As Jav leaped toward him Carthoris laid his hand uponthe hilt of his long-sword. The Lotharian halted. Thegreat apartment was empty save for the four at the dais,yet as Jav stepped back from the menace of the Heliumite'sthreatening attitude the latter found himself surroundedby a score of bowmen.

From whence had they sprung? Both Carthoris andThuvia looked their astonishment.

Now the former's sword leaped from its scabbard, andat the same instant the bowmen drew back their slim shafts.

Tario had half raised himself upon one elbow. For thefirst time he saw the full figure of Thuvia, who had beenconcealed behind the person of Carthoris.

"Enough!" cried the jeddak, raising a protesting hand,but at that very instant the sword of the Heliumite cutviciously at its nearest antagonist.

As the keen edge reached its goal Carthoris let the pointfall to the floor, as with wide eyes he stepped backwardin consternation, throwing the back of his left hand acrosshis brow. His steel had cut but empty air--his antagonisthad vanished--there were no bowmen in the room!

"It is evident that these are strangers," said Tario to Jav."Let us first determine that they knowingly affronted usbefore we take measures for punishment."

Then he turned to Carthoris, but ever his gaze wanderedto the perfect lines of Thuvia's glorious figure, which theharness of a Barsoomian princess accentuated ratherthan concealed.

"Who are you," he asked, "who knows not the etiquetteof the court of the last of jeddaks?"

"I am Carthoris, Prince of Helium," replied the Heliumite. "And this is Thuvia, Princess of Ptarth. In thecourts of our fathers men do not prostrate themselvesbefore royalty. Not since the First Born tore theirimmortal goddess limb from limb have men crawled upontheir bellies to any throne upon Barsoom. Now thinkyou that the daughter of one mighty jeddak and the sonof another would so humiliate themselves?"

Tario looked at Carthoris for a long time. At last he spoke.

"There is no other jeddak upon Barsoom than Tario," he said."There is no other race than that of Lothar, unless thehordes of Torquas may be dignified by such an appellation.Lotharians are white; your skins are red. There are nowomen left upon Barsoom. Your companion is a woman."

He half rose from the couch, leaning far forward andpointing an accusing finger at Carthoris.

"You are a lie!" he shrieked. "You are both lies, andyou dare to come before Tario, last and mightiest of thejeddaks of Barsoom, and assert your reality. Some oneshall pay well for this, Jav, and unless I mistake it isyourself who has dared thus flippantly to trifle with thegood nature of your jeddak.

"Remove the man. Leave the woman. We shall see if both be lies.And later, Jav, you shall suffer for your temerity. There be fewof us left, but--Komal must be fed. Go!"

Carthoris could see that Jav trembled as he prostratedhimself once more before his ruler, and then, rising,turned toward the Prince of Helium.

"Come!" he said.

"And leave the Princess of Ptarth here alone?" cried Carthoris.

Jav brushed closely past him, whispering:

"Follow me--he cannot harm her, except to kill; andthat he can do whether you remain or not. We had bestgo now--trust me."

Carthoris did not understand, but something in theurgency of the other's tone assured him, and so he turnedaway, but not without a glance toward Thuvia in whichhe attempted to make her understand that it was in herown interest that he left her.

For answer she turned her back full upon him, butnot without first throwing him such a look of contemptthat brought the scarlet to his cheek.

Then he hesitated, but Jav seized him by the wrist.

"Come!" he whispered. "Or he will have the bowmen upon you,and this time there will be no escape. Did you not see howfutile is your steel against thin air!"

Carthoris turned unwillingly to follow. As the two leftthe room he turned to his companion.

"If I may not kill thin air," he asked, "how, then,shall I fear that thin air may kill me?"

"You saw the Torquasians fall before the bowmen?" asked Jav.

Carthoris nodded.

"So would you fall before them, and without one singlechance for self-defence or revenge."

As they talked Jav led Carthoris to a small room in oneof the numerous towers of the palace. Here werecouches, and Jav bid the Heliumite be seated.

For several minutes the Lotharian eyed his prisoner,for such Carthoris now realized himself to be.

"I am half convinced that you are real," he said at last.

Carthoris laughed.

"Of course I am real," he said. "What caused youto doubt it? Can you not see me, feel me?"

"So may I see and feel the bowmen," replied Jav,"and yet we all know that they, at least, are not real."

Carthoris showed by the expression of his face hispuzzlement at each new reference to the mysteriousbowmen--the vanishing soldiery of Lothar.

"What, then, may they be?" he asked.

"You really do not know?" asked Jav.

Carthoris shook his head negatively.

"I can almost believe that you have told us the truthand that you are really from another part of Barsoom,or from another world. But tell me, in your own countryhave you no bowmen to strike terror to the hearts of thegreen hordesmen as they slay in company with the fiercebanths of war?"

"We have soldiers," replied Carthoris. "We of the redrace are all soldiers, but we have no bowmen to defendus, such as yours. We defend ourselves."

"You go out and get killed by your enemies!" criedJav incredulously.

"Certainly," replied Carthoris. "How do the Lotharians?"

"You have seen," replied the other. "We send out ourdeathless archers--deathless because they are lifeless,existing only in the imaginations of our enemies. It isreally our giant minds that defend us, sending outlegions of imaginary warriors to materialize before themind's eye of the foe.

"They see them--they see their bows drawn back--theysee their slender arrows speed with unerring precisiontoward their hearts. And they die--killed by thepower of suggestion."

"But the archers that are slain?" exclaimed Carthoris."You call them deathless, and yet I saw their dead bodiespiled high upon the battlefield. How may that be?"

"It is but to lend reality to the scene," replied Jav."We picture many of our own defenders killed that theTorquasians may not guess that there are really no fleshand blood creatures opposing them.

"Once that truth became implanted in their minds,it is the theory of many of us, no longer would they fallprey to the suggestion of the deadly arrows, for greaterwould be the suggestion of the truth, and the morepowerful suggestion would prevail--it is law."

"And the banths?" questioned Carthoris. "They, too,were but creatures of suggestion?"

"Some of them were real," replied Jav. "Those thataccompanied the archers in pursuit of the Torquasianswere unreal. Like the archers, they never returned, but,having served their purpose, vanished with the bowmenwhen the rout of the enemy was assured.

"Those that remained about the field were real. Those weloosed as scavengers to devour the bodies of the dead of Torquas.This thing is demanded by the realists among us. I am a realist.Tario is an etherealist.

"The etherealists maintain that there is no such thingas matter--that all is mind. They say that none of us exists,except in the imagination of his fellows, other than as anintangible, invisible mentality.

"According to Tario, it is but necessary that we allunite in imagining that there are no dead Torquasiansbeneath our walls, and there will be none, nor any needof scavenging banths."

"You, then, do not hold Tario's beliefs?" asked Carthoris.

"In part only," replied the Lotharian. "I believe, infact I know, that there are some truly ethereal creatures.Tario is one, I am convinced. He has no existence exceptin the imaginations of his people.

"Of course, it is the contention of all us realists thatall etherealists are but figments of the imagination.They contend that no food is necessary, nor do they eat;but any one of the most rudimentary intelligence must realizethat food is a necessity to creatures having actual existence."

"Yes," agreed Carthoris, "not having eaten to-day I canreadily agree with you."

"Ah, pardon me," exclaimed Jav. "Pray be seatedand satisfy your hunger," and with a wave of his handhe indicated a bountifully laden table that had not beenthere an instant before he spoke. Of that Carthoris waspositive, for he had searched the room diligently with hiseyes several times.

"It is well," continued Jav, "that you did not fall intothe hands of an etherealist. Then, indeed, would you havegone hungry."

"But," exclaimed Carthoris, "this is not real food--itwas not here an instant since, and real food does notmaterialize out of thin air."

Jav looked hurt.

"There is no real food or water in Lothar," he said;"nor has there been for countless ages. Upon such asyou now see before you have we existed since the dawnof history. Upon such, then, may you exist."

"But I thought you were a realist," exclaimed Carthoris.

"Indeed," cried Jav, "what more realistic than thisbounteous feast? It is just here that we differ most fromthe etherealists. They claim that it is unnecessary toimagine food; but we have found that for the maintenanceof life we must thrice daily sit down to hearty meals.

"The food that one eats is supposed to undergo certainchemical changes during the process of digestion andassimilation, the result, of course, being the rebuildingof wasted tissue.

"Now we all know that mind is all, though we may differin the interpretation of its various manifestations.Tario maintains that there is no such thing as substance,all being created from the substanceless matter of the brain.

"We realists, however, know better. We know thatmind has the power to maintain substance even though itmay not be able to create substance--the latter is stillan open question. And so we know that in order tomaintain our physical bodies we must cause all ourorgans properly to function.

"This we accomplish by materializing food-thoughts,and by partaking of the food thus created. We chew, weswallow, we digest. All our organs function precisely asif we had partaken of material food. And what is the result?What must be the result? The chemical changes take placethrough both direct and indirect suggestion, and we live and thrive."

Carthoris eyed the food before him. It seemed real enough. He lifted a morsel to his lips. There was substance indeed. And flavour as well. Yes, even his palate was deceived.

Jav watched him, smiling, as he ate.

"Is it not entirely satisfying?" he asked.

"I must admit that it is," replied Carthoris. "But tellme, how does Tario live, and the other etherealists whomaintain that food is unnecessary?"

Jav scratched his head.

"That is a question we often discuss," he replied."It is the strongest evidence we have of the non-existenceof the etherealists; but who may know other than Komal?"

"Who is Komal?" asked Carthoris. "I heard your jeddak speak of him."

Jav bent low toward the ear of the Heliumite, looking fearfully aboutbefore he spoke.

"Komal is the essence," he whispered. "Even theetherealists admit that mind itself must have substancein order to transmit to imaginings the appearance ofsubstance. For if there really was no such thing assubstance it could not be suggested--what never hasbeen cannot be imagined. Do you follow me?"

"I am groping," replied Carthoris dryly.

"So the essence must be substance," continued Jav."Komal is the essence of the All, as it were. He ismaintained by substance. He eats. He eats the real. To be explicit, he eats the realists. That is Tario's work.

"He says that inasmuch as we maintain that we aloneare real we should, to be consistent, admit that wealone are proper food for Komal. Sometimes, as to-day,we find other food for him. He is very fond of Torquasians."

"And Komal is a man?" asked Carthoris.

"He is All, I told you," replied Jav. "I know not howto explain him in words that you will understand. He isthe beginning and the end. All life emanates from Komal,since the substance which feeds the brain with imaginingsradiates from the body of Komal.

"Should Komal cease to eat, all life upon Barsoom wouldcease to be. He cannot die, but he might cease to eat,and, thus, to radiate."

"And he feeds upon the men and women of your belief?" cried Carthoris.

"Women!" exclaimed Jav. "There are no women in Lothar.The last of the Lotharian females perished ages since,upon that cruel and terrible journey across themuddy plains that fringed the half-dried seas, when thegreen hordes scourged us across the world to this ourlast hiding-place--our impregnable fortress of Lothar.

"Scarce twenty thousand men of all the countless millionsof our race lived to reach Lothar. Among us were nowomen and no children. All these had perished by the way.

"As time went on, we, too, were dying and the racefast approaching extinction, when the Great Truth wasrevealed to us, that mind is all. Many more died beforewe perfected our powers, but at last we were able todefy death when we fully understood that death wasmerely a state of mind.

"Then came the creation of mind-people, or rather thematerialization of imaginings. We first put these topractical use when the Torquasians discovered our retreat,and fortunate for us it was that it required ages of searchupon their part before they found the single tiny entranceto the valley of Lothar.

"That day we threw our first bowmen against them.The intention was purely to frighten them away by thevast numbers of bowmen which we could muster uponour walls. All Lothar bristled with the bows and arrowsof our ethereal host.

"But the Torquasians did not frighten. They are lowerthan the beasts--they know no fear. They rushed uponour walls, and standing upon the shoulders of othersthey built human approaches to the wall tops, and wereon the very point of surging in upon us and overwhelming us.

"Not an arrow had been discharged by our bowmen--we didbut cause them to run to and fro along the wall top,screaming taunts and threats at the enemy.

"Presently I thought to attempt the thing--THE GREATTHING. I centred all my mighty intellect upon the bowmenof my own creation--each of us produces and directs asmany bowmen as his mentality and imagination is capable of.

"I caused them to fit arrows to their bows for the first time.I made them take aim at the hearts of the green men.I made the green men see all this, and then I made themsee the arrows fly, and I made them think that the pointspierced their hearts.

"It was all that was necessary. By hundreds they toppledfrom our walls, and when my fellows saw what I had donethey were quick to follow my example, so that presently thehordes of Torquas had retreated beyond the range of our arrows.

"We might have killed them at any distance, but one rule ofwar we have maintained from the first--the rule of realism.We do nothing, or rather we cause our bowmen to do nothingwithin sight of the enemy that is beyond the understandingof the foe. Otherwise they might guess the truth, and thatwould be the end of us.

"But after the Torquasians had retreated beyond bowshot,they turned upon us with their terrible rifles, and byconstant popping at us made life miserable within our walls.

"So then I bethought the scheme to hurl our bowmenthrough the gates upon them. You have seen this dayhow well it works. For ages they have come down upon usat intervals, but always with the same results."

"And all this is due to your intellect, Jav?" askedCarthoris. "I should think that you would be high in thecouncils of your people."

"I am," replied Jav, proudly. "I am next to Tario."

"But why, then, your cringing manner of approaching the throne?"

"Tario demands it. He is jealous of me. He only awaitsthe slightest excuse to feed me to Komal. He fears that Imay some day usurp his power."

Carthoris suddenly sprang from the table.

"Jav!" he exclaimed. "I am a beast! Here I have beeneating my fill, while the Princess of Ptarth may perchancebe still without food. Let us return and find somemeans of furnishing her with nourishment."

The Lotharian shook his head.

"Tario would not permit it," he said. "He will, doubtless,make an etherealist of her."

"But I must go to her," insisted Carthoris. "Yousay that there are no women in Lothar. Then she mustbe among men, and if this be so I intend to be near whereI may defend her if the need arises."

"Tario will have his way," insisted Jav. "He sent youaway and you may not return until he sends for you."

"Then I shall go without waiting to be sent for."

"Do not forget the bowmen," cautioned Jav.

"I do not forget them," replied Carthoris, but he didnot tell Jav that he remembered something else that theLotharian had let drop--something that was but a conjecture,possibly, and yet one well worth pinning a forlorn hope to,should necessity arise.

Carthoris started to leave the room. Jav stepped before him,barring his way.

"I have learned to like you, red man," he said;"but do not forget that Tario is still my jeddak,and that Tario has commanded that you remain here."

Carthoris was about to reply, when there came faintlyto the ears of both a woman's cry for help.

With a sweep of his arm the Prince of Helium brushedthe Lotharian aside, and with drawn sword sprang intothe corridor without.