Leaping from roof to roof, I soon reached an open window in the building where I hoped to find the Heliumite, and in another moment I stood in the room before him. He was alone and showed no surprise at my coming, saying he had expected me much earlier, as my tour of duty must have ended some time since.
I saw that he knew nothing of the events of the day at the palace, and when I had enlightened him he was all excitement. The news that Dejah Thoris had promised her hand to Sab Than filled him with dismay.
"It cannot be," he exclaimed. "It is impossible! Why no man in all Helium but would prefer death to the selling of our loved princess to the ruling house of Zodanga. She must have lost her mind to have assented6 to such an atrocious bargain. You, who do not know how we of Helium love the members of our ruling house, cannot appreciate the horror with which I contemplate7 such an unholy alliance."
"What can be done, John Carter?" he continued. "You are a resourceful man. Can you not think of some way to save Helium from this disgrace?"
"If I can come within sword's reach of Sab Than," I answered, "I can solve the difficulty in so far as Helium is concerned, but for personal reasons I would prefer that another struck the blow that frees Dejah Thoris."
"You love her!" he said. "Does she know it?"
The splendid fellow sprang to his feet, and grasping me by the shoulder raised his sword on high, exclaiming:
"And had the choice been left to me I could not have chosen a more fitting mate for the first princess of Barsoom. Here is my hand upon your shoulder, John Carter, and my word that Sab Than shall go out at the point of my sword for the sake of my love for Helium, for Dejah Thoris, and for you. This very night I shall try to reach his quarters in the palace."
"How?" I asked. "You are strongly guarded and a quadruple force patrols the sky."
"I only need to pass these guards and I can do it," he said at last. "I know a secret entrance to the palace through the pinnacle11 of the highest tower. I fell upon it by chance one day as I was passing above the palace on patrol duty. In this work it is required that we investigate any unusual occurrence we may witness, and a face peering from the pinnacle of the high tower of the palace was, to me, most unusual. I therefore drew near and discovered that the possessor of the peering face was none other than Sab Than. He was slightly put out at being detected and commanded me to keep the matter to myself, explaining that the passage from the tower led directly to his apartments, and was known only to him. If I can reach the roof of the barracks and get my machine I can be in Sab Than's quarters in five minutes; but how am I to escape from this building, guarded as you say it is?"
"How well are the machine sheds at the barracks guarded?" I asked.
"There is usually but one man on duty there at night upon the roof."
"Go to the roof of this building, Kantos Kan, and wait me there."
Without stopping to explain my plans I retraced12 my way to the street and hastened to the barracks. I did not dare to enter the building, filled as it was with members of the air-scout13 squadron, who, in common with all Zodanga, were on the lookout14 for me.
The building was an enormous one, rearing its lofty head fully15 a thousand feet into the air. But few buildings in Zodanga were higher than these barracks, though several topped it by a few hundred feet; the docks of the great battleships of the line standing16 some fifteen hundred feet from the ground, while the freight and passenger stations of the merchant squadrons rose nearly as high.
It was a long climb up the face of the building, and one fraught17 with much danger, but there was no other way, and so I essayed the task. The fact that Barsoomian architecture is extremely ornate made the feat18 much simpler than I had anticipated, since I found ornamental20 ledges21 and projections22 which fairly formed a perfect ladder for me all the way to the eaves of the building. Here I met my first real obstacle. The eaves projected nearly twenty feet from the wall to which I clung, and though I encircled the great building I could find no opening through them.
The top floor was alight, and filled with soldiers engaged in the pastimes of their kind; I could not, therefore, reach the roof through the building.
There was one slight, desperate chance, and that I decided23 I must take—it was for Dejah Thoris, and no man has lived who would not risk a thousand deaths for such as she.
Clinging to the wall with my feet and one hand, I unloosened one of the long leather straps25 of my trappings at the end of which dangled26 a great hook by which air sailors are hung to the sides and bottoms of their craft for various purposes of repair, and by means of which landing parties are lowered to the ground from the battleships.
I swung this hook cautiously to the roof several times before it finally found lodgment; gently I pulled on it to strengthen its hold, but whether it would bear the weight of my body I did not know. It might be barely caught upon the very outer verge27 of the roof, so that as my body swung out at the end of the strap24 it would slip off and launch me to the pavement a thousand feet below.
An instant I hesitated, and then, releasing my grasp upon the supporting ornament19, I swung out into space at the end of the strap. Far below me lay the brilliantly lighted streets, the hard pavements, and death. There was a little jerk at the top of the supporting eaves, and a nasty slipping, grating sound which turned me cold with apprehension28; then the hook caught and I was safe.
Clambering quickly aloft I grasped the edge of the eaves and drew myself to the surface of the roof above. As I gained my feet I was confronted by the sentry29 on duty, into the muzzle30 of whose revolver I found myself looking.
"Who are you and whence came you?" he cried.
"I am an air scout, friend, and very near a dead one, for just by the merest chance I escaped falling to the avenue below," I replied.
"But how came you upon the roof, man? No one has landed or come up from the building for the past hour. Quick, explain yourself, or I call the guard."
"Look you here, sentry, and you shall see how I came and how close a shave I had to not coming at all," I answered, turning toward the edge of the roof, where, twenty feet below, at the end of my strap, hung all my weapons.
The fellow, acting31 on impulse of curiosity, stepped to my side and to his undoing32, for as he leaned to peer over the eaves I grasped him by his throat and his pistol arm and threw him heavily to the roof. The weapon dropped from his grasp, and my fingers choked off his attempted cry for assistance. I gagged and bound him and then hung him over the edge of the roof as I myself had hung a few moments before. I knew it would be morning before he would be discovered, and I needed all the time that I could gain.
Donning my trappings and weapons I hastened to the sheds, and soon had out both my machine and Kantos Kan's. Making his fast behind mine I started my engine, and skimming over the edge of the roof I dove down into the streets of the city far below the plane usually occupied by the air patrol. In less than a minute I was settling safely upon the roof of our apartment beside the astonished Kantos Kan.
I lost no time in explanation, but plunged33 immediately into a discussion of our plans for the immediate35 future. It was decided that I was to try to make Helium while Kantos Kan was to enter the palace and dispatch Sab Than. If successful he was then to follow me. He set my compass for me, a clever little device which will remain steadfastly36 fixed37 upon any given point on the surface of Barsoom, and bidding each other farewell we rose together and sped in the direction of the palace which lay in the route which I must take to reach Helium.
As we neared the high tower a patrol shot down from above, throwing its piercing searchlight full upon my craft, and a voice roared out a command to halt, following with a shot as I paid no attention to his hail. Kantos Kan dropped quickly into the darkness, while I rose steadily38 and at terrific speed raced through the Martian sky followed by a dozen of the air-scout craft which had joined the pursuit, and later by a swift cruiser carrying a hundred men and a battery of rapid-fire guns. By twisting and turning my little machine, now rising and now falling, I managed to elude39 their search-lights most of the time, but I was also losing ground by these tactics, and so I decided to hazard everything on a straight-away course and leave the result to fate and the speed of my machine.
Kantos Kan had shown me a trick of gearing, which is known only to the navy of Helium, that greatly increased the speed of our machines, so that I felt sure I could distance my pursuers if I could dodge40 their projectiles41 for a few moments.
As I sped through the air the screeching43 of the bullets around me convinced me that only by a miracle could I escape, but the die was cast, and throwing on full speed I raced a straight course toward Helium. Gradually I left my pursuers further and further behind, and I was just congratulating myself on my lucky escape, when a well-directed shot from the cruiser exploded at the prow44 of my little craft. The concussion45 nearly capsized her, and with a sickening plunge34 she hurtled downward through the dark night.
How far I fell before I regained46 control of the plane I do not know, but I must have been very close to the ground when I started to rise again, as I plainly heard the squealing47 of animals below me. Rising again I scanned the heavens for my pursuers, and finally making out their lights far behind me, saw that they were landing, evidently in search of me.
Not until their lights were no longer discernible did I venture to flash my little lamp upon my compass, and then I found to my consternation48 that a fragment of the projectile42 had utterly49 destroyed my only guide, as well as my speedometer. It was true I could follow the stars in the general direction of Helium, but without knowing the exact location of the city or the speed at which I was traveling my chances for finding it were slim.
Helium lies a thousand miles southwest of Zodanga, and with my compass intact I should have made the trip, barring accidents, in between four and five hours. As it turned out, however, morning found me speeding over a vast expanse of dead sea bottom after nearly six hours of continuous flight at high speed. Presently a great city showed below me, but it was not Helium, as that alone of all Barsoomian metropolises50 consists in two immense circular walled cities about seventy-five miles apart and would have been easily distinguishable from the altitude at which I was flying.
Believing that I had come too far to the north and west, I turned back in a southeasterly direction, passing during the forenoon several other large cities, but none resembling the description which Kantos Kan had given me of Helium. In addition to the twin-city formation of Helium, another distinguishing feature is the two immense towers, one of vivid scarlet51 rising nearly a mile into the air from the center of one of the cities, while the other, of bright yellow and of the same height, marks her sister.
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1
concealment
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| n.隐藏, 掩盖，隐瞒 | |
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civilian
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| adj.平民的，民用的，民众的 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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maneuvering
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| v.移动，用策略( maneuver的现在分词 )；操纵 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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assented
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| 同意，赞成( assent的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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contemplate
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| vt.盘算，计议；周密考虑；注视，凝视 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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repulses
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| v.击退( repulse的第三人称单数 )；驳斥；拒绝 | |
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bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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pinnacle
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| n.尖塔，尖顶，山峰；(喻)顶峰 | |
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retraced
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| v.折回( retrace的过去式和过去分词 )；回忆；回顾；追溯 | |
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13
scout
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| n.童子军，侦察员；v.侦察，搜索 | |
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lookout
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| n.注意，前途，瞭望台 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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fraught
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| adj.充满…的，伴有(危险等)的；忧虑的 | |
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feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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ornament
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| v.装饰，美化；n.装饰，装饰物 | |
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ornamental
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| adj.装饰的；作装饰用的；n.装饰品；观赏植物 | |
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ledges
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| n.（墙壁，悬崖等）突出的狭长部分( ledge的名词复数 )；（平窄的）壁架；横档；（尤指）窗台 | |
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projections
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| 预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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strap
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| n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎 | |
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straps
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| n.带子( strap的名词复数 )；挎带；肩带；背带v.用皮带捆扎( strap的第三人称单数 )；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带 | |
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dangled
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| 悬吊着( dangle的过去式和过去分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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sentry
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| n.哨兵，警卫 | |
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muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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acting
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| n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的 | |
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undoing
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| n.毁灭的原因，祸根；破坏，毁灭 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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plunge
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| v.跳入，(使)投入，(使)陷入；猛冲 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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steadfastly
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| adv.踏实地，不变地；岿然；坚定不渝 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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elude
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| v.躲避，困惑 | |
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dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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41
projectiles
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| n.抛射体( projectile的名词复数 )；（炮弹、子弹等）射弹，（火箭等）自动推进的武器 | |
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42
projectile
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| n.投射物，发射体；adj.向前开进的；推进的；抛掷的 | |
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43
screeching
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的现在分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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44
prow
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| n.(飞机)机头，船头 | |
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concussion
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| n.脑震荡；震动 | |
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46
regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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47
squealing
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| v.长声尖叫，用长而尖锐的声音说( squeal的现在分词 ) | |
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consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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metropolises
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| n.一国的主要城市（不一定是首都）( metropolis的名词复数 )；中心；大都会；大城市 | |
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51
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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