READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

Tarzan on Mars
what do you know of that which lives within me?—of the
terrible secret which is mine— that only you may free me of,
Tarzan? How long have I waited for you, my love, only to
learn—even in this world—that you are not for me?"
The apeman tried to sonsole her. "I think," he said, "the
time has passed for the keeping of secrets, La. Tell me—what
is it that haunts you so?"
"No one has ever known it," she answered, "but to you
alone I will reveal that which has darkened my sould for
ages!"
There, in the great palace of Tario on distant Barsoom,
La of Opar, finally, unburdened herself of the dreaded, secret
thing which had troubled her all her life. And as she told it—a
personal, feminine thing such as a woman might confide to
her husband—Tarzan's heart was softened by the awareness
of a predicament which had reduced her to confiding this
deepest of buried secrets to one who could not be the mate
who should have heard it from her lips. Yet the nature of the
information also lifted his brows in surprise and set his mind
to conjecturing along previously unexplored channels which
pointed amazingly to the revelation of things to incredible for
him to accept immediately.
After she had told him, she continued to lean against
him, sobbing softly, helpless, lost, disconsolate. He stroked
her hair.
"You have suffered, La. The strangest of all destinies has
made you the mystery of the ages. I wish that I could do one
thing for you that would bring you happiness. But, what is
left—"
She threw her arms about him once more and lifted her
face to his. "One thing only, my Tarzan! Before you go out of
my life forever, surely it is not too much to ask. But one
caress! Only once, and then never more!"
He smiled sadly down upon her upturned lips. "You ask
for an arrow in your heart to wear forever. It is no way to rid
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