Then her eyes wandered again out across the valley until presently they
picked out what appeared to be a tiny stream winding its way through
the center of the farm lands--a strange sight upon Barsoom. Ah, if it
were but water! Then might she hope with a real hope, for the fields
would give her sustenance which she could gain by night, while by day
she hid among the surrounding hills, and sometime, yes, sometime she
knew, the searchers would come, for John Carter, Warlord of Barsoom,
would never cease to search for his daughter until every square haad of
the planet had been combed again and again. She knew him and she knew
the warriors of Helium and so she knew that could she but manage to
escape harm until they came, they would indeed come at last.
She would have to wait until dark before she dare venture into the
valley, and in the meantime she thought it well to search out a place
of safety nearby where she might be reasonably safe from savage beasts.
It was possible that the district was free from carnivora, but one
might never be sure in a strange land. As she was about to withdraw
behind the brow of the hill her attention was again attracted to the
enclosure below. Two figures had emerged from the tower. Their
beautiful bodies seemed identical with those of the headless creatures
among which they moved, but the newcomers were not headless. Upon their
shoulders were heads that seemed human, yet which the girl intuitively
sensed were not human. They were just a trifle too far away for her to
see them distinctly in the waning light of the dying day, but she knew
that they were too large, they were out of proportion to the perfectly
proportioned bodies, and they were oblate in form. She could see that
the men wore some manner of harness to which were slung the customary
long-sword and short-sword of the Barsoomian warrior, and that about
their short necks were massive leather collars cut to fit closely over
the shoulders and snugly to the lower part of the head. Their features
were scarce discernible, but there was a suggestion of grotesqueness
about them that carried to her a feeling of revulsion.
The two carried a long rope to which were fastened, at intervals of
about two sofads, what she later guessed were light manacles, for she
saw the warriors passing among the poor creatures in the enclosure and
about the right wrist of each they fastened one of the manacles. When
all had been thus fastened to the rope one of the warriors commenced to
pull and tug at the loose end as though attempting to drag the headless
company toward the tower, while the other went among them with a long,
light whip with which he flicked them upon the naked skin. Slowly,
dully, the creatures rose to their feet and between the tugging of the
warrior in front and the lashing of him behind the hopeless band was
finally herded within the tower. Tara of Helium shuddered as she turned
away. What manner of creatures were these?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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