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a fighting jeddak whose people might worship but not love, and for whose
slightest favor warriors would vie with one another to go forth and die. This was
O-Tar, Jeddak of Manator, and as Tara of Helium saw him for the first time she
could not but acknowledge a certain admiration for this savage chieftain who so
virilely personified the ancient virtues of the God of War.
U-Dor and the jeddak interchanged the simple greetings of Barsoom, and then
the former recounted the details of the discovery and capture of the prisoners. O-
Tar scrutinized them both intently during U-Dor's narration of events, his
expression revealing naught of what passed in the brain behind those inscrutable
eyes. When the officer had finished the jeddak fastened his gaze upon Ghek.
"And you," he asked, "what manner of thing are you? From what country? Why
are you in Manator?"
"I am a kaldane," replied Ghek; "the highest type of created creature upon the
face of Barsoom; I am mind, you are matter. I come from Bantoom. I am here
because we were lost and starving."
"And you!" O-Tar turned suddenly on Tara. "You, too, are a kaldane?"
"I am a princess of Helium," replied the girl. "I was a prisoner in Bantoom. This
kaldane and a warrior of my own race rescued me. The warrior left us to search
for food and water. He has doubtless fallen into the hands of your people. I ask
you to free him and give us food and drink and let us go upon our way. I am a
granddaughter of a jeddak, the daughter of a jeddak of jeddaks, The Warlord of
Barsoom. I ask only the treatment that my people would accord you or yours."
"
Helium," repeated O-Tar. "I know naught of Helium, nor does the Jeddak of
Helium rule Manator. I, O-Tar, am Jeddak of Manator. I alone rule. I protect my
own. You have never seen a woman or a warrior of Manator captive in Helium!
Why should I protect the people of another jeddak? It is his duty to protect them.
If he cannot, he is weak, and his people must fall into the hands of the strong. I,
O-Tar, am strong. I will keep you. That--" he pointed at Ghek--"can it fight?"
"It is brave," replied Tara of Helium, "but it has not the skill at arms which my
people possess."
"There is none then to fight for you?" asked O-Tar. "We are a just people," he
continued without waiting for a reply, "and had you one to fight for you he might
win to freedom for himself and you as well."
"
But U-Dor assured me that no stranger ever had departed from Manator," she
answered.
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