For two days I waited there for Kantos Kan, but as he didnot come I started off on foot in a northwesterly directiontoward a point where he had told me lay the nearest waterway.My only food consisted of vegetable milk from theplants which gave so bounteously of this priceless fluid.

Through two long weeks I wandered, stumbling throughthe nights guided only by the stars and hiding during thedays behind some protruding rock or among the occasionalhills I traversed. Several times I was attacked by wild beasts;strange, uncouth monstrosities that leaped upon me in thedark, so that I had ever to grasp my long-sword in my handthat I might be ready for them. Usually my strange, newlyacquired telepathic power warned me in ample time, butonce I was down with vicious fangs at my jugular and ahairy face pressed close to mine before I knew that I waseven threatened.

What manner of thing was upon me I did not know, butthat it was large and heavy and many-legged I could feel.My hands were at its throat before the fangs had a chance tobury themselves in my neck, and slowly I forced the hairy facefrom me and closed my fingers, vise-like, upon its windpipe.

Without sound we lay there, the beast exerting every effortto reach me with those awful fangs, and I straining tomaintain my grip and choke the life from it as I kept it frommy throat. Slowly my arms gave to the unequal struggle,and inch by inch the burning eyes and gleaming tusks of myantagonist crept toward me, until, as the hairy face touchedmine again, I realized that all was over. And then a livingmass of destruction sprang from the surrounding darknessfull upon the creature that held me pinioned to the ground.The two rolled growling upon the moss, tearing and rendingone another in a frightful manner, but it was soon over andmy preserver stood with lowered head above the throat ofthe dead thing which would have killed me.

The nearer moon, hurtling suddenly above the horizonand lighting up the Barsoomian scene, showed me that mypreserver was Woola, but from whence he had come, or howfound me, I was at a loss to know. That I was glad of hiscompanionship it is needless to say, but my pleasure at seeinghim was tempered by anxiety as to the reason of his leavingDejah Thoris. Only her death I felt sure, could account forhis absence from her, so faithful I knew him to be to mycommands.

By the light of the now brilliant moons I saw that he wasbut a shadow of his former self, and as he turned from mycaress and commenced greedily to devour the dead carcassat my feet I realized that the poor fellow was more than halfstarved. I, myself, was in but little better plight but I couldnot bring myself to eat the uncooked flesh and I had nomeans of making a fire. When Woola had finished his mealI again took up my weary and seemingly endless wanderingin quest of the elusive waterway.

At daybreak of the fifteenth day of my search I was overjoyedto see the high trees that denoted the object of my search.About noon I dragged myself wearily to the portals of ahuge building which covered perhaps four square milesand towered two hundred feet in the air. It showed noaperture in the mighty walls other than the tiny door at whichI sank exhausted, nor was there any sign of life about it.

I could find no bell or other method of making my presenceknown to the inmates of the place, unless a small roundrole in the wall near the door was for that purpose. It wasof about the bigness of a lead pencil and thinking that itmight be in the nature of a speaking tube I put my mouth toit and was about to call into it when a voice issued from itasking me whom I might be, where from, and the nature ofmy errand.

I explained that I had escaped from the Warhoons andwas dying of starvation and exhaustion.

"You wear the metal of a green warrior and are followedby a calot, yet you are of the figure of a red man. In coloryou are neither green nor red. In the name of the ninth day,what manner of creature are you?"

"I am a friend of the red men of Barsoom and I am starving.In the name of humanity open to us," I replied.

Presently the door commenced to recede before me until it hadsunk into the wall fifty feet, then it stopped and slid easilyto the left, exposing a short, narrow corridor of concrete,at the further end of which was another door, similar inevery respect to the one I had just passed. No one was insight, yet immediately we passed the first door it slid gentlyinto place behind us and receded rapidly to its original positionin the front wall of the building. As the door had slippedaside I had noted its great thickness, fully twenty feet, andas it reached its place once more after closing behind us,great cylinders of steel had dropped from the ceiling behindit and fitted their lower ends into apertures countersunk inthe floor.

A second and third door receded before me and slipped to oneside as the first, before I reached a large inner chamberwhere I found food and drink set out upon a great stone table.A voice directed me to satisfy my hunger and to feedmy calot, and while I was thus engaged my invisible hostput me through a severe and searching cross-examination.

"Your statements are most remarkable," said the voice, onconcluding its questioning, "but you are evidently speaking thetruth, and it is equally evident that you are not of Barsoom.I can tell that by the conformation of your brain and thestrange location of your internal organs and the shape andsize of your heart."

"Can you see through me?" I exclaimed.

"Yes, I can see all but your thoughts, and were you a BarsoomianI could read those."

Then a door opened at the far side of the chamber and astrange, dried up, little mummy of a man came toward me.He wore but a single article of clothing or adornment, asmall collar of gold from which depended upon his chest agreat ornament as large as a dinner plate set solid with hugediamonds, except for the exact center which was occupiedby a strange stone, an inch in diameter, that scintillated ninedifferent and distinct rays; the seven colors of our earthlyprism and two beautiful rays which, to me, were new andnameless. I cannot describe them any more than you coulddescribe red to a blind man. I only know that they werebeautiful in the extreme.

The old man sat and talked with me for hours, and thestrangest part of our intercourse was that I could read hisevery thought while he could not fathom an iota from mymind unless I spoke.

I did not apprise him of my ability to sense his mentaloperations, and thus I learned a great deal which proved ofimmense value to me later and which I would never haveknown had he suspected my strange power, for the Martianshave such perfect control of their mental machinery that theyare able to direct their thoughts with absolute precision.

The building in which I found myself contained the machinerywhich produces that artificial atmosphere which sustainslife on Mars. The secret of the entire process hinges onthe use of the ninth ray, one of the beautiful scintillationswhich I had noted emanating from the great stone in myhost's diadem.

This ray is separated from the other rays of the sun bymeans of finely adjusted instruments placed upon the roofof the huge building, three-quarters of which is used forreservoirs in which the ninth ray is stored. This product isthen treated electrically, or rather certain proportions ofrefined electric vibrations are incorporated with it, and theresult is then pumped to the five principal air centers of theplanet where, as it is released, contact with the ether ofspace transforms it into atmosphere.

There is always sufficient reserve of the ninth ray stored inthe great building to maintain the present Martian atmosphere fora thousand years, and the only fear, as my new friend told me,was that some accident might befall the pumping apparatus.

He led me to an inner chamber where I beheld a batteryof twenty radium pumps any one of which was equal to thetask of furnishing all Mars with the atmosphere compound.For eight hundred years, he told me, he had watched thesepumps which are used alternately a day each at a stretch, ora little over twenty-four and one-half Earth hours. He has oneassistant who divides the watch with him. Half a Martianyear, about three hundred and forty-four of our days, eachof these men spend alone in this huge, isolated plant.

Every red Martian is taught during earliest childhood theprinciples of the manufacture of atmosphere, but only twoat one time ever hold the secret of ingress to the great building,which, built as it is with walls a hundred and fifty feetthick, is absolutely unassailable, even the roof being guardedfrom assault by air craft by a glass covering five feet thick.

The only fear they entertain of attack is from the greenMartians or some demented red man, as all Barsoomiansrealize that the very existence of every form of life of Marsis dependent upon the uninterrupted working of this plant.

One curious fact I discovered as I watched his thoughtswas that the outer doors are manipulated by telepathicmeans. The locks are so finely adjusted that the doors arereleased by the action of a certain combination of thoughtwaves. To experiment with my new-found toy I thought tosurprise him into revealing this combination and so I askedhim in a casual manner how he had managed to unlock themassive doors for me from the inner chambers of the building.As quick as a flash there leaped to his mind nine Martian sounds,but as quickly faded as he answered that this was a secrethe must not divulge.

From then on his manner toward me changed as though he fearedthat he had been surprised into divulging his great secret,and I read suspicion and fear in his looks and thoughts,though his words were still fair.

Before I retired for the night he promised to give me aletter to a nearby agricultural officer who would help me onmy way to Zodanga, which he said, was the nearest Martian city.

"But be sure that you do not let them know you arebound for Helium as they are at war with that country.My assistant and I are of no country, we belong to all Barsoomand this talisman which we wear protects us in all lands,even among the green men--though we do not trust ourselvesto their hands if we can avoid it," he added.

"And so good-night, my friend," he continued, "may youhave a long and restful sleep--yes, a long sleep."

And though he smiled pleasantly I saw in his thoughts thewish that he had never admitted me, and then a picture ofhim standing over me in the night, and the swift thrust ofa long dagger and the half formed words, "I am sorry, but itis for the best good of Barsoom."

As he closed the door of my chamber behind him histhoughts were cut off from me as was the sight of him, whichseemed strange to me in my little knowledge of thoughttransference.

What was I to do? How could I escape through thesemighty walls? Easily could I kill him now that I was warned,but once he was dead I could no more escape, and with thestopping of the machinery of the great plant I should diewith all the other inhabitants of the planet--all, even DejahThoris were she not already dead. For the others I did notgive the snap of my finger, but the thought of Dejah Thorisdrove from my mind all desire to kill my mistaken host.

Cautiously I opened the door of my apartment and, followedby Woola, sought the inner of the great doors. A wildscheme had come to me; I would attempt to force the greatlocks by the nine thought waves I had read in my host's mind.

Creeping stealthily through corridor after corridor anddown winding runways which turned hither and thither Ifinally reached the great hall in which I had broken my longfast that morning. Nowhere had I seen my host, nor did Iknow where he kept himself by night.

I was on the point of stepping boldly out into the roomwhen a slight noise behind me warned me back into theshadows of a recess in the corridor. Dragging Woola afterme I crouched low in the darkness.

Presently the old man passed close by me, and as he enteredthe dimly lighted chamber which I had been about topass through I saw that he held a long thin dagger in hishand and that he was sharpening it upon a stone. In his mindwas the decision to inspect the radium pumps, which wouldtake about thirty minutes, and then return to my bed chamberand finish me.

As he passed through the great hall and disappeared downthe runway which led to the pump-room, I stole stealthilyfrom my hiding place and crossed to the great door, the innerof the three which stood between me and liberty.

Concentrating my mind upon the massive lock I hurledthe nine thought waves against it. In breathless expectancyI waited, when finally the great door moved softly towardme and slid quietly to one side. One after the other theremaining mighty portals opened at my command and Woolaand I stepped forth into the darkness, free, but little betteroff than we had been before, other than that we had fullstomachs.

Hastening away from the shadows of the formidable pileI made for the first crossroad, intending to strike the centralturnpike as quickly as possible. This I reached about morningand entering the first enclosure I came to I searched forsome evidences of a habitation.

There were low rambling buildings of concrete barredwith heavy impassable doors, and no amount of hammeringand hallooing brought any response. Weary and exhaustedfrom sleeplessness I threw myself upon the ground commandingWoola to stand guard.

Some time later I was awakened by his frightful growlingsand opened my eyes to see three red Martians standing ashort distance from us and covering me with their rifles.

"I am unarmed and no enemy," I hastened to explain. "Ihave been a prisoner among the green men and am on myway to Zodanga. All I ask is food and rest for myself andmy calot and the proper directions for reaching my destination."

They lowered their rifles and advanced pleasantly towardme placing their right hands upon my left shoulder, after themanner of their custom of salute, and asking me many questionsabout myself and my wanderings. They then took me to thehouse of one of them which was only a short distance away.

The buildings I had been hammering at in the earlymorning were occupied only by stock and farm produce,the house proper standing among a grove of enormous trees,and, like all red-Martian homes, had been raised at nightsome forty or fifty feet from the ground on a large roundmetal shaft which slid up or down within a sleeve sunk inthe ground, and was operated by a tiny radium engine inthe entrance hall of the building. Instead of bothering withbolts and bars for their dwellings, the red Martians simplyrun them up out of harm's way during the night. They alsohave private means for lowering or raising them from theground without if they wish to go away and leave them.

These brothers, with their wives and children, occupied threesimilar houses on this farm. They did no work themselves,being government officers in charge. The labor wasperformed by convicts, prisoners of war, delinquent debtorsand confirmed bachelors who were too poor to pay the highcelibate tax which all red-Martian governments impose.

They were the personification of cordiality and hospitalityand I spent several days with them, resting and recuperatingfrom my long and arduous experiences.

When they had heard my story--I omitted all referenceto Dejah Thoris and the old man of the atmosphere plant--they advised me to color my body to more nearly resembletheir own race and then attempt to find employment in Zodanga,either in the army or the navy.

"The chances are small that your tale will be believeduntil after you have proven your trustworthiness and wonfriends among the higher nobles of the court. This you canmost easily do through military service, as we are a warlikepeople on Barsoom," explained one of them, "and save ourrichest favors for the fighting man."

When I was ready to depart they furnished me with asmall domestic bull thoat, such as is used for saddlepurposes by all red Martians. The animal is about the sizeof a horse and quite gentle, but in color and shape an exactreplica of his huge and fierce cousin of the wilds.

The brothers had supplied me with a reddish oil with whichI anointed my entire body and one of them cut my hair,which had grown quite long, in the prevailing fashion of thetime, square at the back and banged in front, so that I couldhave passed anywhere upon Barsoom as a full-fledged redMartian. My metal and ornaments were also renewed in thestyle of a Zodangan gentleman, attached to the house ofPtor, which was the family name of my benefactors.

They filled a little sack at my side with Zodangan money.The medium of exchange upon Mars is not dissimilar fromour own except that the coins are oval. Paper money isissued by individuals as they require it and redeemed twiceyearly. If a man issues more than he can redeem, thegovernment pays his creditors in full and the debtor works outthe amount upon the farms or in mines, which are all ownedby the government. This suits everybody except the debtor asit has been a difficult thing to obtain sufficient voluntarylabor to work the great isolated farm lands of Mars, stretchingas they do like narrow ribbons from pole to pole, through wildstretches peopled by wild animals and wilder men.

When I mentioned my inability to repay them for their kindnessto me they assured me that I would have ample opportunityif I lived long upon Barsoom, and bidding me farewellthey watched me until I was out of sight upon the broadwhite turnpike.