Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1898-12-22

ueHii 'tu Ia JAi tiie pl3iOt, tnU purpOS,
Of which, as it was noiscd about over
Mars, was the conquest of distant
world. After time a few survivors OF
that expedition returned. Tho story
they told caused great excitement
among our masters. They had bcon sue.
rossful in their battles with TIE inhub.
itants Of the world Il " had invaded.
but as in the days Of our foretathers in
the land Of sand n postilenco smoto
them, and but few survivors escaped
Mot long after that, you, with your
mysterious ships, appeared in the sky Of
Mars. Our masters stuGi,d you with
their TELESCOPES and those who had re
turned from the unfortunate expedition
declared that you were inhthitants of
the world which they had invaded.
come, doubtless to take vengeance upon
them.
"Some Of my people who were per-
mittod ~ look through the telescopes of
the MaTtians saw you also and rccog-
nized youas mcmScTS Of their own race.
There were several thousand of us, al
together, and we were kept by the Mar
tians TO serve them as slaves and par
ticularly to delight their ears with mu-
sic, for our people have always been es.
peciaily skillful i'll the playing of mu-
steal instruments and in songs, and
while the Nariians have hut little mu-
steal skill themselves they are exceed
ingly fond of these things.
"Altnough Mars has completed not
less than 5000 circuits about the sun
since oEr ancestors were brought as
prisoners to its surface, yet the memory
OF our distant home has never persisted
from the hearts of our race, and when
we recognized you. rs we believed our
own brothers, Como TO rescue US from
long imprisonment there was great re-
loicing The news spread from mouth
to mouth wherever we were in the
houses and families of our masters. We
seemed to be poworless to aid you or to
communicate with you in any manner
Yet our hearts went out to you as in
your ships you hung above the planet
and preparations were secretly made by
all the members of our race for your re-
ception when, as we believed would
occur, yen should effect landing upon
tine planet and destroy our enemies.
But in some manner the fact that
we had recognized You and were prepar.
Ing to welcome you camc TO the ears Of
the Mnrtians ~
At this point the girl suddenly GOV
cred her eyes with her hands. shudder
ing and falling back in her seat.
"Oh. you do not know them rs / dol"
at length she exclaimed. Tho mon
sters! Their vengeance was tho terrible
Instantly the order went forth that we
should all he butchered, and that awful
command was executed.
How, then, did you escape;" asked
the Heidelberg professor.
Alma seemed unable to speak for
awhile. Finally mast cring her emotion.
she replied;
'Ore Of the chief officers Of the Mar
tians wished me To remain alive. lie,
with his aids, carried re TO one Of the
military depGts of supplies where was
found ana rescued" And as she snid
this she turned toward Colonel Smith
with Z smile that reflected on his ruddy
Taco and made it glow like Chinese
lantern.
by ~ mutterod Colonel Smith.
THAT was the fellow we blew into moth
ing. Blast him, he got of too easyi"
The remainder Of Aina's story may
be briefly told.
When Colonel Smith and | entered
the mysterious building which, as it
now proved, was not storshopse be-
longing TO a village, as we had supposed,
but one of the military dcpots of the
Martiars, the girl, on catching sight Of
us, Immediately recognized us as be-
longing t. the strange squadron in the
sky. AS such she felt that we must be
her friends and saw in US her only pos
sible hope Of escape For that reason
she had instantly thrown herself under
our protection. This accounted for the
singular confidence which she had man
ifested in Us from the beginning.
Her ToIdertu, story had SO captivated
our lmaGinations that for long time
after II was finished we could not re-
cover from the spell. IL was told over
and over again from mouth TO mouth
and repeated from ship to ship, every
where exciting the utmost astonishment.
Destiny seemed To have sont us on
this expedition into space For the pur-
Pose OF clearing OF mysteries that had