The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1921-05-06
CHPATER lI-Continued.

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The roof of the enclosure was a
solid glass about four or five inches
In thickness, and beneath this were
several hundred large eggs, perfectly
round and snowy white. The eggs
were nearly uniform in size, being
about two and one-half feet in diane
ter.
Five or six had already Matched
and the grotesque caricatureS which
sat blinking in the sunlight were
enough to cause me to doubt my san
fly. They seemed mostly head, with
little scrawny bodies, long necks and
six legs, or, as I afterward learned,
two legs and two arms, with an inter
mediary pair of limbs which could be
used at will either as arms or legs.
Their eyes were set at the extreme
sides of their heads a trifle above the
center and protruded in such a man
ner that they could be directed either
forward or back and also independent
iy of each other, thus permitting this
queer animal to look in any direction,
or in two directions at once, without
the necessity Of turning the head.
There was no hair on their bodies,
which were Of very light yellow
green color. In the adults, as I was
to learn quite soon, this color deepens
TO an olive green and is darker in the
male than in the female
The iris of the eyes is blood red, as
I'm Albinos, while the pupil is dark.
The eyeball itself is very white, as
are the teeth. These latter add a most
ferocious appearance to an otherwise
fearsome and terrible countenance, as
the lower tusks curve upward to sharp
points which end about where the eyes
of earthly human beings are located.
The whiteness of the teeth is not that
cleaning of china.
] was given but little time to specu-
late on the wonders Of my new dis
covery. had seen that the eggs were
in the process of Matching, and as I
stood watching the hideous little mon
sters break from their shells failed
to note the approach of a score Of
full-grown Martians from behind me-
They might have captured me easily,
but their intentions were far more
sinister. 1t was the rafting Of the
accoutrements of the foremost war
rior which warned me. Had not the
rifle Of the leader Of the party swung
from its fastenings beside his saddle
In such a way as to strike against the
butt of his great metal-shod spear 1
should have snuffed out without ever
knowing that death was near me. But
the little sound caused me to turn,
and there upon me, not ten feet from
my breast, was the point Of that huge
spear. spear forty feet long, tipped
with cleaning metal, and held low at
the side Of a mounted replica of the
little devils had been watching.
But how puny and harmless they
now looked beside this huge and ter
rife incarnation of hate, of vengeance,
and of death. The man himself, for
such 1 may call him, was fully fifteen
feet, in height and, on earth, would
have weighed some four hundred
pounds.
And his mounts How can earthly
words describe It'll 1t lowered ten feet
at the shoulder; had four legs on
either side; broad fiat tail, larger at
the tip than at the root, and which
1t held straight out behind while run
hing; a gaping mouth which split its
head from its snout to its long, mas
sive neck. r..
Like fits master, 1t was entirely de-
void Of hair, but was of dark slate
color and exceeding smooth and CLOS
sy. Its belly was white and its legs
shaded from the slate Of its shoulders
and hips to a vivid yellow at the feet
Unarmed and naked as was, the
6rst law Of nature manifested itself
In the only possible solution of my
Immediate problem, and that was to
get out Of the vicinity Of the point
of the charging spear. Consequently
4 gave very earthly and at the same
time Superhuman leap to reach the
top of the Marian incubator, for such
had determined 1t must be.
! My effort was crowned with sue
cess which appalled, me no less than it
seemed to surprise the Marian war
riors, for 1t carried me fully thirty
feet into the air and landed me hun
6red feet from my pursuers and on
the opposite side of the enclosure.
alighted upon the soft moss easily
and without mishap, and turning saw
my enemies lined up along the further
wall. Some were surveying me with
expressions which I afterward discov-
&red marked extreme establishment,
Ind the others were evidently salts
Tying themselves that I had not mo-
Tested their young.
They were conversing together in
low tones, and gesticulating and point
ing toward me. Their discovery that
q had not harmed the little Martians
and that / was unframed must have
caused them to look upon me with less
ferocity; but, as 1 was to learn later,
the thing which weighed most In my
favor was my exhibition of hurdiing.