Page:Alerielorvoyaget00lach.djvu/175

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The Feast.
153

—larger populations, more developed civilisation, a society more advanced in intelligence, progress, and good government than any you have ever yet known on earth.

Thanks to my friend, I was enabled to see a good deal, and yet to keep my secret unsuspected; but, except on the occasion I mentioned, in his own village and at his request, never went to any place of public resort, nor did I venture to converse with the Martians, except when obliged to do so. I thus had more restraint put on me than in your world, where I managed to disguise myself perfectly, and mix freely with mankind. I appeared only as a child under the tutelage of my guide, and such a disguise was essential to me.

At length, having seen much of this strange and beautiful world, we returned to Tycho Island, and I parted, with many prayers and blessings for his welfare, from my kind Martian friend. I again joined my companions, Ezariel and Arauniel, whom I found near where I had left them in the rendezvous awaiting me. They had seen most of the natural beauties of the planet, having flown from mountain to mountain, mostly by night and at great heights, resting in remote and inaccessible places, lest they should be discovered. Perhaps they had