Xodar

“ Be that as it may, Xodar, he is a great fighter. I think that we will make a trio difficult to overcome, and if my friend Tars Tarkas, Jeddak of Thark, were but one of us we could fight our way from one end of Barsoom to the other even though the whole world were pitted against us. ”

“ He was about to reply when the outer door of our prison opened and a burly guard entered and ordered him to his own quarters for the night, locking the door after him as he passed through into the further chamber.
"It is Issus' wish that you two be confined in the same room," said the guard when he had returned to our cell. "This cowardly slave of a slave is to serve you well," he said to me, indicating Xodar with a wave of his hand. "If he does not, you are to beat him into submission. It is Issus' wish that you heap upon him every indignity and degradation of which you can conceive." ”

“ While we watched they lifted the figure in their arms and at my command bore it to the audience chamber where we had been in council. When they stretched the body at our feet we saw that it was that of a red man in the prime of life—his metal was plain, such as common soldiers wear, or those who wish to conceal their identity.
"Another of Zat Arrras' spies," said Hor Vastus.
"So it would seem," I replied, and then to the guard: "You may remove the body."
"Wait!" said Xodar. "If you will, Prince, ask that a cloth and a little thoat oil be brought." ”

“ Our guard entered to inspect us for the last time before the new day broke upon the world above. His duty was soon performed and the heavy door of our prison closed behind him—we were alone for the night.
I gave him time to return to his quarters, as Xodar said he probably would do, then I sprang to the grated window and surveyed the nearby waters. At a little distance from the island, a quarter of a mile perhaps, lay a monster battleship, while between her and the shore were a number of smaller cruisers and one-man scouts. ”

“ He was very light in colour for a red man, but in other respects he seemed a typical specimen of this handsome race.
I did not awaken him, for sleep in prison is such a priceless boon that I have seen men transformed into raging brutes when robbed by one of their fellow-prisoners of a few precious moments of it.
Returning to my own cell, I found Xodar still sitting in the same position in which I had left him.
“Man,” I cried, “it will profit you nothing to mope thus. It were no disgrace to be bested by John Carter. You have seen that in the ease with which I accounted for Thurid. ”

“ His one reply to all our importunities was that whenever Parthak died, were it tomorrow or a thousand years hence, no man could truly say, 'A traitor is gone to his deserts.'
"Finally, Xodar, who is a fiend for subtile craftiness, evolved a plan whereby we might worm the information from him. And so I caused Hor Vastus to be harnessed in the metal of a Zodangan soldier and chained in Parthak's cell beside him. For fifteen days the noble Hor Vastus has languished in the darkness of the pits, but not in vain. ”

“ Zóra's story was not a long one. When she was put into the hut with only two men to guard her, the rest of the gang [277] dispersed into the corn-fields to hide themselves, as the husbandmen would soon be abroad. Now the hut was nearer to Kokutnoor than Hippurgah, and a shepherd boy who had been watching sheep all night had seen the procession, and saw where something, he could not tell what, had been deposited. Over night a large body of Beydurs, on their road from the King's camp by Sholapoor to their homes, had put up at Kokutnoor ”

“ In the mean time this unhappy prince, Giafar, Mesrour, the porter, and the calenders, were upon the point of losing their lives by their indiscreet curiosity. But, before they would strike the fatal blow, one of the slaves says to Zobeide and her sisters, High, mighty, and adorable mistresses, do you command us to cut their throats? Stay, says Zobeide, I must examine them first. The frightened porter interrupted her thus: In the name of Heaven, do not make me die for another man's crime. I am innocent, they are to blame. Alas! ”

“ He was only inspired by the emotions of triumph and passion, by the sure conviction that this fair Feringhee, this daughter of a vanquished tribe, this outcast unbeliever, so lovely in her whiteness of skin, her purity of complexion, and wondrous colour of hair, in her roundness of limb, and in stature so far surpassing all the maids of the twenty-one Afghan clans or races, was his—his property—to become the slave of his will or his cruelty, as it pleased him!
Of the paradox that woman's weakness is her strength, with the Christian man, Zohrab knew nothing, and felt less ”

“ The Zowia itself seemed even more Eastern than most buildings of its kind, the walls merely baked mud, the towers but hardly overtopping them, and all the animals of a superior class to those raised by the ordinary Moors. The tribe ranks high for fighting qualities, as riders, shots, and swordsmen, and though small, can hold its own against all comers. The women, taller and thinner than the women of the Moors, were dressed in blue, after the desert fashion, and in procession walked to the well, with each one carrying an amphora upon her head. ”

“ Zohak, the giant who keeps the “mouth of hell.” He was the fifth of the Pischdadian dynasty, and was a lineal descendant of Shedâd, king of Ad. He murdered his predecessor, and invented both flaying men alive and killing them by crucifixion. The devil kissed him on the shoulders, and immediately two serpents grew out of his back and fed constantly upon him. He was dethroned by the famous blacksmith of Ispahan ́, and appointed by the devil to keep hell-gate.--D’Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale (1697) .
Zohara, the queen of love, and mother of mischief. ”

“ Seeing that Waller appeared crushed by the prospect before him, Zohrab said, ere he went,
"Think yourself happy, for if Ackbar Khan were to get you, he might do as he has done to others, chain you to a stone in a vault, dark and cheerless as the tomb of a miser. Dogs!" he added, true to his overbearing nature: "you came hither thinking to make us crumb-eaters of Shah Sujah! Bah! the cup of the covetous, saith the proverb, is filled with the dust of the grave. And where lie the covetous now? in the passes of Khoord Cabul!" ”

“ Zoza pondered over the words of the old woman, and after ruminating and turning over a hundred thoughts in her mind, until her head was like a mill full of doubts, she was at last struck by a dart of the passion which blinds the judgement and puts a spell upon the reason of man; and taking with her a handful of dollars from her father’s coffers, she left the palace, and walked on and on, until she arrived at the castle of a fairy, to whom she unburdened her heart. ”

“ Now, if traced, what, I ask, of the Kaffir slave?"
"By the soul of the Prophet!" exclaimed Zohrab, in great and sudden perplexity, "what can I do, but leave her here?"
"Sell her to the young Shah: she is worth a thousand mohurs," suggested the Hindoo banker.
"The coward has fled," said Zohrab.
"She is beautiful as the one he lost, and whom he mourned so much that it required the whole seraglio to console him."
"Poor fellow!" sneered Zohrab.
"I will buy her of you for two hundred tomauns, paid down," said the Khond. "Money is useful to those who are fugitives." ”

“ For, said the damsels:
“Night and day the terror of thy name, O Feridoun, oppresseth him. His heart is all on fire, and life is one long torture to him.”
But if Zohak was troubled before, imagine his surprise and terror when he learned from Kandru, the keeper of the talisman, the strange tidings of the fall of his capital! Disguising his fright, however, the tyrant immediately turned unto his army, hoping by its aid to regain his throne. But in vain; for both soldiers and people at once declared loyalty to the new Shah, resisting, to a man, the offers of gold and jewels and treasure made them. ”

“ All in this chamber, except Tascela, were born in it. We expect to die in it.
"We are a dying race, even as those Xuchotlans our ancestors slew. When the feud began there were hundreds in each faction. Now we of Tecuhltli number only these you see before you, and the men who guard the four doors: forty in all. How many Xotalancas there are we do not know, but I doubt if they are much more numerous than we. For fifteen years no children have been born to us, and we have seen none among the Xotalancas. ”

“ When the third calender had finished the recital of his history, Zobeidè, addressing herself both to him and his brethren, said, “Depart; you are all three at liberty to go wherever you please.”—“Pardon, madam,” answered one of them, “we beg of you, our curiosity, and permit us to stay and hear the adventures of these gentlemen who have not yet spoken. The lady then turned to the side where the caliph, the vizier Giafar, and Mesrour, of whose real situation and character she was still ignorant, were, and desired each of them to relate his history. ”

“ Sustained only by the vision of his lost kingdom, the youth wandered for many moons throughout Zothique. People derided him when he spoke of his kingship and made inquiry concerning Calyz; but many, thinking madness a sacred thing, offered him shelter and sustenance. Amid the far-stretching fruitful vineyards of Zhel, and into Istanam of the myriad cities; over the high passes of Ymorth, where snow tarried at the autumn's beginning; and across the salt-pale desert of Dhir, Xeethra followed that bright imperial dream which had now become his only memory. ”

“ When it was the fourth day, the fourth vizier, whose name was Zoushad, made his appearance and prostrating himself to the king, said to him, “O king, suffer not the talk of yonder youth to delude thee, for that he is not a truth-teller. So long as he abideth on life, the folk will not give over talking nor will thy heart cease to be occupied with him.” “By Allah,” cried the king, “thou sayst sooth and I will cause fetch him this day and slay him before me.” Then he commanded to bring the youth; so they brought him in shackles and he said to him, “Out on thee! ”

“ The marriage canopy was instantly pitched, and there was no further demur. The damsels advanced conducting the concealed treasure. Her approach was at that moment sweeter to him than sleep to the wearied eyelids, and he beheld in her the stem of a tall reed, and the rose of the soul. They were immediately united; on the second day Zoheir arose and thanked his fortune, irritated as he had been. He made presents, and distributed the gold and silver, and he made Amroo’s people remain with him, that he might treat them for seven days, when he made the marriage-feast, slaughtering camels and sheep. ”

“ Poor Zóra was utterly helpless. The gag which had been stuffed into her mouth nearly choked her; the cloth by which she had been swathed up to her throat prevented her moving her hands. She remembered when the slaves of Osman Beg took her up at Juldroog they had done it gently, and she could at least breathe freely and scream for help; but this attack on her had been more savage, more determined—was this also her enemy's contrivance? She could not but think so; and his emissaries must have followed her even from Kukeyra. ”

“ Zohrab grasped her left hand with his right, and planting his left cheek on the other hand, with an elbow on his knee, began to take courage, and, surveying her steadily, to speak more distinctly and with an admiring smile; for the silence of the night was around them, and no sound came on the wind that moaned past the grove or the great cypresses close by; so from the silence, perhaps, he gathered confidence, if, indeed, he really required it.
"Allah has been good to us," said he, "exceedingly good, in creating such beautiful beings as women to please us. ”

“ Then he smiled with proud disdain as he placed his steel cap on his head, and twisted the turban-cloth around it. Next he drew a pistol from his belt, while the diminutive Hindoo became pea-green with fear, and an expression of almost mad ferocity seemed to pass over the face and to swell the great chest of the Khond, Ferishta Lodi. Danger and death were at hand, he knew; but not on whom they might fall.
Zohrab rushed to a window on one side. The narrow alley was filled by a mass of armed men on foot and on horseback. ”

“ And will you not own that you have lost your wager?"
"How, sir," replied Zobeide, who would not believe one word Mesrour said, "do you think that I regard that impertinent fellow of a slave, who knows not what he says? I am not blind or mad. With these eyes I saw Nouzhatoul-aouadat in the greatest affliction; I spoke to her myself, and she told me that her husband was dead." "Madam," replied Mesrour, "I swear to you by your own life, and that of the commander of the faithful, which are both dear to me, that Nouzhatoul-aouadat is dead, and Abou Hassan is living." ”

“ While I was deep in these awkward meditations, uppermost in which lay the necessity of an immediate departure, a low and quiet footfall sounded in the garden. Zoraka with her head upon my bosom heard nothing, but I, looking up, saw to my horror the burly form of Hassan approaching in the dim light. We stood in thick shadow, and he did not remark us, nor, indeed, do I think he was in any condition to do so. For he walked solemnly and slowly, as a man bent with sorrow, and mounted upon the little wall overlooking the bay without a glance upon either side. ”