CHAPTER XIX
BLACK DESPAIR
"AH," SAID Zat Arrras, "to what kindly circumstance am I indebted for the pleasure of this unexpected visit from the Prince of Helium?"
While he was speaking, one of my guards had removed the gag from my mouth, but I made no reply to Zat Arrras; simply standing there in silence with level gaze fixed upon the Jed of Zodanga. And I doubt not that my expression was colored by the contempt I felt for the man.
The eyes of those within the chamber were fixed first upon me and then upon Zat Arrras, until finally a flush of anger crept slowly over his face.
"You may go," he said to those who had brought me, and when only his two companions and ourselves were left in the chamber, he spoke to me again in a voice of ice—very slowly and deliberately, with many pauses, as though he would choose his words cautiously.
"John Carter," he said, "by the edict of custom, by the law of our religion, and by the verdict of an impartial court, you are condemned to die. The people cannot save you—I alone may accomplish that. You are absolutely in my power to do with as
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