he ruse worked, and Thurid fired no more at us. Presently I heard
the diminishing sound of whirring propellers and realized that
again I was safe.

Slowly the stricken flier sank to the ground, and when I had freed
myself and Woola from the entangling wreckage I found that we were
upon the verge of a natural forest--so rare a thing upon the bosom
of dying Mars that, outside of the forest in the Valley Dor beside
the Lost Sea of Korus, I never before had seen its like upon the
planet.

From books and travelers I had learned something of the little-known
land of Kaol, which lies along the equator almost halfway round
the planet to the east of Helium.

It comprises a sunken area of extreme tropical heat, and is inhabited
by a nation of red men varying but little in manners, customs, and
appearance from the balance of the red men of Barsoom.

I knew that they were among those of the outer world who still
clung tenaciously to the discredited religion of the Holy Therns,
and that Matai Shang would find a ready welcome and safe refuge
among them; while John Carter could look for nothing better than
an ignoble death at their hands.

The isolation of the Kaolians is rendered almost complete by the
fact that no waterway connects their land with that of any other
nation, nor have they any need of a waterway since the low, swampy
land which comprises the entire area of their domain self-waters
their abundant tropical crops.

For great distances in all directions rugged hills and arid
stretches of dead sea bottom discourage intercourse with them, and
since there is practically no such thing as foreign commerce upon
warlike Barsoom, where each nation is sufficient to itself, really
little has been known relative to the court of the Jeddak of Kaol
and the numerous strange, but interesting, people over whom he
rules.

Occasional hunting parties have traveled to this out-of-the-way
corner of the globe, but the hostility of the natives has usually
brought disaster upon them, so that even the sport of hunting the
strange and savage creatures which haunt the jungle fastnesses of
Kaol has of later years proved insufficient lure even to the most
intrepid warriors.

It was upon the verge of the land of the Kaols that I now knew
myself to be, but in what direction to search for Dejah Thoris, or
how far into the heart of the great forest I might have to penetrate
I had not the faintest idea.

But not so Woola.

Scarcely had I d