READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

Tarzan on Mars
speed of an arrow. In the jungle where ever lurking death
requires instant adaption to danger it is not unusual that
orientation, decision and action occur all at the same moment.
So it was that when Tarzan observed his first Barsoomian
lion, a ten-legged juggernaut with shark-like fangs
and great, glowing green eyes, which shot toward him with a
speed surpassing that of any beast in his experience, when he
realized that there was no time to pull out the .45 automatic
in his jacket pocket and that he would have to rely on his body
alone for salvation, he very coolly accomplished that which
was the only logical alternative.
He knew before he stopped rolling precisely where he
would be with relation of the banth when he came to rest. He
also knew how long it would take him to get his legs under
him and how much more distance his attacker would have
covered in that one additional instant. Had be been stripped
to a loin cloth and unencumbered by the heavy flying suit, he
might have calculated that there was enough time to jump
again.
But as it was, there would not be time for that. Therefore,
he managed to come to rest on his back, and in that
same split second, when the snarling animal loomed upon him
in its death leap, he took full advantage of his thick-soled
boots and kicked back at that myriad-toothed face with all the
titanic power of his arching body.
Again, the result was astonishing.
He felt and heard the sickening crunch of the banth's
great head, and it rolled ponderously to one side, stone dead.
He had hardly enough time to gain his feet and observe the
frightful effects of his double-booted kick before another
spine-tingling roar reverberated in his ears.
He swung about to see the creature's mate, which was
loping in a curious side-stepping gait around him in a wide
arc, cautious, but fully worked up to an attack. Again, Tarzan
regretted that he was not stripped down for action. He longed
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