It was the work of a few minutes to carry them to

adjoining tables, where I quickly strapped them securely against the possibility

that one or both of them might not be willing to agree to the proposition I was

about to make them, and thus force me to anaesthetize them again. At last the

incisions were made, the tubes attached and the motors started. 378-J-493811-P,

whom I shall hereafter call by his own name, Dar Tarus, was the first to open

his eyes; but he had not regained full consciousness when Gor Hajus showed signs

of life.

I waited until both appeared quite restored. Dar Tarus was eyeing me with

growing recognition that brought a most venomous expression of hatred to his

countenance. Gor Hajus was frankly puzzled. The last he remembered was the scene

in the death chamber at the instant that his executioner had run a sword through

his heart. It was I who broke the silence.

"In the first place" I said, "let me tell you where you are, if you do not

already know."

"I know well enough where I am," growled Dar Tarus.

"Ah!" exclaimed Gor Hajus, whose eyes had been roaming about the chamber. "I can

guess where I am. What Toonolian has not heard of Ras Thavas? So they sold my

corpse to the old butcher did they? And what now? Did I just arrive?"

"You have been here six years," I told him, "and you may stay here for ever

unless we three can reach an agreement within the next few minutes, and that

goes for you too, Dar Tarus."

"Six years!" mused Gor Hajus. "Well, out with it, man. What do you want? If it

is to slay Ras Thavas, no! He has saved me from utter destruction; but name me

some other, preferably Vobis Kan, Jeddak of Toonol. Find me a blade and I will

slay a hundred to regain life."

"I seek the life of none unless he stands in the way of the fulfilment of my

desire in this matter that I have in hand. Listen! Ras Thavas had here a

beautiful Duhorian girl. He sold her body to Xaxa, Jeddara of Phundahl,

transplanting the girl's brain to the wrinkled and hideous body of the Jeddara.

It is my intention to regain the body, restore it to its own brain and return

the girl to Duhor."

Gor Hajus grinned. "You have a large contract on your hands," he said, "but I

can see that you are a man after my own heart and I am with you. It will give

freedom and fighting, and all that I ask is a chance for one thrust at Vobis

Kan."

"I promise you life," I replied; "but with the understanding that you serve me

faithfully and none other, undertaking no business of your own, until mine has

been carried to a successful conclusion."

"That means that I shall have to serve you for life," he replied, "for the thing

you have undertaken you can never accomplish; but that is better than lying here

on a cold ersite slab waiting for old Ras Thavas to come along and carve out my

gizzard. I am yours! Let me up, that I may feel a good pair of legs under me

again."

"And you?" I asked, turning to Dar Tarus as I released the bonds that held Gor

Hajus. For the first time I now noticed that the ugly expression that I had

first noted upon the face of Dar Tarus had given place to one of eagerness.

"Strike off my bonds!" he cried. "I will follow you to the ends of Barsoom and

the way leads thus far to the fulfilment of your design; but it will not. It

will lead to Phundahl and to the chamber of the wicked Xaxa, where, by the

generosity of my ancestors, I may be given the opportunity to avenge the hideous

wrong the creature did me. You could not have chosen one better fitted for your

mission than Dar Tarus, one time soldier of the Jeddara's Guard, whom she had

slain that in my former body one of her rotten nobles might woo the girl I

loved."

A moment later the two men stood at my side, and without more delay I led them

towards the runway that descended to the path beneath the building. As we went,

I described to them the creature I had chosen to be the fourth member of our

strange party. Gor Hajus questioned the wisdom of my choice, saying that the ape

would attract too much attention to us. Dar Tarus, however, behaved that it

might be helpful in many respects, since it was possible that we might be

compelled to spend some time among the islands of the marshes which were often

infested with these creatures; while, once in Phundahl, the ape might readily be

used in the furtherance of our plans and would cause no considerable comment in

a city where many of these beasts are held in captivity and often are seen

performing for the edification of street crowds.

We went at once to the vault where the ape lay and where I had concealed the

anaesthetized body of Valla Dia. Here I revived the great anthropoid and to my

great relief found that the human half of its brain still was dominant. Briefly

I explained my plan as I had to the other two and won the hearty promise of his

support upon my engaging to restore his brain to its rightful place upon the

completion of our venture.

First we must get off the island, and I outlined two plans I had in mind. One

was to steal one of Ras Thavas' three fliers and set out directly for Phundahl,

and the other, in the event that the first did not seem feasible, was to secrete

ourselves aboard one of them on the chance that we might either overpower the

crew and take over the ship after we had left the island, or escape undetected

upon its arrival in Toonol. Dar Tarus liked the first plan; the ape, whom we now

called by the name belonging to the human half of his brain, Hovan Du, preferred

the first alternative of the second plan; and Gor Hajus the second alternative.

Dar Tarus explained that as our principal objective was Phundahl, the quicker we

got there the better. Hovan Du argued that by seizing the ship after it had left

the island we would have longer time in which to make our escape before the ship

was missed and pursuit instituted, than by seizing it now in the full knowledge

that its absence would be discovered within a few hours.