READ THE NOVEL- Chapters 1-31 - ERBzine

Tarzan on Mars
ity, he is prepared to strike blindly out at the foe, impatient to
bring the battle to an end.
So it was before the gates and the walls of Helium, as it
was before Ptarth and in the forests of Kaol, and outside the
city of Dusar—fleets, warriors and mounts, all gathering
under the leading banner of Helium—for John Carter,
Warlord of Barsoom.
Yet the spies of the Holy Alliance were legion and all
these preparations did not go unnoticed. This force, led by
Prince Carthoris, consisted of so much of ships and ordnance
and men, or that force led by Tardos Mors, Jeddak of Greater
Helium, consisted of so many main line cruisers equipped
with late model long range guns, or that fleet led by Mors
Kajak, jed of lesser Helium, or this army of mixed nations of
men led by Gahan of Gathol, represented so much naval
power or tactical ground strength.
But these very details began slowly to reveal to the
waiting enemy that the most important factor of all had not
been accounted for. All the heaviest battleships and the finest
flower of the regular soldiery and navy of Helium and her
allies, as well as the dreaded Warlord, himself, were conspicuous
by their absences. However penetrating and thorough
was the enemy's system of underground work and espionage,
this one secret had not yet been discovered.
Plainly, then, the fact emerged before the masters of
Tarnath that the Warlord was preparing a mighty reserve in
some secret location, which would undoubtedly be employed
at the moment of battle crisis. And against this eventuality,
the tremendous armies and navies of the Therns and the First
Born waited, while at Zodanga and Jahar and U-Gor and
Tjanath and Amhor and Phundhal, the preliminary forces of
their allies assembled their fleets and their weapons and their
millions of men, who, in their turn, would fight for Issus and
Reform, or for coveted personal advantage.
Whereas the major element in the Heliumitic forces, the
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