Slowly I regained my composure and finally essayed againto attempt to remove the keys from the dead body of myformer jailer. But as I reached out into the darkness to locateit I found to my horror that it was gone. Then the truthflashed on me; the owners of those gleaming eyes had draggedmy prize away from me to be devoured in their neighboring lair;as they had been waiting for days, for weeks, for months,through all this awful eternity of my imprisonment to dragmy dead carcass to their feast.

For two days no food was brought me, but then a newmessenger appeared and my incarceration went on as before,but not again did I allow my reason to be submerged by thehorror of my position.

Shortly after this episode another prisoner was brought inand chained near me. By the dim torch light I saw that hewas a red Martian and I could scarcely await the departureof his guards to address him. As their retreating footstepsdied away in the distance, I called out softly the Martianword of greeting, kaor.

"Who are you who speaks out of the darkness?" he answered

"John Carter, a friend of the red men of Helium."

"I am of Helium," he said, "but I do not recall your name."

And then I told him my story as I have written it here,omitting only any reference to my love for Dejah Thoris.He was much excited by the news of Helium's princess andseemed quite positive that she and Sola could easily havereached a point of safety from where they left me. He saidthat he knew the place well because the defile through whichthe Warhoon warriors had passed when they discovered us wasthe only one ever used by them when marching to the south.

"Dejah Thoris and Sola entered the hills not five milesfrom a great waterway and are now probably quite safe,"he assured me.

My fellow prisoner was Kantos Kan, a padwar (lieutenant)in the navy of Helium. He had been a member of the ill-fated expedition which had fallen into the hands of theTharks at the time of Dejah Thoris' capture, and he brieflyrelated the events which followed the defeat of the battleships.

Badly injured and only partially manned they had limpedslowly toward Helium, but while passing near the city ofZodanga, the capital of Helium's hereditary enemies amongthe red men of Barsoom, they had been attacked by a greatbody of war vessels and all but the craft to which Kantos Kanbelonged were either destroyed or captured. His vessel waschased for days by three of the Zodangan war ships butfinally escaped during the darkness of a moonless night.

Thirty days after the capture of Dejah Thoris, or aboutthe time of our coming to Thark, his vessel had reachedHelium with about ten survivors of the original crew of sevenhundred officers and men. Immediately seven great fleets,each of one hundred mighty war ships, had been dispatchedto search for Dejah Thoris, and from these vessels twothousand smaller craft had been kept out continuously infutile search for the missing princess.

Two green Martian communities had been wiped off theface of Barsoom by the avenging fleets, but no trace of DejahThoris had been found. They had been searching among thenorthern hordes, and only within the past few days hadthey extended their quest to the south.

Kantos Kan had been detailed to one of the small one-manfliers and had had the misfortune to be discovered by theWarhoons while exploring their city. The bravery and daringof the man won my greatest respect and admiration. Alone hehad landed at the city's boundary and on foot had penetratedto the buildings surrounding the plaza. For two days andnights he had explored their quarters and their dungeons insearch of his beloved princess only to fall into thehands of a party of Warhoons as he was about to leave, afterassuring himself that Dejah Thoris was not a captive there.

During the period of our incarceration Kantos Kan and Ibecame well acquainted, and formed a warm personal friendship.A few days only elapsed, however, before we were dragged forthfrom our dungeon for the great games. We were conducted earlyone morning to an enormous amphitheater, which instead of havingbeen built upon the surface of the ground was excavated belowthe surface. it had partially filled with debris so that howlarge it had originally been was difficult to say. In itspresent condition it held the entire twenty thousand Warhoonsof the assembled hordes.

The arena was immense but extremely uneven and unkempt.Around it the Warhoons had piled building stone fromsome of the ruined edifices of the ancient city to preventthe animals and the captives from escaping into theaudience, and at each end had been constructed cagesto hold them until their turns came to meet some horribledeath upon the arena.

Kantos Kan and I were confined together in one of the cages.In the others were wild calots, thoats, mad zitidars,green warriors, and women of other hordes, and manystrange and ferocious wild beasts of Barsoom which I hadnever before seen. The din of their roaring, growling andsquealing was deafening and the formidable appearance ofany one of them was enough to make the stoutest heart feelgrave forebodings.

Kantos Kan explained to me that at the end of the day oneof these prisoners would gain freedom and the others wouldlie dead about the arena. The winners in the various contestsof the day would be pitted against each other until only tworemained alive; the victor in the last encounter being set free,whether animal or man. The following morning the cages wouldbe filled with a new consignment of victims, and so onthroughout the ten days of the games.

Shortly after we had been caged the amphitheater began to filland within an hour every available part of the seating spacewas occupied. Dak Kova, with his jeds and chieftains, sat atthe center of one side of the arena upon a large raised platform.

At a signal from Dak Kova the doors of two cages werethrown open and a dozen green Martian females weredriven to the center of the arena. Each was given adagger and then, at the far end, a pack of twelve calots,or wild dogs were loosed upon them.

As the brutes, growling and foaming, rushed upon the almostdefenseless women I turned my head that I might not see thehorrid sight. The yells and laughter of the green hordebore witness to the excellent quality of the sport andwhen I turned back to the arena, as Kantos Kan told me itwas over, I saw three victorious calots, snarling and growlingover the bodies of their prey. The women had given a good accountof themselves.

Next a mad zitidar was loosed among the remaining dogs,and so it went throughout the long, hot, horrible day.

During the day I was pitted against first men and thenbeasts, but as I was armed with a long-sword and alwaysoutclassed my adversary in agility and generally in strengthas well, it proved but child's play to me. Time and time againI won the applause of the bloodthirsty multitude, and towardthe end there were cries that I be taken from the arenaand be made a member of the hordes of Warhoon.

Finally there were but three of us left, a great green warriorof some far northern horde, Kantos Kan, and myself.

The other two were to battle and then I to fight the conquerorfor the liberty which was accorded the final winner.

Kantos Kan had fought several times during the day andlike myself had always proven victorious, but occasionallyby the smallest of margins, especially when pitted againstthe green warriors. I had little hope that he could best hisgiant adversary who had mowed down all before him duringthe day. The fellow towered nearly sixteen feet in height,while Kantos Kan was some inches under six feet. As theyadvanced to meet one another I saw for the first time a trickof Martian swordsmanship which centered Kantos Kan'severy hope of victory and life on one cast of the dice, for,as he came to within about twenty feet of the huge fellowhe threw his sword arm far behind him over his shoulderand with a mighty sweep hurled his weapon point foremostat the green warrior. It flew true as an arrow and piercingthe poor devil's heart laid him dead upon the arena.

Kantos Kan and I were now pitted against each other butas we approached to the encounter I whispered to him toprolong the battle until nearly dark in the hope that wemight find some means of escape. The horde evidentlyguessed that we had no hearts to fight each other and sothey howled in rage as neither of us placed a fatal thrust.Just as I saw the sudden coming of dark I whispered toKantos Kan to thrust his sword between my left arm and mybody. As he did so I staggered back clasping the swordtightly with my arm and thus fell to the ground with hisweapon apparently protruding from my chest. Kantos Kanperceived my coup and stepping quickly to my side he placed hisfoot upon my neck and withdrawing his sword from my bodygave me the final death blow through the neck which is supposedto sever the jugular vein, but in this instance the coldblade slipped harmlessly into the sand of the arena. In thedarkness which had now fallen none could tell but that hehad really finished me. I whispered to him to go and claimhis freedom and then look for me in the hills east of thecity, and so he left me.

When the amphitheater had cleared I crept stealthily tothe top and as the great excavation lay far from the plazaand in an untenanted portion of the great dead city I hadlittle trouble in reaching the hills beyond.