The flier upon whose deck Dejah Thoris and I found ourselvesafter twelve long years of separation proved entirely useless.Her buoyancy tanks leaked badly. Her engine would not start.We were helpless there in mid air above the arctic ice.

The craft had drifted across the chasm which held the corpses ofMatai Shang, Thurid, and Phaidor, and now hung above a low hill.Opening the buoyancy escape valves I permitted her to come slowlyto the ground, and as she touched, Dejah Thoris and I stepped fromher deck and, hand in hand, turned back across the frozen wastetoward the city of Kadabra.

Through the tunnel that had led me in pursuit of them we passed,walking slowly, for we had much to say to each other.

She told me of that last terrible moment months before when thedoor of her prison cell within the Temple of the Sun was slowlyclosing between us. Of how Phaidor had sprung upon her withuplifted dagger, and of Thuvia's shriek as she had realized thefoul intention of the thern goddess.

It had been that cry that had rung in my ears all the long,weary months that I had been left in cruel doubt as to myprincess' fate; for I had not known that Thuvia had wrestedthe blade from the daughter of Matai Shang before it hadtouched either Dejah Thoris or herself.

She told me, too, of the awful eternity of her imprisonment.Of the cruel hatred of Phaidor, and the tender love of Thuvia,and of how even when despair was the darkest those two red girlshad clung to the same hope and belief--that John Carter wouldfind a way to release them.

Presently we came to the chamber of Solan. I had been proceedingwithout thought of caution, for I was sure that the city and thepalace were both in the hands of my friends by this time.

And so it was that I bolted into the chamber full intothe midst of a dozen nobles of the court of Salensus Oll.They were passing through on their way to the outside worldalong the corridors we had just traversed.

At sight of us they halted in their tracks, and then an uglysmile overspread the features of their leader.

"The author of all our misfortunes!" he cried, pointing at me."We shall have the satisfaction of a partial vengeance at leastwhen we leave behind us here the dead and mutilated corpses of thePrince and Princess of Helium.

"When they find them," he went on, jerking his thumb upward towardthe palace above, "they will realize that the vengeance of theyellow man costs his enemies dear. Prepare to die, John Carter,but that your end may be the more bitter, know that I may changemy intention as to meting a merciful death to your princess--possibly she shall be preserved as a plaything for my nobles."

I stood close to the instrument-covered wall--Dejah Thoris at my side.She looked up at me wonderingly as the warriors advanced upon us withdrawn swords, for mine still hung within its scabbard at my side,and there was a smile upon my lips.

The yellow nobles, too, looked in surprise, and then as I madeno move to draw they hesitated, fearing a ruse; but their leaderurged them on. When they had come almost within sword's reach ofme I raised my hand and laid it upon the polished surface of agreat lever, and then, still smiling grimly, I looked my enemiesfull in the face.

As one they came to a sudden stop, casting affrighted glancesat me and at one another.

"Stop!" shrieked their leader. "You dream not what you do!"

"Right you are," I replied. "John Carter does not dream.He knows--knows that should one of you take another step towardDejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, I pull this lever wide,and she and I shall die together; but we shall not die alone."

The nobles shrank back, whispering together for a few moments.At last their leader turned to me.

"Go your way, John Carter," he said, "and we shall go ours."

"Prisoners do not go their own way," I answered, "and you areprisoners--prisoners of the Prince of Helium."

Before they could make answer a door upon the opposite side ofthe apartment opened and a score of yellow men poured into theapartment. For an instant the nobles looked relieved, and then astheir eyes fell upon the leader of the new party their faces fell,for he was Talu, rebel Prince of Marentina, and they knew that theycould look for neither aid nor mercy at his hands.

"Well done, John Carter," he cried. "You turn their ownmighty power against them. Fortunate for Okar is it that you werehere to prevent their escape, for these be the greatest villainsnorth of the ice-barrier, and this one"--pointing to the leader ofthe party--"would have made himself Jeddak of Jeddaks in the placeof the dead Salensus Oll. Then indeed would we have had a morevillainous ruler than the hated tyrant who fell before your sword."

The Okarian nobles now submitted to arrest, since nothing butdeath faced them should they resist, and, escorted by the warriorsof Talu, we made our way to the great audience chamber that hadbeen Salensus Oll's. Here was a vast concourse of warriors.

Red men from Helium and Ptarth, yellow men of the north,rubbing elbows with the blacks of the First Born who had comeunder my friend Xodar to help in the search for me and my princess.There were savage, green warriors from the dead sea bottomsof the south, and a handful of white-skinned therns who hadrenounced their religion and sworn allegiance to Xodar.

There was Tardos Mors and Mors Kajak, and tall and mighty in hisgorgeous warrior trappings, Carthoris, my son. These three fellupon Dejah Thoris as we entered the apartment, and though the livesand training of royal Martians tend not toward vulgar demonstration,I thought that they would suffocate her with their embraces.

And there were Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, and Kantos Kan,my old-time friends, and leaping and tearing at my harnessin the exuberance of his great love was dear old Woola--frantic mad with happiness.

Long and loud was the cheering that burst forth at sight of us;deafening was the din of ringing metal as the veteran warriorsof every Martian clime clashed their blades together on high intoken of success and victory, but as I passed among the throngof saluting nobles and warriors, jeds and jeddaks, my heartstill was heavy, for there were two faces missing that I would havegiven much to have seen there--Thuvan Dihn and Thuvia of Ptarthwere not to be found in the great chamber.

I made inquiries concerning them among men of every nation,and at last from one of the yellow prisoners of war I learned thatthey had been apprehended by an officer of the palace as theysought to reach the Pit of Plenty while I lay imprisoned there.

I did not need to ask to know what had sent them thither--the courageous jeddak and his loyal daughter. My informersaid that they lay now in one of the many buried dungeonsof the palace where they had been placed pending a decisionas to their fate by the tyrant of the north.

A moment later searching parties were scouring the ancient pilein search of them, and my cup of happiness was full when I sawthem being escorted into the room by a cheering guard of honor.

Thuvia's first act was to rush to the side of Dejah Thoris,and I needed no better proof of the love these two bore foreach other than the sincerity with which they embraced.

Looking down upon that crowded chamber stood the silent andempty throne of Okar.

Of all the strange scenes it must have witnessed since thatlong-dead age that had first seen a Jeddak of Jeddaks take hisseat upon it, none might compare with that upon which it nowlooked down, and as I pondered the past and future of thatlong-buried race of black-bearded yellow men I thought thatI saw a brighter and more useful existence for them amongthe great family of friendly nations that now stretchedfrom the south pole almost to their very doors.

Twenty-two years before I had been cast, naked and a stranger,into this strange and savage world. The hand of every race andnation was raised in continual strife and warring against the menof every other land and color. Today, by the might of my sword andthe loyalty of the friends my sword had made for me, black man andwhite, red man and green rubbed shoulders in peace and good-fellowship.All the nations of Barsoom were not yet as one, but a great strideforward toward that goal had been taken, and now if I could butcement the fierce yellow race into this solidarity of nationsI should feel that I had rounded out a great lifework,and repaid to Mars at least a portion of the immense debt ofgratitude I owed her for having given me my Dejah Thoris.

And as I thought, I saw but one way, and a single man who couldinsure the success of my hopes. As is ever the way with me,I acted then as I always act--without deliberation andwithout consultation.

Those who do not like my plans and my ways of promoting themhave always their swords at their sides wherewith to back up theirdisapproval; but now there seemed to be no dissenting voice, as,grasping Talu by the arm, I sprang to the throne that had once beenSalensus Oll's.

"Warriors of Barsoom," I cried, "Kadabra has fallen, and with herthe hateful tyrant of the north; but the integrity of Okar mustbe preserved. The red men are ruled by red jeddaks, the greenwarriors of the ancient seas acknowledge none but a green ruler,the First Born of the south pole take their law from black Xodar;nor would it be to the interests of either yellow or red man werea red jeddak to sit upon the throne of Okar.

"There be but one warrior best fitted for the ancient and mightytitle of Jeddak of Jeddaks of the North. Men of Okar, raiseyour swords to your new ruler--Talu, the rebel prince of Marentina!"

And then a great cry of rejoicing rose among the free men ofMarentina and the Kadabran prisoners, for all had thought that thered men would retain that which they had taken by force of arms,for such had been the way upon Barsoom, and that they should beruled henceforth by an alien Jeddak.

The victorious warriors who had followed Carthoris joined in themad demonstration, and amidst the wild confusion and the tumultand the cheering, Dejah Thoris and I passed out into the gorgeousgarden of the jeddaks that graces the inner courtyard of thepalace of Kadabra.

At our heels walked Woola, and upon a carved seat of wondrous beautybeneath a bower of purple blooms we saw two who had preceded us--Thuvia of Ptarth and Carthoris of Helium.

The handsome head of the handsome youth was bent low above thebeautiful face of his companion. I looked at Dejah Thoris,smiling, and as I drew her close to me I whispered: "Why not?"

Indeed, why not? What matter ages in this world of perpetual youth?

We remained at Kadabra, the guests of Talu, until after hisformal induction into office, and then, upon the great fleet whichI had been so fortunate to preserve from destruction, we sailedsouth across the ice-barrier; but not before we had witnessed thetotal demolition of the grim Guardian of the North under orders ofthe new Jeddak of Jeddaks.

"Henceforth," he said, as the work was completed, "the fleetsof the red men and the black are free to come and go across theice-barrier as over their own lands.

"The Carrion Caves shall be cleansed, that the green men mayfind an easy way to the land of the yellow, and the hunting of thesacred apt shall be the sport of my nobles until no single specimenof that hideous creature roams the frozen north."

We bade our yellow friends farewell with real regret, as weset sail for Ptarth. There we remained, the guest of Thuvan Dihn,for a month; and I could see that Carthoris would have remainedforever had he not been a Prince of Helium.

Above the mighty forests of Kaol we hovered until word fromKulan Tith brought us to his single landing-tower, where all dayand half a night the vessels disembarked their crews. At the cityof Kaol we visited, cementing the new ties that had been formedbetween Kaol and Helium, and then one long-to-be-remembered day wesighted the tall, thin towers of the twin cities of Helium.

The people had long been preparing for our coming. The skywas gorgeous with gaily trimmed fliers. Every roof within bothcities was spread with costly silks and tapestries.

Gold and jewels were scattered over roof and street and plaza,so that the two cities seemed ablaze with the fires of the heartsof the magnificent stones and burnished metal that reflected thebrilliant sunlight, changing it into countless glorious hues.

At last, after twelve years, the royal family of Helium wasreunited in their own mighty city, surrounded by joy-mad millionsbefore the palace gates. Women and children and mighty warriorswept in gratitude for the fate that had restored their belovedTardos Mors and the divine princess whom the whole nation idolized.Nor did any of us who had been upon that expedition of indescribabledanger and glory lack for plaudits.

That night a messenger came to me as I sat with Dejah Thorisand Carthoris upon the roof of my city palace, where we had longsince caused a lovely garden to be made that we three might findseclusion and quiet happiness among ourselves, far from the pompand ceremony of court, to summon us to the Temple of Reward--"where one is to be judged this night," the summons concluded.

I racked my brain to try and determine what important casethere might be pending which could call the royal family fromtheir palaces on the eve of their return to Helium after yearsof absence; but when the jeddak summons no man delays.

As our flier touched the landing stage at the temple's top wesaw countless other craft arriving and departing. In the streetsbelow a great multitude surged toward the great gates of the temple.

Slowly there came to me the recollection of the deferred doom thatawaited me since that time I had been tried here in the Temple byZat Arras for the sin of returning from the Valley Dor and theLost Sea of Korus.

Could it be possible that the strict sense of justice whichdominates the men of Mars had caused them to overlook thegreat good that had come out of my heresy? Could they ignore thefact that to me, and me alone, was due the rescue of Carthoris,of Dejah Thoris, of Mors Kajak, of Tardos Mors?

I could not believe it, and yet for what other purpose could Ihave been summoned to the Temple of Reward immediately upon thereturn of Tardos Mors to his throne?

My first surprise as I entered the temple and approached the Throneof Righteousness was to note the men who sat there as judges.There was Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol, whom we had but just leftwithin his own palace a few days since; there was Thuvan Dihn,Jeddak of Ptarth--how came he to Helium as soon as we?

There was Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, and Xodar, Jeddak ofthe First Born; there was Talu, Jeddak of Jeddaks of the North,whom I could have sworn was still in his ice-bound hothouse citybeyond the northern barrier, and among them sat Tardos Mors andMors Kajak, with enough lesser jeds and jeddaks to make up thethirty-one who must sit in judgment upon their fellow-man.

A right royal tribunal indeed, and such a one, I warrant, as neverbefore sat together during all the history of ancient Mars.

As I entered, silence fell upon the great concourse of people thatpacked the auditorium. Then Tardos Mors arose.

"John Carter," he said in his deep, martial voice, "take your placeupon the Pedestal of Truth, for you are to be tried by a fair andimpartial tribunal of your fellow-men."

With level eye and high-held head I did as he bade, and as I glancedabout that circle of faces that a moment before I could have sworncontained the best friends I had upon Barsoom, I saw no singlefriendly glance--only stern, uncompromising judges, there todo their duty.

A clerk rose and from a great book read a long list of the morenotable deeds that I had thought to my credit, covering a longperiod of twenty-two years since first I had stepped the ocher seabottom beside the incubator of the Tharks. With the others he readof all that I had done within the circle of the Otz Mountains wherethe Holy Therns and the First Born had held sway.

It is the way upon Barsoom to recite a man's virtues with his sinswhen he is come to trial, and so I was not surprised that all thatwas to my credit should be read there to my judges--who knew itall by heart--even down to the present moment. When the readinghad ceased Tardos Mors arose.

"Most righteous judges," he exclaimed, "you have heard recitedall that is known of John Carter, Prince of Helium--the goodwith the bad. What is your judgment?"

Then Tars Tarkas came slowly to his feet, unfolding all his mighty,towering height until he loomed, a green-bronze statue, far above us all.He turned a baleful eye upon me--he, Tars Tarkas, with whom I had foughtthrough countless battles; whom I loved as a brother.

I could have wept had I not been so mad with rage that Ialmost whipped my sword out and had at them all upon the spot.

"Judges," he said, "there can be but one verdict. No longer mayJohn Carter be Prince of Helium"--he paused--"but instead lethim be Jeddak of Jeddaks, Warlord of Barsoom!"

As the thirty-one judges sprang to their feet with drawn andupraised swords in unanimous concurrence in the verdict, the stormbroke throughout the length and breadth and height of that mightybuilding until I thought the roof would fall from the thunder ofthe mad shouting.

Now, at last, I saw the grim humor of the method they had adoptedto do me this great honor, but that there was any hoax in thereality of the title they had conferred upon me was readilydisproved by the sincerity of the congratulations that wereheaped upon me by the judges first and then the nobles.

Presently fifty of the mightiest nobles of the greatest courtsof Mars marched down the broad Aisle of Hope bearing a splendidcar upon their shoulders, and as the people saw who sat within,the cheers that had rung out for me paled into insignificance besidethose which thundered through the vast edifice now, for she whomthe nobles carried was Dejah Thoris, beloved Princess of Helium.

Straight to the Throne of Righteousness they bore her, and thereTardos Mors assisted her from the car, leading her forward to my side.

"Let a world's most beautiful woman share the honor of her husband,"he said.

Before them all I drew my wife close to me and kissed her upon the lips.