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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.
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.