So, off with his captors, who I've neglected to mention are fanged and bedecked with metal ornaments. After travelling some miles, the land slopes up sharply; he later finds he arrived in one if Mars' dried, ancient, seas.
They arrive a a settlement, looking long unoccupied despite being in good condition. Towards the middle, however, are the Martians, and an ancient, splendid palace.
The leader of his captors is apparently of some importance, as he walks through the crowd, into the palace, and presents John to the ruler; a martian heavily decorated in metal, feathers, and silk.
The inside of the palace looks ancient yet splendid, but things like the desks are proportionate to John's stature, rather than the Martians.
They apparently want him to show off his jumping, dragging him outside. When one of them gets too pushy, though, he decks the Martian; everyone else laughs, and they take him outside to jump.
He shows off for a bit, but demands food and water by making the apparently universal gesture of stomach patting.
They hand him off to one of the smaller females, who takes him to the living quarters and fetches...a ten legged animal. Decapodal?
