"11 - John Carter of Mars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burroughs Edgar Rice)

The rats circled slowly, watching their king who rose to his hind legs stamping
his feet, thumping his tail. The mound of skulls echoed hollowly.
Faster danced the king and faster moved the circles of rats drawing ever closer
to the mound.
The closer rats shot hungry glances at the earthman. Carter smiled grimly and
gripped his sword more tightly. Strange that they should let him retain it.
More than one of the beasts would die before he was overcome, and the king would
be the first to go. There was no doubt that he was to be sacrificed to furnish a
gastronomic orgy.
Suddenly the king stopped his wild gyrations directly in front of Carter. The
dancers halted instantly, watching, waiting.
A strange, growling squeal started deep in the king's throat and grew in volume
to an ear-piercing shriek. The King of Rats stepped over the ring of skulls and
advanced slowly toward Carter.
Once again the earthman glanced about seeking some means of escape from the
mound. This time he looked up. The ceiling was at least fifty feet away. No
native-born Martian would even consider escaping in that direction.
But John Carter had been born on the planet Earth, and he had brought with him
to Mars all the strength and agility of a trained athlete.
It was upon this, combined with the lesser gravity of Mars, that the earthman
made his quick plan for the next moment.
Tensely he waited for his opportunity. The ceremony was nearly concluded. The
king was baring his fangs not a foot from Carter's neck.
The earthman's hand tightened on his sword-hilt; then the blade streaked from
its scabbard. There was a blur of motion and a sickening smack. The king's head
flew into the air and then rolled away, bouncing down the mound.
The other beasts beneath were stunned into silence, but only momentarily. Now,
squealing wildly, they swarmed up the mount intent on tearing the earthman to
pieces.
John Carter crouched and with a mighty leap his earthly muscles sent him
shooting fifty feet up into the air.
Desperately he clutched and held to a hanging stalagtite. Soon he was swinging
on the hanging moss to the vast upper reaches of the cavern.
Once he looked down to see the rats milling and squealing in confusion beneath.
One other fact he noted, also. Apparently there was only one means of entrance
or exit into the dungeon that formed the rats' underground city, the same tunnel
through which he had first been dragged.
Now, however, the earthman was intent upon finding some means of exit in the
ceiling above.
At last he found a narrow opening; and plunging through a heavy curtain of moss
Carter swung into a cave.
There were several tunnels branching off into the darkness, most of them thickly
hung with the sticky webs of the great Martian spider. They were evidently parts
of a vast underground network of tunnels that had been fashioned long ages ago
by the ancients who once inhabited Korvas.
Carter was ready with his blade for any encounter with man or beast that might
come his way; and so he started off up the largest tunnel.
The perpetually burning radium light that had been set in the wall when the
tunnel was constructed furnished sufficient illumination for the earthman to see
his way quite clearly.