The Gods of Mars Revoked Read Online Free

toward us.
    A glance in the
direction toward which she was looking was sufficient to apprise me
of her aims and at the same time to fill me with the dread of dire
apprehension, for, streaming in from all directions across the
meadow, from out of the forest, and from the far distance of the
flat land across the river, I could see converging upon us a
hundred different lines of wildly leaping creatures such as we were
now engaged with, and with them some strange new monsters which ran
with great swiftness, now erect and now upon all fours.
    'It will be a
great death,' I said to my companion. 'Look!'
    As she shot a
quick glance in the direction I indicated she smiled.
    'We may at least
die fighting and as great warriors should, Joan Carter,' she
replied.
    We had just
finished the last of our immediate antagonists as she spoke, and I
turned in surprised wonderment at the sound of my name.
    And there before
my astonished eyes I beheld the greatest of the green women of
Barsoom; their shrewdest statesman, their mightiest general, my
great and good friend, Tara Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark.
    CHAPTER
II
    A FOREST
BATTLE
    Tara Tarkas and I
found no time for an exchange of experiences as we stood there
before the great boulder surrounded by the corpses of our grotesque
assailants, for from all directions down the broad valley was
streaming a perfect torrent of terrifying creatures in response to
the weird call of the strange figure far above us.
    'Come,' cried
Tara Tarkas, 'we must make for the cliffs. There lies our only hope
of even temporary escape; there we may find a cave or a narrow
ledge which two may defend for ever against this motley, unarmed
horde.'
    Together we raced
across the scarlet sward, I timing my speed that I might not
outdistance my slower companion. We had, perhaps, three hundred
yards to cover between our boulder and the cliffs, and then to
search out a suitable shelter for our stand against the terrifying
things that were pursuing us.
    They were rapidly
overhauling us when Tara Tarkas cried to me to hasten ahead and
discover, if possible, the sanctuary we sought. The suggestion was
a good one, for thus many valuable minutes might be saved to us,
and, throwing every ounce of my earthly muscles into the effort, I
cleared the remaining distance between myself and the cliffs in
great leaps and bounds that put me at their base in a
moment.
    The cliffs rose
perpendicular directly from the almost level sward of the valley.
There was no accumulation of fallen debris, forming a more or less
rough ascent to them, as is the case with nearly all other cliffs I
have ever seen. The scattered boulders that had fallen from above
and lay upon or partly buried in the turf, were the only indication
that any disintegration of the massive, towering pile of rocks ever
had taken place.
    My first cursory
inspection of the face of the cliffs filled my heart with
forebodings, since nowhere could I discern, except where the weird
herald stood still shrieking her shrill summons, the faintest
indication of even a bare foothold upon the lofty
escarpment.
    To my right the
bottom of the cliff was lost in the dense foliage of the forest,
which terminated at its very foot, rearing its gorgeous foliage
fully a thousand feet against its stern and forbidding
neighbour.
    To the left the
cliff ran, apparently unbroken, across the head of the broad
valley, to be lost in the outlines of what appeared to be a range
of mighty mountains that skirted and confined the valley in every
direction.
    Perhaps a
thousand feet from me the river broke, as it seemed, directly from
the base of the cliffs, and as there seemed not the remotest chance
for escape in that direction I 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 dull yellow in their own shade. Here
and there they were broken with streaks and patches of dusky red,
green, and occasional areas of white