The Gods Of Mars

Edgar Rice Burroughs

ESL Easy Read

Reading Comprehension B1 • Original Text • Português Support

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Copyright

Fonte original — domínio público

Esta edição ESL Easy Read foi adaptada a partir de The Gods Of Mars, de Edgar Rice Burroughs, publicado originalmente em 1913.

A obra original encontra-se em domínio público e pode ser utilizada, reproduzida, distribuída e adaptada de acordo com a legislação aplicável.

Autor

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950)

Estados Unidos

Esta obra foi publicada originalmente em 1913.

Nos Estados Unidos, obras publicadas antes de 1930 encontram-se normalmente em domínio público.

Com base no ano de publicação disponível, esta obra encontra-se em domínio público nos Estados Unidos desde 1º de janeiro de 2009.

Brasil

Autor: Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950)

De acordo com a Lei nº 9.610/1998, os direitos patrimoniais expiram 70 anos após a morte do autor, contados a partir de 1º de janeiro do ano seguinte ao falecimento.

Edgar Rice Burroughs faleceu em 1950.

Situação no Brasil: DOMÍNIO PÚBLICO.

Portugal

Autor: Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950)

De acordo com o Código do Direito de Autor e dos Direitos Conexos, a proteção patrimonial dura 70 anos após a morte do autor.

Edgar Rice Burroughs faleceu em 1950.

Situação em Portugal: DOMÍNIO PÚBLICO.

Dados da publicação original

Obra original: The Gods Of Mars

Autor: Edgar Rice Burroughs

Primeira publicação: 1913

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Introdução

Como ler este livro

Cada livro desta coleção é apresentado em um nível de leitura simplificada, de acordo com o CEFR — Quadro Europeu Comum de Referência para Línguas.

A2 — Básico: indicado para leitores que já compreendem frases simples, vocabulário frequente e textos curtos sobre situações do cotidiano.

B1 — Intermediário: indicado para leitores que conseguem compreender as ideias principais de textos claros e acompanhar uma narrativa com vocabulário e estruturas de dificuldade moderada.

B2 — Intermediário avançado: indicado para leitores que já conseguem compreender textos mais complexos, acompanhar descrições detalhadas e reconhecer uma variedade maior de vocabulário e estruturas gramaticais.

Este livro foi adaptado para o nível B1.

Assim, você pode começar a lê-lo mesmo sem dominar completamente o inglês. O texto foi simplificado para facilitar a compreensão, preservando a história, os personagens e os acontecimentos principais da obra original.

Como usar as notas

No texto de leitura simplificada, cada parágrafo possui um link Pt/En. Esse link abre uma nota com a tradução em português do texto simplificado e o trecho correspondente no texto original em inglês.

No texto original em inglês, o link PT leva diretamente ao parágrafo correspondente na versão em português. Na tradução portuguesa, o link En retorna ao parágrafo correspondente no texto original.

A tradução para o português é feita a partir do texto em inglês simplificado, e não diretamente do texto original. O objetivo é ajudar você a compreender com precisão a frase simplificada que está estudando naquele momento.

O texto original em inglês é apresentado separadamente para a etapa seguinte do aprendizado, quando você já estiver preparado para ler e comparar a obra em sua forma original.

Cada nota contém links que permitem retornar exatamente ao parágrafo que você estava lendo.

Sobre este livro

Em 'Os Deuses de Marte', segundo romance da série Barsoom de Edgar Rice Burroughs, John Carter retorna a Marte após dez anos de exílio forçado na Terra. Ele se encontra no Vale Dor, uma região que os marcianos acreditam ser o paraíso dos mortos, mas que na verdade é um reino de pesadelo governado pelos sinistros Therns, uma casta sacerdotal que engana o povo marciano. Carter precisa navegar por essa terra traiçoeira, encontrando criaturas estranhas e tribos hostis, enquanto busca se reunir com sua esposa, Dejah Thoris, e seu filho, Carthoris, que ele nunca conheceu. O conflito central opõe Carter aos Therns e seus aliados, incluindo os temíveis homens-planta e os macacos brancos de Barsoom. Ao longo do caminho, ele ganha novos aliados, como o guerreiro Thuvan Dihn e o traidor Thern Xodar. A história é uma aventura acelerada, cheia de lutas de espada, fugas ousadas e intrigas políticas, ambientada na paisagem ricamente imaginada de um Marte moribundo. O tom é heroico e romântico, com Carter incorporando o arquétipo do herói aventureiro. O romance explora temas de engano, honra e luta contra dogmas religiosos opressivos. Enquanto luta para expor as mentiras dos Therns e salvar sua família, Carter também deve confrontar os misteriosos e poderosos seres conhecidos como os Terns Sagrados, que controlam o destino de Barsoom. A progressão leva a um confronto culminante que determinará o futuro do planeta.

Nota editorial

A tradução para o português e a versão Reading Comprehension B1 foram geradas com apoio de inteligência artificial e submetidas a revisão editorial.

Em caso de dúvida ou observações, fale conosco.

MicMac from Las Vegas LLC
Contato: admin@micmacfromlasvegas.com

Outros livros e materiais

Materiais e outros livros da série ESL Easy Read:

Coleção Marte de Burroughs

A Fighting Man Of Mars

A Princess of Mars

Synthetic Men of Mars

The Chessmen Of Mars

The Gods Of Mars

The Master Mind Of Mars

The Warlord Of Mars

Thuvia, Maid Of Mars

Outras coleções disponíveis

Doctor Dolittle

Anne of Green Gables / L. M. Montgomery

Gothic and Terror Classics

A Selva de Burroughs

Sherlock Holmes

The Land of Oz

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Reading Comprehension B1

1 - FOREWORD

2 - CHAPTER I — THE PLANT MEN

3 - CHAPTER II — A FOREST BATTLE

4 - CHAPTER III — THE CHAMBER OF MYSTERY

FOREWORD

Pt/En It had been 12 years since the narrator's great-uncle, Captain John Carter from Virginia, was buried in a strange tomb in Richmond.

Pt/En The narrator often thought about the strange instructions Captain Carter left for his tomb. These included being buried in an open box and having the door lock controlled only from the inside.

Pt/En Twelve years had passed since the narrator read the story of this unusual man. John Carter remembered no childhood and did not know his age. He had lived on the planet Mars for ten years, fighting for and against its people. He had married Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium, and was a prince in her family.

Pt/En Twelve years had passed since John Carter's body was found near his home. During these years, the narrator often wondered if John Carter was dead or if he had returned to Mars. He wondered if Carter had saved the people of Mars from dying and if he had found his wife and son.

Pt/En The narrator also wondered if Carter had been too late to save Mars and was now living a sad life on a dead world. Or, perhaps, he was truly dead and would never return to Earth or Mars.

Pt/En One hot August evening, I was thinking about unimportant things. My servant, old Ben, gave me a telegram. I opened it and read:

Pt/En The telegram said to meet John Carter the next day at the Raleigh Hotel in Richmond.

Pt/En The next morning, I took an early train to Richmond. After two hours, I was taken to John Carter's room.

Pt/En When I entered, he stood up to welcome me with a friendly smile. He looked the same as always, like a strong, healthy man of thirty. His grey eyes were bright, and his face showed the strong character and determination that I remembered from nearly thirty-five years before.

Pt/En He greeted me and asked if I felt like I was seeing a ghost or had drunk too much.

Pt/En The speaker said he felt good, perhaps because he saw the other person again. He asked if the other person had returned from Mars and if Dejah Thoris was well and waiting for him.

Pt/En The other person confirmed he had been to Barsoom again. He explained it was a long story and he did not have much time before he had to leave. He said he had learned a secret that allowed him to travel between planets easily. However, his heart was always with Barsoom and his Martian Princess, so he doubted he would ever leave that world again.

Pt/En He explained that he came to see the speaker one last time before the speaker moved to another life. He mentioned that he had died three times and would die again that night, but he could not understand this other life any more than the speaker could.

Pt/En He stated that even the wise Therns of Barsoom, who were believed to know the secrets of life and death, were as ignorant as they were. He had proven this, though he almost lost his life. He told the speaker that all the details would be in the notes he had been writing for the past three months on Earth.

Pt/En He touched a large folder that was on the table next to him.

Pt/En The speaker knew that the listener was interested and believed, and that the world was also interested. However, the speaker said that people would not believe for many years, or even ages, because they could not understand. People on Earth had not yet reached a level where they could understand the things written in the notes.

Pt/En The speaker told the listener to give people what they wished from the notes, as long as it would not harm them. The speaker also advised the listener not to be upset if people laughed at them.

Pt/En That night, the narrator walked with Captain John Carter to the cemetery. At the door of Carter's vault, Carter turned and pressed the narrator's hand.

Pt/En Captain Carter said goodbye to his nephew, the narrator. He doubted he would see him again because he did not want to leave his wife and son while they were alive. He mentioned that people on Barsoom often lived for more than a thousand years.

Pt/En Captain Carter entered the vault. The large door closed slowly behind him, and the bolts and lock made sounds as they secured it. The narrator stated that he never saw Captain John Carter, of Virginia, again after that moment.

Pt/En This is the story of his return to Mars. The writer learned it from many notes left on a table in his hotel room in Richmond.

Pt/En The writer left out some parts and did not tell everything. The story of his second search for Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, is more amazing than his first story. In the first story, readers followed him across dry sea beds on Mars.

Pt/En E. R. B.

CHAPTER I — THE PLANT MEN

Pt/En On a cold night in March 1886, the writer stood by his cottage. He looked at the Hudson River. He felt a strong pull from Mars, the god he loved. For ten years, he had wanted Mars to send him back to his lost love.

Pt/En He had not felt this strong attraction to Mars since a night in March 1866. That night, he stood outside a cave in Arizona where his body lay, appearing dead.

Pt/En The narrator stood with his arms stretched out towards the red star. He was praying for the return of a strange power that had brought him through space twice before. He had waited and hoped for this power for ten years.

Pt/En Suddenly, the narrator felt sick. He felt dizzy, and his knees bent. He fell down onto the ground near the edge of a high cliff.

Pt/En His mind became clear immediately. He remembered the terrible things that happened in a dark cave in Arizona. His muscles would not move, and he heard the scary sounds of a dangerous thing from the cave. He tried very hard to break free from a strange feeling that stopped him. Then, he heard a sharp sound, like a wire breaking. He found himself standing naked and free next to a dead body that had recently been alive.

Pt/En He quickly turned and looked at Mars again. He lifted his hands towards its red light and waited.

Pt/En He did not wait long. As soon as he turned, he was moved very fast into the empty space. He felt extreme cold and darkness for a moment, just like twenty years before. Then, he opened his eyes in a new world. He was under a hot sun, shining through a small opening in the roof of a large forest where he lay.

Pt/En The place looked very strange, not like Mars. The narrator felt sudden fear, thinking fate had sent him to a new planet without a plan.

Pt/En He wondered if it was possible. He had no guide in space. He could have been sent to any star in any solar system, not just Mars.

Pt/En He was lying on red grass. Around him were strange, beautiful trees with large, colorful flowers. There were also bright birds with wings, but they made no sound and looked very unusual.

Pt/En The plants were like those on Mars, but the trees and birds were completely new. He also saw an open sea with blue water shining under the sun, which was a very surprising sight on Mars.

Pt/En When he tried to stand up, he had the same problem as before. Because the planet was smaller and the air was thin, his body had little resistance. When he moved to stand, he jumped several feet into the air and fell onto his face in the soft grass.

Pt/En This experience made him feel more sure that he was in an unknown part of Mars. This was possible because in his ten years on the planet, he had only explored a very small area.

Pt/En He stood up again, laughing at his forgetfulness. He quickly learned again how to adjust his body to the new conditions.

Pt/En As he walked towards the sea, he noticed the area looked like a park. The grass was short and neat, like a lawn. The trees were cut to about fifteen feet high. From a distance, the forest looked like a large room with a high ceiling.

Pt/En All these signs of careful farming showed him he had arrived on Mars in a civilized area. He believed that when he met the people, they would treat him with the respect and protection he deserved as a Prince of Tardos Mors.

Pt/En He greatly admired the forest trees as he walked to the sea. Their large trunks, some a hundred feet wide, showed they were very tall. He could not see the tops because the leaves were too thick, but he guessed they were very high.

Pt/En The trees in the forest looked very smooth and shiny, like new pianos. Some trees had black wood, like ebony. Others had wood that was white like fine china, or blue, red, yellow, or dark purple.

Pt/En The leaves on the trees were also colorful and varied, just like the branches. The flowers that grew on the trees were so beautiful that they could not be described with normal words, not even by gods.

Pt/En As I got closer to the edge of the forest, I saw a large meadow between the trees and the sea. When I was about to leave the forest, I saw something that made me stop thinking about the beautiful landscape.

Pt/En To my left, the sea went as far as I could see. In front of me, I could only see a faint line showing where the sea ended. To my right, a large, calm river flowed between red banks and emptied into the sea.

Pt/En A short distance up the river, there were tall, steep cliffs. The great river seemed to start from the bottom of these cliffs.

Pt/En The narrator was not looking at the beautiful forest. Instead, he saw about twenty figures moving slowly in a meadow by a big river.

Pt/En These figures looked strange and unlike anything seen on Mars before. From a distance, they looked like men. The biggest ones were about ten to twelve feet tall and had bodies shaped like human bodies.

Pt/En However, their arms were very short. They moved in a strange, snake-like way, as if they had no bones or had many small bones like a spine.

Pt/En While the narrator watched from behind a large tree, one of the creatures walked towards him. It was doing something that all of them seemed to be doing: running its strange hands over the grass. The narrator did not know why.

Pt/En As the creature came closer, the narrator saw it clearly. Even though he would later meet more of its kind, he felt that seeing this strange copy of nature was enough. He wanted to escape quickly, as fast as the best spaceship could take him away from this frightening creature.

Pt/En The creature's body had no hair and was a strange blue color. A wide white band went around its single eye, which stuck out. The whole eye was white, with no pupil or iris.

Pt/En In the middle of its plain face, the creature had a nose that was a ragged, red, round hole. It looked like a fresh bullet wound that had not yet started to bleed.

Pt/En Below this unpleasant hole, the face was completely blank down to the chin. The creature had no mouth that the observer could see.

Pt/En The head, except for the face, was covered in thick, black hair about eight to ten inches long. Each hair was as thick as a large worm. When the creature moved its scalp muscles, the hair seemed to move and twist as if each hair was alive.

Pt/En The creature's body and legs looked very much like human ones. Its feet were also human-shaped but were extremely large. They measured about three feet from heel to toe and were very flat and wide.

Pt/En The creature came close to me. I saw its strange movements as it touched the grass with its hands. It was eating in a special way. It used sharp claws to cut soft plants and then sucked them up. It had two mouths, one in each hand, and ate through its arm-like throats.

Pt/En The creature also had a large tail, about six feet long. It was round where it joined the body, but became flat and thin at the end. The tail trailed on the ground.

Pt/En The most surprising part of this creature were two small copies of itself, each about six inches long. They hung from its armpits, one on each side. A small stem connected them to the main body.

Pt/En I did not know if these small copies were its young or just parts of the same creature.

Pt/En While I was looking at this strange monster, other creatures from the group came closer. I saw that many of them had the smaller specimens hanging from them, but not all did. The small ones were different sizes, from tiny buds to fully formed creatures about ten to twelve inches long.

Pt/En The group of creatures included many young ones, some as small as babies still with their parents. The group also had very large adult creatures.

Pt/En The narrator thought the creatures looked scary, but he was not sure if he should be afraid. They did not seem very good at fighting. He was about to come out of hiding to see their reaction to a human, but a strange, loud cry from the direction of the hills stopped him.

Pt/En The narrator was naked and had no weapons. If he had shown himself, these cruel beings would have killed him quickly and horribly. However, when the cry sounded, all the creatures in the group turned towards the noise. At the same time, the snake-like hairs on their heads stood straight up, as if they were listening for the sound. This hair was actually their ears, and it was the last part of an old race that came from a special tree.

Pt/En All eyes looked at one large creature who seemed to be the leader. A strange purring sound came from his hand, which had a mouth in it. He then quickly started moving towards the hills, and the whole group followed him.

Pt/En They moved very fast and in a special way, jumping long distances of twenty or thirty feet, similar to how a kangaroo jumps.

Pt/En They were disappearing quickly, so I decided to follow them. I jumped across the field after them, leaping even higher and further than they did. A strong person from Earth can jump very high because Mars has less gravity and air pressure.

Pt/En Their path led towards the river at the bottom of the cliffs. As I got closer, I saw the field had large rocks. Time had clearly caused these rocks to fall from the high cliffs above.

Pt/En Because of the rocks, I came very near the place where the disturbance was happening before I saw the scene. When I looked over a large rock, I saw the group of plant men. They were surrounding about five or six green people from Barsoom.

Pt/En I was now sure I was on Mars. I saw people from the wild groups that live in the dry riverbeds and empty cities of this dying planet.

Pt/En I saw the tall, strong males. They had white tusks coming from their lower jaws, and eyes on the sides of their heads that could look forward, backward, or sideways without moving their heads. They also had strange, ear-like antennae on their foreheads and an extra pair of arms.

Pt/En The narrator knew immediately they were green Martians. He could tell this from their green skin and the metal decorations that showed which tribes they belonged to. He thought they were unique in the whole universe.

Pt/En There were two men and four women in the group. Their decorations showed they were from different tribes. This confused the narrator because the green men from different tribes were always at war with each other. He had only heard of one time when green warriors from different tribes worked together. This was to save Princess Dejah Thoris from an enemy.

Pt/En Now, the green men and the other group stood back to back. They looked with surprise at a common enemy that was clearly showing it wanted to fight them.

Pt/En Both the men and women had long swords and daggers. They did not have guns. If they had guns, the strange plant men of Barsoom would have been defeated quickly.

Pt/En Soon, the leader of the plant men attacked the small group. His way of attacking was very unusual and effective. The green warriors had no way to defend themselves against this strange attack. It was clear they did not know how to fight it, just like they did not know how to fight the strange monsters they were facing.

Pt/En A plant man ran close to the group and jumped up as if to go over their heads. He lifted his strong tail and swung it down powerfully. The tail hit a green warrior and broke his skull like an eggshell.

Pt/En The rest of the scary group quickly ran in circles around the people who were trapped. Their big jumps and loud, strange noises were meant to scare their victims. Two plant men jumped from opposite sides at the same time. Their tails hit without stopping them, and two more green Martians died easily.

Pt/En Only one warrior and two women were left. It seemed they would also be killed on the red grass very soon.

Pt/En But as two more plant men attacked, the warrior was ready. He had learned from what happened before. He lifted his long sword high and cut one of the plant men from his head to his stomach.

Pt/En The other plant man used its tail to hit the two women. They fell to the ground, dead.

Pt/En The green warrior saw his friends fall. Then, he saw the whole group of enemies charging at him. He bravely ran to fight them, swinging his long sword with great skill, just like his people often did in their fights.

Pt/En He cut and hit enemies on both sides, making a clear path through them. Then, he ran very fast towards the forest. He hoped to find safety there.

Pt/En He ran towards the part of the forest near the cliffs. This meant that he and the enemies were moving farther away from the large rock where I was hiding.

Pt/En I watched the brave warrior fight so many enemies. I felt very impressed by him. I quickly jumped from my hiding place. I ran towards the dead green Martians, with a plan already in my mind.

Pt/En I quickly reached the place where the enemies had fallen. Then, I started running after the monsters that were chasing the warrior. I held a strong long sword. I felt the old desire to fight, and a happy feeling came over me, like when I enjoy a battle.

Pt/En I arrived very quickly, just in time. The green warrior had been caught by the creatures before he could reach the forest. He was standing with his back against a large rock. The creatures were making loud noises around him because they could not reach him easily.

Pt/En The creatures had one eye in the middle of their heads and were looking at their target. They did not hear me coming because I was very quiet. I attacked them with my long sword, and four of them died before they knew I was there.

Pt/En For a moment, the creatures moved back from my strong attack. In that moment, the green warrior jumped to my side. He fought with great skill, swinging his sword in large circles. He fought until no one was left alive. His sword cut through flesh, bone, and metal easily.

Pt/En While we were fighting, a loud, strange cry came from high above. I had heard it before, and it had made the creatures attack. The cry came again and again. But we were busy fighting the strong creatures around us, so we could not look for who was making the noise.

Pt/En The creatures' long tails hit us angrily. Their sharp claws cut our arms and bodies. A green, sticky liquid, like the juice from a crushed insect, covered us. This liquid came from the plant men's bodies when our swords cut them, because it flowed in their bodies instead of blood.

Pt/En I felt a monster's weight on my back. Its sharp claws cut into my skin, and I felt a terrible sensation as wet lips drank my blood from the wounds.

Pt/En I was fighting a fierce creature trying to reach my throat. Two other monsters were hitting me with their tails on each side.

Pt/En The green fighter was having trouble defending himself. I thought the difficult fight would end soon. Then, a large creature saw my problem. He pulled himself away from the others, and with one move of his sword, he cut the monster off my back. After I was free, I easily dealt with the remaining monsters.

Pt/En Together, we stood back-to-back near a large rock. This stopped the creatures from flying over us to attack. We were strong enough to fight them on the ground, and we were winning. Suddenly, we heard a loud cry from above us again.

Pt/En This time, I looked up. High above us, on a small natural shelf on the cliff, stood a strange man. He was making a loud signal and waving one hand towards the river's mouth, as if calling someone. With his other hand, he pointed and made signs towards us.

Pt/En When I looked in the direction my companion was watching, I understood his plan. I also felt very afraid because many creatures were coming towards us. They were leaping wildly from the meadow, the forest, and the land across the river. Some were the same kind of monsters we were fighting, and others were strange new ones that ran very fast, sometimes on two legs and sometimes on four.

Pt/En I told my companion that it would be a great death. I asked him to look.

Pt/En My companion quickly looked where I pointed and smiled.

Pt/En He replied that they could at least die fighting like great warriors, John Carter.

Pt/En Just as he spoke, we had finished fighting the enemies closest to us. I turned, surprised to hear my name.

Pt/En The narrator saw Tars Tarkas, who was the most important of the green men of Barsoom. Tars Tarkas was known as a clever leader, a powerful general, and a good friend. He was also the ruler, the Jeddak, of Thark.

CHAPTER II — A FOREST BATTLE

Pt/En Tars Tarkas and the narrator did not have time to talk about what happened. They were standing near a large rock, and dead, strange attackers were around them. Many more frightening creatures were coming from the valley because of a strange sound made by someone high above them.

Pt/En Tars Tarkas told the narrator that they must go to the cliffs. He explained that this was their only chance to escape, even for a short time. He thought they might find a cave or a narrow place on the cliffs that only two people could defend against the many attackers who had no weapons.

Pt/En They ran together across the red grass towards the cliffs. The narrator made sure to run at the same speed as Tars Tarkas, who was slower. They had to run about 300 yards to reach the cliffs and then find a safe place to fight against the scary creatures chasing them.

Pt/En The creatures were catching up quickly. Tars Tarkas asked the narrator to run ahead and look for a safe place. This was a good idea because it could save them time. The narrator used all his strength and ran very fast, reaching the bottom of the cliffs in a short time.

Pt/En The cliffs were very steep and rose straight up from the flat ground of the valley. There were no piles of fallen rocks to help climb them, which was different from most cliffs. Only some loose rocks on the ground showed that the tall cliffs sometimes broke apart.

Pt/En When the narrator first looked at the cliff face, they felt worried. They could not see any easy way to climb the high cliff, except for one spot where a strange figure was standing and shouting loudly.

Pt/En To the narrator's right, the bottom of the cliff disappeared into the thick trees of the forest. The forest grew right up to the cliff, with its beautiful leaves reaching about a thousand feet high next to the hard, unwelcoming cliff.

Pt/En To the left, the cliff seemed to go on without any breaks across the wide valley. It disappeared into the shape of what looked like large mountains that surrounded the valley on all sides.

Pt/En About a thousand feet away, a river seemed to come out directly from the bottom of the cliffs. Since there seemed to be no way to escape in that direction, the narrator looked back towards the forest.

Pt/En The cliffs were very high, about 5000 feet. They looked dull yellow because the sun was not shining directly on them. They also had parts that were dark red, green, and white quartz.

Pt/En The cliffs were very beautiful. However, the narrator did not look at them with much appreciation because it was his first time seeing them.

Pt/En At that moment, the narrator only thought about the cliffs as a way to escape. He looked quickly over their large area, searching for a small opening. He started to hate them, like a prisoner hates the strong walls of his prison.

Pt/En Tars Tarkas was coming towards him quickly, and a large group of enemies was following him even faster.

Pt/En It seemed the only choice was to go into the forest. The narrator was about to tell Tars Tarkas to follow him there when the sun moved past the top of the cliff. As the sun's light hit the dull surface, it suddenly shone with millions of bright lights in gold, red, green, and white. It was a very beautiful and amazing sight.

Pt/En The cliff face looked like a solid gold wall because it was full of gold veins and patches. It also had large rocks of ruby, emerald, and diamond. This suggested that there were great riches hidden behind the beautiful surface.

Pt/En As the sun's rays made the cliff shine, the narrator noticed several dark spots high up on the wall, near the top of the forest. These spots seemed to go behind the tree branches.

Pt/En The narrator soon realized these dark spots were cave openings in the cliff. He thought they might be useful for escaping or finding shelter if they could get to them.

Pt/En The only way to reach the caves was by climbing the very tall trees next to the cliff. The narrator knew he could climb, but Tars Tarkas, who was very heavy, would find it difficult because Martians are not good climbers. Martians usually preferred to walk around the base of hills instead of climbing them.

Pt/En Therefore, the only option was to try and climb the trees near the cliff to reach the caves above.

Pt/En The Thark understood the plan, its good points and its problems, immediately. But there was no other choice, so we quickly went towards the trees closest to the cliff.

Pt/En Our pursuers were very close. It seemed impossible for the Jeddak of Thark to reach the forest before them. Tars Tarkas did not try very hard to escape. The green men of Barsoom do not like running away, and I had never seen one run from death. But Tars Tarkas was very brave, he had fought many times. So I knew he was not running because he was afraid of death. He knew that I was escaping from the dangerous enemies because of my love for Dejah Thoris. I could not understand why the Thark suddenly wanted to live, because they often looked for death. They were strange, cruel, and unhappy people.

Pt/En Finally, we reached the dark trees of the forest. Right behind us was the fastest pursuer. It was a giant plant-like man with sharp claws, ready to attack us.

Pt/En This enemy was about 100 yards ahead of the others. So I told Tars Tarkas to climb a big tree near the cliff. I would fight this enemy. This would give Tars Tarkas time to climb higher before all the enemies arrived and blocked our escape.

Pt/En But I had not correctly guessed how clever my enemy was, or how fast his friends were catching up to me.

Pt/En When the narrator tried to stab the creature, it stopped. Its tail hit him hard and knocked him to the ground. The creature jumped on him, but he grabbed one of its tentacles in each hand before it could bite him.

Pt/En The plant man was strong, but the narrator believed he would win because he was more agile and held the plant man tightly. However, while they fought near a tree where Tars Tarkas was climbing, the narrator saw many pursuers coming.

Pt/En The narrator finally understood what the other monsters were. They were the most frightening creatures on Mars: large white apes.

Pt/En The narrator knew these white apes well from his past experiences on Mars. He said that out of all the strange and scary creatures on Mars, the white apes made him feel the most afraid.

Pt/En He thought the reason he felt scared of these apes was because they looked very similar to humans from Earth. This human-like appearance, combined with their huge size, made them seem very strange and frightening.

Pt/En These creatures are about 15 feet tall and walk upright on their back legs. Like the green Martians, they have an extra pair of arms in the middle of their bodies. Their eyes are close together but do not stick out like the green men's. Their ears are high up and on the sides, and their noses and teeth are similar to an African gorilla. They have a lot of rough hair on their heads.

Pt/En I looked past my enemy and saw these creatures and the terrible plant men. Then, a large group attacked me with angry sounds like snarling, snapping, and screaming. The worst sound I heard as I fell beneath them was the strange purring of the plant men.

Pt/En Immediately, sharp teeth and claws bit into me, and cold lips drank my blood. I tried to get free. Even though these large bodies were heavy, I managed to stand up. Still holding my long sword, I made it shorter to use like a dagger. I fought them so hard that for a moment, I was free.

Pt/En What took minutes to write happened in seconds. During that time, Tars Tarkas saw I was in trouble. He dropped from the branches he had climbed with great effort. As I threw my last attacker away, the big Thark jumped to my side. We fought together again, back to back, like we had done many times before.

Pt/En The ape-like creatures attacked us many times, but we pushed them back with our swords. The plant men's long tails hit us powerfully as they attacked from different sides or jumped over our heads. But every attack was met by a shining sword. Tars Tarkas and John Carter were known as the best fighters on Mars for twenty years.

Pt/En Even with two skilled fighters, they could not win against too many strong and wild enemies. They were pushed back slowly. Finally, they reached the big tree they planned to climb. The enemies attacked many times, and they had to move back around the base of the tree.

Pt/En Tars Tarkas was in front. Suddenly, he made a happy sound.

Pt/En He told John Carter that there was a safe place for one person. John Carter looked down and saw a hole in the tree, about three feet wide.

Pt/En John Carter told Tars Tarkas to go into the hole first. But Tars Tarkas refused. He said he was too big to fit, but John Carter could go in easily.

Pt/En Tars Tarkas warned John Carter that they would both die if they stayed outside. He said the hole was a small chance for one of them to live. He told John Carter to take it so he could get revenge later. Tars Tarkas explained that he was too large to get into the small opening, especially with the enemies attacking them from all sides.

Pt/En John Carter told Tars Tarkas that they would die together. He said he would not go first. Carter asked Tars Tarkas to let him defend the entrance while Tars Tarkas went inside. He explained that his smaller size would help him get in with Tars Tarkas before their enemies could stop them.

Pt/En While fighting hard, they spoke in short sentences. They made quick attacks with their weapons against their many enemies who were surrounding them.

Pt/En Finally, Tars Tarkas agreed because it seemed like the only way to save them both. More and more enemies were coming from all parts of the valley to attack them.

Pt/En Tars Tarkas told John Carter that he always thought about others before himself. But he also said that Carter often told others what to do, even the most important leaders on Barsoom.

Pt/En Tars Tarkas had a serious look on his hard face. He was the most important leader, but he turned to follow the orders of John Carter, who was from another world and much smaller than him.

Pt/En Someone warned John Carter that if he failed, the cruel Thark, who had learned friendship from him, would die with him.

Pt/En John Carter agreed, telling his friend to go quickly, head first, while he would protect his escape.

Pt/En The Thark paused for a moment because he had never before turned away from anything except a dead or defeated enemy.

Pt/En John Carter urged Tars Tarkas to hurry, saying that they would both be defeated if he could not hold the attackers back alone for much longer.

Pt/En As Tars Tarkas went down to get into the tree, a group of monsters attacked John Carter. His shining sword moved quickly from one enemy to another, killing them by cutting their hearts.

Pt/En The narrator fought harder than ever before. The situation was very dangerous, with many strong enemies. He found it hard to believe that his body could survive such a strong attack and the weight of so many fighting creatures.

Pt/En The creatures tried even harder to pull the narrator down because they were afraid he would escape. Even though many of their dead and injured friends were around him, they finally managed to overwhelm him. He fell down under them for the second time that day, and felt their unpleasant sucking mouths on his skin again.

Pt/En As soon as he fell, strong hands grabbed his ankles and pulled him into the shelter of a tree. For a moment, Tars Tarkas and a large plant man, who was holding onto the narrator, pulled in different directions. But then the narrator used his long sword to stab the plant man and kill him.

Pt/En Torn and bleeding from many painful wounds, the narrator lay breathing heavily inside the hollow tree. Tars Tarkas stood at the opening, protecting them from the angry crowd outside.

Pt/En For an hour, the creatures shouted around the tree. After a few tries to get inside, they stopped attacking and only made loud, frightening noises. The great white apes growled, and the plant men made strange, indescribable purring sounds.

Pt/En Most of the enemies left. Only a few stayed behind to stop them from escaping. It looked like they would be trapped, and they would die from hunger. Even if they tried to leave at night, they did not know where to go in the strange and dangerous valley.

Pt/En The enemies stopped attacking. Their eyes got used to the dim light inside their strange hiding place. The narrator decided to look around their shelter.

Pt/En The tree was hollow for about fifty feet across. The floor was flat and hard, suggesting others had lived there before. Looking up to see how high it was, the narrator saw a faint light far above.

Pt/En There was an opening above them. If they could reach it, they might be able to get to the safety of the cliff caves. The narrator's eyes were now used to the dim light inside. While looking around, they found a rough ladder on the far side of the cave.

Pt/En The narrator climbed the ladder quickly. At the top, it led to wooden bars. These bars were placed horizontally, one above another, about three feet apart. They went up as far as the narrator could see and formed a good ladder inside the tree's stem.

Pt/En I went down again and told Tars Tarkas what I had found. He said that I should climb up as high as I could safely go, and he would watch the entrance to protect us from any attack.

Pt/En I quickly climbed up the strange shaft. The ladder had bars going across, and each part was as high as I could see. As I went higher, the light from above became brighter.

Pt/En I climbed for about five hundred feet until I reached an opening in the tree that let in light. It was about as wide as the entrance at the bottom. It opened onto a large, flat branch. The branch was worn smooth, showing that creatures often used it to go to and from this strange shaft.

Pt/En I was afraid to go out onto the branch because I might be seen and our way back could be blocked. So, I quickly went back down to Tars Tarkas.

Pt/En I soon met him, and then we both started climbing the long ladder towards the opening above.

Pt/En Tars Tarkas walked ahead. When the narrator reached the first bar, he pulled the ladder up. He gave the ladder to Tars Tarkas. Tars Tarkas carried it 100 feet higher and fixed it safely. The narrator took away the lower bars as he climbed. This meant no one could follow them from behind.

Pt/En Later, they understood that this action protected them from a very bad situation and saved them.

Pt/En When they arrived at the top opening, Tars Tarkas moved aside so the narrator could go out and look. The narrator was lighter and more agile, so he was better for walking on the dangerous, high path.

Pt/En The branch where the narrator stood went up slightly towards the cliff. It ended a short distance above a narrow ledge. This ledge was at the entrance to a small cave in the cliff.

Pt/En As the narrator moved to the thinner end of the branch, it bent under his weight. He was balanced carefully on the very end, and the branch moved gently. It was level with the ledge, about two feet away.

Pt/En Below me, the valley floor was a bright red. High above, tall, shiny cliffs rose up.

Pt/En The cave I saw was not like the ones I had seen from the ground, which were much higher. But as far as I could tell, this cave was good enough for what we needed. So, I went back to the tree to find Tars Tarkas.

Pt/En Together, we moved carefully along the moving path. But when we reached the end of the branch, our combined weight made it bend down so much that the cave entrance was too high for us to reach.

Pt/En We finally decided that Tars Tarkas would go back along the branch. He would leave his longest leather strap with me. Then, when the branch moved up enough for me to enter the cave, I would go in. After Tars Tarkas returned, I could lower the strap and pull him up to the safe ledge.

Pt/En We did this without any problems. Soon, we were both standing on a small, high balcony. From there, we had a wonderful view of the valley below us.

Pt/En Beautiful forests and red grass grew next to a quiet sea, with tall, bright cliffs all around. At one point, they thought they saw a golden tower shining in the sun among the tops of trees far away. However, they soon decided it was just their imagination because they really wanted to find people in this lovely but dangerous place.

Pt/En Below them, by the river, large white apes were eating the last parts of Tars Tarkas's old friends. Nearby, many plant-like creatures were eating grass in circles, keeping it short like a lawn.

Pt/En They knew that an attack from the trees was not likely now. So, they decided to explore a cave. They believed the cave was a continuation of the path they had already walked. They did not know where it led, but they were sure it was away from this dangerous valley.

Pt/En As they walked, they found a tunnel made from the rock. The walls were about twenty feet high, and the floor was five feet wide. The roof was curved. They had no light, so they moved slowly into the growing darkness. Tars Tarkas kept one hand on a wall, and the narrator felt the other. To avoid getting lost in different paths, they held hands.

Pt/En They walked through the tunnel for an unknown distance. Suddenly, they reached something that stopped them. It felt like a wall, not the end of the cave. It was made of something that felt like very hard wood, not rock.

Pt/En I felt around the surface and found a button, which on Mars is used to open doors, just like a doorknob on Earth.

Pt/En When I gently pressed the button, the door slowly opened. Then we looked into a room that was lit by a dim light and seemed empty.

Pt/En I opened the door wide, and the tall Thark followed me inside. As we looked around the room, a small sound behind us made me turn quickly. To my surprise, the door closed by itself with a loud click.

Pt/En I immediately tried to open the door again. The way it moved by itself and the very quiet room made me feel that something bad was hidden in this rocky place inside the Golden Cliffs.

Pt/En My hands tried hard to open the strong door, but it would not move. I looked everywhere for another button like the one that let us in, but I could not find it.

Pt/En Then, a cruel and mocking laugh was heard from unseen lips in the empty place.

CHAPTER III — THE CHAMBER OF MYSTERY

Pt/En After the terrible laugh stopped echoing in the rocky room, Tars Tarkas and I stood in tense silence, waiting. No other sound was heard, and nothing moved that we could see.

Pt/En Finally, Tars Tarkas laughed quietly. His people laugh like this when they are near something horrible or frightening. It is not a nervous laugh, but shows they enjoy things that make other people feel sad or disgusted.

Pt/En He had often seen them laugh uncontrollably, rolling on the ground, when watching women and children suffer during the terrible Martian festival called the Great Games.

Pt/En I looked up at the Thark, smiling myself. It was a better time to smile than to be afraid.

Pt/En The narrator asked his companion what he thought about everything and where they were.

Pt/En He looked at the narrator with surprise.

Pt/En The companion repeated the question about their location and asked John Carter if he really did not know where they were.

Pt/En John Carter explained that he could only guess they were on Barsoom. He added that without his companion and the great white apes, he would not even guess that, because the things he had seen that day were very different from his beloved Barsoom of ten years ago, and also very different from his home world.

Pt/En John Carter told Tars Tarkas that he did not know where they were.

Pt/En Someone asked where the person had been since they opened the atmosphere plant many years ago. This happened after the keeper died and the engines stopped, which put everyone on Barsoom in danger of not being able to breathe. The person's body was never found, even though people searched for years. The ruler of Helium and his granddaughter offered large rewards for the search.

Pt/En When all attempts to find the person failed, people thought they had gone on a journey down the River Iss. They believed the person was waiting in the Valley Dor, by the Lost Sea of Korus, for Dejah Thoris, the princess.

Pt/En No one knew why the person had gone, especially because their princess was still alive.

Pt/En The speaker interrupted, saying they were thankful. They explained they had been afraid to ask because they feared they might be too late to save the princess. She was very sick when they last saw her in the royal gardens, and they had little hope of reaching the atmosphere plant before she died. They then asked if she was still alive.

Pt/En The other person confirmed that she was alive and called the speaker by name, John Carter.

Pt/En The speaker reminded the other person that they had not been told where they were.

Pt/En The speaker told John Carter that they were in the place they expected to find him and someone else. He mentioned that John Carter knew the story of a woman who taught the speaker to love, which green Martians were trained to hate. He also knew about the terrible suffering and death this woman experienced because of Tal Hajus.

Pt/En The speaker thought that this woman was waiting for him near the Lost Sea of Korus.

Pt/En The speaker also thought that John Carter, who was from another world, would teach the cruel Thark about friendship. He believed John Carter was also exploring the peaceful Valley Dor.

Pt/En The speaker explained that the two people he wanted to see most were at the end of a long journey. Dejah Thoris had hoped John Carter might return to her, as she believed he had only gone back to his own planet for a short time. Because of this, the speaker had started his journey a month ago, and John Carter had now seen its end. The speaker asked if John Carter understood where he was.

Pt/En I asked if that was the River Iss, which flowed into the Lost Sea of Korus in the Valley Dor.

Pt/En He replied that it was a valley of love, peace, and rest. He explained that Barsoomians had wanted to visit it for a very long time, after a life of hate and fighting. He told John Carter that this place was Heaven.

Pt/En His voice was cold and not sincere. It showed his great disappointment. He had suffered a terrible letdown, and his lifelong hopes were destroyed. This might have excused a much stronger reaction from the Thark.

Pt/En I put my hand on his shoulder.

Pt/En I told him I was sorry, and there was nothing else I could say.

Pt/En The speaker asked John Carter to consider the billions of Barsoomians who had travelled down the dangerous river since the beginning of time. They all fell into the hands of the terrible creatures that had attacked them today.

Pt/En There is an old story that a red man once came back from the River Iss. He told a frightening story about horrible monsters in a beautiful valley. These monsters attacked every Barsoomian at the end of their journey by the Lost Sea, eating them. But the old people killed anyone who returned from the River of Mystery because it was against tradition.

Pt/En The speaker said that they now knew the legend was true and the man had only told what he saw. However, they asked John Carter what good it did them, because even if they escaped, they would be treated like the man in the legend. They felt trapped between two bad choices.

Pt/En The narrator replied to Tars Tarkas, saying that they were in a very difficult situation, like the Earth saying 'between the devil and the deep sea'. The narrator even smiled a little at their problem.

Pt/En The speaker said they could only accept what happened. They felt some comfort knowing that anyone who killed them would suffer many losses themselves. They believed that killing John Carter, Prince of the House of Tardos Mors, and Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, at the same time would be very costly in lives for their enemies.

Pt/En The narrator found the chief's dark humor funny and laughed. The chief also laughed with him. This was a rare, happy laugh that showed the chief was different from other Tharkians.

Pt/En The chief finally asked John Carter about himself. He wanted to know where John had been for all these years and how he had ended up there today.

Pt/En John Carter explained that he had returned to Earth. He said he had hoped for ten years to come back to this planet, feeling a strong connection to it despite its harsh ways, even more than to his home world.

Pt/En For ten years, he had lived with worry about whether Dejah Thoris was alive. Now that his hopes were answered, fate had brought him to a place with no escape. Leaving would mean losing his last hope of seeing his princess again, and he realized how little material things matter in the afterlife.

Pt/En John Carter told the chief that only half an hour before seeing him, he was standing by a river on Earth. He asked his friend if he believed his story.

Pt/En Tars Tarkas said he believed it, but he did not understand why.

Pt/En While they were talking, he looked around the room. It was about 200 feet long and half as wide. On the wall opposite the entrance, there seemed to be a door.

Pt/En The room was made from the cliff rock and looked like dull gold in the dim light. Some parts of the walls and ceiling had shiny ruby, emerald, and diamond. The floor was very hard and smooth. He saw two doors, but one was locked. He walked towards the other door.

Pt/En As he reached out to find the button to open the door, he heard that cruel laugh again. It was very close, so he moved back quickly and held his sword tighter.

Pt/En Then, a voice from the far corner of the large room said sadly that there was no hope, the dead do not come back, and there is no new life. He said not to hope because there was no hope.

Pt/En We looked where the voice seemed to come from, but we could not see anyone. I felt very scared, and the hair on my neck stood up, like a dog's hair when it sees something strange in the dark.

Pt/En I quickly walked towards the sad voice, but it stopped before I got to the far wall. Then, another sharp voice came from the other end of the room.

Pt/En The voice shouted that they were fools. It asked if they thought they could break the rules of life and death, or cheat Issus, the Goddess of Death, out of what she was owed. It reminded them that her messenger had brought them to the Valley Dor.

Pt/En The voice asked if they thought Issus would give up what belonged to her. It also asked if they thought they could escape from a place where only one person had ever escaped in all of time.

Pt/En The voice told them to go back the way they came, to the children of the Tree of Life or the white apes, where they could find quick relief from pain. But if they insisted on going through the Golden Cliffs and past the fortresses of the Holy Therns, Death would find them. It warned that this death was so terrible that even the Holy Therns, who created Life and Death, would look away from its horror and cover their ears from the screams of its victims.

Pt/En Someone told them to go back the way they came.

Pt/En Then, a terrible laugh came from another part of the room.

Pt/En The narrator told Tars Tarkas that it was very strange.

Pt/En Tars Tarkas asked what they should do. He said they could not fight nothing and that he would rather go back and fight enemies, even if it meant dying, because death seemed better than oblivion.

Pt/En The narrator replied to Tars Tarkas that if they could not fight empty air, empty air also could not fight them. He said that he had fought many warriors and would not be stopped by wind, and neither would Tars Tarkas.

Pt/En The green warrior replied that unseen voices could come from invisible creatures who used invisible swords.

Pt/En John Carter told Tars Tarkas that the voices came from beings as real as themselves. He explained that their blood could be spilled like anyone else's, and their invisibility proved they were mortal and not very brave. Carter asked Tars Tarkas if he thought John Carter would run away from a cowardly enemy who would not fight openly.

Pt/En John Carter spoke loudly so that the unseen enemies could hear him. He was tired of the frightening situation. He thought it might be a plan to scare them back to the dangerous valley they had escaped, so that creatures there could kill them easily.

Pt/En After a long silence, John Carter heard a quiet, sneaky sound behind him. He turned quickly and saw a large, many-legged banth moving slowly towards him.

Pt/En The banth is a dangerous animal that hunts in the low hills around the old, dry seas of Mars. Like most animals on Mars, it has little hair, except for a thick, bristly mane around its neck.

Pt/En The creature had a long, thin body and ten strong legs. Its large mouth had many rows of sharp, needle-like teeth, similar to a Martian hound. Its big green eyes made it look very frightening.

Pt/En As the creature moved closer, it hit its yellow sides with its strong tail. When it realized it had been seen, it made a loud, scary noise that often made its prey freeze with fear just before it attacked.

Pt/En The creature jumped towards me, but its loud roar did not scare me. Instead of soft flesh, its jaws met my cold steel weapon.

Pt/En A moment later, I took my sword out of the dead lion-like creature's heart. I turned and was surprised to see Tars Tarkas fighting a similar monster.

Pt/En As soon as Tars Tarkas finished his fight, I turned, feeling like something was pulling me. I saw another wild Martian animal jumping towards me across the room.

Pt/En For about an hour, many frightening creatures appeared suddenly around them, seeming to come from nowhere.

Pt/En Tars Tarkas was happy because he could fight these creatures with his sword. The narrator thought this was much better than hearing strange voices from people they could not see.

Pt/En The new enemies were not magical. They cried out in pain when Tars Tarkas cut them, and real blood flowed from their wounds as they died.

Pt/En During this fighting, the narrator noticed that the creatures only appeared when their backs were turned. He believed they came through hidden doors, not from thin air.

Pt/En Tars Tarkas wore a leather harness, which was the only clothing Martians wore besides silk capes and fur for warmth at night. A small mirror, like a lady's hand mirror, hung on his back.

Pt/En While he was looking at an enemy who had just fallen, I saw something in the mirror. Its surface showed a sight that made me whisper.

Pt/En I told Tars Tarkas not to move even a muscle.

Pt/En He did not ask why, but stayed completely still while I watched the strange thing that was very important to us.

Pt/En I saw a part of the wall behind me move quickly. It was turning on a central point, and a part of the floor in front of it was also turning. It was like placing a small card on its edge on top of a flat coin, so the card's edge cut the coin exactly in half.

Pt/En The card could be like the turning wall section, and the coin could be like the turning floor section. Both parts fit so perfectly into the wall and floor next to them that no line could be seen in the dim light of the room.

Pt/En As the floor turned halfway, a large animal was seen sitting down. When the floor stopped, the animal was facing the narrator.

Pt/En Through the opening made by the turning floor, the narrator saw a large, bright room. Inside, men and women were chained to the wall. In front of them was a man with a cruel face and long yellow hair. He was white, like the narrator, and seemed to be controlling the secret door.

Pt/En The prisoners were red Martians. They were chained next to dangerous animals, similar to those that had attacked the narrator and his companions.

Pt/En The narrator felt happier as he prepared to face this new enemy.

Pt/En The narrator quietly warned Tars Tarkas to watch the wall, explaining that the animals were released through secret doors in it. He spoke softly so their enemies would not learn about the secret passages.

Pt/En While they stood at different ends of the room, no one attacked them. This made it obvious that the walls had holes so people could watch them from outside.

Pt/En Finally, he thought of a plan. He moved close to Tars Tarkas and quietly told him his idea. He kept looking at his end of the room.

Pt/En The large Thark agreed to the plan with a sound. Then, following the idea, Tars Tarkas began to move back towards the wall the narrator was facing. The narrator moved slowly forward.

Pt/En When they were about ten feet from the hidden door, the narrator stopped Tars Tarkas. He told his companion to stay very still until he gave the signal they had agreed on. Then, the narrator quickly turned his back to the door, feeling like someone was watching him with angry eyes.

Pt/En Immediately, the narrator looked at the mirror on Tars Tarkas's back. In a moment, he was watching the part of the wall where the dangerous attackers had appeared.

Pt/En The golden surface started to move quickly. As soon as it began, I signaled Tars Tarkas and jumped towards the part of the door that was moving away. Tars Tarkas also turned and jumped towards the opening.

Pt/En I jumped through the opening into the next room. There, I saw a man whose face I recognized as cruel. He looked like an Earth man, about my height and strong.

Pt/En He was carrying a long-sword, a short-sword, a dagger, and a radium revolver, which are dangerous weapons on Mars.

Pt/En I only had a long-sword. Normally, this means my opponent should use a similar or weaker weapon. However, my enemy immediately took out his revolver. Before he could shoot, I hit his hand with my long-sword, and the weapon flew out of his grasp.

Pt/En He then took out his long-sword. With both of us armed with long-swords, we began a very close fight, one of the hardest I have ever experienced.

Pt/En The man was an excellent swordsman and clearly very skilled. I had not held a sword for ten years before that morning.

Pt/En However, I quickly found my fighting rhythm. After a few minutes, the man started to understand that he had finally met someone as good as him.

Pt/En He became very angry because my defense was strong. Blood was coming from many small cuts on his face and body.

Pt/En He asked me who I was, calling me "white man". He said it was clear I was not from Barsoom's outer lands because of my skin color, and that I was not one of them.

Pt/En His last comment sounded like a question.

Pt/En I asked him if I might be from the Temple of Issus, making a guess.

Pt/En He cried out in fear, saying that he hoped that was not true. His face became pale under the blood that was on it.

Original English Text

1 - FOREWORD

2 - CHAPTER I — THE PLANT MEN

3 - CHAPTER II — A FOREST BATTLE

4 - CHAPTER III — THE CHAMBER OF MYSTERY

FOREWORD

PT Twelve years had passed since I had laid the body of my great-uncle, Captain John Carter, of Virginia, away from the sight of men in that strange mausoleum in the old cemetery at Richmond.

PT Often had I pondered on the odd instructions he had left me governing the construction of his mighty tomb, and especially those parts which directed that he be laid in an OPEN casket and that the ponderous mechanism which controlled the bolts of the vault's huge door be accessible ONLY FROM THE INSIDE.

PT Twelve years had passed since I had read the remarkable manuscript of this remarkable man; this man who remembered no childhood and who could not even offer a vague guess as to his age; who was always young and yet who had dandled my grandfather's great-grandfather upon his knee; this man who had spent ten years upon the planet Mars; who had fought for the green men of Barsoom and fought against them; who had fought for and against the red men and who had won the ever beautiful Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, for his wife, and for nearly ten years had been a prince of the house of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium.

PT Twelve years had passed since his body had been found upon the bluff before his cottage overlooking the Hudson, and oft-times during these long years I had wondered if John Carter were really dead, or if he again roamed the dead sea bottoms of that dying planet; if he had returned to Barsoom to find that he had opened the frowning portals of the mighty atmosphere plant in time to save the countless millions who were dying of asphyxiation on that far-gone day that had seen him hurtled ruthlessly through forty-eight million miles of space back to Earth once more. I had wondered if he had found his black-haired Princess and the slender son he had dreamed was with her in the royal gardens of Tardos Mors, awaiting his return.

PT Or, had he found that he had been too late, and thus gone back to a living death upon a dead world? Or was he really dead after all, never to return either to his mother Earth or his beloved Mars?

PT Thus was I lost in useless speculation one sultry August evening when old Ben, my body servant, handed me a telegram. Tearing it open I read:

PT 'Meet me to-morrow hotel Raleigh Richmond. 'JOHN CARTER'

PT Early the next morning I took the first train for Richmond and within two hours was being ushered into the room occupied by John Carter.

PT As I entered he rose to greet me, his old-time cordial smile of welcome lighting his handsome face. Apparently he had not aged a minute, but was still the straight, clean-limbed fighting-man of thirty. His keen grey eyes were undimmed, and the only lines upon his face were the lines of iron character and determination that always had been there since first I remembered him, nearly thirty-five years before.

PT 'Well, nephew,' he greeted me, 'do you feel as though you were seeing a ghost, or suffering from the effects of too many of Uncle Ben's juleps?'

PT 'Juleps, I reckon,' I replied, 'for I certainly feel mighty good; but maybe it's just the sight of you again that affects me. You have been back to Mars? Tell me. And Dejah Thoris? You found her well and awaiting you?'

PT 'Yes, I have been to Barsoom again, and -- but it's a long story, too long to tell in the limited time I have before I must return. I have learned the secret, nephew, and I may traverse the trackless void at my will, coming and going between the countless planets as I list; but my heart is always in Barsoom, and while it is there in the keeping of my Martian Princess, I doubt that I shall ever again leave the dying world that is my life.

PT 'I have come now because my affection for you prompted me to see you once more before you pass over for ever into that other life that I shall never know, and which though I have died thrice and shall die again to-night, as you know death, I am as unable to fathom as are you.

PT 'Even the wise and mysterious therns of Barsoom, that ancient cult which for countless ages has been credited with holding the secret of life and death in their impregnable fastnesses upon the hither slopes of the Mountains of Otz, are as ignorant as we. I have proved it, though I near lost my life in the doing of it; but you shall read it all in the notes I have been making during the last three months that I have been back upon Earth.'

PT He patted a swelling portfolio that lay on the table at his elbow.

PT 'I know that you are interested and that you believe, and I know that the world, too, is interested, though they will not believe for many years; yes, for many ages, since they cannot understand. Earth men have not yet progressed to a point where they can comprehend the things that I have written in those notes.

PT 'Give them what you wish of it, what you think will not harm them, but do not feel aggrieved if they laugh at you.'

PT That night I walked down to the cemetery with him. At the door of his vault he turned and pressed my hand.

PT 'Good-bye, nephew,' he said. 'I may never see you again, for I doubt that I can ever bring myself to leave my wife and boy while they live, and the span of life upon Barsoom is often more than a thousand years.'

PT He entered the vault. The great door swung slowly to. The ponderous bolts grated into place. The lock clicked. I have never seen Captain John Carter, of Virginia, since.

PT But here is the story of his return to Mars on that other occasion, as I have gleaned it from the great mass of notes which he left for me upon the table of his room in the hotel at Richmond.

PT There is much which I have left out; much which I have not dared to tell; but you will find the story of his second search for Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, even more remarkable than was his first manuscript which I gave to an unbelieving world a short time since and through which we followed the fighting Virginian across dead sea bottoms under the moons of Mars.

PT E. R. B.

CHAPTER I — THE PLANT MEN

PT As I stood upon the bluff before my cottage on that clear cold night in the early part of March, 1886, the noble Hudson flowing like the grey and silent spectre of a dead river below me, I felt again the strange, compelling influence of the mighty god of war, my beloved Mars, which for ten long and lonesome years I had implored with outstretched arms to carry me back to my lost love.

PT Not since that other March night in 1866, when I had stood without that Arizona cave in which my still and lifeless body lay wrapped in the similitude of earthly death had I felt the irresistible attraction of the god of my profession.

PT With arms outstretched toward the red eye of the great star I stood praying for a return of that strange power which twice had drawn me through the immensity of space, praying as I had prayed on a thousand nights before during the long ten years that I had waited and hoped.

PT Suddenly a qualm of nausea swept over me, my senses swam, my knees gave beneath me and I pitched headlong to the ground upon the very verge of the dizzy bluff.

PT Instantly my brain cleared and there swept back across the threshold of my memory the vivid picture of the horrors of that ghostly Arizona cave; again, as on that far-gone night, my muscles refused to respond to my will and again, as though even here upon the banks of the placid Hudson, I could hear the awful moans and rustling of the fearsome thing which had lurked and threatened me from the dark recesses of the cave, I made the same mighty and superhuman effort to break the bonds of the strange anaesthesia which held me, and again came the sharp click as of the sudden parting of a taut wire, and I stood naked and free beside the staring, lifeless thing that had so recently pulsed with the warm, red life-blood of John Carter.

PT With scarcely a parting glance I turned my eyes again toward Mars, lifted my hands toward his lurid rays, and waited.

PT Nor did I have long to wait; for scarce had I turned ere I shot with the rapidity of thought into the awful void before me. There was the same instant of unthinkable cold and utter darkness that I had experienced twenty years before, and then I opened my eyes in another world, beneath the burning rays of a hot sun, which beat through a tiny opening in the dome of the mighty forest in which I lay.

PT The scene that met my eyes was so un-Martian that my heart sprang to my throat as the sudden fear swept through me that I had been aimlessly tossed upon some strange planet by a cruel fate.

PT Why not? What guide had I through the trackless waste of interplanetary space? What assurance that I might not as well be hurtled to some far-distant star of another solar system, as to Mars?

PT I lay upon a close-cropped sward of red grasslike vegetation, and about me stretched a grove of strange and beautiful trees, covered with huge and gorgeous blossoms and filled with brilliant, voiceless birds. I call them birds since they were winged, but mortal eye ne'er rested on such odd, unearthly shapes.

PT The vegetation was similar to that which covers the lawns of the red Martians of the great waterways, but the trees and birds were unlike anything that I had ever seen upon Mars, and then through the further trees I could see that most un-Martian of all sights -- an open sea, its blue waters shimmering beneath the brazen sun.

PT As I rose to investigate further I experienced the same ridiculous catastrophe that had met my first attempt to walk under Martian conditions. The lesser attraction of this smaller planet and the reduced air pressure of its greatly rarefied atmosphere, afforded so little resistance to my earthly muscles that the ordinary exertion of the mere act of rising sent me several feet into the air and precipitated me upon my face in the soft and brilliant grass of this strange world.

PT This experience, however, gave me some slightly increased assurance that, after all, I might indeed be in some, to me, unknown corner of Mars, and this was very possible since during my ten years' residence upon the planet I had explored but a comparatively tiny area of its vast expanse.

PT I arose again, laughing at my forgetfulness, and soon had mastered once more the art of attuning my earthly sinews to these changed conditions.

PT As I walked slowly down the imperceptible slope toward the sea I could not help but note the park-like appearance of the sward and trees. The grass was as close-cropped and carpet-like as some old English lawn and the trees themselves showed evidence of careful pruning to a uniform height of about fifteen feet from the ground, so that as one turned his glance in any direction the forest had the appearance at a little distance of a vast, high-ceiled chamber.

PT All these evidences of careful and systematic cultivation convinced me that I had been fortunate enough to make my entry into Mars on this second occasion through the domain of a civilized people and that when I should find them I would be accorded the courtesy and protection that my rank as a Prince of the house of Tardos Mors entitled me to.

PT The trees of the forest attracted my deep admiration as I proceeded toward the sea. Their great stems, some of them fully a hundred feet in diameter, attested their prodigious height, which I could only guess at, since at no point could I penetrate their dense foliage above me to more than sixty or eighty feet.

PT As far aloft as I could see the stems and branches and twigs were as smooth and as highly polished as the newest of American-made pianos. The wood of some of the trees was as black as ebony, while their nearest neighbours might perhaps gleam in the subdued light of the forest as clear and white as the finest china, or, again, they were azure, scarlet, yellow, or deepest purple.

PT And in the same way was the foliage as gay and variegated as the stems, while the blooms that clustered thick upon them may not be described in any earthly tongue, and indeed might challenge the language of the gods.

PT As I neared the confines of the forest I beheld before me and between the grove and the open sea, a broad expanse of meadow land, and as I was about to emerge from the shadows of the trees a sight met my eyes that banished all romantic and poetic reflection upon the beauties of the strange landscape.

PT To my left the sea extended as far as the eye could reach, before me only a vague, dim line indicated its further shore, while at my right a mighty river, broad, placid, and majestic, flowed between scarlet banks to empty into the quiet sea before me.

PT At a little distance up the river rose mighty perpendicular bluffs, from the very base of which the great river seemed to rise.

PT But it was not these inspiring and magnificent evidences of Nature's grandeur that took my immediate attention from the beauties of the forest. It was the sight of a score of figures moving slowly about the meadow near the bank of the mighty river.

PT Odd, grotesque shapes they were; unlike anything that I had ever seen upon Mars, and yet, at a distance, most manlike in appearance. The larger specimens appeared to be about ten or twelve feet in height when they stood erect, and to be proportioned as to torso and lower extremities precisely as is earthly man.

PT Their arms, however, were very short, and from where I stood seemed as though fashioned much after the manner of an elephant's trunk, in that they moved in sinuous and snakelike undulations, as though entirely without bony structure, or if there were bones it seemed that they must be vertebral in nature.

PT As I watched them from behind the stem of a huge tree, one of the creatures moved slowly in my direction, engaged in the occupation that seemed to be the principal business of each of them, and which consisted in running their oddly shaped hands over the surface of the sward, for what purpose I could not determine.

PT As he approached quite close to me I obtained an excellent view of him, and though I was later to become better acquainted with his kind, I may say that that single cursory examination of this awful travesty on Nature would have proved quite sufficient to my desires had I been a free agent. The fastest flier of the Heliumetic Navy could not quickly enough have carried me far from this hideous creature.

PT Its hairless body was a strange and ghoulish blue, except for a broad band of white which encircled its protruding, single eye: an eye that was all dead white -- pupil, iris, and ball.

PT Its nose was a ragged, inflamed, circular hole in the centre of its blank face; a hole that resembled more closely nothing that I could think of other than a fresh bullet wound which has not yet commenced to bleed.

PT Below this repulsive orifice the face was quite blank to the chin, for the thing had no mouth that I could discover.

PT The head, with the exception of the face, was covered by a tangled mass of jet-black hair some eight or ten inches in length. Each hair was about the bigness of a large angleworm, and as the thing moved the muscles of its scalp this awful head-covering seemed to writhe and wriggle and crawl about the fearsome face as though indeed each separate hair was endowed with independent life.

PT The body and the legs were as symmetrically human as Nature could have fashioned them, and the feet, too, were human in shape, but of monstrous proportions. From heel to toe they were fully three feet long, and very flat and very broad.

PT As it came quite close to me I discovered that its strange movements, running its odd hands over the surface of the turf, were the result of its peculiar method of feeding, which consists in cropping off the tender vegetation with its razorlike talons and sucking it up from its two mouths, which lie one in the palm of each hand, through its arm-like throats.

PT In addition to the features which I have already described, the beast was equipped with a massive tail about six feet in length, quite round where it joined the body, but tapering to a flat, thin blade toward the end, which trailed at right angles to the ground.

PT By far the most remarkable feature of this most remarkable creature, however, were the two tiny replicas of it, each about six inches in length, which dangled, one on either side, from its armpits. They were suspended by a small stem which seemed to grow from the exact tops of their heads to where it connected them with the body of the adult.

PT Whether they were the young, or merely portions of a composite creature, I did not know.

PT As I had been scrutinizing this weird monstrosity the balance of the herd had fed quite close to me and I now saw that while many had the smaller specimens dangling from them, not all were thus equipped, and I further noted that the little ones varied in size from what appeared to be but tiny unopened buds an inch in diameter through various stages of development to the full-fledged and perfectly formed creature of ten to twelve inches in length.

PT Feeding with the herd were many of the little fellows not much larger than those which remained attached to their parents, and from the young of that size the herd graded up to the immense adults.

PT Fearsome-looking as they were, I did not know whether to fear them or not, for they did not seem to be particularly well equipped for fighting, and I was on the point of stepping from my hiding-place and revealing myself to them to note the effect upon them of the sight of a man when my rash resolve was, fortunately for me, nipped in the bud by a strange shrieking wail, which seemed to come from the direction of the bluffs at my right.

PT Naked and unarmed, as I was, my end would have been both speedy and horrible at the hands of these cruel creatures had I had time to put my resolve into execution, but at the moment of the shriek each member of the herd turned in the direction from which the sound seemed to come, and at the same instant every particular snake-like hair upon their heads rose stiffly perpendicular as if each had been a sentient organism looking or listening for the source or meaning of the wail. And indeed the latter proved to be the truth, for this strange growth upon the craniums of the plant men of Barsoom represents the thousand ears of these hideous creatures, the last remnant of the strange race which sprang from the original Tree of Life.

PT Instantly every eye turned toward one member of the herd, a large fellow who evidently was the leader. A strange purring sound issued from the mouth in the palm of one of his hands, and at the same time he started rapidly toward the bluff, followed by the entire herd.

PT Their speed and method of locomotion were both remarkable, springing as they did in great leaps of twenty or thirty feet, much after the manner of a kangaroo.

PT They were rapidly disappearing when it occurred to me to follow them, and so, hurling caution to the winds, I sprang across the meadow in their wake with leaps and bounds even more prodigious than their own, for the muscles of an athletic Earth man produce remarkable results when pitted against the lesser gravity and air pressure of Mars.

PT Their way led directly towards the apparent source of the river at the base of the cliffs, and as I neared this point I found the meadow dotted with huge boulders that the ravages of time had evidently dislodged from the towering crags above.

PT For this reason I came quite close to the cause of the disturbance before the scene broke upon my horrified gaze. As I topped a great boulder I saw the herd of plant men surrounding a little group of perhaps five or six green men and women of Barsoom.

PT That I was indeed upon Mars I now had no doubt, for here were members of the wild hordes that people the dead sea bottoms and deserted cities of that dying planet.

PT Here were the great males towering in all the majesty of their imposing height; here were the gleaming white tusks protruding from their massive lower jaws to a point near the centre of their foreheads, the laterally placed, protruding eyes with which they could look forward or backward, or to either side without turning their heads, here the strange antennae-like ears rising from the tops of their foreheads; and the additional pair of arms extending from midway between the shoulders and the hips.

PT Even without the glossy green hide and the metal ornaments which denoted the tribes to which they belonged, I would have known them on the instant for what they were, for where else in all the universe is their like duplicated?

PT There were two men and four females in the party and their ornaments denoted them as members of different hordes, a fact which tended to puzzle me infinitely, since the various hordes of green men of Barsoom are eternally at deadly war with one another, and never, except on that single historic instance when the great Tars Tarkas of Thark gathered a hundred and fifty thousand green warriors from several hordes to march upon the doomed city of Zodanga to rescue Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, from the clutches of Than Kosis, had I seen green Martians of different hordes associated in other than mortal combat.

PT But now they stood back to back, facing, in wide-eyed amazement, the very evidently hostile demonstrations of a common enemy.

PT Both men and women were armed with long-swords and daggers, but no firearms were in evidence, else it had been short shrift for the gruesome plant men of Barsoom.

PT Presently the leader of the plant men charged the little party, and his method of attack was as remarkable as it was effective, and by its very strangeness was the more potent, since in the science of the green warriors there was no defence for this singular manner of attack, the like of which it soon was evident to me they were as unfamiliar with as they were with the monstrosities which confronted them.

PT The plant man charged to within a dozen feet of the party and then, with a bound, rose as though to pass directly above their heads. His powerful tail was raised high to one side, and as he passed close above them he brought it down in one terrific sweep that crushed a green warrior's skull as though it had been an eggshell.

PT The balance of the frightful herd was now circling rapidly and with bewildering speed about the little knot of victims. Their prodigious bounds and the shrill, screeching purr of their uncanny mouths were well calculated to confuse and terrorize their prey, so that as two of them leaped simultaneously from either side, the mighty sweep of those awful tails met with no resistance and two more green Martians went down to an ignoble death.

PT There were now but one warrior and two females left, and it seemed that it could be but a matter of seconds ere these, also, lay dead upon the scarlet sward.

PT But as two more of the plant men charged, the warrior, who was now prepared by the experiences of the past few minutes, swung his mighty long-sword aloft and met the hurtling bulk with a clean cut that clove one of the plant men from chin to groin.

PT The other, however, dealt a single blow with his cruel tail that laid both of the females crushed corpses upon the ground.

PT As the green warrior saw the last of his companions go down and at the same time perceived that the entire herd was charging him in a body, he rushed boldly to meet them, swinging his long-sword in the terrific manner that I had so often seen the men of his kind wield it in their ferocious and almost continual warfare among their own race.

PT Cutting and hewing to right and left, he laid an open path straight through the advancing plant men, and then commenced a mad race for the forest, in the shelter of which he evidently hoped that he might find a haven of refuge.

PT He had turned for that portion of the forest which abutted on the cliffs, and thus the mad race was taking the entire party farther and farther from the boulder where I lay concealed.

PT As I had watched the noble fight which the great warrior had put up against such enormous odds my heart had swelled in admiration for him, and acting as I am wont to do, more upon impulse than after mature deliberation, I instantly sprang from my sheltering rock and bounded quickly toward the bodies of the dead green Martians, a well-defined plan of action already formed.

PT Half a dozen great leaps brought me to the spot, and another instant saw me again in my stride in quick pursuit of the hideous monsters that were rapidly gaining on the fleeing warrior, but this time I grasped a mighty long-sword in my hand and in my heart was the old blood lust of the fighting man, and a red mist swam before my eyes and I felt my lips respond to my heart in the old smile that has ever marked me in the midst of the joy of battle.

PT Swift as I was I was none too soon, for the green warrior had been overtaken ere he had made half the distance to the forest, and now he stood with his back to a boulder, while the herd, temporarily balked, hissed and screeched about him.

PT With their single eyes in the centre of their heads and every eye turned upon their prey, they did not note my soundless approach, so that I was upon them with my great long-sword and four of them lay dead ere they knew that I was among them.

PT For an instant they recoiled before my terrific onslaught, and in that instant the green warrior rose to the occasion and, springing to my side, laid to the right and left of him as I had never seen but one other warrior do, with great circling strokes that formed a figure eight about him and that never stopped until none stood living to oppose him, his keen blade passing through flesh and bone and metal as though each had been alike thin air.

PT As we bent to the slaughter, far above us rose that shrill, weird cry which I had heard once before, and which had called the herd to the attack upon their victims. Again and again it rose, but we were too much engaged with the fierce and powerful creatures about us to attempt to search out even with our eyes the author of the horrid notes.

PT Great tails lashed in frenzied anger about us, razor-like talons cut our limbs and bodies, and a green and sticky syrup, such as oozes from a crushed caterpillar, smeared us from head to foot, for every cut and thrust of our longswords brought spurts of this stuff upon us from the severed arteries of the plant men, through which it courses in its sluggish viscidity in lieu of blood.

PT Once I felt the great weight of one of the monsters upon my back and as keen talons sank into my flesh I experienced the frightful sensation of moist lips sucking the lifeblood from the wounds to which the claws still clung.

PT I was very much engaged with a ferocious fellow who was endeavouring to reach my throat from in front, while two more, one on either side, were lashing viciously at me with their tails.

PT The green warrior was much put to it to hold his own, and I felt that the unequal struggle could last but a moment longer when the huge fellow discovered my plight, and tearing himself from those that surrounded him, he raked the assailant from my back with a single sweep of his blade, and thus relieved I had little difficulty with the others.

PT Once together, we stood almost back to back against the great boulder, and thus the creatures were prevented from soaring above us to deliver their deadly blows, and as we were easily their match while they remained upon the ground, we were making great headway in dispatching what remained of them when our attention was again attracted by the shrill wail of the caller above our heads.

PT This time I glanced up, and far above us upon a little natural balcony on the face of the cliff stood a strange figure of a man shrieking out his shrill signal, the while he waved one hand in the direction of the river's mouth as though beckoning to some one there, and with the other pointed and gesticulated toward us.

PT A glance in the direction toward which he was looking was sufficient to apprise me of his aims and at the same time to fill me with the dread of dire apprehension, for, streaming in from all directions across the meadow, from out of the forest, and from the far distance of the flat land across the river, I could see converging upon us a hundred different lines of wildly leaping creatures such as we were now engaged with, and with them some strange new monsters which ran with great swiftness, now erect and now upon all fours.

PT "It will be a great death," I said to my companion. "Look!"

PT As he shot a quick glance in the direction I indicated he smiled.

PT "We may at least die fighting and as great warriors should, John Carter," he replied.

PT We had just finished the last of our immediate antagonists as he spoke, and I turned in surprised wonderment at the sound of my name.

PT And there before my astonished eyes I beheld the greatest of the green men of Barsoom; their shrewdest statesman, their mightiest general, my great and good friend, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark.

CHAPTER II — A FOREST BATTLE

PT Tars Tarkas and I found no time for an exchange of experiences as we stood there before the great boulder surrounded by the corpses of our grotesque assailants, for from all directions down the broad valley was streaming a perfect torrent of terrifying creatures in response to the weird call of the strange figure far above us.

PT "Come," cried Tars Tarkas, "we must make for the cliffs. There lies our only hope of even temporary escape; there we may find a cave or a narrow ledge which two may defend for ever against this motley, unarmed horde."

PT Together we raced across the scarlet sward, I timing my speed that I might not outdistance my slower companion. We had, perhaps, three hundred yards to cover between our boulder and the cliffs, and then to search out a suitable shelter for our stand against the terrifying things that were pursuing us.

PT They were rapidly overhauling us when Tars Tarkas cried to me to hasten ahead and discover, if possible, the sanctuary we sought. The suggestion was a good one, for thus many valuable minutes might be saved to us, and, throwing every ounce of my earthly muscles into the effort, I cleared the remaining distance between myself and the cliffs in great leaps and bounds that put me at their base in a moment.

PT The cliffs rose perpendicular directly from the almost level sward of the valley. There was no accumulation of fallen debris, forming a more or less rough ascent to them, as is the case with nearly all other cliffs I have ever seen. The scattered boulders that had fallen from above and lay upon or partly buried in the turf, were the only indication that any disintegration of the massive, towering pile of rocks ever had taken place.

PT My first cursory inspection of the face of the cliffs filled my heart with forebodings, since nowhere could I discern, except where the weird herald stood still shrieking his shrill summons, the faintest indication of even a bare foothold upon the lofty escarpment.

PT To my right the bottom of the cliff was lost in the dense foliage of the forest, which terminated at its very foot, rearing its gorgeous foliage fully a thousand feet against its stern and forbidding neighbour.

PT To the left the cliff ran, apparently unbroken, across the head of the broad valley, to be lost in the outlines of what appeared to be a range of mighty mountains that skirted and confined the valley in every direction.

PT Perhaps a thousand feet from me the river broke, as it seemed, directly from the base of the cliffs, and as there seemed not the remotest chance for escape in that direction I turned my attention again toward the forest.

PT The cliffs towered above me a good five thousand feet. The sun was not quite upon them and they loomed a dull yellow in their own shade. Here and there they were broken with streaks and patches of dusky red, green, and occasional areas of white quartz.

PT Altogether they were very beautiful, but I fear that I did not regard them with a particularly appreciative eye on this, my first inspection of them.

PT Just then I was absorbed in them only as a medium of escape, and so, as my gaze ran quickly, time and again, over their vast expanse in search of some cranny or crevice, I came suddenly to loathe them as the prisoner must loathe the cruel and impregnable walls of his dungeon.

PT Tars Tarkas was approaching me rapidly, and still more rapidly came the awful horde at his heels.

PT It seemed the forest now or nothing, and I was just on the point of motioning Tars Tarkas to follow me in that direction when the sun passed the cliff's zenith, and as the bright rays touched the dull surface it burst out into a million scintillant lights of burnished gold, of flaming red, of soft greens, and gleaming whites -- a more gorgeous and inspiring spectacle human eye has never rested upon.

PT The face of the entire cliff was, as later inspection conclusively proved, so shot with veins and patches of solid gold as to quite present the appearance of a solid wall of that precious metal except where it was broken by outcroppings of ruby, emerald, and diamond boulders -- a faint and alluring indication of the vast and unguessable riches which lay deeply buried behind the magnificent surface.

PT But what caught my most interested attention at the moment that the sun's rays set the cliff's face a-shimmer, was the several black spots which now appeared quite plainly in evidence high across the gorgeous wall close to the forest's top, and extending apparently below and behind the branches.

PT Almost immediately I recognised them for what they were, the dark openings of caves entering the solid walls -- possible avenues of escape or temporary shelter, could we but reach them.

PT There was but a single way, and that led through the mighty, towering trees upon our right. That I could scale them I knew full well, but Tars Tarkas, with his mighty bulk and enormous weight, would find it a task possibly quite beyond his prowess or his skill, for Martians are at best but poor climbers. Upon the entire surface of that ancient planet I never before had seen a hill or mountain that exceeded four thousand feet in height above the dead sea bottoms, and as the ascent was usually gradual, nearly to their summits they presented but few opportunities for the practice of climbing. Nor would the Martians have embraced even such opportunities as might present themselves, for they could always find a circuitous route about the base of any eminence, and these roads they preferred and followed in preference to the shorter but more arduous ways.

PT However, there was nothing else to consider than an attempt to scale the trees contiguous to the cliff in an effort to reach the caves above.

PT The Thark grasped the possibilities and the difficulties of the plan at once, but there was no alternative, and so we set out rapidly for the trees nearest the cliff.

PT Our relentless pursuers were now close to us, so close that it seemed that it would be an utter impossibility for the Jeddak of Thark to reach the forest in advance of them, nor was there any considerable will in the efforts that Tars Tarkas made, for the green men of Barsoom do not relish flight, nor ever before had I seen one fleeing from death in whatsoever form it might have confronted him. But that Tars Tarkas was the bravest of the brave he had proven thousands of times; yes, tens of thousands in countless mortal combats with men and beasts. And so I knew that there was another reason than fear of death behind his flight, as he knew that a greater power than pride or honour spurred me to escape these fierce destroyers. In my case it was love -- love of the divine Dejah Thoris; and the cause of the Thark's great and sudden love of life I could not fathom, for it is oftener that they seek death than life -- these strange, cruel, loveless, unhappy people.

PT At length, however, we reached the shadows of the forest, while right behind us sprang the swiftest of our pursuers -- a giant plant man with claws outreaching to fasten his bloodsucking mouths upon us.

PT He was, I should say, a hundred yards in advance of his closest companion, and so I called to Tars Tarkas to ascend a great tree that brushed the cliff's face while I dispatched the fellow, thus giving the less agile Thark an opportunity to reach the higher branches before the entire horde should be upon us and every vestige of escape cut off.

PT But I had reckoned without a just appreciation either of the cunning of my immediate antagonist or the swiftness with which his fellows were covering the distance which had separated them from me.

PT As I raised my long-sword to deal the creature its death thrust it halted in its charge and, as my sword cut harmlessly through the empty air, the great tail of the thing swept with the power of a grizzly's arm across the sward and carried me bodily from my feet to the ground. In an instant the brute was upon me, but ere it could fasten its hideous mouths into my breast and throat I grasped a writhing tentacle in either hand.

PT The plant man was well muscled, heavy, and powerful but my earthly sinews and greater agility, in conjunction with the deathly strangle hold I had upon him, would have given me, I think, an eventual victory had we had time to discuss the merits of our relative prowess uninterrupted. But as we strained and struggled about the tree into which Tars Tarkas was clambering with infinite difficulty, I suddenly caught a glimpse over the shoulder of my antagonist of the great swarm of pursuers that now were fairly upon me.

PT Now, at last, I saw the nature of the other monsters who had come with the plant men in response to the weird calling of the man upon the cliff's face. They were that most dreaded of Martian creatures -- great white apes of Barsoom.

PT My former experiences upon Mars had familiarized me thoroughly with them and their methods, and I may say that of all the fearsome and terrible, weird and grotesque inhabitants of that strange world, it is the white apes that come nearest to familiarizing me with the sensation of fear.

PT I think that the cause of this feeling which these apes engender within me is due to their remarkable resemblance in form to our Earth men, which gives them a human appearance that is most uncanny when coupled with their enormous size.

PT They stand fifteen feet in height and walk erect upon their hind feet. Like the green Martians, they have an intermediary set of arms midway between their upper and lower limbs. Their eyes are very close set, but do not protrude as do those of the green men of Mars; their ears are high set, but more laterally located than are the green men's, while their snouts and teeth are much like those of our African gorilla. Upon their heads grows an enormous shock of bristly hair.

PT It was into the eyes of such as these and the terrible plant men that I gazed above the shoulder of my foe, and then, in a mighty wave of snarling, snapping, screaming, purring rage, they swept over me -- and of all the sounds that assailed my ears as I went down beneath them, to me the most hideous was the horrid purring of the plant men.

PT Instantly a score of cruel fangs and keen talons were sunk into my flesh; cold, sucking lips fastened themselves upon my arteries. I struggled to free myself, and even though weighed down by these immense bodies, I succeeded in struggling to my feet, where, still grasping my long-sword, and shortening my grip upon it until I could use it as a dagger, I wrought such havoc among them that at one time I stood for an instant free.

PT What it has taken minutes to write occurred in but a few seconds, but during that time Tars Tarkas had seen my plight and had dropped from the lower branches, which he had reached with such infinite labour, and as I flung the last of my immediate antagonists from me the great Thark leaped to my side, and again we fought, back to back, as we had done a hundred times before.

PT 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 men 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 Tars Tarkas and John Carter were names that the fighting men of the world of warriors loved best to speak.

PT 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.

PT Tars Tarkas was in the lead, and suddenly I heard a little cry of exultation from him.

PT "Here is shelter for one at least, John Carter," he said, and, glancing down, I saw an opening in the base of the tree about three feet in diameter.

PT "In with you, Tars Tarkas," I cried, but he would not go; saying that his bulk was too great for the little aperture, while I might slip in easily.

PT "We shall both die if we remain without, John 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."

PT "Then we shall die together, Tars 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."

PT We still were fighting furiously as we talked in broken sentences, punctured with vicious cuts and thrusts at our swarming enemy.

PT At length he 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.

PT "It was ever your way, John Carter, to think last of your own life," he said; "but still more your way to command the lives and actions of others, even to the greatest of Jeddaks who rule upon Barsoom."

PT There was a grim smile upon his cruel, hard face, as he, the greatest Jeddak of them all, turned to obey the dictates of a creature of another world -- of a man whose stature was less than half his own.

PT "If you fail, John Carter," he said, "know that the cruel and heartless Thark, to whom you taught the meaning of friendship, will come out to die beside you."

PT "As you will, my friend," I replied; "but quickly now, head first, while I cover your retreat."

PT He hesitated a little at that word, for never before in his whole life of continual strife had he turned his back upon aught than a dead or defeated enemy.

PT "Haste, Tars Tarkas," I urged, "or we shall both go down to profitless defeat; I cannot hold them for ever alone."

PT As he dropped to the ground to force his 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 man, 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.

PT 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.

PT With the fear that we would escape them, the creatures redoubled their efforts to pull me down, and though the ground about me was piled high with their dead and dying comrades, they succeeded at last in overwhelming me, and I went down beneath them for the second time that day, and once again felt those awful sucking lips against my flesh.

PT But scarce had I fallen ere I felt powerful hands grip my ankles, and in another second I was being drawn within the shelter of the tree's interior. For a moment it was a tug of war between Tars Tarkas and a great plant man, who clung tenaciously to my breast, but presently I got the point of my long-sword beneath him and with a mighty thrust pierced his vitals.

PT Torn and bleeding from many cruel wounds, I lay panting upon the ground within the hollow of the tree, while Tars Tarkas defended the opening from the furious mob without.

PT For an hour they howled about the tree, but after a few attempts to reach us they confined their efforts to terrorizing shrieks and screams, to horrid growling on the part of the great white apes, and the fearsome and indescribable purring by the plant men.

PT At length, all but a score, who had apparently been left to prevent our escape, had left us, and our adventure seemed destined to result in a siege, the only outcome of which could be our death by starvation; for even should we be able to slip out after dark, whither in this unknown and hostile valley could we hope to turn our steps toward possible escape?

PT As the attacks of our enemies ceased and our eyes became accustomed to the semi-darkness of the interior of our strange retreat, I took the opportunity to explore our shelter.

PT The tree was hollow to an extent of about fifty feet in diameter, and from its flat, hard floor I judged that it had often been used to domicile others before our occupancy. As I raised my eyes toward its roof to note the height I saw far above me a faint glow of light.

PT There was an opening above. If we could but reach it we might still hope to make the shelter of the cliff caves. My eyes had now become quite used to the subdued light of the interior, and as I pursued my investigation I presently came upon a rough ladder at the far side of the cave.

PT Quickly I mounted it, only to find that it connected at the top with the lower of a series of horizontal wooden bars that spanned the now narrow and shaft-like interior of the tree's stem. These bars were set one above another about three feet apart, and formed a perfect ladder as far above me as I could see.

PT Dropping to the floor once more, I detailed my discovery to Tars Tarkas, who suggested that I explore aloft as far as I could go in safety while he guarded the entrance against a possible attack.

PT As I hastened above to explore the strange shaft I found that the ladder of horizontal bars mounted always as far above me as my eyes could reach, and as I ascended, the light from above grew brighter and brighter.

PT For fully five hundred feet I continued to climb, until at length I reached the opening in the stem which admitted the light. It was of about the same diameter as the entrance at the foot of the tree, and opened directly upon a large flat limb, the well worn surface of which testified to its long continued use as an avenue for some creature to and from this remarkable shaft.

PT I did not venture out upon the limb for fear that I might be discovered and our retreat in this direction cut off; but instead hurried to retrace my steps to Tars Tarkas.

PT I soon reached him and presently we were both ascending the long ladder toward the opening above.

PT Tars Tarkas went in advance and as I reached the first of the horizontal bars I drew the ladder up after me and, handing it to him, he carried it a hundred feet further aloft, where he wedged it safely between one of the bars and the side of the shaft. In like manner I dislodged the lower bars as I passed them, so that we soon had the interior of the tree denuded of all possible means of ascent for a distance of a hundred feet from the base; thus precluding possible pursuit and attack from the rear.

PT As we were to learn later, this precaution saved us from dire predicament, and was eventually the means of our salvation.

PT When we reached the opening at the top Tars 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.

PT 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.

PT 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.

PT 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.

PT 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 Tars Tarkas.

PT 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.

PT We finally agreed that Tars Tarkas should return along the branch, leaving his 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 Tars Tarkas' return I could then lower the strap and haul him up to the safety of the ledge.

PT 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.

PT 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 men in this beautiful, yet forbidding, spot.

PT Below us upon the river's bank the great white apes were devouring the last remnants of Tars Tarkas' former companions, while great herds of plant men grazed in ever-widening circles about the sward which they kept as close clipped as the smoothest of lawns.

PT 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.

PT 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, Tars 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.

PT 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.

PT 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.

PT Gently pressing it, I had the satisfaction of feeling the door slowly give before me, and in another instant we were looking into a dimly lighted apartment, which, so far as we could see, was unoccupied.

PT Without more ado I swung the door wide open and, followed by the huge Thark, stepped into the chamber. As we stood for a moment in silence gazing about the room a slight noise behind caused me to turn quickly, when, to my astonishment, I saw the door close with a sharp click as though by an unseen hand.

PT Instantly I sprang toward it to wrench it open again, for something in the uncanny movement of the thing and the tense and almost palpable silence of the chamber seemed to portend a lurking evil lying hidden in this rock-bound chamber within the bowels of the Golden Cliffs.

PT My fingers clawed futilely at the unyielding portal, while my eyes sought in vain for a duplicate of the button which had given us ingress.

PT And then, from unseen lips, a cruel and mocking peal of laughter rang through the desolate place.

CHAPTER III — THE CHAMBER OF MYSTERY

PT For moments after that awful laugh had ceased reverberating through the rocky room, Tars Tarkas and I stood in tense and expectant silence. But no further sound broke the stillness, nor within the range of our vision did aught move.

PT At length Tars Tarkas laughed softly, after the manner of his strange kind when in the presence of the horrible or terrifying. It is not an hysterical laugh, but rather the genuine expression of the pleasure they derive from the things that move Earth men to loathing or to tears.

PT Often and again have I seen them roll upon the ground in mad fits of uncontrollable mirth when witnessing the death agonies of women and little children beneath the torture of that hellish green Martian fete -- the Great Games.

PT I looked up at the Thark, a smile upon my own lips, for here in truth was greater need for a smiling face than a trembling chin.

PT "What do you make of it all?" I asked. "Where in the deuce are we?"

PT He looked at me in surprise.

PT "Where are we?" he repeated. "Do you tell me, John Carter, that you know not where you be?"

PT "That I am upon Barsoom is all that I can guess, and but for you and the great white apes I should not even guess that, for the sights I have seen this day are as unlike the things of my beloved Barsoom as I knew it ten long years ago as they are unlike the world of my birth.

PT "No, Tars Tarkas, I know not where we be."

PT "Where have you been since you opened the mighty portals of the atmosphere plant years ago, after the keeper had died and the engines stopped and all Barsoom was dying, that had not already died, of asphyxiation? Your body even was never found, though the men of a whole world sought after it for years, though the Jeddak of Helium and his granddaughter, your princess, offered such fabulous rewards that even princes of royal blood joined in the search.

PT "There was but one conclusion to reach when all efforts to locate you had failed, and that, that you had taken the long, last pilgrimage down the mysterious River Iss, to await in the Valley Dor upon the shores of the Lost Sea of Korus the beautiful Dejah Thoris, your princess.

PT "Why you had gone none could guess, for your princess still lived--"

PT "Thank God," I interrupted him. "I did not dare to ask you, for I feared I might have been too late to save her -- she was very low when I left her in the royal gardens of Tardos Mors that long-gone night; so very low that I scarcely hoped even then to reach the atmosphere plant ere her dear spirit had fled from me for ever. And she lives yet?"

PT "She lives, John Carter."

PT "You have not told me where we are," I reminded him.

PT "We are where I expected to find you, John Carter -- and another. Many years ago you heard the story of the woman who taught me the thing that green Martians are reared to hate, the woman who taught me to love. You know the cruel tortures and the awful death her love won for her at the hands of the beast, Tal Hajus.

PT "She, I thought, awaited me by the Lost Sea of Korus.

PT "You know that it was left for a man from another world, for yourself, John Carter, to teach this cruel Thark what friendship is; and you, I thought, also roamed the care-free Valley Dor.

PT "Thus were the two I most longed for at the end of the long pilgrimage I must take some day, and so as the time had elapsed which Dejah Thoris had hoped might bring you once more to her side, for she has always tried to believe that you had but temporarily returned to your own planet, I at last gave way to my great yearning and a month since I started upon the journey, the end of which you have this day witnessed. Do you understand now where you be, John Carter?"

PT "And that was the River Iss, emptying into the Lost Sea of Korus in the Valley Dor?" I asked.

PT "This is the valley of love and peace and rest to which every Barsoomian since time immemorial has longed to pilgrimage at the end of a life of hate and strife and bloodshed," he replied. "This, John Carter, is Heaven."

PT His tone was cold and ironical; its bitterness but reflecting the terrible disappointment he had suffered. Such a fearful disillusionment, such a blasting of life-long hopes and aspirations, such an uprooting of age-old tradition might have excused a vastly greater demonstration on the part of the Thark.

PT I laid my hand upon his shoulder.

PT "I am sorry," I said, nor did there seem aught else to say.

PT "Think, John Carter, of the countless billions of Barsoomians who have taken the voluntary pilgrimage down this cruel river since the beginning of time, only to fall into the ferocious clutches of the terrible creatures that to-day assailed us.

PT "There is an ancient legend that once a red man returned from the banks of the Lost Sea of Korus, returned from the Valley Dor, back through the mysterious River Iss, and the legend has it that he narrated a fearful blasphemy of horrid brutes that inhabited a valley of wondrous loveliness, brutes that pounced upon each Barsoomian as he terminated his pilgrimage and devoured him upon the banks of the Lost Sea where he had looked to find love and peace and happiness; but the ancients killed the blasphemer, as tradition has ordained that any shall be killed who return from the bosom of the River of Mystery.

PT "But now we know that it was no blasphemy, that the legend is a true one, and that the man told only of what he saw; but what does it profit us, John Carter, since even should we escape, we also would be treated as blasphemers? We are between the wild thoat of certainty and the mad zitidar of fact -- we can escape neither."

PT "As Earth men say, we are between the devil and the deep sea, Tars Tarkas," I replied, nor could I help but smile at our dilemma.

PT "There is naught that we can do but take things as they come, and at least have the satisfaction of knowing that whoever slays us eventually will have far greater numbers of their own dead to count than they will get in return. White ape or plant man, green Barsoomian or red man, whosoever it shall be that takes the last toll from us will know that it is costly in lives to wipe out John Carter, Prince of the House of Tardos Mors, and Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, at the same time."

PT I could not help but laugh at his grim humour, and he joined in with me in one of those rare laughs of real enjoyment which was one of the attributes of this fierce Tharkian chief which marked him from the others of his kind.

PT "But about yourself, John Carter," he cried at last. "If you have not been here all these years where indeed have you been, and how is it that I find you here to-day?"

PT "I have been back to Earth," I replied. "For ten long Earth years I have been praying and hoping for the day that would carry me once more to this grim old planet of yours, for which, with all its cruel and terrible customs, I feel a bond of sympathy and love even greater than for the world that gave me birth.

PT "For ten years have I been enduring a living death of uncertainty and doubt as to whether Dejah Thoris lived, and now that for the first time in all these years my prayers have been answered and my doubt relieved I find myself, through a cruel whim of fate, hurled into the one tiny spot of all Barsoom from which there is apparently no escape, and if there were, at a price which would put out for ever the last flickering hope which I may cling to of seeing my princess again in this life -- and you have seen to-day with what pitiful futility man yearns toward a material hereafter.

PT "Only a bare half-hour before I saw you battling with the plant men I was standing in the moonlight upon the banks of a broad river that taps the eastern shore of Earth's most blessed land. I have answered you, my friend. Do you believe?"

PT "I believe," replied Tars Tarkas, "though I cannot understand."

PT As we talked I had been searching the interior of the chamber with my eyes. It was, perhaps, two hundred feet in length and half as broad, with what appeared to be a doorway in the centre of the wall directly opposite that through which we had entered.

PT The apartment was hewn from the material of the cliff, showing mostly dull gold in the dim light which a single minute radium illuminator in the centre of the roof diffused throughout its great dimensions. Here and there polished surfaces of ruby, emerald, and diamond patched the golden walls and ceiling. The floor was of another material, very hard, and worn by much use to the smoothness of glass. Aside from the two doors I could discern no sign of other aperture, and as one we knew to be locked against us I approached the other.

PT As I extended my hand to search for the controlling button, that cruel and mocking laugh rang out once more, so close to me this time that I involuntarily shrank back, tightening my grip upon the hilt of my great sword.

PT And then from the far corner of the great chamber a hollow voice chanted: "There is no hope, there is no hope; the dead return not, the dead return not; nor is there any resurrection. Hope not, for there is no hope."

PT Though our eyes instantly turned toward the spot from which the voice seemed to emanate, there was no one in sight, and I must admit that cold shivers played along my spine and the short hairs at the base of my head stiffened and rose up, as do those upon a hound's neck when in the night his eyes see those uncanny things which are hidden from the sight of man.

PT Quickly I walked toward the mournful voice, but it had ceased ere I reached the further wall, and then from the other end of the chamber came another voice, shrill and piercing:

PT "Fools! Fools!" it shrieked. "Thinkest thou to defeat the eternal laws of life and death? Wouldst cheat the mysterious Issus, Goddess of Death, of her just dues? Did not her mighty messenger, the ancient Iss, bear you upon her leaden bosom at your own behest to the Valley Dor?

PT "Thinkest thou, O fools, that Issus wilt give up her own? Thinkest thou to escape from whence in all the countless ages but a single soul has fled?

PT "Go back the way thou camest, to the merciful maws of the children of the Tree of Life or the gleaming fangs of the great white apes, for there lies speedy surcease from suffering; but insist in your rash purpose to thread the mazes of the Golden Cliffs of the Mountains of Otz, past the ramparts of the impregnable fortresses of the Holy Therns, and upon your way Death in its most frightful form will overtake you -- a death so horrible that even the Holy Therns themselves, who conceived both Life and Death, avert their eyes from its fiendishness and close their ears against the hideous shrieks of its victims.

PT "Go back, O fools, the way thou camest."

PT And then the awful laugh broke out from another part of the chamber.

PT "Most uncanny," I remarked, turning to Tars Tarkas.

PT "What shall we do?" he asked. "We cannot fight empty air; I would almost sooner return and face foes into whose flesh I may feel my blade bite and know that I am selling my carcass dearly before I go down to that eternal oblivion which is evidently the fairest and most desirable eternity that mortal man has the right to hope for."

PT "If, as you say, we cannot fight empty air, Tars Tarkas," I replied, "neither, on the other hand, can empty air fight us. I, who have faced and conquered in my time thousands of sinewy warriors and tempered blades, shall not be turned back by wind; nor no more shall you, Thark."

PT "But unseen voices may emanate from unseen and unseeable creatures who wield invisible blades," answered the green warrior.

PT "Rot, Tars Tarkas," I cried, "those voices come from beings as real as you or as I. In their veins flows lifeblood that may be let as easily as ours, and the fact that they remain invisible to us is the best proof to my mind that they are mortal; nor overly courageous mortals at that. Think you, Tars Tarkas, that John Carter will fly at the first shriek of a cowardly foe who dare not come out into the open and face a good blade?"

PT I had spoken in a loud voice that there might be no question that our would-be terrorizers should hear me, for I was tiring of this nerve-racking fiasco. It had occurred to me, too, that the whole business was but a plan to frighten us back into the valley of death from which we had escaped, that we might be quickly disposed of by the savage creatures there.

PT For a long period there was silence, then of a sudden a soft, stealthy sound behind me caused me to turn suddenly to behold a great many-legged banth creeping sinuously upon me.

PT The banth is a fierce beast of prey that roams the low hills surrounding the dead seas of ancient Mars. Like nearly all Martian animals it is almost hairless, having only a great bristly mane about its thick neck.

PT Its long, lithe body is supported by ten powerful legs, its enormous jaws are equipped, like those of the calot, or Martian hound, with several rows of long needle-like fangs; its mouth reaches to a point far back of its tiny ears, while its enormous, protruding eyes of green add the last touch of terror to its awful aspect.

PT As it crept toward me it lashed its powerful tail against its yellow sides, and when it saw that it was discovered it emitted the terrifying roar which often freezes its prey into momentary paralysis in the instant that it makes its spring.

PT And so it launched its great bulk toward me, but its mighty voice had held no paralysing terrors for me, and it met cold steel instead of the tender flesh its cruel jaws gaped so widely to engulf.

PT An instant later I drew my blade from the still heart of this great Barsoomian lion, and turning toward Tars Tarkas was surprised to see him facing a similar monster.

PT No sooner had he dispatched his than I, turning, as though drawn by the instinct of my guardian subconscious mind, beheld another of the savage denizens of the Martian wilds leaping across the chamber toward me.

PT From then on for the better part of an hour one hideous creature after another was launched upon us, springing apparently from the empty air about us.

PT Tars Tarkas was satisfied; here was something tangible that he could cut and slash with his great blade, while I, for my part, may say that the diversion was a marked improvement over the uncanny voices from unseen lips.

PT That there was nothing supernatural about our new foes was well evidenced by their howls of rage and pain as they felt the sharp steel at their vitals, and the very real blood which flowed from their severed arteries as they died the real death.

PT I noticed during the period of this new persecution that the beasts appeared only when our backs were turned; we never saw one really materialize from thin air, nor did I for an instant sufficiently lose my excellent reasoning faculties to be once deluded into the belief that the beasts came into the room other than through some concealed and well-contrived doorway.

PT Among the ornaments of Tars Tarkas' leather harness, which is the only manner of clothing worn by Martians other than silk capes and robes of silk and fur for protection from the cold after dark, was a small mirror, about the bigness of a lady's hand glass, which hung midway between his shoulders and his waist against his broad back.

PT Once as he stood looking down at a newly fallen antagonist my eyes happened to fall upon this mirror and in its shiny surface I saw pictured a sight that caused me to whisper:

PT "Move not, Tars Tarkas! Move not a muscle!"

PT He did not ask why, but stood like a graven image while my eyes watched the strange thing that meant so much to us.

PT What I saw was the quick movement of a section of the wall behind me. It was turning upon pivots, and with it a section of the floor directly in front of it was turning. It was as though you placed a visiting-card upon end on a silver dollar that you had laid flat upon a table, so that the edge of the card perfectly bisected the surface of the coin.

PT The card might represent the section of the wall that turned and the silver dollar the section of the floor. Both were so nicely fitted into the adjacent portions of the floor and wall that no crack had been noticeable in the dim light of the chamber.

PT As the turn was half completed a great beast was revealed sitting upon its haunches upon that part of the revolving floor that had been on the opposite side before the wall commenced to move; when the section stopped, the beast was facing toward me on our side of the partition -- it was very simple.

PT But what had interested me most was the sight that the half-turned section had presented through the opening that it had made. A great chamber, well lighted, in which were several men and women chained to the wall, and in front of them, evidently directing and operating the movement of the secret doorway, a wicked-faced man, neither red as are the red men of Mars, nor green as are the green men, but white, like myself, with a great mass of flowing yellow hair.

PT The prisoners behind him were red Martians. Chained with them were a number of fierce beasts, such as had been turned upon us, and others equally as ferocious.

PT As I turned to meet my new foe it was with a heart considerably lightened.

PT "Watch the wall at your end of the chamber, Tars Tarkas," I cautioned, "it is through secret doorways in the wall that the brutes are loosed upon us." I was very close to him and spoke in a low whisper that my knowledge of their secret might not be disclosed to our tormentors.

PT As long as we remained each facing an opposite end of the apartment no further attacks were made upon us, so it was quite clear to me that the partitions were in some way pierced that our actions might be observed from without.

PT At length a plan of action occurred to me, and backing quite close to Tars Tarkas I unfolded my scheme in a low whisper, keeping my eyes still glued upon my end of the room.

PT The great Thark grunted his assent to my proposition when I had done, and in accordance with my plan commenced backing toward the wall which I faced while I advanced slowly ahead of him.

PT When we had reached a point some ten feet from the secret doorway I halted my companion, and cautioning him to remain absolutely motionless until I gave the prearranged signal I quickly turned my back to the door through which I could almost feel the burning and baleful eyes of our would be executioner.

PT Instantly my own eyes sought the mirror upon Tars Tarkas' back and in another second I was closely watching the section of the wall which had been disgorging its savage terrors upon us.

PT I had not long to wait, for presently the golden surface commenced to move rapidly. Scarcely had it started than I gave the signal to Tars Tarkas, simultaneously springing for the receding half of the pivoting door. In like manner the Thark wheeled and leaped for the opening being made by the inswinging section.

PT A single bound carried me completely through into the adjoining room and brought me face to face with the fellow whose cruel face I had seen before. He was about my own height and well muscled and in every outward detail moulded precisely as are Earth men.

PT At his side hung a long-sword, a short-sword, a dagger, and one of the destructive radium revolvers that are common upon Mars.

PT The fact that I was armed only with a long-sword, and so according to the laws and ethics of battle everywhere upon Barsoom should only have been met with a similar or lesser weapon, seemed to have no effect upon the moral sense of my enemy, for he whipped out his revolver ere I scarce had touched the floor by his side, but an uppercut from my long-sword sent it flying from his grasp before he could discharge it.

PT Instantly he drew his long-sword, and thus evenly armed we set to in earnest for one of the closest battles I ever have fought.

PT The fellow was a marvellous swordsman and evidently in practice, while I had not gripped the hilt of a sword for ten long years before that morning.

PT But it did not take me long to fall easily into my fighting stride, so that in a few minutes the man began to realize that he had at last met his match.

PT His face became livid with rage as he found my guard impregnable, while blood flowed from a dozen minor wounds upon his face and body.

PT "Who are you, white man?" he hissed. "That you are no Barsoomian from the outer world is evident from your colour. And you are not of us."

PT His last statement was almost a question.

PT "What if I were from the Temple of Issus?" I hazarded on a wild guess.

PT "Fate forfend!" he exclaimed, his face going white under the blood that now nearly covered it.

Versão em Português

1 - PREFÁCIO

2 - CAPÍTULO I — OS HOMENS-PLANTA

3 - CAPÍTULO II — UMA BATALHA NA FLORESTA

4 - CAPÍTULO III — A CÂMARA DO MISTÉRIO

PREFÁCIO

En Já fazia doze anos desde que o narrador colocara o corpo de seu tio-avô, o Capitão John Carter, da Virgínia, em um túmulo estranho no antigo cemitério de Richmond, escondido da vista.

En Ele pensava frequentemente nas instruções estranhas que seu tio-avô deixara para construir o grande túmulo, especialmente as partes que diziam que ele deveria ser colocado em um caixão aberto e que o mecanismo pesado que controlava os parafusos da porta só poderia ser alcançado de dentro.

En Doze anos haviam se passado desde que leu o manuscrito notável desse homem incomum. Ele não se lembrava de infância e só podia adivinhar sua idade. Sempre jovem, ele segurara o ancestral do narrador quando bebê. Passou dez anos em Marte, lutando ao lado e contra os homens verdes e vermelhos. Casou-se com a bela Dejah Thoris, Princesa de Hélio, e tornou-se um príncipe na casa real de Hélio.

En Doze anos haviam se passado desde que o corpo de John Carter foi encontrado em um penhasco perto de sua casa de campo acima do Rio Hudson. Durante esses anos, o narrador frequentemente se perguntava se Carter estava realmente morto ou se havia retornado aos leitos secos do planeta moribundo Marte. Talvez ele tivesse reaberto a grande planta atmosférica a tempo de salvar milhões da sufocação no dia em que foi lançado de volta à Terra. Ele também se perguntava se Carter havia encontrado sua princesa de cabelos escuros e o jovem filho que ele sonhava que o esperava nos jardins reais.

En Talvez ele tivesse chegado tarde demais e agora estivesse vivendo uma existência morta em um mundo morto. Ou talvez estivesse realmente morto, nunca mais retornando à Terra ou ao seu amado Marte.

En Em uma noite abafada de agosto, eu estava perdido em pensamentos inúteis quando meu criado, o velho Ben, me entregou um telegrama. Rasguei-o e li seu conteúdo.

En O telegrama instruiu-me a encontrar John Carter no dia seguinte no Hotel Raleigh em Richmond.

En Na manhã seguinte, peguei o trem mais cedo para Richmond e, em duas horas, fui conduzido ao quarto de John Carter.

En Quando entrei, ele se levantou para me cumprimentar com seu sorriso familiar e caloroso. Ele parecia não ter envelhecido nada, permanecendo o forte e em forma guerreiro de trinta anos. Seus olhos cinzentos e perspicazes estavam claros, e as únicas linhas em seu rosto eram as de caráter firme e determinação, exatamente como eu as lembrava há quase trinta e cinco anos.

En Ele me cumprimentou como seu sobrinho e perguntou se eu me sentia como se estivesse vendo um fantasma ou se tinha exagerado nos juleps de menta do tio Ben.

En O interlocutor respondeu que se sentia muito bem, talvez por ver a outra pessoa novamente. Ele perguntou se o outro havia retornado de Marte e se Dejah Thoris estava bem e esperando por ele.

En O outro confirmou que havia estado em Barsoom novamente, mas era uma longa história. Ele havia aprendido um segredo que lhe permitia viajar livremente entre planetas. No entanto, seu coração pertencia a Barsoom e à sua Princesa Marciana, então ele duvidava que algum dia deixaria aquele mundo novamente.

En Ele explicou que viera ver o interlocutor pela última vez antes que ele passasse para uma vida após a morte que jamais conheceria. Embora tivesse morrido três vezes e morresse novamente naquela noite, ele não entendia aquela outra vida melhor do que o interlocutor.

En Ele afirmou que até mesmo os sábios e misteriosos therns de Barsoom, que se acreditava possuírem o segredo da vida e da morte, eram tão ignorantes quanto eles. Ele havia provado isso, embora quase perdesse a vida. O interlocutor leria todos os detalhes nas anotações que ele vinha fazendo durante seus três meses de volta à Terra.

En Ele deu um tapinha em uma pasta grossa que estava sobre a mesa ao lado dele.

En O orador reconheceu que o ouvinte estava interessado e acreditava, e que o mundo compartilhava desse interesse, embora sem crença por muitos anos. Os humanos na Terra ainda não haviam evoluído o suficiente para compreender o conteúdo das notas.

En Ele aconselhou dar ao público apenas o que eles pudessem suportar sem danos e não se ofender se fossem ridicularizados.

En Naquela noite, o narrador o acompanhou até o cemitério. Na entrada de seu túmulo, ele se virou e apertou a mão do narrador.

En Ele se despediu, expressando dúvida de que se encontrariam novamente porque não poderia deixar sua esposa e filho enquanto vivessem, e a expectativa de vida em Barsoom frequentemente ultrapassava mil anos.

En Ele entrou no túmulo. A pesada porta se fechou, os ferrolhos deslizaram para o lugar e a fechadura estalou. O narrador nunca mais viu o Capitão John Carter, da Virgínia.

En Este é o relato de seu retorno a Marte naquela outra ocasião, conforme o escritor o reuniu a partir da extensa coleção de notas deixadas sobre a mesa de seu quarto de hotel em Richmond.

En O escritor omitiu muitos detalhes e não ousou contar tudo; no entanto, a história de sua segunda busca por Dejah Thoris, Princesa de Hélio, é ainda mais extraordinária do que o primeiro manuscrito, que ele recentemente entregou a um mundo cético, através do qual os leitores acompanharam o virginiano lutador através de fundos de mares secos sob as luas de Marte.

En E. R. B.

CAPÍTULO I — OS HOMENS-PLANTA

En De pé no penhasco diante de sua cabana naquela noite clara e fria do início de março de 1886, com o nobre Hudson fluindo como um espectro cinza e silencioso abaixo, ele sentiu mais uma vez a estranha e irresistível influência de Marte, o poderoso deus da guerra, a quem havia implorado de braços abertos por dez longos anos para levá-lo de volta ao seu amor perdido.

En Desde aquela outra noite de março de 1866, quando ele ficara do lado de fora da caverna do Arizona na qual seu corpo imóvel e sem vida jazia envolto na aparência de morte terrena, ele não sentia a atração irresistível do deus de sua profissão.

En Ele ficou com os braços estendidos em direção à estrela vermelha, rezando pelo retorno do poder que o havia levado duas vezes pelo espaço. Ele tinha rezado assim muitas vezes por dez anos, esperando e ansiando.

En De repente, ele se sentiu mal e tonto; seus joelhos fraquejaram, e ele caiu para frente no chão, perto da borda de um penhasco alto.

En Sua mente clareou, e ele lembrou vividamente dos horrores daquela caverna no Arizona. Novamente seus músculos não obedeciam, e ele parecia ouvir os gemidos e o farfalhar da criatura ameaçadora. Ele fez um grande esforço para quebrar a estranha paralisia, ouviu um clique agudo como o de um fio se rompendo, e se viu nu e livre ao lado do corpo sem vida que tão recentemente fora John Carter.

En Ele mal desviou o olhar, então voltou os olhos para Marte, ergueu as mãos em direção à sua luz vermelha e esperou.

En Ele não esperou muito. Assim que se virou, disparou para o vazio tão rápido quanto o pensamento. Sentiu o mesmo frio extremo e escuridão de vinte anos antes. Então abriu os olhos em outro mundo, sob um sol quente brilhando através de uma pequena abertura no domo de uma vasta floresta onde estava deitado.

En A cena diante dele era tão diferente de Marte que um medo súbito o dominou; ele sentiu como se um destino cruel o tivesse lançado sem rumo em um planeta estranho.

En Ele questionou sua própria lógica: sem qualquer guia através do vasto vazio do espaço, que garantia ele tinha de que não foi arremessado para uma estrela distante em outro sistema solar, em vez de para Marte?

En Ele estava deitado em um gramado cuidadosamente aparado de vegetação vermelha semelhante a grama. Ao seu redor se estendia um bosque de árvores estranhas e belas cobertas por flores enormes e magníficas e cheias de pássaros brilhantes e silenciosos. Embora tivessem asas e ele os chamasse de pássaros, suas formas estranhas e sobrenaturais eram diferentes de tudo que um olho humano já tinha visto.

En A vegetação do solo lembrava os gramados dos marcianos vermelhos ao longo dos grandes canais, mas as árvores e os pássaros eram completamente desconhecidos. Além das árvores, ele viu a visão mais não-marciana de todas — um mar aberto, suas águas azuis cintilando sob o sol ardente.

En Quando ele tentou se levantar para explorar mais, sofreu a mesma ridícula desventura que em sua primeira tentativa de andar em Marte. A gravidade mais fraca e o ar rarefeito ofereciam tão pouca resistência aos seus músculos acostumados à Terra que o simples esforço de se levantar o jogou vários metros no ar, fazendo-o cair de cara na grama macia e brilhante deste mundo estranho.

En Essa experiência lhe deu um pouco mais de confiança de que ele poderia realmente estar em uma parte desconhecida de Marte. Isso era bastante possível porque durante seus dez anos no planeta, ele havia explorado apenas uma área relativamente pequena de sua enorme superfície.

En Ele se levantou novamente, rindo de seu próprio esquecimento, e rapidamente reaprendeu a ajustar seus músculos terrestres às diferentes condições.

En Enquanto ele caminhava lentamente pela encosta suave em direção ao mar, não pôde deixar de notar a aparência de parque da grama e das árvores. A grama estava cortada tão baixa e lisa quanto um gramado inglês antigo, e as árvores eram podadas cuidadosamente a uma altura uniforme de cerca de quinze pés. De longe, a floresta lembrava uma sala enorme com um teto alto.

En Todos esses sinais de cultivo cuidadoso o convenceram de que ele havia tido sorte de entrar em Marte pela segunda vez através das terras de um povo civilizado. Ele acreditava que, quando os encontrasse, eles o tratariam com a cortesia e proteção devidas ao seu posto como Príncipe da casa de Tardos Mors.

En As árvores da floresta o enchiam de profunda admiração enquanto ele se movia em direção ao mar. Seus enormes troncos, alguns com cem pés de diâmetro, mostravam sua altura enorme, que ele só podia adivinhar porque suas folhas densas bloqueavam sua visão acima de sessenta ou oitenta pés.

En Até onde ele podia ver, os caules, galhos e ramos eram lisos e polidos como um piano novo. Algumas árvores tinham madeira tão preta quanto ébano, enquanto árvores próximas brilhavam brancas como porcelana fina, ou eram azuis, escarlates, amarelas ou roxo profundo.

En As folhas eram tão coloridas e variadas quanto os galhos, e os grossos cachos de flores eram tão belos que nenhuma língua terrena poderia descrevê-los, talvez desafiando até mesmo a língua dos deuses.

En Ao se aproximar da borda da floresta, ele viu um vasto prado entre as árvores e o mar aberto. No momento em que estava prestes a sair das sombras, ele viu algo que apagou todos os pensamentos românticos e poéticos sobre a beleza da paisagem estranha.

En À sua esquerda, o mar se estendia até onde a vista alcançava; à frente, apenas uma linha vaga marcava a costa distante; à sua direita, um rio largo, calmo e majestoso fluía entre margens escarlates para desaguar no mar tranquilo.

En A uma curta distância rio acima, erguiam-se poderosos penhascos perpendiculares, de cuja própria base o grande rio parecia emergir.

En A majestosa paisagem da floresta não prendeu minha atenção; em vez disso, notei cerca de vinte figuras movendo-se lentamente pelo prado perto da margem do grande rio.

En As criaturas eram estranhas e grotescas, diferentes de tudo que eu havia visto em Marte, mas à distância pareciam muito humanas. As maiores tinham cerca de três a três metros e meio de altura, com troncos e pernas proporcionais aos de um homem terrestre.

En Seus braços eram bem curtos, movendo-se em ondulações sinuosas, como serpentes, como se não tivessem esqueleto rígido — ou talvez os ossos fossem vertebrais.

En De trás de uma árvore enorme, observei uma das criaturas se mover lentamente em minha direção. Ela estava ocupada no que parecia ser sua atividade principal: passando suas mãos de formato estranho sobre a grama. Não consegui determinar o propósito.

En À medida que se aproximava, tive uma visão clara dela. Embora mais tarde eu me tornasse mais familiarizado com sua espécie, aquele primeiro olhar superficial sobre essa terrível paródia da natureza foi mais que suficiente. Eu teria fugido tão rápido quanto o mais veloz voador da Marinha Heliumética pudesse me levar para longe dessa criatura hedionda.

En A criatura tinha um corpo sem pelos de uma cor azul assustadora, com uma larga faixa branca em torno de seu único olho protuberante. Esse olho era totalmente de um branco morto, sem distinção entre pupila, íris ou globo ocular.

En No meio de seu rosto inexpressivo, seu nariz era um buraco circular irregular e inflamado. O narrador comparou-o a um ferimento de bala recente que ainda não havia começado a sangrar.

En Abaixo daquela abertura repulsiva, o rosto era completamente vazio até o queixo, sem boca visível para o observador.

En Exceto pelo rosto, a cabeça era coberta por uma massa emaranhada de cabelo preto como carvão com cerca de oito a dez polegadas de comprimento. Cada fio era tão grosso quanto um grande verme. Quando a criatura movia os músculos do couro cabeludo, o cabelo se contorcia e rastejava como se cada fio tivesse vida própria.

En O corpo e as pernas da criatura tinham forma perfeitamente humana, assim como seus pés, mas os pés eram de tamanho monstruoso. Mediam três pés do calcanhar aos dedos e eram extremamente planos e largos.

En Conforme se aproximou, percebi que seus movimentos estranhos eram causados pelo seu método de alimentação. Usava garras afiadas como navalhas para cortar a vegetação macia e depois sugava através de duas bocas, uma na palma de cada mão, por meio de gargantas semelhantes a braços.

En A besta também tinha uma cauda enorme com cerca de seis pés de comprimento. Era redonda onde se ligava ao corpo, mas afunilava até uma lâmina fina e plana na ponta, que se arrastava em ângulo reto com o chão.

En A característica mais notável dessa criatura, no entanto, eram as duas minúsculas réplicas, cada uma com cerca de seis polegadas de comprimento, que balançavam em suas axilas. Elas estavam suspensas por pequenos caules que cresciam do topo de suas cabeças e se conectavam ao corpo do adulto.

En Eu não sabia se essas pequenas cópias eram os filhotes da criatura ou meramente partes de um ser composto.

En Enquanto eu estudava esse monstro estranho, o resto do rebanho se aproximou. Notei que muitos, mas não todos, tinham os espécimes menores pendurados neles. Os pequenos variavam em tamanho, desde pequenos botões não abertos com uma polegada de diâmetro até criaturas totalmente formadas com dez a doze polegadas de comprimento.

En O rebanho incluía muitas criaturas jovens, algumas pouco maiores que os filhotes ainda agarrados aos pais, e, a partir desses tamanhos jovens, o grupo variava até os enormes adultos.

En Embora parecessem assustadores, eu não tinha certeza se deveria ter medo, pois não pareciam bem armados para combate. Eu estava prestes a sair do meu esconderijo para ver a reação deles a um humano, mas felizmente, um estranho lamento estridente vindo dos penhascos à minha direita interrompeu meu plano imprudente antes que eu pudesse agir.

En Estando nu e desarmado, eu teria encontrado uma morte rápida e horrível nas mãos desses seres cruéis se tivesse executado meu plano. Mas ao grito, cada membro do rebanho se virou na direção do som, e todos os pelos semelhantes a cobras em suas cabeças se ergueram, como se cada pelo fosse um ser vivo procurando a origem do grito. De fato, essa era a verdade: esses estranhos crescimentos nas cabeças dos homens-planta de Barsoom são seus mil ouvidos, o último resquício de uma raça estranha que se originou da Árvore da Vida primordial.

En Imediatamente, todos os olhos se fixaram em um grande indivíduo que era claramente o líder. Um som peculiar de ronronar veio da boca localizada na palma de uma de suas mãos, e ele se moveu rapidamente em direção ao penhasco, com todo o rebanho o seguindo.

En Sua velocidade e modo de locomoção eram extraordinários; eles saltavam para frente em enormes pulos de vinte ou trinta pés, semelhante a um canguru.

En Eles estavam desaparecendo rapidamente, então decidi abandonar a cautela e persegui-los. Saltei pela campina, saltando ainda mais longe do que eles, porque os músculos de um homem atlético da Terra se saem notavelmente sob a menor gravidade e pressão atmosférica de Marte.

En A rota deles levava diretamente para a aparente fonte do rio na base do penhasco. Ao me aproximar, notei que a campina estava salpicada de enormes pedregulhos, desalojados dos imponentes penhascos acima pela passagem do tempo.

En Por causa dos pedregulhos, cheguei perto da agitação antes que meus olhos horrorizados vissem a verdade. Escalando uma grande rocha, avistei uma manada de homens-planta cercando um pequeno grupo de talvez cinco ou seis homens e mulheres verdes de Barsoom.

En Agora eu tinha certeza de que estava em Marte, pois diante de mim estavam membros das hordas selvagens que habitam os leitos de mares mortos e as cidades desertas daquele planeta moribundo.

En Estes eram os grandes machos, imponentes em sua altura majestosa. Eles tinham presas brancas e brilhantes saindo de suas mandíbulas inferiores maciças até perto do centro de suas testas, olhos protuberantes colocados lateralmente que podiam olhar para frente ou para trás sem virar a cabeça, estranhas orelhas semelhantes a antenas erguendo-se do topo de suas testas e um par adicional de braços estendendo-se do meio entre ombros e quadris.

En O narrador explica que, mesmo sem sua pele verde e os ornamentos metálicos que indicavam suas tribos, ele os teria reconhecido imediatamente, pois são únicos no universo.

En O grupo era composto por dois homens e quatro mulheres, e seus ornamentos mostravam que pertenciam a tribos diferentes. Isso intrigou o narrador, pois as tribos verdes de Barsoom geralmente estão em conflito mortal constante. Ele só as tinha visto unidas em uma ocasião histórica, quando Tars Tarkas liderou um grande exército de várias tribos para resgatar a Princesa Dejah Thoris.

En No entanto, agora estavam de costas um para o outro, olhando com espanto de olhos arregalados para as ações claramente hostis de um inimigo comum.

En Todos estavam armados com espadas longas e adagas, mas nenhuma arma de fogo era visível. Se tivessem tido armas, os horríveis homens-planta teriam sido rapidamente derrotados.

En Logo, o líder dos homens-planta atacou o pequeno grupo. Seu método era notável e eficaz, e sua estranheza o tornava ainda mais poderoso, pois os guerreiros verdes não tinham defesa contra tal ataque. Ficou claro que eles estavam tão pouco familiarizados com essa tática quanto com os monstros que enfrentavam.

En O homem-planta avançou até cerca de três metros e então saltou como se fosse passar por cima das cabeças do grupo. Ele ergueu sua cauda poderosa para o alto de um lado e, ao passar perto acima deles, girou a cauda para baixo com força tremenda, esmagando o crânio de um guerreiro verde como se fosse uma casca de ovo.

En O restante da terrível manada agora circulava rapidamente ao redor do pequeno grupo de vítimas. Seus saltos enormes e os sons estridentes e agudos de suas bocas estranhas foram projetados para confundir e assustar a presa. Dois deles saltaram de lados opostos ao mesmo tempo, e os poderosos golpes de suas caudas não encontraram resistência, de modo que mais dois marcianos verdes morreram uma morte vergonhosa.

En Apenas um guerreiro e duas fêmeas restavam, e parecia apenas uma questão de segundos antes que também caíssem mortos sobre a grama vermelha.

En Mas quando mais dois homens-planta avançaram, o guerreiro, agora preparado pelos ataques anteriores, balançou sua espada longa para o alto e cortou um dos homens-planta do queixo à virilha com um golpe limpo.

En O outro homem-planta, no entanto, golpeou com sua cauda cruel e deixou ambas as fêmeas esmagadas e mortas no chão.

En Vendo que todos os seus companheiros haviam caído e que toda a horda o atacava, o guerreiro verde avançou corajosamente para enfrentá-los, girando sua espada longa com a mesma habilidade feroz que eu tantas vezes testemunhara entre os de sua espécie durante suas batalhas internas constantes.

En Golpeando à direita e à esquerda, ele abriu uma passagem pelos homens-planta que avançavam e então iniciou uma corrida desesperada em direção à floresta, onde claramente esperava encontrar refúgio.

En Ele havia se dirigido para a parte da floresta que margeava os penhascos, e assim a perseguição selvagem estava levando todo o grupo cada vez mais para longe da rocha onde eu estava escondido.

En Tendo observado a nobre luta do grande guerreiro contra números tão esmagadores, meu coração se encheu de admiração. Como faço frequentemente, agindo mais por impulso do que por reflexão cuidadosa, saltei imediatamente da rocha onde me escondia e corri rapidamente em direção aos corpos dos marcianos verdes mortos, um plano claro já se formando em minha mente.

En Com alguns grandes saltos alcancei o local, e um momento depois eu estava novamente correndo rapidamente em perseguição aos monstros hediondos que rapidamente se aproximavam do guerreiro em fuga. Mas desta vez eu segurava uma poderosa espada longa em minha mão, e em meu coração agitava-se a antiga sede de batalha. Uma névoa vermelha turvou minha visão, e senti meus lábios se curvarem no sorriso familiar que sempre me vem na alegria do combate.

En Cheguei rapidamente, mas ainda assim a tempo. O guerreiro verde havia sido capturado antes de chegar à floresta. Ele ficou de costas para uma rocha, enquanto as criaturas, frustradas, sibilaram e gritaram ao seu redor.

En Eles tinham um olho no meio da cabeça, todos focados em sua presa. Eles não notaram minha aproximação silenciosa, então ataquei com minha espada longa. Quatro deles estavam mortos antes que percebessem que eu estava lá.

En Por um momento, as criaturas recuaram diante do meu ataque feroz. Naquele momento, o guerreiro verde juntou-se a mim. Ele lutou com uma habilidade incrível, balançando sua espada em amplos padrões de oito. Ele continuou até que nenhum inimigo restasse, sua lâmina cortando carne, osso e metal como se fossem nada.

En Enquanto continuávamos a lutar, um grito estranho e agudo veio de cima. Eu já o tinha ouvido antes, e ele havia convocado as criaturas para atacar. Ele se ergueu repetidamente, mas estávamos muito ocupados lutando contra as criaturas ferozes e poderosas ao nosso redor para procurar a fonte do som.

En Suas caudas grandes chicoteavam ao nosso redor com fúria, garras afiadas cortavam nossos braços e corpos, e um líquido verde e pegajoso, como o fluido de uma lagarta esmagada, cobria-nos da cabeça aos pés. Cada corte que fazíamos com nossas espadas liberava mais dessa substância dos corpos dos homens-planta, onde fluía lentamente em vez de sangue.

En Senti o peso pesado de um monstro nas minhas costas. Suas garras afiadas cortaram minha carne, e experimentei uma sensação terrível enquanto lábios úmidos sugavam o sangue vital das feridas onde as garras ainda permaneciam.

En Eu lutava contra uma criatura feroz que tentava alcançar minha garganta pela frente. Ao mesmo tempo, outras duas, uma de cada lado, me açoitavam violentamente com suas caudas.

En O guerreiro verde estava com dificuldade para se manter. Senti que a luta desigual só poderia durar mais um momento. Então o enorme sujeito percebeu minha situação. Ele se libertou dos que o cercavam e, com um único golpe de sua espada, cortou o atacante das minhas costas. Aliviado, tive pouca dificuldade com os outros.

En Uma vez juntos, ficamos quase de costas um para o outro contra a grande pedra. Isso impediu que as criaturas voassem sobre nós para desferir seus golpes mortais. Como éramos facilmente páreo para elas enquanto permaneciam no chão, estávamos fazendo bom progresso em eliminar as restantes. Então nossa atenção foi novamente atraída pelo lamento agudo do chamador acima de nossas cabeças.

En Desta vez, olhei para cima. Muito acima de nós, em uma pequena sacada natural na face do penhasco, estava uma estranha figura humana. Ele soltava seu sinal agudo, acenando com uma mão em direção à foz do rio como se chamasse alguém lá, e com a outra mão apontava e gesticulava em nossa direção.

En Quando olhei para onde ele estava olhando, entendi sua intenção e fui tomado pelo pavor, pois vi inúmeras criaturas saltitantes e estranhos monstros velozes convergindo sobre nós de todas as direções através do prado, da floresta e da planície distante além do rio.

En Disse ao meu companheiro que seria uma grande morte e direcionei sua atenção para a horda que se aproximava.

En Quando ele olhou rapidamente na direção que indiquei, sorriu.

En Ele respondeu que eles poderiam ao menos morrer lutando, como grandes guerreiros devem, e me chamou pelo nome.

En Enquanto ele falava, acabávamos de terminar o último de nossos oponentes imediatos. Virei-me surpreso ao ouvir meu nome.

En O narrador viu Tars Tarkas, o maior dos marcianos verdes. Tars Tarkas era o político mais astuto e o general mais forte deles, e também era o amigo leal do narrador. Ele era o governante de Thark.

CAPÍTULO II — UMA BATALHA NA FLORESTA

En Tars Tarkas e o narrador não puderam conversar sobre o que havia acontecido. Eles pararam em frente a uma enorme rocha, com atacantes mortos e estranhos deitados ao redor. De todas as direções no vale, uma enchente de criaturas assustadoras estava chegando por causa de um som estranho feito por uma figura misteriosa lá em cima.

En Tars Tarkas gritou que eles deveriam ir para os penhascos. Essa era a única chance deles, mesmo que para uma fuga curta. Eles poderiam encontrar uma caverna ou uma saliência estreita onde duas pessoas pudessem se defender para sempre contra a multidão mista e desarmada.

En Eles correram juntos pela grama vermelha. O narrador ajustou sua velocidade para não deixar seu amigo mais lento para trás. Eles tinham cerca de trezentos jardas do rochedo até os penhascos, e então precisavam encontrar um bom lugar para fazer uma resistência contra as coisas aterrorizantes que os perseguiam.

En As criaturas estavam se aproximando rapidamente. Tars Tarkas chamou o narrador para correr na frente e encontrar o lugar seguro que estavam procurando. Isso foi uma boa ideia porque poderia economizar muitos minutos valiosos. Usando toda a sua força, o narrador percorreu a distância restante até os penhascos com saltos enormes e alcançou a base em um momento.

En Os penhascos subiam diretamente do chão plano do vale. Diferente da maioria dos penhascos, não havia pilha de rochas caídas na base. Apenas algumas pedras espalhadas, parcialmente enterradas na grama, mostravam que a imponente face rochosa já havia desmoronado.

En Seu primeiro olhar para a face do penhasco o encheu de pavor. Ele não via nenhum apoio possível em qualquer lugar da alta escarpa, exceto o único ponto onde o estranho arauto estava, ainda gritando seu chamado penetrante.

En À sua direita, a base do penhasco desaparecia na floresta densa. As árvores cresciam até a rocha, erguendo suas folhas brilhantes a mil pés de altura contra o penhasco severo e inóspito.

En À esquerda, o penhasco parecia se estender sem interrupção pela cabeceira do amplo vale, eventualmente desaparecendo na silhueta de uma grande cordilheira que cercava o vale por todos os lados.

En A cerca de mil pés de distância, um rio parecia jorrar diretamente do sopé dos penhascos. Não vendo esperança de fuga por ali, ele voltou sua atenção para a floresta.

En Os penhascos se erguiam cerca de cinco mil pés acima de mim. O sol ainda não os havia alcançado, por isso pareciam de um amarelo opaco em sua própria sombra. Eram marcados por listras vermelho-escuras, verdes e manchas de quartzo branco.

En Embora os penhascos fossem bonitos, o narrador admitiu que, neste primeiro olhar, não os viu com muita apreciação.

En Naquele momento, ele via os penhascos apenas como um meio de fuga. Enquanto examinava repetidamente sua vasta superfície, procurando uma fissura ou fenda, começou a odiá-los, como um prisioneiro odeia as paredes de sua cela.

En Tars Tarkas se aproximava rapidamente, e uma horda ainda mais veloz vinha logo atrás.

En Parecia que a única opção era a floresta, e ele estava prestes a sinalizar para Tars Tarkas segui-lo quando o sol passou pelo pico do penhasco. Os raios brilhantes atingiram a superfície opaca, que então explodiu em um milhão de luzes brilhantes de ouro, vermelho, verde e branco — um espetáculo mais magnífico do que qualquer olho humano já tinha visto.

En Uma inspeção posterior revelou que a face do penhasco estava tão cheia de veios e manchas de ouro maciço que parecia uma parede sólida daquele metal precioso, exceto onde era interrompida por afloramentos de rubis, esmeraldas e diamantes. Esta era uma dica tentadora das vastas e inimagináveis riquezas enterradas atrás da magnífica superfície.

En O que mais chamou a atenção do narrador, enquanto o sol fazia o penhasco brilhar, foram várias manchas pretas que agora apareciam claramente no alto da parede, perto do topo da floresta. Elas pareciam se estender abaixo e atrás dos galhos.

En Ele imediatamente as reconheceu como as aberturas escuras de cavernas na rocha sólida, que poderiam ser possíveis rotas de fuga ou abrigo temporário se pudessem alcançá-las.

En Havia apenas um caminho, e ele passava pelas imensas e altas árvores à direita. O narrador sabia que podia escalá-las facilmente, mas Tars Tarkas, com seu enorme tamanho e peso, acharia a tarefa difícil e talvez além de sua capacidade. Os marcianos não eram bons escaladores. Em todo Marte, o narrador nunca vira uma colina ou montanha com mais de quatro mil pés de altura, e as encostas eram geralmente suaves, oferecendo poucas oportunidades para escalar. Os marcianos evitavam escalar de qualquer forma; preferiam um caminho mais longo ao redor da base de qualquer elevação em vez de uma subida mais curta e difícil.

En No entanto, a única opção era tentar escalar as árvores próximas ao penhasco para alcançar as cavernas acima.

En O Thark imediatamente compreendeu o potencial do plano e seus desafios. Como não havia outra opção, corremos em direção às árvores mais próximas do penhasco.

En Nossos perseguidores implacáveis estavam tão perto que parecia impossível para o Jeddak de Thark alcançar a floresta à frente deles. Tars Tarkas fez pouco esforço para escapar, pois os homens verdes de Barsoom não fogem da morte. No entanto, eu sabia que sua bravura havia sido comprovada inúmeras vezes, então devia haver outra razão para sua fuga, assim como o amor por Dejah Thoris me impulsionava. Eu não conseguia entender por que o Thark de repente valorizava a vida, já que eles frequentemente buscam a morte.

En Por fim, alcançamos as sombras da floresta, e logo atrás de nós saltou o perseguidor mais rápido — um gigante homem-planta com garras estendidas para prender suas bocas sugadoras de sangue em nós.

En O homem-planta estava cerca de cem jardas à frente de seu companheiro mais próximo, então chamei Tars Tarkas para subir em uma grande árvore encostada no penhasco enquanto eu cuidava da criatura. Isso daria ao Thark menos ágil tempo para alcançar galhos mais altos antes que toda a horda chegasse e cortasse toda a fuga.

En Mas eu havia subestimado tanto a astúcia do meu oponente imediato quanto a velocidade com que seus companheiros estavam reduzindo a distância.

En O narrador levantou sua espada longa para desferir um golpe fatal, mas a criatura interrompeu sua investida, fazendo a espada cortar o ar vazio. Sua cauda poderosa então o varreu para longe de seus pés. Embora a besta estivesse sobre ele instantaneamente, ele agarrou um tentáculo contorcido em cada mão antes que ela pudesse cravar suas bocas nele.

En O homem-planta era robusto, mas o narrador acreditava que sua própria força e agilidade terrenas, combinadas com um aperto mortal, lhe dariam eventualmente a vitória. No entanto, enquanto lutavam perto da árvore onde Tars Tarkas subia com grande dificuldade, o narrador viu sobre o ombro de seu oponente o grande grupo de perseguidores se aproximando dele.

En Finalmente, o narrador reconheceu os outros monstros. Eles eram as criaturas mais temidas de Marte: os grandes macacos brancos de Barsoom.

En As experiências passadas do narrador em Marte o tornaram intimamente familiarizado com esses macacos e seus modos. Ele admitiu que, entre todos os habitantes temíveis daquele mundo estranho, os macacos brancos eram os que o faziam sentir mais próximo do medo verdadeiro.

En O narrador acreditava que seu medo decorria da impressionante semelhança dos macacos com os homens da Terra — uma aparência humana que se tornava especialmente assustadora por causa de seu tamanho enorme.

En Essas criaturas têm quatro metros e meio de altura e andam eretas sobre as patas traseiras. Como os marcianos verdes, possuem um conjunto intermediário de braços entre os membros superiores e inferiores. Seus olhos são próximos, mas não saltam, ao contrário dos marcianos verdes; suas orelhas são altas e mais laterais, enquanto seus focinhos e dentes lembram os de um gorila africano. Têm uma grande cabeleira de cerdas na cabeça.

En Olhando por cima do ombro do meu inimigo, vi essas criaturas e os terríveis homens-planta. Então uma onda massiva deles varreu sobre mim, rosnando, estalando, gritando e ronronando. Entre todos os sons que atingiram meus ouvidos enquanto eu caía sob eles, o mais hediondo era o horrível ronronar dos homens-planta.

En Imediatamente, dezenas de presas cruéis e garras afiadas cravaram-se em minha carne; lábios frios e sugadores prenderam-se em minhas artérias. Lutei para me libertar e, apesar do peso daqueles corpos imensos, consegui ficar de pé. Ainda segurando minha espada longa, encurtei a pegada para usá-la como uma adaga e causei tamanha devastação entre eles que por um momento fiquei livre.

En O que leva minutos para descrever aconteceu em apenas segundos. Nesse tempo, Tars Tarkas viu meu apuro e saltou dos galhos mais baixos que havia alcançado com tanto esforço. Quando lancei para longe o último dos meus atacantes imediatos, o grande thark saltou ao meu lado, e lutamos novamente costas com costas, como já havíamos feito cem vezes antes.

En Vez após vez, os ferozes símios saltavam para travar combate conosco, e vez após vez os rechaçávamos com nossas espadas. As grandes caudas dos homens-planta chicoteavam com tremenda potência ao nosso redor enquanto eles investiam de várias direções ou saltavam com a agilidade de galgos acima de nossas cabeças. Mas cada ataque era recebido por uma lâmina reluzente em mãos que eram consideradas as melhores de Marte por vinte anos, pois os nomes de Tars Tarkas e John Carter eram aqueles que os homens de luta do mundo guerreiro amavam pronunciar.

En Mesmo os melhores espadachins não poderiam resistir para sempre contra números tão avassaladores de criaturas selvagens que não compreendem derrota até serem mortas. Passo a passo, foram forçados a recuar. Finalmente, pararam junto à árvore gigante que haviam escolhido para escalar. Após repetidos ataques, foram empurrados de volta até terem circulado metade do tronco maciço.

En Tars Tarkas estava na liderança, e de repente John Carter ouviu um pequeno grito de triunfo vindo dele.

En Ele disse a John Carter que havia abrigo para pelo menos um deles. Olhando para baixo, John Carter viu uma abertura na base da árvore com cerca de um metro de largura.

En John Carter insistiu para que Tars Tarkas entrasse, mas ele recusou. Disse que seu corpo grande não caberia na pequena abertura, enquanto John Carter poderia entrar facilmente.

En Tars Tarkas disse que ambos morreriam se ficassem do lado de fora. O buraco oferecia uma pequena chance para um deles. Ele insistiu que John Carter a aproveitasse, para que pudesse viver para vingá-lo. Era inútil para ele tentar se espremer em uma abertura tão pequena enquanto demônios atacavam de todos os lados.

En John Carter respondeu que eles morreriam juntos, já que ele não iria primeiro. Ele propôs defender a abertura enquanto Tars Tarkas entrasse, e então seu tamanho menor lhe permitiria entrar com Tars Tarkas antes que seus inimigos pudessem impedi-los.

En Eles continuaram lutando ferozmente, falando em frases curtas e entrecortadas entre seus ataques afiados contra os inimigos que os cercavam.

En Finalmente, Tars Tarkas concordou, pois parecia ser a única chance de um deles ser salvo do número crescente de atacantes que ainda vinham de todas as partes do amplo vale.

En Tars Tarkas observou que John Carter sempre colocava sua própria vida em último lugar, mas ainda mais, ele tinha um jeito de comandar as vidas e ações dos outros, incluindo os maiores Jeddaks de Barsoom.

En Um sorriso sombrio apareceu em seu rosto duro e cruel enquanto ele, o maior de todos os Jeddaks, se virava para seguir as ordens de um ser de outro mundo – um homem com menos da metade de seu tamanho.

En Ele disse a John Carter que, se ele fracassasse, o Thark, que havia aprendido amizade com ele, sairia para morrer ao seu lado.

En John Carter concordou, dizendo a seu amigo que fosse rapidamente, de cabeça, enquanto ele cobria sua retirada.

En Ele hesitou diante da palavra, pois em toda a sua vida de luta constante nunca havia virado as costas a nada além de um inimigo morto ou derrotado.

En John Carter instou Tars Tarkas a se apressar, alertando que ambos sofreriam uma derrota inútil se ele não pudesse segurar os atacantes sozinho por muito mais tempo.

En Enquanto ele descia para forçar seu caminho para dentro da árvore, a matilha uivante de criaturas hediondas se lançou sobre John Carter. Sua lâmina cintilante voava para a esquerda e para a direita, manchada de verde com o suco do homem-planta e de vermelho com o sangue de um grande macaco branco, movendo-se sem pausa de um inimigo para o próximo, parando apenas para perfurar o coração de cada inimigo selvagem.

En Ele lutou com intensidade sem precedentes contra forças esmagadoras. Mesmo depois, ele mal podia acreditar que um corpo humano pudesse suportar aquele ataque terrível, o peso esmagador de toneladas de carne feroz em combate.

En Temendo que ele pudesse escapar, as criaturas redobraram seus esforços para derrubá-lo. Embora o chão estivesse coberto por seus mortos e moribundos, elas eventualmente o dominaram. Ele caiu sob elas pela segunda vez naquele dia, e mais uma vez sentiu aqueles lábios horríveis sugando sua pele.

En Ele mal havia caído quando mãos poderosas agarraram seus tornozelos, e ele foi puxado para dentro do abrigo da árvore. Por um momento, Tars Tarkas e um grande homem-planta – que se agarrava tenazmente ao seu peito – travaram uma disputa de cabo de guerra. Então ele conseguiu enfiar sua espada longa sob a criatura e perfurar suas entranhas.

En Rasgado e sangrando por numerosos ferimentos cruéis, ele jazia ofegante no chão dentro da árvore oca, enquanto Tars Tarkas guardava a entrada contra a multidão furiosa.

En Por uma hora eles uivaram ao redor da árvore, mas após algumas tentativas de alcançá-los, limitaram-se a gritos e berros aterrorizantes, rosnados horríveis dos grandes macacos brancos e o indescritível e temível ronronar dos homens-planta.

En Quase todos os inimigos partiram, deixando cerca de vinte para impedir sua fuga. Parecia que eles seriam sitiados e acabariam morrendo de fome. Mesmo que conseguissem escapar após o anoitecer, não faziam ideia de para onde ir no vale hostil.

En Assim que os ataques pararam e seus olhos se acostumaram à luz fraca dentro do estranho refúgio, o narrador aproveitou a oportunidade para examinar seu abrigo.

En A árvore era oca, com cerca de cinquenta pés de diâmetro, e tinha um chão plano e duro que sugeria que outros já a tinham usado antes. Olhando para cima, o narrador viu um leve brilho lá em cima.

En Havia uma abertura acima. Se conseguissem alcançá-la, ainda poderiam escapar para as cavernas do penhasco. Já acostumado à luz fraca, o narrador explorou e encontrou uma escada rústica no lado oposto.

En O narrador subiu rapidamente a escada, que levava a uma série de barras de madeira horizontais colocadas a cerca de três pés de distância, formando uma escada perfeita subindo pelo estreito tronco da árvore até onde a vista alcançava.

En Voltei ao chão e expliquei minha descoberta a Tars Tarkas. Ele me aconselhou a subir o mais alto que pudesse com segurança, enquanto ele vigiava a entrada para nos proteger de qualquer ataque.

En Subi rapidamente pelo poço estranho. A escada, feita de barras horizontais, parecia se estender infinitamente para cima. Conforme subia, a luz vinda de cima se tornava cada vez mais intensa.

En Após subir cerca de quinhentos pés, alcancei uma abertura no tronco da árvore por onde entrava luz. Era aproximadamente do mesmo tamanho da entrada inferior, levando a um galho largo e plano. A superfície desgastada do galho mostrava que era usado com frequência por alguma criatura como caminho de ida e volta para este poço incomum.

En Não pisei no galho, com medo de ser visto e bloquear nossa rota de fuga. Em vez disso, desci rapidamente de volta para Tars Tarkas.

En Alcancei-o rapidamente, e logo estávamos ambos subindo a longa escada em direção à abertura acima.

En Tars Tarkas liderou o caminho. Quando o narrador alcançou a primeira barra horizontal, puxou a escada para cima e a entregou a Tars Tarkas, que a levou mais cem pés para cima e a fixou firmemente. Enquanto o narrador subia, ele removia as barras inferiores, de modo que o interior da árvore ficou despojado de qualquer meio de escalada por cem pés a partir da base. Isso impediu que alguém os seguisse ou atacasse por trás.

En Mais tarde, eles souberam que essa precaução os salvou de uma situação terrível e, por fim, levou ao seu resgate.

En Na abertura do topo, Tars Tarkas se afastou para que o narrador pudesse sair e investigar. Como o narrador era mais leve e mais ágil, ele era mais adequado para navegar pelo perigoso e estreito caminho suspenso.

En O galho em que o narrador estava se inclinava para cima em direção ao penhasco. Ele o seguiu e descobriu que terminava alguns pés acima de uma saliência estreita que se projetava da face do penhasco na entrada de uma pequena caverna.

En Conforme o narrador se movia em direção à extremidade mais fina do galho, ele se curvava sob seu peso. Quando ele se equilibrou precariamente na ponta, o galho balançou suavemente, nivelado com a saliência a cerca de dois pés de distância.

En Cerca de quinhentos pés abaixo de mim, o vale era como um tapete vermelho brilhante. Quase cinco mil pés acima, os enormes e brilhantes penhascos se erguiam de forma impressionante.

En A caverna à minha frente não estava entre as que eu tinha visto do chão; essas eram muito mais altas, talvez mil pés. Ainda assim, pelo que pude perceber, esta serviria igualmente bem ao nosso propósito, então voltei para a árvore para buscar Tars Tarkas.

En Nós nos movemos cuidadosamente juntos ao longo do caminho móvel, mas quando chegamos ao final do galho, nosso peso combinado o fez curvar tanto que a entrada da caverna ficou alta demais para alcançarmos.

En Finalmente decidimos que Tars Tarkas voltaria pelo galho, deixando comigo sua tira de couro mais comprida. Quando o galho se erguesse o suficiente para mim, eu entraria na caverna. Então, quando Tars Tarkas voltasse, eu poderia baixar a tira e puxá-lo para cima, até a saliência segura.

En Fizemos isso sem problemas e logo nos encontramos juntos na borda de uma pequena varanda vertiginosa, com uma vista magnífica do vale se espalhando abaixo de nós.

En Até onde a vista alcançava, havia uma bela floresta e grama vermelha ao lado de um mar calmo, com altos e coloridos penhascos ao redor. Em certo momento, eles pensaram ter visto uma torre dourada brilhando ao sol entre as árvores distantes, mas logo decidiram que era apenas imaginação, nascida do forte desejo de encontrar pessoas civilizadas neste lugar belo, porém hostil.

En Abaixo deles, na margem do rio, os grandes macacos brancos estavam consumindo os últimos restos dos antigos companheiros de Tars Tarkas, enquanto grandes manadas de homens-planta pastavam em círculos cada vez mais amplos na grama, mantendo-a tão curta quanto um gramado bem aparado.

En Sabendo que um ataque das árvores era agora improvável, eles decidiram explorar a caverna, que tinham toda razão para acreditar ser uma continuação do caminho que já haviam percorrido, levando a quem sabe onde, mas obviamente para longe deste vale de ferocidade sombria.

En Conforme avançavam, encontraram um túnel bem proporcionado cortado no penhasco sólido. Suas paredes se elevavam cerca de vinte pés acima do chão, que tinha aproximadamente cinco pés de largura. O teto era abobadado. Sem meios de fazer luz, eles tatearam lentamente na escuridão crescente, Tars Tarkas mantendo contato com uma parede enquanto o narrador apalpava a outra. Para evitar se separar ou se perder em algum labirinto intrincado, eles deram as mãos.

En Quão longe eles percorreram o túnel dessa maneira é desconhecido, mas logo chegaram a uma obstrução que bloqueou seu progresso. Parecia mais uma divisória do que um fim repentino da caverna, pois não era construída do material do penhasco, mas de algo que parecia madeira muito dura.

En Senti silenciosamente a superfície com as mãos e, após um momento, encontrei um botão. Em Marte, um botão geralmente indica uma porta, assim como uma maçaneta faz na Terra.

En Pressionei-o suavemente e fiquei satisfeito ao sentir a porta se abrir lentamente. Um momento depois, estávamos olhando para uma sala mal iluminada que parecia vazia.

En Sem hesitar, abri a porta de par em par e entrei na sala, seguido pelo enorme Thark. Enquanto ficamos em silêncio olhando ao redor, um leve barulho atrás de mim me fez me virar rapidamente. Para minha surpresa, vi a porta se fechar com um clique seco, como se por uma mão invisível.

En Imediatamente me lancei em direção à porta para forçá-la a abrir novamente. Algo em seu movimento estranho e no silêncio tenso, quase palpável, da sala sugeria um mal oculto escondido nesta câmara rochosa nas profundezas dos Penhascos Dourados.

En Meus dedos agarraram inutilmente a porta resistente, enquanto procurava em vão um botão semelhante ao que nos havia permitido entrar.

En Então, de lábios invisíveis, veio uma risada cruel e zombeteira que ecoou pelo lugar desolado.

CAPÍTULO III — A CÂMARA DO MISTÉRIO

En Por momentos após aquela risada terrível ter parado de ecoar na câmara rochosa, Tars Tarkas e eu ficamos em silêncio tenso e expectante. Nenhum outro som perturbou a quietude, e nada se moveu dentro do nosso campo de visão.

En Por fim, Tars Tarkas riu suavemente, como seu estranho povo faz quando confrontado com o horrível ou aterrorizante. Não era uma risada histérica, mas uma expressão genuína do prazer que eles encontram em coisas que levariam os homens da Terra ao desgosto ou às lágrimas.

En Eu os vi muitas vezes rolar no chão em risadas loucas e incontroláveis enquanto assistiam às agonias da morte de mulheres e crianças sob tortura naquele infernal festival marciano verde, os Grandes Jogos.

En Olhei para o Thark, um sorriso em meus próprios lábios, pois verdadeiramente havia mais necessidade de um rosto sorridente do que de um queixo trêmulo.

En O narrador perguntou ao seu companheiro o que ele achava de tudo e onde eles estavam.

En Ele olhou para o narrador com surpresa.

En Ele repetiu a pergunta sobre a localização deles e perguntou a John Carter se ele realmente não sabia onde estavam.

En John Carter disse que só podia imaginar que estavam em Barsoom; sem seu companheiro e os grandes macacos brancos, ele nem sequer imaginaria isso, porque as vistas que vira naquele dia eram tão diferentes do Barsoom que conhecera dez anos antes quanto eram diferentes de seu mundo natal.

En John Carter disse a Tars Tarkas que não sabia onde eles estavam.

En O interlocutor perguntou onde ele esteve desde que abriu os portais da planta atmosférica anos atrás, após o guardião morrer e os motores pararem, levando à asfixia de Barsoom. Seu corpo nunca foi encontrado, apesar de uma busca mundial e do Jeddak de Hélio e sua neta, a princesa, oferecerem recompensas enormes que até príncipes reais se juntaram à caçada.

En Quando todas as buscas falharam, a única conclusão foi que ele havia feito a jornada final pelo misterioso Rio Iss, para esperar no Vale de Dor, nas margens do Mar Perdido de Korus, por sua princesa, a bela Dejah Thoris.

En Ninguém conseguia adivinhar por que ele havia ido, já que sua princesa ainda estava viva.

En Ele interrompeu, agradecendo a Deus por não ter ousado perguntar, pois temia ter chegado tarde demais para salvá-la—ela estava muito fraca quando ele a deixou nos jardins reais de Tardos Mors naquela noite distante, tão fraca que ele tinha pouca esperança de alcançar a planta atmosférica antes que seu espírito partisse para sempre. Ele então perguntou se ela ainda vivia.

En O outro confirmou que ela vivia e o chamou pelo nome, John Carter.

En O orador lembrou a outra pessoa de que não lhes haviam informado a localização.

En O orador disse a John Carter que eles estavam em um lugar onde ele esperava encontrar tanto ele quanto outra pessoa. Ele lembrou John Carter de uma história de muitos anos atrás sobre uma mulher que ensinou o orador a amar—um conceito que os marcianos verdes eram condicionados a desprezar. John Carter sabia como o amor dessa mulher havia levado ao seu sofrimento e morte nas mãos do monstruoso Tal Hajus.

En O orador acreditava que essa mulher estava esperando por ele perto do Mar Perdido de Korus.

En O orador disse a John Carter que havia sido seu papel, como um homem de outro mundo, ensinar ao cruel Thark o significado da amizade. Ele também pensava que o próprio John Carter estava vagando pelo despreocupado Vale Dor.

En O orador explicou que as duas pessoas que ele mais desejava ver estavam no final de uma longa peregrinação que um dia teria que fazer. Como tempo suficiente havia passado, Dejah Thoris esperava que isso pudesse trazer John Carter de volta para ela; ela sempre tentara acreditar que ele havia apenas retornado temporariamente ao seu próprio planeta. Por fim, cedendo ao seu desejo, o orador havia começado a jornada um mês atrás, e John Carter agora testemunhara sua conclusão. O orador então perguntou a John Carter se ele agora entendia onde estava.

En Perguntei se aquele era o Rio Iss que desaguava no Mar Perdido de Korus no Vale Dor.

En Ele respondeu que este era o vale do amor, paz e descanso, onde todos os barsoomianos ansiavam viajar ao final de uma vida de ódio e conflito. Ele disse a John Carter que este era o Céu.

En Seu tom era frio e irônico, refletindo a terrível decepção que ele havia sofrido. Uma desilusão tão profunda, a destruição de esperanças de toda uma vida e o desenraizamento de tradições antigas, poderiam ter justificado uma reação muito mais forte do Thark.

En Coloquei minha mão em seu ombro.

En Eu disse que sentia muito, e parecia não haver mais nada a dizer.

En O orador pediu a John Carter que imaginasse os incontáveis bilhões de barsoomianos que, ao longo da história, desceram voluntariamente o rio cruel, apenas para serem vítimas das criaturas ferozes que os atacaram naquele dia.

En Existia uma lenda antiga de que um homem vermelho certa vez retornou do Mar Perdido de Korus, através do Vale Dor e do Rio Iss. Ele contou uma história terrível sobre criaturas horríveis em um vale belíssimo que atacavam cada peregrino ao final de sua jornada, devorando-os à beira do Mar Perdido, onde eles esperavam encontrar amor e paz. No entanto, os antigos o mataram, pois a tradição dizia que qualquer um que retornasse do Rio do Mistério deveria ser morto.

En Agora eles sabiam que a lenda era verdadeira e que o homem havia falado apenas do que viu. Mas esse conhecimento não os ajudava, porque mesmo que escapassem, também seriam chamados de blasfemadores. Tars Tarkas se sentia preso entre a certeza e a realidade, sem uma boa saída.

En John Carter respondeu que estavam na mesma posição que os homens da Terra diziam: entre o diabo e o mar profundo. Ele não pôde deixar de sorrir diante da situação.

En Não havia nada a fazer senão aceitar os acontecimentos. Pelo menos poderiam se satisfazer com o fato de que quem quer que os matasse sofreria muitas perdas próprias. Seja macaco branco, homem-planta, barsoomiano verde ou homem vermelho, qualquer inimigo que lhes tirasse as vidas acharia caro: tanto John Carter, Príncipe da Casa de Tardos Mors, quanto Tars Tarkas, Jeddak de Thark, lutariam para tornar suas mortes custosas.

En O narrador achou o humor sombrio do chefe divertido e riu. O chefe riu junto com ele, compartilhando um raro momento de genuíno prazer. Essa capacidade de rir sinceramente era uma das características que distinguiam esse feroz chefe tharkiano dos outros de sua espécie.

En Finalmente, o chefe exclamou, perguntando a John Carter sobre si mesmo. Ele queria saber onde John estivera todos aqueles anos, se não ali, e como viera parar lá naquele dia.

En John Carter respondeu que havia retornado à Terra. Por dez longos anos terrestres, ele vinha rezando e esperando pelo dia que o traria de volta a este sombrio e velho planeta. Apesar de seus costumes cruéis e terríveis, ele sentia um laço de simpatia e amor por ele ainda mais forte do que pelo mundo de seu nascimento.

En Por dez anos, ele suportou uma morte em vida de incerteza, sem saber se Dejah Thoris ainda vivia. Agora que suas orações haviam finalmente sido atendidas e suas dúvidas aliviadas, um cruel golpe do destino o lançara no único pequeno lugar em todo Barsoom de onde parecia não haver escape. Mesmo que houvesse uma fuga, o custo extinguiria o último vislumbre de esperança que ele tinha de ver sua princesa novamente nesta vida. Ele observou que o chefe tinha visto naquele dia quão pateticamente fútil é o anseio humano por um além material.

En John Carter afirmou que apenas meia hora antes de ver o chefe lutando contra os homens-planta, ele estivera parado ao luar nas margens de um grande rio que flui da costa leste da terra mais abençoada da Terra. Ele respondera à pergunta do chefe e então perguntou se ele acreditava nele.

En Tars Tarkas respondeu que acreditava, embora admitisse não entender o motivo.

En Durante a conversa, ele examinou a câmara, que media aproximadamente duzentos pés de comprimento e metade dessa largura. Na parede oposta à entrada, parecia haver uma porta.

En O cômodo havia sido escavado no penhasco e brilhava principalmente com um ouro fosco na luz fraca de um único iluminador de rádio. Manchas de rubi, esmeralda e diamante decoravam as paredes e o teto. O chão era duro e desgastado até ficar liso. Ele viu duas portas; como uma estava trancada, aproximou-se da outra.

En Quando ele estendeu a mão para procurar o botão de controle, a risada cruel e zombeteira soou novamente, tão próxima que ele instintivamente recuou e apertou o punho de sua espada.

En Do canto distante da câmara, uma voz cavernosa entoou que não havia esperança, que os mortos não retornam e que não há ressurreição. Ela o advertiu a não esperar.

En Embora tenhamos olhado imediatamente para a fonte da voz, não vimos ninguém. Confesso que um arrepio percorreu minha espinha e os pelos da nuca se eriçaram, como fazem os de um cachorro quando percebe coisas invisíveis e assustadoras na noite.

En Apressei-me em direção à voz lúgubre, mas ela cessou antes que eu chegasse à parede oposta. Então, do outro extremo da câmara, uma voz estridente e cortante falou.

En A voz gritou que eles eram tolos. Perguntou se acreditavam que poderiam desafiar as leis eternas da vida e da morte, ou enganar a misteriosa Issus, Deusa da Morte, daquilo que era legitimamente dela. Lembrou-lhes que sua poderosa mensageira, a antiga Iss, os havia carregado em seu seio de chumbo para o Vale Dor, conforme eles mesmos haviam solicitado.

En A voz exigiu saber se eles pensavam que Issus desistiria do que era seu. Perguntou se imaginavam que poderiam escapar de um lugar do qual, em todas as incontáveis eras, apenas uma única alma havia fugido.

En A voz aconselhou-os a retornar de onde vieram, para as mandíbulas misericordiosas dos filhos da Árvore da Vida ou as presas afiadas dos grandes macacos brancos, pois ali encontrariam um fim rápido para seu sofrimento. Mas se insistissem em sua tentativa imprudente de navegar pelos Penhascos Dourados das Montanhas de Otz e passar pelas fortalezas dos Therns Sagrados, seriam atingidos por uma morte tão terrível que até mesmo os Therns Sagrados, que criaram tanto a Vida quanto a Morte, desviariam os olhos de sua crueldade e tapariam os ouvidos aos gritos horríveis de suas vítimas.

En A voz ordenou que eles retornassem pelo mesmo caminho, chamando-os de tolos.

En Então, uma risada terrível ecoou de outra parte da sala.

En Eu disse a Tars Tarkas que aquilo era muito estranho.

En Tars Tarkas perguntou o que deveriam fazer, observando que não podiam lutar contra o nada. Ele disse que quase preferiria voltar e enfrentar inimigos, onde pudesse sentir sua lâmina cortar a carne e saber que estava vendendo caro a própria vida, do que afundar no esquecimento eterno, que parecia ser o destino mais belo e desejável que alguém poderia esperar.

En Eu respondi a Tars Tarkas que, se eles não podiam lutar contra o ar vazio, o ar vazio também não podia lutar contra eles. Eu havia enfrentado e derrotado milhares de guerreiros fortes e lâminas afiadas, e não seria detido pelo vento — nem ele.

En O guerreiro verde argumentou que vozes poderiam de fato vir de criaturas invisíveis que também eram invisíveis e podiam empunhar lâminas ocultas.

En John Carter declarou que as vozes pertenciam a seres tão reais quanto eles, cujo sangue poderia ser derramado com a mesma facilidade. Ele notou que a invisibilidade deles provava que eram mortais e sem coragem. Ele perguntou a Tars Tarkas se John Carter fugiria de um inimigo covarde que não quisesse lutar abertamente.

En John Carter levantou a voz para que seus supostos algozes o ouvissem, pois ele estava se cansando dessa farsa desgastante. Ele raciocinou que todo o assunto poderia ser um esquema para assustá-los de volta ao vale da morte do qual haviam escapado, onde criaturas selvagens poderiam rapidamente acabar com eles.

En Após um longo silêncio, John Carter ouviu um barulho fraco e furtivo atrás dele. Virando-se rapidamente, ele viu um grande banth de muitas pernas movendo-se silenciosamente em sua direção.

En O banth é um predador feroz que vagueia pelas colinas baixas ao redor dos antigos mares secos de Marte. Como a maioria dos animais marcianos, é quase sem pelos, exceto por uma espessa e eriçada juba em torno de seu pescoço poderoso.

En Seu corpo era longo e esguio, sustentado por dez pernas poderosas. Suas mandíbulas enormes, como as de um cão marciano, continham várias fileiras de presas longas e afiadas como agulhas. Sua boca se estendia para trás além de suas pequenas orelhas, e seus grandes olhos verdes e salientes tornavam-no ainda mais aterrorizante.

En Enquanto se arrastava em minha direção, chicoteava sua cauda forte contra seus flancos amarelos. Quando viu que eu o havia descoberto, emitiu um rugido aterrorizante que frequentemente congela sua presa de medo pouco antes de atacar.

En Então, lançou seu corpo massivo contra mim, mas seu rugido poderoso não me causou terror paralisante. Em vez de carne tenra, suas mandíbulas escancaradas encontraram aço frio.

En Um momento depois, retirei minha lâmina do coração parado daquele grande leão barsoomiano. Virando-me para Tars Tarkas, fiquei surpreso ao vê-lo enfrentando um monstro semelhante.

En Mal ele havia matado seu oponente, eu me virei, como se guiado pelo meu instinto subconsciente guardião, e vi outra criatura selvagem do deserto marciano saltando pela câmara em minha direção.

En Por quase uma hora, criaturas horríveis continuaram aparecendo ao redor deles, como se viessem do nada.

En Tars Tarkas ficou satisfeito por ter algo real para lutar com sua espada. O narrador considerou isso uma mudança bem-vinda em relação às vozes misteriosas que haviam ouvido.

En Os novos inimigos claramente não eram sobrenaturais. Seus uivos de dor e o sangue real de seus ferimentos provaram que eram mortais.

En O narrador observou que as feras só apareciam quando eles estavam olhando para outro lado. Ele deduziu que elas entravam por portas ocultas, não por magia.

En Tars Tarkas usava um arreio de couro, a vestimenta marciana habitual, exceto pelas capas de seda e mantos de pele usados à noite. Um pequeno espelho, do tamanho de um espelho de mão de senhora, pendia em suas costas.

En Certa vez, enquanto ele observava um oponente recentemente derrotado, meus olhos se depararam com um espelho. Em sua superfície polida, vi uma imagem que me fez sussurrar.

En Adverti Tars Tarkas para não mover nem um único músculo.

En Ele não questionou a ordem; ficou imóvel como uma estátua enquanto eu observava o estranho fenômeno que era de grande importância para nós dois.

En Observei uma seção da parede atrás de mim se movendo rapidamente. Ela girava em eixos ocultos e, simultaneamente, uma seção correspondente do chão à sua frente também girava. O efeito era semelhante a equilibrar um cartão de visita na borda sobre um dólar de prata deitado em uma mesa, com a borda do cartão dividindo perfeitamente a superfície da moeda.

En O cartão simbolizava o segmento giratório da parede, e o dólar de prata representava a seção rotatória do chão. Ambas as partes estavam tão precisamente integradas ao piso e à parede circundantes que nenhuma emenda era visível na iluminação fraca da câmara.

En Quando o piso completou metade de sua rotação, uma grande besta tornou-se visível, sentada sobre as patas traseiras no lado que havia estado oposto antes de a parede se mover. Quando a seção parou, a besta ficou de frente para o narrador no lado deles da divisória. O mecanismo era simples.

En O que mais chamou a atenção do narrador foi a visão através da seção meio virada. Uma câmara grande e iluminada continha vários homens e mulheres acorrentados à parede. Na frente deles, dirigindo o movimento da porta secreta, estava um homem de rosto cruel. Ele não era vermelho como os marcianos nem verde como os homens verdes, mas branco como o narrador, com uma grande quantidade de cabelo amarelo e esvoaçante.

En Os prisioneiros atrás dele eram marcianos vermelhos. Acorrentados junto a eles estavam várias feras ferozes, semelhantes às que haviam sido lançadas contra o narrador e outras igualmente ferozes.

En Ao se virar para enfrentar seu novo inimigo, o narrador o fez com o coração consideravelmente mais leve.

En O narrador avisou Tars Tarkas para observar a parede em seu lado da câmara, explicando que as feras eram liberadas através de portas secretas na parede. Ele falou em um sussurro baixo para que o conhecimento do segredo não fosse revelado aos seus torturadores.

En Enquanto eles permaneciam virados para extremidades opostas da sala, não ocorreram mais ataques. Ficou claro para ele que as paredes estavam de alguma forma perfuradas para que suas ações pudessem ser observadas do lado de fora.

En Finalmente, um plano veio à mente. Ele se aproximou de Tars Tarkas e sussurrou seu esquema, mantendo os olhos fixos em sua extremidade da sala.

En O grande Thark grunhiu seu acordo com a proposta. De acordo com o plano, ele começou a recuar em direção à parede que o narrador enfrentava, enquanto o narrador avançava lentamente à sua frente.

En Quando estavam a cerca de dez pés da porta secreta, o narrador parou seu companheiro e disse-lhe para permanecer imóvel até que desse o sinal pré-combinado. Então ele rapidamente virou as costas para a porta, através da qual podia sentir o olhar ardente de seu suposto carrasco.

En Imediatamente, seus olhos buscaram o espelho nas costas de Tars Tarkas, e em outro segundo ele estava observando atentamente a seção da parede que havia liberado seus terrores selvagens sobre eles.

En Não precisei esperar muito. Logo a superfície dourada começou a se mover rapidamente. Sinalizei para Tars Tarkas e pulei em direção à parte da porta que estava se afastando. Tars Tarkas fez o mesmo, virando-se e saltando para a abertura.

En Com um único salto, passei para a sala ao lado e me deparei com o homem cujo rosto cruel eu já tinha visto antes. Ele tinha aproximadamente minha altura, era forte e parecia exatamente um homem da Terra em todos os detalhes.

En Ele carregava uma espada longa, uma espada curta, um punhal e um dos perigosos revólveres de rádio comumente usados em Marte.

En Eu estava armado apenas com uma espada longa, então, de acordo com as regras de batalha de Barsoom, meu inimigo deveria me enfrentar com uma arma similar ou mais fraca. Mas ele não tinha esses escrúpulos: ele sacou seu revólver antes mesmo de eu aterrissar. No entanto, eu golpeei para cima com minha espada longa e derrubei o revólver de sua mão antes que ele pudesse disparar.

En Ele então desembainhou sua espada longa. Agora igualmente armados, começamos uma das lutas corpo a corpo mais ferozes que já experimentei.

En O homem era um magnífico espadachim e claramente mantivera sua prática, enquanto eu não tocava em uma espada há dez anos antes daquela manhã.

En No entanto, logo voltei ao meu ritmo de luta e, em poucos minutos, o homem percebeu que finalmente encontrara um igual.

En Seu rosto ficou pálido de fúria ao ver que minha defesa era inquebrável, enquanto sangue escorria de numerosos ferimentos pequenos em seu rosto e corpo.

En Ele sibilou para mim, exigindo saber quem eu era. Disse que minha cor mostrava que eu não era do mundo exterior de Barsoom e que eu não era um deles.

En Sua última frase foi quase formulada como uma pergunta.

En Aventurei um palpite selvagem, sugerindo que eu poderia ser do Templo de Issus.

En Ele gritou de horror, esperando que não fosse o caso, e seu rosto ficou pálido sob o sangue que o cobria.

FOREWORD

Português

Já fazia doze anos desde que o narrador colocara o corpo de seu tio-avô, o Capitão John Carter, da Virgínia, em um túmulo estranho no antigo cemitério de Richmond, escondido da vista.

Original English

Twelve years had passed since I had laid the body of my great-uncle, Captain John Carter, of Virginia, away from the sight of men in that strange mausoleum in the old cemetery at Richmond.

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Português

Ele pensava frequentemente nas instruções estranhas que seu tio-avô deixara para construir o grande túmulo, especialmente as partes que diziam que ele deveria ser colocado em um caixão aberto e que o mecanismo pesado que controlava os parafusos da porta só poderia ser alcançado de dentro.

Original English

Often had I pondered on the odd instructions he had left me governing the construction of his mighty tomb, and especially those parts which directed that he be laid in an OPEN casket and that the ponderous mechanism which controlled the bolts of the vault's huge door be accessible ONLY FROM THE INSIDE.

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Português

Doze anos haviam se passado desde que leu o manuscrito notável desse homem incomum. Ele não se lembrava de infância e só podia adivinhar sua idade. Sempre jovem, ele segurara o ancestral do narrador quando bebê. Passou dez anos em Marte, lutando ao lado e contra os homens verdes e vermelhos. Casou-se com a bela Dejah Thoris, Princesa de Hélio, e tornou-se um príncipe na casa real de Hélio.

Original English

Twelve years had passed since I had read the remarkable manuscript of this remarkable man; this man who remembered no childhood and who could not even offer a vague guess as to his age; who was always young and yet who had dandled my grandfather's great-grandfather upon his knee; this man who had spent ten years upon the planet Mars; who had fought for the green men of Barsoom and fought against them; who had fought for and against the red men and who had won the ever beautiful Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, for his wife, and for nearly ten years had been a prince of the house of Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Helium.

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Português

Doze anos haviam se passado desde que o corpo de John Carter foi encontrado em um penhasco perto de sua casa de campo acima do Rio Hudson. Durante esses anos, o narrador frequentemente se perguntava se Carter estava realmente morto ou se havia retornado aos leitos secos do planeta moribundo Marte. Talvez ele tivesse reaberto a grande planta atmosférica a tempo de salvar milhões da sufocação no dia em que foi lançado de volta à Terra. Ele também se perguntava se Carter havia encontrado sua princesa de cabelos escuros e o jovem filho que ele sonhava que o esperava nos jardins reais.

Original English

Twelve years had passed since his body had been found upon the bluff before his cottage overlooking the Hudson, and oft-times during these long years I had wondered if John Carter were really dead, or if he again roamed the dead sea bottoms of that dying planet; if he had returned to Barsoom to find that he had opened the frowning portals of the mighty atmosphere plant in time to save the countless millions who were dying of asphyxiation on that far-gone day that had seen him hurtled ruthlessly through forty-eight million miles of space back to Earth once more. I had wondered if he had found his black-haired Princess and the slender son he had dreamed was with her in the royal gardens of Tardos Mors, awaiting his return.

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Português

Talvez ele tivesse chegado tarde demais e agora estivesse vivendo uma existência morta em um mundo morto. Ou talvez estivesse realmente morto, nunca mais retornando à Terra ou ao seu amado Marte.

Original English

Or, had he found that he had been too late, and thus gone back to a living death upon a dead world? Or was he really dead after all, never to return either to his mother Earth or his beloved Mars?

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Português

Em uma noite abafada de agosto, eu estava perdido em pensamentos inúteis quando meu criado, o velho Ben, me entregou um telegrama. Rasguei-o e li seu conteúdo.

Original English

Thus was I lost in useless speculation one sultry August evening when old Ben, my body servant, handed me a telegram. Tearing it open I read:

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Português

O telegrama instruiu-me a encontrar John Carter no dia seguinte no Hotel Raleigh em Richmond.

Original English

'Meet me to-morrow hotel Raleigh Richmond. 'JOHN CARTER'

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Português

Na manhã seguinte, peguei o trem mais cedo para Richmond e, em duas horas, fui conduzido ao quarto de John Carter.

Original English

Early the next morning I took the first train for Richmond and within two hours was being ushered into the room occupied by John Carter.

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Português

Quando entrei, ele se levantou para me cumprimentar com seu sorriso familiar e caloroso. Ele parecia não ter envelhecido nada, permanecendo o forte e em forma guerreiro de trinta anos. Seus olhos cinzentos e perspicazes estavam claros, e as únicas linhas em seu rosto eram as de caráter firme e determinação, exatamente como eu as lembrava há quase trinta e cinco anos.

Original English

As I entered he rose to greet me, his old-time cordial smile of welcome lighting his handsome face. Apparently he had not aged a minute, but was still the straight, clean-limbed fighting-man of thirty. His keen grey eyes were undimmed, and the only lines upon his face were the lines of iron character and determination that always had been there since first I remembered him, nearly thirty-five years before.

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Português

Ele me cumprimentou como seu sobrinho e perguntou se eu me sentia como se estivesse vendo um fantasma ou se tinha exagerado nos juleps de menta do tio Ben.

Original English

'Well, nephew,' he greeted me, 'do you feel as though you were seeing a ghost, or suffering from the effects of too many of Uncle Ben's juleps?'

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Português

O interlocutor respondeu que se sentia muito bem, talvez por ver a outra pessoa novamente. Ele perguntou se o outro havia retornado de Marte e se Dejah Thoris estava bem e esperando por ele.

Original English

'Juleps, I reckon,' I replied, 'for I certainly feel mighty good; but maybe it's just the sight of you again that affects me. You have been back to Mars? Tell me. And Dejah Thoris? You found her well and awaiting you?'

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Português

O outro confirmou que havia estado em Barsoom novamente, mas era uma longa história. Ele havia aprendido um segredo que lhe permitia viajar livremente entre planetas. No entanto, seu coração pertencia a Barsoom e à sua Princesa Marciana, então ele duvidava que algum dia deixaria aquele mundo novamente.

Original English

'Yes, I have been to Barsoom again, and -- but it's a long story, too long to tell in the limited time I have before I must return. I have learned the secret, nephew, and I may traverse the trackless void at my will, coming and going between the countless planets as I list; but my heart is always in Barsoom, and while it is there in the keeping of my Martian Princess, I doubt that I shall ever again leave the dying world that is my life.

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Português

Ele explicou que viera ver o interlocutor pela última vez antes que ele passasse para uma vida após a morte que jamais conheceria. Embora tivesse morrido três vezes e morresse novamente naquela noite, ele não entendia aquela outra vida melhor do que o interlocutor.

Original English

'I have come now because my affection for you prompted me to see you once more before you pass over for ever into that other life that I shall never know, and which though I have died thrice and shall die again to-night, as you know death, I am as unable to fathom as are you.

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Português

Ele afirmou que até mesmo os sábios e misteriosos therns de Barsoom, que se acreditava possuírem o segredo da vida e da morte, eram tão ignorantes quanto eles. Ele havia provado isso, embora quase perdesse a vida. O interlocutor leria todos os detalhes nas anotações que ele vinha fazendo durante seus três meses de volta à Terra.

Original English

'Even the wise and mysterious therns of Barsoom, that ancient cult which for countless ages has been credited with holding the secret of life and death in their impregnable fastnesses upon the hither slopes of the Mountains of Otz, are as ignorant as we. I have proved it, though I near lost my life in the doing of it; but you shall read it all in the notes I have been making during the last three months that I have been back upon Earth.'

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Português

Ele deu um tapinha em uma pasta grossa que estava sobre a mesa ao lado dele.

Original English

He patted a swelling portfolio that lay on the table at his elbow.

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Português

O orador reconheceu que o ouvinte estava interessado e acreditava, e que o mundo compartilhava desse interesse, embora sem crença por muitos anos. Os humanos na Terra ainda não haviam evoluído o suficiente para compreender o conteúdo das notas.

Original English

'I know that you are interested and that you believe, and I know that the world, too, is interested, though they will not believe for many years; yes, for many ages, since they cannot understand. Earth men have not yet progressed to a point where they can comprehend the things that I have written in those notes.

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Português

Ele aconselhou dar ao público apenas o que eles pudessem suportar sem danos e não se ofender se fossem ridicularizados.

Original English

'Give them what you wish of it, what you think will not harm them, but do not feel aggrieved if they laugh at you.'

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Português

Naquela noite, o narrador o acompanhou até o cemitério. Na entrada de seu túmulo, ele se virou e apertou a mão do narrador.

Original English

That night I walked down to the cemetery with him. At the door of his vault he turned and pressed my hand.

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Português

Ele se despediu, expressando dúvida de que se encontrariam novamente porque não poderia deixar sua esposa e filho enquanto vivessem, e a expectativa de vida em Barsoom frequentemente ultrapassava mil anos.

Original English

'Good-bye, nephew,' he said. 'I may never see you again, for I doubt that I can ever bring myself to leave my wife and boy while they live, and the span of life upon Barsoom is often more than a thousand years.'

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Português

Ele entrou no túmulo. A pesada porta se fechou, os ferrolhos deslizaram para o lugar e a fechadura estalou. O narrador nunca mais viu o Capitão John Carter, da Virgínia.

Original English

He entered the vault. The great door swung slowly to. The ponderous bolts grated into place. The lock clicked. I have never seen Captain John Carter, of Virginia, since.

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Português

Este é o relato de seu retorno a Marte naquela outra ocasião, conforme o escritor o reuniu a partir da extensa coleção de notas deixadas sobre a mesa de seu quarto de hotel em Richmond.

Original English

But here is the story of his return to Mars on that other occasion, as I have gleaned it from the great mass of notes which he left for me upon the table of his room in the hotel at Richmond.

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Português

O escritor omitiu muitos detalhes e não ousou contar tudo; no entanto, a história de sua segunda busca por Dejah Thoris, Princesa de Hélio, é ainda mais extraordinária do que o primeiro manuscrito, que ele recentemente entregou a um mundo cético, através do qual os leitores acompanharam o virginiano lutador através de fundos de mares secos sob as luas de Marte.

Original English

There is much which I have left out; much which I have not dared to tell; but you will find the story of his second search for Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, even more remarkable than was his first manuscript which I gave to an unbelieving world a short time since and through which we followed the fighting Virginian across dead sea bottoms under the moons of Mars.

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Português

E. R. B.

Original English

E. R. B.

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CHAPTER I — THE PLANT MEN

Português

De pé no penhasco diante de sua cabana naquela noite clara e fria do início de março de 1886, com o nobre Hudson fluindo como um espectro cinza e silencioso abaixo, ele sentiu mais uma vez a estranha e irresistível influência de Marte, o poderoso deus da guerra, a quem havia implorado de braços abertos por dez longos anos para levá-lo de volta ao seu amor perdido.

Original English

As I stood upon the bluff before my cottage on that clear cold night in the early part of March, 1886, the noble Hudson flowing like the grey and silent spectre of a dead river below me, I felt again the strange, compelling influence of the mighty god of war, my beloved Mars, which for ten long and lonesome years I had implored with outstretched arms to carry me back to my lost love.

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Português

Desde aquela outra noite de março de 1866, quando ele ficara do lado de fora da caverna do Arizona na qual seu corpo imóvel e sem vida jazia envolto na aparência de morte terrena, ele não sentia a atração irresistível do deus de sua profissão.

Original English

Not since that other March night in 1866, when I had stood without that Arizona cave in which my still and lifeless body lay wrapped in the similitude of earthly death had I felt the irresistible attraction of the god of my profession.

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Português

Ele ficou com os braços estendidos em direção à estrela vermelha, rezando pelo retorno do poder que o havia levado duas vezes pelo espaço. Ele tinha rezado assim muitas vezes por dez anos, esperando e ansiando.

Original English

With arms outstretched toward the red eye of the great star I stood praying for a return of that strange power which twice had drawn me through the immensity of space, praying as I had prayed on a thousand nights before during the long ten years that I had waited and hoped.

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Português

De repente, ele se sentiu mal e tonto; seus joelhos fraquejaram, e ele caiu para frente no chão, perto da borda de um penhasco alto.

Original English

Suddenly a qualm of nausea swept over me, my senses swam, my knees gave beneath me and I pitched headlong to the ground upon the very verge of the dizzy bluff.

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Português

Sua mente clareou, e ele lembrou vividamente dos horrores daquela caverna no Arizona. Novamente seus músculos não obedeciam, e ele parecia ouvir os gemidos e o farfalhar da criatura ameaçadora. Ele fez um grande esforço para quebrar a estranha paralisia, ouviu um clique agudo como o de um fio se rompendo, e se viu nu e livre ao lado do corpo sem vida que tão recentemente fora John Carter.

Original English

Instantly my brain cleared and there swept back across the threshold of my memory the vivid picture of the horrors of that ghostly Arizona cave; again, as on that far-gone night, my muscles refused to respond to my will and again, as though even here upon the banks of the placid Hudson, I could hear the awful moans and rustling of the fearsome thing which had lurked and threatened me from the dark recesses of the cave, I made the same mighty and superhuman effort to break the bonds of the strange anaesthesia which held me, and again came the sharp click as of the sudden parting of a taut wire, and I stood naked and free beside the staring, lifeless thing that had so recently pulsed with the warm, red life-blood of John Carter.

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Português

Ele mal desviou o olhar, então voltou os olhos para Marte, ergueu as mãos em direção à sua luz vermelha e esperou.

Original English

With scarcely a parting glance I turned my eyes again toward Mars, lifted my hands toward his lurid rays, and waited.

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Português

Ele não esperou muito. Assim que se virou, disparou para o vazio tão rápido quanto o pensamento. Sentiu o mesmo frio extremo e escuridão de vinte anos antes. Então abriu os olhos em outro mundo, sob um sol quente brilhando através de uma pequena abertura no domo de uma vasta floresta onde estava deitado.

Original English

Nor did I have long to wait; for scarce had I turned ere I shot with the rapidity of thought into the awful void before me. There was the same instant of unthinkable cold and utter darkness that I had experienced twenty years before, and then I opened my eyes in another world, beneath the burning rays of a hot sun, which beat through a tiny opening in the dome of the mighty forest in which I lay.

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Português

A cena diante dele era tão diferente de Marte que um medo súbito o dominou; ele sentiu como se um destino cruel o tivesse lançado sem rumo em um planeta estranho.

Original English

The scene that met my eyes was so un-Martian that my heart sprang to my throat as the sudden fear swept through me that I had been aimlessly tossed upon some strange planet by a cruel fate.

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Português

Ele questionou sua própria lógica: sem qualquer guia através do vasto vazio do espaço, que garantia ele tinha de que não foi arremessado para uma estrela distante em outro sistema solar, em vez de para Marte?

Original English

Why not? What guide had I through the trackless waste of interplanetary space? What assurance that I might not as well be hurtled to some far-distant star of another solar system, as to Mars?

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Português

Ele estava deitado em um gramado cuidadosamente aparado de vegetação vermelha semelhante a grama. Ao seu redor se estendia um bosque de árvores estranhas e belas cobertas por flores enormes e magníficas e cheias de pássaros brilhantes e silenciosos. Embora tivessem asas e ele os chamasse de pássaros, suas formas estranhas e sobrenaturais eram diferentes de tudo que um olho humano já tinha visto.

Original English

I lay upon a close-cropped sward of red grasslike vegetation, and about me stretched a grove of strange and beautiful trees, covered with huge and gorgeous blossoms and filled with brilliant, voiceless birds. I call them birds since they were winged, but mortal eye ne'er rested on such odd, unearthly shapes.

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Português

A vegetação do solo lembrava os gramados dos marcianos vermelhos ao longo dos grandes canais, mas as árvores e os pássaros eram completamente desconhecidos. Além das árvores, ele viu a visão mais não-marciana de todas — um mar aberto, suas águas azuis cintilando sob o sol ardente.

Original English

The vegetation was similar to that which covers the lawns of the red Martians of the great waterways, but the trees and birds were unlike anything that I had ever seen upon Mars, and then through the further trees I could see that most un-Martian of all sights -- an open sea, its blue waters shimmering beneath the brazen sun.

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Português

Quando ele tentou se levantar para explorar mais, sofreu a mesma ridícula desventura que em sua primeira tentativa de andar em Marte. A gravidade mais fraca e o ar rarefeito ofereciam tão pouca resistência aos seus músculos acostumados à Terra que o simples esforço de se levantar o jogou vários metros no ar, fazendo-o cair de cara na grama macia e brilhante deste mundo estranho.

Original English

As I rose to investigate further I experienced the same ridiculous catastrophe that had met my first attempt to walk under Martian conditions. The lesser attraction of this smaller planet and the reduced air pressure of its greatly rarefied atmosphere, afforded so little resistance to my earthly muscles that the ordinary exertion of the mere act of rising sent me several feet into the air and precipitated me upon my face in the soft and brilliant grass of this strange world.

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Português

Essa experiência lhe deu um pouco mais de confiança de que ele poderia realmente estar em uma parte desconhecida de Marte. Isso era bastante possível porque durante seus dez anos no planeta, ele havia explorado apenas uma área relativamente pequena de sua enorme superfície.

Original English

This experience, however, gave me some slightly increased assurance that, after all, I might indeed be in some, to me, unknown corner of Mars, and this was very possible since during my ten years' residence upon the planet I had explored but a comparatively tiny area of its vast expanse.

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Português

Ele se levantou novamente, rindo de seu próprio esquecimento, e rapidamente reaprendeu a ajustar seus músculos terrestres às diferentes condições.

Original English

I arose again, laughing at my forgetfulness, and soon had mastered once more the art of attuning my earthly sinews to these changed conditions.

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Português

Enquanto ele caminhava lentamente pela encosta suave em direção ao mar, não pôde deixar de notar a aparência de parque da grama e das árvores. A grama estava cortada tão baixa e lisa quanto um gramado inglês antigo, e as árvores eram podadas cuidadosamente a uma altura uniforme de cerca de quinze pés. De longe, a floresta lembrava uma sala enorme com um teto alto.

Original English

As I walked slowly down the imperceptible slope toward the sea I could not help but note the park-like appearance of the sward and trees. The grass was as close-cropped and carpet-like as some old English lawn and the trees themselves showed evidence of careful pruning to a uniform height of about fifteen feet from the ground, so that as one turned his glance in any direction the forest had the appearance at a little distance of a vast, high-ceiled chamber.

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Português

Todos esses sinais de cultivo cuidadoso o convenceram de que ele havia tido sorte de entrar em Marte pela segunda vez através das terras de um povo civilizado. Ele acreditava que, quando os encontrasse, eles o tratariam com a cortesia e proteção devidas ao seu posto como Príncipe da casa de Tardos Mors.

Original English

All these evidences of careful and systematic cultivation convinced me that I had been fortunate enough to make my entry into Mars on this second occasion through the domain of a civilized people and that when I should find them I would be accorded the courtesy and protection that my rank as a Prince of the house of Tardos Mors entitled me to.

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Português

As árvores da floresta o enchiam de profunda admiração enquanto ele se movia em direção ao mar. Seus enormes troncos, alguns com cem pés de diâmetro, mostravam sua altura enorme, que ele só podia adivinhar porque suas folhas densas bloqueavam sua visão acima de sessenta ou oitenta pés.

Original English

The trees of the forest attracted my deep admiration as I proceeded toward the sea. Their great stems, some of them fully a hundred feet in diameter, attested their prodigious height, which I could only guess at, since at no point could I penetrate their dense foliage above me to more than sixty or eighty feet.

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Português

Até onde ele podia ver, os caules, galhos e ramos eram lisos e polidos como um piano novo. Algumas árvores tinham madeira tão preta quanto ébano, enquanto árvores próximas brilhavam brancas como porcelana fina, ou eram azuis, escarlates, amarelas ou roxo profundo.

Original English

As far aloft as I could see the stems and branches and twigs were as smooth and as highly polished as the newest of American-made pianos. The wood of some of the trees was as black as ebony, while their nearest neighbours might perhaps gleam in the subdued light of the forest as clear and white as the finest china, or, again, they were azure, scarlet, yellow, or deepest purple.

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Português

As folhas eram tão coloridas e variadas quanto os galhos, e os grossos cachos de flores eram tão belos que nenhuma língua terrena poderia descrevê-los, talvez desafiando até mesmo a língua dos deuses.

Original English

And in the same way was the foliage as gay and variegated as the stems, while the blooms that clustered thick upon them may not be described in any earthly tongue, and indeed might challenge the language of the gods.

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Português

Ao se aproximar da borda da floresta, ele viu um vasto prado entre as árvores e o mar aberto. No momento em que estava prestes a sair das sombras, ele viu algo que apagou todos os pensamentos românticos e poéticos sobre a beleza da paisagem estranha.

Original English

As I neared the confines of the forest I beheld before me and between the grove and the open sea, a broad expanse of meadow land, and as I was about to emerge from the shadows of the trees a sight met my eyes that banished all romantic and poetic reflection upon the beauties of the strange landscape.

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Português

À sua esquerda, o mar se estendia até onde a vista alcançava; à frente, apenas uma linha vaga marcava a costa distante; à sua direita, um rio largo, calmo e majestoso fluía entre margens escarlates para desaguar no mar tranquilo.

Original English

To my left the sea extended as far as the eye could reach, before me only a vague, dim line indicated its further shore, while at my right a mighty river, broad, placid, and majestic, flowed between scarlet banks to empty into the quiet sea before me.

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Português

A uma curta distância rio acima, erguiam-se poderosos penhascos perpendiculares, de cuja própria base o grande rio parecia emergir.

Original English

At a little distance up the river rose mighty perpendicular bluffs, from the very base of which the great river seemed to rise.

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Português

A majestosa paisagem da floresta não prendeu minha atenção; em vez disso, notei cerca de vinte figuras movendo-se lentamente pelo prado perto da margem do grande rio.

Original English

But it was not these inspiring and magnificent evidences of Nature's grandeur that took my immediate attention from the beauties of the forest. It was the sight of a score of figures moving slowly about the meadow near the bank of the mighty river.

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Português

As criaturas eram estranhas e grotescas, diferentes de tudo que eu havia visto em Marte, mas à distância pareciam muito humanas. As maiores tinham cerca de três a três metros e meio de altura, com troncos e pernas proporcionais aos de um homem terrestre.

Original English

Odd, grotesque shapes they were; unlike anything that I had ever seen upon Mars, and yet, at a distance, most manlike in appearance. The larger specimens appeared to be about ten or twelve feet in height when they stood erect, and to be proportioned as to torso and lower extremities precisely as is earthly man.

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Português

Seus braços eram bem curtos, movendo-se em ondulações sinuosas, como serpentes, como se não tivessem esqueleto rígido — ou talvez os ossos fossem vertebrais.

Original English

Their arms, however, were very short, and from where I stood seemed as though fashioned much after the manner of an elephant's trunk, in that they moved in sinuous and snakelike undulations, as though entirely without bony structure, or if there were bones it seemed that they must be vertebral in nature.

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Português

De trás de uma árvore enorme, observei uma das criaturas se mover lentamente em minha direção. Ela estava ocupada no que parecia ser sua atividade principal: passando suas mãos de formato estranho sobre a grama. Não consegui determinar o propósito.

Original English

As I watched them from behind the stem of a huge tree, one of the creatures moved slowly in my direction, engaged in the occupation that seemed to be the principal business of each of them, and which consisted in running their oddly shaped hands over the surface of the sward, for what purpose I could not determine.

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Português

À medida que se aproximava, tive uma visão clara dela. Embora mais tarde eu me tornasse mais familiarizado com sua espécie, aquele primeiro olhar superficial sobre essa terrível paródia da natureza foi mais que suficiente. Eu teria fugido tão rápido quanto o mais veloz voador da Marinha Heliumética pudesse me levar para longe dessa criatura hedionda.

Original English

As he approached quite close to me I obtained an excellent view of him, and though I was later to become better acquainted with his kind, I may say that that single cursory examination of this awful travesty on Nature would have proved quite sufficient to my desires had I been a free agent. The fastest flier of the Heliumetic Navy could not quickly enough have carried me far from this hideous creature.

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Português

A criatura tinha um corpo sem pelos de uma cor azul assustadora, com uma larga faixa branca em torno de seu único olho protuberante. Esse olho era totalmente de um branco morto, sem distinção entre pupila, íris ou globo ocular.

Original English

Its hairless body was a strange and ghoulish blue, except for a broad band of white which encircled its protruding, single eye: an eye that was all dead white -- pupil, iris, and ball.

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Português

No meio de seu rosto inexpressivo, seu nariz era um buraco circular irregular e inflamado. O narrador comparou-o a um ferimento de bala recente que ainda não havia começado a sangrar.

Original English

Its nose was a ragged, inflamed, circular hole in the centre of its blank face; a hole that resembled more closely nothing that I could think of other than a fresh bullet wound which has not yet commenced to bleed.

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Português

Abaixo daquela abertura repulsiva, o rosto era completamente vazio até o queixo, sem boca visível para o observador.

Original English

Below this repulsive orifice the face was quite blank to the chin, for the thing had no mouth that I could discover.

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Português

Exceto pelo rosto, a cabeça era coberta por uma massa emaranhada de cabelo preto como carvão com cerca de oito a dez polegadas de comprimento. Cada fio era tão grosso quanto um grande verme. Quando a criatura movia os músculos do couro cabeludo, o cabelo se contorcia e rastejava como se cada fio tivesse vida própria.

Original English

The head, with the exception of the face, was covered by a tangled mass of jet-black hair some eight or ten inches in length. Each hair was about the bigness of a large angleworm, and as the thing moved the muscles of its scalp this awful head-covering seemed to writhe and wriggle and crawl about the fearsome face as though indeed each separate hair was endowed with independent life.

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Português

O corpo e as pernas da criatura tinham forma perfeitamente humana, assim como seus pés, mas os pés eram de tamanho monstruoso. Mediam três pés do calcanhar aos dedos e eram extremamente planos e largos.

Original English

The body and the legs were as symmetrically human as Nature could have fashioned them, and the feet, too, were human in shape, but of monstrous proportions. From heel to toe they were fully three feet long, and very flat and very broad.

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Português

Conforme se aproximou, percebi que seus movimentos estranhos eram causados pelo seu método de alimentação. Usava garras afiadas como navalhas para cortar a vegetação macia e depois sugava através de duas bocas, uma na palma de cada mão, por meio de gargantas semelhantes a braços.

Original English

As it came quite close to me I discovered that its strange movements, running its odd hands over the surface of the turf, were the result of its peculiar method of feeding, which consists in cropping off the tender vegetation with its razorlike talons and sucking it up from its two mouths, which lie one in the palm of each hand, through its arm-like throats.

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Português

A besta também tinha uma cauda enorme com cerca de seis pés de comprimento. Era redonda onde se ligava ao corpo, mas afunilava até uma lâmina fina e plana na ponta, que se arrastava em ângulo reto com o chão.

Original English

In addition to the features which I have already described, the beast was equipped with a massive tail about six feet in length, quite round where it joined the body, but tapering to a flat, thin blade toward the end, which trailed at right angles to the ground.

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Português

A característica mais notável dessa criatura, no entanto, eram as duas minúsculas réplicas, cada uma com cerca de seis polegadas de comprimento, que balançavam em suas axilas. Elas estavam suspensas por pequenos caules que cresciam do topo de suas cabeças e se conectavam ao corpo do adulto.

Original English

By far the most remarkable feature of this most remarkable creature, however, were the two tiny replicas of it, each about six inches in length, which dangled, one on either side, from its armpits. They were suspended by a small stem which seemed to grow from the exact tops of their heads to where it connected them with the body of the adult.

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Português

Eu não sabia se essas pequenas cópias eram os filhotes da criatura ou meramente partes de um ser composto.

Original English

Whether they were the young, or merely portions of a composite creature, I did not know.

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Português

Enquanto eu estudava esse monstro estranho, o resto do rebanho se aproximou. Notei que muitos, mas não todos, tinham os espécimes menores pendurados neles. Os pequenos variavam em tamanho, desde pequenos botões não abertos com uma polegada de diâmetro até criaturas totalmente formadas com dez a doze polegadas de comprimento.

Original English

As I had been scrutinizing this weird monstrosity the balance of the herd had fed quite close to me and I now saw that while many had the smaller specimens dangling from them, not all were thus equipped, and I further noted that the little ones varied in size from what appeared to be but tiny unopened buds an inch in diameter through various stages of development to the full-fledged and perfectly formed creature of ten to twelve inches in length.

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Português

O rebanho incluía muitas criaturas jovens, algumas pouco maiores que os filhotes ainda agarrados aos pais, e, a partir desses tamanhos jovens, o grupo variava até os enormes adultos.

Original English

Feeding with the herd were many of the little fellows not much larger than those which remained attached to their parents, and from the young of that size the herd graded up to the immense adults.

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Português

Embora parecessem assustadores, eu não tinha certeza se deveria ter medo, pois não pareciam bem armados para combate. Eu estava prestes a sair do meu esconderijo para ver a reação deles a um humano, mas felizmente, um estranho lamento estridente vindo dos penhascos à minha direita interrompeu meu plano imprudente antes que eu pudesse agir.

Original English

Fearsome-looking as they were, I did not know whether to fear them or not, for they did not seem to be particularly well equipped for fighting, and I was on the point of stepping from my hiding-place and revealing myself to them to note the effect upon them of the sight of a man when my rash resolve was, fortunately for me, nipped in the bud by a strange shrieking wail, which seemed to come from the direction of the bluffs at my right.

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Português

Estando nu e desarmado, eu teria encontrado uma morte rápida e horrível nas mãos desses seres cruéis se tivesse executado meu plano. Mas ao grito, cada membro do rebanho se virou na direção do som, e todos os pelos semelhantes a cobras em suas cabeças se ergueram, como se cada pelo fosse um ser vivo procurando a origem do grito. De fato, essa era a verdade: esses estranhos crescimentos nas cabeças dos homens-planta de Barsoom são seus mil ouvidos, o último resquício de uma raça estranha que se originou da Árvore da Vida primordial.

Original English

Naked and unarmed, as I was, my end would have been both speedy and horrible at the hands of these cruel creatures had I had time to put my resolve into execution, but at the moment of the shriek each member of the herd turned in the direction from which the sound seemed to come, and at the same instant every particular snake-like hair upon their heads rose stiffly perpendicular as if each had been a sentient organism looking or listening for the source or meaning of the wail. And indeed the latter proved to be the truth, for this strange growth upon the craniums of the plant men of Barsoom represents the thousand ears of these hideous creatures, the last remnant of the strange race which sprang from the original Tree of Life.

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Português

Imediatamente, todos os olhos se fixaram em um grande indivíduo que era claramente o líder. Um som peculiar de ronronar veio da boca localizada na palma de uma de suas mãos, e ele se moveu rapidamente em direção ao penhasco, com todo o rebanho o seguindo.

Original English

Instantly every eye turned toward one member of the herd, a large fellow who evidently was the leader. A strange purring sound issued from the mouth in the palm of one of his hands, and at the same time he started rapidly toward the bluff, followed by the entire herd.

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Português

Sua velocidade e modo de locomoção eram extraordinários; eles saltavam para frente em enormes pulos de vinte ou trinta pés, semelhante a um canguru.

Original English

Their speed and method of locomotion were both remarkable, springing as they did in great leaps of twenty or thirty feet, much after the manner of a kangaroo.

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Português

Eles estavam desaparecendo rapidamente, então decidi abandonar a cautela e persegui-los. Saltei pela campina, saltando ainda mais longe do que eles, porque os músculos de um homem atlético da Terra se saem notavelmente sob a menor gravidade e pressão atmosférica de Marte.

Original English

They were rapidly disappearing when it occurred to me to follow them, and so, hurling caution to the winds, I sprang across the meadow in their wake with leaps and bounds even more prodigious than their own, for the muscles of an athletic Earth man produce remarkable results when pitted against the lesser gravity and air pressure of Mars.

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Português

A rota deles levava diretamente para a aparente fonte do rio na base do penhasco. Ao me aproximar, notei que a campina estava salpicada de enormes pedregulhos, desalojados dos imponentes penhascos acima pela passagem do tempo.

Original English

Their way led directly towards the apparent source of the river at the base of the cliffs, and as I neared this point I found the meadow dotted with huge boulders that the ravages of time had evidently dislodged from the towering crags above.

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Português

Por causa dos pedregulhos, cheguei perto da agitação antes que meus olhos horrorizados vissem a verdade. Escalando uma grande rocha, avistei uma manada de homens-planta cercando um pequeno grupo de talvez cinco ou seis homens e mulheres verdes de Barsoom.

Original English

For this reason I came quite close to the cause of the disturbance before the scene broke upon my horrified gaze. As I topped a great boulder I saw the herd of plant men surrounding a little group of perhaps five or six green men and women of Barsoom.

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Português

Agora eu tinha certeza de que estava em Marte, pois diante de mim estavam membros das hordas selvagens que habitam os leitos de mares mortos e as cidades desertas daquele planeta moribundo.

Original English

That I was indeed upon Mars I now had no doubt, for here were members of the wild hordes that people the dead sea bottoms and deserted cities of that dying planet.

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Português

Estes eram os grandes machos, imponentes em sua altura majestosa. Eles tinham presas brancas e brilhantes saindo de suas mandíbulas inferiores maciças até perto do centro de suas testas, olhos protuberantes colocados lateralmente que podiam olhar para frente ou para trás sem virar a cabeça, estranhas orelhas semelhantes a antenas erguendo-se do topo de suas testas e um par adicional de braços estendendo-se do meio entre ombros e quadris.

Original English

Here were the great males towering in all the majesty of their imposing height; here were the gleaming white tusks protruding from their massive lower jaws to a point near the centre of their foreheads, the laterally placed, protruding eyes with which they could look forward or backward, or to either side without turning their heads, here the strange antennae-like ears rising from the tops of their foreheads; and the additional pair of arms extending from midway between the shoulders and the hips.

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Português

O narrador explica que, mesmo sem sua pele verde e os ornamentos metálicos que indicavam suas tribos, ele os teria reconhecido imediatamente, pois são únicos no universo.

Original English

Even without the glossy green hide and the metal ornaments which denoted the tribes to which they belonged, I would have known them on the instant for what they were, for where else in all the universe is their like duplicated?

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Português

O grupo era composto por dois homens e quatro mulheres, e seus ornamentos mostravam que pertenciam a tribos diferentes. Isso intrigou o narrador, pois as tribos verdes de Barsoom geralmente estão em conflito mortal constante. Ele só as tinha visto unidas em uma ocasião histórica, quando Tars Tarkas liderou um grande exército de várias tribos para resgatar a Princesa Dejah Thoris.

Original English

There were two men and four females in the party and their ornaments denoted them as members of different hordes, a fact which tended to puzzle me infinitely, since the various hordes of green men of Barsoom are eternally at deadly war with one another, and never, except on that single historic instance when the great Tars Tarkas of Thark gathered a hundred and fifty thousand green warriors from several hordes to march upon the doomed city of Zodanga to rescue Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, from the clutches of Than Kosis, had I seen green Martians of different hordes associated in other than mortal combat.

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Português

No entanto, agora estavam de costas um para o outro, olhando com espanto de olhos arregalados para as ações claramente hostis de um inimigo comum.

Original English

But now they stood back to back, facing, in wide-eyed amazement, the very evidently hostile demonstrations of a common enemy.

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Português

Todos estavam armados com espadas longas e adagas, mas nenhuma arma de fogo era visível. Se tivessem tido armas, os horríveis homens-planta teriam sido rapidamente derrotados.

Original English

Both men and women were armed with long-swords and daggers, but no firearms were in evidence, else it had been short shrift for the gruesome plant men of Barsoom.

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Português

Logo, o líder dos homens-planta atacou o pequeno grupo. Seu método era notável e eficaz, e sua estranheza o tornava ainda mais poderoso, pois os guerreiros verdes não tinham defesa contra tal ataque. Ficou claro que eles estavam tão pouco familiarizados com essa tática quanto com os monstros que enfrentavam.

Original English

Presently the leader of the plant men charged the little party, and his method of attack was as remarkable as it was effective, and by its very strangeness was the more potent, since in the science of the green warriors there was no defence for this singular manner of attack, the like of which it soon was evident to me they were as unfamiliar with as they were with the monstrosities which confronted them.

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Português

O homem-planta avançou até cerca de três metros e então saltou como se fosse passar por cima das cabeças do grupo. Ele ergueu sua cauda poderosa para o alto de um lado e, ao passar perto acima deles, girou a cauda para baixo com força tremenda, esmagando o crânio de um guerreiro verde como se fosse uma casca de ovo.

Original English

The plant man charged to within a dozen feet of the party and then, with a bound, rose as though to pass directly above their heads. His powerful tail was raised high to one side, and as he passed close above them he brought it down in one terrific sweep that crushed a green warrior's skull as though it had been an eggshell.

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Português

O restante da terrível manada agora circulava rapidamente ao redor do pequeno grupo de vítimas. Seus saltos enormes e os sons estridentes e agudos de suas bocas estranhas foram projetados para confundir e assustar a presa. Dois deles saltaram de lados opostos ao mesmo tempo, e os poderosos golpes de suas caudas não encontraram resistência, de modo que mais dois marcianos verdes morreram uma morte vergonhosa.

Original English

The balance of the frightful herd was now circling rapidly and with bewildering speed about the little knot of victims. Their prodigious bounds and the shrill, screeching purr of their uncanny mouths were well calculated to confuse and terrorize their prey, so that as two of them leaped simultaneously from either side, the mighty sweep of those awful tails met with no resistance and two more green Martians went down to an ignoble death.

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Português

Apenas um guerreiro e duas fêmeas restavam, e parecia apenas uma questão de segundos antes que também caíssem mortos sobre a grama vermelha.

Original English

There were now but one warrior and two females left, and it seemed that it could be but a matter of seconds ere these, also, lay dead upon the scarlet sward.

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Português

Mas quando mais dois homens-planta avançaram, o guerreiro, agora preparado pelos ataques anteriores, balançou sua espada longa para o alto e cortou um dos homens-planta do queixo à virilha com um golpe limpo.

Original English

But as two more of the plant men charged, the warrior, who was now prepared by the experiences of the past few minutes, swung his mighty long-sword aloft and met the hurtling bulk with a clean cut that clove one of the plant men from chin to groin.

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Português

O outro homem-planta, no entanto, golpeou com sua cauda cruel e deixou ambas as fêmeas esmagadas e mortas no chão.

Original English

The other, however, dealt a single blow with his cruel tail that laid both of the females crushed corpses upon the ground.

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Português

Vendo que todos os seus companheiros haviam caído e que toda a horda o atacava, o guerreiro verde avançou corajosamente para enfrentá-los, girando sua espada longa com a mesma habilidade feroz que eu tantas vezes testemunhara entre os de sua espécie durante suas batalhas internas constantes.

Original English

As the green warrior saw the last of his companions go down and at the same time perceived that the entire herd was charging him in a body, he rushed boldly to meet them, swinging his long-sword in the terrific manner that I had so often seen the men of his kind wield it in their ferocious and almost continual warfare among their own race.

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Português

Golpeando à direita e à esquerda, ele abriu uma passagem pelos homens-planta que avançavam e então iniciou uma corrida desesperada em direção à floresta, onde claramente esperava encontrar refúgio.

Original English

Cutting and hewing to right and left, he laid an open path straight through the advancing plant men, and then commenced a mad race for the forest, in the shelter of which he evidently hoped that he might find a haven of refuge.

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Português

Ele havia se dirigido para a parte da floresta que margeava os penhascos, e assim a perseguição selvagem estava levando todo o grupo cada vez mais para longe da rocha onde eu estava escondido.

Original English

He had turned for that portion of the forest which abutted on the cliffs, and thus the mad race was taking the entire party farther and farther from the boulder where I lay concealed.

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Português

Tendo observado a nobre luta do grande guerreiro contra números tão esmagadores, meu coração se encheu de admiração. Como faço frequentemente, agindo mais por impulso do que por reflexão cuidadosa, saltei imediatamente da rocha onde me escondia e corri rapidamente em direção aos corpos dos marcianos verdes mortos, um plano claro já se formando em minha mente.

Original English

As I had watched the noble fight which the great warrior had put up against such enormous odds my heart had swelled in admiration for him, and acting as I am wont to do, more upon impulse than after mature deliberation, I instantly sprang from my sheltering rock and bounded quickly toward the bodies of the dead green Martians, a well-defined plan of action already formed.

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Português

Com alguns grandes saltos alcancei o local, e um momento depois eu estava novamente correndo rapidamente em perseguição aos monstros hediondos que rapidamente se aproximavam do guerreiro em fuga. Mas desta vez eu segurava uma poderosa espada longa em minha mão, e em meu coração agitava-se a antiga sede de batalha. Uma névoa vermelha turvou minha visão, e senti meus lábios se curvarem no sorriso familiar que sempre me vem na alegria do combate.

Original English

Half a dozen great leaps brought me to the spot, and another instant saw me again in my stride in quick pursuit of the hideous monsters that were rapidly gaining on the fleeing warrior, but this time I grasped a mighty long-sword in my hand and in my heart was the old blood lust of the fighting man, and a red mist swam before my eyes and I felt my lips respond to my heart in the old smile that has ever marked me in the midst of the joy of battle.

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Português

Cheguei rapidamente, mas ainda assim a tempo. O guerreiro verde havia sido capturado antes de chegar à floresta. Ele ficou de costas para uma rocha, enquanto as criaturas, frustradas, sibilaram e gritaram ao seu redor.

Original English

Swift as I was I was none too soon, for the green warrior had been overtaken ere he had made half the distance to the forest, and now he stood with his back to a boulder, while the herd, temporarily balked, hissed and screeched about him.

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Português

Eles tinham um olho no meio da cabeça, todos focados em sua presa. Eles não notaram minha aproximação silenciosa, então ataquei com minha espada longa. Quatro deles estavam mortos antes que percebessem que eu estava lá.

Original English

With their single eyes in the centre of their heads and every eye turned upon their prey, they did not note my soundless approach, so that I was upon them with my great long-sword and four of them lay dead ere they knew that I was among them.

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Português

Por um momento, as criaturas recuaram diante do meu ataque feroz. Naquele momento, o guerreiro verde juntou-se a mim. Ele lutou com uma habilidade incrível, balançando sua espada em amplos padrões de oito. Ele continuou até que nenhum inimigo restasse, sua lâmina cortando carne, osso e metal como se fossem nada.

Original English

For an instant they recoiled before my terrific onslaught, and in that instant the green warrior rose to the occasion and, springing to my side, laid to the right and left of him as I had never seen but one other warrior do, with great circling strokes that formed a figure eight about him and that never stopped until none stood living to oppose him, his keen blade passing through flesh and bone and metal as though each had been alike thin air.

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Português

Enquanto continuávamos a lutar, um grito estranho e agudo veio de cima. Eu já o tinha ouvido antes, e ele havia convocado as criaturas para atacar. Ele se ergueu repetidamente, mas estávamos muito ocupados lutando contra as criaturas ferozes e poderosas ao nosso redor para procurar a fonte do som.

Original English

As we bent to the slaughter, far above us rose that shrill, weird cry which I had heard once before, and which had called the herd to the attack upon their victims. Again and again it rose, but we were too much engaged with the fierce and powerful creatures about us to attempt to search out even with our eyes the author of the horrid notes.

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Português

Suas caudas grandes chicoteavam ao nosso redor com fúria, garras afiadas cortavam nossos braços e corpos, e um líquido verde e pegajoso, como o fluido de uma lagarta esmagada, cobria-nos da cabeça aos pés. Cada corte que fazíamos com nossas espadas liberava mais dessa substância dos corpos dos homens-planta, onde fluía lentamente em vez de sangue.

Original English

Great tails lashed in frenzied anger about us, razor-like talons cut our limbs and bodies, and a green and sticky syrup, such as oozes from a crushed caterpillar, smeared us from head to foot, for every cut and thrust of our longswords brought spurts of this stuff upon us from the severed arteries of the plant men, through which it courses in its sluggish viscidity in lieu of blood.

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Português

Senti o peso pesado de um monstro nas minhas costas. Suas garras afiadas cortaram minha carne, e experimentei uma sensação terrível enquanto lábios úmidos sugavam o sangue vital das feridas onde as garras ainda permaneciam.

Original English

Once I felt the great weight of one of the monsters upon my back and as keen talons sank into my flesh I experienced the frightful sensation of moist lips sucking the lifeblood from the wounds to which the claws still clung.

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Português

Eu lutava contra uma criatura feroz que tentava alcançar minha garganta pela frente. Ao mesmo tempo, outras duas, uma de cada lado, me açoitavam violentamente com suas caudas.

Original English

I was very much engaged with a ferocious fellow who was endeavouring to reach my throat from in front, while two more, one on either side, were lashing viciously at me with their tails.

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Português

O guerreiro verde estava com dificuldade para se manter. Senti que a luta desigual só poderia durar mais um momento. Então o enorme sujeito percebeu minha situação. Ele se libertou dos que o cercavam e, com um único golpe de sua espada, cortou o atacante das minhas costas. Aliviado, tive pouca dificuldade com os outros.

Original English

The green warrior was much put to it to hold his own, and I felt that the unequal struggle could last but a moment longer when the huge fellow discovered my plight, and tearing himself from those that surrounded him, he raked the assailant from my back with a single sweep of his blade, and thus relieved I had little difficulty with the others.

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Português

Uma vez juntos, ficamos quase de costas um para o outro contra a grande pedra. Isso impediu que as criaturas voassem sobre nós para desferir seus golpes mortais. Como éramos facilmente páreo para elas enquanto permaneciam no chão, estávamos fazendo bom progresso em eliminar as restantes. Então nossa atenção foi novamente atraída pelo lamento agudo do chamador acima de nossas cabeças.

Original English

Once together, we stood almost back to back against the great boulder, and thus the creatures were prevented from soaring above us to deliver their deadly blows, and as we were easily their match while they remained upon the ground, we were making great headway in dispatching what remained of them when our attention was again attracted by the shrill wail of the caller above our heads.

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Português

Desta vez, olhei para cima. Muito acima de nós, em uma pequena sacada natural na face do penhasco, estava uma estranha figura humana. Ele soltava seu sinal agudo, acenando com uma mão em direção à foz do rio como se chamasse alguém lá, e com a outra mão apontava e gesticulava em nossa direção.

Original English

This time I glanced up, and far above us upon a little natural balcony on the face of the cliff stood a strange figure of a man shrieking out his shrill signal, the while he waved one hand in the direction of the river's mouth as though beckoning to some one there, and with the other pointed and gesticulated toward us.

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Português

Quando olhei para onde ele estava olhando, entendi sua intenção e fui tomado pelo pavor, pois vi inúmeras criaturas saltitantes e estranhos monstros velozes convergindo sobre nós de todas as direções através do prado, da floresta e da planície distante além do rio.

Original English

A glance in the direction toward which he was looking was sufficient to apprise me of his aims and at the same time to fill me with the dread of dire apprehension, for, streaming in from all directions across the meadow, from out of the forest, and from the far distance of the flat land across the river, I could see converging upon us a hundred different lines of wildly leaping creatures such as we were now engaged with, and with them some strange new monsters which ran with great swiftness, now erect and now upon all fours.

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Português

Disse ao meu companheiro que seria uma grande morte e direcionei sua atenção para a horda que se aproximava.

Original English

"It will be a great death," I said to my companion. "Look!"

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Português

Quando ele olhou rapidamente na direção que indiquei, sorriu.

Original English

As he shot a quick glance in the direction I indicated he smiled.

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Português

Ele respondeu que eles poderiam ao menos morrer lutando, como grandes guerreiros devem, e me chamou pelo nome.

Original English

"We may at least die fighting and as great warriors should, John Carter," he replied.

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Português

Enquanto ele falava, acabávamos de terminar o último de nossos oponentes imediatos. Virei-me surpreso ao ouvir meu nome.

Original English

We had just finished the last of our immediate antagonists as he spoke, and I turned in surprised wonderment at the sound of my name.

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Português

O narrador viu Tars Tarkas, o maior dos marcianos verdes. Tars Tarkas era o político mais astuto e o general mais forte deles, e também era o amigo leal do narrador. Ele era o governante de Thark.

Original English

And there before my astonished eyes I beheld the greatest of the green men of Barsoom; their shrewdest statesman, their mightiest general, my great and good friend, Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark.

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CHAPTER II — A FOREST BATTLE

Português

Tars Tarkas e o narrador não puderam conversar sobre o que havia acontecido. Eles pararam em frente a uma enorme rocha, com atacantes mortos e estranhos deitados ao redor. De todas as direções no vale, uma enchente de criaturas assustadoras estava chegando por causa de um som estranho feito por uma figura misteriosa lá em cima.

Original English

Tars Tarkas and I found no time for an exchange of experiences as we stood there before the great boulder surrounded by the corpses of our grotesque assailants, for from all directions down the broad valley was streaming a perfect torrent of terrifying creatures in response to the weird call of the strange figure far above us.

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Português

Tars Tarkas gritou que eles deveriam ir para os penhascos. Essa era a única chance deles, mesmo que para uma fuga curta. Eles poderiam encontrar uma caverna ou uma saliência estreita onde duas pessoas pudessem se defender para sempre contra a multidão mista e desarmada.

Original English

"Come," cried Tars Tarkas, "we must make for the cliffs. There lies our only hope of even temporary escape; there we may find a cave or a narrow ledge which two may defend for ever against this motley, unarmed horde."

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Português

Eles correram juntos pela grama vermelha. O narrador ajustou sua velocidade para não deixar seu amigo mais lento para trás. Eles tinham cerca de trezentos jardas do rochedo até os penhascos, e então precisavam encontrar um bom lugar para fazer uma resistência contra as coisas aterrorizantes que os perseguiam.

Original English

Together we raced across the scarlet sward, I timing my speed that I might not outdistance my slower companion. We had, perhaps, three hundred yards to cover between our boulder and the cliffs, and then to search out a suitable shelter for our stand against the terrifying things that were pursuing us.

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Português

As criaturas estavam se aproximando rapidamente. Tars Tarkas chamou o narrador para correr na frente e encontrar o lugar seguro que estavam procurando. Isso foi uma boa ideia porque poderia economizar muitos minutos valiosos. Usando toda a sua força, o narrador percorreu a distância restante até os penhascos com saltos enormes e alcançou a base em um momento.

Original English

They were rapidly overhauling us when Tars Tarkas cried to me to hasten ahead and discover, if possible, the sanctuary we sought. The suggestion was a good one, for thus many valuable minutes might be saved to us, and, throwing every ounce of my earthly muscles into the effort, I cleared the remaining distance between myself and the cliffs in great leaps and bounds that put me at their base in a moment.

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Português

Os penhascos subiam diretamente do chão plano do vale. Diferente da maioria dos penhascos, não havia pilha de rochas caídas na base. Apenas algumas pedras espalhadas, parcialmente enterradas na grama, mostravam que a imponente face rochosa já havia desmoronado.

Original English

The cliffs rose perpendicular directly from the almost level sward of the valley. There was no accumulation of fallen debris, forming a more or less rough ascent to them, as is the case with nearly all other cliffs I have ever seen. The scattered boulders that had fallen from above and lay upon or partly buried in the turf, were the only indication that any disintegration of the massive, towering pile of rocks ever had taken place.

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Português

Seu primeiro olhar para a face do penhasco o encheu de pavor. Ele não via nenhum apoio possível em qualquer lugar da alta escarpa, exceto o único ponto onde o estranho arauto estava, ainda gritando seu chamado penetrante.

Original English

My first cursory inspection of the face of the cliffs filled my heart with forebodings, since nowhere could I discern, except where the weird herald stood still shrieking his shrill summons, the faintest indication of even a bare foothold upon the lofty escarpment.

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Português

À sua direita, a base do penhasco desaparecia na floresta densa. As árvores cresciam até a rocha, erguendo suas folhas brilhantes a mil pés de altura contra o penhasco severo e inóspito.

Original English

To my right the bottom of the cliff was lost in the dense foliage of the forest, which terminated at its very foot, rearing its gorgeous foliage fully a thousand feet against its stern and forbidding neighbour.

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Português

À esquerda, o penhasco parecia se estender sem interrupção pela cabeceira do amplo vale, eventualmente desaparecendo na silhueta de uma grande cordilheira que cercava o vale por todos os lados.

Original English

To the left the cliff ran, apparently unbroken, across the head of the broad valley, to be lost in the outlines of what appeared to be a range of mighty mountains that skirted and confined the valley in every direction.

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Português

A cerca de mil pés de distância, um rio parecia jorrar diretamente do sopé dos penhascos. Não vendo esperança de fuga por ali, ele voltou sua atenção para a floresta.

Original English

Perhaps a thousand feet from me the river broke, as it seemed, directly from the base of the cliffs, and as there seemed not the remotest chance for escape in that direction I turned my attention again toward the forest.

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Português

Os penhascos se erguiam cerca de cinco mil pés acima de mim. O sol ainda não os havia alcançado, por isso pareciam de um amarelo opaco em sua própria sombra. Eram marcados por listras vermelho-escuras, verdes e manchas de quartzo branco.

Original English

The cliffs towered above me a good five thousand feet. The sun was not quite upon them and they loomed a dull yellow in their own shade. Here and there they were broken with streaks and patches of dusky red, green, and occasional areas of white quartz.

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Português

Embora os penhascos fossem bonitos, o narrador admitiu que, neste primeiro olhar, não os viu com muita apreciação.

Original English

Altogether they were very beautiful, but I fear that I did not regard them with a particularly appreciative eye on this, my first inspection of them.

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Português

Naquele momento, ele via os penhascos apenas como um meio de fuga. Enquanto examinava repetidamente sua vasta superfície, procurando uma fissura ou fenda, começou a odiá-los, como um prisioneiro odeia as paredes de sua cela.

Original English

Just then I was absorbed in them only as a medium of escape, and so, as my gaze ran quickly, time and again, over their vast expanse in search of some cranny or crevice, I came suddenly to loathe them as the prisoner must loathe the cruel and impregnable walls of his dungeon.

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Português

Tars Tarkas se aproximava rapidamente, e uma horda ainda mais veloz vinha logo atrás.

Original English

Tars Tarkas was approaching me rapidly, and still more rapidly came the awful horde at his heels.

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Português

Parecia que a única opção era a floresta, e ele estava prestes a sinalizar para Tars Tarkas segui-lo quando o sol passou pelo pico do penhasco. Os raios brilhantes atingiram a superfície opaca, que então explodiu em um milhão de luzes brilhantes de ouro, vermelho, verde e branco — um espetáculo mais magnífico do que qualquer olho humano já tinha visto.

Original English

It seemed the forest now or nothing, and I was just on the point of motioning Tars Tarkas to follow me in that direction when the sun passed the cliff's zenith, and as the bright rays touched the dull surface it burst out into a million scintillant lights of burnished gold, of flaming red, of soft greens, and gleaming whites -- a more gorgeous and inspiring spectacle human eye has never rested upon.

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Português

Uma inspeção posterior revelou que a face do penhasco estava tão cheia de veios e manchas de ouro maciço que parecia uma parede sólida daquele metal precioso, exceto onde era interrompida por afloramentos de rubis, esmeraldas e diamantes. Esta era uma dica tentadora das vastas e inimagináveis riquezas enterradas atrás da magnífica superfície.

Original English

The face of the entire cliff was, as later inspection conclusively proved, so shot with veins and patches of solid gold as to quite present the appearance of a solid wall of that precious metal except where it was broken by outcroppings of ruby, emerald, and diamond boulders -- a faint and alluring indication of the vast and unguessable riches which lay deeply buried behind the magnificent surface.

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Português

O que mais chamou a atenção do narrador, enquanto o sol fazia o penhasco brilhar, foram várias manchas pretas que agora apareciam claramente no alto da parede, perto do topo da floresta. Elas pareciam se estender abaixo e atrás dos galhos.

Original English

But what caught my most interested attention at the moment that the sun's rays set the cliff's face a-shimmer, was the several black spots which now appeared quite plainly in evidence high across the gorgeous wall close to the forest's top, and extending apparently below and behind the branches.

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Português

Ele imediatamente as reconheceu como as aberturas escuras de cavernas na rocha sólida, que poderiam ser possíveis rotas de fuga ou abrigo temporário se pudessem alcançá-las.

Original English

Almost immediately I recognised them for what they were, the dark openings of caves entering the solid walls -- possible avenues of escape or temporary shelter, could we but reach them.

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Português

Havia apenas um caminho, e ele passava pelas imensas e altas árvores à direita. O narrador sabia que podia escalá-las facilmente, mas Tars Tarkas, com seu enorme tamanho e peso, acharia a tarefa difícil e talvez além de sua capacidade. Os marcianos não eram bons escaladores. Em todo Marte, o narrador nunca vira uma colina ou montanha com mais de quatro mil pés de altura, e as encostas eram geralmente suaves, oferecendo poucas oportunidades para escalar. Os marcianos evitavam escalar de qualquer forma; preferiam um caminho mais longo ao redor da base de qualquer elevação em vez de uma subida mais curta e difícil.

Original English

There was but a single way, and that led through the mighty, towering trees upon our right. That I could scale them I knew full well, but Tars Tarkas, with his mighty bulk and enormous weight, would find it a task possibly quite beyond his prowess or his skill, for Martians are at best but poor climbers. Upon the entire surface of that ancient planet I never before had seen a hill or mountain that exceeded four thousand feet in height above the dead sea bottoms, and as the ascent was usually gradual, nearly to their summits they presented but few opportunities for the practice of climbing. Nor would the Martians have embraced even such opportunities as might present themselves, for they could always find a circuitous route about the base of any eminence, and these roads they preferred and followed in preference to the shorter but more arduous ways.

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Português

No entanto, a única opção era tentar escalar as árvores próximas ao penhasco para alcançar as cavernas acima.

Original English

However, there was nothing else to consider than an attempt to scale the trees contiguous to the cliff in an effort to reach the caves above.

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Português

O Thark imediatamente compreendeu o potencial do plano e seus desafios. Como não havia outra opção, corremos em direção às árvores mais próximas do penhasco.

Original English

The Thark grasped the possibilities and the difficulties of the plan at once, but there was no alternative, and so we set out rapidly for the trees nearest the cliff.

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Português

Nossos perseguidores implacáveis estavam tão perto que parecia impossível para o Jeddak de Thark alcançar a floresta à frente deles. Tars Tarkas fez pouco esforço para escapar, pois os homens verdes de Barsoom não fogem da morte. No entanto, eu sabia que sua bravura havia sido comprovada inúmeras vezes, então devia haver outra razão para sua fuga, assim como o amor por Dejah Thoris me impulsionava. Eu não conseguia entender por que o Thark de repente valorizava a vida, já que eles frequentemente buscam a morte.

Original English

Our relentless pursuers were now close to us, so close that it seemed that it would be an utter impossibility for the Jeddak of Thark to reach the forest in advance of them, nor was there any considerable will in the efforts that Tars Tarkas made, for the green men of Barsoom do not relish flight, nor ever before had I seen one fleeing from death in whatsoever form it might have confronted him. But that Tars Tarkas was the bravest of the brave he had proven thousands of times; yes, tens of thousands in countless mortal combats with men and beasts. And so I knew that there was another reason than fear of death behind his flight, as he knew that a greater power than pride or honour spurred me to escape these fierce destroyers. In my case it was love -- love of the divine Dejah Thoris; and the cause of the Thark's great and sudden love of life I could not fathom, for it is oftener that they seek death than life -- these strange, cruel, loveless, unhappy people.

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Português

Por fim, alcançamos as sombras da floresta, e logo atrás de nós saltou o perseguidor mais rápido — um gigante homem-planta com garras estendidas para prender suas bocas sugadoras de sangue em nós.

Original English

At length, however, we reached the shadows of the forest, while right behind us sprang the swiftest of our pursuers -- a giant plant man with claws outreaching to fasten his bloodsucking mouths upon us.

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Português

O homem-planta estava cerca de cem jardas à frente de seu companheiro mais próximo, então chamei Tars Tarkas para subir em uma grande árvore encostada no penhasco enquanto eu cuidava da criatura. Isso daria ao Thark menos ágil tempo para alcançar galhos mais altos antes que toda a horda chegasse e cortasse toda a fuga.

Original English

He was, I should say, a hundred yards in advance of his closest companion, and so I called to Tars Tarkas to ascend a great tree that brushed the cliff's face while I dispatched the fellow, thus giving the less agile Thark an opportunity to reach the higher branches before the entire horde should be upon us and every vestige of escape cut off.

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Português

Mas eu havia subestimado tanto a astúcia do meu oponente imediato quanto a velocidade com que seus companheiros estavam reduzindo a distância.

Original English

But I had reckoned without a just appreciation either of the cunning of my immediate antagonist or the swiftness with which his fellows were covering the distance which had separated them from me.

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Português

O narrador levantou sua espada longa para desferir um golpe fatal, mas a criatura interrompeu sua investida, fazendo a espada cortar o ar vazio. Sua cauda poderosa então o varreu para longe de seus pés. Embora a besta estivesse sobre ele instantaneamente, ele agarrou um tentáculo contorcido em cada mão antes que ela pudesse cravar suas bocas nele.

Original English

As I raised my long-sword to deal the creature its death thrust it halted in its charge and, as my sword cut harmlessly through the empty air, the great tail of the thing swept with the power of a grizzly's arm across the sward and carried me bodily from my feet to the ground. In an instant the brute was upon me, but ere it could fasten its hideous mouths into my breast and throat I grasped a writhing tentacle in either hand.

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Português

O homem-planta era robusto, mas o narrador acreditava que sua própria força e agilidade terrenas, combinadas com um aperto mortal, lhe dariam eventualmente a vitória. No entanto, enquanto lutavam perto da árvore onde Tars Tarkas subia com grande dificuldade, o narrador viu sobre o ombro de seu oponente o grande grupo de perseguidores se aproximando dele.

Original English

The plant man was well muscled, heavy, and powerful but my earthly sinews and greater agility, in conjunction with the deathly strangle hold I had upon him, would have given me, I think, an eventual victory had we had time to discuss the merits of our relative prowess uninterrupted. But as we strained and struggled about the tree into which Tars Tarkas was clambering with infinite difficulty, I suddenly caught a glimpse over the shoulder of my antagonist of the great swarm of pursuers that now were fairly upon me.

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Português

Finalmente, o narrador reconheceu os outros monstros. Eles eram as criaturas mais temidas de Marte: os grandes macacos brancos de Barsoom.

Original English

Now, at last, I saw the nature of the other monsters who had come with the plant men in response to the weird calling of the man upon the cliff's face. They were that most dreaded of Martian creatures -- great white apes of Barsoom.

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Português

As experiências passadas do narrador em Marte o tornaram intimamente familiarizado com esses macacos e seus modos. Ele admitiu que, entre todos os habitantes temíveis daquele mundo estranho, os macacos brancos eram os que o faziam sentir mais próximo do medo verdadeiro.

Original English

My former experiences upon Mars had familiarized me thoroughly with them and their methods, and I may say that of all the fearsome and terrible, weird and grotesque inhabitants of that strange world, it is the white apes that come nearest to familiarizing me with the sensation of fear.

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Português

O narrador acreditava que seu medo decorria da impressionante semelhança dos macacos com os homens da Terra — uma aparência humana que se tornava especialmente assustadora por causa de seu tamanho enorme.

Original English

I think that the cause of this feeling which these apes engender within me is due to their remarkable resemblance in form to our Earth men, which gives them a human appearance that is most uncanny when coupled with their enormous size.

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Português

Essas criaturas têm quatro metros e meio de altura e andam eretas sobre as patas traseiras. Como os marcianos verdes, possuem um conjunto intermediário de braços entre os membros superiores e inferiores. Seus olhos são próximos, mas não saltam, ao contrário dos marcianos verdes; suas orelhas são altas e mais laterais, enquanto seus focinhos e dentes lembram os de um gorila africano. Têm uma grande cabeleira de cerdas na cabeça.

Original English

They stand fifteen feet in height and walk erect upon their hind feet. Like the green Martians, they have an intermediary set of arms midway between their upper and lower limbs. Their eyes are very close set, but do not protrude as do those of the green men of Mars; their ears are high set, but more laterally located than are the green men's, while their snouts and teeth are much like those of our African gorilla. Upon their heads grows an enormous shock of bristly hair.

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Português

Olhando por cima do ombro do meu inimigo, vi essas criaturas e os terríveis homens-planta. Então uma onda massiva deles varreu sobre mim, rosnando, estalando, gritando e ronronando. Entre todos os sons que atingiram meus ouvidos enquanto eu caía sob eles, o mais hediondo era o horrível ronronar dos homens-planta.

Original English

It was into the eyes of such as these and the terrible plant men that I gazed above the shoulder of my foe, and then, in a mighty wave of snarling, snapping, screaming, purring rage, they swept over me -- and of all the sounds that assailed my ears as I went down beneath them, to me the most hideous was the horrid purring of the plant men.

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Português

Imediatamente, dezenas de presas cruéis e garras afiadas cravaram-se em minha carne; lábios frios e sugadores prenderam-se em minhas artérias. Lutei para me libertar e, apesar do peso daqueles corpos imensos, consegui ficar de pé. Ainda segurando minha espada longa, encurtei a pegada para usá-la como uma adaga e causei tamanha devastação entre eles que por um momento fiquei livre.

Original English

Instantly a score of cruel fangs and keen talons were sunk into my flesh; cold, sucking lips fastened themselves upon my arteries. I struggled to free myself, and even though weighed down by these immense bodies, I succeeded in struggling to my feet, where, still grasping my long-sword, and shortening my grip upon it until I could use it as a dagger, I wrought such havoc among them that at one time I stood for an instant free.

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Português

O que leva minutos para descrever aconteceu em apenas segundos. Nesse tempo, Tars Tarkas viu meu apuro e saltou dos galhos mais baixos que havia alcançado com tanto esforço. Quando lancei para longe o último dos meus atacantes imediatos, o grande thark saltou ao meu lado, e lutamos novamente costas com costas, como já havíamos feito cem vezes antes.

Original English

What it has taken minutes to write occurred in but a few seconds, but during that time Tars Tarkas had seen my plight and had dropped from the lower branches, which he had reached with such infinite labour, and as I flung the last of my immediate antagonists from me the great Thark leaped to my side, and again we fought, back to back, as we had done a hundred times before.

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Português

Vez após vez, os ferozes símios saltavam para travar combate conosco, e vez após vez os rechaçávamos com nossas espadas. As grandes caudas dos homens-planta chicoteavam com tremenda potência ao nosso redor enquanto eles investiam de várias direções ou saltavam com a agilidade de galgos acima de nossas cabeças. Mas cada ataque era recebido por uma lâmina reluzente em mãos que eram consideradas as melhores de Marte por vinte anos, pois os nomes de Tars Tarkas e John Carter eram aqueles que os homens de luta do mundo guerreiro amavam pronunciar.

Original English

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 men 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 Tars Tarkas and John Carter were names that the fighting men of the world of warriors loved best to speak.

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Português

Mesmo os melhores espadachins não poderiam resistir para sempre contra números tão avassaladores de criaturas selvagens que não compreendem derrota até serem mortas. Passo a passo, foram forçados a recuar. Finalmente, pararam junto à árvore gigante que haviam escolhido para escalar. Após repetidos ataques, foram empurrados de volta até terem circulado metade do tronco maciço.

Original English

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.

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Português

Tars Tarkas estava na liderança, e de repente John Carter ouviu um pequeno grito de triunfo vindo dele.

Original English

Tars Tarkas was in the lead, and suddenly I heard a little cry of exultation from him.

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Português

Ele disse a John Carter que havia abrigo para pelo menos um deles. Olhando para baixo, John Carter viu uma abertura na base da árvore com cerca de um metro de largura.

Original English

"Here is shelter for one at least, John Carter," he said, and, glancing down, I saw an opening in the base of the tree about three feet in diameter.

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Português

John Carter insistiu para que Tars Tarkas entrasse, mas ele recusou. Disse que seu corpo grande não caberia na pequena abertura, enquanto John Carter poderia entrar facilmente.

Original English

"In with you, Tars Tarkas," I cried, but he would not go; saying that his bulk was too great for the little aperture, while I might slip in easily.

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Português

Tars Tarkas disse que ambos morreriam se ficassem do lado de fora. O buraco oferecia uma pequena chance para um deles. Ele insistiu que John Carter a aproveitasse, para que pudesse viver para vingá-lo. Era inútil para ele tentar se espremer em uma abertura tão pequena enquanto demônios atacavam de todos os lados.

Original English

"We shall both die if we remain without, John 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."

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Português

John Carter respondeu que eles morreriam juntos, já que ele não iria primeiro. Ele propôs defender a abertura enquanto Tars Tarkas entrasse, e então seu tamanho menor lhe permitiria entrar com Tars Tarkas antes que seus inimigos pudessem impedi-los.

Original English

"Then we shall die together, Tars 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."

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Português

Eles continuaram lutando ferozmente, falando em frases curtas e entrecortadas entre seus ataques afiados contra os inimigos que os cercavam.

Original English

We still were fighting furiously as we talked in broken sentences, punctured with vicious cuts and thrusts at our swarming enemy.

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Português

Finalmente, Tars Tarkas concordou, pois parecia ser a única chance de um deles ser salvo do número crescente de atacantes que ainda vinham de todas as partes do amplo vale.

Original English

At length he 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.

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Português

Tars Tarkas observou que John Carter sempre colocava sua própria vida em último lugar, mas ainda mais, ele tinha um jeito de comandar as vidas e ações dos outros, incluindo os maiores Jeddaks de Barsoom.

Original English

"It was ever your way, John Carter, to think last of your own life," he said; "but still more your way to command the lives and actions of others, even to the greatest of Jeddaks who rule upon Barsoom."

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Português

Um sorriso sombrio apareceu em seu rosto duro e cruel enquanto ele, o maior de todos os Jeddaks, se virava para seguir as ordens de um ser de outro mundo – um homem com menos da metade de seu tamanho.

Original English

There was a grim smile upon his cruel, hard face, as he, the greatest Jeddak of them all, turned to obey the dictates of a creature of another world -- of a man whose stature was less than half his own.

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Português

Ele disse a John Carter que, se ele fracassasse, o Thark, que havia aprendido amizade com ele, sairia para morrer ao seu lado.

Original English

"If you fail, John Carter," he said, "know that the cruel and heartless Thark, to whom you taught the meaning of friendship, will come out to die beside you."

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Português

John Carter concordou, dizendo a seu amigo que fosse rapidamente, de cabeça, enquanto ele cobria sua retirada.

Original English

"As you will, my friend," I replied; "but quickly now, head first, while I cover your retreat."

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Português

Ele hesitou diante da palavra, pois em toda a sua vida de luta constante nunca havia virado as costas a nada além de um inimigo morto ou derrotado.

Original English

He hesitated a little at that word, for never before in his whole life of continual strife had he turned his back upon aught than a dead or defeated enemy.

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Português

John Carter instou Tars Tarkas a se apressar, alertando que ambos sofreriam uma derrota inútil se ele não pudesse segurar os atacantes sozinho por muito mais tempo.

Original English

"Haste, Tars Tarkas," I urged, "or we shall both go down to profitless defeat; I cannot hold them for ever alone."

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Português

Enquanto ele descia para forçar seu caminho para dentro da árvore, a matilha uivante de criaturas hediondas se lançou sobre John Carter. Sua lâmina cintilante voava para a esquerda e para a direita, manchada de verde com o suco do homem-planta e de vermelho com o sangue de um grande macaco branco, movendo-se sem pausa de um inimigo para o próximo, parando apenas para perfurar o coração de cada inimigo selvagem.

Original English

As he dropped to the ground to force his 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 man, 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.

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Português

Ele lutou com intensidade sem precedentes contra forças esmagadoras. Mesmo depois, ele mal podia acreditar que um corpo humano pudesse suportar aquele ataque terrível, o peso esmagador de toneladas de carne feroz em combate.

Original English

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.

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Português

Temendo que ele pudesse escapar, as criaturas redobraram seus esforços para derrubá-lo. Embora o chão estivesse coberto por seus mortos e moribundos, elas eventualmente o dominaram. Ele caiu sob elas pela segunda vez naquele dia, e mais uma vez sentiu aqueles lábios horríveis sugando sua pele.

Original English

With the fear that we would escape them, the creatures redoubled their efforts to pull me down, and though the ground about me was piled high with their dead and dying comrades, they succeeded at last in overwhelming me, and I went down beneath them for the second time that day, and once again felt those awful sucking lips against my flesh.

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Português

Ele mal havia caído quando mãos poderosas agarraram seus tornozelos, e ele foi puxado para dentro do abrigo da árvore. Por um momento, Tars Tarkas e um grande homem-planta – que se agarrava tenazmente ao seu peito – travaram uma disputa de cabo de guerra. Então ele conseguiu enfiar sua espada longa sob a criatura e perfurar suas entranhas.

Original English

But scarce had I fallen ere I felt powerful hands grip my ankles, and in another second I was being drawn within the shelter of the tree's interior. For a moment it was a tug of war between Tars Tarkas and a great plant man, who clung tenaciously to my breast, but presently I got the point of my long-sword beneath him and with a mighty thrust pierced his vitals.

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Português

Rasgado e sangrando por numerosos ferimentos cruéis, ele jazia ofegante no chão dentro da árvore oca, enquanto Tars Tarkas guardava a entrada contra a multidão furiosa.

Original English

Torn and bleeding from many cruel wounds, I lay panting upon the ground within the hollow of the tree, while Tars Tarkas defended the opening from the furious mob without.

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Português

Por uma hora eles uivaram ao redor da árvore, mas após algumas tentativas de alcançá-los, limitaram-se a gritos e berros aterrorizantes, rosnados horríveis dos grandes macacos brancos e o indescritível e temível ronronar dos homens-planta.

Original English

For an hour they howled about the tree, but after a few attempts to reach us they confined their efforts to terrorizing shrieks and screams, to horrid growling on the part of the great white apes, and the fearsome and indescribable purring by the plant men.

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Português

Quase todos os inimigos partiram, deixando cerca de vinte para impedir sua fuga. Parecia que eles seriam sitiados e acabariam morrendo de fome. Mesmo que conseguissem escapar após o anoitecer, não faziam ideia de para onde ir no vale hostil.

Original English

At length, all but a score, who had apparently been left to prevent our escape, had left us, and our adventure seemed destined to result in a siege, the only outcome of which could be our death by starvation; for even should we be able to slip out after dark, whither in this unknown and hostile valley could we hope to turn our steps toward possible escape?

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Português

Assim que os ataques pararam e seus olhos se acostumaram à luz fraca dentro do estranho refúgio, o narrador aproveitou a oportunidade para examinar seu abrigo.

Original English

As the attacks of our enemies ceased and our eyes became accustomed to the semi-darkness of the interior of our strange retreat, I took the opportunity to explore our shelter.

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Português

A árvore era oca, com cerca de cinquenta pés de diâmetro, e tinha um chão plano e duro que sugeria que outros já a tinham usado antes. Olhando para cima, o narrador viu um leve brilho lá em cima.

Original English

The tree was hollow to an extent of about fifty feet in diameter, and from its flat, hard floor I judged that it had often been used to domicile others before our occupancy. As I raised my eyes toward its roof to note the height I saw far above me a faint glow of light.

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Português

Havia uma abertura acima. Se conseguissem alcançá-la, ainda poderiam escapar para as cavernas do penhasco. Já acostumado à luz fraca, o narrador explorou e encontrou uma escada rústica no lado oposto.

Original English

There was an opening above. If we could but reach it we might still hope to make the shelter of the cliff caves. My eyes had now become quite used to the subdued light of the interior, and as I pursued my investigation I presently came upon a rough ladder at the far side of the cave.

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Português

O narrador subiu rapidamente a escada, que levava a uma série de barras de madeira horizontais colocadas a cerca de três pés de distância, formando uma escada perfeita subindo pelo estreito tronco da árvore até onde a vista alcançava.

Original English

Quickly I mounted it, only to find that it connected at the top with the lower of a series of horizontal wooden bars that spanned the now narrow and shaft-like interior of the tree's stem. These bars were set one above another about three feet apart, and formed a perfect ladder as far above me as I could see.

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Português

Voltei ao chão e expliquei minha descoberta a Tars Tarkas. Ele me aconselhou a subir o mais alto que pudesse com segurança, enquanto ele vigiava a entrada para nos proteger de qualquer ataque.

Original English

Dropping to the floor once more, I detailed my discovery to Tars Tarkas, who suggested that I explore aloft as far as I could go in safety while he guarded the entrance against a possible attack.

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Português

Subi rapidamente pelo poço estranho. A escada, feita de barras horizontais, parecia se estender infinitamente para cima. Conforme subia, a luz vinda de cima se tornava cada vez mais intensa.

Original English

As I hastened above to explore the strange shaft I found that the ladder of horizontal bars mounted always as far above me as my eyes could reach, and as I ascended, the light from above grew brighter and brighter.

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Português

Após subir cerca de quinhentos pés, alcancei uma abertura no tronco da árvore por onde entrava luz. Era aproximadamente do mesmo tamanho da entrada inferior, levando a um galho largo e plano. A superfície desgastada do galho mostrava que era usado com frequência por alguma criatura como caminho de ida e volta para este poço incomum.

Original English

For fully five hundred feet I continued to climb, until at length I reached the opening in the stem which admitted the light. It was of about the same diameter as the entrance at the foot of the tree, and opened directly upon a large flat limb, the well worn surface of which testified to its long continued use as an avenue for some creature to and from this remarkable shaft.

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Português

Não pisei no galho, com medo de ser visto e bloquear nossa rota de fuga. Em vez disso, desci rapidamente de volta para Tars Tarkas.

Original English

I did not venture out upon the limb for fear that I might be discovered and our retreat in this direction cut off; but instead hurried to retrace my steps to Tars Tarkas.

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Português

Alcancei-o rapidamente, e logo estávamos ambos subindo a longa escada em direção à abertura acima.

Original English

I soon reached him and presently we were both ascending the long ladder toward the opening above.

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Português

Tars Tarkas liderou o caminho. Quando o narrador alcançou a primeira barra horizontal, puxou a escada para cima e a entregou a Tars Tarkas, que a levou mais cem pés para cima e a fixou firmemente. Enquanto o narrador subia, ele removia as barras inferiores, de modo que o interior da árvore ficou despojado de qualquer meio de escalada por cem pés a partir da base. Isso impediu que alguém os seguisse ou atacasse por trás.

Original English

Tars Tarkas went in advance and as I reached the first of the horizontal bars I drew the ladder up after me and, handing it to him, he carried it a hundred feet further aloft, where he wedged it safely between one of the bars and the side of the shaft. In like manner I dislodged the lower bars as I passed them, so that we soon had the interior of the tree denuded of all possible means of ascent for a distance of a hundred feet from the base; thus precluding possible pursuit and attack from the rear.

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Português

Mais tarde, eles souberam que essa precaução os salvou de uma situação terrível e, por fim, levou ao seu resgate.

Original English

As we were to learn later, this precaution saved us from dire predicament, and was eventually the means of our salvation.

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Português

Na abertura do topo, Tars Tarkas se afastou para que o narrador pudesse sair e investigar. Como o narrador era mais leve e mais ágil, ele era mais adequado para navegar pelo perigoso e estreito caminho suspenso.

Original English

When we reached the opening at the top Tars 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.

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Português

O galho em que o narrador estava se inclinava para cima em direção ao penhasco. Ele o seguiu e descobriu que terminava alguns pés acima de uma saliência estreita que se projetava da face do penhasco na entrada de uma pequena caverna.

Original English

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.

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Português

Conforme o narrador se movia em direção à extremidade mais fina do galho, ele se curvava sob seu peso. Quando ele se equilibrou precariamente na ponta, o galho balançou suavemente, nivelado com a saliência a cerca de dois pés de distância.

Original English

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.

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Português

Cerca de quinhentos pés abaixo de mim, o vale era como um tapete vermelho brilhante. Quase cinco mil pés acima, os enormes e brilhantes penhascos se erguiam de forma impressionante.

Original English

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.

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Português

A caverna à minha frente não estava entre as que eu tinha visto do chão; essas eram muito mais altas, talvez mil pés. Ainda assim, pelo que pude perceber, esta serviria igualmente bem ao nosso propósito, então voltei para a árvore para buscar Tars Tarkas.

Original English

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 Tars Tarkas.

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Português

Nós nos movemos cuidadosamente juntos ao longo do caminho móvel, mas quando chegamos ao final do galho, nosso peso combinado o fez curvar tanto que a entrada da caverna ficou alta demais para alcançarmos.

Original English

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.

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Português

Finalmente decidimos que Tars Tarkas voltaria pelo galho, deixando comigo sua tira de couro mais comprida. Quando o galho se erguesse o suficiente para mim, eu entraria na caverna. Então, quando Tars Tarkas voltasse, eu poderia baixar a tira e puxá-lo para cima, até a saliência segura.

Original English

We finally agreed that Tars Tarkas should return along the branch, leaving his 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 Tars Tarkas' return I could then lower the strap and haul him up to the safety of the ledge.

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Português

Fizemos isso sem problemas e logo nos encontramos juntos na borda de uma pequena varanda vertiginosa, com uma vista magnífica do vale se espalhando abaixo de nós.

Original English

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.

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Português

Até onde a vista alcançava, havia uma bela floresta e grama vermelha ao lado de um mar calmo, com altos e coloridos penhascos ao redor. Em certo momento, eles pensaram ter visto uma torre dourada brilhando ao sol entre as árvores distantes, mas logo decidiram que era apenas imaginação, nascida do forte desejo de encontrar pessoas civilizadas neste lugar belo, porém hostil.

Original English

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 men in this beautiful, yet forbidding, spot.

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Português

Abaixo deles, na margem do rio, os grandes macacos brancos estavam consumindo os últimos restos dos antigos companheiros de Tars Tarkas, enquanto grandes manadas de homens-planta pastavam em círculos cada vez mais amplos na grama, mantendo-a tão curta quanto um gramado bem aparado.

Original English

Below us upon the river's bank the great white apes were devouring the last remnants of Tars Tarkas' former companions, while great herds of plant men grazed in ever-widening circles about the sward which they kept as close clipped as the smoothest of lawns.

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Português

Sabendo que um ataque das árvores era agora improvável, eles decidiram explorar a caverna, que tinham toda razão para acreditar ser uma continuação do caminho que já haviam percorrido, levando a quem sabe onde, mas obviamente para longe deste vale de ferocidade sombria.

Original English

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.

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Português

Conforme avançavam, encontraram um túnel bem proporcionado cortado no penhasco sólido. Suas paredes se elevavam cerca de vinte pés acima do chão, que tinha aproximadamente cinco pés de largura. O teto era abobadado. Sem meios de fazer luz, eles tatearam lentamente na escuridão crescente, Tars Tarkas mantendo contato com uma parede enquanto o narrador apalpava a outra. Para evitar se separar ou se perder em algum labirinto intrincado, eles deram as mãos.

Original English

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, Tars 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.

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Português

Quão longe eles percorreram o túnel dessa maneira é desconhecido, mas logo chegaram a uma obstrução que bloqueou seu progresso. Parecia mais uma divisória do que um fim repentino da caverna, pois não era construída do material do penhasco, mas de algo que parecia madeira muito dura.

Original English

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.

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Português

Senti silenciosamente a superfície com as mãos e, após um momento, encontrei um botão. Em Marte, um botão geralmente indica uma porta, assim como uma maçaneta faz na Terra.

Original English

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.

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Português

Pressionei-o suavemente e fiquei satisfeito ao sentir a porta se abrir lentamente. Um momento depois, estávamos olhando para uma sala mal iluminada que parecia vazia.

Original English

Gently pressing it, I had the satisfaction of feeling the door slowly give before me, and in another instant we were looking into a dimly lighted apartment, which, so far as we could see, was unoccupied.

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Português

Sem hesitar, abri a porta de par em par e entrei na sala, seguido pelo enorme Thark. Enquanto ficamos em silêncio olhando ao redor, um leve barulho atrás de mim me fez me virar rapidamente. Para minha surpresa, vi a porta se fechar com um clique seco, como se por uma mão invisível.

Original English

Without more ado I swung the door wide open and, followed by the huge Thark, stepped into the chamber. As we stood for a moment in silence gazing about the room a slight noise behind caused me to turn quickly, when, to my astonishment, I saw the door close with a sharp click as though by an unseen hand.

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Português

Imediatamente me lancei em direção à porta para forçá-la a abrir novamente. Algo em seu movimento estranho e no silêncio tenso, quase palpável, da sala sugeria um mal oculto escondido nesta câmara rochosa nas profundezas dos Penhascos Dourados.

Original English

Instantly I sprang toward it to wrench it open again, for something in the uncanny movement of the thing and the tense and almost palpable silence of the chamber seemed to portend a lurking evil lying hidden in this rock-bound chamber within the bowels of the Golden Cliffs.

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Português

Meus dedos agarraram inutilmente a porta resistente, enquanto procurava em vão um botão semelhante ao que nos havia permitido entrar.

Original English

My fingers clawed futilely at the unyielding portal, while my eyes sought in vain for a duplicate of the button which had given us ingress.

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Português

Então, de lábios invisíveis, veio uma risada cruel e zombeteira que ecoou pelo lugar desolado.

Original English

And then, from unseen lips, a cruel and mocking peal of laughter rang through the desolate place.

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CHAPTER III — THE CHAMBER OF MYSTERY

Português

Por momentos após aquela risada terrível ter parado de ecoar na câmara rochosa, Tars Tarkas e eu ficamos em silêncio tenso e expectante. Nenhum outro som perturbou a quietude, e nada se moveu dentro do nosso campo de visão.

Original English

For moments after that awful laugh had ceased reverberating through the rocky room, Tars Tarkas and I stood in tense and expectant silence. But no further sound broke the stillness, nor within the range of our vision did aught move.

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Português

Por fim, Tars Tarkas riu suavemente, como seu estranho povo faz quando confrontado com o horrível ou aterrorizante. Não era uma risada histérica, mas uma expressão genuína do prazer que eles encontram em coisas que levariam os homens da Terra ao desgosto ou às lágrimas.

Original English

At length Tars Tarkas laughed softly, after the manner of his strange kind when in the presence of the horrible or terrifying. It is not an hysterical laugh, but rather the genuine expression of the pleasure they derive from the things that move Earth men to loathing or to tears.

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Português

Eu os vi muitas vezes rolar no chão em risadas loucas e incontroláveis enquanto assistiam às agonias da morte de mulheres e crianças sob tortura naquele infernal festival marciano verde, os Grandes Jogos.

Original English

Often and again have I seen them roll upon the ground in mad fits of uncontrollable mirth when witnessing the death agonies of women and little children beneath the torture of that hellish green Martian fete -- the Great Games.

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Português

Olhei para o Thark, um sorriso em meus próprios lábios, pois verdadeiramente havia mais necessidade de um rosto sorridente do que de um queixo trêmulo.

Original English

I looked up at the Thark, a smile upon my own lips, for here in truth was greater need for a smiling face than a trembling chin.

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Português

O narrador perguntou ao seu companheiro o que ele achava de tudo e onde eles estavam.

Original English

"What do you make of it all?" I asked. "Where in the deuce are we?"

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Português

Ele olhou para o narrador com surpresa.

Original English

He looked at me in surprise.

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Português

Ele repetiu a pergunta sobre a localização deles e perguntou a John Carter se ele realmente não sabia onde estavam.

Original English

"Where are we?" he repeated. "Do you tell me, John Carter, that you know not where you be?"

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Português

John Carter disse que só podia imaginar que estavam em Barsoom; sem seu companheiro e os grandes macacos brancos, ele nem sequer imaginaria isso, porque as vistas que vira naquele dia eram tão diferentes do Barsoom que conhecera dez anos antes quanto eram diferentes de seu mundo natal.

Original English

"That I am upon Barsoom is all that I can guess, and but for you and the great white apes I should not even guess that, for the sights I have seen this day are as unlike the things of my beloved Barsoom as I knew it ten long years ago as they are unlike the world of my birth.

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Português

John Carter disse a Tars Tarkas que não sabia onde eles estavam.

Original English

"No, Tars Tarkas, I know not where we be."

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Português

O interlocutor perguntou onde ele esteve desde que abriu os portais da planta atmosférica anos atrás, após o guardião morrer e os motores pararem, levando à asfixia de Barsoom. Seu corpo nunca foi encontrado, apesar de uma busca mundial e do Jeddak de Hélio e sua neta, a princesa, oferecerem recompensas enormes que até príncipes reais se juntaram à caçada.

Original English

"Where have you been since you opened the mighty portals of the atmosphere plant years ago, after the keeper had died and the engines stopped and all Barsoom was dying, that had not already died, of asphyxiation? Your body even was never found, though the men of a whole world sought after it for years, though the Jeddak of Helium and his granddaughter, your princess, offered such fabulous rewards that even princes of royal blood joined in the search.

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Português

Quando todas as buscas falharam, a única conclusão foi que ele havia feito a jornada final pelo misterioso Rio Iss, para esperar no Vale de Dor, nas margens do Mar Perdido de Korus, por sua princesa, a bela Dejah Thoris.

Original English

"There was but one conclusion to reach when all efforts to locate you had failed, and that, that you had taken the long, last pilgrimage down the mysterious River Iss, to await in the Valley Dor upon the shores of the Lost Sea of Korus the beautiful Dejah Thoris, your princess.

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Português

Ninguém conseguia adivinhar por que ele havia ido, já que sua princesa ainda estava viva.

Original English

"Why you had gone none could guess, for your princess still lived--"

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Português

Ele interrompeu, agradecendo a Deus por não ter ousado perguntar, pois temia ter chegado tarde demais para salvá-la—ela estava muito fraca quando ele a deixou nos jardins reais de Tardos Mors naquela noite distante, tão fraca que ele tinha pouca esperança de alcançar a planta atmosférica antes que seu espírito partisse para sempre. Ele então perguntou se ela ainda vivia.

Original English

"Thank God," I interrupted him. "I did not dare to ask you, for I feared I might have been too late to save her -- she was very low when I left her in the royal gardens of Tardos Mors that long-gone night; so very low that I scarcely hoped even then to reach the atmosphere plant ere her dear spirit had fled from me for ever. And she lives yet?"

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Português

O outro confirmou que ela vivia e o chamou pelo nome, John Carter.

Original English

"She lives, John Carter."

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Português

O orador lembrou a outra pessoa de que não lhes haviam informado a localização.

Original English

"You have not told me where we are," I reminded him.

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Português

O orador disse a John Carter que eles estavam em um lugar onde ele esperava encontrar tanto ele quanto outra pessoa. Ele lembrou John Carter de uma história de muitos anos atrás sobre uma mulher que ensinou o orador a amar—um conceito que os marcianos verdes eram condicionados a desprezar. John Carter sabia como o amor dessa mulher havia levado ao seu sofrimento e morte nas mãos do monstruoso Tal Hajus.

Original English

"We are where I expected to find you, John Carter -- and another. Many years ago you heard the story of the woman who taught me the thing that green Martians are reared to hate, the woman who taught me to love. You know the cruel tortures and the awful death her love won for her at the hands of the beast, Tal Hajus.

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Português

O orador acreditava que essa mulher estava esperando por ele perto do Mar Perdido de Korus.

Original English

"She, I thought, awaited me by the Lost Sea of Korus.

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Português

O orador disse a John Carter que havia sido seu papel, como um homem de outro mundo, ensinar ao cruel Thark o significado da amizade. Ele também pensava que o próprio John Carter estava vagando pelo despreocupado Vale Dor.

Original English

"You know that it was left for a man from another world, for yourself, John Carter, to teach this cruel Thark what friendship is; and you, I thought, also roamed the care-free Valley Dor.

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Português

O orador explicou que as duas pessoas que ele mais desejava ver estavam no final de uma longa peregrinação que um dia teria que fazer. Como tempo suficiente havia passado, Dejah Thoris esperava que isso pudesse trazer John Carter de volta para ela; ela sempre tentara acreditar que ele havia apenas retornado temporariamente ao seu próprio planeta. Por fim, cedendo ao seu desejo, o orador havia começado a jornada um mês atrás, e John Carter agora testemunhara sua conclusão. O orador então perguntou a John Carter se ele agora entendia onde estava.

Original English

"Thus were the two I most longed for at the end of the long pilgrimage I must take some day, and so as the time had elapsed which Dejah Thoris had hoped might bring you once more to her side, for she has always tried to believe that you had but temporarily returned to your own planet, I at last gave way to my great yearning and a month since I started upon the journey, the end of which you have this day witnessed. Do you understand now where you be, John Carter?"

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Português

Perguntei se aquele era o Rio Iss que desaguava no Mar Perdido de Korus no Vale Dor.

Original English

"And that was the River Iss, emptying into the Lost Sea of Korus in the Valley Dor?" I asked.

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Português

Ele respondeu que este era o vale do amor, paz e descanso, onde todos os barsoomianos ansiavam viajar ao final de uma vida de ódio e conflito. Ele disse a John Carter que este era o Céu.

Original English

"This is the valley of love and peace and rest to which every Barsoomian since time immemorial has longed to pilgrimage at the end of a life of hate and strife and bloodshed," he replied. "This, John Carter, is Heaven."

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Português

Seu tom era frio e irônico, refletindo a terrível decepção que ele havia sofrido. Uma desilusão tão profunda, a destruição de esperanças de toda uma vida e o desenraizamento de tradições antigas, poderiam ter justificado uma reação muito mais forte do Thark.

Original English

His tone was cold and ironical; its bitterness but reflecting the terrible disappointment he had suffered. Such a fearful disillusionment, such a blasting of life-long hopes and aspirations, such an uprooting of age-old tradition might have excused a vastly greater demonstration on the part of the Thark.

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Português

Coloquei minha mão em seu ombro.

Original English

I laid my hand upon his shoulder.

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Português

Eu disse que sentia muito, e parecia não haver mais nada a dizer.

Original English

"I am sorry," I said, nor did there seem aught else to say.

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Português

O orador pediu a John Carter que imaginasse os incontáveis bilhões de barsoomianos que, ao longo da história, desceram voluntariamente o rio cruel, apenas para serem vítimas das criaturas ferozes que os atacaram naquele dia.

Original English

"Think, John Carter, of the countless billions of Barsoomians who have taken the voluntary pilgrimage down this cruel river since the beginning of time, only to fall into the ferocious clutches of the terrible creatures that to-day assailed us.

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Português

Existia uma lenda antiga de que um homem vermelho certa vez retornou do Mar Perdido de Korus, através do Vale Dor e do Rio Iss. Ele contou uma história terrível sobre criaturas horríveis em um vale belíssimo que atacavam cada peregrino ao final de sua jornada, devorando-os à beira do Mar Perdido, onde eles esperavam encontrar amor e paz. No entanto, os antigos o mataram, pois a tradição dizia que qualquer um que retornasse do Rio do Mistério deveria ser morto.

Original English

"There is an ancient legend that once a red man returned from the banks of the Lost Sea of Korus, returned from the Valley Dor, back through the mysterious River Iss, and the legend has it that he narrated a fearful blasphemy of horrid brutes that inhabited a valley of wondrous loveliness, brutes that pounced upon each Barsoomian as he terminated his pilgrimage and devoured him upon the banks of the Lost Sea where he had looked to find love and peace and happiness; but the ancients killed the blasphemer, as tradition has ordained that any shall be killed who return from the bosom of the River of Mystery.

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Português

Agora eles sabiam que a lenda era verdadeira e que o homem havia falado apenas do que viu. Mas esse conhecimento não os ajudava, porque mesmo que escapassem, também seriam chamados de blasfemadores. Tars Tarkas se sentia preso entre a certeza e a realidade, sem uma boa saída.

Original English

"But now we know that it was no blasphemy, that the legend is a true one, and that the man told only of what he saw; but what does it profit us, John Carter, since even should we escape, we also would be treated as blasphemers? We are between the wild thoat of certainty and the mad zitidar of fact -- we can escape neither."

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Português

John Carter respondeu que estavam na mesma posição que os homens da Terra diziam: entre o diabo e o mar profundo. Ele não pôde deixar de sorrir diante da situação.

Original English

"As Earth men say, we are between the devil and the deep sea, Tars Tarkas," I replied, nor could I help but smile at our dilemma.

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Português

Não havia nada a fazer senão aceitar os acontecimentos. Pelo menos poderiam se satisfazer com o fato de que quem quer que os matasse sofreria muitas perdas próprias. Seja macaco branco, homem-planta, barsoomiano verde ou homem vermelho, qualquer inimigo que lhes tirasse as vidas acharia caro: tanto John Carter, Príncipe da Casa de Tardos Mors, quanto Tars Tarkas, Jeddak de Thark, lutariam para tornar suas mortes custosas.

Original English

"There is naught that we can do but take things as they come, and at least have the satisfaction of knowing that whoever slays us eventually will have far greater numbers of their own dead to count than they will get in return. White ape or plant man, green Barsoomian or red man, whosoever it shall be that takes the last toll from us will know that it is costly in lives to wipe out John Carter, Prince of the House of Tardos Mors, and Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, at the same time."

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Português

O narrador achou o humor sombrio do chefe divertido e riu. O chefe riu junto com ele, compartilhando um raro momento de genuíno prazer. Essa capacidade de rir sinceramente era uma das características que distinguiam esse feroz chefe tharkiano dos outros de sua espécie.

Original English

I could not help but laugh at his grim humour, and he joined in with me in one of those rare laughs of real enjoyment which was one of the attributes of this fierce Tharkian chief which marked him from the others of his kind.

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Português

Finalmente, o chefe exclamou, perguntando a John Carter sobre si mesmo. Ele queria saber onde John estivera todos aqueles anos, se não ali, e como viera parar lá naquele dia.

Original English

"But about yourself, John Carter," he cried at last. "If you have not been here all these years where indeed have you been, and how is it that I find you here to-day?"

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Português

John Carter respondeu que havia retornado à Terra. Por dez longos anos terrestres, ele vinha rezando e esperando pelo dia que o traria de volta a este sombrio e velho planeta. Apesar de seus costumes cruéis e terríveis, ele sentia um laço de simpatia e amor por ele ainda mais forte do que pelo mundo de seu nascimento.

Original English

"I have been back to Earth," I replied. "For ten long Earth years I have been praying and hoping for the day that would carry me once more to this grim old planet of yours, for which, with all its cruel and terrible customs, I feel a bond of sympathy and love even greater than for the world that gave me birth.

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Português

Por dez anos, ele suportou uma morte em vida de incerteza, sem saber se Dejah Thoris ainda vivia. Agora que suas orações haviam finalmente sido atendidas e suas dúvidas aliviadas, um cruel golpe do destino o lançara no único pequeno lugar em todo Barsoom de onde parecia não haver escape. Mesmo que houvesse uma fuga, o custo extinguiria o último vislumbre de esperança que ele tinha de ver sua princesa novamente nesta vida. Ele observou que o chefe tinha visto naquele dia quão pateticamente fútil é o anseio humano por um além material.

Original English

"For ten years have I been enduring a living death of uncertainty and doubt as to whether Dejah Thoris lived, and now that for the first time in all these years my prayers have been answered and my doubt relieved I find myself, through a cruel whim of fate, hurled into the one tiny spot of all Barsoom from which there is apparently no escape, and if there were, at a price which would put out for ever the last flickering hope which I may cling to of seeing my princess again in this life -- and you have seen to-day with what pitiful futility man yearns toward a material hereafter.

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Português

John Carter afirmou que apenas meia hora antes de ver o chefe lutando contra os homens-planta, ele estivera parado ao luar nas margens de um grande rio que flui da costa leste da terra mais abençoada da Terra. Ele respondera à pergunta do chefe e então perguntou se ele acreditava nele.

Original English

"Only a bare half-hour before I saw you battling with the plant men I was standing in the moonlight upon the banks of a broad river that taps the eastern shore of Earth's most blessed land. I have answered you, my friend. Do you believe?"

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Português

Tars Tarkas respondeu que acreditava, embora admitisse não entender o motivo.

Original English

"I believe," replied Tars Tarkas, "though I cannot understand."

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Português

Durante a conversa, ele examinou a câmara, que media aproximadamente duzentos pés de comprimento e metade dessa largura. Na parede oposta à entrada, parecia haver uma porta.

Original English

As we talked I had been searching the interior of the chamber with my eyes. It was, perhaps, two hundred feet in length and half as broad, with what appeared to be a doorway in the centre of the wall directly opposite that through which we had entered.

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Português

O cômodo havia sido escavado no penhasco e brilhava principalmente com um ouro fosco na luz fraca de um único iluminador de rádio. Manchas de rubi, esmeralda e diamante decoravam as paredes e o teto. O chão era duro e desgastado até ficar liso. Ele viu duas portas; como uma estava trancada, aproximou-se da outra.

Original English

The apartment was hewn from the material of the cliff, showing mostly dull gold in the dim light which a single minute radium illuminator in the centre of the roof diffused throughout its great dimensions. Here and there polished surfaces of ruby, emerald, and diamond patched the golden walls and ceiling. The floor was of another material, very hard, and worn by much use to the smoothness of glass. Aside from the two doors I could discern no sign of other aperture, and as one we knew to be locked against us I approached the other.

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Português

Quando ele estendeu a mão para procurar o botão de controle, a risada cruel e zombeteira soou novamente, tão próxima que ele instintivamente recuou e apertou o punho de sua espada.

Original English

As I extended my hand to search for the controlling button, that cruel and mocking laugh rang out once more, so close to me this time that I involuntarily shrank back, tightening my grip upon the hilt of my great sword.

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Português

Do canto distante da câmara, uma voz cavernosa entoou que não havia esperança, que os mortos não retornam e que não há ressurreição. Ela o advertiu a não esperar.

Original English

And then from the far corner of the great chamber a hollow voice chanted: "There is no hope, there is no hope; the dead return not, the dead return not; nor is there any resurrection. Hope not, for there is no hope."

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Português

Embora tenhamos olhado imediatamente para a fonte da voz, não vimos ninguém. Confesso que um arrepio percorreu minha espinha e os pelos da nuca se eriçaram, como fazem os de um cachorro quando percebe coisas invisíveis e assustadoras na noite.

Original English

Though our eyes instantly turned toward the spot from which the voice seemed to emanate, there was no one in sight, and I must admit that cold shivers played along my spine and the short hairs at the base of my head stiffened and rose up, as do those upon a hound's neck when in the night his eyes see those uncanny things which are hidden from the sight of man.

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Português

Apressei-me em direção à voz lúgubre, mas ela cessou antes que eu chegasse à parede oposta. Então, do outro extremo da câmara, uma voz estridente e cortante falou.

Original English

Quickly I walked toward the mournful voice, but it had ceased ere I reached the further wall, and then from the other end of the chamber came another voice, shrill and piercing:

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Português

A voz gritou que eles eram tolos. Perguntou se acreditavam que poderiam desafiar as leis eternas da vida e da morte, ou enganar a misteriosa Issus, Deusa da Morte, daquilo que era legitimamente dela. Lembrou-lhes que sua poderosa mensageira, a antiga Iss, os havia carregado em seu seio de chumbo para o Vale Dor, conforme eles mesmos haviam solicitado.

Original English

"Fools! Fools!" it shrieked. "Thinkest thou to defeat the eternal laws of life and death? Wouldst cheat the mysterious Issus, Goddess of Death, of her just dues? Did not her mighty messenger, the ancient Iss, bear you upon her leaden bosom at your own behest to the Valley Dor?

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Português

A voz exigiu saber se eles pensavam que Issus desistiria do que era seu. Perguntou se imaginavam que poderiam escapar de um lugar do qual, em todas as incontáveis eras, apenas uma única alma havia fugido.

Original English

"Thinkest thou, O fools, that Issus wilt give up her own? Thinkest thou to escape from whence in all the countless ages but a single soul has fled?

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Português

A voz aconselhou-os a retornar de onde vieram, para as mandíbulas misericordiosas dos filhos da Árvore da Vida ou as presas afiadas dos grandes macacos brancos, pois ali encontrariam um fim rápido para seu sofrimento. Mas se insistissem em sua tentativa imprudente de navegar pelos Penhascos Dourados das Montanhas de Otz e passar pelas fortalezas dos Therns Sagrados, seriam atingidos por uma morte tão terrível que até mesmo os Therns Sagrados, que criaram tanto a Vida quanto a Morte, desviariam os olhos de sua crueldade e tapariam os ouvidos aos gritos horríveis de suas vítimas.

Original English

"Go back the way thou camest, to the merciful maws of the children of the Tree of Life or the gleaming fangs of the great white apes, for there lies speedy surcease from suffering; but insist in your rash purpose to thread the mazes of the Golden Cliffs of the Mountains of Otz, past the ramparts of the impregnable fortresses of the Holy Therns, and upon your way Death in its most frightful form will overtake you -- a death so horrible that even the Holy Therns themselves, who conceived both Life and Death, avert their eyes from its fiendishness and close their ears against the hideous shrieks of its victims.

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Português

A voz ordenou que eles retornassem pelo mesmo caminho, chamando-os de tolos.

Original English

"Go back, O fools, the way thou camest."

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Português

Então, uma risada terrível ecoou de outra parte da sala.

Original English

And then the awful laugh broke out from another part of the chamber.

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Português

Eu disse a Tars Tarkas que aquilo era muito estranho.

Original English

"Most uncanny," I remarked, turning to Tars Tarkas.

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Português

Tars Tarkas perguntou o que deveriam fazer, observando que não podiam lutar contra o nada. Ele disse que quase preferiria voltar e enfrentar inimigos, onde pudesse sentir sua lâmina cortar a carne e saber que estava vendendo caro a própria vida, do que afundar no esquecimento eterno, que parecia ser o destino mais belo e desejável que alguém poderia esperar.

Original English

"What shall we do?" he asked. "We cannot fight empty air; I would almost sooner return and face foes into whose flesh I may feel my blade bite and know that I am selling my carcass dearly before I go down to that eternal oblivion which is evidently the fairest and most desirable eternity that mortal man has the right to hope for."

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Português

Eu respondi a Tars Tarkas que, se eles não podiam lutar contra o ar vazio, o ar vazio também não podia lutar contra eles. Eu havia enfrentado e derrotado milhares de guerreiros fortes e lâminas afiadas, e não seria detido pelo vento — nem ele.

Original English

"If, as you say, we cannot fight empty air, Tars Tarkas," I replied, "neither, on the other hand, can empty air fight us. I, who have faced and conquered in my time thousands of sinewy warriors and tempered blades, shall not be turned back by wind; nor no more shall you, Thark."

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Português

O guerreiro verde argumentou que vozes poderiam de fato vir de criaturas invisíveis que também eram invisíveis e podiam empunhar lâminas ocultas.

Original English

"But unseen voices may emanate from unseen and unseeable creatures who wield invisible blades," answered the green warrior.

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Português

John Carter declarou que as vozes pertenciam a seres tão reais quanto eles, cujo sangue poderia ser derramado com a mesma facilidade. Ele notou que a invisibilidade deles provava que eram mortais e sem coragem. Ele perguntou a Tars Tarkas se John Carter fugiria de um inimigo covarde que não quisesse lutar abertamente.

Original English

"Rot, Tars Tarkas," I cried, "those voices come from beings as real as you or as I. In their veins flows lifeblood that may be let as easily as ours, and the fact that they remain invisible to us is the best proof to my mind that they are mortal; nor overly courageous mortals at that. Think you, Tars Tarkas, that John Carter will fly at the first shriek of a cowardly foe who dare not come out into the open and face a good blade?"

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Português

John Carter levantou a voz para que seus supostos algozes o ouvissem, pois ele estava se cansando dessa farsa desgastante. Ele raciocinou que todo o assunto poderia ser um esquema para assustá-los de volta ao vale da morte do qual haviam escapado, onde criaturas selvagens poderiam rapidamente acabar com eles.

Original English

I had spoken in a loud voice that there might be no question that our would-be terrorizers should hear me, for I was tiring of this nerve-racking fiasco. It had occurred to me, too, that the whole business was but a plan to frighten us back into the valley of death from which we had escaped, that we might be quickly disposed of by the savage creatures there.

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Português

Após um longo silêncio, John Carter ouviu um barulho fraco e furtivo atrás dele. Virando-se rapidamente, ele viu um grande banth de muitas pernas movendo-se silenciosamente em sua direção.

Original English

For a long period there was silence, then of a sudden a soft, stealthy sound behind me caused me to turn suddenly to behold a great many-legged banth creeping sinuously upon me.

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Português

O banth é um predador feroz que vagueia pelas colinas baixas ao redor dos antigos mares secos de Marte. Como a maioria dos animais marcianos, é quase sem pelos, exceto por uma espessa e eriçada juba em torno de seu pescoço poderoso.

Original English

The banth is a fierce beast of prey that roams the low hills surrounding the dead seas of ancient Mars. Like nearly all Martian animals it is almost hairless, having only a great bristly mane about its thick neck.

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Português

Seu corpo era longo e esguio, sustentado por dez pernas poderosas. Suas mandíbulas enormes, como as de um cão marciano, continham várias fileiras de presas longas e afiadas como agulhas. Sua boca se estendia para trás além de suas pequenas orelhas, e seus grandes olhos verdes e salientes tornavam-no ainda mais aterrorizante.

Original English

Its long, lithe body is supported by ten powerful legs, its enormous jaws are equipped, like those of the calot, or Martian hound, with several rows of long needle-like fangs; its mouth reaches to a point far back of its tiny ears, while its enormous, protruding eyes of green add the last touch of terror to its awful aspect.

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Português

Enquanto se arrastava em minha direção, chicoteava sua cauda forte contra seus flancos amarelos. Quando viu que eu o havia descoberto, emitiu um rugido aterrorizante que frequentemente congela sua presa de medo pouco antes de atacar.

Original English

As it crept toward me it lashed its powerful tail against its yellow sides, and when it saw that it was discovered it emitted the terrifying roar which often freezes its prey into momentary paralysis in the instant that it makes its spring.

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Português

Então, lançou seu corpo massivo contra mim, mas seu rugido poderoso não me causou terror paralisante. Em vez de carne tenra, suas mandíbulas escancaradas encontraram aço frio.

Original English

And so it launched its great bulk toward me, but its mighty voice had held no paralysing terrors for me, and it met cold steel instead of the tender flesh its cruel jaws gaped so widely to engulf.

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Português

Um momento depois, retirei minha lâmina do coração parado daquele grande leão barsoomiano. Virando-me para Tars Tarkas, fiquei surpreso ao vê-lo enfrentando um monstro semelhante.

Original English

An instant later I drew my blade from the still heart of this great Barsoomian lion, and turning toward Tars Tarkas was surprised to see him facing a similar monster.

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Português

Mal ele havia matado seu oponente, eu me virei, como se guiado pelo meu instinto subconsciente guardião, e vi outra criatura selvagem do deserto marciano saltando pela câmara em minha direção.

Original English

No sooner had he dispatched his than I, turning, as though drawn by the instinct of my guardian subconscious mind, beheld another of the savage denizens of the Martian wilds leaping across the chamber toward me.

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Português

Por quase uma hora, criaturas horríveis continuaram aparecendo ao redor deles, como se viessem do nada.

Original English

From then on for the better part of an hour one hideous creature after another was launched upon us, springing apparently from the empty air about us.

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Português

Tars Tarkas ficou satisfeito por ter algo real para lutar com sua espada. O narrador considerou isso uma mudança bem-vinda em relação às vozes misteriosas que haviam ouvido.

Original English

Tars Tarkas was satisfied; here was something tangible that he could cut and slash with his great blade, while I, for my part, may say that the diversion was a marked improvement over the uncanny voices from unseen lips.

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Português

Os novos inimigos claramente não eram sobrenaturais. Seus uivos de dor e o sangue real de seus ferimentos provaram que eram mortais.

Original English

That there was nothing supernatural about our new foes was well evidenced by their howls of rage and pain as they felt the sharp steel at their vitals, and the very real blood which flowed from their severed arteries as they died the real death.

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Português

O narrador observou que as feras só apareciam quando eles estavam olhando para outro lado. Ele deduziu que elas entravam por portas ocultas, não por magia.

Original English

I noticed during the period of this new persecution that the beasts appeared only when our backs were turned; we never saw one really materialize from thin air, nor did I for an instant sufficiently lose my excellent reasoning faculties to be once deluded into the belief that the beasts came into the room other than through some concealed and well-contrived doorway.

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Português

Tars Tarkas usava um arreio de couro, a vestimenta marciana habitual, exceto pelas capas de seda e mantos de pele usados à noite. Um pequeno espelho, do tamanho de um espelho de mão de senhora, pendia em suas costas.

Original English

Among the ornaments of Tars Tarkas' leather harness, which is the only manner of clothing worn by Martians other than silk capes and robes of silk and fur for protection from the cold after dark, was a small mirror, about the bigness of a lady's hand glass, which hung midway between his shoulders and his waist against his broad back.

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Português

Certa vez, enquanto ele observava um oponente recentemente derrotado, meus olhos se depararam com um espelho. Em sua superfície polida, vi uma imagem que me fez sussurrar.

Original English

Once as he stood looking down at a newly fallen antagonist my eyes happened to fall upon this mirror and in its shiny surface I saw pictured a sight that caused me to whisper:

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Português

Adverti Tars Tarkas para não mover nem um único músculo.

Original English

"Move not, Tars Tarkas! Move not a muscle!"

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Português

Ele não questionou a ordem; ficou imóvel como uma estátua enquanto eu observava o estranho fenômeno que era de grande importância para nós dois.

Original English

He did not ask why, but stood like a graven image while my eyes watched the strange thing that meant so much to us.

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Português

Observei uma seção da parede atrás de mim se movendo rapidamente. Ela girava em eixos ocultos e, simultaneamente, uma seção correspondente do chão à sua frente também girava. O efeito era semelhante a equilibrar um cartão de visita na borda sobre um dólar de prata deitado em uma mesa, com a borda do cartão dividindo perfeitamente a superfície da moeda.

Original English

What I saw was the quick movement of a section of the wall behind me. It was turning upon pivots, and with it a section of the floor directly in front of it was turning. It was as though you placed a visiting-card upon end on a silver dollar that you had laid flat upon a table, so that the edge of the card perfectly bisected the surface of the coin.

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Português

O cartão simbolizava o segmento giratório da parede, e o dólar de prata representava a seção rotatória do chão. Ambas as partes estavam tão precisamente integradas ao piso e à parede circundantes que nenhuma emenda era visível na iluminação fraca da câmara.

Original English

The card might represent the section of the wall that turned and the silver dollar the section of the floor. Both were so nicely fitted into the adjacent portions of the floor and wall that no crack had been noticeable in the dim light of the chamber.

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Português

Quando o piso completou metade de sua rotação, uma grande besta tornou-se visível, sentada sobre as patas traseiras no lado que havia estado oposto antes de a parede se mover. Quando a seção parou, a besta ficou de frente para o narrador no lado deles da divisória. O mecanismo era simples.

Original English

As the turn was half completed a great beast was revealed sitting upon its haunches upon that part of the revolving floor that had been on the opposite side before the wall commenced to move; when the section stopped, the beast was facing toward me on our side of the partition -- it was very simple.

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Português

O que mais chamou a atenção do narrador foi a visão através da seção meio virada. Uma câmara grande e iluminada continha vários homens e mulheres acorrentados à parede. Na frente deles, dirigindo o movimento da porta secreta, estava um homem de rosto cruel. Ele não era vermelho como os marcianos nem verde como os homens verdes, mas branco como o narrador, com uma grande quantidade de cabelo amarelo e esvoaçante.

Original English

But what had interested me most was the sight that the half-turned section had presented through the opening that it had made. A great chamber, well lighted, in which were several men and women chained to the wall, and in front of them, evidently directing and operating the movement of the secret doorway, a wicked-faced man, neither red as are the red men of Mars, nor green as are the green men, but white, like myself, with a great mass of flowing yellow hair.

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Português

Os prisioneiros atrás dele eram marcianos vermelhos. Acorrentados junto a eles estavam várias feras ferozes, semelhantes às que haviam sido lançadas contra o narrador e outras igualmente ferozes.

Original English

The prisoners behind him were red Martians. Chained with them were a number of fierce beasts, such as had been turned upon us, and others equally as ferocious.

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Português

Ao se virar para enfrentar seu novo inimigo, o narrador o fez com o coração consideravelmente mais leve.

Original English

As I turned to meet my new foe it was with a heart considerably lightened.

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Português

O narrador avisou Tars Tarkas para observar a parede em seu lado da câmara, explicando que as feras eram liberadas através de portas secretas na parede. Ele falou em um sussurro baixo para que o conhecimento do segredo não fosse revelado aos seus torturadores.

Original English

"Watch the wall at your end of the chamber, Tars Tarkas," I cautioned, "it is through secret doorways in the wall that the brutes are loosed upon us." I was very close to him and spoke in a low whisper that my knowledge of their secret might not be disclosed to our tormentors.

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Português

Enquanto eles permaneciam virados para extremidades opostas da sala, não ocorreram mais ataques. Ficou claro para ele que as paredes estavam de alguma forma perfuradas para que suas ações pudessem ser observadas do lado de fora.

Original English

As long as we remained each facing an opposite end of the apartment no further attacks were made upon us, so it was quite clear to me that the partitions were in some way pierced that our actions might be observed from without.

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Português

Finalmente, um plano veio à mente. Ele se aproximou de Tars Tarkas e sussurrou seu esquema, mantendo os olhos fixos em sua extremidade da sala.

Original English

At length a plan of action occurred to me, and backing quite close to Tars Tarkas I unfolded my scheme in a low whisper, keeping my eyes still glued upon my end of the room.

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Português

O grande Thark grunhiu seu acordo com a proposta. De acordo com o plano, ele começou a recuar em direção à parede que o narrador enfrentava, enquanto o narrador avançava lentamente à sua frente.

Original English

The great Thark grunted his assent to my proposition when I had done, and in accordance with my plan commenced backing toward the wall which I faced while I advanced slowly ahead of him.

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Português

Quando estavam a cerca de dez pés da porta secreta, o narrador parou seu companheiro e disse-lhe para permanecer imóvel até que desse o sinal pré-combinado. Então ele rapidamente virou as costas para a porta, através da qual podia sentir o olhar ardente de seu suposto carrasco.

Original English

When we had reached a point some ten feet from the secret doorway I halted my companion, and cautioning him to remain absolutely motionless until I gave the prearranged signal I quickly turned my back to the door through which I could almost feel the burning and baleful eyes of our would be executioner.

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Português

Imediatamente, seus olhos buscaram o espelho nas costas de Tars Tarkas, e em outro segundo ele estava observando atentamente a seção da parede que havia liberado seus terrores selvagens sobre eles.

Original English

Instantly my own eyes sought the mirror upon Tars Tarkas' back and in another second I was closely watching the section of the wall which had been disgorging its savage terrors upon us.

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Português

Não precisei esperar muito. Logo a superfície dourada começou a se mover rapidamente. Sinalizei para Tars Tarkas e pulei em direção à parte da porta que estava se afastando. Tars Tarkas fez o mesmo, virando-se e saltando para a abertura.

Original English

I had not long to wait, for presently the golden surface commenced to move rapidly. Scarcely had it started than I gave the signal to Tars Tarkas, simultaneously springing for the receding half of the pivoting door. In like manner the Thark wheeled and leaped for the opening being made by the inswinging section.

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Português

Com um único salto, passei para a sala ao lado e me deparei com o homem cujo rosto cruel eu já tinha visto antes. Ele tinha aproximadamente minha altura, era forte e parecia exatamente um homem da Terra em todos os detalhes.

Original English

A single bound carried me completely through into the adjoining room and brought me face to face with the fellow whose cruel face I had seen before. He was about my own height and well muscled and in every outward detail moulded precisely as are Earth men.

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Português

Ele carregava uma espada longa, uma espada curta, um punhal e um dos perigosos revólveres de rádio comumente usados em Marte.

Original English

At his side hung a long-sword, a short-sword, a dagger, and one of the destructive radium revolvers that are common upon Mars.

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Português

Eu estava armado apenas com uma espada longa, então, de acordo com as regras de batalha de Barsoom, meu inimigo deveria me enfrentar com uma arma similar ou mais fraca. Mas ele não tinha esses escrúpulos: ele sacou seu revólver antes mesmo de eu aterrissar. No entanto, eu golpeei para cima com minha espada longa e derrubei o revólver de sua mão antes que ele pudesse disparar.

Original English

The fact that I was armed only with a long-sword, and so according to the laws and ethics of battle everywhere upon Barsoom should only have been met with a similar or lesser weapon, seemed to have no effect upon the moral sense of my enemy, for he whipped out his revolver ere I scarce had touched the floor by his side, but an uppercut from my long-sword sent it flying from his grasp before he could discharge it.

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Português

Ele então desembainhou sua espada longa. Agora igualmente armados, começamos uma das lutas corpo a corpo mais ferozes que já experimentei.

Original English

Instantly he drew his long-sword, and thus evenly armed we set to in earnest for one of the closest battles I ever have fought.

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Português

O homem era um magnífico espadachim e claramente mantivera sua prática, enquanto eu não tocava em uma espada há dez anos antes daquela manhã.

Original English

The fellow was a marvellous swordsman and evidently in practice, while I had not gripped the hilt of a sword for ten long years before that morning.

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Português

No entanto, logo voltei ao meu ritmo de luta e, em poucos minutos, o homem percebeu que finalmente encontrara um igual.

Original English

But it did not take me long to fall easily into my fighting stride, so that in a few minutes the man began to realize that he had at last met his match.

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Português

Seu rosto ficou pálido de fúria ao ver que minha defesa era inquebrável, enquanto sangue escorria de numerosos ferimentos pequenos em seu rosto e corpo.

Original English

His face became livid with rage as he found my guard impregnable, while blood flowed from a dozen minor wounds upon his face and body.

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Português

Ele sibilou para mim, exigindo saber quem eu era. Disse que minha cor mostrava que eu não era do mundo exterior de Barsoom e que eu não era um deles.

Original English

"Who are you, white man?" he hissed. "That you are no Barsoomian from the outer world is evident from your colour. And you are not of us."

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Português

Sua última frase foi quase formulada como uma pergunta.

Original English

His last statement was almost a question.

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Português

Aventurei um palpite selvagem, sugerindo que eu poderia ser do Templo de Issus.

Original English

"What if I were from the Temple of Issus?" I hazarded on a wild guess.

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Português

Ele gritou de horror, esperando que não fosse o caso, e seu rosto ficou pálido sob o sangue que o cobria.

Original English

"Fate forfend!" he exclaimed, his face going white under the blood that now nearly covered it.

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