PRESENTLY Ghek pushed aside a door that opened from the stairway,and before them Tara saw the moonlight flooding the walled courtwhere the headless rykors lay beside their feeding-troughs. Shesaw the perfect bodies, muscled as the best of her father'sfighting men, and the females whose figures would have been theenvy of many of Helium's most beautiful women. Ah, if she couldbut endow these with the power to act! Then indeed might thesafety of the panthan be assured; but they were only poor lumpsof clay, nor had she the power to quicken them to life. Ever mustthey lie thus until dominated by the cold, heartless brain of thekaldane. The girl sighed in pity even as she shuddered in disgustas she picked her way over and among the sprawled creaturestoward the flier.

Quickly she and Ghek mounted to the deck after the latter hadcast off the moorings. Tara tested the control, raising andlowering the ship a few feet within the walled space. Itresponded perfectly. Then she lowered it to the ground again andwaited. From the open doorway came the sounds of conflict, nownearing them, now receding. The girl, having witnessed herchampion's skill, had little fear of the outcome. Only a singleantagonist could face him at a time upon the narrow stairway, hehad the advantage of position and of the defensive, and he was amaster of the sword while they were clumsy bunglers bycomparison. Their sole advantage was in their numbers, unlessthey might find a way to come upon him from behind.

She paled at the thought. Could she have seen him she might havebeen further perturbed, for he took no advantage of manyopportunities to win nearer the enclosure. He fought coolly, butwith a savage persistence that bore little semblance to purelydefensive action. Often he clambered over the body of a fallenfoe to leap against the next behind, and once there lay five deadkaldanes behind him, so far had he pushed back his antagonists.They did not know it; these kaldanes that he fought, nor did thegirl awaiting him upon the flier, but Gahan of Gathol was engagedin a more alluring sport than winning to freedom, for he wasavenging the indignities that had been put upon the woman heloved; but presently he realized that he might be jeopardizingher safety uselessly, and so he struck down another before himand turning leaped quickly up the stairway, while the leadingkaldanes slipped upon the brain-covered floor and stumbled inpursuit.

Gahan reached the enclosure twenty paces ahead of them and racedtoward the flier. "Rise!" he shouted to the girl. "I will ascendthe cable."

Slowly the small craft rose from the ground as Gahan leaped theinert bodies of the rykors lying in his path. The first of thepursuers sprang from the tower just as Gahan seized the trailingrope.

"Faster!" he shouted to the girl above, "or they will drag usdown!" But the ship seemed scarcely to move, though in realityshe was rising as rapidly as might have been expected of aone-man flier carrying a load of three. Gahan swung free abovethe top of the wall, but the end of the rope still dragged theground as the kaldanes reached it. They were pouring in a steadystream from the tower into the enclosure. The leader seized therope.

"Quick!" he cried. "Lay hold and we will drag them down."

It needed but the weight of a few to accomplish his design. Theship was stopped in its flight and then, to the horror of thegirl, she felt it being dragged steadily downward. Gahan, too,realized the danger and the necessity for instant action.Clinging to the rope with his left hand, he had wound a leg aboutit, leaving his right hand free for his long-sword which he hadnot sheathed. A downward cut clove the soft head of a kaldane,and another severed the taut rope beneath the panthan's feet. Thegirl heard a sudden renewal of the shrill whistling of her foes,and at the same time she realized that the craft was risingagain. Slowly it drifted upward, out of reach of the enemy, and amoment later she saw the figure of Turan clamber over the side.For the first time in many weeks her heart was filled with thejoy of thanksgiving; but her first thought was of another.

"You are not wounded?" she asked.

'No, Tara of Helium," he replied. "They were scarce worth theeffort of my blade, and never were they a menace to me because oftheir swords."

"They should have slain you easily," said Ghek. "So great andhighly developed is the power of reason among us that they shouldhave known before you struck just where, logically, you must seekto strike, and so they should have been able to parry your everythrust and easily find an opening to your heart."

"But they did not, Ghek," Gahan reminded him. "Their theory ofdevelopment is wrong, for it does not tend toward a perfectlybalanced whole. You have developed the brain and neglected thebody and you can never do with the hands of another what you cando with your own hands. Mine are trained to the sword--everymuscle responds instantly and accurately, and almostmechanically, to the need of the instant. I am scarcelyobjectively aware that I think when I fight, so quickly does mypoint take advantage of every opening, or spring to my defense ifI am threatened that it is almost as though the cold steel hadeyes and brains. You, with your kaldane brain and your rykorbody, never could hope to achieve in the same degree ofperfection those things that I can achieve. Development of thebrain should not be the sum total of human endeavor. The richestand happiest peoples will be those who attain closest towell-balanced perfection of both mind and body, and even thesemust always be short of perfection. In absolute and generalperfection lies stifling monotony and death. Nature must havecontrasts; she must have shadows as well as high lights; sorrowwith happiness; both wrong and right; and sin as well as virtue."

"Always have I been taught differently," replied Ghek; "but sinceI have known this woman and you, of another race, I have come tobelieve that there may be other standards fully as high anddesirable as those of the kaldanes. At least I have had a glimpseof the thing you call happiness and I realize that it may be goodeven though I have no means of expressing it. I cannot laugh norsmile, and yet within me is a sense of contentment when thiswoman sings--a sense that seems to open before me wondrous vistasof beauty and unguessed pleasure that far transcend the cold joysof a perfectly functioning brain. I would that I had been born ofthy race."

Caught by a gentle current of air the flier was drifting slowlytoward the northeast across the valley of Bantoom. Below them laythe cultivated fields, and one after another they passed over thestrange towers of Moak and Nolach and the other kings of theswarms that inhabited this weird and terrible land. Within eachenclosure surrounding the towers grovelled the rykors, repellent,headless things, beautiful yet hideous.

"A lesson, those," remarked Gahan, indicating the rykors in anenclosure above which they were drifting at the time, "to thatfortunately small minority of our race which worships the fleshand makes a god of appetite. You know them, Tara of Helium; theycan tell you exactly what they had at the midday meal two weeksago, and how the loin of the thoat should be prepared, and whatdrink should be served with the rump of the zitidar."

Tara of Helium laughed. "But not one of them could tell you thename of the man whose painting took the Jeddak's Award in TheTemple of Beauty this year," she said. "Like the rykors, theirdevelopment has not been balanced."

"Fortunate indeed are those in which there is combined a littlegood and a little bad, a little knowledge of many things outsidetheir own callings, a capacity for love and a capacity for hate,for such as these can look with tolerance upon all, unbiased bythe egotism of him whose head is so heavy on one side that allhis brains run to that point."

As Gahan ceased speaking Ghek made a little noise in his throatas one does who would attract attention. "You speak as one whohas thought much upon many subjects. Is it, then, possible thatyou of the red race have pleasure in thought? Do you know aughtof the joys of introspection? Do reason and logic form any partof your lives?"

"Most assuredly," replied Gahan, "but not to the extent ofoccupying all our time--at least not objectively. You, Ghek, arean example of the egotism of which I spoke. Because you and yourkind devote your lives to the worship of mind, you believe thatno other created beings think. And possibly we do not in thesense that you do, who think only of yourselves and your greatbrains. We think of many things that concern the welfare of aworld. Had it not been for the red men of Barsoom even thekaldanes had perished from the planet, for while you may livewithout air the things upon which you depend for existencecannot, and there had been no air in sufficient quantities uponBarsoom these many ages had not a red man planned and built thegreat atmosphere plant which gave new life to a dying world.

"What have all the brains of all the kaldanes that have ever

lived done to compare with that single idea of a single red man?"

Ghek was stumped. Being a kaldane he knew that brains spelled thesum total of universal achievement, but it had never occurred tohim that they should be put to use in practical and profitableways. He turned away and looked down upon the valley of hisancestors across which he was slowly drifting, into what unknownworld? He should be a veritable god among the underlings, heknew; but somehow a doubt assailed him. It was evident that thesetwo from that other world were ready to question his preeminence.Even through his great egotism was filtering a suspicion thatthey patronized him; perhaps even pitied him. Then he began towonder what was to become of him. No longer would he have manyrykors to do his bidding. Only this single one and when it diedthere could not be another. When it tired, Ghek must lie almosthelpless while it rested. He wished that he had never seen thisred woman. She had brought him only discontent and dishonor andnow exile. Presently Tara of Helium commenced to hum a tune andGhek, the kaldane, was content.

Gently they drifted beneath the hurtling moons above the madshadows of a Martian night. The roaring of the banths came indiminishing volume to their ears as their craft passed on beyondthe boundaries of Bantoom, leaving behind the terrors of thatunhappy land. But to what were they being borne? The girl lookedat the man sitting cross-legged upon the deck of the tiny flier,gazing off into the night ahead, apparently absorbed in thought.

"Where are we?" she asked. "Toward what are we drifting?"

Turan shrugged his broad shoulders. "The stars tell me that weare drifting toward the northeast," he replied, "but where weare, or what lies in our path I cannot even guess. A week since Icould have sworn that I knew what lay behind each succeedingridge that I approached; but now I admit in all humility that Ihave no conception of what lies a mile in any direction. Tara ofHelium, I am lost, and that is all that I can tell you."

He was smiling and the girl smiled back at him. There was aslightly puzzled expression on her face--there was somethingtantalizingly familiar about that smile of his. She had met manya panthan--they came and went, following the fighting of aworld--but she could not place this one.

"From what country are you, Turan?" she asked suddenly.

"Know you not, Tara of Helium," he countered, "that a panthan hasno country? Today he fights beneath the banner of one master,tomorrow beneath that of another."

"But you must own allegiance to some country when you are notfighting," she insisted. "What banner, then, owns you now?"

He rose and stood before her, then, bowing low. "And I amacceptable," he said, "I serve beneath the banner of the daughterof The Warlord now--and forever."

She reached forth and touched his arm with a slim brown hand."Your services are accepted," she said; "and if ever we reachHelium I promise that your reward shall be all that your heartcould desire."

"I shall serve faithfully, hoping for that reward," he said;

but Tara of Helium did not guess what was in his mind, thinkingrather that he was mercenary. For how could the proud daughter ofThe Warlord guess that a simple panthan aspired to her hand andheart?

The dawn found them moving rapidly over an unfamiliar landscape.The wind had increased during the night and had borne them farfrom Bantoom. The country below them was rough and inhospitable.No water was visible and the surface of the ground was cut bydeep gorges, while nowhere was any but the most meager vegetationdiscernible. They saw no life of any nature, nor was there anyindication that the country could support life. For two days theydrifted over this horrid wasteland. They were without food orwater and suffered accordingly. Ghek had temporarily abandonedhis rykor after enlisting Turan's assistance in lashing it safelyto the deck. The less he used it the less would its vitality bespent. Already it was showing the effects of privation. Ghekcrawled about the vessel like a great spider--over the side, downbeneath the keel, and up over the opposite rail. He seemedequally at home one place as another. For his companions,however, the quarters were cramped, for the deck of a one-manflier is not intended for three.

Turan sought always ahead for signs of water. Water they musthave, or that water-giving plant which makes life possible uponmany of the seemingly arid areas of Mars; but there was neitherthe one nor the other for these two days and now the third nightwas upon them. The girl did not complain, but Turan knew that shemust be suffering and his heart was heavy within him. Gheksuffered least of all, and he explained to them that his kindcould exist for long periods without food or water. Turan almostcursed him as he saw the form of Tara of Helium slowly wastingaway before his eyes, while the hideous kaldane seemed as full ofvitality as ever.

"There are circumstances," remarked Ghek, "under which a grossand material body is less desirable than a highly developedbrain."

Turan looked at him, but said nothing. Tara of Helium smiledfaintly. "One cannot blame him," she said, "were we not a bitboastful in the pride of our superiority? When our stomachs werefilled," she added.

"Perhaps there is something to be said for their system," Turanadmitted. "If we could but lay aside our stomachs when they criedfor food and water I have no doubt but that we should do so."

"I should never miss mine now," assented Tara; "it is mighty poorcompany."

A new day had dawned, revealing a less desolate country andrenewing again the hope that had been low within them. SuddenlyTuran leaned forward, pointing ahead.

"Look, Tara of Helium!" he cried. "A city! As I am Ga--as I amTuran the panthan, a city."

Far in the distance the domes and walls and slender towers of acity shone in the rising sun. Quickly the man seized the controland the ship dropped rapidly behind a low range of interveninghills, for well Turan knew that they must not be seen until theycould discover whether friend or foe inhabited the strange city.Chances were that they were far from the abode of friends and somust the panthan move with the utmost caution; but there was acity and where a city was, was water, even though it were adeserted city, and food if it were inhabited.

To the red man food and water, even in the citadel of an enemy,meant food and drink for Tara of Helium. He would accept it fromfriends or he would take it from enemies. Just so long as it wasthere he would have it--and there was shown the egotism of thefighting man, though Turan did not see it, nor Tara who came froma long line of fighting men; but Ghek might have smiled had heknown how.

Turan permitted the flier to drift closer behind the screeninghills, and then when he could advance no farther without fear ofdiscovery, he dropped the craft gently to ground in a littleravine, and leaping over the side made her fast to a stout tree.For several moments they discussed their plans--whether it wouldbe best to wait where they were until darkness hid theirmovements and then approach the city in search of food and water,or approach it now, taking advantage of what cover they could,until they could glean something of the nature of itsinhabitants.

It was Turan's plan which finally prevailed. They would approachas close as safety dictated in the hope of finding water outsidethe city; food, too, perhaps. If they did not they could at leastreconnoiter the ground by daylight, and then when night cameTuran could quickly come close to the city and in comparativesafety prosecute his search for food and drink.

Following the ravine upward they finally topped the summit of theridge, from which they had an excellent view of that part of thecity which lay nearest them, though themselves hidden by thebrush behind which they crouched. Ghek had resumed his rykor,which had suffered less than either Tara or Turan through theirenforced fast.

The first glance at the city, now much closer than when they hadfirst discovered it, revealed the fact that it was inhabited.Banners and pennons broke from many a staff. People were movingabout the gate before them. The high white walls were paced bysentinels at far intervals. Upon the roofs of higher buildingsthe women could be seen airing the sleeping silks and furs. Turanwatched it all in silence for some time.

"I do not know them," he said at last. "I cannot guess what citythis may be. But it is an ancient city. Its people have no fliersand no firearms. It must be old indeed."

"How do you know they have not these things?" asked the girl.

"There are no landing-stages upon the roofs--not one that can beseen from here; while were we looking similarly at Helium wewould see hundreds. And they have no firearms because theirdefenses are all built to withstand the attack of spear andarrow, with spear and arrow. They are an ancient people."

"If they are ancient perhaps they are friendly," suggested thegirl. "Did we not learn as children in the history of our planetthat it was once peopled by a friendly, peace-loving race?"

"But I fear they are not as ancient as that," replied Turan,

laughing. "It has been long ages since the men of Barsoom lovedpeace."

"My father loves peace," returned the girl.

"And yet he is always at war," said the man.

She laughed. "But he says he likes peace."

"We all like peace," he rejoined; "peace with honor; but ourneighbors will not let us have it, and so we must fight."

"And to fight well men must like to fight," she added.

"And to like to fight they must know how to fight," he said, "forno man likes to do the thing that he does not know how to dowell."

"Or that some other man can do better than he."

"And so always there will be wars and men will fight," heconcluded, "for always the men with hot blood in their veins willpractice the art of war."

"We have settled a great question," said the girl, smiling; "butour stomachs are still empty."

"Your panthan is neglecting his duty," replied Turan; "and howcan he with the great reward always before his eyes!"

She did not guess in what literal a sense he spoke.

"I go forthwith," he continued, "to wrest food and drink from theancients."

"No," she cried, laying a hand upon his arm, "not yet. They wouldslay you or make you prisoner. You are a brave panthan and amighty one, but you cannot overcome a city singlehanded."

She smiled up into his face and her hand still lay upon his arm.He felt the thrill of hot blood coursing through his veins. Hecould have seized her in his arms and crushed her to him. Therewas only Ghek the kaldane there, but there was something strongerwithin him that restrained his hand. Who may define it--thatinherent chivalry that renders certain men the natural protectorsof women?

From their vantage point they saw a body of armed warriors rideforth from the gate, and winding along a well-beaten road passfrom sight about the foot of the hill from which they watched.The men were red, like themselves, and they rode the small saddlethoats of the red race. Their trappings were barbaric andmagnificent, and in their head-dress were many feathers as hadbeen the custom of ancients. They were armed with swords and longspears and they rode almost naked, their bodies being painted inochre and blue and white. There were, perhaps, a score of them inthe party and as they galloped away on their tireless mounts theypresented a picture at once savage and beautiful.

"They have the appearance of splendid warriors," said Turan. "Ihave a great mind to walk boldly into their city and seekservice."

Tara shook her head. "Wait," she admonished. "What would I dowithout you, and if you were captured how could you collect yourreward?"

"I should escape," he said. "At any rate I shall try it," and hestarted to rise.

"You shall not," said the girl, her tone all authority.

The man looked at her quickly--questioningly.

"You have entered my service," she said, a trifle haughtily.

"You have entered my service for hire and you shall do as I bidyou."

Turan sank down beside her again with a half smile upon his lips."It is yours to command, Princess," he said.

The day passed. Ghek, tiring of the sunlight, had deserted hisrykor and crawled down a hole he had discovered close by. Taraand Turan reclined beneath the scant shade of a small tree. Theywatched the people coming and going through the gate. The partyof horsemen did not return. A small herd of zitidars was driveninto the city during the day, and once a caravan of broad-wheeledcarts drawn by these huge animals wound out of the distanthorizon and came down to the city. It, too, passed from theirsight within the gateway. Then darkness came and Tara of Heliumbid her panthan search for food and drink; but she cautioned himagainst attempting to enter the city. Before he left her he bentand kissed her hand as a warrior may kiss the hand of his queen.