Roumann took with him several small iron
boxes.
"What are those for?" asked Jack.
"To put that red stuff in," replied the scientist.
"I am going to make another try for some, but I'll take a
different road this time."
For a week or more the travelers lived in their house in
Martopolis. They were courteously treated by the Martians, and
soon began to pick up the language, which was very simple when
once the principles of it were understood.
Several times the travelers were taken before the Great Council,
as it was called, and asked in regard to matters on the world
they had left. In turn the adventurers learned much about Mars.
Though it was much smaller than our earth, it was superior to it
in many ways. One was the simplicity of life. The Martians
never had any need of clothes, for they were born with fur and
feathers, which were renewed by Nature from time to time. They
had to contend with a large quantity of water, which covered most
of the surface of their planet, but by ingenious means they got
along nearly as well as if there was more land. In science they
were far ahead of scientists of the earth, and they were
fortunate in possessing the red substance, which they called
Cardite, and which was their only source of light, heat and
power.
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