Speaker 1: All that had caused him doubt before as to the
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  Speaker 1: identity of his attackers was the hairiness of their breasts,
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  Speaker 1: for the white Apes are entirely hairless, except for a
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  Speaker 1: great shock bristling from their heads. Now he saw the
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  Speaker 1: cause of that which had deceived him. Across the chests
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  Speaker 1: of each of them were strips of hairy hide, usually
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  Speaker 1: of banth in imitation of the harness of the green
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  Speaker 1: warriors who so often camped at their deserted city. Carthoris
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  Speaker 1: had read of the existence of tribes of apes that
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  Speaker 1: seemed to be progressing slowly toward higher's standards of intelligence.
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  Speaker 1: Into the hands of such, he realized he had fallen,
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  Speaker 1: But what were their intentions toward him? As he glanced
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  Speaker 1: about the court yard, he saw fully fifty of the
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  Speaker 1: hideous beasts squatting on their haunches, and at a little
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  Speaker 1: distance from him another human being closely guarded. As his
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  Speaker 1: eyes met those of his fellow captive, a smile at
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  Speaker 1: the other's face, and kawor red man burst from his lips.
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  Speaker 1: It was kar Komak, the bowman. Kowor cried Carthoris in response,
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  Speaker 1: how came you here? And what befell the princess? Red
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  Speaker 1: Men like yourself descended in mighty ships that sailed the air,
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  Speaker 1: even as the great ships of my distant day sailed
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  Speaker 1: the five seas, replied Kar Komak. They fought with the
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  Speaker 1: green men of Torcass. They slew Komal, God of Lothar.
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  Speaker 1: I thought they were your friends, and I was glad
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  Speaker 1: when finally those of them who had survived the battle
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  Speaker 1: carried the red girl to one of the ships and
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  Speaker 1: sailed away with her into the safety of the high air.
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  Speaker 1: Then the green men seized me and carried me to
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  Speaker 1: a great empty city, where they chained me to a
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  Speaker 1: wall and a black pit. Afterward came these and dragged
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  Speaker 1: me hither. And what of you, red man? Carthoris related
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  Speaker 1: all that had befallen him, and as the two men
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  Speaker 1: to the great apes squatted about them, watching them intently,
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  Speaker 1: What are we to do now, asked the bowman. Our
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  Speaker 1: case looks rather hopeless, replied Carthoris ruefully. These creatures are
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  Speaker 1: born man eaters. Why they have not already devoured us?
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  Speaker 1: I cannot imagine. There, he whispered, see the end is coming.
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  Speaker 1: Car Komak looked in the direction Carthoris indicated to see
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  Speaker 1: a huge ape advancing with a mighty bludgeon. It is
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  Speaker 1: thus they like best to kill their prey, said Carthoris.
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  Speaker 1: Must we die without a struggle, asked Krkomak, Not, I,
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  Speaker 1: replied Carthoris, though I know how futile. Our best defense
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  Speaker 1: must be against these mighty brutes. Oh for a long
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  Speaker 1: sword or a good bow, added Krkomak, and a uton
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  Speaker 1: of bowmen at the words. Carthoris half sprang to his feet,
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  Speaker 1: only to be dragged roughly down by his guard. Carkomak,
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  Speaker 1: He cried, why cannot you do what Tario and Jav did.
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  Speaker 1: They had no bowmen other than those of their own creation.
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  Speaker 1: You must know the secret of their power. Call forth
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  Speaker 1: your own utan. Krkomak, the Lotharian looked at Carthoris in
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  Speaker 1: wide eyed astonishment as the full purport of the suggestion
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  Speaker 1: bore in upon his understanding. Why not, he murmured. The
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  Speaker 1: savage ape bearing the mighty bludgeon was slinking toward Carthoris.
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  Speaker 1: The Heliumite's fingers were working as he kept his eyes
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  Speaker 1: upon his executioner. Krkomak bent his gaze penetratingly upon the apes.
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  Speaker 1: The effort of his mind was evidenced by the sweat
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  Speaker 1: upon his contracted brows. The creature that was to slay
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  Speaker 1: the red Man was almost within arm's reach of his
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  Speaker 1: prey when Carthoris heard a hoarse shout from the opposite
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  Speaker 1: side of the courtyard. In common with the squatting apes
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  Speaker 1: and the demon with the club, he turned in the
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  Speaker 1: direction of the sound to see a company of sturdy
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  Speaker 1: bowmen rushing from the doorway of a nearby building with
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  Speaker 1: screams of rage. The Apes leaped to their feet to
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  Speaker 1: meet the charge. A volley of arrows met them half way,
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  Speaker 1: sending a dozen rolling lifeless to the ground. Then the
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  Speaker 1: Apes closed with their adversaries. All their attention was occupied
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  Speaker 1: by the attackers. Even the guard had deserted the prisoners
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  Speaker 1: to join the battle. Come, whispered Karkomac. Now may we
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  Speaker 1: escape while their attention is diverted from us by my bowmen,
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  Speaker 1: and leave those brave fellows leaderless, cried Carthoris, whose loyal
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  Speaker 1: nature revolted at the merest suggestion of such a thing.
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  Speaker 1: Krkomak laughed, You forget, he said, that they are but
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  Speaker 1: thin air figments of my brain. They will vanish unscathed
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  Speaker 1: when we have no further need for them. Praised be
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  Speaker 1: your first answer, red man, that you thought of this
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  Speaker 1: chance in time. It would never have occurred to me
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  Speaker 1: to imagine that I might wield the same power that
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  Speaker 1: brought me into existence. You are right, said Carthoris. Still
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  Speaker 1: I hate to leave them, though there is naught else
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  Speaker 1: to do. And so the two turned from the courtyard, and,
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  Speaker 1: making their way into one of the broad avenues, crept
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  Speaker 1: stealthily in the shadows of the building toward the great
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  Speaker 1: central plaza, upon which were the buildings occupied by the
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  Speaker 1: Green warriors when they visited the deserted city. When they
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  Speaker 1: had come to the plaza's edge, Carthoris halted. Wait here,
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  Speaker 1: he whispered, I go to fetch thoats, since on foot
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  Speaker 1: we may never hope to escape the clutches of these
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  Speaker 1: green fiends. To reach the courtyard where the thoats were kept,
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  Speaker 1: it was necessary for Carthoris to pass through one of
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  Speaker 1: the buildings which surrounded the square. Which were occupied and
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  Speaker 1: which were not he could not even guess, so he
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  Speaker 1: was compelled to take considerable chances to gain the enclosure
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  Speaker 1: in which he could hear the restless beasts squealing and
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  Speaker 1: quarreling among themselves. Chance carried him through a dark doorway
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  Speaker 1: into a large chamber in which lay a score or
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  Speaker 1: more Green warriors, wrapped in their sleeping silks and furs.
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  Speaker 1: Scarce had Carthoris passed through the short hallway that connected
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  Speaker 1: the door of the building and the great room beyond it,
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  Speaker 1: than he became aware of the presence of something or
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  Speaker 1: some one in the hallway through which he had but
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  Speaker 1: just passed. He heard a man yawn, and then behind
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  Speaker 1: him he saw the figure of a sentry arise from
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  Speaker 1: where the fellow had been dozing, and stretching himself resume
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  Speaker 1: his wakeful watchfulness. Carthoris realized that he must have passed
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  Speaker 1: within a foot of the warrior. Doubtless, rousing him from
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  Speaker 1: his slumber to retreat now would be impossible. Yet to
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  Speaker 1: cross through that room of sleeping warriors seemed almost equal
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  Speaker 1: beyond the pale of possibility. Carthoris shrugged his broad shoulders
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  Speaker 1: and chose the lesser evil. Warily, he entered the room.
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  Speaker 1: At his right, against the wall leaned several swords and
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  Speaker 1: rifles and spears, extra weapons which the warriors had stacked here,
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  Speaker 1: ready to their hands should there be a night alarm
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  Speaker 1: calling them suddenly from slumber. Beside each sleeper lay his weapon.
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  Speaker 1: These were never far from their owners, from childhood to death.
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  Speaker 1: The sight of the swords made the young man's palm itch.
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  Speaker 1: He stepped quickly to them, selecting two short swords, one
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  Speaker 1: for car Coomac, the other for himself, also some trappings
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  Speaker 1: for his naked comrade. Then he started directly across the
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  Speaker 1: center of the apartment among the sleeping Torquasians. Not a
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  Speaker 1: man of them moved until Carthoris had completed more than
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  Speaker 1: half of this short, though dangerous journey. Then a fellow
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  Speaker 1: directly in his path turned restlessly upon his sleeping silks
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  Speaker 1: and furs. The Heliumite paused above him, one of the
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  Speaker 1: short swords, in readiness should the warrior awaken for what
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  Speaker 1: seemed an eternity to the young prince. The green Man
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  Speaker 1: continued to move uneasily upon his couch, Then, as though
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  Speaker 1: actuated by springs, he leaped to his feet and faced
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  Speaker 1: the Red Man. Instantly, Carthoris struck, but not before a
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  Speaker 1: savage grunt escaped the other's lips. In an instant the
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  Speaker 1: room was in turmoil. Warriors leaped to their feet, grasping
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  Speaker 1: their weapons as they rose, and shouting to one another
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  Speaker 1: for an explanation of the disturbance. To Carthoris, all within
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  Speaker 1: the room was plainly visible in the dim light reflected
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  Speaker 1: from without, for the further moon stood directly at zenith.
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  Speaker 1: But to the eyes of the newly awakened green Men,
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  Speaker 1: objects as yet had not taken on familiar forms. They
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  Speaker 1: but saw vaguely the figures of warriors moving about their apartment.
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  Speaker 1: Now one stumbled against the corpse of him whom Carthoris
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  Speaker 1: had slain. The fellow stooped, and his hand came in
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  Speaker 1: contact with the cleft skull. He saw about him the
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  Speaker 1: giant figures of other green men, and so he jumped
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  Speaker 1: to the only conclusion that was open to him, the Thirds.
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  Speaker 1: He cried, The Thirds are upon us. Rise, warriors of Torcass,
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  Speaker 1: and drive home your swords within the hearts of Torcasa's
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  Speaker 1: ancient enemies. Instantly the green Men began to fall upon
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  Speaker 1: one another with naked swords. Their savage lust of battle
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  Speaker 1: was aroused, to fight, to kill, to die, with cold
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  Speaker 1: steel buried in their vitals. Ah that to them was nirvana.
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  Speaker 1: Carthoris was quick to guess their error and take advantage
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  Speaker 1: of it. He knew that in the pleasure of killing,
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  Speaker 1: they might fight on long after they had discovered their mistake,
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  Speaker 1: unless their attention was distracted by sight of the real
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: cause of the altercation. And so he lost no time
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  Speaker 1: in continuing across the room to the doorway upon the
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  Speaker 1: opposite side, which opened into the inner court, where the
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  Speaker 1: savage thoats were squealing and fighting among themselves. Once here,
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  Speaker 1: he had no easy task before him to catch and
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  Speaker 1: mount one of these habitually rageful and intractable beasts was
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  Speaker 1: no child's play under the best of conditions. But now,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: when silence and time were such important considerations, it might
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  Speaker 1: well have seemed quite hopeless to a less resourceful and
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  Speaker 1: optimistic man than the son of the great Warlord. From
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  Speaker 1: his father he had learned much concerning the traits of
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  Speaker 1: these mighty beasts, and from Tars Tarkas also when he
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: had visited that great green Jeddak among his horde at Thark.
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  Speaker 1: So now he centered upon the work in hand all
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  Speaker 1: that he had ever learned about them from others and
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  Speaker 1: from his own experience, for he too had ridden and
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  Speaker 1: handled them many times. The temper of the thoats of
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  Speaker 1: Torcass appeared even shorter than their vicious cousins among the
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  Speaker 1: Tharks and warhoons, and for a time it seemed unlikely
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  Speaker 1: that he should escape a savage charge on the part
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  Speaker 1: of a couple of old bulls that circled squealing about him.
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  Speaker 1: But at last he managed to get close enough to
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  Speaker 1: one of them to touch the beast with the feel
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  Speaker 1: of his hand upon the sleek hide. The creature quieted, and,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: in answer to the telepathic command of the Red Man,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: sank to its knees. In a moment, Carthoris was upon
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  Speaker 1: its back, guiding it toward the great gate that leads
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  Speaker 1: from the courtyard through a large building at one end
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  Speaker 1: into an avenue beyond the other, bull, still squealing and enraged,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: followed after his fellow. There was no bridle upon either,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: for these strange creatures are controlled entirely by suggestion. When
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  Speaker 1: they are controlled at all, even in the hands of
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  Speaker 1: the giant green men, bridle reins would be hopelessly futile
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  Speaker 1: against the mad savagery and mastodonic strength of the thoat,
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: and so they are guided by that strange telepathic power
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  Speaker 1: with which the men of Mars have learned to communicate
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  Speaker 1: in a crude way with the lower orders of their planets.
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  Speaker 1: With difficulty, Carthoris urged the two beasts to the gate, where,
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  Speaker 1: leaning down, he raised the latch. Then the thoat he
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  Speaker 1: was riding placed his great shoulder to the skeel wood planking,
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  Speaker 1: pushed through, and a moment later the man and the
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  Speaker 1: two beasts were swinging silently down the avenue to the
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  Speaker 1: edge of the plaza, where car Comac hid. Here, Carthoris
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: found considerable difficulty in subduing the second thoat, and as
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  Speaker 1: car Comak had never before ridden one of the beasts,
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  Speaker 1: it seemed a most hopeless job. But at last the
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  Speaker 1: bowmen managed to scramble to the sleek back, and again
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  Speaker 1: the two beasts fled softly down the moss grown avenues
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  Speaker 1: toward the open sea bottom beyond the city. All that night.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: In the following day and the second night they rode
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: toward the northeast. No indication of pursuit developed, and at
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: dawn of the second day, Carthoris saw in the distance
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  Speaker 1: the waving ribbon of great trees that marked one of
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  Speaker 1: the long Barsoomian waterways. Immediately they abandoned their thoats and
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  Speaker 1: approached the cultivated district on foot. Carthoris also discarded the
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: metal from his harness, or such of it as might
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  Speaker 1: serve to identify him as a Heliumite or of royal blood,
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  Speaker 1: for he did not know to which nation belonged this waterway,
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: and upon Mars, it is always well to assume every
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  Speaker 1: man and nation your enemy until you have learned the contrary.
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  Speaker 1: It was mid forenoon when the two at last entered
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: one of the roads that cut through the cultivated districts
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: at regular intervals. Joining the arid wastes on either side,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: with the great white central highway that follows through the
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: center from end to end of the far reaching threadlike
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: farm lands. The high wall surrounding the fields served as
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: a protection against surprise by raiding green hordes, as well
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: as keeping the savage banths and other carnivora from the
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: domestic animals and the human beings upon the farms. Carthoris
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: stopped before the first gate he came to, pounding for admission.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: The young man who answered his summons greeted the two hospitably,
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: though he looked with considerable wonder upon the white skin
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: and auburn hair of the bowmen. After he had listened
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: for a moment to a partial narration of their escape
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: from the Torcasians, he invited them within, took them to
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: his house, and bade the servants there prepare food for them.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: As they waited in the low, sealed, pleasant living room
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: of the farm house until the meal should be ready.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: Carthoris drew his host into conversation, that he might learn
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: his nationality and thus the nation under whose dominion lay
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the waterway where circumstance had placed him. I am hal Vas,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: said the young man son of vas Kor of Dusar,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: a noble in the retinue of Astok, Prince of Dusar.
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: At present, I am Duar of the road for this district.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: Carthoris was very glad that he had not disclosed his identity,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: for though he had no idea of anything that had
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: transpired since he left Helium, or that Astok was at
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: the bottom of all his misfortunes, he well knew that
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: the Dusarian had no love for him, and that he
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: could hope for no assistance within the dominions of Dusar.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: And who are you, asked, hal vas By your appearance,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: I take you for a fighting man, but I see
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: no insignia upon your harness. Can it be that you
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: are a panthon? Now? These wandering soldiers of fortune are
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: common upon Barsoom, where most men love to fight. They
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: sell their services wherever war exists, and in the occasional
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: brief intervals when there is no organized warfare between the
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: Red nations, they join one of the numerous expeditions that
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: are constantly being dispatched against the green men in protection
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: of the waterways that traverse the wilder portions of the globe.
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: When their service is over, they discard the metal of
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: the nation they have been serving until they shall have
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: found the new master. In the intervals, they wear no insignia,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: their war torn harness and grim weapons being sufficient to
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: attest their calling. The suggestion was a happy one, and
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: Carthoris embraced the chance it afforded to account satisfactorily for himself.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: There was, however, a single drawback. In times of war.
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: Such panthons as happened to be within the domain of
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: a belligerent nation were compelled to don the insignia of
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: that nation and fight with her warriors. As far as
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Carthoris knew, Dusar was not at war with any other nation,
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: But there was never any telling when one red nation
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: would be flying at the throat of a neighbor, even
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: though the great and powerful alliance, at the head of
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: which was his father, John Carter, had managed to maintain
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: a long peace upon the greater portion of Barsoom. A
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: pleasant smile lighted hal Vas's face as Carthoris admitted his vocation.
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: It is well exclaimed the young man, that you chanced
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: to come hither, for here you will find the means
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: of obtaining service. In short order, my father vast corps
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: as even now with me having come hither to recruit
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: a force for the new war against Helium. End of
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Chapter eleven.