, appeared in the
sky of Mars. Our masters studied you with their telescopes, and those
who had returned from the unfortunate expedition declared that you were
inhabitants of the world which they had invaded, come, doubtless, to
take vengeance upon them.

"Some of my people who were permitted to look through the telescopes of
the Martians, saw you also, and recognized you as members of their own
race. There were several thousand of us all together, and we were kept
by the Martians to serve them as slaves, and particularly to delight
their ears with music, for our people have always been especially
skillful in the playing of musical instruments, and in songs, and while
the Martians have but little musical skill themselves, they are
exceedingly fond of these things.

"Although Mars had completed not less than five thousand circuits about
the sun since our ancestors were brought as prisoners to its surface,
yet the memory of our distant home had never perished from the hearts of
our race, and when we recognized you, as we believed, our own brothers,
come to rescue us from long imprisonment, there was great rejoicing. The
news spread from mouth to mouth, wherever we were in houses and families
of our masters. We seemed to be powerless to aid you or to communicate
with you in any manner. Yet our hearts went out to you, as in your ships
you hung above the planet, and preparations were secretly made by all
the members of our race for your reception when, as we believed, would
occur, you should effect a landing upon the planet and destroy our
enemies.

"But in some manner the fact that we had recognized you, and were
preparing to welcome you, came to the ears of the Martians."

At this point the girl suddenly covered her eyes with her hands,
shuddering and falling back in her seat.

"Oh, you do not know them as I do!" at length she exclaimed. "The
monsters! Their vengeance was too terrible! Instantly the order went
forth that we should all be butchered, and that awful command was
executed!"

"How, then, did you escape?" asked the Heidelberg professor.

Aina seemed unable to speak for a while. Finally mastering her emotion,
she replied:

"One of the chief officers of the Martians wished me to remain alive.
He, with his aides, carried me to one of the military depots of
supplies, where I was found and rescued," and as she said this she
turned toward Colonel Smith with a smile that reflected on his ruddy
face and made i