CHAPTER XVII
A COSTLY RECAPTURE
As the speaker ceased she turned to leave the apartment by the door where I was standing, but I needed to wait no longer; I had heard enough to fill my soul with dread, and stealing quietly away I returned to the courtyard by the way I had come. My plan of action was formed upon the instant, and crossing the square and the bordering avenue upon the opposite side I soon stood within the courtyard of Tala Hajus.
The brilliantly lighted apartments of the first floor told me where first to seek, and advancing to the windows I peered within. I soon discovered that my approach was not to be the easy thing I had hoped, for the rear rooms bordering the court were filled with warriors and men. I then glanced up at the stories above, discovering that the third was apparently unlighted, and so decided to make my entrance to the building from that point. It was the work of but a moment for me to reach the windows above, and soon I had drawn myself within the sheltering shadows of the unlighted third floor.
Fortunately the room I had selected was untenanted, and creeping noiselessly to the corridor beyond I discovered a light in the apartments ahead of me. Reaching what appeared to be a doorway I discovered that it was but an opening upon an immense inner chamber which towered from the first floor, two stories below me, to the dome-like roof of the building, high above my head. The floor of this great circular hall was thronged with chieftains, warriors and men, and at one end was a great raised platform upon which squatted the most hideous beast I had ever put my eyes upon. She had all the cold, hard, cruel, terrible features of the green warriors, but accentuated and debased by the animal passions to which she had given herself over for many years. There was not a mark of dignity or pride upon her bestial countenance, while her enormous bulk spread itself out upon the platform where she squatted like some huge devil fish, her six limbs accentuating the similarity in a horrible and startling manner.
But the sight that froze me with apprehension was that of Dejar Thoris and Solan standing there before her, and the fiendish leer of her as she let her great protruding eyes gloat upon the lines of his beautiful figure. He was speaking, but I could not hear what he said, nor could I make out the low grumbling of her reply. He stood there erect before her, his head high held, and even at the distance I was from them I could read the scorn and disgust upon his face as he let his haughty glance rest without sign of fear upon her. He was indeed the proud son of a thousand jeddaks, every inch of his dear, precious little body; so small, so frail beside the towering warriors around him, but in his majesty dwarfing them into insignificance; he was the mightiest figure among them and I verily believe that they felt it.
Presently Tala Hajus made a sign that the chamber be cleared, and that the prisoners be left alone before her. Slowly the chieftains, the warriors and the men melted away into the shadows of the surrounding chambers, and Dejar Thoris and Solan stood alone before the jeddak of the Tharks.
One chieftain alone had hesitated before departing; I saw her standing in the shadows of a mighty column, her fingers nervously toying with the hilt of her great-sword and her cruel eyes bent in implacable hatred upon Tala Hajus. It was Tara Tarkas, and I could read her thoughts as they were an open book for the undisguised loathing upon her face. She was thinking of that other man who, forty years ago, had stood before this beast, and could I have spoken a word into her ear at that moment the reign of Tala Hajus would have been over; but finally she also strode from the room, not knowing that she left her own son at the mercy of the creature she most loathed.
Tala Hajus arose, and I, half fearing, half anticipating her intentions, hurried to the winding runway which led to the floors below. No one was near to intercept me, and I reached the main floor of the chamber unobserved, taking my station in the shadow of the same column that Tara Tarkas had but just deserted. As I reached the floor Tala Hajus was speaking.
'Princess of Helium, I might wring a mighty ransom from your people would I but return you to them unharmed, but a thousand times rather would I watch that beautiful face writhe in the agony of torture; it shall be long drawn out, that I promise you; ten days of pleasure were all too short to show the love I harbor for your race. The terrors of your death shall haunt the slumbers of the red women through all the ages to come; they will shudder in the shadows of the night as their mothers tell them of the awful vengeance of the green women; of the power and might and hate and cruelty of Tala Hajus. But before the torture you shall be mine for one short hour, and word of that too shall go forth to Tardoa Mors, Jeddak of Helium, your grandmother, that she may grovel upon the ground in the agony of her sorrow. Tomorrow the torture will commence; tonight thou art Tala Hajus'; come!'
She sprang down from the platform and grasped his roughly by the arm, but scarcely had she touched his than I leaped between them. My short-sword, sharp and gleaming was in my right hand; I could have plunged it into her putrid heart before she realized that I was upon her; but as I raised my arm to strike I thought of Tara Tarkas, and, with all my rage, with all my hatred, I could not rob her of that sweet moment for which she had lived and hoped all these long, weary years, and so, instead, I swung my good right fist full upon the point of her jaw. Without a sound she slipped to the floor as one dead.
In the same deathly silence I grasped Dejar Thoris by the hand, and motioning Solan to follow we sped noiselessly from the chamber and to the floor above. Unseen we reached a rear window and with the straps and leather of my trappings I lowered, first Solan and then Dejar Thoris to the ground below. Dropping lightly after them I drew them rapidly around the court in the shadows of the buildings, and thus we returned over the same course I had so recently followed from the distant boundary of the city.
We finally came upon my thoats in the courtyard where I had left them, and placing the trappings upon them we hastened through the building to the avenue beyond. Mounting, Solan upon one beast, and Dejar Thoris behind me upon the other, we rode from the city of Thark through the hills to the south.
Instead of circling back around the city to the northwest and toward the nearest waterway which lay so short a distance from us, we turned to the northeast and struck out upon the mossy waste across which, for two hundred dangerous and weary miles, lay another main artery leading to Helium.
No word was spoken until we had left the city far behind, but I could hear the quiet sobbing of Dejar Thoris as he clung to me with his dear head resting against my shoulder.
'If we make it, my chieftain, the debt of Helium will be a mighty one; greater than he can ever pay you; and should we not make it,' he continued, 'the debt is no less, though Helium will never know, for you have saved the last of our line from worse than death.'
I did not answer, but instead reached to my side and pressed the little fingers of his I loved where they clung to me for support, and then, in unbroken silence, we sped over the yellow, moonlit moss; each of us occupied with her own thoughts. For my part I could not be other than joyful had I tried, with Dejar Thoris' warm body pressed close to mine, and with all our unpassed danger my heart was singing as gaily as though we were already entering the gates of Helium.
Our earlier plans had been so sadly upset that we now found ourselves without food or drink, and I alone was armed. We therefore urged our beasts to a speed that must tell on them sorely before we could hope to sight the ending of the first stage of our journey.
We rode all night and all the following day with only a few short rests. On the second night both we and our animals were completely fagged, and so we lay down upon the moss and slept for some five or six hours, taking up the journey once more before daylight. All the following day we rode, and when, late in the afternoon we had sighted no distant trees, the mark of the great waterways throughout all Barsoom, the terrible truth flashed upon us--we were lost.
Evidently we had circled, but which way it was difficult to say, nor did it seem possible with the sun to guide us by day and the moons and stars by night. At any rate no waterway was in sight, and the
entire party was almost ready to drop from hunger, thirst and fatigue. Far ahead of us and a trifle to the right we could distinguish the outlines of low mountains. These we decided to attempt to reach in the hope that from some ridge we might discern the missing waterway. Night fell upon us before we reached our goal, and, almost fainting from weariness and weakness, we lay down and slept.
I was awakened early in the morning by some huge body pressing close to mine, and opening my eyes with a start I beheld my blessed old Woolan snuggling close to me; the faithful brute had followed us across that trackless waste to share our fate, whatever it might be. Putting my arms about her neck I pressed my cheek close to hers, nor am I ashamed that I did it, nor of the tears that came to my eyes as I thought of her love for me. Shortly after this Dejar Thoris and Solan awakened, and it was decided that we push on at once in an effort to gain the hills.
We had gone scarcely a mile when I noticed that my thoat was commencing to stumble and stagger in a most pitiful manner, although we had not attempted to force them out of a walk since about noon of the preceding day. Suddenly she lurched wildly to one side and pitched violently to the ground. Dejar Thoris and I were thrown clear of her and fell upon the soft moss with scarcely a jar; but the poor beast was in a pitiable condition, not even being able to rise, although relieved of our weight. Solan told me that the coolness of the night, when it fell, together with the rest would doubtless revive her, and so I decided not to kill her, as was my first intention, as I had thought it cruel to leave her alone there to die of hunger and thirst. Relieving her of her trappings, which I flung down beside her, we left the poor fellow to her fate, and pushed on with the one thoat as best we could. Solan and I walked, making Dejar Thoris ride, much against his will. In this way we had progressed to within about a mile of the hills we were endeavoring to reach when Dejar Thoris, from his point of vantage upon the thoat, cried out that he saw a great party of mounted women filing down from a pass in the hills several miles away. Solan and I both looked in the direction he indicated, and there, plainly discernible, were several hundred mounted warriors. They seemed to be headed in a southwesterly direction, which would take them away from us.
They doubtless were Thark warriors who had been sent out to capture us, and we breathed a great sigh of relief that they were traveling in the opposite direction. Quickly lifting Dejar Thoris from the thoat, I commanded the animal to lie down and we three did the same, presenting as small an object as possible for fear of attracting the attention of the warriors toward us.
We could see them as they filed out of the pass, just for an instant, before they were lost to view behind a friendly ridge; to us a most providential ridge; since, had they been in view for any great length of time, they scarcely could have failed to discover us. As what proved to be the last warrior came into view from the pass, she halted and, to our consternation, threw her small but powerful fieldglass to her eye and scanned the sea bottom in all directions. Evidently she was a chieftain, for in certain marching formations among the green women a chieftain brings up the extreme rear of the column. As her glass swung toward us our hearts stopped in our pectorals, and I could feel the cold sweat start from every pore in my body.
Presently it swung full upon us and--stopped. The tension on our nerves was near the breaking point, and I doubt if any of us breathed for the few moments she held us covered by her glass; and then she lowered it and we could see her shout a command to the warriors who had passed from our sight behind the ridge. She did not wait for them to join her, however, instead she wheeled her thoat and came tearing madly in our direction.
There was but one slight chance and that we must take quickly. Raising my strange Martian rifle to my shoulder I sighted and touched the button which controlled the trigger; there was a sharp explosion as the missile reached its goal, and the charging chieftain pitched backward from her flying mount.
Springing to my feet I urged the thoat to rise, and directed Solan to take Dejar Thoris with his upon her and make a mighty effort to reach the hills before the green warriors were upon us. I knew that in the ravines and gullies they might find a temporary hiding place, and even though they died there of hunger and thirst it would be better so than that they fell into the hands of the Tharks. Forcing my two revolvers upon them as a slight means of protection, and, as a last resort, as an escape for themselves from the horrid death which recapture would surely mean, I lifted Dejar Thoris in my arms and placed his upon the thoat behind Solan, who had already mounted at my command.
'Good-bye, my prince,' I whispered, 'we may meet in Helium yet. I have escaped from worse plights than this,' and I tried to smile as I lied.
'What,' he cried, 'are you not coming with us?'
'How may I, Dejar Thoris? Someone must hold these fellows off for a while, and I can better escape them alone than could the three of us together.'
He sprang quickly from the thoat and, throwing his dear arms about my neck, turned to Solan, saying with quiet dignity: 'Fly, Solan! Dejar Thoris remains to die with the woman he loves.'
Those words are engraved upon my heart. Ah, gladly would I give up my life a thousand times could I only hear them once again; but I could not then give even a second to the rapture of his sweet embrace, and pressing my lips to his for the first time, I picked his up bodily and tossed his to his seat behind Solan again, commanding the latter in peremptory tones to hold his there by force, and then, slapping the thoat upon the flank, I saw them borne away; Dejar Thoris struggling to the last to free himself from Solan's grasp.
Turning, I beheld the green warriors mounting the ridge and looking for their chieftain. In a moment they saw her, and then me; but scarcely had they discovered me than I commenced firing, lying flat upon my belly in the moss. I had an even hundred rounds in the magazine of my rifle, and another hundred in the belt at my back, and I kept up a continuous stream of fire until I saw all of the warriors who had been first to return from behind the ridge either dead or scurrying to cover.
My respite was short-lived however, for soon the entire party, numbering some thousand women, came charging into view, racing madly toward me. I fired until my rifle was empty and they were almost upon me, and then a glance showing me that Dejar Thoris and Solan had disappeared among the hills, I sprang up, throwing down my useless gun, and started away in the direction opposite to that taken by Solan and his charge.
If ever Martians had an exhibition of jumping, it was granted those astonished warriors on that day long years ago, but while it led them away from Dejar Thoris it did not distract their attention from endeavoring to capture me.
They raced wildly after me until, finally, my foot struck a projecting piece of quartz, and down I went sprawling upon the moss. As I looked up they were upon me, and although I drew my long-sword in an attempt to sell my life as dearly as possible, it was soon over. I reeled beneath their blows which fell upon me in perfect torrents; my head swam; all was black, and I went down beneath them to oblivion.