A Princess of Mars

"You owe your thanks more to another man than to me," I said, "and here

he is; meet one of Barsoom's greatest soldiers and statesmen, Tars

Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark."

With the same polished courtesy that had marked their manner toward me

they extended their greetings to the great Thark, nor, to my surprise,

was he much behind them in ease of bearing or in courtly speech.

Though not a garrulous race, the Tharks are extremely formal, and their

ways lend themselves amazingly well to dignified and courtly manners.

Dejah Thoris went aboard the flagship, and was much put out that I

would not follow, but, as I explained to her, the battle was but partly

won; we still had the land forces of the besieging Zodangans to account

for, and I would not leave Tars Tarkas until that had been accomplished.

The commander of the naval forces of Helium promised to arrange to have

the armies of Helium attack from the city in conjunction with our land

attack, and so the vessels separated and Dejah Thoris was borne in

triumph back to the court of her grandfather, Tardos Mors, Jeddak of

Helium.

In the distance lay our fleet of transports, with the thoats of the

green warriors, where they had remained during the battle. Without

landing stages it was to be a difficult matter to unload these beasts

upon the open plain, but there was nothing else for it, and so we put

out for a point about ten miles from the city and began the task.

It was necessary to lower the animals to the ground in slings and this

work occupied the remainder of the day and half the night. Twice we

were attacked by parties of Zodangan cavalry, but with little loss,

however, and after darkness shut down they withdrew.

As soon as the last thoat was unloaded Tars Tarkas gave the command to

advance, and in three parties we crept upon the Zodangan camp from the

north, the south and the east.

About a mile from the main camp we encountered their outposts and, as

had been prearranged, accepted this as the signal to charge. With

wild, ferocious cries and amidst the nasty squealing of battle-enraged

thoats we bore down upon the Zodangans.

We did not catch them napping, but found a well-entrenched battle line

confronting us. Time after time we were repulsed until, toward noon, I

began to fear for the result of the battle.

The Zodangans numbered nearly a million fighting men, gathered from

pole to pole, wherever stretched their ribbon-like waterways, while

pitted against them were less than a hundred thousand green warriors.

The forces from Helium had not arrived, nor could we receive any word

from them.

Just at noon we heard heavy firing all along the line between the

Zodangans and the cities, and we knew then that our much-needed

reinforcements had come.