JOHN CARTER COMES TO EARTH
Shea had just beaten me at chess, as usual, and, also as usual, I had gleaned1 what questionable2 satisfaction I might by twitting him with this indication of failing mentality3 by calling his attention for the nth time to that theory, propounded4 by certain scientists, which is based upon the assertion that phenomenal chess players are always found to be from the ranks of children under twelve, adults over seventy-two or the mentally defective—a theory that is lightly ignored upon those rare occasions that I win. Shea had gone to bed and I should have followed suit, for we are always in the saddle here before sunrise; but instead I sat there before the chess table in the library, idly blowing smoke at the dishonored head of my defeated king.
While thus profitably employed I heard the east door of the living-room open and someone enter. I thought it was Shea returning to speak with me on some matter of tomorrow's work; but when I raised my eyes to the doorway5 that connects the two rooms I saw framed there the figure of a bronzed giant, his otherwise naked body trapped with a jewel-encrusted harness from which there hung at one side an ornate short-sword and at the other a pistol of strange pattern. The black hair, the steel-gray eyes, brave and smiling, the noble features—I recognized them at once, and leaping to my feet I advanced with outstretched hand.
"John Carter!" I cried. "You?"
"None other, my son," he replied, taking my hand in one of his and placing the other upon my shoulder.
"And what are you doing here?" I asked. "It has been long years since you revisited Earth, and never before in the trappings of Mars. Lord! but it is good to see you—and not a day older in appearance than when you trotted6 me on your knee in my babyhood. How do you explain it, John Carter, Warlord of Mars, or do you try to explain it?"
"Why attempt to explain the inexplicable7?" he replied. "As I have told you before, I am a very old man. I do not know how old I am. I recall no childhood; but recollect8 only having been always as you see me now and as you saw me first when you were five years old. You, yourself, have aged9, though not as much as most men in a corresponding number of years, which may be accounted for by the fact that the same blood runs in our veins10; but I have not aged at all. I have discussed the question with a noted11 Martian scientist, a friend of mine; but his theories are still only theories. However, I am content with the fact—I never age, and I love life and the vigor12 of youth.
"And now as to your natural question as to what brings me to Earth again and in this, to earthly eyes, strange habiliment. We may thank Kar Komak, the bowman of Lothar. It was he who gave me the idea upon which I have been experimenting until at last I have achieved success. As you know I have long possessed13 the power to cross the void in spirit, but never before have I been able to impart to inanimate things a similar power. Now, however, you see me for the first time precisely15 as my Martian fellows see me—you see the very short-sword that has tasted the blood of many a savage16 foeman; the harness with the devices of Helium and the insignia of my rank; the pistol that was presented to me by Tars17 Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark.
"Aside from seeing you, which is my principal reason for being here, and satisfying myself that I can transport inanimate things from Mars to Earth, and therefore animate14 things if I so desire, I have no purpose. Earth is not for me. My every interest is upon Barsoom—my wife, my children, my work; all are there. I will spend a quiet evening with you and then back to the world I love even better than I love life."
"You spoke of children," I said. "Have you more than Carthoris?"
"A daughter," he replied, "only a little younger than Carthoris, and, barring one, the fairest thing that ever breathed the thin air of dying Mars. Only Dejah Thoris, her mother, could be more beautiful than Tara of Helium."
For a moment he fingered the chessmen idly. "We have a game on Mars similar to chess," he said, "very similar. And there is a race there that plays it grimly with men and naked swords. We call the game jetan. It is played on a board like yours, except that there are a hundred squares and we use twenty pieces on each side. I never see it played without thinking of Tara of Helium and what befell her among the chessmen of Barsoom. Would you like to hear her story?"
I said that I would and so he told it to me, and now I shall try to re-tell it for you as nearly in the words of The Warlord of Mars as I can recall them, but in the third person. If there be inconsistencies and errors, let the blame fall not upon John Carter, but rather upon my faulty memory, where it belongs. It is a strange tale and utterly19 Barsoomian.
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1
gleaned
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| v.一点点地收集（资料、事实）( glean的过去式和过去分词 )；（收割后）拾穗 | |
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2
questionable
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| adj.可疑的，有问题的 | |
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3
mentality
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| n.心理，思想，脑力 | |
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4
propounded
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| v.提出（问题、计划等）供考虑[讨论]，提议( propound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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6
trotted
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| 小跑，急走( trot的过去分词 )； 匆匆忙忙地走 | |
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7
inexplicable
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| adj.无法解释的，难理解的 | |
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8
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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9
aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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10
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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11
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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12
vigor
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| n.活力，精力，元气 | |
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13
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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14
animate
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| v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的 | |
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15
precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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16
savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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17
tars
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| 焦油，沥青，柏油( tar的名词复数 ) | |
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18
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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19
utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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