The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-02-02

..
scarce had 1 turned ere l shot WITH
the rapidity Of thought into the awful
void before me.
There was the same instant of I'M
thinkable cold and utter darkness that
l had experienced twenty years be-
fore, and then 1 opened my eyes In an
other world, beneath the burning rays
Of hot sun, which beat through q
tiny opening in the dome Of the
mighty forest in which lay.
Tie scene that met my eyes was 30
unmartian that my heart sprang to
my throat as the sudden fear swept
through me that I had been aimlessly
tossed upon some strange planet by a
cruel fate.
l lay upon close cropped sward Of
red grass-like vegetation, and about me
stretched grove Of strange and beau
tiful trees, covered with huge and gor-
geous blossoms and filled with brilliant,
voiceless birds. I call them birds since
they were winged, but mortal eye new
er rested on such unearthly shapes.
The vegetation was similar to that
which covers the lawns Of the red Mar
| tians of the great: waterways, but the
| trees and birds were unlike anything
! that / had ever seen upon Mars, and
then through the farther trees could
see that most unmartian Of all sights
an open sea, its blue waters simmer
ing beneath the brazen sun.
| AS rose to Investigate further ex-
perienced the same, ridiculous catAs-
trophe that had met my first attempt
| to walk under Marian conditions.
/ The lesser attraction Of this smaller
planet and the reduced air pressure Of
its greatly rarefed atmosphere afforded
| so little resistance to my earthly mus
cles that the ordinary >exertion Of the
| mere act OF rising sent me several feet
into fhe air and precipitated me upon
my face In the soft and brilliant grass
of this strange world.
This experience, however, gave me
some slightly increased assurance that,
after all, I might indeed be in some, to
i me, unknown corner Of Mars, and this
was very possible, since during my ten
years residence upon the planet had
explored but comparatively tiny area
| OF its vast expanse.
I rose again, laughing at my forget
fitness, and soon had mastered once
more the art of attunfng my earthly
sinews to these changed conditions.
As walked slowly down the imper-
ceptible slope toward the sea / could
not help but note the parklike appear
l n <,A = 81
The grass was as close cropped and
carpet-like as some old English lawn,
and the trees themselves showed evil
dence OF careful pruning to uniform
height Of about fifteen feet, so that as
one turned his glance in any direction
the forest had the appearance at q lit
tie distance Of q vast, high ceiled
chamber.
All these evidences Of careful and
systematic cultivation convinced me
that had been fortunate enough to
make my entry into Mars on this Sec
ond occasion through the domain Of
a civilized people and that when I
should find them I would be accorded
the courtesy and protection that my
rank as prince Of the house Of Tardos
Mors entitled me to.
| The trees Of the forest attracted my
deep admiration as proceeded toward
the sea. Their great trunks, some Of
them fully hundred feet in diameter.
attested their prodig1ous height, which
Icould only guess at, since at no point
could / penetrate their dense foliage
above me to more than sixty or eighty
feet.
/ AS neated the confines Of the forest
beheld before me and between the
grove and the open sea q broad ex-
panse Of meadow land, and as I was
about to emerge from the shadows Of,
the trees sight met my eyes that ban
ished all romantic and poetic reflection.
It was the sight Of score Of figures
moving slowly about the meadow near
the bank Of mighty river.
Odd, grotesque shapes they were, nm
like anything that had ever seen.
upon Mars, and yet at distance most
manlike In appearance. The larger
specimens appeared to be about Cen or
twelve feet in height when they stood
erect and to be proportioned as 70 torso
and lower extremities precisely n is
earthly man.
Their arms, however, were very
short and from where stood seemed
as though fashioned much after the
manner Of an elephants trunk In that
they moved In sinuous and snakelike
fluctuations, as though entirely with
out bony structure, or If. there were
bones they must be vertebral In ma
ture.
| AS I watched them from behind the
trunk of huge tree one Of the crea-
| lures moved slowly in my direction,
engaged in the occupation that seemed
| to be the principal business of each of
them and which consisted in running
their oddly shaped hands over the sur
| face Of the sward, for what purpose I
could not determine.
AS he approached quite close to me
1 obtained an excellent view Of him,
and, though was later to become bet
ter acquainted with his kind, I may
say that that single cursory examine
ton Of this awful travesty Of nature
would have proved quite sufficient to
my desires had been a free agent.
Its hairless body was OF, strange
| and ghoulish blue except for broad
band of white which encircled it, pro-
truding, single eye, an eye that was