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Marthis was her friend--she was very fond of her and she felt no anger toward
her. Was she angry with Djor Kantos? No, she finally decided that she was not. It
was merely surprise, then, that she felt--surprise that Djor Kantos could be more
interested in another than in herself. She was about to cross the garden and join
them when she heard her father's voice directly behind her.
"
Tara of Helium!" he called, and she turned to see him approaching with a
strange warrior whose harness and metal bore devices with which she was
unfamiliar. Even among the gorgeous trappings of the men of Helium and the
visitors from distant empires those of the stranger were remarkable for their
barbaric splendor. The leather of his harness was completely hidden beneath
ornaments of platinum thickly set with brilliant diamonds, as were the scabbards
of his swords and the ornate holster that held his long, Martian pistol. Moving
through the sunlit garden at the side of the great Warlord, the scintillant rays of
his countless gems enveloping him as in an aureole of light imparted to his noble
figure a suggestion of godliness.
"Tara of Helium, I bring you Gahan, Jed of Gathol," said John Carter, after the
simple Barsoomian custom of presentation.
"Kaor! Gahan, Jed of Gathol," returned Tara of Helium.
"My sword is at your feet, Tara of Helium," said the young chieftain.
The Warlord left them and the two seated themselves upon an ersite bench
beneath a spreading sorapus tree.
"Far Gathol," mused the girl. "Ever in my mind has it been connected with
mystery and romance and the half-forgotten lore of the ancients. I cannot think of
Gathol as existing today, possibly because I have never before seen a Gatholian."
"And perhaps too because of the great distance that separates Helium and
Gathol, as well as the comparative insignificance of my little free city, which
might easily be lost in one corner of mighty Helium," added Gahan. "But what we
lack in power we make up in pride," he continued, laughing. "We believe ours the
oldest inhabited city upon Barsoom. It is one of the few that has retained its
freedom, and this despite the fact that its ancient diamond mines are the richest
known and, unlike practically all the other fields, are today apparently as
inexhaustible as ever."
"Tell me of Gathol," urged the girl. "The very thought fills me with interest," nor
was it likely that the handsome face of the young jed detracted anything from the
glamour of far Gathol.
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