Edgar Burroughs - Carson of Venus

He mumbled something as he stooped to retrieve his weapon; then he spoke to a one-eyed giant standing in the front row of spectators.

"This fellow will be in your watch, Nurn," he said. "See that he works." With that, he quit the deck.

The men gathered around me. "Why didn't you kill him?" asked one.

"And have the captain order me thrown overboard?" I demanded. "No. I can use my brains as well as my sword."

"Well," said Nurn, "there was at least a chance that he wouldn't have; but there is no chance that Folar won't stab you in the back the first chance he gets."

My duel with Folar had established me in the good graces of the crew; and when they found that I could speak the language of the sea and of the pirate ship, they accepted me as one of them. Nurn seemed to take a special fancy to me. I think it was because he hoped to inherit Folar's rank in the event the latter were killed, for several times he suggested that I pick another quarrel with Folar and kill him.

While talking with Nurn I asked him where the Nojo Ganja was bound.

"We're trying to find Vepaja," he said. "We've been trying to find it for a year."

"Why do you want to find it?" I asked.

"We're looking for a man the Thorists want," he said. "They've offered a million pandars to anyone who'll bring him to Kapdor alive."

"Are you Thorists?" I asked. The Thorists are members of a revolutionary political party that conquered the former empire of Vepaja which once spread over a considerable portion of the south temperate zone of Amtor. They are the bitter enemies of Mintep as well as of all countries that have not fallen into their hands.

"No," replied Nurn, "we are not Thorists; but we could use a million pandars of anybody's money."

"Who is this Vepajan they want so badly?" I asked. I assumed that it was Mintep.

"Oh, a fellow who killed one of their ongyans in Kapdor. His name is Carson ."

So! The long arm of Thora had reached out after me. I was already in the clutches of its fingers; but, happily for me, I was the only one who knew it. However, I realized that I must escape from the Nojo Ganja before it touched at any Thoran port.

"How do you know this Carson is in Vepaja?" I asked.

"We don't know," replied Nurn. "He escaped from Kapdor with the janjong of Vepaja. If they are alive, it is reasonable to believe they are in Vepaja; that, of course, is where he would have taken the janjong. We are going to search Vepaja first. If he isn't there, we'll go back to Noobol and search inland."

"I should think that would be quite a man-size job," I remarked.

"Yes, it will," he admitted, "but he should be an easy man to trace. Here and there inland someone must have seen him, and if anyone once saw this Carson they'd never forget him. He has yellow hair, and as far as anyone ever heard no one else in the world has yellow hair." I was grateful for my black wig. I hoped it was on securely.

"How are you going to get into the tree cities of Vepaja?" I asked. "They don't care much for strangers there, you know."

"What do you know about it?" he demanded.

"I've been there. I lived in Kooaad."

"You did? That's just where we expect to find Carson ."

"Then maybe I can help," I suggested.

"I'll tell the captain. No one aboard has ever been to Kooaad."

"But how do you expect to get into that city? You haven't told me that. It's going to be very difficult."

"They'll probably let one man go in to trade," he said. "You see, we've picked up a lot of jewels and ornaments off the ships we've taken. A man could go in with some of these and if he kept his ears and eyes open, he'd soon find out whether or not Carson was there. If he is, we'll have to find some way to entice him aboard the Nojo Ganja."

"That should be easy," I said.

Nurn shook his head. "I don't know about that," he said.

"It would be easy for me, knowing Kooaad as I do," I said. "You see I have friends there."

"Well, first we've got to find Vepaja," he remarked quite aptly.

"That's easy, too," I told him.

"How so?"

"Go tell the captain that I can pilot him to Vepaja," I said.

"You really can?"

"Well, I think I can. One never knows, what with the rotten maps we have."

"I'll go now and talk with the captain," he said. "You wait here and, say, keep a weather eye open for Folar—he's the stinkingest mistal of all the stinking mistals on Amtor. Just keep your back against something solid and your eyes open."

I watched Nurn as he crossed the deck and ascended the companionway leading to the captain's quarters. If the captain could be persuaded to trust me, here was such an opportunity to enter Kooaad as might never come to me again. I knew from the course that the Nojo Ganja was holding that she was paralleling the coast of Vepaja , but too far off shore for the land to be visible. At least I was confident that such was true. I really could not know it, as one could know nothing for certain about his position on one of these Amtorian seas unless he were in sight of land.

As I stood by the rail waiting for Nurn to return, I saw Folar come on deck. His expression was black as a thunder cloud. He came directly toward me. A man near me said, "Look out, fellow! He's going to kill you." Then I saw that Folar carried one hand behind him and that his pistol holster was empty. I didn't wait then to see what he was going to do or when he was going to do it. I knew. I whipped out my own gun just as he raised his. We fired simultaneously. I could feel the r-rays pinging past my ear; then I saw Folar slump to the deck. Instantly a crowd surrounded me.

"You'll go overboard for this," said a man.

"It won't be as easy as that," said another, "but in the end you'll go overboard."

An officer who had witnessed the affair came running down from the upper deck house. He pushed his way through the crowd of sailors to me.

"So you're trying to live up to your name, are you, fellow?" he demanded.

"Folar was trying to kill him," spoke a sailor.

"And after he'd spared Folar's life," said another.

"Folar had a right to kill any member of the crew he wanted to kill," snapped the officer. "You mistals know that as well as I do. Take this fellow up to the captain and throw Folar overboard."

So I was taken up to the captain's quarters. He was still talking with Nurn as I entered. "Here he is now," said Nurn.

"Come in," said the captain, rather decently; "I want to talk with you."

The officer who had accompanied me looked rather surprised at the captain's seemingly friendly manner. "This man has just killed Folar," he blurted.

Nurn and the captain looked at me in astonishment "What difference does it make?" I asked. "He wasn't any good to you, anyway, and he was just about to kill the only man who can pilot you to Vepaja and get into the city of Kooaad for you. You ought to thank me for killing him."

The captain looked up at the officer. "Why did he kill him?" he asked.

The officer told the story quite fairly, I thought; and the captain listened without comment until he had concluded; then he shrugged.

"Folar," he said, "was a mistal. Someone should have killed him long ago. You may go," he said to the officer and the sailors who had brought me up; "I want to talk with this man." When they had left, he turned to me. "Nurn says that you can pilot this ship to Vepaja and that you are acquainted in Kooaad. Is that right?"

"I am well acquainted in Kooaad," I replied, "and I believe I can pilot the Nojo Ganja to Vepaja. You will have to help me get into Kooaad, though. I'll be all right after I get in."

"What course shall we take?" he asked.

"What is your course now?"

"Due east," he replied.

"Change it to south."