Behind her, depending from the roof upon raw.
hide thongs, and stretching entirely across the
cave, was a row of human skeletons. From the
thong which held them stretched another to the
dead hand of the little old woman; as I touched
the cord the skeletons swung to the motion with
a noise as of the rustling of dry leaves.

It was a most grotesque and horrid tableau
and I hastened out into the fresh air; glad to
escape from so gruesome a place.

The sight that met my eyes as I stepped out
upon a small ledge which ran before the entrance
of the cave filled me with consternation.

A new heaven and a new landscape met my
gaze. The silvered mountains in the distance,
the almost stationary moon hanging in the sky,
the cacti-studded valley below me were not of
Mars. I could scarce believe my eyes, but the
truth slowly forced itself upon me -- I was look-
ing upon Arizona from the same ledge from which
ten years before I had gazed with longing upon
Mars.

Burying my head in my arms I turned, broken,
and sorrowful, down the trail from the cave.

Above me shone the red eye of Mars holding
her awful secret, forty-eight million miles away.

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