We looked at him in surprise. "What makes you think I am John Carter?" asked The Warlord. "You have never seen him."
"In the audience chamber I was struck by the fact that you did not appear truly a red Martian. I examined you more closely and discovered that the pigment with which you had stained your skin had worn thin in spots. There are but two inhabitants of Jasoom on Mars. One of them is Vad Varo, whose Earth name was Paxton. I know him well, as he served as my assistant in my laboratories in Toonol. In fact it was he whom I trained to such a degree of skill that he was able to transfer my old brain to this young body. So I knew that you were not Vad Varo. The other Jasoomian being John Carter, the deduction was simple."
"Your suspicions were well founded and your reasoning faultless," said The Warlord. "I am John Carter. I should soon have told you so myself, for I was on my way to Phundahl in search of you when we were captured by the hormads."
"And for what reason did The Warlord of Barsoom search for Ras Thavas?" demanded the great surgeon.
"My princess, Dejah Thoris, was badly injured in a collision between two fliers. She has lain unconscious for many days. The greatest surgeons of Helium are powerless to aid her. I sought Ras Thavas to implore his aid in restoring her to health."
"And now you find me a prisoner on a remote island in the Great Toonolian Marshes-a fellow prisoner with you."
"But I have found you."
"And what good will it do you or your princess?" demanded The Master Mind of Mars.
"You would come with me and help her if you could?" asked John Carter.
<<BackPagesTo menuNext>>