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Don Hargreaves faced terrible odds deep inside Mars when he went to rescue Princess Wimpolo, who had been kidnaped by Mars' worst despot.
"ILL tie you in knots!" Don Hargreaves panted, heaving at the massive scaly form of Princess Wimpolos pet snake. The snake's tail, arching over, took him round the middle and held him in mid-air. Uncoiling suddenly, it shot him forty feet into the air, spinning rapidly, and caught him as he fell.
That annoyed Don. A forty foot fall was nothing to him in the gravity of Mars, provided he landed on his feet, but he hated being made to spin like a top.
"Bad, bad!" he scolded, slapping the snake soundly under one of its ears.
The snake was not hurt. Its scaly hide barely felt his hand, but its dignity was offended. Like a sulky child it writhed away and coiled itself up in a distant corner, almost entirely hidden by curtains and draperies.
Don heard the Princess laughing. Her enormous left hand picked him up and placed him beside her on her couch. Don was still giddy, the enormous room spinning round him like a whirligig.
"Look here, when are you going to marry me?" he demanded, when the room had steadied somewhat.
For though she was ten feet tall and would have weighed on Earth something approaching half a ton, and was, furthermore, daughter and heir of the overlord of all Mars, while he was an overworked, underpaid clerk from Earth and a small one at that, the two were perfect friends.
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