A Princess of Mars

nity or my wakefulness. I was not asleep, no need for pinching here; my inner consciousness told me as plainly that

ound me in all directions for interminable miles. I seemed to be lying in a deep, circular

Arizona desert. Here and there were slight outcroppings of quartz-bearing rock which glistened in the sunlight; and a little to my left, perhaps a hundred yards, appeared a low

t of about three yards. I alighted softly upon the ground, however, without appreciable shock or jar. Now commenced a series of evolutions which even then seemed ludicrous in

et at each step and landed me sprawling upon my face or back at the end of each second or third hop. My muscles, perfectly attuned and accustomed to the

sight, and so I hit upon the unique plan of reverting to first principles in locomotion, creeping.

the wall was but about four feet high I cautiously gained my feet and peer

, and beneath this were several hundred large eggs, perfectly round and snowy white

terward learned, two legs and two arms, with an intermediary 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

antennae, protruding not more than an inch on these young specimens. Their noses were b

as to learn quite soon, this color deepens to an olive green and is darker in the male than in the female.

d terrible countenance, as the lower tusks curve upward to sharp points which end about where the eyes of earthly human beings are located. The whiteness of the teeth is not that of ivory, but of the

covery. I had seen that the eggs were in the process of hatching, and as I stood watching the hideous little m

ption of the frozen areas at the poles and the scattered cultivated districts, they might have captured me easily, but t

trike against the butt of his great metal-shod spear I should have snuffed out without ever knowing that death was near me. But the little sound caused me to turn, and there upon me, not ten f

nd, on Earth, would have weighed some four hundred pounds. He sat his mount as we sit a horse, grasping the animal's barrel with his lower limbs, while the hands of his two right arms held his imm

on either side; a broad flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, and which it held straight o

yellow at the feet. The feet themselves were heavily padded and nailless, which fact had also contributed to the noiselessness of their approach, and, in common with a multiplicity of legs, is a characteri

ristics peculiar to themselves; precisely as no two of us are identical although we are all cast in a similar mold. This picture, or ra

roblem, and that was to get out of the vicinity of the point of the charging spear. Consequently I gave a very earthl

rprise the Martian warriors, for it carried me fully thirty feet into the air and l

e further wall. Some were surveying me with expressions which I afterward discovered marked extreme a

had not harmed the little Martians, and that I was unarmed, must have caused them to look upon me with less f

. The result is that they are infinitely less agile and less powerful, in proportion to their weight, than an Earth man, and I doubt that were

th, and from desiring to annihilate me they suddenly looked upon me as

e future and to note more closely the appearance of the warriors, for I could not disassociate

ed. The weapon which caused me to decide against an attempt at escape by flight was what was evidently a

y have learned to temper to a 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 dead

, and some telepathic force must have warned me against an attempt to escape in

y had come, leaving one of their number alone by the enclosure. When they had covered perhaps two hun

to their present position at his direction. When his force had come to a halt he dismounted, threw down his spear and small arms, and came aro

hand, addressed me in a clear, resonant voice, but in a language, it is needless to say, I could not understand. He then stopped

hat he was making overtures of peace. The throwing down of his weapons and the withdrawing of his troop befo

ions spoke for the peace and friendship that at the present moment were most dear to my heart. Of course I might have been a babbli

into an answering smile, and locking one of his intermediary arms in mine we turned and walked back toward his mount. At the same time he motioned his followers to advance. They

wn animal. The fellow designated reached down two or three hands and lifted me up behind him on the glossy back of

d and galloped away toward the