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READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

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Tarzan on Mars<br />

the process of broadjumping rather than walking, but, in a<br />

much shorter length of time than would have been required<br />

by a less perfectly coordinated terrestrial, he soon attained a<br />

long, gliding stride which gave him almost the sensation of<br />

loping along on skis.<br />

Rapidly, he traversed the long, empty miles, his thoughts<br />

busy with reflection and conjecture. Seven long years had<br />

passed since that darkest day of his life when he had burst<br />

into Jane's bedroom in the little ranch house in East Central<br />

Africa, to find it empty of her presence. In that interim, a<br />

great war had been fought and won, on Earth, and the affairs<br />

of men had gradually found their normal track once more.<br />

What might have transpired here on this far flung planet during<br />

that period of time he could not know. But if there yet<br />

remained any hope of finding Jane and of reconstructing, at<br />

least, a portion of their long disrupted life together, then such<br />

a hope, in itself, would be a cause to which he would dedicate<br />

his whole mind and heart and every faculty and last ounce of<br />

strength that was in him.<br />

Yes, he told himself, in a dull, red gloom of desperation<br />

and anger, to this he would be dedicated—even if it were to<br />

shear from his animal hide the very last vestige of civilization<br />

and reduce him to the status of the wild, the predatory, the<br />

savage and primordial beast.<br />

He paused at the entrance to a tortuous canyon through<br />

the hills in order to partake of water and food. However, he<br />

had no sooner taken a bite of the concentrated food than he<br />

spat it from him in disgust. He recalled the scent of the<br />

herbivore which he had detected earlier, and he wondered if<br />

it might not be worth wile making an attempt to locate such<br />

game in order to appease his suddenly aroused appetite for<br />

raw, red meat.<br />

At the thought, a low growl escaped his lips and he rose<br />

up, impatient to be under way. As on many another occasion,<br />

his belly would have to wait if it were to be satisfied with the<br />

196

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