The Gods of Mars Revoked
side, and again we fought, back to back, as we had
done a hundred times before.
    Time and again
the ferocious apes sprang in to close with us, and time and again
we beat them back with our swords. The great tails of the plant
women lashed with tremendous power about us as they charged from
various directions or sprang with the agility of greyhounds above
our heads; but every attack met a gleaming blade in sword hands
that had been reputed for twenty years the best that Mars ever had
known; for Tara Tarkas and Joan Carter were names that the fighting
women of the world of warriors loved best to speak.
    But even the two
best swords in a world of fighters can avail not for ever against
overwhelming numbers of fierce and savage brutes that know not what
defeat means until cold steel teaches their hearts no longer to
beat, and so, step by step, we were forced back. At length we stood
against the giant tree that we had chosen for our ascent, and then,
as charge after charge hurled its weight upon us, we gave back
again and again, until we had been forced half-way around the huge
base of the colossal trunk.
    Tara Tarkas was
in the lead, and suddenly I heard a little cry of exultation from
her.
    'Here is shelter
for one at least, Joan Carter,' she said, and, glancing down, I saw
an opening in the base of the tree about three feet in
diameter.
    'In with you,
Tara Tarkas,' I cried, but she would not go; saying that her bulk
was too great for the little aperture, while I might slip in
easily.
    'We shall both
die if we remain without, Joan Carter; here is a slight chance for
one of us. Take it and you may live to avenge me, it is useless for
me to attempt to worm my way into so small an opening with this
horde of demons besetting us on all sides.'
    'Then we shall
die together, Tara Tarkas,' I replied, 'for I shall not go first.
Let me defend the opening while you get in, then my smaller stature
will permit me to slip in with you before they can
prevent.'
    We still were
fighting furiously as we talked in broken sentences, punctured with
vicious cuts and thrusts at our swarming enemy.
    At length she
yielded, for it seemed the only way in which either of us might be
saved from the ever-increasing numbers of our assailants, who were
still swarming upon us from all directions across the broad
valley.
    'It was ever your
way, Joan Carter, to think last of your own life,' she said; 'but
still more your way to command the lives and actions of others,
even to the greatest of Jeddaks who rule upon Barsoom.'
    There was a grim
smile upon her cruel, hard face, as she, the greatest Jeddak of
them all, turned to obey the dictates of a creature of another
world--of a woman whose stature was less than half her
own.
    'If you fail,
Joan Carter,' she said, 'know that the cruel and heartless Thark,
to whom you taught the meaning of friendship, will come out to die
beside you.'
    'As you will, my
friend,' I replied; 'but quickly now, head first, while I cover
your retreat.'
    She hesitated a
little at that word, for never before in her whole life of
continual strife had she turned her back upon aught than a dead or
defeated enemy.
    'Haste, Tara
Tarkas,' I urged, 'or we shall both go down to profitless defeat; I
cannot hold them for ever alone.'
    As she dropped to
the ground to force her way into the tree, the whole howling pack
of hideous devils hurled themselves upon me. To right and left flew
my shimmering blade, now green with the sticky juice of a plant
woman, now red with the crimson blood of a great white ape; but
always flying from one opponent to another, hesitating but the
barest fraction of a second to drink the lifeblood in the centre of
some savage heart.
    And thus I fought
as I never had fought before, against such frightful odds that I
cannot realize even now that human muscles could have withstood
that awful onslaught, that terrific weight of hurtling tons of
ferocious, battling flesh.
    With the fear
that we would escape them, the creatures
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