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.