"Two of them are of Helium's noblest family. Tars Tarkas, Jeddak
of Thark, is Tardos Mors' best beloved ally. The other is a friend
and companion of the Prince of Helium--that is enough for me to
know."
"It is not enough for me, however," retorted Zat Arras. "More must
I hear from those who have taken the pilgrimage than their names.
Where have you been, John Carter?"
"I have just come from the Valley Dor and the Land of the First
Born, Zat Arras," I replied.
"Ah!" he exclaimed in evident pleasure, "you do not deny it, then?
You have returned from the bosom of Iss?"
"I have come back from a land of false hope, from a valley
of torture and death; with my companions I have escaped from the
hideous clutches of lying fiends. I have come back to the Barsoom
that I saved from a painless death to again save her, but this time
from death in its most frightful form."
"Cease, blasphemer!" cried Zat Arras. "Hope not to save thy cowardly
carcass by inventing horrid lies to--" But he got no further. One
does not call John Carter "coward" and "liar" thus lightly, and
Zat Arras should have known it. Before a hand could be raised to
stop me, I was at his side and one hand grasped his throat.
"Come I from heaven or hell, Zat Arras, you will find me still the
same John Carter that I have always been; nor did ever man call me
such names and live--without apologizing.
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