Read Online Warlord of Mars Embattled by Edna Rice Burroughs - Free Book Online

a
larger craft than mine, and not so swift; but even so, it had
covered an immense distance since the flight began.
    The change in
vegetation below showed me that we were rapidly nearing the
equator. I was now near enough to my quarry to have used my bow
gun; but, though I could see that Dejar Thoris was not on deck, I
feared to fire upon the craft which bore him.
    Thurid was
deterred by no such scruples; and though it must have been
difficult for her to believe that it was really I who followed
them, she could not very well doubt the witness of her own eyes;
and so she trained their stern gun upon me with her own hands, and
an instant later an explosive radium projectile whizzed perilously
close above my deck.
    The black's next
shot was more accurate, striking my flier full upon the prow and
exploding with the instant of contact, ripping wide open the bow
buoyancy tanks and disabling the engine.
    So quickly did my
bow drop after the shot that I scarce had time to lash Woolan to
the deck and buckle my own harness to a gunwale ring before the
craft was hanging stern up and making his last long drop to
ground.
    His stern
buoyancy tanks prevented his dropping with great rapidity; but
Thurid was firing rapidly now in an attempt to burst these also,
that I might be dashed to death in the swift fall that would
instantly follow a successful shot.
    Shot after shot
tore past or into us, but by a miracle neither Woolan nor I was
hit, nor were the after tanks punctured. This good fortune could
not last indefinitely, and, assured that Thurid would not again
leave me alive, I awaited the bursting of the next shell that hit;
and then, throwing my hands above my head, I let go my hold and
crumpled, limp and inert, dangling in my harness like a
corpse.
    The ruse worked,
and Thurid fired no more at us. Presently I heard the diminishing
sound of whirring propellers and realized that again I was
safe.
    Slowly the
stricken flier sank to the ground, and when I had freed myself and
Woolan from the entangling wreckage I found that we were upon the
verge of a natural forest--so rare a thing upon the chest of dying
Mars that, outside of the forest in the Valley Dor beside the Lost
Sea of Korus, I never before had seen its like upon the
planet.
    From books and
travelers I had learned something of the little-known land of Kaol,
which lies along the equator almost halfway round the planet to the
east of Helium.
    It comprises a
sunken area of extreme tropical heat, and is inhabited by a nation
of red women varying but little in manners, customs, and appearance
from the balance of the red women of Barsoom.
    I knew that they
were among those of the outer world who still clung tenaciously to
the discredited religion of the Holy Therns, and that Matain Shang
would find a ready welcome and safe refuge among them; while Joan
Carter could look for nothing better than an ignoble death at their
hands.
    The isolation of
the Kaolians is rendered almost complete by the fact that no
waterway connects their land with that of any other nation, nor
have they any need of a waterway since the low, swampy land which
comprises the entire area of their domain self-waters their
abundant tropical crops.
    For great
distances in all directions rugged hills and arid stretches of dead
sea bottom discourage intercourse with them, and since there is
practically no such thing as foreign commerce upon warlike Barsoom,
where each nation is sufficient to itself, really little has been
known relative to the court of the Jeddak of Kaol and the numerous
strange, but interesting, people over whom she rules.
    Occasional
hunting parties have traveled to thim out-of-the-way corner of the
globe, but the hostility of the natives has usually brought
disaster upon them, so that even the sport of hunting the strange
and savage creatures which haunt the jungle fastnesses of Kaol has
of later years proved insufficient lure even to the most intrepid
warriors.
    It was upon the
verge of the land of the