The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1921-05-13
CHAPTER w.
Embarrassing on Mars.

OI
After a breakfast, which was an ex-
act replica of the meal of the preced-
ing day and an index Of practically
every meal which followed while /
was with the green men of Mars.
Sofa escorted me to the plaza, where
found the entire community engaged
in watching or helping at the harness
ing. Of huge mastodonian animals to
great three-wheeled chariots.
The chariots were large, commo-
dious and gorgeously decorated. In
each was seated female Marian
loaded with ornaments of metal, with
jewels and silks and furs, and upon
the back of each of the beasts which
drew the chariot was perched young
Marian driver. Like the animals up
on which the warriors were mounted,
the heavier draft animals wore neither
bit nor bride, but were guided entire
ly by telepathic means. This power
is wonderfully developed in all Mar
tians and accounts largely for the
simplicity of their language and the
relatively few spoken words exchanged
even in long conversations.
AS the cavalcade took up the line
Of march in single file, Sofa dragged
me into an empty chariot and we pro-
ceeded with the procession toward the
point by which I had entered the city
the day before.
Every one but myself-men, women
and children-were heavily armed,
| and at the tail of each chariot trotted
Marian hound, my own beast fol-
lowing closely behind ours; in fact, the
faithful creature never left me volun-
tarily during the entire ten years I
spent on Mars.
The incubator, as 1t proved, was the
terminal point Of our journey this day
| and, as the entire cavalcade broke in
to mad gallop as soon as we reached
the level expanse Of sea bottom, we
were soon within sight Of our goal.
On reaching 1t, half a score Of war
riors, headed by the enormous chief
tain and including Tars Tarkas and
several other lesser chiefs, dismounted
| and advanced toward 1t. I could see
Tars Tarkas explaining something to
the principal chfeftain, whose name
was. by the way. as nearly as can
translate 1t into English, Lorquas Pto-
mel, Jed: jed being his title.
was soon apprised Of the subject
of their conversation, as, calling to
Sofa, Tars Tarkas signed for her to
send me to him. I. had by this time
mastered the intricacies Of walking
under Marian conditions and quickly
responding to his command advanced
to the side of the incubator where the
warriors stood.
AS / reached their side glance
showed me that all but a very few
eggs had Matched, the incubator being
fairly alive with the hideous little
devils. They ranged in height from
three to four feet, and were moving
restlessly about the enclosure as
though searching for food.
/ was permitted to remain close and
watch their operations, which consist
ed in breaking an opening in the wall
Of the incubator large enough to per-
NIT of the exit Of the young Martians.
On either side of this opening the
women and the younger Martians,
both male and female, formed two
solid walls leading out through the
chariots and quite away into the plain
beyond Between these walls the lit
tie Martians scampered, Wild as deer
! being permitted to run the full length
of the aisle, where they were cap
tured one at time by the women and
older children; the last in the line
capturing the first little one to reach
the end of the gauntlet, her opposite
in the line capturing the second, and
so on until all the little fellows had
left the enclosure and been appro-
priated by some youth or female. AS
| the women caught the young they fell
| out of line and returned to their re-
spective chariots, while those who fell
into the hands of the young men were
later turned over to some Of the
women.
/ saw that the ceremony, IL 1t could
| be dignified by such name, was over,
and seeking out Sofa / found her in
our chariot with hideous little crea-
ture held tightly IN her arms.
The work Of rearing young, green
Martians consists aolely in teaching
them to talk, and to use the weapons
Of warfare, with which they are load
| ed down from the very first year of
their lives. Coming from eggs in which
they have lain for five years, the
period Of Incubation they step forth
| into the world perfectly developed ex-
cept in size. Entirely unknown to
their own mothers, who. in turn, would
have difficulty In pointing out the IA
Tiers with any degree of accuracy,
they are the common children Of the
community, and their education de-