A Princess of Mars

The third day after the incubator ceremony we set forth toward home,

but scarcely had the head of the procession debouched into the open

ground before the city than orders were given for an immediate and

hasty return. As though trained for years in this particular

evolution, the green Martians melted like mist into the spacious

doorways of the nearby buildings, until, in less than three minutes,

the entire cavalcade of chariots, mastodons and mounted warriors was

nowhere to be seen.

Sola and I had entered a building upon the front of the city, in fact,

the same one in which I had had my encounter with the apes, and,

wishing to see what had caused the sudden retreat, I mounted to an

upper floor and peered from the window out over the valley and the

hills beyond; and there I saw the cause of their sudden scurrying to

cover. A huge craft, long, low, and gray-painted, swung slowly over

the crest of the nearest hill. Following it came another, and another,

and another, until twenty of them, swinging low above the ground,

sailed slowly and majestically toward us.

Each carried a strange banner swung from stem to stern above the upper

works, and upon the prow of each was painted some odd device that

gleamed in the sunlight and showed plainly even at the distance at

which we were from the vessels. I could see figures crowding the

forward decks and upper works of the air craft. Whether they had

discovered us or simply were looking at the deserted city I could not

say, but in any event they received a rude reception, for suddenly and

without warning the green Martian warriors fired a terrific volley from

the windows of the buildings facing the little valley across which the

great ships were so peacefully advancing.

Instantly the scene changed as by magic; the foremost vessel swung

broadside toward us, and bringing her guns into play returned our fire,

at the same time moving parallel to our front for a short distance and

then turning back with the evident intention of completing a great

circle which would bring her up to position once more opposite our

firing line; the other vessels followed in her wake, each one opening

upon us as she swung into position. Our own fire never diminished, and

I doubt if twenty-five per cent of our shots went wild. It had never

been given me to see such deadly accuracy of aim, and it seemed as

though a little figure on one of the craft dropped at the explosion of

each bullet, while the banners and upper works dissolved in spurts of

flame as the irresistible projectiles of our warriors mowed through

them.

The fire from the vessels was most ineffectual, owing, as I afterward

learned, to the unexpected suddenness of the first volley, which caught

the ship's crews entirely unprepared and the sighting apparatus of the

guns unprotected from the deadly aim of our warriors.