There we found numbers of huge milk-giving
shrubs--that strange plant which serves in great part as food and
drink for the wild hordes of green men. It was indeed a boon to
us, for we all were nearly famished.
Beneath a cluster of these which afforded perfect concealment from
wandering air scouts, we lay down to sleep--for me the first time
in many hours. This was the beginning of my fifth day upon Barsoom
since I had found myself suddenly translated from my cottage on
the Hudson to Dor, the valley beautiful, the valley hideous. In
all this time I had slept but twice, though once the clock around
within the storehouse of the therns.
It was mid-afternoon when I was awakened by some one seizing my
hand and covering it with kisses. With a start I opened my eyes
to look into the beautiful face of Thuvia.
"My Prince! My Prince!" she cried, in an ecstasy of happiness.
"'Tis you whom I had mourned as dead. My ancestors have been good
to me; I have not lived in vain."
The girl's voice awoke Xodar and Carthoris. The boy gazed upon the
woman in surprise, but she did not seem to realize the presence of
another than I. She would have thrown her arms about my neck and
smothered me with caresses, had I not gently but firmly disengaged
myself.
"Come, come, Thuvia," I said soothingly; "you are overwrought
by the danger and hardships you have passed through.
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