licate and subtlely charming, which, when one seeks to seize
and to define, retires icily behind the drawn curtain of her soul."

"I hope you won't play the lost lamb to her snowdrift!" he sneered, in a
way that I resented. "One would think she had hypnotized you on the
spot! And she must be in a trance herself, for she had not sense enough
to fear us."

"Those who have the most sense fear us the least!" I retorted.

"But fear is our sharp weapon now," he answered; "and some of the
stragglers, looking back, saw you stand there holding her hand in a
manner far from warlike. They will report this to the rulers unless we
forestall them. Come, fasten the gates tightly upon the inside to keep
the soldiers out, and I will sail over the wall to pick you up."

"Doctor, we make our peace at once, and fight no more with the brothers
of this girl," I said with decision.

The massive gates were of hewn stone, turning in sockets at their outer
corners above and below. They swung as easily as if hung upon hinges,
and when closed a slab of stone came down to bar them. I made them
fast, and then called out to the doctor,--

"Don't come for me. I have found a jumping-staff, and I think I can leap
to the top of the wall."

It was a sheer fifteen feet of solid masonry, but my chief delight since
landing on Martian soil was the inordinate springiness of my leg muscles
against the feeble gravity. I ran and sprang lustily with the aid of the
cross-bow, and I remember the doctor's surprised look when he saw me
clear the entire wall without touching the top and land safely with a
very mild jolt on his side.

A short oblique ascent of the projectile brought us over the city, and
revealed to us the condition of desperate panic into which the wild
reports of the soldiers and the bird-rider had thrown the frantic
populace. The soldiers still within the walls could not restrain the
people, or did not try. If there was any government, it lacked a head or
could not command attention. The stubborn instinct of self-preservation
was king. Distracted throngs surged out at one gate, to separate and
waver and hesitate, and finally to fight for a speedy entrance at
another. On one side soldiers were apparently ordering people down from
the wall, while on another the excited populace was hauling sentinel
soldiers from the same elevation, lest our attention should be
attracted. Within, strong men were weeping and wailing; without, nervous
men were ha