They lowered their rifles and advanced pleasantly toward me placing

their right hands upon my left shoulder, after the manner of their

custom of salute, and asking me many questions about myself and my

wanderings. They then took me to the house of one of them which was

only a short distance away.

The buildings I had been hammering at in the early morning were

occupied only by stock and farm produce, the house proper standing

among a grove of enormous trees, and, like all red-Martian homes, had

been raised at night some forty or fifty feet from the ground on a

large round metal shaft which slid up or down within a sleeve sunk in

the ground, and was operated by a tiny radium engine in the entrance

hall of the building. Instead of bothering with bolts and bars for

their dwellings, the red Martians simply run them up out of harm's way

during the night. They also have private means for lowering or raising

them from the ground without if they wish to go away and leave them.

These brothers, with their wives and children, occupied three similar

houses on this farm. They did no work themselves, being government

officers in charge. The labor was performed by convicts, prisoners of

war, delinquent debtors and confirmed bachelors who were too poor to

pay the high celibate tax which all red-Martian governments impose.

They were the personification of cordiality and hospitality and I spent

several days with them, resting and recuperating from my long and

arduous experiences.

When they had heard my story--I omitted all reference to Dejah Thoris

and the old man of the atmosphere plant--they advised me to color my

body to more nearly resemble their own race and then attempt to find

employment in Zodanga, either in the army or the navy.

"The chances are small that your tale will be believed until after you

have proven your trustworthiness and won friends among the higher

nobles of the court. This you can most easily do through military

service, as we are a warlike people on Barsoom," explained one of them,

"and save our richest favors for the fighting man."

When I was ready to depart they furnished me with a small domestic bull

thoat, such as is used for saddle purposes by all red Martians. The

animal is about the size of a horse and quite gentle, but in color and

shape an exact replica of his huge and fierce cousin of the wilds.

The brothers had supplied me with a reddish oil with which I anointed

my entire body and one of them cut my hair, which had grown quite long,

in the prevailing fashion of the time, square at the back and banged in

front, so that I could have passed anywhere upon Barsoom as a

full-fledged red Martian. My metal and ornaments were also renewed in

the style of a Zodangan gentleman, attached to the house of Ptor, which

was the family name of my benefactors.




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