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

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Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen, A break for liberty. Exodar listened in incredulous
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Speaker 1: astonishment to my narration of the events which had transpired
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Speaker 1: within the arena at the rights of Issus. He could
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Speaker 1: scarce conceive, even though he had already professed a doubt
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Speaker 1: as to the deity of Issus, that one could threaten
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Speaker 1: her with a sword in hand and not be blasted
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Speaker 1: into a thousand fragments by the mere fury of her
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Speaker 1: divine wrath. It is the final proof, he said, at last,
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Speaker 1: no more is needed to completely shatter the last remnant
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Speaker 1: of my superstitious belief in the divinity of Issus. She
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Speaker 1: is only a wicked old woman, wielding a mighty power
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Speaker 1: for evil through mechanation that have kept her own people
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Speaker 1: in all barsoom, in religious ignorance for ages. She is
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Speaker 1: still all powerful here, however, I replied, so it behooves
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Speaker 1: us to leave at the first moment that appears at
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Speaker 1: all propitious. I hope that you may find a propitious moment,
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Speaker 1: he said, with a laugh, for it is certain that
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Speaker 1: in all my life I have never seen one in
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Speaker 1: which a prisoner of the first born might escape to night.
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Speaker 1: Will do as well as any, I replied, it will
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Speaker 1: soon be night, said Exodar, How may I aid in
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Speaker 1: the adventure? Can you swim? I asked him. No, slimy
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Speaker 1: Sillion that haunts the depths of Chorus is more at
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Speaker 1: home in water than is Exodar. He replied, good, the
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Speaker 1: Red One, in all probability, cannot swim, I said, since
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Speaker 1: there is scarce enough water in all their domains to
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Speaker 1: float the tiniest craft. One of us therefore will have
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Speaker 1: to support him through the sea to the craft we select.
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Speaker 1: I had hoped that we might make the entire distance
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Speaker 1: below the surface, but I fear that the Red youth
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Speaker 1: could not thus perform the trip. Even the bravest of
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Speaker 1: the brave among them are terrorized at the mere thought
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Speaker 1: of deep water, for it has been ages since their
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Speaker 1: forebears saw a lake, a river, or a sea. The
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Speaker 1: Red One is to accompany us, asked Exodar, Yes, it
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Speaker 1: is well. Three swords are better than two, especially when
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Speaker 1: the third is as mighty as this fellows. I have
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Speaker 1: seen him battle in the arena at the rights of
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Speaker 1: Issus many times. Never until I saw you fight had
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Speaker 1: I seen one who seemed unconquerable, even in the face
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Speaker 1: of great odds. One might think you to master and pupil,
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Speaker 1: or father and son. Come to recall his face. There
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Speaker 1: is a resemblance between you. It is very marked. When
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Speaker 1: you fight, there is the same grim smile, the same
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Speaker 1: maddening contempt for your adversary, apparent in every movement of
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Speaker 1: your bodies and in every changing expression of your faces.
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Speaker 1: Be that as it may, Exodar, he is a great fighter.
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Speaker 1: I think that we will make a trio difficult to overcome.
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Speaker 1: And if my friend Tars Tarkas Jeddak of Thark were
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Speaker 1: but one of us, we could fight our way from
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Speaker 1: one end of Barsoom to the other, even though the
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Speaker 1: whole world were pitted against us. It will be said, Exodar,
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Speaker 1: when they find from whence you have come. That is
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Speaker 1: but one of the superstitions which Issus has foisted upon
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Speaker 1: a credulous humanity. She works through the holy Theurns, who
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Speaker 1: are as ignorant of her real self as are the
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Speaker 1: arssumiums of the outer world. Her decrees are born to
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Speaker 1: the Therns, written in blood upon a strange parchment. The poor,
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Speaker 1: deluded fools think that they are receiving the revelations of
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Speaker 1: a Goddess through some supernatural agency, since they find these
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Speaker 1: messages upon their guarded altars, to which none could have
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Speaker 1: accessed without detection, I myself have borne these messages for
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Speaker 1: Issus for many years. There is a long tunnel from
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Speaker 1: the Temple of Issus to the principal temple of Matai Shang.
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Speaker 1: It was dug ages ago by the slaves of the
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Speaker 1: first Born, in such utter secrecy that no thern ever
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Speaker 1: guessed its existence. The Terns, for their part, have temples
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Speaker 1: dotted about the entire civilized world. Here, priests whom the
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Speaker 1: people never see, communicate the doctrine of the mysterious river Ish,
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Speaker 1: the Valley Door, and the Lost Sea of Chorus, to
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Speaker 1: persuade the poor, deluded creatures to take the voluntary pilgrimage
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Speaker 1: that swells the wealth of the Holy Thens and adds
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Speaker 1: to the number of their slaves. Thus, the terns are
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Speaker 1: used as the principal means for electing the wealth and
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Speaker 1: labor that the first born wrest from them as they
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Speaker 1: need it. Occasionally, the first born themselves make raids upon
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Speaker 1: the outer world. It is then that they capture many
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Speaker 1: females of the royal houses of the Red Men and
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Speaker 1: take the newest in battleships and the trained artisans who
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Speaker 1: build them, that they may copy what they cannot create.
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Speaker 1: We are a non productive race, priding ourselves upon our
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Speaker 1: non productiveness. It is criminal for a first born to
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Speaker 1: labor or invent. That is the work of the law orders,
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Speaker 1: who live merely that the first born may enjoy long
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Speaker 1: lives of luxury and idleness. With us. Fighting is all
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Speaker 1: that counts. Were it not for that, there would be
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Speaker 1: more of the first born than all the creatures of
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Speaker 1: Barsoom could support. For in so far as I know,
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Speaker 1: none of us ever dies in natural death. Our females
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Speaker 1: would live forever but for the fact that we tire
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Speaker 1: of them and remove them to make place for others.
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Speaker 1: Issus alone, of all this protected against death, she has
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Speaker 1: lived for countless ages. Would not the other Barsoomians live
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Speaker 1: forever but for the doctor of the voluntary pilgrimage which
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Speaker 1: drags them to the bosom of ish at Or before
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Speaker 1: their thousandth year, I asked him, I feel now that
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Speaker 1: there is no doubt but that they are precisely the
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Speaker 1: same species of creature as the first born, And I
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Speaker 1: hope that I shall live to fight for them in
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Speaker 1: atonement of the sins I have committed against them through
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Speaker 1: the ignorance born of generations of false teaching. As he
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Speaker 1: ceased speaking, a weird call rang out across the waters
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Speaker 1: of Omean. I had heard it at the same time
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Speaker 1: the previous evening, and knew that it marked the ending
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Speaker 1: of the day, when the men of Omeans spread their
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Speaker 1: silks upon the deck of battleship and cruiser and fall
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Speaker 1: into the dreamless sleep of Mars. Our guard entered to
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Speaker 1: inspect us for the last time before the new day
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Speaker 1: broke upon the world above. His duty was soon performed,
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Speaker 1: and the heavy door of our prison clothes behind him,
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Speaker 1: we were alone for the night. I gave him time
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Speaker 1: to return to his quarters, as Exoter said he probably
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Speaker 1: would do. Then I sprang to the grated window and
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Speaker 1: surveyed the nearby waters. At a little distance from the island,
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Speaker 1: a quarter of mile perhaps lay a monster battleship, while
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Speaker 1: between her and the shore were a number of smaller
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Speaker 1: cruisers and one man scouts. Upon the battleship alone was
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Speaker 1: there a watch. I could see him plainly in the
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Speaker 1: upper works of the ship, and as I watched, I
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Speaker 1: saw him spread his sleeping silks upon the tiny platform
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Speaker 1: in which he was stationed. Soon he threw himself at
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Speaker 1: full length upon his couch. The discipline on Omean was lax, indeed,
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Speaker 1: but it is not to be wondered at. Since no
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Speaker 1: enemy guessed the existence upon Barsoom of such a fleet,
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Speaker 1: or even of the First Born, or the sea of Omean,
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Speaker 1: Why indeed should they maintain a watch. Presently I dropped
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Speaker 1: to the floor again and talked with Exedar, describing the
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Speaker 1: various craft I had seen. There is one there, he said,
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Speaker 1: my personal property, built to carry five men. That is
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Speaker 1: the swiftest of the swift. If we can board her,
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Speaker 1: we can at least make a memorable run for liberty.
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Speaker 1: And then he went on to describe to me the
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Speaker 1: equipment of the boat, her engines, and all that went
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Speaker 1: to make the flier that she was. In his explanation
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Speaker 1: I recognized a trick of gearing that Kantos Khan had
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Speaker 1: taught me that time we sailed under false names in
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Speaker 1: the navy of Zodanga, beneath sad than the Prince. And
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Speaker 1: I knew then that the Firstborn had stolen it from
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Speaker 1: the ships of Helium, For only they are thus geared,
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Speaker 1: and I knew too that Exoter spoke the truth when
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Speaker 1: he louted the speed of his little craft. For nothing
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Speaker 1: that cleaves the thin air of Mars can approximate the
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Speaker 1: speed of the ships of Helium. We decided to wait
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Speaker 1: for an hour at least until all the stragglers had
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Speaker 1: sought their silks. In the meantime, I was to fetch
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Speaker 1: the red Youth to our cell, so that we would
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Speaker 1: be in readiness to make our rash break for freedom. Together.
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Speaker 1: I sprang to the top of our partition wall and
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Speaker 1: pulled myself up on to it. There I found a
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Speaker 1: flat surface about a foot in width, and along this
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Speaker 1: I walked until I came to the cell in which
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Speaker 1: I saw the boy sitting upon his bench. He had
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Speaker 1: been leaning back against the wall, looking up at the
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Speaker 1: glowing dome above Omean, and when he spied me balancing
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Speaker 1: upon the partition wall above him, his eyes opened wide
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Speaker 1: in astonishment. Then a wide grin of appreciative understanding spread
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Speaker 1: across his countenance. As I stooped to drop to the
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Speaker 1: floor beside him, he motioned me to wait, and, coming
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Speaker 1: close below me, whispered, catch my hand. I can almost
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Speaker 1: leap to the top of that wall myself. I have
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Speaker 1: tried it many times, and each day I come a
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Speaker 1: little closer. Some day I should have been able to
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Speaker 1: make it. I lay upon my belly across the wall
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Speaker 1: and reached my hand far down toward him. With a
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Speaker 1: little run from the center of the cell. He sprang
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Speaker 1: up until I grasped his outstretched hand, and thus I
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Speaker 1: pulled him to the wall's top beside me. You are
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Speaker 1: the first jumper I ever saw among the red men
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Speaker 1: of Barsoom, I said, He smiled. It is not strange.
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Speaker 1: I will tell you why when we have more time together.
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Speaker 1: We returned to the cell in which exit Aar sat,
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Speaker 1: descending to talk with him until the hour had passed.
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Speaker 1: There we made our plans for the immediate future, binding
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Speaker 1: ourselves by a solemn oath to fight to the death
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Speaker 1: for one another against whatsoever enemy should confront us. For
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Speaker 1: we knew that even should we succeed in escaping the
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Speaker 1: first Born, we might still have a whole world against us.
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Speaker 1: The power of religious superstition is mighty. It was agreed
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Speaker 1: that I should navigate the craft after we had reached her,
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Speaker 1: and that if we made the outer world in safety,
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Speaker 1: we should attempt to reach Helium without a stop. Why Helium,
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Speaker 1: asked the red youth. I am a prince of Helium,
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Speaker 1: I replied. He gave me a peculiar look, but said
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Speaker 1: nothing further on the subject. I wondered at the time
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Speaker 1: what the significance of his expression might be, But in
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Speaker 1: the press of other matters, it soon left my mind,
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Speaker 1: nor did I have occasion to think of it again
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Speaker 1: until later come, I said at length, Now is as
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Speaker 1: good a time as any. Let us go. Another moment
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Speaker 1: found me at the top of the partition wall again,
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Speaker 1: with the boy beside me. Unbuckling my harness, I snapped
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Speaker 1: it together with a single long strap, which I lowered
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Speaker 1: to the waiting exod below. He grasped the end and
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Speaker 1: was soon sitting beside us. How simple, he laughed. The
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Speaker 1: balance should be even simpler, I replied. Then I raised
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Speaker 1: myself to the top of the outer wall the prison,
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Speaker 1: just so that I could peer over and locate the
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Speaker 1: passing sentry. For a matter of five minutes I waited,
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Speaker 1: and then he came in sight on his slow and
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Speaker 1: snail like beat about the structure. I watched him until
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Speaker 1: he made the turn at the end of the building,
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Speaker 1: which carried him out of sight of the side of
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Speaker 1: the prison that was to witness our dash for freedom.
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Speaker 1: The moment his form disappeared, I grasped Exodar and drew
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Speaker 1: him to the top of the wall. Placing one end
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Speaker 1: of my harness strap in his hands. I lowered him
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Speaker 1: quickly to the ground below. Then the boy grasped the
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Speaker 1: strap and slid down to Exodar's side. In accordance with
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Speaker 1: our arrangement, they did not wait for me, but walked
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Speaker 1: slowly toward the water, a matter of a hundred yards,
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Speaker 1: directly past the guard house filled with sleeping soldiers. They
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Speaker 1: had taken scarce a dozen steps when I too, dropped
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Speaker 1: to the ground and followed them leisurely toward the shore.
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Speaker 1: As I passed the guard house, the thought of all
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Speaker 1: the good blades lying there gave me pause, for if
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Speaker 1: ever men were to have need of swords, it was
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Speaker 1: my companions and I on the perilous trip upon which
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Speaker 1: we were about to embark. I glanced towards Exodar and
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Speaker 1: the youth and saw that they had slipped over the
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Speaker 1: edge of the dock into the water. In accordance with
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Speaker 1: our plan, they were to remain there clinging to the
11:15
Speaker 1: metal rings which studded the concrete like substance of the
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Speaker 1: dock at the water's level, with only their mouths and
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Speaker 1: noses above the surface of the sea until I should
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Speaker 1: join them. The lure of the swords within the guard
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Speaker 1: house was strong upon me, and I hesitated a moment,
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Speaker 1: half inclined to risk the attempt to take the few
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Speaker 1: we needed. That he who hesitates is lost proved itself
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Speaker 1: a true aphorism in this instant, For another moment saw
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Speaker 1: me creeping stealthily toward the door of the guard house. Gently,
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Speaker 1: I pressed it open a crack enough to discover a
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Speaker 1: dozen blacks stretched upon their silks in profound slumber. At
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Speaker 1: the far side of the room, a rack held the
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Speaker 1: swords and firearms of the men. Wearily, I pushed the
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Speaker 1: door a trifle wider to admit my body. A hinge
11:58
Speaker 1: gave out a resentful groan, One of the men stirred,
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Speaker 1: and my heart stood still. I cursed myself for a
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Speaker 1: fool to have thus jeopardized our chances for escape. But
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Speaker 1: there was nothing for it now but to see the
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Speaker 1: adventure through with the spring as swift and as noiseless
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Speaker 1: as a tiger's I lit beside the guardsman, who had moved.
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Speaker 1: My hands hovered about his throat, awaiting the moment that
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Speaker 1: his eyes should open. For what seemed an eternity to
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Speaker 1: my overwrought nerves, I remained poised. Thus, Then the fellow
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Speaker 1: turned again upon his side and resumed the even respiration
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Speaker 1: of deep slumber. Carefully, I picked my way between and
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Speaker 1: over the soldiers until I had gained the rack at
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Speaker 1: the far side of the room. Here I turned to
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Speaker 1: survey the sleeping men. All were quiet. Their regular breathing
12:42
Speaker 1: rose and fell in a soothing rhythm that seemed to
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Speaker 1: me the sweetest music I ever had heard. Gingerly, I
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Speaker 1: drew a long sword from the rack. The scraping of
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Speaker 1: the scabbard against its holder as I withdrew it sounded
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Speaker 1: like the filing of a cast iron with a great rasp,
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Speaker 1: and I looked to see the room immediately filled with
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Speaker 1: alarmed and attacking guardsmen, but none stirred. The second sword
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Speaker 1: I withdrew noiselessly, but the third clanked in its scabbard
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Speaker 1: with a frightful din. I knew that it must awaken
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Speaker 1: some of the men at least, and was on the
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Speaker 1: point of forestalling their attack by a rapid charge for
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Speaker 1: the doorway, when again, to my intense surprise, not a
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Speaker 1: black moved. Either they were wondrous heavy sleepers or else
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Speaker 1: The noises that I made were really much less than
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Speaker 1: they seemed to me. I was about to leave the
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Speaker 1: rack when my attention was attracted by the revolvers. I
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Speaker 1: knew that I could not carry more than one away
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Speaker 1: with me, for I was already too heavily laden to
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Speaker 1: move quietly with any degree of safety or speed. As
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Speaker 1: I took one of them from its pin, my eye
13:42
Speaker 1: fell for the first time on an open window beside
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Speaker 1: the rack. Ah. Here was a splendid means of escape,
13:48
Speaker 1: for it let directly upon the dock, not twenty feet
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Speaker 1: from the water's edge. And as I congratulated myself, I
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Speaker 1: heard the door opposite me open, and there, looking me
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Speaker 1: full in the face, stood the officer of the guard.
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Speaker 1: He evidently took in the situation at a glance and
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Speaker 1: appreciated the gravity of it as quickly as I, for
14:07
Speaker 1: our revolvers came up simultaneously, and the sounds of the
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Speaker 1: two reports were as one. As we touched the buttons
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Speaker 1: on the grips that exploded the cartridges. I felt the
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Speaker 1: wind of his bullet as it whizzed passed my ear,
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Speaker 1: and at the same instant I saw him crumple to
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Speaker 1: the ground where I hit him. I do not know
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Speaker 1: nor if I killed him, for scarce had he started
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Speaker 1: to collapse. When I was through the window at my rear.
14:29
Speaker 1: In another second, the waters of Omean closed above my head,
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Speaker 1: and the three of us were making for the little
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Speaker 1: flier a hundred yards away. Exodar was burdened with the boy,
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Speaker 1: and I with the three long swords the revolver I
14:41
Speaker 1: had dropped, so that while we were both strong swimmers,
14:44
Speaker 1: it seemed to me that we moved at a snail's
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Speaker 1: pace through the water. I was swimming entirely beneath the surface,
14:50
Speaker 1: but Exodar was compelled to rise often to let the
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Speaker 1: youth breathe. So it was a wonder that we were
14:55
Speaker 1: not discovered long before we were. In fact, we reached
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Speaker 1: the boat's side, and we were all aboard before the
15:01
Speaker 1: watch upon the battleship, aroused by the shots, detected us.
15:05
Speaker 1: Then an alarm gun bellowed from a ship's bow, its
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Speaker 1: deep boom reverberating in deafening tones beneath the rocky dome
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Speaker 1: of Omean. Instantly the sleeping thousands were awake. The decks
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Speaker 1: of a thousand monster craft teemed with fighting men. For
15:19
Speaker 1: an alarm on Omean was a thing of rare occurrence.
15:23
Speaker 1: We cast away before the sound of the first gun
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Speaker 1: had died, and another second saw us rising swiftly from
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Speaker 1: the surface of the sea. I lay at full length
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Speaker 1: along the deck, with the levers and the buttons of
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Speaker 1: control before me. Exodar and the Boy were stretched directly
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Speaker 1: behind me. Prone also that we might offer as little
15:40
Speaker 1: resistance to the air as possible. Rise high, whispered Exodar.
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Speaker 1: They dare not fire their heavy guns toward the dome.
15:47
Speaker 1: The fragments of the shells would drop back among their
15:50
Speaker 1: own craft. If we are high enough, our keel plates
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Speaker 1: will protect us from rifle fire. I did as Ebaye.
15:57
Speaker 1: Below us, we could see the men leaping into the
15:59
Speaker 1: water by hundreds and striking out for the small cruisers
16:02
Speaker 1: and the one man fliers that lay moored about the
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Speaker 1: big ships. The larger craft were getting under way, following
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Speaker 1: us rapidly, but not rising from the water. A little
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Speaker 1: to your right, cried Exodar, for there are no points
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Speaker 1: of compass upon Omean, where every direction is due north.
16:18
Speaker 1: The pandemonium that had broken out below us was deafening.
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Speaker 1: Rifles cracked, Officers shouted orders, men yelled directions to one
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Speaker 1: another from the water and from the decks of the
16:28
Speaker 1: myriad boats, while through all ran the purr of countless propellers,
16:32
Speaker 1: cutting water and air. I had not dared pull my
16:35
Speaker 1: speed lever to the highest for fear of overrunning the
16:38
Speaker 1: mouth of the shaft that passed from Omean's dome to
16:41
Speaker 1: the world above. But even so we were hitting a
16:44
Speaker 1: clip that I doubt has ever been equalled on the
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Speaker 1: windless sea. The smaller fliers were commencing to rise towards
16:50
Speaker 1: us when Exodar shouted the shaft. The shaft dead ahead,
16:54
Speaker 1: and I saw the opening black and yawning in the
16:57
Speaker 1: glowing dome of this underworld. A man cruiser was rising
17:01
Speaker 1: directly in front to cut off our escape. It was
17:04
Speaker 1: the only vessel that stood in our way, but at
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Speaker 1: the rate that it was traveling, it would come between
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Speaker 1: us and the shaft in plenty of time to thwart
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Speaker 1: our plans. It was rising at an angle of about
17:14
Speaker 1: forty five degrees dead ahead of us, with the evident
17:16
Speaker 1: intention of combing us with grappling hooks from above. As
17:20
Speaker 1: it skimmed low over our deck, there was but one
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Speaker 1: forlorn hope for us, and I took it. It was
17:26
Speaker 1: useless to try to pass over her, for that would
17:29
Speaker 1: have allowed her to force us against the rocky dome above,
17:32
Speaker 1: and we were already too near that as it was.
17:35
Speaker 1: To have attempted to dive below her would have put
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Speaker 1: us entirely at her mercy and precisely where she wanted us.
17:41
Speaker 1: On either side, a hundred other menacing craft were hastening
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Speaker 1: toward us. The alternative was filled with risk. In fact,
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Speaker 1: it was all risk, with but a slender chance of success.
17:53
Speaker 1: As we neared the cruiser, I rose as though to
17:55
Speaker 1: pass above her, so that she would do just what
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Speaker 1: she did do rise at a deeper angle to force
18:01
Speaker 1: me still higher. Then, as we were almost upon her,
18:04
Speaker 1: I yelled to my companions to hold tight, and throwing
18:07
Speaker 1: the little vessel into her highest speed, I deflected her
18:10
Speaker 1: bows at the same instant, until we were running horizontally
18:14
Speaker 1: and at a terrific velocity, straight for the cruiser's keel.
18:18
Speaker 1: Her commander may have seen my intentions then, but it
18:21
Speaker 1: was too late. Almost at the instant of impact, I
18:24
Speaker 1: turned my bows upward, and then, with a shattering jolt,
18:27
Speaker 1: we were in collision. What I had hoped for happened.
18:30
Speaker 1: The cruiser, already tilted at a perilous angle, was carried
18:34
Speaker 1: completely over backward by the impact of my smaller vessel.
18:38
Speaker 1: Her crew fell twisting and screaming through the air to
18:40
Speaker 1: the water far below, while the cruiser, her propellers, still
18:44
Speaker 1: madly churning, dived swiftly head foremost after them to the
18:48
Speaker 1: bottom of the Sea of Omean. The collision crushed our
18:51
Speaker 1: steel boughs, and notwithstanding every effort on our part, came
18:55
Speaker 1: near to hurtling us from the deck. As it was,
18:57
Speaker 1: we landed in a wildly clutching heap at the very
19:01
Speaker 1: extremity of the flier, where Exodar and I succeeded in
19:04
Speaker 1: grasping the hand rail, But the boy would have plunged
19:07
Speaker 1: overboard had I not fortunately grasped his ankle, as he
19:11
Speaker 1: was already partially over unguided. Our vessel careened wildly in
19:15
Speaker 1: its mad flight, rising ever nearer the rocks above. It
19:19
Speaker 1: took but an instant, however, for me to regain the levers,
19:22
Speaker 1: and with the roof barely fifty feet above, I turned
19:25
Speaker 1: her nose once more into the horizontal plane and headed
19:28
Speaker 1: her again for the black mouth of the shaft. The
19:31
Speaker 1: collision had retarded our progress, and now a hundred swift
19:34
Speaker 1: scouts were close upon us. Exodar had told me that
19:37
Speaker 1: ascending the shaft by virtue of our repulsive rays alone
19:41
Speaker 1: would give our enemies their best chance to overtake us,
19:44
Speaker 1: since our propellers would be idle, and in rising we
19:46
Speaker 1: would be outclassed by many of our pursuers. The swifter
19:50
Speaker 1: craft are seldom equipped with large buoyancy tanks, since the
19:53
Speaker 1: added bulk of them tends to reduce a vessel's speed.
19:57
Speaker 1: As many boats were now quite close to us, it
19:59
Speaker 1: was in inevitable that we would be quickly overhauled in
20:03
Speaker 1: the shaft and captured or killed in short order. To me,
20:06
Speaker 1: there always seems a way to gain the opposite side
20:09
Speaker 1: of an obstacle. If one cannot pass over it, or
20:12
Speaker 1: below it, or around it, why then there is but
20:14
Speaker 1: a single alternative left, and that is to pass through it.
20:18
Speaker 1: I could not get around the fact that many of
20:20
Speaker 1: these other boats could rise faster than ours by the
20:23
Speaker 1: fact of their greater buoyancy. But I was none the
20:25
Speaker 1: less determined to reach the outer world far in advanced
20:28
Speaker 1: of them, or die death of my own choosing in
20:31
Speaker 1: event of failure, Reverse screamed, Exodar behind me, for the
20:35
Speaker 1: love of your first ancestor. Reverse, we are at the shaft.
20:39
Speaker 1: Hold tight, I screamed in reply. Grasp the boy and
20:42
Speaker 1: hold tight. We are going straight up the shaft. The
20:46
Speaker 1: words were scarce out of my mouth as we swept
20:48
Speaker 1: beneath the pitch black opening. I threw the bow hard up,
20:52
Speaker 1: dragged the speed lever to its last notch, and, clutching
20:55
Speaker 1: a stanchion with one hand and the steering wheel with
20:57
Speaker 1: the other, hung on like grim death, and can signed
21:00
Speaker 1: my soul to its author. I heard a little exclamation
21:04
Speaker 1: of surprise from exod, followed by a grim laugh. The
21:08
Speaker 1: boy laughed too, and said something which I could not catch.
21:10
Speaker 1: For the whistling of the wind of our awful speed.
21:13
Speaker 1: I looked above my head, hoping to catch the gleam
21:16
Speaker 1: of stars by which I could direct our course and
21:18
Speaker 1: hold the hurtling thing that bore us true to the
21:21
Speaker 1: center of the shaft. To have touched the side at
21:24
Speaker 1: the speed we were making would doubtless have resulted in
21:26
Speaker 1: instant death for us. All but not a star showed above,
21:30
Speaker 1: only utter and impenetrable darkness. Then I glanced below me,
21:34
Speaker 1: and there I saw a rapidly diminishing circle of light
21:37
Speaker 1: the mouth of the opening, above the phosphorescent radiance of Omean.
21:41
Speaker 1: By this I steered, endeavoring to keep the circle of
21:44
Speaker 1: light below me. Ever perfect, at best, it was but
21:47
Speaker 1: a slender cord that held us from destruction. And I
21:50
Speaker 1: think that I steered that night more by intuition and
21:52
Speaker 1: blind faith than by skill or reason. We were not
21:56
Speaker 1: long in the shaft, and possibly the very fact of
21:59
Speaker 1: our enormous speed saved us. For evidently we started in
22:02
Speaker 1: the right direction, and so quickly were we out again
22:06
Speaker 1: that we had no time to alter our course. Omean
22:09
Speaker 1: lies perhaps two miles below the surface crust of Mars.
22:12
Speaker 1: Our speed must have approximated two hundred miles an hour,
22:15
Speaker 1: for Martian flyers are swift, so that at most we
22:18
Speaker 1: were in the shaft not over forty seconds. We must
22:22
Speaker 1: have been out of it for some seconds before I
22:24
Speaker 1: realized that we had accomplished the impossible. Black darkness enshrouded
22:28
Speaker 1: all about us. There were neither moons nor stars. Never
22:32
Speaker 1: before had I seen such a thing upon Mars, and
22:34
Speaker 1: for the moment I was nonplussed. Then the explanation came
22:38
Speaker 1: to me. It was summer at the south pole, the
22:41
Speaker 1: ice cap was melting, and those meteoric phenomena clouds unknown
22:45
Speaker 1: upon the greater part of Barsoom were shutting out the
22:48
Speaker 1: light of Heaven from this portion of the planet. Fortunate,
22:51
Speaker 1: indeed it was for us, Nor did it take me
22:54
Speaker 1: long to grasp the opportunity for escape which this happy
22:57
Speaker 1: condition offered us. Keeping the boat's nose a stiff angle,
23:00
Speaker 1: I raised her for the impenetrable curtain which nature had
23:04
Speaker 1: hung above this dying world to shut us out from
23:06
Speaker 1: the sight of our pursuing enemies. We plunged through the
23:09
Speaker 1: cold camp fog without diminishing our speed, and in a
23:13
Speaker 1: moment emerged into the glorious light of the two moons
23:15
Speaker 1: and the million stars. I dropped into a horizontal course
23:18
Speaker 1: and headed due north. Our enemies were a good half
23:21
Speaker 1: hour behind us, with no conception of our direction. We
23:25
Speaker 1: had performed the miraculous and come through a thousand dangers, unscathed,
23:29
Speaker 1: we had escaped from the land of the First Born.
23:32
Speaker 1: No other prisoners in all the ages of Barsoom had
23:35
Speaker 1: done this thing. And now as I looked back upon it,
23:37
Speaker 1: it did not seem to have been so difficult. After all,
23:41
Speaker 1: I said as much to Exodur over my shoulder. It
23:44
Speaker 1: is very wonderful. Nevertheless, he replied, no one else could
23:47
Speaker 1: have accomplished it, but John Carter. At the sound of
23:50
Speaker 1: that name, the boy jumped to his feet. John Carter,
23:53
Speaker 1: he cried, John Carter. Why man, John Carter, Prince of Helium,
23:57
Speaker 1: has been dead for years, I am his End of
24:02
Speaker 1: Chapter thirteen,