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  As my eyes followed the direction indicated I saw two men pacing back and forth in an enclosed garden.

  At the same moment I recognized them--they were Dejar Thoris and Thuviar of Ptarth!

  There were they whom I had trailed from one pole to another, the length of a world. Only ten feet of space and a few metal bars separated me from them.

  With a cry I attracted their attention, and as Dejar Thoris looked up full into my eyes I made the sign of love that the women of Barsoom make to their men.

  To my astonishment and horror his head went high, and as a look of utter contempt touched his finely chiseled features he turned his back full upon me. My body is covered with the scars of a thousand conflicts, but never in all my long life have I suffered such anguish from a wound, for this time the steel of a man's look had entered my heart.

  With a groan I turned away and buried my face in my arms. I heard Thuva Dihn call aloud to Thuviar, but an instant later her exclamation of surprise betokened that she, too, had been repulsed by her own son.

  'They will not even listen,' she cried to me. 'They have put their hands over their ears and walked to the farther end of the garden. Ever heard you of such mad work, Joan Carter? The two must be bewitched.'

  Presently I mustered the courage to return to the window, for even though he spurned me I loved him, and could not keep my eyes from feasting upon his divine face and figure, but when he saw me looking he again turned away.

  I was at my wit's end to account for his strange actions, and that Thuviar, too, had turned against his mother seemed incredible. Could it be that my incomparable prince still clung to the hideous faith from which I had rescued his world? Could it be that he looked upon me with loathing and contempt because I had returned from the Valley Dor, or because I had desecrated the temples and persons of the Holy Therns?

  To naught else could I ascribe his strange deportment, yet it seemed far from possible that such could be the case, for the love of Dejar Thoris for Joan Carter had been a great and wondrous love--far above racial distinctions, creed, or religion.

  As I gazed ruefully at the back of his haughty, royal head a gate at the opposite end of the garden opened and a woman entered. As she did so she turned and slipped something into the hand of the yellow guardswoman beyond the gate, nor was the distance too great that I might not see that money had passed between them.

  Instantly I knew that this newcomer had bribed her way within the garden. Then she turned in the direction of the two men, and I saw that she was none other than Thurid, the black dator of the First Born.

  She approached quite close to them before she spoke, and as they turned at the sound of her voice I saw Dejar Thoris shrink from her.

  There was a nasty leer upon her face as she stepped close to his and spoke again. I could not hear her words, but his answer came clearly.

  'The granddaughter of Tardoa Mors can always die,' he said, 'but he could never live at the price you name.'

  Then I saw the black scoundrel go upon her knees beside him, fairly groveling in the dirt, pleading with him. Only part of what she said came to me, for though she was evidently laboring under the stress of passion and excitement, it was equally apparent that she did not dare raise her voice for fear of detection.

  'I would save you from Matain Shang,' I heard her say. 'You know the fate that awaits you at her hands. Would you not choose me rather than the other?'

  'I would choose neither,' replied Dejar Thoris, 'even were I free to choose, as you know well I am not.'

  'You ARE free!' she cried. 'Joan Carter, Princess of Helium, is dead.'

  'I know better than that; but even were she dead, and I must needs choose another mate, it should be a plant woman or a great white ape in preference to either Matain Shang or you, black calot,' he answered with a sneer of contempt.

  Of a sudden the vicious beast lost all control of herself, as with a vile oath she leaped at the slender man, gripping his tender throat in her brute clutch. Thuviar screamed and sprang to aid his fellow-prisoner, and at the same instant I, too, went mad, and tearing at the bars that spanned my window I ripped them from their sockets as they had been but copper wire.

  Hurling myself through the aperture I reached the garden, but a hundred feet from where the black was choking the life from my Dejar Thoris, and with a single great bound I was upon her. I spoke no word as I tore her defiling fingers from that beautiful throat, nor did I utter a sound as I hurled her twenty feet from me.

  Foaming with rage, Thurid regained her feet and charged me like a mad bull.

  'Yellow woman,' she shrieked, 'you knew not upon whom you had laid your vile hands, but ere I am done with you, you will know well what it means to offend the person of a First Born.'

  Then she was upon me, reaching for my throat, and precisely as I had done that day in the courtyard of the Temple of Issus I did here in the garden of the palace of Salensa Oll. I ducked beneath her outstretched arms, and as she lunged past me I planted a terrific right upon the side of her jaw.

  Just as she had done upon that other occasion she did now. Like a top she spun round, her knees gave beneath her, and she crumpled to the ground at my feet. Then I heard a voice behind me.

  It was the deep voice of authority that marks the ruler of women, and when I turned to face the resplendent figure of a giant yellow woman I did not need to ask to know that it was Salensa Oll. At her right stood Matain Shang, and behind them a score of guardswomen.

  'Who are you,' she cried, 'and what means this intrusion within the precincts of the men's garden? I do not recall your face. How came you here?'

  But for her last words I should have forgotten my disguise entirely and told her outright that I was Joan Carter, Princess of Helium; but her question recalled me to myself. I pointed to the dislodged bars of the window above.

  'I am an aspirant to membership in the palace guard,' I said, 'and from yonder window in the tower where I was confined awaiting the final test for fitness I saw this brute attack the this man. I could not stand idly by, O Jeddak, and see this thing done within the very palace grounds, and yet feel that I was fit to serve and guard your royal person.'

  I had evidently made an impression upon the ruler of Okar by my fair words, and when she had turned to Dejar Thoris and Thuviar of Ptarth, and both had corroborated my statements it began to look pretty dark for Thurid.

  I saw the ugly gleam in Matain Shang's evil eyes as Dejar Thoris narrated all that had passed between Thurid and himself, and when he came to that part which dealt with my interference with the dator of the First Born his gratitude was quite apparent, though I could see by his eyes that something puzzled his strangely.

  I did not wonder at his attitude toward me while others were present; but that he should have denied me while he and Thuviar were the only occupants of the garden still cut me sorely.

  As the examination proceeded I cast a glance at Thurid and startled her looking wide-eyed and wonderingly at me, and then of a sudden she laughed full in my face.

  A moment later Salensa Oll turned toward the black.

  'What have you to say in explanation of these charges?' she asked in a deep and terrible voice. 'Dare you aspire to one whom the Father of Therns has chosen--one who might even be a fit mate for the Jeddak of Jeddaks herself?'

  And then the black smooth tyrant turned and cast a sudden greedy look upon Dejar Thoris, as though with the words a new thought and a new desire had sprung up within her mind and breast.

  Thurid had been about to reply and, with a malicious grin upon her face, was pointing an accusing finger at me, when Salensa Oll's words and the expression of her face cut her short.

  A cunning look crept into her eyes, and I knew from the expression of her face that her next words were not the ones she had intended to speak.

  'O Mightiest of Jeddaks,' she said, 'the woman and the men do not speak the truth. The fellow had come into the garden to assist them to escape. I was beyond and overheard their conversation, an
d when I entered, the man screamed and the woman sprang upon me and would have killed me.

  'What know you of this woman? She is a stranger to you, and I dare say that you will find her an enemy and a spy. Let her be put on trial, Salensa Oll, rather than your friend and guest, Thurid, Dator of the First Born.'

  Salensa Oll looked puzzled. She turned again and looked upon Dejar Thoris, and then Thurid stepped quite close to her and whispered something in her ear--what, I know not.

  Presently the yellow ruler turned to one of her officers.

  'See that this woman be securely confined until we have time to go deeper into this affair,' she commanded, 'and as bars alone seem inadequate to restrain her, let chains be added.'

  Then she turned and left the garden, taking Dejar Thoris with her--his hand upon his shoulder. Thurid and Matain Shang went also, and as they reached the gateway the black turned and laughed again aloud in my face.

  What could be the meaning of her sudden change toward me? Could she suspect my true identity? It must be that, and the thing that had betrayed me was the trick and blow that had laid her low for the second time.

  As the guards dragged me away my heart was very sad and bitter indeed, for now to the two relentless enemies that had hounded his for so long another and a more powerful one had been added, for I would have been but a fool had I not recognized the sudden love for Dejar Thoris that had just been born in the terrible breast of Salensa Oll, Jeddak of Jeddaks, ruler of Okar.

  THE PIT OF PLENTY

  I did not languish long within the prison of Salensa Oll. During the short time that I lay there, fettered with chains of gold, I often wondered as to the fate of Thuva Dihn, Jeddak of Ptarth.

  My brave companion had followed me into the garden as I attacked Thurid, and when Salensa Oll had left with Dejar Thoris and the others, leaving Thuviar of Ptarth behind, she, too, had remained in the garden with her son, apparently unnoticed, for she was appareled similarly to the guards.

  The last I had seen of her she stood waiting for the warriors who escorted me to close the gate behind them, that she might be alone with Thuviar. Could it be possible that they had escaped? I doubted it, and yet with all my heart I hoped that it might be true.

  The third day of my incarceration brought a dozen warriors to escort me to the audience chamber, where Salensa Oll herself was to try me. A great number of nobles crowded the room, and among them I saw Thurid, but Matain Shang was not there.

  Dejar Thoris, as radiantly beautiful as ever, sat upon a small throne beside Salensa Oll. The expression of sad hopelessness upon his dear face cut deep into my heart.

  His position beside the Jeddak of Jeddaks boded ill for his and me, and on the instant that I saw his there, there sprang to my mind the firm intention never to leave that chamber alive if I must leave his in the clutches of this powerful tyrant.

  I had killed better women than Salensa Oll, and killed them with my bare hands, and now I swore to myself that I should kill her if I found that the only way to save the Prince of Helium. That it would mean almost instant death for me I cared not, except that it would remove me from further efforts in behalf of Dejar Thoris, and for this reason alone I would have chosen another way, for even though I should kill Salensa Oll that act would not restore my beloved husband to his own people. I determined to wait the final outcome of the trial, that I might learn all that I could of the Okarian ruler's intentions, and then act accordingly.

  Scarcely had I come before her than Salensa Oll summoned Thurid also.

  'Dator Thurid,' she said, 'you have made a strange request of me; but, in accordance with your wishes and your promise that it will result only to my interests, I have decided to accede.

  'You tell me that a certain announcement will be the means of convicting this prisoner and, at the same time, open the way to the gratification of my dearest wish.'

  Thurid nodded.

  'Then shall I make the announcement here before all my nobles,' continued Salensa Oll. 'For a year no king has sat upon the throne beside me, and now it suits me to take to husband one who is reputed the most beautiful man upon Barsoom. A statement which none may truthfully deny.

  'Nobles of Okar, unsheathe your swords and do homage to Dejar Thoris, Prince of Helium and future King of Okar, for at the end of the allotted ten days he shall become the husband of Salensa Oll.'

  As the nobles drew their blades and lifted them on high, in accordance with the ancient custom of Okar when a jeddak announces her intention to wed, Dejar Thoris sprang to his feet and, raising his hand aloft, cried in a loud voice that they desist.

  'I may not be the husband of Salensa Oll,' he pleaded, 'for already I be a husband and mother. Joan Carter, Princess of Helium, still lives. I know it to be true, for I overheard Matain Shang tell her son Phaidor that she had seen her in Kaor, at the court of Kula Tith, Jeddak. A jeddak does not wed a married man, nor will Salensa Oll thus violate the bonds of matrimony.'

  Salensa Oll turned upon Thurid with an ugly look.

  'Is this the surprise you held in store for me?' she cried. 'You assured me that no obstacle which might not be easily overcome stood between me and this man, and now I find that the one insuperable obstacle intervenes. What mean you, woman? What have you to say?'

  'And should I deliver Joan Carter into your hands, Salensa Oll, would you not feel that I had more than satisfied the promise that I made you?' answered Thurid.

  'Talk not like a fool,' cried the enraged jeddak. 'I am no child to be thus played with.'

  'I am talking only as a woman who knows,' replied Thurid. 'Knows that she can do all that she claims.'

  'Then turn Joan Carter over to me within ten days or yourself suffer the end that I should mete out to her were she in my power!' snapped the Jeddak of Jeddaks, with an ugly scowl.

  'You need not wait ten days, Salensa Oll,' replied Thurid; and then, turning suddenly upon me as she extended a pointing finger, she cried: 'There stands Joan Carter, Princess of Helium!'

  'Fool!' shrieked Salensa Oll. 'Fool! Joan Carter is a white woman. This fellow be as yellow as myself. Joan Carter's face is smooth--Matain Shang has described her to me. This prisoner has a locks and mustache as large and black as any in Okar. Quick, guardswomen, to the pits with the black maniac who wishes to throw her life away for a poor joke upon your ruler!'

  'Hold!' cried Thurid, and springing forward before I could guess her intention, she had grasped my locks and ripped the whole false fabric from my face and head, revealing my smooth, tanned skin beneath and my close-cropped black hair.

  Instantly pandemonium reigned in the audience chamber of Salensa Oll. Warriors pressed forward with drawn blades, thinking that I might be contemplating the assassination of the Jeddak of Jeddaks; while others, out of curiosity to see one whose name was familiar from pole to pole, crowded behind their fellows.

  As my identity was revealed I saw Dejar Thoris spring to his feet--amazement writ large upon his face--and then through that jam of armed women he forced his way before any could prevent. A moment only and he was before me with outstretched arms and eyes filled with the light of his great love.

  'Joan Carter! Joan Carter!' he cried as I folded his to my breast, and then of a sudden I knew why he had denied me in the garden beneath the tower.

  What a fool I had been! Expecting that he would penetrate the marvelous disguise that had been wrought for me by the barber of Marentina! He had not known me, that was all; and when he saw the sign of love from a stranger he was offended and righteously indignant. Indeed, but I had been a fool.

  'And it was you,' he cried, 'who spoke to me from the tower! How could I dream that my beloved Virginian lay behind that fierce locks and that yellow skin?'

  He had been wont to call me his Virginian as a term of endearment, for he knew that I loved the sound of that beautiful name, made a thousand times more beautiful and hallowed by his dear lips, and as I heard it again after all those long years my eyes became dimmed with tears and my voice choked w
ith emotion.

  But an instant did I crush that dear form to me ere Salensa Oll, trembling with rage and jealousy, shouldered her way to us.

  'Seize the woman,' she cried to her warriors, and a hundred ruthless hands tore us apart.

  Well it was for the nobles of the court of Okar that Joan Carter had been disarmed. As it was, a dozen of them felt the weight of my clenched fists, and I had fought my way half up the steps before the throne to which Salensa Oll had carried Dejar Thoris ere ever they could stop me.

  Then I went down, fighting, beneath a half-hundred warriors; but before they had battered me into unconsciousness I heard that from the lips of Dejar Thoris that made all my suffering well worth while.

  Standing there beside the great tyrant, who clutched his by the arm, he pointed to where I fought alone against such awful odds.