It was daylight when I was awakened by the sound of stealthymovement near by.

As I opened my eyes Woola, too, moved and, coming up to hishaunches, stared through the intervening brush toward the road,each hair upon his neck stiffly erect.

At first I could see nothing, but presently I caught a glimpseof a bit of smooth and glossy green moving among the scarlet andpurple and yellow of the vegetation.

Motioning Woola to remain quietly where he was, I crept forwardto investigate, and from behind the bole of a great tree Isaw a long line of the hideous green warriors of the dead seabottoms hiding in the dense jungle beside the road.

As far as I could see, the silent line of destruction anddeath stretched away from the city of Kaol. There could bebut one explanation. The green men were expecting an exodusof a body of red troops from the nearest city gate, and theywere lying there in ambush to leap upon them.

I owed no fealty to the Jeddak of Kaol, but he was of the samerace of noble red men as my own princess, and I would not standsupinely by and see his warriors butchered by the cruel andheartless demons of the waste places of Barsoom.

Cautiously I retraced my steps to where I had left Woola,and warning him to silence, signaled him to follow me.Making a considerable detour to avoid the chance of fallinginto the hands of the green men, I came at last to the great wall.

A hundred yards to my right was the gate from which the troopswere evidently expected to issue, but to reach it I must pass theflank of the green warriors within easy sight of them, and, fearingthat my plan to warn the Kaolians might thus be thwarted, I decidedupon hastening toward the left, where another gate a mile awaywould give me ingress to the city.

I knew that the word I brought would prove a splendid passportto Kaol, and I must admit that my caution was due more to myardent desire to make my way into the city than to avoid a brushwith the green men. As much as I enjoy a fight, I cannot alwaysindulge myself, and just now I had more weighty matters to occupymy time than spilling the blood of strange warriors.

Could I but win beyond the city's wall, there might be opportunityin the confusion and excitement which were sure to follow myannouncement of an invading force of green warriors to find myway within the palace of the jeddak, where I was sure Matai Shangand his party would be quartered.

But scarcely had I taken a hundred steps in the direction of thefarther gate when the sound of marching troops, the clank of metal,and the squealing of thoats just within the city apprised me of thefact that the Kaolians were already moving toward the other gate.

There was no time to be lost. In another moment the gatewould be opened and the head of the column pass out uponthe death-bordered highway.

Turning back toward the fateful gate, I ran rapidly along the edge ofthe clearing, taking the ground in the mighty leaps that had firstmade me famous upon Barsoom. Thirty, fifty, a hundred feet at a boundare nothing for the muscles of an athletic Earth man upon Mars.

As I passed the flank of the waiting green men they saw my eyesturned upon them, and in an instant, knowing that all secrecywas at an end, those nearest me sprang to their feet in an effortto cut me off before I could reach the gate.

At the same instant the mighty portal swung wide and the headof the Kaolian column emerged. A dozen green warriors hadsucceeded in reaching a point between me and the gate, but theyhad but little idea who it was they had elected to detain.

I did not slacken my speed an iota as I dashed among them, andas they fell before my blade I could not but recall the happymemory of those other battles when Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark,mightiest of Martian green men, had stood shoulder to shoulder with methrough long, hot Martian days, as together we hewed down our enemiesuntil the pile of corpses about us rose higher than a tall man's head.

When several pressed me too closely, there before the carvedgateway of Kaol, I leaped above their heads, and fashioning mytactics after those of the hideous plant men of Dor, struck downupon my enemies' heads as I passed above them.

From the city the red warriors were rushing toward us, and fromthe jungle the savage horde of green men were coming to meet them.In a moment I was in the very center of as fierce and bloody abattle as I had ever passed through.

These Kaolians are most noble fighters, nor are the green menof the equator one whit less warlike than their cold, cruel cousinsof the temperate zone. There were many times when either sidemight have withdrawn without dishonor and thus ended hostilities,but from the mad abandon with which each invariably renewedhostilities I soon came to believe that what need not have beenmore than a trifling skirmish would end only with the completeextermination of one force or the other.

With the joy of battle once roused within me, I took keen delightin the fray, and that my fighting was noted by the Kaolians wasoften evidenced by the shouts of applause directed at me.

If I sometimes seem to take too great pride in my fightingability, it must be remembered that fighting is my vocation.If your vocation be shoeing horses, or painting pictures, and youcan do one or the other better than your fellows, then you are afool if you are not proud of your ability. And so I am very proudthat upon two planets no greater fighter has ever lived than JohnCarter, Prince of Helium.

And I outdid myself that day to impress the fact upon the nativesof Kaol, for I wished to win a way into their hearts--and their city.Nor was I to be disappointed in my desire.

All day we fought, until the road was red with blood and cloggedwith corpses. Back and forth along the slippery highway the tide ofbattle surged, but never once was the gateway to Kaol really in danger.

There were breathing spells when I had a chance to converse with thered men beside whom I fought, and once the jeddak, Kulan Tith himself,laid his hand upon my shoulder and asked my name.

"I am Dotar Sojat," I replied, recalling a name given me by theTharks many years before, from the surnames of the first two oftheir warriors I had killed, which is the custom among them.

"You are a mighty warrior, Dotar Sojat," he replied, "and when thisday is done I shall speak with you again in the great audience chamber."

And then the fight surged upon us once more and we were separated,but my heart's desire was attained, and it was with renewed vigorand a joyous soul that I laid about me with my long-sword untilthe last of the green men had had enough and had withdrawn towardtheir distant sea bottom.

Not until the battle was over did I learn why the red troops hadsallied forth that day. It seemed that Kulan Tith was expectinga visit from a mighty jeddak of the north--a powerful and theonly ally of the Kaolians, and it had been his wish to meet hisguest a full day's journey from Kaol.

But now the march of the welcoming host was delayed until thefollowing morning, when the troops again set out from Kaol.I had not been bidden to the presence of Kulan Tith after the battle,but he had sent an officer to find me and escort me to comfortablequarters in that part of the palace set aside for the officers ofthe royal guard.

There, with Woola, I had spent a comfortable night, and rosemuch refreshed after the arduous labors of the past few days.Woola had fought with me through the battle of the previous day,true to the instincts and training of a Martian war dog, greatnumbers of which are often to be found with the savage green hordesof the dead sea bottoms.

Neither of us had come through the conflict unscathed, but themarvelous, healing salves of Barsoom had sufficed, overnight,to make us as good as new.

I breakfasted with a number of the Kaolian officers, whom I foundas courteous and delightful hosts as even the nobles of Helium,who are renowned for their ease of manners and excellenceof breeding. The meal was scarcely concluded when a messengerarrived from Kulan Tith summoning me before him.

As I entered the royal presence the jeddak rose, and stepping fromthe dais which supported his magnificent throne, came forward tomeet me--a mark of distinction that is seldom accorded to otherthan a visiting ruler.

"Kaor, Dotar Sojat!" he greeted me. "I have summoned you toreceive the grateful thanks of the people of Kaol, for had it notbeen for your heroic bravery in daring fate to warn us of theambuscade we must surely have fallen into the well-laid trap.Tell me more of yourself--from what country you come, and whaterrand brings you to the court of Kulan Tith."

"I am from Hastor," I said, for in truth I had a small palacein that southern city which lies within the far-flung dominions ofthe Heliumetic nation.

"My presence in the land of Kaol is partly due to accident, myflier being wrecked upon the southern fringe of your great forest.It was while seeking entrance to the city of Kaol that I discoveredthe green horde lying in wait for your troops."

If Kulan Tith wondered what business brought me in a flier tothe very edge of his domain he was good enough not to press mefurther for an explanation, which I should indeed have haddifficulty in rendering.

During my audience with the jeddak another party entered the chamberfrom behind me, so that I did not see their faces until Kulan Tithstepped past me to greet them, commanding me to follow and be presented.

As I turned toward them it was with difficulty that I controlledmy features, for there, listening to Kulan Tith's eulogistic wordsconcerning me, stood my arch-enemies, Matai Shang and Thurid.

"Holy Hekkador of the Holy Therns," the jeddak was saying,"shower thy blessings upon Dotar Sojat, the valorous stranger fromdistant Hastor, whose wondrous heroism and marvelous ferocity savedthe day for Kaol yesterday."

Matai Shang stepped forward and laid his hand upon my shoulder.No slightest indication that he recognized me showed upon hiscountenance--my disguise was evidently complete.

He spoke kindly to me and then presented me to Thurid. The black,too, was evidently entirely deceived. Then Kulan Tith regaled them,much to my amusement, with details of my achievements upon thefield of battle.

The thing that seemed to have impressed him most was myremarkable agility, and time and again he described the wondrousway in which I had leaped completely over an antagonist, cleavinghis skull wide open with my long-sword as I passed above him.

I thought that I saw Thurid's eyes widen a bit during thenarrative, and several times I surprised him gazing intently intomy face through narrowed lids. Was he commencing to suspect?And then Kulan Tith told of the savage calot that fought besideme, and after that I saw suspicion in the eyes of Matai Shang--or did I but imagine it?

At the close of the audience Kulan Tith announced that hewould have me accompany him upon the way to meet his royal guest,and as I departed with an officer who was to procure propertrappings and a suitable mount for me, both Matai Shang and Thuridseemed most sincere in professing their pleasure at having had anopportunity to know me. It was with a sigh of relief that Iquitted the chamber, convinced that nothing more than a guiltyconscience had prompted my belief that either of my enemiessuspected my true identity.

A half-hour later I rode out of the city gate with the column thataccompanied Kulan Tith upon the way to meet his friend and ally.Though my eyes and ears had been wide open during my audiencewith the jeddak and my various passages through the palace,I had seen or heard nothing of Dejah Thoris or Thuvia of Ptarth.That they must be somewhere within the great rambling edificeI was positive, and I should have given much to have found away to remain behind during Kulan Tith's absence, that I mightsearch for them.

Toward noon we came in touch with the head of the column wehad set out to meet.

It was a gorgeous train that accompanied the visiting jeddak,and for miles it stretched along the wide, white road to Kaol.Mounted troops, their trappings of jewel and metal-incrustedleather glistening in the sunlight, formed the vanguard of the body,and then came a thousand gorgeous chariots drawn by huge zitidars.

These low, commodious wagons moved two abreast, and on eitherside of them marched solid ranks of mounted warriors, for inthe chariots were the women and children of the royal court.Upon the back of each monster zitidar rode a Martian youth,and the whole scene carried me back to my first days upon Barsoom,now twenty-two years in the past, when I had first beheld thegorgeous spectacle of a caravan of the green horde of Tharks.

Never before today had I seen zitidars in the service of red men.These brutes are huge mastodonian animals that tower to an immenseheight even beside the giant green men and their giant thoats;but when compared to the relatively small red man and his breed ofthoats they assume Brobdingnagian proportions that are truly appalling.

The beasts were hung with jeweled trappings and saddlepads ofgay silk, embroidered in fanciful designs with strings of diamonds,pearls, rubies, emeralds, and the countless unnamed jewels ofMars, while from each chariot rose a dozen standards fromwhich streamers, flags, and pennons fluttered in the breeze.

Just in front of the chariots the visiting jeddak rode aloneupon a pure white thoat--another unusual sight upon Barsoom--andafter them came interminable ranks of mounted spearmen, riflemen,and swordsmen. It was indeed a most imposing sight.

Except for the clanking of accouterments and the occasionalsqueal of an angry thoat or the low guttural of a zitidar,the passage of the cavalcade was almost noiseless, for neitherthoat nor zitidar is a hoofed animal, and the broad tires of thechariots are of an elastic composition, which gives forth no sound.

Now and then the gay laughter of a woman or the chatter ofchildren could be heard, for the red Martians are a social,pleasure-loving people--in direct antithesis to the cold andmorbid race of green men.

The forms and ceremonials connected with the meeting of thetwo jeddaks consumed an hour, and then we turned and retraced ourway toward the city of Kaol, which the head of the column reachedjust before dark, though it must have been nearly morning beforethe rear guard passed through the gateway.

Fortunately, I was well up toward the head of the column, andafter the great banquet, which I attended with the officers of theroyal guard, I was free to seek repose. There was so much activityand bustle about the palace all during the night with the constantarrival of the noble officers of the visiting jeddak's retinue thatI dared not attempt to prosecute a search for Dejah Thoris, and so,as soon as it was seemly for me to do so, I returned to my quarters.

As I passed along the corridors between the banquet hall andthe apartments that had been allotted me, I had a sudden feelingthat I was under surveillance, and, turning quickly in my tracks,caught a glimpse of a figure which darted into an open doorwaythe instant I wheeled about.

Though I ran quickly back to the spot where the shadower haddisappeared I could find no trace of him, yet in the brief glimpsethat I had caught I could have sworn that I had seen a white facesurmounted by a mass of yellow hair.

The incident gave me considerable food for speculation, sinceif I were right in the conclusion induced by the cursory glimpseI had had of the spy, then Matai Shang and Thurid must suspect myidentity, and if that were true not even the service I had renderedKulan Tith could save me from his religious fanaticism.

But never did vague conjecture or fruitless fears for the futurelie with sufficient weight upon my mind to keep me from my rest,and so tonight I threw myself upon my sleeping silks and fursand passed at once into dreamless slumber.

Calots are not permitted within the walls of the palace proper,and so I had had to relegate poor Woola to quarters in the stableswhere the royal thoats are kept. He had comfortable, even luxuriousapartments, but I would have given much to have had him with me;and if he had been, the thing which happened that night would nothave come to pass.

I could not have slept over a quarter of an hour when I wassuddenly awakened by the passing of some cold and clammy thingacross my forehead. Instantly I sprang to my feet, clutching inthe direction I thought the presence lay. For an instant my handtouched against human flesh, and then, as I lunged headforemostthrough the darkness to seize my nocturnal visitor, my foot becameentangled in my sleeping silks and I fell sprawling to the floor.

By the time I had resumed my feet and found the button whichcontrolled the light my caller had disappeared. Careful search ofthe room revealed nothing to explain either the identity or businessof the person who had thus secretly sought me in the dead of night.

That the purpose might be theft I could not believe, since thievesare practically unknown upon Barsoom. Assassination, however,is rampant, but even this could not have been the motive of mystealthy friend, for he might easily have killed me had he desired.

I had about given up fruitless conjecture and was on the pointof returning to sleep when a dozen Kaolian guardsmen entered myapartment. The officer in charge was one of my genial hosts ofthe morning, but now upon his face was no sign of friendship.

"Kulan Tith commands your presence before him," he said. "Come!"