CHAPTER III

A Princess of Mars

by Edgar R. Burroughs

CHAPTER III, A PRINCESS OF MARS by Edgar R. Burroughs
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MY ADVENT ON MARS


I opened my eyes upon a strange and weird landscape. I
knew that I was on Mars; not once did I question either my
sanity or my wakefulness. I was not asleep, no need for pinching
here; my inner consciousness told me as plainly that I was
upon Mars as your conscious mind tells you that you are upon
Earth. You do not question the fact; neither did I.

I found myself lying prone upon a bed of yellowish,
mosslike vegetation which stretched around me in all directions
for interminable miles. I seemed to be lying in a deep, circular
basin, along the outer verge of which I could distinguish the
irregularities of low hills.

It was midday, the sun was shining full upon me and the
heat of it was rather intense upon my naked body, yet no
greater than would have been true under similar conditions on
an Arizona desert. Here and there were slight outcroppings
of quartz-bearing rock which glistened in the sunlight; and
a little to my left, perhaps a hundred yards, appeared a low,
walled enclosure about four feet in height. No water, and
no other vegetation than the moss was in evidence, and as I
was somewhat thirsty I determined to do a little exploring.

Springing to my feet I received my first Martian surprise,
for the effort, which on Earth would have brought me standing
upright, carried me into the Martian air to the height of about
three yards. I alighted softly upon the ground, however, without
appreciable shock or jar. Now commenced a series of
evolutions which even then seemed ludicrous in the extreme.
I found that I must learn to walk all over again, as the muscular
exertion which carried me easily and safely upon Earth played
strange antics with me upon Mars.

Instead of progressing in a sane and dignified manner, my
attempts to walk resulted in a variety of hops which took me
clear of the ground a couple of feet at each step and landed
me sprawling upon my face or back at the end of each second
or third hop. My muscles, perfectly attuned and accustomed
to the force of gravity on Earth, played the mischief with me
in attempting for the first time to cope with the lesser gravitation
and lower air pressure on Mars.

I was determined, however, to explore the low structure
which was the only evidence of habitation in sight, and so I
hit upon the unique plan of reverting to first principles in
locomotion, creeping. I did fairly well at this and in a few
moments had reached the low, encircling wall of the enclosure.

There appeared to be no doors or windows upon the side
nearest me, but as the wall was but about four feet high I
cautiously gained my feet and peered over the top upon the
strangest sight it had ever been given me to see.

The roof of the enclosure was of solid glass about four or
five inches in thickness, and beneath this were several hundred
large eggs, perfectly round and snowy white. The eggs were
nearly uniform in size being about two and one-half feet in
diameter.

Five or six had already hatched and the grotesque caricatures
which sat blinking in the sunlight were enough to cause
me to doubt my sanity. They seemed mostly head, with little
scrawny bodies, long necks and six legs, or, as I afterward
learned, two legs and two arms, with an intermediary pair of
limbs which could be used at will either as arms or legs. Their
eyes were set at the extreme sides of their heads a trifle above
the center and protruded in such a manner that they could
be directed either forward or back and also independently of
each other, thus permitting this queer animal to look in any
direction, or in two directions at once, without the necessity
of turning the head.

The ears, which were slightly above the eyes and closer together,
were small, cup-shaped antennae, protruding not more than an inch on
these young specimens. Their noses were but longitudinal slits in
the center of their faces, midway between their mouths and ears.

There was no hair on their bodies, which were of a very
light yellowish-green color. In the adults, as I was to learn
quite soon, this color deepens to an olive green and is darker
in the male than in the female. Further, the heads of the
adults are not so out of proportion to their bodies as in the
case of the young.

The iris of the eyes is blood red, as in Albinos, while the
pupil is dark. The eyeball itself is very white, as are the teeth.
These latter add a most ferocious appearance to an otherwise
fearsome and terrible countenance, as the lower tusks
curve upward to sharp points which end about where the eyes
of earthly human beings are located. The whiteness of the
teeth is not that of ivory, but of the snowiest and most gleaming
of china. Against the dark background of their olive
skins their tusks stand out in a most striking manner, making
these weapons present a singularly formidable appearance.

Most of these details I noted later, for I was given but little
time to speculate on the wonders of my new discovery. I had
seen that the eggs were in the process of hatching, and as I
stood watching the hideous little monsters break from their
shells I failed to note the approach of a score of full-grown
Martians from behind me.

Coming, as they did, over the soft and soundless moss,
which covers practically the entire surface of Mars with the
exception of the frozen areas at the poles and the scattered
cultivated districts, they might have captured me easily, but
their intentions were far more sinister. It was the rattling of
the accouterments of the foremost warrior which warned me.

On such a little thing my life hung that I often marvel that
I escaped so easily. Had not the rifle of the leader of the
party swung from its fastenings beside his saddle in such a
way as to strike against the butt of his great metal shod spear
I should have snuffed out without ever knowing that death was
near me. But the little sound caused me to turn, and there
upon me, not ten feet from my breast, was the point of that
huge spear, a spear forty feet long, tipped with gleaming
metal, and held low at the side of a mounted replica of the
little devils I had been watching.

But how puny and harmless they now looked beside this
huge and terrific incarnation of hate, of vengeance and of
death. The man himself, for such I may call him, was fully
fifteen feet in height and, on Earth, would have weighed some
four hundred pounds. He sat his mount as we sit a horse,
grasping the animal's barrel with his lower limbs, while the
hands of his two right arms held his immense spear low at the
side of his mount; his two left arms were outstretched laterally
to help preserve his balance, the thing he rode having neither
bridle or reins of any description for guidance.

And his mount! How can earthly words describe it! It
towered ten feet at the shoulder; had four legs on either
side; a broad flat tail, larger at the tip than at the root, and
which it held straight out behind while running; a gaping
mouth which split its head from its snout to its long, massive
neck.

Like its master, it was entirely devoid of hair, but was of a
dark slate color and exceeding smooth and glossy. Its belly
was white, and its legs shaded from the slate of its shoulders
and hips to a vivid yellow at the feet. The feet themselves were
heavily padded and nailless, which fact had also contributed
to the noiselessness of their approach, and, in common
with a multiplicity of legs, is a characteristic feature of the
fauna of Mars. The highest type of man and one other animal,
the only mammal existing on Mars, alone have well-formed
nails, and there are absolutely no hoofed animals in existence
there.

Behind this first charging demon trailed nineteen others,
similar in all respects, but, as I learned later, bearing
individual characteristics peculiar to themselves; precisely as
no two of us are identical although we are all cast in a similar
mold. This picture, or rather materialized nightmare, which
I have described at length, made but one terrible and swift
impression on me as I turned to meet it.

Unarmed and naked as I was, the first law of nature manifested
itself in the only possible solution of my immediate problem,
and that was to get out of the vicinity of the point of
the charging spear. Consequently I gave a very earthly and at
the same time superhuman leap to reach the top of the
Martian incubator, for such I had determined it must be.

My effort was crowned with a success which appalled me
no less than it seemed to surprise the Martian warriors, for it
carried me fully thirty feet into the air and landed me a
hundred feet from my pursuers and on the opposite side of
the enclosure.

I alighted upon the soft moss easily and without mishap,
and turning saw my enemies lined up along the further wall.
Some were surveying me with expressions which I afterward
discovered marked extreme astonishment, and the others were
evidently satisfying themselves that I had not molested their
young.

They were conversing together in low tones, and
gesticulating and pointing toward me. Their discovery that I had
not harmed the little Martians, and that I was unarmed, must have
caused them to look upon me with less ferocity; but, as I was
to learn later, the thing which weighed most in my favor was
my exhibition of hurdling.

While the Martians are immense, their bones are very large
and they are muscled only in proportion to the gravitation
which they must overcome. The result is that they are infinitely
less agile and less powerful, in proportion to their weight,
than an Earth man, and I doubt that were one of them suddenly
to be transported to Earth he could lift his own weight from
the ground; in fact, I am convinced that he could not do so.

My feat then was as marvelous upon Mars as it would have
been upon Earth, and from desiring to annihilate me they
suddenly looked upon me as a wonderful discovery to be
captured and exhibited among their fellows.

The respite my unexpected agility had given me permitted
me to formulate plans for the immediate future and to note
more closely the appearance of the warriors, for I could not
disassociate these people in my mind from those other
warriors who, only the day before, had been pursuing me.

I noted that each was armed with several other weapons in
addition to the huge spear which I have described. The
weapon which caused me to decide against an attempt at
escape by flight was what was evidently a rifle of some
description, and which I felt, for some reason, they were
peculiarly efficient in handling.

These rifles were of a white metal stocked with wood, which
I learned later was a very light and intensely hard growth
much prized on Mars, and entirely unknown to us denizens
of Earth. The metal of the barrel is an alloy composed
principally of aluminum and steel which they have learned
to temper to a hardness far exceeding that of the steel with
which we are familiar. The weight of these rifles is comparatively
little, and with the small caliber, explosive, radium projectiles
which they use, and the great length of the barrel, they are
deadly in the extreme and at ranges which would be unthinkable
on Earth. The theoretic effective radius of this rifle is
three hundred miles, but the best they can do in actual
service when equipped with their wireless finders and
sighters is but a trifle over two hundred miles.

This is quite far enough to imbue me with great respect for
the Martian firearm, and some telepathic force must have
warned me against an attempt to escape in broad daylight
from under the muzzles of twenty of these death-dealing
machines.

The Martians, after conversing for a short time, turned and
rode away in the direction from which they had come, leaving
one of their number alone by the enclosure. When they had
covered perhaps two hundred yards they halted, and turning
their mounts toward us sat watching the warrior by the
enclosure.

He was the one whose spear had so nearly transfixed me,
and was evidently the leader of the band, as I had noted that
they seemed to have moved to their present position at his
direction. When his force had come to a halt he dismounted,
threw down his spear and small arms, and came around the
end of the incubator toward me, entirely unarmed and as
naked as I, except for the ornaments strapped upon his head,
limbs, and breast.

When he was within about fifty feet of me he unclasped an
enormous metal armlet, and holding it toward me in the
open palm of his hand, addressed me in a clear, resonant
voice, but in a language, it is needless to say, I could not
understand. He then stopped as though waiting for my reply,
pricking up his antennae-like ears and cocking his strange-looking
eyes still further toward me.

As the silence became painful I concluded to hazard a little
conversation on my own part, as I had guessed that he was
making overtures of peace. The throwing down of his weapons
and the withdrawing of his troop before his advance toward
me would have signified a peaceful mission anywhere on
Earth, so why not, then, on Mars!

Placing my hand over my heart I bowed low to the Martian
and explained to him that while I did not understand his
language, his actions spoke for the peace and friendship that
at the present moment were most dear to my heart. Of course
I might have been a babbling brook for all the intelligence
my speech carried to him, but he understood the action with
which I immediately followed my words.

Stretching my hand toward him, I advanced and took the
armlet from his open palm, clasping it about my arm above the
elbow; smiled at him and stood waiting. His wide mouth
spread into an answering smile, and locking one of his
intermediary arms in mine we turned and walked back toward
his mount. At the same time he motioned his followers to
advance. They started toward us on a wild run, but were checked
by a signal from him. Evidently he feared that were I to be
really frightened again I might jump entirely out of the landscape.

He exchanged a few words with his men, motioned to me
that I would ride behind one of them, and then mounted his
own animal. The fellow designated reached down two or
three hands and lifted me up behind him on the glossy
back of his mount, where I hung on as best I could by the
belts and straps which held the Martian's weapons and ornaments.


The entire cavalcade then turned and galloped away toward
the range of hills in the distance.