_ CHAPTER XXVI. IN PERIL
"Well, I wonder if we can't go any farther?" asked Mr. Roumann, as he and his companions came to a halt, and noticed that the little men held what looked like small sticks in their hands.
"It seems as if they didn't want us to," observed Mr. Henderson. "Looks as if they were on guard."
"Let me get at 'em with my gun," spoke Andy. "I'll soon show 'em--"
Then he stopped suddenly, as he recalled how useless his firearm was on Mars.
"You'll have to get some stronger powder, and heavier bullets, to hunt here, Andy," said Jack.
"I wonder if they have guns?" came from Mark.
"They only look like sticks," said Jack.
Mr. Roumann, by signs and motions, indicated that he and his companions would like to travel along the narrow path to the hills. The leading Martian, who was dressed like the officer at the lamp-post, while the others were less elaborately arrayed, shook his head. His big mouth broke into a smile, however, as if he wanted to be good-natured about it.
"He doesn't want us to go," said the professor.
"Evidently not, but we're going just the same," retorted Mr. Roumann. "We're more than a match for twenty of these little creatures, and there are only ten here. Come on."
"Do you think it will be safe?" inquired Mr. Henderson.
"Of course. They can't harm us."
The German scientist took a step forward. The others were about to follow him when the leading Martian uttered a command, and his men pointed their sticks at the travelers.
"Look out! Dey's goin' t' shoot!" exclaimed Washington, stooping down.
"They can't shoot with those things," declared Mr. Roumann, for there seemed to be no mechanism about the sticks.
They all pressed forward, but to their surprise it was just as if they had met with an invisible stone wall. They could not advance a step farther. They were halted by some strange power, and it appeared to come from the sticks, which the Martians kept pointed at the strangers.
"Why--why! I can't seem to move!" cried Jack, pushing with all his might. But, though nothing could be seen in front of him or the others, they might just as well have tried to push over the glass castle in the public square.
"We can't go on," called Mr. Roumann.
The Martian officer said something to his men, and they lowered their wands. Instantly it was as if a stone wall had been taken down from in front of the world-dwellers. They were able to advance a few steps, and then, when at a command the wands were again pointed at them, they had to stop.
"It's those sticks!" cried Jack. "They contain some strange power. That's the queerest kind of a policeman's club I ever heard of. It would keep back any mob!"
Try as they did, they could not pass the invisible barrier, and they were forced to give it up. Seeing that the strangers realized that they could not pass, the Martian officer and his men lowered their sticks. He spoke to the travelers, and, though they could not understand what he said, it was evident from his gestures that he was advising them to return to the city.
"I think we'd better," said Mr. Henderson. "The red substance is too well guarded for us to get any of it. Evidently they don't want any of it taken away."
"I must get it!" insisted Mr. Roumann. "If not now, then later."
There was nothing for them to do save turn back, and the Martians tried to smile pleasantly at them, as if sorry for what they were obliged to do.
"We'll go back to the projectile," decided Mr. Henderson. "I am a little anxious to see that it is all right."
They found that it was, though quite a throng had gathered about to inspect it.
"Are we going to stay here, or go back to the house they let us have?" asked Mark.
"I think we will live in the city," decided Mr. Roumann. "We can learn more about the Martians there, begin to understand something of their language, and be in a better position to get some of that red stuff, than if we were out here. But we'll go inside and see about the crazy man, and also how the machinery is. I want to fix the motors so that if any one meddles with them no damage will be done."
It took some little time to adjust the machinery, and then the travelers took from their supplies some personal belongings, which they wished to have with them.
"Now to see to that crazy machinist," said Mr. Henderson, when they were ready to leave the projectile again. "I wish we could get rid of him. He's a nuisance."
They went to the storeroom, where he had been confined, but the man was not there.
"He's hiding again," declared Jack.
"No; he's got away!" exclaimed Mr. Roumann. "See, the ropes with which we bound him have been broken. When the Martians came out to feed him last night they could not have fastened them securely. Well, he's gone, and I don't know but what I'm glad of it."
But there came a time when they were all very sorry that the insane man had escaped, for he caused them much trouble.
As they left the projectile to go to the house provided for them in Martopolis, Mr. Roumann took with him several small iron boxes.
"What are those for?" asked Jack.
"To put that red stuff in," replied the scientist.
"I am going to make another try for some, but I'll take a different road this time."
For a week or more the travelers lived in their house in Martopolis. They were courteously treated by the Martians, and soon began to pick up the language, which was very simple when once the principles of it were understood.
Several times the travelers were taken before the Great Council, as it was called, and asked in regard to matters on the world they had left. In turn the adventurers learned much about Mars. Though it was much smaller than our earth, it was superior to it in many ways. One was the simplicity of life. The Martians never had any need of clothes, for they were born with fur and feathers, which were renewed by Nature from time to time. They had to contend with a large quantity of water, which covered most of the surface of their planet, but by ingenious means they got along nearly as well as if there was more land. In science they were far ahead of scientists of the earth, and they were fortunate in possessing the red substance, which they called Cardite, and which was their only source of light, heat and power. With it they accomplished much that the world-dwellers have to bring about by great labor.
By inquiry, after they had learned the language, the travelers found out that Cardite was regarded with much reverence, and there was a tradition that if any of it was taken away from Mars, the planet would disappear.
"No wonder they didn't want us to get any," said Mr. Roumann. "But I'm going to have some, for all that. It's all nonsense to think any harm can come from taking it. It will not injure their planet, and it will be a fortune to us. They must have a lot of it, for they told us that all the cities on Mars, and there are several of them, are lighted and heated by it."
"But how are you going to get it." asked Mark.
"By going a different route. I'm going to get a boat, and go by water. I've found out how to run one of their boats by means of the red substance, and some day we'll sail over the lake to the hills and get some Cardite."
They waited another week, and, as they found less and less attention was paid to them from day to day, they decided to make an attempt to get some of the treasure.
They started one morning in a large boat, which Silex Corundum, the ruler of Mars, had placed at their disposal, and in a short time were approaching the distant hills, at the foot of which was the great lake. The boat moved swiftly, the controlling mechanism consisting of three little knobs on the outside of the box containing the Cardite. One sent the craft forward, one reversed it, and the other stopped it.
"We're almost there," said Mr. Roumann, after about an hour's sail. "There are no guards this way, just as I hoped. We shall soon be enormously wealthy."
Nearer and nearer came the boat to the hills. When they were within a half mile of them Jack, who was in the bow, uttered a cry.
"A whirlpool! A whirlpool!" he shouted. "We're heading right into it!"
Mr. Roumann, who was steering, tried to turn the boat to one side, but the craft would not answer the helm.
"Shut off the power and reverse!" exclaimed Mr. Henderson, when he saw that the boat was still rushing into the dangerous swirl of water.
Mark, who was near the metal box, did so. But even the power of Cardite was of no avail against the awful suction of the whirlpool. The boat began to go around in a great circle, ever coming nearer and nearer to the black, swirling center.
"No wonder they needed no guards on the water side," gloomily observed Mr. Roumann as he stood up and looked at the hills. "The whirlpool is the best protector they could have."
In deadly peril, the adventurers watched their boat coming nearer and nearer to the terrible center of the angry waters. _