The Concordia sentinel. (Vidalia, Concordia Parish, La.) 1882-current, 1921-03-12

their bones are very large and they
are muscled only in proportion to the
gravitatiOn which they must overcome.
The result is that they are infinitely
less agile and less powerful, In pro-
portion to their weight, than an Earth
man, and | doubt that were one of
them suddenly to be transported to
Earth he could lift his own weight
from the ground; in fact, l am con-
WINGED that he could not do so.
My feat, then. was as marvellous up
on Mars as il would have been upon
Earth, and from desiring to annihilate
me they suddenly looked upon me as
a wonderful discovery to be captured
and exhibited among their fellows.
l noted that each was armed with
several other weapons In addition to
the huge spear which have described.
The weapon which caused me to de-
eide against an attempt at escape by
flight was what was evidently a rifle
of some description and which I felt,
for some reason. they were peculiarly
efficient in handling.
These rifles were of white metal
stocked with wood, which / learned
later was a very light and intensely
hard growth much priced on Mars.
and entirely unknown to us denizens
of Earth. The, metal of the barrel
is an alloy composed principally of
aluminium and steel which they have
learned to temper TO q hardness FAR
exceeding that of the steel with which
we are familiar. The weight of these
rifles is comparatively little, and with
the small caliber, explosive, radium
projectiles which they use and the
great length of the barrel, they are
deadly in the, extreme and at ranges
which would be unthinkable on Earth.
The theoretic effective radius Of this
rifle is three hundred miles, but the
best they can do in actual service
when equipped with their wireless
finders and sighters is but trifle
over two hundred miles.
The Martians, after conversing for
n short time, turned and rode away
in the direction from which they had
come, leaving one Of their number
alone by the enclosure. When they
had covered perhaps two hundred
yards they halted and turning their
mounts toward us sat watching the
warrior by the enclosure.
When his force had come TO halt
he dism0unted, threw down his spear
and small arms and came around the
end of the incubator toward me, en-
tirely unarmed and as naked as /,
except for thH ornaments strapped up
on his head, limbs and breast
When he was within abounfifty feet
of me he unclasped an enormous met
al armlet and holding II toward me in
the open palm of his hand. addressed
me In a clear, resonant voice. but In
a language, 1t is needless to say,
could not understand. He then stopped
as though waiting for nv reply.
pricking up his antennae-like ears and
cooking his strengthening eyes still
further toward me.
AS the silence became painful I
concluded to hazard a little conversa-
ton on my own part, as l had guessed
that he was making Oyertures of
peace.
Stretching my hand toward him /
advanced and took the armlet from
his open palm, clasping it about my
arm above the elbow; smiled at him
and stood waiting. His wide mouth
spread into an answering smile, and
locking one of his intermediary arms
I'm mine we turned and walked back
toward his mount. At the same time
he motioned his followers to advance.
He exchanged q few words with his
men. motiOned to me that would ride
behind one of them, and then mounted
his own animal. The fellow desig-
mated reached down two or three