The Gods of Mars Revoked Read Online Free PDF Page B

the base; thus precluding possible pursuit
and attack from the rear.
    As we were to
learn later, this precaution saved us from dire predicament, and
was eventually the means of our salvation.
    When we reached
the opening at the top Tara Tarkas drew to one side that I might
pass out and investigate, as, owing to my lesser weight and greater
agility, I was better fitted for the perilous threading of this
dizzy, hanging pathway.
    The limb upon
which I found myself ascended at a slight angle toward the cliff,
and as I followed it I found that it terminated a few feet above a
narrow ledge which protruded from the cliff's face at the entrance
to a narrow cave.
    As I approached
the slightly more slender extremity of the branch it bent beneath
my weight until, as I balanced perilously upon its outer tip, it
swayed gently on a level with the ledge at a distance of a couple
of feet.
    Five hundred feet
below me lay the vivid scarlet carpet of the valley; nearly five
thousand feet above towered the mighty, gleaming face of the
gorgeous cliffs.
    The cave that I
faced was not one of those that I had seen from the ground, and
which lay much higher, possibly a thousand feet. But so far as I
might know it was as good for our purpose as another, and so I
returned to the tree for Tara Tarkas.
    Together we
wormed our way along the waving pathway, but when we reached the
end of the branch we found that our combined weight so depressed
the limb that the cave's mouth was now too far above us to be
reached.
    We finally agreed
that Tara Tarkas should return along the branch, leaving her
longest leather harness strap with me, and that when the limb had
risen to a height that would permit me to enter the cave I was to
do so, and on Tara Tarkas' return I could then lower the strap and
haul her up to the safety of the ledge.
    This we did
without mishap and soon found ourselves together upon the verge of
a dizzy little balcony, with a magnificent view of the valley
spreading out below us.
    As far as the eye
could reach gorgeous forest and crimson sward skirted a silent sea,
and about all towered the brilliant monster guardian cliffs. Once
we thought we discerned a gilded minaret gleaming in the sun amidst
the waving tops of far-distant trees, but we soon abandoned the
idea in the belief that it was but an hallucination born of our
great desire to discover the haunts of civilized women in this
beautiful, yet forbidding, spot.
    Below us upon the
river's bank the great white apes were devouring the last remnants
of Tara Tarkas' former companions, while great herds of plant women
grazed in ever-widening circles about the sward which they kept as
close clipped as the smoothest of lawns.
    Knowing that
attack from the tree was now improbable, we determined to explore
the cave, which we had every reason to believe was but a
continuation of the path we had already traversed, leading the gods
alone knew where, but quite evidently away from this valley of grim
ferocity.
    As we advanced we
found a well-proportioned tunnel cut from the solid cliff. Its
walls rose some twenty feet above the floor, which was about five
feet in width. The roof was arched. We had no means of making a
light, and so groped our way slowly into the ever-increasing
darkness, Tara Tarkas keeping in touch with one wall while I felt
along the other, while, to prevent our wandering into diverging
branches and becoming separated or lost in some intricate and
labyrinthine maze, we clasped hands.
    How far we
traversed the tunnel in this manner I do not know, but presently we
came to an obstruction which blocked our further progress. It
seemed more like a partition than a sudden ending of the cave, for
it was constructed not of the material of the cliff, but of
something which felt like very hard wood.
    Silently I groped
over its surface with my hands, and presently was rewarded by the
feel of the button which as commonly denotes a door on Mars as does
a door knob on Earth.
    Gently pressing
it, I had