The warlord of Mars
attempt to keep in sight of the animal whose swift flight over the
rough ground soon put him beyond our vision.
For the better part of two hours the trail paralleled the barrier, and
then suddenly turned toward it through the roughest and seemingly most
impassable country I ever had beheld.
Enormous granite boulders blocked the way on every hand; deep rifts in
the ice threatened to engulf us at the least misstep; and from the
north a slight breeze wafted to our nostrils an unspeakable stench that
almost choked us.
For another two hours we were occupied in traversing a few hundred
yards to the foot of the barrier.
Then, turning about the corner of a wall-like outcropping of granite,
we came upon a smooth area of two or three acres before the base of the
towering pile of ice and rock that had baffled us for days, and before
us beheld the dark and cavernous mouth of a cave.
From this repelling portal the horrid stench was emanating, and as
Thuvan Dihn espied the place he halted with an exclamation of profound
astonishment.
“By all my ancestors!” he ejaculated. “That I should have lived to
witness the reality of the fabled Carrion Caves! If these indeed be
they, we have found a way beyond the ice-barrier.
“The ancient chronicles of the first historians of Barsoom—so ancient
that we have for ages considered them mythology—record the passing of
the yellow men from the ravages of the green hordes that overran
Barsoom as the drying up of the great oceans drove the dominant races
from their strongholds.
“They tell of the wanderings of the remnants of this once powerful
race, harassed at every step, until at last they found a way through
the ice-barrier of the north to a fertile valley at the pole.
“At the opening to the subterranean passage that led to their haven of
refuge a mighty battle was fought in which the yellow men were
victorious, and within the caves that gave ingress to their new home
they piled the bodies of the dead, both yellow and green, that the
stench might warn away their enemies from further pursuit.
“And ever since that long-gone day have the dead of this fabled land
been carried to the Carrion Caves, that in death and decay they might
serve their country and warn away invading enemies. Here, too, is
brought, so the fable runs, all the waste stuff of the
nation—everything that is subject to rot, and that can add to the foul
stench that assails our nostrils.
“And death lurks at every step among rotting dead, for here the fierce
apts lair, adding to the putrid accumulation with the fragments of
their own prey which they cannot devour. It is a horrid avenue to our
goal, but it is the only one.”
“You are sure, then, that we have found the way to the land of the
yellow men?” I cried.
“As sure as may be,” he replied; “having only ancient legend to support
my belief. But see how closely, so far, each detail tallies with the
world-old story of the hegira of the yellow race. Yes, I am sure that
we have discovered the way to their ancient hiding place.”
“If it be true, and let us pray that such may be the case,” I said,
“then here may we solve the mystery of the disappearance of Tardos
Mors, Jeddak of Helium, and Mors Kajak, his son, for no other spot upon
Barsoom has remained unexplored by the many expeditions and the
countless spies that have been searching for them for nearly two years.
The last word that came from them was that they sought Carthoris, my
own brave son, beyond the ice-barrier.”
As we talked we had been approaching the entrance to the cave, and as
we crossed the threshold I ceased to wonder that the ancient green
enemies of the yellow men had been halted by the horrors of that awful
way.
The bones of dead men lay man high upon the broad floor of the first
cave, and over all was a putrid mush of decaying flesh, through which
the apts had beaten a hideous trail toward the entrance to the second
cave beyond.
The roof of this first apartment was low, like all that we traversed
subsequently, so that the foul odors were confined and condensed to
such an extent that they seemed to possess tangible substance. One was
almost tempted to draw his short-sword and hew his way through in
search of pure air beyond.
“Can man breathe this polluted air and live?” asked Thuvan Dihn,
choking.
“Not for long, I imagine,” I replied; “so let us make haste. I will go
first, and you bring up the rear, with Woola between. Come,” and with
the words I dashed forward, across the fetid mass of putrefaction.
It was not until we had passed through seven caves of different sizes
and varying but little in the power and quality of their stenches that
we met with any physical opposition. Then, within the eighth cave, we
came upon a lair of apts.
A full score of the mighty beasts were disposed about the chamber. Some
were sleeping, while others tore at the fresh-killed carcasses of
new-brought prey, or fought among themselves in their love-making.
Here in the dim light of their subterranean home the value of their
great eyes was apparent, for these inner caves are shrouded in
perpetual gloom that is but little less than utter darkness.
To attempt to pass through the midst of that fierce herd seemed, even
to me, the height of folly, and so I proposed to Thuvan Dihn that he
return to the outer world with Woola, that the two might find their way
to civilization and come again with a sufficient force to overcome not
only the apts, but any further obstacles that might lie between us and
our goal.
“In the meantime,” I continued, “I may discover some means of winning
my way alone to the land of the yellow men, but if I am unsuccessful
one life only will have been sacrificed. Should we all go on and
perish, there will be none to guide a succoring party to Dejah Thoris
and your daughter.”
“I shall not return and leave you here alone, John Carter,” replied
Thuvan Dihn. “Whether you go on to victory or death, the Jeddak of
Ptarth remains at your side. I have spoken.”
I knew from his tone that it were useless to attempt to argue the
question, and so I compromised by sending Woola back with a hastily
penned note enclosed in a small metal case and fastened about his neck.
I commanded the faithful creature to seek Carthoris at Helium, and
though half a world and countless dangers lay between I knew that if
the thing could be done Woola would do it.
Equipped as he was by nature with marvelous speed and endurance, and
with frightful ferocity that made him a match for any single enemy of
the way, his keen intelligence and wondrous instinct should easily
furnish all else that was needed for the successful accomplishment of
his mission.
It was with evident reluctance that the great beast turned to leave me
in compliance with my command, and ere he had gone I could not resist
the inclination to throw my arms about his great neck in a parting hug.
He rubbed his cheek against mine in a final caress, and a moment later
was speeding through the Carrion Caves toward the outer world.
In my note to Carthoris I had given explicit directions for locating
the Carrion Caves, impressing upon him the necessity for making
entrance to the country beyond through this avenue, and not to attempt
under any circumstances to cross the ice-barrier with a fleet. I told
him that what lay beyond the eighth cave I could not even guess; but I
was sure that somewhere upon the other side of the ice-barrier his
mother lay in the power of Matai Shang, and that possibly his
grandfather and great-grandfather as well, if they lived.
Further, I advised him to call upon Kulan Tith and the son of Thuvan
Dihn for warriors and ships that the expedition might be sufficiently
strong to insure success at the first blow.
“And,” I concluded, “if there be time bring Tars Tarkas with you, for
if I live until you reach me I can think of few greater pleasures than
to fight once more, shoulder to shoulder, with my old friend.”
When Woola had left us Thuvan Dihn and I, hiding in the seventh cave,
discussed and discarded many plans for crossing the eighth chamber.
From where we stood we saw that the fighting among the apts was growing
less, and that many that had been feeding had ceased and lain down to
sleep.
Presently it became apparent that in a short time all the ferocious
monsters might be peacefully slumbering, and thus a hazardous
opportunity be presented to us to cross through their lair.
One by one the remaining brutes stretched themselves upon the bubbling
decomposition that covered the mass of bones upon the floor of their
den, until but a single apt remained awake. This huge fellow roamed
restlessly about, nosing among his companions and the abhorrent litter
of the cave.
Occasionally he would stop to peer intently toward first one of the
exits from the chamber and then the other. His whole demeanor was as of
one who acts as sentry.
We were at last forced to the belief that he would not sleep while the
other occupants of the lair slept, and so cast about in our minds for
some scheme whereby we might trick him. Finally I suggested a plan to
Thuvan Dihn, and as it seemed as good as any that we had discussed we
decided to put it to the test.
To this end Thuvan Dihn placed himself close against the cave’s wall,
beside the entrance to the eighth chamber, while I deliberately showed
myself to the guardian apt as he looked toward our retreat. Then I
sprang to the opposite side of the entrance, flattening my body close
to the wall.
Without a sound the great beast moved rapidly toward the seventh cave
to see what manner of intruder had thus rashly penetrated so far within
the precincts of his habitation.
As he poked his head through the narrow aperture that connects the two
caves a heavy long-sword was awaiting him upon either hand, and before
he had an opportunity to emit even a single growl his severed head
rolled at our feet.
Quickly we glanced into the eighth chamber—not an apt had moved.
Crawling over the carcass of the huge beast that blocked the doorway
Thuvan Dihn and I cautiously entered the forbidding and dangerous den.
Like snails we wound our silent and careful way among the huge,
recumbent forms. The only sound above our breathing was the sucking
noise of our feet as we lifted them from the ooze of decaying flesh
through which we crept.
Halfway across the chamber and one of the mighty beasts directly before
me moved restlessly at the very instant that my foot was poised above
his head, over which I must step.
Breathlessly I waited, balancing upon one foot, for I did not dare move
a muscle. In my right hand was my keen short-sword, the point hovering
an inch above the thick fur beneath which beat the savage heart.
Finally the apt relaxed, sighing, as with the passing of a bad dream,
and resumed the regular respiration of deep slumber. I planted my
raised foot beyond the fierce head and an instant later had stepped
over the beast.
Thuvan Dihn followed directly after me, and another moment found us at
the further door, undetected.
The Carrion Caves consist of a series of twenty-seven connecting
chambers, and present the appearance of having been eroded by running
water in some far-gone age when a mighty river found its way to the
south through this single breach in the barrier of rock and ice that
hems the country of the pole.
Thuvan Dihn and I traversed the remaining nineteen caverns without
adventure or mishap.
We were afterward to learn that but once a month is it possible to find
all the apts of the Carrion Caves in a single chamber.
At other times they roam singly or in pairs in and out of the caves, so
that it would have been practically impossible for two men to have
passed through the entire twenty-seven chambers without encountering an