The Snowflake herald., 1921-02-18

size adapted to human beings such
as I, whereas the great bulks of the
Martians could scarcely have squeezed
into the chairs nor was there room
beneath the desks for their long legs
Evidently, then, there were other deni-
zens on Mars than the wild and gro
tesque creatures into whose hands I
had fallen.
Our party had halted at the en-
trance to the building, and at a sign
from the leader | had been lowered
to the ground. Again locking his arm
in mine, we had proceeded into the
audience chamber. There were few
formalities observed in approaching
the Marian chieftain. My captor
merely strobe up to the rostrum, the
others making way for him as he ad-
vanced. The chieftain rose to his
feet and uttered the name Of my es-
cort who, in turn, halted and repeated
the name Of the ruler followed by his
title.
My captor whose name was Tars
Tarkas, evidently explained briefly the
incidents connected with his expedi-
ton, including my capture, and when
he had concluded the chieftain ad-
dressed me at some length.
replied In our good old English
tongue merely to convince him that
neither of us could understand the
other; but noticed that when l smiled
slightly on concluding he did likewise.
This fact and the similar occurrence
during my first talk with Tars TarkaS
convinced me that we had at least
something In common; the ability TO
smile, therefore to laugh; denoting a
sense of humor. But | was to learn
that the Martian smile is merely per-
functory and that the Martian laugh
Is a thing to cause strong men to
blanch with horror
The ideas of humOr among the green
men of Mars are widely at variance
with our conceptions of incitants to
merriment The death agOnies of a
fellow being are, to these strange crea-
lures, provocative of the widest hilar-
ity, while their chief form of common
est amusement is to inflict death on
their prisoners of war in various in-
genious and horrible ways.
The assembled warriors and chief
tains examined me closely, feeling my
principal Qhleftain then evidently sig
nified desire to see me perform. and,
motioning me to follow, he started
with Tars Tarkas for the open plaza.
Now, had made no attempt to
walk. since my first signal failure, ex-
cept while tightly grasping and fitting
about among the desks and chairs like
some monstrous grasshOpper. After
bruising myself severely, much to the
amusement of the MartianS, l again
had recourse to creeping, but this did
not suit them and / was roughly
jerked to my feet by a towering fell
low who had laughed most heartily at
my misfortunes.
AS he banged me down upon my
feet his face was bent close to mine
and | did the only thing a gentleman
might do under the circumstances of
brutality, bOorishneSs and lack of con-
sideration for strangers rights;
swung my fist squarely to his jaw and
he went down like a felled OK. AS
he sunk to the floor wheeled around
with my back toward the nearest desk,
expecting to be overwhelmed by the
vengeance of his fellows, but deter
mined to give them as good battle
as the unequal odds would permit be-
fore / gave up my life.
My fears were groundless, however,
as the other Martians, at first struck
dumb with wonderment, finally broke
into Wild peals of laughter and ap-
plause. did not recognize the ap-
plause as such, but later, when had
become acquainted with their customs.
| learned that | had won what they
seldom accord, manifestation Of ap-
probation.
The fellow whom / had struck lay
where he had fallen, nor did any of his
mates approach him. Tars Tarkas ad-
vanced toward me, holding out one Of
his arms, and we thus proceeded to the
plaza without further mishap. / did
not, of course, know the reason for
which we had come to the open. but