The Aberdeen weekly., 1921-03-04
cHPArER lI-contInued.

P
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 oHe-half feet in diane
ter
Five or six had already hatched
and the grotesque caricatures which
sat blinking in the sunlight we're
enough 10 cause me TO doubt my san
ity 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 trifle above the
center and protruded I'm such a man
ner that they could be directed either
forward or back and also independent
ly 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 "a very light yellow
green color In the adults, as 1 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
in Albinos, while the pupil is dark.
The eyeball itself is very white, as
are the teeth. These latter add most
feFocious appearance TO an otherwise
fearsome and terrible countenance, as
the lower tusks curve upward 10 sharp
points which end about where the eyes
OF earthly human beings are located
The whiteneSs of the teeth is not that
of ivory. bur of the snowiest and most
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 1 failed
TO note the approach of score of
full-grown Martians from behind me.
They might have captured me easily
but their intentions were far more
sinister. 1t was the rattling 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 way as to strike against the
butt of his great metal-shOd spear
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. a spear forty feet long. tipped
with cleaning metal, and held low at
the side of a mounted replica of the
little devils l 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 I may call him, was fully fifteen
feet in height and, on earth, would
have weighed some four hundred
pounds.
And his mount How can earthly
words describe 1t 1t lowered ten feet
at the shoulder; had four legs on
either side; a broad fiat tail. larger at
the tip than at the root. and which
II held straight out behind while run
ming; a gaping mouth which split IFS
head from its snout to its long. mas
sive neck.
Like it's master. it was entirely de-
void of hair, but was of dark slate
color and exceeding smooth and CLOS
sy Its belly was white and ifs legs
shaded from the slate of its shoulders
and hips TO a vivid yellow at the feet
Unarmed and naked as i was, the
first 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
/ gave a very earthly and at the same
time Superhuman leap TO reach the
top of the Martian incubator. for such
/ had determined 1t must be.
Ny effort was crowned with a sue
cess which appalled, me no less than ii
riors, for It carried me fully thirty
feet into the air and landed me hun
dred feet from my pursuers and on
the opposite side of the enclosure.
l 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 ! afterward discov-
cred marked extreme astonishment.
and the others were evidently salts
flying themselves that I had not mo-
Tested their young.
They were conversing together I'm
E0w tones and gestfctilatfng and noinf
ng toward me. Their discovery that
had not harmed the little Mariners
md that / was unframed must have
aused them to look upon me With ess
erocity; but. as was to tearn. larer
he thing which weighed Rlost IN r.y
ror was my exhibition ofthurdling