One could easily picture the gorgeous foliage of the luxuriant
Martian vegetation which once filled this scene with life and color;
the graceful figures of the beautiful women, the straight and
handsome men; the happy frolicking children--all sunlight, happiness
and peace. It was difficult to realize that they had gone; down
through ages of darkness, cruelty, and ignorance, until their
hereditary instincts of culture and humanitarianism had risen
ascendant once more in the final composite race which now is
dominant upon Mars.
My thoughts were cut short by the advent of several young females
bearing loads of weapons, silks, furs, jewels, cooking utensils,
and casks of food and drink, including considerable loot from the
air craft. All this, it seemed, had been the property of the two
chieftains I had slain, and now, by the customs of the Tharks, it
had become mine. At my direction they placed the stuff in one of
the back rooms, and then departed, only to return with a second
load, which they advised me constituted the balance of my goods.
On the second trip they were accompanied by ten or fifteen other
women and youths, who, it seemed, formed the retinues of the two
chieftains.
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