l of our telescope. It would be folly for them to attempt to
come up the road we were guarding, for we could easily heave boulders
over and crush them. I had already put my shoulder to an immense rock
near the brink, to see if it was as heavy as it looked. I found it
porous and crumbly, and no heavier than so much chalk. Up the roadway
the great birds climbed with wonderful ease. Their riders were evidently
looking for us without any idea where we were.

"I won't see those elephantine bipeds come any nearer to me!" I
exclaimed, and rushing to the boulder, which was certainly four feet in
diameter, I toppled it over the brink, and expected to see it carry
everything down before it. It rolled slowly down the steep bank, with
hardly a third the force and speed of the same mass on Earth. This
discouraged me, but I watched for it to reach the foremost bird. He was
surprised by it, but made one step sideways, and, lifting his great
right leg, the stone rolled under him without any damage. He gave a
queer, guttural croak, accompanied by a most violent motion of the head
and neck. The other birds, thus warned, dodged quickly sidewise, and
avoided the slowly rolling boulder; but all three of the riders were
thrown by the swift lateral movement of the birds. The astonished men
picked themselves up slowly from the bushes and approached their birds.
But they could scarcely reach with their hands the lower part of the
neck where they had sat.

"Unless they are good jumpers, they cannot mount again without a
ladder!" said the doctor.

"Jumping is easier than standing still here," I interrupted. "I can jump
ten feet high with no trouble."

"Yes; but these Martian boobies haven't your muscles. _Aber Blitzen!_
did you see that fellow mount his bird again?"

I had seen it, and I do not remember anything more wonderful than this
operation, which was repeated for each rider. The man went in front of
his bird, turned his back, and stooped forward. The bird then curved his
long neck to the ground, and put his head and neck between the legs of
the rider, who clutched tightly with his arms and legs. With a swift,
graceful swing, the bird lifted its head on high, carrying the rider as
if he were nothing. When the great neck was again erect, the man slid
carefully down it to his place, much as one might slip down a telegraph
pole. Then two of the birds turned back to the city as swiftly as they
could go, and the other two took separate side