[JohnCarterofMars]

CHAPTER II


THE ESCAPE OF THE DEAD


A sense of delicious dreaminess overcame me, my muscles
relaxed, and I was on the point of giving way to my desire
to sleep when the sound of approaching horses reached my
ears. I attempted to spring to my feet but was horrified to
discover that my muscles refused to respond to my will. I was
now thoroughly awake, but as unable to move a muscle as
though turned to stone. It was then, for the first time, that I
noticed a slight vapor filling the cave. It was extremely
tenuous and only noticeable against the opening which led to
daylight. There also came to my nostrils a faintly pungent
odor, and I could only assume that I had been overcome by
some poisonous gas, but why I should retain my mental
faculties and yet be unable to move I could not fathom.

I lay facing the opening of the cave and where I could see
the short stretch of trail which lay between the cave and the
turn of the cliff around which the trail led. The noise of the
approaching horses had ceased, and I judged the Indians were
creeping stealthily upon me along the little ledge which led to
my living tomb. I remember that I hoped they would make
short work of me as I did not particularly relish the thought
of the innumerable things they might do to me if the spirit
prompted them.

I had not long to wait before a stealthy sound apprised me
of their nearness, and then a war-bonneted, paint-streaked
face was thrust cautiously around the shoulder of the cliff, and
savage eyes looked into mine. That he could see me in the
dim light of the cave I was sure for the early morning sun was
falling full upon me through the opening.

The fellow, instead of approaching, merely stood and stared;
his eyes bulging and his jaw dropped. And then another
savage face appeared, and a third and fourth and fifth, craning
their necks over the shoulders of their fellows whom they
could not pass upon the narrow ledge. Each face was the
picture of awe and fear, but for what reason I did not know,
nor did I learn until ten years later. That there were still
other braves behind those who regarded me was apparent from
the fact that the leaders passed back whispered word to those
behind them.

Suddenly a low but distinct moaning sound issued from the
recesses of the cave behind me, and, as it reached the ears of
the Indians, they turned and fled in terror, panic-stricken. So
frantic were their efforts to escape from the unseen thing
behind me that one of the braves was hurled headlong from
the cliff to the rocks below. Their wild cries echoed in the
canyon for a short time, and then all was still once more.

The sound which had frightened them was not repeated, but
it had been sufficient as it was to start me speculating on the
possible horror which lurked in the shadows at my back. Fear
is a relative term and so I can only measure my feelings at
that time by what I had experienced in previous positions of
danger and by those that I have passed through since; but I can
say without shame that if the sensations I endured during the
next few minutes were fear, then may God help the coward,
for cowardice is of a surety its own punishment.

To be held paralyzed, with one's back toward some horrible
and unknown danger from the very sound of which the
ferocious Apache warriors turn in wild stampede, as a flock of
sheep would madly flee from a pack of wolves, seems to me
the last word in fearsome predicaments for a man who had
ever been used to fighting for his life with all the energy of a
powerful physique.

Several times I thought I heard faint sounds behind me as
of somebody moving cautiously, but eventually even these
ceased, and I was left to the contemplation of my position
without interruption. I could but vaguely conjecture the cause
of my paralysis, and my only hope lay in that it might pass off
as suddenly as it had fallen upon me.

Late in the afternoon my horse, which had been standing
with dragging rein before the cave, started slowly down the
trail, evidently in search of food and water, and I was left
alone with my mysterious unknown companion and the dead
body of my friend, which lay just within my range of vision
upon the ledge where I had placed it in the early morning.

From then until possibly midnight all was silence, the
silence of the dead; then, suddenly, the awful moan of the
morning broke upon my startled ears, and there came again
from the black shadows the sound of a moving thing, and a
faint rustling as of dead leaves. The shock to my already
overstrained nervous system was terrible in the extreme, and
with a superhuman effort I strove to break my awful bonds.
It was an effort of the mind, of the will, of the nerves; not
muscular, for I could not move even so much as my little
finger, but none the less mighty for all that. And then
something gave, there was a momentary feeling of nausea, a sharp
click as of the snapping of a steel wire, and I stood with my
back against the wall of the cave facing my unknown foe.

And then the moonlight flooded the cave, and there before
me lay my own body as it had been lying all these hours,
with the eyes staring toward the open ledge and the hands
resting limply upon the ground. I looked first at my lifeless
clay there upon the floor of the cave and then down at myself
in utter bewilderment; for there I lay clothed, and yet here I
stood but naked as at the minute of my birth.

The transition had been so sudden and so unexpected that
it left me for a moment forgetful of aught else than my
strange metamorphosis. My first thought was, is this then
death! Have I indeed passed over forever into that other life!
But I could not well believe this, as I could feel my heart
pounding against my ribs from the exertion of my efforts to
release myself from the anaesthesis which had held me. My
breath was coming in quick, short gasps, cold sweat stood out
from every pore of my body, and the ancient experiment of
pinching revealed the fact that I was anything other than a
wraith.

Again was I suddenly recalled to my immediate surroundings
by a repetition of the weird moan from the depths of the
cave. Naked and unarmed as I was, I had no desire to face
the unseen thing which menaced me.

My revolvers were strapped to my lifeless body which, for
some unfathomable reason, I could not bring myself to touch.
My carbine was in its boot, strapped to my saddle, and as my
horse had wandered off I was left without means of defense.
My only alternative seemed to lie in flight and my decision
was crystallized by a recurrence of the rustling sound from
the thing which now seemed, in the darkness of the cave and
to my distorted imagination, to be creeping stealthily upon me.

Unable longer to resist the temptation to escape this horrible
place I leaped quickly through the opening into the starlight
of a clear Arizona night. The crisp, fresh mountain air
outside the cave acted as an immediate tonic and I felt new
life and new courage coursing through me. Pausing upon the
brink of the ledge I upbraided myself for what now seemed
to me wholly unwarranted apprehension. I reasoned with
myself that I had lain helpless for many hours within the
cave, yet nothing had molested me, and my better judgment,
when permitted the direction of clear and logical reasoning,
convinced me that the noises I had heard must have resulted
from purely natural and harmless causes; probably the
conformation of the cave was such that a slight breeze had
caused the sounds I heard.

I decided to investigate, but first I lifted my head to fill my
lungs with the pure, invigorating night air of the mountains.
As I did so I saw stretching far below me the beautiful vista
of rocky gorge, and level, cacti-studded flat, wrought by the
moonlight into a miracle of soft splendor and wondrous enchantment.

Few western wonders are more inspiring than the beauties
of an Arizona moonlit landscape; the silvered mountains in
the distance, the strange lights and shadows upon hog back
and arroyo, and the grotesque details of the stiff, yet beautiful
cacti form a picture at once enchanting and inspiring; as
though one were catching for the first time a glimpse of some
dead and forgotten world, so different is it from the aspect of
any other spot upon our earth.

As I stood thus meditating, I turned my gaze from the
landscape to the heavens where the myriad stars formed a
gorgeous and fitting canopy for the wonders of the earthly
scene. My attention was quickly riveted by a large red star
close to the distant horizon. As I gazed upon it I felt a spell
of overpowering fascination--it was Mars, the god of war,
and for me, the fighting man, it had always held the power of
irresistible enchantment. As I gazed at it on that far-gone
night it seemed to call across the unthinkable void, to lure me
to it, to draw me as the lodestone attracts a particle of iron.

My longing was beyond the power of opposition; I closed
my eyes, stretched out my arms toward the god of my vocation
and felt myself drawn with the suddenness of thought through
the trackless immensity of space. There was an instant of
extreme cold and utter darkness.

_________________
JohnCarter, Warlord of Mars