About noon I passed low over a great dead city of ancientMars, and as I skimmed out across the plain beyond Icame full upon several thousand green warriors engaged ina terrific battle. Scarcely had I seen them than a volley ofshots was directed at me, and with the almost unfailingaccuracy of their aim my little craft was instantly a ruinedwreck, sinking erratically to the ground.

I fell almost directly in the center of the fierce combat,among warriors who had not seen my approach so busilywere they engaged in life and death struggles. The menwere fighting on foot with long-swords, while an occasionalshot from a sharpshooter on the outskirts of the conflictwould bring down a warrior who might for an instant separatehimself from the entangled mass.

As my machine sank among them I realized that it was fightor die, with good chances of dying in any event, and so Istruck the ground with drawn long-sword ready to defendmyself as I could.

I fell beside a huge monster who was engaged with threeantagonists, and as I glanced at his fierce face, filled withthe light of battle, I recognized Tars Tarkas the Thark. Hedid not see me, as I was a trifle behind him, and just thenthe three warriors opposing him, and whom I recognizedas Warhoons, charged simultaneously. The mighty fellowmade quick work of one of them, but in stepping back foranother thrust he fell over a dead body behind him andwas down and at the mercy of his foes in an instant. Quickas lightning they were upon him, and Tars Tarkas wouldhave been gathered to his fathers in short order had I notsprung before his prostrate form and engaged his adversaries.I had accounted for one of them when the mighty Tharkregained his feet and quickly settled the other.

He gave me one look, and a slight smile touched his grimlip as, touching my shoulder, he said,

"I would scarcely recognize you, John Carter, but thereis no other mortal upon Barsoom who would have donewhat you have for me. I think I have learned that there issuch a thing as friendship, my friend."

He said no more, nor was there opportunity, for theWarhoons were closing in about us, and together we fought,shoulder to shoulder, during all that long, hot afternoon,until the tide of battle turned and the remnant of the fierceWarhoon horde fell back upon their thoats, and fled intothe gathering darkness.

Ten thousand men had been engaged in that titanic struggle,and upon the field of battle lay three thousand dead.Neither side asked or gave quarter, nor did they attemptto take prisoners.

On our return to the city after the battle we had gonedirectly to Tars Tarkas' quarters, where I was left alonewhile the chieftain attended the customary council whichimmediately follows an engagement.

As I sat awaiting the return of the green warrior I heardsomething move in an adjoining apartment, and as I glancedup there rushed suddenly upon me a huge and hideouscreature which bore me backward upon the pile of silks andfurs upon which I had been reclining. It was Woola--faithful,loving Woola. He had found his way back to Thark and,as Tars Tarkas later told me, had gone immediately to myformer quarters where he had taken up his pathetic andseemingly hopeless watch for my return.

"Tal Hajus knows that you are here, John Carter," saidTars Tarkas, on his return from the jeddak's quarters;"Sarkoja saw and recognized you as we were returning. TalHajus has ordered me to bring you before him tonight. Ihave ten thoats, John Carter; you may take your choicefrom among them, and I will accompany you to the nearestwaterway that leads to Helium. Tars Tarkas may be a cruelgreen warrior, but he can be a friend as well. Come, wemust start."

"And when you return, Tars Tarkas?" I asked.

"The wild calots, possibly, or worse," he replied. "UnlessI should chance to have the opportunity I have so longwaited of battling with Tal Hajus."

"We will stay, Tars Tarkas, and see Tal Hajus tonight.You shall not sacrifice yourself, and it may be that tonightyou can have the chance you wait."

He objected strenuously, saying that Tal Hajus often flewinto wild fits of passion at the mere thought of the blow Ihad dealt him, and that if ever he laid his hands upon meI would be subjected to the most horrible tortures.

While we were eating I repeated to Tars Tarkas the storywhich Sola had told me that night upon the sea bottomduring the march to Thark.

He said but little, but the great muscles of his faceworked in passion and in agony at recollection of thehorrors which had been heaped upon the only thing he hadever loved in all his cold, cruel, terrible existence.

He no longer demurred when I suggested that we go beforeTal Hajus, only saying that he would like to speak toSarkoja first. At his request I accompanied him to herquarters, and the look of venomous hatred she cast uponme was almost adequate recompense for any future misfortunesthis accidental return to Thark might bring me.

"Sarkoja," said Tars Tarkas, "forty years ago you wereinstrumental in bringing about the torture and death of awoman named Gozava. I have just discovered that the warriorwho loved that woman has learned of your part in the transaction.He may not kill you, Sarkoja, it is not our custom, but there isnothing to prevent him tying one end of a strap about your neckand the other end to a wild thoat, merely to test your fitnessto survive and help perpetuate our race. Having heard that hewould do this on the morrow, I thought it only right to warn you,for I am a just man. The river Iss is but a short pilgrimage,Sarkoja. Come, John Carter."

The next morning Sarkoja was gone, nor was she ever seen after.

In silence we hastened to the jeddak's palace, where we wereimmediately admitted to his presence; in fact, he couldscarcely wait to see me and was standing erect upon hisplatform glowering at the entrance as I came in.

"Strap him to that pillar," he shrieked. "We shall see whoit is dares strike the mighty Tal Hajus. Heat the irons; withmy own hands I shall burn the eyes from his head that hemay not pollute my person with his vile gaze."

"Chieftains of Thark," I cried, turning to the assembledcouncil and ignoring Tal Hajus, "I have been a chief amongyou, and today I have fought for Thark shoulder to shoulderwith her greatest warrior. You owe me, at least, a hearing.I have won that much today. You claim to be just people--"

"Silence," roared Tal Hajus. "Gag the creature and bindhim as I command."

"Justice, Tal Hajus," exclaimed Lorquas Ptomel. "Who areyou to set aside the customs of ages among the Tharks."

"Yes, justice!" echoed a dozen voices, and so, while TalHajus fumed and frothed, I continued.

"You are a brave people and you love bravery, but wherewas your mighty jeddak during the fighting today? I didnot see him in the thick of battle; he was not there. Herends defenseless women and little children in his lair, buthow recently has one of you seen him fight with men? Why,even I, a midget beside him, felled him with a single blowof my fist. Is it of such that the Tharks fashion their jeddaks?There stands beside me now a great Thark, a mighty warriorand a noble man. Chieftains, how sounds, Tars Tarkas,Jeddak of Thark?"

A roar of deep-toned applause greeted this suggestion.

"It but remains for this council to command, and Tal Hajusmust prove his fitness to rule. Were he a brave man he wouldinvite Tars Tarkas to combat, for he does not love him,but Tal Hajus is afraid; Tal Hajus, your jeddak, is a coward.With my bare hands I could kill him, and he knows it."

After I ceased there was tense silence, as all eyes wereriveted upon Tal Hajus. He did not speak or move, but theblotchy green of his countenance turned livid, and the frothfroze upon his lips.

"Tal Hajus," said Lorquas Ptomel in a cold, hard voice,"never in my long life have I seen a jeddak of the Tharksso humiliated. There could be but one answer to this arraignment.We wait it." And still Tal Hajus stood as though electrified.

"Chieftains," continued Lorquas Ptomel, "shall the jeddak,Tal Hajus, prove his fitness to rule over Tars Tarkas?"

There were twenty chieftains about the rostrum, andtwenty swords flashed high in assent.

There was no alternative. That decree was final, and soTal Hajus drew his long-sword and advanced to meet Tars Tarkas.

The combat was soon over, and, with his foot upon the neck ofthe dead monster, Tars Tarkas became jeddak among the Tharks.

His first act was to make me a full-fledged chieftain withthe rank I had won by my combats the first few weeksof my captivity among them.

Seeing the favorable disposition of the warriors towardTars Tarkas, as well as toward me, I grasped the opportunityto enlist them in my cause against Zodanga. I told Tars Tarkasthe story of my adventures, and in a few words had explainedto him the thought I had in mind.

"John Carter has made a proposal," he said, addressingthe council, "which meets with my sanction. I shall put itto you briefly. Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium, whowas our prisoner, is now held by the jeddak of Zodanga,whose son she must wed to save her country from devastationat the hands of the Zodangan forces.

"John Carter suggests that we rescue her and return herto Helium. The loot of Zodanga would be magnificent, andI have often thought that had we an alliance with the peopleof Helium we could obtain sufficient assurance of sustenanceto permit us to increase the size and frequency of our hatchings,and thus become unquestionably supreme among the green men ofall Barsoom. What say you?"

It was a chance to fight, an opportunity to loot, and theyrose to the bait as a speckled trout to a fly.

For Tharks they were wildly enthusiastic, and before another halfhour had passed twenty mounted messengers were speeding acrossdead sea bottoms to call the hordes together for the expedition.

In three days we were on the march toward Zodanga,one hundred thousand strong, as Tars Tarkas had been ableto enlist the services of three smaller hordes on the promiseof the great loot of Zodanga.

At the head of the column I rode beside the great Tharkwhile at the heels of my mount trotted my beloved Woola.

We traveled entirely by night, timing our marches so thatwe camped during the day at deserted cities where, evento the beasts, we were all kept indoors during the daylighthours. On the march Tars Tarkas, through his remarkableability and statesmanship, enlisted fifty thousand more warriorsfrom various hordes, so that, ten days after we set out we haltedat midnight outside the great walled city of Zodanga, one hundredand fifty thousand strong.

The fighting strength and efficiency of this horde offerocious green monsters was equivalent to ten timestheir number of red men. Never in the history of Barsoom,Tars Tarkas told me, had such a force of green warriors marchedto battle together. It was a monstrous task to keep even asemblance of harmony among them, and it was a marvel tome that he got them to the city without a mighty battleamong themselves.

But as we neared Zodanga their personal quarrels weresubmerged by their greater hatred for the red men, andespecially for the Zodangans, who had for years waged aruthless campaign of extermination against the green men,directing special attention toward despoiling their incubators.

Now that we were before Zodanga the task of obtainingentry to the city devolved upon me, and directing TarsTarkas to hold his forces in two divisions out of earshotof the city, with each division opposite a large gateway, Itook twenty dismounted warriors and approached one ofthe small gates that pierced the walls at short intervals.These gates have no regular guard, but are covered bysentries, who patrol the avenue that encircles the city justwithin the walls as our metropolitan police patrol theirbeats.

The walls of Zodanga are seventy-five feet in height andfifty feet thick. They are built of enormous blocks ofcarborundum, and the task of entering the city seemed,to my escort of green warriors, an impossibility.The fellows who had been detailed to accompany me wereof one of the smaller hordes, and therefore did not know me.

Placing three of them with their faces to the wall and arms locked,I commanded two more to mount to their shoulders, and a sixth Iordered to climb upon the shoulders of the upper two. The headof the topmost warrior towered over forty feet from the ground.

In this way, with ten warriors, I built a series of threesteps from the ground to the shoulders of the topmost man.Then starting from a short distance behind them I ranswiftly up from one tier to the next, and with a final boundfrom the broad shoulders of the highest I clutched the topof the great wall and quietly drew myself to its broad expanse.After me I dragged six lengths of leather from an equal numberof my warriors. These lengths we had previously fastened together,and passing one end to the topmost warrior I lowered the other endcautiously over the opposite side of the wall toward the avenue below.No one was in sight, so, lowering myself to the end of my leather strap,I dropped the remaining thirty feet to the pavement below.

I had learned from Kantos Kan the secret of openingthese gates, and in another moment my twenty great fightingmen stood within the doomed city of Zodanga.

I found to my delight that I had entered at the lowerboundary of the enormous palace grounds. The buildingitself showed in the distance a blaze of glorious light, andon the instant I determined to lead a detachment of warriorsdirectly within the palace itself, while the balance ofthe great horde was attacking the barracks of the soldiery.

Dispatching one of my men to Tars Tarkas for a detailof fifty Tharks, with word of my intentions, I ordered tenwarriors to capture and open one of the great gates whilewith the nine remaining I took the other. We were to doour work quietly, no shots were to be fired and no generaladvance made until I had reached the palace with my fiftyTharks. Our plans worked to perfection. The two sentrieswe met were dispatched to their fathers upon the banks ofthe lost sea of Korus, and the guards at both gates followedthem in silence.