=== apom_ch10_pt11 === 

Scarcely had his hideous laugh rang out but once, when I was upon him.  The brute was twelve feet in height and armed to the teeth, but I believe that I could have accounted for the whole roomful in the terrific intensity of my rage.  Springing upward, I struck him full in the face as he turned at my warning cry and then as he drew his short sword I drew mine and sprang up again upon his breast, hooking one leg over the butt of his pistol and grasping one of his huge tusks with my left hand while I delivered blow after blow upon his enormous chest. =

He could not use his short sword to advantage because I was too close to him, nor could he draw his pistol, which he attempted to do in direct opposition to Martian custom which says that you may not fight a fellow warrior in private combat with any other than the weapon with which you are attacked.  In fact he could do nothing but make a wild and futile attempt to dislodge me.  With all his immense bulk he was little if any stronger than I, and it was but the matter of a moment or two before he sank, bleeding and lifeless, to the floor. =

Dejah Thoris had raised herself upon one elbow and was watching the battle with wide, staring eyes. = 

=== end of pt11 ===