QUEER PEOPLE
"Hear! Hold on! Quit shovin' me!" cried Washington White. "Stop, Massa Jack!"
"I'm not pushing you," replied the boy, who, with the others, was being moved forward against his will. "I can't seem to stop!"
Nor could the rest of them. It was just as if some one had commanded them to walk forward toward the crowd that stood waiting for them, and they could no more avoid obeying than they could had they been pulled by wire cables.
"What can it be?" murmured Mr. Roumann. "Hold back, all of you. They must have attached invisible wires to us, and are going to make prisoners of us!"
"There are no wires on me," observed Mark, carefully feeling about him.
"Nor me, either," added Jack.
"I'll soon make 'em stop!" exclaimed Andy Sudds, and raising his gun to his shoulder, he fired over the heads of the Martians, intending to frighten them.
To the surprise of the adventurers the gun only made a faint sound, about half as loud as it usually did, and they saw something small and black pop out of the muzzle, and sail lazily through the air for a short distance, then fall.
"Would you look at that!" exclaimed the hunter in great disgust. "Look how my bullet flew! First time I ever saw a bullet come from a gun! We're in a strange land, friends!"
"I have it!" cried Professor Henderson. "The attraction of gravitation on Mars is a third of that on the earth. The atmosphere is also less dense. Your gun only makes half the noise, Andy, and the bullet doesn't go nearly as fast, nor with nearly so much force. That's why you could see the bullet. It went very slowly. Your gun is of no use here."
"And is that what makes us move?" asked Jack. "Because we're so light?"
For they continued to advance toward the crowd, which seemed to be anxiously awaiting them.
"That's partly the reason, I guess," replied the professor. "The other part is that they are exerting some strange force upon us. We'll find out later what it is."
"I wish dey'd let me be!" exclaimed Washington, vainly struggling to hold himself back.
"What queer people!" exclaimed Jack. "Look at what large heads they have!"
"And what small bodies!" added Mark.
It was indeed so. They found Mars, at least the portion where they had landed, to be inhabited with a strange race of beings.
There were men and boys and a few women in the crowd, but they were unlike any men, boys or women they had ever seen. Their heads were about three times as large as those of the ordinary person, and the eyes, ears and nose were of extraordinary size. Indeed, the eyes bulged out in quite an unpleasant fashion, and the ears of the Martians were not unlike those of an elephant in proportion, though they were shaped more like those of a human being. As for a Martian nose, it was elongated, and capable of being moved in any direction, as were also the ears.
As the adventurers felt themselves being urged forward, by what means they knew not, they noted that the Martians were staring at them with their great, protruding eyes, that they were listening to their talk with their great ears thrust forward, and were lifting their flexible noses toward the travelers as if to get wind of them, as wild beasts do.
"They're certainly sizing us up in great shape," observed Jack. "But whatever kind of clothes have they got on?"
Well might he ask, for the Martians seemed to be covered with a combination of fur and feathers. They wore no garments that could be put on or taken off, but seemed to be provided by either Nature or skill with suits that were a part of themselves. Men, women and children were all attired alike.
Suddenly the travelers felt themselves come to a stop. A murmur arose from the crowd, and from the midst of the assemblage there stepped forth a man, who seemed to be a sort of leader. On his head was a golden band, and attached to it was a small, glittering triangle. He approached quite close to the little party, and the boys noticed that he seemed to float along, rather than to walk, and that his progress was very swift. He looked searchingly at the strangers with his big eyes, and then addressed them in a queer language. By the tones of his voice it was easily guessed that he was asking them questions, and it did not take much of an imagination to guess that he was inquiring whence they came, how they had arrived, and what they wanted.
"I can't understand his language," remarked Mr. Henderson, turning to his friends. "Can any of you?"
They all shook their heads.
"Let me try him in German," suggested Mr. Roumann, and he gave a brief explanation, in that language, of their trip from the earth. The man with the glittering triangle on his head did not comprehend.
"I can speak several languages," remarked Amos Henderson. "Let me tackle him."
Accordingly, the professor spoke in several languages, including the Esquimau, which he had picked up on his journey north, and in the language used by the inhabitants in the center of the earth. But to all these the leader only shook his head.
"Suppose we try Latin?" suggested Mark, who was a proficient pupil in that language. "Latin is a very old language. Maybe he understands that."
"Go ahead," said Jack.
Mark accordingly began to recite part of the first book of Caesar, beginning: "All Gaul is divided into three parts," which every schoolboy knows. But this was no better.
"Let me try a bit of Greek on him," said Mr. Roumann. "I used to be a pretty good Greek scholar."'
But Greek appeared to be an unknown tongue to Mars. The leader, however, seeing that the strangers had arrived at the end of their resources, called to some persons in the crowd, and these, coming forward, addressed the world–dwellers in different dialects. But they were no more understandable than had been the first speech of the man with the glittering triangle.
"Guess we'll have to resort to first principles, and draw pictures for them," said Mark.
Just then Jack uttered an exclamation, and pointed to the head of the leader.
"What's he doing? Making faces at you?" asked Mark.
"No; but look at that triangle!" exclaimed Jack. "It's a right–angled one."
"Well, what of it?"
"This: If they understand triangles, they must know something about mathematics and geometry. Suppose we draw for them that problem in geometry which states that the sums of the squares constructed on the base and altitude of a right–angled triangle is equal to the square constructed on the hypotenuse? If he knows that, maybe we can get to some understanding with him."
"Go ahead and try," assented Mr. Henderson.
Jack accordingly took up a stick, and drew in the sand the geometrical problem of which he had spoken. It is one of the simplest. No sooner had he done so than the Martians set up a cry.
"What's the matter?" asked Jack. "I hope I haven't made them mad."
"No; they appear to be delighted," said Mr. Roumann. And sure enough, the Martians showed evidences of pleasure. They pointed to the triangle on the head of their leader, and then to the one Jack had drawn.
Then, from somewhere in the rear of the crowd, there came another man. He was slightly larger than his companions, but that was not saying much, for, aside from their great heads, the Martians were all little people, not much more than up to Andy's shoulder, and Andy was not much over five feet in height.
But it was not the size of the newcomer that attracted the attention of the travelers so much as it was the device he had in the golden circle on his head. For this device was exactly the same as the one Jack had drawn in the sand to illustrate the problem. It was a triangle, with squares drawn out from the three sides. He looked at the drawing in the sand, and made a low bow to the newcomers.
"Well, that appears to have taken their fancy," said Mark. "I can't understand it."
"I can," spoke the professor quickly. "The Martians are a very learned people. That's why their heads are so large and their bodies so small. They make a special study of the sciences, and geometry and mathematics probably are their favorites. That is why they understand Jack's problem. Science is the same throughout the universe, though conditions may differ on different planets. I think we have arrived at a means of communicating with the Martians, at least until we have learned their language."
The Martian with the triangle and squares on his circlet of gold appeared to be a grade higher in authority than the one with the simple triangle. He now addressed the travelers, but they could not understand him.
Seeing this, he stooped and drew in the sand another geometrical problem, leaving it half completed.
"You finish it, Mark," said Jack, and the boy did so, much to the delight of the crowd.
"They all are well up in geometry," declared Mr. Roumann.
"But I'd like to understand what force it was that made us move?" spoke Jack.
"I'll see if I can find out," said Mr. Henderson, and he made motions to indicate that they would like to know what power it was that moved them away from the projectile.
A smile came to the face of the leading Martian. He pointed to his big head, and then to the travelers. Then he fixed his great eyes on them.
Instantly they felt themselves being moved backward to the projectile. They went a few feet, then were moved forward toward the crowd again. Then they found themselves stationary.
"It's thought force!" cried Jack. "That's what it is. They simply will for a thing to be done, and it is done—at least with persons from another planet. They have the power to make us move by merely wishing it."
"Then they ought to be able to read our thoughts," spoke Mark.
"Maybe their power extends only to motion," suggested Mr. Henderson.
The chief leader spoke again, and it was evident that he was asking if the explanation and demonstration he had given was satisfactory. The professor nodded his head to indicate that it was.
The leader addressed the throng of people, and they turned and started away. The leader remained, and turning to the adventurers he pointed off toward a distant city, and indicated that they were to go there.
"And leave our projectile behind!" exclaimed Jack. "We don't want to do that."
This did not meet with the approval of the others. They were in a strange land, and the Annihilator might be the means of saving their lives. If they left it there was no telling whether or not they would ever see it again.
As well as he could Mr. Henderson made motions that they did not like to leave their craft behind. But the Martian, with a frank smile, seemed to say that it would be safe.
"Guess we can't help ourselves," remarked Mr. Roumann. "If we don't go they'll make us. Better go willingly. Besides, I want to see their city."
"But what about our prisoner—the crazy machinist?" asked Jack.
"Oh, I guess he will be all right. He had a good meal just before we landed, and he was asleep. We'll go with these queer people, and come back to–night to the projectile," said Mr. Roumann. "Come on."
They started to follow the leader, who beckoned them forward. He went off at a rapid pace, and the travelers found themselves being urged on just as speedily by that mysterious thought force.
"This is a great way of traveling," observed Jack.
"It suah does beat walkin'," commented Washington White, who, after his first fright, appeared to take it all as a matter of course. "But I hopes dat dey's got suffin' t' placate mah inner conscientiousness wid, 'case I'se gittin' mighty hungry."
"Oh, I guess these people have to eat, even if they are mostly brains," suggested Jack. "Anyhow, we've got plenty in the projectile."
"If dat air crazy man don't git loose an' cat it all up," added Washington. "I shorely hopes dat he doesn't hurt mah Shanghai rooster."
"Never mind about him. Look what a wonderful country we're in," said Mark.
And indeed they were in a strange land.