READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

Tarzan on Mars
green but almost as white as himself. He alone had caught
sight of her on the previous day, and his curiosity concerning
her had been greatly aroused at the moment. Either she
would be interesting to inspect or, undoubtedly, very tender
to the taste, should he ever decide to catch her and tear her
apart to pass around among the members of his tribe.
But for the moment, he felt like napping in his warm
patch of afternoon sunlight. Tomorrow, perhaps, he would
catch her.
There was always tomorrow...
Thus, when La sprang in through the window, it was that
evolutionary isthmus, Churg, whom she aroused from
innocent slumber. Instinct brought him to his feet with a
warning growl, and he grasped her wrist.
In that moment, he recognized the strange white female
creature whom the green men had captured. Now that she
was close and in his grasp, he saw that she was indeed a
tender morsel. Perhaps she would be very good to eat, but his
belly was full. Well, he could kill her now so that she would
not bother his nap, and eat her later when he was hungry.
Before smashing her skull, however, it might be clever
of him to ask her where men kept their secret power. For the
moment, he failed to realize that men did not speak the
language of the apes.
"What is the secret strength of man?" he asked, simply
and directly voicing the greatest question of the ages.
To La, it was not too much to expect that the apes of this
world should employ the same common denominator of
primordial expression as those of her former life. The fact
that she understood his guttural barks, grunts and whines did
not startle her, but his question did. Also, she was mystified
by the face that he wore rudimentary harness fashioned of
poorly cured strips of thoat hide.
There was no time to be clever. The respite of speech
was haven enough for the moment. And therefore, La an-
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