Come with us, Sola; we might go without you, but your
fate would be terrible if they thought you had connived to aid us.
I know that even that fear would not tempt you to interfere in our
escape, but we want you with us, we want you to come to a land of
sunshine and happiness, amongst a people who know the meaning of
love, of sympathy, and of gratitude. Say that you will, Sola;
tell me that you will."
"The great waterway which leads to Helium is but fifty miles to the
south," murmured Sola, half to herself; "a swift thoat might make it
in three hours; and then to Helium it is five hundred miles, most of
the way through thinly settled districts. They would know and they
would follow us. We might hide among the great trees for a time,
but the chances are small indeed for escape. They would follow us
to the very gates of Helium, and they would take toll of life at
every step; you do not know them."
"Is there no other way we might reach Helium?" I asked. "Can you not
draw me a rough map of the country we must traverse, Dejah Thoris?"
"Yes," she replied, and taking a great diamond from her hair she
drew upon the marble floor the first map of Barsoomian territory I
had ever seen.
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