Life on other planets -- Fiction; Mars (Planet) -- Fiction; Science fiction
As I gathered together these simple necessities which, with a single
sleeping fur, would constitute my equipment, my mind was given over to
consideration of various explanations for the disappearance of Sanoma
Tora. I searched my brain for any slightest memory that might suggest
an explanation, or point toward the possible identity of her abductors.
It was while thus engaged that I recalled her reference to the jeddak,
Tul Axtar of Jahar; nor was there within the scope of my recollection
any other incident that might point a clue. I distinctly recalled the
emissary of Tul Axtar who had visited the court of Helium not long
since. I had heard him boast of the riches and power of his jeddak
and the beauty of his women. Perhaps, then, it might be as well to
search in the direction of Jahar as elsewhere, but before departing I
determined once again to visit the palace of Tor Hatan and question the
slave who had been the last to see Sanoma Tora.
As I was about to set out, another thought occurred to me. I knew
that in the Temple of Knowledge might be found either illustrations
or replicas of the metal and harness of every nation of Barsoom,
concerning which aught was known in Helium. I therefore repaired
immediately to the temple and with the assistance of a clerk I
presently found a drawing of the harness and metal of a warrior of
Jahar. By an ingenious photostatic process a copy of this illustration
was made for me in a few seconds, and with this I hastened to the
palace of Tor Hatan.
The odwar was absent, having gone to the palace of the Warlord, but
his majordomo summoned the slave, Kal Tavan, who had witnessed the
abduction of Sanoma Tora and grappled with one of her abductors.
As the man approached I noticed him more particularly than I had
previously. He was well built, with clear cut features and that air
which definitely bespeaks the fighting man.
"You said, I believe, that you were from Kobol?" I asked.
"I was born in Tjanath," he replied. "I had a wife and daughter there.
My wife fell before the hand of an assassin and my daughter disappeared
when she was very young. I never knew what became of her. The familiar
scenes of Tjanath reminded me of happier days and so increased my grief
that I could not remain. I turned panthan then and sought service in
other cities; thus I served in Kobol."
"And there you became familiar with the harness and the metal of many
cities and nations?" I asked.
"Yes," he replied.
"What harness and metal are these?" I demanded, handing him the copy
of the illustration I had brought from the Temple of Knowledge.
He examined it briefly and then his eyes lighted with recognition. "It
is the same," he said. "It is identical."
"Identical with what?" I asked.
"With the harness worn by the warrior with whom I grappled at the time
that Sanoma Tora was stolen," he replied.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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