CHAPTER  1
"Introduction"
Dear Jane:
Your reply reached us a few weeks ago but I have delayed responding until I could gather together a number of things which will be helpful in relating the account of how Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium, first met Captain John Carter, the traveler across space from your world. I hope you will forgive me for making you wait so long for this story, but I feel that the additional information I have collected has made the delay well worthwhile.

We were amazed and delighted to hear that the compilations of events here on Barsoom which we have relayed to you by this strange interplanetary wireless system have received such a wide readership on Jasoom. We understand why the stories must be retold there as if they are fiction; although, to be truthful, Captain Paxton is yet a little chagrined, to think that his personal adventures are sold back on the world of his birth as a romance novel! As for myself, I still recall our harrowing experiences at Morbus with much romantic feeling and I am happy to have assisted Ulysses in his telling of that story, as well as with the subsequent accounts we have relayed to you through the technical marvel Mr. Gridley has invented.

It was not too long after her remarkable recovery from the critical injuries that she suffered in the flyer mishap that Her Majesty stopped over in Duhor, while Captain Carter was paying a memorial visit to Okar, where he is yet honored as the Warlord of Mars. She tarried as a guest in my father's palace for five days and during that private visit we passed much of the time discussing what has transpired on Barsoom in the years since our Earthmen arrived here so suddenly and mysteriously. The Princess and I share a special bond in that regard and I am greatly honored that Captain Carter continues to call Jed Vad Varo (my Ulysses Paxton) his dearest friend.

But that's enough about my romantic feelings! I shall tell you the story that Her Majesty recounted to me now, just as she gave it while at Duhor, interspersed with additional insights furnished by my husband and by Jedwar Kantos Kan, following his recent interviews with the daughter of the Jeddak of Thark. I give all this to you as honest history and you may decide for yourself whether or not you can give credence to the more fantastic portions of the story.

Here begins the strange tale of Captain John Carter, an Earthman whose powerful will carried him across the vast stretches of trackless space to the planet Mars. It is also the story of a Princess of Mars, the royal maiden Dejah Thoris of Helium, who became his companion in a great adventure -- a perilous adventure which even they recall as being almost beyond belief.

During the time on Earth when nations such as the United States of America were yet in the hot air balloon stage of exploring the cloudy heavens, the ancient civilization of Mars had for ages sent great vessels into the thin cold air of that dying planet. It was onto just such a giant ship that Talak Xor, Master of the Imperial Academy of Helium, welcomed a party of officials and scientists atop the Royal Airdrome one fateful day.

"Your Majesty! We are honored by your presence on board the Haldar during the initial stages of our expedition beyond Polodona. Every possible preparation has been made for your comfort and four battleships will stand in readiness to return Your Majesty to Helium the very moment your royal person is pleased to leave us!"

"I require no special treatment, Master Professor. I am accompanied by a single servant and both of us will perform our share of the work on board. I trust that the naval officers of my grandfather's empire will protect us all. And I shall not leave your expedition until its flight path again takes us near Greater Helium." Then the young woman added, "You and the admiral are in command -- I shall not interfere with your duties of leadership. Now, if you'll please point out the way to my cabin, I believe your expedition's ships are about ready to depart."

Not many days before this, in the opposite hemisphere of the red planet, the extraordinary arrival of Captain John Carter, late of the Army of Northern Virginia, transpired -- unanticipated and unwitnessed by any denizen of Barsoom (as Mars is called in the language spoken there). The account of Captain Carter being attacked while prospecting for gold in Arizona, his subsequent escape into a weird cavern and his uncanny transport to Mars has been told so many times that must already be known to the reader. It is only necessary to mention here, that well before his suffering the remarkable effects of the strong gaseous vapors inside the lonely Arizona cavern, John Carter had frequently gazed in wonder upon the red planet in the nighttime sky. For more years than he could remember the glittering point of light seemed to beckon him with a strange, irresistible attraction. He felt that the powers governing that far off world must also be guiding his own fate, and that one day the mystery of his overpowering fascination with Mars must surely be revealed to him.

The revelation came in a way he could never have anticipated, there in the stillness of the Arizona nightfall. But when the unexpected transition came he realized that he had no hope or desire to challenge ethereal destiny. The man stretched his arms toward the flaming planet, and in an instant of extreme cold and darkness he was drawn through the immensity of space to a new beginning -- a new life in the world beyond earthly existence.

The paralyzing chill melted slowly away. His feelings of weightless were replaced by the gentle tug of alien gravity. John Carter opened his eyes upon a weird landscape. In the sky above a shrunken, sober sun cast its rays through an atmosphere the color of an eternal dawn. Stars twinkled here and there which are never visible during daylight hours on Earth.

"This can't be Earth," the Virginia Captain murmured, as he rose up from a soft yellowish bed of spongy vegetation. He was dazed and knelt unsteady on the unfamiliar ground. John Carter was naked, unarmed and evidently alone in a strange new world. The mosslike vegetation stretched around him in all directions -- unbroken, save for some slight outcroppings of rock and a few diminutive clumps of unknown plants -- for as far as his eyes could see.

"Could this be Mars?" he wondered silently. And then, aloud, he continued his question: "or is it -- death?" 

CHAPTER  2
"A Grim Surprise"

The flagship of the Helium expedition crossed the planet's invisible equatorial line early on the seventh day of the mission. The entire fleet of airships now encircled the Haldar, glistening in the morning sun's rays like a flock of great silvery birds, gliding effortlessly in their migration to some distant destination. Princess Dejah Thoris stood gripping the guard rail at the elevated bow of the huge warship. She shivered in the steady wind, practically naked and unadorned, save for a few hairclips and the radiant gems that decorated her hand-crafted leather sandals. Stretching around her waist, under her unclad breasts and up about her shoulders and neck were the belts and buckles of a common airman's leather harness, one strap of which she had secured to the rail. This sparse apparel offered no protection from the blasts of frigid air but the princess withstood the chill without complaint, her heart warmed by the exhilaration of flying so high, so fast, and above regions of Barsoom she had never before set eyes upon. For the first time in weeks she was totally happy and without a care in the world.

Springing to his feet Captain Carter was surprised to learn that his every movement was magnified in the low gravity of Mars. A flick of the wrist sent his arm outward its full length. What would have been a three foot stride on Earth took him three yards or more in his new environment. He would have to learn to walk all over again, as the muscular exertion which carried him easily and safely upon his home planet played strange antics with him upon Mars. Yes, it must be Mars -- no other explanation seemed possible.

The Earthman spent a considerable amount of time exploring his new situation. Sooner or later he knew he must find water and food. Clothing, weapons, and shelter might also be useful additions to his current set of possessions -- which consisted of absolutely nothing. In his search he happened upon a low, walled enclosure about four feet in height, made of stones and some kind of cement. It had obviously been constructed by intelligent beings in the not too distant past, but the only possible commodity it might supply to meet his current needs was what appeared to be a nest of very large eggs. And, before he could examine this marvel very closely, John Carter met with the first of the many perils Mars. A score of sinister looking Martians almost took him unawares from behind. Coming, as they did, over the soft and soundless moss, they might easily have captured him, but their intentions were far more hostile. The rattling of the accouterments of the foremost warrior warned the traveler's ears and he spun around to meet the unexpected threat.

For an instant the soldier from another world could scarcely comprehend the scene; it looked as if armed giants with a dozen 

 limbs each were bearing down upon him. His mind quickly sorted out the details: they were huge, six-limbed creatures mounted upon even larger eight-legged steeds. They presented the picture rather like a dozen gorillas, each riding a rhinoceros and thrusting forward a great metal shod spear. At his first sight of these charging Martians, John Carter's muscles reacted instinctively. He leaped up to the top of the egg-filled enclosure. The full extent of his powerful jump did not end there, however. In the lesser gravity of Mars Captain Carter was able to vault entirely over the wide enclosure. This marvelous display stunned the savage green-skinned riders. They eyed him warily and exchanged strange sounds that Captain Carter guessed to be language. He was just about to continue his leaping escape when the Earthman noticed that several of the giants were pointing their long-barreled firearms directly at him. Running away no longer seemed to be a very good idea.

After the giants had conversed for a short time, one of their number dismounted, threw down his spear and firearm, and came around the end of the egg enclosure toward the Virginian, entirely unarmed and naked, except for a few ornamented straps which crossed his upper and lower torso. When he was within a few feet of John Carter the tall green creature performed a remarkable bodily transformation, going down upon four limbs and holding out his remaining two arms, palm first, as if to show that he carried no weapons. In Captain Carter's mind the monster looked very much like misconstrued centaur, drawn from a madman's retelling of Earth's mythological past. He accepted a metal armlet that the creature had unclasped from its own forearm and offered to him, but all the Earthman could give in return was a nod of acknowledgment and mimicry of the alien's open-palm gesture.

That seemed to be just what the giant wished to see. He stood back up on his two rear limbs, voiced something like a gurgling laugh, and motioned to the white man that he should take a seat behind him on the glossy back of his mount. There the Virginian hung on as best he could to the Martian warrior's leather body harness and the entire troop galloped away toward the range of hills in the distance.

Crossing over the hills the riders came down onto a low tableland upon which the Earthman beheld an enormous ruined city. The savage caravan soon entered into this extensive collection of buildings and John Carter beheld, for the first time, evidence that the green giants might not be the only inhabitants of his new home. The riders were much too large for the doors, windows and alleyways of the ruined metropolis; all of which appeared to have been built by some other, smaller race.

"Could other humans be on Mars -- my size?" questioned the Earthman. But the only intelligible sounds he could discern among the green man's grunts and roars were syllables that sounded something like "Tars Tarkas!" And that meant nothing to Captain Carter.

As they entered the a plaza near the center of the city, hundreds of the twelve-foot creatures gathered around the riders, eyeing the white man suspiciously. By this time the Earthman had heard the sounds "Tars Tarkas" so often that he supposed it must be the name or title of his friendly captor. After the party had dismounted, this same green leader indicated by crude pantomime that the white man should give the giants a demonstration of his remarkable jumping abilities. This request Captain Carter complied with, giving some obvious satisfaction to the green leader and his people.

After skipping around like some monstrous grasshopper for a while, the captive tired of the sport and ceased his frenetic activity. This did not suit the pleasure of one towering green man who stepped out of the crowd, yelling incoherent sounds like "sak, "drogar," and "gorthan-jur!" The meddler pushed forward, tripped the white man, and then proceeded to bang him about, all the while laughing boisterously at his superb joke. In a flash the Earthman sprang into the air, swinging a potent right fist squarely into the brutal fellow's jaw and he went down like a felled ox. The downed brute did not move a hair and Captain Carter thought it entirely possible that he had slain the giant antagonist with a single blow.

This continued display of agility and conflict brought wild peals of laughter and applause from the giants and John Carter was left to wonder what sort of mad creatures he had fallen with. Surely they were a totally unpredictable and incredibly dangerous pack of monsters. 

CHAPTER  3
"The Fair Captive" 

The small fleet of Heliumite airships had already conducted much research in the upper atmosphere of the northern hemisphere. The expedition gathered thousands of containers filled with air samples, as well as stacks of completed notebooks, numerous temperature and pressure recordings and new charts of the Barsoomian air currents, all of which were of priceless value to the scientists and navy of the empire. But an equal number of samples and readings had to taken at much lower altitudes. Dejah Thoris listened attentively as the commanding admiral addressed an assembly aboard the flagship on this very subject.

"We will begin our low level survey at a point between the cities of Ptarth and Zodanga. As we come closer to Zodanga, I expect the utmost vigilance of all personnel, for the likelihood of war is undeniable. The fleet will rendezvous for a transfer of supplies and equipment over the ruins of Korad. Scouts tell us that the place is deserted and entirely safe..."

Captain John Carter is a mysterious man of many lifetimes. This is not the place to recite his memories of centuries gone by, but that fact explains why he is also a man of many languages. He very quickly learned enough of the common language on Mars to suffice for his daily needs. Shortly after his initial contact with the green men the Virginian found that he nearly always could guess the correct Martian terms for objects and sometimes also for personal names, titles and actions. It eventually struck him that he was sensing the very thoughts of the green giants. Although every Martian is hatched with telepathic abilities, the Earthman had to discover and develop the talent entirely on his own. In the process he also learned how to keep his personal thoughts secret -- an exceptionally rare mental gift on the red planet.

He learned that "sak" means jump; that a "drogar" is a crack marksman and "gorthan-jur!" is a warning of impending murder. Put together, the words translated to something like "Jump, or this gunslinger will ring your neck!" Having figured out that Dotar Laj the drogar had truly threatened his life in the plaza, Carter next learned that the ruffian died from the blow to his chin.

"Why?" John Carter asked, when Tars Tarkas handed him two bundles, which proved to be the arms, ornaments, and the full accouterments of a green warrior.

"Dotar" and "dead" were the only intelligible words in Tars Tarkas' fast flowing reply, but from that the captive realized that he had inherited the dead drogar's leather body harness, woolen cape, swords, pistol and sandals, as well as a scanty wisp of an animal hair loinclouth. Tars Tarkas had the cape cut into three warm mantles for Carter's use during the freezing Martian nights. The same tailoress, a young green female attached to the retinue of the green leader, also remodeled the dead man's other trappings to fit the white man's lesser proportions.

Much happened to John Carter at Korad, the place of his first residence on Mars. What can be said in summary is that Sola, the girl sent by Tars Tarkas, instructed him in the language and customs of her people, the semi-nomadic Tharks of Barsoom's southern deserts. Besides learning the every day vocabulary of the Tharks, he also questioned his teacher and others in order to pick up the more complex Martian figures of speech. Sola revealed that the ruined city of Korad had been built by small, highly evolved beings, but not until he stumbled upon a few ancient reams of illustrated text did Carter know for certain that Korad was once inhabited by beings who looked very much like himself.

One day a green rider drove his mount furiously into the ruins, yelling at the top of his voice and gesticulating wildly at the sky. The effect upon the giant nomads encamping among the buildings was phenomenal. In a few moments the entire company of Tharks was nowhere to be seen. Only a dozen or so of the lowest ranking giants remained in the streets. And once they had hidden all the group's animals, extinguished its fires, and covered every trace of recent habitation, they too disappeared from view.

Sola directed John Carter seek shelter with her behind a pile of fallen stones on a roof top. From that hidden vantage point they watched and waited. Sola pointed at the northern sky. A huge silver craft, flying low, appeared from below the horizon. Following it came several more, until twenty of the vessels sailed slowly and majestically over the broken walls of ancient Korad.

John Carter watched as the strange vessels lingered, almost motionless, over the northern quarter of the ruins. A few of the smallest craft began flitting back and forth among the larger ships. As best the Earthman could determine, the small flyers were shuttling man and material back and forth between the other ships. Then without warning the green Martian warriors fired a terrific rifle volley from the windows of buildings facing the preoccupied crewmen. Some of the firearms thus employed were  double the size of a normal rifle. The withering hail of missiles from these big guns punched gaping holes in several of the airships and they began to spin down out of control. The broken craft did not plummet from the skies like stones; rather, they lost buoyancy over a space of several seconds and then took a full minute to reach the ground, crash and burn. In the meanwhile, the precision fire from the ground never diminished.

One by one, however, a handful of the crippled ships managed to dip back below the horizon, until only one barely moving craft was left in sight. This vessel had received the brunt of the Thark fire and was drifting to the ground, seemingly unmanned. It soon became evident that she would strike the base of a building not far south of John Carter's position, and as he watched the progress of the ship's descent, he saw a number of green riders gallop out to meet the falling hulk.

As the great injured craft settled in at the bottom of the building, the Tharks threw out grappling hooks, pulled it to the ground and swarmed on board. The Earthman watched them examining the dead crew, and presently a party of the green appeared from below the deck, dragging a little figure among them. The creature was considerably less than half as tall as the green Martian warriors, and Captain Carter saw that it walked erect upon two legs.

While these events were transpiring the remainder of the Tharks were pouring into the streets to witness the looting of the fallen airships. Tons of salvaged material had been hauled into the plaza when the Virginian got there. Most of it consisted of hunks of twisted metal and other useless junk. But then he saw a wagon full of corpses being unloaded and stripped. He ventured forth for a closer look.

"They are like Earth people!" John Carter exclaimed in English.

At that moment one of the supposedly dead bodies lifted its eyeless head a little and let out a ghastly groan: The Princess -- save -- her -- from -- barbarians!"

The astonished outlander had no chance to question the poor red-skinned fellow. He was not at all sure he'd heard the expiring stranger's words correctly, and even if he had, they might have been nothing more than that suffering soul's dying delusion. 
 

CHAPTER  4
"Dejah Thoris"

Among the various possessions John Carter inherited from the green man he had killed was a calot, or Martian watchdog. It was allotted to him by Tars Tarkas, probably more as a means to prevent his escape than as a pet. The Martian calot is a vicious creature, but this one was fairly intelligent and the Earthman soon won its loyalty by treating the animal with simple acts of kindness, something a typical Thark would never imagine doing. Woola, as the calot was called, responded to telepathic commands and his new master used that peculiar connection to summon or restrain the ugly, eight-legged beast. With the calot at his side John Carter made his way to the great open audience hall at the north end of the central plaza. There he found the chieftains of the Thark band gathered together and discussing the proper division of the spoils that were still being
hauled in from the downed airships.

The chieftains were just then dividing up among themselves the more valuable loot, which consisted in arms, ammunition, silks, furs, jewels, strangely inscribed vessels, and a quantity of solid foods and liquids, including many casks of purified drinking water. The only items of booty that John Carter felt no shame in appropriating for his own use were a few small printed books which the illiterate Tharks had thrown upon a rubbish heap. These the captive inserted into the leather pouch attached to his sword belt. He hoped one day to fathom the exotic written language of the unfamiliar red men.

With Woola close at his heels, the white man continued wandering about the plaza, attempting to learn something more about the race of red Martians whose looted property the Tharks had tossed into a hundred heterogeneous piles. Then Sola found him and remarked rather casually that one of the red race had been taken alive. Before John Carter could respond he caught a glimpse of a throng of green warriors roughly dragging the prisoner from the battle craft to the podium of the audience hall. He broke off his conversation with the green girl and pushed his way through the crowd of giants, in order to get a decent view of the new captive.

The sight which met his eyes sent pangs of sympathy through the soul of the battle hardened veteran. On the podium, surrounded by contemptuous Thark guards, stood a slender, girlish figure, similar in every detail to an earthly women, save for the vivid red pigment of her flawless skin. Her features were the model of perfection -- her eyes large and flashing and her flowing hair a lustrous coal black enhancement to her remarkable beauty. She was as destitute of clothes as the ever nude green Martians; nor could any apparel have enhanced the beauty of her perfect and symmetrical figure. Her lack of concealing garments appeared to cause the girl no embarrassment, however; she stood among her captors with head held high, displaying a haughty indifference to the cruel jests of the green barbarians. At first she did not see the Earthman standing there, half hidden by the tall olive-hued crowd, but finally her searching gaze met his and her eyes widened with surprise.

Bronzed by constant exposure to the sun, and dressed as he was in the harness of a Martian warrior, the beautiful prisoner mistook him for a member of her own race. She stared at the man with pleading intensity and made a number of slight hand signs which were beyond his comprehension. A moment passed and John Carter could do nothing other than push a little closer to her through the concourse of riotous brutes. The young woman repeated the subtle sign language, but when the Earthman still did not respond, her look of hope faded into one of disappointment and dejection. She then averted her eyes and ignored him altogether.

Dejah Thoris had not yet recovered from the shock of watching so many brave sons and daughters of Helium die on board the Haldar when the monstrous Thark dragoons thrust her roughly before the crowd in Korad. A true daughter of bloody Mars, she had witnessed death and destruction before, but never on the scale of the disaster which had just occurred. At least half the expedition fleet was in ruins and all of the ships that had escaped were terribly undermanned and critically damaged. A mandatory radio blackout in the region surrounding Zodanga precluded wireless distress signals. There was little chance of the survivors reaching safety. She only held back her tears by a force of will that refused the Tharks the pleasure of seeing her suffer.

For a brief moment her hopes were raised. She thought she saw a countryman amid the unruly swarm of onlookers. But he must have been a gun-running panthan. He turned pale with cowardly recoil and did not lift a finger to help her. Focusing her attention upon the more consequential barbarians in the throng, she caught the drift of what they were saying -- She would be carried to the capital city of Thark, where her last agonies at the Great Games would be offered for the enjoyment of their king, Tal Hajus. The most dignified looking and highly ornamented of these chiefs then approached her and the raucous crowd quieted down considerably.

"Who are you and what means this trespassing over our ancestral lands?" the Thark leader asked, addressing the prisoner. "I am Princess Dejah Thoris, daughter of Mors Kajak, Jed of Greater Helium. Our ships are on a purely scientific research mission. We are re-charting the air currents and taking atmospheric density tests. We came to this deserted unclaimed place, unprepared for battle, to resupply our ships and map the region. The work we are doing is in the interest of all Barsoomians: our scientific work ensures that there is sufficient air and water to support your people as well as ours. Although you do nothing to help us and much to hinder us, we labor constantly just to keep you, ourselves and all the other nations alive. You may demonstrate your martial honor and civil justice by restoring me to my people as soon as possible. Pay homage to all your great ancestors by joining with us in the salvation of our dying planet. As the grand-daughter of the greatest and mightiest of the red jeddaks, I have the authority to pardon your recent manslaughter and also to guarantee your sovereign rights by treaty, this very day. Will you release me and relay my proposal to your Jeddak, Tal Hajus? What possible reason could you have to refuse? -- Must you always fight us?"

Just then a young green chieftain leaped up to the podium. Downing the girl with a powerful rap to the head, he placed a foot upon her lower abdomen and turning toward the assembled giants yelled out, "Yes! Because we, not you puny red cowards, are the superior race!" The entire crowd, save for two or three of the most intelligent elders, broke into peals of horrid, mirthless laughter. The jeering cry of "Sojat Azad is right! Sojat Azad is right!" rang through the ancient streets of Korad.

There was more one individual in the crowd who was not laughing. Springing upward, this bronzed man struck the menacing Thark full in the face. A totally surprised Sojat Azad fell back upon his four lower limbs and was in no position to commence a sword fight. Instead, the green ruffian attempted to draw a loaded pistol from his belt. This cowardly move the attacker thwarted with an instantaneous blow to the giant's chest. The attacker's calot also joined the fight and in another moment the green man was dead.

Dejah Thoris witnessed the entire thirty second struggle from only inches away, but none of it made any sense to her. Into the silence that followed she blurted out a sardonic rhetorical question:

"Who is this strange pale man who wears the metal of Thark? -- a Zorian gun-runner? -- or a Zodangan traitor? or perhaps merely a dolt who risks his life for no reason?"
 

CHAPTER  5
"Sentence of Doom"

The inclinations and motivations of the green men of Mars pass all human logic. Had it been not for the chance happening of some fighting breaking out at the other end of the plaza, the comrades of the dead Sojat Azad might have delighted themselves in tearing John Carter apart, bone by bone, then and there. But the uproar of a conflict between warriors is irresistibly attractive to the giant barbarians. The better part of the crowd turned their attention to the new brawl and no Thark who remained nearby interfered with the Earthman on the podium. Even Tars Tarkas sauntered off to investigate the new commotion, leaving the human captives practically unrestrained. Only a handful of disinterested guards continued to watch the two smaller beings.

"I witnessed the destruction of your airships," said John Carter as he offered a piece of cloth to staunch the flow of blood from her nostrils. "It was a contemptible ambush upon peaceful visitors and am sorry to have watched it. When I saw him strike you I could stand no more."

The red maiden rose to her feet, straightened her disheveled hair and wiped the remainder of the blood from her face. Then Dejah Thoris eyed the stranger intently.

"Why did you do it?" she asked. "You ignored my signal when first I saw you! And now you risk your life and kill one of your companions for reasons I cannot understand. What strange manner of man are you, who lives among the green barbarians and wears their vile insignia? Your form is that of my race, while your color is pallid and your speech is as inapt as that of a hatchling. Tell me, are you human, or are you -- are you something else?"

"It is a strange tale," Captain Carter replied. "I can hardly believe it myself. But know that I would be your friend, and your servant if you will allow that. We are both held here against our wills and it seems that will continue for a while at least."

"So you are also their prisoner, even though you bear arms and the regalia of a Tharkian warrior? What is your name? Where your country?"

"My name is John Carter, and I claim Virginia as my home. Whether you can believe it or not, I come from that blue star which shines brightly even after sunrise. Why I am permitted to carry the weapons of the Thark I killed a few days ago I do not know. But the leader of these giants has extended me unusual trust and also what passes here for friendship."

Their conversation was interrupted by one of the guards who had overheard what they were saying. With a few grunts he indicated that the dead one's arms, accouterments and ornaments now belonged to John Carter. A young Thark female stripped him, bundled the belongings and then dragged away the lifeless body, leaving a trail of his blood behind her. A few yards away Sola sat with John Carter's calot watching. The Earthman half smiled when he caught a few of her thoughts. She was already calculating how to trim down Sojat Azad's harness to human size.

The two humans noticed that Tars Tarkas had returned. His eyes rested upon them in a most quizzical manner. Finally he addressed the Earthman.

"I see you have found one of your own size with whom you can speak the tongue of Barsoom. The red women are talkative. She almost had me convinced that we should help them make new air and water. Hah! Let her carry her pleas to Tal Hajus herself!

"You have just slain our youngest chieftain," he continued. "We must offer an account of your actions to my master, Jed Lorquas Ptomel, and if he wills it, also an account to his master, Jeddak Tal Hajus. In the meanwhile, Dotar Sojat, you have made yourself a chieftain among the Thark. Chieftains protect their retinues and the horde." Then, glancing at Dejah Thoris, he added, "and it seems you have just added one more to your retinue!" 

The required interview with Lorquas Ptomel, Jed among the Tharks of Barsoom, produced no change in their situation. Tars Tarkas made preparations to transfer the two captives to the far off city of Thark, where Tal Hajus would determine their ultimate lot. Before the journey commenced John Carter asserted his new authority and assigned Sola to watch over Dejah Thoris. His repeated acts of kindness in her behalf had won him Sola's loyalty, while behavior modeled by the red princess taught the green girl what it meant to be a friend.

After Tars Tarkas and his company arrived at the ancient metropolis of Thark the green man came close, on several occasions, to freeing John Carter entirely. It has become obvious to the giant warrior that the Earthman would find a way to escape, sooner or later, and when that day came the captor's life would be worth no more than his former captive's. But the Thark's sense of loyalty to his Jeddak prevailed and he eventually conducted the humans to the audience chamber of Tal Hajus, Jeddak of all the Thark hordes. And so Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, and John Carter, gentleman of Virginia, followed by the faithful Woola, passed into the palace and throne room, ready to learn their fate.

"O mighty Tal Hajus," began Tars Tarkas, after the traditional tokens of subjection had been rendered, "I present to you these two little captives -- a princess of Helium who begs a treaty with Thark and a man of some similar race who slew the chieftain Sojat Azad, in personal combat, for the sake of this girl."

The floor of the throne room was thronged with green chieftains, but upon seeing the princess Tal Hajus dismissed them all with a wave of his hand.

"Leave us, Tars Tarkas. Take the strange man and his calot away. I will see to his judgment later. If Helium seeks intercourse and alliance with the green men, I will consummate it here, after I speak with this princess -- alone!"

The one who issued these commands was the most hideous beast the red girl had ever put her eyes upon. He had all the cruel, terrible features of the green warriors, but accentuated by signs of animal passions exceeding those of the usual Thark. His great protruding eyes gloated upon the lines of her beautiful figure as his dissolute mind ejaculated forth a stream of insults and lewd insinuations.

"Princess of Helium, eh? Know you not that treaties among our hordes last only so long as a single battle campaign? Know you not that in our alliances the jeds exchange their long-swords, their necklaces, and their females? Oh yes, I will give you a treaty, Princess of Helium -- a treaty with ten days of pleasure to show you all the love I harbor for your race. Is your heart big enough to accommodate my great passion? I shall see. If not, word of that fact shall go forth to Tardos Mors, that he may grovel upon the ground in the agony of his sorrow. Open a place within your heart now to contain what I have to implant there and I will hold back my more blistering passion until tomorrow. Disappoint me and my torture of your red race will commence tonight. Either way, thou art the slave of Tal Hajus -- come and join me in my furs and silks, seductive wench!"