42
 
 
 

42. "HEIGHTS OF PERIL" -- Sept. 20. '42
(read novelization

P1: Cro-Yat's hatchet caught Woola squarely between the eyes. The faithful brute collapsed without a sound -- either stunned or dead. 

P2: Alone, Carter would have remained with Woola; now the princess' safety was paramount and Woola's loyal stand enabled her to gain distance on her pursuers. 

P3: Dejah Thoris climbed the walls of the great canyon while the Earthman clung to her hair. 

P4: Crowing wildly the chicken men leaped over the calot's body and sped on in pursuit up the cliff. 

P5: Leading the others, Cro-yat scrambled up the rocks in agile bounds, his feathered arms outstretched for the girl. 

P6: "Female make good food!"  the rooster cackled. "Soon Cro-Yat eat!" 

P7: A rocky fragment of the cliff suddenly tore loose beneath the girl's fingers. With a cry she toppled backwards. 
 

Notes:

1. Compare 


 
 

CHAPTER 42: "HEIGHTS OF PERIL"
Novelization of the JCB strip by Dale R. Broadhurst

John Carter had drawn his long-sword when the bird-man's arm went back to hurl his hand-ax. By the time the flying weapon reached the princess, the warrior from another world was only able to raise the thin blade in feeble defense against an object the size of an earthman's four-horse farm wagon. The Virginia Captain was knocked back by the impact so violently that his hair-entwined legs pulled dozens of strands from the maiden's head. The flying ax bent John Carter's Orovarian in half, but like a clockwork spring the wondrous steel returned at once to its proper shape. Carter's sword-arm was nearly torn from his shoulder and he held onto the blade only because his fingers were trapped in the slender hand-guard. But, despite these painful injuries, the man held on and he lived to rejoice over Cro-Yat's near miss. His antique long-sword deflected the bird-man's hurled weapon by a hair-breadth and Dejah Thoris was saved!. 

The leader of the bird-men stopped his vigorous chase long enough to search for and retrieve his hatchet. The incident with the ax only lasted a couple of minutes but it allowed the princess to gain a little distance on her lead pursuer. When the leader resumed the hunting race he had four other bird-men shoulder-to shoulder with him. The giants were experienced hunters who practiced their running every day, while the Princess of Helium had no training in this kind of strenuous exertion. Volvo had tailored her transformed muscles for beauty not for strength -- and what little strength and endurance the red girl possessed was rapidly becoming depleted. 

The slope of the ascent back up to the rim of the mesa rim growing ever more precipitous under the girl's racing feet and the her forward progress slowed almost to a crawl. A few dozen yards ahead of her the incline grew even steeper, turning abruptly into sheer cliffs ten times her own height. Dejah Thoris' heart was pounding. She could barely breathe. This was not the way she had come down from the Plateau of Eo -- she was far off her intended path of return, terribly exhausted and scarcely able to continue. Yet she pushed on with both her feet and her hands now pushing her up the rocky slope, and all the while she was carrying the Earthman with her, half buried in the tangles of her long hair. 

Cro-Yat picked up his hatchet, placed it in his belt and bounded off once more in hopes of catching his intended victim. Within a few minutes his swift legs had once again outdistanced his feathered comrades by many paces. Leading the others, the bird-man chief scrambled up the rocks in agile bounds, his feathered arms outstretched for the red princess. 

From his position in the maiden's hair John Carter could see the ugly Chicken Man coming ever nearer. The monster's body was shaped much like that of a human being. His supply of limbs was limited to a pair of legs and a pair of arms, which was rather unusual on a planet where six-limbed creatures are the rule and eight-limbed animals are by no means a rarity. From his clawed toes to his broad shoulders the bird-man was a mass of short red feathers. This plumage increased substantially in density and length along the creatures lower arms. The bird-man almost looked as if he might use his feathered arms for flight and more than likely his remote ancestors possessed the ability for that mode of movement. The thing's hands were much like human hands, albeit of gigantic size; likewise its feet, save for the fact that they ended in three clawed toes. It was in the bird-man's head that his avian features were most developed. This, as has been stated, bore similarities both to the head of a hawk and that of a chicken. The bird-man's head was yellow, framed by green and blue plumes. 
 

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