Richmond planet., 1930-11-22

SiioOh anu LIZ SPae'
"Serpents of Pragus!" I heard. "An
spying Pragians do pe scum! Their
blood! The righteous citizens of the
Great Kingdom of Els do lust for
their blood!"
And there went up a great cheer.
A mob suddenly began closing in on
us. Our guards began shouting some
thing about the Great : ne. but 1t
was drowned. The next instant they
we're being sent tumbling head over
heels and swalloped up by the howl
ing mob, and in the flip of a finger
we four men from Earth were sur
rounded by thirty or so splitting,
cursipg fanaticsi A. least, SO II
seemed as they began to shout: ITO
the Plain of Death do they go! Too
vile they be to flthify the presence
of the Great Onel Whoop! Cast
them outside we fearless Elsians
will"
Another great wall arose from ten
thousand mouths. Numb with fear,
we felt ourselves being roughly turned
about and rushed back in the direc-
ton il which we had come. In a
comparatively short time we were
back at the mouth of the tunnel,
and soon it was like a great sewer
choked with rats!
What followed Immediately 1 do
not know. I seem to be able TO re-
call other and hopelessly vain strug-
giles; I seem to remember being half
dragged, half carried past the closed
door which was the entrance of our
recently vacated prison chamber,
and, yes, I have a vague recollection
that we strove vainly to halt the
procession there, but were carried on
with the mob through a darkness
which seemed to suddenly incline up
wards . up up, toward a circle
of light far ahead
Four Negro explorers being rushed
to a mysterious doom because they
entertained the audacity to delve into
the unknown!- Brent, novelist;
Brown, Turner, and Heaton, eminent
scientists!
The passageway finally emptied
into a large circular chamber, and
We became very 5old. At the same
time, a vibrating cheer came out of
the darkness behind, and, while our
thirty or so captors answered them
Justify, we became aware that the
milling mass had for ONT reason
sagged behind.
It was suggestive of something very
awful Why didn't they follow to
see us die? What were they afraid
of? The answer came soon. Very
soon. Huddled together, We saw a
half dozen of them place a heavy
sort of a ladder against the circular
skylight above, after which one of
them went to the wall and pushed
something; we saw the great disc
overhead begin to move upwards, and
the next instant a great wave Of
biting-cold air reached down and set
us trembling to u very toes!
So this was the end. I gave up.
We all did. One by one, We were
whipped up the ladder and the great
disc fell back in place, leaving us on
the frigid surface of Mars-three
tiny specks in an incredibly vast
planet of trackless snow and iceI
Mr.. Heaton suddenly screamed. AL
ready beginning to freeze to death,
we swung around! And you talk
about your earthly fear. You don't
know what it is! Already upon us
and moving swiftly over the snow,
we beheld something that made us
want to die! 1t looked like a huge
fish; shaped that way. 1t had huge
red eyes, a mouth, and a swishing
tail. 1t vas green in color, and it
made a soft, purring noise
Well, we were half dead any way.
BY the time-the thing reached us,
we had sunk stiffly down on the hard
snow. 1t vas the end. .
GOOD God! Look!"
1t was Mr.. Turner. We did. Moth
ing mattered now. We saw and we
didn't see. There was neither amaze
ment nor fear among us. We were
half daad TT woc i1ct q mira 90 any,