? ? ? ? Fortunate indeed it was for us, nor did it take me long to grasp the opportunity for escape which this happy condition offered us. Keeping the boat's nose at a stiff angle I raced her for the impenetrable curtain which Nature had hung above this dying world to shut us out from the sight of our pursuing enemies.
? ? ? ? We plunged through the cold camp fog without diminishing our speed, and in a moment emerged into the glorious light of the two moons and the million stars. I dropped into a horizontal course and headed due north. Our enemies were a good half-hour behind us with no conception of our direction. We had performed the miraculous and come through a thousand dangers unscathed--we had escaped from the land of the First Born. No other prisoners in all the ages of Barsoom had done this thing, and now as I looked back upon it it did not seem to have been so difficult after all.
? ? ? ? I said as much to Xodar, over my shoulder.
? ? ? ? "It is very wonderful, nevertheless," he replied. "No one else could have accomplished it but John Carter."
? ? ? ? At the sound of that name the boy jumped to his feet.
? ? ? ? "John Carter!" he cried. "John Carter! Why, man, John Carter, Prince of Helium, has been dead for years.
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