On the road to Zodanga 
many strange 
and interesting sights
arrested my attention, 
as we traveled 
through miles and miles 
of rolling country 
cultivated with 
many types of crops.

At several farms where I stopped
I learned a number of new things 
about the methods 
and manners of Barsoom. 
The water for the farms 
is pumped through long pipelines
from the canals to the planted areas. 

Along either side, 
extending their entire length,
lie the farmlands. 
The precious water is 
carried via networks of small pipes 
directly to the plants' roots.

On this trip 
I tasted the first red meat
I had eaten since leaving Earth -- 
large, juicy steaks and chops
from well-fed domestic animals, and 
luscious fruits and vegetables,
none of them exactly
like anything from Earth, 
which are pale by comparison.
 

The rural people 
were very gracious hosts.

We politely introduced ourselves. 
The older gentleman 
was a Zodangan diplomat, 
on a jaunt in the country 
with his entourage.

In the course of conversation 
we chanced to speak of Helium. 
The man had been there 
on a diplomatic mission
a few years earlier, 
and spoke with regret 
of the unpopular war
between Helium and Zodanga, 
and the foolish blunder 
of their ruler, Than Kosis, 
of attacking Helium's crippled fleet.

"Helium," he said," rightly boasts
the most beautiful women on Barsoom. 
All Helium has been draped in mourning 
since Princess Dejah Thoris 
-- their most exquisite flower -- 
was lost on that ill-starred expedition. 
Why, they practically worshipped 
the ground she walked upon."

"Even now our victorious armies, 
having taken advantage 
of the absence of Helium's fleets 
on their search for the Princess,
have Helium surrounded,
and it is said that Helium will fall
in a few passages of the nearer moon.

But our people voice their displeasure -- 
this war is not based on right or justice."

"I fear Zodanga
will soon need to elevate a wiser man
to Than Kosis' place."

"And what, think you, 
may have been the fate 
of the Princess Dejah Thoris?"

I asked, 
as casually as possible.

"She is dead." he answered. 
"A green prisoner of ours 
said she escaped from Thark
with a strange creature 
from another world. 

Their thoats were found
wandering the dead sea bottom 
and evidences of a bloody conflict 
were discovered nearby."

This news regarding 
Dejah Thoris' possible fate 
was in no way reassuring,--
 

--but neither was it proof of her death.