PIRATIANS BEGONE

Chapter 30

are all arranged by himto whom nothing is small, nothing great."

A pleasant ride of a few miles brought us to a seaport, and to ascene of much activity. It seemed to be a great distributing point, asnumerous loads of many kinds of goods were moving about, and immensestores of fruit and vegetables were to be seen. These products of thesoil were of bewildering variety and surpassing richness, showing usthat agriculture, providing most of the food of the people, must be afavorite science with many, and one that brought rich rewards. It waspleasing to see everything going on in such a quiet, orderly manner, andso many people at work without friction and with no look of fret, hurry,or fatigue. Everyone seemed to be enjoying his work, if that could becalled work which looked so much like pleasure.

After riding through several busy streets we drew near an imposingstructure, which Harod told us was the front of the aerial station.At the same time he directed our attention to the sky, and we saw anumber of air ships sailing leisurely along, some just starting outand others apparently returning home. The ship healer and I had our interestquickened by this sight and were anxious for a closer view. As the factof riding in the air was not new to us, we had not been much excited bythe prospect of seeing how the Martians did it. But these ships wereso different from anything we had ever seen before that we began toanticipate a great deal from our excursion after all.

Going through the building, we came into an immense court or open space,large enough, one would suppose, for the fleets of a nation. Here werea great number of flying machines of various sizes, all gayly decoratedwith pleasing colors, and many of them, apparently, waiting forpassengers. Harod selected one of medium size, and as we approached,whom should we find in charge but our young friend Foedric? In answer toHarod's question, he told us that both he and his vessel were at ourservice, and we proceeded to mount to our seats in the car.

Foedric pulled a small lever, and we began to rise. He then expressedhis pleasure to the ship healer and me that he had the opportunity of makingour further acquaintance.

"We are taking them for the ride," said Harod, "and you may chooseany course and go to any height you please."

We thanked Foedric for his pleasant words, and then he showed us aboutthe car and explained its conveniences. It was quite large, with anumber of apartments and accommodations sufficient for a dozen peopleboth day and night. Besides the ordinary furnishings for comfortableliving, we saw air-condensing machines for use in lofty flights, agood-sized telescope, instruments for measuring speed and height, andother scientific apparatus of much of which we were obliged to ask theuse.

Although Foedric was so much younger than Harod, he was taller andlarger every way--a magnificent specimen of a magnificent race. Inspeaking to Harod he showed a proper respect for his greater age, andhe bore himself becomingly in the presence of Ragul; but there was notthe slightest sign of subserviency, nor anything to show that, thoughengaged in what might be called a lowly occupation, he was not on termsof perfect equality and even friendship with them. This easy poise ofmanner would not have surprised us had we known what Harod soon toldus, and from this experience we learned never to judge a Martian by thework he happened to be doing.

"Foedric is a scholar," said Harod, "and is engaged just now inwriting a treatise on the color of sounds."

This announcement was a double surprise, for we would have said, if hewas writing anything, that it must be something about ballooning--theapplication of electricity to flying machinery, perhaps. But Harodfurther enlightened us, the talk going on in Foedric's presence:

"He was attracted to that subject by the fact that he possesses in astriking degree the faculty of hearing color, which belongs only torefined minds. We all have this power to some extent, but in this, asin so many other things, there are great differences among us. As anexample of this power, if you will excuse me, ship healer, I will tell youthat your voice is dark blue, while yours," he continued, turning to me,"is yellow. Foedric, a true son of Mars, speaks red, and as for Ragul,her soft, pink voice has always been to me one of her principal charms,and though it would be folly to deny that she has changed some inappearance (not for the worse, however) since I first knew her, hervoice has retained the same tone or color. I will ask Foedric if I amcorrect in my impressions."

"Quite correct," answered Foedric. "When I first heard your friend, theship healer, speak I thought his voice was brown, but it has changed sinceto such an extent that I think as you do--that the prevailing tinge isa deep blue. Such cases are not unknown among us, but they are notfrequent."

"If the color of my voice sympathizes with my thoughts," said theship healer, "I do not wonder that your quick ears have noticed a change."

"I ought to say," resumed Foedric, "that I have to rely on my friends totell me the shade of my own voice, for to my ears it is as colorless asa piece of the clearest glass, and this is the common experience."

"I would like to ask about the color of Antonia's voice," I said, "andAvis's, too."

"Antonia's is a beautiful green," answered Foedric, looking with asmile at the fair one, "and Avis, both in song and speech, has yourcolor--yellow."

"Foedric," said Harod, "tell our friends what you and others aretrying to discover in connection with the air vibrations. It may besuggestive to them."

"I can claim but little part in the work," Foedric responded, "but itis this. Our ears report to our brain the air waves until they reacha frequency of forty thousand in a second, and we call the sensationsound. When the vibrations of the ether are more rapid than that, wehav

e no sense with which to receive the impression until they reach thegreat number of four hundred million millions in a second. Then theyaffect the eye and produce red light, and as they increase still morethe color becomes orange, then yellow, green, blue, and violet. Perhapsyour limitations are not the same as ours, but our scientists are tryingto discover some means by which we can arrest and make use of a smallpart at least of those waves which strike our bodies at a frequencybetween forty thousand and four hundred million millions. It is still anunsolved problem, this search for another sense, and we are nowlooking forward for help in the task to the studies of the civilizationrepresented in our comet."

All this time we were rising slowly but hardly realizing it, beingfilled with that peculiar sensation, incident to balloon journeys, bywhich we could almost believe we were remaining about in the same placeand the solid ground was falling away from us.

Now Foedric increased our speed and showed us how easily he couldsail in any direction and at any rate he pleased, explaining to us themechanism by which we were upheld and propelled, and also the wayin which the current of electricity was generated and applied. Theycertainly had a wonderful method of producing great power with littleweight, and the ship healer eagerly drank in the information in regard to it,as if for future use.

It was charming. The atmosphere was as clear as crystal, the air balmyand the motion delightful, and if the Martians, with their purernature and keener senses, enjoyed the trip that morning more than weearth-dwellers did, then their capacity for enjoyment must have beenbeyond ours. The ship seemed to be under perfect control; there wasnothing uncertain in her movements, and as we went sailing along withoutfear of harm, in the very poetry of motion, the ship healer and I realizedover and over again that we had much to learn in this method ofnavigation.

Now we were riding at a good height, and our vision could take in a wideexpanse of land and water. The peculiarity of the surface of Mars wasnoticeable, the seas being long, narrow inlets, as it were, runningthrough or between winding strings of land, a decided contrast to thegreat oceans and noble continents of our mother earth. It seemed tome that this was much to the advantage of the earth, and so I was boldenough to say:

"When I used to look at a map of Mars, Harod, I remember thinkingthat the planet was not a handsome one, whatever might be the characterof its inhabitants. But I have no doubt you have an answer for me whichwill give some good reason for the peculiar structure of the surface ofMars and make me ashamed of my sentimental preference for the earth."

"I certainly hope you will hear nothing while you are with us to makeyou ashamed of your own planet," said Harod; "but I must tell you thetruth in regard to Mars. How do you like our climate, as far as you haveexperienced it?"

"We have enjoyed it exceedingly," I answered, "and I have been on thepoint of remarking several times that we were fortunate in making ourvisit here at so pleasant a season of the year."

"But," said Harod, "you could not have come in a worse season, forwe have none worse than this. The temperature varies enough to givevariety, but not enough in either direction to cause discomfort. Eachseason is quite distinctive from the others, but each has its peculiarcharm and all are equally enjoyable. Our telescopes tell us it is notso on the earth, for we can see the winter snow creep well down on itssurface and remain there several months, then go away and come on theother hemisphere. We know this means great changes of climate, and asthe inclination of the axis of the earth to the plane of its orbit isabout the same as that of the axis of Mars, we believe we would haveequally violent changes were it not for the fortunate distribution ofland and water on our planet. All those narrow seas which disfigure oursurface in your eyes, are in reality vast rivers, which are constantlybearing the water from one part of the globe to another. The warm waterof the equatorial regions is carried to the cold countries north andsouth, and the water thus displaced cools in its turn the lands moredirectly under the sun. Thus the temperature of all parts is nearlyequalized. In the summer in this latitude the water that washes ourshores is cool and in the winter it is warm, and the strips of landare so narrow that all places feel the influence, making the climatedelightful everywhere. At each pole there is a spot of perpetual snow,but these are comparatively small, and the fields are cultivated rightup to the foot of the snow hills."

This recital excited the ship healer's interest amazingly, and as Harodclosed he said:

"I rather think my companion did not expect so complete an answer, butI am glad his words suggested to you this statement, Harod. It isof great value to us in our study of your remarkable planet. Howwonderfully God has adapted everything to your comfort and well-being!"

Harod smiled in appreciation of the ship healer's final words, but beforehe had time to speak we were a little startled by the red voice ofFoedric, calling out:

"The moon! Look!"

It was nothing new for any of us now to look at our old moon. We hadseen it almost every day, had talked much about it, and thought thenovelty of its companionship to Mars about worn off. But our presenthigh position and the clear, thin atmosphere gave it quite a changedappearance, as it was slowly coming into view above the horizon. Wewatched it in silence for a while and