The long lance
of the warrior dipped toward us, and as thoat and rider hurtled
beneath, the point passed through the body of our antagonist.
With a convulsive shudder the thing stiffened, the jaws relaxed,
dropping me to the ground, and then, careening once in mid air,
the creature plunged headforemost to the road, full upon Woola,
who still clung tenaciously to its gory head.
By the time I had regained my feet the red man had turned and ridden
back to us. Woola, finding his enemy inert and lifeless, released
his hold at my command and wriggled from beneath the body that had
covered him, and together we faced the warrior looking down upon
us.
I started to thank the stranger for his timely assistance, but he
cut me off peremptorily.
"Who are you," he asked, "who dare enter the land of Kaol and hunt
in the royal forest of the jeddak?"
Then, as he noted my white skin through the coating of grime and
blood that covered me, his eyes went wide and in an altered tone
he whispered: "Can it be that you are a Holy Thern?"
I might have deceived the fellow for a time, as I had deceived
others, but I had cast away the yellow wig and the holy diadem in
the presence of Matai Shang, and I knew that it would not be long
ere my new acquaintance discovered that I was no thern at all.
"I am not a thern," I replied, and then, flinging caution to the
winds, I said: "I am John Carter, Prince of Helium, whose name
may not be entirely unknown to you.
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