About noon
I was a low creature , so low in fact that I was not even fit to polish the teeth of her grandmother 's cat ; and then my saving sense of humor came to my rescue , and laughing I turned into my silks and furs and slept upon the moon-haunted ground the sleep of a tired and healthy fighting man . We broke camp the next day at an early hour and marched with only a single halt until just before dark . Two incidents broke the tediousness of the march . About noon we espied far to our right what was evidently an incubator , and Lorquas Ptomel directed Tars Tarkas to investigate it . The latter took a dozen warriors , including myself , and we raced across the velvety carpeting of moss to the little enclosure . It was indeed an incubator , but the eggs were very small in comparison with those I had seen hatching in ours at the time of my arrival on Mars . Tars Tarkas dismounted and examined the enclosure minutely , finally announcing that it belonged to the green men of Warhoon and that the cement was scarcely dry where it had been walled up .