Without effort at concealment 
I hastened to the vicinity 
of our quarters, 
where I felt sure 
I should find Kantos Kan. 
As I neared our building 
I became careful, and rightly so; 
it was being watched by 
several men in civilian harness, 
loitering near the front 
and rear entrances. 

When I told him of the day’s events 
he was all excitement, 
then dismayed to hear the news that 
Dejah Thoris had promised her hand to Sab Than.
He exclaimed: 
“She must have LOST HER MIND!
What can we do, John Carter? 
You are a resourceful man—
how can we save Helium from this disgrace?!?”
 

I answered: 
“If I can come 
within sword’s reach of Sab Than, 
I can solve Helium’s difficulty, 
but I would prefer that 
another strike that blow, 
for reasons of my own.”
“You LOVE her!” he exclaimed, 
“Does she know it?” eyeing me narrowly.

“She knows it, Kantos Kan, 
and repulses me only because of 
her promise to marry Sab Than.”
Kantos Kan, my splendid friend, 
leaped for joy, 
“I could not think of 
a more fitting mate for our Princess! 
I shall slay Sab Than myself, tonight, 
in his quarters!”
 

He laughed and explained,
“A few days ago I was patrolling the city, 
and espied a face peering 
from the loftiest window of the palace. 
A closer look revealed Sab Than, 
who was quite put out at being discovered thus. 
He made me promise to keep silent, 
but that window leads to his quarters. 
I’ll need my flier.”

“But this building is watched—tell me,
how well are the machine-sheds guarded at night?”
“Only by one man on the roof—?”
“Then go to the roof of this building, Kantos Kan, 
and await me there.”
We quickly donned full air kits; 
I didn’t plan to return to these quarters, 
and there would be no time to retrieve them later.
 
 

The only way to reach our fliers unseen 
was to scale the exterior 
of the enormous structure,
some thousand feet high. 
Only the battleship docks were higher, 
at nearly fifteen hundred feet.

--the landing platform overhung 
the entire tower by twenty feet or so,--
 
 
 
 
 

 --and, long before lights-out,
the top-floor dayroom was full of soldiers 
who would arrest me on sight.

There was but one way to access the roof, 
and an extremely risky one at that; 
I swung my grapnel cautiously, 
trying several times before its sharp hooks 
finally found lodgment on the edge of the roof.
 

I pulled the line gently
to strengthen its hold, 
but whether it would bear my weight 
I could not guess.
 
 

 It was a thousand feet
to the hard pavement below, 
and I knew that 
not even my strong earthly frame 
would survive such a fall. 
For an instant I hesitated, 
then released my grasp of the wall 
and swung outward. 
There was a jerk at the top of the line,--

--and a nasty, grating sound
that turned me cold with apprehension.
 
 

Then the hook caught firmly
and I eased up the line hand over hand--

--and, gratefully seizing the edge of the roof, 
drew myself up onto the surface, 
only to find myself staring
into the muzzle of the sentry’s revolver.
 
 
 

“Who are you and whence came you?!?” 
she cried.

“I am an Air Scout, friend, 
and very nearly a dead one!”

“But how came you upon the roof, man? 
No one has landed or come up
from the building for the past hour. 
Quick, explain yourself, 
or I call the Guard!”

“Look you here, Sentry, 
and you shall see how close a shave
I had to not coming at all!”

The Sentry, 
her caution somewhat relaxed 
by my obvious relief at achieving 
the safety of the solid deck,
and acting on impulse, 
stepped near the edge to peer over, 
to her undoing.