Cheyenne Wells record., 1921-09-01

check up my WeisHtS' "'. -. |
and other personal identification ua'a'
but II will be several months be1ore
This is done and our mission shou'u
he ACCOMPLISHED or have faile1 long
before that time"
The next few days were spent oy
Kantos Kan In teaching me the In
tricacIes Of flying and OF repairing
the dainty little contrivances wh'ch
the Martians use for this purpose.
The fourth day after my arrival az
Zodanga l made my drst hlght' anu
as a result Of 1t won a promotion
which included quarters In the palace
of Than Kosis.
As / rose above the city circied
several times, as had seen kantos
Kan do, and then throwing my engine
into top speed I raced at terrific ve-
IocIty toward the south, following
one Of the great waterways which
enter Zodanga from that direction.
had traversed perhaps two nun
dred miles In a little less than an hour
when deserted far below me par
ty of three green warriors racing mad
ly toward small figure on foot which
seemed to be trying to reach the con-
fines Of one of the walled fields.
Dropping my machine rapidly to-
ward them, and circling to the rear
Of the warriors, I soon saw that the
object Of their pursuit was red Mar
tian wearing the metal Of the scout
squadron to which I was attached.
A short distance away lay his tiny
fiIer, surrounded by the tools with
which he had evidently been occupied
In repairing some damage when sur
prised by the green warriors.
They were now almost upon him;
their flying mounts charging down on
the relatively puny figure at terrific
speed. while the warriors leaned low
to the right. with their great metal
shod spears. Each seemed striving
to be the nrst to impale the poor To-
dangan and in another moment his
fate would have been sealed had 1t
not been for my timely arrival.
Driving my feet air craft at high
speed directly behind the warriors I
soon overlook them and without d.
minlshing my speed I rammed the
prov Of my little flier between the
shoulders Of the nearest. The impact,
sufficient to have torn through inches
Of solid steel. hurled the fellows head
less body Into the air over the head
Of his thoat, where It fell sprawling
upon the moss. The mounts Of the
other two warriors turned squealing
In terror, and bolted In opposite d.
rections.
Reducing my speed I circled and
came to the ground at the feet Of the
astonished Zodangan. He was warm
In his thanks for my timely aid and
promised that my days work would
bring the reward 1t merlted, for 1t
was none other than q cousin Of the
jeddak of Zodanga whose life had
saved.
Fastening to his damaged machine
we were bending every effort to fln-
ish the needed repairs and had almost
completed them when we saw the
two green monsters returning a top
speed from opposite sides Of US. When
they had approached within a hun
dred yards their thoats again became
unmanageable and absolutely refused
to advance further toward the air
craft which had frightened them.
The warriors finally dismounted and
hobbling their animals advanced to-
ward us on foot with drawn long
swords. advanced to meet the larg-
er, telling the Zodangan to do the
best he could with the other. Finish
ing my man with almost no effort,
as had now from much pract'c ce be-
come habitual with me, I hastened
to return to my new acquaintance
whom I found indeed In desperate
straits.
He was wounded and down with
the huge foot Of his antagonist upon
his throat and the great longsword
raised to deal the final thrust. With
a bound cleared the fifty feet inter.
vening between US, and with out
stretched point drove my sword CON-
pletely through the body Of the green
warrior. His sword fell. harmless, to
the ground and he sank Imply upon
the pr0strate form Of the Zodangan
Quickly completing the repairs we
rose together into the still, cloudless
Martian sky, and at great speed and
without further mIshap returned to
Zodanga.
A. we neared the city we discov.
cred q mighty concourse Of civilians
and troops assembled upon the plain
before the city. Ny companion sig.
nailed that I slow down. and running
his machine close beside mine sug.
gested that We approach and watch
the ceremony, which. he said, was
for the purpose Of confssfing honor
on individual ofmcsrs and men fol
bravery and othse distinguished
service. He then unfurled little en-
sign which denoted that his craft bor<
. member Of the royal family Of 70
danga, and together we made oui
way through the maze Of low.lyina
air vessels until we hung directly ovel