Still the Bewildering Strains of the music came to our ears, and yet we stood there unperceived, though in the full glare of the chandelier.
The girl's face was presented in profile. It was exquisite in beauty, pale, delicate with a certain pleading sadness which stirred us to the heart.
An element of romance and a touch of personal interest such as we had not looked for suddenly entered into our adventure.
Colonel Smith's mind still ran back to the perils of the plains.
"She is a prisoner," he said, "and by the Seven Devils of Dona Ana we'll not leave her here. But where are the hellhounds themselves?"
Our attention had been so absorbed by the sight of the girl that we had scarcely thought of looking to see if there was any one else in the room.
Glancing beyond her, I now perceived sitting in richly decorated chairs three or four gigantic Martians. They were listening to the music as if charmed.
The whole story told itself. This girl, if not their slave, was at any rate under their control, and she was furnishing entertainment for them by her musical skill. The fact that they could find pleasure in music so beautiful was, perhaps, an indication that they were not really as savage as they seemed.
Yet our hearts went out to the girl, and were turned against them with an uncontrollable hatred.
They were of the same remorseless race with those who had so lately lain waste our fair earth and who would have completed its destruction had not Providence interferred in our behalf.