As Carthoris moved through the forest toward the distantcliffs with Thuvia's hand still tight pressed in his,he wondered a little at the girl's continued silence,yet the contact of her cool palm against his was sopleasant that he feared to break the spell of hernew-found reliance in him by speaking.

Onward through the dim wood they passed until theshadows of the quick coming Martian night commenced toclose down upon them. Then it was that Carthoris turnedto speak to the girl at his side.

They must plan together for the future. It was his ideato pass through the cliffs at once if they could locatethe passage, and he was quite positive that they were nowclose to it; but he wanted her assent to the proposition.

As his eyes rested upon her, he was struck by herstrangely ethereal appearance. She seemed suddenly tohave dissolved into the tenuous substance of a dream,and as he continued to gaze upon her, she faded slowlyfrom his sight.

For an instant he was dumbfounded, and then the wholetruth flashed suddenly upon him. Jav had caused him tobelieve that Thuvia was accompanying him through thewood while, as a matter of fact, he had detained thegirl for himself!

Carthoris was horrified. He cursed himself for his stupidity,and yet he knew that the fiendish power which the Lotharianhad invoked to confuse him might have deceived any.

Scarce had he realized the truth than he had started toretrace his steps toward Lothar, but now he moved at atrot, the Earthly thews that he had inherited from hisfather carrying him swiftly over the soft carpet of fallenleaves and rank grass.

Thuria's brilliant light flooded the plain before thewalled city of Lothar as Carthoris broke from the woodopposite the great gate that had given the fugitives egressfrom the city earlier in the day.

At first he saw no indication that there was anotherthan himself anywhere about. The plain was deserted.No myriad bowmen camped now beneath the overhangingverdure of the giant trees. No gory heaps of tortureddead defaced the beauty of the scarlet sward.All was silence. All was peace.

The Heliumite, scarce pausing at the forest's verge,pushed on across the plain toward the city, when presentlyhe descried a huddled form in the grass at his feet.

It was the body of a man, lying prone. Carthoris turnedthe figure over upon its back. It was Jav, but torn andmangled almost beyond recognition.

The prince bent low to note if any spark of life remained,and as he did so the lids raised and dull, sufferingeyes looked up into his.

"The Princess of Ptarth!" cried Carthoris. "Where is she?Answer me, man, or I complete the work that another hasso well begun."

"Komal," muttered Jav. "He sprang upon me . . . andwould have devoured me but for the girl. Then they wentaway together into the wood--the girl and the greatbanth . . . her fingers twined in his tawny mane."

"Which way went they?" asked Carthoris.

"There," replied Jav faintly, "toward the passagethrough the cliffs."

The Prince of Helium waited to hear no more, butspringing to his feet, raced back again into the forest.

It was dawn when he reached the mouth of the dark tunnelthat would lead him to the other world beyond this valley ofghostly memories and strange hypnotic influences and menaces.

Within the long, dark passages he met with no accidentor obstacle, coming at last into the light of day beyondthe mountains, and no great distance from the southernverge of the domains of the Torquasians, not morethan one hundred and fifty haad at the most.

From the boundary of Torquas to the city of Aaanthoris a distance of some two hundred haads, so that theHeliumite had before him a journey of more than onehundred and fifty Earth miles between him and Aaanthor.

He could at best but hazard a chance guess that towardAaanthor Thuvia would take her flight. There laythe nearest water, and there might be expected some daya rescuing party from her father's empire; for Carthorisknew Thuvan Dihn well enough to know that he wouldleave no stone unturned until he had tracked down thetruth as to his daughter's abduction, and learned all thatthere might be to learn of her whereabouts.

He realized, of course, that the trick which had laidsuspicion upon him would greatly delay the discoveryof the truth, but little did he guess to what vastproportions had the results of the villainy of Astokof Dusar already grown.

Even as he emerged from the mouth of the passage tolook across the foothills in the direction of Aaanthor,a Ptarth battle fleet was winging its majestic way slowlytoward the twin cities of Helium, while from far distantKaol raced another mighty armada to join forces with its ally.

He did not know that in the face of the circumstantialevidence against him even his own people had commencedto entertain suspicions that he might have stolen thePtarthian princess.

He did not know of the lengths to which the Dusarianshad gone to disrupt the friendship and alliance whichexisted between the three great powers of the easternhemisphere--Helium, Ptarth and Kaol.

How Dusarian emissaries had found employment in importantposts in the foreign offices of the three great nations,and how, through these men, messages from one jeddak toanother were altered and garbled until the patience andpride of the three rulers and former friends could nolonger endure the humiliations and insults containedin these falsified papers--not any of this he knew.

Nor did he know how even to the last John Carter,Warlord of Mars, had refused to permit the jeddak ofHelium to declare war against either Ptarth or Kaol,because of his implicit belief in his son, and thateventually all would be satisfactorily explained.

And now two great fleets were moving upon Helium, whilethe Dusarian spies at the court of Tardos Mors saw to itthat the twin cities remained in ignorance of their danger.

War had been declared by Thuvan Dihn, but the messengerwho had been dispatched with the proclamation had beena Dusarian who had seen to it that no word of warningreached the twin cities of the approach of a hostile fleet.

For several days diplomatic relations had been severedbetween Helium and her two most powerful neighbors,and with the departure of the ministers had come atotal cessation of wireless communication between thedisputants, as is usual upon Barsoom.

But of all this Carthoris was ignorant. All that interestedhim at present was the finding of Thuvia of Ptarth. Her trailbeside that of the huge banth had been well marked to the tunnel,and was once more visible leading southward into the foothills.

As he followed rapidly downward toward the dead sea-bottom, where he knew he must lose the spoor in theresilient ochre vegetation, he was suddenly surprised tosee a naked man approaching him from the north-east.

As the fellow drew closer, Carthoris halted to await his coming.He knew that the man was unarmed, and that he was apparentlya Lotharian, for his skin was white and his hair auburn.

He approached the Heliumite without sign of fear,and when quite close called out the cheery Barsoomian"kaor" of greeting.

"Who are you?" asked Carthoris.

"I am Kar Komak, odwar of the bowmen," replied the other."A strange thing has happened to me. For ages Tario hasbeen bringing me into existence as he needed the servicesof the army of his mind. Of all the bowmen it hasbeen Kar Komak who has been oftenest materialized.

"For a long time Tario has been concentrating hismind upon my permanent materialization. It has beenan obsession with him that some day this thing couldbe accomplished and the future of Lothar assured.He asserted that matter was nonexistent except in theimagination of man--that all was mental, and so he believedthat by persisting in his suggestion he could eventually makeof me a permanent suggestion in the minds of all creatures.

"Yesterday he succeeded, but at such a time! It musthave come all unknown to him, as it came to me withoutmy knowledge, as, with my horde of yelling bowmen, Ipursued the fleeing Torquasians back to their ochre plains.

"As darkness settled and the time came for us tofade once more into thin air, I suddenly found myselfalone upon the edge of the great plain which lies yonderat the foot of the low hills.

"My men were gone back to the nothingness from whichthey had sprung, but I remained--naked and unarmed.

"At first I could not understand, but at last came arealization of what had occurred. Tario's long suggestionshad at last prevailed, and Kar Komak had become a realityin the world of men; but my harness and my weaponshad faded away with my fellows, leaving me naked andunarmed in a hostile country far from Lothar."

"You wish to return to Lothar?" asked Carthoris.

"No!" replied Kar Komak quickly. "I have no love for Tario.Being a creature of his mind, I know him too well.He is cruel and tyrannical--a master I have no desire to serve.Now that he has succeeded in accomplishing my permanentmaterialization, he will be unbearable, and he will go onuntil he has filled Lothar with his creatures.I wonder if he has succeeded as well with the maid of Lothar."

"I thought there were no women there," said Carthoris.

"In a hidden apartment in the palace of Tario," repliedKar Komak, "the jeddak has maintained the suggestion ofa beautiful girl, hoping that some day she would becomepermanent. I have seen her there. She is wonderful!But for her sake I hope that Tario succeeds not so wellwith her as he has with me.

"Now, red man, I have told you of myself--what of you?"

Carthoris liked the face and manner of the bowman.There had been no sign of doubt or fear in his expressionas he had approached the heavily-armed Heliumite,and he had spoken directly and to the point.

So the Prince of Helium told the bowman of Lothar who he wasand what adventure had brought him to this far country.

"Good!" exclaimed the other, when he had done. "KarKomak will accompany you. Together we shall find thePrincess of Ptarth and with you Kar Komak will returnto the world of men--such a world as he knew in thelong-gone past when the ships of mighty Lothar ploughedangry Throxus, and the roaring surf beat against thebarrier of these parched and dreary hills."

"What mean you?" asked Carthoris. "Had you really aformer actual existence?"

"Most assuredly," replied Kar Komak. "In my day Icommanded the fleets of Lothar--mightiest of all thefleets that sailed the five salt seas.

"Wherever men lived upon Barsoom there was the nameof Kar Komak known and respected. Peaceful were theland races in those distant days--only the seafarerswere warriors; but now has the glory of the past faded,nor did I think until I met you that there remained uponBarsoom a single person of our own mould who lived andloved and fought as did the ancient seafarers of my time.

"Ah, but it will seem good to see men once again--real men!Never had I much respect for the landsmen of my day.They remained in their walled cities wasting theirtime in play, depending for their protection entirelyupon the sea race. And the poor creatures who remain,the Tarios and Javs of Lothar, are even worse than theirancient forbears."

Carthoris was a trifle sceptical as to the wisdomof permitting the stranger to attach himself to him.There was always the chance that he was but the essenceof some hypnotic treachery which Tario or Jav was attemptingto exert upon the Heliumite; and yet, so sincere had beenthe manner and the words of the bowman, so much thefighting man did he seem, but Carthoris could notfind it in his heart to doubt him.

The outcome of the matter was that he gave the nakedodwar leave to accompany him, and together they setout upon the spoor of Thuvia and Komal.

Down to the ochre sea-bottom the trail led. There itdisappeared, as Carthoris had known that it would; but whereit entered the plain its direction had been toward Aaanthorand so toward Aaanthor the two turned their faces.

It was a long and tedious journey, fraught with many dangers.The bowman could not travel at the pace set by Carthoris,whose muscles carried him with great rapidity over theface of the small planet, the force of gravity of whichexerts so much less retarding power than that of the Earth.Fifty miles a day is a fair average for a Barsoomian,but the son of John Carter might easily have covereda hundred or more miles had he cared to desert hisnew-found comrade.

All the way they were in constant danger of discoveryby roving bands of Torquasians, and especially was thistrue before they reached the boundary of Torquas.

Good fortune was with them, however, and althoughthey sighted two detachments of the savage green men,they were not themselves seen.

And so they came, upon the morning of the third day,within sight of the glistening domes of distant Aaanthor.Throughout the journey Carthoris had ever strained hiseyes ahead in search of Thuvia and the great banth; butnot till now had he seen aught to give him hope.

This morning, far ahead, half-way between themselvesand Aaanthor, the men saw two tiny figures moving towardthe city. For a moment they watched them intently.Then Carthoris, convinced, leaped forward at a rapid run,Kar Komak following as swiftly as he could.

The Heliumite shouted to attract the girl's attention,and presently he was rewarded by seeing her turn andstand looking toward him. At her side the great banthstood with up-pricked ears, watching the approaching man.

Not yet could Thuvia of Ptarth have recognized Carthoris,though that it was he she must have been convinced,for she waited there for him without sign of fear.

Presently he saw her point toward the northwest, beyond him.Without slackening his pace, he turned his eyes inthe direction she indicated.

Racing silently over the thick vegetation, not half amile behind, came a score of fierce green warriors,charging him upon their mighty thoats.

To their right was Kar Komak, naked and unarmed,yet running valiantly toward Carthoris and shouting warningas though he, too, had but just discovered the silent,menacing company that moved so swiftly forward withcouched spears and ready long-swords.

Carthoris shouted to the Lotharian, warning him back,for he knew that he could but uselessly sacrifice hislife by placing himself, all unarmed, in the path ofthe cruel and relentless savages.

But Kar Komak never hesitated. With shouts ofencouragement to his new friend, he hurried onward towardthe Prince of Helium. The red man's heart leaped inresponse to this exhibition of courage and self-sacrifice. He regretted now that he had not thought to give Kar Komakone of his swords; but it was too late to attempt it, forshould he wait for the Lotharian to overtake him or returnto meet him, the Torquasians would reach Thuvia ofPtarth before he could do so.

Even as it was, it would be nip and tuck as to whocame first to her side.

Again he turned his face in her direction, and now,from Aaanthor way, he saw a new force hasteningtoward them--two medium-sized war craft--and even atthe distance they still were from him he discerned thedevice of Dusar upon their bows.

Now, indeed, seemed little hope for Thuvia of Ptarth.With savage warriors of the hordes of Torquas chargingtoward her from one direction, and no less implacableenemies, in the form of the creatures of Astok,Prince of Dusar, bearing down upon her from another,while only a banth, a red warrior, and an unarmed bowmanwere near to defend her, her plight was quite hopelessand her cause already lost ere ever it was contested.

As Thuvia saw Carthoris approaching, she felt againthat unaccountable sensation of entire relief fromresponsibility and fear that she had experienced upon aformer occasion. Nor could she account for it while her mindstill tried to convince her heart that the Prince of Heliumhad been instrumental in her abduction from her father's court.She only knew that she was glad when he was by her side,and that with him there all things seemed possible--evensuch impossible things as escape from her present predicament.

Now had he stopped, panting, before her. A brave smile ofencouragement lit his face.

"Courage, my princess," he whispered.

To the girl's memory flashed the occasion upon whichhe had used those same words--in the throne-room ofTario of Lothar as they had commenced to slip down thesinking marble floor toward an unknown fate.

Then she had not chidden him for the use of that familiarsalutation, nor did she chide him now, though she waspromised to another. She wondered at herself--flushingat her own turpitude; for upon Barsoom it is a shamefulthing for a woman to listen to those two words fromanother than her husband or her betrothed.

Carthoris saw her flush of mortification, and in an instantregretted his words. There was but a moment before thegreen warriors would be upon them.

"Forgive me!" said the man in a low voice. "Let mygreat love be my excuse--that, and the belief that I havebut a moment more of life," and with the words he turnedto meet the foremost of the green warriors.

The fellow was charging with couched spear, but Carthorisleaped to one side, and as the great thoat and itsrider hurtled harmlessly past him he swung his long-swordin a mighty cut that clove the green carcass in twain.

At the same moment Kar Komak leaped with bare handsclawing at the leg of another of the huge riders; thebalance of the horde raced in to close quarters, dismountingthe better to wield their favourite long-swords; theDusarian fliers touched the soft carpet of the ochre-cladsea-bottom, disgorging fifty fighting men from their bowels;and into the swirling sea of cutting, slashing swordssprang Komal, the great banth.