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and the velocity of the storm to have carried him somewhere in the vicinity of the
country he thought he recognized, he assumed that Gathol lay behind the hills he
now saw, whereas, in reality, it lay far to the northeast.
It was two days before Gahan had crossed the plain and reached the summit of
the hills from which he hoped to see his own country, only to meet at last with
disappointment. Before him stretched another plain, of even greater proportions
than that he had but just crossed, and beyond this other hills. In one material
respect this plain differed from that behind him in that it was dotted with
occasional isolated hills. Convinced, however, that Gathol lay somewhere in the
direction of his search he descended into the valley and bent his steps toward the
northwest.
For weeks Gahan of Gathol crossed valleys and hills in search of some familiar
landmark that might point his way toward his native land, but the summit of
each succeeding ridge revealed but another unfamiliar view. He saw few animals
and no men, until he finally came to the belief that he had fallen upon that fabled
area of ancient Barsoom which lay under the curse of her olden gods--the once
rich and fertile country whose people in their pride and arrogance had denied the
deities, and whose punishment had been extermination.
And then, one day, he scaled low hills and looked into an inhabited valley--a
valley of trees and cultivated fields and plots of ground enclosed by stone walls
surrounding strange towers. He saw people working in the fields, but he did not
rush down to greet them. First he must know more of them and whether they
might be assumed to be friends or enemies. Hidden by concealing shrubbery he
crawled to a vantage point upon a hill that projected further into the valley, and
here he lay upon his belly watching the workers closest to him. They were still
quite a distance from him and he could not be quite sure of them, but there was
something verging upon the unnatural about them. Their heads seemed out of
proportion to their bodies--too large.
For a long time he lay watching them and ever more forcibly it was borne in upon
his consciousness that they were not as he, and that it would be rash to trust
himself among them. Presently he saw a couple appear from the nearest
enclosure and slowly approach those who were working nearest to the hill where
he lay in hiding. Immediately he was aware that one of these differed from all the
others. Even at the greater distance he noted that the head was smaller and as
they approached, he was confident that the harness of one of them was not as the
harness of its companion or of that of any of those who tilled the fields.
The two stopped often, apparently in argument, as though one would proceed in
the direction that they were going while the other demurred. But each time the
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