A Princess of Mars

Just thirty days after my advent upon Barsoom we entered the ancient

city of Thark, from whose long-forgotten people this horde of green men

have stolen even their name. The hordes of Thark number some thirty

thousand souls, and are divided into twenty-five communities. Each

community has its own jed and lesser chieftains, but all are under the

rule of Tal Hajus, Jeddak of Thark. Five communities make their

headquarters at the city of Thark, and the balance are scattered among

other deserted cities of ancient Mars throughout the district claimed

by Tal Hajus.

We made our entry into the great central plaza early in the afternoon.

There were no enthusiastic friendly greetings for the returned

expedition. Those who chanced to be in sight spoke the names of

warriors or women with whom they came in direct contact, in the formal

greeting of their kind, but when it was discovered that they brought

two captives a greater interest was aroused, and Dejah Thoris and I

were the centers of inquiring groups.

We were soon assigned to new quarters, and the balance of the day was

devoted to settling ourselves to the changed conditions. My home now

was upon an avenue leading into the plaza from the south, the main

artery down which we had marched from the gates of the city. I was at

the far end of the square and had an entire building to myself. The

same grandeur of architecture which was so noticeable a characteristic

of Korad was in evidence here, only, if that were possible, on a larger

and richer scale. My quarters would have been suitable for housing the

greatest of earthly emperors, but to these queer creatures nothing

about a building appealed to them but its size and the enormity of its

chambers; the larger the building, the more desirable; and so Tal Hajus

occupied what must have been an enormous public building, the largest

in the city, but entirely unfitted for residence purposes; the next

largest was reserved for Lorquas Ptomel, the next for the jed of a

lesser rank, and so on to the bottom of the list of five jeds. The

warriors occupied the buildings with the chieftains to whose retinues

they belonged; or, if they preferred, sought shelter among any of the

thousands of untenanted buildings in their own quarter of town; each

community being assigned a certain section of the city. The selection

of building had to be made in accordance with these divisions, except

in so far as the jeds were concerned, they all occupying edifices which

fronted upon the plaza.

When I had finally put my house in order, or rather seen that it had

been done, it was nearing sunset, and I hastened out with the intention

of locating Sola and her charges, as I had determined upon having

speech with Dejah Thoris and trying to impress on her the necessity of

our at least patching up a truce until I could find some way of aiding

her to escape. I searched in vain until the upper rim of the great red

sun was just disappearing behind the horizon and then I spied the ugly

head of Woola peering from a second-story window on the opposite side

of the very street where I was quartered, but nearer the plaza.