The tunnel was some seven feet in diameter and flattened on the bottom to form a walk.For a hundred feet from the tower it was lined with the same tile-like material of the light well and amply illuminated by reflected light from that source.Beyond it was faced with stone of various shapes and sizes, neatly cut and fitted together--a very fine mosaic without a pattern.There were branches, too, and other tunnels which crossed this, and occasionally openings not more than a foot in diameter; these latter being usually close to the floor.Above each of these smaller openings was painted a different device, while upon the walls of the larger tunnels at all intersections and points of convergence hieroglyphics appeared.These the girl could not read though she guessed that they were the names of the tunnels, or notices indicating the points to which they led.She tried to study some of them out, but there was not a character that was familiar to her, which seemed strange, since, while the written languages of the various nations of Barsoom differ, it still is true that they have many characters and words in common.
She had tried to converse with her guard but he had not seemed inclined to talk with her and she had finally desisted.She could not but note that he had offered her no indignities, nor had he been either unnecessarily rough or in any way cruel.The fact that she had slain two of the bodies with her dagger had apparently aroused no animosity or desire for revenge in the minds of the strange heads that surmounted the bodies--even those whose bodies had been killed.She did not try to understand it, since she could not approach the peculiar relationship between the heads and the bodies of these creatures from the basis of any past knowledge or experience of her own.So far their treatment of her seemed to augur naught that might arouse her fears.
Perhaps, after all, she had been fortunate to fall into the hands of these strange people, who might not only protect her from harm, but even aid her in returning to Helium.That they were repulsive and uncanny she could not forget, but if they meant her no harm she could, at least, overlook their repulsiveness.
Renewed hope aroused within her a spirit of greater cheerfulness, and it was almost blithely now that she moved at the side of her weird companion.She even caught herself humming a gay little tune that was then popular in Helium.The creature at her side turned its expressionless eyes upon her.
"What is that noise that you are ******?" it asked.
"I was but humming an air," she replied.
"'Humming an air,'" he repeated."I do not know what you mean;but do it again, I like it."
This time she sang the words, while her companion listened intently.His face gave no indication of what was passing in that strange head.It was as devoid of expression as that of a spider.
It reminded her of a spider.When she had finished he turned toward her again.
"That was different," he said."I liked that better, even, than the other.How do you do it?""Why," she said, "it is singing.Do you not know what song is?""No," he replied."Tell me how you do it.""It is difficult to explain," she told him."since any explanation of it presupposes some knowledge of melody and of music, while your very question indicates that you have no knowledge of either.""No," he said, "I do not know what you are talking about; but tell me how you do it.""It is merely the melodious modulations of my voice," she explained."Listen!" and again she sang.
"I do not understand," he insisted; "but I like it.Could you teach me to do it?""I do not know, but I shall be glad to try.""We will see what Luud does with you," he said."If he does not want you I will keep you and you shall teach me to make sounds like that."At his request she sang again as they continued their way along the winding tunnel, which was now lighted by occasional bulbs which appeared to be similar to the radium bulbs with which she was familiar and which were common to all the nations of Barsoom, insofar as she knew, having been perfected at so remote a period that their very origin was lost in antiquity.They consist, usually, of a hemispherical bowl of heavy glass in which is packed a compound containing what, according to John Carter, must be radium.The bowl is then cemented into a metal plate with a heavily insulated back and the whole affair set in the masonry of wall or ceiling as desired, where it gives off light of greater or less intensity, according to the composition of the filling material, for an almost incalculable period of time.
As they proceeded they met a greater number of the inhabitants of this underground world, and the girl noted that among many of these the metal and harness were more ornate than had been those of the workers in the fields above.The heads and bodies, however, were similar, even identical, she thought.No one offered her harm and she was now experiencing a feeling of relief almost akin to happiness, when her guide turned suddenly into an opening on the right side of the tunnel and she found herself in a large, well lighted chamber.