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"Good!" exclaimed Carter. "There may be a chance yet to reach and help Helium."
A moment later they had caught two of the birds and had risen over the ancient
city of Korvas.
They spotted their planes on the outskirts of the city where they had left them
the night they were tricked into being captured by Pew Mogel.
But to their disappointment, the controls had been destroyed irreparably, so
that they were forced to continue their journey on the backs of the malagors.
However, the malagors proved speedy mounts. By noon the next day the trio had
reached the City of Thark, inhabited by a hundred thousand green warriors over
whom Tars Tarkas ruled.
Gathering the warriors together in the market-place, Tars Tarkas and John Carter
explained the peril that confronted Helium and asked for their support in
marching to their allies' aid.
As one man, the mighty warriors shouted their approval. The next day dawned upon
a long caravan of thoat-mounted soldiers streaming out from the city gates
toward Helium.
A messenger was sent on a malagor to the Toonolian Marshes in an attempt to
locate Kantos Kan and urge him to return home with his fleet to aid in the
defense of Helium.
Tars Tarkas had abandoned his malagor to this messenger, in favor of a thoat
upon which he rode at the head of his warriors. Directly above him, mounted on
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the other malagor, rode Dejah Thoris and John Carter.
Nine
ATTACK ON HELIUM
JOHN CARTER AND DEJAH THORIS, mounted upon their malagor, were scouting far
ahead of the main column of advancing warriors when they first came into sight
of the besieged City of Helium.
It was bright moonlight. The princess voiced a little, disappointed cry when she
looked out across the spacious valley toward Helium. Her grandfather's city was
completely surrounded by the besieging troops of Pew Mogel.
"My poor city!" The girl was crying softly, for in the bright moonlight below
could be easily discerned the terrific gap in the ramparts and the many crushed
and shattered buildings of the beautiful metropolis.
John Carter telepathically commanded the malagor to land upon a high peak in the
mountains overlooking the Valley of Helium.
"Listen," cautioned John Carter. Pew Mogel's light entrenched cannon and small
arms were commencing to open fire again by moonlight. "They are getting ready
for an air attack."
Suddenly, from behind the low foothills between the valley and the towering
peaks, there rose the vast, flying army of Pew Mogel.
"They are closing in from all sides," Dejah Thoris cried.
The great winged creatures and their formidable ape riders were swooping down
relentlessly upon the city. Only a few of Helium's airships rose to give battle.
"Kantos Kan must have taken nearly all Helium's fleet with him," the earthman
remarked, "I am surprised Helium has withstood the attack as long as this."
"You should know my people by now, John Carter," replied the princess.
"The infantry and anti-aircraft fire entrenched in Helium are doing well,"
Carter replied. "See those birds plummet to the ground."
"They can't hold out much longer, though," the girl relied. "Those apes are
dropping bombs squarely into the city, as they swoop over, wave after wave of
them oh, John Carter, what can we do?"
John Carter's old fighting smile, usually present at times of personal danger,
had given way to a stern, grave expression.
He saw below him the oldest and most powerful city on Mars being conquered by
Pew Mogel's forces. Armed with Helium's vast resources, the synthetic man would
go forth and conquer all civilized nations on Mars.
Fifty thousand years of Martian learning and culture wrecked by a power-mad
maniac himself the synthetic product of civilized man!
"Is there nothing we can do to stop him, John Carter?" came the girl's repeated
question.
"Very little, I'm afraid, my princess," he replied sadly. "All we can do is
station Tars Tarkas's green warriors at advantageous points in preparation for a
counter-attack and trust to fate that our messenger reached Kantos Kan in time
that he may return and aid us.
"Without supporting aircraft, our green warriors, heroic fighters that they are,
can do little against Pew Mogel's superior numbers in the air."
When John Carter and Dejah Thoris returned to Tars Tarkas, they reported what
they had seen.
The great Thark agreed that his warriors could avail but little in a direct
attack against Pew Mogel's air force. It was decided that half their troops be
concentrated at one point and at dawn attempt to rush through into the City.
The remaining half of the warriors would scatter into the mountains in smaller
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groups and engage the enemy in guerrilla warfare.
Thus they hoped to forestall the fate of Helium until Kantos Kan returned with
his fleet of speedy air fighters.
"Helium's fleet of trim, metal fighting craft will furnish Pew Mogel's feathered
bird brigade a worthy enemy," remarked Tars Tarkas.
"Provided, of course," added Carter, "Kantos Kan's fleet reaches Helium before
Pew Mogel has entrenched himself in the City and returned his own anti-aircraft
guns upon them."
All that night in the mountains, under cover of semi-darkness, John Carter and
Tars Tarkas reorganized and restationed their troops. By dawn all was ready.
John Carter and Tars Tarkas would lead the advance half of the Tharks in a wild
rush toward the gates of Helium; the other half would remain behind, covering
their comrades' assault with long-range rifles.
Much against the earthman's will, Dejah Thoris insisted she would ride into the
City beside him upon their malagor.
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