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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one. Through flood and flame, Yerstead's information convinced
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  Speaker 1: me that there was no time to be lost. I
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  Speaker 1: must reach the Temple of Issus secretly before the forces
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  Speaker 1: under Tars Tarkas assaulted at dawn. Once within its hated walls,
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  Speaker 1: I was positive that I could overcome the guards of
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  Speaker 1: Issus and bear away my princess, for at my back
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  Speaker 1: I would have a force ample for the occasion. No
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  Speaker 1: sooner had Carthoris and the others joined me than we
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  Speaker 1: commenced the transportation of our men through the submerged passage
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  Speaker 1: to the mouth of the gangways which lead from the
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  Speaker 1: submarine pool at the temple end of the watery tunnel
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  Speaker 1: to the pits of Issus. Many trips were required, but
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  Speaker 1: at last all stood safely together again at the beginning
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  Speaker 1: of the end of our quest, five thousand strong. We
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  Speaker 1: were all seasoned fighting men of the most warlike race
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  Speaker 1: of the red men of Barsoom. As Carthoris alone knew
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  Speaker 1: the hidden ways of the tunnels, we could not divide
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  Speaker 1: the party and attack the temple at several points at once,
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  Speaker 1: as would have been most desirable, and so it was
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  Speaker 1: decided that he would lead us all as quickly as
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  Speaker 1: possible to a point near the temple center. As we
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  Speaker 1: were about to leave the pool and enter the corridor,
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  Speaker 1: an officer called my attention to the waters upon which
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  Speaker 1: the submarine floated. At first, they seemed to be merely agitated,
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  Speaker 1: as from the movement of some great body beneath the surface,
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  Speaker 1: and I at once conjectured that another submarine was rising
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  Speaker 1: to the surface in pursuit of us. But presently it
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  Speaker 1: became apparent that the level of the waters was rising,
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  Speaker 1: not with extreme rapidity, but very surely, and that soon
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  Speaker 1: they would overflow the sides of the pool and submerge
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  Speaker 1: the floor of the chamber. For a moment I did
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  Speaker 1: not fully grasp the terrible import of the slowly rising water.
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  Speaker 1: It was Carthoris who realized the full meaning of the thing,
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  Speaker 1: its cause, and the reason for it haste. He cried,
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  Speaker 1: If we delay, we all are lost. The pumps of
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  Speaker 1: Omean have been stopped. They would drown us like rats
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  Speaker 1: in a trap. We must reach the upper levels of
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  Speaker 1: the pits in advance of the flood, or we shall
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  Speaker 1: never reach them. Come lead the way, Carthoris, I cried,
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  Speaker 1: we will follow at my command. The youth leaped into
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  Speaker 1: one of the corridors, and in column of twos, the
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  Speaker 1: soldiers followed him in good order, each company entering the
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  Speaker 1: corridor only at the command of its door or captain.
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  Speaker 1: Before the last company filed from the chamber. The water
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  Speaker 1: was ankle deep, and that the men were nervous was
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  Speaker 1: quite evident. Entirely unaccustomed to water, except in quantities sufficient
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  Speaker 1: for drinking and bathing purposes, the Red Martians instinctively shrank
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  Speaker 1: from it. In such formidable depths and menacing activity that
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  Speaker 1: they were undaunted while it swirled and nettied about their ankles.
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  Speaker 1: Spoke well for their bravery and their discipline. I was
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  Speaker 1: the last to leave the chamber of the submarine, and
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  Speaker 1: as I followed the rear of the column toward the corridor,
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  Speaker 1: I moved through water to my knees. The corridor, too
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  Speaker 1: was flooded to the same depth, for its floor was
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  Speaker 1: on a level with the floor of the chamber from
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  Speaker 1: which it led, Nor was there any perceptible rise for
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  Speaker 1: many yards. The march of the troops through the corridor
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  Speaker 1: was as rapid as was consistent with the number of
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  Speaker 1: men that moved through so narrow a passage, but it
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  Speaker 1: was not ample to permit us to gain appreciably on
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  Speaker 1: the pursuing tide. As the level of the passage rose,
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  Speaker 1: so too did the waters rise, until it soon became
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  Speaker 1: apparent to me, who brought up the rear, that they
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  Speaker 1: were gaining rapidly upon us. I could understand the reason
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  Speaker 1: for this, as with the narrowing expanse of Omean. As
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  Speaker 1: the waters rode towards the apex of its dome, the
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  Speaker 1: rapidity of its rise would increase in inverse ratio to
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  Speaker 1: the ever lessening space to be filled. Long Ere, the
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  Speaker 1: last of the column could hope to reach the upper
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  Speaker 1: pits which lie above the danger point. I was convinced
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  Speaker 1: that the waters would surge after us in overwhelming volume,
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  Speaker 1: and that fully half the expedition would be snuffed out.
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  Speaker 1: As I cast about for some means of saving as
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  Speaker 1: many as possible of the doomed men, I saw a
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  Speaker 1: diverging corridor which seemed to rise at a steep angle.
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  Speaker 1: At my right. The waters were now swirling about my waist.
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  Speaker 1: The men directly before me were quickly becoming panic stricken.
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  Speaker 1: Something must be done at once, or they would rush
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  Speaker 1: forward upon their fellows in a mad stampede that would
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  Speaker 1: result in trampling down hundreds beneath the flood and eventually
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  Speaker 1: clogging the passage beyond any hope of retreat for those
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  Speaker 1: in advance. Raising my voice to its utmost, I shouted
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  Speaker 1: my command to the dwarfs ahead of me. Call back
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  Speaker 1: the last twenty five U tens. I shouted, here seems
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  Speaker 1: a way of escape. Turn back and follow me. My
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  Speaker 1: orders were obeyed by nearer thirty U tens, so that
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  Speaker 1: some three thousand men came about and hastened into the
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  Speaker 1: teeth of the flood to reach the corridor up which
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  Speaker 1: I directed them. As the first dwarf passed in with
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  Speaker 1: his utan, I cautioned him to listen closely for my commands,
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  Speaker 1: and under no circumstances to venture into the open or
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  Speaker 1: leave the pits for the temple proper until I should
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  Speaker 1: have come up with him, or you know that I
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  Speaker 1: died before I could reach you. The officers saluted and
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  Speaker 1: left me. The men filed rapidly past me and entered
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  Speaker 1: the diverging corridor, which I hoped would lead to safety.
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  Speaker 1: The water rose breast high. Men stumbled, floundered, and went
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  Speaker 1: down any I grasped and set upon their feet again.
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  Speaker 1: But alone the work was greater than I could cope with.
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  Speaker 1: Soldiers were being swept beneath the boiling torrent, never to rise.
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  Speaker 1: At length, the Dwar of the tenth u Ten took
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  Speaker 1: a stand beside me. He was a valorous soldier, Gertus
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  Speaker 1: by name, and together we kept the now thoroughly frightened
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  Speaker 1: troops in the semblance of order, and rescued many that
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  Speaker 1: would have drowned otherwise. Dajor Cantos, son of kantos Kan,
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  Speaker 1: and a Padwar of the fifth U Ten joined us
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  Speaker 1: when as Utan reached the opening through which the men
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  Speaker 1: were fleeing. Thereafter, not a man was lost of all
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  Speaker 1: the hundreds that remained to pass from the main corridor
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  Speaker 1: to the branch. As the last U ten was filing
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  Speaker 1: past us, the waters had risen until they surged about
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  Speaker 1: our necks. But we clasped hands and stood our ground
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  Speaker 1: until the last men had passed to the comparative safety
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  Speaker 1: of the new passageway. Here we found an immediate and
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  Speaker 1: steep ascent, so that within a hundred yards we had
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  Speaker 1: reached a point above the waters. For a few minutes
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  Speaker 1: we continued rapidly up the steep grade, which I hoped
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  Speaker 1: would soon bring us quickly to the upper pits that
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  Speaker 1: led into the Temple of Issus. But I was to
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  Speaker 1: meet with a cruel disappointment. Suddenly I heard a cry
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  Speaker 1: of fire far ahead, followed almost at once by cries
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  Speaker 1: of terror, and the loud commands of dwarfs and padwars,
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  Speaker 1: who were evidently attempting to direct their men away from
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  Speaker 1: some grave danger. At last the report came back to us.
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  Speaker 1: They have fired the pits ahead. We are hemmed in
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  Speaker 1: by flames in front and flood behind. Help John Carter.
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  Speaker 1: We are suffocating. And then there swept back upon us
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  Speaker 1: at the rear, a wave of dense smoke that sent
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  Speaker 1: us stumbling and blinded into a choking retreat. There was
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  Speaker 1: naught to do other than seek a new avenue of escape.
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  Speaker 1: The fire and smoke were to be feared a thousand
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  Speaker 1: times over the water, and so I seized upon the
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  Speaker 1: first gallery, which led out of and up from the
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  Speaker 1: suffocating smoke that was engulfing us. Again. I stood to
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  Speaker 1: one side while the soldiers hastened through on the new way.
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  Speaker 1: Some two thousand must have passed at a rapid run.
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  Speaker 1: When the stream ceased, but I was not sure that
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  Speaker 1: all had been rescued who had not passed the point
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  Speaker 1: of origin of the flames, and so to assure myself
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  Speaker 1: that no poor devil was left behind to die a
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  Speaker 1: horrible death. Unsuccored, I ran quickly up the gallery in
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  Speaker 1: the direction of the flames, which I could now see
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  Speaker 1: burning with a dull glow far ahead. It was hot
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  Speaker 1: and stifling work, but at last I reached a point
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  Speaker 1: where the fire lit up the corridor sufficiently for me
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  Speaker 1: to see that no soldier of helium lay between me
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  Speaker 1: and the conflagration. What was in it or upon the
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  Speaker 1: far side, I could not know, nor could any man
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  Speaker 1: have passed through that seething hell of chemicals and lived
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  Speaker 1: to learn. Having satisfied my sense of duty, I turned
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  Speaker 1: and ran rapidly back to the corridor through which my
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  Speaker 1: men had passed. To my horror, however, I found that
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  Speaker 1: my retreat in this direction had been blocked. Across the
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  Speaker 1: mouth of the corridor stood a massive steel grating that
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  Speaker 1: had evidently been lowered from its resting place above for
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  Speaker 1: the purpose of effectually cutting off my escape. That our
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  Speaker 1: principal movements were known to the first born, I could
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  Speaker 1: not have doubted, in view of the attack of the
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  Speaker 1: fleet upon us the day before. Nor could the stopping
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  Speaker 1: of the pumps of Omean at the psychological moment have
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  Speaker 1: been due to chance, Nor the starting of a chemical
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  Speaker 1: combustion within the one corridor through which we were advancing
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  Speaker 1: upon the Temple of Issus been due to aught than
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  Speaker 1: well calculated design. And now the dropping of the steel
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  Speaker 1: gate to pen me effectually between fire and flood seemed
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  Speaker 1: indicate that invisible eyes were upon us at every moment.
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  Speaker 1: What chance had I then to rescue dejah Thoris? Were
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  Speaker 1: I to be compelled to fight foes who never showed
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  Speaker 1: themselves A thousand times I berated myself for being drawn
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  Speaker 1: into such a trap, as I might have known these
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  Speaker 1: pits easily could be. Now I saw that it would
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  Speaker 1: have been much better to have kept our force intact
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  Speaker 1: and made a concerted attack upon the temple from the
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  Speaker 1: valley side, trusting to chance in our great fighting ability
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  Speaker 1: to have overwhelmed the first Born and compelled the safe
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  Speaker 1: delivery of dejah Thoris to me. The smoke from the
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  Speaker 1: fire was forcing me further and further back down the
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  Speaker 1: corridor toward the waters, which I could hear surging through
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  Speaker 1: the darkness with my men had gone the last torch.
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  Speaker 1: Nor was this corridor lighted by the radiance of phosphorescent rock,
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  Speaker 1: as were those of the lower levels. It was this
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  Speaker 1: fact that assured me that I was not far from
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  Speaker 1: the upper pits, which lied directly beneath the temple. Finally
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  Speaker 1: I felt the lapping waters about my feet. The smoke
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  Speaker 1: was thick behind me. My suffering was intense. There seemed
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  Speaker 1: but one thing to do, and that to choose the
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  Speaker 1: easier death which confronted me. And so I moved on
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  Speaker 1: down the corridor until the cold waters of Omean closed
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  Speaker 1: about me, and I swam on through utter blackness toward
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  Speaker 1: what The instinct of self preservation is strong, even when
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  Speaker 1: one unafraid and in the possession of his highest reasoning faculties,
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  Speaker 1: knows that death, positive and unalterable, lies just ahead. And
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  Speaker 1: so I swam slowly on, waiting for my head to
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  Speaker 1: touch the top of the corridor, which would mean that
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  Speaker 1: I had reached the limit of my flight and the
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  Speaker 1: point where I must sink forever to an unmarked grave.
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  Speaker 1: But to my surprise, I ran against a blank wall
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  Speaker 1: before I reached a point where the water came to
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  Speaker 1: the roof of the corridor. Could I be mistaken? I
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  Speaker 1: felt around. No, I had come to the main corridor,
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  Speaker 1: and still there was breathing space between the surface of
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  Speaker 1: the water and the rocky ceiling above. And then I
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  Speaker 1: turned up the main corridor in the direction that Carthoris
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  Speaker 1: and the head of the column had passed a half
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  Speaker 1: hour before. On and on I swam, my heart growing
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  Speaker 1: lighter at every stroke, for I knew that I was
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  Speaker 1: approaching closer and closer to the point where there would
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  Speaker 1: be no chance that the waters ahead could be deeper
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  Speaker 1: than they were about me. I was positive that I
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  Speaker 1: must soon feel the solid floor beneath my feet again,
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  Speaker 1: and that once more my chance would come to reach
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  Speaker 1: the temple of Issus and the side of the fair
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  Speaker 1: prisoner who languished there. But even as hope was at
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  Speaker 1: its highest, I felt the sudden shock of contact as
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  Speaker 1: my head struck the rocks above. The worst then had
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  Speaker 1: come to me. I had reached one of those rare
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  Speaker 1: places where a Martian tunnel dipped suddenly to a lower
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  Speaker 1: level somewhere beyond. I knew that it rose again. But
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  Speaker 1: of what value was that to me? Since I did
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  Speaker 1: not know how rate the distance that it maintained a
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  Speaker 1: level entirely beneath the surface of the water. There was
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  Speaker 1: but a single, forlorn hope, and I took it. Filling
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  Speaker 1: my lungs with air, I dived beneath the surface and
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  Speaker 1: swam through the inky, icy blackness, on and on along
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  Speaker 1: the submerged gallery. Time and time again, I rose with
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  Speaker 1: upstretched hand, only to feel the disappointing rocks close above me.
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  Speaker 1: Not for much longer would my lungs withstand the strain
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  Speaker 1: upon them. I felt that I must soon succumb. Nor
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  Speaker 1: was there any retreating Now that I had gone this far.
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  Speaker 1: I knew positively that I could never endure to retrace
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  Speaker 1: my path now to the point from which I had
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  Speaker 1: felt the waters close above my head. Death stared me
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  Speaker 1: in the face. Nor ever, can I recall a time
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  Speaker 1: that I so distinctly felt the icy breath from his
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  Speaker 1: dead lips upon my brow. One more frantic effort I made,
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  Speaker 1: with my fast ebbing strength. Weakly I rose for the
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  Speaker 1: last time. My tortured lungs gasped for the breath that
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  Speaker 1: would fill them with a strange and numbing element. But
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  Speaker 1: instead I felt the revivifying breath of life giving air
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  Speaker 1: surge through my starving nostrils into my dying lungs. I
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  Speaker 1: was saved. A few more strokes brought me to a
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  Speaker 1: point where my feet touched the floor, and soon thereafter
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  Speaker 1: I was above the water level entirely, and racing like
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  Speaker 1: mad along the corridor, searching for the first doorway that
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  Speaker 1: would lead me to Issus. If I could not have
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  Speaker 1: dejah thoris again, I was at least determined to a
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  Speaker 1: venture death, Nor would any life satisfy me other than
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  Speaker 1: that of the fiend incarnate, who was the cause of
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  Speaker 1: such immeasurable suffering upon barsoom. Sooner than I had expected,
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  Speaker 1: I came to what appeared to me to be a
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  Speaker 1: sudden exit into the temple above. It was at the
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  Speaker 1: right side of the corridor, which ran on, probably to
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  Speaker 1: other entrances to the pile above. To me, one point
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  Speaker 1: was as good as another. What knew I where any
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  Speaker 1: of them led, And so, without waiting to be again
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  Speaker 1: discovered and thwarted, I ran quickly up the short steep
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  Speaker 1: incline and pushed open the doorway at its end. The
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  Speaker 1: portal swung slowly in, and before it could be slammed
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  Speaker 1: against me. I sprang into the chamber beyond. Although not
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  Speaker 1: yet dawned, the room was brilliantly lighted. Its sole occupant
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  Speaker 1: lay prone upon a low couch at the further side,
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  Speaker 1: apparently in sleep. From the hangings and sumptuous furniture of
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  Speaker 1: the room, I judged it to be a living room
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  Speaker 1: of some priestess, possibly a vicious herself. At the thought,
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  Speaker 1: the blood tingled through my veins. What indeed, if fortune
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  Speaker 1: had been kind enough to place the hideous creature alone
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  Speaker 1: and unguarded in my hands, with her as hostage, I
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  Speaker 1: could force the acquiescence to my every demand. Cautiously I
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  Speaker 1: approached the recumbent figure on noiseless feet. Closer and closer
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  Speaker 1: I came to it. But I had crossed but little
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  Speaker 1: more than half the chamber when the figure stirred, and
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  Speaker 1: as I sprang, rose and faced me. At first, an
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  Speaker 1: expression of terror overspread the features of the woman who
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  Speaker 1: confronted me, then startled incredulally. Hope, thanksgiving my heart pounded
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  Speaker 1: within my breast. As I advanced toward her, tears came
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  Speaker 1: to my eyes, and the words that would have poured
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  Speaker 1: forth in a perfect torrent choked in my throat as
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  Speaker 1: I opened my arms and took into them once more
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  Speaker 1: the woman I loved, Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium. End
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  Speaker 1: of Chapter twenty one