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

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Chapter ten, the prison isle of Shador. In the outer gardens, to
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which the guard now escorted me, I found Exodar surrounded by a crowd of
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noble blacks. They were reviling and cursing him. The men slapped his face,
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the woman spat upon him. When I appeared, they turned their attentions
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toward me. Ah, cried one, So this is the creature who overcame
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the great Exodar bare handed. Let us see how it was done. Let
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him bind, Third suggested, a beautiful woman laughing. Third is a noble
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detour. Let third show the dog what it means to face a real man.
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Yes, third, Third cried A dozen voices. Here he is now,
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exclaimed another, and, turning in the direction, indicated, I saw
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a huge black, weighed down with resplendent ornaments and arms, advancing with noble
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and gallant bearing toward us. What now, he cried? What would you
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have? Thward? Quickly a dozen voices explain. Thward turned toward Exodar,
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his eyes narrowing to two nasty slits calot, he hissed, Ever, did
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I think you carried the heart of a psoric in your putrid breast? Often
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have you bested me in the secret councils of Issus. But now in the
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field of war, where men are truly gaged, your scabby heart hath revealed
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its sores to all the world. Calot, I spurn you with my foot,
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and with the words he turned to kick Exodar. My blood was up
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for minutes. It had been boiling at the cowardly treatment that had been according
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this once powerful comrade because he had fallen from the favor of Issus. I
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had no love for Exodar, but I cannot stand the sight of cowardly injustice
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and persecution without seeing red as through a haze of bloody mist, and doing
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things on the impulse of the moment that I presume I never should do.
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After mature deliberation, I was standing close beside Exodar, as through it swung
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his foot for the cowardly kick. The degraded detor stood erect and motionless as
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a carven in image. He was prepared to take whatever his former comrades had
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to offer in the way of insults and reproaches, and take them in manly
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silence and stoism. But his third's foot swung, so did mine, and
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I caught him a painful blow upon the shin bone that saved Exodar from this
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added ignomy. For a moment there was tense silence. Then third, with
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a roar of rage, sprang for my throat, just as Exodar had done
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upon the deck of the cruiser. The results were identical. I ducked beneath
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his outstretched arms, and as he lunched past me, planeted a terrific right
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on the side of his jaw. The big fellow spun around like a top,
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his knees gave beneath him, and he crumpled to the ground at my
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feet. The Blacks gazed in astonishment, first at the still form of the
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proud detour lying there in the ruby dust of the pathway, then at me,
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as though they could not believe that such a thing could be. You
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asked me to bind Thurid. I cried, behold, and then I stooped
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beside the process straight form, tore the harness from it, and bound the
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fellow's arms and legs securely, as you have done to Exodar. Now,
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do you, likewise to Thurid take him before Issus, bound in his own
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harness, that she may see with her own eyes that there be one among
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you. Now, who is greater than the first born? Who are you?
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Whispered the woman who had first suggested that I attempt to bind Thurid.
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I am a citizen of two worlds. Captain John Carter of Virginia, Prince
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of the House of Tardos Mors Jeddak of Helium. Take this man to your
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Goddess as I have said, and tell her too that as I have done
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to Exidar and Thurid, so also can I do to the mightiest of her
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detours. With naked hands, with long sword or with short sword. I
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challenged the flower of her fighting men to combat. Come, said the officer
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who was guarding me back to Shador. My orders are imperative. There is
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to be no delay. Exodar, come you also. There was little of
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disrespect in the tone that the man used in addressing either Exodar or myself.
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It was evident that he felt less content for the former detor, since he
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had witnessed the ease with which I disposed of the powerful Thurid. That his
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respect for me was greater than it should have been for a slave was quite
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apparent from the fact that during the balance of the return journey he walked or
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stood always behind me, a drawn short sword in his hand. The return
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to the Sea of Omen was uneventful. We dropped down to the awful shaft
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in the same car that had brought us to the surface. There we entered
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the submarine, taking the long dive to the tunnel far beneath the upper world,
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then through the tunnel and up again to the pool from which we had
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had our first introduction to the wonderful passageway from Omean to the Temple of Issus.
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From the aisle of the submarine, we were transported on a small cruiser
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to the distant isle of Shador. Here we found a small stone prison and
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a guard of a half a dozen blacks. There was no ceremony wasted in
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completing our incarceration. One of the blacks opened the door of the prison with
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a huge key. We walked in. The door closed behind us, The
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lock grated, and with the sound there swept over me again that terrible feeling
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of hopelessness that I had felt in the chamber of Mystery in the golden cliff
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beneath the gardens of the Holy Thurns. Then tars Tarkas had been with me,
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But now I was utterly alone, in so far as friendly companionship was
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concerned. I fell to wondering about the fate of the great Thark and of
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his beautiful companion, the girl Thuvia. Even should they, by some miracle
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have escaped and been received and spared by a friendly nation. What hope had
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I of the succor which I knew they would gladly extend if it lay in
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their power. They could not guess my whereabouts or my fate, for none
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on all Barsoom even dreamed of such a place as this, Nor would it
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have advantaged me any had they known the exact location of my prison, For
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who could hope to penetrate to this buried sea in the face of the mighty
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navy of the first born. No, my case was hopeless. Well,
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I would make the best of it, And rising, I swept aside the
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brooding despair that had been endeavoring to claim me with the idea of exploring my
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prison, I started to look around. Exodar sat with bowed head upon a
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low stone bench near the center of the room in which we were. He
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had not spoken since Issus had degraded him. The building was roofless, the
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walls rising to a height of about thirty feet. Half Way up were a
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couple of small, heavily barred windows. The prison was divided into several rooms
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by partitions twenty feet high. There was no one in the room which we
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occupied, but two doors which led to other rooms were opened. I entered
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one of these rooms, but found it vacant. Thus I continued through several
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of the chambers, until in the last one I found a young red Martian
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boy sleeping upon the stone bench, which constituted the only furniture of any of
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the prison cells. Evidently he was the only other prisoner. As he slept,
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I leaned over and looked at him. There was something strangely familiar about
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his face, and yet I could not place him. His features were very
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regular, and like the proportions of his graceful limbs and body, beautiful in
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the extreme. He was very light in color for a red man, but
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in other respects he seemed a typical specimen of this handsome race. I did
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not awaken him, for sleep in prison is such a priceless boon that I
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have seen men transformed into raging brutes when robbed by one of their fellow prisoners.
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Of a few precious moments of it. Returning to my own cell,
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I found Exodar still sitting in the same position in which I had left him.
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Man, I cried, it will profit you nothing to mope. Thus
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it were no disgrace to be bested by John Carter. You have seen that
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in the ease with which I accounted for thurid you knew it before, when
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on the cruiser's deck you saw me slay three of your comrades. I would
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that you had despatched me at the same time he said, come, come,
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I cried, there is hope yet neither of us is dead. We
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are great fighters. Why not to freedom? He looked at me in amazement.
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You know not of what you speak, he replied. Issus is omniputent.
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Issius is omniscient. She hears now the words you speak. She knows
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the thoughts you think. It is sacrilege even to dream of breaking her commands.
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Rot Exodar, I ejaculated impatiently. He sprang to his feet in horror.
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The curse of Issus will fall upon you, he cried, in another
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instant. You will be smitten down, rithing to your death in horrible agony.
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Do you believe that exodar, I asked, of course, who would
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dare doubt? I doubt, yes, And further I deny, I said,
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why, Exodar, you tell me that she even knows my thoughts.
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The Red men have all had that power for ages, and another wonderful power.
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They can shut their minds so that none may read their thoughts. I
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learned the first secret years ago. The other I never had to learn,
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since upon all barsoom is none who can read what passes in the secret chambers
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of my brain. Your Goddess cannot read my thoughts, nor can she read
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yours when you are out of sight, unless you will it. Had she
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been able to read mine, I am afraid that her pride would have suffered
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a rather severe shock when I turned, at her command to gaze upon the
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holy vision of her radiant face. What do you mean, he whispered in
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an affrighted voice, so low that I could scarcely hear him. I mean
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that I thought her the most repulsive and vilely hideous creature my eyes ever had
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rested upon. For a moment, he eyed me in horror, stricken amazement,
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and then with a cry of blasphemer he sprang upon me. I did
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not wish to strike him again, nor was it necessary, since he was
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unarmed and therefore quite harmless to me. As he came, I grasped his
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left wrist with my left hand, and, swinging my right arm about his
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left shoulder, caught him beneath the chin with my elbow and bore him backward
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across my thigh. There he hung helpless for a moment, glaring up at
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me in impotent rage. Exodar, I said, let us be friends for
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a year. Possibly we may be forced to live together in the narrow confines
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of this tiny room. I am sorry to have offended you, but I
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could not dream that one who had suffered from cruel injustice of Issus still could
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believe her divine. I will say a few more words, Exodar, with
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no intent to wound your feelings further, but rather that you may give thought
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to the fact that while we live, we are still more the arbiters of
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our own fate than is any god. Issus you see, has not struck
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me dead, nor is she rescuing her faithful Exodar from the clutches of the
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unbeliever who defamed her fair beauty. No, Exidar, your Issus is a
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mortal old woman once out of her clutches, and she cannot harm you.
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With your knowledge of this strange land and my knowledge of the outer world,
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two such fighting men as you and I should be able to win our way
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to freedom, even though we died in the attempt. Would not our memories
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be fair than as though we remained in servile fear to be butchered by a
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cruel and unjust tyrant. Call her goddess or mortal as you will. As
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I finished, I raised Exoter to his feet and released him. He did
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not renew the attack upon me, nor did he speak. Instead, he
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walked toward the bench, and, sinking down upon it, remained lost in
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deep thought for hours. A long time afterward, I heard a soft sound
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at the doorway leading to one of the other apartments, and looking up,
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beheld the red Martian youth gazing intently at us Koor. I cried, after
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the Red Martian manner of greeting Kowor, He replied, what do you hear?
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I await my death, I presume, I replied, with a weary
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smile. He too smiled, a brave and winning smile. I also,
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he said, mine will come soon I looked upon the radiant beauty of Issus.
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Nearly a year since it has always been a source of keen. Wonder
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to me that I did not drop dead at the first sight of that hideous
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countenance and her belly by my first ancestor. But never was there so grotesque
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a figure in all the universe that they should call such a one Goddess of
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Life, eternal Goddess of Death, mother of the Nearer Moon, and fifty
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other equally impossible titles. Is quite beyond me. How came you here,
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i asked, It is very simple. I was flying a one man air
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scout far to the south when the brilliant idea occurred to me that I should
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like to search for the lost Sea of Chorus, which tradition places near to
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the South Pole. I must have inherited from my father a wild lust for
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adventure, as well as a hollow where my bump of reverence should be.
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I had reached the area of eternal ice when my prop propeller jammed, and
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I dropped to the ground to make repairs. Before I knew it, the
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air was black with fliers, and a hundred of those first born devils were
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leaping to the ground. All about me with drawn swords they made for me.
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But before I went down beneath them, they had tasted of the steel
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my father's sword, and I had given such an account of myself as I
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know would have pleased my sire had he lived to witness it. Your father
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is dead, I asked. He died before the shell broke. To let
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me step out into a world that has been very good to me. But
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for the sorrow that I have never the honor to know my father, I
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have been very happy. My only sorrow now is that my mother must mourn
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me as she has for ten long years mourned my father. Who was your
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father? I asked. He was about to reply when the outer door of
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our prison opened, and a burly guard entered and ordered him to his own
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quarters for the night, locking the door after him as he passed through into
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the further chamber. It is Ishius's wish that you two be confined in the
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same room, said the guard, when he had returned to our cells.
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This cowardly slave of a slave is to serve you well, he said to
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me, indicating Exodar with a wave of his hand. If he does not,
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you are to beat him into submission. It is Isshus's wish that you
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heap upon him every indignity and degradation of which you can conceive. With these
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words, he left us. Exodar still sat with his face buried in his
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hands. I walked aside and placed my hand upon his shoulder. Exodar,
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I said, you have heard the commands of Issus, but you need not
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fear that I should attempt to put them into execution. You are a brave
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man, Exodar. It is your own affair if you wish to be persecuted
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and humiliated. But were I you, I should assert my manhood and defy
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my enemies. I have been thinking very hard, John Carter, he said,
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of all the new ideas you gave me a few hours since, Little
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by little, I have been piecing together the things that you said which sounded
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blasphemous to me, then with the things that I have seen in my past
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life and dared not even think about for fear of bringing down upon me the
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wrath of Issus. I believe now that she is a fraud, no more
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divine than you or I more. I am willing to concede that the first
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born are no holier than the holy thurns, nor the holy theurns more holy
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than the red men. The whole fabric of our religion is based on superstitious
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belief in lies that have been foisted upon us for ages by those directly above
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us, to whose personal profit and aggrandizement it was to have us continue to
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believe as they wished us to believe. I am ready to cast off the
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ties that have bound me. I am ready to defy Issus herself. But
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what will it avail us be the first born gods or mortals. They are
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a powerful race, and we are as fast in their clutches as though we
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were already dead. There is no escape. I have escaped from bad plights
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in the past, my friend, I replied, Nor while life is in
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me, shall I despair of escaping from the Isle of Shador and the sea
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of Omean. But we cannot escape even from the four walls of our prison.
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Urged Exodar. Test this flint like surface, he cried, smiting the
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solid rock that confined us. And look upon this polished surface. None could
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cling to it to reach the top. I smiled, that is the least
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of our troubles, Exodar, I replied, I will guarantee to scale the
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wall and take you with me, if you will help with your knowledge of
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the customs here to appoint the best time for the attempt, and guide me
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to the shaft that lets from the dome of this abysmal sea to the light
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of God's pure air above. Night time is the best and offers the only
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slender chance we have. For then men sleep, and only a dozing watch
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nods in the tops of the battleship. No watch is kept upon the cruisers
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in the smaller craft. The watchers upon the larger vessels see to all about
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them. It is night now, But I exclaimed, it is not dark.
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How can it be night? Then he smiled, you forget, He
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said that we are far below ground. The light of the sun never penetrates
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here. There are no moons and no stars reflected in the bosom of Omean.
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The phosphorate light you now see pervading this great subtraining vault emanates from the
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rocks that form its dome. It is always thus upon Omean, just as
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the billows are always as you see them, rolling, ever rolling over a
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windless sea. At the appointed hour of night. Upon the world above,
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the men whose duties hold them here sleep, But the light is ever the
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same. It will make escape more difficult, I said, And then I
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shrugged my shoulders. For what pray is the pleasure of doing any easy thing.
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Let us sleep on it tonight, said Exodar. A plan may come
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with our awakening. So we threw ourselves upon the hard stone floor of our
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prison and slept the sleep of tired men. End of Chapter ten.