elties and atrocities
perpetrated upon the poor defenseless victims of their religion by
the Holy Therns.

"Many there were who had seen or known my daughter, and from therns
who had been close to Matai Shang I learned of the indignities that
he personally heaped upon her; and I was glad when I came here to
find that Matai Shang was also your guest, for I should have sought
him out had it taken a lifetime.

"More, too, I heard, and that of the chivalrous kindness that John
Carter had accorded my daughter. They told me how he fought for
her and rescued her, and how he spurned escape from the savage
Warhoons of the south, sending her to safety upon his own thoat
and remaining upon foot to meet the green warriors.

"Can you wonder, Kulan Tith, that I am willing to jeopardize
my life, the peace of my nation, or even your friendship, which I
prize more than aught else, to champion the Prince of Helium?"

For a moment Kulan Tith was silent. I could see by the expression
of his face that he was sore perplexed. Then he spoke.

"Thuvan Dihn," he said, and his tone was friendly though sad,
"who am I to judge my fellow-man? In my eyes the Father of Therns
is still holy, and the religion which he teaches the only true
religion, but were I faced by the same problem that has vexed you
I doubt not that I should feel and act precisely as you have.

"In so far as the Prince of Helium is concerned I may act, but between
you and Matai Shang my only office can be one of conciliation. The
Prince of Helium shall be escorted in safety to the boundary of
my domain ere the sun has set again, where he shall be free to go
whither he will; but upon pain of death must he never again enter
the land of Kaol.

"If there be a quarrel between you and the Father of Therns, I
need not ask that the settlement of it be deferred until both have
passed beyond the limits of my power. Are you satisfied, Thuvan
Dihn?"

The Jeddak of Ptarth nodded his assent, but the ugly scowl that he
bent upon Matai Shang harbored ill for that pasty-faced godling.

"The Prince of Helium is far from satisfied," I cried, breaking
rudely in upon the beginnings of peace, for I had no stomach for
peace at the price that had been named.

"I have escaped death in a dozen forms to follow Matai Shang and
overtake him, and I do not intend to be led, like a decrepit thoat
to the slaughter, from the goal that I have won by the prowess of
my sword arm and the might of my