I myself have

borne these messages for Issus for many years. There is a long

tunnel from the temple of Issus to the principal temple of Matai

Shang. It was dug ages ago by the slaves of the First Born in such

utter secrecy that no thern ever guessed its existence.

"The therns for their part have temples dotted about the entire

civilized world. Here priests whom the people never see communicate

the doctrine of the Mysterious River Iss, the Valley Dor, and the

Lost Sea of Korus to persuade the poor deluded creatures to take

the voluntary pilgrimage that swells the wealth of the Holy Therns

and adds to the numbers of their slaves.

"Thus the therns are used as the principal means for collecting

the wealth and labour that the First Born wrest from them as they

need it. Occasionally the First Born themselves make raids upon

the outer world. It is then that they capture many females of the

royal houses of the red men, and take the newest in battleships and

the trained artisans who build them, that they may copy what they

cannot create.

"We are a non-productive race, priding ourselves upon our

non-productiveness. It is criminal for a First Born to labour or

invent. That is the work of the lower orders, who live merely that

the First Born may enjoy long lives of luxury and idleness. With

us fighting is all that counts; were it not for that there would

be more of the First Born than all the creatures of Barsoom could

support, for in so far as I know none of us ever dies a natural

death. Our females would live for ever but for the fact that we

tire of them and remove them to make place for others. Issus alone

of all is protected against death. She has lived for countless

ages."

"Would not the other Barsoomians live for ever but for the doctrine

of the voluntary pilgrimage which drags them to the bosom of Iss

at or before their thousandth year?" I asked him.

"I feel now that there is no doubt but that they are precisely the

same species of creature as the First Born, and I hope that I shall

live to fight for them in atonement of the sins I have committed

against them through the ignorance born of generations of false

teaching."

As he ceased speaking a weird call rang out across the waters of

Omean. I had heard it at the same time the previous evening and

knew that it marked the ending of the day, when the men of Omean

spread their silks upon the deck of battleship and cruiser and fall

into the dreamless sleep of Mars.

Our guard entered to inspect us for the last time before the new

day broke upon the world above. His duty was soon performed and

the heavy door of our prison closed behind him--we were alone for

the night.

I gave him time to return to his quarters, as Xodar said he probably

would do, then I sprang to the grated window and surveyed the nearby

waters. At a little distance from the island, a quarter of a mile

perhaps, lay a monster battleship, while between her and the shore

were a number of smaller cruisers and one-man scouts. Upon the

battleship alone was there a watch. I could see him plainly in

the upper works of the ship, and as I watched I saw him spread his

sleeping silks upon the tiny platform in which he was stationed.

Soon he threw himself at full length upon his couch. The discipline

on Omean was lax indeed. But it is not to be wondered at since no

enemy guessed the existence upon Barsoom of such a fleet, or even

of the First Born, or the Sea of Omean. Why indeed should they

maintain a watch?

Presently I dropped to the floor again and talked with Xodar,

describing the various craft I had seen.

"There is one there," he said, "my personal property, built to carry

five men, that is the swiftest of the swift. If we can board her

we can at least make a memorable run for liberty," and then he

went on to describe to me the equipment of the boat; her engines,

and all that went to make her the flier that she was.

In his explanation I recognized a trick of gearing that Kantos Kan

had taught me that time we sailed under false names in the navy

of Zodanga beneath Sab Than, the Prince. And I knew then that the

First Born had stolen it from the ships of Helium, for only they

are thus geared. And I knew too that Xodar spoke the truth when

he lauded the speed of his little craft, for nothing that cleaves

the thin air of Mars can approximate the speed of the ships of

Helium.

We decided to wait for an hour at least until all the stragglers

had sought their silks. In the meantime I was to fetch the red

youth to our cell so that we would be in readiness to make our rash

break for freedom together.

I sprang to the top of our partition wall and pulled myself up

on to it. There I found a flat surface about a foot in width and

along this I walked until I came to the cell in which I saw the

boy sitting upon his bench. He had been leaning back against the

wall looking up at the glowing dome above Omean, and when he spied

me balancing upon the partition wall above him his eyes opened wide

in astonishment. Then a wide grin of appreciative understanding

spread across his countenance.

As I stooped to drop to the floor beside him he motioned me to wait,

and coming close below me whispered: "Catch my hand; I can almost

leap to the top of that wall myself. I have tried it many times,

and each day I come a little closer. Some day I should have been

able to make it."

I lay upon my belly across the wall and reached my hand far down

toward him. With a little run from the centre of the cell he sprang

up until I grasped his outstretched hand, and thus I pulled him to

the wall's top beside me.

"You are the first jumper I ever saw among the red men of Barsoom,"

I said.

He smiled.