The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-22
THE MINES OF MARS


dressed people turning the corner of
Market and Kearney streets, and won
dered if any individual there had ever
known, or would ever sink to his level
of restitution Two months before he,
too. well dressed and Indifferent TO
misery as any OF them, had turned here
nightly on his way home. Two months,
| 1t seemed now like two centuries since
he had known the taste of food
He made his way across Market and
went up that street a few blocks in an
aimless way, stopping now and then to
hug lamp post in front of restaur-
ant and e-Te. with wolfish desire, the
contents of the window, the sight of
the viands almost maddening him. He
decided that he must beg or die.
Driven by that terrible gnawing
pain within him, he made two or three
unheeded efforts to induce some one
/ to take pity on him. Then he backed
for some face which looked benevolent
enough to encourage an application TO
| its owner.
Il shall be found dead here in the
morning." he murmured.
Something over his head creaked as
| if in answer to his words. Looking up
he saw sign suspended over the door,
bearing two words:
Harold. Clairvovant."
''Clairvoyantr' muttered the beggar,
they make money-they find food and
bed b. clairvoyance- l have always
had that gift, and have amused many
room full of people with it, 1t was
not respectable in my eyes to use it
for money. though he added, bit
terly. Il would try it gladly enough
now in eXchan-e for a crust"
A fa1l hi Sh
I have heard what you have
spoken said a voice in English. but
with a strong foreign accent. If it is
true that you have clairvoyant powers
and are starving, it is well for me.
need you"
Lucien's heart gave a great bound.
, Whoever needed him would feed him.
He looked eagerly at the speaker.
1t was a tall. thin man dressed in
black. He had a pale, severe face, and
light, hard eyes. His mustache and
hair We're black as ink. and his express
sion was resolute and cold.
THE service must be done fasting"
continued the stranger. But do not
look so cast down. 1t will be brief and
you will feel nothing while engaged
upon it. Meat. wine and clothing for
an hours use of your clairvoyant fac
ulty, and beyond that money to start
you in way to live. Come or stay"
The stranger started to 60 The des-
perate man il the doorway made an
effort TO follow
Not so fastr' he cried. and the
stranger paused and gave him his arm
You seem 20 be very weak" re-
marked the latter, with an appearance
of satisfaction.
Weak, What daz is this?" asked
Lucien.
SATURDAY."
well. since Wednesday have not
eaten. and then only
Good No meat then, l hope?"
No; only a roll and some tea
Better, When did you eat meat
last?"
L cannot remember"
Best of ALL
In few minutes the two boarded
cable car. Lucien did not know
whether the locality in which they
alighted was. at the Mission, at the
beach or in the middle of the city.
The stranger led him a few blocks
and halted before a dark, tall build
ing on a corner, entered a narrow door
by means of a key, and proceeded to
ascend the stairs. Lucien followed
him up, more than once compelled by
weakness to sit down for rest, while
his companion waited impatiently.
The place appeared deserted. save for
their footsteps and it was so dark they
had to feel their way. They reached
the top floor at last, and the stranger
led his companion into a room dimly
lit with gas and shut the door.
The room fronted the east and had
on that side an unsashed window
reaching from the floor TO the middle
of the ceiling, commanding the heavens
from horizon to zenith. In front of
this window was mounted a small
telescope, which was converted into a
peculiar instrument by a globe a foot
in diameter attached to its eye piece.
This globe was apparently of copper, /
covered with glass. An electrical ap=
paratuS occupied shelf on the right /
Of the window. and seven wires extend
ing from this pierced in semicircle /
the upper side of the globe.
The arrangement of the wires in the !
interior was of course invisible, but a
thick wire emerged from an aperture |
in the lower side of the globe, extend I
ed a few inches in a straight line, and 1
was then unravelled- Its seven strands |
were each about six inches in length. |
and were arranged in a sort of claw
shaped cluster, the tips pointing down |
ward, and each encased in a small red /
dish Opaque bulb.
The stranger removed the globe, |
carefully adjusted the telescope to bear
motion a mechanical contrivance in /
tended to maintain by a clockwork !
movement the focus of the instrument.
Then, after replacing the globe, he |
manipulated for an instant the cleo
trical apparatus, and by a series of |
springs, closed the window aperture I
with outside shutters of wood that /
were so constructed as to leave a slit
for the path of the telescope. Then +
he turned ont the gas
For a moment the room was entirely
dark. Then about the claw of wire
appeared a light so dim as to be
scarcely visible. Slowly, very slowly,
this frightened. Seven red points were
seen glimmering like stars of the {
thirteenth magnitude, gradually ex- !
panding till they resembled those of
the first. Brighter and brighter be-
came the light. The points glowed
like spots of fire.
That light is the light of Mars"
said the stranger. Now, it is not my
intention to enter into long explana-
lions. which circumstances do not re-
quire. 1t will suffice if l say that it is
my conviction that light is a fluid
which contains the essence of those
things that have been stepped in it.
has taught me that just
as the primitive rays of light differ in
their degrees of luminosity and their
so they do in their power
of absorbing the principles of those
things which do not absorb them. The
red ray possesses this quality in the
highest degree The great preponder-
ance of this ray in the light of Mars
directed me to the clairvoyant study
of that planet. l have managed to