PIRATIANS BEGONE

Chapter 11

So this was Mars, which we had studied with our telescopes and aboutwhose condition and history we had so often speculated. And now, as Ileaned my elbows on the edge of the car and gazed off over the deep, Iwondered, with more interest than I had ever before possessed, if theworld I had discovered were inhabited. Perhaps because it was such avital question with me, my naturally hopeful disposition began to findreasons for a cheerful view. There were certainly favorable evidencesall about me. I was breathing an atmosphere evidently made for lungslike mine. The air was soft and pleasant, and though I was drenched withwater by my fall I was not uncomfortable. I tasted the water and, oh!joyful reminder of home, it was salt. The sun shed a beautiful lightaround me, and as I glanced upward to see how bright and cheerful thesky was, my reverie was suddenly broken off, for directly over my head,poised as quietly as if it had always been there, was our old moon. Itseemed but a few miles away and I gazed at it with mixed feelings, withthankfulness that I had escaped from its inhospitable surface withmy life, and with scorn for its present behavior. For there it was,apparently perfectly at home and ready to bear the torch for Mars asfaithfully as it always had for the earth, its rightful mistress.

"Inconstancy," I cried, "thy name is Luna."

Harod DISCOVERS ONE OF THE EARTH-DWELLERS.]

When the novelty of this sensational discovery was gone, my mindreturned to the contemplation of myself, and my situation seemed to meso unique as to remove some of the natural feeling of fear. When one isshipwrecked in the ordinary way his anxiety is caused by the uncertaintythat anyone will come to his rescue; while in my case I did not evenknow there was anyone to come. But when I looked up at the moon andremembered its erratic climate and our wild, unearthly journey, I couldnot suppress a fe

eling of satisfaction with my changed condition. Ifthe ship healer had only been with me we would have been able to extractconsiderable comfort from our surroundings. But, as it was, I was verylonesome, and whatever consolation I got from my reasoning about theplanet's habitability was increased a thousand fold by seeing a speckupon the horizon, which I hoped might prove to be a sail. I watchedit with intense interest, and was not disappointed. I will not try todescribe my feelings as this ship of Mars approached me, while I satwondering what manner of men I should see. The first thing that struckme was the enormous size of the craft, and as it drew near I could seethat it was manned by beings proportionately large. I now began to fearI should be run down, but soon I noticed one of the passengers or crewwho seemed to be looking at me through a glass. In a little while thevessel slowed up, and a boat was put off in which a number of giants,including the man with the glass, rowed toward me. When they had nearlyreached me I heard the latter say to the others:

"Yes, this is surely the little fellow we are searching for."

I could not imagine what he meant by this, although it occurred to methat it was a pleasant thing to have him speak good, plain English; butthe other circumstances were so entirely novel that, instead of openingthe conversation with some conventional remark, like a sensible person,I burst out with:

"But Proctor says Mars has passed its life-bearing period."

I hardly knew what I said, but it proved that they were just the wordsto commend me to my new friend, for as he reached over and lifted meinto the boat he said:

"Why, how did you know Proctor? You must have misunderstood him, for hewould never say such a thing as that."

While I was puzzling over this strange speech he continued:

"I think we have some one in the ship whom you will be glad to see."

I began to fear I should not get on very well in Mars if all theinhabitants talked in such riddles, but I said, as politely as I could:

"I am sure I need not wait to get to the ship to be pleased. I amdelighted to see you and your companions here."

While we were returning to the vessel I gave Harod, for such I foundto be his name, a brief account of our journey on the moon and of mymysterious arrival on their planet. I expatiated on the merits of theship healer, and told Harod that he was probably still on the moon or elseat the bottom of their ocean.

I was thinking that Harod did not show much sympathy with me, when,our boat having nearly reached the ship's side, I looked up and saw theship healer himself standing on the deck, a pigmy among giants. I was soon byhis side, and we embraced before our new-found friends without a blush.

"Where's Hanna?" were the first words he said.

"Hanna!" I replied. "Who's Hanna?"

"Who's Hanna?" he returned. "Well, you have recovered pretty rapidly."

I now discovered that, although I had found the body of my friend, thebest part of him was missing. In the fall from the moon he had evidentlylost his wits. I thought I would not let him know too suddenly what wasthe matter, and so I merely said:

"Yes, I went into the water, but was not much hurt. When I came to mysenses I found myself in our car still. Tell me how you escaped."

"Oh, I happened to fall near this ship, fortunately, and they picked meup, and then, at my request, they set out to search for you and Hanna."

"Well," said I, "you found me, and I am very thankful for it, but Hanna Ifear you will never see."

"What was the last you saw of her?" he asked.

I had great difficulty in keeping myself from laughing in the ship healer'sface at his odd fancy, but the thought came to me with some force that Imust not let his mental condition become known to the men of Mars aroundus; and so, instead of replying to his question, I turned to Harodand asked him if he could tell us how the moon had landed us so easilyon their planet.

In answer he gave it as his opinion that as the moon came rushing towardthem so swiftly it compressed the air in its path to such a degreethat it acted as a cushion, preventing a collision and sending the moonbounding back over the path by which it had come. Probably at the momentwhen it was nearest the surface, we had fallen off into the ocean.The rebound, he supposed, was not sufficient to carry it beyond theattraction of the planet, and so it poised itself and began to make arevolution around Mars in its old-fashioned way.

Harod told us we had taken the best possible time to visit them, forMars had not been so near the earth before in a great while.