d, Almos, and her anxiety for me to
return to the observatory was the prompting of her Martian sense of
duty--her sole creed. In what words could I ever hope to explain that I
was not Almos, when the voice, the manners, the features, and even the
knowledge of her affairs were those of her intimate friend? And even if
it were possible to make Zarlah believe in the remarkable change of
personality, by explaining in full the weird and uncanny details of how
the change was effected, what happiness could I hope to derive from it;
it was Almos she loved, not a strange spirit of whom she could know
nothing--a spirit even from an alien world.

Such were the thoughts that filled my mind, as I walked beside Zarlah
through this more than Edenic garden toward the entrance where Reon was
to wait for me. But, although utterly crushed by the realization of my
own hopeless case, I felt that the knowledge of Zarlah's love, of which
I had so wrongly come into possession, had imposed upon me a sacred
duty. I therefore gave no outward evidence of my emotions, though my
cup of happiness was now changed to one of sorrow and bitterness, and
when Zarlah proposed that we should meet the following evening, I
quickly assented with all a lover's eagerness.

We had now reached the entrance and, as we stepped out on the balcony, I
saw Reon waiting for me with the aerenoid in readiness. Seeing a merry
party in a large open aerenoid, and knowing them to be Zarlah's friends,
I would have escorted her to them, but in a low tone she earnestly
besought me to lose no time in reaching the observatory.

A few words of farewell--a slight pressure of hands, and we parted; and
as I walked over to where Reon stood, ready for the journey, I could not
help marveling at the great sacredness in which all duties are held in
the eyes of the Martians; duties, too, that have no other reward than
their own fulfillment. A feeling of shame came over me as I thought of
the endless struggle, selfishness, and crime of another world that is a
slave to Gold.

CHAPTER VIII.

A HUNDRED MILES A MINUTE IN AN AERENOID.

Reon was at his place by the levers when I stepped into the aerenoid,
and as I closed and fastened the steel door, we slowly rose, and
describing a large circle, sailed toward the canal. As the sun was now
low in the heavens, numerous open aerenoids were to be seen, but these
were soon passed, and within a few minutes we had reached the branch
canal