The Collected John Carter of Mars (Volume 3)

Copyright © 2012 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. All rights reserved. Published by Disney Editions, an imprint of Disney Book Group. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher. For information, address Disney Editions, 114 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10011-5690.

Swords of Mars was first published in The Blue Book Magazine as a six-part serial, November 1934 through April 1935. Copyright © 1934, 1935 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. All rights reserved. Synthetic Men of Mars was first published in Argosy Magazine as a six-part serial, January through February 1939. Copyright © 1938, 1939 Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. All rights reserved. Llana of Gathol was first published as four novelettes in Amazing Stories magazine under the following names: “The City of Mummies” in March 1941, “Black Pirates of Barsoom” in June 1941, “Yellow Men of Mars” in August 1941, and “Invisible Men of Mars” in October 1941. Copyright © 1941 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. All rights reserved. John Carter of Mars was first published as two novelettes in Amazing Stories magazine. The first part was published under the name “John Carter and the Giant of Mars” in January 1941. Copyright © 1940 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. All rights reserved. The second part was published under the name “Skeleton Men of Jupiter” in February 1943. Copyright © 1942 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. All rights reserved. These authorized editions are published by Disney Editions in arrangement with Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

ISBN 978-1-4231-7032-7

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Table of Contents

Swords of Mars

Sowrds of Mars -­ Prologue

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter I

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter II

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter III

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter IV

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter V

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter VI

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter VII

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter VIII

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter IX

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter X

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XI

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XII

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XIII

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XIV

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XV

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XVI

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XVII

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XVIII

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XIX

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XX

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XXI

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XXII

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XXIII

Swords of Mars -­ Chapter XXIV

Synthetic Men of Mars

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter I

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter II

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter III

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter IV

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter V

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter VI

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter VII

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter VIII

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter IX

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter X

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XI

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XII

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XIII

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XIV

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XV

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XVI

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XVII

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XVIII

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XIX

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XX

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XXI

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XXII

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XXIII

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XXIV

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XXV

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XXVI

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XXVII

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XXVIII

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XXIX

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XXX

Synthetic Men of Mars -­ Chapter XXXI

Llana of Gathol

Part 1:­ The Ancient Dead -­ Chapter I

Part 1:­ The Ancient Dead -­ Chapter II

Part 1:­ The Ancient Dead -­ Chapter III

Part 1:­ The Ancient Dead -­ Chapter IV

Part 1:­ The Ancient Dead -­ Chapter V

Part 1:­ The Ancient Dead -­ Chapter VI

Part 1:­ The Ancient Dead -­ Chapter VII

Part 1:­ The Ancient Dead -­ Chapter VIII

Part 1:­ The Ancient Dead -­ Chapter IX

Part 1:­ The Ancient Dead -­ Chapter X

Part 1:­ The Ancient Dead -­ Chapter XI

Part 1:­ The Ancient Dead -­ Chapter XII

Part 1:­ The Ancient Dead -­ Chapter XIII

Part 2:­ The Black Pirates of Barsoom -­ Chapter I

Part 2:­ The Black Pirates of Barsoom -­ Chapter II

Part 2:­ The Black Pirates of Barsoom -­ Chapter III

Part 2:­ The Black Pirates of Barsoom -­ Chapter IV

Part 2:­ The Black Pirates of Barsoom -­ Chapter V

Part 2:­ The Black Pirates of Barsoom -­ Chapter VI

Part 2:­ The Black Pirates of Barsoom -­ Chapter VII

Part 2:­ The Black Pirates of Barsoom -­ Chapter VIII

Part 2:­ The Black Pirates of Barsoom -­ Chapter IX

Part 2:­ The Black Pirates of Barsoom -­ Chapter X

Part 2:­ The Black Pirates of Barsoom -­ Chapter XI

Part 2:­ The Black Pirates of Barsoom -­ Chapter XII

Part 2:­ The Black Pirates of Barsoom -­ Chapter XIII

Part 3:­ Escape on Mars -­ Chapter I

Part 3:­ Escape on Mars -­ Chapter II

Part 3:­ Escape on Mars -­ Chapter III

prologue

THE MOON had risen above the rim of the canyon near the headwaters of the Little Colorado. It bathed in soft light the willows that line the bank of the little mountain torrent and the cottonwood trees beneath which stood the tiny cabin where I had been camping for a few weeks in the White Mountains of Arizona.

I stood upon the little porch of the cabin enjoying the soft beauties of this Arizona night; and as I contemplated the peace and serenity of the scene, it did not seem possible that but a few years before the fierce and terrible Geronimo had stood in this same spot before this self-same cabin, or that generations before that this seemingly deserted canyon had been peopled by a race now extinct.

I had been seeking in their ruined cities for the secret of their genesis and the even stranger secret of their extinction. How I wished that those crumbling lava cliffs might speak and tell me of all that they had witnessed since they poured out in a molten stream from the cold and silent cones that dot the mesa land beyond the canyon.

My thoughts returned again to Geronimo and his fierce Apache warriors; and these vagrant musings engendered memories of Captain John Carter of Virginia, whose dead body had lain for ten long years in some forgotten cave in the mountains not far south of this very spot—the cave in which he had sought shelter from pursuing Apaches.

My eyes, following the pathway of my thoughts, searched the heavens until they rested upon the red eye of Mars shining there in the blue-black void; and so it was that Mars was uppermost in my mind as I turned into my cabin and prepared for a good night’s rest beneath the rustling leaves of the cottonwoods, with whose soft and soothing lullaby was mingled the rippling and the gurgling of the waters of the Little Colorado.

I was not sleepy; and so, after I had undressed, I arranged a kerosene lamp near the head of my bunk and settled myself for the enjoyment of a gangster story of assassination and kidnaping.

My cabin consists of two rooms. The smaller back room is my bedroom. The larger room in front of it serves all other purposes, being dining room, kitchen, and living room combined. From my bunk, I cannot see directly into the front room. A flimsy partition separates the bedroom from the living room. It consists of rough-hewn boards that in the process of shrinking have left wide cracks in the wall, and in addition to this the door between the two rooms is seldom closed; so that while I could not see into the adjoining room, I could hear anything that might go on within it.

I do not know that I am more susceptible to suggestion than the average man; but the fact remains that murder, mystery, and gangster stories always seem more vivid when I read them alone in the stilly watches of the night.

I had just reached the point in the story where an assassin was creeping upon the victim of kidnapers when I heard the front door of my cabin open and close and, distinctly, the clank of metal upon metal.

Now, insofar as I knew, there was no one other than myself camped upon the headwaters of the Little Colorado; and certainly no one who had the right to enter my cabin without knocking.

I sat up in my bunk and reached under my pillow for the .45 Colt automatic that I keep there.

The oil lamp faintly illuminated my bedroom, but its main strength was concentrated upon me. The outer room was in darkness, as I could see by leaning from my bunk and peering through the doorway.

“Who’s there?” I demanded, releasing the safety catch on my automatic and sliding my feet out of bed to the floor. Then, without waiting for a reply, I blew out the lamp.

A low laugh came from the adjoining room.