Elbert County tribune and Elbert County banner., 1921-04-15
EDGAR RICE
BURROUGHS
A~sAo. Of
Tartan of the
Apes

vanced. The chieftaIn rose to his
feet and uttered the name OF my es-
cort who, In turn, halted and repeated
the name OF the ruler followed by his
title.
My captor. whose name was Tars
Tarkas. evidently explained briefly the
Incidents connected with his expedi-
ton. including my capture, and when
he had concluded the chieftain ad-
dressed me at some length.
i replied In our good old English
tongue merely to convince him that
| neither of us could understand the
other; but I noticed that when l smiled
slightly on concluding he did likewise.
This fact and the similar occurrence
| during my first talk with Tars Tarkas
| convinced me that we had at least
| something In common; the ability to
smile, therefore to laugh; denoting a
sense of humor. But I was to learn
that the Marian smile is merely per-
| functory and that the Marian laugh
| is thing to cause strong men, to
| blanch with horror
The ideas OF humor among the green
men OF Mars are widely Mt variance
with our conceptions of incitants to
| merriment The death agonies of a
fellow being are. to these strange crea-
| lures, provocative of the widest hilar-
ity, while their chief form OF common
est amusement is to inflict death on
their prisoners Of war In various in
| genious and horrible ways.
The assembled warriors and chief
tains examined me closely, feeling my
| muscles and texture of my skin. The
principal chieftaln then evidently sig
| nified desire to see me perform, and,
mOtioning me to follow, he started
| with Tars Tarkas for the open plaza.
Now. ! had made no attempt to
walk, since my first signal failure. ex-
cept while tightly grasping and fitting
about among the desks and chairs like
some, monstrous grasshopper. After
bruising myself severely, much to the
| amusement of the Martians. I again
had recourse to creeping. but this did
not suit them and was roughly
| terked to my feet by a towering fell
low who had laughed most heartily at
my misfortunes.
| AS he banged me down upon my
| feet his face was bent close to mine
and l did the only thing a gentleman
might do under the circumstances of
brutality. boorishness and lack of con-
sideratIon for n strangers rights;
swung my fist squarely to his jaw and
he went down like a felled OK. AS
he sunk to the floor / wheeled around
with my back toward the nearest desk,
expecting to be overwhelmed by the
vengeance Of his fellows, but deter
mined to give them as good a battle
as the unequal odds would permit be-
fore / gave up my life.
My fears were groundless, however
rs the other Martians, at first struck
| dumb with wonderment, finally broke
into Wild peals of laughter and ap-
plause. l did not recognize the ap-
plause as such, but later. when had
become acquainted with their customs,
learned that l had won what they
seldom accord. a manifestation of ap-
| probation.
The fellow whom / had stuck lay
where he had fallen, nor did any of his
mates approach him. Tars Tarkas adj
vanced toward me, holding out one of
his arms, and we thus proceeded to the
| plaza without further mishap. / did
not, of course, know the reason for
which we had come to the open, but
! was not long In being enlightened.
They first repeated the word SAX
/ number of times, and then Tars Tar
kas made several jumps, repeating
the same word before each leap; then,
turning to me. he said. "Sakr" saw
1 -Iat thax,
myself together sacked" with such
marvellous success that ! cleared a
| good hundred and fifty feet; nor did
this time lose my equilibrium, but
| landed squarely upon my feet without
falling. then returned by easy jumps
| of twenty-five or thirty feet to the
little group of warriors.
| My exhibition had been witnessed
by several hundred lesser MartIans,
and they Immediately broke into de-
maDds for repetition. But / was
both hungry and thirsty, and ignored
the repeated commands to "sak," and
each time they were made motioned
to my mouth and rubbed my stomach.
Tars Tarkas and the chief exchanged
few words. and the former, calling
to young female among the throng,
| gave her some Instructions and mo
TONED me to accompany her.
grasped her proffered arm and to-
gether we crossed the plaza toward
| large building on the far side.
My fair companion was about eight
feet tall. having just arrived at ma
turity, but not yet to her full height.
She was of light olive-green color,
with smooth, glossy hide. Her name,
as I afterward learned. was Sofa, and
she belonged to the retinue of Tars
Tarkas. She conducted me to a spa
cious chamber in one of the buildings
ftanfitlnr Ill, IL