A Princess of Mars Rethroned (6 page)

The creatures
were about ten or fifteen feet tall, standing erect, and had, like
the green Martians, an intermediary set of arms or legs, midway
between their upper and lower limbs. Their eyes were close together
and non-protruding; their ears were high set, but more laterally
located than those of the Martians, while their snouts and teeth
were strikingly like those of our African gorilla. Altogether they
were not unlovely when viewed in comparison with the green
Martians.

The cudgel was
swinging in the arc which ended upon my upturned face when a bolt
of myriad-legged horror hurled itself through the doorway full upon
the breast of my executioner. With a shriek of fear the ape which
held me leaped through the open window, but its mate closed in a
terrific death struggle with my preserver, which was nothing less
than my faithful watch-thing; I cannot bring myself to call so
hideous a creature a dog.

As quickly as
possible I gained my feet and backing against the wall I witnessed
such a battle as it is vouchsafed few beings to see. The strength,
agility, and blind ferocity of these two creatures is approached by
nothing known to earthly woman. My beast had an advantage in her
first hold, having sunk her mighty fangs far into the breast of her
adversary; but the great arms and paws of the ape, backed by
muscles far transcending those of the Martian women I had seen, had
locked the throat of my guardian and slowly were choking out her
life, and bending back her head and neck upon her body, where I
momentarily expected the former to fall limp at the end of a broken
neck.

In accomplishing
this the ape was tearing away the entire front of its breast, which
was held in the vise-like grip of the powerful jaws. Back and forth
upon the floor they rolled, neither one emitting a sound of fear or
pain. Presently I saw the great eyes of my beast bulging completely
from their sockets and blood flowing from its nostrils. That she
was weakening perceptibly was evident, but so also was the ape,
whose struggles were growing momentarily less.

Suddenly I came
to myself and, with that strange instinct which seems ever to
prompt me to my duty, I seized the cudgel, which had fallen to the
floor at the commencement of the battle, and swinging it with all
the power of my earthly arms I crashed it full upon the head of the
ape, crushing her skull as though it had been an
eggshell.

Scarcely had the
blow descended when I was confronted with a new danger. The ape's
mate, recovered from its first shock of terror, had returned to the
scene of the encounter by way of the interior of the building. I
glimpsed her just before she reached the doorway and the sight of
her, now roaring as she perceived her lifeless fellow stretched
upon the floor, and frothing at the mouth, in the extremity of her
rage, filled me, I must confess, with dire forebodings.

I am ever willing
to stand and fight when the odds are not too overwhelmingly against
me, but in this instance I perceived neither glory nor profit in
pitting my relatively puny strength against the iron muscles and
brutal ferocity of this enraged denizen of an unknown world; in
fact, the only outcome of such an encounter, so far as I might be
concerned, seemed sudden death.

I was standing
near the window and I knew that once in the street I might gain the
plaza and safety before the creature could overtake me; at least
there was a chance for safety in flight, against almost certain
death should I remain and fight however desperately.

It is true I held
the cudgel, but what could I do with it against her four great
arms? Even should I break one of them with my first blow, for I
figured that she would attempt to ward off the cudgel, she could
reach out and annihilate me with the others before I could recover
for a second attack.

In the instant
that these thoughts passed through my mind I had turned to make for
the window, but my eyes alighting on the form of my erstwhile
guardian threw all thoughts of flight to the four winds. She lay
gasping upon the floor of the chamber, her great eyes fastened upon
me in what seemed a pitiful appeal for protection. I could not
withstand that look, nor could I, on second thought, have deserted
my rescuer without giving as good an account of myself in her
behalf as she had in mine.

Without more ado,
therefore, I turned to meet the charge of the infuriated bull ape.
She was now too close upon me for the cudgel to prove of any
effective assistance, so I merely threw it as heavily as I could at
her advancing bulk. It struck her just below the knees, eliciting a
howl of pain and rage, and so throwing her off her balance that she
lunged full upon me with arms wide stretched to ease her
fall.

Again, as on the
preceding day, I had recourse to earthly tactics, and swinging my
right fist full upon the point of her chin I followed it with a
smashing left to the pit of her stomach. The effect was marvelous,
for, as I lightly sidestepped, after delivering the second blow,
she reeled and fell upon the floor doubled up with pain and gasping
for wind. Leaping over her prostrate body, I seized the cudgel and
finished the monster before she could regain her feet.

As I delivered
the blow a low laugh rang out behind me, and, turning, I beheld
Tara Tarkas, Solan, and three or four warriors standing in the
doorway of the chamber. As my eyes met theirs I was, for the second
time, the recipient of their zealously guarded applause.

My absence had
been noted by Solan on his awakening, and he had quickly informed
Tara Tarkas, who had set out immediately with a handful of warriors
to search for me. As they had approached the limits of the city
they had witnessed the actions of the bull ape as she bolted into
the building, frothing with rage.

They had followed
immediately behind her, thinking it barely possible that her
actions might prove a clew to my whereabouts and had witnessed my
short but decisive battle with her. This encounter, together with
my set-to with the Martian warrior on the previous day and my feats
of jumping placed me upon a high pinnacle in their regard.
Evidently devoid of all the finer sentiments of friendship, love,
or affection, these people fairly worship physical prowess and
bravery, and nothing is too good for the object of their adoration
as long as she maintains her position by repeated examples of her
skill, strength, and courage.

Solan, who had
accompanied the searching party of his own volition, was the only
one of the Martians whose face had not been twisted in laughter as
I battled for my life. He, on the contrary, was sober with apparent
solicitude and, as soon as I had finished the monster, rushed to me
and carefully examined my body for possible wounds or injuries.
Satisfying himself that I had come off unscathed he smiled quietly,
and, taking my hand, started toward the door of the
chamber.

Tara Tarkas and
the other warriors had entered and were standing over the now
rapidly reviving brute which had saved my life, and whose life I,
in turn, had rescued. They seemed to be deep in argument, and
finally one of them addressed me, but remembering my ignorance of
her language turned back to Tara Tarkas, who, with a word and
gesture, gave some command to the fellow and turned to follow us
from the room.

There seemed
something menacing in their attitude toward my beast, and I
hesitated to leave until I had learned the outcome. It was well I
did so, for the warrior drew an evil looking pistol from its
holster and was on the point of putting an end to the creature when
I sprang forward and struck up her arm. The bullet striking the
wooden casing of the window exploded, blowing a hole completely
through the wood and masonry.

I then knelt down
beside the fearsome-looking thing, and raising it to its feet
motioned for it to follow me. The looks of surprise which my
actions elicited from the Martians were ludicrous; they could not
understand, except in a feeble and childish way, such attributes as
gratitude and compassion. The warrior whose gun I had struck up
looked enquiringly at Tara Tarkas, but the latter signed that I be
left to my own devices, and so we returned to the plaza with my
great beast following close at heel, and Solan grasping me tightly
by the arm.

I had at least
two friends on Mars; a young man who watched over me with motherly
solicitude, and a dumb brute which, as I later came to know, held
in its poor ugly carcass more love, more loyalty, more gratitude
than could have been found in the entire five million green
Martians who rove the deserted cities and dead sea bottoms of
Mars.

CHAPTER
VII

CHILD-RAISING ON
MARS

After a
breakfast, which was an exact replica of the meal of the preceding
day and an index of practically every meal which followed while I
was with the green women of Mars, Solan escorted me to the plaza,
where I found the entire community engaged in watching or helping
at the harnessing of huge mastodonian animals to great
three-wheeled chariots. There were about two hundred and fifty of
these vehicles, each drawn by a single animal, any one of which,
from their appearance, might easily have drawn the entire wagon
train when fully loaded.

The chariots
themselves were large, commodious, and gorgeously decorated. In
each was seated a male Martian loaded with ornaments of metal, with
jewels and silks and furs, and upon the back of each of the beasts
which drew the chariots was perched a young Martian driver. Like
the animals upon which the warriors were mounted, the heavier draft
animals wore neither bit nor bridle, but were guided entirely by
telepathic means.

This power is
wonderfully developed in all Martians, and accounts largely for the
simplicity of their language and the relatively few spoken words
exchanged even in long conversations. It is the universal language
of Mars, through the medium of which the higher and lower animals
of this world of paradoxes are able to communicate to a greater or
less extent, depending upon the intellectual sphere of the species
and the development of the individual.

As the cavalcade
took up the line of march in single file, Solan dragged me into an
empty chariot and we proceeded with the procession toward the point
by which I had entered the city the day before. At the head of the
caravan rode some two hundred warriors, five abreast, and a like
number brought up the rear, while twenty-five or thirty outriders
flanked us on either side.

Every one but
myself--men, men, and children--were heavily armed, and at the tail
of each chariot trotted a Martian hound, my own beast following
closely behind ours; in fact, the faithful creature never left me
voluntarily during the entire ten years I spent on Mars. Our way
led out across the little valley before the city, through the
hills, and down into the dead sea bottom which I had traversed on
my journey from the incubator to the plaza. The incubator, as it
proved, was the terminal point of our journey this day, and, as the
entire cavalcade broke into a mad gallop as soon as we reached the
level expanse of sea bottom, we were soon within sight of our
goal.

On reaching it
the chariots were parked with military precision on the four sides
of the enclosure, and half a score of warriors, headed by the
enormous chieftain, and including Tara Tarkas and several other
lesser chiefs, dismounted and advanced toward it. I could see Tara
Tarkas explaining something to the principal chieftain, whose name,
by the way, was, as nearly as I can translate it into English,
Lorqua Ptomel, Jed; jed being her title.

I was soon
appraised of the subject of their conversation, as, calling to
Solan, Tara Tarkas signed for his to send me to her. I had by this
time mastered the intricacies of walking under Martian conditions,
and quickly responding to her command I advanced to the side of the
incubator where the warriors stood.

As I reached
their side a glance showed me that all but a very few eggs had
hatched, the incubator being fairly alive with the hideous little
devils. They ranged in height from three to four feet, and were
moving restlessly about the enclosure as though searching for
food.

As I came to a
halt before her, Tara Tarkas pointed over the incubator and said,
'Sak.' I saw that she wanted me to repeat my performance of
yesterday for the edification of Lorqua Ptomel, and, as I must
confess that my prowess gave me no little satisfaction, I responded
quickly, leaping entirely over the parked chariots on the far side
of the incubator. As I returned, Lorqua Ptomel grunted something at
me, and turning to her warriors gave a few words of command
relative to the incubator. They paid no further attention to me and
I was thus permitted to remain close and watch their operations,
which consisted in breaking an opening in the wall of the incubator
large enough to permit of the exit of the young
Martians.

On either side of
this opening the men and the younger Martians, both female and
male, formed two solid walls leading out through the chariots and
quite away into the plain beyond. Between these walls the little
Martians scampered, wild as deer; being permitted to run the full
length of the aisle, where they were captured one at a time by the
men and older children; the last in the line capturing the first
little one to reach the end of the gauntlet, his opposite in the
line capturing the second, and so on until all the little fellows
had left the enclosure and been appropriated by some youth or male.
As the men caught the young they fell out of line and returned to
their respective chariots, while those who fell into the hands of
the young women were later turned over to some of the
men.