The _Sphere_ had been safely brought and placed in the building provided. Official greetings and curiosity had been taken care of and the three adventurers were again united and alone. “Pretty nearly scared that little Martian stiff,” Taggert went on, “not to mention myself. We hopped off a little bit too strong and before you could say ‘uncle’ we were almost lost in the old ozone. Guess he thought I’d decided to kidnap him and take him home. He jabbered something scandalous. But I soon got things straightened out and we beat it here P. D. Q.” The days following were spent chiefly in the learning of the Martian language by all three. Robert was particularly anxious to master the Martian code of writing, sufficiently to enable him to decipher the note which had been thrown to him in the garden. Not trusting the interpreter, he could not request him to read it to him. He selected characters and words from the note and tactfully brought them out during the lessons until he finally had obtained a fairly accurate idea of the note’s contents. That the girl and her father were political prisoners by the emperor’s command he made out. Just why, or what her immediate danger was, Robert was still unable to decipher accurately, but he got the impression that she was threatened with a morganatic marriage to the emperor. Until he could learn the exact contents of the epistle and grasp a sufficient knowledge of the Martian tongue to discover something about their political intrigues, Robert decided that any move he could make would result in more harm than good for her. He longed for some means of communication with her in order that he might let her know that he was but waiting the right time to help her. If he could but speak or write the same language! Then he might at least manage somehow to tell her that he had not forgotten her. Though he had not yet seen her he stedfastly believed her to be the girl of his dreams. At the end of a week Robert, in his zeal, had so far out-distanced his companions in the mastery of the Martian tongue that they were both continually asking him about this or that word. He could already make most of their wants known through speech to the attendants. It was about this time that one of their two attendants, a young, pleasant-faced chap, called Modah, startled Robert by stealthily handing him a small, sealed envelope when they were alone for a moment. Making a sign of secrecy the Martian hurried off. Robert pocketed the envelope as the other attendant entered just then. The reading of this note, though longer, proved easier than the first. Robert recognized the signature immediately. However, it was not until two days later that he succeeded in completely deciphering both notes, and that only by tactful questioning of the interpreter. The first read thus: My friend: I call you “friend” because they tell me you have come from a far planet and I know that one so daring can not be cruel like my captors.