第15章

CAPTURED

AS THURIA, swift racer of the night, shot again into the sky the scene changed.As by magic a new aspect fell athwart the face of Nature.It was as though in the instant one had been transported from one planet to another.It was the age-old miracle of the Martian nights that is always new, even to Martians--two moons resplendent in the heavens, where one had been but now;conflicting, fast-changing shadows that altered the very hills themselves; far Cluros, stately, majestic, almost stationary, shedding his steady light upon the world below; Thuria, a great and glorious orb, swinging swift across the vaulted dome of the blue-black night, so low that she seemed to graze the hills, a gorgeous spectacle that held the girl now beneath the spell of its enchantment as it always had and always would.

"Ah, Thuria, mad queen of heaven!" murmured Tara of Helium."The hills pass in stately procession, their bosoms rising and falling; the trees move in restless circles; the little grasses describe their little arcs; and all is movement, restless, mysterious movement without sound, while Thuria passes." The girl sighed and let her gaze fall again to the stern realities beneath.There was no mystery in the huge banths.He who had discovered her squatted there looking hungrily up at her.Most of the others had wandered away in search of other prey, but a few remained hoping yet to bury their fangs in that soft body.

The night wore on.Again Thuria left the heavens to her lord and master, hurrying on to keep her tryst with the Sun in other skies.But a single banth waited impatiently beneath the tree which harbored Tara of Helium.The others had left, but their roars, and growls, and moans thundered or rumbled, or floated back to her from near and far.What prey found they in this little valley? There must be something that they were accustomed to find here that they should be drawn in so great numbers.The girl wondered what it could be.

How long the night! Numb, cold, and exhausted, Tara of Helium clung to the tree in growing desperation, for once she had dozed and almost fallen.Hope was low in her brave little heart.How much more could she endure? She asked herself the question and then, with a brave shake of her head, she squared her shoulders.

"I still live!" she said aloud.

The banth looked up and growled.

Came Thuria again and after awhile the great Sun--a flaming lover, pursuing his heart's desire.And Cluros, the cold husband, continued his serene way, as placid as before his house had been violated by this hot Lothario.And now the Sun and both Moons rode together in the sky, lending their far mysteries to make weird the Martian dawn.Tara of Helium looked out across the fair valley that spread upon all sides of her.It was rich and beautiful, but even as she looked upon it she shuddered, for to her mind came a picture of the headless things that the towers and the walls hid.Those by day and the banths by night! Ah, was it any wonder that she shuddered?

With the coming of the Sun the great Barsoomian lion rose to his feet.He turned angry eyes upon the girl above him, voiced a single ominous growl, and slunk away toward the hills.The girl watched him, and she saw that he gave the towers as wide a berth as possible and that he never took his eyes from one of them while he was passing it.Evidently the inmates had taught these savage creatures to respect them.Presently he passed from sight in a narrow defile, nor in any direction that she could see was there another.Momentarily at least the landscape was deserted.

The girl wondered if she dared to attempt to regain the hills and her flier.She dreaded the coming of the workmen to the fields as she was sure they would come.She shrank from again seeing the headless bodies, and found herself wondering if these things would come out into the fields and work.She looked toward the nearest tower.There was no sign of life there.The valley lay quiet now and deserted.She lowered herself stiffly to the ground.Her muscles were cramped and every move brought a twinge of pain.Pausing a moment to drink again at the stream she felt refreshed and then turned without more delay toward the hills.To cover the distance as quickly as possible seemed the only plan to pursue.The trees no longer offered concealment and so she did not go out of her way to be near them.The hills seemed very far away.She had not thought, the night before, that she had traveled so far.Really it had not been far, but now, with the three towers to pass in broad daylight, the distance seemed great indeed.

The second tower lay almost directly in her path.To make a detour would not lessen the chance of detection, it would only lengthen the period of her danger, and so she laid her course straight for the hill where her flier was, regardless of the tower.As she passed the first enclosure she thought that she heard the sound of movement within, but the gate did not open and she breathed more easily when it lay behind her.She came then to the second enclosure, the outer wall of which she must circle, as it lay across her route.As she passed close along it she distinctly heard not only movement within, but voices.In the world-language of Barsoom she heard a man issuing instructions--so many were to pick usa, so many were to irrigate this field, so many to cultivate that, and so on, as a foreman lay out the day's work for his crew.

Tara of Helium had just reached the gate in the outer wall.