CHAPTER XX
THE AIR BATTLE
Two hours after leaving my palace at Helium, or about midnight,
Kantos Kan, Xodar, and I arrived at Hastor. Carthoris, Tars Tarkas,
and Hor Vastus had gone directly to Thark upon another cruiser.
The transports were to get under way immediately and move slowly
south. The fleet of battleships would overtake them on the morning
of the second day.
At Hastor we found all in readiness, and so perfectly had Kantos
Kan planned every detail of the campaign that within ten minutes
of our arrival the first of the fleet had soared aloft from its
dock, and thereafter, at the rate of one a second, the great ships
floated gracefully out into the night to form a long, thin line
which stretched for miles toward the south.
It was not until after we had entered the cabin of Kantos Kan that
I thought to ask the date, for up to now I was not positive how
long I had lain in the pits of Zat Arras. When Kantos Kan told me,
I realized with a pang of dismay that I had misreckoned the time
while I lay in the utter darkness of my cell. Three hundred and
sixty-five days had passed--it was too late to save Dejah Thoris.
The expedition was no longer one of rescue but of revenge. I did
not remind Kantos Kan of the terrible fact that ere we could hope
to enter the Temple of Issus, the Princess of Helium would be no
more.
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