Alondra showed himself a charming host in his behaviour towards his young guests, and did all he could to make their stay pleasant. He took them about, showing and explaining such things as were new to them and likely to excite their interest, and in particular initiating them into the mysteries of the Martian sports and pastimes. In some of these, as has been related, the two lads had already made themselves proficient during the voyage; but those had necessarily been only of such a kind as were possible in a comparatively confined space. To attempt to tell of the many strange things the visitors met with, the novel and surprising sights they saw, and all their curious experiences, would, however, extend this narrative to too great a length. It is only possible to relate some of the more noteworthy. The one great marvel of the place—naturally, the one which had first attracted their attention, and which was always in evidence—was the fact that everybody went about in the air. No one ever thought of travelling far in any other manner; no other kind of mechanical locomotion was to be seen, except as regards the transport of heavy goods. These were still carried to and fro on railways of various kinds, or on other motor vehicles—’slow, old-fashioned affairs,’ as Alondra called them—or still slower ’electric ships.’ None of these, Monck explained, could travel at a faster rate than a hundred miles or so an hour—reckoning miles as we do on Earth, and that was far too slow to suit the Martians of to-day. ’Fancy any one travelling at such an absurdly slow speed!’ observed Alondra, laughing at the idea. ’Yet, ages ago, in what some here call the good, old-fashioned days, people, even upon the longest journeys, had to be content with crawling about our world no faster than that! We can travel far more quickly now, in our racing air-yachts, and I suppose that on your planet, which we know is bigger than ours, you travel more swiftly still?’ Gerald thought of some of our old-fashioned, slow-going railways, and blushed. ’I am sorry to have to confess that we do not,’ he returned, a little shamefacedly. He did not like having to admit at every turn how far his native Earth was ’behind the age,’ as things were understood in Mars. But it was constantly the case, nevertheless. They sailed about almost daily in the young prince’s yacht—the one which had carried them up to the king’s palace the first day—and they were astounded at the speed she attained in the air. No doubt, as Jack remarked, the marvellous _Ivenia_ must have travelled immeasurably faster, or they would have been years upon their journey instead of months. But they had scarcely been aware of her real speed, because they had passed no object near enough to give any idea of the actual rate at which they were being whirled through space.