Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1921-05-06

Others making way for him as he ad-
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 Tzrs
Tarkas evidently explained briefly the
incidents connected with his expedi-
ton, including my capture, and when
he had concluded the chieftain adj
dressed me at some length.
replied in our good old English
tongue merely to convince him that
neither of us could understand the
other; but 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: 6en9ting a
sense of humor. But l was TO learn
that the Marian smile is merely per-
functory and that the Marian laugh
is a thing to cause strong men to
! blanch with horror
The ideas Of humor among the green
men of Mars are widely at variance
with our conceptions of ineitants to
merriment The death agonies of
fellow being are, to these strange crea-
lures, provocative of the widest hilar-
fly, 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 chieftain then evidently sig
nified a desire to see me perform. and.
/ motioning me 10 follow, he started
with Tars Tarkas for the open plaza.
Now. l 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, / again
/ had recourse to creeping, but this did
not suit them and was roughly
ierked to my feet by 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
| aud did the only thing gentleman
might do under the circumstances Of
brutality. boorishness and lack of con-
| sideration for a strangers rights
swung my fist squarely to his jaw and
he went down like a felIed 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 battle
! as the unequal odds would permit be-
fof7a | gave up my life.
Ny 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 | had
become acquainted with their customs.
| learned that l had won what they
seldom accord, a manifestation of APP
probation
The fellow whom / had struck 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 "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 "Sak !" saw
whaf they were after. and gathering
myself together I "sakked" 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-
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
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 a
large bnilding on the far side
Afy 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 l afterward learned, was Sola, and
she belonged TO the retinue Of Tars
IaT,.ees. g. conducted me 10 spa
eious chamber in one Of the buildings
A..