the center of their faces, midway between their mouths and ears.

There was no hair on their bodies, which were of a very light
yellowish-green color. In the adults, as I was to learn quite soon,
this color deepens to an olive green and is darker in the male than
in the female. Further, the heads of the adults are not so out of
proportion to their bodies as in the case of the young.

The iris of the eyes is blood red, as in Albinos, while the pupil
is dark. The eyeball itself is very white, as are the teeth.
These latter add a most ferocious appearance to an otherwise
fearsome and terrible countenance, as the lower tusks curve upward
to sharp points which end about where the eyes of earthly human
beings are located. The whiteness of the teeth is not that of
ivory, but of the snowiest and most gleaming of china. Against
the dark background of their olive skins their tusks stand out in
a most striking manner, making these weapons present a singularly
formidable appearance.

Most of these details I noted later, for I was given but little time
to speculate on the wonders of my new discovery. I had seen that
the eggs were in the process of hatching, and as I stood watching
the hideous little monsters break from their shells I failed to note
the approach of a score of full-grown Martians from behind me.

Coming, as they did, over the soft and soundless moss, which covers
practically the entire surface of Mars with the exception of the
frozen areas at the poles and the scattered cultivated districts,
they might have captured me easily, but their intentions were far
more sinister. It was the rattling of the accouterments of the