The Gods of Mars | Page 9

scale them I knew full well, but Tars
Tarkas, with his mighty bulk and enormous weight, would find it a task
possibly quite beyond his prowess or his skill, for Martians are at best
but poor climbers. Upon the entire surface of that ancient planet I never
before had seen a hill or mountain that exceeded four thousand feet in
height above the dead sea bottoms, and as the ascent was usually
gradual, nearly to their summits they presented but few opportunities
for the practice of climbing. Nor would the Martians have embraced
even such opportunities as might present themselves, for they could
always find a circuitous route about the base of any eminence, and
these roads they preferred and followed in preference to the shorter but
more arduous ways.
However, there was nothing else to consider than an attempt to scale
the trees contiguous to the cliff in an effort to reach the caves above.
The Thark grasped the possibilities and the difficulties of the plan at
once, but there was no alternative, and so we set out rapidly for the
trees nearest the cliff.
Our relentless pursuers were now close to us, so close that it seemed
that it would be an utter impossibility for the Jeddak of Thark to reach
the forest in advance of them, nor was there any considerable will in
the efforts that Tars Tarkas made, for the green men of Barsoom do not
relish flight, nor ever before had I seen one fleeing from death in
whatsoever form it might have confronted him. But that Tars Tarkas
was the bravest of the brave he had proven thousands of times; yes,
tens of thousands in countless mortal combats with men and beasts.
And so I knew that there was another reason than fear of death behind
his flight, as he knew that a greater power than pride or honour spurred
me to escape these fierce destroyers. In my case it was love--love of the
divine Dejah Thoris; and the cause of the Thark's great and sudden love
of life I could not fathom, for it is oftener that they seek death than
life--these strange, cruel, loveless, unhappy people.

At length, however, we reached the shadows of the forest, while right
behind us sprang the swiftest of our pursuers--a giant plant man with
claws outreaching to fasten his bloodsucking mouths upon us.
He was, I should say, a hundred yards in advance of his closest
companion, and so I called to Tars Tarkas to ascend a great tree that
brushed the cliff's face while I dispatched the fellow, thus giving the
less agile Thark an opportunity to reach the higher branches before the
entire horde should be upon us and every vestige of escape cut off.
But I had reckoned without a just appreciation either of the cunning of
my immediate antagonist or the swiftness with which his fellows were
covering the distance which had separated them from me.
As I raised my long-sword to deal the creature its death thrust it halted
in its charge and, as my sword cut harmlessly through the empty air,
the great tail of the thing swept with the power of a grizzly's arm across
the sward and carried me bodily from my feet to the ground. In an
instant the brute was upon me, but ere it could fasten its hideous
mouths into my breast and throat I grasped a writhing tentacle in either
hand.
The plant man was well muscled, heavy, and powerful but my earthly
sinews and greater agility, in conjunction with the deathly strangle hold
I had upon him, would have given me, I think, an eventual victory had
we had time to discuss the merits of our relative prowess uninterrupted.
But as we strained and struggled about the tree into which Tars Tarkas
was clambering with infinite difficulty, I suddenly caught a glimpse
over the shoulder of my antagonist of the great swarm of pursuers that
now were fairly upon me.
Now, at last, I saw the nature of the other monsters who had come with
the plant men in response to the weird calling of the man upon the
cliff's face. They were that most dreaded of Martian creatures--great
white apes of Barsoom.
My former experiences upon Mars had familiarized me thoroughly with
them and their methods, and I may say that of all the fearsome and

terrible, weird and grotesque inhabitants of that strange world, it is the
white apes that come nearest to familiarizing me with the sensation of
fear.
I think that the cause of this feeling which these apes engender within
me is due to their remarkable resemblance in form to our Earth men,
which gives them a human appearance that is most uncanny when
coupled with their enormous size.
They