After earnest consultation we decided to descend at once, choosing a vast open square before one of the largest edifices, but which appeared to be deserted of people, as the exact spot. Slowly we dropped through the air. Nearer and nearer to the ground we came, each moment the magnificence of the city increasing as our eager scrutiny became closer. One thousand feet more! Five hundred! One hundred only left! Not a living creature in view! Our hearts beat fast; our excitement became agony in its intensity. The courtyard seemed paved with precious stones of every hue, as large as ostrich-eggs; certainly no common stones of Earth are like them, and none known to man, even the most rare, so large. Curious plants and trees grew in well-kept beds; fountains of perfumed water shot like crystal rockets to the sky! All this, and more, we noted in the short time that we were descending the last few feet; but ere the _Sirius_ could touch the ground, a thousand stalwart warrior-giants rushed out from every side! In an instant we were the centre of an excited frenzied throng, and our lives were apparently not worth another moment's purchase! CHAPTER X. CAPTIVITY. As may naturally be inferred, the language spoken on Mars is totally different from any uttered by either of the civilised races on Earth. We, of course, were ignorant of this dialect spoken on Mars, and were unable to understand what was said to us at the time of our capture, or what the Martials were saying to each other. But we were amazed to find how easily their language could be acquired, and in a very short space of time we were able to converse with this new people. Curiously enough, on the other hand, the Martials found great difficulty in mastering any of the languages of Earth; and we were able to try them with Latin, with Greek, Hebrew, German, French, Gaelic, and English; and it was not for many weeks that even the higher classes of inhabitants acquired even a smattering of the latter tongue. For several moments it seemed as though our fate was sealed, as the gigantic troopers closed round the _Sirius_ with fierce and angry gestures, some of them trying to climb up the sides and reach us as we stood in fear and trembling, looking down upon the surging throng from our station on the balcony. Three words which were uttered incessantly by the crowd of soldiers, we were able to distinguish from all the rest of the tumult. They were, as near as we can express them, "Yan ye bo," which being translated into English means "Beings from the sky." Angry shouts of "Emi, emi, tat ya mos" filled the air, and these words we afterwards learned signified "Slay, slay them at once."