Edgar Rice Burroughs - Mars Chronicles 11 - John Carter of M

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John Carter of MarsJOHN CARTER OF MARS

EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS

Contents

Introduction

John Carter and the Giant of Mars

Abduction

The Search

Joog, the Giant

The City of Rats

Chamber of Horrors

Pew Mogel

The Flying Terror

The Reptile Pit

Attack on Helium

Two Thousand Parachutes

A Daring Plan

The Fate of a Nation

Panic

Adventure's End

Skeleton Men of Jupiter

Foreword

Betrayed

U Dan

The Morgors of Sasoom...

...And the Savators

I Would Be a Traitor

Escape!

Pho Lar

In the Arena

To Zanor!

[About this etext]

INTRODUCTION

THE PUBLICATION OF JOHN CARTER OF MARS is an historic event for a number of

reasons.

First, and most obviously, it is the long and eagerly awaited "eleventh book" of

the Martian series by Edgar Rice Burroughs. For sixteen years, ever since the

appearance of LLANA OF GATHOL, the tenth book in the series and the last of

Burroughs' works to see print during the author's life, there has been a

constant desire by his many followers to see the two remaining Barsoomian

adventures appear in book form. They are at last available, in the present

volume, to Burroughs' myriad fans and admirers.

The second historical aspect of JOHN CARTER OF MARS is its very name. Although

JOHN CARTER OF MARS is a "natural" title for a book in the Martian series, it

was never so used by Burroughs himself. It has been applied to a number of

adaptations of the Barsoomian tales, including two completely different

children's books and a comic magazine, but has never before been used as the

title of a "real" book.

Regarding the two short novels (or novellas, or novelettes, or even long short

stories, the title is not worth the quibble) that make up JOHN CARTER OF MARS,

each has a fascinating tale of its own, quite aside from the story content

itself.

John Carter and the Giant of Mars (or Giant for short) first appeared in AMAZING

STORIES magazine for January, 1941, and created an immediate furore. Dozens of

readers wrote to the magazine challenging the authenticity of the story, which

was stoutly defended by Raymond A. Palmer, the editor. The complaints were based

mainly on two points.

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For one, many of Burroughs' more dedicated and scholarly devotees found points

on which the setting of Giant conflicted with the pseudo-world Burroughs ad

constructed in the rest of the series. Specifically, there is the use of the

three-legged rat in Giant, whereas Burroughs had quite graphically described the

Martian rat, or ulsio, in CHESSMEN OF MARS, as "fierce and unlovely ...

many-legged and hairless."

Similarly, the imaginary geography of Giant has been criticized as placing

cities in regions where other stories indicate only deserts or swamps, and

including, without explanation, imaginary creatures and devices present in no

other Barsoomian tale.

Another objection to Giant is the fact that it is narrated in the third person,

while the Martian series was customarily told in first person. This charge,

however, fails on two books, the fourth and fifth in the series. The fourth

book, THUVIA, MAID OF MARS, is told in standard third-person style. The fifth,

CHESSMEN, opens with an introduction in which Edgar Rice Burroughs recounts, in

first person, the circumstances in which John Carter told him, Burroughs, the

tale contained in the book.

The story CHESSMEN is told in third person, but this argument against Giant is

mitigated by the first person introduction. Not so with THUVIA, which pretty

thoroughly demolishes the "first-person / third-person" case against Giant.

In planning the current book, JOHN CARTER OF MARS, it was my hope to verify or

refute the charges against Giant of Mars once and for all. In order to do this,

I wrote directly to Ray Palmer and asked him outright whether (a) the story had

actually been written by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and (b) if it had, whether or not

Palmer or anyone else had tampered with the manuscript before publication; or

Simultaneously I wrote to Hulbert Burroughs, the author's son, and asked him to

check through his father's files and records, and determine if possible (a)

whether his father did write Giant and (b) if he did, whether a copy of the

manuscript still existed for purposes of comparison with the magazine version.

Palmer's reply was the first to arrive, and in it he stated that (a) the story

had indeed been written by Burroughs and (b) no one had changed it in any way

prior to publication. Unfortunately, according to Palmer, the manuscript had

been kept in the files of the Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, publisher of

AMAZING STORIES, and had been destroyed some years later in a records-clearance

move.

An initial reply from Hulbert Burroughs was equally mystifying – a search of the

records of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., had produced an entry for the sale of

John Carter and the Giant of Mars to Ziff-Davis. But an examination of ERB's

notebook, in which the author usually kept painstaking track of starting,

completion, and revision dates of all his stories, did not uncover the expected

entry for Giant.

More or less reconciled, by now, to permanent mystification regarding the

authorship of Giant, I was surprised and gratified to receive a further

communication from Hulbert Burroughs, unravelling the mystery at last. Hulbert

had continued to investigate both business and personal records of his father,

and had discussed the question with other members of the Burroughs family. The

story which was pieced together is this:

In 1940 the Whitman Publishing Company, which had published children's

adaptations of a number of Tarzan stories with great success, asked ERB for a

"Big Little Book" featuring John Carter. The Big Little Books were a children's

series following an extremely rigid format: stories had to be 15,000 words in

length, and so constructed that they could be published with alternating pages

of text and drawings, each picture illustrating the action depicted on the

facing page of text.

Edgar Rice Burroughs felt uncomfortable writing to the strict formula of this

series, and so he asked his son John Coleman Burroughs, who was also the

illustrator of the book, to collaborate with him in producing the story. The

result was a tale, essentially similar to John Carter and the Giant of Mars,

which appeared under the Whitman impress with the same title as the present

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volume: JOHN CARTER OF MARS.

At the same time, Ray Palmer of AMAZING STORIES was seeking a new Barsoomian

adventure from ERB, to feature in his magazine. Taking the as-yet unpublished

collaboration as his basis, Edgar Rice Burroughs lengthened it by some 5000

words and adapted it "upward" for adult readership, producing finally John

Carter and the Giant of Mars.

The longer version appeared in AMAZING and the shorter one in the Whitman book.

The text used in the present volume is the AMAZING version.

Skeleton Men of Jupiter, the second story in this book, offers no such problem

as does Giant of Mars. By contrast with Giant, Skeleton Men received nothing but

extravagant praise from readers at the time of its first appearance in AMAZING

in February, 1943. Its name may sound odd for a "Martian" story, and indeed,

most of the action of Skeleton Men takes place not on Mars, but on Jupiter.

However, the hero is John Carter, and the basic story rationale is part of the

Martian series, so the tale well fits into the present book.

Skeleton Men of Jupiter was intended by Burroughs as the opening episode of the

group of interconnected novelettes, probably to number four, which would have

become a John Carter novel in the fashion of LLANA OF GATHOL or the Carson

Napier book ESCAPE ON VENUS. This form of quasiserialization was one with which

Burroughs experimented quite successfully in the early 1940s.

However, wartime service as a correspondent in the Pacific reduced Burroughs'

fiction output nearly to zero, and after the end of the war his health prevented

ERB from resuming his former pace. As a result, the continuing episodes of John

Carter's Jupiterian adventure were never written. Still, Skeleton Men is a

complete adventure story, and an excellent one.

Writing (or at least dreaming) its sequels has become a favorite pastime of

Burroughs fans over the years, and the reader is invited to join in the fun.

The Foreword of Skeleton Men of Jupiter, by the way, is published here for the

first time. When the magazine version of the story appeared twenty-one years

ago, the editor may have felt that a Foreword would serve only to put off

readers, while a policy of "On with the story" above all else, would have

greater commercial appeal.

He may well have been right for the pulp magazine audience of a generation ago,

but assuming the readers of books to have a slightly more serious and patient

outlook on literature, I have restored the Foreword, obtaining its text from a

photostat of ERB's original manuscript, kindly furnished by Hulbert Burroughs.

If you are completely intolerant of forewords and wish, like the magazine

audience of 1943, to plunge directly into the narration, you are welcome to skip

the first 132 words of Skeleton Men of Jupiter. I personally find them a

charming prelude and a minor but fascinating insight into the personality of

Edgar Rice Burroughs, science-fictioneer.

The Martian series, of which this book is the final volume, is regarded by many

readers as Burroughs' greatest sustained performance as a writer. Of course his

Tarzan stories are the more famous, due largely to the popularity of their

motion-picture adaptations. And there are many moments of excellence in the

Venus and Pellucidar series, as there are in such "singles" as THE MOON MEN, THE

MUCKER, THE LAND THAT TIME FORGOT, and I AM A BARBARIAN.

Still, for eleven volumes, the adventures of Captain John Carter of Virginia,

upon the planet Barsoom, and the comparable deeds of heroism performed by

Burroughs' other Martian heroes, represent a series of tales unmatched in their

author's works, and, for that matter, unequalled in the annals of

science-fiction adventure writing

The first three volumes in the series, originally appearing between 1912 and

1914, actually constitute a single super-epic. In them, John Carter, a

Confederate officer mustered out of service at the close of the Civil War, is

miraculously transported to the planet Mars, known to its inhabitants as

Barsoom. He arrives in the middle of a desert, naked and unarmed, wholly

ignorant of local customs and conditions, unable to speak the language of the

natives (in fact, knowing nothing about the natives, or even that there are

any). Shortly encountering a group of barbarian nomads, John Carter is taken

prisoner, and would seem to face a life of degraded slavery ending in early and

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ignominious death.

Instead, through the display of courage and skill, Captain Carter rises to the

position of Warlord of Mars, having along the way fought his way from pole to

pole of the red planet, returned to Earth for a period of several years and then

travelled again to Barsoom, encountered a variety of strange races of men and

beasts, weird nations and weirder peoples. He has, in addition, gained the

lesser title of Prince of Helium (not the inert gas, but the leading city-empire

of Barsoom), and has won the hand of the incomparable Dejah Thoris, Princess of

Helium.

The volumes in this trilogy are A PRINCESS OF MARS, THE GODS OF MARS, and THE

WARLORD OF MARS. Their enduring qualities have led to their translation into

many languages, including even an Esperanto edition of PRINCESS. Further, the

same book has been issued by Oxford University Press in its "Stories Told and

Retold" series, as a "teaching novel" for school use. Other authors in the

"Stories Told and Retold" series include Dickens' Doyle, Shakespeare, Stevenson,

Defoe, Wells, Sabatini, Anthony Hope, and Nordoff and Hall.

A mixed roll, these, and yet all have in common the characteristic of a literary

quality which endures beyond their times, and makes their works part of the

enduring body of the literature of the English language which stands a solid

chance of living for centuries to come. The presence here of Burroughs' A

PRINCESS OF MARS is perhaps the first important sign that this author, whose

works have enjoyed public acclaim from the first, is beginning to receive the

acceptance of educators and serious critics as well.

Having raised Carter, in three books, from a naked and unarmed stranger to the

Warlord of the red planet, Burroughs faced the question, What do you do for an

encore? Faced with the same question in his Tarzan series, Burroughs carried the

Ape Man off into a seemingly interminable series of exotic settings, lost cities

and forgotten empires dotting the African landscape so that they must ultimately

have crowded one another into the sea!

In the Martian series, ERB tried another approach, I think a more daring one,

and a completely successful one. Transferring his attention from John Carter and

Dejah Thoris, Burroughs called the fourth book of the series TRUVIA, MAID OF

MARS. The title figure had been introduced in THE GODS OF MARS as an equivocal

character. She was the plaything of the degenerate group of cultist priests,

involuntarily so, in fact the term "white slave" might be applied except that

for Thuvia, it would have to be "red slave."

Rescued by John Carter from her unhappy life, Thuvia at the end of the book is

imprisoned with Dejah Thoris and a third Martian woman, the beautiful but

treacherous Phaidor, in a sort of horizontal ferris wheel which is a Martian

prison. Entrance to or exit from each cell is blocked for a year at a time as

the giant wheel rotates through a huge hollow rock. As the cell containing the

three women passes from sight, Phaidor lunges at Dejah Thoris with a murderous

knife-thrust, Thuvia throws herself between the two, seeking to save Dejah

Thoris, and ... The tag line is not "continued in the next thrilling

installment," but "continued in the next thrilling book, THE WARLORD OF MARS."

But Dejah Thoris and Thuvia escape, of. course, and by the book following

WARLORD, Thuvia had reached the status not only of lead heroine, but of title

character, an honor shared with Dejah Thoris herself (the princess of PRINCESS)

and with the granddaughter of John Carter and Dejah Thoris, LLANA OF GATHOL

(tenth volume of the series). The action of THUVIA, MAID OF MARS, is no mere

rehash of the adventures of John Carter, but blazes new trails across the

Barsoomian horizon. The novel is full of invention and intrigue, the most

brilliant probably being the Bowmen of Lothar, a phantom army of archers created

by the sheer mental power of the Lotharians to counter the aggression of the

Warhoons, their hereditary enemies.

THUVIA was first published in 1916, and following it, Burroughs turned his

attention to other matters, including several books in his Tarzan and Pellucidar

series, as well as several "singles." In 1922 he resumed the Martian series,

producing THE CHESSMEN OF MARS. Again, Burroughs changed focus, this time making

his hero Gahan of Gathol, a Martian noble, with the heroine this time Tara of

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Helium, the younger sister of Carthoris. Again, not mere action and adventure,

but wondrous creations of imagination mark the book. The outstanding creations

of CHESSMEN may well be the rykors and the kaldanes, inhabitants of the city of

Bantoom.

Strange symbiotes, these two races, the rykors resemble headless humans, while

the kaldanes are little more than animated heads, provided by evolution with

chelae with which they attach themselves to rykors and control the bodies. A

kaldane might change bodies any time he felt like it, even "being" a man one day

and a woman the next!

THE MASTER MIND OF MARS, next in the series, appeared in the AMAZING STORIES

ANNUAL for 1927, and introduces a marvelous new hero in the person of Ulysses S.

Paxton, a U.S. Army captain apparently killed in the trenches in World War I,

but whisked miraculously, instead, to Mars. Here he experiences a strange

adventure with Ras Thavas, a brilliant Martian surgeon who has perfected the

surgical transfer of the brain from one human to another. Valla Dia, a lovely

Martian girl, is victimized by Ras Thavas, being forced into an exchange of

bodies with the hideous Queen Xaxa. The action which ensues leads ultimately to

the regaining by Valla Dia of her rightful body, and her marriage to Paxton (who

has been dubbed with the Barsoomian appellation of Vad Varo).

The seventh book of the series, A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS, is reported to Earth via

a sort of super radio called the Gridley Wave. The narration is somewhat

complicated. An introduction by Burroughs explains that the story recorded in

the book was told him (via Gridley Wave) by Ulysses Paxton/Vad Varo. But Paxton

had the story from its own central character, Tan Hadron of Hastor (a city

enjoying a certain degree of self-rule but within the empire of Helium and

subject to Helium's authority).

A FIGHTING MAN OF MARS perhaps epitomizes that form of science fiction formerly

known as the "scientific romance," a tale of high action and wonder in which

science is the basis of the situation, but plays little part in the development

of the story. Tan Hadron faces peril and horror, travels to two marvelous hidden

cities, faces a maddened monarch who specializes in torturing beautiful maidens,

is sentenced to a form of execution known only as The Death, traverses a forest

inhabited by giant spiders ... and in general has a rollicking swash-buckling

time to the reader's utter delight!

In SWORDS OF MARS, serialized in BLUE BOOK magazine in 1934 and '35, Burroughs

returned to John Carter as hero. The novel features an astonishing prediction of

the automatic control of experimental space craft by computers, including the

size, placement, functioning and even programming characteristics of the

electronic guidance devices being built today, to guide the rockets that will

carry first instruments and then Man to the planets. What a joy if one of those

manned rockets set out for Mars and found Barsoom instead!

In SWORDS OF MARS the space ship is used to carry Carter and a number of others

from the city of Zodanga on Mars to the Martian moon Thuria (Phobos). Here

Carter encounters still more strange people and strange beasts, before returning

to Barsoom.

SYNTHETIC MEN OF MARS (1939) is the final actual novel of the series, has a new

hero again, Vor Daj, and calls Ras Thavas back from retirement to make new

mischief. The problem arises from Ras Thavas's attempt, Frankenstein-like, to

create artificial life. He succeeds, but produces only monsters, who revolt and

attempt to take over the entire planet.

Neither the most imaginative nor the best written of the Martian series,

SYNTHETIC MEN is nonetheless a compelling story, sufficiently suspenseful and

adequately packed with conflict and action to make it well worth reading.

The tenth book in the series, LLANA OF GATHOL, is not a novel but a collection

of four novelettes, loosely intertwined. All are excellent, perhaps the best

being a tale originally published as The City of Mummies, and called in LLANA

The Ancient Dead. In it, scores of ancient Martians are discovered, preserved

for millenia in a trance-like state, Awakened, they find their world gone, their

city dead. It is a touching and melancholy scene, and marks a high point in a

generally excellent book.

Finally, of course, the present volume, JOHN CARTER OF MARS, containing one

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unconnected tale and another which was intended as the opener of a new cycle of

adventures, adventures fated never to be written.

A final note now concerning John Carter and the Giant of Mars. In the magazine

version of two decades ago there were a number of footnotes, signed "Ed." It is

not known today whether this "Ed." was Raymond A. Palmer, editor of AMAZING

STORIES, or Edgar Rice Burroughs, who sometimes described himself as merely the

"editor" of John Carter's true adventures, rather than as an author. These

footnotes are retained in the present edition, the reader is free to form his

own opinion regarding their authenticity.

To the reader who regards science fiction as a sugarcoated course in chemistry

and physics equally as to the one who seeks only serious sociological

extrapolation, Burroughs' Martian novels will prove unsatisfactory.

But to the reader who seeks magnificent adventure in an endlessly imaginative,

exotic setting, these books without question represent an all-time high in the

field.

RICHARD A. LUPOFF

New York City

Jasoom

June, 1964

One

ABDUCTION

THE MOONS OF MARS looked down upon a giant Martian thoat as it raced silently

over the soft mossy ground. Eight powerful legs carried the creature forward in

great, leaping strides.

The path of the mighty beast was guided telepathically by the two people who sat

in a huge saddle that was cinched to the thoat's broad back.

It was the custom of Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, to ride forth weekly to

inspect part of her grandfather's vast farming and industrial kingdom.

Her journey to the farm lands wound through the lonely Helium Forest where grow

the huge trees that furnish much of the lumber supply to the civilized nations

of Mars.

Dawn was just breaking in the eastern Martian sky, and the jungle was dark and

still damp with the evening dew. The gloom of the forest made Dejah Thoris

thankful for the presence of her companion, who rode in the saddle in front of

her. Her hands rested on his broad, bronze shoulders, and the feel of those

smooth, supple muscles gave her a little thrill of confidence. One of his hands

rested on the jewel-encrusted hilt of his great long sword; and he sat his

saddle very straight, for he was the mightiest warrior on Mars.

John Carter turned to gaze at the lovely face of his princess.

"Frightened, Dejah Thoris?" he asked.

"Never, when I am with my chieftain," Dejah Thoris smiled.

"But what of the forest monsters, the arboks?"

"Grandfather has had them all removed. On the last trip, my guard killed the

only tree reptile I've ever seen."

Suddenly Dejah Thoris gasped, clutched vainly at John Carter to regain her

balance. The mighty thoat lurched heavily to the mossy ground. The riders

catapulted over his head. In an instant the two had regained their feet; but the

thoat lay very still.

Carter jerked his long sword from its scabbard and motioned Dejah Thoris to stay

at his back.

The silence of the forest was abruptly shattered by an uncanny roar directly

above them.

"An arbok!" Dejah Thoris cried.

The tree reptile launched itself straight for the hated man-things. Carter

lifted his sword and swung quickly to one side, drawing the monster's attention

away from Dejah Thoris who crouched behind the fallen thoat.

The earthman's first thrust sliced harmlessly through the beast's outer skin. A

huge claw knocked him off balance, and he found himself lying on the ground with

the great fangs at his throat.

"Dejah Thoris, get the atom gun from the thoat's back," Carter called hoarsely

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to the girl. There was no answer.

Calling upon every ounce of his great strength, Carter drove his sword into the

arbok's neck. The creature shuddered. A stream of blood gushed from the wound.

The man wriggled from under the dead body and sprang to his feet.

"Dejah Thoris! Dejah Thoris!"

Wildly Carter searched the ground and trees surrounding the dead thoat and

arbok. There was no sign of Dejah Thoris. She had utterly vanished.

A shaft of light from the rising sun filtering through the foliage glistened on

an object at the earthman's feet. Carter picked up a large shell, a shell

recently ejected from a silent atom gun.

Springing to the dead thoat, he examined the saddle trappings. The atom gun that

he had told Dejah Thoris to fire was still in its leather boot!

The earthman stooped beside the dead thoat's head. There was a tiny, bloody hole

through its skull. That shot and the charging arbok had been part of a well

conceived plan to abduct Dejah Thoris, and kill him!

But Dejah Thoris – how had she disappeared so quickly, so completely?

Grimly, Carter set off at a run back to the forest toward Helium.

Noon found the earthman in a private audience chamber of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of

Helium, grandfather of Dejah Thoris.

The old jeddak was worried. He thrust a rough piece of parchment into John

Carter's hand. Crude, bold letters were inscribed upon the parchment; and as

Carter scanned the note his eyes burned with anger: It read:

I, Pew Mogel, the most powerful ruler on Mars, have decided to take over the

iron works of Helium. The iron will furnish me with all the ships I need to

protect Helium and the other cities of Barsoom from invasion. If you have not

evacuated all your workers from the iron mines and factories in three days, then

I will start sending you the fingers of the Royal Princess of Helium. Hurry,

because I may decide to send her tongue, which wags too much of John Carter.

Remember, obey Pew Mogel, for he is all-powerful."

Tardos Mors dug his nails into the palms of his hands.

"Who is this upstart who calls himself the most powerful ruler of Mars?"

Carter looked thoughtfully at the note.

"He must have spies here," he said. "Pew Mogel knew that I was to leave this

morning with Dejah Thoris on a tour of inspection."

"A spy it must have been," Tardos Mors groaned. I found this note pinned to the

curtains in my private audience-chamber. "But what can we do? Dejah Thoris is

the only thing in life that I have left to love–" His voice broke.

"All Helium loves her, Tardos Mors, and we will all die before we return to you

empty-handed."

Carter strode to the visiscreen and pushed a button.

"Summon Kantos Kan and Tars Tarkas." He spoke quickly to an orderly. "Have them

come here at once."

Soon after, the huge, green warrior and the lean, red man were in the

audience-chamber.

"It is fortunate, John Carter, that I am here in Helium on my weekly visit from

the plains." Tars Tarkas, the green thark, gripped his massive sword with his

powerful four hands. His great, giant body loomed majestically above the others

in the room.

Kantos Kan laid his hand on John Carter's shoulder.

I was on my way to the palace when I received your summons. Already, word of our

princess' abduction has spread over Helium. I came immediately," said the noble

fellow, "to offer you my sword and my heart."

I have never heard of this Pew Mogel," said Tars Tarkas. "is he a green man?"

Tardos Mors grunted, "He's probably some petty outlaw or criminal who as an

overbloated ego."

Carter raised his eyes from the ransom note.

"No, Tardos Mors, I think he is more formidable than you imagine. He is clever,

also. There must have been an airship, with a silent motor, at hand to carry

Dejah Thoris away so quickly – or perhaps some great bird! Only a very powerful

man who is prepared to back up his threats would kidnap the Princess of Helium

and even hope to take over the great iron works.

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"He probably has great resources at his command, It is doubtful, however, if he

has any intention of returning the princess or he would have included more

details in his ransom note."

Suddenly the earthman's keen eyes narrowed. A shadow had moved in the adjoining

room.

With a powerful leap, Carter reached the arched doorway. A furtive figure melted

away into the semi-gloom of the passageway, with Carter close behind.

Seeing escape impossible, the stranger halted, sank to one knee and leveled a

ray-gun at the approaching figure of the earthman. Carter saw his finger whiten

as he squeezed the trigger.

"Carter!" Kantos Kan shouted, "throw yourself to the floor."

With the speed of light, Carter dropped prone. A long blade whizzed over his

head and buried itself to the hilt in the heart of the stranger.

"One of Pew Mogel's spies," John Carter muttered as he rose to his feet. "Thank

you, Kantos Kan."

Kantos Kan searched the body but found no clue to the man's identity.

Back in the audience-chamber, the men set to work with fierce resolve.

They were bending over a huge map of Barsoom when Carter spoke.

"Cities for miles around Helium are now all friendly. They would have warned us

of this Pew Mogel if they had known of him. He has probably taken over one of

the deserted cities in the dead sea bottom east or west of Helium. It means

thousands of miles to search; but we will go over each mile."

Carter seated himself at a table and explained his plan.

"Tars Tarkas, go east and contact the chiefs of all your tribes. I'll cover the

west with air scouts. Kantos Kan will stay in Helium as contact man. Be ready

night and day with the entire Helium air force. Whoever discovers Dejah Thoris

first will notify Kantos Kan of his position. Naturally, we can only communicate

to each other through Kantos Kan. The wave length will be constant and secret,

2000 kilocycles."

Tardos Mors turned to the earthman.

"Every resource in my kingdom is at your command, John Carter."

"We leave at once, your majesty; and if Dejah Thoris is alive on Barsoom, we

shall find her," replied John Carter.

Two

THE SEARCH

WITHIN THREE HOURS, John Carter was standing on the roof of the Royal Airdrome

giving last-minute instructions to a fleet of twenty-four fast, one-man scouts.

"Cover all the territory in your district thoroughly. If you discover anything,

don't attempt to handle it by yourself. Notify Kantos Kan immediately." Carter

surveyed the grim faces before him and knew that they would obey him.

"Let's go." Carter jerked a thumb over his shoulder to the ships.

The men scattered and soon their planes were speeding away from Helium.

Carter stayed on the roof long enough to check with Kantos Kan. He adjusted the

earphones around his head and then signalled on 2000 kilocycles. The dots and

dashes of Kantos Kan's reply began coming in immediately.

"Your signal comes in perfectly. Tars Tarkas is just leaving the city. The air

fleet is mobilizing. The entire air force will stand by to come to your aid.

Kantos Kan signing off."

Night found Carter cruising about five hundred miles from Helium. He was very

tired. The search of several ruined cities and canals had been fruitless. The

buzzing of the microset aroused him again.

"Kantos Kan reporting. Tars Tarkas has organized a complete ground search east

to south; other air scouts west to south report nothing. Will acquaint you with

any news that might come in. Await orders. Will stand by. Signing off."

"No orders. No news. Carter signing off."

Wearily he let the ship drift. No need to look further until the moons came up.

The earthman fell into a fitful sleep.

It was midnight when the speaker sounded, jerking Carter to wakefulness. Kantos

Kan was signalling again, excitedly.

"Tars Tarkas has found Dejah Thoris. She is held in a deserted city on the banks

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of the dead sea at Korvas." Kantos Kan gave the exact latitude and longitude of

the spot.

"Further instructions from Tars Tarkas request the greatest secrecy in your

movements. He will be at the main bridge leading into the City. Kantos Kan

signing off. Come in, John Carter."

John Carter signed off with Kantos Kan, urging him to stand by constantly to be

ready with the Helium Air Fleet. Now he set his gyro-compass, a device that

would automatically steer him to his destination.

Several hours later, the earthman flew over a low range of hills and saw below

him an ancient city on the banks of the Dead Sea. He circled his plane and

dropped to the bridge where he had been instructed to meet Tars Tarkas. Long,

black shadows filled a dry gulley below him.

Carter climbed out of his plane, keeping to the shadows, and made his way to the

towering ruins of the City. It was so quiet that a lonely bat swooping from a

tower sounded like a falling airship.

Where was Tars Tarkas? The green man should have appeared at the bridge.

At the entrance to the city, Carter stepped into the black shadow of a wall and

waited. No sound broke the stillness of the quiet night. The city was like a

tomb. Deimos and Phobos, the two fast-moving moons of Mars, whirled across the

heavens.

Carter stopped breathing to listen. To his keen ears came the faint sound of

steps – strange, shuffing steps dragging closer.

Something was coming along the wall. The earthman tensed, ready to spring away

to his ship. Now he could hear other steps all around him. Inside the ruins

something dragged against the fallen rocks.

Then a great, heavy body dropped on John Carter from the wall above. Hot, fetid

breath burned his neck. Huge, shaggy arms smothered him in their fierce embrace.

The thing hurled him to the rough cobblestones. Huge hands clutched at his

throat. Carter turned his head and saw above him the face of a great, white ape.

Three of the creature's fellows were circling around Carter, striving to tie his

feet with a piece of rope while the other choked him into insensibility with his

four mighty hands.

Carter wriggled his feet under the belly of the ape with whom he was grappling.

One mighty heave sent the creature into the air to fall, groaning and helpless,

to the ground.

Like a cornered banth,* Carter was on his feet, crouched against the wall,

awaiting the attacking trio, with drawn sword.

* A banth is the huge, eight-legged lion of Mars. – ED.

They were mighty beasts, fully eight feet tall with long, white hair covering

their great bodies. Each was equipped with four muscular arms that ended in

tremendous hands armed with sharp, hooked claws. They were baring their fangs

and growling viciously as they came toward the earthman.

Carter crouched low; and as the beasts sprang in, his earthly muscles sent him

leaping high into the air over their heads. The earthman's heavy blade, backed

by all the power of his muscles, smacked down upon one ape's head, splitting the

skull wide open.

Carter hit the ground and, turning, was ready when the two apes remaining flew

at him again. There was a hideous, hair-raising shriek as this time the

earthman's sword sank deep into a savage heart.

As the monster sprawled to the ground, the earthman jerked free his sword.

Now the other beast turned and slunk away in fright, his eyes gleaming at Carter

in the darkness as it fled down a long corridor in the adjacent building. The

earthman could have sworn that he heard his own name coming from the ape's

throat and mingling with its sullen growl as it fled away.

The earthman had just seized his sword when he felt a rush of air above his

head. There was a blur of motion as something came down toward him.

Now he felt himself clutched about the waist; then he was jerked fifty feet into

the air. Struggling for breath, Carter clutched at the thing encircling his

body. It was as horny as the skin of an arbok. It had hairs as large as tree

roots bristling from the horny scales.

It was a giant hand!

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Three

JOOG, THE GIANT

JOHN CARTER found himself looking into a monstrous face.

From top of shaggy head to bottom of its hairy chin, the head measured fully

fifteen feet.

A new monstrosity had come to life on Mars. Judging by the adjacent buildings,

the creature must have been a hundred and thirty feet tall!

The giant raised Carter high over his head and shook him; then he threw back his

face. Hideous, hollow laughter rumbled out of his pendulous lips revealing teeth

like small mountain crags.

He was dressed in an illy-fitting, baggy tunic that came down in loose folds

over his hips but which allowed his arms and legs to be free.

With his other hand he beat his mighty chest.

"I, Joog. I, Joog," he kept repeating as he continued to laugh and shake his

helpless victim. "I can kill! I can kill!"

Joog, the giant, commenced to walk. Carefully he stepped along the barren

streets, sometimes going around a building that was too high to step over.

Finally he stopped before a partially ruined palace. The ravages of time had

only dimmed its beauty. Huge masses of moss and vines trailed through the

masonry, hiding the shattered battlements. With a sudden thrust, Joog, the

giant, shoved John Carter through a high window in the palace tower.

When Carter felt the giants hold releasing upon him he relaxed completely. He

hit the stone floor in a long roll, protecting his head with his arms. As he lay

in the deep darkness of the place where he had fallen, the earthman listened

while he regained his breath.

No sound came to his ears for some time; then he began to hear the heavy

breathing of Joog outside his window. Once more Carter's earthly muscles,

reacting to the lesser gravity of Mars, sent him leaping twenty feet to the sill

of the narrow window. Here he clung and looked once again into the hairy,

hideous face of the giant.

"I, Joog. I, Joog," he mumbled. I can kill! I can kill!" The giant's breath

swept over Carter like a blast from a sulphur furnace. There would be no escape

from that window!

Once more he dropped down into his cell. This time he commenced a slow circuit

of the room, groping his way along the polished ersite slabs that formed the

wall. The cobblestone floor was thick with debris. Once, Carter heard the

sinister hiss of a Martian spider as he brushed its web.

How long he groped his way around the walls, there was no way of knowing. It

seemed hours. Then, suddenly, the deathly silence was shattered by a woman's

scream coming from somewhere in the building.

John Carter could feel his skin grow cold. Could that have been the voice of

Dejah Thoris?

Once again John Carter leaped toward the faint light that marked the window

ledge. Cautiously, he looked down. Joog lay on his back on the flagstones below,

breathing as though he were asleep, his great chest rising five feet with every

breath.

Quietly he started to edge his way along a ledge that ran from the window and

disappeared into the shadow of an adjoining tower. If he could make that shadow

without awakening Joog!

He had almost gained his objective when Joog growled hoarsely.

He had opened one great eye. Now he reached up and, grabbing Carter by the leg,

hurled him into the tower window again.

Wearily, the earthman crawled to the wall of his dark cell and there slumped

down against it. That scream haunted his memory. He was tormented by the thought

that Dejah Thoris might be in danger.

And where was Tars Tarkas? Pew Mogel must have captured him, too. Carter

suddenly sprang to his feet.

One of the ersite slabs at his back had moved! He waited. Nothing came out.

Cautiously, he approached the rock and shoved it with his foot. The slab moved

slightly inward. Now Carter shoved the stone with all his tremendous strength.

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