ed. The great apartment was empty save for the four at the dais, yet as Jav stepped back from the me
? Both Carthoris and Thuvia
s scabbard, and at the same instant t
he first time he saw the full figure of Thuvia, who
hand, but at that very instant the sword of the H
es he stepped backward in consternation, throwing the back of his left hand across his brow.
to Jav. "Let us first determine that they knowingly
e perfect lines of Thuvia's glorious figure, which the harnes
knows not the etiquette of the
t prostrate themselves before royalty. Not since the First Born tore their immortal goddess limb from limb have men crawled upon their bel
horis for a long tim
of Lothar, unless the hordes of Torquas may be dignified by such an appellation. Lotharians a
aning far forward and pointing
t of the jeddaks of Barsoom, and assert your reality. Some one shall pay well for this, Jav, and unles
e lies. And later, Jav, you shall suffer for your temeri
trated himself once more before his ruler, and t
!" he
ss of Ptarth here alo
losely past h
kill; and that he can do whether you re
ured him, and so he turned away, but not without a glance toward Thuvia in which h
ut not without first throwing him such a look o
, but Jav seized
on you, and this time there will be no escape. Did y
o follow. As the two left the
he asked, "how, then, shall I
ians fall before the
oris
, and without one single chanc
in one of the numerous towers of the palace. Here
eyed his prisoner, for such Cart
d that you are real
ris la
. "What caused you to doubt it
replied Jav, "and yet we all know
his puzzlement at each new reference to the mys
may they be
do not know?
ook his head
f Barsoom, or from another world. But tell me, in your own country have you no bowmen to strike t
red race are all soldiers, but we have no bowmen
led by your enemies!" c
ed Carthoris. "How
lifeless, existing only in the imaginations of our enemies. It is really our giant minds that de
ir slender arrows speed with unerring precision toward the
"You call them deathless, and yet I saw their dead bo
many of our own defenders killed that the Torquasians may not gue
nger would they fall prey to the suggestion of the deadly arrows, for greater would be
Carthoris. "They, too, were
of the Torquasians were unreal. Like the archers, they never returned, but, having s
vengers to devour the bodies of the dead of Torquas. This thing is dem
all is mind. They say that none of us exists, except in the imaginat
imagining that there are no dead Torquasians beneath our wal
hold Tario's belief
hat there are some truly ethereal creatures. Tario is one, I am conv
imagination. They contend that no food is necessary, nor do they eat; but any one of the most ru
not having eaten to-day I
hand he indicated a bountifully laden table that had not been there an instant before he spoke. O
not fall into the hands of an etherealist
food-it was not here an instant since, and r
ooked
been for countless ages. Upon such as you now see before you have we
were a realist,"
differ most from the etherealists. They claim that it is unnecessary to imagine food; but w
al changes during the process of digestion and assimilation,
n of its various manifestations. Tario maintains that there is no such thing
hough it may not be able to create substance-the latter is still an open question. And so we kno
e digest. All our organs function precisely as if we had partaken of material food. And what is the result? What must
He lifted a morsel to his lips. There was substance indee
him, smiling
irely satisfyi
t tell me, how does Tario live, and the other eth
atched
is the strongest evidence we have of the non-existence
Carthoris. "I heard yo
of the Heliumite, looking fe
ce in order to transmit to imaginings the appearance of substance. For if there really was no such th
," replied Ca
e of the All, as it were. He is maintained by substance. He eats. He ea
o be consistent, admit that we alone are proper food for Komal. Sometimes
s a man?" as
u will understand. He is the beginning and the end. All life emanates from Komal, sin
rsoom would cease to be. He cannot die, but
men and women of your b
e, upon that cruel and terrible journey across the muddy plains that fringed the half-dried seas, when the
ns of our race lived to reach Lothar. Among us were no
ruth was revealed to us, that mind is all. Many more died before we perfected our powers, but at
to practical use when the Torquasians discovered our retreat, and fortunate for us it was that it requ
frighten them away by the vast numbers of bowmen which we could muster upon
ey rushed upon our walls, and standing upon the shoulders of others they built human approa
did but cause them to run to and fro along the wa
y mighty intellect upon the bowmen of my own creation-each of us produces
at the hearts of the green men. I made the green men see all this, and then I made
hen my fellows saw what I had done they were quick to follow my example, so th
of realism. We do nothing, or rather we cause our bowmen to do nothing within sight of the enemy that is
they turned upon us with their terrible rifles, and by co
upon them. You have seen this day how well it works. For ages they ha
" asked Carthoris. "I should think that you
av, proudly. "I a
cringing manner of ap
awaits the slightest excuse to feed me to Koma
denly sprang
while the Princess of Ptarth may perchance be still without food. L
rian shoo
he said. "He will, doubtless,
re no women in Lothar. Then she must be among men, and if this be
Jav. "He sent you away and you may
without waiting
the bowmen,"
d something else that the Lotharian had let drop-something that was but a conjecture
e the room. Jav stepped b
but do not forget that Tario is still my jeddak,
en there came faintly to the ear
um brushed the Lotharian aside, and with d