Tars Tarkas and I found no time for an exchange of experiencesas we stood there before the great boulder surrounded by thecorpses of our grotesque assailants, for from all directionsdown the broad valley was streaming a perfect torrent ofterrifying creatures in response to the weird call of thestrange figure far above us.

"Come," cried Tars Tarkas, "we must make for the cliffs.There lies our only hope of even temporary escape; therewe may find a cave or a narrow ledge which two may defendfor ever against this motley, unarmed horde."

Together we raced across the scarlet sward, I timing myspeed that I might not outdistance my slower companion. Wehad, perhaps, three hundred yards to cover between ourboulder and the cliffs, and then to search out a suitableshelter for our stand against the terrifying things that werepursuing us.

They were rapidly overhauling us when Tars Tarkas criedto me to hasten ahead and discover, if possible, the sanctuarywe sought. The suggestion was a good one, for thus manyvaluable minutes might be saved to us, and, throwingevery ounce of my earthly muscles into the effort, I clearedthe remaining distance between myself and the cliffs ingreat leaps and bounds that put me at their base in a moment.

The cliffs rose perpendicular directly from the almost levelsward of the valley. There was no accumulation of fallen debris,forming a more or less rough ascent to them, as is the case withnearly all other cliffs I have ever seen. The scatteredboulders that had fallen from above and lay upon or partlyburied in the turf, were the only indication that anydisintegration of the massive, towering pile of rocks everhad taken place.

My first cursory inspection of the face of the cliffs filledmy heart with forebodings, since nowhere could I discern, exceptwhere the weird herald stood still shrieking his shrill summons, thefaintest indication of even a bare foothold upon the lofty escarpment.

To my right the bottom of the cliff was lost in the dense foliageof the forest, which terminated at its very foot, rearing itsgorgeous foliage fully a thousand feet against its stern andforbidding neighbour.

To the left the cliff ran, apparently unbroken, across thehead of the broad valley, to be lost in the outlines of whatappeared to be a range of mighty mountains that skirtedand confined the valley in every direction.

Perhaps a thousand feet from me the river broke, as itseemed, directly from the base of the cliffs, and as thereseemed not the remotest chance for escape in that directionI turned my attention again toward the forest.

The cliffs towered above me a good five thousand feet.The sun was not quite upon them and they loomed a dullyellow in their own shade. Here and there they were brokenwith streaks and patches of dusky red, green, and occasionalareas of white quartz.

Altogether they were very beautiful, but I fear that I didnot regard them with a particularly appreciative eye on this,my first inspection of them.

Just then I was absorbed in them only as a medium ofescape, and so, as my gaze ran quickly, time and again,over their vast expanse in search of some cranny or crevice,I came suddenly to loathe them as the prisoner must loathethe cruel and impregnable walls of his dungeon.

Tars Tarkas was approaching me rapidly, and still morerapidly came the awful horde at his heels.

It seemed the forest now or nothing, and I was just on thepoint of motioning Tars Tarkas to follow me in that directionwhen the sun passed the cliff's zenith, and as the bright raystouched the dull surface it burst out into a million scintillantlights of burnished gold, of flaming red, of soft greens, andgleaming whites--a more gorgeous and inspiring spectaclehuman eye has never rested upon.

The face of the entire cliff was, as later inspectionconclusively proved, so shot with veins and patches ofsolid gold as to quite present the appearance of a solid wall ofthat precious metal except where it was broken by outcroppings ofruby, emerald, and diamond boulders--a faint and alluringindication of the vast and unguessable riches which laydeeply buried behind the magnificent surface.

But what caught my most interested attention at the momentthat the sun's rays set the cliff's face a-shimmer, was theseveral black spots which now appeared quite plainly in evidencehigh across the gorgeous wall close to the forest's top,and extending apparently below and behind the branches.

Almost immediately I recognised them for what they were,the dark openings of caves entering the solid walls--possibleavenues of escape or temporary shelter, could we but reach them.

There was but a single way, and that led through themighty, towering trees upon our right. That I could scalethem I knew full well, but Tars Tarkas, with his mighty bulkand enormous weight, would find it a task possibly quitebeyond his prowess or his skill, for Martians are at best butpoor climbers. Upon the entire surface of that ancient planetI never before had seen a hill or mountain that exceeded fourthousand feet in height above the dead sea bottoms, and asthe ascent was usually gradual, nearly to their summits theypresented but few opportunities for the practice of climbing.Nor would the Martians have embraced even such opportunitiesas might present themselves, for they could always find acircuitous route about the base of any eminence, and theseroads they preferred and followed in preference to theshorter but more arduous ways.

However, there was nothing else to consider than an attemptto scale the trees contiguous to the cliff in an effort toreach the caves above.

The Thark grasped the possibilities and the difficulties ofthe plan at once, but there was no alternative, and so weset out rapidly for the trees nearest the cliff.

Our relentless pursuers were now close to us, so close thatit seemed that it would be an utter impossibility for theJeddak of Thark to reach the forest in advance of them, norwas there any considerable will in the efforts that Tars Tarkasmade, for the green men of Barsoom do not relish flight, norever before had I seen one fleeing from death in whatsoeverform it might have confronted him. But that Tars Tarkas wasthe bravest of the brave he had proven thousands of times;yes, tens of thousands in countless mortal combats with menand beasts. And so I knew that there was another reason thanfear of death behind his flight, as he knew that a greaterpower than pride or honour spurred me to escape thesefierce destroyers. In my case it was love--love of the divineDejah Thoris; and the cause of the Thark's great and suddenlove of life I could not fathom, for it is oftener that they seekdeath than life--these strange, cruel, loveless, unhappy people.

At length, however, we reached the shadows of the forest, whileright behind us sprang the swiftest of our pursuers--a giant plant manwith claws outreaching to fasten his bloodsucking mouths upon us.

He was, I should say, a hundred yards in advance of hisclosest companion, and so I called to Tars Tarkas to ascend agreat tree that brushed the cliff's face while I dispatched thefellow, thus giving the less agile Thark an opportunity toreach the higher branches before the entire horde should beupon us and every vestige of escape cut off.

But I had reckoned without a just appreciation either ofthe cunning of my immediate antagonist or the swiftnesswith which his fellows were covering the distance which hadseparated them from me.

As I raised my long-sword to deal the creature its deaththrust it halted in its charge and, as my sword cut harmlesslythrough the empty air, the great tail of the thing swept withthe power of a grizzly's arm across the sward and carriedme bodily from my feet to the ground. In an instant the brutewas upon me, but ere it could fasten its hideous mouths into mybreast and throat I grasped a writhing tentacle in either hand.

The plant man was well muscled, heavy, and powerfulbut my earthly sinews and greater agility, in conjunctionwith the deathly strangle hold I had upon him, would havegiven me, I think, an eventual victory had we had time todiscuss the merits of our relative prowess uninterrupted.But as we strained and struggled about the tree into whichTars Tarkas was clambering with infinite difficulty, I suddenlycaught a glimpse over the shoulder of my antagonist of thegreat swarm of pursuers that now were fairly upon me.

Now, at last, I saw the nature of the other monsters whohad come with the plant men in response to the weird callingof the man upon the cliff's face. They were that most dreadedof Martian creatures--great white apes of Barsoom.

My former experiences upon Mars had familiarized methoroughly with them and their methods, and I may say thatof all the fearsome and terrible, weird and grotesque inhabitantsof that strange world, it is the white apes that come nearestto familiarizing me with the sensation of fear.

I think that the cause of this feeling which these apesengender within me is due to their remarkable resemblancein form to our Earth men, which gives them a human appearancethat is most uncanny when coupled with their enormous size.

They stand fifteen feet in height and walk erect upon theirhind feet. Like the green Martians, they have an intermediaryset of arms midway between their upper and lower limbs.Their eyes are very close set, but do not protrude as do thoseof the green men of Mars; their ears are high set, but morelaterally located than are the green men's, while their snoutsand teeth are much like those of our African gorilla. Upontheir heads grows an enormous shock of bristly hair.

It was into the eyes of such as these and the terrible plantmen that I gazed above the shoulder of my foe, and then, ina mighty wave of snarling, snapping, screaming, purring rage,they swept over me--and of all the sounds that assailed myears as I went down beneath them, to me the most hideouswas the horrid purring of the plant men.

Instantly a score of cruel fangs and keen talons were sunkinto my flesh; cold, sucking lips fastened themselves upon myarteries. I struggled to free myself, and even though weigheddown by these immense bodies, I succeeded in struggling tomy feet, where, still grasping my long-sword, and shortening mygrip upon it until I could use it as a dagger, I wrought suchhavoc among them that at one time I stood for an instant free.

What it has taken minutes to write occurred in but a fewseconds, but during that time Tars Tarkas had seen my plightand had dropped from the lower branches, which he hadreached with such infinite labour, and as I flung the lastof my immediate antagonists from me the great Thark leapedto my side, and again we fought, back to back, as wehad done a hundred times before.

Time and again the ferocious apes sprang in to close withus, and time and again we beat them back with our swords.The great tails of the plant men lashed with tremendouspower about us as they charged from various directions orsprang with the agility of greyhounds above our heads; butevery attack met a gleaming blade in sword hands that hadbeen reputed for twenty years the best that Mars ever hadknown; for Tars Tarkas and John Carter were names that thefighting men of the world of warriors loved best to speak.

But even the two best swords in a world of fighters canavail not for ever against overwhelming numbers of fierceand savage brutes that know not what defeat means untilcold steel teaches their hearts no longer to beat, and so, stepby step, we were forced back. At length we stood against thegiant tree that we had chosen for our ascent, and then, ascharge after charge hurled its weight upon us, we gave backagain and again, until we had been forced half-way aroundthe huge base of the colossal trunk.

Tars Tarkas was in the lead, and suddenly I heard a littlecry of exultation from him.

"Here is shelter for one at least, John Carter," he said,and, glancing down, I saw an opening in the base of the treeabout three feet in diameter.

"In with you, Tars Tarkas," I cried, but he would not go;saying that his bulk was too great for the little aperture,while I might slip in easily.

"We shall both die if we remain without, John Carter; hereis a slight chance for one of us. Take it and you may liveto avenge me, it is useless for me to attempt to worm myway into so small an opening with this horde of demonsbesetting us on all sides."

"Then we shall die together, Tars Tarkas," I replied, "for Ishall not go first. Let me defend the opening while you getin, then my smaller stature will permit me to slip in with youbefore they can prevent."

We still were fighting furiously as we talked in broken sentences,punctured with vicious cuts and thrusts at our swarming enemy.

At length he yielded, for it seemed the only way in whicheither of us might be saved from the ever-increasing numbersof our assailants, who were still swarming upon us from alldirections across the broad valley.

"It was ever your way, John Carter, to think last of yourown life," he said; "but still more your way to command thelives and actions of others, even to the greatest of Jeddakswho rule upon Barsoom."

There was a grim smile upon his cruel, hard face, as he,the greatest Jeddak of them all, turned to obey the dictatesof a creature of another world--of a man whose stature wasless than half his own.

"If you fail, John Carter," he said, "know that the crueland heartless Thark, to whom you taught the meaning offriendship, will come out to die beside you."

"As you will, my friend," I replied; "but quickly now,head first, while I cover your retreat."

He hesitated a little at that word, for never before in hiswhole life of continual strife had he turned his back uponaught than a dead or defeated enemy.

"Haste, Tars Tarkas," I urged, "or we shall both go downto profitless defeat; I cannot hold them for ever alone."

As he dropped to the ground to force his way into thetree, the whole howling pack of hideous devils hurled themselvesupon me. To right and left flew my shimmering blade,now green with the sticky juice of a plant man, now redwith the crimson blood of a great white ape; but alwaysflying from one opponent to another, hesitating but the barestfraction of a second to drink the lifeblood in the centre ofsome savage heart.

And thus I fought as I never had fought before, against suchfrightful odds that I cannot realize even now that humanmuscles could have withstood that awful onslaught, thatterrific weight of hurtling tons of ferocious, battling flesh.

With the fear that we would escape them, the creaturesredoubled their efforts to pull me down, and though the groundabout me was piled high with their dead and dying comrades,they succeeded at last in overwhelming me, and I went downbeneath them for the second time that day, and once againfelt those awful sucking lips against my flesh.

But scarce had I fallen ere I felt powerful hands grip my ankles,and in another second I was being drawn within the shelter ofthe tree's interior. For a moment it was a tug of war betweenTars Tarkas and a great plant man, who clung tenaciously to my breast,but presently I got the point of my long-sword beneath him and witha mighty thrust pierced his vitals.

Torn and bleeding from many cruel wounds, I lay pantingupon the ground within the hollow of the tree, while TarsTarkas defended the opening from the furious mob without.

For an hour they howled about the tree, but after a fewattempts to reach us they confined their efforts to terrorizingshrieks and screams, to horrid growling on the part of thegreat white apes, and the fearsome and indescribable purringby the plant men.

At length, all but a score, who had apparently been left toprevent our escape, had left us, and our adventure seemeddestined to result in a siege, the only outcome of which couldbe our death by starvation; for even should we be able to slipout after dark, whither in this unknown and hostile valleycould we hope to turn our steps toward possible escape?

As the attacks of our enemies ceased and our eyes becameaccustomed to the semi-darkness of the interior of our strangeretreat, I took the opportunity to explore our shelter.

The tree was hollow to an extent of about fifty feet indiameter, and from its flat, hard floor I judged that it hadoften been used to domicile others before our occupancy.As I raised my eyes toward its roof to note the height I sawfar above me a faint glow of light.

There was an opening above. If we could but reach itwe might still hope to make the shelter of the cliff caves.My eyes had now become quite used to the subdued light ofthe interior, and as I pursued my investigation I presentlycame upon a rough ladder at the far side of the cave.

Quickly I mounted it, only to find that it connected at the topwith the lower of a series of horizontal wooden bars that spannedthe now narrow and shaft-like interior of the tree's stem.These bars were set one above another about three feet apart,and formed a perfect ladder as far above me as I could see.

Dropping to the floor once more, I detailed my discoveryto Tars Tarkas, who suggested that I explore aloft as far asI could go in safety while he guarded the entrance against apossible attack.

As I hastened above to explore the strange shaft I foundthat the ladder of horizontal bars mounted always as farabove me as my eyes could reach, and as I ascended, thelight from above grew brighter and brighter.

For fully five hundred feet I continued to climb, until at length I reached the opening in the stem which admittedthe light. It was of about the same diameter as the entranceat the foot of the tree, and opened directly upon a large flatlimb, the well worn surface of which testified to its longcontinued use as an avenue for some creature to and fromthis remarkable shaft.

I did not venture out upon the limb for fear that I mightbe discovered and our retreat in this direction cut off;but instead hurried to retrace my steps to Tars Tarkas.

I soon reached him and presently we were both ascendingthe long ladder toward the opening above.

Tars Tarkas went in advance and as I reached the firstof the horizontal bars I drew the ladder up after me and,handing it to him, he carried it a hundred feet further aloft,where he wedged it safely between one of the bars and theside of the shaft. In like manner I dislodged the lower barsas I passed them, so that we soon had the interior of thetree denuded of all possible means of ascent for a distanceof a hundred feet from the base; thus precluding possiblepursuit and attack from the rear.

As we were to learn later, this precaution saved us from direpredicament, and was eventually the means of our salvation.

When we reached the opening at the top Tars Tarkas drew to oneside that I might pass out and investigate, as, owing tomy lesser weight and greater agility, I was better fitted for theperilous threading of this dizzy, hanging pathway.

The limb upon which I found myself ascended at a slightangle toward the cliff, and as I followed it I found that itterminated a few feet above a narrow ledge which protrudedfrom the cliff's face at the entrance to a narrow cave.

As I approached the slightly more slender extremity of the branchit bent beneath my weight until, as I balanced perilouslyupon its outer tip, it swayed gently on a level with theledge at a distance of a couple of feet.

Five hundred feet below me lay the vivid scarlet carpet ofthe valley; nearly five thousand feet above towered the mighty,gleaming face of the gorgeous cliffs.

The cave that I faced was not one of those that I hadseen from the ground, and which lay much higher, possiblya thousand feet. But so far as I might know it was as goodfor our purpose as another, and so I returned to the treefor Tars Tarkas.

Together we wormed our way along the waving pathway,but when we reached the end of the branch we found thatour combined weight so depressed the limb that the cave'smouth was now too far above us to be reached.

We finally agreed that Tars Tarkas should return along thebranch, leaving his longest leather harness strap with me,and that when the limb had risen to a height that wouldpermit me to enter the cave I was to do so, and on TarsTarkas' return I could then lower the strap and haul him upto the safety of the ledge.

This we did without mishap and soon found ourselves togetherupon the verge of a dizzy little balcony, with a magnificentview of the valley spreading out below us.

As far as the eye could reach gorgeous forest and crimsonsward skirted a silent sea, and about all towered the brilliantmonster guardian cliffs. Once we thought we discerned agilded minaret gleaming in the sun amidst the waving topsof far-distant trees, but we soon abandoned the idea in thebelief that it was but an hallucination born of our great desireto discover the haunts of civilized men in this beautiful, yetforbidding, spot.

Below us upon the river's bank the great white apes weredevouring the last remnants of Tars Tarkas' former companions,while great herds of plant men grazed in ever-widening circlesabout the sward which they kept as close clipped as thesmoothest of lawns.

Knowing that attack from the tree was now improbable,we determined to explore the cave, which we had everyreason to believe was but a continuation of the path wehad already traversed, leading the gods alone knew where,but quite evidently away from this valley of grim ferocity.

As we advanced we found a well-proportioned tunnel cut fromthe solid cliff. Its walls rose some twenty feet above thefloor, which was about five feet in width. The roof was arched.We had no means of making a light, and so groped our wayslowly into the ever-increasing darkness, Tars Tarkas keepingin touch with one wall while I felt along the other, while, toprevent our wandering into diverging branches and becomingseparated or lost in some intricate and labyrinthine maze,we clasped hands.

How far we traversed the tunnel in this manner I do notknow, but presently we came to an obstruction which blockedour further progress. It seemed more like a partition than asudden ending of the cave, for it was constructed not ofthe material of the cliff, but of something which felt likevery hard wood.

Silently I groped over its surface with my hands, andpresently was rewarded by the feel of the button which ascommonly denotes a door on Mars as does a door knob on Earth.

Gently pressing it, I had the satisfaction of feeling thedoor slowly give before me, and in another instant we werelooking into a dimly lighted apartment, which, so far as wecould see, was unoccupied.

Without more ado I swung the door wide open and, followedby the huge Thark, stepped into the chamber. As we stoodfor a moment in silence gazing about the room a slight noisebehind caused me to turn quickly, when, to my astonishment,I saw the door close with a sharp click as though by anunseen hand.

Instantly I sprang toward it to wrench it open again,for something in the uncanny movement of the thing and thetense and almost palpable silence of the chamber seemedto portend a lurking evil lying hidden in this rock-boundchamber within the bowels of the Golden Cliffs.

My fingers clawed futilely at the unyielding portal, whilemy eyes sought in vain for a duplicate of the button whichhad given us ingress.

And then, from unseen lips, a cruel and mocking peal oflaughter rang through the desolate place.