Guardsmen,
officers, courtiers, servants, and slaves ran helter-skelter
through the corridors and apartments carrying messages and orders,
and searching for signs of the assassin.
This was my opportunity and slim as it appeared I grasped it, for as
a number of soldiers came hurrying past my hiding place I fell in
behind them and followed through the mazes of the palace until, in
passing through a great hall, I saw the blessed light of day coming
in through a series of larger windows.
Here I left my guides, and, slipping to the nearest window, sought
for an avenue of escape. The windows opened upon a great balcony
which overlooked one of the broad avenues of Zodanga. The ground
was about thirty feet below, and at a like distance from the
building was a wall fully twenty feet high, constructed of polished
glass about a foot in thickness. To a red Martian escape by this
path would have appeared impossible, but to me, with my earthly
strength and agility, it seemed already accomplished. My only fear
was in being detected before darkness fell, for I could not make the
leap in broad daylight while the court below and the avenue beyond
were crowded with Zodangans.
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