The third day after the incubator ceremony we set forthtoward home, but scarcely had the head of the processiondebouched into the open ground before the city than orderswere given for an immediate and hasty return. As thoughtrained for years in this particular evolution, the greenMartians melted like mist into the spacious doorways of thenearby buildings, until, in less than three minutes, the entirecavalcade of chariots, mastodons and mounted warriors was nowhereto be seen.

Sola and I had entered a building upon the front of the city,in fact, the same one in which I had had my encounterwith the apes, and, wishing to see what had caused the suddenretreat, I mounted to an upper floor and peered from thewindow out over the valley and the hills beyond; and thereI saw the cause of their sudden scurrying to cover. A hugecraft, long, low, and gray-painted, swung slowly over thecrest of the nearest hill. Following it came another, andanother, and another, until twenty of them, swinging lowabove the ground, sailed slowly and majestically toward us.

Each carried a strange banner swung from stem to sternabove the upper works, and upon the prow of each waspainted some odd device that gleamed in the sunlight andshowed plainly even at the distance at which we were fromthe vessels. I could see figures crowding the forward decksand upper works of the air craft. Whether they had discoveredus or simply were looking at the deserted city I could not say,but in any event they received a rude reception, for suddenlyand without warning the green Martian warriors fired a terrificvolley from the windows of the buildings facing the littlevalley across which the great ships were so peacefully advancing.

Instantly the scene changed as by magic; the foremostvessel swung broadside toward us, and bringing her guns intoplay returned our fire, at the same time moving parallel toour front for a short distance and then turning back with theevident intention of completing a great circle which wouldbring her up to position once more opposite our firing line;the other vessels followed in her wake, each one opening uponus as she swung into position. Our own fire never diminished,and I doubt if twenty-five per cent of our shots went wild. Ithad never been given me to see such deadly accuracy of aim,and it seemed as though a little figure on one of the craftdropped at the explosion of each bullet, while the banners andupper works dissolved in spurts of flame as the irresistibleprojectiles of our warriors mowed through them.

The fire from the vessels was most ineffectual, owing, as Iafterward learned, to the unexpected suddenness of the firstvolley, which caught the ship's crews entirely unprepared andthe sighting apparatus of the guns unprotected from thedeadly aim of our warriors.

It seems that each green warrior has certain objective pointsfor his fire under relatively identical circumstances of warfare.For example, a proportion of them, always the best marksmen,direct their fire entirely upon the wireless finding andsighting apparatus of the big guns of an attacking navalforce; another detail attends to the smaller guns in the sameway; others pick off the gunners; still others the officers;while certain other quotas concentrate their attention upon theother members of the crew, upon the upper works, and upon thesteering gear and propellers.

Twenty minutes after the first volley the great fleet swungtrailing off in the direction from which it had first appeared.Several of the craft were limping perceptibly, and seemedbut barely under the control of their depleted crews. Their firehad ceased entirely and all their energies seemed focusedupon escape. Our warriors then rushed up to the roofs of thebuildings which we occupied and followed the retreating armadawith a continuous fusillade of deadly fire.

One by one, however, the ships managed to dip below thecrests of the outlying hills until only one barely moving craftwas in sight. This had received the brunt of our fire andseemed to be entirely unmanned, as not a moving figure wasvisible upon her decks. Slowly she swung from her course,circling back toward us in an erratic and pitiful manner.Instantly the warriors ceased firing, for it was quite apparentthat the vessel was entirely helpless, and, far from being in aposition to inflict harm upon us, she could not even controlherself sufficiently to escape.

As she neared the city the warriors rushed out upon theplain to meet her, but it was evident that she still was too highfor them to hope to reach her decks. From my vantage point inthe window I could see the bodies of her crew strewn about,although I could not make out what manner of creatures theymight be. Not a sign of life was manifest upon her as shedrifted slowly with the light breeze in a southeasterlydirection.

She was drifting some fifty feet above the ground, followedby all but some hundred of the warriors who had been orderedback to the roofs to cover the possibility of a return of thefleet, or of reinforcements. It soon became evident that shewould strike the face of the buildings about a mile south ofour position, and as I watched the progress of the chase Isaw a number of warriors gallop ahead, dismount and enterthe building she seemed destined to touch.

As the craft neared the building, and just before she struck,the Martian warriors swarmed upon her from the windows,and with their great spears eased the shock of the collision,and in a few moments they had thrown out grappling hooksand the big boat was being hauled to ground by their fellowsbelow.

After making her fast, they swarmed the sides and searchedthe vessel from stem to stern. I could see them examining thedead sailors, evidently for signs of life, and presently a partyof them appeared from below dragging a little figure amongthem. The creature was considerably less than half as tall asthe green Martian warriors, and from my balcony I could seethat it walked erect upon two legs and surmised that it wassome new and strange Martian monstrosity with which I hadnot as yet become acquainted.

They removed their prisoner to the ground and then commenceda systematic rifling of the vessel. This operation requiredseveral hours, during which time a number of the chariotswere requisitioned to transport the loot, which consistedin arms, ammunition, silks, furs, jewels, strangely carvedstone vessels, and a quantity of solid foods and liquids,including many casks of water, the first I had seen since myadvent upon Mars.

After the last load had been removed the warriors madelines fast to the craft and towed her far out into the valley ina southwesterly direction. A few of them then boarded her andwere busily engaged in what appeared, from my distant position,as the emptying of the contents of various carboys upon thedead bodies of the sailors and over the decks and worksof the vessel.

This operation concluded, they hastily clambered over hersides, sliding down the guy ropes to the ground. The lastwarrior to leave the deck turned and threw something backupon the vessel, waiting an instant to note the outcome ofhis act. As a faint spurt of flame rose from the point wherethe missile struck he swung over the side and was quicklyupon the ground. Scarcely had he alighted than the guy ropeswere simultaneous released, and the great warship, lightenedby the removal of the loot, soared majestically into the air,her decks and upper works a mass of roaring flames.

Slowly she drifted to the southeast, rising higher and higheras the flames ate away her wooden parts and diminished theweight upon her. Ascending to the roof of the building Iwatched her for hours, until finally she was lost in the dimvistas of the distance. The sight was awe-inspiring in theextreme as one contemplated this mighty floating funeral pyre,drifting unguided and unmanned through the lonely wastes ofthe Martian heavens; a derelict of death and destruction,typifying the life story of these strange and ferociouscreatures into whose unfriendly hands fate had carried it.

Much depressed, and, to me, unaccountably so, I slowlydescended to the street. The scene I had witnessed seemedto mark the defeat and annihilation of the forces of a kindredpeople, rather than the routing by our green warriors ofa horde of similar, though unfriendly, creatures. I could notfathom the seeming hallucination, nor could I free myselffrom it; but somewhere in the innermost recesses of mysoul I felt a strange yearning toward these unknown foemen,and a mighty hope surged through me that the fleet wouldreturn and demand a reckoning from the green warriorswho had so ruthlessly and wantonly attacked it.

Close at my heel, in his now accustomed place, followedWoola, the hound, and as I emerged upon the street Solarushed up to me as though I had been the object of somesearch on her part. The cavalcade was returning to the plaza,the homeward march having been given up for that day; nor,in fact, was it recommenced for more than a week, owingto the fear of a return attack by the air craft.

Lorquas Ptomel was too astute an old warrior to becaught upon the open plains with a caravan of chariots andchildren, and so we remained at the deserted city until thedanger seemed passed.

As Sola and I entered the plaza a sight met my eyes whichfilled my whole being with a great surge of mingled hope,fear, exultation, and depression, and yet most dominantwas a subtle sense of relief and happiness; for justas we neared the throng of Martians I caught a glimpse ofthe prisoner from the battle craft who was being roughlydragged into a nearby building by a couple of greenMartian females.

And the sight which met my eyes was that of a slender,girlish figure, similar in every detail to the earthly womenof my past life. She did not see me at first, but just as shewas disappearing through the portal of the building whichwas to be her prison she turned, and her eyes met mine.Her face was oval and beautiful in the extreme, her everyfeature was finely chiseled and exquisite, her eyes large andlustrous and her head surmounted by a mass of coal black,waving hair, caught loosely into a strange yet becoming coiffure.Her skin was of a light reddish copper color, against whichthe crimson glow of her cheeks and the ruby of her beautifullymolded lips shone with a strangely enhancing effect.

She was as destitute of clothes as the green Martians whoaccompanied her; indeed, save for her highly wrought ornamentsshe was entirely naked, nor could any apparel have enhancedthe beauty of her perfect and symmetrical figure.

As her gaze rested on me her eyes opened wide inastonishment, and she made a little sign with her free hand;a sign which I did not, of course, understand. Just a momentwe gazed upon each other, and then the look of hope andrenewed courage which had glorified her face as shediscovered me, faded into one of utter dejection, mingledwith loathing and contempt. I realized I had not answered hersignal, and ignorant as I was of Martian customs, I intuitivelyfelt that she had made an appeal for succor and protectionwhich my unfortunate ignorance had prevented me from answering.And then she was dragged out of my sight into the depths of thedeserted edifice.