In the outer gardens to which the guard now escorted me,I found Xodar surrounded by a crowd of noble blacks.They were reviling and cursing him. The men slappedhis face. The woman spat upon him.

When I appeared they turned their attentions toward me.

"Ah," cried one, "so this is the creature who overcamethe great Xodar bare-handed. Let us see how it was done."

"Let him bind Thurid," suggested a beautiful woman,laughing. "Thurid is a noble Dator. Let Thurid show thedog what it means to face a real man."

"Yes, Thurid! Thurid!" cried a dozen voices.

"Here he is now," exclaimed another, and turning in thedirection indicated I saw a huge black weighed down withresplendent ornaments and arms advancing with noble andgallant bearing toward us.

"What now?" he cried. "What would you of Thurid?"

Quickly a dozen voices explained.

Thurid turned toward Xodar, his eyes narrowing to two nasty slits.

"Calot!" he hissed. "Ever did I think you carried the heartof a sorak in your putrid breast. Often have you bested mein the secret councils of Issus, but now in the field of warwhere men are truly gauged your scabby heart hath revealedits sores to all the world. Calot, I spurn you with my foot,"and with the words he turned to kick Xodar.

My blood was up. For minutes it had been boiling at the cowardlytreatment they had been according this once powerful comradebecause he had fallen from the favour of Issus. I had no lovefor Xodar, but I cannot stand the sight of cowardly injusticeand persecution without seeing red as through a haze of bloody mist,and doing things on the impulse of the moment that I presumeI never should do after mature deliberation.

I was standing close beside Xodar as Thurid swunghis foot for the cowardly kick. The degraded Datorstood erect and motionless as a carven image.He was prepared to take whatever his former comradeshad 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 hima painful blow upon the shin bone that saved Xodar fromthis added ignominy.

For a moment there was tense silence, then Thurid,with a roar of rage sprang for my throat; just as Xodarhad upon the deck of the cruiser. The results were identical.I ducked beneath his outstretched arms, and as he lungedpast me planted a terrific right on the side of his jaw.

The big fellow spun around like a top, his knees gavebeneath him and he crumpled to the ground at my feet.

The blacks gazed in astonishment, first at the still formof 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!" Andthen I stooped beside the prostrate form, tore the harnessfrom 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 shemay see with her own eyes that there be one amongyou now who is greater than the First Born."

"Who are you?" whispered the woman who had first suggestedthat 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 Ido to the mightiest of her Dators. With naked hands,with long-sword or with short-sword, I challenge theflower 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 inaddressing either Xodar or myself. It was evident that he feltless contempt for the former Dator since he had witnessed theease with which I disposed of the powerful Thurid.

That his respect for me was greater than it should havebeen for a slave was quite apparent from the fact thatduring the balance of the return journey he walked or stoodalways behind me, a drawn short-sword in his hand.

The return to the Sea of Omean was uneventful. We droppeddown the awful shaft in the same car that had broughtus to the surface. There we entered the submarine,taking the long dive to the tunnel far beneath the upperworld. Then through the tunnel and up again to the poolfrom which we had had our first introduction to thewonderful passageway from Omean to the Temple of Issus.

From the island of the submarine we were transportedon a small cruiser to the distant Isle of Shador.Here we found a small stone prison and a guard of half adozen blacks. There was no ceremony wasted in completing ourincarceration. One of the blacks opened the door of the prisonwith a huge key, we walked in, the door closed behind us,the lock grated, and with the sound there swept over meagain that terrible feeling of hopelessness that I had felt inthe Chamber of Mystery in the Golden Cliffs beneath thegardens of the Holy Therns.

Then Tars Tarkas had been with me, but now I was utterlyalone in so far as friendly companionship was concerned. Ifell to wondering about the fate of the great Thark, and ofhis beautiful companion, the girl, Thuvia. Even should theyby some miracle have escaped and been received and sparedby a friendly nation, what hope had I of the succour whichI knew they would gladly extend if it lay in their power.

They could not guess my whereabouts or my fate, for noneon all Barsoom even dream of such a place as this. Norwould it have advantaged me any had they known the exactlocation of my prison, for who could hope to penetrate tothis buried sea in the face of the mighty navy of the FirstBorn? No: my case was hopeless.

Well, I would make the best of it, and, rising, I swept asidethe 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 nearthe centre of the room in which we were. He had not spokensince Issus had degraded him.

The building was roofless, the walls rising to a height ofabout thirty feet. Half-way up were a couple of small,heavily barred windows. The prison was divided into severalrooms by partitions twenty feet high. There was no one inthe room which we occupied, but two doors which led toother rooms were opened. I entered one of these rooms,but found it vacant. Thus I continued through several of thechambers until in the last one I found a young red Martianboy sleeping upon the stone bench which constituted the onlyfurniture of any of the prison cells.

Evidently he was the only other prisoner. As he slept Ileaned over and looked at him. There was something strangelyfamiliar about his face, and yet I could not place him.

His features were very regular and, like the proportionsof his graceful limbs and body, beautiful in the extreme.He was very light in colour for a red man, but in otherrespects he seemed a typical specimen of this handsome race.

I did not awaken him, for sleep in prison is such a pricelessboon that I have seen men transformed into raging brutes whenrobbed by one of their fellow-prisoners of a few preciousmoments of it.

Returning to my own cell, I found Xodar still sitting in thesame 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 haveseen that in the ease with which I accounted for Thurid.You knew it before when on the cruiser's deck you saw meslay three of your comrades."

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

"Come, come!" I cried. "There is hope yet. Neither of us is dead.We are great fighters. Why not win to freedom?"

He looked at me in amazement.

"You know not of what you speak," he replied. "Issus is omnipotent.Issus is omniscient. She hears now the words you speak.She knows the thoughts you think. It is sacrilege evento dream of breaking her commands."

"Rot, Xodar," I ejaculated impatiently.

He sprang to his feet in horror.

"The curse of Issus will fall upon you," he cried."In another instant you will be smitten down, writhingto your death in horrible agony."

"Do you believe that, Xodar?" I asked.

"Of course; who would dare doubt?"

"I doubt; yes, and further, I deny," I said. "Why, Xodar,you tell me that she even knows my thoughts. The red menhave all had that power for ages. And another wonderful power. They can shut their minds so that none may read their thoughts.I learned the first secret years ago; the other I never had to learn,since upon all Barsoom is none who can read what passes in thesecret chambers of my brain.

"Your goddess cannot read my thoughts; nor can sheread yours when you are out of sight, unless you will it.Had she been able to read mine, I am afraid that her pridewould have suffered a rather severe shock when I turned ather command to 'gaze upon the holy vision of her radiant face.'"

"What do you mean?" he whispered in an affrightedvoice, so low that I could scarcely hear him.

"I mean that I thought her the most repulsive and vilelyhideous creature my eyes ever had rested upon."

For a moment he eyed me in horror-stricken amazement,and then with a cry of "Blasphemer" he sprang upon me.

I did not wish to strike him again, nor was it necessary,since he was unarmed and therefore quite harmless to me.

As he came I grasped his left wrist with my left hand,and, swinging my right arm about his left shoulder,caught him beneath the chin with my elbow and borehim backward across my thigh.

There he hung helpless for a moment, glaring up at mein impotent rage.

"Xodar," I said, "let us be friends. For a year, possibly,we may be forced to live together in the narrow confines ofthis tiny room. I am sorry to have offended you, but I couldnot dream that one who had suffered from the cruel injusticeof Issus still could believe her divine.

"I will say a few more words, Xodar, with no intentto wound your feelings further, but rather that you maygive thought to the fact that while we live we are still morethe arbiters of our own fate than is any god.

"Issus, you see, has not struck me dead, nor is she rescuingher faithful Xodar from the clutches of the unbeliever whodefamed her fair beauty. No, Xodar, your Issus is a mortalold woman. Once out of her clutches and she cannot harm you.

"With your knowledge of this strange land, and my knowledgeof the outer world, two such fighting-men as you and Ishould be able to win our way to freedom. Even though wedied in the attempt, would not our memories be fairer thanas though we remained in servile fear to be butchered by acruel and unjust tyrant--call her goddess or mortal, as you will."

As I finished I raised Xodar to his feet and released him.He did not renew the attack upon me, nor did he speak. Instead, he walked toward the bench, and, sinking down upon it,remained lost in deep thought for hours.

A long time afterward I heard a soft sound at the doorwayleading to one of the other apartments, and, looking up,beheld the red Martian youth gazing intently at us.

"Kaor," I cried, after the red Martian manner of greeting.

"Kaor," he replied. "What do you here?"

"I await my death, I presume," I replied with a wry smile.

He too smiled, a brave and winning smile.

"I also," he said. "Mine will come soon. I looked uponthe radiant beauty of Issus nearly a year since. It hasalways been a source of keen wonder to me that I did notdrop dead at the first sight of that hideous countenance.And her belly! By my first ancestor, but never was thereso grotesque a figure in all the universe. That they shouldcall such a one Goddess of Life Eternal, Goddess of Death,Mother of the Nearer Moon, and fifty other equallyimpossible titles, is quite beyond me."

"How came you here?" I asked.

"It is very simple. I was flying a one-man air scout far tothe south when the brilliant idea occurred to me that I shouldlike to search for the Lost Sea of Korus which traditionplaces near to the south pole. I must have inherited from myfather a wild lust for adventure, as well as a hollow wheremy bump of reverence should be.

"I had reached the area of eternal ice when my portpropeller jammed, and I dropped to the ground to make repairs. Before I knew it the air was black with fliers, and ahundred of these First Born devils were leaping to theground all about me.

"With drawn swords they made for me, but before I went downbeneath them they had tasted of the steel of my father'ssword, and I had given such an account of myself as I knowwould have pleased my sire had he lived to witness it."

"Your father is dead?" I asked.

"He died before the shell broke to let me step out into aworld that has been very good to me. But for the sorrowthat I had never the honour to know my father, I have beenvery happy. My only sorrow now is that my mother mustmourn me as she has for ten long years mourned my father."

"Who was your father?" I asked.

He was about to reply when the outer door of our prisonopened and a burly guard entered and ordered him to hisown quarters for the night, locking the door after himas he passed through into the further chamber.

"It is Issus' wish that you two be confined in the sameroom," said the guard when he had returned to our cell."This cowardly slave of a slave is to serve you well,"he said to me, indicating Xodar with a wave of his hand."If he does not, you are to beat him into submission.It is Issus' wish that you heap upon him every indignityand degradation of which you can conceive."

With these words he left us.

Xodar still sat with his face buried in his hands. I walkedto his side and placed my hand upon his shoulder.

"Xodar," I said, "you have heard the commands of Issus,but you need not fear that I shall attempt to put theminto execution. You are a brave man, Xodar. It is your ownaffair if you wish to be persecuted and humiliated; butwere I you I should assert my manhood and defy my enemies."

"I have been thinking very hard, John Carter," he said,"of all the new ideas you gave me a few hours since. Littleby little I have been piecing together the things that yousaid which sounded blasphemous to me then with the thingsthat I have seen in my past life and dared not even thinkabout for fear of bringing down upon me the wrath of Issus.

"I believe now that she is a fraud; no more divine thanyou or I. More I am willing to concede--that the First Bornare no holier than the Holy Therns, nor the Holy Thernsmore holy than the red men.

"The whole fabric of our religion is based on superstitiousbelief in lies that have been foisted upon us for ages bythose directly above us, to whose personal profit andaggrandizement it was to have us continue to believe asthey wished us to believe.

"I am ready to cast off the ties that have bound me. I amready to defy Issus herself; but what will it avail us?Be the First Born gods or mortals, they are a powerful race,and we are as fast in their clutches as though we were already dead.There is no escape."

"I have escaped from bad plights in the past, my friend,"I replied; "nor while life is in me shall I despair of escapingfrom the Isle of Shador and the Sea of Omean."

"But we cannot escape even from the four walls of ourprison," urged Xodar. "Test this flint-like surface," he cried,smiting the solid rock that confined us. "And look upon thispolished surface; none could cling to it to reach the top."

I smiled.

"That is the least of our troubles, Xodar," I replied. "I willguarantee to scale the wall and take you with me, if you willhelp with your knowledge of the customs here to appoint the besttime for the attempt, and guide me to the shaft that lets from thedome of this abysmal sea to the light of God's pure air above."

"Night time is the best and offers the only slender chancewe have, for then men sleep, and only a dozing watch nodsin the tops of the battleships. No watch is kept upon thecruisers and smaller craft. The watchers upon the largervessels see to all about them. It is night now."

"But," I exclaimed, "it is not dark! How can it be night, then?"

He smiled.

"You forget," he said, "that we are far below ground.The light of the sun never penetrates here. There areno moons and no stars reflected in the bosom of Omean.The phosphorescent light you now see pervading this greatsubterranean vault emanates from the rocks that form its dome;it is always thus upon Omean, just as the billows are alwaysas you see them--rolling, ever rolling over a windless sea.

"At the appointed hour of night upon the world above,the men whose duties hold them here sleep, but the light isever the same."

"It will make escape more difficult," I said, and then Ishrugged my shoulders; for what, pray, is the pleasure ofdoing an easy thing?

"Let us sleep on it to-night," said Xodar. "A plan maycome with our awakening."

So we threw ourselves upon the hard stone floor of ourprison and slept the sleep of tired men.