Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1917-02-07

an opeH sea, ltS Dlue waters simmer
ing beneath the brazen sun.
As rose to investigate further I ex-
| perienced the same ridiculous catas-
! trophe that had met my first attempt
to walk under Martian conditions.
The lesser attraction of this smaller
planet and the reduced air pressure of
its greatly rarefied 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 the 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 l might indeed be in some. to
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.
| rose again, laughing at my forget.
fulness, and soon had mastered once
more the art of attuning my earthly
slnews to these changed conditions.
ceptible slope toward the sea 1 could
not help but note the parklike appear.
ance of the sward and trees.
The grass was as close cropped an6
carpet-like as some old English lawn
and the trees themselves showed evi.
dence of careful pruning to a uniform
height of about fifteen feet, so that as
one turned his glance in any direction
the forest had the appearance at a lit
tie distance of vast, high ceilet
chamber.
All these evidences Of careful and
systematic cultivation convinced me
that l had been fortunate enough tC
make my entry into Mars on this sec,
ond occasion through the domain OF
civilized people and that when ]
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 nv
deep admiration as proceeded toward
the sea. Their great trunks, some OF
them fully hundred feet in diameter
attested their prodigious height. which
L could only guess at, since at no poini
could l penetrate their dense foliage
above me to more than sixty or eighty
feet.
AS 1 neared the confines of the fores
l beheld before me and between the
grove and the open sea a broad ex
panse of meadow land, and as | was
about to emerge from the shadows O.
the trees sight met my eyes that ban
ished all romantic and poetic reflection
1t was the sight OF score of figure,
moving slowly about the meadow neal
the bank of mighty river.
Odd, grotesque shapes they were. I'm
like anything that l had ever see1
upon Mars. and yet at distance mos
manlike in appearance. The larger
specimens appeared to be about ten OF
twelve feet in height when they stool
erect and to be prOportioned as to torso
and lower extremities precisely as |.
earthly man.
Their arms. however. were very
short and from where stood seemed
as though fashioned much after tnt
manner of an elephants trunk in tha'
they moved in sinuous and snakelike
undulations, as though entirely with
out bony structure, or II there were
bones they must be vertebral in ma
ture.
AS l 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
could not determine.
AS he approached quite close to me
| obtained an excellent view of him,
and, though was later to become bet
ter acquainted with his kind, ] may
say that that single cursory examina-
ton of this awful travesty of nature
would have proved quite sufficient to
my desires had l been free agent.
Its hairless body was of strange
and ghoulish blue except for broad
band of white which encircled its pro-
truding, single eye. an eye that was
all dead white-pupil, iris and ball.
Its nose was ragged, infiamed. cir
cular hole in the center of its blank
face, hole that resembled more close
ly nothing that l could think OF other
than fresh bullet wound which has
not yet commenced to bleed.
Below this repulsive orifice the face
was quite blank TO the chin for the
thing had no mouth that l could dis
cover.
The head, with the exception of the
face. was covered by a tangled mass
of jet black hair some eight or ten
inches In length. Each hair was about
the bigness of large angleworm, and
as the thing moved the muscles of its
scalp this awful head covering seemed
to writhe and wriggle and crawl about
the fearsOme face as though indeed
each separate hair was endowed with
independent life.
The body and the legs were as sym
metrically human as nature could have
fashioned them. and the feet, too. were
human in shape. hut Of monstrous pro
portions. From heel to toe they were
fully three feet long and very fiat and