Mountain Home Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1915-1946, 1923-01-20
CHAPTER v.
!. learn the Lanquaqe.

Learn the Language.
AS | reached the doorway of our
building strange surprise awaited
me. warrior approached bearing
the arms, ornaments and full accou-
terments of his kind. These he pre-
sented to me with few unintelligible
words and a bearing at once respect
full and menacing.
Later Sofa, with the aid of several
of the other women, remOdeled the
trappings to fit my lesser proportions
and after they completed the work
went about CARRIED in all the panoply
of war
The training of myself and the
young Martians was conducted solely
by the women, who not only attend
to the education of the young In the
arts of individual defense and offense,
but are also the artisans who produce
every manufactured article wrought
by the green Martians. In time of
actual warfare they form a part of
the reserves, and when the necessity
arises fight with even greater intel
ligence and ferocity than the men.
The men are trained in the higher
branches of the art of war; In STRAIT
egg and the maneuvering Of large
bodies Of troops. They make the laws
as they are needed; a new law for
each emergency. Customs have been
handed down by ages of repetition,
but the punishment for ignoring a Gus
a.. At,
ment by jury of the culprit's peers,
and l may say that justice seldom
misses fire, but seems rather to rule
In inverse ratio to the ascendency of
law. In one respect at least the Mar
tians are happy people; they have
no lawyers.
/ did not see the prisoner again for
several days subsequent to our first en-
counter, and then only to catch a fleet
ing glimpse of her as she was being
conducted to the great audience cham
Der where l had had my first meeting
with Lorquas Ptomel.
l had observed on the two occasions
when l had seen her that the prisoner |
exchanged words with her guards, and
this convinced me that they spoke, or
at least could make themselves I'M
derstood by a common language. With |
this added incentive l nearly drove |
Sofa distracted by my opportunities
to hasten on my education, and with-
in few more days had mastered the
Marian tongue sufficiently well to en-
10
versation and to fully understand
practically all that I heard.
AT this time our sleeping quarters
were occupied by three or four females
and couple of the recently Matched
young, beside Sofa and her youthful
ward, myself and Woola the hound.
After they had retired for the night
it was customary for the adults to
carry on a desultory conversation for
a short time before lapsing into sleep,
and now that could understand their
language 1 was always keen listener,
l never proffered any re-
marks myself.
On the night following the prisoners
visit to the audience chamber the con-
finally fell upon this subject
and was all ears on the instant.
Sarkoja, one of the older women
who shared our domicile, had been
present at the audience as one of
the captiyes guards, and it was to-
ward her the duestloners turned.
"When," asked one of the women,
'will we enjoy the death throes of the
red one, or does Lorquas Ptomel, Jed,
intend holding her for ransomT
"They have decided to carry her
with us back to 2lark, and exhibit
her last agonies at the great games