time; doubtless I knew him. Who
was he?"

"My father was--"

"Come, calots!" cried the rough voice of a guard. "To the slaughter
with you," and roughly we were hustled to the steep incline that led to
the chambers far below which let out upon the arena.

The amphitheatre, like all I had ever seen upon Barsoom, was built in a
large excavation. Only the highest seats, which formed the low wall
surrounding the pit, were above the level of the ground. The arena
itself was far below the surface.

Just beneath the lowest tier of seats was a series of barred cages on a
level with the surface of the arena. Into these we were herded. But,
unfortunately, my youthful friend was not of those who occupied a cage
with me.

Directly opposite my cage was the throne of Issus. Here the horrid
creature squatted, surrounded by a hundred slave maidens sparkling in
jewelled trappings. Brilliant cloths of many hues and strange patterns
formed the soft cushion covering of the dais upon which they reclined
about her.

On four sides of the throne and several feet below it stood three solid
ranks of heavily armed soldiery, elbow to elbow. In front of these
were the high dignitaries of this mock heaven--gleaming blacks bedecked
with precious stones, upon their foreheads the insignia of their rank
set in circles of gold.

On both sides of the throne stretched a solid mass of humanity from top
to bottom of the amphitheatre. There were as many women as men, and
each was clothed in the wondrously wrought harness of his station and
his house. With each black was from one to three slaves, drawn from
the domains of the therns and from the outer world. The blacks are all
"noble." There is no peasantry among the First Born. Even the lowest
soldier is a god, and has his slaves to wait upon him.

The First Born do no work. The men fight--that is a sacred privilege
and duty; to fight and die for Issus. The women do nothing, absolutely
nothing. Slaves wash them, slaves dress them, slaves feed them. There
are some, even, who have slaves that talk for them, and I saw one who
sat during the rites with closed eyes while a slave narrated to her the
events that were transpiring within the arena.

The first event of the day was the Tribute to Issus. It marked the end
of those poor unfortunates who had looked upon the divine glory of the
goddess a full year before. There were ten of them--splendid beauties
from the proud courts of migh