As I came back to myself I glanced at Sola, who hadwitnessed this encounter and I was surprised to note astrange expression upon her usually expressionlesscountenance. What her thoughts were I did not know,for as yet I had learned but little of the Martian tongue;enough only to suffice for my daily needs.

As I reached the doorway of our building a strange surpriseawaited me. A warrior approached bearing the arms,ornaments, and full accouterments of his kind. These hepresented to me with a few unintelligible words, and abearing at once respectful and menacing.

Later, Sola, with the aid of several of the other women,remodeled the trappings to fit my lesser proportions, andafter they completed the work I went about garbed in all thepanoply of war.

From then on Sola instructed me in the mysteries of thevarious weapons, and with the Martian young I spent severalhours each day practicing upon the plaza. I was not yetproficient with all the weapons, but my great familiaritywith similar earthly weapons made me an unusually aptpupil, and I progressed in a very satisfactory manner.

The training of myself and the young Martians wasconducted solely by the women, who not only attend to theeducation of the young in the arts of individual defenseand offense, but are also the artisans who produce everymanufactured article wrought by the green Martians. They makethe powder, the cartridges, the firearms; in fact everythingof value is produced by the females. In time of actual warfarethey form a part of the reserves, and when the necessityarises fight with even greater intelligence and ferocitythan the men.

The men are trained in the higher branches of the art of war;in strategy and the maneuvering of large bodies of troops.They make the laws as they are needed; a new law foreach emergency. They are unfettered by precedent inthe administration of justice. Customs have been handeddown by ages of repetition, but the punishment for ignoringa custom is a matter for individual treatment by a jury ofthe culprit's peers, and I may say that justice seldommisses fire, but seems rather to rule in inverse ratio tothe ascendency of law. In one respect at least the Martiansare a happy people; they have no lawyers.

I did not see the prisoner again for several days subsequentto our first encounter, and then only to catch a fleetingglimpse of her as she was being conducted to the greataudience chamber where I had had my first meeting withLorquas Ptomel. I could not but note the unnecessaryharshness and brutality with which her guards treated her;so different from the almost maternal kindliness which Solamanifested toward me, and the respectful attitude of the fewgreen Martians who took the trouble to notice me at all.

I had observed on the two occasions when I had seen herthat the prisoner exchanged words with her guards, and thisconvinced me that they spoke, or at least could makethemselves understood by a common language. With this addedincentive I nearly drove Sola distracted by my importunitiesto hasten on my education and within a few more daysI had mastered the Martian tongue sufficiently well to enableme to carry on a passable conversation and to fully understandpractically all that I heard.

At this time our sleeping quarters were occupied by threeor four females and a couple of the recently hatched young,beside Sola and her youthful ward, myself, and Woola thehound. After they had retired for the night it was customaryfor the adults to carry on a desultory conversation for ashort time before lapsing into sleep, and now that I couldunderstand their language I was always a keen listener,although I never proffered any remarks myself.

On the night following the prisoner's visit to the audiencechamber the conversation finally fell upon this subject, andI was all ears on the instant. I had feared to question Solarelative to the beautiful captive, as I could not but recall thestrange expression I had noted upon her face after my firstencounter with the prisoner. That it denoted jealousy I couldnot say, and yet, judging all things by mundane standardsas I still did, I felt it safer to affect indifference in the matteruntil I learned more surely Sola's attitude toward the objectof my solicitude.

Sarkoja, one of the older women who shared our domicile,had been present at the audience as one of the captive'sguards, and it was toward her the question turned.

"When," asked one of the women, "will we enjoy thedeath throes of the red one? or does Lorquas Ptomel, Jed,intend holding her for ransom?"

"They have decided to carry her with us back to Thark,and exhibit her last agonies at the great games before TalHajus," replied Sarkoja.

"What will be the manner of her going out?" inquiredSola. "She is very small and very beautiful; I had hoped thatthey would hold her for ransom."

Sarkoja and the other women grunted angrily at this evidenceof weakness on the part of Sola.

"It is sad, Sola, that you were not born a million yearsago," snapped Sarkoja, "when all the hollows of the landwere filled with water, and the peoples were as soft as thestuff they sailed upon. In our day we have progressed to apoint where such sentiments mark weakness and atavism. Itwill not be well for you to permit Tars Tarkas to learnthat you hold such degenerate sentiments, as I doubtthat he would care to entrust such as you with thegrave responsibilities of maternity."

"I see nothing wrong with my expression of interest inthis red woman," retorted Sola. "She has never harmed us,nor would she should we have fallen into her hands. It isonly the men of her kind who war upon us, and I have everthought that their attitude toward us is but the reflectionof ours toward them. They live at peace with all their fellows,except when duty calls upon them to make war, while weare at peace with none; forever warring among our ownkind as well as upon the red men, and even in our owncommunities the individuals fight amongst themselves.Oh, it is one continual, awful period of bloodshed from thetime we break the shell until we gladly embrace the bosom ofthe river of mystery, the dark and ancient Iss which carries usto an unknown, but at least no more frightful and terribleexistence! Fortunate indeed is he who meets his end in anearly death. Say what you please to Tars Tarkas, he can meteout no worse fate to me than a continuation of the horribleexistence we are forced to lead in this life."

This wild outbreak on the part of Sola so greatly surprisedand shocked the other women, that, after a few words ofgeneral reprimand, they all lapsed into silence and weresoon asleep. One thing the episode had accomplished wasto assure me of Sola's friendliness toward the poor girl, andalso to convince me that I had been extremely fortunate infalling into her hands rather than those of some of the otherfemales. I knew that she was fond of me, and now that Ihad discovered that she hated cruelty and barbarity I wasconfident that I could depend upon her to aid me and thegirl captive to escape, provided of course that such a thingwas within the range of possibilities.

I did not even know that there were any better conditionsto escape to, but I was more than willing to take my chancesamong people fashioned after my own mold rather thanto remain longer among the hideous and bloodthirsty greenmen of Mars. But where to go, and how, was as much of apuzzle to me as the age-old search for the spring of eternallife has been to earthly men since the beginning of time.

I decided that at the first opportunity I would take Solainto my confidence and openly ask her to aid me, and withthis resolution strong upon me I turned among my silks andfurs and slept the dreamless and refreshing sleep of Mars.