The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1921-03-26

merely strobe up to the rostrum, the
others making way for him as he adj
vanced. The chieftain rose 10 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 90
dressed me at some length.
replied In our good old hnglish
tongue merely to convince him that
neither Of us could understand the
other but noticed that when 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
sense of humOr But l was to learn
that the Marian smile is merely per-
functOry and that the Marian laugh
is tHlng 10 cause StTons Heh W
blanch with horror.
The ideas of humor among the green
men of Mars are widely at variance
with our conceptions of incitants to
merriment The death agOnies Of
fellow being are, to these strange crea-
lures, provocative of the widest hilar-
ity, while their chief form Of common
est amusement is to infiict 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 chieftain then evidently sig
nified a 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 grassh0pper. After
bruising myself severely. much to the
amusement of the Martians, / again
not suit them and l was roughly
| jerked to my feet by towering fell
| low who had laughed most heartily at
| my misforruneS.
AS he banged me down upon my
| feet his face was bent close to mine
| and I did the only thing a gentleman
| might do under the circumstances of
| brutality. b0Orishness and lack of con-
| sideration for strangers rights; |
swung my fist squarely to his jaw and
he went down like felled OK. AS
| he sunk to the floor l wheeled around
| with my back toward the nearest desk,
| expecting to he overwhelmed by the
| vengeance of his fellows, but deter
| mined to give them as good battle
| as the unequal odds would permit be-
| fore I gave up my life.
MY fears were groundless. however,
as the other Martians. at first struck
/ dumb with wOnderment, finally broke
into wild peals of laughter and ap-
| plause. / did not recognize the APP
| plause as such, but later. when l had
become acquainted with their customs.
III learned that I had won what they
seldom accord. manifestation of ap-
probation.
The fellow whom l had struck lay
where he had fallen, nor did any of his
mates approach him. Tars Tarkas adj
yanced toward me, holding out one of
his arms and we thus proceeded to the
plaza without further mishap. 1 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 "sak'
number of times. and then Tars Tar
kas made several jumps repeating
the same word before each leap; then,
turning to me, he said SAX" saw
what they were after. and gathering
| myself together sacked" with such
marvellous success that l cleared a
good hundred and fifty feet; nor did
this time lose my equilibrium, but
landed squarely upon my feet without
i falling. then returned by easy jumps
of twenty-five or thirty feet TO the
little group of warriors.
Nv exhibition had been witnessed
by several hundred lesser Martians
and they Immediately broke into de-
mands for a repetition. But was
both hungry and thirsty, and ignored
the repeated commands to SAX and
each time they were made | motioned
to my mouth and rubbed my stomach
Tars Tarkas and the chief exchanged
a few words, and the former, calling
to a 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 q
large building on the far side.
Ny fair companion was about eigh
feet tail. having just arrived at ma
turity, but not vet to her full height
She was of light olive-green color
with a smooth. glossy hide. Her name
as | afterward learned, was Sofa. and
she belonged to the retinue of Tar'
Tarkas. She conducted me to SPA
cious chamber in one Of the buildings
| fronting on the plaza. and which, from
the litter of silks and furs upon th'
floor, | took to he the sleeping quar-
. Al