great terrors of the skies, and I was a Prince of the House of Tardos
Mors, Jeddak of Helium.

He did not ask me where I had been. Like Hor Vastus, he too dreaded
the truth and would not be the one to wrest a statement from me. That
it must come some time he well knew, but until it came he seemed
satisfied to but know that I was with him once more. He greeted
Carthoris and Tars Tarkas with the keenest delight, but he asked
neither where he had been. He could scarcely keep his hands off the
boy.

"You do not know, John Carter," he said to me, "how we of Helium love
this son of yours. It is as though all the great love we bore his
noble father and his poor mother had been centred in him. When it
became known that he was lost, ten million people wept."

"What mean you, Kantos Kan," I whispered, "by 'his poor mother'?" for
the words had seemed to carry a sinister meaning which I could not
fathom.

He drew me to one side.

"For a year," he said, "Ever since Carthoris disappeared, Dejah Thoris
has grieved and mourned for her lost boy. The blow of years ago, when
you did not return from the atmosphere plant, was lessened to some
extent by the duties of motherhood, for your son broke his white shell
that very night."

"That she suffered terribly then, all Helium knew, for did not all
Helium suffer with her the loss of her lord! But with the boy gone
there was nothing left, and after expedition upon expedition returned
with the same hopeless tale of no clue as to his whereabouts, our
beloved Princess drooped lower and lower, until all who saw her felt
that it could be but a matter of days ere she went to join her loved
ones within the precincts of the Valley Dor.

"As a last resort, Mors Kajak, her father, and Tardos Mors, her
grandfather, took command of two mighty expeditions, and a month ago
sailed away to explore every inch of ground in the northern hemisphere
of Barsoom. For two weeks no word has come back from them, but rumours
were rife that they had met with a terrible disaster and that all were
dead.

"About this time Zat Arrras renewed his importunities for her hand in
marriage. He has been for ever after her since you disappeared. She
hated him and feared him, but with both her father and grandfather
gone, Zat Arrras was very powerful, for he is still Jed of Zodanga, to
which position, you will remember, Tardos Mors appointed him after you
had refused the honour.

"He had a secret audience wi