re for his own people.

In fact, in consequence of his surly manner, and his attempts to escape,
he had been more strictly bound than before and to get him out of the
way had been removed from the flagship, which was already overcrowded,
and placed in one of the other electric ships, and this ship--as it
happened--was one of those which were lost in the great battle beneath
the clouds. So after all, the Martian had perished, by a vengeful stroke
launched from his native globe.

But Providence had placed in our hands a far better interpreter than he
could ever have been. This girl of our own race would need no urging, or
coercion, on our part in order to induce her to reveal any secrets of
the Martians that might be useful in our further proceedings.

But one thing was first necessary to be done.

We must learn to talk with her.

But for the discovery of the store of provisions it would have been
impossible for us to spare the time needed to acquire the language of
the girl, but now that we had been saved from the danger of starvation,
we could prolong the siege for several weeks, employing the intervening
time to the best advantage.

The terrible disaster which we had suffered in the great battle above
the Lake of the Sun, wherein we had lost nearly a third of our entire
force, had been quite sufficient to convince us that our only hope of
victory lay in dealing the Martians some paralyzing stroke that at one
blow would deprive them of the power of resistance. A victory that cost
us the loss of a single ship would be too dearly purchased now.

How to deal that blow, and first of all, how to discover the means of
dealing it, were at present the uppermost problems in our minds.

The only hope for us lay in the girl.

If, as there was every reason to believe, she was familiar with the ways
and secrets of the Martians, then she might be able to direct our
efforts in such a manner as to render them effective.

"We can spare two weeks for this," said Mr. Edison. "Can you fellows of
many tongues learn to talk with the girl in that time?"

"We'll try it," said several.

"It shall we do," cried the Heidelberg professor more confidently.

"Then there is no use of staying here," continued the commander. "If we
withdraw the Martians will think that we have either given up the
earth's moon, always keep the same face toward their master. By blanket
and let us see their face once more. That will give us a better
opportu