< o z o > 3 > N O (/) H O 01 o o wmm wmmmwwm Wmm GREETINGS!! NO HARM l)ONl A KNOCKOUT The Saft'l W ay Helpfull Hints I>«M •"'*41 r • »•• mvmU jrjlrnwi*^ Mi *■» ■> • ■Uh • ••• • i. ».■ ^'V vkJil^ v It* ib) 4 »• !»-• ( -U» *•<►* |K* - O I»l * (vr* w.A pi* »w krp* M »«..»» *»«**• Kiirtkt >..,1 * l — •■••Nit liait I «•*»’! l»;f ft - MW Mint ••»«! ttwt. **'• ■•»’** r»’ Null kfl M |W( »•« •• •*" • * •‘jitt »hKk •'■•(fl l*U • »■■••»*»» Him I'nn Dt COtrl * **■»•* ffrir, « French Humor gives the renders of this book the first confidential view of a sample page direct from the first issue. Nothing Like It In America Authentic, Live, Original, Clean and Snappy FRENCH HUMOR directly trans- lated from the French Press. 10c. The Copy FRENCH HUMOR - ARRIVES - IN AMERICA F RANCK, the magic land of hu- mor, wit; ami keen, knife- edged “parlay”, now offers humor-loving Americans, its’ choicest, finest humor through the new week- ly magazine, “FRENCH HI MOR ’. Americans I who have never been in France! invariably hold the opi- nion that anything French in humor or jokes must be smut with a Capi- tal S. This is of course all tommy- rot. The average far-famed gallic wit is no more smutty than the aver- age Chicago citizen is a Cun-man. This new magazine will show Am- erica what makes the Frenchman laugh — also that humor is internati- onal. It will foster a better under- standing between Americans and Frenchmen as a whole. Illustrated jokes in “FRENCH HUMOR" are printed first in French — and then in the F.nglish translation — this will he a great interest and help to those who are studying or who have a smatter- ing of this important world language. The first copy of “FRENCH HUMOR" will prove what we say— r- it's the funniest, wittiest and most en- tertaining magazine you have ever read. Copies are sold on all newsstands, large size magazines Oxl 2 inches, profusely illustrated with genuine French Illustrations. PRICE 10c. THE COPY "I A _ Weekly - - - JL V-^ On All Newsstands Experimenter Publishing Co. Inc. 230 Fifth Ave. New York, N. Y. EDITOR Hugo Gerasback ANNUAL THE YEAR BOOK OF SCIENTIFICTION T HERE has never been presented a more elaborate and thrill-provoking col- lection of scientific fiction. Included among the famous authors are Edgar Rice Burroughs, author of the famous Martian stories and creator of the Tarzan series; A. Merritt, author of the “Moon Pool,” “The People of the Pit,” etc.; Murray Leinster well-known author who needs no introduction to Amazing Stories readers for the creation of his hero Burl of "The Red Dust,” and "The Mad Planet;” II. G. Wells, a writer of international fame, who possesses the virtues of versatility in writing on scientifiction. Edgar Rice Burroughs has written many in- teresting stories, but we believe, for down- right originality and exciting interest, “The Master Mind of Mars” is hard to equal. There is hardly a page that does not hold your interest. Once the story gets under way, hair- raising episodes seem to tumble right over each other — they come so quickly. Besides this, the science is excellent and no matter how strangely the tale reads, it always, somehow or other, seems to have an element of truth in it. EXPERIMENTER PUBLISHING CO. 230 FIFTH AVE., NEW YORK Publishers of RADIO NEWS, SCIENCE INVENTION, AMAZING STORIES, RADIO LISTENERS’ GUIDE and CALL BOOK, FRENCH HUMOR 3 ! title Contents PAGE The Master Mind of Mats By kdgar Rice Burroughs . . . 6 ( The Face in the Abyss By A. Merritt .... 54 ! The Man Who Saved the Earth By Austin Hall . .. .82 The People of the Pit By A. Merritt ....98 The Man Who Could Vanish By A. Hyatt Verrill ...104 The Feline Light 8C Power Company is Organized By Jacque Morgan ...117 Under the Knife By H. G. Wells i . . .120 230 FIFTH AVENUE, EDITORIAL & GENERAL OFFICES: Publishers of NEW YORK CITY SCIENCE & INVENTION, RADIO NEWS, AMAZING STORIES. RADIO LISTENERS GUIDE, SPARE-TIME MONEY MAKING, FRENCH HUMOR. Owners of Broadcast Station WRNY SCIENTIFICTION PREFACE N presenting this, the first Amazing Stories Annual, to our readers, we take it for granted that you are already a regular reader of Amazing Stories. During the year and a half in which Amazing Stories has been published we have had a constant demand for copies of Amazing Stories which have been out of print. Many readers who did not get some of the copies printed during the first year have written in, but in each case we were unable to furnish such copies, as they had been totally exhausted. In this volume the stories most in demand, and those stories which received the highest number of votes from our readers have been reprinted. Inasmuch as it would be manifestly unfair to include only reprints of those stories which have been published already, we thought it advisable to include several stories which have not appeared in Amazing Stories before. Accordingly we purchased the first publication rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ new book, “The Master Mind of Mars,” which, by the way, is a tremendous story, and which alone far exceeds in value the modest price asked for this book. Then you will also find another story by the versatile master of scien- tifiction, Mr. A. Merritt, whose “The Face in the Abyss” has not been printed in Amazing Stories either. A sequel to this story, by the way, is in preparation now and will be published in Amazing Stories at a future date. If you are one of the few who are not already readers of Amazing Stories, then this book, will give you an excellent idea of ivhat Amazing Stories and Scientifiction stand for. In an entirely new field of literature. Amazing Stories aims to publish only such stories as arouse the imagina- tion to the highest degree. New issues of Amazing Stories magazine, by the way, may be had on all newsstands for 25c on the 5th of each month preceding date of publication. See Page 125. EDITOR Copyrioht by Experimenter Pvbushino Co.. Inc. 1927 All rights reserved including that of translation into foreign languages including the Scandinavian. Printed in the United States of America .EXPERIMENTER PUBLISHING C O 230 FIFTH A V E N 5 A Letter Helium, June 8th, 1926. My dear Mr. Burroughs: It was in the f all of nineteen seventeen at an officers training camp that I first became acquainted with John Carter, War Lord of Barsoom, through the pages of your novel A Princess of Mars. The story made a profound impression upon me and while my better judgment as- sured me that it was but a highly imaginative piece of fiction a suggestion of the verity of it pervaded my inner consciousness to such an extent that I found myself dream- ing of Mars and John Carter, of Dejah Thoris, of Tars Tarkas and of Woola as they had been entities of my own experience rather than the figments of your imagination. It is true that in those days of strenuous preparation there was little time for dreaming, yet there were brief moments before sleep claimed me at night and there were my dreams. Such dreams! Always of Mars, and dur- ing my waking hours at night my eyes always sought out the Red Planet when he was above the horizon and clung there seeking a solution of the seemingly unfathomable riddle he has presented to the Earth man for ages. Perhaps the thing became an obsession. I know it clung to me all during my training camp days and at night, on the deck of the transport, I would lie on my back gaz- ing up into the red eye of the god of battle — my god — and wishing that, like John Carter, I might be drawn across the great void to the haven of my desire. And then came the hideous days and nights in the trenches — -the rats, the vermin, the mud — with an occa- sional glorious break in the monotony when we were or- dered over the top. I loved it then and loved the bursting shells- — the mad, wild chaos of the thundering guns — but the rats and the vermin and the mud — God! how I hated them. It sounds like boast- ing, I know, and I am sorry; but I wanted to w'rite you just the truth about myself. I think you will understand. And it may account for much that happened afterward. There came at last to me what had come to so many others upon these bloody fields. It came within the week that I had received my first promotion and my captaincy, of which I was greatly proud, though humbly so, realiz- ing as I did my youth, the great responsibility that it placed upon me as well as the opportunities it offered, not only in service to my country but, in a personal way, to the men of my command. We had advanced a matter of two kilometers and with a small detachment I was hold- ing a very advanced position when I received orders to fall back to the new line. That is the last that I remem- ber until I regained consciousness after dark. A shell must have burst among us. What became of my men I never knew. It was cold and very dark when I awoke and at first, for an instant, I was quite comfortable — before I was fully conscious, I imagine — and then I commenced to feel pain. It grew until it seemed unbearable. It was in my legs. I reached down to feel of them, but my hand recoiled from what it found and when I tried to move my legs I discovered that I was dead from the waist down. Then the moon came out from behind a cloud and I saw that I lay within a shell hole and that I was not alone — the dead were all about me. It was a long time before I found the moral courage and the physical strength to draw myself up upon one elbow that I might view the havoc that had been done me. One look was enough — I sank back in an agony of mental and physical anguish — my legs had been blown away from midway between the hips and knees. For some reason I was not bleeding excessively, yet I knew that I had lost a great deal of blood and that I was losing gradually enough more to put me out of my misery in a short time if I were not soon found, and as I lay there on my back, tortured with pain, I prayed that they would not come in time, for I shrank more from the thought of going maimed through life than I shrank from the thought of death; and as I lay there my eyes suddenly focused upon the bright, red eyes of Mars and there surged through me a sudden wave of hope. I stretched out my arms toward Mars, I did not seem to question or to doubt for an instant as I prayed to the god of my vocation to reach forth and succor me. I knew that he would do it — my faith was complete — and yet so great was the mental effort that I made to throw off the hideous bonds of my mutilated flesh, that I felt a momentary qualm of nausea and then a sharp click as of the snapping of a steel wire and suddenly I stood naked upon two good legs looking down upon the bloody, dis- torted thing that had been I. Just for an instant did I stand thus before I turned my eyes aloft again to my star of destiny and with outstretched arms stood there in the cold of that French night — waiting. Suddenly I felt myself drawn with the speed of thought through the trackless wastes of interplanetary space. There was an instant of ex- treme cold and utter darkness, then — But the rest is in the manu- script that, with the aid of one greater than either of us, I have found the means to transmit to you with this letter. You and a few others of the chosen will believe in it — for the rest it matters not as yet. The time will come — but why tell you what you already know? My salutations and my congratulations — the latter on your good fortune in having been chosen as the medium through which Earlhmen shall become better acquainted with the manners and customs of Barsoom, against the time that they shall pass through space as easily as John Carter and visit the scenes that he has described to them through you, as have I, Your sincere friend, ULYSSES PAXTON, Late Captain, — th Inf., U. S. Array. TF you are a Burroughs fan — and you probably are— * this new story by the well-known author will not fail to impress and stir you to the roots. Here is another of his Martian stories, entirely new, packed chockful of adventure and excellent science. In this theme. Burroughs has hit upon a new idea, which he exploits throughout the story in a truly masterful and expert manner. Nor is your interest allowed to lag for a single paragraph, for Edgar Rice Burroughs knows how to keep you guessing. You will not rest easy until you have finished reading the story. It is one of this favorite author’s best. 7 THE MASTER MIND of MARS By Edgar Rice Burroughs CHAPTER I. The House of the Dead MUST have closed my eyes involuntarily during the transition for when I opened them I was lying flat on my back gazing up into the brilliant, sun-lit sky, while standing a few feet from me and looking down upon me with the most mystified expression was as strange a looking indi- vidual as my eyes ever had rested upon. He appeared to be quite an old man, for he was wrinkled and withered beyond description; his limbs were emaciated, his ribs showed distinctly beneath his shrunken hide, his cranium was large and well developed, which, in conjunction with his wasted limbs and torso, lent him the appearance of top-heaviness, as though he had a head beyond all propor- tion to his body, which was, I am sure, really not the case. As he stared down upon me through enormous, many lensed spectacles I found the opportunity to examine him as minutely in return. He was, perhaps, five feet five in height, though doubtless he had been taller in youth, since he was somewhat bent; he was naked, except for some rather plain and well worn leathern harness which supported his weapons and pocket pouches and one great ornament, a collar, jewel studded, that he wore around his scraggy neck — such a collar as a dowager empress of pork or real estate might barter her soul for, if she had one. His skin was red, his scant locks gray. As he looked at me his puzzled expression increased in intensity; he grasped his chin between the thumb and fingers of his left hand and slowly raising his right hand he scratched his head most deliberately. Then he spoke to me, but in a language I did not understand. At his first words I sat up and shook my head. Then I looked about me. I was seated upon a crimson sward within a high walled enclosure, at least two, and possibly three, sides of which were formed by the outer walls of a structure that in some respects resembled more closely a feudal castle of Europe than any familiar form of architec- ture that comes to my mind. The facade presented to my view was ornately carved and of most irregular design, the roof line being so broken as to almost suggest a ruin, and yet the whole seemed harmonious and not without beauty. Within the enclosure grew a number of trees and shrubs, all weirdly strange and all, or almost all, profusely flower- ing. Among them wound walks of colored pebbles among which scintillated what appeared to be rare and beautiful gems, so lovely were the strange, unearthly rays that leaped and played about them in the sunshine. I I 'HE old man spoke again, peremptorily this time, as though repeating a command that had been ignored; again I shook my head. Then he lay a hand upon one of his two swords; but as he drew the weapon I leaped to my feet, and with such remarkable results that I cannot even now say which was the more surprised, he or I. I must have sailed ten feet into the air and back about twenty feet from where I had been sitting, and then I was indeed sure that I was upon Mars (not that I had for one instant doubted it), for the effects of the lesser gravity, the color of the sward and the skin-hue of the red Martians I had seen described in the manuscripts of John Carter, those marvellous and as yet unappreciated contributions to the scientific literature of a world. There could be no doubt of it — I stood upon the soil of The Red Planet — I had come to the world of my dreams — to Barsoom. So startled was the old man by my agility that he jumped a bit himself, though doubtless involuntarily, but, however, with certain results — his spectacles tumbled from his nose to the sward, and then it was that I discovered that the pitiful old wretch was practically blind when de- prived of these artificial aids to vision, for he got to his knees and commenced to grope frantically for the lost glasses, as though his very life depended upon finding them in the instant. Possibly he thought that I might take advantage of his helplessness and slay him. Though the spectacles were enormous and lay within a couple of feet of him he could not find them, his hands, seemingly afflicted by that strange perversity that sometimes con- founds our simplest acts, passing all about the lost object of their search, yet never once coming in contact with it. As I stood watching his futile efforts and considering the advisability of restoring to him the means that would enable him more readily to find my heart with his sword point, I became aware that another had entered the en- closure and looking toward the building I saw a large red- man running rapidly toward the little old man of the spectacles. The newcomer was quite naked, he carried a club in one hand, and there was upon his face such an expression as unquestionably boded ill for the helpless husk of humanity grovelling, mole-like, for its lost spectacles. My first impulse was to remain neutral in an affair that it seemed could not possibly concern me and of which I had no slightest knowledge upon which to base a predi- lection toward either of the parties involved, but a second glance at the face of the club-bearer aroused a question as to whether it might not concern me after all, for there was that in the expression upon the man’s face that be- tokened either an inherent savageness of disposition or a maniacal cast of mind which might turn his evidently mur- derous attentions upon me after he had dispatched his el- derly victim, while, in outward appearance, at least, the latter was a sane and relatively harmless individual. It is true that his move to draw his sword against me was not indicative of a friendly disposition toward me, but at least, if there were any choice, he seemed the lesser of two evils. He was still groping for his spectacles and the naked man was almost upon him as I reached the decision to cast my lot upon the side of the old man. I was twenty feet away, naked and unarmed, but to cover the distance with my Earthly muscles required but an instant and a naked sword lay by the old man s side where he had discarded it the better to search for his spectacles. So it was that I faced the attacker at the instant that he came within strik- ing distance of his victim and that the blow that had been intended for another was aimed at me. This I side-step- ped and then I learned that the greater agility of my Earthly muscles had its disadvantages as well as its ad- vantages, for, indeed, I had to learn to fight with a new weapon against a maniac armed with a bludgeon, or at least, I assumed him to be a maniac - - it w*as not strange that I should have done so, what with his frightful show of rage and the terrible expression upon his face. As I stumbled about endeavoring to accustom myself to the new conditions, I found that, far from offering any serious opposition to my antagonist, I was hard put to it to escape death at his hands, so often did I stumble and fall sprawling upon the scarlet sward, so that the duel from its inception became but a series of efforts, - - upon his part to reach and crush me with his great club, and upon mine to dodge and elude him. It was mortifying, but it was the truth. However, this did not last indefinitely, for 8 9 THE MASTER MIND OF MARS presently I learned, and quickly too under the exigencies of the situation, to command my muscles, and then 1 stood my ground and when he aimed a blow at me, and I had dodged it, I touched him with my point and brought blood along with a savage roar of pain. He went more cau- tiously then and taking advantage of the change 1 pressed him so that he fell back. The effect upon me was magical. It gave me new confidence, so that I set upon him in good earnest, thrusting and cutting until I had him bleeding a half dozen places, yet taking good care to avoid his mighty swings any one of which would have felled an ox. In my attempts to elude him in the beginning of the duel we had crossed the enclosure and were now fighting one of the surrounding buildings a score of naked red-men who came running toward us. None was armed. To these he issued a few curt orders, whereupon they gathered the fallen one in their arms and bore him off. Then the old man started toward the building, motioning me to accom- pany him. There seemed nothing else for me to do but obey. Wherever I might be upon Mars the chances were a million to one that I would be among enemies and so I was as well off here as elsewhere and must depend upon my own resourcefulness, skill and agility to make my way upon the Red Planet. The old man led me into a small chamber from which opened numerous doors through one of which they were at a considerable distance from the point of our first meeting and it now happened that I stood facing toward that point at the moment that the old man regained his spectacles which he quickly adjusted to his eyes. Immediate- ly, he looked about until he discovered us, whereupon he commenced to yell excitedly at us at the same time run- ning rapidly in our direction and draw- just bearing my late antagonist. We fol- lowed into a large, brilliantly lighted chamber wherein there burst upon my astounded vision the most gruesome scene that I ever had be- held. Rows of tables A? arranged in parallel 5 ^ lines filled the room c and with few excep- > tions each table bore ' a similar grisly burden, a partial- ly dismembered or otherwise mutilated human corpse. A- bove each table was m gg i ing his sword as he Tho rprl .. and then she returned the fourth time to the table which bore the figure of the most beautiful rdn. 1 lie reu-nidll creature I had ever looked upon, and stood looking long and earnestly into the dead face then Was pressing me she » ndicat *d the body with a gesture and nodded aasent to the withered keeper of this ghostly exhibit. hard, but I had a shelf bearing con- tainers of various sizes and shapes, while from the bot- gained almost complete control of myself and fearing that toms of the shelves depended numerous surgical instru- I was soon to have two antagonists instead of one I set upon him with redoubled intensity. He missed me by the fraction of an inch, the wind in the wake of his bludgeon fanning my scalp, but he left an opening into which I stepped, running my sword fairly through his heart. At least I thought that I had pierced his heart, but I had forgotten what I had once read in one of John Carter’s manuscripts to the effect that all the Martian internal organs are not disposed identically with those of Earth-men. However, the immediate results were quite as satisfactory as though ments, suggesting that my entrance upon Barsooin was to be through a gigantic medical college. At a word from the old man those who bore the red- man I had wounded laid him upon an empty table and left the apartment, whereupon my host, if so I may call him, for certainly he was not as yet, at least, my captor, motioned me forward and while he conversed in ordinary tones he made two incisions in the body of my late antagon- ist, one 1 imagine, in a large vein and one in an artery, to which he deftly attached the ends of two tubes, one of I had found his heart, for the wound was sufficiently griev- ous to place him hors de combat, and at that in- stant the old gentleman arrived. He found me ready, but I had mistaken his intentions. He made no unfriendly gestures with his weapon, but seemed to be trying to con- vince me that he had no intention of harming me. He was very excited and apparently tremendously annoyed that 1 could not understand him, and perplexed, too. He hop- which was connected with an empty glass receptacle and the other with a similar receptacle filled with a colorless, transparent liquid resembling clear water. The connec- tions made the old gentleman pressed a button controlling a small motor, whereupon the victim’s blood was pumped into the empty jar while the contents of the other was forced into the emptying veins and arteries. The tones and gestures of the old man as he addressed ped about screaming strange sentences at me that bore the tones of peremptory commands, rabid invective and impotent rage. But the fact that he had returned his sword to its scabbard had greater significance than all his jabber- me during this operation convinced me that he was explain- ing in detail the method and purpose of what was transpir- ing, but as I understood no word of all he said I was as much in the dark when he had completed his discourse as ing and when he ceased to yell at me and commenced to talk in a sort of pantomime 1 realized that he was making overtures of peace if not of friendship, so I lowered my point and bowed. It was all that I could think of to assure him that I had no immediate intention of spitting him. I was before he started it, though what I had seen made it appear reasonable to believe that 1 was witnessing an or- dinary Barsoomian embalming. Having removed the tubes the old man closed the openings he had made by covering them with bits of what appeared a heavy adhesive tape and then motioned me to follow him. We went from room to He seemed satisfied and at once turned his attention to the fallen man. He examined his pulse and listened for his heart, then, nodding his head, he arose and taking a whistle from one of his pocket pouches sounded a single loud blast, ^hereupon there immediately emerged from room in each of which were the same gruesome exhibits and at many of the bodies the old man paused to make a brief examination or to refer to what appeared to be a record of the case that hung upon a hook at the head of each of the tables. AMAZING STORIES 10 From the last of the chambers we visited upon the first floor my host led me up an inclined runway to the second floor where were rooms similar to those below, but here the tables bore whole rather than mutilated bodies, all of which were patched in various places with adhesive tape. As we were passing among the bodies in one of these rooms a- Barsoomian girl, whom I took to be a servant or slave, entered and addressed the old man, whereupon he signed me to follow him and together we descended another runway to the first floor of another building. Here, in a large, gorgeously decorated and sumptuously furnished apartment an elderly red-woman awaited us. She appeared to be quite old and her face was terribly dis- figured as by some injury. Her trappings were magnif- icent and she was attended by a score of women and armed warriors, suggesting that she was a person o' some con- sequence, but the little old man treated her quite brusquely, as I could see, quite to the horror of her attendants. Their conversation was lengthy and at the conclusion of it, at the direction of the woman, one of her male escort advanced and opening a pocket pouch at his side withdrew a handful of what appeared to me to be Martian coins. A quantity of these he counted out and handed to the little old man, who then beckoned the woman to follow him, a gesture which included me. Several of her women and guard started to accompany us, but these the old man waved back peremptorily, whereupon there ensued con- siderable heated discussion between the woman and one of her warriors on one side and the old man on the other, which terminated in his proffering the return of the wom- an’s money with a disgusted air. This seemed to settle the argument, for she refused the coins, spoke briefly to her people and accompanied the old man and myself alone. He led the way to the second floor and to a chamber which I had not previously visited. It resembled the others closely except that all the bodies therein were of young women, many of them of great beauty. Following closely at the heels of the old man the woman inspected the grue- some exhibit with painstaking care. Thrice she passed slowly among the tables examining their ghastly burdens and each time she paused longest before a certain one which bore the figure of the most beautiful creature I had ever looked upon, and then she returned the fourth time to it and stood looking long and earnestly into the dead face. For a while she stood there talking with the old man, ap- parently asking innumerable questions, to which he re- turned quick, brusque replies; then she indicated the body with a gesture and nodded assent to the withered keeper of this ghastly exhibit. Immediately the old fellow sounded a blast upon his whistle summoning a number of servants to whom he issued brief instructions, after which he led us to another cham- ber, a smaller one in which were several empty tables sim- ilar to those upon which the corpses lay in adjoining rooms. Two female slaves or attendants were in this room and at a word from their master they removed the trap- pings from the old woman, unloosed her hair and helped her to one of the tables. Here she was thoroughly sprayed with what I presume was an antiseptic solution of some nature, carefully dried and removed to a second table, at a distance of about twenty inches from which stood a sec- ond parallel table. ]^"OW the door of the chamber sw r ung open and two at- ' tendanls appeared bearing the body of the beautiful girl we had seen in the adjoining room, this they deposited upon the table the old woman had just quitted. As she had been sprayed so the corpse was sprayed; then it was transferred to the table beside that on which she lay. The little old man now made two incisions in the body of the old woman, just as he had in the body of the red-man who had fallen by my sword; her blood was drawn from her veins and the clear liquid pumped into them, life left her and she lay upon the polished irsite slab that formed the table top, as much a corpse as the poor, beautiful, dead creature at her side. The little, old man, who had removed the harness down to his waist, and been thoroughly sprayed, now selected a sharp knife from among the instruments above the table and removed the old woman’s scalp, following the hair line entirely around her head. In a similar manner he then removed the scalp from the corpse of the young woman, after which, by means of a tiny circular saw attached to the end of a flexible, revolving shaft he sawed through the skull of each, following the line exposed by the removal of the scalps. This and the balance of the marvellous operation was so skillfully performed as to baffle description. Suffice it to say that at the end of four hours he had transferred the brain of each woman to the brain pan of the other, deftly connected the several nerves and ganglia, replaced the skull and scalps and bound both heads securely with his peculiar “adhesive tape,” which was not only antiseptic and healing, but anaesthetic, locally, as well. He now reheated the blood that he had withdrawn from the body of the old woman, adding a few drops of some clear chemical solution, withdrew the liquid from the veins of the beautiful corpse, replacing it with the blood of the old woman and simultaneously administering a hypodermic injection. During the entire operation he had not spoken a word. Now he issued a few instructions in his curt manner to his assistants, motioned me to follow him, and left the room. He led me to a distant part of the building or se- ries of buildings that composed the whole, ushered me into a luxurious apartment, opened the door to a Bar- soomian bath and left me in the hands of trained servants. Refreshed and rested I left the bath after half an hour of relaxation to find harness and trappings awaiting me in the adjoining chamber. Though plain, they were of good material; but there were no weapons with them. Naturally I had been thinking much upon the strange thing I had witnessed since my advent upon Mars, but what puzzled me most lay in the seemingly inexplicable act of the old woman in paying my host what was evidently a considerable sum to murder her and transfer to the inside of her skull the brain of a corpse. Was it the outcome of some horrible religious fanaticism, or was there an ex- planation that my Earthly mind could not grasp? I had reached no decision in the matter when I was summoned to follow a slave to another and nearby apart- ment where I found my host awaiting me before a table loaded with delicious foods, to which, it is needless to say, I did ample justice after my long fast and longer weeks of rough army fare. During the meal my host again attempted to converse with me, hut, naturally, the effort was fruitless of results. He waxed quite excited at times and upon three distinct occasions laid his hand upon one of his swords when I failed to comprehend what he was saying to me, an action which results in a growing conviction upon my part that he was partially demented; but he evinced sufficient self- control in each instance to avert a catastrophe for one of us. The meal over, he sat for a long time in deep medita- tion, then a sudden resolve seemed to possess him, he turned suddenly upon me with a faint suggestion of a smile and dove headlong at once into what was to prove an in- tensive course of instruction in the Barsoomian language. It was long after dark before he permitted me to retire for the night, conducting me himself to a large apartment, the same in which I had found my new harness. Where he pointed out a pile of rich sleeping silks and furs, bid me THE MASTER MIND OF MARS a Barsoomian good-night and left me, locking the door after him upon the outside, to guess whether 1 were more guest or prisoner. CHAPTER II. Preferment T HREE weeks passed. I mastered enough of the Bar- soomian tongue to enable me to converse with my host in a reasonably satisfactory manner, and I was pro- gressing slowly in the mastering of the written language of his nation, which was different, of course, from the writ- ten language of all other Barsoomian nations, though the spoken language of all is identical. And in these three weeks I had learned much of the strange place in which I was half guest and half prisoner and of my remarkable host-jailer, Ras Thavas, the old surgeon of Toonol, for I had accompanied him almost constantly day after day until gradually there had unfolded before my astounded faculties an understanding of the purposes of the institu- tion over which he ruled and in which he labored prac-