The degraded Dator stood erect and motionless as a

carven image. He was prepared to take whatever his former comrades

had to offer in the way of insults and reproaches, and take them

in manly silence and stoicism.

But as Thurid's foot swung so did mine, and I caught him a painful

blow upon the shin bone that saved Xodar from this added ignominy.

For a moment there was tense silence, then Thurid, with a roar

of rage sprang for my throat; just as Xodar had upon the deck of

the cruiser. The results were identical. I ducked beneath his

outstretched arms, and as he lunged past me planted a terrific

right on the side of his jaw.

The big fellow spun around like a top, his knees gave beneath him

and he crumpled to the ground at my feet.

The blacks gazed in astonishment, first at the still form of the

proud Dator lying there in the ruby dust of the pathway, then at

me as though they could not believe that such a thing could be.

"You asked me to bind Thurid," I cried; "behold!" And then I

stooped beside the prostrate form, tore the harness from it, and

bound the fellow's arms and legs securely.

"As you have done to Xodar, now do you likewise to Thurid. Take

him before Issus, bound in his own harness, that she may see with

her own eyes that there be one among you now who is greater than

the First Born."

"Who are you?" whispered the woman who had first suggested that I

attempt to bind Thurid.

"I am a citizen of two worlds; Captain John Carter of Virginia,

Prince of the House of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium. Take this

man to your goddess, as I have said, and tell her, too, that as I

have done to Xodar and Thurid, so also can I do to the mightiest of

her Dators. With naked hands, with long-sword or with short-sword,

I challenge the flower of her fighting-men to combat."

"Come," said the officer who was guarding me back to Shador; "my

orders are imperative; there is to be no delay. Xodar, come you

also."

There was little of disrespect in the tone that the man used in

addressing either Xodar or myself. It was evident that he felt

less contempt for the former Dator since he had witnessed the ease

with which I disposed of the powerful Thurid.

That his respect for me was greater than it should have been for a

slave was quite apparent from the fact that during the balance of

the return journey he walked or stood always behind me, a drawn

short-sword in his hand.

The return to the Sea of Omean was uneventful. We dropped down

the awful shaft in the same car that had brought us to the surface.

There we entered the submarine, taking the long dive to the tunnel

far beneath the upper world. Then through the tunnel and up again

to the pool from which we had had our first introduction to the

wonderful passageway from Omean to the Temple of Issus.

From the island of the submarine we were transported on a small

cruiser to the distant Isle of Shador. Here we found a small stone

prison and a guard of half a dozen blacks. There was no ceremony

wasted in completing our incarceration. One of the blacks opened

the door of the prison with a huge key, we walked in, the door

closed behind us, the lock grated, and with the sound there swept

over me again that terrible feeling of hopelessness that I had felt

in the Chamber of Mystery in the Golden Cliffs beneath the gardens

of the Holy Therns.

Then Tars Tarkas had been with me, but now I was utterly alone in

so far as friendly companionship was concerned. I fell to wondering

about the fate of the great Thark, and of his beautiful companion,

the girl, Thuvia. Even should they by some miracle have escaped

and been received and spared by a friendly nation, what hope had I

of the succour which I knew they would gladly extend if it lay in

their power.

They could not guess my whereabouts or my fate, for none on all

Barsoom even dream of such a place as this. Nor would it have

advantaged me any had they known the exact location of my prison,

for who could hope to penetrate to this buried sea in the face of

the mighty navy of the First Born? No: my case was hopeless.

Well, I would make the best of it, and, rising, I swept aside the

brooding despair that had been endeavouring to claim me. With the

idea of exploring my prison, I started to look around.

Xodar sat, with bowed head, upon a low stone bench near the centre

of the room in which we were. He had not spoken since Issus had

degraded him.

The building was roofless, the walls rising to a height of about

thirty feet. Half-way up were a couple of small, heavily barred

windows. The prison was divided into several rooms by partitions

twenty feet high. There was no one in the room which we occupied,

but two doors which led to other rooms were opened. I entered

one of these rooms, but found it vacant. Thus I continued through

several of the chambers until in the last one I found a young red

Martian boy sleeping upon the stone bench which constituted the

only furniture of any of the prison cells.

Evidently he was the only other prisoner. As he slept I leaned

over and looked at him. There was something strangely familiar

about his face, and yet I could not place him.

His features were very regular and, like the proportions of his

graceful limbs and body, beautiful in the extreme. He was very

light in colour for a red man, but in other respects he seemed a

typical specimen of this handsome race.

I did not awaken him, for sleep in prison is such a priceless boon

that I have seen men transformed into raging brutes when robbed by

one of their fellow-prisoners of a few precious moments of it.

Returning to my own cell, I found Xodar still sitting in the same

position in which I had left him.

"Man," I cried, "it will profit you nothing to mope thus. It were

no disgrace to be bested by John Carter. You have seen that in the

ease with which I accounted for Thurid. You knew it before when

on the cruiser's deck you saw me slay three of your comrades."

"I would that you had dispatched me at the same time," he said.

"Come, come!" I cried.