READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

Tarzan on Mars
given daggers with which to defend themselves. Then they
opened the outer door of the cage and shoved them roughly
onto the sand outside.
Tarzan looked again at the great balcony overhanging the
large, darkened gate at the far end of the arena. He observed
that the arrival of some important personage there had signalled
the beginning of the events. The green warrior who
now took the seat of honor on the balcony was evidently the
chief of the tribe, for he was half a head taller than the others,
tremendously proportioned, and heavily laden with gorgeous
trappings and the jeweled metal ingignia of his rank. Here,
thought Tarzan, was the Caesar who would preside over the
carnival of carnage to be celebrated this day, whose small, hard
soul was the epitomy of brutality, the criterion of all those
negative virtues which his communtiy strove to emulate.
Suddenly, the apeman tensed and his eyes narrowed, for
he recognized on the broad chest of this chieftain something
which he had momentarily forgotten, but which was his own
property. It was only then that he realized that his flyer's mitt,
which he had utilized as a hunting pouch, had been taken from
him; and in it had been the Great Star of Issus which the
leader of green men now wore!
Few there were who noticed the fierce gleam in Tarzan's
eyes or heard the low growl of anger that escaped his lips, for
at that moment a rumble of voices arose from the audience
and the prisoner cages, and all eyes were turned toward the
great gate beneath the canopied balcony. AS the gates swung
outward, a giant, green-eyed banth sprang out into the arena.
It roared hungrily at the crowd, and then its great, baleful
eyes slowly took in the sands of the arena.
Tarzan's heart again went out to the race which was
represented by the three prisoners who now faced this
monstrous, ten-legged beast with its cavernous mouth and
multiple rows of slavering fangs. Instead of cowering in the
shadow of the arena's walls, the three of them walked bravely
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