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from Gathol have arisen and destroyed the palace guards. Great ships are
landing warriors upon the palace roof and in the Fields of Jetan. The men of
Helium and Gathol are marching through Manator. They cry aloud for the
Princess of Helium and swear to leave Manator a blazing funeral pyre consuming
the bodies of all our people. The skies are black with ships. They come in great
processions from the east and from the south."
And then once more the doors from The Hall of Chiefs swung wide and the men of
Manator turned to see another figure standing upon the threshold--a mighty
figure of a man with white skin, and black hair, and gray eyes that glittered now
like points of steel and behind him The Hall of Chiefs was filled with fighting men
wearing the harness of far countries. Tara of Helium saw him and her heart
leaped in exultation, for it was John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom, come at the
head of a victorious host to the rescue of his daughter, and at his side was Djor
Kantos to whom she had been betrothed.
The Warlord eyed the assemblage for a moment before he spoke. "Lay down your
arms, men of Manator," he said. "I see my daughter and that she lives, and if no
harm has befallen her no blood need be shed. Your city is filled with the fighting
men of U-Thor, and those from Gathol and from Helium. The palace is in the
hands of the slaves from Gathol, beside a thousand of my own warriors who fill
the halls and chambers surrounding this room. The fate of your jeddak lies in
your own hands. I have no wish to interfere. I come only for my daughter and to
free the slaves from Gathol. I have spoken!" and without waiting for a reply and
as though the room had been filled with his own people rather than a hostile
band he strode up the broad main aisle toward Tara of Helium.
The chiefs of Manator were stunned. They looked to O-Tar; but he could only gaze
helplessly about him as the enemy entered from The Hall of Chiefs and circled the
throne room until they had surrounded the entire company. And then a dwar of
the army of Helium entered.
"
We have captured three chiefs," he reported to The Warlord, "who beg that they
be permitted to enter the throne room and report to their fellows some matter
which they say will decide the fate of Manator."
"Fetch them," ordered The Warlord.
They came, heavily guarded, to the foot of the steps leading to the throne and
there they stopped and the leader turned toward the others of Manator and
raising high his right hand displayed a jeweled dagger. "We found it," he said,
"
even where I-Gos said that we would find it," and he looked menacingly upon O-
Tar.
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