"09 - Synthetic Men of Mars" - читать интересную книгу автора (Burroughs Edgar Rice)

"It is nice to have such an important friend as you," I said, "especially one
who will help me, if he can."
"Help you in what way?" he asked.
"The jeds are constantly calling for new warriors to replace those that are
killed. I would make a good warrior for the bodyguard of a jed, and it would be
nice if you and I could be together; so, if I am chosen to appear before them
for examination, you can put in a good word for me when they ask who knows me."
He thought this over for a minute in his slow-witted way, but finally he said,
"Why not? You look very strong; and sometimes, when the members of the guard get
to quarrelling among themselves, it is well to have a strong friend. Yes, I'll
help you, if I can. Sometimes they ask us if we know a good strong warrior who
is intelligent, and then they send for him and examine him. Of course you are
not very intelligent, but you might be able to pass because you are so strong.
Just how strong are you?"
As a matter of fact, I didn't know, myself. I knew I was quite strong, because I
lifted bodies so easily; so I said, "I really don't know."
"Could you lift me?" he asked. "I am a very heavy person."
"I can try," I said. I picked him up very easily. He didn't seem to weigh
anything; so I thought I would see if I could toss him up over my head. I
succeeded quite beyond my expectations, or his either. I tossed him almost to
the ceiling of the room, and caught him as he came down. As I set him on his
feet, he looked at me in astonishment.
"You are the strongest person in Morbus," he said. "There never was any one as
strong as you. I shall tell the Third Jed about you."
He went away then, leaving me quite hopeful. At best, I had anticipated that Ras
Thavas might some day include me with an assignment of hormads to be examined by
the jeds; but as the ranks of the bodyguards were often filled by drafts on the
villages outside the city, there was no telling how long I should have to wait
for such an opportunity.
Ras Thavas had detailed me as the personal servant of John Carter, so we were
not separated; and as he worked constantly with Ras Thavas, the three of us were
often together. In the presence of others, they treated me as they would have
treated any other hormad – like a dumb and ignorant servant, but when we were
alone they accepted me once more as an equal. They both marvelled at my enormous
strength, which was merely one of the accidents of the growth of Tor-dur-bar's
new body; and I was sure that Ras Thavas would have liked to slice me up and
return me to the vats in the hope of producing a new strain of super-powerful
hormads.
John Carter is one of the most human persons I have ever known. He is in every
sense of the word a great man, a statesman, a soldier, perhaps the greatest
swordsman that ever lived, grim and terrible in combat; but with it all he is
modest and approachable, and he has never lost his sense of humor. When we were
alone he would joke with me about my newly acquired "pulchritude," laughing in
his quiet way until his sides shook; and I was, indeed, a sight to inspire both
laughter and horror. My great torso on its short legs, my right arm reaching
below my knees, my left but slightly below my waist line, I was all out of
proportion.
"Your face is really your greatest asset," he said, after looking at me for a
long time. "I should like to take you back to Helium as you are and present you
at the jeddak's next levee. You know, of course, that you were considered one of