The Professor at this point turned about, took hold of the wire that anchored his car and slowly pulled it to the ground. I saw I was about to lose him, but felt that I ought not to try to detain him any longer. I thanked him cordially for the invaluable visit he had given me and told him I hoped it might be repeated. He nodded his head in acquiescence, by which I understood, I might expect him some time again. I went on to congratulate him on the happy home he was returning to and the long agreeable[226] rest that awaited him there after this fatiguing journey.
He smiled with his great eyes, and thanked me for my good wishes, but said he was destined to no such rest as I wished him.
“From the moment I reach home,” said he, “I shall be as busy as I can be for a week, preparing for my journey to Mars.”
“Your journey to Mars!” I exclaimed, “do you mean to say you go to Mars?”
“I have been there only three times myself; but our people have visited that planet for the last ten thousand years, and there is quite a colony of Lunarians permanently settled there looking after our interests.”
“So you have interests on Mars! Well now this is interesting. I wish I had known this before. I would give anything for information about Mars and the Martians.”
“Well it will take me a little time to arrange my car and I can talk to you while I am doing it. You see our folks first went there about 10,000 years ago. They found the planet inhabited by two bitterly hostile races that did little else than hunt each other.”
“They must be like our race then,” I observed.
“Yes,” he said, “in respect to their warlike instincts, but not as to their forms. They are not human nor even vertebrate, but they are built on the radiate plan. In short they are almost exactly like your star fishes, but enormously bigger. I have seen them as large as twelve feet across, though their more common size at maturity is[227] six to eight feet. The difference between the two races is that in one there are six spokes or limbs radiating from the central body and in the other there are but five. These limbs may be called either legs or arms, for they serve as either and are sometimes one and sometimes the other. There is a fleshy disc that forms the extremity of each limb, around which like the petals of a flower are the fingers or toes, about like so many thumbs. There are six of these in the six legged race and five in the five legged. This disc with its thumbs forms the foot when the individual walks on land. Two of them are always on the ground when he is standing, while the other four are free to be used as hands, these thumbs being opposable and able to grasp tolerably well.
“When they move on land it is always in an upright position, and they roll along edgewise like a wheel destitute of felloes rolling on the ends of the spokes. The central piece or hub constitutes the body including the stomach, heart, lungs etc., as well as the sense organs, and brain. The shape of the body is like a short stout cylinder tapering to a rounded point at each end from one and a half to two feet in diameter, the legs radiating from the sides. At the center of one end of this body is the mouth, and the brain is located all round it in what we would call the cheeks. There is no neck. There are six eyes immediately around the mouth corresponding with the six legs, and just outside of the eyes are six ear holes with closable lips, but no outside flaps or shells. Outside of these are six breathing or blow holes leading[228] into the lungs. The mouth is round and the lips pucker together when closing. There is no up or down to the Martian man, he stands equally well on any pair of his legs and handles equally well with any of his hands, and this is one of his greatest drawbacks. He has a thick horny skin which appears to have been the only skeleton possessed by his ancestors, but in addition, he has a light internal skeleton developed later by the practice of standing and running on his limbs, which consists of a lot of plates and hoop like ribs in the body, and what would pass for thigh and leg bones in each limb. These last are hung with ball and socket joints both at the articulation with the body and at the elbow and wrist. The limbs are thus remarkably supple and when the Martian has a mind to, he can walk extremely well sideways on two legs, that is, the head or mouth going forward. And this is the way he should walk as our people long ago pointed out to the Martians. He can walk on the same two feet continuously edgewise as the wheel goes, but to do this he must merely drag the rear foot up to the front one, and then throw the front one forward again, or else sling them around past each other alternately in an awkward manner as a cow does, for the reason that they are all on the same plane. They greatly prefer the rolling motion and roll off on their spokes with surprising speed, twenty miles an hour being a common gait on a good road while some of the gigantic twelve footers can if necessary reel off forty or more.
“They are so extremely fond of traveling off[229] in this manner, that it is difficult for them to confine their attention to any sedentary employment. In order to attain a high civilization people must be settled, and occupy themselves in some definite and constant modes of employment. We pointed out to them long ago that they could never have well differentiated arms and hands, unless they set apart certain of their limbs to be used exclusively as arms, and never allow the hands thus set apart for handling, to be used as feet.
“They objected, that, to confine themselves to two legs for walking would reduce their gait to five or six miles an hour. This would be a great drawback in war, and give their undifferentiated enemies the advantage over them. This objection no longer has much weight, since war has entirely ceased among them, the five legged race having long since been defeated and practically exterminated, the few that are left being glad to accept the most obscure positions that will secure them a bare existence.”
“They must have been terrific warriors.”
“I saw a regiment of the six legged men drilling once. They were marshaled on a large plain in two ranks, and rolled backward and forward fast or slow according to command with great precision. They then were commanded to load and advance. Around the body in the spaces between the limbs they had artificial leathern pouches in which they carried their ammunition. When they received the command to load they took out of these pouches six stones one for each hand, and they advanced with them clasped between[230] their stumpy fingers. Then they were commanded to double quick and discharge, upon which they advanced at terrific speed and at a given signal let fly the stones one after another as the hand containing it came to the proper position for the most effective throw. The centrifugal force they acquired from the long revolving arms sent them with tremendous force, some going at least a mile. In real war they used cast iron bullets. They have plenty of iron on Mars and our folks taught them how to smelt and work it. The regiment then charged up to a hand to hand encounter with an imaginary enemy. In this charge they were armed with a heavy circular iron disc in each hand, the disc having a handle on the back side by which it was held. Then they charged with terrific fury the discs flying around like lightning, chopping into mince meat, (in imagination) any enemy that dared stand before them.
“The government is a despotism, the king having about the same authority as the emperor of Russia, although he has a council of state whose advice he listens to, and then does as he pleases. Since the subjugation of the five legged race this king is the supreme ruler of the whole planet. In some districts the people have made considerable advances in civilization, confining themselves to the use of two legs, and walking sidewise instead of rolling edgewise. But the king does not want all his subjects to adopt these innovations, for he is very proud of his soldiers and thinks them more efficient on six legs then two. Besides, for certain[231] kinds of labor, especially drawing wagons and carriages, the old way is the best.”
“Why don’t they use horses,” I inquired, “or haven’t they any?”
“There are no such animals on Mars, nor in fact any other sort of animals except radiates. There are many genera of these, mostly living in the water and all small, except the dominant race, which I call the Martians.
“But there are great differences in the conditions of life amongst the people of this race, some being fairly civilized while others are only beasts of burden, and still others take the place of dumb machines. They are specially adapted to act as wheels for light carriages. The axles of the carriage are terminated at each end with a six pronged fork, the prongs arranged in a circle or cylinder so that when a man is to play the role of wheel, he is impaled on this fork one prong of it fitting snugly between each pair of his legs. A vehicle of this kind is specially adapted for soft roads as the broad disc like feet prevent sinking.
“The king has a phaeton mounted on twelve foot specimens of these lively wheels, in which he dashes around at a thirty or forty mile gait when the fancy strikes him. He also has a ro............