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

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Speaker 1: Chapter nineteen, Black Despair, Ah, said Zadarras, to what kindly
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Speaker 1: circumstance am I indebted for the pleasure of this unexpected
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Speaker 1: visit from the Prince of Helium. While he was speaking,
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Speaker 1: one of my guards had removed the gag from my mouth.
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Speaker 1: But I made no reply to Zadarras, simply standing there
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Speaker 1: in silence, with level gaze fixed upon the Jed of Zodanga.
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Speaker 1: And I doubt not that my expression was colored by
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Speaker 1: the contempt I felt for the man. The eyes of
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Speaker 1: those within the chamber were fixed first upon me, and
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Speaker 1: then upon Zadarras, until finally a flush of anger crept
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Speaker 1: slowly over his face. You may go, he said to
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Speaker 1: those who had brought me, And when only his two
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Speaker 1: companions and ourselves were left in the chamber, he spoke
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Speaker 1: to me again, in a voice of ice, very slowly
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Speaker 1: and deliberately, with many pauses, as though he would choose
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Speaker 1: his words cautiously. John Carter, he said, by the edict
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Speaker 1: of custom, by the law of our religion, and by
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Speaker 1: the verdict of an impartial court, you are condemned to die.
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Speaker 1: The people cannot save you. I alone may accomplish that
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Speaker 1: you are absolutely in my power to do with as
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Speaker 1: I wish. I may kill you or I may free you,
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Speaker 1: And should I elect to kill you, none would be
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Speaker 1: the wiser. Should you go free in Helium for a
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Speaker 1: year in accordance with the conditions of your reprieve, there
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Speaker 1: is little fear that the people would ever insist upon
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Speaker 1: the execution of the sentence imposed upon you. You may go
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Speaker 1: free within two minutes upon one condition. Tardos Morse will
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Speaker 1: never return to Helium. Neither will Morse, Kajak nor dejah Thoris.
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Speaker 1: Helium must elect a new Jeddak within the year. Zadaris
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Speaker 1: would be Jeddak of Helium. Say that you will espouse
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Speaker 1: my cause. This is the price of your freedom. I
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Speaker 1: am done. I knew it was within the scope of
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Speaker 1: zat Arras's cruel heart to destroy me, and if I
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Speaker 1: were dead, I could see little reason to doubt that
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Speaker 1: he might easily become Jeddak of Helium. Free, I could
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Speaker 1: prosecute the search for dejah Thoris. Were I dead, my
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Speaker 1: brave comrades might not be able to carry out our plans.
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Speaker 1: So by refusing to accede to his request, it was
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Speaker 1: quite probable that not only would I not prevent him
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Speaker 1: from becoming Jeddak of Helium, but that I would be
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Speaker 1: the means of sealing dejah Thoris's fate, of consigning her
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Speaker 1: through my refusal to the horrors of the Arena of Issius.
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Speaker 1: For a moment I was perplexed. But for a moment,
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Speaker 1: only the proud daughter of the thousand Jeddaks would choose
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Speaker 1: death to a dishonorable alliance such as this. Nor could
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Speaker 1: John Carter do less for Helium than his princess would do.
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Speaker 1: Then I turned to Zadarras there can be no alliance
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Speaker 1: I said, between a traitor to Helium and a prince
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Speaker 1: of the house of Tardos Mors. I do not believe
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Speaker 1: Zadars that the great Jeddak is dead. Zadars shrugged his shoulders.
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Speaker 1: It will not be long, John Carter, He said that
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Speaker 1: your opinions will be of interest even to yourself, So
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Speaker 1: make the best of them while you can. Zadars will
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Speaker 1: permit you, in due time to reflect further upon the
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Speaker 1: magnanimous offer he has made you. Into the silence and
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Speaker 1: darkness of the pits. You will enter upon your reflection
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Speaker 1: this night with the knowledge that should you fail, with
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Speaker 1: any reasonable time, to agree to the alternative which has
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Speaker 1: been offered you. Never shall you emerge from the darkness
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Speaker 1: and the silence again, nor shall you know at what
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Speaker 1: minute the hand will reach out through the darkness and
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Speaker 1: the silence with the keen dagger that shall rob you
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Speaker 1: of your last chance to win again the warmth and
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Speaker 1: the freedom and the joyousness of the outer world. Zadars
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Speaker 1: clapped his hands as he ceased speaking. The guards returned.
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Speaker 1: Zatarras waved his hand in my direction to the pits.
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Speaker 1: He said, that was all. Four men accompanied me from
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Speaker 1: the chamber, and with a radium hand light to illum
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Speaker 1: the way, escorted me through seemingly interminable tunnels, down ever
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Speaker 1: down beneath the city of Helium. At length they halted
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Speaker 1: within a fair sized chamber. There were rings set in
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Speaker 1: the rocky walls. To them, chains were fastened, and at
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Speaker 1: the ends of many of the chains were human skeletons.
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Speaker 1: One of these they kicked aside, and unlocking the huge
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Speaker 1: padlock that had held a chain about what had once
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Speaker 1: been a human ankle, they snapped the iron band about
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Speaker 1: my own leg. Then they left me, taking the light
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Speaker 1: with them. Utter darkness prevailed for a few minutes I
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Speaker 1: could hear the clanking of accouterments, but even this grew
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Speaker 1: fainter and fainter, until at last the silence was as
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Speaker 1: complete as the darkness. I was alone with my gruesome companions,
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Speaker 1: with the bones of dead men whose fate was likely
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Speaker 1: but the index of my own. How long I stood
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Speaker 1: listening in the darkness, I do not know, but the
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Speaker 1: silence was unbroken, and at last I sunk to the
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Speaker 1: hard floor of my prison, where, leaning my head against
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Speaker 1: the stony wall, I slept. It must have been several
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Speaker 1: hours later that I awakened to find a young man
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Speaker 1: standing before me. In one hand he bore a light,
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Speaker 1: in the other a receptacle containing a gruel like mixture,
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Speaker 1: the common prison fare of Barsoom Zadar. Sends you greetings,
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Speaker 1: said the young man, and commands me to inform you
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Speaker 1: that though he is fully advised of the plot to
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Speaker 1: make you Jeddak of heed him, he is, however, not
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Speaker 1: inclined to withdraw the offer which he has made you.
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Speaker 1: To gain your freedom. You have but to request me
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Speaker 1: to advise ad Ars that you accept the terms of
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Speaker 1: his proposition. I but shook my head. The youth said no, more,
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Speaker 1: and after placing the food upon the floor at my side,
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Speaker 1: returned up the corridor, taking the light with him. Twice
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Speaker 1: a day. For many days, this youth came to my
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Speaker 1: cell with food and ever the same greetings from zat Arras.
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Speaker 1: For a long time I tried to engage him in
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Speaker 1: conversation upon other matters, but he would not talk, and
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Speaker 1: so at length I desisted. For months, I sought to
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Speaker 1: devise methods to inform Catharis of my whereabouts. For months
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Speaker 1: I scraped and scraped upon a single link of the
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Speaker 1: massive chain which held me, hoping eventually to wear it
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Speaker 1: through that I might follow the youth back through the
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Speaker 1: winding tunnels to a point where I could make a
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Speaker 1: break for liberty. I was beside myself with anxiety for
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Speaker 1: knowledge of the progress of the expedition which was to
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Speaker 1: rescue dejah Thoris. I felt that Carthoris would not let
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Speaker 1: the matter drop were he free to act, But in
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Speaker 1: so far as I knew, he also might be a
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Speaker 1: prisoner in Zadarras's pits. That Zaarras's spy had overheard our
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Speaker 1: conversation relative to the selection of a new Jeddak, I
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Speaker 1: knew and scarcely a half dozen minutes prior we had
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Speaker 1: discussed the details of the plan to rescue dejah Thoris.
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Speaker 1: The chances were that that matter, too was well known
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Speaker 1: to him. Carthoris, Kantos, Kan Tars Tarkas, or Vastus an
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Speaker 1: Exodar might even now be the victims of zat Arras's
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Speaker 1: assassins or else as prisoners. I determined to make at
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Speaker 1: least one more effort to learn something, and to this
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Speaker 1: end I adopted strategy. When next the youth came to
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Speaker 1: my cell, I had noticed that he was a handsome
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Speaker 1: fellow about the size and age of Carthoris, and I
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Speaker 1: had also noticed that his shabby trappings but illy comported
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Speaker 1: with his dignified and noble bearing. It was with these
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Speaker 1: observations as a basis that I opened my negotiations with
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Speaker 1: him upon his next subsequent visit. You've been very kind
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Speaker 1: to me during my imprisonment here, I said to him,
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Speaker 1: And as I feel that I have at best but
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Speaker 1: a very short time to live, I wish ere it
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Speaker 1: is too late to furnish substantial testimony of my appreciation
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Speaker 1: of all that you have done to render my imprisonment bearable. Promptly.
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Speaker 1: You have brought my food each day, seeing that it
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Speaker 1: was pure enough sufficient quantity. Never by word or deed
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Speaker 1: have you attempted to take advantage of my defenseless condition
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Speaker 1: to insult or torture me. You have been uniformly courteous
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Speaker 1: and considerate. It is this, more than any other thing,
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Speaker 1: which prompts my feeling of gratitude, and my desire to
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Speaker 1: give you some slight token of it. In the guard
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Speaker 1: room of my palace are many fine trappings. Go thou
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Speaker 1: there and select the harness which most pleases you. It
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Speaker 1: shall be yours. All I ask is that you wear it,
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Speaker 1: that I may know that my wish has been realized.
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Speaker 1: Tell me that you will do it. The boy's eyes
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Speaker 1: had lighted with pleasure as I spoke, and I saw
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Speaker 1: him glance from his rusty trappings to the magnificence of
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Speaker 1: my own. For a moment he stood in thought before
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Speaker 1: he spoke, and for that moment my heart fairly ceased beating.
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Speaker 1: So much for me there was which hung upon the
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Speaker 1: substance of his answer. And I went to the palace
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Speaker 1: of the Prince of Helium with any such demand. They
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Speaker 1: would laugh at me and into the bargain would more
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Speaker 1: than likely throw me head foremost into the avenue. No,
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Speaker 1: it cannot be, though I thank you for the offer.
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Speaker 1: Why if zat Arras even dreamed that I contemplated such
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Speaker 1: a thing, he would have my heart cut out of me.
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Speaker 1: There could be no harm in it, my boy, I urged.
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Speaker 1: By night, you may go to my palace with a
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Speaker 1: note from me to Carthoris my son. You may read
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Speaker 1: the note before you deliver it, that you may know
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Speaker 1: that it contains nothing harmful. To Zadars, my son will
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Speaker 1: be discreet, and so none but us three need know.
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Speaker 1: It is very simple and such a harmless act that
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Speaker 1: it could be condemned by no one. Again, he stood
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Speaker 1: silently in deep thought. And there is a jeweled short
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Speaker 1: sword which I took from the body of a northern Jeddak.
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Speaker 1: When you get the harness see that Carthoris gives you
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Speaker 1: that also with it and the harness which you may select,
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Speaker 1: there will be no more handsomely accoutred warrior in all Zodanga.
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Speaker 1: Bring writing materials when you come next to my cell,
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Speaker 1: and within a few hours we shall see you garb
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Speaker 1: in a style befitting your birth and carriage. Still in thought,
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Speaker 1: and without speaking, he turned and left me. I could
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Speaker 1: not guess what his decision might be, and for hours
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Speaker 1: I sat fretting over the outcome of the matter. If
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Speaker 1: he accepted a message to Carthoris, it would mean to
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Speaker 1: me that Carthoris still lived and was free. If the
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Speaker 1: youth returned wearing the harness and the sword, I would
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Speaker 1: know that Carthoris had received my note, and that he
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Speaker 1: knew that I still lived. That the bearer of the
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Speaker 1: note was as Zodangan would be sufficient to explain to
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Speaker 1: Carthoris that I was a prisoner of zat Arras it
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Speaker 1: was with feelings of excited expectancy which I could scarce
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Speaker 1: hide that I heard the youth's approach upon the occasion
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Speaker 1: of his next regular visit. I did not speak beyond
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Speaker 1: my accustomed greeting of him. As he placed the food
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Speaker 1: upon the floor by my side, he also deposited writing materials.
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Speaker 1: At the same time, my heart fairly bounded for joy.
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Speaker 1: I had won my point. For a moment, I looked
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Speaker 1: at the materials in feign surprise, but soon I permitted
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Speaker 1: an expression of dawning comprehension to come into my face,
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Speaker 1: and then picking them up, I penned a brief order
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Speaker 1: to Carthoris to deliver to Parthak a harness of his
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Speaker 1: selection and the short sword, which I described. That was all,
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Speaker 1: but it meant everything to me and to Carthoris. I
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Speaker 1: laid the note open upon the floor. Parthak picked it up,
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Speaker 1: and without a word left me. As nearly as I
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Speaker 1: could estimate, I had at this time been in the
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Speaker 1: pits for three hundred days. If anything was to be
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Speaker 1: done to save dejah Thoris, it must be done quickly,
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Speaker 1: for were she not already dead, her end must soon come.
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Speaker 1: Since those whom Issus chose lived but a single year.
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Speaker 1: The next time I heard approaching footsteps, I could scarce
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Speaker 1: await to see if Parthak wore the harness and the sword,
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Speaker 1: but judge if he can. My chagrin and disappointment when
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Speaker 1: I saw that he who bore my food was not Parthak.
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Speaker 1: What has become of Parthak? I asked? But the fellow
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Speaker 1: would not answer, And as soon as he had deposited
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Speaker 1: my food, turned and retraced his steps to the world above.
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Speaker 1: Days came and went, and still my new jailer continued
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Speaker 1: his duties. Nor would he ever speak a word to me,
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Speaker 1: either in reply to the simplest question or of his
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Speaker 1: own initiative. I could only speculate on the of Parthak's removal,
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Speaker 1: but that it was connected in some way directly with
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Speaker 1: the note I had given him was most apparent to me.
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Speaker 1: After all my rejoicing, I was no better off than before.
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Speaker 1: For now I did not even know that Carthoris lived.
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Speaker 1: For if Parthak had wished to raise himself in the
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Speaker 1: estimation of Zadarras, he would have permitted me to go
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Speaker 1: on precisely as I did, so that he could carry
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Speaker 1: my note to his master in proof of his own
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Speaker 1: loyalty and devotion. Thirty days had passed since I had
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Speaker 1: given the youth the note. Three hundred and thirty days
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Speaker 1: had passed since my incarceration. As closely as I could figure,
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Speaker 1: there remained a bare thirty days ere dejah Thoris would
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Speaker 1: be ordered to the arena for the rites of Issus.
12:40
Speaker 1: As the terrible picture forced itself vividly across my imagination,
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Speaker 1: I buried my face in my arms, and only with
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Speaker 1: the greatest difficulty was it that I repressed the tears
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Speaker 1: that welled to my eyes. Despite my every effort to
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Speaker 1: think of that beautiful creature torn and rendered by the
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Speaker 1: cruel fangs of the hideous white apes. It was unthinkable
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Speaker 1: such a horrid fact could not be. And yet my
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Speaker 1: reason told me that within thirty days, my incomparable princess
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Speaker 1: would be fought over in the arena of the Firstborn
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Speaker 1: by those very wild beasts, that her bleeding corpse would
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Speaker 1: be dragged through the dirt and the dust, until at
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Speaker 1: last a part of it would be rescued to be
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Speaker 1: served as food upon the tables of the black nobles.
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Speaker 1: I think that I should have gone crazy, but for
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Speaker 1: the sound of my approaching jailer. It distracted my attention
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Speaker 1: from the terrible thoughts that had been occupying my entire mind.
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Speaker 1: Now a new and grim determination came to me. I
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Speaker 1: would make one superhuman effort to escape, kill my jailer
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Speaker 1: by a ruse, and trust to Fate to lead me
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Speaker 1: to the outer world in safety. With the thought came
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Speaker 1: instant action. I threw myself upon the floor my cell,
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Speaker 1: close by the wall, in a strained and distorted posture,
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Speaker 1: as though I were dead after a struggle or convulsions.
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Speaker 1: When he should stoop over me, I had but to
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Speaker 1: grasp his throat with one hand and strike him a
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Speaker 1: terrific blow with the slack of my chain, which I
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Speaker 1: gripped firmly in my right hand for the purpose. Nearer
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Speaker 1: and nearer came the doomed man. Now I heard him
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Speaker 1: halt before me. There was a muttered exclamation, and then
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Speaker 1: a step. As he came to my side. I felt
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Speaker 1: him kneel beside me. My grip tightened upon the chain.
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Speaker 1: He leaned close to me. I must open my eyes
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Speaker 1: to find his throat, grasp it, and strike one mighty
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Speaker 1: final blow, all at the same instant. The thing worked
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Speaker 1: just as I had planned. So brief was the interval
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Speaker 1: between the opening of my eyes and the fall of
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Speaker 1: the chain that I could not check it, though in
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Speaker 1: that minute interval I recognized the face so close to
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Speaker 1: mine as that of my son Carthoris. God, what cruel
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Speaker 1: and malign fate had worked to such a frightful end.
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Speaker 1: What devious chain of circumstances had led my boy to
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Speaker 1: my side at this one particular minute of our lives,
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Speaker 1: when I could strike him down and kill him in
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Speaker 1: ignorance of his identity. A benign, though tardy providence blurred
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Speaker 1: my vision and my mind as I sank into unconsciousness
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Speaker 1: across the lifeless body of my only son. When I
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Speaker 1: regained consciousness, it was to feel a cool, firm hand
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Speaker 1: pressed upon my forehead. For an instant I did not
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Speaker 1: open my eyes. I was endeavoring to gather the loose
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Speaker 1: ends of many thoughts and memories which flitted elusively through
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Speaker 1: my tired and overwrought brain. At length came the cruel
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Speaker 1: recollection of the thing that I had done in my
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Speaker 1: last conscious act. And then I dared not to open
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Speaker 1: my eyes, for fear of what I should see lying
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Speaker 1: beside me. I wondered who it could be who ministered
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Speaker 1: to me. Carthoris must have had a companion whom I
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Speaker 1: had not seen. Well, I must face the inevitable sum time,
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Speaker 1: so why not now? And with a sigh I opened
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Speaker 1: my eyes. Leaning over me was Carthoris, a great bruise
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Speaker 1: upon his forehead where the chain had struck, but alive,
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Speaker 1: thank God, alive. There was no one with him. Reaching
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Speaker 1: out my arms, I took my boy within them. And
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Speaker 1: if ever there arose from any planet a fervent prayer
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Speaker 1: of gratitude, it was there beneath the crust of dying
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Speaker 1: mars As, I thanked the eternal mystery for my son's life.
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Speaker 1: The brief instant in which I had seen and recognized
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Speaker 1: Carthoris before the chain fell must have been ample to
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Speaker 1: check the force of the blow. He told me that
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Speaker 1: he had lain unconscious for a time. How long he
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Speaker 1: did not know? How came you here at all? I asked,
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Speaker 1: mystified that he had found me without a guide. It
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Speaker 1: was by your wit in appraising me of your existence
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Speaker 1: and imprisonment through the youth Parthac until he came for
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Speaker 1: his harness and his sword. We had thought you dead.
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Speaker 1: When I had read your note, I did as you
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Speaker 1: had bid, giving Parthak his choice of the harness in
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Speaker 1: the guard room, and later bringing the jeweled short sword
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Speaker 1: to him. But the minute that I had fulfilled the
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Speaker 1: promise you evidently had made him, my obligation to him ceased.
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Speaker 1: Then I commenced to question him, but he would give
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Speaker 1: me no information as to your whereabouts. He was intensely
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Speaker 1: loyal to zat Arras. Finally I gave him a fair
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Speaker 1: choice between freedom and the pits beneath the palace. The
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Speaker 1: price of freedom to be full information as to where
16:55
Speaker 1: you were imprisoned and directions which would lead us to you.
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Speaker 1: But still he maintained his stubborn partisanship. Despairing, I had
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Speaker 1: him removed to the pits, where he still is. No
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Speaker 1: threats of torture or death, no bribes, however fabulous, would
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Speaker 1: move him. His only reply to all our importunities was
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Speaker 1: that whenever Parthak died, were it tomorrow or a thousand years.
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Speaker 1: Hence no man could truly say a traitor is gone
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Speaker 1: to his deserts. Finally, Exodar, who is a fiend of
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Speaker 1: subtle craftiness, evolved a plan whereby we might worm the
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Speaker 1: information from him, and so I caused hor Vastus to
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Speaker 1: be harnessed in the mettle of a Zodangan soldier and
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Speaker 1: chained in Parthak's cell beside him for fifteen days. The
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Speaker 1: noble hor Vastus has languished in the darkness of the pits,
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Speaker 1: but not in vain. Little by little he won the
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Speaker 1: confidence and friendship of the Zodangan, until only to day. Parthak,
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Speaker 1: thinking that he was speaking not only to a countryman
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Speaker 1: but to a dear friend, revealed to hor Vastus the
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Speaker 1: exact cell in which you lay it took me but
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Speaker 1: a short time to locate the plans of the pits
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Speaker 1: of Helium among thy official papers. To come to you, though,
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Speaker 1: was a trifle more difficult matter. As you know, while
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Speaker 1: all the pits beneath the city are connected, there are
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Speaker 1: but single entrances from those beneath each section and its neighbor,
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Speaker 1: and that at the upper level just underneath the ground.
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Speaker 1: Of course, these openings, which lead from contiguous pits to
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Speaker 1: those beneath government buildings, are always guarded. And so while
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Speaker 1: I easily came to the entrance to the pits beneath
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Speaker 1: the palace which zat Arras is occupying, I found there
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Speaker 1: as though Dangan's soldier on guard there. I left him
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Speaker 1: when I had gone by, but his soul was no
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Speaker 1: longer with him. Here I am just in time to
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Speaker 1: be nearly killed by you, he ended, laughing as he talked.
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Speaker 1: Carthoris had been working at the lock which held my fetters,
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Speaker 1: and now, with an exclamation of pleasure, he dropped the
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Speaker 1: end of the chain to the floor, and I stood up,
18:54
Speaker 1: once more, freed from the galling irons I had chafed
18:57
Speaker 1: in for almost a year. He had brought a long
19:00
Speaker 1: sword and a dagger from me, and thus armed, we
19:03
Speaker 1: set out upon the return journey to my palace. At
19:06
Speaker 1: the point where we left the pits of Zadarras, we
19:08
Speaker 1: found the body of the guard Cathorus had slain. It
19:11
Speaker 1: had not yet been discovered, and in orders to still
19:14
Speaker 1: further delay search and mystify the Jed's people, we carried
19:18
Speaker 1: the body with us for a short distance, hiding it
19:21
Speaker 1: in a tiny cell off the main corridor of the pits,
19:23
Speaker 1: beneath an adjoining estate. Some half hour later we came
19:27
Speaker 1: to the pits beneath our own palace, and soon thereafter
19:30
Speaker 1: emerged in the audience chamber itself, where we found kantos Can,
19:34
Speaker 1: tars Tarkas, hor Vastus, and Exodar awaiting us most impatiently.
19:39
Speaker 1: No time was lost and fruitless recounting of my imprisonment.
19:43
Speaker 1: What I desired to know was how well the plans
19:45
Speaker 1: we had laid nearly a year ago had been carried out.
19:49
Speaker 1: It has taken much longer than we had expected, replied
19:51
Speaker 1: kantos Kan. The fact that we were compelled to maintain
19:55
Speaker 1: utter secrecy has handicapped us terribly. Zadarras's spies are everywhere,
20:00
Speaker 1: yet to the best of my knowledge, no word of
20:02
Speaker 1: our real plans has reached the villain's ear. To night,
20:05
Speaker 1: there lies about the great docks at Hast a fleet
20:08
Speaker 1: of a thousand of the mightiest battleships that ever sailed
20:11
Speaker 1: above Barsoom, and each equipped to navigate the air of
20:14
Speaker 1: Omin and the waters of Omean itself. Upon each battleship
20:19
Speaker 1: there are five ten man cruisers, and ten five man's scouts,
20:23
Speaker 1: and a hundred one man scouts. In all, one hundred
20:26
Speaker 1: and sixteen thousand craft fitted with both air and water propellers.
20:30
Speaker 1: At Thark lie the transport for the Green warriors of
20:33
Speaker 1: Tars Tarkas, nine hundred large troop ships, and with them
20:37
Speaker 1: their convoys. Seven days ago all was in readiness, but
20:40
Speaker 1: we waited in the hope that by so doing, your
20:43
Speaker 1: rescue might be encompassed in time for you to command
20:46
Speaker 1: the expedition. It is well we waited, my prince, How
20:50
Speaker 1: is it tars Tarkas. I asked that the men of
20:52
Speaker 1: Thark take not the accustomed action against one who returns
20:56
Speaker 1: from the bosom of Ish. They sent a council fifty
20:59
Speaker 1: chief and to talk with me. Here, replied the Thark
21:02
Speaker 1: We are a just people, and when I had told
21:05
Speaker 1: them the entire story, they were as one man in
21:07
Speaker 1: agreeing that their action toward me would be guided by
21:10
Speaker 1: the action of Helium toward John Carter. In the meantime,
21:13
Speaker 1: at their request, I was to resume my throne as
21:16
Speaker 1: Jeddak of Tharp, that I might negotiate with neighboring hordes
21:19
Speaker 1: of warriors to compose the land forces of the expedition.
21:23
Speaker 1: I have done that which I agreed. Two hundred and
21:26
Speaker 1: fifty thousand fighting men, gathered from the ice cap at
21:29
Speaker 1: the north to the ice cap at the south, and
21:32
Speaker 1: representing a thousand different communities from a hundred wild and
21:35
Speaker 1: warlike hordes, fill the great city of Thark to night.
21:39
Speaker 1: They are ready to sail for the land of the
21:41
Speaker 1: first Born when I give the word, and fight there
21:43
Speaker 1: until I bid them stop. All they ask is the
21:46
Speaker 1: loot they take and transportation to their own territories. When
21:50
Speaker 1: the fighting and the looting are over, I am done,
21:53
Speaker 1: and thou hor vastest I asked, what has been thy success?
21:57
Speaker 1: A million veteran fighting men from Helium's then waterways, manned
22:01
Speaker 1: the battleships, the transports, and the convoys. He replied, each
22:05
Speaker 1: has sworn to loyalty and secrecy. Nor were enough recruited
22:08
Speaker 1: from a single district to cause suspicion. Good, I cried,
22:12
Speaker 1: Each has done his duty, and now Kantos can may
22:15
Speaker 1: we not repair at once to Hastor and get under
22:18
Speaker 1: way before tomorrow's sun. We should lose no time, Prince replied,
22:22
Speaker 1: Kantos kan Already the people of Hastor are questioning the
22:25
Speaker 1: purpose of so great a fleet, fully manned with fighting men.
22:28
Speaker 1: I wonder much that word of it has not before
22:31
Speaker 1: reached Zatars. A cruiser waits above at your own dock.
22:35
Speaker 1: Let us leave it a fusillade of shots from the
22:37
Speaker 1: palace gardens, just without cut short his further words. Together
22:41
Speaker 1: we rushed to the balcony in time to see a
22:43
Speaker 1: dozen members of my palace guard disappear in the shadows
22:47
Speaker 1: of some distant shrubbery, as in pursuit of one who
22:50
Speaker 1: fled directly beneath us. Upon the scarlet sward, a handful
22:53
Speaker 1: of guardsmen were stooping above a still and prostrate form.
22:57
Speaker 1: While we watched, they lifted the figure in their arms, and,
23:00
Speaker 1: at my command, bore to the audience chamber, where we
23:03
Speaker 1: had been in council. When they stretched the body at
23:06
Speaker 1: our feet, we saw that it was that of a
23:08
Speaker 1: red man in the prime of life. His metal was plain,
23:12
Speaker 1: such as common soldiers wear, or those who wished to
23:15
Speaker 1: conceal their identity. Another of Zatarras's spies, said hor Vastus,
23:20
Speaker 1: so it would seem, I replied. And then to the guard,
23:22
Speaker 1: you may remove the body, wait, said Exodar. If you will, Prince,
23:27
Speaker 1: ask that a cloth and a little thoat oil be brought.
23:31
Speaker 1: I nodded to one of the soldiers who left the chamber,
23:34
Speaker 1: returning presently with the things that Exodar had requested. The
23:37
Speaker 1: black kneeled beside the body, and, dipping a corner of
23:40
Speaker 1: the cloth and the thoat oil, rubbed for a moment
23:42
Speaker 1: on the dead face before him. Then he turned to
23:45
Speaker 1: me with a smile, pointing to his work. I looked
23:48
Speaker 1: and saw that where Exodar had applied the thoat oil,
23:51
Speaker 1: the face was white, as white as mine. And then
23:54
Speaker 1: Exodar seized the black hair of the corpse, and with
23:56
Speaker 1: a sudden wrench, tore it all away, revealing a hairless beneath.
24:01
Speaker 1: Guardsmen and nobles pressed close about the silent witness upon
24:04
Speaker 1: the marble floor. Many were the exclamations of astonishment and
24:08
Speaker 1: questioning wonder as Exodar's axe confirmed the suspicions which he
24:12
Speaker 1: had held a thorn, whispered Tars Tarkas. Worse than that,
24:18
Speaker 1: I fear, replied Exodar. But let us see with that.
24:22
Speaker 1: He drew his dagger and cut open a locked pouch
24:25
Speaker 1: which had dangled from the thurn's harness, and from it
24:28
Speaker 1: he brought forth a circlet of gold set with a
24:30
Speaker 1: large gem. It was the mate to that which I
24:33
Speaker 1: had taken from Sator Throg. He was a holy Thern,
24:37
Speaker 1: said Exodar. Fortunate, indeed, it is for us that he
24:40
Speaker 1: did not escape. The officer of the guard entered the
24:43
Speaker 1: chamber at this juncture, My Prince, he said, I have
24:47
Speaker 1: to report that this fellow's companion escaped us. I think
24:50
Speaker 1: that it was with the connivance of one or more
24:52
Speaker 1: of the men at the gate. I have ordered them
24:55
Speaker 1: all under arrest. Exodar handed him the thoat, oil and cloth.
24:59
Speaker 1: With this you may discover the spy among you, he said,
25:02
Speaker 1: I at once ordered a secret search within this city,
25:06
Speaker 1: for every martian noble maintains a secret service of his own.
25:10
Speaker 1: A half hour later, the officer of the guard came
25:12
Speaker 1: again to report. This time it was to confirm our
25:15
Speaker 1: worst fears. Half the guards at the gate that night
25:18
Speaker 1: had been thorns, disguised as red men. Come. I cried,
25:22
Speaker 1: we must lose no time on to Hastar at once.
25:25
Speaker 1: Should the Therns attempt to check us at the southern
25:27
Speaker 1: verge of the ice cap, it may result in the
25:30
Speaker 1: wrecking of all our plans and the total destruction of
25:33
Speaker 1: the expedition. Ten minutes later we were speeding through the
25:36
Speaker 1: night toward Hastor, prepared to strike the first blow for
25:40
Speaker 1: the preservation of dejah Thoris. End of Chapter nineteen