Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1897-05-10
CHAPTER VII.

veritable walls and houses.
. CHAPTER VII.
I descended until was only about a
mile high above the sea and two miles
| from the city, and examined it through
nv telescope A fresh wonder. The
city was inhabited, not by race of in
| telligent creatures more or less resem-
bling the human species, but by actual
| human beings-veritable men, women
| and children, with unmistakable human
features l could see them distinctly
through my powerful telescope. They
| all-men, women and children-Wore
| dresses of the same uniform pattern-a
single garment, like bathing dress,
| which covered the whole body with the
| upper portions of the arms and legs, eX-
posing the head and neck, the hands and
arms to little above the elbow, and the
feet and legs to little below the knee:
1 Though the sexes were not distinguished
| by any difference in the pattern of their
dresses, they were strongly distinguished
! by their difference of cOlor-the dresses
/ of the men and boys were. uniformly,
and without exception, red; those of the
/ women and girls uniformly, and without
| exception, green. Both sexes had short,
black, curly hair.
Though the sun had but just risen
above the horizon (being in fact lower
in the sky now than it had appeared
to me about half an hour before, when
| was much further east as we'll as at
much higher elevation), the streets
! looked busy and animated Bareheaded
| and barefooted men and women, some
| carrying burdens and some without,
walked briskly in whatever direction
their business or their pleasure called
them, on a smooth, clean, marble-lke
street, just as in terrestrial cities, was
mainly occupied by various kinds OF
wheeled vehicles. There was, however,
| this striking difference, that here the
vehicles were moved by some internal
power or machinery; there were no
horses or other beasts of burden to be
seen anywhere. Evidently these Mar
slams had attained high degree of civil
ization 1t was a handsome race, too.
Through my powerful glass | could see
every feature distinctly; high and broad
foreheads; noses straight and well
| shaped; mouths and chins not to be dis
tinguished from those of Europeans. In
one respect, however, they differed from
any race of men that [ had ever beheld;
this was in their complexion, which was
| of delicate pale blue, such as is some
| times thrown on the faces of the passers-
| by from an apothecary's window. The
sight fascinated me. For full half
hour [ kept the Shooting Star motion
| less in the same spot, gazing sometimes
through my glass and sometimes with
| out it at this wonderful race and city.
| The former principally occupied my at
tention, as was natural; yet the latter
was sufficiently curious. 1t was con-
/ structed on a severely simple and regu-
lar plan. To begin with, it looked per-
feet square surrounded on all sides by
high and very thick marble wall, or
what appeared to be marble, from it's
| white and polished appearance. At reg
ular intervals marble-like steps led up to
the top of this wall, on which | could
see several persons walking. The houses
were built of the same white polished
| material, and were all f1at-rOOfed with a
i parapet all round, and here and there a
seat. On many of,the roofs | could see
persons either sitting or walking. The
streets ran parallel to the sides of the
surrounding wall, crossing at regular in
tervals. The doors were seemingly of
wood, and the windows of glass, or what
appeared such; and both were of the
same rigid rectangular pattern. Nowhere
| could | perceive the slightest attempt at
decoration or ornament. In their houses,
as in their dresses, pure utility seemed
to be the sole guiding principle OF this
singular Marsian race. There was one
thing which rather puzzled me. Above
every door, suspended by chain from a.
projecting iron-like rod in the wall, was
a large white globe, of what material l
could not imagine.
The city had four gates, one in the cen
ter of each surrounding WALL and from
each gate straight road led out into
1 the surrounding country. One OF these
roads led from the center Of the wall
| facing the sea down to harbOr f1anked
| by two long, high and solid-looking piers,
built of the same marble-like substance as
| the city wall and houses. These piers
| protected far into the sea, curVing a lit
tie towards each other at the extremi-
ties, so as somewhat. to narrow the en-
| trance of the barbor, and with the evil
dent object of breaking the force of the
| incoming waves from the ocean. inside
| the harbor, the smooth water of which
formed striking contrast to the heavy
swell outside. were to be seen several
small craft of curious shapes. Most OF
| these were at rest, but l could zee three
gliding swiftly towards the mouth of the
| harbor impelled like the vehicles in the
streets, by some internal force and ma
| chinery They had no maStS, or paddles,
or screws and what the motive power was
I was at a loss to guess. In shape they
were not unlike my own machine, having
a carved roof of transparent glass-llke
substance; but the rest with the excep-
ton of two windows. IN each slde was OF
some green substance, which might be
painted wood or iron. The men inside
were hidden from my view.
l watched these three boats as they
glided swiftly, yet with wonderful
smoothness, to the harbor's mouth. They
| passed out lnto the open seq 1eafleSelv ,
and rode like corks on the huge rolling
waves outside. They did not go far,
!, however They all three cast anchor a
! short distance from the mouth of the har-
Dor; at least, that was what / conjec-
tured from the fact that they remained
stationary there, rising and falling with
the swelling of the water.
| Turning my eyes again towards the
city, | found that a startling change had
taken place, and one which concerned me
personally. | had evidently been seen,
or, at least, the Shooting Star had been.
In all the streets, ON the rampant walls
and on the two piers, the inhabitants had