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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter five, Corridors of Peril. How long I slept upon
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  Speaker 1: the floor of the store room, I do not know,
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  Speaker 1: but it must have been many hours. I was awakened
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  Speaker 1: with a start by cries of alarm and scarce were
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  Speaker 1: my eyes opened, nor had I yet sufficiently collected my
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  Speaker 1: wits to quite realize where I was, when a fusillade
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  Speaker 1: of shots rang out, reverberating through subterranean corridors in a
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  Speaker 1: series of deafening echoes. In an instant I was upon
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  Speaker 1: my feet. A dozen lesser Therns confronted us from a
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  Speaker 1: large doorway at the opposite end of the store room
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  Speaker 1: from which we had entered. About me lay the bodies
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  Speaker 1: of my companions, with the exception of Thuvia and tars Tarkas, who,
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  Speaker 1: like myself, had been asleep upon the floor and thus
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  Speaker 1: escaped the first raking fire. As I gained my feet,
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  Speaker 1: the Therns lowered their wicked rifles, their faces distorted and
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  Speaker 1: mingled chagrin, consternation, and alarm. Instantly I rose to the occasion.
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  Speaker 1: What means this, I cried, in tones of fierce anger.
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  Speaker 1: Is stor Throg to be murdered by his own vassals?
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  Speaker 1: Have mercy O master of the tense cycle, cried one
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  Speaker 1: of the fellows, while the others edged toward the doorway,
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  Speaker 1: as though to attempt a sir repetitious escape from the
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  Speaker 1: presence of the mighty one. Ask them their mission? Here,
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  Speaker 1: whispered Thuvia at my elbow. What do you hear, fellows,
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  Speaker 1: I cried, Two from the outer world are at large
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  Speaker 1: within the dominions of the Thorns. We sought them at
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  Speaker 1: the command of the Father of Thorns. One was white
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  Speaker 1: with black hair, the other a huge green warrior. And
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  Speaker 1: here the fellow cast a suspicious glance toward tars Tarkas
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  Speaker 1: here then is one of them, spoke Thuvia, indicating the Thark.
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  Speaker 1: And if you will look upon this dead man by
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  Speaker 1: the door, perhaps you will recognize the other. It was
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  Speaker 1: left for stor Throg and his poor slaves to accomplish
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  Speaker 1: what the lesser Thorns of the guard were unable to do.
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  Speaker 1: We have killed one and captured the other. For this,
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  Speaker 1: had Sir tor Throg given us our liberty. And now,
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  Speaker 1: in your stupidity have you come and killed all but myself,
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  Speaker 1: and liked to have killed the mighty Sator Throg himself.
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  Speaker 1: The men looked very sheepish and very scared. Had they
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  Speaker 1: not better throw these bodies to the plant men and
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  Speaker 1: then returned to their quarters. O Mighty One asked Thuvia
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  Speaker 1: of me. Yes, do as Thuvia bids you, I said.
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  Speaker 1: As the men picked up the bodies, I noticed that
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  Speaker 1: the one who stooped to gather up the late setor
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  Speaker 1: throg started as his closer scrutiny fell upon the upturned face,
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  Speaker 1: and then the fellow stole a furtive, sneaking glance in
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  Speaker 1: my direction from the corner of his eye. That he
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  Speaker 1: suspicion something of the truth I could have sworn, but
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  Speaker 1: that it was only a suspicion which he did not dare.
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  Speaker 1: Voice was evidenced by his silence again. As he bore
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  Speaker 1: the body from the room, he shot a quick but
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  Speaker 1: searching glance toward me, and then his eyes fell once
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  Speaker 1: more upon the bald and shiny dome of the dead
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  Speaker 1: man in his arms. The last fleeting glimpse that I
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  Speaker 1: obtained of his profile as he passed from my sight
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  Speaker 1: without the chamber, revealed a cunning smile of triumph upon
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  Speaker 1: his lips. Only tars Tarkas Thuvia and I were left.
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  Speaker 1: The fatal marksmanship of the thorns had snatched from our
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  Speaker 1: companions whatever slender chance they had of gaining their perilous
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  Speaker 1: freedom of the world without. So soon as the last
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  Speaker 1: of the gruesome procession had disappeared, the girl urged us
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  Speaker 1: to take up our flight once more. She too had
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  Speaker 1: noted the questioning attitude of the Thurn, who had borne
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  Speaker 1: so tore throg away. It bodes no good for us,
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  Speaker 1: o Prince, she said, for even though this fellow dared
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  Speaker 1: not chance accusing you in air, there be those above
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  Speaker 1: with power sufficient to demand a closer scrutiny, and that
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  Speaker 1: Prince would indeed prove fatal. I shrugged my shoulders. It
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  Speaker 1: seemed that, in any event, the outcome of our plight
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  Speaker 1: must end in death. I was refreshed from my sleep,
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  Speaker 1: but still weak from loss of blood. My wounds were painful.
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  Speaker 1: No medicinal aid seemed possible. How I longed for the
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  Speaker 1: all most miraculous healing power of the strange salves and
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  Speaker 1: lotions of the green Martian women. In an hour they
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  Speaker 1: would have had be as new. I was discouraged. Never
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  Speaker 1: had a feeling of such utter hopelessness come over me
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  Speaker 1: in the face of danger. Then the long flowing yellow
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  Speaker 1: locks of the Holy Thern, caught by some vagrant draft,
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  Speaker 1: blew about my face. Might they not still open the
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  Speaker 1: way of freedom? If we acted in time? Might we
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  Speaker 1: not even yet escape before the general alarm was sounded?
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  Speaker 1: We could at least try. What will the fellow do first,
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  Speaker 1: Thuvia I asked, how long will it be before they
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  Speaker 1: may return for us? He will go directly to the
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  Speaker 1: father of Therns, old Matai Shang. He may have to
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  Speaker 1: wait for an audience, But since he is very high
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  Speaker 1: among the lesser Therns, in fact as a Thorian among them,
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  Speaker 1: it will not be long that Matai Shang will keep
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  Speaker 1: him waiting. Then, if the father of Therns puts credence
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  Speaker 1: in his story, another hour, or will see the galleries
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  Speaker 1: and chambers, the courts and gardens filled with searchers. What
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  Speaker 1: we do then must be done within an hour. What
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  Speaker 1: is the best way, Thuvia, The shortest way out of
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  Speaker 1: this celestial hades, straight to the top of the cliffs, Prince,
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  Speaker 1: she replied, And then through the gardens to the inner courts.
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  Speaker 1: From there our way will lie within the temples of
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  Speaker 1: the Theerns and across them to the outer court. Then the ramparts,
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  Speaker 1: O Prince, it is hopeless. Ten thousand warriors could not
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  Speaker 1: hew a way to liberty from out this awful place.
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  Speaker 1: Since the beginning of time, little by little, stone by
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  Speaker 1: stone have the Theerns been ever adding to the defenses
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  Speaker 1: of their stronghold. A continuous line of impregnable fortification circles
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  Speaker 1: the outer slopes of the mountains of Ords. Within the
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  Speaker 1: temples that lie behind the ramparts, a million fighting men
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  Speaker 1: are ever ready. The courts and gardens are filled with slaves,
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  Speaker 1: with women, and with children. None could go as stones
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  Speaker 1: throw without detection. If there is no other way, Thuvia,
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  Speaker 1: Why dwell upon the difficulties of this we must face them?
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  Speaker 1: Can we not better make the attempt after dark? Asked
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  Speaker 1: tars Tarkas. There would seem to be no chance by day.
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  Speaker 1: There would be a little better chance by night. But
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  Speaker 1: even then the ramparts are well guarded, possibly better than
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  Speaker 1: by day. There are fewer abroad in the courts and gardens, though,
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  Speaker 1: said Thuvia. What is the hour? I asked? It was
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  Speaker 1: midnight when you released me from my chains, said Thubia.
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  Speaker 1: Two hours later we reached the store room. There you
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  Speaker 1: slept for fourteen hours. It must now be nearly sundown again. Come,
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  Speaker 1: we will go to some near by window in the
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  Speaker 1: cliff and make sure so saying, she led the way
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  Speaker 1: through the winding corridors until a sudden turn we came
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  Speaker 1: upon an opening which overlooked the valley door. At our right.
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  Speaker 1: The sun was setting a huge red orb below the
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  Speaker 1: western range of Orts. A little below us stood the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Thurn on watch upon his bow alcony. His scarlet
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  Speaker 1: robe of office was pulled tightly about him in anticipation
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  Speaker 1: of the cold that comes so suddenly with the darkness
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  Speaker 1: as the sun sets. So rare is the atmosphere of Mars,
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  Speaker 1: that absorb very little heat from the sun during the
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  Speaker 1: daylight hours, it is always extremely hot. At night, it
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  Speaker 1: is intensely cold. Nor does the thin atmosphere refract the
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  Speaker 1: Sun's rays or diffuse its light. As upon Earth. There
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  Speaker 1: is no twilight on Mars. When the great orb of
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  Speaker 1: day disappears beneath the horizon, the effect as precisely as
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  Speaker 1: that of the extinguishing of a single lamp within a
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  Speaker 1: chamber from brilliant light, you are plunged without warning into
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  Speaker 1: utter darkness. Then the moons come, the mysterious magic moons
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  Speaker 1: of Mars, hurtling like monster meteors low across the face
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  Speaker 1: of the planet. The declining sun lighted brilliantly the eastern banks,
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  Speaker 1: of course, the crimson sword the gorgeous forest. Beneath the
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  Speaker 1: trees we saw feeding many herds of plant men. The
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  Speaker 1: adults stood aloft upon their toes and their mighty tails,
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  Speaker 1: their talons pruning every available leaf and twig. It was
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  Speaker 1: then that I understood the careful trimming of the trees
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  Speaker 1: which had led me to form the mistaken idea when
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  Speaker 1: first I opened my eyes upon the grove, that it
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  Speaker 1: was the playground of a civilized people. As we watched,
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  Speaker 1: our eyes wandered to the rolling ish which issued from
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  Speaker 1: the base of the cliffs beneath us. Presently there emerged
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  Speaker 1: from the mountain a canoe laden with lost souls from
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  Speaker 1: the outer world. There were a dozen of them. All
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  Speaker 1: were of the highly civilized and cultured race of red men,
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  Speaker 1: who are dominant on Mars. The eyes of the herald
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  Speaker 1: upon the balcony beneath us fell upon the doomed party
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  Speaker 1: as soon as did ours. He raised his head, and,
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  Speaker 1: leaning far out over the low rail that rimmed his
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  Speaker 1: dizzy perch, voiced the shrill, weird wail that called the
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  Speaker 1: demons of this hellish place to the attack. For an
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  Speaker 1: instant the brutes stood with stiffly erect ears. Then they
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  Speaker 1: poured from the grove toward the river's bank, covering the
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  Speaker 1: distance with great, ungainly leaps. The party had landed and
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  Speaker 1: was standing on the sward as the awful horde came
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  Speaker 1: in sight. There was a brief and futile effort of defense,
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  Speaker 1: then silence as the huge, repulsive shapes covered the bodies
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  Speaker 1: of their victims, and scores of sucking mouths fastened themselves
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  Speaker 1: to the flesh of their prey. I turned away in
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  Speaker 1: discuss their part is soon over, said Thuvia. The great
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  Speaker 1: white apes get the flesh when the plant men have
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  Speaker 1: drained the arteries. Look they are coming now. As I
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  Speaker 1: turned my eyes in the direction the girl indicated, I
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  Speaker 1: saw a dozen of the great white monsters running across
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  Speaker 1: the valley toward the river bank. Then the sun went down,
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  Speaker 1: and darkness that could almost be felt engulfed us. Thuvia
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  Speaker 1: lost no time in leading us toward the corridor, which
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  Speaker 1: winds back and forth up through the cliffs towards the surface,
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  Speaker 1: thousands of feet above the level on which we had been. Twice,
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  Speaker 1: great banths wandering loose through the galleries blocked our progress,
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  Speaker 1: But in each instance Thuvius spoke a low word of command,
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  Speaker 1: and the starling beasts slunk sullenly away. If you can
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  Speaker 1: dissolve all our obstacles as easily as you master these
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  Speaker 1: fierce brutes, I can see no difficulties in our way,
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  Speaker 1: I said to the girl, smiling, How do you do it?
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  Speaker 1: She laughed, and then shuddered. I do not quite know,
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  Speaker 1: she said. When first I came here, I angered sator Throg.
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  Speaker 1: Because I repulsed him, he ordered me to be thrown
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  Speaker 1: into one of the great pits in the inner gardens.
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  Speaker 1: It was filled with banths. In my own country, I
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  Speaker 1: had been accustomed to command. Something in my voice, I
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  Speaker 1: do not know what cowed the beasts as they sprang
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  Speaker 1: to attack me. Instead of tearing me to pieces, as
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  Speaker 1: sator Throg had desired, they fawned at my feet. So
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  Speaker 1: greatly was the tore Throg and his friends amused by
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  Speaker 1: the sight that they kept me to train and handle
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  Speaker 1: the terrible creatures. I know them all by name. There
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  Speaker 1: are many of them wandering through these lower regions. They
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  Speaker 1: are the scavengers. Many prisoners die here in their chains.
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  Speaker 1: The bants solve the problem of sanitation, at least in
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  Speaker 1: this respect. In the gardens and temples above they are
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  Speaker 1: kept in pits. The thurns fear them. It is because
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  Speaker 1: of the bands that they seldom venture below ground, except
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  Speaker 1: as their duty call them. An idea occurred to me,
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  Speaker 1: suggested by what Thuvie had just said. Why not take
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  Speaker 1: a number of bands and set them aloof before us
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  Speaker 1: above ground? I asked. Thuvia laughed, It would distract attention
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  Speaker 1: from us. I am sure, she said, She commenced, calling
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  Speaker 1: in a low, sing song voice that was half per
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  Speaker 1: She continued this as we wound our tedious way through
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  Speaker 1: the maze of subterranean passages and chambers. Presently, soft padded
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  Speaker 1: feet sounded close behind us, and as I turned, I
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  Speaker 1: saw a pair of great green eyes shining in the
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  Speaker 1: dark shadows. At our rear. From a diver urging tunnel,
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  Speaker 1: a sinuous, tawny form crept stealthily toward us. Low growls
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  Speaker 1: and angry snarls assailed our ears on every side, as
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  Speaker 1: we hastened on, and one by one the ferocious creatures
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  Speaker 1: answered the call of their mistress. She spoke a word
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  Speaker 1: to each as it joined us. Like well schooled terriers,
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  Speaker 1: they paced the corridors with us. But I could not
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  Speaker 1: help but note the lathering jowls, nor the hungry expressions
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  Speaker 1: with which they eyed Tars Tarkas and myself. Soon we
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  Speaker 1: were entirely surrounded by some fifty of the brutes. Two
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  Speaker 1: walked close on either side of Thuvia, as guards might
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  Speaker 1: walk the sleek sides of others now, and then touched
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  Speaker 1: my own naked limbs. It was a strange experience, the
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  Speaker 1: almost noiseless passage of naked human feet and padded paws,
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  Speaker 1: the golden walls splashed with precious stones, the dim light
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  Speaker 1: cast by the tiny radium bulbs set at considerable distances
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  Speaker 1: along the roof, the huge manned beasts of prey crowding
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  Speaker 1: with low growls about us, the mighty green warrior towering
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  Speaker 1: high above us, all myself crowned with the priceless diadem
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  Speaker 1: of a holy thern, and leading the procession, the beautiful
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  Speaker 1: girl Thuvia. I shall not soon forget it. Presently we
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  Speaker 1: approached a great chamber, more brightly lighted than the corridors.
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  Speaker 1: Thuvia halted us quietly. She stole toward the entrance and
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  Speaker 1: glanced within. Then she motioned us to follow her. The
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  Speaker 1: room was filled with specimens of the strange beings that
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  Speaker 1: inhabit this underworld. A heterogeneous collection of high Breds, the
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  Speaker 1: offspring of the prisoners from the outside world, red and
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  Speaker 1: green Martians, and the white race of Therns. Constant confinement
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  Speaker 1: below ground had wrought odd freaks upon their skins. They
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  Speaker 1: more resembled corpses than living beings. Many are deformed, others maimed,
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  Speaker 1: while the majority, Thuvia explained, are sightless. As they lay
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: sprawled about the floor, sometimes overlapped one another again in
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  Speaker 1: heaps of several bodies. They suggested instantly to me the
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  Speaker 1: grotesque illustrations that I had seen in copies of Dante's Inferno,
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  Speaker 1: And what more fitting comparison was this? Not, indeed a
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  Speaker 1: variable hell, peopled by lost souls, dead and damned beyond
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  Speaker 1: all hope. Picking our way carefully, we threaded a winding
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  Speaker 1: path across the chamber, the great bands sniffing hungrily at
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  Speaker 1: the tempting prey spread before them in such tantalizing and
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: defenseless profusion. Several times we passed the entrances to other
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: chambers similarly peopled, and twice again we were compelled to
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: cross directly through them. In others were chained prisoners and beasts.
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  Speaker 1: Why is it that we see no urns, I asked Ephthuvia.
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  Speaker 1: They seldom traversed the underworld at night, For then it
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  Speaker 1: is that the great bands prowl the dim corridor seeking
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  Speaker 1: their prey. The Thurns fear the awful denizens of this
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  Speaker 1: cruel and hopeless world that they have fostered and allowed
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  Speaker 1: to grow beneath their feet. The prisoners even sometimes turn
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  Speaker 1: upon them and rent them. The thurn can never tell
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  Speaker 1: from what dark shadow and assassin may spring upon his back.
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  Speaker 1: By day it is different. Then. The corridors and chambers
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  Speaker 1: are filled with guards passing to and fro. Slaves from
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  Speaker 1: the temples above come by hundreds to the granaries and
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  Speaker 1: store rooms. All is life. Then, you did not see it,
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: because I led you not in the beaten tracks, but
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: through roundabout passages seldom used. Yet it is possible that
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: we might meet a thern. Even yet they do occasionally
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  Speaker 1: find it necessary to come here after the sun has set.
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  Speaker 1: Because of this, I have moved with such great caution.
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  Speaker 1: But we reached the upper galleries without detection, and presently
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  Speaker 1: Thuvia halted us. At the foot of a short steep ascent.
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  Speaker 1: Above us, she said, is a doorway which opens on
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  Speaker 1: to the inner gardens. I have brought you thus far
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  Speaker 1: from here on for four miles to the outer ramparts,
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  Speaker 1: our way will be beset by countless dangers. Guards patrol
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  Speaker 1: the courts, the temples, the gardens. Every inch of the
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  Speaker 1: ramparts themselves is beneath the eye of a sentry. I
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  Speaker 1: cannot understand the necessity for such an enormous force of
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: armed men about a spot so surrounded by mystery and superstition,
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  Speaker 1: that not a soul upon Barsoom would have dared to
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  Speaker 1: approach it, even had they known its exact location. I
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: questioned Thuvia, asking her what enemies the Therns could fear
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: in their impregnable fortress. We had reached the doorway now
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: and Thuvia was opening it. They feared the black pirates
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: of Barsoom. O Prince, she said, from whom may our
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: first ancestors preserve us. The door swung open, the smell
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  Speaker 1: of growing things greeted my nostrils. The cool night air
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  Speaker 1: blew against my cheek. The great banths sniffed the unfamiliar odors,
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  Speaker 1: and then with a rush, they broke past us, with
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  Speaker 1: low growls, swarming across the gardens beneath the lurid light
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: of the nearer moon. Suddenly only a great cry arose
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  Speaker 1: from the roofs of the temples, a cry of alarm
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  Speaker 1: and warning that taken up from point to point, ran
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  Speaker 1: off to the east and to the west, from temple
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  Speaker 1: court and rampart, until it sounded as a dim echo
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  Speaker 1: in the distance. The Great Thorpe's long sword leaped from
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  Speaker 1: its scabbard. Thuvius shrank, shuddering to my side. End of
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  Speaker 1: Chapter five.