"Of course; who would dare doubt?"
"I doubt; yes, and further, I deny," I said. "Why, Xodar, you tell
me that she even knows my thoughts. The red men have all had that
power for ages. And another wonderful power. They can shut their
minds so that none may read their thoughts. I learned the first
secret years ago; the other I never had to learn, since upon all
Barsoom is none who can read what passes in the secret chambers of
my brain.
"Your goddess cannot read my thoughts; nor can she read yours when
you are out of sight, unless you will it. Had she been able to
read mine, I am afraid that her pride would have suffered a rather
severe shock when I turned at her command to 'gaze upon the holy
vision of her radiant face.'"
"What do you mean?" he whispered in an affrighted voice, so low
that I could scarcely hear him.
"I mean that I thought her the most repulsive and vilely hideous
creature my eyes ever had rested upon."
For a moment he eyed me in horror-stricken amazement, and then with
a cry of "Blasphemer" he sprang upon me.
I did not wish to strike him again, nor was it necessary, since he
was unarmed and therefore quite harmless to me.
As he came I grasped his left wrist with my left hand, and, swinging
my right arm about his left shoulder, caught him beneath the chin
with my elbow and bore him backward across my thigh.
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