John Carter was captured by the Wohun people

John Carter’s capture by the Warhoons begins with a deliberate act of self-sacrifice: when a large Thark force threatens him, Dejah Thoris, and Sola, he stays behind to draw the warriors away while the women flee. The plan saves them from immediate capture, but Carter is pursued, brought down, and taken prisoner. The episode turns the bonds he has formed with Dejah Thoris and Woola into practical choices under pressure, while carrying him from escape into the next phase of his captivity on Barsoom.

The flight toward the hills

After a long journey without finding a waterway, Carter and his companions are exhausted and lost. Dejah Thoris spots several hundred mounted warriors descending from a distant pass. They appear to be moving away, and the three try to avoid notice by getting down low behind the terrain. A rear-ranking chieftain sees them through a field glass, however, and rides toward them alone.

Carter recognizes that there is little time to act. He fires his Martian rifle and knocks the charging chieftain from his mount. The shot is not a way out: the other warriors are still nearby, and the dead or fallen leader has alerted them to Carter’s position. The brief opening instead lets Carter send Dejah Thoris and Sola toward the hills.

Carter stays behind

Carter orders Sola to take Dejah Thoris on the remaining thoat and make for the ravines, where they may find temporary cover. He gives them his revolvers for protection and places Dejah Thoris behind Sola on the mount. He intends to hold the pursuing force back and believes that the women will have a better chance of escaping without him.

Dejah Thoris refuses to leave him behind. She gets down from the thoat and declares that she will die with the man she loves. Carter’s account marks this as a decisive revelation of their attachment: he recalls her words as something permanently engraved on his heart. Yet he does not allow her to remain. He puts her back on the mount and commands Sola to keep her there, then sends them away as Dejah Thoris struggles to return to him. Carter’s choice protects her, but it also makes the separation between them immediate and painful.

The pursuit and capture

Once the Tharks see Carter, he lies low and fires at the warriors. His rifle holds one hundred rounds, with another hundred in reserve, and his gunfire briefly forces the first men to return for cover. The respite ends when roughly a thousand warriors appear and charge. Carter continues firing until his rifle is empty; seeing that Dejah Thoris and Sola have disappeared among the hills, he abandons the unusable weapon and runs in the opposite direction to draw the pursuers away from them.

The diversion succeeds in separating the pursuit from the women, but Carter cannot escape the force following him. While running, his foot catches on a projecting piece of quartz and he falls. He draws his sword and attempts to resist, but the warriors overwhelm him, and he loses consciousness. His capture is thus the consequence of a successful protective maneuver with a personal cost: Dejah Thoris and Sola are out of sight, while Carter is left in the hands of the pursuing Tharks.

Woola’s recurring loyalty

Carter’s isolation is set against Woola’s repeated return to his side. Earlier, while Carter was held among the green Martians, the Martian hound guarded him closely and, on two occasions, saved his life. Carter’s experience with Woola also shaped his decision to treat his thoats with kindness rather than rely only on the harsh methods used by other warriors. The thoats came to follow and obey him, making humane treatment, in his view, both a bond and a practical advantage.

After the separation from Dejah Thoris and Sola, Woola finds Carter alone in the wilderness and protects him from a creature that has pinned him down. Carter is glad to see the hound but fears that Woola’s presence means Dejah Thoris has died, since he knows the animal as faithful to his commands. The fear is not confirmed in this episode. Woola is weakened by hunger and eats the dead creature; Carter, also hungry, cannot eat the uncooked flesh and has no means to make a fire. Once Woola has finished, Carter resumes his search for the waterway. The later rescue does not undo his capture, but it repeats the story’s contrast between the violent treatment of animals around him and the loyalty fostered by his own care.

From capture to captivity

Carter’s fall and loss of consciousness close the flight from the Thark force. The narrative then marks a transition into the next stage of his ordeal: he wakes to find himself chained among the Warhoons. The episode therefore does not end with a successful escape, but with a change in the form of danger. Carter has secured the women’s temporary flight by drawing the pursuers after himself; now his own survival depends on what follows his capture.