Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1921-02-07


which on Earth would have brought
me standing upright, carried me into
the Marian air to the height of about
three yards. alighted softly upon
the ground, however, without appre-
ciable shock or jar. Now commenced
a series of evolutions which even then
seemed ludicrous in the extreme. My
muscles, perfectly attuned and accus'
toned to the force of gravity on
Earth, played the mischief with me in
attempting for the first time to cope
with the lesser gravitation and lower
air pressure on Mars.
l was determined, however, to ex-
plore the low structure which was the
only evidence of habitation in sight
and so hit upon the unique plan of
reverting to first principles in locomo-
ton, creeping. I did fairly well at
this and in a few moments had
reached the low, encircling wall of the
enclosure. I cautiously gained my feet
and peered over the top upon the
strangest sight it had ever been given
me to see.
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 l 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
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 we're of a very light yellow
green color. In the adults, as l 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 A1binos, while the pupil is dark.
The eyeball itself is very white, as
are the teeth. These latter add 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 wilderness of the teeth is not that
of ivory, but of the snowiest and most
cleaning of china.
was given but little time to specu-
late on the wonders Of my new dis,
coyery. had seen that the eggs were
In the process of Matching, and as
StOOu WdICHlIlS the llluSOuc hINiC "Oh
sters break from their shells l 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
should have snuffed out without evel
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 al
the side of 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, fol
such may call him, was fully ifteer
feet in height and, on earth, would
have weighed some four hundred